The Lowdown on Lower Back Pain

By Dr. Dave Edenfield

When it comes to the masses, lower back pain doesn’t discriminate.  Common to people of all ages, both sexes and every racial, economic and social strata, more than 95% of the population is forced to deal with this condition at some point in time.   For the fortunate the pain may subside within a day or so.  For others, chronic pain can be something that they will be burdened with for the rest of their lives. 

The costs in the US alone totals close to $50 billion per year when you factor in everything from 

treatment and surgery to pain pills and lost wages.  Studies show that lower back pain is the number one cause of occupational disability worldwide.  It is also regarded as the second most debilitating neurological condition in the US next to headache.

Causes of Lower Back Pain

Since dealing with back pain can be so problematic, the first line of defense is prevention.  Typically lower back pain begins with loss of flexibility leading to a sudden muscle or ligament strain.  Caused by lifting a heavy object improperly, quick movements or twisting of the spine can overtax the tissue’s ability to stretch, ultimately resulting in everything from strain to microscopic tears that then manifest themselves as pain.  This pain can range from mild discomfort or a dull ache to disabling pain depending upon the extent and location of the injury. Injuries that involve either the nerves or the lumbar discs can be particularly debilitating.  The best advice I can give to anyone who experiences lower back pain is to curtail all physically activity immediately.  The last thing you want to do is to make an already bad situation worse.

Diagnosis and Treatment

The architecture of the lower back is much more complicated than most people realize.  Spinal vertebrae along with their associated discs form a framework over which are attached the tendons, muscles and soft tissues.  All of these structures are controlled and monitored by a series of highly sensitive nerves that travel from the lower back down the legs and into the feet.  Damage to any of these structures can cause pain not only in the damaged areas, but this pain can also radiate to other parts of the body. 

While lower back pain can occur at any age, certain types of injuries are more typical with certain age groups.  While the elderly are more susceptible to pain caused  by joint degeneration, younger adults particularly those in the 30-50 range are more likely to experience pain due to ligament or disc injury.  To determine the cause and proper treatment of lower back pain your chiropractor will need to conduct an examination, part of which will involve asking you to describe the location and severity of pain, an orthopedic and neurological exam and X-ray imaging may also be in order.

 As a rule, lower back pain can be broken down into three categories:

1.    Axial lower back pain – Relegated to the lower back only, this pain can become severe enough to preclude normal activities, such as standing or walking.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is that for many patients this kind of pain is typically short lived if treated promptly.  (Typical treatments can take from one to three months.)

2.    Sciatica is the next most common lower back problem.  Caused by compression of the sciatic nerve, this kind of lower back pain is characterized by pain that radiates to the leg, buttock, or foot.

3.    Low back pain with referred pain - Like sciatica this condition involves back pain that radiates to the groin, buttock and/or upper thigh.  But in this case it rarely extends below the knee. 

Making the Pain Go Away

Depending upon the category and severity of the injury, your chiropractor may bring a number of treatment modalities into play in order to make the pain go away, including spinal manipulation, spinal decompression such as Vax-D, and cold laser technology and various other therapeutic treatments. He or she will also prescribe various exercise and stretching routines that can not only speed your recovery but also prevent a relapse. Since lifestyle and environmental factors can also come into play, there are a number of triggers that you can learn to avoid, such as:

•        Weight Gain

•        Poor Posture

•        Sports that produce repetitive stresses

•        Lifting with the back as opposed to the legs

•        Chairs with poor or no lumbar support

•        Wearing high heeled shoes

If you or anyone you know is experiencing back pain, have them talk to a doctor of chiropractic to discuss treatment options.  A number of chiropractic offices such as ours even offer a free initial consultation, examination and x-ray if medically necessary to make it possible for people of all income brackets to seek help, alleviate pain and avoid complications. 

Dr. Dave Edenfield  and Dr. Steven Warfield are part of the team of doctors and therapists at http://chiropractic-jacksonville-fl.com and http://endyourpain.org who are dedicated to helping you and your family lead  healthier, happier and pain-free lives. 

