Depression and chiropractic

Hi Everyone,

It's been another crazy week. Have had trouble getting to the blog this week, but finally, here it is.

There have been some ideas about chiropractic care stimulating the release of neurotransmitters (NTS) (i.e. serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and many others) in the brain and throughout the body. I'd say that the research is not strong (yet), and in the beginning stages on that topic. It seems to me that serotonin is the starting point for this research. But I hope we get to see some well done large studies on that topic in the future. If someone could link serotonin release with chiropractic care, I hope the next questions asked would be about that connection and if there could be an effect on depression, weight issues, and many other health issues that involve NTS.

So the next thing I would naturally search for in the above line of thought is studies on depression. Here are a couple of studies on Chiropractic and Depression.

http://www.chiropracticresearch.org/search2.php?aid=1137 -I'd call this a pilot study.

http://www.chiropracticresearch.org/search2.php?aid=1137 -case study

http://www.jvsr.com/abstracts/index.asp?id=350- the same case study from above.

Enjoy,
Dr. Gwen

Jack LaLanne on chiropractic

Hi Everyone,

Here is a link sent to me from a friend of mine, thanks Dr. Christina!

"Feel better and live longer with Chiropractic - Jack LaLanne FOX NEWS - Jack LaLanne is an American fitness, exercise and nutritional expert, celebrity, lecturer, and motivational speaker who has been referred to as "the godfather of fitness." He has published fitness books as well as hosting a long-running fitness television show between 1951 and 1985. LaLanne gained worldwide renown for his success as a bodybuilder, as well as his prodigious feats of strength. He continue to rely upon chiropractic adjustments to keep himself healthy and active. He is 94 year old."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSYWfRDD5H8

Enjoy!

Vaccinations, martial arts

Hi Everyone,

This as an addition to my last blog. Here is some vaccination information from the FDA website.

http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/default.htm

A friend on Face Book posted a clip of some impressively fast martial arts. I like martial arts myself (Kung Fu, and Tai Chi), and couldn't resist posting this link here for other athletes and martial artists that will like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JURo8RoxrrM

Enjoy!

Vaccinations

Hi Everyone,

I am often asked by patients to give them my opinion about vaccinations. As a chiropractor vaccinations and medications are legally out of my scope of practice. To my patients' annoyance, I can't comment, so I won't comment here either. Since I am only presenting one side of the debate, however, I will ask that you remember that there are very good reasons to get vaccinated. I would make sure you do your homework. Hopefully this will help.

It is relatively easy to find information on why to get vaccinated. One of the easiest ways to get information in favor of vaccinations is to talk to your medical doctor (MD). You could also probably find some good information on the CDC (Center of Disease Control), FDA (Food and Drug Administration), or NIH (National Institute of Health) websites. For those of you looking for the other side of the coin, I hope this will help.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/04/10/wakefield-interview.aspx -The video is really long (several 10 min. sections), but worth watching. You can also get the transcript to read. Also note that the MMR vaccine that they are harping on here is from one company. Not all companies have the same problems with their vaccines.

Enjoy!

Low back pain, Yoga, pregnancy, chiropractic, running, movement times

This morning I found a few studies. There is quite a mix of topics. They all came up with a search of back pain and chiropractic.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2792123/?tool=pmcentrez –yoga and low back pain.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2647084/?tool=pmcentrez- Pregnancy and chiropractic

http://www.chiroindex.org/?search_page=articles&action=&articleId=20580 –low back pain and chiropractic RCT

http://www.chiroindex.org/?search_page=articles&action=&articleId=18965 –Chiropractic and movement time improvements. I had previously put a link to an article about this study. Here is the link to the actual abstract, I bumped into it today.

http://www.chiroindex.org/?search_page=articles&action=&articleId=20113 – Chiropractic, running, and hip extension…Dr. Gwen wonders what would happen if they tested long distance runners where a small improvement in hip movement would be more significant.

Enjoy!

Asthma (NFL, ADHD)

Well,

On Friday when I left work the lake by our office was still frozen. Today I see waves...Spring is warming us up! It's nice to see movement on the water again.

I went looking for information of asthma and chiropractic care. Chiropractic care can help people with asthma. Many people find a reduction in symptoms, decreased severity or frequency of attacks, decreased need for medications, etc. I would never claim Chiropractic care would cure asthma, but it does look like it helps decrease the problems people experience.

The research out there is mostly small studies and case studies, hopefully we'll start to see larger studies being done. It might be a while though. I would imagine it could be hard to get funding for something that is not a complete cure.

tp://www.chiroindex.org/?search_page=articles&action=&articleId=20711 -child case study Asthma, colds, allergies.

http://www.chiroindex.org/?search_page=articles&action=&articleId=20103 -small study

http://www.chiroindex.org/?search_page=articles&action=&articleId=19899 –child asthma case

http://www.chiroindex.org/?search_page=articles&action=&articleId=19721 -"Tourette Syndrome, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, depression, asthma, insomnia, and headaches: a case report"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2829683/?tool=pmcentrez -asthma

When doing a search for one topic, it is common to run into some other random studies. I also found a paper on NFL and chiropractic, and an ADHD case study. Funny to find that on an asthma search, but I found them interesting.

http://www.chiroindex.org/?search_page=articles&action=&articleId=15755 -Chiropractic in NFL.

http://www.chiroindex.org/?search_page=articles&action=&articleId=20757 –case study child with ADHD

Enjoy!

Scoliosis and constipation

Hi Everyone,

I have been trying to blog on Mondays, but this week has been so busy. I'll have to keep it short this week.

I found a few studies on scoliosis. It appears that chiropractic care may be able to reduce the measured scoliotic curve.

http://www.chiropracticresearch.org/search2.php?aid=1234
http://www.chiroindex.org/?search_page=articles&action=&articleId=19610
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC520751/?tool=pmcentrez
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2647005/?tool=pmcentrez

I have treated a fair amount of people with constipation at my office. I like to use chiropractic treatments along with massage and acupressure. There were no studies to be found with the combination of treatments, but I did find one on chiropractic care by itself. If I think of it. Maybe sometime I can do a search of acupuncture literature, I'm sure I'd find some good information there as well.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2505067/?tool=pmcentrez

Have a good weekend!