VOLUME 28 -6 - Posture

Health Tips

Too Many Posture Pitfalls:
A Day in the Life of a Working Mom- Sandy Smith woke up to the annoying and familiar sound of the alarm clock. It was another day and the beginning of another hectic week. She rolled from her stomach onto her back and unburied herself from beneath the old, down-filled, pillows. Sandy reached over and pressed the snooze button in an attempt to steal five more minutes of peace. As Sandy stretched, she felt the pain, a stiff ache that had unfortunately loomed over her body every morning for quite some time.

Once out of bed, Sandy leaned over and tried to concentrate on making the perfect hospital corners. She slightly lifted the large, squishy mattress, and tucked the corners just right, trying to ignore her stiff muscles and joints. She shuffled into the bathroom and brought her toothbrush to her mouth. Hunched over the sink, trying to avoid the tired reflection staring back at her, Sandy brushed her teeth. Her motions were slow this morning, and she had no time to concern herself with a little pain.

"Here they come," Sandy thought to herself as she heard the pitter-patter of four little feet running down the hallway. The kids were awake, eager to begin the day. Sandy threw on a skirt and sweater, pulling her brown high heels out from the back of the closet.

"Ow," Sandy exclaimed. The pain in her back sent a sharp signal to her brain that the day was not going to run smoothly. She clomped down the hall to retrieve the hairbrush stuck in her daughter's long hair, and her feet found Barbie. Her heels had little traction and she grabbed the banister for support.

Realizing she was late, Sandy bent over to scoop up her 2-year-old. Her back seemed to yell at her, and she suddenly realized her toddler was becoming heavier every day.

After cereal and burnt toast, Sandy marched her girls to the bus stop and waved good-bye as she turned toward her car, angry with herself for sleeping those five extra minutes. She would have to face Monday morning gridlock and suddenly felt the beginning of a headache that would stay with her all day.

"I love Mondays," Sandy said to herself as she sat in traffic. She reached for her cell phone, cradling it between her neck and head. Her conference call would need to be conducted in the car, and her headache only worsened.

Thirty minutes later, Sandy pulled into her parking place. She sprang from her car, heaved her over-stuffed leather bag over her shoulder, and scurried through the office doors.

MONDAY MADNESS
Sandy's Monday morning was filled with telephone calls and last minute deadlines. She tried to type and talk at the same time, constantly crossing and re-crossing the left leg over the right. She began breathing erratically when she realized her deadline would not be met. The lunch hour was approaching, and it suddenly occurred to Sandy that she had not taken a break all morning. Her computer screen appeared blurry and her wrists were stiff.

The remainder of Sandy's day was much of the same, and she could not wait to take off her shoes. After skipping lunch and sitting through meetings, Sandy drug herself to her car, threw her bag in the back seat and started the stressful trek home. That night, after the kids devoured dinner, Sandy longed for a long hot shower. The girls were in the bathtub, and she winced as she reached over to carefully lift her toddler onto the floor. By this time, her neck and joints screamed in pain and Sandy wanted nothing more than to climb into bed.

It was eleven at night and Sandy was finally lying down. Her bed and pillows did not seem comfortable, and she felt for only an instant that her neck needed a little more support. She drifted off to sleep out of sheer exhaustion.

A NEW DAY
Does Sandy remind you of anyone? The more stressful our lives become, the less we focus on the "moment." When we aren't conscious of how we sleep, breathe, stand, lift, bend or sit, our bodies can take a beating that results in lingering pain. We often avoid the early signs of discomfort we feel in our back, shoulders or neck until we are unable to ignore the pain. By reading the tips below, you can learn to make even the busiest days pain free.