Nothing to Sneeze At

by Dr. Steven Warfield

You know its allergy season when you walk outside only to find that your car has changed from blue to green overnight.  That yellow patina coating your paintjob is composed of millions of microgametes (plant sperm cells) that erupt from plants every spring.  While unsightly, this plant powder is easy enough to hose off your car.  If that was the worst that pollen could dish out then we would all breathe a sigh of relief.  However, therein lays the rub.  It is by breathing in this powder that causes many of us to sniffle and sneeze as allergy season kicks into overdrive.

Pollen Predates People

While some people have allergies to pollen, you have to take into consideration that pollen has been 

Pollen from a variety of common plants: sunflower (Helianthus annuus), morning glory Ipomoea purpurea, hollyhock (Sildalcea malviflora), lily (Lilium auratum), primrose (Oenothera fruticosa) and castor bean (Ricinus communis). The image is magnified some x500, so the bean shaped grain in the bottom left corner is about 50 μm long. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

around a lot longer than human beings.  In fact, not only have pine trees been around for hundreds of millions of years (did dinosaurs have allergies?), but the oldest living examples of trees are bristlecone pines some of which are estimated to be more than 4,600 years old.   While certain kinds of pollen cause people problems every year, this is not what pollen was intended to do.  It all has to do with reproduction.

So why are some people allergic to pollen while others are not? 

“The real question, according to Susan Waserman, professor of medicine in the division of clinical immunology and allergy at McMaster University in Canada, is not "Why pollen?" but "Why allergies at all?" Humans typically become allergic to things we're frequently exposed to as children. Pollen is one of those things; in the spring, a cubic meter of air can contain thousands of pollen grains, so we're inhaling them fairly constantly. But we're also routinely exposed to food and pet hair as kids, and we commonly develop allergies to those, too.” http://news.yahoo.com/why-pollen-allergies-common-195446150.html

The main reason that allergic reactions take place is due to the way our immune systems react to foreign substances.  Or, should I say overreact?  Designed to defend us from disease, the body’s immune response isn’t exactly hardwired into our system.  It actually learns what is and is not a threat.  This learning process occurs for the most part when we are children when we are all exposed to a myriad of bacteria and viruses. 

Every time the immune system detects the presence of an invading organism, it produces antibodies that transport the attacker to white blood cells which trigger the release of histamine.  This works fine when the offending organism is a bacteria or virus.  However, if the invader is pollen, the immune system can get carried away.  This is what causes allergies; the body misinterpreting a harmless organism as an invader.  Once your system designates pollen, dust or cat dander as a marauder, there’s no going back.  You’re saddled with the allergy for the rest of your life.

Some people even later in life can acquire sometimes life threatening allergic reactions to such things as certain kinds of food that can cause them to go into anaphylactic shock, which can block their airways resulting in suffocation. 

According to Susan Wasserman, the real reason that so many people have allergies these days has to do with inadequate exposure to bacteria and viruses during early childhood. “Thanks to modern hygiene including such things as antibacterial soap, pasteurized milk and more, kids aren’t exposed to nearly as many microbes as they once were.  As a result, their immune systems have fewer opportunities to learn how to discriminate between dangerous pathogens and harmless things like pollen. People whose immune systems are no longer busy fighting infection can become unregulated and allergic.”

This year in particular has proven to deliver a particularly heavy dose of pollen. Currently it is pine and oak pollen that is causing the most problems for allergy sufferers.  Later in the 

season will come ragweed pollen.  Other than popping antihistamines and carrying a hefty supply of Kleenex, what else can allergy sufferers do to cope?

Why Chiropractic Care is Nothing to Sneeze At

While traditional medicine simply treats the symptoms, chiropractic care is designed specifically to enable the immune system to work more efficiently.  One of the reasons that the body can have an allergic reaction is due to the fact that nerve interference can cause the immune system to overproduce histamine.  Since the nervous system controls immune response along with virtually every other reaction in the body, any imbalance can result in miscommunication between the brain and the body. 

While chiropractic treatment does not treat allergies directly, studies have shown that the nervous system has a direct link to the functionality of the immune system.  Chiropractors work to align the spine which in turn relieves stress on the nerves.  This in turn allows the immune system to work more efficiently which makes it easier to fight off infection while recognizing and not overreacting to allergens.

