Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week: “We are born believing. A man bears beliefs as a tree bears apples.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Topic of the Week: Take a Healthy Bite of Apple

The apple is one of the world’s most popular fruits. Originating in Asia, it may be the first tree fruit cultivated by humans, as historical records indicate it was widely available in the ancient cultures of the world thousands of years ago. It did not arrive in North America until Europeans brought it when colonization began in the 17th century. Today, China and the United States are the world’s largest suppliers of apples with nearly 60 million tonnes harvested annually. While there are more than 7,000 varieties, only a small number of apple types are grown in large quantities.
Despite its long history, the apple’s health properties have only come to light in the last couple of decades. Like many fruits and vegetables, the apple contains health promoting nutrients, such as vitamin C. However, scientists believe the benefits may be only marginally related to vitamins. Other substances within the fruit may deliver a bigger contribution to health.

Good for Brain and Body
The main therapeutic roles apples play in human health are helping to prevent some type of cancers, lowering cholesterol and improving brain health. They even have been shown to increase longevity in some laboratory experiments.

Cancer and Colitis
The apple’s levels of phytochemicals may provide an immune boosting and cancer repelling effect. In a study of colon cancer, researchers treated cancer cells with either an extract derived from the flesh of the apple or its peel.
The cells coated with the fruit flesh extract showed cancer cells inhibited by 29 percent but the cells coated with apple peel extract repressed the cancer cells by a surprising 43 percent, suggesting the apple's highest levels of antioxidant polyphenols are in its peel.
Another study indicates apples can assist the immune system. Research on mice presents evidence apple polyphenols were able to significantly reduce inflammation associated with the auto-immune disease colitis.

Cholesterol
Your heart can reap advantages of a diet rich in apples. The University of Florida conducted a cholesterol study on women aged 45 to 65. The women were divided into two groups, with one group consuming dried apples daily for one year and the other group eating dried prunes daily for the same amount of time. Blood samples were taken from all the women at the 3, 6 and 12 month intervals during the study. At the six month mark, scientists discovered the apple eating group saw their bad (LDL) cholesterol slashed by 23 percent.

Brain Health
Can apples slow the progress of dementia related conditions like Alzheimer’s disease? Some studies suggest apple juice consumption may have a positive outcome.
Laboratory research demonstrated mice that were fed apple juice could better navigate mazes, had improved cognitive function and registered less oxidative damage to their brains.
A 2009 study published by the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease reported that 2 cups of apple juice consumed over 1 month lowered levels of beta amyloid, which is a protein responsible for creating senility plaques in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
However, a 2010 study on Alzheimer’s revealed that apple juice only elevated the mood of affected patients but had no impact on alleviating their dementia symptoms.
While apples do show promise in slowing the progress neurological conditions, more scientific study is needed.

Muscle Weakening
Muscle wasting is a common effect of aging and illness. With this condition, the muscles become progressively weaker. The cause of this problem still baffles scientists, but genetics are suspected to have an influence. Scientists extracted ursolic acid from apple peels and then fed the substance to mice. After several weeks of receiving the extract, the mice had increased muscle mass. The researchers believe the results occurred because the compound caused better insulin communication to the muscles and repaired genes connected to muscle atrophy.

A Longer Life?
“An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” according to the old saying but could apples delay death’s arrival? In lab experiments, fruit flies that ingested apple polyphenols showed a 10% increase in lifespan. The probable reason? The antioxidants have the ability to counteract chemical substances responsible for age-related decline.
Although extremely healthy, the apple does have a negative side. It is listed at #1 in the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen – a list of the most pesticide contaminated fruits and vegetables. According to its website, the organization says 98% of apples in the US contain pesticide residue. You may want to opt for organic apples instead.

Disclaimer: Information contained in The Wellness ExpressTM newsletter is for educational and general purposes only and is designed to assist you in making informed decisions about your health. Any information contained herein is not intended to substitute advice from your physician or other healthcare professional. Copyright © - The Wellness ExpressTM

Exercise of the Week: Plank Position - One Foot on Exercise Ball

Difficulty: Moderate

Start: Lie on ball, face down. Walk hands out to assume plank position with lower legs (shins) or feet on ball. The closer the ball is to feet, the more difficult the exercise. Keep stomach tucked in and spine straight.

