Healthy Living Chiropractic Newsletter
Cambridge Chiropractic 3939 Cambridge Road, Suite 100
(530)672–6451
www.cambridgechiropractic.com

Dear Patient and Friend,

Who can benefit from chiropractic care? Children certainly can. With high energy and great enthusiasm, they climb, jump, slide, swing, run, skate, and ride. And before they can do all these things, they must go through the up and down experience of learning to walk.

Although these activities are all a normal part of childhood, they can cause scratches, bruises, sprains, pains, and even broken bones. Parents understand this and learn to cope with such challenges. For example, parents have their children wear a helmet while riding a bicycle. Elbow and knee pads are important while skating. These precautions help prevent injury as active children are growing up.

Although it is important to protect the head, knees and elbows, another part of the body remains vulnerable to injury–the spine. Even the process of learning to walk can bring hard falls that jolt the spine.

As children grow, rigorous physical activities can take a toll on the spine, yet many of us are not as aware of the need to protect this area of the body. Because there may not be visible signs of such injuries, we may not notice them right away. However, spinal injuries during childhood can lead to bigger problems later in life.

Childhood is not the only time when activities can cause spinal problems. In the adult years, auto accidents and falls can cause irreversible damage to the spine if left uncorrected. It is much easier to know that we need to see a dentist because we are experiencing a toothache. We are aware that the sooner the cavity is treated, the better the chances are that the tooth will not deteriorate. However, unlike a toothache, spinal subluxations may not cause immediate pain, but the same principle applies: the earlier a spinal problem is detected and corrected, the better the chances are that it will not deteriorate into a more serious health issue. Considering our lifestyle from infancy to maturity, it is clear that regular chiropractic care is essential for a healthy spine at all ages.

The spine has some surprising functions we may never have considered. The spine is very important to posture. In fact, did you know that proper posture helps our brain function better? It is true. Dr. Roger Sperry, 1998 Nobel Peace Prize winner for brain research, said most of the energy output from the brain is used to maintain the relationship of the physical body with gravity. "With poor posture, only 10 percent of the brain’s energy output is used for thinking, metabolism and healing the body from illness," Sperry pointed out.

Since the spine is a critical element in proper posture, Dr. Sperry’s declaration certainly seems to indicate that a healthy spine is of the utmost importance in health. As evidence of this fact, when individuals begin chiropractic care, it is very common for them to experience an increase in energy and an overall sense of well-being.

Doctors of Chiropractic focus on all aspects of health, with special emphasis on a healthy nerve system. This attention to the spine, through proper alignment of the vertebrae, allows us to experience our healthiest selves. The Chiropractic model of health and wellness focuses on YOU and is centered on the philosophy that the human body, being knit together in a wonderful way, will heal itself given the right opportunity and circumstances. The passion for the Doctor of Chiropractic is to promote the healing process by locating and removing any interference or blockage in the nerve system, which may be interfering with your ability to express your maximum health potential.

Who needs Chiropractic care?
Children certainly! Adults certainly,
and anyone who can benefit from a healthy spine!

March Forth on March 24th
It’s...POSITIVE ATTITUDE DAY

Positive Attitude Day is an observance to encourage you to have a positive attitude while putting your best intentions into action, both personally and professionally.

Today, trade negative, weakening thoughts for positive, powerful thinking and you’ll immediately see yourself break through limitations you may have believed to be insurmountable. You’ll realize that you can accomplish more than you originally thought possible. In the next five minutes, you can be living in a brighter, more positive world. In the next five minutes, a dreary day can be transformed into a day filled with positive promise. How can this happen? It can happen because of you.

Make today a pivotal day in your life. Make today the day that you commit to creating abundant thoughts, joy, health, vitality, and demonstrating the highest standards for yourself.

Realize that the secret to living is in Giving. Give more of your time, your talents, your resources, and your love than ever before. Practice this Positive Attitude and watch the BIG results you will create in your life. It doesn't take much to brighten your world, yet it can make a tremendous positive difference for you and for those around you. A smile is a good way to start. A kind word, a helpful act, some real patience and understanding will add to the brightness.

Brighten your world just a little bit, and that brightness will be reflected more than you might imagine. Send out your own special goodness today, and it will come back in even greater measure.

You don't have to be stuck with a day that's going nowhere. Take a little time, make a little effort, brighten your world and see just how quickly things improve.

