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The Story of the Deaf Janitor

November 14, 2012 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Bone Health, Chiropractic, Healing, Medicine, Spine, Wellness Leave a comment  

Over one hundred years ago in 1895, in a small town in Iowa called Davenport, a tremendous discovery was made. It was at this time that a man by the name of Daniel David Palmer discovered the science, art, and philosophy of chiropractic. D. D. Palmer had a patient come into his office who had been deaf for the past eighteen years. The many’s name was Harvey Lillard. Mr. Lillard reported that, eighteen years ago, he injured his neck at his custodial job while lifting a heavy object. Mr. Lillard heard a “pop” in his neck and felt what he thought to be a lump. He gradually lost his hearing, and had been deaf ever since.

D. D. Palmer examined the man and felt what he thought to be a misaligned bone in his spine. He decided that the popping sound must have been the spinal bone moving into the wrong position. D. D. later used the term “subluxation” for misaligned vertebra. D. D. decided that if the man could hear prior to becoming subluxated, then Mr. Lillard should be able to hear again if the subluxation was corrected. D. D. Palmer then proceeded to give Harvey Lillard the first chiropractic adjustment.  After three such adjustments, Mr. Lillard’s hearing was completely restored.

As you can see, the first chiropractic patient did not have neck pain or back pain. The discovery of chiropractic was based on the princile that the nervous system controls all the functions of the human body. When the nervous system malfunctions, the body malfunctions. In the case of Harvey Lillard, nerve interference to the ears was the cause of his deafness. When that interference was corrected, his hearing was restored.

What D. D. Palmer discovered was a non-duplicating, unique form of health care. Chiropractic is not the same as medicine, nor does it try to duplicate it. The medical approach to Harvey Lillard’s condition might have been drugs or physical therapy to treat the symptoms of the injured neck. Maybe even surgery. My point is that Mr. Lillard could have been given all the drugs and therapy in the world, but if his nerve interference was not corrected, he would still have been deaf. Thus chiropractic’s uniqueness. Chiropractors are the only health care professionals whose purpose is to correct vertebral subluxations, thus allowing the nervous system to function properly, and the body to be healthy.

During the next thirty or forty years following D. D. Palmer’s first adjustment, chiropractors helped thousands of sick and dying patients by improving the function of the nervous system. In the beginning, chiropractors were not known for taking care of neck pain or back pain. Chiropractors were known for taking care of sick people who had tried every form of treatment available at the time, but had little hope left. Many of these patients achieved incredible results and went on to live long, productive lives.

I hope you now have a better understanding of chiropractic’s beginnings. Another famous chiropractor, B. J. Palmer, D. D. Palmer’s son, said, “If they knew what we knew they would do what we do.” Please use chiropractic for the right reasons; it will help you to be your best.


Acid Reflux: A Power Problem?

July 19, 2012 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Aging, Balanced living, Bone Health, Chiropractic, Digestive Health, Healing, Medicine, Nutrition, Spine, Stress, Supplements, Wellness 1

Acid-stopping medications are intended to provide short-term relief of heartburn and acid reflux symptoms.  Medications interfere with your stomach’s acid-producing mechanisms, or they neutralize acids that have already been produced. Over the long term, suppressing stomach acid can contribute to chronic illness. Strong stomach acid is required to break down proteins, fry pathogens like bacteria and parasites, and ionize calcium so it can be absorbed and made into bone. Medical journals have noted that long-term use of acid-stopping medication increases the risk of osteoporosis, bone fractures, parasitic infections, and pneumonia.

In most cases, the root cause of heartburn and acid reflux is low stomach acid, not stomach acid overproduction. When stomach acid is low, food sits in the stomach and ferments. This produces more acids, which then back up into the esophagus, causing heartburn symptoms. A major overlooked cause of digestive problems is the available power to the digestive tract. Your digestive tract is a muscular tube that contracts rhythmically to mix food and propel it from end to end. Muscular valves, such as between esophagus and stomach, need to contract at the right time, with the right strength, to keep food digesting efficiently. If nerve disturbance is present, it can prevent the muscles of the digestive tract from doing their job. Chiropractic care corrects nerve disturbance and strengthens the body so it can follow its innate program for health. Your body knows how to work properly, once normal nerve function is restored.