• When you wake in the morning, start the day with a couple of stretches. Stand up and stretch your arms above your head. Do the "hug your best friend." Wrap your arms around your body, and turn as far as you can to the left, then to the right.
• When performing everyday routines such as brushing your teeth, remember your posture. Do not hunch over the sink; stand up straight.
• Don't bend from the waist when you lift a child. Squat with your back straight. Keep the child close to you and use your arms and legs to lift. · Hold the telephone with your hand or use the speakerphone. Cradling the phone between your head and shoulder can lock up the spinal joints in the neck and upper back, eventually causing pain.
• While in the office, make sure your chair fits correctly. There should be two inches between the front edge of your seat and the back of your knees. The chair should tilt back so you are able to rest while reading from a computer screen.
• Many people suffer from tension headaches. Adequate lighting and document holders by your computer can help reduce the risk of a headache. Materials placed on a desk cause you to constantly raise and lower your neck while you're typing at your keyboard.
• Do not wear high heels. The weight of the foot is not evenly distributed, which not only causes sore feet, but also added spinal stress.
• Do not carry a heavy bag with its strap over your shoulder, unless you place the strap over your head on the side opposite the bag. Wearing a shoulder strap over one shoulder unevenly places the weight of the bag on one side of the body, potentially causing shoulder and back pain. Or better yet, carry a bag with a handle rather than a strap.
• Do not consistently cross the same knee over the other. This habit can eventually cause misalignment of the spine.
• Even if you remain sitting for the majority of your workday, you deserve a break. Get up from your desk and move around, stretching arms and legs as much as possible to avoid postural and spinal stress. Try to practice deep and even breathing to keep yourself calm and keep adequate oxygen flowing through your system.
• Bath time can be fun for the kids but stressful on any parent. Make certain to bend from the waist and not the back when bathing your children. Use your legs when you lift your child.
• It is important to get a good night's rest. Choose a comfortable mattress and pillow that adequately support the weight of your head and body.

In The News
ACA Applauds New Ear Infection Guidelines, But Recommends Manual Therapy Before Drugs Or Surgery
The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) praised the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) for releasing new, conservative guidelines for treating children with ear inflammation this week, but added that chiropractic care is a good first option to treat the condition without the use of drugs or surgery. The AAP guidelines indicate that, because at least 75 percent of "silent" ear infections clear up on their own within three months, "watchful waiting" is the preferred method of handling the condition, with medical intervention only recommended for those cases that persist for more than three months. "Particularly when dealing with young children, drugs and surgery should be an absolute last resort," said ACA President Donald Krippendorf, DC. "Doctors of chiropractic have been treating children for decades with great success - helping them avoid painful ear infections, antibiotic overuse and resistance, and ear tube surgery." The second most frequent childhood illness after the common cold, ear infections account for more than 30 million doctor visits each year, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Even more startling, the CDC estimates at least 6 million courses of unnecessary antibiotics are prescribed each year for the condition, and that a third of all antibiotics taken on an outpatient basis in the United States are unnecessary. According to Dr. Krippendorf, "The ACA is pleased that a medical organization such as the American Academy of Pediatrics is advocating restraint against unnecessary drugs and surgeries, especially for our nation's children. Not only are antibiotics and other drugs often prescribed unnecessarily, but they often carry side effects not involved with chiropractic manipulation." Among other supportive research that has come forth, a 1996 study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics indicates that limitation of medical intervention and the addition of chiropractic care may decrease the symptoms of ear infections in young children, noting a 93 percent rate of improvement in cases of childhood ear infection/discomfort as a result of chiropractic care. The study also determined that those patients who had not previously used antibiotics required even fewer chiropractic treatments to relieve their symptoms.

Study: Breast-Feeding Helps Cholesterol By EMMA ROSS LONDON (AP) - Giving support to advocates of breast-feeding, new research bolsters the theory that rapid growth in infancy, encouraged by enriched infant formulas, might increase the risk of heart disease and stroke later in life. The study, described this week in The Lancet medical journal, found the cholesterol profile was 14 percent better in adolescents who had been fed breast milk as babies, compared with those fed formula. The conclusion is the latest to come out of 20 years of research indicating that conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes could be influenced by a baby's growth rate. All those conditions are linked to heart disease.