So, March Forth on March Twenty-Fourth. Hold yourself to a higher standard today and ask more of yourself. Have an Attitude of Gratitude–it will take you a long way! Share this attitude with others. It’s contagious!

Help to make our world a much brighter place!

Chiropractic–Bringing Out The Best In You

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)–The Occupational Disease of the 21st Century

Do you have it? You may, if you have one or more of the following symptoms: tingling and numbness in the hand, fingers and wrist; swelling of the fingers; dry palms; blanching of the hand; and pain so intense that it awakens you at night with the possibility of similar symptoms in the upper arm, elbow, shoulder or neck. Millions of people now suffer from CTS and increasing numbers of them are seeking chiropractic care. The drug-free chiropractic approach of releasing nerve and spine stress by freeing your body of vertebral subluxations has been a blessing to millions afflicted with this condition.

Just about anyone can get CTS. Today, office workers, computer operators, musicians and assembly line workers - among others - are most prone to CTS. CTS is commonly found in pregnant women, women who use birth control pills or individuals with an under active thyroid.

The medical approach to CTS is to stop using the wrist in the same way by wearing a splint and immobilizing the joints. Resting the wrist, in addition to ice and medications, are also used. As many as 100,000 operations a year are performed for CTS and recovery from such surgery may take anywhere from six months to 10 years. Since the medical treatment for this condition is so often unsatisfactory, medical doctors have been recommending that patients consult experts in muscle and joint therapy for years.

Vertebral subluxations have been observed in many patients who have carpal tunnel syndrome. In fact, nerve compression in the neck can block the flow of nutrients to the nerves in the arm, shoulder, wrist and related areas, making them more susceptible to injury. Not surprisingly, when 1,000 cases of carpal tunnel syndrome were investigated, it was found that a large number of those suffering from CTS also had neck arthritis.

Anyone suffering from CTS should consult a chiropractor to ensure that their spine is free of spinal nerve stress. Chiropractic adjustments have made the difference for millions of people with CTS. It just may make the difference for you too.

Kid’s Health Concerns Related To Pelvic Subluxations

Journal of Vertebral Subluxation, October 18, 2004

Current research in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation revealed a relationship between children’s health concerns and subluxations of their pelvic bones.

The study involved 650 children, 327 boys and 323 girls, and compared the results of their physical examinations, x-rays, surface EMG, and thermograph tests along with their complaints (or the problems mentioned by their parents). The children were divided into three age groups for the study; 2-4, 5-12 and 13-18 years of age.

The results of the study allowed the authors to conclude the following:

• 96% of the children examined were found to have pelvic subluxations.
• As a result of these subluxations, the beginnings of spinal degeneration, commonly found later in life in adults, becomes evident very early in life.
• The children examined experienced numerous physical complaints such as: limb pain and numbness, low back and neck pain, growing pains, sinus problems, headaches, dizziness, stomach problems, bed-wetting, constipation, diarrhea, asthma, breathing problems, fatigue, colic, croup and menstrual cramps. Behavioral concerns included: ADHD, learning difficulties, temper, memory and sleeping problems. Immune complaints such as: allergies, colds, ear infections, fever, acne and throat complaints such as: sore throats, strep throat and tonsillitis were also noted.
• The complaints the children experienced were fully or partially the result of their bodies adapting to the negative neurological changes associated with the pelvic subluxations.
• A child’s developing nerve system will learn negative patterns of body movement and function that result from subluxations as easily as it will learn positive patterns when no subluxations are present. It is not always possible to distinguish "good" input from "bad" input.
• This nerve system learning process, involving body movement, body position awareness and posture, begins within a few months after birth.
• Chiropractic care should be started as soon as possible so that these negative body movement patterns, abnormal joint function, disc stress and early degenerative changes can be corrected as soon as possible.

Parents who often appreciate the importance of checkups for their child’s teeth, hearing, eyes, ears, nose and throat draw a blank when it comes to their child’s spine. In fact, a spinal checkup could be one of the most important checkups of your child’s life.

Get their spines checked regularly for vertebral subluxation and nerve system stress. Corrective chiropractic care gently realigns the misaligned vertebrae into its normal, healthy position and frees the nerve system from any interference and stress. This allows your child’s nerve system and immune system to strengthen and function properly. As a practicing chiropractor specializing in pediatrics, I find that adjusting children and removing stress to their nerve systems, ensures the best possible healthy and stress free futures.

