The Healthy Back

PRESCHOOLERS IN SURGERY FOR A MOUTHFUL OF CAVITIES

There is no firm data on the number of young children undergoing general anesthesia to treat multiple cavities.  But some research and media sources that have done interviews have noted that the problem is widespread.

There is a huge increase in kids going to the operating room for aggressive dental care.  How come?  We know how to prevent dental caries (cavities), so how come little kids are getting them at all?

There isn’t a simple answer.  Some people still subscribe to the idea that since the baby teeth are going to fall out anyway, why worry about them?  Some people find it messy and difficult to brush their child’s teeth, so they don’t reinforce the habit.

“Let’s say a child is 1 ½ and the child screams when they get their teeth cleaned, said Dr. Jeb Best, a pediatric dentist in N.Y. “Some parents say, ‘I don’t want my little darling to be traumatized.’  The metaphor I give them is, ‘I’d rather have a kid cry with a soft toothbrush than when I have to drill a cavity.’ ”

Dentists offer a number of reasons so many preschoolers suffer from extensive dental decay.  Though they are not necessarily new, they have combined to create a growing problem:  Endless snacking and juice or other sweet drinks at bedtime, parents who choose bottled water rather than tap water for their children and a lack of awareness that infants should, according to pediatric experts, visit a dentist by age 1 to be assessed for future cavity risk, even though they have only a few teeth.

Dental decay often starts with a dull ache that may be mistaken for teething. Parents don’t realize their child’s teeth are infected until they break or the pain becomes so acute that the child cannot sleep.

With a cooperative child, a cavity – or even many – can be treated in a dentist’s office with an injection of local anesthesia.

If the child is uncooperative, dentists have to turn to more invasive methods, recommending general anesthesia for preschoolers with extensive problems, particularly if they will not even let x-rays be taken.  The cost for this is very expensive in money, but general anesthetic is always dangerous and could be even more expensive in health outcomes.  Using general anesthesia on healthy children has risks, including vomiting and nausea, and, in rare cases, brain damage or death. Using anti-anxiety drugs to relax a child coupled with local anesthesia for pain has risks too, including an overdose that could suppress breathing.

If parents refuse anesthesia when extensive work needs to be done, children may have to be restrained on a papoose board to immobilize them from head to ankle with straps.  This is traumatic for the child and for the parent.  I bet it doesn’t lead to good adult compliance with regular dental maintenance care either!

Of course, lack of money or insurance can be an issue, but the most effective dental care is prevention and that happens on a daily basis with brushing and flossing at home.  Brushing teeth twice a day used to be nonnegotiable, but not anymore.  Some parents say that since their child doesn’t want their teeth brushed, they’ll wait until the child is more emotionally mature.  It’s baffling – who’s the adult here?

Snacking is another problem. Parents rationalize their preschoolers’ almost continuous snacking because they don’t want their child to ever suffer from hunger.  So instead they lay out a continuous buffet of snacks, often things that stick to the teeth and convert to sugar in saliva. Goldfish? Cheerios? Fruit bark? Raisons?  The truth is that going a little hungry is not a bad thing for anyone – in fact our bodies handle starvation better than overfeeding.  I’m not advocating starving your children, but missing a meal, let alone not eating something because you feel a pang, will not kill anyone.

Children are pacified with a sippy cup all day and the cup isn’t filled with water, but with juice.  I’ve even heard children say they don’t “like” water – what’s not to like? It doesn’t have a taste!  And don’t get me started on pop.  Sodas are not beverages – either for children or adults – they are treats.  They should be treated like holiday foods only served at Christmas.

When your child does eat something sweet, brush their teeth as soon as you can.  That way sugars don’t have a chance to start the road to decay.

Since good dental health is linked to good over all health in all humans, starting early is one of the best preventions there is.  You end up with not only a beautiful smile, but are less likely to develop diabetes, heart disease, ulcers and a host of preventable diseases.

CMCC Run/Walk for Chiropractic Education and Research

Dr. McCallum is again walking in the Annual CMCC Run/Walk for Chiropractic Education and Research in Toronto on April 29th.

Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College is considered the top chiropractic college in the world and is renowned for rigour and innovation.  It is a private institution and receives no government funding, but relies on membership, tuition and donations.  If you’ve been helped by Chiropractic, or know someone who has, please give generously. Just go to www.cmcc.ca/dorotheamccallum and follow the steps to donate online.

We are as close as the CanPages online. Please feel free to refer your family and friends using this link:

 www.canpages.ca/page/BC/abbotsford/mccallum-chiropractic-at-the-bay/4270514.html

Dr. Dorothea McCallum is an Abbotsford back painrelief doctor who looks at so much more.  Your back is connected to every organ, cell and tissue in your body by the nervous system. Find out how chiropractic can help you live a longer, fuller life.

Dr. McCallum’s office is located upstairs in the Bay SevenOaks, 32900 South Fraser Way, Abbotsford, BC.  Call 604-864-8232 to book an appointment.  We love helping people regain and maintain their good health.