We have been told that stress makes our stomachs pump out too much acid, causing heartburn and ulcers. Yet any physiology textbook tells us that when we are overstressed, the digestive process is suppressed in favor of an adrenaline-fueled “fight or flight” response. Your body cannot be in a state of repair and regeneration while it is in a defense mode. Chronic stress prevents the lining of the digestive tract from regenerating itself. We cannot digest well when we are stressed! Holistic health practitioners understand that if your digestion is weak, the foundations of your health and well-being are compromised. Being unable to digest food is not a normal part of growing older – it is a serious malfunction that must be addressed!


Normal aging, or better aging?

July 11, 2012 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Aging, Athletes, Balanced living, Bone Health, Chiropractic, Posture, Spine, Stress, Wellness 2 Comments

I was researching arthritis and found a simple explanation on an orthopedic surgeon’s website. It’s caused by normal wear and tear, apparently. They were referring specifically to osteoarthritis, which is the abnormal bone growth and spurring that causes motion restriction and nerve damage. As a chiropractor, I’ve seen a lot of X-rays. When there’s evidence of spinal osteoarthritis, it’s almost always in one of two places: the base of the neck (spinal segments C5-7) and base of the low back (L4-S1). These two spots are predictably where people  have surgeries and fusions, which are rather pricey and time-consuming. Now why is it that there are dozens of healthy spinal segments and only a handful of degenerated segments? They are all the same age. Isn’t gravity pretty much a constant force on us, unless we spend a lot of time on roller coasters? But osteoarthritis predictably affects the same parts of the spine.

Both of these people (they are facing to the right) are 50 years old. All you need to know is that green is healthy, and red is very unhealthy.

If you knew how to prevent osteoarthritis, would that help you age better? Note that you don’t want to age “normally” anymore, you want to age as best as you can! Check this out: your low back and the base of your neck are vulnerable points in the spine. An accumulation of physical and emotional stresses causes these body parts to malfunction and wear out more quickly. For example, car accidents, hockey, and football make people susceptible to osteoarthritis and accelerated aging. But there is a solution to this problem. If you choose regular chiropractic care to keep your spine and nervous system healthy, you can decrease the likelihood that you will age with “normal wear and tear.” So avoid being diagnosed with a chronic, degenerative condition like:

  • Osteoarthritis
  • Degenerative disc disease
  • Degenerative joint disease
  • Stenosis
  • Sciatica, radiculopathy, myelopathy, and all the other terms for “my body is literally getting on my own nerves”

 

If you ignore your body, it will predictably decline faster than necessary. If you take care of your body better than you do your car (yes, better!), your body will predictably age slower than everyone around you. Don’t be normal, be better than average!

 


One Skipped Dessert

March 14, 2012 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Aging, Balanced living, Bone Health, Chiropractic, Healing, Immune System, Research, Spine, Wellness Leave a comment  

What do these things have in common?

  • 30 sit-ups
  • A chiropractic adjustment
  • One skipped dessert

They are… all positive choices? Yes! Part of a healthy lifestyle? Yup! Instant fixes that will give you six-pack abs and the results you want? Nope.

Clients sometimes ask me, how much longer do I have to keep getting adjusted? My answer is, as long as you want to be your best. When are you “done” with eating nutritious foods? Done with exercising? Done with brushing your teeth, getting haircuts, washing your clothes, and taking showers? Okay, if you decide to do that, you won’t need to tell anyone, we’ll all figure it out from 50 feet away.

When a client gets their nerve system checked using Torque Release Technique (TRT), my job as the clinician is to have a conversation with that client’s nervous system. Is there nerve interference that is sapping their potential for fully expressing life and healing? Or, since they are taking good care of themselves, do they have a nerve system functioning with no sign of distortion, and are they “clear” at that point in time?

