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Super Bowl, Hall of Famers, and Chiropractic

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The Super Bowl is one of the biggest sporting events in the world. Many of the players who participate in the biggest game each year receive chiropractic care, including future Hall of Famer Tom Brady of the New England Patriots. In fact, players from nearly every professional sports team utilize chiropractic care to heal quickly from injuries and perform at their highest level. It is even common to see chiropractors giving adjustment on the sideline during games.

Current Hall of Famers, Emmitt Smith and Jerry Rice, some of the greatest players ever at their positions have been huge chiropractic advocates for decades. Emmitt Smith is the leading rusher in NFL history. A perennial Pro Bowler and three time Super Bowl Champion when he retired with over 18,000 yards, Smith said, “I thank God, my family and my chiropractor.” Chiropractic care not only helped him heal quickly from injuries but he also used chiropractic care as a part of his lifestyle and training regime to keep him functioning at the top of his game.

Jerry Rice is considered the greatest receiver in the history of the NFL. His durability and work ethic is legendary. He initially sought chiropractic care because of a crisis after being injured on the field. After learning about the benefits of Chiropractic Lifestyle Care™ from his teammates he made chiropractic care a regular part of his training routine and lifestyle. He is a three time Super Bowl Champion and today he is an official spokesperson for the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress.

Another chiropractic advocate, 2012 Hall of Fame Semi-finalist Roger Craig, was a pioneer in the NFL. He is the only player to ever make the Pro Bowl as a fullback and a halfback, the first player to rush and receive for over 1,000 yards in a single season – a feat that took fourteen years to be duplicated – and he is the only running back in NFL history to ever lead the league in receptions. He is a three time Super Bowl Champion and is the only NFL player to make the playoffs for eleven straight years.

Like many children, Roger began receiving chiropractic care at an early age and today, like the others, still receives Chiropractic Lifestyle Care. In fact, Roger endorsed the #1 bestselling fitness book, The 100 Year Lifestyle Workout, which he recommends for every athlete young and old because it stresses the importance of a healthy structure, spine and nervous system with chiropractic care as a core part of the training. This balanced fitness plan teaches athletes to Get Your ESS in Shape™, Endurance, Strength and Structure to help you maximize your performance, prevent injuries and support your longevity.

All three of these athletes took a tremendous beating over their careers which began in little league and continued into the pros. Chiropractic care as a part of their lifestyle, training and overcoming injuries has helped show the world that you can play high level sports and retain your health after you retire. You may even compete on Dancing With the Stars!

We’ve all seen videos of old time professional athletes who pounded their bodies into submission and became cripples when their career was over. This is not true for these three athletic superstars and it is no longer the norm as many professional, Olympic and youth sports programs have chosen to make chiropractic care a core part of their programs and many of the leaders of the Olympic sports medicine team today are chiropractors.

Don’t wait for an injury. If you’re an athlete or participate in an exercise program, be like these Hall of Fame and Super Bowl Champions. Make Chiropractic Lifestyle Care your top priority.

Consumer Reports Backs Non-Drug Measures

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In the March 2012 issue of Consumer Reports, there is an article that matches common prescription drugs to their side effects. Provided as a quiz, medications such as Lipitor, Viagra, Cymbalta, Advair Diskus and others are separated from their possible side effects so that you, the consumer, can test your recall from the four billion dollars in advertising costs that the drug companies spent last year. Their bottom line is to “exhaust non-drug measures” first.

In the article, Consumer Reports pokes fun at the manner in which drug companies communicate their list of serious side effects calling them “so-scary-they-are-almost-funny lists over images of couples posing in bathtubs.” While the Food and Drug Administration requires drug companies to list their most serious side effects, they do not require the manner in which they are displayed.

It is up to you, the consumer, to sift through the sensationalism to find the facts. Here are a few examples of the drugs that Consumer Reports lists and their matching side effects…

Lipitor, a high blood pressure medication, can cause muscle pain or weakness, liver damage, kidney problems and/or kidney failure.

Cialis and Viagra, for erectile dysfunction, can cause back pain, muscle aches, and sudden loss of vision or hearing.

