Dr. Ducat's Blog

A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that osteoporosis medications such as Fosamax, Actonel and Boniva increase your risk for esophageal irritation (that can lead to cancer).  Other previous studies have shown that these medications also increase your risk for degeneration of the jaw bone which can lead to tooth loss and cosmetic damage.  My question is this…why is the medical establishment pushing these drugs as the answer to bone loss and not doing more to help PREVENT the need for these dangerous drugs?

Patients often come to me with the attitude that they don’t really need to watch their calcium intake or do weight bearing exercise to help prevent osteoporosis because there’s now a pill for that.  After all, Sally Fields uses it, doesn’t she?

Reality is that prevention of osteoporosis needs to occur with young adults under the age of 30.  Whatever bone mass you have at age 30 is the maximum that you will ever have.  Increasing the intake of calcium (1200mg/day) along with adequate Vitamin D (100o IU) along with frequent weight lifting exercises (upper and lower body) is enough to keep the majority of women safe from osteoporosis.  Instead we allow soda pop and artificial flavorings take the place of calcium-rich foods as teens sit in front of the TV or computer.

The next time you make a lifestyle choice, think about the risks involved…the natural prevention of the illness is usually a lot safer than the alternative, even if “there’s a pill for it!”

A recent clinical research study was published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics that compared muscle spasm relief after taking a muscle relaxant, a placebo or a chiropractic adjustment.  Not surprisingly, the chiropractic adjustment was more effective at relieving muscle spasm symptoms than either the medication or placebo pills.  Why then do we reach for a bottle of medication when we have muscle pain?

Prescription muscle relaxants have a place in health care for the patient’s that really need them.  But for the majority of us, our muscle spasm is a symptom of an underlying cause, whether that’s poor office ergonomics, stress or spinal dysfunction.  To chemically mask these symptoms is asking for trouble — who knows how much you will injure yourself without your body’s own “warning system” of muscle spasm.  In addition, most muscle relaxants cloud your thinking and can be habit forming.  Who needs that?

So the next time you think about taking a muscle relaxant, think about what could be the cause of your symptoms and address it.

A recent Daily Herald newspaper article mentioned the concept of “acquired attention deficit disorder” as modern technology changes the way that our brains process information.  “If our attention span constricts to the poit where we can only take information in 140-character sentences, then that doesn’t bode too well for our future,” said Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, director of Stanford University’s Impulse Control Disorders Clinic.

“The more we become used to just sound bites and tweets,” Aboujaoude said, “the less patient we will be with the more complex, meaningful information.   And I do think we might lose the ability to analyze things with any depth and nuance.  Like any skill, if you don’t use it, you lose it.”

As a chiropractic physician, I believe that the brain is not only becoming re-wired as this doctor explained, but also in a physical way as well.  When we become reliant on technology, we do not move like we used to and the brain starts to lose contact with the small muscles that control the spine and other joints.  Could it be that the recent influx in lumbar disc injuries and deconditioned teenagers is directly caused by our short attention span? 

Chiropractic is an amazing way to naturally re-wire the brain, but let’s try to keep it wired by moving our lives off the “technology grid.”