Capitol Chiropractic

Over 30 years ago Merck’s CEO, Harry Gadsden, said in an interview with Fortune Magazine that he was bummed that selling drugs was limited to sick people. He wanted Merck to be like Wrigley’s chewing gum and “sell to everyone”. Harry wanted to make drugs for, and sell to, healthy people.

Thus, Big Pharma has marketed in that direction and recorded record profits. Ironically, Americans now take more prescription drugs than ever, yet are now the unhealthiest in history! Wow, billions of dollars of slick marketing really work! 

Just for the record, drugs are not nutrients that prevent disease. Drugs have serious and often dangerous side effects. Whole foods and healthy lifestyles actually prevent disease. Let’s not lose perspective! Believe it or not, there are people that have even considered putting drugs in drinking water! The FDA has recently approved a drug for use in people that have no health problem to correct.

Here is an awesome parody of this ridiculous line of thinking:

So you think that taking a pill will prevent osteoporosis? Better think twice about that one.  There has been speculation for quite some time that the drugs to prevent osteoporosis are not useful and perhaps even harmful. New research is indicating that Fosamax may actually increase the risk of fractures.

So, once again…drugs are not the answer! As is so often true with health, drugs do not provide quick-fix answers to health conditions like osteoporosis that are diet and lifestyle related. That’s right, according to a recent meta analysis study of osteoporosis, this health condition is largely related to diet and lifestyle!

So, let’s look at How To Prevent Osteoporosis Naturally

1. Take 1200mg of calcium citrate per day in divided doses, with meals. The evening (dinner) dose should be slightly larger for optimum absorption. By the way, there is no credible evidence that taking calcium increases your risk of kidney stones.
2. To help utilize the calcium, you should get 20mcg of vitamin D per day. It is also beneficial to get 20 minutes of sun exposure per day without the use of sunscreens so that your body can manufacture its own vitamin D.
3. Your optimum calcium supplement should also contain HCl for better absorption of the calcium. Calcium requires and acidic environment (i.e. stomach acid) for absorption. Many people do not have enough stomach acid due to the overwhelming use of acid-blocker medications. HCl helps calcium digestion.
4. Exercise! Weight training and resistance exercise is recommended for osteoporosis prevention. Hiking, dance and gymnastics are also recommended exercises and they have the added benefit of improving coordination, which decreases the risk of falls. By the way, physically fit post-menopausal women have 25% increased intestinal absorption of calcium!
5. Increase omega-3 in the diet (ask us about high quality fish oil), and decease the omega-6 in the diet (grain based foods such as cooking oils, breads, pastas, etc). If you need help in this area, attend our next FREE nutrition class.
6. Eat an alkaline diet, rich in fresh, green whole foods. Veggies such as broccoli and cabbage are alkaline and rich in calcium. Ask us about chlorella.
7. Eat 5 or more (preferably more) servings of fresh fruits and vegetables per day. A serving equals 1/2 cup of tightly packed items (for example berries) or 1 cup of loosely packed items (for example lettuce). Make sure to eat all the colors of the rainbow: orange, red, purple, green, blue…you get the idea, in terms of fruits and vegetables.
8. Dump the sodas, particularly colas, and foods high in phosphates. These foods are very detrimental to osteoporosis prevention because they decrease your body’s calcium.
9. Avoid high alcohol intake and smoking as these habits remove calcium from your body.
10. Dump the acid blockers as these medications are detrimental to calcium absorption. There are much better and healthier ways to deal with acid reflux, i.e. heartburn. Ask us for help.

Finally, we reach our peak bone mass of calcium by age 30. After that, our bodies are in a state of decline in terms of bone mass for the rest of our lives. How much you lose after age 30 depends on your lifestyle habits. The better your lifestyle habits, the better you’ll prevent osteoporosis.

Another factor to consider is teaching our current under 30 year olds great osteoporosis prevention habits. The more they can increase their peak bone mass before age 30, the better off they will be later in life.

Here’s a great resource for dumping the acid-blockers:

Take a moment to meet Nick Vujicic via this post and the attached video. You will be glad that you did and you will likely be forever changed. What an incredible and inspiring story of never giving up and of conquering obstacles through courage, faith and a positive mental outlook.

Imagine being born without arms. No arms to wrap around someone, no hands to experience touch, or to hold another hand with. Or what about being born without legs? Having no ability to dance, walk, run, or even stand on two feet. Now put both of those scenarios together: no arms and no legs. What would you do? How would that effect your everyday life? Read more

Perhaps its time to take a closer look at spinal subluxations. An interesting study in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association demonstrated that 43% of heart patients have bone spurs in the upper back.

Chiropractors have always known that subluxations of the vertebra of the spine affect the nerves as they exit the spine, thereby creating disease in the tissue and organs that are feed by the impinged nerves. Not suprisingly, the nerves from the upper back go to the heart.

