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Extreme Sports and Peak Performance

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Extreme Athletes Expect Precision

Extreme Sports are on the rise. At the gym, on the bike, in the park, up a mountain; these are all places where people push their body to extreme limits. Whether you are extreme on your own or an Ironman, triathlete, distance runner, Tough Mudder, or participate in other extreme sports, this article can help you optimize your performance.

When you put extreme demands on your body, you want and need your body to respond with precision at the right times. Many professional and extreme sports athletes utilize chiropractic care to keep them performing at peak levels mentally and physically while minimizing injuries and recovery times.

Chiropractic Enhances Performance Levels

Research with athletes and Chiropractic shows that “a single adjustment has the power to improve speed and coordination throughout the entire body.”1 That means the brain-body connection is working much better than before the adjustment.

A recent JMPT report offered supporting research. Fifty athletes were given eleven different tests to check athletic ability. Tests were based on agility, balance, kinesthetic perception, power, and reaction time. Twenty-five of the athletes were given Chiropractic adjustments and the other half were not. The results were amazing. The Chiropractic group improved significantly on 11 out of 11 tests and the other group improved only slightly on 8 out of 11 tests. During the reaction time test, the non-Chiropractic group improved less than 1percent, and the Chiropractic group improved 18percent in 6 weeks and 30percent in 12 weeks.

The Brain-Body Connection

If you are an extreme athlete or athletic in any way, there are clear benefits of optimizing the health of your spine and nervous system. From the time you were conceived, your body’s innate intelligence utilized your nervous system to control and coordinate your development and the function of every single cell and system in your body. There are approximately three million different messages being sent from your brain to your body and back every second. Extreme athletes can optimize the efficiency of these pathways with Chiropractic Lifestyle Care that is performance-based. The intensity of your Chiropractic Lifestyle Care depends on the intensity of your lifestyle so as your training intensity increases you may need or want more intense care.

Fueling your body with healthy non-processed foods like fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins is also important. As a peak performer pushing your body to the limits, eating healthy organic foods is essential to get the nourishment that you need. Adjust your quality calorie intake according to your training intensity, and eliminate empty calories such as white sugar and white flour that have no nutritional value.

Training For Extreme Sports and For Life

When training for extreme sporting events, and for life, keeping your spine and nervous system healthy is crucial to your performance and for your longevity. Most importantly, don’t wait for a crisis or an injury to force you to alter your training or knock you out of a competition. Be proactive and enjoy the excitement that comes with pushing your body to the limits, and succeeding.

Research
1.http://www.sciencedirect.com/Volume 29, Issue 4, May 2006, Pages 257-266

Tired of Chasing Symptoms?

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Symptoms are Signals

Isn’t it time you stopped chasing symptoms? These signals that you get from your body are frequently misunderstood. More importantly, treating symptoms without getting to the cause of a problem can lead to mismanagement of your health and more severe health problems as you age.

When you get sick, for example, and your temperature goes up, your body is naturally fighting off the infection. Bacteria thrive in a climate that is 98.6 degrees so your body’s Innate Intelligence raises your temperature to help fight off the infection on its own. The symptoms of this elevated temperature can be muscle aches, fatigue, weakness and general malaise. At the first sign or symptom of a fever, many people will immediately panic and try to bring the temperature down with medication, treating the symptoms rather than letting the body do its job and heal itself.

The medications that are used to treat these symptoms can lead to side effects and even weaken the body’s natural immunity. In recent years, the overuse of antibiotics has created an epidemic of superbugs within individuals that are untreatable and pose a serious threat to our long term health.

The CDC States

The CDC states, “If antibiotics are used too often for things they can’t treat-like colds or other viral infections-they can stop working effectively. Antibiotic resistance has been a concern for years and is considered one of the world’s most critical public health threats. Widespread overuse and inappropriate use of antibiotics is fueling an increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

In the U.S., antibiotic-resistant infections are responsible for $20 billion in excess healthcare costs, $35 billion in societal costs and $8 million in additional hospital days.(1)

A report commissioned by the Canadian Coordinating Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance estimated that infections caused by antibiotic-resistant organisms increased direct hospital costs in Canada by $15-25 million annually(2).