Is it OK to exercise if I have a cold?

Mild to moderate physical activity is usually OK if you have a garden variety cold and no fever.  Exercise may even help you feel better by opening your nasal passages and temporarily relieving nasal congestion.

As a general guide for exercise and illness, consider this:

• Exercise is usually OK if your signs and symptoms are all “above the neck” – symptoms you may have with a common cold, such as runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing or minor sore throat.  Consider reducing the intensity and length of your workout though, or you may feel worse.  Instead of going for a run, take a walk, for example.

• Don’t exercise if your signs and symptoms are “below the neck” – such as chest congestion, hacking cough or upset stomach.

• Don’t exercise if you have a fever, fatigue or widespread muscle aches.

Exercising with a fever or flu symptoms stresses your immune system even more.  Intense exercise can put you into an anaerobic exercise state and you will use the proteins in your blood for energy. Many of these proteins are part of the immune system, so you will have less ammunition to fight your illness. 

Sometimes it’s okay to rest.  Go to bed, drink plenty of fluids and sleep.  Also, if you have the flu, make sure you stay warm – take a hot bath and climb into a nice warm bed.  Viruses hate heat and this is one of the reasons your immune system and metabolism increase your temperature when you have an illness.  Don’t impair this process by taking fever lowering medications.  If you have joint aches and pains, a warm bath will ease your discomfort.

When you need chiropractic adjustments Abbotsford is the place to be.  Dr. Dorothea McCallum provides General Chiropractic Care for people of all ages, Pre and Perinatal care for Moms and babies – Webster Technique Certified, Wellness Care and Coaching – Certified Chiropractic Wellness Practitioner (CCWP), Custom Corrective Orthotics.

If any of your friends have questions about chiropractic or our office, refer them to our CanPages (Yellow pages online) site for more information about us. www.canpages.ca/page/BC/abbotsford/mccallum-chiropractic-at-the-bay/4270514.html

Dr. McCallum’s office is located upstairs in the Bay SevenOaks, 32900 South Fraser Way, Abbotsford, BC.  Call 604-864-8232 to book an appointment.  We love helping people regain and maintain their good health.

 NOTICE:  Beginning in February I will be publishing this blog/newsletter twice a month on the 1st and 3rd Thursday.

Reading through the good old New York Times I found this article that I’d like to pass along. I’ve added some comments to the end, so don’t stop reading!

Exploring the Links Between Acetaminophen and Asthma

Is acetaminophen behind a sharp rise in asthma around the world over the past three decades?

Some researchers suspect that it might be, noting that asthmas diagnoses began to take off just as doctors began using acetaminophen more often to treat children with fevers.  Acetaminophen may also provoke inflammation in the airways, as Christie Aschwanden reports in the Science Times:

The asthma epidemic accelerated in the 1980’s, some researchers have noted, about the same time that aspirin was linked to Reye’s syndrome in children. Doctors stopped giving aspirin to children with fevers, opting instead for acetaminophen.  In a paper published in The Annals of Allergy and Asthma Immunology in 1998, Dr. Arthur Varner, then a fellow in the immunology training program at the University Of Wisconsin School Of Medicine, argued that the switch to acetaminophen might have fueled the increase in asthma.

Since then, more than 20 studies have produced results in support of his theory, including a large analysis of data on more than 200,000 children that found an increased risk of asthma among children who had taken acetaminophen.  In November 2011, Dr. John T. McBride, a pediatrician at Akron Children’s Hospital in Ohio, published a paper in the Journal Pediatrics arguing that the evidence for a link between acetaminophen and asthma is now strong enough for doctors to recommend that infants and children who have asthma (or are at risk for the disease) avoid acetaminophen.

(By Anahad O’Connor, December 19, 2011)

It doesn’t surprise me that an unexpected side effect has sprung up from over-use of a common drug.  Now, I know that some of you will say that any caring parent would give their child something to make them more comfortable if they had a fever. When you think about the long term consequences of asthma, as opposed to the short term discomfort of a fever, I’m not sure they would.  I certainly wouldn’t, but I also don’t subscribe to the idea that when you’re sick you shouldn’t feel sick.  Since most childhood fevers are below 104F and are not long lasting, their risk is low.  They shouldn’t be treated at all and in fact when you do you interfere with the body’s excellent, time tested and effective immune system. By all means keep the child comfortable and hydrated. If they feel really hot, you can put them in a tub of cool water, or wipe them down with a cool cloth.  If their temperature climbs above 104F, then you can start getting excited.

The last sentence in the above article is an interesting one.  Since the scientists think that the acetaminophen is what is causing the asthma why would they add the comment “or are at risk for the disease”.  Isn’t giving the drug putting the children at risk?  I think it’s a cover your rear-end kind of comment.  The best thing to do is no drugs for kids – childhood sickness is not caused by a lack of medication.