Antihistamines work by drying out the mucus membranes.  Chiropractic care works by allowing your body to better identify and deal with allergens.  Besides, long term antihistamine use can itself prove dangerous.  In a May 1994 Journal of the National Cancer Institute, it was noted that several antihistamines including Claritin, Hismanal and Atarax had been proven to cause cancerous tumors in rats to grow faster.  And unlike antihistamines whose side effects can include dry mouth, drowsiness, dizziness, nausea, blurred vision and confusion, chiropractic care have none of the side effects.

So if allergy symptoms have you sniffing and sneezing, instead of reaching for that bottle of pills talk to your local chiropractor.  Your sinuses will thank you.

Dr. Steven Warfield and Dr. Dave Edenfield  are part of the team of doctors and therapists at http://chiropractic-jacksonville-fl.com and http://chiropractor-orange-park-fl.com who are dedicated to helping you and your family lead  healthier, happier and pain-free lives.  

When Can Pain Be a Plus?

By Dr. Steven Warfield

Nobody likes pain, be it the pain of a stiff neck, a headache or your aching back.  So where’s the plus side of pain?  Pain in and of itself is just the body’s warning system trying to tell you that something is amiss, that you might be pushing your body beyond its limits.  In short it works like your home’s smoke alarm which tells you when a fire is imminent.  What you do about it and how fast you respond to these warnings can be the difference between an overdone pot roast to the fire department breaking down your door.

The same can be said of your body’s pain response.  Were we to feel no pain, our lives would literally be on the line 24/7.  In fact there is a medical condition known as CIPA (Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis), that literally renders people with the condition unable to sense pain of any kind.  While this sounds like a gift to anyone who suffers from chronic pain, what you need to understand is that people born with the condition can do irreparable harm to their bodies without even knowing it. 

In a report by NBC News on an infant with CIPA: The doctor put drops in Ashlyn’s eye to stain any particles that might be irritating it. The infant smiled and bounced in her mother’s lap while the dye revealed a massive scratch across her cornea. “They put the dye in her eye and I remember the look of puzzlement on all their faces,” Ashlyn’s mother says. “Ashlyn was not fazed by it by any means.”

Once CIPA was confirmed, the problems became even more pronounced for her parents. “There were many things they couldn’t anticipate. Ashlyn’s baby teeth posed big problems. She would chew her lips bloody in her sleep, bite through her tongue while eating, and once even stuck a finger in her mouth and stripped flesh from it.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6379795/ns/health-childrens_health/t/rare-disease-makes-girl-unable-feel-pain/

Far from being a blessing, CIPA can turn out to be a curse with a lifetime of injuries.  Those with CIPA can expect to collect their fair share of burns, strains, sprains and broken bones that if left untreated can lead to more serious conditions.  While CIPA sufferers can overcome pain, one thing that they are just as susceptible to as the rest of us is infection.   Because while CIPA covers up the pain, it doesn’t stop the complications that injury can bring.

  

The Pain Pill Cover Up

This is one of the reasons that I am often astounded at the ways in which the public has been taught to deal with pain.  Turn on any television and it won’t be long before you come across an advertisement touting one kind of “pain reliever” or another.  Some of these pain pills are available over the counter and some require a prescription.  But one thing is universal.  These pills do not “relieve” pain.  What they do is mask it.  And therein lays the rub.

Just as those with CIPA, by masking the pain, what we are doing in essence is removing the battery from the smoke detector instead of confronting the fire.  (Which is why it’s illegal to do so in most states.)  While I’m not suggesting that people should suffer in silence every ache and pain that comes along, what I am suggesting is that when you hurt, there is an underlying cause that needs to be diagnosed and treated.  This is the real way to eliminate pain, by putting out the fire. 

What most people do not consider is that in many cases simple aches and pains if treated promptly can mean quick and long lasting relief.  Masking the pain and ignoring it can lead to complications, infection and more radical treatment down the road.  And unlike those with CIPA, many analgesics are habit forming to those who use them and that can lead to even more complications. 

While nobody starts out trying to become addicted to prescription pain pills, it’s a habit that’s all too easy to start and all too hard to quit.  Statistics show that twenty percent of the population in the US reports abusing prescription drugs at least once in their lives. Just as with CIPA, it is possible that there is an inherited predilection toward addiction.

