Health News Winter '99

Health News – Winter ‘99

Prepared By The Burdi Chiropractic Group

(A "Light-Force" Adjusting, Massage & Wellness Facility.)

Dr Burdi & wife, Sherree'

Water Shortcomings! - A fascinating book, "Your Body's Many Cries For Water" by F Batmanghelidj, MD, illustrates how vitally important drinking two and one half quarts of water each and every day is by looking at many diseases. Morning Sickness - a Fetus' way of telling mom she/he is thirsty! By the time our mouth gets dry, severe dehydration has occurred. With aging the dry mouth tendency for telling us the body is thirsty decreases. In fact, Alzheimer's disease may begin because an older person loses the sensation to drink water and their brain dehydrates, misfires, and shrivels up. Dry skin can also result from lack of water. Is it possible these processes are reversible? The brain takes 20% of the water you drink for it's own purposes. The rest of the body is on a priority basis. The heart and circulatory system have a higher priority for water than say our skin. Drinking soda or coffee gradually leaches water out of your system. Look at all the sodas people drink! The book poses an interesting question. We've known forever that our bodies are made of 75% water and 25% solid substance. For diseases that begin in organs, could it be possible that they begin because our 75% water balance becomes depleted with organs lower on the water priority list the first to become diseased? This is not "food" for thought, but water for life! Drink up! (Changes our patients have already noticed in just two weeks: Elimination is smooth and easy; skin is no longer dry and is now very soft; and bumpy pimply skin on back of arm has disappeared. (This is a cheap easy thing to try and certainly would not hurt. But be prepared to urinate frequently in the beginning until the body realizes you are serious about having enough water.)

Pregnancy Back Pain - Water Gymnastics Helps! Oh, the indescribable joys of pregnancy with new life, intimacy, bond development between mother and child ... and the back pain. More than 50% of women experience back pain during pregnancy, especially in the third trimester, and frequently the pain can be excruciating and debilitating. A Swedish study in Acta Obstetrics Et Gynecologica Scandinavia, March 1999, involving 258 pregnant women, investigated water gymnastics reducing back pain intensity and the number of sick days taken. Women were divided equally into two groups: an exercise one participating in water gymnastics (one hour of relaxation exercises in a swimming pool with music) during the second half of their pregnancy; and a control group that did not participate in water gymnastics. Although back pain intensity increased during the course of pregnancy for both groups, the exercise one reported less pain compared with the control group. The total number of reported days on sick leave was also lower in the exercise group (982 days taken) compared with controls (1,484 days taken). Therefore, back pain is one frustration that doesn't have to last if you follow the natural approach to staying healthy through exercise with an aligned spine.

Chronic Low Back Trouble Affect Your Mind? A controlled study in Spine Magazine, Feb. 1999 showed that if you keep ignoring that low back pain, you might be damaging more than just your body. A study in the journal examined the association between cognitive impairment (e.g., slow reaction times and reduced short-term memory affecting certain motor tasks) and chronic low back trouble. Patients' low back problems were assessed and analyzed at the beginning of rehabilitation and six months later. Measurement of cognitive impairment was accomplished by having all subjects use a desktop computer mouse and special foot pedals to react to arrow symbols flashed on the screen in random order and at random intervals. The study concluded "chronic low back trouble (i.e., pain, psychological distress, and general disability) hampers the functioning of short-term memory, which results in decreased speed of information processing among these patients."; Obviously, prevention is the key. Get spinal check-ups before performance or memory permanently drops off!

Vitamin K Prevents Hip Fractures - In a ten-year study at the Harvard School of Public Health, some 270 hip fractures were analyzed in relation to the vitamin K intake of the subjects. Lettuce is the primary source of vitamin K. The results showed that women eating lettuce more than once per week had a significantly lower risk of hip fracture than women who ate lettuce less.

Cramps, be gone! Do you suffer from menstrual cramps? Have you consider chiropractic care for this condition? Over the past 20 years, many of our female patients have received relief from this pain just be getting spinal adjustments and diathermy therapy. If treated on the first day of the menstrual cycle when pain is the highest, many times the cramps are minimal or gone within the hour. Plus succeeding months cramps are minimal while spinal alignment is maintained.

WORK/PERSONAL HEALTH CLASS REMINDER - Dr. Burdi is available for health or ergonomic presentations to clubs and companies. Ask your boss to request these informative slide presentations!

DOCTOR'S CORNER: Warts - Many people experience these annoying skin conditions. To get rid of them, first determine what kind they are, like common, plane or seborrheic types. Looking at pictures in the library or consulting with a Dermatologist helps. If found to be the benign type (most are), then normally it is burned or frozen off by the Dermatologist. An alternative way is to tie a string tightly around the base of the wart to cut off the blood supply coming from the roots. One patient developed two big wart clusters on the tongue after sucking on old Vitamin C lozenges. Within 6 days with the string tied snuggly at each wart base they fell off leaving two holes where the roots had been. It took a week or two before the holes filled in with tissue. This also worked on a patient with warts (tagged type) under the arms. And it was painless and left no scars.

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