The worldwide type 2 diabetes epidemic has been thoroughly documented.1,2 Yet despite extensive study and analysis, there has been little actual progress in slowing the spread of this chronic disease. Numerous medications such as metformin and glyburide are available to help counter the severe problems that result from unchecked diabetes. But if the person with diabetes doesn't assist in the process of getting well, the disease will continue on its unrelenting course. There are many important steps a diabetic patient can take to improve his or her health status. Better still, these same steps may be implemented by healthy persons to ward off type 2 diabetes in the first place.
In type 2 diabetes, the cells of your body become resistant to the effects of insulin. Normally, the hormone insulin promotes the absorption of glucose from the blood by muscle cells and fat cells. With insulin resistance, glucose fails to be properly absorbed by these cells and blood levels of glucose rise. Over time, some of this excess glucose is converted into fat, increasing the person's weight, causing high blood pressure, and placing undue stress on the heart. Further, prolonged exposure to excess glucose damages small blood vessels and nerve fibers, leading to significant pain along large nerve tracts (neuropathies), loss of circulation to and even amputation of a lower limb, kidney disease, kidney failure, eye disease, and blindness.
Thus, diabetes can be devastating for both patients and their families. The annual public health costs related to diabetes treatment are huge. Diabetes costs in the U.S. were $245 billion in 2012, representing $176 billion in direct medical costs and $69 billion in lost productivity. Worse, in 2012, 9.3% (29.1 million) of Americans had diabetes, up from 8.3% (25.8 million persons) in 2010. Costs of diabetes to patients, families, and society continue to rise.
The only feasible method of combating the worldwide diabetes epidemic focuses on individual initiative. Medical treatment, by definition, arrives after the fact, typically years after the diabetes process has been set in motion. Prevention is the best strategy. Adopting a lifestyle that, indirectly, leads to appropriate utilization of insulin rather than insulin resistance offers a real, effective solution to diabetes prevention. More than 20 years of research has demonstrated that 30 minutes of vigorous exercise a day, combined with a healthy diet and sufficient rest, will substantially assist a person in avoiding chronic diseases such as diabetes.3 Personal accountability and personal responsibility are called for. It is up to each of us to make such choices in the best interest of ourselves and our families.
1Vollenweider P, et al: HDLs, Diabetes, and Metabolic Syndrome. Handb Exp Pharmacol 224:405-421, 2015
2Skrha J: Diabetes mellitus--a global pandemic. Keynote lecture presented at the Wonca conference in Prague in June 2013. Eur J Gen Pract 20(1):65-68, 2014
3Orio F, et al: Lifestyle changes in the management of adulthood and childhood obesity. Minerva Endocrinol 2014 Dec 17. [Epub ahead of print]
What is your lifestyle? Not whether you are married or where you live, but rather, how are you choosing to live your life? What choices are you making to keep yourself and your family healthy and well?
It is startling to learn that some of the most prevalent causes of illness, disease, and death - including cancer, heart disease, and diabetes - are all heavily influenced by lifestyle. For example, we don't usually think of cancer as a lifestyle disease. We think a person is unlucky if they have cancer, and often we have a fatalistic outlook toward news that someone has developed cancer. "It's in their genes," we say. Or "stuff happens - the luck of the draw."
But only approximately 10% of cancers are based on genetics. The vast majority of cancer cases are very much related to how we live our lives - our environment, the food we eat, whether we exercise regularly, and the quality of our relationships. Within the last ten years medical researchers have been learning of the strong correlation between overweight/obesity and a person's likelihood of developing cancer. It seems that fat cells are not merely passive storehouses of excess energy in the form of fat. Fat cells are metabolic furnaces that spew out a wide range of chemicals, including hormones and inflammatory agents that may often cause normal cells and tissues to become cancerous.1
Most people and even some physicians are unaware of these facts. The connection between lifestyle and heart disease, and between lifestyle and type 2 diabetes, seems obvious.2,3 But cancer, too, is a lifestyle disease. The very good news is that by creating the willingness to make healthy lifestyle choices, you're making positive long-term changes in your health and well-being.
Chiropractic care is an important component of healthy living. Chiropractic care helps ensure that your body is functioning at its maximum. Chiropractic care helps ensure you're getting the most out of the healthy food you're eating and the healthy exercise you're doing. Your chiropractor will be glad to provide guidance on creating nutritional plans and exercise programs that will work for you.
