The beginning of a new year brings many things to all of us.  By February we are usually getting into the groove of not writing last year’s dates on checks or in my case in numerous patients’ files for their routine visits (which, by the way, creates one heck of a mess with insurance companies as we try to straighten that out).  For our office, it means our multiple travel dates get worked into the schedule and that can sometimes be frustrating for people who are trying to get in to see us.  Please be patient as we work around our busy travel schedule, but I promise the inconvenience will be worth it in the long haul.  We are not off to long weekends on the golf course or lounging on the warm beaches in the Caribbean all the time.  Our travel is done with growth in mind and that growth is the subject of this week’s column.

For the next three weekends we will be traveling to expand ourselves and our offerings to the public.  As Chiropractors the state of Georgia requires that we attend 20 hours of continuing education every year.  That is the bare minimum that we are allowed to get by with in order to maintain licensure.  We attend many times this amount in order to stay on the cutting edge of the latest techniques available to chiropractors and to learn what new research is out there.  We take pride in the fact that we are always open to new ideas and if there is something new out there that might help our patient base we want to know about it.  There is more than one way to skin the proverbial cat and if one way isn’t the best one for a particular case I want to have the next way in my bag of tricks.  This is the very reason we are proficient in more than one style of adjusting technique.  Seminars are held around the country every week that help hone those adjusting skills, and we like to keep sharp. This weekend’s trip, though, is a personal development weekend.  In an effort to be as well-rounded as possible we look for things to help us grow personally in addition to our professional enhancement.  We will be taking two of our staff members along who are attending workshops with us on communication and management.

O, The Oprah Winfrey Magazine, is one of the publications that I stop whatever I am doing at the time to read as soon as it lands in my mailbox.  Since Oprah got her big break in the early 1980’s I have followed her career and was ecstatic when she started her magazine.  One feature is a piece that she writes every month called “What I Know For Sure”.  It is the last page in every issue, and in January Oprah wrote, “We have to keep transforming ourselves to become who we ought to be.”   It is so true that as spiritual beings on this planet having human experiences we must continue to be open to change in order to allow the metamorphosis that is ours to take place.  We all have a personal responsibility to expand as beings to help ourselves and all the lives we touch.   We can choose to be stuck in our familiar ruts where everything stays exactly the same and the view never changes or we can be brave enough to allow the purpose for our lives to unfold.  It is never easy to change and growing pains are inevitable.  The other side of the growing pains, however, is always worth the trouble.  I heard from adults as I was growing up that anything worth having takes hard work to get.  Taking full responsibility for personal expansion is no exception.

I challenge each of you to find some area of your life that has been stale or stagnant for some time and make a commitment to allow change to happen.  Are you doing everything possible to reach out and help make the universe a better place to be?  If there is a particular aspect of life that you are unhappy with take a step out of your ordinary routine and find a way to change it.  Read self-help books or sign up for a night class to better your education.  Find weekend retreats for you and your significant other to attend to better your communication.  Locate anger management workshops.  Find a hobby.  Learn to appreciate something you never have before.  Nature, art, music, and travel are a few things that bring me joy.  If you have been trying for years to change others in order to make yourself happier, the lesson is that you must change you in order to gain new perspective.  As Oprah said, “Transformation doesn’t happen unless you’re willing: It’s your choice.  This year I’m choosing to live beyond my wildest dreams.”  So if it is a little bit more difficult than usual to get an appointment with us, please be patient.  We are learning to grow beyond our wildest dreams.  Treat your body and your spirit well.

Thrill seeking has always been in my blood.  Since I can remember, it has been no big deal to me to take risks. I look for the highest mountains to climb, the fastest cars to drive, and trying what everyone else tells me I’m crazy to try.  After all, it takes big risks to make big gains, right?  Well, not always as I have found.  As I am about to celebrate the 15^th anniversary of my 29^th birthday, I am amazed at the amount of risk I have taken in my lifetime and have lived to tell about it.  I am, much to my chagrin, mellowing in my midlife!

One area of risk taking that many people engage in is riding thrill rides at theme parks.  I used to be first in line with whomever I was in the company of when we went to Six Flags, Disney, or anywhere else that offered a big, fast roller coaster.  The bigger the faster the better I always thought.  One day a couple of summers ago changed all of that.  I rode the Ninja at Six Flags and when I came off it I thanked God for letting me survive it.  I contemplated opening a kiosk for adjustments right outside the exit gate. My neck hurt for a solid week.  I swore off big, fast roller coasters that day, but never considered their danger any further.  A member of our practice brought to my attention an article about the dangers of roller coasters this month, and I decided to take a closer look.