Andrew Saxon, MD professor of psychiatry at the University of Washington stated that, "It's clear that some people have a genetic predisposition to addiction. There's something different in their brains to begin with and prolonged drug abuse likely creates further chemical changes.” http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/features/prescription-drug-abuse-who-gets-addicted-and-why

With more powerful and longer lasting pain killers flooding the market, it’s the availability of these substances that produce the kind of pain that chiropractic treatment alone can’t cure.  While not everyone who uses analgesics will wind up sliding down the slippery slope to addiction, the best long term solution to pain is to heed the warning and seek medical treatment that can put out the fire and keep your house in good order.

Dr.’s Steven Warfield and Dave Edenfield offer the most advanced treatments for back pain, sciatica, neck pain, whiplash and headaches. They also treat auto accident victims with state-of-the-art technologies. If you or anyone you know suffers from herniated discs, degenerative discs or spinal stenosis, visit http://chiropractor-orange-park-fl.com/ & http://chiropractic-jacksonville-fl.com

I Have to Hand it to You

By Dr. Steven Warfield

Believe it or not the hand is one of the most sophisticated parts of the human body.  It is also the most complicated, each hand having 27 bones.  (The foot only has 26.)  14 of which are the phalanges of the fingers, 5 metacarpals and 8 carpal bones.  The metacarpals are the bones that connect the fingers with the wrist.  Add to this the web of muscles, ligaments and tendons used to articulate the hand, fingers and wrist and you have an exceptional work of biomechanics.  You also have an exceptional number of ways in which to experience discomfort and dysfunction.   

Many of the maladies that occur in the hand and wrist are due to repetitive motion injuries.  This is not unusual, especially if you spend most of your day working on a computer.  Another common source of hand strain has to do with people who are engaged in sports that require repetitive use of the upper body, such as weight lifting, golf and tennis.

Below I have detailed a few of the more common medical conditions that can occur in the hand and wrist along with their treatments. 

Trigger Finger

While it sounds like a condition that only cowboys and Jesse James would contract, trigger finger can afflict most anyone.  The condition is associated with the locking of a thumb or finger in either a bent or straight position.  Caused by a thickening of the sheath that surrounds the tendon, the condition tends to afflict those whose work or hobby rely on repetitive gripping motions.  Farmers, Musicians and industrial workers often encounter the condition since they use repetitive thumb and finger movements often.  Trigger finger is more common in women than men and tends to happen most often in people who are 40 to 60 years old. It is also more common with people who have either arthritis or diabetes. 

Sometimes painful, sometimes merely annoying, the condition can be treated by immobilizing the finger by using a splint.  If the symptoms persist, the addition of anti-inflammatory compounds such as ibuprofen or naproxen may be added to the treatment regimen.  Some doctors may also recommend steroid injections.  Typically it takes from six to eight weeks to treat the condition.  But some will recover within a few weeks by resting the finger and using anti-inflammatory drugs.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

This condition may start with a dull throbbing in the wrist that could soon expand to include pain in the fingers and/or arm.  The symptoms can include everything from numbness to tingling in the fingers to a weakening of the hand itself.  Too much time spent at the computer keyboard is one cause of this condition, as well as any activity that requires repetitive flexing of the tendons in the hand or wrist, along with prolonged gripping activities such as working a computer mouse.

Typical treatment for carpal tunnel includes manipulation of the wrist and elbow as well as adjustment of the upper spine.  Other treatment modalities such as ultrasound and wrist supports designed to keep the wrist in the proper alignment can be employed by your chiropractor.  Resting the affected area as well as applying cold packs may also be necessary.

Treatment time for the condition varies from patient to patient depending upon its severity along with possible contributing factors such as a pinched nerve.  While both men and women are equally susceptible to this malady, middle age is the most common time in life for carpal tunnel syndrome to occur.

Tendonitis of the Wrist

The first signs of this problem are usually associated with pain and swelling a half inch from the base of the thumb.  Sufferers of this malady will find it exceedingly difficult to grasp objects or any other movement that requires the use of the thumb or the wrist.  While typically caused by the swelling of the sheath surrounding the tendons connecting the wrist and thumb, if left untreated, the pain may spread to the thumb or the forearm.

Common to baseball and tennis players, more than four million Americans are treated for tendonitis annually.  After diagnosing the condition, the chiropractor will treat the cause of the tendonitis, as opposed to treating the symptoms.  Treatment may include a combination of manipulation, ultrasound, immobilization, ice, electrical muscle stimulation and/or massage.  With proper treatment it isn’t unusual to see a reduction in pain and inflammation within three to six weeks.  Once healed, your chiropractor may also recommend stretching exercises to help keep the condition from repeating.