Although there is no scientific research for what I am about to say, I can attest to it’s clinical effectiveness:  If your child has a fever, get them to the chiropractor and get them adjusted.  Kids almost always begin to improve as soon as they’re adjusted.  They feel more comfortable, their temperature goes down, and although they almost always go to sleep right away, they wake up like their healthy old selves.

 Visit our office on-line by seeing our video on CanPages!  New Patients always welcome www.canpages.ca/page/BC/abbotsford/mccallum-chiropractic-at-the-bay/4270514.html

When you need chiropractic adjustments Abbotsford is the place to be.  Dr. Dorothea McCallum provides General Chiropractic Care for people of all ages, Pre and Perinatal care for Moms and babies – Webster Technique Certified, Wellness Care and Coaching – Certified Chiropractic Wellness Practitioner (CCWP), Custom Corrective Orthotics.

Dr. McCallum’s office is located upstairs in the Bay SevenOaks, 32900 South Fraser Way, Abbotsford, BC.  Call 604-864-8232 to book an appointment.  We love helping people regain and maintain their good health.

NOTICE:  Beginning in February, I will be publishing this blog/newsletter twice a month on the 1st and 3rd Thursday.

CHILDBIRTH:  EVERY WEEK IN UTERO COUNTS, STUDY SAYS

I just love it when I run across articles that agree with me!  Although you don’t learn anything if that is always the case, but since very often what I write and talk about is not the common wisdom, it is refreshing when non-health and even the mainstream health literature seems to catch up to me.  (I know I’m patting myself on the back here.)

A study carried out by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration (in the States) and the March of Dimes, analyzed data about more than 46 million infants born in the United States from 1995 to 2006.  In that period, the proportion of infants born before 39 weeks of gestation increased to nearly one in three births from more than one in five.

Although this data is from the US, the same trend is seen in Canada and I have noticed a huge increase in induced labour and C-sections over the last 10 years.  Babies who are born before 39 weeks are not being born because they are ready sooner or because they are signaling naturally that they want to be born.  The medical criteria for when it is appropriate to intervene and induce labor or do a C-section has changed.

The study showed the following sobering result.  Pregnancies lasting at least 37 weeks are regarded as safely full-term, but this research finds that babies born in the 37^th to 38^th week of pregnancy have a higher risk of dying before their first birthdays than those born after 39 weeks gestation.

The new analysis, published online on May 23 from the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, is among the first to examine differences between so-called early term births and later births.  In 2006, infants born at 37 weeks were twice as likely to die in the first year of life, with 3.9 deaths per 1,000 births, as those born at 40 weeks, with 1.9 deaths per 1,000 births. (emphasis mine)

The lead author of this study, Dr. Uma M. Reddy is a medical officer with the pregnancy and perinatology branch at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.  She stresses that women need to know that not all “term” pregnancies are alike and that if a pregnancy is uncomplicated, babies should not be delivered before 39 weeks.

I think that many women who opt for an earlier delivery do it based on incomplete information.  Certainly no woman wants to endanger their child with an increased possibility of death in the first year of life. But if the information regarding induced “term” and C-sections deliveries doesn’t include these kinds of statistics, the safety issue is being grossly downplayed and people are not able to make properly informed decisions.

This is where a mid-wife comes in handy with a wealth of information about all your choices throughout your pari-natal care.

Also, don’t forget that regular adjustments throughout your pregnancy help keep your spine and nervous system functioning at optimum so you can build a better baby, have less lowback pain and a smoother delivery.  I have training in a special chiropractic technique called the Webster Technique.  This technique ensures that your pelvis is in proper alignment and reduces that chance of in-utero constraint, where the baby can’t move as freely and can present in a breech position at delivery time.  Many babies will turn on their own after this technique is performed, but the technique works best if used as functional prevention throughout the pregnancy.

Healthy babies are the future of the Human Race. 

 If any of your friends have questions about chiropractic or our office, refer them to our CanPages (Yellow pages online) site for more information about us. www.canpages.ca/page/BC/abbotsford/mccallum-chiropractic-at-the-bay/4270514.html

Dr. McCallum’s office is located upstairs in the Bay SevenOaks, 32900 South Fraser Way, Abbotsford, BC.  Call 604-864-8232 to book an appointment.  We love helping people regain and maintain their good health.

When you need chiropractic adjustments Abbotsford is the place to be.  Dr. Dorothea McCallum provides General Chiropractic Care for people of all ages, Pre and Perinatal care for Moms and babies – Webster Technique Certified, Wellness Care and Coaching – Certified Chiropractic Wellness Practitioner (CCWP), Custom Corrective Orthotics.

Panel Recommends Pap Smear Tests Every Three Years, Not Yearly

I found an article about this in the New York Times.  I don’t actually get all my research and scientific reading from The New York Times – I belong to a Research Review Service and have access to the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College Library online (and in person when I go there), but it is interesting to see what gets published in vehicles that the public reads.  It’s interesting seeing how long it takes the research to hit the streets – it’s often a pretty long time!!!

This article is interesting for a number of reasons, but because I’m in an “alternate” health field, I always get a chuckle from how medicine defines prevention.

