Vitamins and Your Diet

Vitamins and Your Body

Recently there was a study published on the benefits of taking a multi-vitamin.  The study had middle aged doctors take a daily multi-vitamin and they found that there was an 8% decrease in the amount of cancers that the the doctors had over the course of the study.  Seems pretty simple and common sense doesn't it, but this is actually pretty important.  Most previous studies tend to marginalize, if not demonize a lot of vitamins.  A couple of years ago I had a robust conversation with a medical doctor friend of mine here in Germantown who was trying to convince me that vitamins were a waste of money and no one needed to take them if they ate properly.  "Americans have the most expensive urine on the planet" from vitamins he argued.  This from a man who was 40 lbs. over weight and probably never had anything green on his plate.

The Most Important Thing to do is to Monitor and Control Your Personal Diet

Now I will admit that if everyone ate well, there may not be as much of a need for vitamins, but who lives in that perfect world.  First of all, the food we eat is not as full of nutrients as it once was, due to the mass production of food.  Secondly, who eats as well as they should.  Do you ever do the drive-through's, for a quick little bite?  Do ever eat something processed?  Do you spend the time and money to make sure everything you eat is fresh and organic?  Very few people have that sort of luxury.

Vitamins are Good for a Supplement 

In my opinion it is important to take vitamins for good health as they are a SUPPLEMENT to what you eat, not the only thing you digest.  By taking vitamins we are trying to lessen the expression of diseases that may be lurking in our genes, our DNA. This study showed this to be true.  Vitamins are a relatively inexpensive way to try to ensure better health, and isn't that something we would all like.

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Recent Article Shows Smaller Vehicles Receive the Most Damage in Car Accidents

I just read an interesting article about vehicles and being in car accidents:

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Offers Consumers Valuable Data About Current Automobiles

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety offers consumers valuable data about current automobiles. By compiling and analyzing claims information, the data helps drivers choose the safest vehicle available when considering what car to purchase.

The most recent issue of the IIHS Status Report, published Sept. 20, contains a table of personal injury protection (PIP) claims for cars manufactured between 2009 and 2011. It also ranks the 10 most dangerous cars on the road by that metric.

Data Shows Smaller Cars are Involved in Accidents with the Most Frequency

The data shows that smaller cars were involved in accidents with the most frequency. This is partially a matter of physics, since a small car is more likely than a large car to sustain damage in the event of a collision. But according to Matt Moore, vice president of the Highway Loss Data Institute, a driver’s income, location, and rate of use can also come into play.

“Smaller vehicles are more likely to be in urban areas, and smaller vehicles are likely to be driven more frequently because they’re owned by a single person in a given household,” he said in an interview. “Large cars tend to be owned by drivers who have two or three cars garaged, or more cars than people per household.”

Small Cars are Most Likely to Be Driven by a Person Who is the Sole Owner, Which Increases the Risk

Since a small car is more likely to be driven by a person who is the sole owner, it tends to get driven every day, he said. This increases its odds of being involved in an accident, where a car that’s driven only once a week is exposed to less risk.

So I guess the point is if you can afford a larger vehicle do so, as you will be safer.

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Chiropractor is a Non-Invasive Way to Help People Naturally

In the early 1990's I made a decision that I wanted to be a Doctor of Chiropractic, and help people in a positive way naturally, without the use of drugs or surgery.  I could not be happier with my decision.  Every day I get to help people using my hands as my primary instrument of care, it is a blessing.

All Over the News Currently is the Reports of People at Risk of Meningitis - 13,000 People According to the CDC

All over the news currently is the reports of people at risk of meningitis, 13,000 people according to the CDC, who received injections of a steroid.  There is now 105 cases over 23 states linked to this one drug, including five in Maryland and 23 in Virginia, each with a death.  This type of injection is often used to help treat lower back pain.  Now I'm not saying never to get this type of treatment, I have recommended to patients in the past that this might be an appropriate next step for them, but I do feel that this should not be the first thing done for a patient in pain.  This current fungal form of meningitis is a brain infection that requires months of intravenous antibiotics to cure.  And unlike other types of meningitis the symptoms can appear gradually.  Including sensitivity to light, stiff neck, weakness, numbness, and slurred speech.  None of that sounds too fun.

