In this issue of To Your Health:

• Back Pain: A Question of When, Not If
• What You Don't Know Can Hurt You!
• Red Meat Intake Ups Breast Cancer Risk
• Sorely in Need of a Chiropractor
• When Fighting Insomnia, Consider Natural Options
• Slow Down and Enjoy Your Food

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Back Pain: A Question of When, Not If

According to the annual report on the nation's health by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Americans are living longer, with a lifespan just shy of 80 years; but we are living with more chronic pain especially back pain.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the CDC, approximately one in four American adults said they had suffered from a daylong bout of pain in the previous month. Lower back pain was among the most common complaints, along with migraine or severe headache and joint pain. More than 25 percent of adults interviewed said they had experienced low back pain in the previous three months.

Amy Bernstein, the researcher who led the study, said, "We chose to focus on pain in this report because it is rarely discussed as a condition in and of itself it is mostly viewed as a byproduct of another condition."

There is reason more low back pain sufferers choose chiropractic than any other method of care to resolve their pain. If you're suffering from back pain, schedule an appointment with your chiropractor. If you haven't yet visited one, call Lifecare Chiropractic at 480-839-2273.

To learn more about back pain and how chiropractic can help, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/musculoskeletal/backpain.

Health, United States, 2006. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Reuters press release: "Long-Term Pain Hits 1 in 10 Adults." Nov. 14, 2006.

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What You Don't Know Can Hurt You!

If you think your medical doctor knows all (and can't wait to tell you about it), think again. Hundreds of thousands of patient deaths inadvertently induced by a physician, surgeon, medical treatment or diagnostic procedure are recorded each year. More than 420,000 are attributable to adverse drug reactions and/or medical error; 37,136 are associated with unnecessary procedures; and 32,000 are surgery-related.

As if these numbers aren't unsettling enough, more disturbing are the results of a recent survey of more than 2,500 medical doctors in the U.S. and Canada regarding professional accountability. Medical doctors were given five hypothetical error scenarios and a set of scripted, possible explanations. Only 42 percent of the participating medical doctors said they would explicitly tell patients when a medical error occurred. Fifty-six percent would mention the adverse event to a patient, but not an error specifically. Sixty-three percent said they would opt not to provide any information about preventing future errors. And a mere 19 percent said they would not volunteer any information whatsoever about the cause of the error.

If you're feeling disillusioned about traditional medical/pharmaceutical care, there is an alternative. If you're looking for personal, individualized and drug-free wellness care, look no further than your local chiropractic office. Only you can be held accountable for your own health and well-being! Visit your chiropractor today. For a complete overview of chiropractic care, go to www.chirofind.com.

Gallagher TH, Garbutt JM, Waterman, AD, et al. Choosing your words carefully; how physicians would disclose harmful medical errors to patients. Archives of Internal Medicine, Aug. 14/28, 2006;166(15):1585-93.
Null G, Dean C, Felman M, et al. Death by medicine. Life Extension, August 2006:67-87.

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Red Meat Intake Ups Breast Cancer Risk

A recent study out of Harvard reported that premenopausal women who eat more that 1.5 servings of red meat per day may double their risk of breast cancer compared to those who consume fewer than three servings of red meat per week. The research looked at the effects of red meat intake on the incidence of breast cancer among the 90,659 premenopausal women enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study. Participants were given food frequency questionnaires in 1991, 1995 and 1999, and then monitored until 2003.

Each year, more than 1 million women worldwide are diagnosed with breast cancer, with the highest incidences in the U.S. and the Netherlands. The National Cancer Institute estimates that 13 percent of American women will develop breast cancer during their lives.

The findings of the Harvard study are bad news for strict "meat and potatoes" types, but the good news is, among the many risk factors for breast cancer, diet is one factor that can be modified easily. Supplementing red meat with lean poultry and plant-based proteins, such as whole grains and legumes, may be an adjustment, but your health is well worth the effort!

Your chiropractor can help outline a nutritional regimen suitable to your needs. To learn more about nutrition essentials, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/nutrition.

