Avoiding the Flu

It’s that time of the year... The leaves are gone, the air is chilly and snow flurries are falling. This is my favorite time of year, but unfortunately, it also means that many people are becoming ill with the Flu. Not only that, your local pharmacies, MD’s, and grocery stores are blasting you with “GET THE FLU SHOT!” Do you really want to know what the Flu is and what you can do to protect yourself from it? Here are a few steps you can take to avoid getting sick!

Step 1: Drink lots of water.

Your body requires water for all activities within your body. You need it to digest food, give you energy, but also to detoxify/flush your body. By drinking lots of water, your immune system can attack the virus and cells infected with the virus, and then have it flushed out of your system. How much water should you drink? That differs from person to person. The best rule of thumb is to look at your urine...If you pee and it isn’t coming out clear, you’re not drinking enough water. Drink enough water that it comes out clear. After that, you can ease up.

Step 2: Avoid Inflammatory Foods

Diet has a huge impact on your bodies ability to fight infection. You want to always avoid foods that are pro-inflammatory. The worst culprits are your simple, refined sugars and breads, and that includes your candies, white breads, white pastas, white rice, and all fast food. Avoid ANYTHING that has High Fructose Corn Syrup, as that is VERY inflammatory to your system. It will lower your bodies ability to fight off any infection it encounters. If you know that you’re sensitive to other things, like gluten, milk, or anything else, avoid those. ALWAYS read the ingredients for everything you buy/eat. You want to give your body the BEST chance it has to fight off viruses.

Step 3: Take Vitamins/Antioxidants

You’re immune system is the system that wipes out infection. However, it needs certain tools to do it. It’s best to boost your immune system with the proper Vitamins. Not just Vitamin C, but Vitamin D (in the form of D3), Vitamin E, Vitamin A, Selenium, and Zinc (to name a few). It’s best to get these naturally, but eating fresh, green, leafy veggies, fruits, and getting some sunlight, but some is better than none. If you’re going to take one more than any other, take Vitamin D – it is more effective than anything out there, including the vaccine, in fighting the Flu!

Step 4: Deal with Your Stress

Stress is the number one reducer of your immune system. When you are emotionally or physically stressed, your body adapts to that stressful situation. Your body has a priority system. Survival is the NUMBER ONE priority, Health takes a back seat. When you’re stressed, your body assumes that its survival is threatened, and it secretes hormones that reduce your body’s immune system. Find ways to relieve your stress. Relax, do something fun, take a bubble bath, do yoga, meditate, pray, whatever, just do something to reduce your stress.

Step 5: Get some Sleep

When you sleep regularly, your body secretes growth hormone and regular intervals. Sleeping regularly doesn’t mean sleeping every night. It means sleeping for the same hours at the same times every night. Without sleep, our body doesn’t heal properly at night and it enters into a stressful state. We already went over stress. Get some rest.

Step 6: AVOID the Flu Shot

Why? Because, contrary to popular belief, it does very little to protect you from the Flu. In order for something to be deemed safe and effective, it needs to be tested via “Randomized controlled trials.” No randomized trials show that flu shots reduce mortality from influenza or flu-related pneumonia. Of course, some try to say that they work. A study written in the JAMA (JAMA1994;272:1661—5) said that the vaccine was 50% effective and reducing the Flu. That’s seemingly impressive…until you read the study. It reduced the relative risk by 50%. The incidence of influenza in the unvaccinated people in this study was 3%. In the vaccinated group it was 2%. Relative risk is just one number based off another, while the ABSOLUTE risk is the true statistical find. Flu shots reduced the absolute risk of contracting influenza by a meager 1%. Basically, for every 100 people that have a flu shot, only one will benefit from it. A flu shot provides no benefit for the other 99 people — 2 of them will get influenza anyway — and all 100 risk being harmed by the vaccine.

Another study was conducted by The Lancet. It was a Meta Analysis, which means it compiles research about a topic and reports the findings. Now, this type of analysis does not have to include ALL research on a topic, but only that which fits it’s “criteria.” In other words, only the research that gives the conclusion it wants. But, let’s look at this study. The VERY best that it came up with was that it was 59% effective in adults. You know what that means? It means that the Flu vaccine only works ALMOST HALF THE TIME! What does this all tell us. 50% of the time, the Flu shot will help only 1% of the people who take it, but EVERYONE who takes it will have the negative immunological effects of the vaccine. No thanks! Basic Immunology shows that taking the vaccine, you skew your immune system, impairing its ability to eliminate the virus from your system. Your own cell mediated immunity takes a back seat to the humoral immunity of the vaccine, which we know doesn’t work as well as people say.