Exercise: Keeping abdominals contracted and upper body still, lift one foot/leg straight up. Hold this finish position for 10-15 seconds. Switch legs. Hold for another 10-15 seconds. Place foot back on ball and walk hands back to rest position. Repeat 2-3 times.

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week: The contented man is never poor; the discontented never rich. ~ George Eliot

Exercise of the Week: Plank Position – Feet on Exercise Ball

Exercise of the Week: Plank Position – Feet on Exercise Ball

Difficulty: Easy to Moderate

Start: Lie on back, face down. Place hands on floor and lift both legs to position body in a push up (plank) position. Keep stomach tucked in and spine straight.

Exercise: Walk hands forward, maintaining a steady plank position – go out as far as you can without losing straight body position. Most difficult position: only feet are left on ball. Hold at whatever finish position you can achieve for 15-30 seconds. Walk hands back to start position.

Topic of the Week: The Healing Effects of Traction

Introduction

Spinal traction is a type of manual therapy in which parts of your spinal column (i.e., your vertebrae) are gently pulled away from each other, which creates a small separation in the joint surfaces between your spinal bones. Spinal traction is a simple and effective healing technique that has been used by chiropractors since the profession’s earliest days to help mobilize spinal joint tissues and promote optimal spine health.

Spinal traction may be particularly helpful in treating cervical and lumbar spine problems and traction therapy may produce even better results when it is used in combination with chiropractic adjustments. According to Dr. David Petersen, author of Chiropractic Technique, traction techniques are believed to assist chiropractic adjustments by relieving joint compression, allowing your spine’s supporting tissues to fully rest, and opening your intervertebral foramina, or the gaps though which your spinal nerve roots - offshoots of your spinal cord - pass.

How it Works
Spinal traction is, in most cases, a painless procedure that may be performed manually (i.e., by your doctor) or mechanically, using a mechanized table or device. Some chiropractors may use a combination of manual and mechanical techniques to achieve specific treatment results. Traction can be static (i.e., without movement) or rhythmic and fast or slow, and it can involve either strong or gentle forces.

Spinal traction typically involves three distinct movement phases or grades of movement. The first phase produces little apparent joint gapping, or separation, as only enough traction is applied to match the compressive forces – from your muscles and adhesive internal joint structures – acting on your spinal joints. The second phase produces a tightening in the tissues that surround and protect your joints as “slack” in your joints is taken up. The final phase of spinal traction, which requires more force than the previous two phases, produces a therapeutic stretching effect on the tissues that cross your spinal joints.

Treatment Goals
The principle treatment goal of spinal traction is to create prolonged or intermittent separation of your spinal joints to achieve normal and pain-free spinal ranges of motion (i.e., to be able to bend and twist your spine in all directions without experiencing pain). Other important treatment goals for spinal traction include: decreasing muscle spasms, restoring proper tissue tone and pliability, correcting muscle imbalances, and stabilizing unstable spinal segments.

Effects of Traction
Spinal traction may produce numerous beneficial health effects, notes Peterson, such as therapeutic stretching of the muscles and ligaments that protect your spine, reduced restrictions in your spine’s facet joints (the joints that allow for the greatest range of motion in your spine), increased circulation, or blood flow, to your spine and its supporting structures, and favorable alterations in spinal disc pressures. Other beneficial effects of spinal traction may include pain relief, reduced spinal compression forces, and improved venous and lymphatic flow.

Who Can Benefit From Traction?
Your chiropractor can counsel you on your specific health problem and whether you might be a good candidate for spinal traction. Spine-related problems that may benefit from traction techniques include disc protrusion, degenerative disc disease, and joint dysfunction.

A study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics states that spinal traction, in combination with specific exercises and chiropractic adjustments, can have a positive effect on tension headaches.

Another study, published in 2000 in the journal Manual Therapy, notes that spinal traction is likely to help patients experiencing acute (i.e., less than 6 week’s duration) radicular pain – pain that radiates along the sensory distribution of a nerve and is caused by a problem in your lumbar spine, such as a disc herniation or bone spur - with accompanying neurological problems. Traction therapy may be particularly helpful for elderly individuals, especially when high-velocity, low-amplitude chiropractic adjustments may not be appropriate.