A recent article written by Paul Ruben for Popular Mechanics magazine stated that since 1987 in the United States there have been 52 deaths on roller coasters and similar thrill rides.  Most of these deaths have been blamed on the G-forces, or inertial forces placed on the body during rapid accelerations such as the ones experienced on roller coasters, that the neck and head undergo.  Tears in arteries have been said to occur, causing bleeding or blood clotting in the brain.  In addition to this, brain shifting has been suspected which has been blamed for causing already weakened blood vessels to leak, resulting also in bleeding and blood clotting in the brain.

Physicians in Japan warn that roller coasters there are also responsible for serious brain injuries.  According to Toshio Fukutake, M.D., of Chiba University School of medicine, “Giant roller coasters are higher and faster than typical roller coasters, and might be more dangerous.”  Four deaths have recently been attributed to subdural hematomas in people who have ridden giant roller coasters there.

The question of whether or not brain injuries are being caused by roller coaster rides has definitely gotten the attention of media and medical researchers, but brain injuries are not the only injuries reported by roller coaster riders.  Michael Freeman, M.D., a trauma epidemiologist at Oregon Health Science University’s school of medicine, states that there are over 10,000 injuries each year that occur to roller coaster riders.  He also states, however, that roller coasters are safe for most people most of the time.  Many people who are not supposed to ride fast risky rides do it anyway, and certainly contribute to the unsafe factors of roller coasters.

Industry safety experts have forced amusement companies to post warning signs to people who have weak backs or necks, pregnant women, people with heart conditions, and other potential at-risk riders, but they cannot assure that these people will not join in the thrill seeking for a quick rush of adrenaline.  The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions states that, based on government data, over 99 percent of guests who ride roller coasters do so safely.  The number of rides taken annually versus the number of incidents which result in injury is miniscule according to industry experts.  (That is, of course, unless you are one of the unlucky ones.)

There is no perfectly safe rule of thumb for gauging the risk factor involved in any particular theme park ride.  Common sense is probably the only thing riders have going for them.  A roller coaster has safety equipment there for a reason – to be used.  Keep hands on bars rather than up in the air, use the headrest for resting your head.  Press your head against it when the ride is taking off and engaging in jerky motions.  That precaution alone will help you to avoid whiplash.  If you have any current medical conditions that you know should keep you off a fast, jerky ride, don’t go on it.  Taking risks for a quick surge of adrenaline might be temporary fun, but for goodness’ sake, be careful and use common sense.  They say that the alphabet is certainly hard to learn the second time around.  Treat your body well.

I have been getting a lot of suggestions and requests from people about topics related to health and chiropractic lately and have addressed the ones that were most often given.  I hope the information has been useful and interesting to you on those subjects.  This week marks the anniversary of this column.  I have enjoyed it immensely and will continue to write it as long as it is useful to its readers.  Thank you for your feedback.  I received a telephone message this past week from a patient of ours whose daughter has been helped tremendously with her anxiety attacks since she began care.  The woman wanted me to write something to help others who might not know that chiropractic can help those with anxiety and a host of other disorders.  I wish I could just say absolutely that chiropractic helps anxiety, but the story is a little more complicated than that.  Some of what I will mention in this week’s column has been said here before, but I never get tired of the story and will gladly tell it again.

The very first chiropractic adjustment was given on September 18, 1895 by Dr. D.D. Palmer.  It was delivered to a deaf janitor named Harvey Lillard who regained his hearing after his back was adjusted.  Dr. Palmer found this to be quite a phenomenal occurrence, and the art and science of chiropractic was born.  Since then many remarkable things have happened as the result of getting chiropractic adjustments.  Some would prefer that chiropractors deal only with musculoskeletal disorders, but no one can deny that many ailments spontaneously disappear after treatment by a chiropractor.  The question many have is, “How is this possible?”

