Posts Tagged ‘denver wellness’
For the first time, the American Cancer Society on Thursday published formal guidelines for cancer survivors, focusing on the health benefits of maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, and eating a healthy diet. The guidelines are published online in CA: Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
Janet Jackson recently reveals her new weight loss and what she says is the cause behind her new healthy change.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta discusses recent research that shows that sugar may not just contribute to weight gain, but that it can also take a dramatic toll on our health. He discusses the issue with Dr. Robert Lustig who believes that sugar is actually a toxin and that large amounts are killing us.
Part one discussed physical stress, a stress on the body that is visible in poor posture or in the form of an injury. In part two, we will cover emotional stress, which can be just as harmful to your body yet not visibly apparent like physical.
According to Dr. Ben Kim, emotional stress is one of the most significant challenges in achieving overall wellness. Below is a direct excerpt from Dr. Kim.
Because your body cannot defend itself against the damage that emotional stress quietly creates over time. Your body pays a heavy physiological price for every moment that you feel anxious, tense, frustrated, and angry.
I’m not suggesting that you should strive to never feel these emotions. Anxiety, tension, frustration, and anger all serve important purposes when they first arise. The danger is in experiencing these emotions on a chronic basis.
Emotional stress sets off a series of reactions in your body that involve yoursympathetic nervous system, the portion of your nervous system that would increase your chance of surviving if you were to run into a mountain lion during a hike. In such a situation, your sympathetic nervous system would:
- Speed up and intensify your heart and breathing rates, so that you could have more oxygen and nutrients available to your muscles to run or fight.
- Divert the bulk of your blood supply to your large muscles groups to run or fight.
- Slow or even shut down your digestive system so as to not waste blood, nutrients, and oxygen that could be used to run or fight.
- Stimulate the release of extra glucose into your blood to give you a burst of energy, just as a cheetah’s spleen gushes extra blood into its circulation when it needs a burst of acceleration.
- Cause your adrenal glands to release epinephrine and norepinephrine into your system to increase cardiac output and increase blood sugar.
- Stimulate the release of cortisol from your adrenal glands to increase blood sugar and energy.
- Increase the diameter of your pupils to allow for more light to enter your eyes and more acute vision for fighting and running quickly on any type of terrain.
Clearly, it is to your advantage to have a healthy sympathetic nervous system, one that is capable of providing all of the functions listed above during physical emergencies.
What you don’t want is for your body to experience all of the above on a continuous, low-grade level because of emotional stress.
And this is exactly what many of us are suffering from in today’s hectic world.
There’s really no need to provide a list of health conditions that are partly caused by emotional stress, because every health condition is partly caused by emotional stress. Emotional stress always equals increased output by the sympathetic nervous system, which always equals accelerated aging and breakdown of your tissues.
You can read the full article in its entirety here. Overall, emotional stress can be damaging to your wellness and health. However there are several ways to manage, mitigate and reduce emotional stress.
Purposeful relaxation or mediation, nourishing your body with proper nutrients, realigning your energy flow, as well as activities such as massage or exercise that promote the release of the feel good chemicals endorphins.
Dr. Moyer, Chiropractor, is a Colorado Board Certified Chiropractic Physician graduating summa cum laude and valedictorian from Cleveland Chiropractic College in 2006. Dr. Moyer has experience helping people understand and eliminate moderate to severe pain such as lower back pain, upper back pain, neck pain, and headaches.
by Randy Moyer, DC
I often get asked by patients how safe chiropractic care really is. I generally answer that with a quick review of the costs of chiropractic malpractic insurance rates as compared with other health care providers.
- Back surgeons generally pay about $100 – $150k in malpractice insurance per year.
- Medical doctors who do not perform surgery generally pay about $20 – $25k per year.
- My malpractice insurance is less than $1000 per year!
Why? Because chiropractors do not have malpractice claims! There is very little risk in receiving chiropractic care. In fact, a recent study published that a single aspirin is 300 times more likely to have serious side-effects than chiropractic care.
