Holiday Driving Tips to Avoid Back & Neck Pain

Good posture while driving can help prevent common back and neck problems as well as protect against injury from whiplash. For long drives, it is important to remember that no one configuration of the car seat needs to be maintained during the whole trip. When we sleep at night in a comfortable bed, do we not change positions multiple times througout the evening? So why do we need to accept only one position in a car seat while driving, which is much more stressful than the horizontal sleeping position.

Experiment with adjusting your seat nearer or farther from the steering wheel to alleviate leg, foot, lower back, shoulder, and arm tensions which develop. Also try adjusting your seat by reclining it more or less, in addition to changing the angle of the bottom seat cushion. Of course, safety is of the utmost concern and no seat adjustment should interfere with your control of the vehicle or your front, side, and rear visiblitiy; however, you'd be surprised at the amazing latitude you have in adjusting your seat into different comfort positions while still maintaing your safely. This will allow you to shift your stress as needed to different bodily regions throughout your trip, minimizing discomfort in any one area.

If you have chronic lower back problems, reclining the driver's seat backward can alleviate stress on the lower discs. A lumbar support or small pillow can also be helpful, but different back conditions make some people feel better with an increased low back curve, while others experience aggravation of their pain. You will have to experiment with this for yourself. Remember though, if you do recline your car seat, your neck will have to be carried farther forward during your drive to maintain it's upright posture, and neck strain may result. So, oftentimes the attempt to preserve your lower back ends up irritating your neck.

Always be sure your headrest is adjusted so that it is raised at least as high as the tops of your ears, and there should be no more than a fist-width distance between your head and the headrest. This helps protect against whiplash injuries and even death in the case of an accident.

One final suggestion is that you make frequent stops, at least every two hours, and don't be shy about stretching during those breaks, to help your muscles release their tension from long maintained driving positions.

Wishing you a happy and healthy holiday season! Dr. Michael Ackerman

Should I Get Regular Mamograms or Prostate (PSA) Screening?

There has been a lot of controversy over the years in the medical profession regarding the efficacy and safety of having regular screening tests done for breast cancer and prostate cancer. It's important to understand the costs and benefits of choosing these tests in light of the latest research. The following articles give particularly clear and up-to-date opinions based upon their reviews of years of published research findings.

If your medical doctor is not aware of the statistics presented regarding these forms of cancer testing, it is up to you to take charge and present these findings to him/her before agreeing to regular mamography exams or PSA (prostate specific antigen) laboratory screening.

FOR MAMOGRAPHY OVERVIEW CLICK HERE

FOR LABORATORY PSA PROSTATE SCREENING CLICK HERE

The Awful Truth About Bottled Water

I just read an article sent to me by a friend about the health, social, and economic problems associated with drinking bottled water. I was apalled at the information presented, even though I had been aware of some of the issues before.

I am passing on this link in hopes of raising public awarness to the truly awful problems of using bottled water... please take a moment to read it and pass on this article to others who you think would appreciate it.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/09/26/why-is-water-the-next-empire.aspx?e_cid=20110926_DNL_art_1

Best Form of Exercise for Fat Loss

Over the last several decades, ideas have changed quite a bit regarding how best to workout in a way that will promote the most cardiovascular fitness and total fat loss. It used to be thought that low level, steady state exercise at the bottom of the margin of our aerobic training range (e.g. 65% of our maximum training heart rate for our age) would burn the most fat. It was believed that staying within such a completely "aerobic" range would result in the maximal use of oxygen by our muscles to ideally burn fat most efficiently. Conversely, it was also believed that exercising at higher heart rates involving more oxygen debt -- i.e., more breathlessness -- would result in proportionately more and more substitution of carbohydrates to be burned instead of purely fats.

Recent research, however, has begun to change these concepts in exercise. Interval training, inserted in the middle of lower level steady state activity, has been shown to boost fat burning significantly. Additionally, resistance exercise, at the level which induces a muscle "burn" feeling thereafter, also increases the amount of fat loss during exercise. The proper addition and combination of such mixed training modalities can increase fat loss up to 10 times the amount achieved by many forms of traditionally recommended exercise!

Thus, circuit training and the use of cardio conditioning interspersed with bursts of high intensity exercise are growing more popular now for an even wider population of fitness enthusiasts... not only are athletes who wish to condition for particular sports competition continuing to engage in them, but now joining those athletes are individuals who goals are solely to achieve weight loss and better overall health and physical fitness.