How Your Body Heals Itself

Many experts say that it is better to give the body a chance to heal itself with rest and fluids along with chiropractic adjustments that remove pressure from the nervous system. Unless there is an extreme elevation in body temperature, and depending on other symptoms, allowing your body to heal itself naturally helps your immune system build the resistance it needs to keep you healthy and fight infections more effectively.

Consider the case for “referred pain.” This means you can feel a symptom in one part of your body while the cause or the origin of that pain is somewhere else. For example, very often the cause of arm, hand or finger pain is in the neck. Leg and foot pain will often originate from a problem in the back. Problems with the gallbladder will often refer pain to the spinal nerve roots in the middle part of the spine and vice versa.

Because chiropractic works to restore health and vitality to the nervous system, we are always amazed at how the entire body often becomes free of symptoms through our work with the spine. Since nerves control every cell, tissue and organ of your body, problems in the nervous system can cause or mimic nearly any and every symptom imaginable.

It is very common to hear our practice members say things like “I know I came because my neck hurt, and my allergies and headaches are gone too.” or “I didn’t even tell you about my menstrual cramping but since I’ve been getting adjusted, my cramps have been reduced dramatically.” or “I sleep so much better since beginning my care.”

The list goes on and on. Isn’t it time you stop chasing symptoms and get to the cause? You will enjoy a much healthier life when you do.

References:
1 Centers for Disease Control http://www.cdc.gov/features/getsmartGet Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work: Dangers of Antibiotic Resistance

2 Birnbaum D, Canadian Committee on Antibiotic Resistance. Antimicrobial resistance: A deadly burden no country can afford to ignore. Can Commun Dis Rep. 2003 Sep 15;29(18):157-64.

© 2013. The Family Practice, Inc., Dr. Eric Plasker and The 100 Year Lifestyle. All Rights Reserved.

Essential Innervation – Your IT System

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In today’s virtual world we all know the importance of a healthy IT system. This Information and Technology (IT) infrastructure is necessary for our homes, offices, and the communication between our loved ones to function properly. Wired and wireless, we count on this IT system every minute of every day. Within you, your Nervous System acts as your natural IT system to keep your body functioning properly by supplying your cells with Innervation.

Innervation is defined as the “distribution of nerve fibers to an organ or body region.” Innervation is essential for the health of every cell, tissue and organ of your body. More than 45 miles of nerves connect your brain to your skin alone. Innervation between your brain and your heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, and muscles relay up to three million messages every second. This Essential Innervation monitors both your inner and outer world and adapts you to your environment. With the right training, IT can even help you execute the perfect golf swing or climb a mountain. Unfortunately, our tendency is to neglect our internal IT system until it breaks down. This is not a healthy choice!

When it comes to your health, healing, or maximizing your health potential, there are some important things that you must know about IT.

Without IT

Life is not possible without this Essential Innervation. In his book Healing and the Mind, Bill Moyers found that immune system cells stop working when innervation is removed. We have all heard stories of people who have suffered brain or spinal cord injuries whose lives were cut short or whose bodies completely stopped functioning because they were paralyzed. Researchers are working tirelessly to find solutions to replace IT when it is lost. IT should not be taken for granted, ever.

Interference to IT

When Innervation is interfered with by vertebral subluxation only partial function is possible. Research out of the University of Colorado found that pressure on the nerve equivalent to the weight of a dime can reduce nerve transmission. Stretching a nerve by 6% can decrease the strength of its impulse by 70%. Interference to IT can cause immediate symptoms from colic in a baby to allergies, breathing difficulties, headaches or any type of pain. Because of the vast nature of the nervous system, the symptoms can mimic many diagnoses, even unexplainable ones. This is one reason why people with a myriad of symptoms get results with chiropractic care. Because the focus is on removing the Interference to IT rather than just making a localized pain or condition feel better, the body can begin to heal itself right away.

With IT

Your body can function normally with proper Innervation. Every cell, tissue and organ can interact in a healthy way with accurate signals and messages being sent and received. Your ability to adapt to stress, digest food, eliminate waste, and perform daily tasks becomes second nature. With IT, you may even be able to walk and chew gum at the same time since IT works without you even thinking about IT.

Optimize IT

When you Optimize IT, you can achieve optimum health and peak performance levels and push your body to its limits. We see this in top performers and athletes, and every day people like you who run marathons or participate in Iron Man, Tough Mudder or other extreme activities. Lifestyle Care can help you Optimize IT, which is why most professional sports teams and athletes utilize chiropractic care.