I really like the summary of chiropractic safety by the following researcher…who is also a medical doctor.
A. The Safety of Cervical Adjusting
No one pays closer attention to injury statistics than Malpractice Insurance carriers.
Scott Haldeman, MD, reviewed malpractice claims records for a 10-year period between 1988 and 1997. In reviewing the outcomes following the application of 134.5 million cervical manipulations (commonly referred to as the chiropractic adjustment), the records indicated that there were 23 reported cases of stroke or vertebral artery dissection (VAD). [10] Of this group, 10 of the patients had the complicating factors of high blood pressure, use of oral contraceptives, or a history of smoking, all of which are associated with vascular disease. The actual incidence of stroke or VAD following cervical manipulation was found to be one per 5.85 million cervical adjustments. That means that the average chiropractor could work for 1430 years (or practice 48 full chiropractic careers!) before they might be involved with this type of litigation.
B. Non Steriodal Anti-Inflammatories (NSAIDs)
One group of patients who rely on NSAIDs for pain relief are those suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. In 1998, Dr. Singh of the Stanford University of Medicine reviewed the records of 11,000 arthritis patients at 8 participating institutions. He extrapolated that approximately 107,000 patients are hospitalized annually for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)-related gastrointestinal (GI) complications (internal bleeding) and at least 16,500 NSAID-related deaths occur each year among arthritis patients alone. The figures for all NSAID users would be overwhelming, yet the scope of this problem is generally under-reported. [16]
Another article titled “36 Percent of Acute Liver Failures Are Linked to Acetaminophen” suggests that other organ systems are also compromised by the use of over-the-counter pain medications. [17]
Lauretti’s review of the literature found that The best evidence indicates that cervical manipulation for neck pain is much safer than the use of NSAIDs, by as much as a factor of several hundred times.
First, let’s review some history. In 1974, the Congressional Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce held hearings on unnecessary surgery. Their findings from the First Surgical Second Opinion Program found that 17.6% of recommendations for surgery were not confirmed. The House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations extrapolated these figures to estimate that, on a nationwide basis, there were 2.4 million unnecessary surgeries performed annually resulting in 11,900 deaths at an annual cost of $3.9 billion. [18]
With the total number of lower back surgeries having been estimated in 1995 to exceed 250,000 in the U.S. at a hospital cost of $11,000 per patient. [19] This would mean that the total number of unnecessary back surgeries each year in the U.S. could approach 44,000, costing as much as $484 million. [20]
So, the biggest risk of spinal surgery is that it may not be necessary!
Info referenced at http://www.chiro.org/LINKS/Safety.shtml
Arthritis is a growing problem, rising along with the rates of aging Americans. Fifty million Americans have been diagnosed with arthritis, and that number is expected to rise to 67 million by 2030, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The good news is massage therapy is an effective way to address arthritis pain and stiffness. New research indicates that although exercise also benefits arthritis sufferers, not enough people with arthritis are engaging in the recommended amount of exercise.
Physical activity can help people with arthritis better control and lower pain, and improve general function. Some studies indicate exercise may delay or even prevent disability in people with arthritis, said Dorothy Dunlop, associate professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and lead author of the study.
Despite exercise’s positive effects, the new study shows more than 50 percent of women and 40 percent of men with arthritis are “virtually couch potatoes.”
This is the first study to use a device to objectively measure the physical activity of people with arthritis and determine if they meet federal guidelines, according to a
university press release. Past research relied on self-reported accounts of exercise and activity.
Researchers asked more than 1,000 people with radiographic knee osteoarthritis to wear an accelerometer—a small, sophisticated device that looks like a pedometer—to measure their physical activity for one week during waking hours. The participants are part of a larger national study called the Osteoarthritis Initiative and are 49 to 84 years old.
“We had assumed that people might be overstating physical activity in past self-reported data, but were surprised to find that the physical activity rates were much, much lower than what was previously reported,” said Dunlop.