The spine is the bony framework which was built around the soft, delicate tissues of the nervous system.  The spine serves many purposes in the body, but the main two are that it is the basis of the skeletal system and it protects the nervous system.  The nervous system controls and coordinates every function of every organ and tissue in the body.  It is composed of the brain, spinal cord, and the pairs of spinal nerves which emanate from the spinal cord at every level.  If one of the 24 movable vertebrae in the spine moves slightly out of place with the one above it, below it, or both, this creates a condition which is called a vertebral subluxation.  This condition creates many problems throughout the body because if there is pressure on a nerve, the organ or tissue which is supplied by that nerve is not getting all of the information to and from the brain as it should.  Think of it as a garden hose which is turned on full blast but someone is standing on it.  Nothing can come out of the other end until the pressure is removed from the garden hose, thus allowing the water to move in the direction and with the force it was intended to move.  The same holds true for the nervous system.  If nerve function is restored to the organs and tissues in the body by removing vertebral subluxations, the body works much better than it did before.

Ask people who see chiropractors how much different their lives are now compared to how they were before they started care.  In many cases you’ll hear of spontaneous remission from a host of conditions that were treated unsuccessfully otherwise.  In some cases you’ll hear how hope was restored to an otherwise hopeless situation.  You’ll find that not all help is on just the physical realm.  Some people feel that their spirits are lifted and they feel less depressed and exhausted.  Amazing things happen when the nervous system is free of interference.  When people get in touch with their bodies and realize that they can take pro-active roles in their own healthcare, life becomes more fun.  It is much more fun to play a game that you can win rather than being just a pawn in a game over which you feel you have no control.

How can chiropractic help anxiety?  I don’t have a linear, cut and dried answer.  In the words of our aforementioned practice member whose mother wanted me to write about anxiety and how chiropractic can help, “I feel much better – my chiropractic care has helped me get back to a normal lifestyle.  I feel better about myself which helps me see other problems in a better light.”  Treat your body and your spirit well.

When I celebrated my 40^th birthday last August (the staff in our office joke that I take the entire month of August to celebrate my birthdays), I decided that I would make every effort to live my life to the fullest from that point forward.  I would no longer put off taking those long weekend trips when the opportunities arose, I would indulge myself on occasion with ice cream when I felt like it, and I would stop waiting for someday to arrive to do the things I enjoy doing.  While I have been pretty good about not delaying my gratification, I have also become quite reflective in trying to make sure I am not missing anything and am doing all I can to be the best friend, doctor, boss, aunt, sister, and daughter I can be.  Lofty goals with an almost Pollyanna theme, I know, but I was up for the challenge. As August is just around the corner again I look back on the work I have done on me since last year and realize that I am a work in progress. When people ask how I am, I often answer that I am almost perfect and there is always room for improvement.  We are all almost perfect because we would not need to be here in this realm to learn lessons if we were perfect. I was talking to one of our staff members about life in general a couple of weeks ago and remembered a principle I was introduced to while I was a student at Life University.  I shared it with her and thought I would make some comments on it for this week’s column.  It is not specifically about chiropractic or about health but can change everything in your life if you let it.

I was introduced to Dr. Donald Epstein when I was in school because I attended every lecture I could to soak up all the chiropractic technique and philosophy that were available to me while I had it at my fingertips.  On the night I went to hear him speak he was discussing the subject of the Boomerang Principle, a book he had recently written.  The Boomerang Principle states very basically that what goes around comes around but with interest.  According to Dr. Epstein, we are all born with an imbedded boomerang of sorts that is the core of our make-up.  As more people become aware of the boomerang that we all control and how to use it the world can evolve into a much more peaceful, loving place to be.  It works something like this: imagine having a boomerang in your hand and into the boomerang you have the power to encode anything you want.  You know before you do this that as you release the boomerang it will travel the world and bring back to you whatever you send out but more of it.  Sending out a boomerang full of hate, criticism, anguish, spite, and absolute disregard for others will bring back a life full of all of those negative things and more.  It will also attract to you all the boomerangs of other people who have sent out the same types of negativity.  Soon you find that you have absorbed into your own being the hardships you sent out and a dwindling spiral sucks you in.  Failure, poverty, pain and generalized unhappiness follow the darker side of this boomerang.

On the other hand, you have the power to encode into your boomerang health, prosperity, peace, friendships, generosity, love and joy.  As you release your boomerang to the world the magnetism of it brings to you all of these things and much more.  Your boomerang travels the world and attracts the people who celebrate life to its fullest. These people make conscious choices to improve this world by making a genuine difference in their spheres of influence and apply the Boomerang Principle to everything.  When situations arise you have a choice to send out whatever you want to receive back in abundance.  It is not necessarily what happens to you in your life that makes the difference between happiness and misery.  The thing that makes the most difference is your own reaction to the things that happen to you and your effort to give to others what you want in return.  Dr. Epstein says that the Boomerang Principle “is your umbilical cord to the world of unlimited possibilities” because as you send out good to others only good can be returned.  He also says that patience is necessary because “God’s delay is not God’s denial.”  The longer your boomerang takes to return home, the greater amount of interest you will receive.