TRT uses objective measures of detecting nerve system interference (subluxation), so we can determine a client’s ideal frequency. Most people need to be checked and adjusted once per week to counteract the effects of accumulated physical, chemical, and mental stresses. When clients get off schedule, they often report feeling less “with-it,” getting sick more often, and generally feeling out of balance. Try eating healthy for 2 months, then eat edible-foodlike-substances-thru-a-car-window, and you’ll know what I mean!

Research from Clinical Biomechanics journal informs us that once-a-month chiropractic care is not an ideal “maintenance” schedule. Videman and colleagues noted that after two weeks of joint immobilization, irreversible degenerative changes occurred. These changes included breakdown of cartilage, hardening of bone, and formation of bone spur. Put those things together, and you have common conditions called osteoarthritis and degenerative disc disease. That’s called accelerated aging, which is not normal and I recommend my clients do everything possible to avoid.

Most people would agree: your life is too important to have a random, scattershot approach. So keep making choices that serve you best. When your body works better, your life works better!


Top 10 Things You Need to Know About Vitamin D

February 9, 2012 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Aging, Babies, Balanced living, Bone Health, Brain, Children, Healing, Medicine, Nutrition, Research, Supplements, Wellness 3 Comments

Would you trust a nutrient with 3000 cancer studies under its belt? In 2009, a very ambitious research team reviewed these studies. Here’s what they found: we could prevent 100,000 people worldwide from developing cancer every year, if we increased our vitamin D intake. They identified ten different ways that vitamin D fights cancer. What a productive little multitasker!

Everyone should know these things about vitamin D:

  1. About 70 percent of Americans are deficient in vitamin D. “Deficiency” means a blood level less than 30 ng/mL, which is based on preventing bone disorders like rickets.
  2. Vitamin D deficiency has no typical symptoms. Like blood pressure, you need to have it measured.
  3. Many chronic illnesses are connected to vitamin D deficiency: heart disease, Alzheimer’s, depression, Type 2 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, chronic colds and flu, and several types of cancer.
  4. Your skin produces vitamin D from cholesterol if you are exposed to sunlight, but sunscreen will stop you from making vitamin D.
  5. The most recent preventive medicine studies suggest that a blood level of 50-80 ng/mL is associated with much lower risk of chronic illness.
  6. In the northern United States, it is almost impossible to get enough vitamin D from sunlight and foods alone.
  7. Children can easily take vitamin D supplements in liquid form.
  8. You need vitamin D to get calcium from food into your blood, and you need vitamin K2 to transfer calcium from your blood into your bones.
  9. You can request a vitamin D test at your annual physical.
  10. Vitamin D can also be measured in a 5-minute appointment, taking two drops of blood from your fingertip.

Our office carries the world’s premier vitamin D supplement with 3000 IU per serving of vitamin D. The formula also includes vitamin K2, vitamin A, and a blend of immune-supporting, anti-inflammatory ingredients such as turmeric, beta glucan, and grape seed extract. We also provide fingerprick testing for vitamin D.

What gets measured gets managed. How are you managing your family’s plan for creating wellness?


Aging Well in 2012

January 4, 2012 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Aging, Bone Health, Chiropractic, Posture, Spine, Stress, Wellness 4 Comments

As we watch our parents and grandparents age poorly and move into nursing homes, we want something better for ourselves in old age. We want to age well. Which 50-year-old would you choose to be?

Healthy neck X-ray of a 50-year-old (the person is facing to the right): no evidence of osteoarthritis or degenerative disc disease, and no interference to the function of the brainstem or spinal cord.

Diseased neck X-ray of a 50-year-old: advanced osteoarthritis (bone spurs) and advanced degenerative disc disease, with pressure on the brainstem causing malfunction of body systems.