``These findings considerably strengthen the view that nutrition in the womb and in newborn children has a substantial influence on the risk of coronary heart disease later in life,'' said Dr. Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director of the British Heart Foundation, which was not connected with the research. He said the study provides ``very strong evidence'' that babies fed breast milk rather than formula will grow up to have significantly lower levels of bad cholesterol. Cholesterol plays a central role in the clogging of arteries, which leads to heart attacks and strokes. During the investigation, conducted by scientists at the Institute of Child Health in London, 216 pre-term babies born in the 1980s were fed either donated breast milk, pre-term formula or regular formula. Pre-term formula is more enriched with nutrients than regular formula. The babies remained in the studies until they weighed about 4 1/2 pounds or were sent home, which occurred on average four weeks after birth. The scientists checked the cholesterol levels and other blood profiles involved in heart disease when the children became teenagers. Among the measures were the ratio of ``bad'' LDL cholesterol to ``good'' HDL cholesterol and the concentrations of c-reactive protein, which rises in the presence of inflammation involved with hardening of the arteries.

The adolescents who were given breast milk in infancy had a 14 percent lower ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol and lower concentrations of the inflammation protein than those who got either type of formula in infancy. ``A reduction of LDL cholesterol in the range observed in this study (14 percent) would be expected to lower heart disease risk by about the same amount,'' said Dr. Edward Fisher, American Heart Association spokesman and director of the Lipid Treatment and Research Program at New York University School of Medicine. There was no difference in the blood results between the children who were given either pre-term or regular formula. ``The findings ... suggest that infant nutrition permanently affects the (cholesterol) profile later in life, and specifically that breast milk feeding has a beneficial effect,'' said lead investigator Dr. Atul Singhal of the Institute of Child Health. The idea that fast infant growth may be a bad idea seems to contradict current public health recommendations, which strongly support the promotion of infant growth. However, the scientists said that - at least for pre-term babies - the benefits of slow growth for heart disease and other related disorders would have to be weighed against the danger that slow growth can pose to brain development. ``Promotion of faster growth might prove advantageous overall for infants in developing countries where rapid early weight gain has short-term health benefits,'' the scientists said. ``Although we do not advocate nutrition restriction in infancy on the basis of current evidence, further research is now of high priority,'' they said.

CDC: Folic Acid Helps Limit Birth Defects
By DANIEL YEE ATLANTA (AP) -

Severe brain and spinal birth defects have dropped 27 percent in the United States since the government in 1998 began requiring makers of cereal, pasta, bread and flour to fortify their foods with folic acid, health authorities reported Thursday. Folic acid is known to reduce the risk of spina bifida and anencephaly, which are also called neural tube defects. Before fortification, about 4,130 babies had such neural tube defects each year in the United States, and nearly 1,200 died. After fortification, the yearly average dropped to about 3,000, with 840 deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Spina bifida cases dropped 31 percent, and anencephaly cases fell 16 percent, the CDC said. Early in pregnancy, the neural tube creates the brain, skull and spine.

In spina bifida, the neural tube fails to close properly at the lower end. It can cause paralysis of the legs or result in the loss of bowel or bladder control. Anencephaly is a fatal condition in which the brain never completely develops or is absent. It is caused by the failure of the neural tube to close at the upper end. Since 1992, the U.S. Public Health Service has recommended that women of childbearing age get 400 micrograms of folic acid daily, whether through enriched foods or supplements or both. Yet only 30 percent to 35 percent of women in this age group take folic acid supplements, said Jenny Williams, a CDC researcher. And only 37 percent of doctors tell women to do so, she added. ``We know that we could avert another 1,000 neural tube defects if all women of childbearing age consumed 400 micrograms of folic acid daily,'' Williams said.

