The Spinal Column

The Spine

2011-08-08T04:58:00.001-07:00

Claudius Galen (130-202 AD) discovered the relationship between the nervous system of the spine and healing. He wrote, "Look to the nervous system as the key to maximum health." He earned the title 'Prince of Physicians' when he relieved the paralysis of the right hand of Eudemas (a prominent Roman scholar) by careful manipulation of his neck.

Herodotus gained fame curing diseases by correcting spinal abnormalities through therapeutic exercises. Aristotle was critical of Herodotus' tonic-free approach because, "he made old men young and thus prolonged their lives too greatly."

Socrates (469-399 BC) advised, "If you would seek health, look first to the spine."

Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine (460-370 BC), described manipulative procedures in his monumental work known as the Corpus Hippocrateum. He wrote, "Get knowledge of the spine, for this is the requisite for many diseases."

Is Your Ab Workout Hurting Your Back?

2009-06-19T00:05:00.000-07:00

As usual people run for the one magic bullet to fix all their problems. In this case research was done showing that one particular deep ab muscle, when strengthened, decreased back pain. So everyone ran out and worked on this muscle. That is, they overworked the muscle causing instability. The body is never that simple. Muscles work as levers. When one contracts the opposite side relaxes. Also, muscles attach to different parts of the skeleton and other structures. If one muscle is over-strengthened then some other muscle and structure will be over-weakened. The body always strives for balance structurally and physically.

How to Save New Brain Cells: Scientific American

2009-02-24T10:14:00.001-08:00

How to Save New Brain Cells: Scientific American

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Brain Power

2008-11-02T23:44:00.001-08:00

Watch how thoughts can translate into mechanical actions! Remarkable!

Jeff Hartwig, Oldest American To Qualify for the Olympic Team in the Pole Vaulting Event, Attributes Success to Chiropractic Care

2008-09-05T01:43:00.000-07:00

Jeff Hartwig, Oldest American To Qualify for the Olympic Team in the Pole Vaulting Event, Attributes Success to Chiropractic Care

CARMICHAEL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--At age 40, Jeff Hartwig goes on record as the oldest member of the 2008 Olympic U.S. Track and Field team, competing in the pole vault event. A two time Olympian and four-time national champion, Hartwig holds the American indoor pole vaulting record and attributes much of his athletic success to chiropractic care.

“The first time I was treated by a chiropractor was akin to a miracle -- a much better option than simply using conventional medicine because my injuries healed faster and my whole body felt better,” said Hartwig during an interview conducted a week prior to the Olympic events.

Just shy of his 41st birthday, Jeff is one of the three U.S. pole vault athletes competing in Beijing. He vaulted 18 feet, eight inches to become the oldest American to qualify for the Olympic team in his event. Hartwig finished 11th at the 1996 Games in Atlanta and went on to set the American record in 1998 at 19 feet, 9¼ inches.

“Without chiropractic care, I doubt that I would ever have been able to reach these levels or be able to train at such an intense level," said Hartwig. Jeff is treated by U.S. Olympic Committee team chiropractor Ted Forcum, D.C. of Tigard, Ore., one of four doctors of chiropractic joining the 62-member U.S. Olympic healthcare team for the 2008 Olympic Games.

“Chiropractic fulfills a niche need, not only by treating injuries but also by aiding in recovery and positively impacting athletic performance,” said Forcum. “Chiropractors promote active care and treatment with a commitment to healthy progression and rehabilitation.”

Since the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York, chiropractors have provided healthcare services to elite performers, and this year chiropractors will assume an even greater role in the integrated healthcare team, which includes medical doctors, massage therapists, and certified athletic trainers.In addition to the four chiropractors who will provide care to the U.S. Olympic athletes, chiropractors from around the world will be joining their respective Olympic teams in providing safe and effective healthcare. Team chiropractors will be present from New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, and China among others.

About F4CPThe Foundation for Chiropractic Progress is a 501c6 corporation that represents a cross section of the chiropractic and vendor communities with the goal of increasing the public’s awareness of the benefits of chiropractic.

http://www.f4cp.org/.Contactsfor The Foundation for Chiropractic ProgressJessica Giordano, 201-641-1911 x35mailto:x35jgiordano@cpronline.com

Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20080813006132/en

Chiropractic Care Helping Heroes Realize Their Potential in Triathlon Series

2008-09-05T01:29:00.000-07:00

Chiropractic Care Helping Heroes Realize Their Potential in Triathlon Series

Disabled Veterans Value Chiropractic Care While Competing In Triathlon

CARMICHAEL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Team Semper Fi, a triathlon team comprised of elite athletes who are also disabled war veterans, competed in the recent Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon Series. These athletes have come forward to validate the value of chiropractic care in improving their ability to compete against able-bodied athletes by: swimming against the fierce currents from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco; biking 18 miles; and running eight miles in a triathlon.