The article I’ve quoted in the title starts out by saying that the Pap smear test is still the best way to prevent cervical cancer.  Well, actually, the Pap smear test is the best way to detect if cervical cancer is developing.  So, it’s not actually a prevention – which would mean that you are such a healthy organism that you’re not even at risk for developing such a disease – but a method of early detection.  That being said, it is a good test for detecting early cancerous changes in cervix cells.

The standard testing protocol, since as long as I can remember is for the test to be done yearly starting at puberty.  The new recommendation is that women should not get tested every year.  This is according to the United States Preventive Services Task Force (and has been endorsed by an equivalent Canadian body.)  Instead, every three years is the new recommendation.  The group named above is the same group that recently recommended against routine prostate cancer tests for healthy men (which is a topic for a whole other newsletter!)  Proposed changes are in response to insufficient evidence to weigh harms and benefits of separate tests screening for human papillomavirus, the virus that causes cervical cancer.

In a rare show of unity, groups including the American Cancer Society sided with the panel on the new recommendations on Pap smears and proposed new screening guidelines, bluntly recommending against the common practice of annual tests.  “If you test every year you find a lot of benign infections that would go away on their own,” said Philip Castle of the American Society for Clinical Pathology. “You end up overscreening, over managing and over treating women who are not actually at risk of getting cervical cancer.”  The task force, composed of primary care doctors who are experts at evidence-based research, is highly influential in setting the tone for primary care practice.  Echoing the panels’ recommendations, the cancer groups also said women younger than 21 did not need to be tested.  Side effects of over testing could include vaginal bleeding, pain, infections, risks of pre-term delivery and psychological impacts of facing a possible cancer diagnosis, experts say.

As a regular person, you’re probably wondering what all this is about; after all, wouldn’t early detection always be a good thing?  Isn’t more testing going to lead to a healthier population?  It turns out that it actually doesn’t – at least, not always.  What the public doesn’t understand about medical testing is that it isn’t as accurate and clear cut as you believe.  It isn’t like on TV with Dr. House – order more tests and come up with a more accurate diagnosis with each test.  The tests have certain parameters they measure and, given a whole bunch of variables, can indicate something – but they might also be indicating something else, entirely not related.  Tests nearly never prove anything, they more often disprove. The tests have to be given and studied in context.  A good history (which is what you tell your practitioner about what you are experiencing, your symptoms, what seems wrong, how long you’ve had it,  etc) is still the most accurate and valuable diagnostic tool. Tests should be given to prove or disprove a differential diagnosis (that is one or two or three good possibilities) based on your history.

Basically, what they are saying in this study is that Pap tests, because they are sensitive, but not very specific, show up a lot of things that are not necessarily important, but if you look at them too soon, they can get your doctor excited and he will treat you for something that you probably won’t get, and even if you did, it wouldn’t be important anyway.  But if you get tested every three years, it is easier to distinguish what we should be getting excited about.  Being treated for anything is not without side-effects and dangers – it is often better to leave well enough along and be sure of what you have before you risk the treatment.

I don’t know if this helps make this subject clearer for you, but I hope it does because medical over treating is dangerous and not health inducing.  I’m all about getting and staying healthy.

Now for the real clincher.  Want to know how to prevent cervical cancer? (That is, not get it at all?)  This isn’t a very popular strategy in our current society, but it is the most effective.  Practice abstinence before marriage.  Have only one sexual partner in your life who also has only one sexual partner in their life (you). What can I say?  Effective, not popular.  Instead we invent a vaccine for a couple of the more than several papillomaviruses and give it to little girls. 

Dr. McCallum’s office is located upstairs in the Bay SevenOaks, 32900 South Fraser Way, Abbotsford, BC.  Call 604-864-8232 to book an appointment.  We love helping people regain and maintain their good health.

If you’re looking for a holistic chiropractor Abbotsford is the place to look!  Dr. Dorothea McCallum has been practicing drug free, surgery free, hands on chiropractic for over 20 years. Dr. Dorothea McCallum provides General Chiropractic Care for people of all ages, Pre and Perinatal care for Moms and babies – Webster Technique Certified, Wellness Care and Coaching – Certified Chiropractic Wellness Practitioner (CCWP) and Custom Corrective Orthotics.

 Referring your friends and family is easy.  From our CanPages listing, they can visit our site, and link up to our website and blog, get directions or email us with questions. www.canpages.ca/page/BC/abbotsford/mccallum-chiropractic-at-the-bay/4270514.html

When Doing Nothing is the Best Treatment

“Don’t just do something; stand there!”

Sound clever?  It’s the kind of thing that teaching clinicians of every discipline spout off at their students. A good clinician does their best to do their best for their patient and sometimes – that’s nothing.

Here are some medical examples:

Sore throat?  Get an antibiotic.

New headache?  Get a CT scan.

Backache?  Get an X-ray.

Still got a backache?  Get an MRI.

PSA at the upper limit of “normal”?  Get a biopsy.