Now is the time to evaluate the health of your IT system with a chiropractic examination. Innervation is essential to life, healing, health and vitality. Make the health of your natural IT system your top priority.

© 2013. The Family Practice, Inc., Dr. Eric Plasker and The 100 Year Lifestyle. All Rights Reserved.

Drugging Our Children – An Excerpt

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If you or someone you know has a child who is being considered for psychiatric drugs, here is some important information that you should consider. It is from the chapter contributed by Gwen Olsen in the book, Drugging Our Children. Gwen is also the author of Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher and was a top-selling pharmaceutical sales representative for more than a decade. Her personal experience and unique insider’s perspective is both eye-opening and mind-boggling. Can you handle the truth?

Health Care or Scare Care?

“The pharmaceutical industry is continually on the lookout for expansion markets. Our children are recognized by the pharmaceutical industry to be the most lucrative, long-term expansion market currently available to them. Fear created in parents can send them racing to the doctor’s office and/or pharmacy in an attempt to protect their children. After all, isn’t that what all good parents do?”

Children Are a Lucrative Market

“Children are a lucrative expansion market for any drug, particularly one that requires lifelong maintenance therapy once initiated. Psychiatric diagnoses are highly subjective and based primarily on third-party interpretation of maladaptive behaviors, rather than medical diagnostic tests such as blood or urine tests, or PET and CAT scans. So, increasing psychiatric drug sales is primarily contingent upon increasing the number of psychiatric diagnoses and public awareness of the various diagnoses that will, in turn, result in the expansion of new patient populations to be treated.

The challenge that exists when marketing psychotropic drugs for children is that the pharmaceutical industry cannot market directly to the end consumer. In the case of children, doctors, parents, teachers, counselors, administrators, caretakers, legislators, and so on must be persuaded that these medications are both necessary and beneficial to children.

To meet this goal, it is necessary for Pharma to insidiously exert its influence in every aspect of pharmaceutical development, research, reporting, regulation, funding, advertising, promotion, and distribution. And, indeed, they do! The end result is a stealth marketing campaign that can wear many hats and disguises as it manipulates and promotes its self-serving agenda unilaterally throughout the entire health care system.”

Side Effects of Psychotropic Drugs

The side effects of psychotropic drugs are scary. According to Drugs.com, just a few of the side effects of Adderall, for example, are nervousness, restlessness, trouble sleeping, confusion, new or worsening mental or mood problems, aggression, agitation, anxiety, delusions, depression, slurred speech, uncontrolled muscle movement and tiredness. Adderall is an amphetamine with addicting properties that make it difficult to stop.

Healthier Choices Available

It is important to consider every alternative before you let fear drive you to medications. The body’s innate intelligence can become clouded by medications and their side effects. Prior to committing to take these potentially addictive drugs, review all of your options including the benefits of Chiropractic Lifestyle Care. You and your loved ones deserve to enjoy a healthy drug free life.

© 2012. TFP, Inc and www.100yearlifestyle.com. All Rights Reserved.

The Interference Principle

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Germ Theory Flawed

Much of our health care system has been based on the Germ Theory, which simply speaking says that germs cause disease and if we kill the bad germs we will get healthy. We now know that this theory is flawed. Our attempt to wipe out “bugs” has created an assault on our immune systems, leads to a minimum of 10,000 deaths per year, according to The Telegraph, and has created a generation of dangerous “Superbugs” that threaten the well-being of society.

The Interference Principle

The Interference Principle brings a different and realistic perspective to health, sickness and dis-ease and affirms that everyone deserves to be healthy and express their full potential from the time they are born through their last breath of life. This includes you!

Understanding The Interference Principle will help you maximize your ability to heal from injuries and health problems, and achieve optimum health and peak performance levels. The Interference Principle is comprised of the following scientific and philosophical premises that should be applied to your health care and lifestyle.

1. Innate Intelligence

You have, within you, an Innate Intelligence. Present from the moment you were conceived, this intelligence grew you from 1 cell into over 80 quadrillion cells that were organized and specialized to keep you healthy and functioning at your highest level throughout your lifetime. This Innate Intelligence guides the processes in your body that turn food into cells, eliminate waste products, coordinate muscle contraction and communicate with or without your conscious thought to every cell, tissue and organ of your body via your nervous system. As long as there is no interference to this system, you have the capability to heal, feel great, be healthy and function well for a lifetime. Nurture this Intelligence for the development of your human potential and you will set personal records in all areas of your life.