The federal guidelines recommend that adults with arthritis participate in 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity, low-impact activity. That amounts to an average of slightly more than 20 minutes per day. Previous studies estimated that a quarter of people with arthritis met those guidelines.
The study was published in Arthritis & Rheumatism‘s August 2011 issue.
Every year 38 million Americans try alternative therapies such as acupuncture and chiropractic treatments. How helpful are those and other alternative treatments?
Consumer Reports’ survey of its readers found that hands-on treatments such as chiropractic and deep-tissue massage helped relieve back pain, neck pain, and osteoarthritis. And in the case of back pain, chiropractic care outperformed prescription medicine.
Sixty-five percent of those surveyed using chiropractic treatments for back pain said they helped a lot. Only 53 percent using prescription medications found them as helpful.
Half of those who used deep-tissue massage or yoga found they helped a lot for osteoarthritis. The survey results indicated that both were almost on par with prescription medication.
But in the Consumer Reports National Research Center survey, alternative treatments were not found to be as helpful with many other medical conditions.
Take depression. Yoga or meditation helped about 35 percent. By contrast, 70 percent of those using prescription medication found it to be very helpful.
As for colds, flu, and allergies? Prescription medications were deemed much more helpful than nutritional supplements such as Vitamin C.
(NewsUSA) – Many people who take medications for chronic pain sometimes wonder whether there is more they can do to manage their condition better. More and more, medical research is showing that the answer is a resounding yes.
While prescription and over-the-counter medications can be useful in treating chronic pain, efforts to manage pain can often be enhanced by using an integrative approach to care that combines traditional medicine with complementary and alternative therapies.
Integrative care can include a variety of methods such as yoga, acupuncture, massage, chiropractic care, biofeedback, tai chi and meditation. Many experts agree that integrative care must be tailored to the patient, as not every treatment will be effective or appropriate for everyone. Each patient should have a plan that meets his or her individual needs.
“A pain management plan that utilizes an integrative approach yields the best results for many people with pain. In combination with medication, alternative and complementary therapies can help patients better manage their pain and lead more fulfilling lives,” says Robert Bonakdar, M.D., of the American Academy of Pain Management. “There is no one-size-fits-all solution, so people with chronic pain may need to try different therapies to find the best approach to pain management. Communicating openly and honestly with your healthcare provider is essential to finding the right approach.”
Today, integrative care is becoming an increasingly popular pain management strategy. In fact, the National Institutes of Health reports that 38 percent of adults in the United States (about four out of 10) use some form of complementary or alternative medicine to treat common problems such as back, neck or joint pain.
People with pain should ask their doctor if an integrative approach to pain management is right for them. Additionally, Partners Against Pain, a national educational program provided by Purdue Pharma L.P. at www.partnersagainstpain.com, contains an array of information on pain conditions and pain management.
Massage therapy can help relieve the pain and inflammation of gout, a type of arthritis. New research shows the prevalence of gout in the U.S. has risen over the past two decades, and now affects 8.3 million Americans. Prior research found that gout incidence in the U.S. more than doubled from the 1960s to 1990s.
Gout is triggered by crystallization of uric acid within the joints, and causes severe pain and swelling, according to a press release from Wiley-Blackwell, which publishes Arthritis & Rheumatism, the journal in which the research ran.
“Medical evidence suggests that gout is strongly associated with metabolic syndrome—a group of health conditions characterized by central obesity, insulin resistance, high blood pressure and blood lipid issues—and may lead to heart attack, diabetes and premature death,” the press release noted
An article published on the website of Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, which offers classes in massage and other complementary therapies, notes, “While, at present, there are no cures for gout, massage can help to control the symptoms of gout and aid sufferers in maintaining a normal lifestyle whenever
they experience a gout flare-up.” And a leading resource for gout treatments, gout-treatment.net, notes, “Massage and aromatherapy are just two elements of alternative treatment available for gout, and if you are a sufferer, even one who believes firmly in traditional medicine, they are worth considering.”