If you send out a boomerang that is filled with spite, watch out.  Your head might just be the one that rolls.  If you send out one that is filled with doing the right thing all the time you will be rewarded in innumerable ways.  As with everything in this life, the choice is ours to make.  We can create the ideal scene in our own lives.   Test the Principle for yourself.  As you send many boomerangs around your world every day, encode them gently with peace, prosperity, love, health and joy and watch as the wonders of life are drawn to you almost magically.  It works.  Treat your body and your spirit well.

Until recent years, I have known only one speed in my life – full tilt wide open with caution thrown to the wind.  Unfortunately many of us don’t learn that we must be cautious until some tragic event or near tragic event causes us to take heed to all of the “be carefuls” our mothers used to shout out the back door behind us as we took off with fun in mind.  For me it took a serious snow-skiing accident and a serious car accident to wake me up to the fact that being invincible isn’t reality.

This past week alone, we have treated no less than ten people who were involved in automobile accidents in this area.  This is an inordinate number of people who are injured badly enough to be out of work and unproductive for a period of time.  I was asked by one patient if the new moon made people more careless.  Who knows?  What I do know for sure is that a deadly combination of carelessness and recklessness is swirling around our area right now, and we must all take an extra moment to think about how lethal a weapon an automobile can be.

A common injury from automobile accidents is whiplash.  It is caused by a sudden jerky back and forth motion of the head such as that caused in a rear-end collision. It takes only five miles per hour of speed at impact to cause someone to have a whiplash injury.  Looking at x-rays of people who were in seemingly mild automobile accidents I can see where normal neck curves are no longer and arthritic changes have begun.  If appropriate corrective care is administered one can see positive changes in x-rays and the restoration of normal curvature in short order.  This is good news for some of the people I am writing about this week.

This past week, a patient reported that she and her husband were in traffic waiting for a light to change so that they could make a left turn and her husband looked in the rear view mirror to see a woman moving toward them at a high rate of speed.  She was talking on her cellular phone and not really paying attention to what she was doing.  She didn’t see that all of the cars in front of her were stopped, and she hit them moving at about 25 miles per hour.  She was still talking on her phone when she got out of her vehicle.  A major university did a study which concluded this past week that people who talk on cellular phones while they are driving develop a type of tunnel vision and are more focused on their phone conversations than on the routine of driving.  The study also concluded that the tunnel vision continued for several minutes after the conversation was ended because the driver was still thinking about what was talked about on the phone. Please get a hands-free device for your phone if you must talk while you are in traffic.  Not doing so jeopardizes the lives and health of others around you.

Another serious accident this past week occurred when someone was “cut off” by another vehicle.  It seems that the vehicle which was cut off was not moving fast enough to suit the vehicle behind him, so the driver pulled around the slower vehicle and tapped his brakes, causing the slower vehicle to strike the passer.  The slower vehicle subsequently rolled three or four times until coming to a halt against a tree.  The driver is now suffering from multiple bumps and bruises, whiplash, and a concussion.  The one who passed him left the scene.  If road rage is getting to you in our not-so-little-anymore town, move to Los Angeles and fight with those people.  We don’t need it here.

The last accident that I will share with you happened to a member of my extended family.  She was minding her own business driving down Jefferson Street toward the Post Office and had the green light at Montgomery.  Out of nowhere came a car which decided it didn’t want to wait for the arrow to come around again to turn onto Montgomery.  The car was moving so fast that it rolled the van that it broadsided three times before it stopped.  Now she is in the Medical Center with fractures in the first and second vertebrae in her neck.  At the time I am writing this, we aren’t sure about her prognosis because the neurosurgeon will attempt tomorrow to apply a halo to hold the joints steady for healing.  If this attempt works, three months at least in a halo is what she is facing.  If it doesn’t, delicate, risky surgery will be necessary to stabilize the area.  This is all because someone got in a hurry and couldn’t wait three more minutes.

In an instant of poor judgment, impatience, or recklessness, people’s lives can be adversely affected forever.  It is worth an extra three or four minutes’ delay in our arrival somewhere to assure the safety of everyone.  Take a moment to slow it down and use your head.  Treat your body well.