Other conditions of the hand include such things as arthritis, Cubital Tunnel Syndrome, mallet finger and gamekeeper’s thumb, all of which can cause discomfort and dysfunction in the hand or wrist. Should you or someone you know exhibit symptoms or show signs that their hand or wrist are bothering them, the most important thing is to seek treatment before complications set in.   Because as sophisticated as our hands might be, the one thing they can’t do is heal these conditions all by themselves.

Dr.’s Steven Warfield and Dave Edenfield offer the most advanced treatments for back pain, sciatica, neck pain, whiplash and headaches. They also treat auto accident victims with state-of-the-art technologies.  For more information visit http://endyourpain.org 

or http://chiropractic-jacksonville-fl.com

Full of Hot Air

By Dr. Steven Warfield

Today I would like to share with you some information regarding airbags.  While airbags without a doubt save lives in auto accidents, they can also be a hazard if they are not used properly.  Statistics show us that airbags prevent hundreds of fatalities year in and year out in the US.  However, what most people do not realize is that they are also responsible for a number of injuries and  deaths every year, due to passengers either riding with their seat belt unfastened, or people (particularly women and children) who are seated incorrectly.

Airbags can deploy at speeds of 100-200 mph.  (The sound of a deploying air bag is like that of a gunshot.) They are designed to spring into action at the speed necessary to keep those in the vehicle from impacting with fixed objects such as the steering wheel or dashboard, as well as from being bodily ejected.  While the main airbags are located in the steering wheel and dashboard, most vehicles have a number of supplemental airbags which may be located above the doors (side curtain airbags), in or next to both the front and back seats (side air bags) and even below the dashboard (knee airbags). 

Designed to protect the occupants of a vehicle, due to the lightning fast inflation of these devices, airbags have been known to cause injuries to the head, neck, chest or arms when they have deployed to drivers and/or passengers who sat too close to the deploying device.    Drivers are advised to sit at least ten inches from the steering wheel.  Drivers that are below five foot four inches tall are advised to tilt the steering wheel down and raise the seat up.  Children are particularly vulnerable to being injured by airbags, particularly if they are not properly seated and secured.  When in doubt consult the vehicle’s owner’s manual to determine how to safely seat children.

Even adults who are seated correctly with their seat belts fastened can be injured by airbags, particularly drivers.  When we were taught how to drive most of us were told to keep our hands on the steering wheel at the ten o’clock and two o’clock positions.  The problem was that many of us went through driver’s ed before the advent of the air bag. Since then this concept has been altered, since it was discovered that people who drove this way had a high risk of having their wrists broken when the air bags deployed.  Many experts today advise drivers to place their hands at the nine o’clock and three o’clock position to avoid the risk of air bag injury.

A study conducted by the The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration stated, “When we look at the random sample of all accidents, we find that airbags are associated with increased risk of death in low-speed crashes where air bags were deployed and seatbelts were not fastened. However, if we limit the dataset to include only collisions in which a fatality occurred, we get a significantly reduced risk of death due to airbags.”

Injuries to the face and eyes are also a real possibility in accidents where air bags are deployed.  Everything from facial laceration to fractured cheekbones have been known to occur, along with corneal abrasion or detached retina injuries.  Since air bags also disburse sodium hydroxide upon deployment, this can result in chemical burns to the face and/or eyes. People who have undergone LASIK surgery or radial keratotomy are at risk for corneal rupture should they be involved in an accident that causes the air bags to deploy. 

When researchers from the Helsinki University Eye Hospital studied 300 eye-injury cases resulting from air-bag deployment, they concluded that drivers and passengers have a 2.5 percent chance of having an eye injury if an air bag deploys. The study also revealed that wearing glasses didn’t increase injury and actually helped protect the eyes from airbag chemicals. (Optician).

If you or any of your family is involved in a motor-vehicle accident where the air bags deploy, you should schedule an appointment with your chiropractor right away.  The trauma associated with a crash even if not immediately evident can result in a number of subtle injuries that can later manifest themselves in a variety of symptoms.  These can include headaches, backaches, loss of mobility to the neck and even ear infections.  If not diagnosed and treated early these conditions can lead to complications down the road that may or may not be covered after the fact by your insurance.

