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San Leandro Chiropractor

Iron and Why Human Body Needs It.

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IRONIron (Fe) is the most abundant element on the planet Earth. It can be found in outer and inner core. This element is playing very crucial role the human’s health. Our bodies require around 100 milligrams per day of Fe. This important element regulates DNA synthesis, growth, healing, immune function, reproduction and even metabolism. Without Iron our red blood cells would not be able to carry Oxygen. Hemoglobin and Myoglobin are the two proteins in red blood cells that are responsible for delivering oxygen via blood and muscles. This function makes Fe a very important element for athletic performance. Every time I ride my bike at a  fast pace or climbing a long hill, especially on my single speed bike, I wish I had more oxygen delivered to my muscles for better performance.

The body does amazing things by adopting to external environment. One of the attorneys that I work with on personal injury cases spent two weeks with his son in Mountainous region of India. He is in his mid 50s and is an avid surfer. When he has returned from his trip he informed me that he feels like he is 25 years of age. His energy level was over the roof and he was able to surf and play tennis much longer than before. What has happened here?  Body is trying to compensate for low levels of O2 in blood stream thus stimulating the production of more red blood cells and increasing the O2 carrying capacity. When an individual returns back to normal altitude and he or she has more then normal oxygen in blood stream thus is the reason for better sport performance and increase energy level.  This effect is not long lasting as the body will adopt to normal altitude very fast and will decrease the amount of red blood cells.

People who have Iron deficiency can have pale skin, brittle or grooved nails, hair loss, irritability and general weakness. Frequent blood donors, vegetarians, long-distance runners, pregnant women or women who just gave birth, and women who have heavy periods are usually at risk of having iron deficiency. Approximately 50 percent of pregnant women, 20 percent of women, and 3 percent of men have Fe deficiency.

Many foods in our diet have this very important element. The best food sources would be dried beans, dried fruits, eggs (especially yolks), red meat, oysters, tuna, salmon, whole grains, apples. Animal source of this element is absorbed better than plant source. Perhaps combination of both animal and plant diet will provide the sufficient amount of Iron for ones health. One can also get a supplement from a health store but I would advice to consult your primary care physician first.

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How Much Sleep Does Your Body Need?

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SLEEPING BUEATYYou may have this idea that you’re not getting enough sleep. Chances are, you’re not. There’s  a big difference on our performance when we have adequate sleep every night versus when we don’t have enough. So, how much sleep do we actually need? About some 15 years ago there was this theory that if you get about 4 to 5 hours of sleep a night then your body will just adapt and the brain can still be able to perform well. But that was because the studies conducted then were on participants who were only monitored during sleeping time at night. They were able  to go home by morning. They could  also have taken a nap during daytime or they could have been drinking coffee.

David Dinges who is the head of the Sleep & Chronobiology Lab in the University of Pennsylvania knows more about this than anyone else in the world. He and Hans Van Dongen who is his lead author had assigned several dozens of people into 3 groups. In 2003 these 3 groups were given the strict rule that one group sleeps for 4 hours, the other for 6 hours while the other for 8 hours for 2 weeks. Then every couple of hours at daytime they were being tested to monitor their ability for sustaining attention with PVT or psychomotor vigilance task. They were tested to see how much time their body requires to respond after they see a number flashed on the computer screen. Even just a half a second delay is already a good indication that they lack sleep and this short delay is called as microsleep.
Based on the PVT test that lasted for 2 weeks the result show that those who had 8 hours of sleep barely suffer from any attention lapse and there was no decline on their results. Those who had 6 hours of sleep a night showed signs of delay and this declined steadily and those that had 4 hours of sleep a night had the worst result from the 3 groups. Also, this test showed no difference on the result from people sleeping 8 hours a night to those sleeping for 9 hours. While those who had 7 hours of sleep show a slower response time than the 8 hour group though the trend was not decreasing but steady at slower speed.
Coffee and other countermeasures can help but these can only help temporarily. Lack of sleep won’t show signs right away but it will after about 5 days where performance level is decreasing. But Dinges also found out that a small percentage of population, about 5%, can actually handle less hours of sleep and still maintain good performance and this could be associated to their genes.
So, with this study it is safe to conclude that our body needs 8 hours of sleep a night. You may think your body already adjusted to lack of sleep because you don’t feel sleepy. But sleepiness is not the only factor to consider as your performance and memory sharpness and time of response may prove otherwise.
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Back Surgery, Cost of Insurance and Ineffectiveness of Care

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BACK SURGERYAs the number of orthopedic surgeons in the USA is growing so is the number of back surgeries performed on patients with back pain. Often time it is a 50/50 chance that patient will be pain free after a surgical procedure due to the soft tissue fibrosis and lack of proper post surgical rehabilitation. Did you know that over 100,000 people die each year in this country from surgery complications. This number by far exceeds the number of automobile accidents in the entire country. The ratio is 23 percent for men and 32 percent for women.

