December 28, 2004 [Volume 6, Issue 1]

To Your Health is brought to you by:

• Say Goodbye to Low-Back Pain With Regular Chiropractic Care
• High Folate for High Blood Pressure
• Don't Be a Stiff...Have a Heart and Exercise

It is estimated that in the United States, the annual costs associated with the treatment of low back pain (LBP) total approximately $100 billion. High recurrence rates and chronic disability are believed to play a large role in the overall cost of back pain, and studies have shown that only a fraction of LBP patients remain pain free and recover completely, even one year after the problem first occurred.

In a recent study, 30 patients with chronic, nonspecific low back pain lasting at least six months were separated into two groups. The first group received 12 treatments over a one-month period, but no treatments for the subsequent nine months; the second group received 12 treatments over a one-month period, along with "maintenance spinal manipulation" every three weeks for the following nine months.

Results: Patients in both groups experienced significant decreases in low back pain scores after the first series of treatments. The greatest difference, however, was seen in disability scores over the duration of the study. Analysis of the data showed that in patients who received maintenance spinal manipulation, "the disability scores were significantly lower after the 10-month period than before the initial phase of treatment." In the other group, however, "the mean disability scores went back to their pretreatment level."

Based on these results, it is clear that regular chiropractic care not only helps reduce LBP and disability associated with LBP, but that continued chiropractic treatment following the acute treatment phase assists in keeping pain from recurring. If you suffer from LBP or any other dysfunction, your doctor of chiropractic can design an effective treatment plan.

For more information on the benefits of chiropractic, visit www.chiroweb.com/find.

Reference: Descarreaux M, Blouin JS, Drolet M, et al. Efficacy of preventive spinal manipulation for chronic low-back pain and related disabilities: a preliminary study. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics; October 2004;27(8):509-514.

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a dangerous condition associated with an increased risk of stroke, heart disease, and kidney failure. Often, high blood pressure is just another consequence of aging, but new research suggests that folate intake may reduce the risk of hypertension, especially in younger women.

In a study presented at a recent American Heart Association conference, scientists presented data obtained from two separate studies of women between the ages of 43 and 70, and 26 to 46, respectively. In each study, the women completed detailed questionnaires about their diet, food preparation, physical activity, health habits (including folate intake), and blood pressure levels every two years, for an average of eight years. None of the women had high blood pressure when they enrolled in the study.

The study found that older women who consumed 800 or more micrograms per day of folate were 13 percent less likely to develop high blood pressure over the eight-year followup period compared to women who consumed less than 200 micrograms daily, while younger women had a 29 percent reduction in the risk of developing hypertension. Younger women who consumed 800 micrograms of folate daily had a 39 percent reduction in the risk of hypertension compared to those who did not supplement with folic acid. The researchers suggested that high folate intake "may reduce the risk of hypertension," and that folic acid supplements "may contribute to this decrease in risk."

So load up on those foods high in folate, including citrus fruits, asparagus, brussel sprouts, spinach, chicken, brown rice, kidney beans and lentils. Need more information about hypertension or general health? Ask your doctor of chiropractic, and for more information about women's health, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/women/.

References: Forman JB, Rimm E, Stampfer M, Curhan G. Folate intake and the risk of incident hypertension in U.S. women. Presented at the American Heart Association 58th Annual Fall Conference and Scientific Sessions of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research, Chicago, Ill., Oct. 11, 2004.

Did you know that as we age our heart muscles can stiffen? This stiffening of the muscle causes pressure that in turn resists blood flow into the heart. As a result, the heart's main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, cannot pump blood throughout the body in a normal capacity, and this can eventually lead to complete diastolic heart failure.

Researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas compared the function of the left ventricle in 12 healthy but sedentary senior citizens, 12 senior Masters athletes, and 12 young, sedentary adults (average age 29) to determine if aging was the primary cause of left ventricle failure, or if physical inactivity was also partly to blame.

Researchers found that sedentary hearts were stiffer than those of the Master athletes; moreover, the function of the athletes’ hearts was virtually the same as that of the younger study participants - something that came as a surprise to the researchers. "We found that older, sedentary individuals' hearts were 50 percent stiffer than the Masters athletes, which we expected," said one of the researchers Benjamin Levin, MD, professor of internal medicine at the university. "What we didn't expect was that the hearts of these senior athletes were indistinguishable from those of the healthy younger participants."

The moral of the story here is obvious: Exercise can keep the heart muscle from stiffening, which means a decreased risk of heart failure and overall better health. But this shouldn't be your only reason for exercising. Regular exercise boosts mood, decreases stress, and keeps joints and muscles limber--all important aspects to maintaining health into the golden years. And remember to make routine chiropractic care a part of your health regimen.

For more information on general health and wellness, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/general/.

Reference: Zadeh AA, Dijk E, Prasad A, et al. Effect of aging and physical activity on left ventricle compliance. Circulation 2004; 110:1799-1805.

This issue features a number of articles you will want to share with your family, friends and co-workers. Please feel free to forward this newsletter to them via e-mail. If you have received this e-mail newsletter from someone else, you may subscribe free of charge and begin receiving your own copy by going to: www.chiroweb.com/newsletter/TYH/subscribe.php

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