Like Scylla and Charybdis, the twin sea monsters of Greek mythology, diabetes and obesity are the twin medical monsters confronting America's children. Diabetes and obesity have even been featured as the story line in a recent episode of Law & Order, a show well-known for focusing on issues that matter.
What's going on? Diabetes and obesity are twin raging epidemics endangering the health and welfare of our nation's young people. In New York City, by the age of 4, there is a one in three chance that the child will be obese. More than 40% of children are at an unhealthy weight at ages 2 and 3.1 National statistics are similar.
Type II diabetes, long known as "adult-onset diabetes", is now being recognized as a significant juvenile disorder. Up to 45% of the children diagnosed with diabetes have the type II form.2 And the numbers keep increasing.
Type II diabetes and obesity are closely related - being overweight is one of the two major risk factors for developing type II diabetes. The other major risk factor, not surprisingly, is lack of exercise - not being physically active.
Why be concerned? Both diabetes and obesity contribute to additional severe health issues. Obesity is the leading cause of pediatric high blood pressure and increases the risk of coronary heart disease. Uncontrolled diabetes, over time, can lead to heart disease, kidney disease, neurologic disorders, and blindness.
So we are very concerned for our children's well-being. The good news - and it is very good news - is both conditions are lifestyle-related. Bad diet and lack of exercise cause both conditions. This is well-known. It is also well-known that maintaining a healthy diet and getting regular exercise prevents obesity and prevents or delays type II diabetes.3,4
As parents, it's up to us to set the standards. If we're eating healthy, balanced meals, our kids will do the same. If we exercise regularly and keep ourselves fit and trim, our kids will exercise regularly, too.
1"Child obesity picture grim among New York City poor", The New York Times, April 6, 2006.
2Fagot-Campagna A: Emergence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in children: Epidemiological evidence. Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism 13(Suppl 6): S1395-S1402, 2000.
3Hamman RF, et al: Effect of weight loss with lifestyle intervention on risk of diabetes. Diabetes Care 29:2102-2107, 2006.
4Knowler WC, et al: Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin. New England Journal of Medicine 346(6):393-403, 2002.
We all know some people who get sick all the time. They're just getting over one thing when here comes the next round of illness. We also know people who just seem to be full of energy. Those people never get sick or so it seems. What are the key differences between these North and South Poles of health? One key difference is healthy behavior.
On the North Pole side, people who frequently get sick think this is something that happens to them. In other words, their health problems are related to fate. "I catch whatever's going around the office", they say. "I catch whatever my kids pick up at school" is another common refrain. These individuals - and they represent most of us - don't seem to realize it's their behaviors, actions, and choices that lead to their continual state of unwellness. For example, two-thirds of all American adults are either overweight or obese. Is this fate? Or something else?
On the South Pole side, people who are rarely sick are usually very clear about what's going on. These individuals have trained themselves to take control of their health and well-being by making active choices. These choices, known as healthy behaviors, result in: a stronger immune system,lower serum cholesterol, lower blood pressure, improved cardiovascular health, weight loss, more restful sleep, and a positive mental attitude.
Healthy behaviors have been shown to reduce blood glucose (good news for diabetics) and reduce the occurrence of life-changing disorders such as stroke. What are these action steps? Everybody knows them, even North Pole people. Healthy behaviors include: regular vigorous exercise (the Federal Department of Health and Human Services recommends 30 minutes of exercise five times per week) - 30 minutes of walking fulfills your daily exercise requirement. Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables (the Federal Department of Health and Human Services recommends at least five portions per day) Also, eat a balanced diet including high quality protein, complex carbohydrates, and mono- and polyunsaturated fats. Make sure to get the rest that you need (seven hours of sleep per night is the recommended average).
Healthy behaviors do require discipline and effort. In the 21st Century, good health does not come for free. To be healthy and well, we need to do the planning, make our schedules, and put in the time. Of course, there's a very big payoff. How great would it be to have a healthy height/weight ratio, normal levels of blood glucose, and a normal-for-age blood pressure? It would be very great.
The payoff is not only adding years to life, but also adding life to years. It's much more fun to have good health. We all know how not-fun it is when we're sick. Your local chiropractor can be an important part of your plan for good family health, and is an expert in all aspects of healthy behaviors. We will be glad to help you design plans and programs that will work for your needs and those of your family.