Disclaimer: Information contained in The Wellness ExpressTM newsletter is for educational and general purposes only and is designed to assist you in making informed decisions about your health. Any information contained herein is not intended to substitute advice from your physician or other healthcare professional. Copyright © - The Wellness ExpressTM

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week: “Every choice you make has an end result.” ~Zig Ziglar

Exercise of the Week: Hamstring Curls Supine, Hips Held Motionless

Difficulty: Easy to Moderate

Start: Lie on back, lower legs resting on ball, knees straight. Hands can rest on hips with elbows touching floor. Press down into ball with legs, lifting hips until entire body is in a straight position, feet to shoulders. Stabilize with stomach tucked in and hold.

Exercise: Roll ball toward buttocks using both feet. As ball comes closer to buttocks, hips should keep still, neither rising, falling or tilting to Curl legs to sides. Curl legs to 90 degrees & hold for 2 counts. Return to starting position, maintaining a tight abdomen throughout. Repeat 5-10 times.

Topic of the Week: Is Fat-Fighting Fat a Solution for Obesity?

It seems counter intuitive, but science believes manipulating body fat may be a vital new weapon in the battle against obesity. This knowledge has only come to light in the last five years because of technological advances in medical imaging equipment.

Why Do We Have Body Fat?
Your body contains fat throughout, including under the skin and around the internal organs. What is the purpose of body fat? It is primarily a storage area for lipids – molecules that consist of fat, sterols and vitamins that your body uses to create energy. Visceral fat in the abdominal area also helps protect internal organs from injury.

Too Much of a Good Thing
Unfortunately, many of us today are carrying too much body fat, especially visceral fat around the abdomen. This increases our risk of developing health problems. Visceral fat increases inflammation, which is linked to heart disease.

It also surges the levels of hormones and makes you more likely to become resistant to insulin – a problem closely associated with type 2 diabetes. Abdominal body fat is a risk factor for fatty liver disease, which can eventually cause damage to this organ. About 23% of obese people will develop the inflammatory inducing version of this disease.

The circumference of your waist is a good indicator of the proper range of visceral body fat for you. For women, the waistline should be less than 35 inches (88 cm). For men, the waist measurement should be less than 40 inches (102 cm).

White Fat. Brown Fat
Fat cells can be white or brown. White fat is more widespread whereas brown fat is found mostly in the neck and chest. Until recently, scientists believed brown fat disappeared in humans after infancy but new medical imaging proves brown fat continues to exist into adulthood.

The amount of brown fat varies from one person to another, but it is generally more prevalent in young women and least common in older, overweight men.

The Science of Brown Fat
Unlike white fat, which stores energy, brown fat burns energy (calories). In fact, one study reported three ounces of brown fat can burn several hundred calories a day.

Scientists are investigating possible ways that brown fat’s metabolic effect can be used to develop treatments for obesity. Along with changes to diet and lifestyle, curbing appetite has usually been the treatment path of traditional medicine. Now health experts have an alternate therapeutic approach with brown fat.

The key to making it successful is to find ways for the body to produce more brown fat without creating any dangerous upsets to the body’s regular metabolic functions.

In research recently published in the journal Nature Medicine, scientists manipulated the body’s chemical pathway responsible for converting vitamin A (retinols) into retinoic acid. Retinols play a vital role in the development of fat cells. By controlling this process, the research scientists were able to force fat-storing white cells to mimic the energy burning properties of brown fat cells.

We know hormones play an essential role in determining body fat in humans. Science has learned obese people are deficient in a hormone known as orexin. In laboratory experiments, researchers discovered this hormone actually signals brown fat to burn calories. In the future, obese patients could receive orexin hormonal treatments to reduce body weight.

Although it may be an excellent tool for weight loss, brown fat still requires much more scientific scrutiny and testing before it is ready to be used as a common treatment for weight loss. Doctors have been able to successfully grow human brown fat cells in a laboratory dish after removing a sample of brown fat from a surgery patient’s neck. However, researchers note that it is unlikely brown fat therapy in itself would be enough to counteract obesity without including sufficient exercise and good dietary practices as well. Are you struggling with too much body fat? Talk to your chiropractor about how you can improve your chances of winning your weight battle with proper exercise and diet.

