San Leandro Chiropractor

High Blood Pressure and Chiropractic Care

January 24, 2011 by drburt

I recently had a new patient referral to my San Leandro Chiropractic Clinic from my old patient. This particular case is worth sharing with the world. It proves in theory and in practice one more time that chiropractic care is beneficial for patients who have unstable blood pressure. I believe that this patient is also suffering from benign paroxysmal positional vertigo as well. Symptoms include extreme dizziness when bringing the head forward or laying face down.

This patient is a fifty years plus young female who had worked for a software company for about nine years. Her daily job duties required prolonged sitting hours in front of the computer, sometimes between ten to twelve hours a day. It is a scientific fact that the worse position for a spine is in a sitting position. There is an increased load on a supporting soft tissue of the lumbar spine. As a result the entire spine is being affected by this biomechanical imbalance, which leads to many physiological changes in the way body is being controlled and regulated by our nervous system.

This patient has been treated by workers compensation insurance for her wrist injuries for a very prolonged period of time. That is also a very common problem for people who have to use excessive keyboard entry every day. Our hands just not design to do this type of work. Perhaps thousand years from now our wrists will be able to adopt and people will have less wrist injuries. It appears that computers do not go anywhere any time soon.

During examination I found out that this lady has seen five different specialists who were not able to resolve her problem. Medical Doctor prescribed blood pressure pills, neurologist prescribed vertigo pills and referred patient to an ENT (Ear Nose Throat) specialist, acupuncture had no benefit at all for this particular case, and several sessions of physical therapy were unsuccessful. Her X-RAY report revealed severe osteoarthritis in C5-C6 vertebral levels. MRI of the blood vessels and brain was negative for any pathology whatsoever. That MRI report was a big help as it ruled out the cardiovascular involvement as a cause of high blood pressure. During farther examination of the spine I have found out that her C1 vertebral level on a right side was tenders to palpation and was subluxated or misaligned. Many would wonder what does a misaligned vertebral bone have to do with a blood pressure ? To your surprise the answer is very simple. Vagus nerve which is a cranial nerve X continues its path from a brainstem down to a spianal cord and all the way to a sacral plexus via Atlas or C1 vertebral foramena (opening). When C1 or Atlas vertebral body is subluxated or misaligned it might compress the Vagus nerve which will be the cause of unstable Blood Pressure and many other symptoms if not taken care on time.

The vagus nerve and the heart from Wikipedia:

Fibres of the vagus nerve (right/bottom of image) innervate the sinoatrial node tissue (central and left of image). H&E stain.

Parasympathetic innervation of the heart is controlled by the vagus nerve. Specifically, the vagus nerve acts to lower the heart rate. The right vagus innervates the sinoatrial node. Parasympathetic hyperstimulation predisposes those affected to bradyarrhythmias. The left vagus when hyperstimulated predisposes the heart to atrioventricular (AV) blocks.

At this location neuroscientist Otto Loewi first proved that nerves secrete substances called neurotransmitters which have effects on receptors in target tissues. Loewi described the substance released by the vagus nerve as vagusstoff, which was later found to be acetylcholine. Drugs that inhibit the muscarinic cholinergic receptor (anticholinergics) such as atropine and scopolamine are called vagolytic because they inhibit the action of the vagus nerve on the heart, gastrointestinal tract and other organs. Anticholinergic drugs increase heart rate and are used to treat bradycardia (slow heart rate) and asystole, which is when the heart has no electrical activity.

That day I have adjusted patient’s C1 vertebrae on a right side, thoracic and lumbar vertebral levels. She also received some physicals therapy modalities as well as light massage therapy from my CMT. I have informed the patient that it might take several hours for the therapy to take effect. This session was on Friday and I have asked the patient to email me over the weekend regarding the results. On Sunday this lady stated in her email that her blood pressure has normalized and was very stable after Friday’s session. This particular case of high blood pressure was caused by neurological imbalance and had great result with chiropractic care. There many other causes of high blood pressure: genetic predisposition, lack of exercises, overweight, poor diet. and stress. If you would like to know how to lower your blood pressure naturally without drugs please read this “The High Blood Pressure Remedy Report.” (affiliate link)

My patient has also mentioned that her Vertigo has improved a little but it is still there. In my opinion the cause of the vertigo is in her middle ear and Cranial Nerve VIII. Also the entire right side of her skull around cranial sutures is very painful to touch. I will do farther investigation and will provide the results in one of my blog posts.