Taking care of our bodies should be on the top of all of our lists.  One area of the body that is too often neglected is the feet.  I used to work for Marriott Corporation and was required to wear suits with pumps every day.  Imagine Orlando, Florida in the 98 degree heat traipsing around a resort in high heels.  My feet are wide, and they have no business at all being wedged into pointed-toed shoes with high heels.  It isn’t natural, and my feet protested.   I vowed once I began working for myself that I would never wear uncomfortable shoes again.  I have become a self-avowed Birkenstock junkie.  This past weekend I attended a conference in Savannah and decided that I would forgo my usual comfortable, good-for-my-feet Birkenstocks for a pair of more stylish white sandals since I probably wouldn’t have to be on my feet as much as I usually am.  That was a huge mistake.  My feet have not forgiven me for it, and I am suffering a bout of plantar fasciitis as a result.  I treat people with plantar fasciitis regularly, and it is no picnic.

Plantar fasciitis is a condition of the feet in which connective tissue on the plantar side, or bottom, of the foot becomes inflamed.  The plantar fascia covers the muscles of the foot and acts as a sort of bridge which connects the ball of the foot to the heel while it supports the arch.  When you walk, the plantar fascia is put under tension that is about twice your body weight.  If your feet and legs are in good health, this normally does not create a problem.  If your calf muscles are too tight or are not stretched with regularity, maximum tension is placed on the plantar fascia and it becomes inflamed.  There are other causes of plantar fasciitis and they include being overweight, having sudden changes in physical activity, using shoes with no arch support, using shoes with no cushion in them while you walk on hard floors, spending too much time on your feet, and using shoes which are not flexible enough to bend at the ball of the foot.

The first sign of plantar fasciitis for most people is that they have a very difficult time taking the first few steps in the morning.  This can also mimic sciatic pain, and it must be differentiated.  If sciatica isn’t the offender, treatment for plantar fasciitis often is the route you need.  Rest, ice, and stretching are marvelous for the pain.  One of the treatments that I recommend for my patients is to take a golf ball and put it in the freezer.  Once it is frozen, place it on the floor and roll it around with your foot.  It hurts to do but almost always leads to relief.  Stretching the calf muscles is essential to getting better.  If walking or any impact-related exercise is part of your regimen, don’t even think of doing it without thoroughly stretching your leg muscles and warming them up.

If plantar fasciitis goes untreated, heel spurs often result.  The heel spurs are calcium deposits in the tissue that result from extended periods of plantar fasciitis.  The body’s response to injury or instability is to deposit extra calcium in an effort to stabilize the area.  Many people have surgery to remove these spurs, but find that the treatment is worse than the condition itself all too often.  Every surgery brings with it scar tissue which can complicate matters in an already tight space.  Recovery, while it is stated to be shorter, often stretches to 6-12 months.   A new and promising technique for treating heel spurs is extracorporeal shock wave therapy.  One of my patients is undergoing this treatment, and I will update you on her progress.  The treatment is less invasive than surgery and poses fewer risks.  The downside, of course, is the expense of the treatment and the effort it takes to convince your insurance company that it is a good idea.  In Canada there are podiatric clinics which cater to Americans who want to escape the high cost and offer the treatment for about one fifth the cost in domestic clinics.  But they are in Canada.  Maybe when the treatment is offered by more podiatrists and more competition is presented, the cost will come down.  It is not a good idea to have surgery unless you can confirm with people who have had the same procedure the success rate and safety of it.

I do not like for my feet to be angry with me, and right now they are.  Looking cute for a few hours on Friday definitely was not worth the aggravation of my right heel’s reminders.  I am about to thumb through the Birkenstock catalog and do some serious shopping.  Treat your body well.

Summertime in the south is undoubtedly one of God’s greatest gifts.  I can remember how I looked forward to summer when I was a child.  I spent a lot of time at my grandparents’ house, and the way their back yard’s St. Augustine grass felt under my bare feet is a feeling I am trying to re-create at my own house.  There was always an abundance of fresh vegetables and fruits, time for canning and making jellies, and time for family vacations.  While we did not have an abundance of money, we did make time to go somewhere even if it was just for a day.  The act of getting everyone out of their respective routines and onto the same page for vacation time was something I craved then and still do now.  I don’t know how important the simple pleasures of southern living are to people in today’s fast world, but setting aside time for vacations is essential to sanity in the rush.