1 Hamman RF, et al: Effect of weight loss with lifestyle intervention on risk of diabetes. Diabetes Care 29:2102-2107, 2006
2 Forman JP, et al: Life style as a blood pressure determinant. JAMA 302(4): 437-439, 2009
3 KKhan LK, et al: Recommended community strategies and measurements to prevent obesity in the U.S. MMWR Recomm Rep 58(RR-7):1-26, 2009
Health care breakthroughs are big business. We know this because such news is reported in the Business Section of newspapers and magazines. Discussions relate primarily to the potential impact on the company's share price and revenues. Possible benefits to patients are a secondary concern compared to the amount of money involved.
Business coverage of these issues is yet another reminder of how far health care has moved away from its original and sole focus on treatment. Sadly, the bottom line has become the bottom line. And yet, there may be real breakthroughs on the horizon. Advances in DNA analysis and nanotechnology may bring us closer to a world of personalized treatment for cancer and other disorders.
For example, university researchers have been working for years on methods to deliver cancer drugs to the actual tumor.1 If possible, this would substantially improve on current treatment which floods the patient's entire body with highly toxic anti-cancer medication.
These new methods - collectively termed targeted cancer therapy - involve the cancer drugs hitching a ride on very small particles - nanoparticles - which are programmed to seek out and attach to the malignant tumor.2 The toxic drug only interacts with the tumor cells, killing the tumor but not affecting any of the patient's normal cells. If this research pans out, meaningful progress would be made.
Early detection of disease - cancers, hormonal disorders, inflammatory diseases - is often discussed as a critical factor in the success of treatment. Recently, in the last ten years, progress in the fields of nanotechnology and DNA and protein analysis has brought us closer to real-world early detection.
Researchers are gaining the ability to analyze very small amounts of biomarkers - specialized proteins that may indicate the presence of specific diseases - in both blood and individual cells3. A lot more work needs to be done to standardize these tests and understand which biomarkers are related to which diseases - but this seems to be merely a matter time. Within ten or fifteen years, such analysis may become readily available and routine. This would be a real breakthrough.
However, rather than placing our bets on diagnostic and treatment methods that may or may not become available, doesn't it make more sense to take care of our physical health right now, today? The vast majority of diseases that affect Americans - heart disease, diabetes, and obesity - are, for the most part, lifestyle disorders. And, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that many cancers are also related to lifestyle.
Of course, lifestyle is a code word for good nutrition, regular exercise, sufficient rest, a positive mental attitude, and rewarding family and personal relationships. An important part of lifestyle is maintaining a body that works - and the best way to ensure good overall health is with periodic, regular chiropractic care.
Chiropractic treatment ensures your body is working at its optimum. Chiropractic treatment gives your body its best chance of functioning at a level of optimum health. Your chiropractor will be glad to help you learn how to achieve a healthy, vibrant lifestyle.
1Choi MR, et al: A Cellular Trojan Horse for Delivery of Therapeutic Nanoparticles into Tumors. Nano Letters 7(12):3759-3765, 2007
2Zahr AS, Pishko MV: Encapsulation of paclitaxel in macromolecular nanoshells. Biomacromolecules 8(6):2004-2010, 2007
3Favis R, et al: Universal DNA Microarray Analysisof p53 Mutations in Undissected Colorectal Tumors. Human Mutation 24:63-75, 2004
We all know that five 30-minute sessions of vigorous exercise each week is necessary for obtaining and maintaining high levels of health and well-being. The type of exercise doesn't matter, although a combination of aerobic exercise and strength training provides optimal benefit. However, what many people don't seem to know is that their exercise time needs to be focused, that is, mentally focused. Without such specific attention, you may not derive the benefits you're seeking. Importantly, your exercise time is not just another way to spend time.1,2
If you visit a fitness center as an observer, you may see a lot of people wearing exercise gear who are doing many things, none of which is exercising. You'll see people doing a set with weights and then spending the next few minutes scrolling through their text messages, responding to a phone call, or fooling around with the playlist on their portable music device.
You'll see people who are presumably exercising, but what they're really doing is carrying on an extended conversation with their "personal trainer" throughout their entire set of 12 bench presses or 12 dumbbell squats. You'll see acquaintances meet by chance, as each one is on his or her way to another piece of equipment. They stop and chat for 10 minutes before moving on to where they were going and resuming their exercise session.
The same kinds of non-exercise activities occur in the stationary bike/elliptical machine/treadmill area, where people are consistently interacting with their electronic devices or talking with neighbors or passers-by while simultaneously striding, stepping, or pedaling, furiously or otherwise.