It is not the secret that the health care system in this country is the most expensive in the world. Thus all U.S. citizens must get the best educated doctors who in theory would make the healthiest nation in the world and would provide the best medical care available. World Health Organization stated that as of 2000 the U.S. ranked #1 in cost, #72 in population health, #37 in health care delivery with 48 million Americans uninsured. France is ranked as #4, #4 and #1 and only 1% uninsured. The question is why French get more medical care for their money than we are?

TIME Magazine stated that U.S. spends more to get less then any other industrialized country in the world. Why such a waste of resources?  This country spent twice as much on a sick-care as it did on food in 2006 and more than China’s 1.3 billion citizens consumed altogether. Wow, we can feed countries like India and China for the whole year.

President Barack Obama stated: “Today, we are spending over 2 trillion a year on health care – almost 50 percent more per person than the next most costly nation. And yet, for all this spending, more of our citizens are uninsured; the quality of our care is often lower; and we aren’t any healthier. In fact, citizens in some countries that spend less than we do are actually living longer than we do.”

According to Forbes Magazine Back Pain cost over $40 billion for treatment alone. If we include disability, work loss and other factors the total cost would range somewhere between $100-200 billion per year. That is quite a large amount of money. Most of the countries do not even produce this much. About 3 million people went to Hospital E.R. for lower back pain which cost $9.5 billion. Low Back Pain is the number nine most expensive condition treated in U.S. Hospitals. If people could only maintain their bodies the way they maintain their vehicles things would be different. Regular Chiropractic care could prevent biomechanical vertebral misalignments and therefore save an individual from unnecessary expensive surgical procedure.

Pran Manga, PhD. MPhil health economist stated: “ There is an overwhelming body of evidence indicating that chiropractic therapy of lower back pain is more cost-effective than medical management.” Many other studies proved that chiropractic manipulation for none specific low back pain is far more effective than other forms of treatments. Millions of patients are satisfied with the results that they are getting with chiropractic care. Watch several video testimonials on this blog. Only 42 out of 131 military treatment facilities have access to a chiropractic care due to the medical bureaucracy within the Department of Defense.

What would you do if you had low back pain?

  1. Go To a Hospital and Get Pain Killers and Possible Referral for a Surgery?

  2. Go To a Chiropractor?

  3. Do Nothing and Wait Till the Pain Goes Away On Its Own?

 

 

 

Medical Care Cost and its Relationship to Medical Education

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San Leandro ChiropracticMany never think about Medical Care Cost and its Relationship to Medical Education. Recently I have come across a very interesting article about the cost of Health Care in the USA. Every American citizen thinks that US Health care system is best in the world. The reality is very different. The cost of the health care system in this country is the most expensive in the world. Many countries have as  advanced medical care system as the USA with much less cost per citizen.

Many want to know when is the change going to happen?  People are sick and tired of drowning in medical bills. It is never ending cycle. The cause could be, in my own opinion, is the high cost of education in this country and privatization of medical care. It takes about 11 years to become a medical doctor, and that is just being a general practitioner. If one wants to specialize in something, additional 4 years are required. The amount of loans these doctors take sum up to over $250,000 plus or minus. Most of it depends which school you go to and if you live on campus or not. It took me about 8 years before I saw the license of Doctor of Chiropractic on the wall in my office.

About 4 years of undergraduate studies, and almost 4 years of chiropractic school education. The verdict was over $100,000 in cost and that does not include undergraduate studies. These numbers were not this high before the birth of student loans.

Recently spoke to a 67 year old gentleman who is a retiring Chiropractor. He told me that back in days Student Loans did not exist. You pay out of your pocket for tuition and that was the end of the story. The cost was about $500 a quarter. Ten years ago I was paying over $5500 a quarter. Don’t really want to know what it is now.

One must understand that in order for a Chiropractor, Medical Doctor, Dentist or any other medical care provider to recoup the cost of Education process, one must be charging insurance companies for the services. This is a never ending process that can not be stopped unless the cost of education will significantly go down and health care will be free. That is communism and something I escaped 20 years ago and despised it all my life. Free does not necessarily means good. It is a human nature for an individual to excel at certain fields. People will always look for a better medical service around the block. Medical Care is just like everything else has become a business and each Hospital and private clinic treats it as one. The fuel for a medical facility is the amount of patients an institution is seeing and the type of Coverage an individual has. This is just my personal opinion and something that I have been observing for the past ten years working in a medical field.

What do you think the medical care should be like in the United States?  Feel free to add any information in a comment area.