Chiropractic is the Safe and Natural Approach to the Care of a Patient 

There is a time and place for drugs in the care of a patient with back pain, but I think taking a natural safe approach to the care of a patient is a logic decision, and that is exactly what Chiropractic care is, safe and natural.    

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Chiropractic is the First Choice for Anyone with Back Pain

The other night I arrived home and The NBC Evening News with Brian Williams was on our family television.  They went into a segment on "Alternative care for back pain".  I thought this could be really good or really bad.  To my surprise, it wasn't really either, but just dumbfounding.

The segment began with a woman who had an electrical devise implanted into her back so she could effectively use electrical stimulation on her back to control her pain after two failed lumbar surgeries.  

Invasive Lumbar Surgery Should Only Be Approached After All Other Forms of Treatment Have Failed 

Now I have no issue with this scenario, but as they continued to talk about this treatment, they brushed past the TWO FAILED LUMBAR SURGERIES.  This is not a treatment that someone should just jump into because their back hurts.  This therapy is after other forms of treatment have failed.  I even heard a woman at the gym talking to her personal trainer about approaching her doctor about this procedure, and she to date had only tried some medications a couple of times and one course of physical therapy.

Core Strengthening is Not Limited to Just a Particular Technique

The second part of the segment was about core strengthening.  Perfect.  The segment specifically endorsed Pilates, which is fine, but core strengthening is not limited to just that particular technique.  

The third part of the segment dealt with acupuncture, and how it can help some people.  True, it can help some people, but like everything it doesn't help everyone, and you need to make sure you are going to a licensed professional, whom hopefully you have received a personal referral too.

So at this point I though here comes the segment on Chiropractic...

Essentially Chiropractic was the Original Alternative to Medicine

Nothing.  Back to Brian Williams.  How is it possible to do a segment on "Alternative care for back pain" without Chiropractic.  Essentially  Chiropractic was the original alternative to medicine.  It was one of the largest factors in NIH establishing the Alternative Health division, and to be ignored for what it is best known for, dumbfounding.  I suppose I should try to look at it as maybe this reporter thought of Chiropractic as completely mainstream and the norm, and therefore no longer alternative, but some how I think that might be a stretch.  Chiropractic should be the first choice of anyone with back pain, whether or not it shows up on the evening news.

Chiropractic Care for Low Back Pain

After 15 years as a Chiropractor, most of those in Germantown, you quickly realize that patient's tend to come into your office in cycles.  There will be weeks that every new patient was just in a car accident, every new patient has neck pain, or every new patient has lower back pain.  

There is an Enormous Amount of Low Back Pain Cases that Visit My Office

This has been the case these past couple of weeks, everyone has low back pain.  Some have it with sudden onset, some have been nursing it for weeks and months, and a few have had it for years.  The truly amazing thing is how many have been suffering, and then a few days before their vacation they come in for care and hope that a "one and done" will take care of their problem.

Back Problems do Not Magically Disappear

Of course sometimes it does, but more often it does not.  Back problems do not tend to magically appear.  Sometimes it is something out of the ordinary that injures us, but usually it is the wear and tear we put of our bodies over the course of time that end up subjecting us to our different aches and pains. 

Even people who get better rapidly usually take a few visits at a minimum to improve fully, but sometimes it can take weeks to begin to finally make some progress.  So don't worry if you’re not instantly better, how many things in life happen instantly, give it time and you will begin to notice the improvement.  But please if you have pain, and upcoming vacations PLEASE visit the Chiropractor NOW.  Give yourself some time to get better.

by Dr. Cramer