What's wrong with this picture? None of these texting-phoning-and-socializing-while-exercising persons seems to have been informed that exercise time is for exercise. But that's a critical message to have missed. When exercising, concentration is key.3 When you exercise, you're training entire physiological systems to respond to mechanical loads and ever-changing weight-bearing stresses. Deep structures involved in this training include muscles and ligaments attached to your spine and the long bones of your legs and arms, as well as the electrical control centers in your heart. These deep structures must be able to respond instantaneously, receiving and sending accurate information on the fly from and to your brain and your cardiorespiratory and endocrine systems.
Any other input and output, such as talking to friends or manipulating an electronic playlist, will act as noise and seriously interfere with gaining any lasting benefit from your exercise activities. Also, distractions lead to injury. When you're distracted, your body is cooling down. The back strain or hamstring pull you've experienced may, in fact, be accurately attributed to a failure of focus.
The takeaway is that interruptions should be brief. You can certainly chat with a friend for 30 seconds or a minute. You can very quickly page through your text messages, if that's what you feel you need to do. But your focus should immediately snap back to your exercise. By fully focusing on what you're doing, the valuable time you spend exercising will result in appropriate long-term benefits.
1Weng TB, et al: Differential Effects of Acute Exercise on Distinct Aspects of Executive Function. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2014 Oct 9. [Epub ahead of print]
2Voss MW, et al: The influence of aerobic fitness on cerebral white matter integrity and cognitive function in older adults: results of a one-year exercise intervention. Hum Brain Mapp 34(11):2972-2985, 2013
3Raine LB, et al: The influence of childhood aerobic fitness on learning and memory. PLoS One 2013 Sep 11;8(9):e72666. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0072666. eCollection 2013
As Martha and the Vandellas sang back in the 1960s, summer's here! There's so much to do and we want to make sure we have a great time. Baseball, basketball, volleyball. Swimming and surfing. Walking and running. Hiking and climbing. Rollerblading and skateboarding. Now that summer's here, everything's possible and everything's available.
Whether you live near the Maine woods, the plains of Nebraska, the beaches of southern California, or the glories of New York City's Central Park, summer is the time to be outdoors. Summer is the time to be active. It's important to get prepared for all this activity to ensure we can have fun all summer long.
This is especially challenging when you sit at a desk Monday through Friday and can't wait to get started on Saturday morning. Seven AM finds you on the tennis court or the golf course, ready to start slamming balls around. Or you hit the track and start pounding out the first few laps of your three- or four-mile run. Or you paddle out to meet the waves, ready to ride one in and rule the world.
What happens to many of us on these gung-ho Saturdays is a range of unwelcome injuries - muscle pulls, tendon strains, ankle sprains, or worse. These injuries are unexpected and most unwelcome. They may restrict our activities for several weeks and interfere with our summer plans and summer fun.
The solution is preparation. If you're older than 25, the reality is you have to prepare for physical activity. And even if you're younger than 25, it's still smart to prepare.
Regular exercise during the week will prepare you for all your weekend summer fun. 1,2 One of the most important benefits of regular exercise relates to training your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints to do physical work. Exercise teaches your muscles to support heavy loads, and exercise teaches your joints how to handle mechanical stresses throughout their full ranges of motion.
The result is you're able to play your sports and do your activities full out. You're already pre-prepared by the exercise you've done during the week.
Now this doesn't imply you can go out on the tennis court and start serving at 100 miles per hour. Nor can you start your Saturday morning run at full speed. Nor can you start spiking balls over the volleyball net in the first five minutes of your practice game.
It's still important to warm-up and get into the rhythm of the activity or game. Loosen up and get all the parts moving before reaching your peak. And be sure to do some cool-down activities afterward. For most of us, the cool-down is just as important as the activity itself. Cooling-down helps us build muscle tone and improves flexibility, so our sports performance and skill level can continue to develop and improve.
