Archive for June, 2010

Whose job is it to fix your health problems?  Is it yours?  Your employer’s?  Is it your doctor’s?  The answer to this question is difficult for patients to answer because it forces us to take personal responsibility for the state our bodies are in.

The majority of chronic illnesses in the United States are preventable.  Diabetes, heart disease, cancer and obesity are all preventable.  They are caused too much refined junk food and not enough physical activity.  Yes, you might have bad genes from your family, but all of the research shows that if you make wise lifestyle choices, you can still prevent these costly illnesses.

I’m not a fan of taxing pop and fast food.  It’s not the junk food that is at fault for our problems.  It’s how we choose to consume junk food that is the problem.  The same goes for video games, computers and the couch.  It isn’t the couches fault that we sit there for hours at a time. 

Making small changes to improve our diet and activity levels make a big difference as get older.  Taking that walk tonight or skipping the drive thru might save you thousands of dollars later on.  Do your part for true health care reform — take personal responsibility for the body you have been given.

It seems like everyone is talking about carbs these days.  Good carbs, bad carbs, no carbs, all carbs…it’s hard to get a handle on what all of this hoopla is all about.  Carbs is a nickname for  one of the macronutrients called carbohydrates.  The other two macronutrients are fats and proteins.  A balanced diet contains all three macronutrients, within proper proportions.  People who do not eat a balanced diet often have limited energy and start suffering from malnutrition within a few months.  It’s especially important to eat a balanced diet when healing from an injury or engaging in sports.

Most doctors agree that the average individual should consume about 30% of their calories from fats, 30% of their calories from protein and the remaining 40% from carbohydrates.  Carbohydrates is a big category and includes everything from the sugar in candy to pasta to vegetables.  The problem most of us have with carbs is that we eat too many of them in the candy or pasta form and not enough in the vegetable or whole grain form.  This is where the terms simple and complex carbs comes into play.

Simple carbs digest easily and have very little vitamins with them.  They include sugar, pop, white bread, white rice, white pasta and potato chips.  These are the carbs that people crave.  Our diet should include very little or no simple carbs.  Complex carbs digest more slowly and have lots of nutrients packed inside of them.  They include whole potatoes, vegetables, whole wheat, brown rice and other whole grain products.  This is where your 40% of calories from carbs should come from.

So the next time you go to the grocery store, make sure that you load up on complex carbs and you should soon see your waistline become a little trimmer and your body a little happier!

I recently came across this video on YouTube that shows an anatomy professor explaining how muscles get tight and form scar tissue (or “fuzz” as he calls it) during the night and after an injury.  He shows what this looks like on a cadaver as well as compares healthy and injured tissues so that you can understand why you have limited motion or chronic tightness in your muscles.

What was particularly interesting in his lecture was how injuries limit motion and allow this “fuzz” to accumulate, night after night” without any loosening because of the pain associated with stretching.  Patients frequently ask why they can’t just stretch out a tendonitis or sciatica pain.  The reason is after you have 10, 30 or 500 nights of “fuzz” build up, you require additional force (such as assisted stretching, trigger point work or Gua Sha) to break up this stuff in order to start the healing process.  Patients that have these types of deep tissue treatments as part of their plan tend to heal faster and stay pain-free longer.

*Warning: the video does show actual cadaver muscles.*

I am often asked what type of education and tests are required to become a chiropractic physician.  Most chiropractors start their college education in a “Pre-Med” program with a major in biology and a minor chemistry.  After completing their bachelor’s degree, they then apply to a school that has a chiropractic medicine program.  Currently, there are 19 schools in the United States with a chiropractic program.  We have one right here in Lombard, Dr. Campione and my alma mater, National University of Health Sciences.  Although there is no entry test for chiropractic, applicants are chosen based on ther GPA from college, recommendation letters and essay.

Once that you are in the chiropractic medicine program, your classes look almost the same as your colleagues in medical, osteopathic, or physical therapy programs.  We study anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pathology, microbiology, and spend almost a year studying and dissecting cadavers.  Approximately after 1 1/2 years of these basic science courses, chiropractic students sit for the first part of the chiropractic board exams that tests them on all of these subjects and makes sure that they are ready to proceed with the clinical part of their education.

The clinical portion of the chiropractic education differs from medical or osteopathic schools in that we start to focus much more on the musculoskeletal/neurological systems and not as much on the surgical or pharmeceutical side of medicine.  Many classes focus on the art of history taking and asking patients the right questions to make sure that you have the right diagnosis.  It’s also during this time that students are taught how to manipulate, or adjust, the spine and extremties.

The last year of chiropractic school contains a variety of clinical rotations and internships that help the students start to apply their skills to patient cases and allow them to perfect their clinical skills.  Before completing their rotations, they must also complete parts 2 and 3 of the chiropractic boards that test them on clinical knowledge. 

Most chiropractic students complete the program within 5 academic years and then apply for a license from the state that they will be practicing.  In the state of Illinois, chiropractic physicians must past parts 1-3 of the chiropractic boards as well as complete 50 hours of continuing education each year to continue their license.  For more detailed information, check out this interesting article that compares chiropractic and medical education in the United States.