Greater frequency of obesity and hypertension may be associated with the jump in prevalence rates, according to the research.
“We found that the prevalences of gout and hyperuricemia [serum urate level greater than 7.0 mg/dL in men and 5.7 mg/dL in women] continue to be substantial in the U.S. adult population,” said Hyon Choi, M.D., professor of medicine in the Section of Rheumatology and the Clinical Epidemiology Unit at Boston University School of Medicine in Massachusetts and senior investigator of the study. “Improvements in managing modifiable risk factors, such as obesity and hypertension, could help prevent further escalation of gout and hyperuricemia among Americans.”
Let’s say there’s a new medication that could make you live longer, feel more positive, and improve your overall quality of life.
It’s an elixir that doesn’t have side effects. It’s effective. And it doesn’t cost a penny.
It’s out there. Really.
It goes by many names — healthy living, wellness, prevention. Its components are happiness and health — because the two are intertwined and have a direct effect on each other.
Here are some scientific data to back that up: People who are happier and enjoy greater satisfaction with life report feeling 50 percent healthier, and their good health lasts. They are less likely to report poor health two years later.
So where can you sign up?
First things first. You can’t control all of your happiness — because your genes determine about half of it.
And major events, such as a new baby, a new spouse or a new home, influence about 10 percent of your happiness.
The good news is, this leaves about 40 percent of your well-being that you are able to influence — by your thoughts and actions.
Ok, so that’s easy enough. Right? Just go out buy a new car or get a new, better-paying job. Maybe win the lottery. Instant health and happiness.
Not so fast. Those things can bring a smile to your face, but usually only for a short while. They aren’t usually the keys to lasting happiness and health.
Despite what many people think, money doesn’t “buy happiness.” Money can make a huge difference to people who are poor. When your basic life needs are met, money alone doesn’t boost happiness by very much.
How you spend your money is the key to lasting happiness. If you spend it going out with friends, traveling or on other experiences for you and those around you, it will bring more lasting joy than if you spend money on material items. According to one study, regular vacations can lower cardiovascular risk by 30 percent. Even small vacations can make a difference, so it needn’t be a huge investment.
You can also increase happiness — and by extension, your health — by doing small things for yourself throughout the day.
Here are some scientifically proven mood-enhancers.
- Savor simple, fun activities such as spending time outdoors, eating your favorite foods, and relaxing to music.
- Look for humor in your life — and feel the healing power of laughter.
- Practice gratitude by writing lists of things for which you are thankful, things you take for granted, and people who mean a great deal to you. Studies have shown that doing this for two weeks leads to measurable improvement in life satisfaction.
- Write notes to people you are grateful for knowing and be as specific as possible in your praise — the details make a big difference in elevating your mood, and theirs.
- Indulge your senses. Studies show looking at nature, taking short naps, and receiving a massage can have positive effects on your health.
- Focus on something else or a living creature besides yourself. When you connect with faith or philosophy, for example, or care for plants or pets — you actually improve your health and survival.
- Watch what you tell yourself. Evidence suggests that optimistic people are happier, live longer, and enjoy life more. If you are not inclined to have a rosy outlook, you can train yourself to focus on the positive.
So here’s my prescription for you: Go on a vacation, take a siesta, watch a funny movie and write thank-you notes. You might be surprised with what happens.
There is no question that massage therapy is a positive experience; now, research indicates people who choose positive, emotionally gratifying experiences age more successfully than do those people who don’t choose such experiences.
The tendency to make good choices has been dubbed the “positivity effect.”
The new research explains how and when this effect works in the brain, according to a press release from Elsevier, which publishes Biological Psychiatry, in which the research is running.
German neuroscientists studied this positivity effect by using neuroimaging to evaluate brain engagement in young and old adults while they performed a specialized cognitive task that included supposedly irrelevant pictures of neutral, happy, sad or fearful faces, according to the press release.