Your chiropractor will be glad to help you design an exercise program that will work for you and help ensure a summer of fun!3
1Reinold MM, et al: Current concepts in the scientific and clinical rationale behind exercises for glenohumeral and scapulothoracic musculature. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 39(2):105-117, 2009
2Sturnieks DL, et al: Exercise for falls prevention in older people. J Sci Med Sport February 18th, 2009
3Hoskins W, et al: How to select a chiropractor for the management of athletic conditions. Chiropr Osteopat 17:3, 2009
Climbing a hill is a useful metaphor for activities involved in accomplishing a major goal, overcoming longstanding obstacles, or achieving a noteworthy milestone. But you must be prepared to engage in such a climb. Striking out without a metaphorical map, compass, bottle of water, or raingear will consistently result in limited success or actual failure. From a health and fitness perspective, climbing a hill may represent a real, concrete process. When you're out on your daily walk or run, unless you live and train entirely at sea level you're going to encounter changes in elevation. If you live in mountainous regions such as Southern California or along the Appalachian Trail, such variations in terrain require greater levels of aerobic capacity. Unless you want to spend your exercise time huffing and puffing, climbing a hill in the literal sense necessitates a high level of cardiovascular fitness.
Cardiovascular fitness may also be termed cardiorespiratory fitness.1 Such fitness refers to heart and lung capacity. With increased cardiorespiratory fitness, your heart's stroke volume increases. In other words, your heart pumps more blood with each beat than it did prior to attaining such fitness. More blood pumped per beat means your heart works less to achieve the same result. Your heart becomes more efficient, your blood pressure goes down, and your cells and tissues receive more nutrition more quickly.2,3 Similarly, with increased cardiorespiratory fitness your lungs take in more air with each breath. Such increased lung capacity means more oxygen is available to cells and tissues more quickly. Your entire cardiorespiratory system becomes more efficient. You're expending less metabolic energy and obtaining greater metabolic returns. Cardiorespiratory fitness substantially improves your overall health.
Attaining the goal of cardiovascular (cardiorespiratory) fitness involves the same type of thoroughness as that involved in achieving family and business-related goals. You plan your work and then work your plan. Interval training is a proven method of enhancing cardiovascular fitness, a method that is both mentally and physically challenging. Accomplishing your interval training goals also provides a great deal of fun and personal satisfaction.
Interval training involves alternating intense and slow periods of activity. Let's say you run three days a week, you average approximately 12 minutes per mile, and you run 3 miles per day. Now you'll substitute one interval training day per week for one of your regular running days. On your interval training day, you'll begin by lightly jogging 1 mile. Then you'll run 1/4 mile at 2:45, that is, slightly faster than your regular 3-minute per 1/4 mile pace. You'll continue with 1/4 mile at a very light recovery pace. Next, you'll repeat the sequence of fast (2:45) 1/4 mile followed by the slow recovery 1/4 mile. Repeat the sequence once more, add 1/2 mile of lightly jogging cool-down, and you've run your daily 3-mile quotient. Going forward, you may infinitely vary your interval training sequences, running 1/2 mile, 3/4 mile, and 1 mile interval distances at slightly faster than your race pace. You'll get faster gradually as your cardiovascular fitness and aerobic capacity increase. Within 6 months of engaging in consistent interval training, climbing hills may seem no more difficult than running on flat ground. Not only will you have become much more fit, you will have made tremendous gains in overall health and well being.
1Lavie CJ, et al: Exercise and the Cardiovascular System: Clinical Science and Cardiovascular Outcomes. Circ Res 117(2):207-219, 2015
2Myers J, et al: Physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness as major markers of cardiovascular risk: their independent and interwoven importance to health status. Prog Cardiovasc Dis 57(4):306-314, 2015
3Nayor M, Vasan RS: Preventing heart failure: the role of physical activity. Curr Opin Cardiol 2015 Jul 3. [Epub ahead of print]
It seems as if every few months there’s a new diet whose rules and requirements we must follow if we’re going to reach the goal of good health. The “paleo” diet provides a great example of this phenomenon. We’re exhorted by paleo proponents to eat lots of fats and animal protein. Carbohydrate consumption should be fairly light. Grass-fed beef is prized by paleo-dieters. You may consume unlimited amounts of butter, and must eliminate all cereals, legumes, and dairy products (except butter of course) from your diet. Now unless you’re a paleo convert, these prescriptions may seem to fly in the face of everything you’ve ever known about healthy eating. Paleo supporters will respond with the claim that human biology developed over the course of hundreds of thousands of years and that agriculture is brand new, having arrived about 10,000 years ago. That’s worth thinking about, but we may remember that other diets backed by correspondingly compelling logic and dollops of science have come and gone over the course of many decades.