Cymbalta is prescribed for depression, general anxiety disorder, chronic osteoarthritis or fibromyalgia and can cause dizziness, liver problems, low blood pressure and fainting, higher blood pressure, problems with urine flow, or suicidal thoughts in young people.

Advair Diskus, which is prescribed for asthma and COPD, can cause severe or fatal worsening of asthma symptoms, reduced adrenal function,declined bone density, weakened immunity, or slowing of growth in children.

In all, the article lists a dozen drugs that are utilized for treatment of many conditions ranging from asthma and arthritis to smoking cessation. I wonder how you will do when you take this quiz, which is located on page 11 of the magazine. Fortunately, many of us are waking up to the fact that drugs are dangerous and should be a last resort. It is nice to see Consumer Reports backing up this non-drug first approach.

The United States consumes more drugs than any other industrialized nation in the world, yet according to the CIA Fact Book, the US has dropped to 50th in life-expectancy and 48th in infant mortality. Keeping yourself and your family healthy through positive lifestyle choices including good nutrition, exercise and a healthy spine and nervous system can help you eliminate your need for prescription drugs and maximize your health potential. Have a serious discussion with your doctor about the risks versus the benefits of any medication and do everything you can to keep yourself healthy and drug free.

For 117 years, chiropractors have been helping people of all ages heal quickly and enjoy the opportunity of a healthy, drug free life. Don’t wait for a crisis to make different choices. Make the Critical Transition to Lifestyle Care and make your health your top priority.

Your Minimum is Not Your Maximum

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What is your minimum life expectancy? Your maximum? How about for your children? What will your quality of life be like along the way? These quick calculations and facts can be a real wake up call for you and your loved ones.

Calculate Your M-PYR™ [Pronounced “empire”]
M-PYR stands for Minimum Potential Years Remaining. It takes into account what you know about your personal family history and compares this to your current age to determine the minimum number of years that you have left.

Calculate Your M-PYR NOW:
1. What’s the age of your oldest grandparent ever [living or deceased]: ______
2. Your current age: ______
3. Your M-PYR [2 – 1]: ______

So what’s your M-PYR? If your oldest grandparent ever was 90, and you are currently 45, then you have an M-PYR of 45. This is your MINIMUM potential years remaining. If your oldest grandparent ever was 82 and you are 77, then your M-PYR is 5. If your oldest grandparent ever was 102 and you are 32, then you have an M-PYR of 70.

If your M-PYR is longer than you thought, look at your choices and evaluate their long term benefit to you. If you don’t do this, you may be setting yourself up for a sick and deteriorating future, even though you may feel fine today. If you are a procrastinator who is already suffering from an unhealthy lifestyle, a long M-PYR can be very motivating. After all, there’s only one thing worse than suffering, and that’s suffering for another 25, 50, or 75 years.

Committing to healthier lifestyle choices, including taking care of your spine and nervous system with chiropractic care, can ensure that your remaining years are good ones and not years of sickness, poverty and loneliness. Healthy choices now will improve your life now, and as you age.

If your M-PYR is short, than you will surely feel a sense of urgency to get your act together. Waiting for a heart attack to eat healthy and exercise is a bad idea.Waiting for a diagnosis of cancer to eat healthy, exercise and strengthen your immune system is not a good idea.

Just because society is crisis motivated, doesn’t mean that this is the way that you should be. I love seeing people who embrace chiropractic care and their ideal 100 Year Lifestyle, and regardless of their age, they feel younger and healthier than ever. But why wait for a crisis.

Look at family photos of your parents and grandparents. Do you like the way they have aged? Do you think that if they knew they were going to live as long as they are, or did, that they would have made different choices? You are getting the advance notice that they never received. What will you do with this information?

Your M-PYR is not your MAX-PYR™
Your M-PYR is not your MAX-PYR, or maximum potential years remaining. Who knows what your number could be? If you ate healthy, exercised, took care of your spine and nervous system, had good relationships and a sense of purpose, what would be the limits of your longevity?

New research in the Lancet found that more than 50% of babies can expect to live to 100. Some scientists even say that we can live to 1,000. I don’t know about that, but I do know that if you make healthy choices you are much more likely to enjoy a quality life for your entire lifetime.

Recently there was a gentleman whose M-PYR was -1. He had already outlived the oldest relative in his family, and he was really happy about it. He was healthy and functioning at a very high level. He had a great perspective on his life and he was very glad to be here.