Here is a link to an excellent article on this new exercise model, and you can also Google "Metabolic Conditioning" of "Circuit Training" to learn more of the specific 'how-to's' for getting started on such a program.

http://www.townsendletter.com/July2011/exercise0711.html

Omega 3 Fish Oils Linked to a Lower Rate of Suicide

Fish oil contains to forms of Omega 3 fats which are very beneficial to the human body: EPA and DHA. For billions of years, life developed in the seas, and these critical fatty acids were prevalent and available for all the organisms that evolved over this great time span. Even when animals eventually came onto land, EPA and DHA were still present in their diets as grasses and plants often had sufficient levels. Only in the last hundred years or so, with the advent of more modern farming techniques for raising cattle, fowl, and even fish, the quantity of these Omega 3 fats has severely declined in our diets. Cattle, fowl, and fish are being fed diets high in grain and various derivatives which are very low in Omega 3 fats, and actually have high Omega 6 fat levels which produce many opposite and negative effects in the body! When humans consume these animals and fish our diets then become deficient in Omega 3 fats, and the Omega 3/Omega 6 fat ratio -- which used to be about 1:1 -- now is closer to 1:16!

Please look in my archives to read on all of the benefits of Omega 3 oils, or just do a google search to satisfy your curiosity. One new study, however, now links Omega 3 fat consumption with the incidence of suicide... specifically in military personnell.

Here is the link: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/24/news/la-heb-suicide-military-omega3-20110824

WHAT IS GOOD CARDIOVASCULAR EXERCISE?

Of all the muscles we try to exercise in our various fitness routines and strategies, we often fail to properly address our heart -- the most important of all muscles! A good cardiovascular routine needs to be well planned in order to provide adequate exercise intensity and volume for the heart, as well as to create the optimal metabolic changes in order to burn body fat and achieve ideal long-term physical health. How is this done?

Well, one answer comes from research which reported significant increases in the HDL (good cholesterol) levels in men that exercised at or above 75% of their maximum heart rate (maxHR), 3 times a week for 12 weeks. No changes in HDL were reported in the subjects that exercised at only 65% of their maxHR. This specifically shows that only after a certain exercise intensity level is reached, the body starts to manufacture the correct carrier proteins to bring cholesterol from its body stores to the liver to be “burned” or used up! Without such level of stimulation, exercise is helpful in other ways, but one’s cardiovascular health is not as significantly impacted.

To calculate your training heart rate, take the quantity (220-Your Age) and multiply it by 0.75 to get your target minimum training heart rate which will positively affect your HDL levels. For example, if you are 40 years old, take (220-40) X .75 = (180) X .75 = 135 beats per minute for your cardio training heart rate.

Important Note: If you are out of shape, start training at a lower heart rate level , say 65% of your maximum heart rate level, and then gradually build up to a 75% max heart rate level. A good rule of thumb is never exercise at a sustained level which has you breathing so hard that you cannot carry on a normal conversation. (I often recite a memorized poem to see if I can carry on a normal conversation.) When beginning exercise, also start with exercise duration of 5 or 10 or 20 minutes, and gradually add more time with succeeding sessions.

Exercise volume, however, has been found to be more important than exercise intensity. It was reported in studies that weekly total mileage was more important in raising HDL levels than was exercise intensity. Interestingly, a higher volume of exercise provided significant increases in HDL in a shorter period of time. This indicates that there may be a relationship between exercise volume and the length of the training program. Most of the exercise training studies identify a weekly mileage threshold of 7 to 10 miles/week for significant increases in HDL’s. This correlates with an average minimum work-out of 25 to 40 minutes, 3 times per week, at a gym on cardiovascular training equipment. If you are eventually able to exercise up to 60 minutes, it would be even better.

Important Tips on Stretching

Stretching is one of the most important tools for preventing injuries and maintaining optimal health and fitness. Chiropractic care combined with stretching is a winning combination. Both are essential for maintaining flexibility, while also treating and helping to prevent muscle stiffness, tightness, pain, and injuries. I often say that "Chiropractic therapy starts the healing process and helps you to be able to stretch, and stretching helps you to heal." This is because it is the re-introduction of movement into problem joints and muscles which stimulates the body to repair itself, restore circulation, and ultimately heal. Yoga or stretching by itself may by enough for the rare individual with a perfect spine, but for the 80% of the rest of us, chiropractic care unlocks the magic and full potential of stretching by removing inflammation and blockages, allowing the full function and participation of all necessary joints during a movement. Alone, many people -- and even instructors -- find yoga and stretching insufficient or even damaging if done without a proper check of spinal function from a chiropractic doctor.