“Competing in these events has actually made my life ten times better and has given me tremendous self-worth,” says Iraq war veteran, Eric Frazier, the team’s leading hand cyclist who suffered a paralyzing injury to the spinal cord and now uses his hands and arms to propel his cycle. “After any race, my upper body is in pain because I do it all with my hands and arms. Following chiropractic care, I find that I perform better.” Frazier receives his chiropractic care from Dr. Bill Morgan, staff chiropractor for the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, and affiliate chiropractor at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.

Team Semper Fi is a sports program of the Inter Marine Semper Fi Fund designed to help rehabilitate injured Marines and injured sailors. On a monthly basis, team members compete in triathlons, venture races, marathons, and 10k races. They compete against a variety of professional athletes, amateurs, and beginners, disabled and able-bodied athletes alike.
Team members Dan Lasko and John Szczepanowski also access chiropractic care on a regular basis so that they can perform to their greatest potential.

“With my injury and a prosthetic leg, my back is always in pain,” says Dan Lasko, who lost his left leg below the knee in two IED (Improvised Exploding Device) roadside explosions while defending the U.S. during the war on terror in Afghanistan. “But when it comes to triathlons, chiropractic has helped out tremendously, I see my chiropractor before the event and a few days later…it just makes me a better athlete overall.”

John, the only non-injured team member, praises chiropractic as “making it possible” for him to get out there and be a part of these events.

Prior to the triathlon events, these brave men are treated by chiropractors who support the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (www.F4CP.org). Dr. Bill Morgan feels privileged to be a part of the extraordinary perseverance displayed by these veterans.

“I salute the brave fighters who have overcome so much to compete in these athletic events,” says Dr. Morgan. “I can think of no greater honor than to provide care for those injured while in the service of their country.”

For information about Team Semper Fi or if you wish to make a donation to the team please visit www.semperfifund.org.

About F4CP
The Foundation for Chiropractic Progress is a 501c6 corporation that represents a cross section of the chiropractic and vendor communities with the goal of increasing the public’s awareness of the benefits of chiropractic. www.F4CP.org.

Contacts
For F4CPJessica Giordano, 201-641-1911 x35jgiordano@cpronline.com

Brain Function Improved By Playing, And Even Watching

2008-09-03T02:31:00.000-07:00

I've been saying for quite some time how important motion and movement are to brain function. New research says that even discussing and watching sports can stimulate areas of the brain associated with language. Fascinating!!

Brain Function Improved By Playing, And Even Watching

Sports02 Sep 2008

Being an athlete or merely a fan improves language skills when it comes to discussing their sport because parts of the brain usually involved in playing sports are instead used to understand sport language, new research at the University of Chicago shows.

The research was conducted on hockey players, fans, and people who'd never seen or played the game. It shows, for the first time, that a region of the brain usually associated with planning and controlling actions is activated when players and fans listen to conversations about their sport. The brain boost helps athletes and fans understanding of information about their sport, even though at the time when people are listening to this sport language they have no intention to act.

The study shows that the brain may be more flexible in adulthood than previously thought. "We show that non-language related activities, such as playing or watching a sport, enhance one's ability to understand language about their sport precisely because brain areas normally used to act become highly involved in language understanding," said Sian Beilock, Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Chicago. She is lead author of the paper, "Sports Experience Enhances the Neural Processing of Action Language," to be published Tuesday, September 2 in the on-line issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Experience playing and watching sports has enduring effects on language understanding by changing the neural networks that support comprehension to incorporate areas active in performing sports skills," she said.

The research could have greater implications for learning. It shows that engaging in an activity taps into brain networks not normally associated with language, which improves the understanding of language related to that activity, Beilock added.

For the study, researchers asked 12 professional and intercollegiate hockey players, eight fans and nine individuals who had never watched a game to listen to sentences about hockey players, such as shooting, making saves and being engaged in the game. They also listened to sentences about everyday activities, such as ringing doorbells and pushing brooms across the floor. While the subjects listened to the sentences, their brains were scanned using functioning Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), which allows one to infer the areas of the brain most active during language listening.

After hearing the sentences in the fMRI scanner, subjects performed a battery of tests designed to gauge their comprehension of those sentences.

Although most subjects understood the language about everyday activities, hockey players and fans were substantially better than novices at understanding hockey-related language.

Brain imaging revealed that when hockey players and fans listen to language about hockey, they show activity in the brain regions usually used to plan and select well-learned physical actions. The increased activity in motor areas of the brain helps hockey players and fans to better understanding hockey language. The results show that playing sports, or even just watching, builds a stronger understanding of language, Beilock said.