Study: American Pesticide Levels Are High
By TERENCE CHEA SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -
Many U.S. residents carry unhealthy levels of pesticides in their bodies, with children, women and Mexican Americans disproportionately exposed to the toxic chemicals, according to a study to be released Tuesday. The Pesticide Action Network analyzed data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a study of more than 2,648 people tested for levels of 34 pesticides, the environmental group said.

The PAN study - called ``Chemical Trespass: Pesticides in Our Bodies and Corporate Accountability'' - found that a large percentage of people who had their blood and urine tested carried pesticides above levels considered safe by government health and environmental agencies. ``The pesticide body burden data represents a failure of our approach to how we protect people from toxic pesticides,'' said Kristin Schafer, the study's lead author and PAN's program coordinator. ``We really hope that it will help us move toward a different system of how we control pests in agriculture and all other areas.'' San Francisco-based PAN, which advocates for alternatives to pesticide use for pest control, found that the average person in the study carried 13 of the 23 pesticides they evaluated. Many of the pesticides have been linked to infertility, birth defects, cancer and other serious health ailments, said Margaret Reeves, a senior scientist at PAN. ``A growing body of research suggests that even at very low levels, the combination of these chemicals can be harmful to our health,'' Reeves said. The PAN study found that children between 6 and 11 years old were exposed to the nerve-damaging pesticide chlorpyrifos at four times the level deemed acceptable by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Chlorpyrifos is designed to kill insects by disrupting the nervous system. ``It does appear to have some validity,'' said Francis B. Suhre, of the EPA. ``The crux of the matter is what does it all mean and is it reflecting past effects as opposed to current. At first blush, it requires further screening.'' The study said one company - Dow Chemical Corp. - was responsible for 80 percent of the chlorpyrifos in Americans' bodies. The figure was derived from the amount of the chemical in the bodies of the people tested and a ``conservative estimate of Dow's market share,'' said Skip Spitzer, a program coordinator for PAN and one of the study's authors.

Dow spokesman Garry Hamlin confirmed the company is the largest manufacturer of the pesticide in the country, but said the pesticide leaves the body quickly without doing harm. He said the CDC has noted that the measurement of an environmental chemical in a person's blood or urine does not mean that the chemical causes disease. ``Chlorpyrifos is widely used, and studies by the Centers for Disease Control suggest that people are exposed to chlorpyrifos at very tiny levels. ... When people are exposed, the product breaks down readily and is eliminated from the body in a matter of days,'' he said. The report said that women carry ``significantly'' higher levels of three pesticides called organochlorines known to reduce birth weight and disrupt brain development in infants. PAN's analysis also found that Mexican Americans carried higher levels of chemicals linked to the insecticides lindane, DDT and methyl parthion than other ethnic groups.

The PAN study didn't reveal why certain groups were more exposed to certain chemicals because the CDC data didn't include information about where the test subjects lived or what kinds of jobs they held. People are thought to ingest pesticides through air, water and food. CDC spokeswoman Stephanie Creel said the center would not comment on the findings because it did not participate in the analysis. PAN researchers believe pesticide makers should be held responsible for the ``pesticide body burden'' and its financial and health impacts. ``There's a case to be made that the primary responsibility for these pesticides in our bodies lies with the folks that manufacture and market them,'' Schafer said. The study recommends that Congress investigate corporate responsibility for pesticide contamination, an EPA ban on using hazardous pesticides, and requiring manufacturers to demonstrate that a pesticide doesn't harm human health before using it.

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Depression, Anxiety, Stress, Mood Swings, ADHD, and other emotional and neurologic disorders. Contact the doctor and ask about new research on these items.

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The Rear End Collision

These are becoming more frequent now and you need to know what to do if you are hit from behind or slip into someonw else. Follow these simple rules if you are involved in a car accident and are not hospitalized:

• Stay calm and reduce movements of the spine
• Ice packs on the spine and neck for 5 minutes per hour will help for the first few days
• See your chiropractic physician right away - He is the only provider trained to evlauate spinal subluxations

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