Preflight Checklist

Driver - Sit no closer than 10 inches away from the steering wheel.

             Position hands at “nine o’clock” and “three o’clock”

Everyone - Wear their seat belts at all times.

Kids - Never allow children less than four feet tall to ride in the front seat.

           Don’t place rear-facing infant or child seats in the front passenger seat.

            Consult the owner’s manual to determine the best way to seat children.

Dr.’s Steven Warfield and Dave Edenfield offer the most advanced treatments for back pain, sciatica, neck pain, whiplash and headaches. They also treat auto accident victims with state-of-the-art technologies.  For more information visit http://endyourpain.org or http://chiropractor-jacksonville-fl.com

Don't be a Turkey this Thanksgiving

By Dr. Steven Warfield

Now that Halloween is behind us we are rapidly approaching the holiday season.  This means getting together with friends and family for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve.  It also means all too many situations in which it is all too easy to overindulge.  Since one of the biggest problems that Americans face today is obesity, I thought I’d start the season off by providing some insights into the good, the bad and the ugly truth about fat. 

In the first place, not all fat is bad for you.  From a nutritional standpoint there are four kinds of fat:  Trans fat, saturated fat, monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat.  The first two are bad for you and the second two are actually good for you.  So the first thing you need to do is be able to distinguish one from the other.

Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) may sound ugly, but these fats are actually good for you.  They are found in such things as olives, avocados, all-natural peanut butter and a host of plant-based oils such as canola, sunflower, olive, sesame, palm, soybean and safflower.  Research has proven that people who eat foods rich in MUFAs have much lower odds of developing cancer and heart disease.

The problem is that when vegetable oils are either hardened in the process known as hydrogenation, or used to deep fry food, this can convert MUFA’s into trans fatty acids (TFAs) that are definitely not good for you.  Considered by experts to block the absorption of good fats, TFAs are devilishly difficult for the body to break down.  Worst still, they are found in everything from crackers and baked goods to dairy products and even microwave popcorn.  They are known to increase the likelihood of everything from cancer and heart disease to diabetes and even asthma.

If you are trying to weed TFAs out of your diet, you won’t find the words Trans Fatty Acids on the ingredients in the food displayed at the local supermarket.  The terms you want to be on the lookout for are “hydrogenated,” partially-hydrogenated,” or “shortening.”  Foods high in TFAs include everything from French fries and pie crust, to many brands of margarine, ice cream, Crisco, cake icing, snack cakes, snack crackers, frozen dinners, canned chili, packaged pudding, and breakfast sandwiches, just to name a few.  If you are like me, then you will carefully consider any ingredient that doesn’t come from the produce section before putting it in your grocery basket.

Unfortunately TFAs are not the only kind of fat that is deleterious to your health.  TFAs partner in crime is saturated fat, such as that found in red meat.  National Cancer Institute studies have pointed out that there is an elevated risk of prostate cancer that has been linked to consumption of too much saturated fat.  It has also been linked to Alzheimer’s disease and atherosclerosis, more commonly known as hardening of the arteries.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that all animal fat is bad for you.  In fact one kind of fat found in fish is positively good for you.  Known as Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (or PUFAs),  these beneficial fats are located in such things as salmon, cod, tuna, and trout as well as many raw nuts, leafy greens and flax seeds.  Not only has it been proven that a diet high in PUFAs can be beneficial in fighting heart disease, but it may also benefit those with such debilitating conditions as rheumatoid arthritis and adult onset asthma.

Current thinking is that keeping your intake of saturated fat and trans fat as low as possible is important to warding off disease, while increasing your intake of mono and polyunsaturated fat is just what the doctor ordered.  As for the good, the bad and the ugly side of the All-American Thanksgiving dinner, below is the lineup of suspects.

The Good: When it comes to turkey, which is healthier, dark or white meat?  Opting for white meat saves you 50 calories and four grams of fat.  (115 calories for white as opposed to 160 calories for dark meat)

Cranberry sauce & Gravy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cranberry Sauce – What would Thanksgiving dinner be without cranberry sauce?  Good question.  The answer as to whether this dish is healthy or not depends upon two things: 1. Store bought or homemade 2. How much sugar.  Cranberries are naturally rich in fiber and vitamin C.  If you buy the berries fresh and cook them with apple sauce this will not only help to sweeten them but it will also provide the moisture they need to cook.