For instance, the Atkins diet is still going strong for more than 50 years. The main requirement of the Atkins diet is low carbohydrate consumption, and in this way the Atkins program resembles the paleo diet. High-protein consumption is the other pillar of the Atkins approach. The rationale was that such an eating plan would force your body to burn fat, rather than glucose, for energy. But the diet hasn’t withstood rigorous scientific scrutiny.1,2
Vegan and vegetarian diets have also been popular for many decades.3 The vegetarian lifestyle has wide appeal and vegetarian recipes are famed for their simplicity and palate-pleasing qualities. However, vegetarian contrarians do exist. Some studies even suggest that vegetarian or vegan diets may be associated with anxiety, depression, and neurologic dysfunction.3
The bottom line is that good sense should prevail. Starting a diet because the program was touted in a magazine article or a talk-show interview may not be in every person's best interest. Simply put, any diet may be harmful to a particular person. It's important to remember that what works for one person may not work for another. Paleo, Atkins, and vegetarian diets may create great benefits for certain persons, but may cause real medical problems for other people. The best overall approach for most us is to eat regularly from a wide variety of food groups, make sure to eat five servings of fresh fruits and vegetables every day, and pay close attention to portion control and calorie intake. Those desiring more detailed information and recommendations will find their chiropractors and family physicians excellent sources of expert guidance.
1 Noto H, et al: Low-carbohydrate diets and all-cause mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. PLoS One 2013;8(1):e55030. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0055030. Epub 2013 Jan 25
2 Lagiou P, et al: Low carbohydrate-high protein diet and incidence of cardiovascular diseases in Swedish women: prospective cohort study. Br Med J 2012 Jun 26;344:e4026. doi: 10.1136/bmj.e4026
3Plotnikoff GA: Nutritional assessment in vegetarians and vegans: questions clinicians should ask. Minn Med 95(12):36-36, 2012
We think mostly of chiropractic treatment in terms of lower back pain, neck pain, and headaches. In fact, there are numerous additional wide-ranging benefits to chiropractic health care. Many of these benefits are related to getting more out of our exercise activities.
For example, aerobic exercise improves cardiovascular function.1,2 As a result, during periods of rest the heart rate is slowed and the ability of the lungs to take in air (vital capacity) is increased. A slower heart rate means the heart is working more efficiently. Likewise, increased vital capacity means the lungs are working more efficiently. Fewer heart beats per minute and fewer breaths per minute result in reduced "wear and tear" on these critical systems. Aerobic exercise makes us healthier.
When we have stress, our muscles get tight. Sometimes this tightness is prolonged, and the normal mobility of our bones and joints is compromised. Reduced mobility of the spinal column creates a spiraling effect of tight muscles, tight ligaments, and further loss of mobility in the neck, middle back, and lower back. We experience pain in these areas as a result.3
These patterns may persist. We all know people who have frequent neck pain or lower back pain. These patterns of pain and limited mobility may result in changes to the normal curves of the spine. Normal curves may become flattened, and these changes result in further discomfort, muscular tension, and pain.
Importantly, loss of the normal spinal curvature in the neck and middle back may place additional stress on the heart and lungs. The actual physical space in which these organs function may become reduced. Maximum function may be compromised and efficiency is lost. Brisk walking used to be easy. Climbing stairs used to be no problem. Now these normal daily activities may leave you out-of-breath. You're huffing-and-puffing and don't know what's happened.
You begin doing aerobic exercises to try to improve cardiovascular function. But the potential benefits are limited by these underlying muscle, ligament, and joint problems. You spend a lot of time exercising but don't seem to be making any improvements.
Chiropractic health care may be able to restore more normal functioning. Chiropractic treatment restores mobility to spinal joints. The gentle treatment relieves stress on the spinal muscles and ligaments, which in turn improves spinal range of motion. Muscle tightness eases, pain and stiffness are reduced, and you become more flexible.
In addition, this improved flexibility allows your chest and rib cage to expand much more fully when you breathe. Your heart and lungs have more room to function, and you can now actually begin to receive the full benefits of your aerobic exercise.
Chiropractic care helps you get fit and stay fit!
1Pivarnik JM, et al. Effects of maternal aerobic fitness on cardiovascular responses to exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc 25(9):993-998, 1993.
2Jackson EM, Dishman RK. Hemodynamic responses to stress among blackk women: fitness and parental hypertension. Med Sci Sports Exerc 34)7):1097-1104, 2002
3Petrella RJ, et al. Can primary care doctors prescribe exercise to improve fitness? Am J Prev Med 24(4):316-322, 2003