The results of this study indicate the same thing as a study done in 1921 by Dr. Henry Windsor: Problems in the spine create disease in human organs. Dr. Windsor concluded that spine misalignments (subluxations) irritate the nerves that control blood vessels to the organs. The irritated sympathetic nerves cause the blood vessels to constrict thereby decreasing blood flow to the organs. The reduced blood flow to the organs over time created disease.

These subluxation areas of the spine also create loss of movement in the spine, creating stiffening of the spine and bone spurs (degeneration) over time. Thus, spinal subluxations create bone spurs that correlate to heart problems. Wow!

Imagine the implications of this news, heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, and one of the most costly conditions to our healthcare system.  Not to mention a major cause of time loss, work productivity and lost quality of life!

The truth of the matter is that it takes years to develop heart disease, yet most of the time heart disease is not discovered until considerble tissue damage has occured on a cellular level.  Why wait for symptoms? Why not be proactive and develop the great health habits included in the chiropractic lifestyle, like chiropractic care for spinal subluxationns, a healthy diet and exercise?

Bottom Line: Stop waiting for symptoms, get your spine checked regularly by a chiropractor for spinal subluxations to prevent disease. Take heart disease for example: Ignoring your spine may be slowly killing you!

The February 13, 2010 issue of Science News contains an interesting article describing two studies in which the benefits of omega-3 from fish oil were simply outstanding.

In the first study, critically ill persons were given Omega-3 while recovering from sepsis (a very serious illness). Although an equal number of people died in both the Omega-3 and control groups, the hospital stay was 28 days for the fish oil group and 82 days for the controls. The theory offered was that the oils decreased the inflammation and allowed better oxygen processing by patients.

A second study included in the article indicated that robust levels of omega-3 from fish oil protect the ends of the chromosomes (telomeres) from damage, which protects against age-related diseases.

How do you want to age? In sickness or in health? Take your fish oil daily!

If you are taking drugs for osteoporosis, please read this and read the attached links and watch the attached videos. Your health, and perhaps life, depend on it.

Fosamax has been linked to increased fractures. Go figure. Osteoporosis is a health condition that is linked strongly to diet and lifestyle, meaning that you can prevent it without taking drugs. Excellent marketing by drug companies has made the Amercian public believe that you can just take a pill, or go to the doctor for an I.V., to get rid of it. Not so.

Imagine taking a drug to prevent osteoporosis for years and then walking down a street and spontaneously fracturing your femur badly. Turns out that these types of drugs lay down poor quality bone that can lead to fractures later. Really nasty fractures. Please watch this important news video.

Spontaneous fractures are not the only dangers that may occur with osteoporosis drugs. Sacramento Chiropractor, Dr. Jeri Anderson discusses some of the risks of taking osteoporosis medications in this video:

Here is an excellent article about The Delusion of Bone Drugs.

This book is a must read. The chapter on osteoporosis drugs tells the whole story about the deceptive marketing of these drugs. You’ll also learn how drugs companies distort facts and hose the public into believing that they need other useless, and perhaps even dangerous drugs:

Sacramento chiropractor, Dr. Jeri Anderson of Capitol Chiropractic recently completed Part 1 training in the Cox® Technic. The Cox® Technic is a research-proven chiropractic technique developed for effective treatment of the most difficult spinal conditions such as spinal stenosis, spinal disc problems (disc herniation, disc bulges, disc protrusion, disc fragments), spinal degenerative arthritis pain, sciatia or sciatic pain.

These difficult spinal conditions can result in symptoms such as: lower back pain, neck pain, headaches, leg pain, arm pain, numbness, tingling, upper back pain, and weakness.

Cox® Technic is spinal manipulation, a non-surgical, established, evidence-based, non-surgical treatment for spine pain performed by a trained physician and supported by years of clinical experience, many publications of clinical and laboratory outcomes, and clearly defined protocols for application to attain the highest positive clinical outcomes for acute and chronic back pain as well as failed back surgical syndrome. All this to help restore a patient’s quality of life.

Sacramento chiropractor, Dr. Jeri Anderson of Capitol Chiropractic recently completed Part 1 training in the Cox® Technic. The Cox® Technic is a research-proven chiropractic technique developed for effective treatment of the most difficult spinal conditions such as spinal stenosis, spinal disc problems (disc herniation, disc bulges, disc protrusion, disc fragments), spinal degenerative arthritis pain, sciatica or sciatic pain.

These difficult spinal conditions can result in painful symptoms such as: lower back pain, neck pain, headaches, leg pain, arm pain, numbness, tingling, upper back pain, and weakness.

Cox® Technic is a safe and gentle form of spinal manipulation utilizing a highly specialized flexion-distraction treatment table. This advanced care is a non-surgical, proven treatment for back pain.

The Cox® Technic is performed by a trained chiropractor and supported by years of clinical experience, many publications of clinical and laboratory outcomes, and clearly defined protocols for application to attain the highest positive clinical outcomes for acute and chronic back pain as well as failed back surgical syndromes. This advanced care is designed and proven to help restore a patient’s quality of life.