STEP 7: Get adjusted

Chiropractic does not just re-align your spine... it also improves your immune system. When your spine is subluxated, or misaligned, there is interference in the nerve flow from your brain to the rest of your body. If that interference is not corrected, it can affect different systems and organs in your body, leading to symptoms and disease or illness. If you go to an MD, they will prescribe something for you to take- a little pill- that will address the symptom- not the problem. Chiropractic is natural and safe... give it a try and you will feel better all over- without any side effects!

Follow these simple rules and you will improve your chance of staying well this Holiday Season. If you do feel like something is coming on, come in or give Dr. Rikki a call. We have a great supplement that will kick your immune system into overdrive-naturally- so that it can do its job! We hope you have a fantastic Christmas!

Chiropractic gives pregnant women pain relief!

Moms-to-be once resigned themselves to nine months of misery. But that does not have to be the case! More women are exploring options and seeking alternatives to ease back pain, headaches, exhaustion and much more. One of the greatest ways to treat these problems is through chiropractic.

During pregnancy many physiological and endocrinological changes take place, all for the purpose of creating an optimal environment for the developing baby. This complex process involves every system of the pregnant woman’s body.

During pregnancy, most women experience a number of neuromuscular and biochemical problems which respond favorably to gentle, safe, noninvasive chiropractic care. These include:

• release of the hormone relaxin causes muscle and ligament relaxation

• allows joints to more easily misalign

• increased weight gain

• increased demand and fatigue on spinal and pelvic muscles

• increased stress on spinal and pelvic ligaments

• increase in lumbar and thoracic spinal curves which further increase the above

• increased joint stress and thus occurrence of vertebral and sacroiliac joint misalignments

• change in weight distribution

The above changes primarily affect the pelvic and spinal ligaments, muscles, joints and other supportive soft tissues. These changes cause sprain/strains of pelvic and spinal structures, as well as alteration of the normal spinal curvatures and spinal biomechanics. The result is an increased stress on the body leading to pain and discomfort.

"As your baby descends into your pelvic cavity, you may feel sharp, stabbing pains at the base of your spine or in the middle of your pelvic bone, making uncomfortable twinges of pins and needles in the cervix itself. Pain may radiate down your back or thighs. The increased pelvic pains are likely due to the relaxation and stretching of your pelvic ligaments in preparation for labor. You can ease these discomforts by changing positions. Exercise gently every day. If you cannot exercise without pain, consult your doctor. He or she may be able to recommend a chiropractor experienced in working on pregnant bodies, who may be able to give you some gentle pelvic adjustments to get your hips back in balance. It is our personal theory that chiropractic care in pregnancy can help to avoid or relieve back pain and also prepare your back and pelvic structures the stresses of labor and birth." (Sears & Sears, 1997)

Pregnant women are not supposed to take any type of drugs during the gestation period, because everything mom ingests goes to baby as well and there can be side effect... so what can a mom to be do? Go to the chiropractor! Find a local chiropractor that specializes in pregnancy chiropractic and get relief!

Back to school means back and neck pain in kids!

The statistics in a recent study in Britain involving school age children and the incidence of backpack related back and neck pain among 11 to 14 year olds noted a direct correspondence between low back pain and excessively heavy backpacks. Of those children involved in the study, 27% stated they had neck pain, 18% stated they suffered from upper back pain, and 22% stated they had low back pain.

With back to school starting this week, it seems important that we revisit these issues involving our children and the potential for serious spinal discomfort or injury due to excessive loads being carried in their backpacks. Throughout the study, upper back pain demonstrated a direct correlation with backpack weight, emotional problems, school furniture and any previous injury or treatment of pediatric musculoskeletal pain.

Additional details of the study reveal that backpack weight can have serious and detrimental effects on posture while carrying loads over 10% of a child’s weight and placing the load asymmetrically (on one side or the other) versus even distribution between the shoulders and spine.

According to the British study, the most common weight of between 8kg and 12kg carried once a week by a child of an average age of 12 years, pushed the physiological limits of the child’s postural system.

In addition to parents limiting the amount their child carries in their backpack to 10% of total body weight (not the current 22% that is typically common), making sure that the load weight is evenly distributed, and that any complaints of pain by your child are dealt with immediately with a visit to a chiropractor, parents can help to minimize or eradicate completely any long term spinal injury effects.

If your child is complaining of back or neck pain, make an appointment for a consultation and evaluation immediately with Dr. Rikki. Or as a preventative measure, bring in your child and their backpack this month and Dr. Rikki will do a FREE backpack analysis- call for an appointment today!