Cho E, Chen WY, et al. Red meat intake and risk of breast cancer among premenopausal women. Arch Intern Med 2006;166:2253-2259.

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Sorely in Need of a Chiropractor

The impact of pain, particularly chronic pain, is far-reaching. It can affect everything from one's day-to-day activities and quality of life to the level of employee productivity at America's most powerful corporations. According to a recent report from the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), approximately one in 10 adults suffers chronic pain lasting at least a year, and one in four reports suffering pain for at least an entire day during the previous month.

Adults 18 years and older were instructed to report whether they had experienced any of four types of pain during the three months prior to interview: low back pain, migraine/severe headache, neck pain, and facial ache in the jaw or joint in front of the ear. Respondents were asked to report only pain that lasted an entire day or more, excluding minor aches and pains. Low back pain was the most commonly reported of the four types of pain, the most common cause of job-related disability, and a leading contributor to missed work and reduced productivity. The second most frequently reported chronic pain type was severe headache and/or migraine.

Remember, you don't have to live with pain and you don't have to resign yourself to taking pain medications every day. Chiropractors are experts in managing pain - especially back pain, neck pain and headache pain, three of the most prevalent types of pain reported in the CDC study - without the use of drugs. For more information on the benefits of chiropractic care, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/musculoskeletal.

"Health, United States, 2006." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, November 2006.

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When Fighting Insomnia, Consider Natural Options

Drug-makers have tried to reduce insomnia to a simple message, repeated creatively in TV commericals every day: "Can't sleep? Take a pill. In fact, you deserve it." But according to a recent study, Americans aren't buying the commercials or the drugs these days - they're turning in increasing numbers to chiropractic and other forms of drug-free care to get a better night's sleep.

According to the study, an estimated 1.6 million Americans tried alternative health care for insomnia symptoms in 2002. Participants were asked why they chose to use alternative therapies over drugs and other treatments. Sixty-seven percent responded that they thought such options would be interesting to try and 64 percent thought alternative, combined with conventional treatment, would be helpful in treating their insomnia.

The bottom line: If you need a good night's sleep, don't just pop a pill. With all of the side effects that come along with many medications, you might end up sleeping even less. More importantly, however, remember that restful sleep is attributable to a variety of complex factors, including managing anxiety, how much you exercise or watch TV, etc. If you're struggling with insomnia, ask your chiropractor about natural, drug-free ways to get the sleep your body and mind need.

To learn all about chiropractic, visit www.chiroweb.com/find.

Pearson N J, Johnson LL, Nahin R L. Analysis of the 2002 National Health Interview Survey data. Arch Intern Med 2006;166:1775-1782.

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Slow Down and Enjoy Your Food

With our eating habits getting seemingly worse by the day and rates of obesity skyrocking, increasing research is investigating possible reasons behind these disturbing health trends.

In a recent study designed to determine how eating speed influences food consumption, 3,737 men and 1,005 women (average age 48 for men, 46 for females) received a physical examination and were weighed, measured and surveyed with an extensive diet/lifestyle questionnaire.

While participants were asked a variety of questions, a single question actually constituted the basis for the entire study: "How fast is your rate of eating?" Subjects could select from five options: very slow, relatively slow, medium, relatively fast, or very fast. Results showed that speed of eating was associated clearly with body weight, and a correlation also was noted between speed of eating and quantity of food consumed. In a nutshell, faster eaters consumed more calories and - no surprise - weighed more, on average.

Talk to your chiropractor about ways you can eat sensibly and maintain a healthy weight. For more information on the health benefits of sound nutrition, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/nutrition.

Otsuka R, Tamakoshi K, Yatsuya H, et al. Eating fast leads to obesity: findings based on self-administered questionnaires among middle-aged Japanese men and women. J Epidemiol 2006;16:117-124.

James Bogash, DC and Amy Strock, DC
1830 S. Alma School Rd, Bldg 7, Ste 135, Mesa, AZ 85210
(Alma School Road, just south of the Superstition Freeway/Highway 60)
Chiropractic Health Care Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert & Tempe, Arizona
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