It is common for Europeans to take 4 to 6 weeks per year of vacation time.  Most European families would not dream of forgoing vacation time away from home, but many Americans do.  If you stay in your same surroundings all the time without ever going away to see things from a different perspective, it is easy to allow your body to absorb stress.  The proverbial rut is easy to fall into in this situation, and people who do not take at least some vacation time to decompress find that they are not only often bored and unhappy but also are more often ill than people who do make downtime a priority.

There is a suggestion from a recent study that vacations might even extend your life span.  The Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT) included 12000 middle-aged men who were at high risk for coronary heart disease.  One aspect of the study was vacation frequency.  During the nine year follow-up period of the study, those who took frequent vacations were 32 percent less likely to die from coronary heart disease and 17 percent less likely to die from other causes than those who rarely took time off.  According to the Framingham Heart Study, frequent vacations decreased the risk of death due to heart disease by as much as 50 percent in women aged 45to 64.  The reason for the extended life spans of the vacationing participants is linked to the fact that vacations reduce stress.  Stress, as many of us know, has been blamed for a plethora of maladies, including heart disease, hypertension, depression, and even cancer.

Scheduling time off to spend with family and friends, go hiking in the mountains, walking on the beach, playing golf or any leisure activity that appeals to you is not just a luxury that only the elite get to enjoy.  It is a necessity for all of us to put at the top of our list of priorities.  In fact, Joe Robinson, of Santa Monica, California, is rallying Congress to get the Fair Labor Standards Act changed.  He suggests that every American needs 3 to 4 weeks of paid leave every year.  Mr. Robinson has written a book entitled “Work to Live,” in which he outlines his campaign to get Congress to prescribe a cure for what he calls vacation deficit disorder.  According to Robinson, U.S. employees have the fewest number of vacation days in the industrialized world, yet studies show they have trouble taking even those days off.  American employees get an average of 13 paid days off per year according to the World Tourism Organization, but 1 in 6 workers are too busy to take all the days off they have earned.  Our obsession with work, drive for success, and undying efforts to compete in the world marketplace has left many of us with an empty “time for me” bank.

In my own busy practice it is challenging to schedule time off, but we have to in order to be able to give 100 percent to our patients when we are there.  Long weekends count in the vacation game as much as longer stretches of time do.  If long weekends are what you have to take in order to get the time off you deserve, make sure you take more of them.  More and more resorts offer packages that cater to long weekenders.  Body treatments while on vacation are exceptional ways to accelerate the stress-reducing effects of days off.  A nice massage on a long weekend can give lasting stress relief benefits.  You can get really creative with ways to spend the necessary time away from the phone, doorbell, PlayStation, and computer.  Poll the family.  Find out what it is that everyone likes to do and make a plan to get some of that in for the whole family.

Vacations are a must.  If you don’t take them you suffer for it.  Judith Sachs, author of “20 Minute Vacations,” says that you can experience the soothing benefits of lowered stress and deep relaxation in 20 minute intervals right in your own chair.  The book outlines methods of having tidbits of the vacation experience more often.  Envision palm trees, ocean sounds, warm tropical breezes, or even the feeling of St. Augustine grass under your bare feet while you are biting a piece of sweet Georgia watermelon…Treat your body and your spirit well.

In my last column I dealt with nutrition and its role in the total health picture.  Once it is handled and the body is fuelled properly, other things need to be dealt with in order for your optimum health to be expressed.  The next facet of health that must be balanced in order to be as productive as possible is the management of stress.  Improper stress management can wreak havoc on a body and a spirit.

It is very important to realize that there are good stressors as well as bad ones in our lives, but both must be managed.   Some of the most stressful things in life are entering marriage, buying a new house, having a baby, starting a new job, and going on vacation.  Yes, going on vacation is a major life stressor.  Of course, the benefits of these types of stress should outweigh the detriment, but they are stressors nonetheless.  Other more obvious stressors are countless, so just fill in the blank but think of some creative ways to deal with them.  As I juggle the different wonderful things that are happening in my own life, I realize that it does take some effort to make everything come out all right in the end.