Blood pressure still high?  Add another medication.

Doctors tend to want to ”do something” whenever they note something amiss.  And patients, by and large, want something done when they have a symptom.  Few people like being told just to watch and wait.

Of course, every “thing” a medical doctor does also has side effects – rampant bacterial resistance from antibiotic overuse; major increases in radiation exposure from unnecessary CT scans; incontinence or impotence from prostate cancer treatments that may do nothing to prolong life; toxic drug interactions from multiple medications, particularly in the elderly.

The admonishment “don’t just do something; stand there!” reminds us that we should stop and think before we act, that there are many instances in which doing nothing is greatly preferable to doing something.

In fact, there are some doctors for whom “doing nothing” is the dominant way of thinking, who are not reflex “do-ers.”  They tend to lean to toward the status quo:  If the patient is doing fine right now, why rock the boat?

There’s a term for this in the medical literature – clinical inertia – a term with a distinctly negative connotation.  It describes the doctor who, for instance, sees a patient with cholesterol levels that are not optimum but who does not prescribe a statin.  Or the doctor who notices that a diabetic patient’s blood sugar levels are still not normal but refrains from increasing the patient’s medication.  Of course, this is not black and white:  there is a continuum of practice styles, just as there is a continuum of personalities in general.  At one end are doctors who jump on the merest hint of a borderline lab value; at the other are doctors who avoid making changes unless absolutely necessary.

An essay in the Journal of the American Medical Association called “Clinical Inertia as a Clinical Safeguard” postulated that doctors who tend toward inertia might actually benefit their patients by protecting them from overzealous medical intervention.  Keep in mind that what follows is based on U.S. information.  Here in Canada, because of our more socialized medical approach, we are often inadvertently protected from overzealousness.

The study focused on three common medical conditions – diabetes, elevated cholesterol and hypertension (high blood pressure) – for which there are established clinical guidelines for doctors to follow and “quality measures” that evaluate medical care.  For all three illnesses, “lower is better” is the dominant mantra.

Yet, while “lower is better” is probably true for large populations, that is not always the case for individual patients.  In fact, there are some clinical trials in which aggressively lowered blood sugar or blood pressure have been association with higher rates of dying. (This doesn’t surprise me because the condition is stressful on the body and the treatment just increases the stress.)

The authors weren’t saying that medical conditions shouldn’t be actively treated, but they did caution that standard clinical guidelines tend to favor overaggressive treatment in pursuit of “good numbers.”  In the stampede toward good numbers, individual patients can be harmed by the side effects of these treatments.  Clinical inertia might actually act as a safeguard for such patients.

No one wants doctors who fail to act when action is necessary. Medical emergencies are a different story altogether.  Most chronic illnesses are not emergencies, so there is room for deliberation before action.  I think many people could be saved by inertia.

As a chiropractor I’ve seen so many people, especially older people coming in with lists that exceed two or three and can reach up to 14 and 15 different medications.  Often patients don’t know what each one is for and can’t keep straight when they are supposed to take each one.  I just remember the Doctor from Sunnybrook who taught us pharmacology saying that taking more than 3 medications at one time meant that the doctors were treating the side-effects of medications with other medications and that the patient would become so toxic that it was dangerous.  And the more medications a person was on, the more confusing the symptoms would become.

I feel fortunate to be a chiropractor.  Even if I for some reason decided to overtreat somebody for a period of time (and they went along with it) the worst that could happen is some joint hypermobility that can be resolved with rest and muscular strengthening exercises. Chiropractic is not inherently dangerous or toxic.  Since most people who go to chiropractors are undertreated because of scheduling, monetary, and other considerations, they never actually attain optimum spinal function and over treatment is almost never a danger.

As a Certified Chiropractic Wellness Practitioner I still think that the best treatment for chronic conditions like diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure is prevention and life style modification.  If you already have these conditions, it’s not too late to change some of your behaviours and help your body heal and function better.  Talk to me about alternatives.

Start the New Year out right and get a check up.

Dr. McCallum’s office is located upstairs in the Bay SevenOaks, 32900 South Fraser Way, Abbotsford, BC.  Call 604-864-8232 to book an appointment.  We love helping people regain and maintain their good health.

When you need chiropractic adjustments Abbotsford is the place to be.  Dr. Dorothea McCallum provides General Chiropractic Care for people of all ages, Pre and Perinatal care for Moms and babies – Webster Technique Certified, Wellness Care and Coaching – Certified Chiropractic Wellness Practitioner (CCWP), Custom Corrective Orthotics.

Our office (inside the Bay) can be viewed on our CanPages site: www.canpages.ca/page/BC/abbotsford/mccallum-chiropractic-at-the-bay/4270514.html

Happy New Year! 

HOW DOES MY BODY WORK?

An analogy will help start this explanation. The power company supplies energy to run our homes and offices. That energy travels to our homes by way of wires and cables.  Once that energy gets to our location, it allows our appliances to run the way they were designed.  If, for some reason, there is an interruption or lessening of the energy coming to us, our lights would be less bright, or perhaps our appliances would fail to operate.  The same is true of our bodies.