If people wore their spines on their faces, everyone would be taking good care of their spine and nervous system, guaranteed! It is not our intent to frighten people, but to help them understand that they have choices in their quality of life as they age. The choices you make today will affect your life 10, 20, and even 30 years from now. The same is true regarding the choices you make for your children. Make a positive choice by adding a chiropractor to your health care team!

Aging is a requirement. Deterioration is optional.

About the author: Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP, is a wellness-certified family chiropractor at Vital Life Chiropractic in Eagan, Minnesota.


Cheap or Free: The Show-Off Vitamin

December 21, 2011 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Aging, Balanced living, Bone Health, Children, Digestive Health, Healing, Immune System, Nutrition, Research, Supplements, Wellness 1

Would you trust a nutrient with 3000 cancer studies under its belt? In 2009, a very ambitious research team reviewed these studies. Here’s what they found: we could prevent 100,000 people from developing cancer every year, if we increased our vitamin D intake. They identified ten different ways that vitamin D fights cancer. What a productive little multitasker!

We need vitamin D to absorb calcium from our intestines. It regulates more than 200 unique human genes. When vitamin D isn’t preventing cancer, it’s helping our bodies build bones, prevent heart disease, and fight cold/flu bugs. Okay, now vitamin D is just being a show-off. We have two options for getting more D: cheap (less than $10/month) or free (sunlight).

If you like it cheap:  The U.S. RDA for vitamin D intake, 600 IU, is intended to build bone, not to prevent chronic illnesses. It is almost impossible to get enough vitamin D through fortified foods alone. For this reason, we may need to take at least 2000 IU per day of vitamin D3. It’s widely available in tablet or liquid form.

If you like it free: Sunlight produces vitamin D in unprotected skin at a phenomenally high rate. Get 10 minutes of unprotected sun exposure each day in the summer. In Minnesota, we need 20 minutes or more in the winter months, and most of us need to supplement with vitamin D3 (see above).

The most recent research indicates that 40-60 ng/mL is the optimal level of vitamin D in your blood. The blood test for vitamin D may require only a fingerprick and 5 minutes of your time.

About the author: Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP, is a wellness-certified family chiropractor at Vital Life Chiropractic in Eagan, Minnesota.


Two Types of Chiropractors

November 30, 2011 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Bone Health, Chiropractic, Spine, Wellness Leave a comment  

Not all chiropractors are alike. Although they go by the same name, chiropractors can differ greatly in treatment goals. The traditional philosophy that chiropractic was based on has never changed, but for social acceptance, some chiropractors have. As a result, when patients go to different chiropractors they get different treatment schedules, results, and costs. This can be frustrating for the patient. If expectations aren’t met, patients stop care and never get to experience the great results chiropractic care can give them.

Like the typical M.D., the symptomatic relief chiropractor primarily focuses on back pain and headaches. The treatment plan is usually dictated by the patient’s symptoms and/or insurance coverage. This means shorter overall treatment time, but still leaves the patient far short of correcting the cause of the symptom. The patient may feel better temporarily, but the spine and nerve system remain in a pathological state. The body degenerates silently, resulting in damage to spinal discs, joints, and whatever part of the body the affected nerve supplies. The bottom line is that treating only symptoms still leaves the cause uncorrected. Over time, the body’s imbalance will be expressed through another series of symptoms.

A wellness chiropractor follows the traditional philosophy of care. Originally, chiropractic was designed to maintain health of the whole body by supporting nerve system integrity. The nerve system is our internal electrical system that regulates all functions of the body and keeps us alive. Although the traditional wellness chiropractor wants his or her patients to feel better, their primary focus is removing the nerve interference (subluxation). A treatment plan will focus on resetting the nerve system to a more balanced state. The wellness chiropractor may use advanced diagnostics like nerve system scans or X-rays. These diagnostic procedures may be repeated at regular intervals to monitor progress of subluxation reduction.

When choosing a chiropractor, ask questions. Do you focus on subluxation? Do you provide wellness care? Do you teach about diet and exercise? Wellness doctors will say yes, we do.

About the author: Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP, is a wellness-certified chiropractor at Vital Life Chiropractic in Eagan, Minnesota.