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Chiropractic Care, Golf and Back Injury

January 21, 2011 by drburt

Most everyone who plays golf has a greater chance of low back injury. Recent study shows that about 35% of amateur and 22-24% of professional golfers susceptible to lumbar spine injuries. Collectively, the incidence of lower back pain in the male golfer is 25% to 36% and 22% to 27% in the female golfer. Many just want to learn how to hit the ball as far as possible and forgetting the basics of soft tissue trauma prevention. Below is the list of the risk factors that could cause lower back pain:

Arthritis, disc injuries or stress fractures
Weak abdominal musculature
Poor muscle trunk stabilization and strength
Poor warm up and flexibility
Overuse or repetitive stress from technique
Improper swing or technique
Poor posture or scoliosis
Age
Overweight and general poor health
Previous history of back pain or injury

What Is the Mechanism Injury of Lower Back While Playing Golf

Lumbar Spine consists of the following structures: vertebral bodies, IVD – Inter Vertebral Disc, Ligaments, Muscles and Tendons. Lower back injuries are the most common golf related injuries followed by, elbow, wrist and shoulder injuries. Occasionally golfers suffer from hip and knee pain as well. The most common mechanism of injury is the twisting and pulling that takes place during the golf swing against a spine that is not moving through its full range of motion. During golf swing the spine is exposed to extra load and tensile movement. It is estimated that during the swing phase the soft tissue of the lumbar spine is exposed to a force eight times of the body weight. Prolonger standing, twisting, and bending are the contributing factors for stress accumulation on the supporting structures of the lumbar spine. When the force dissipates through the vertebral body, muscles, discs and ligaments can be damaged and be the cause of low back injury.

Preventing Low Back Injuries from Golfing

Less than 5% of amateur golfers fail to adequately stretch or warm up before the game. A proper warm up will provide the following benefits to the spine:
Increasing circulation
Increasing the range of motion
Preparing for increased loading and stress
Below is an example of good warm up activities:
light jog or brisk walk, stretching the larger muscles or major muscle groups, swinging a club in both directions to mobilize the trunk muscles and increase circulation, Fluid, gentle practice swings preparing the relevant structures of the spine and muscles groups for the activity.

Improve Muscle Strength and Tone and Flexibility

Strengthening the abdominal and lower back muscles will help to stabilize the spine during the swing phase and in turn produce more powerful, longer shots. Strong quadriceps, buttock and hamstring muscles are another important key factor that should not be neglected. Here is link to a “Two Stretching Exercises for Golf Back Pain.” Pilates for Golfers (affiliate link) has been a very popular technique in preventing back injuries and elbow injuries while golfing. Pilates for Golfers is a step-by-step guide to identify and correct golf swing faults using the Pilates Method.

Consult Your Personal Chiropractor or Medical Professional

If you injured yourself while golfing, you must do the following in order to prevent farther injury:

Discontinue any activities that aggravates the pain
Apply ice to injured area ASAP – 15 minutes on and 45 minutes off
After 72 hours you can switch to heating moist pads for increased blood flow
Do not lye in bed for a prolonged period of time
Force yourself for light activity
Avoid Heavy Lifting
Avoid Prolonged Sitting
Avoid Prolonged Bending
Suspend Golfing Activities

A visit to your local chiropractor would be a great benefit to your lower back pain. Make sure that your local chiropractor has physical therapy modalities such as, electric stimulation, moist heat, ultrasound, cold laser and certified massage therapist as a staff member. Spinal Chiropractic Adjustment can do wonders to your spine and overall well being.

MSG or Monosodium Glutamate and Your Health

January 19, 2011 by drburt

Previous post was about Aspartame and how dangerous it is for your health. Today I would like to talk about other food additive that is extremely dangerous for your health. This additive is found in every fast food chain restaurants and food stores – MSG or Monosodium Glutamate. This is not the first time you hear about this brain cells excitatory and then killing compound. MSG adds a great flavor to your taste buds but takes away years of your life, just like smoking, drinking alcohol, consumption of High Fructose Corn Syrup, and Aspartame containing products. Many manufacturers are adding Monosodium Glutamate for a better taste of food. Your brain is being fooled by the excitatory effect of this chemical compound. For a very short period of time your brain speeds up and reacts sharply. People usually become addictive to the foods that have high concentration of MSG.

MSG and Your Brain

MSG has been found to be the cause of a great variety of human brain diseases – Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, high blood pressure, stroke and even brain cancer. This product has also been linked to be the cause of an allergic reaction in patients who have asthma. Research proved that large quantity of MSG has caused the death of brain cells. The cause of death of these brain cells was the free radical production during chemical process that is taking inside of the cell. When this research was published, public forced baby-food companies to discontinue mixing MSG with the products that they produce.

There have been many reports from individuals concerning how eating foods with MSG affect their health in a negative way. In 1995, the FDA reaffirmed the safety of monosodium glutamate and found no evidence that it causes long-term health problems. The FDA did admit that some people could have short-term reactions to MSG. The negative symptoms of eating foods with this additive might include: headaches, the feeling of swelling in the face, flushing and or sweating, rapid fluttering of heartbeats or heart palpitations, nausea, chest pain, shortness of breath, numbness, burning or tingling around the mouth area, weakness, and fibromyalgia. Here is a guide to “The Connection Between Fibromyalgia & Monosodium Glutamate.” (affiliate link) Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain are complex conditions and difficult to diagnose. Severe or mild, let me show you how to eliminate the pain forever.

If you ate enough foods all day that contained MSG, it could build up in your body. This could lead to some of the symptoms mentioned above later at night including the heart palpitations. As people are now growing up eating more monosodium glutame containing foods, we could be getting more sensitive to it, which makes its reactions in our body worse when we eat it.

