July 2021

IMPORTANT DATES: Dr. Michelle will be away from Practice on Friday 2nd July 2021 and returning on Wednesday 7th July 2021 during this time Dr. Olivia will be providing care. A reminder Dr. Olivia will be returning to practise on Fridays from August 6th.
REMINDERS: Please remove shoes, belt, tie, coat, hoodie and empty all pockets ready for your adjustment. Please turn your phone off or onto silent before entering the building.

Healthy Aging

Aging happens to us all, but how we age is a reflection of the lifestyle choices we make and the effect we put into our health. Healthy aging is about minimising the undesirable effects of aging such as disease and disability and doing things to help remain active and independent for as long as possible.
Chiropractic care in the older adult has shown positive effects in improving the health and well-being, activity level, independence, falls risk and a person’s general quality of life.
A group of researchers compared 1000 older patients presenting with a back condition being managed by a chiropractor, to a group managed by a medical group. The study used the patient’s medical data to observe their functional activities of daily living and health stats over a 2-year period. The functional activities of daily living are defined as those that enable individuals to live independently, such as the capacity to cook and manage a house, move freely around their home, manage their personal hygiene, and make decisions such as managing their finances. What this study found is that after 2 years, the group managed with chiropractic care had maintained their level of functional activities and had a higher rated health status than those managed medically. This meant that the chiropractic managed group were able to better maintain their level of independence, and health.
This study does have some limitations as it doesn’t take into account individual differences between the 2 groups such as people who choose chiropractic care for a back condition, may view their health differently than individuals choosing medical care. And thus, make different choices in regards to lifestyle factors.
Polypharmacy is a major problem in aging. Polypharmacy is referred to as taking multiple medications which can lead to some adverse reactions such as drowsiness, digestive issues, functional decline frailty, increased falls risk and death. An interesting study by Sarno et al, in 2017, compared 7 years of health claims comparing those who had chiropractic care and those who had medical care. They found a 60% decrease in hospitalisation and 62% decrease in outpatient surgical procedures and an 85% decrease in pharmaceutical costs in patients managed by a chiropractor compared to those managed medically.
And again, this study does have limitations in not being a randomised study so causation cannot be implied and there may also have same baseline differences in the type of patient presenting to the chiropractor versus those presenting to the medical expert. However, the takeaway message is that with fewer medications, patients treated by a chiropractor, were less likely to suffer adverse effects requiring intervention and hospitalisation.
Chiropractic care has been shown to have a positive effect on older patient’s fall risk. Research conducted by Dr. Kelly Holt, PHD and Dr. Heidi Haavik showed that after 12 weeks of chiropractic care, patients had improved perception of where their feet were, meaning they didn’t have to keep looking down at their feet when walking. They had improved sensorimotor processing which means they were better able to take in information from their surroundings and process it quicker to better respond to their environment. So, if they felt they were falling, they could combine information from their joints and muscles, eye and balance system to respond better by taking appropriate action to avoid the fall. Patients showed a quicker step response, meaning they could take compensatory steps quickly for a suspected fall. These all showed to improve balance to help improve a patient’s fall risk.

Dry July

Dry July is a fundraiser that encourages you to go alcohol-free for the month of July to help raise money for people affected by cancer.
Dry July is also to encourage people to think about the amount of alcohol they consume on a regular basis and to raise awareness of the health benefits of decreasing your alcohol consumption.
Alcohol consumption can affect many aspects of your health.
Brain – Alcohol can affect your mood and behaviour. It can affect your thinking, memory, reaction time and coordination.
Heart – Long term consumption or binge drinking can cause damage to the heart including damaging the heart muscle, increasing risk of hypertension, irregular heart beat and stroke.
Pancreas– Alcohol causes the pancreas to produce toxic substance that can eventually lead to pancreatitis a dangerous inflammation and swelling of blood vessels in the pancreas that prevent proper digestion.
Cancer – Research suggests an association between alcohol consumption and several types of cancer including cancers affecting the head and neck, cancer of the oesophagus, liver cancer, breast cancer and bowl cancer.
Immune System – Drinking too much can weaken your immune system, making you more susceptible to disease and illness.
Sustaining from alcohol can have lots of other benefits, including increased energy, better quality of sleep and weight loss. Check out how you can be part of the Dry July to take a break from alcohol. Remember its only for one month.

Healthy Cacao, Coconut & Date Balls

How To Reduce Your Babies Risk Of Chronic Disease:

I read a great article in ABC Newsfeed BY Dr Lisa Stinser in regards to some simple tips on how to help your child to develop a healthy gut microbiome. This is a summary of that article.
Our gut health, in particular, the population and number of good bacteria can greatly influence our health including, in regards to conditions such as obesity, asthma, allergies and there is some research linking good gut bacteria to neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism, Parkinson’s disease and depression.
Your gut microbiome is established during your first few years of life, so what we do then can greatly influence your long-term health.
How do you positively influence your child’s gut microbiome? Follow these tips:

1. Breast feed (when you can).
   Breast milk exposes infants to Mum’s bacteria, which combined with antibacterial proteins and immune cells, helps train a baby’s immune system. Breast milk also contains complex sugars known as oligosaccharides. These sugars are indigestible by humans but provide food for gut bacteria (think prebiotics).
2. Get a dog.
   Research suggests growing up in a house with a pet, in particular a dog, can greatly reduce the risk of developing asthma and allergies by 20 – 50%. This is thought to occur by the protective effect of the pet’s dust microbiome that comes from the animals shedding hair.
3. Avoid unnecessary antibiotics.
   For babies and young children, a course of antibiotics can permanently alter the path of their gut microbiome development. This has been demonstrated in children who received antibiotics in their first few years are at a higher risk of developing asthma and obesity.
4. Improve your gut health.
   Mothers are the number one donor of bacteria to their infants in early life. So, it’s really important to sort out your gut health before starting a family. Eating a diet high in a variety of complex carbohydrates causes fibre to end up in high amounts undigested in your gut where it can feed and nourish your good gut bacteria. Limit alcohol consumption, stress and avoid antibiotics also all help you to build a healthy biome.
5. Don’t stress too much about being dirty.
   Exposure to a large range of diverse microbes in the first few years of life, helps your child to stimulate and develop a robust immune system. So, eating dirt, food from the bin, dog’s bowel or putting toys in the mouth from the floor to help your child to get access to a diverse range of microbes that aid development of a strong immune system.

Maximise Your Adjustments

In the June Newsletter, we spoke about common reasons why you may still experience spinal joint paint, even with regular care. These included being dehydrated, consuming a diet that contained pro-inflammatory foods, lack of regular movement and increased stress levels.
To maximise your care, we can add to this list:

1. Mobility- This is defined as moving the joints through a particular range of motion. This will improve joint movement patterns, muscle strength and health and forming an important part of your joint rehabilitation.
2. Follow given instructions- Instructions and health advise in the form of exercise, posture (work and sport), mobility and diet are all important to help you maximise your care. Again, failure to act upon advice provided can slow your progress and even halt any progression at all. If you are struggling with any advice (posture, exercise, mobility and/or diet) given, please speak to Dr. Michelle or Dr. Olivia.
3. Stick to recommended care schedule – Just like doing exercise on a regular basis or consistently eating well, having chiropractic care regularly helps to develop healthy neurological pathways and habits. Over time this can help create positive changes in regards to posture, muscle strength, mobility and joint motion, improving overall health.

A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor

Franklin D Roosevelt