2. Interference

Unfortunately, there can be interference to the communication and expression of this intelligence within your body. This interference causes dis-ease, weakness, and imbalances within your nervous system that can cause all types of immediate health problems. Or, this interference can lie dormant and asymptomatic for decades, leading to severe health conditions, chronic pain, deterioration and disease down the road.

Nerve Interference in the spine is called a vertebral subluxation. Lifestyle Interference is a result of poor health habits such as overeating, poor nutrition, excessive drinking, taking prescription or non-prescription drugs, or sitting too much. Environmental Interference is caused by toxicity from air, food, water, or chemicals, as well as accidents or natural disasters. All three types of interference can cause pressure in your spine and nervous system and affect your health on every level.

3. Adjustments to Remove Interference

Adjustments to remove interference from your spine, nervous system and lifestyle can improve your health and quality of life dramatically. A chiropractic examination can determine if you, or your loved ones, have interference in your spine and nervous system – whether symptoms are present or not. Keeping your body free from interference as a part of your lifestyle can help it heal quickly, stabilize, regenerate and achieve optimum health and peak performance levels for a lifetime.

© 2012. TFP, Inc. and www.100yearlifestyle.com. All Rights Reserved.

Enjoy the Healthiest Holidays Ever

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Good Health is a Blessing

If you, your family and friends are healthy, consider it a blessing. The opportunity to gather and enjoy each other’s company without the worry or burden of suffering loved ones contributes greatly to a healthier holiday season.

Take Your Health to a New Level

If you and your loved ones fall into this category, consider taking your health to new levels. When faced with choices between healthy foods and unhealthy foods, choose the healthy ones. Make exercise your first priority by exercising first thing in the morning so that you do not get swept away by holiday activities and miss out on your workout. Schedule your chiropractic adjustments in advance so your nervous system stays healthy and your body is more resistant to stress.

When you are making plans to gather with family and friends, do not just make appointments to gather around food and drink. Gather around going for walks in the woods or hikes in the mountains or on the trails. Gather around fresh air and sunshine. If the sun is not out or the weather is bad in your area, take a fitness class together. If you have young children, this will help them to build healthy habits and values that can last a lifetime. Encourage house guests to pack clothing and shoes for these kinds of activities.

Share Healthy Recipes and Gifts

When planning your holiday meals, experiment with healthier recipes. Look for dishes that call for fresh ingredients. Download five or six recipes from your favorite cooking website and have the people you will be gathering with do the same. Talk about them and decide which ones would be fun to experiment with. Mix in a new, fresh, healthy recipe with the other foods that you like to eat and bring balance to your holiday meals, making them less destructive to your body.

Each year you can experiment with new recipes. Before you know it, your holiday meals will become both delicious and healthy while helping you get off the weight loss, weight gain rollercoaster ride that has been a plague for so many people. You will leave your holiday table guilt-free and empowered.

Healthy gift giving can change a life. Many people are turning to healthy gift giving as a way to say, “I love you, I care about you, your health is important to me.” Your willingness to invest in the well-being of those that you love can go a long way to inspiring them to choose to invest in it. This action on your part can even act as an intervention to someone who is really in trouble and in denial about their health.

Healthy gifts can include a gym membership, exercise shoes, a heart monitor, a chiropractic examination or a series of chiropractic adjustments. While so many gifts are forgotten within 30 days, healthy gifts can be life changing and may be remembered for a lifetime.

Embrace a Healing Path

If you or any of your friends or family members are experiencing pain or ill health of any kind this holiday season, this is all the more reason to make healthy choices a priority. By following these guidelines and removing pressure from the spine and nervous system with chiropractic care, this holiday season can become an opportunity to embrace a healing path and a healthier New Year.

Everyone deserves to be healthy and express their full potential from the time they are born through their last breath of life. This includes you and your loved ones. We hope that you enjoy the healthiest, happiest holiday season ever.

© 2012. TFP, Inc. and www.100yearlifestyle.com. All Rights Reserved.