Vegetable Side Dishes are what you want to load up on, unless they are loaded with such things as cheese, sugar or marshmallows.

The Bad: Biscuits– Talk about adding insult to injury, you already have mashed potatoes and stuffing, now you want to add even more carbs?  And unless those biscuits are made from scratch you can rest assured that they are loaded with hydrogenated fat.

Pumpkin Pie – It isn’t necessarily the pie filling that’ll get you, it’s the crust, especially if it is made with shortening.

The Ugly: Deep Fried Turkey – Why would anyone do this to such a noble bird?

Candied Sweet Potatoes – This is just another way to take a healthy dish and turn it on its head.  Load these tubers up with brown sugar, butter and marshmallows and you have created a calorie bomb that’s just waiting to go off.

So if you are health conscious you don’t need to wire your mouth shut this holiday season. Just learn to differentiate what food to consume and which to avoid so that you don’t become a turkey this Thanksgiving.  (Those of you that don’t heed this warning will have to read my upcoming blog entitled, “The Ghost of Christmas Diets Past.”)

Dr.’s Steven Warfield and Dave Edenfield offer the most advanced treatments for back pain, sciatica, neck pain, whiplash and headaches. They also treat auto accident victims with state-of-the-art technologies.  For more information visit http://endyourpain.org or http://chiropractor-jacksonville-fl.com

  

In Search of the Quick Fix

By Dr. Steven Warfield

It is said that “Time is Money.”  In our fast paced modern society getting things done in a hurry is practically written into our DNA.  So when something comes along that threatens to derail our faced paced lives, be it a strain, sprain, backache or headache, we are in a hurry to find a quick fix.  For many of us this translates to reaching for the nearest bottle of pain pills in the medicine cabinet.  While many analgesics make the pain go away temporarily, what most people don’t realize is that by masking the pain, this can cause the injury to take much longer to correct.  In fact, covering up the pain and going about your normal routine may even create additional injury, the kind that can cost you lost days at work.

Another fact that most people fail to take into consideration is that overmedication, be it a prescription pain killer or plain aspirin is responsible for more harm than good.  According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, “In 1998 statistics showed that there were 14,253 toxic cases involving aspirin without being combined with other drugs.  Of those, 5,363 occurred in children between the ages of 6 and 19. Included in the total were 33 deaths related to aspirin toxicity.” http://blog.drugrehab101.com/2009/08/aspirin-effects.html

When toxicity occurs from aspirin, the following aspirin side effects may occur:

• Chronic ingestion may create anxiety.
• Various respiratory effects, from hyperventilation to respiratory arrest.
• Ear problems can also occur.
• Seizures are possible.
• Many gastrointestinal effects, including most often nausea and vomiting, but also hemorrhage and pancreatitis.
• When elderly people use aspirin to control pain, the increasing amount may create a state of confusion, which may lead to increased consumption.

We’re talking aspirin here which is available over the counter.  Acetaminophen overdose (acetaminophen 

being the active ingredient in Tylenol) is the leading cause for calls to poison control centers, accounting for 56,000 emergency room visits, 2,600 hospitalizations, and an estimated 458 deaths due to acute liver failure each year. If you want to see some truly frightening statistics, take a look at prescription pain killers, many of which are known to lead to physical dependency.  Opioid dependence affects some 5 million Americans and leads to approximately 17,000 deaths per year.  These statistics were so pervasive that it caused the federal government to change the regulations for the prescription of certain classes of pain killers.

In September 2013, the FDA announced that extended-release and long-acting (ER/LA) opioid pain relievers will no longer be indicated for merely moderate pain. The labels for these analgesics previously stated that they were indicated for moderate-to-severe pain. Now, the labels indicate usage only for management of severe pain that requires daily, around-the-clock treatment because alternative treatments are inadequate. The labels will also include a warning stating that long-term maternal use of ER/LA opioid pain relievers can result in potentially fatal neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome. These announcements were made in an effort to combat the epidemic of addiction and fatal overdoses associated with opioid abuse. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/287790-overview

Another factor that many people fail to heed is the fact that once hooked it is very difficult to resist the siren call of opioids.  Withdrawal symptoms can include any number of the following and can persist for days or even weeks.