Let’s use a similar analogy.  Let’s say you have a dimmer switch (rheostat) installed in your dining room.  As long as the dimmer switch is set all the way up, the lights burn very brightly.  Now, let’s turn the dimmer switch as low as it can go and still see a light bit of light.  If at that time, you replace all the bulbs with the absolute best, state of the arty, light bulbs, would the bulbs be any brighter than the previous set?  Of course not!  The reason is the electrical energy travelling through the wires of your home is being stopped by the dimmer switch.  Now if you slowly start increasing the switch to allow the energy to increase, the bulbs will increase in brightness.  The light is a metaphor or analogy for how our body expresses it health.  The better the flow of energy to the vital organs and tissues of our bodies the better our bodies can perform.  Therefore, better health!

Now, let’s take this one step further.  There are 31 pairs of spinal nerves in our spinal cord.  These nerves travel from every organ, cell and tissue to the brain and then back down from the brain and exit the spinal cord at very specific areas.  For example, the nerves that control your small and large intestines, kidneys, sex organs, as well as the nerves that control your lower back and legs exit the spinal cord in the lower back region.  That is shy many patients who enter our office for lower back pain also tell us that they have constipation or diarrheal problems, or perhaps menstrual difficulties.  This is very common. Another example is a patient who has neck pain, but often complains of headaches or sinus difficulty.  That would make sense because the nerves of the neck innervate those specific areas.    When nerves are interfered with or irritated, you can expect symptoms in the areas they supply.  This is why good spinal health is so important.  It’s not just about back or neck pain – it’s about your body’s well being and function.

Think about this.  Would you expect your teeth to operate properly if you never brushed or flossed them, or never visited a dentist to clean or correct them?  Why is the spine so different? 

Well, our spine is covered by skin and muscles so we can’t see it.  If patients could see their spine to the same degree they see their teeth, many patients would be horrified by how badly they have allowed their spines to deteriorate.

In chiropractic offices the first thing you can expect is to have your spine evaluated.  This is an important step in evaluating your health level and in fact is what differentiates chiropractors from other types of physicians.

Accidents, falls, tension, stress, overuse and other factors can prevent the spine from working within its normal range of motion. This can cause minor displacements of the segments of your spine.  If this displacement irritates spinal nerves, various malfunctions can occur in your body.  These displacements are called subluxations.  Various studies have shown that subluxations can cause improper function of the organs and tissues of the body, leading to increased susceptibility to various conditions, including chronic disease.  Logically, this should make sense.  If for example, the brain cannot control the stomach or intestines because of nerve compression or interference, would it be hard to imagine the body having less ability to digest and absorb nutrients from the foods you eat?  And, if you are getting fewer nutrients would a lower level of heath be that farfetched?  Think about each organ of your body.  Let your mind ponder what would happen if each vital organ or tissue was working at only 50%.  What impact would that have on your health over the short or long term?  It is this observation that leads many people to begin giving their spine the attention it deserves.  Ask your chiropractor.  Open up your potential to a whole new level of health awareness for you, your family and friends.

 Happy New Year!

Start the year out right – get a spinal tune-up!  Just phone the office and set up a check-up.  Remember, when your spine’s in line, you feel fine!

The Office reopens for regular hours on January 3, 2012.  If you reach the answering machine, please leave a message – it’s a lot easier for us to call you back!

Dr. Dorothea

Our office (inside the Bay) can be viewed on our CanPages site: www.canpages.ca/page/BC/abbotsford/mccallum-chiropractic-at-the-bay/4270514.html

If you’re looking for a holistic chiropractor Abbotsford is the place to look!  Dr. Dorothea McCallum has been practicing drug free, surgery free, hands on chiropractic for over 20 years. Dr. Dorothea McCallum provides General Chiropractic Care for people of all ages, Pre and Perinatal care for Moms and babies – Webster Technique Certified, Wellness Care and Coaching – Certified Chiropractic Wellness Practitioner (CCWP) and Custom Corrective Orthotics.

Dr. McCallum’s office is located upstairs in the Bay SevenOaks, 32900 South Fraser Way, Abbotsford, BC.  Call 604-864-8232 to book an appointment.  We love helping people regain and maintain their good health.

Merry Christmas!  Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday.  When you focus on the Reason for the  Season you can leave your stress behind and rejoice in the greatest gift given to all humankind.  Blessings to everyone on Jesus’ Birthday.

The History of Chiropractic

From the beginning of history, man has always been searching for the Fountain of Youth.  In medicine, people have been searching for the magic bullet, a drug that would literally take care of all our health needs.  Unfortunately, as we all know that magic bullet does not exist.  The question then follows, what can be done to help our health needs throughout our lives.

Dorland’s Medical Dictionary describes health as a state of wellness, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.  Another way of looking at this is that the absence of pain does not give us a good indication of the patient’s health level.

“The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.”