The Cox® Technic incorporates true spinal decompression, meaning that it is performed hands-on by the Chiropractor, not by a machine. Spinal decompression takes pressure off of painful nerves in the spine to reduce pain and give the patient lasting relief of pain.

Sacramento chiropractor, Dr. Jeri Anderson comments: “I am excited to bring the valuable tools gained from this training into my Sacramento practice for the immediate benefit of my Sacramento area patients. The Cox® Technic is truely state-of-the-art for the care of the most difficult chronic back pain and neck pain conditions such as spinal stenosis, failed back surgery, disc injuries (slipped disc, ruptured disc, bulging disc, herniated disc), sciatica and radicular arm pain. We welcome difficult cases of back pain, neck pain and leg pain into our office.”

Sacramento chiropractor, Dr.Jeri Anderson can be reached at (916) 368-1600.

John Wooden is unmatched. He created the UCLA basketball dynasty that won 10 NCAA championships. Coach Wooden is the only individual that has been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach. His UCLA basketball team had four perfect seasons, won 88 straight games and won 7 NCAA championships in a row. Coach Wooden was voted Coach of the Century by ESPN.

With profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves. In this inspiring talk he shares the advice he gave his players at UCLA, quotes poetry and remembers his father’s wisdom.

Sacramento chiropractor, Dr. Jeri Anderson, is pleased to report the findings of a new study demonstrating significant reduction of headache pain with chiropractic care. “The success of the study comes as no suprise to me. As a Sacramento chiropractor, I have treated hundreds of patients successfully over the past 20 plus years for relief of headache pain with chiropractic care. Improving the lives of headache suffers is what we are all about!”, replied Dr. Anderson in response to the study results.

A recent study published in the journal, Spine, demonstrated that chiropractic care (spinal manipulative therapy) is effective in the care of cervicogenic headaches. Cervicogenic headaches are one of the most common headache types.

As the name indicates, cervicogenic headaches are headaches that are caused by problems in the neck. Cervicogenic headaches are more commonly referred to as a muscle tension headache. This type pain is often associated with muscle tightness extending from the shoulders up to the base of the skull and are very uncomfortable. Chiropractic care has been traditionally very effective in muscle tension headaches. We see Sacramento area patients complaining of muscle tension headaches nearly everyday in our Sacramento chiropractic practice and are pleased to help them.

In this study, chiropractic patients achieved a 50% improvement in their pain scale. This is a significant finding and great news for Sacramento headache sufferers! It should be noted that study participants had a relatively small amount of chiropractic care to gain this large pain reduction. One has to wonder what level of improvement they would attain with continued care? Probably even more success!

We have had great success in our Sacramento chiropractic practice improving the lives of those in our Sacramento community suffering with headaches and migraines.  If you, or someone you know in the greater Sacramento area, are suffering from headaches, give us a call at 916-368-1600. We would love to help end your headache suffering!

Turns out that thinking positive thoughts and hanging around like-minded people is a very powerful aspect of healing. In other words, what you think about you bring about. Epigenetics is a new area of study into the biology of belief, lead by cutting-edge cell biologist, Bruce Lipton, PhD.

Epigenetics is fascinating. The prevailing thought for years has been that we are controlled by our genes. The thought was that we essentially express our genetic code. Dr. Lipton’s research has demonstrated that our thoughts and the thoughts of those around us, control our genes. Our thoughts control what our genes express by turning genes on and off. Wow, the implications of this discovery are huge!

Most of us are aware of the placebo effect, that is that healings sometime occur by the power of positive suggestion. What we have failed to consider is the nocebo effect, that is how our negative thoughts impact our health. Dr. Lipton gives us an eye-opening example in his blogpost called The Nature of Dis-Ease:

“Japanese children allergic to a poison ivy-like plant took part in an experiment where a leaf of the poisonous plant was rubbed onto one forearm. As a control, a nonpoisonous leaf resembling the toxic plant was rubbed on the other forearm. As expected almost all of the children broke out in a rash on the arm rubbed with the toxic leaf and had no response to the imposter leaf.

What the children did not know was that the leaves were purposefully mislabeled. The negative thought of being touched by the poisonous plant led to the rash produced by the nontoxic leaf! In the majority of cases, no rash resulted from contact with the toxic leaf that was thought to be the harmless control. The conclusion is simple: positive perceptions enhance health, and negative perceptions precipitate dis-ease. This mind-bending example of the power of belief was one of the founding experiments that led to the science of psychoneuroimmunology.”

With respect to the power of positive thinking on overall health, here’s a great affirmation to say to yourself each day: I am happy, I am healthy and I feel terrific!

Below are a couple of Dr.Lipton’s videos. I hope you enjoy them!

-Dr. Jeri Anderson, Sacramento Chiropractor