When muscles are not stretched on a regular basis they become tighter, shorter, stiffer, and limit our range of motion. If stretching is not used to offset these decreases in flexibility, then the changes can become permanent and further muscle and joint problems will result. Believe it or not, stretching can also increase muscle strength. By lengthening a muscle, much like stretching a rubber band, each of the muscle fibers have a potentially greater distance over which a contraction can take place, and more strength can be generated. Stretching is therefore also known as “preloading” a muscle.

Ideally, muscles should be stretched every day, especially after exercising, and it is a good idea to do some light stretching during and after prolonged periods of sitting, sleeping, or other stationary activities. Unfortunately, most people rarely stretch and only realize the importance of stretching after they develop muscle problems. Frequent stretching alone can prevent many aches and pains, and virtually every muscle problem involving pain or imbalance is impacted in some way by our existing level of flexibility.

The most common method of stretching involves carefully moving very slowly inch by inch into a progressive lengthening of a muscle, without any form of bouncing. You should move slow enough to “sneak-up” on a muscle, so it doesn’t try to fight against you. Such a stretch should be done for at least 30 to 60 seconds, if you want a lasting effect. The biggest mistake most people make is they stretch a muscle for too little time, resulting in no permanent length change. If you have tight muscles, you should stretch those muscles at least 2 or 3 times per day, while other muscles should still be stretched at least once a day.

If you exercise, by far the most important time to perform static stretching is after your activity. This is the time when your muscles are tightest and if they are not stretched, they will remain in a shortened position. Over time this results in increased soreness and recovery time after exercise, decreased flexibility, and muscle imbalances. It is also important to note that the stronger you are, the tighter your muscles can get and the more they need to be stretched.

It is a good idea to perform stretches after your muscles are warmed up, because they will be more pliable and you can stretch them further. So if you do some stretches in the morning, its best to do them after you’ve been up and moving for a while, or after showering. You should also make minor changes in your body position to target the parts of your muscle that are tightest, as this will improve the effectiveness of all stretches.
Stretching should make your muscles feel better, and if pain persists after you’ve stretched, it could indicate you may have not targeted the appropriate muscle or region within the muscle to stretch, or you may have coexisting joint or nerve inflammation which your chiropractor can address.

If you are not in pain, well you have probably heard the expression that an ‘ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’, and that certainly applies to stretching. But for people who have lived with pain for some time, stretching is an essential part of a rehabilitation program for restoring proper balance, stability, and strength, while helping to return you to a lifestyle which is fully active and pain free.

HOW TO GAIN MUSCLE AFTER AGE 40

Here is a good article on the three factors one should consider in embarking on a fitness program in which you wish to gain muscle mass.

http://www.healthtopics.com/inner.php?aid=2828

Of course, when designing your conditioning program, remember that it is most important to include cardiovascular exercise which is designed to keep the heart muscle toned, your circulatory system functioning at its optimal level, and your body fat down to a minimum.

Research has also reported significant increases in HDL (good cholesterol) levels in men that exercised at or above 75% of their maximum heart rate (maxHR), 3 times a week for 12 weeks. No changes in HDL were reported in the subjects that exercised at 65% maxHR. To calculate your training heart rate, take the quantity (220-Your Age) and multiply it by 0.75 to get your target minimum training heart rate which will positively affect your HDL levels. For example, if you are 40 years old, take (220-40) X .75 = (180) X .75 = 135 beats per minute for your training heart rate.

Important Note: If you are out of shape, start training at a lower heart rate level to gradually build up to a 75% max heart rate level. A good rule of thumb is never exercise at a sustained level which has you breathing so hard that you cannot carry on a normal conversation. When beginning exercise, also start with exercise duration of 5 or 10 or 20 minutes, and gradually add more time with succeeding sessions.

Research has also shown that exercise volume is even more important than exercise intensity. It was reported that weekly total mileage was more important in raising HDL levels than was exercise intensity. Interestingly, a higher volume of exercise provided significant increases in HDL in a shorter period of time. This indicates that there may be a relationship between exercise volume and the length of the training program. Most of the exercise training studies identify a weekly mileage threshold of 7 to 10 miles/week for significant increases in HDL’s. This correlates with an average minimum work-out of 25 to 40 minutes, 3 times per week, at a gym on cardiovascular training equipment. If you are eventually able to exercise up to 60 minutes, it would be even better.