 Thomas Edison

Health is an ongoing process; one that evolves as we age.  If you look around at our society, you can see a rampant crisis of health problems.  People are looking for answers and in many cases are not getting them. It’s my opinion that the main cause of these issues is that prevention of disease and illness is scoffed at by society.  If someone feels well -no problem – nothing to worry about.  We are now realizing that health maintenance is the key to good health.  Rather than wait for the health crisis, let’s attempt to prevent the crisis from occurring.

Chiropractic health care focuses primarily on the examination and treatment of the spine and pelvis to determine if some part of the body’s structure is malfunctioning.  And, if so, what can be done to correct the structure to return the body to the best possible physiologically sound state?

Think back how many times you’ve received treatment for an illness and after feeling a bit better, you stopped treatment.  But is feeling well the same as being well?  Short-term treatment may only help to temporarily alleviate symptoms, a part of the condition, but never really address the cause of the problem.  There can be long term consequences to symptoms relief only – the condition can return, or can develop into something even more serious. 

Chiropractic can be used in several ways.  As prevention, chiropractic helps keep your spine and nervous system working at optimum so disease and injury are less likely to occur.  As treatment, chiropractic addresses the cause of your condition and restores normal function.  As rehabilitation, chiropractic assists your body in attaining optimum function after an injury and as maintenance chiropractic helps you retain all the good healing and function you’ve achieved through your care.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

Need to find the Perfect Present for someone special?  Give the gift of health!  Gift Certificates are available in the office. 

Holiday Hours are:

Christmas Eve, Dec 24 – Open til Noon

Closed from Noon Saturday, December 24 until Tuesday, January 3, 2012.  Book your New Year Adjustment for the first week in January and start the year right!

When you need chiropractic adjustments Abbotsford is the place to be.  Dr. Dorothea McCallum provides General Chiropractic Care for people of all ages, Pre and Perinatal care for Moms and babies – Webster Technique Certified, Wellness Care and Coaching – Certified Chiropractic Wellness Practitioner (CCWP), Custom Corrective Orthotics.

 Our office (inside the Bay) can be viewed on our CanPages site: www.canpages.ca/page/BC/abbotsford/mccallum-chiropractic-at-the-bay/4270514.html

Dr. McCallum’s office is located upstairs in the Bay SevenOaks, 32900 South Fraser Way, Abbotsford, BC.  Call 604-864-8232 to book an appointment.  We love helping people regain and maintain their good health.

Chiropractic: Common Misperceptions   Part 2

Last week we looked at some of the common misperceptions about chiropractic – here’s some more.

Chiropractors are not “real” doctors

This statement is true if you believe that only medical doctors are doctors.  We certainly aren’t medical doctors and have chosen not to be.  When I decided to enter chiropractic school, I chose to enter a healing art that concentrated on the spine and everything attached to that spine.  I chose a field of study that looked for the structural causes of health conditions and how a patient’s condition could be corrected rather than entering a field of medicine, which in many cases, chose to cover up symptoms through the use of medication.

When you think about it, since the spine includes the spinal cord, which is an integral part of the central nervous system, intimately connected to the brain and instrumental in controlling every organ, cell and tissue in the body, chiropractic is so much more than just the safest, most effective treatment for a sore back or a headache. 

Chiropractors are not allowed to use drugs or perform surgery.

While this statement is true legally, I refer to the last question for an answer.  When chiropractors enter chiropractic school, they choose to enter a healing art that does not use medication or surgery as its treatment choice.  So, it’s not a matter of no allowed to; it’s a matter of don’t want to.

Why do I have to keep coming, the pain is gone!

This goes back to the concept of threshold level of pain.  With treatment, your pain level is soon reduced or gone.  In many cases, if treatment is stopped at that time, the bulk of the condition is still looming behind the scenes, so to speak, below the water line (threshold level of pain). Once normal activity is resumed and normal daily stresses occur, the pain will re-appear.  That is why I re-examine patients from time to time to determine where they are in care, and to have a better indication as to what is needed.

I came to you for a few months, was satisfied with the results and decided to stop care.  Now a few months later or more, my pain has returned.  I really don’t want to get started all over again and I don’t want to have to come in over a long time.

This happens from time to time.  Please understand something. I recommend the treatment that YOUR condition requires.  The best thing I can tell you is that IF it has been a long time since treatment ended, let’s say 6 months to a year, there‘s a good chance at least a brief examination is needed to determine if the condition is the same or different than before.  In many cases, the same amount of treatment is NOT needed.  If you make it clear what your goals are, I will customize your treatment to give you what you need. I will however, recommend what your condition needs, not necessarily what you want to hear.  It’s then up to you to decide what you want.  Please don’t be intimidated by me or my recommendations.  As corny as it sounds, I want to help you to the degree you want help.  It’s your body and health after all!!