·         diarrhea, persistent shivering, and nausea

·         insomnia, restlessness, tremors

·         abdominal cramping, bone pains, and muscle ache

To get through these debilitating symptoms many patients wind up undergoing methadone or buprenorphine treatment, followed by a gradual tapering off.   

Being a chiropractor has meant that I have had many patients come to me who believed that they were unable to function without analgesics of some kind.  What I have been able to show most of them is that by treating  the underlying causes of pain it is possible to reduce and in many cases eliminate the use of pain pills altogether.  While treatment is an ongoing process that can take months to complete, what every one of them agrees is that when it comes to a quick fix, curing the underlying cause of their pain is worth taking the time to accomplish.

 Dr. Steven Warfield and Dr. Dave Edenfield are part of the team of doctors and therapists at http://endyourpain.org and  http://chiropractor-jacksonville-fl.com   who are dedicated to helping you and your family lead  healthier, happier and pain-free lives.  

Does Your Child's Schoolwear Make the Grade?

by Dr. Steven Warfield

It's that time of year when the weather starts to cool, when football becomes a major source of conversation and the kids are back in school.  For many parents, this is also the time of year when their children start coming down with colds, along with any number of other physical complaints that are simply shrugged off as a rite of passage.  But what most parents do not realize is that the reason that many school age children wind up at home in bed instead of in the classroom has to do with a number of issues that can adversely affect their wellbeing.

If the Shoe Fits...

As far back as the 1990's shoe companies were in the habit of marketing shoes that were patently unhealthy

for children.  Playing on parental emotions as well as peer pressure from other children, the footwear industry continues to use such things as celebrity endorsements to sell footwear to a public that is unaware of the potential health hazards that can occur down the road due to inadequate shoes for their kids.
In the first place, the kind of shoes that are right for adults do not work well for children.  Believe it or not, going barefoot is actually the healthiest way for our children to be.  Since their linbs are still forming, shoes with arch supports or stiff sides can actually interfere with a child's gait or even deform the child's feet, both of which can lead to permanent problems down the road.

According to a report commissioned by Dr. Steve Maffetone, called Ticking Time Bomb: "During the first year following the acquisition of independent walking, most of the child’s gait activity, in particular, the neurological memories—the communication between brain and body—becomes well established. During this time, if the feet are not allowed to develop well, gait and balance disorders begin to occur. In many children, these irregularities are often subtle (the “clumsy kid”) while others more serious such as increased vulnerability to physical injury and various neurological imbalances anywhere in the body, including those associated with eye movement. When a shoe becomes absolutely necessary, it should be lightweight, flexible, shaped more or less quadrangularly, and should not have arch supports and stiff sides.

Backpack Blues

Another area of concern to school age children are backpacks.  While backpacks have evolved over the years to be more orthopedically correct, the problem is that most children do not don them correctly.  They also tend to overload them, which also causes stress on the shoulders, neck and spine.  If your child uses a backpack, the first thing you need to do is make sure they are being worn properly.  This means that the backpack needs to be on both shoulders, not simply slung off to one side.  More importantly, the waistbelt needs to be engaged, since this allows most of the weight to be carried on the hips as opposed to the shoulders.  Last but not least, you should take their fully laden backpack and place it on a bathroom scale.  The maximum weight that a child should be allowed to tote in a backpack should be 15% of the child's weight.

Also of concern to adults should be any of the following warning signs exhibited by their children:
Aching back or shoulders
Stooped posture
Tingling arms
Cold Feet
Persistant stumbling

If your child exhibits any of these symptoms or any foot-related condition, then I urge you to contact your chiropractor to take corrective measures before more serious problems occur.  The spine controls many functions in the body, all of which can be adversely affected by spinal misalignment.  If you want to help your kids succeed in school, then make sure that their attire doesn't get a failing grade.

Dr.’s Steven Warfield and Dave Edenfield offer the most advanced treatments for back pain, sciatica, neck pain, whiplash and headaches. They also treat auto accident victims with state-of-the-art technologies.  For more information visit http://endyourpain.org or http://chiropractor-jacksonville-fl.com