One way to deal with things that tend to bring on stress is to prioritize them.  I don’t mean make lists because what good is a list if you leave something off?  (smile)  I mean that you should ask yourself how important this stressor really is in the grand scheme of your life.  If it won’t matter five years from now, don’t worry about it.  Handle it the best way you can, and let it go.  I have learned a truly great lesson and that is to handle such things as if they were games.  Think about how much fun you have when you play your favorite game, whether that game is golf, Rummy, or Monopoly.  Life can be as much fun if you design it that way.  Make up games for everything from getting through the grocery store in less than half an hour to seeing how long your boss can go without blowing a gasket at the office.  Nobody ever said that life has to be a serious, boring endeavor.  If you go through it playing games, every day will be a lot more fun for you.

Remember that the score is being kept by you and only you.

Feed your spirit as regularly as you feed your body.  It doesn’t matter if you are going to church every time the doors swing open or spending quiet time in meditation on your back porch, but recognize the need to connect with your inner self and the true source of life.  If traditional religion doesn’t satisfy the urge to feed your soul, go to the bookstore or go online and find some information on meditation and how it’s done.  This is a good place to start looking for the spiritual food that is best for you.  There must be a way for you to quiet the chatter in your mind.  If you’re constantly having a conversation in your head about something or wondering what you’ll do for dinner or how that next project will come out or who’s going to do your taxes or what could your mother possibly want for her birthday or why is that weird person staring at you or….  You get the idea.  There simply must be some time for you and only you.

Have an attitude of gratitude.  I know that sounds cliché, but it really does matter.  If you take the time to thank people who help you in every way, more of the same help will attract itself to you.  If you are truly grateful for everything that is good in your life, you’ll be amazed at how much good will come to you.  The opposite is also true.  If you focus only on negativity, that’s what you’ll get.

In spite of the dips and spikes in our local temperatures, for a few moments this past weekend I thought it was spring.  The sun felt great on my skin, the Bradford pear trees popped open, and the grass looked a little bit greener.  I am without a doubt a warm weather lover, and the first sight of it helps me forget the cold dreary months that have just passed.  Any lost motivation falls away and I am suddenly filled with energy and excitement about the upcoming outdoor months.  I am ecstatic when the warmth returns.  Then out of the blue my head feels like it will soon explode.  My eyes get scratchy and red, and I could swear they are full of boulders.  My throat hurts, I struggle to speak without choking, and the reality of my body’s inability to breathe in the height of pollen season hits me like a ton of bricks.  It never fails.  I have in the past five years discovered the amazing ability of bee pollen to relieve my allergy symptoms.  I wrote about the properties of bee pollen a while back and I tell people who come in to see me with allergy trouble about how it can help them. This past Friday I went to see John Pluta for my first batch of local pollen for this season, and was reminded to pass this information along again for everyone to use in an effort to help squelch some sneezing around town.

Bees collect pollen from the flowers and trees that are blooming in the area as they are obtaining nectar.  The pollen sticks to special pollen sacs on their legs and they take it back to their hives.  Beekeepers who trap pollen install special devices on the entrance of the hives to force the pollen sacs to release the pollen as the bees enter the hive and it then falls into a trap in the hive.  The pollen, in the form of large granules, is dried and packaged for personal use or for sale.

Many uses have been touted for bee pollen.  Some people use it to increase energy levels, enhance athletic performance, encourage weight loss, and improve memory.  It has been used by some as an immune system builder.  Many people also use it to treat allergies.  The composition of bee pollen breaks down as 55% complex carbohydrates, 35% protein, 3% vitamins and minerals, and 2% fatty acids.  It is very high in B-complex and vitamins A, C, D, and E, so it is an excellent source of antioxidants.  Bee pollen also contains lecithin, beta-carotene, and selenium.  Some sources say that it is used as an immune system builder after radiation treatments because it is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream and stimulates the body’s immunological responses.  This property can also make it dangerous to some people in rare cases, especially if they are prone to anaphylaxis.

The method by which this natural allergy treatment works is similar to that of allergy shots or a homeopathic medication.  The principle behind this is that if you are exposed to small amounts of the substance that your body is allergic to over a period of time your body will begin to produce antibodies, or natural defenses, to that particular substance.  Bee pollen can help to decrease the production of histamine, which causes allergic responses, so it acts as natural anti-histamine.  The best part about this anti-histamine, however, is that it comes with positive side-effects and not the usual drowsy, groggy feeling that accompanies many others.  If you are going to use bee pollen for anti-histamine purposes, it is always best to obtain it from a local source so that you are assured exposure to the local irritants.   It does not do as much good, for instance, to order bee pollen from a state that is out of our region as it does to go across the river to see our local beekeeper, John Pluta, and get the freshest pollen available at the change of every season.  Mr. Pluta has a variety of local honeys and other bee products available.  He is also always willing to answer any questions you might have about what he does.  It is worth a trip out to his place just for the interesting experience.  If you can’t get by there, visit John on the web at www.georgiabees.com.  His telephone number is 478-452-2337.