Processed Food Labeling – Read It Carefully

Every manufacturer hides MSG in their products by naming them differently. Please read the label carefully and look for the following names: hydrolyzed plant protein, yeast extract, sodium caseinate, malt extract, bouillon broth and protein concentrate. This chemical can also be found in the following products: milk products, soft drinks, candy, chewing gum, health drink powders, some medications and in binders for nutrients, supplements and both prescription and over-the-counter medicines.

Free and Bound Glutamate

Glutamate is a natural neurotransmitter in the brain. Its function is to control the nervous system and proper brain and organ function. When a person consumes food with high levels of MSG the brain cells and glutamate receptors get over stimulated. Many food producing companies state that monosodium glutamate exposed to the same metabolic process as glutamate from natural occurring food and therefore they claim it harmless to a human health. MSG glutamates are unbound and are able to quickly spike blood levels with glutamate.

High levels of glutamate will over stimulate brain neurons and as a result could be the cause of psychological and physical problems. Age, disease and stress level will be the factor of how sensitive the organism is to monosodium glutamate. There were reports of permanent brain damage with an overdose of this chemical compound. Glutamate receptors are found in the following parts of the body: brain, heart, lungs and the pancreas, where glutamate is a neurotransmitter.

Please read labels carefully before you purchase food product for a store. Remember – HEALTH IS THE MOST VALUABLE ASSET !!!

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ASPARTAME, EQUAL, NUTRASWEET, SPOONFUL and Your Health

January 17, 2011 by drburt

Aspartame is a known neurotoxin. This product can pass directly on to the fetus in pregnant women with even a small dose. There were cases when people have suffered aspartame related disorders with doses as small as a single portion of chewing gum stick. Flicker vertigo or flicker-induced epileptic activity is a real possibility for pilots who drink diet sodas. The chances for pilots of having sudden memory loss, dizziness during instrument flight and gradual vision loss are pretty high. Pilots who were frequent consumers of EQUAL and NUTRASWEET have experienced grand mal seizures while operating commercial airplane and have lost their privilege to fly forever. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has received over 10,000 complaints from consumers about NutraPoison. FDA has done nothing to alert American public about 80 percent of these food additives. People assume that if these products are advertised on TV then they are as safe as mother’s milk. The FDA consistently approves killer additives all the time. Next time I will try post some information about MSG (Monosodium Glutamate).

If you are one of the users of EQUAL and NUTRASWEET and you are experiencing headaches, depression, slurred speech, loss of memory, fibromyalgia types symptoms, loss of sensation in lower legs or shooting pains, loss of equilibrium, vertigo, anxiety attacks, chronic fatigue, vision loss, floaters, retinal detachment, seizures, heart palpitations, etc you might have ASPARTAME TOXICITY! Some physicians misdiagnose patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) when in reality it is methanol toxicity which mimics MS. You can survive MS but not methanol toxicity. 51% of FDA approved drugs had serious health risks. John Hopkins University research estimates that 80-120,000 American citizens are killed by prescription drugs every year. Here is a link to a great Detoxification Kit by Dr. Hull. (affiliate link) A Detox Program to cleanse your body of toxins such as heavy metals, food chemicals, toxins from artificial sweeteners, and much more.

Aspartame is a molecule composed of three main components: aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol. Once ingested the methanol, wood alcohol that has killed or blinded thousands of skid row drunks, converts into formaldehyde and formic (Ant Sting Poison). Farmaldehyde, is a very serious deadly neurotoxin and class A Carcinogen. Phenylealanine is also neurotoxic when unaccompanied by the other amino acids in proteins. Aspartic Acid causes brain lesions in neuroendocrine disorders in experimental animals. Overall there are 92 documented symptoms including:

Headache
Blurred Vision
Dizziness
Irritability
Seizures
Tachycardia
Nausea
Slurred Speech
Numbness
Heart Palpitations
Muscle Spasms
Anxiety Attacks
Rashes
Tinnitus
Depression
Loss of Taste
Fatigue
Memory Loss
Weight Gain
Vertigo
Blindness
Joint Pain
Hearing Loss
Insomnia

NutraSweet is found in over 10,000 products. The best way to understand NutraSweet is to think of it as a minute does of nerve gas that eradicates brain and nerve functions. You are probably want to ask this question why would FDA allow this product on the market – the answer is simple – MONEY. Monsanto reaps about $2 billion each year from the Aspartame toxic business. Here is the list of diseases triggered by ASPARTAME:

Brain Tumors and Other Cancers
Fibromyalgia
Epstein Barr
Diabetes
Birth Defects
Multiple Sclerosis
Graves Disease
Parkinson’s
Mental Retardation
Systemic Lupus Death
Epilepsy
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Alzheimer’s
Lymphoma

NUTRASWEET, EQUAL, SPOONFUL are the one of the deadliest toxins in our society because of their presence in many thousands foods, even children’s vitamins, medicines, Kool Aid and Jell-O and every restaurant table. Americans are dosed with millions of pounds every year! The following warning MUST BE written on every ASPARTAME, NUTRASWEET, EQUAL, SPOONFUL products: CHEMICAL POISON – KEEP OUT OF REACH OF HUMANS: GENOCIDAL.

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