Your M-PYR is not your MAX-PYR. Make healthy choices. Embrace Chiropractic Lifestyle Care, and you and your loved ones will enjoy the quality of life you deserve.

The Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis

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Prescription drug abuse is out of control. Every day we hear stories in the news about celebrities, adults, and kids who have experienced the consequences of prescription drug abuse and have either died, been injured, or had to be admitted into some form of rehabilitation center. It is hard to believe that those little pills can grab such a powerful hold on your mind and body and spin your life out of control.

A recent report by the Executive Office of the President of The United States entitled “Epidemic: Responding to America’s Drug Abuse Crisis” revealed that prescription drug abuse is the nation’s fastest growing drug problem. Nearly one third of people age 12 and over who used drugs for the first time in 2009 began using a prescription drug non-medically.

In Canada, 54 percent of participants in a study reported misusing their prescription drugs at least once. 52 percent diverted the use of their drugs to a non-prescribed usage and 42 percent of the participants deliberately used their prescription with alcohol or another drug.

Drug ads on television, and in every other type of media, do not help the situation. Through beautiful scenery and highly paid actors, the commercials promise relief while disguising the side effects. Have you ever noticed how many drug ads come on during the popular time slots? One after the other we get hammered by them. Listen carefully to the side effects and do extensive homework before you ever put yourself in a position to get hooked. The highly addictive nature of some of these chemicals can own you for a lifetime once they get in you.

Seeing someone who is abusing prescription drugs, or any drug for that matter, is scary. The withdrawal symptoms can turn the calmest person into the image of a wild dog searching for food. A drug filled lifestyle can be dangerous. The side effects are many and are not communicated thoroughly. As time goes on, people often add a second, third, and sometimes many more drugs to their daily routine to offset the side effects of the one that they started with.

Nursing homes are filled with individuals who, over the years, increased the number of prescription drugs that they use and abuse on a daily basis. 45 percent of Medicare beneficiaries are on more than five drugs. If all these drugs were good for us and contributed to greater health and longevity you would think that the statistics would show it. But this is not the case. The World Fact Book ranks the United States 49th in life expectancy and Canada as Number 9.

If you think that you or someone you love is in the middle of a prescription drug crisis then you are probably right and you should trust your instincts. Consult with your doctor and get on a plan to change from a drug-oriented lifestyle to a drug free one. You can do it.

Chiropractic offices everywhere are filled with individuals who have taken charge of their health and made this critical transition. While the purpose of chiropractic care is not to take you off a drug it is very common that when people begin to get adjustments on a regular basis they find their need and dependency on both prescription and non-prescription medication goes down dramatically or disappears altogether.

No wonder more and more individuals and families are taking the drug- free approach to healthcare that chiropractic delivers. Now it is your turn.

The Doctor of the Present

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www.100yearlifestyle.com

– Thomas Edison, Health Care Visionary
 – Care of the Human Frame and Diet
 – Your Future is Now

Thomas Edison, Health Care Visionary
The great inventor, Thomas Edison, who produced such amazing patents and technologies including the light bulb, the phonograph and the motion picture camera, was also a health care visionary. Concerned about health care during his day, he made a declaration. In the 1903 publication of The Newark Advocate, in a piece called “The Edison Wizard”, Edison stated, “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.”

Care of the Human Frame and Diet
Edison believed that it made much more sense to keep oneself healthy and be an educated consumer than to wait for a crisis and then take care of oneself. He understood the age-old saying, “If you wear out your body, where are you going to live?” And, of course, based on his quote, he realized the importance of fueling the body with good food and drink through healthy eating habits. This quote has become the foundation for drugless healing professions who believe in the innate healing capacity and health potential of the human body. Chiropractic has become the number one drugless health care profession in the world.

Edison also understood the importance of avoiding drugs whenever possible. If you have ever watched a drug ad on TV and closed your eyes while listening to the side effects, you certainly can understand why. For example, the manufacturer of one pain relieving drug indicates three times in a thirty-second commercial that the drug can cause death and makes additional cautionary statements while the people in the ad dance happily on a beach. Before you ever take a drug, become educated about it and explore drug-free options first.