While I have allergic reactions to pollen and other irritants, I have never had an anaphylactic response to anything.  I feel perfectly safe ingesting bee pollen and it works miracles for me personally during pollen season.  Many people who come to my office use bee pollen and report amazing results from it.  As always, however, make sure that you won’t have a problem with the bee products before you take a handful of bee pollen.  If you have ever been allergic to bee stings or honey, avoid it.  Otherwise, use it in good health and treat your body well.

Questions come at me in rapid-fire fashion all the time about chiropractic in general and some of them are asked more frequently than others.  One that has been coming quite a bit lately is, “Does it hurt to get adjusted?”   As with almost everything in life there is no clean, neatly packaged yes or no answer to that question, and it takes some time to explain it.  When I get into a busy mode at the office and unless a person expresses apprehension about the possibility of pain I sometimes do not get to explain it fully.   This week’s column goes out to all of you who have asked and to all of you who wonder.

When a person has a spinal misalignment it creates what we call a vertebral subluxation complex.  “Vertebral” describes something that is associated with a vertebra, or bone of the spine; “subluxation” describes a slight misalignment of the vertebra – not so much so that it is dislocated (that would be a medical emergency) but just enough so that it is putting pressure on its corresponding nerve root; and “complex” describes the fact that there is more than one part to the problem.  Hereafter, I will refer to the vertebral subluxation complex as “VSC” for simplicity.  If a bone is misaligned enough to put pressure on a nerve root, a host of things occur.  Among them is localized swelling which causes messages from the brain out to the body to be delivered incorrectly.  Organs and tissues which rely on the nerves to tell them what to do cannot function properly when this occurs.  Part of this malfunction sometimes results in pain and muscle spasm in the area of the VSC.  When a person comes to the chiropractor with a VSC or in many cases multiple ones, pain is likely already present.  If muscles are in spasm and have been for a long time it might hurt even to touch the area involved.  In this case it would cause some discomfort for the affected joint to be adjusted.  The good side of the discomfort is that once the joint that is misaligned is realigned, the pain decreases almost instantly in most cases.

Many subluxations do exist without the pain component.  Children come to the chiropractor for a number of reasons and might not feel any pain at all.  When they are adjusted there is no discomfort in the vast majority of cases.  In most adults there is very little discomfort when the adjustment is delivered as long as the area that is being adjusted is not already inflamed.  Sometimes instruments are used in the adjustment in order to decrease the possibility of discomfort in particularly sensitive individuals.  Most chiropractors have enough sensitivity about them to determine the amount of force to apply in any given situation.

By definition, a VSC is caused by a spinal bone’s being misaligned.  Sometimes this happens quickly as is the case in trauma such as a fall or a motor vehicle accident, but most often this occurs over a very long period of time.  If you develop a subluxation over time the muscles surrounding the segment that is misaligned have had time to get used to the misalignment.  They forget where the proper position of the bone was in the first place and sometimes get very angry when the bone is put back where it belongs.  The bone has been out of place for a long time so when the chiropractor puts it back the muscles go to work right away trying to pull it back out again.  Then the chiropractor puts it back in and the muscles pull it back out, but a little less than last time.  In this sense one adjustment builds on the next and eventually the muscles become trained to hold the bone in its proper position.  During this process, however, sometimes people will have a muscular soreness that is similar to the soreness of a big workout after taking a long time off from the gym.  It is essential to differentiate between pain and soreness.  Do not be alarmed by soreness but report any pain to your chiropractor immediately.

Most chiropractors are excellent listeners.  We truly care about making a difference in your quality of life, so don’t hold back anything during your initial consultation.  If you are apprehensive about the fear of pain from any procedures that might be performed, say so up front.  There is no reason not to disclose your apprehension in an effort to clear the air and be assured that your needs will be met.

There is the roundabout answer to the question of whether it hurts or not.  Generally there is no pain associated with a chiropractic adjustment.  There are, however, exceptions to this generality and they can be addressed on an individual case by case basis.  Just speak up and you will have an exceptionally beneficial visit with your chiropractor.  Treat your body well.