Something else you need to know is this.  Back conditions nearly always recur.  When we look at the current research it appears more and more that back pain is almost always a cumulative injury (unless you’re in a bad accident, fall from a plane, or are literally hit by a bus) and because we are creatures of habit, we keep doing the same things over and over and over.  While our symptoms wax and wane, the underlying condition doesn’t go away.  This means that once our back is injured, it can heal, but it is not cured.  I think people get frustrated and are disappointed because they expect a 100% cure, when there isn’t one.  As a chiropractor my job is facilitate your healing to its optimum level and help you maintain it, so you can remain symptom free, or at least have better control over your episodes, rather than having them control you.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

Need to find the Perfect Present for someone special?  Give the gift of health!  Gift Certificates are available in the office. 

Holiday Hours are:

Christmas Eve, Dec 24 – Open til Noon

Closed from Noon Saturday, December 24 until Tuesday, January 3, 2012.  Book your New Year Adjustment for the first week in January and start the year right!

 Dr. McCallum’s office is located upstairs in the Bay SevenOaks, 32900 South Fraser Way, Abbotsford, BC.  Call 604-864-8232 to book an appointment.  We love helping people regain and maintain their good health.

At McCallum Chiropractic we are always looking to enhance your health through easy, effective choices.  Choose Chiropractic.

Our office (inside the Bay) can be viewed on our CanPages site: www.canpages.ca/page/BC/abbotsford/mccallum-chiropractic-at-the-bay/4270514.html

HAMMER TOES

CASE STUDY

Patient

42 year-old woman

Complaints

Pain and calluses with her toes on both feet

History

Business woman who is often on her feet all day wearing high heels

Clinical Observations

A visual inspection shows that her toes on both feet are in a bent position.  A Footmaxx Dynamic Gait and Pressure Analysis Report confirms an imbalance of pressure in her feet causing increased stress on her toes.

Diagnosis

Hammer Toes

What is it?

Hammer toes is a condition where there is contracture of the proximal interphalangeal joint (usually in the second toe, but sometimes the third toe).  The toe is extended at the metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint (where the toe joins the foot) flexed at the proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint (the first toe joint) and extended at the distal interphalangeal joint (the second toe joint farthest from the foot).

What are the common symptoms/complaints?

Patients may feel pressure against the shoe and under the metatarsal head in the ball of the foot, particularly at the second toe, often caused by pressure on the big toe.  People complain of pain on the top of the toe where it is bent up against the shoe.  There is usually a corn/callus there.  Once this happens, it is painful to wear regular shoes.

How is it caused?

A Hammer Toe may be caused by improperly fitted shoes or a dropped metatarsal head which presses on the flexor tendon.  It is common in women who wear high heels because there’s enormous pressure on the ball of the foot at the metatarsal heads (these are the long foot bones) and the toes are often “crunched” up in the shoe.  Many women curl their toes to keep their shoes on their feet.  The same thing can happen to men if their shoes are not fitted correctly and slip off their heels.  Some other causes are diabetes, arthritis, neuromuscular disease, polio or trauma.

(These are Tara Reid’s Feet)

How is it treated?

First, push up on the plantar surface of the metatarsal head and see if the toe straightens out.  If it does, then an orthotic could correct the problem, usually with a special pad under the metatarsal head.  If the toe does not straighten out, then it indicates that contracture of the capsule and ligaments of the MTP joint have set and surgery is required.  Orthotics are required post-surgically.

Hammer Toes are preventable.  Make sure you check your children’s feet and shoes often to make sure they fit correctly.  Childhood is where foot problems begin. Children’s feet grow really fast, so you have to make sure they are in shoes that are big enough.  Even though it might seem like a waste of money buying good shoes that they probably won’t wear out, cheap shoes can cause all kinds of problems later on. 

When you’re buying shoes, never compromise on fit.  These days, most shoes are not made of leather and those that are are an investment.  Shoes made from man-made materials will never stretch, will make your feet sweat more and will more likely promote fungus growth on skin and nails.  Many athletic types of shoes are better, but again, cheap is cheap.  They might look like the expensive ones, but they don’t have the support and internal integrity of a more expensive shoe. 

Most of the time we’re walking on hard, level surfaces and this is very hard on our feet.  In fact it’s hard on our entire skeletal structure.  I think it’s a good idea for all adults to invest in functional orthotics as a preventive measure.  Problems with your feet can affect back and neck function causing stiffness, pain, headaches, knee and hip problems – the list can go on and on. Plus, there’s nothing like sore feet to spoil your mood and how you enjoy life.

Dr. Dorothea McCallum, Abbotsford orthotics custom provider uses the advanced Footmaxx computer system to analyze your gait.  Custom orthotics are manufactured to correct your particular walking patterns.  Not based solely on the shape of your dysfunctional foot, Footmaxx orthotics actually correct over-pronation and other gait irregularities. Wearing Footmaxx orthotics and can lead to healthier, functional feet.  Plus, no more foot pain!  Visit McCallum Chiropractic for a gait analysis.

Watch this video for more information about Footmaxx Orthotics(www.canpages.ca/page/BC/abbotsford/mccallum-chiropractic-at-the-bay/4270514.html