The math on prescription drug benefits

September 19, 2011 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Aging, Bone Health, Medicine, Research, Safety Leave a comment  

Here is something you and your medical doctor may both be unaware of: the math on prescription drug benefits. If you see a drug advertisement, the numbers sound impressive: 45% or 50% reduction in heart attack, stroke, or bone fracture. That’s what the drug companies tell medical doctors, too. But these numbers are misleading because they are relative, not absolute. Let’s explain this important difference in reporting the math.

Let’s say we study 100 people for 5 years and tally the number of heart attacks. If four people have heart attacks, the absolute risk is 4%. If a second group of 100 people of similar age and lifestyle take a drug for 5 years and three people have heart attacks, the absolute risk has dropped to 3%. The absolute risk reduction from the drug intervention is 1%. However, the relative risk reduction has gone from 4% to 3%, which is a 25% drop in heart attacks. This 25% is what the drug companies broadcast in the news media, in medical education courses, and directly to you as a consumer. But what they are truly hanging their hat on is a 1% benefit, and a 99% chance that the drug will be useless.

Now let’s say you really want to be that one person out of 100 that is able to avoid a heart attack through drug therapy. As an informed consumer, you need to consider the risks of long-term drug therapy. Do the risks outweigh the benefits? For example, is there a 1% chance of developing a chronic illness like diabetes?

Let’s stop using hypothetical numbers. What is the math from medical research journals? Here it is: of people without known heart disease who took statin drugs for 5 years, 98% saw no benefit. The most recent literature suggests a 0.6% risk of developing diabetes as a result of long-term statin drug use. For every 20 people who avoided a heart attack or stroke, 6 people developed diabetes, which carries its own set of cardiovascular risks, plus kidney, visual, and neurological disabilities.

If health truly came in a bottle, Americans would be dying of old age.

 

About the author: Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP, is a wellness-certified chiropractor at Vital Life Chiropractic in Eagan, Minnesota.

 


Neuropathies and carpal tunnel syndrome

September 7, 2011 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Bone Health, Chiropractic, Medicine, Spine, Wellness 1

Numbness. Tingling. Weakness. Pain. No one wants any of these symptoms. If you have a combination of these symptoms and your doctor determines your suffering is nerve-related, you receive this diagnosis: neuropathy. When neuropathies occur in the hands, they are often diagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome. Neuropathies can be caused by metabolic problems like diabetes or underactive thyroid. Another common cause is nerve pressure resulting from trauma. Neuropathy symptoms often occur in the arms and hands after a car accident. People who use their hands at work are at higher risk for developing carpal tunnel syndrome: hairdressers, carpenters, and people who type away at their keyboards all day long.

Medical treatment of neuropathies involves drugs, such as anticonvulsants and antidepressants to manage the numbness and tingling. But what drug can restore strength to a weakened body part? This particular symptom does not respond well to drug treatment. A surgeon can cut part of your wrist to relieve the pressure on the nerve that supplies the hand, but this may not provide permanent or complete relief.

If you want to avoid brain-altering drugs and expensive surgeries, you need to investigate another avenue: alignment. As the name “carpal tunnel syndrome” suggests, you have a tunnel in your wrist. This is an arch made of bones that allows the nerves, tendons, and blood vessels to travel to the hand, like a train travels through a tunnel. If the bones of the arch are slightly displaced, they can interfere with normal nerve function and cause numbness, tingling, weakness, and pain.

What health care specialist is best suited to evaluate the alignment of your wrists? Only a licensed doctor of chiropractic has the training and skills to diagnose interference to normal nerve function. More importantly, chiropractors can remove this interference. In some cases, the relief can be immediate, complete, and long-lasting. A thorough doctor of chiropractic will investigate whether carpal tunnel symptoms are coming directly from the wrist, indirectly through the nerves at the base of the neck, or somewhere in between.

 

About the author: Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP, is a wellness-certified chiropractor at Vital Life Chiropractic in Eagan, Minnesota.

 


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