During parts of the task when they didn’t have to pay as much attention, the elderly subjects were significantly more distracted by the happy faces.
“When this occurred, they had increased engagement in the part of the brain that helps control emotions and this stronger signal in the brain was correlated with those who showed the greatest emotional stability,” the press release noted.
“Integrating our findings with the assumptions of life span theories,
we suggest that motivational goal-shifting in healthy aging leads to a self-regulated engagement in positive emotions even when this is not required by the setting,” explained author Dr. Stefanie Brassen. “In addition, our finding of a relationship between rostral anterior cingulate cortex activity and emotional stability further strengthens the hypothesis that this increased emotional control in aging enhances emotional well being.”
Lifespan theories explain that positivity bias in later life reflects a greater emphasis on short-term rather than long-term priorities. The study by Brassen and colleagues now provides another clue to how the brain contributes to this age-related shift in priorities.
Interested in a massage this month?
Locally known for outstanding massage therapy, Moyer Total Wellness is offering a special through the end of the month.
Schedule a massage this month, and pay only $40.
Want to upgrade to a 1.5-hr massage? Special price only $59.
Stiff shoulders? Aching back? In a time of high gas prices, a shaky economy, and political rancor, it’s no wonder that many of us are feeling a bit stressed lately. Add the usual aches and pains that come along with age, arthritis, sports injuries and the strain of hunching over a computer all day, and the result is a body crying out for a therapeutic massage.
A therapeutic massage is a great way to pamper your body and spirit and you don’t even have to spend a days paycheck at your local spa to get one. Moyer Total Wellness provides therapeutic massages by licensed massage therapists at an affordable rate. Only $49.99 for new clients and $40 for members. (Reg price of a one hour massage is $59)
Massage feels good, of course, but it also does a body good. According to research studies posted on the website of the National Institute of Health’s Center for Alternative and Complementary Medicine, massages can improve the immune system, reduce blood pressure and ease neck pain.
“It enhances the immune system by stimulating blood flow and moving lymphocytes,” said Tony Chilelli, a licensed massage therapist who has been practicing in Denver for over 20 years.
“It is relaxing to those who are stressed and some people report they are able to sleep better,” said Sabra, a licensed massage therapist in Denver who has been practicing for nine years. Among its many benefits, she said, “It improves the pliability of fascia, increases circulation, clears the system of toxins and increases endorphins.”
There are several types of massages, among them Swedish, deep tissues, myofascial and hot stone. In a Swedish massages, the most common type, the therapist applies a series of kneading, circular and sweeping strokes. In a deep tissue massage, the therapist applies a firmer pressure to treat stubborn muscle tension. In a myofascial massage, the therapist concentrates on massaging connective ligaments. In a hot stone massage, the therapist places heated stones on the client’s body to warm and soothe the muscles.
Although hot stone massages are a bit more expensive than standard massages, clients love them. ($15 more)
“It will warm you for about three days,” said Sabra. “My clients have told me ‘my legs feel like rubber.’”
People get massages for various reasons, noted Sabra. They may have arthritis or sports injuries or tension from sitting at a desk for hours a day. However, a therapeutic massage can benefit everyone, not just those with specific aches and pains, the therapists stressed.
“It’s an investment in your health,” said Sack.
A monthly massage is optimal for keeping muscles and connective tissue supple, said Shaw, although persons may need one more often.
Although most insurers do not cover massages, clients can use money in pre-tax health spending accounts to pay for therapeutic massages. In addition, an insurer may cover massage therapy for a person who gets a prescription for therapeutic massage from his or her physician.
It’s important to find a licensed massage therapist. Although anyone can give massages, only someone who has completed a massage therapy course and passed a licensing examination can call himself or herself a massage therapist. A licensed massage therapist will have the initials “LMT” or “CMT” or a license number on his or her business card and advertisements. It’s also helpful to ask the therapist if he or she is experienced in doing the type of massage requested, such as deep tissue, myofascial or pre-natal.
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