Disclaimer: Information contained in The Wellness ExpressTM newsletter is for educational and general purposes only and is designed to assist you in making informed decisions about your health. Any information contained herein is not intended to substitute advice from your physician or other healthcare professional. Copyright © - The Wellness ExpressT

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week: The goal of spiritual practice is full recovery, and the only thing you need to recover from is a fractured sense of self. ~ Marianne Williamson

Exercise of the Week: Hamstring Curls Supine, Hips in Neutral Position

Difficulty: Moderate

Start: Lie on back, lower legs resting on ball, knees straight. Hands can rest on hips with elbows touching floor. Press down into ball with legs, lifting hips until entire body is in a straight position, feet to shoulders. Stabilize with stomach tucked in and hold.

Exercise: Roll ball toward buttocks using both feet. As ball comes closer to buttocks, hips should rise but not bend, keeping a straight line between knees, hips and shoulders. Curl legs to 90 degrees & hold for 2 counts. Return to starting position, maintaining a tight abdomen throughout. Repeat 5-10 times.

Topic of the Week: Fractures and Chiropractic Care

Introduction
Bone fractures, or broken bones, are often caused by a forceful impact to or repetitive stress on one of your bones, and fractures can be debilitating, affecting your ability to perform your usual activities of daily living. Motor vehicle accidents, falls, and direct blows experienced during sports activities are among the leading causes of fractures, notes the University of Maryland Medical Center. Repetitive activities and certain diseases or underlying health problems can also cause fractures. Fractures are particularly common among older individuals. According to 2004 study published in the journal Bone, hip, wrist, and upper humerus, or upper arm, fractures are the most common fracture types in both men and women over 55.

Types of Fractures
Fractures can be classified in several different ways, including by cause (traumatic vs. pathological) and anatomical location (i.e., the specific location in your body in which the fracture occurs). Pathologic fractures, unlike those fractures caused by trauma, require a deeper investigation to determine the true underlying cause of your break. Pathologic fractures are caused by diseases that weaken bone, such as osteoporosis, cancer, infection, and certain inherited bone disorders.

Fractures are also classified by how your bone breaks, and whether your broken bone pierces your skin. Injuries in which your broken bone pierces your skin are called compound fractures, whereas injuries that involve a fracture of your bone only (without piercing your skin or damaging nearby tissues) are called simple fractures. Fractures can be complete (bone fragments are completely separated), incomplete (bone fragments are still partially connected), comminuted (bone breaks into many pieces), spiral, oblique, linear, or transverse.

Compression fractures, which involve the collapse of a vertebra, most commonly occur in the lower thoracic and upper lumbar spines, and in postmenopausal women.

A 2004 article published in the journal American Family Physician states that vertebral compression fractures affect about 25 percent of postmenopausal American women. The authors also note that the prevalence of vertebral compression fractures in postmenopausal women increases with age, up to 40 percent in women who are 80 years of age. Vertebral compression factors are a serious problem affecting spine health in older men and women.

Signs and Symptoms
Fractures may cause extreme pain, swelling, and bruising in your affected area, and they may involve a visibly misshapen joint or body segment. A broken bone may cause numbness and tingling, and you may be unable to move your injured limb or body part.

In some cases, a fracture may be difficult to distinguish from a dislocated bone, though both are true health emergencies and should be treated immediately by a qualified healthcare professional.

Re-establishing normal physical activity routines as soon as possible after a fracture heals is extremely important, especially in older adults who suffer a hip fracture. According to a study published in American Journal of Public Health, the general health of older individuals declines after hip fractures, so every effort should be made to regain full function to avoid health complications. Your chiropractor can recommend specific therapeutic exercises and activities that can accelerate your recovery and he or she can guide you toward a full and healthy return to your usual activities of daily living.

Chiropractic Treatment Approaches
Your chiropractor may use several gentle treatment methods to promote healing of your injured bone and other tissues during the immediate and long-term phases of your recovery. Specific treatment approaches differ between chiropractors, but a good general chiropractic approach to fracture care involves nutritional counseling, therapeutic taping procedures that help reduce swelling and bring nutrients to your damaged tissues, physical therapy modalities that help heal your injuries and simple exercises that you can perform as soon as possible after the removal of your splint or cast. Your doctor may also perform chiropractic adjustments or soft tissue work in other parts of your body to help you maintain good general joint mobility and promote a high level of health and well-being during your recovery.

Disclaimer: Information contained in The Wellness ExpressTM newsletter is for educational and general purposes only and is designed to assist you in making informed decisions about your health. Any information contained herein is not intended to substitute advice from your physician or other healthcare professional. Copyright © - The Wellness ExpressTM