Fascinating Facts To Think About

Did You Know?

• Potatoes that are damaged, have turned green or are sprouting, contain a toxic chemical called solanine. The amount of solanine increases if potatoes are exposed to light. At best, even small amounts of solanine will make you feel unwell. Potatoes are packed with nutrition as they supply fiber, B-complex vitamins, useful minerals and one third of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C.
• Anxious exercisers are more likely to get hurt, according to a new study from the University of Washington in Seattle. Researchers asked 46 ballerinas to fill out questionnaires assessing their anxiety levels. Eight months later, the most worried dancers were three times more likely to have been injured than the more relaxed ones. "Excessive worry causes muscle tension and an inability to concentrate, which can lead to injury," explained researcher Ronald smith, PhD.
• Overloading on animal protein increases the risk of osteoporosis because your body steals calcium from your bones to neutralize an acid created during the protein’s digestion. Women with high acid levels were much more likely to suffer from fractures than those with low levels, say University of California, San Francisco researchers. Lots of veggies need to be eaten with animal protein to bring down the acid level.
• Researchers from Harvard Medical School in Boston report that men who eat a lot of nuts seem to be resistant to sudden deaths from heart disease, especially such fatal arrhythmias as ventricular fibrillation. In fact, those who consumed the highest quantity of nuts, had the lowest risk for any heart related death - even after adjusting for age, exercising, blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes and alcohol. It is thought that alphalinolenic acid is responsible for a large portion of the healthy effects of nuts.
• How well is a new mother able to recognize the crying of her own baby? A study played tape recording sounds of the mother’s own baby crying, while the mother was sleeping. Eight out of ten times, the mother awakened immediately to the cry of her own baby. In a different test, the mothers awakened only half of that time when the crying baby was not their own.

After a trip to the emergency room, I finally realized that I needed to look for some other way, other than surgery, to help me improve my health.

I have been working in construction for over twenty-five years. Two years ago, I experienced an injury which left me with debilitating low back pain. After a trip to the hospital, lots of pain medication and more prescriptions to take home, I felt no better than when I arrived at the hospital. I was unable to work, play golf and play ball with my children. I knew that there had to be a better way for me to get healthy.

After speaking to a co-worker, I decided to see a chiropractor. At this point, I was willing to try anything that was safe and could possibly help me to feel good again and be healthy.

On my first visit, Dr. Petrice did a complete exam and told me that my spine was out of alignment and the vertebrae was pinching on the nerve, causing my pain. Dr. Petrice then explained to me how often I need to come for adjustments and that she was certain she could help me. Finally, there was hope that I would feel good again and be able to do things I love to do.

After three months of care, my pain is eighty percent relieved. I feel better everyday. With ongoing care, I look forward to feeling great again and correcting my spinal problem so that I can be healthy.

I want to thank the doctor and staff at Cambridge Chiropractic for supporting me on my journey to health. I couldn’t have done it without you, as well as chiropractic!–P. Holloway

Closing Thoughts...–with God

I dreamed I had an interview with God. "So you would like to interview me?" God asked. "If you have the time," I said.

God smiled. "My time is eternity. What questions do you have in mind for me?"

"What surprises you the most about humankind?" God answered... "That they get bored with childhood. They rush to grow up and then long to be children again."

"That they lose their health to make money and then lose their money to restore their health."

"That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget about the present, such that they live in neither the present nor the future."

"That they live as if they will never die, and die as if they have never lived." God’s hand took mine and we were silent for a while and then I asked...

"As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons you want your children to learn?" God replied with a smile, "To learn they cannot make anyone love them. What they can do, is let themselves be loved."

"To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others. To learn that a rich person is not one who has the most, but the one who needs the least."

"To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in the people we love, and it takes many years to heal them."

"To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness. To learn that there are persons who love them dearly, but simply do not know how to express or show their feelings."

"To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see it differently. To learn that it is not always enough that they be forgiven by others. But that they must forgive themselves."

"And to learn that I am here always."

It is time that you recognize how wonderful, powerful and perfect you already are. All of the answers you will ever need are right inside of you. All you need to do is trust your inner wisdom. Set your goals, raise your standards, and choose to show up as the "Best YOU Ever!" Decide to live in the present and live an "EXTRAORDINARY" life. Share this valuable information with those you care about so they can transform their lives too!