“The care of the human frame” means keeping your spine and nervous system aligned, balanced and as healthy as possible beginning immediately after birth and through every phase of life. This will keep your posture straight and strong and keep your joints, muscles and ligaments young and flexible. Most importantly it will keep your nervous system communicating with every cell in an appropriate way to ensure that your body is functioning at its best.

Your Future is Now
It’s 108 years later and Edison’s quote has been updated by Dr. Eric Plasker, bestselling author of The 100 Year Lifestyle, as follows:

“The doctor of the PRESENT 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 DIS-EASE.”

The future is now and, for the sake of prevention, a hyphen has been added to change “disease” to “dis-ease”. Why?

Dis-ease leads to disease. The human body, your body, is self-healing and self-regulating as long as there is no interference to its natural ability to function properly. Interference, called vertebral subluxation when it occurs in the spine, puts the body out of balance which can lead to disease, pain, deterioration and many other health problems. Eliminating dis-ease before it becomes disease, pain, deterioration or other health problems is what prevention, and chiropractic, is all about.

Isn’t it time for you and your loved ones to BE PRESENT in the way you take care of your health? When you apply this new quote to your personal and family health care philosophy, it means that you will no longer wait until your body breaks down then look to drugs or surgery as the solution. You will only utilize them as a last resort and instead, you will adjust your lifestyle, making chiropractic care and the health of, your frame, spine and nervous system your top priority.

Side Effects? Or Direct Effects!

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www.100yearlifestyle.com

– The Laboratory Process
– Common Effects of Drugs
– Think Long Term

The Laboratory Process
The most common question that individuals ask before they ever take a prescription drug is, “What are the side effects?” Before you pop another pill, you must understand how medications’ side effects directly affect your body today and in years to come.

Medications are tested in a laboratory until the chemical reaction that they are designed to achieve is reproducible. The direct effects of this lab testing must be consistent before these chemicals are ever tested on animals or people. Once human testing begins, scientists measure the impact of these medications to see if they cause the same direct effects that were induced in a laboratory. If these effects are reproducible, the testing continues to see if any other effects occur. These are called “Side Effects” because they were not present in the laboratory setting and their impact on humans was outside of their intended effect. In actuality, these side effects are direct effects of these drugs on the body. Because we are all unique in our body chemistry, direct effects, labeled side effects, impact people differently, and they are much more common than people think.

Common Effects of Drugs
The direct effects of Lipitor, for example, are constipation, gas, headaches, stomach pain, weakness, rash, hives, itching, difficulty breathing, chest pain, swelling of the mouth or face, bone, joint or tendon pain, change in urination, fever, chills, sore throat, flu-like symptoms, joint pain, muscle pain, tenderness, weakness, bowel changes, skin changes, swelling of the hands or feet, yellowing of the eyes or skin. This “incomplete” list, according to www.drugs.com, shows that while Lipitor may affect cholesterol levels in the body, there can be dozens of other direct effects that impact you in an unhealthy way.

Drug companies prepare a list of side effects for the consumer, while also listing additional side effects that doctors should be aware of. If you go to www.drugs.com and type in any common drug, then select “side effects,” you will notice that the side effects to the consumer take up half a page while the side effects/direct effects for the physician to be aware of might be up to a dozen pages. Most people are unaware of all the effects that medications can cause, and often treat these symptoms with other drugs. This is dangerous because the interactions between drugs can cause even more severe direct effects. Too many people unknowingly go down this road until their body chemistry and health is completely screwed up.

Think Long Term
Additionally, as in the case of Lipitor, there are twelve different listings of side effects/direct effects showing adverse reactions in greater than 2percent of the cases. When you add the numbers of each direct effect, you will notice that nearly 60 percent of cases are experiencing at least one of these effects.

The direct effects of these medications, combined with the reality of our extended life spans to 80, 90, 100 years and beyond, and knowing that drugs only need to be tested for about 8 years before they are brought to market, makes it obvious that living a lifestyle that keeps you independently healthy and free from the need for medications is your best long-term option.

Thomas Edison saw this coming over 100 years ago stating, “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.” The future is now. Our office will help you and your loved ones adjust your lifestyle so that you enjoy good health for a lifetime.