----------------------------Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.---------------------------- Joining Beilock in this research were Howard Nusbaum, Professor of Psychology at the University; Steven Small, Professor of Neurology and Psychology at the University; and Beilock's Ph.D. students Ian Lyons and Andrew Mattarella-Micke Source: William Harms University of Chicago Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/119952.php

Training-Induced Brain Structure Changes In The Elderly

2008-08-27T02:39:00.000-07:00

This is amazing information! In this age of dementia, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's we have here evidence that the brain is always plastic. By inputting information into the brain the output will be the reward of better cognition and function. I don't mean to say that learning to juggle will stave off these diseases but anything that improves brain function gives you a better chance. And this goes to show that "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" simply doesn't hold water. The brain is always ready to receive new information and reward it's owner with improved function.

Chiropractic care is a great way to improve brain function and don't forget that your brain controls the rest of your body! How does it do this? In every muscle and joint there are tiny receptors (structures that receive information). When we move they are activated and fire their information into the Central Nervous System (the spine and brain). When this happens the brain is happy and lights up. The brain celebrates this input by sharing it with the rest of the body and you benefit with better function of your organs and total physiology.

Sometimes joints become locked or fixated and muscles become weak or tight. This can be due to many reasons. Chemical, physical, structural, emotional, etc. Locked up motion receptors no longer feed information into the brain and so you have both a local (at the joint) and global (throughout the body) decrease of function. Some of these changes are slow and even imperceptible for decades and sometimes the effects are more immediate. Either way its just a matter of time before a problem is perceived. Remember that by the time you perceive pain the problem has been there building up for some time! This is outside of the occurrence of a traumatic accident.

Locked up motion receptors have effectively gone off line and the brain no longer recognizes the level of the the locked up joint. The chiropractic adjustment does three main things to reverse this:

It restores the normal range of motion to the joint
It puts a quick stretch in the muscle
It provides a barrage information into those receptors

When this happens those receptors which were locked up and still now scream to the brain "We're still here. We just couldn't talk to you for awhile." The brain is only too happen to hear this since it just received a huge message from those joint levels and brings them back online. Function is now improved. And those tight muscles just received a quick stretch which helps them relax and perform better. Best of all you feel better, looser, lighter, with less stress due to the release of endorphins and enkephalins from the brain's natural pharmacy.

Chiropractic promotes plasticity of the brain and nervous system. It promotes joint structure and function. It promotes health.

From Faculty of 1000 Medicine

Training-Induced Brain Structure Changes In The Elderly: Commentary from F1000

Posted 08/15/2008 Lutz JänckeAuthor Information Boyke J, Driemeyer J, Gaser C, Büchel C, May AJ Neurosci 2008 Jul 9 28(28):7031-5 Commentary from Faculty Member Lutz Jäncke This is the first study published so far demonstrating cortical plasticity in the elderly and, thus, supports the view that cortical integrity and possibly cognitive functions can be shaped by training, even in the elderly. One of the most interesting and possibly important findings in cognitive neuroscience has been the discovery that the human brain can be shaped by experience. In this context, it has been shown that even specific characteristics of brain anatomy (e.g. gray and white matter density) can be changed by experience. This study demonstrates that gray matter changes can even be induced in the elderly. The authors of this study focused on healthy elderly citizens (on average 60 years of age) and conducted a training study during which these subjects learned three-ball cascade juggling. It turned out that senior citizens learned to juggle but with less proficiency compared with adolescents. However, similar to the young group, gray matter changes in the older brain related to skill acquisition were observed in area hMT/V5 (middle temporal area of the visual cortex). A further finding relates to the hippocampus and reveals that elderly volunteers who learned to juggle showed transient increases in gray matter in the hippocampus on the left side and in the nucleus accumbens bilaterally. Faculty of 1000 Medicine Evaluations, Dissents and Author responses for: [Boyke J et al. Training-induced brain structure changes in the elderly. J Neurosci 2008 Jul 9 28 (28):7031-5]. 2008 Jul 17. www.f1000medicine.com/article/id/1115644/evaluation

Does Chiropractic Work?

2008-08-15T01:44:00.000-07:00

Study: Chiropractic Care Helps Concentration

2008-04-29T02:27:00.000-07:00

A small but growing group of very progressive chiropractors is showing the world that chiropractic is neurology. Structure and function are interdependent upon one another. Watch the video to see a bit of how this works. The goal is to build new neural pathways and enhance the existing ones through specific brain exercises. While brain exercises seem to be the buzz today, remember that chiropractors have been addressing the nervous system since 1895, and today are very well equipped to do so, especially with intensive post graduate programs in different areas of specialty such as neurology.

Study: Chiropractic Care Helps Concentration - News Story - KXAS Dallas

LAKE HIGHLANDS, Texas -- A small study last month in Switzerland offered more evidence that chiropractic care can help adults with concentration problems and attention deficits, NBC 5 reports. Tuesday, October 16, 2007.

Click on the link:

http://video.nbc5i.com/player/?id=164894