Can exercise affect your genes?

OK, so we all know that exercise is "good" for you.  But, did you know it can actually change your DNA?  Yep, it's true.  A study just released from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden showed that endurance exercise affects DNA related to muscle adaptation, carbohydrate metabolism, and inflammation.  Basically, it showed that exercise helps us at a genetic level to build better muscle, metabolize carbohydrates better, and create LESS inflammation.

All of this happens due to epigenetics.  Simply put, our genes have switches that turn them off or on.  Healthy life choices predictably turn on "good" genes and turn off "bad" genes.  The opposite is also true.  Bad lifestyle choices equals "bad" genes getting turned on.  In a nutshell, this is epigenetics.

It's actually great news.  For years we assumed we had no control over our genes.  Now more and more we are seeing just how healthy choices affect our health, not just superficially, but truely at the genetic level.

So, get out there and do something healthy for the sake of your genes!

And, yes, doing something healthy includes regular chiropractic care.  Remember, once a month, even if you feel fine, keeps you in good shape!

Ken Hicks, DC
www.lookoutvalleychiro.com

Is texting like having a 7 year old sitting on your neck?

For years I've been talking to patients about the stress having their head too far forward puts on their neck and upper back and the the degeneration and pain that this forward head posture causes.  More recently, we've started talking about "texting neck".  

With so many devices like smart phones and iPads all you have to do is look around and you will see your friends and family members looking down at their phones.  It almost seems normal, or at least common these days, to see folks looking down at various devices.  But the truth is that it puts a tremendous pressure on your neck.  


A new study published in Surgical Technology International finds that texting can add up to 50 pounds of pressure on a person’s spine.  Yep, like having a 7 year old sitting on your neck!  “Loss of the natural curve of the cervical spine leads to incrementally increased stresses about the cervical spine, these stresses may lead to early wear, tear, degeneration, and possibly surgeries.” wrote study author Dr. Kenneth K. Hansraj, a spinal and orthopedic surgeon.

As always, regular chiropractic care and spinal stabilization exercises are vital to a healthy spine and body.  But the solution to this new "texting neck" problems is even more simple ...hold your dang phone higher!

Ken Hicks, D.C.
www.lookoutvalleychiro.com

Is it just tight muscles?

One of the things I heard often since starting practice in 1999 is "I think it's just tight muscles."  Patients often say this if there is no obvious joint pain, yet they still feel a tight painful area along their spine.  It's easy to think it's either  a muscle problem or  a joint problem.

In truth, it's usually both. Tight muscles affect the spinal joint and subluxated (misaligned) spinal joints affect the muscles.  It goes both ways.  That's why we use soft tissue techniques to loosen up the muscles and the spinal adjustments to bring the spinal joints back into their normal range of motion.

The interesting thing is the spinal adjustment helps the muscles settle down regardless of whether we do the soft tissue work or not.  In fact, research shows that the adjustment alone reduces muscle tension by 25%.  This was published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2005;28:465-71).

Combining the adjustment with soft tissue work is a great way to return the spinal joints to their proper range of motion and take the tension away.  What does that mean for you?  It means you FEEL and FUNCTION better.  So, come on in and let us keep you in great shape!

Ken Hicks, D.C
www.lookoutvalleychiro.com

Can vitamin D help prevent the flu?

Yep, it looks like it can.  In a 2010 study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, those supplementing with vitamin D3 were almost half as likely to have the flu as those not taking vitamin D3.  The reality is that most Americans are low in vitamin D.  Our bodies produce it when were out in the sun and we spend so much time indoors these days, especially once it starts getting colder, that we simply don't produce enough.  So, we need to be supplementing with vitamin D3.

We carry a high quality vitamin D3, so next time you're in for your adjustment (at least once a month, right?) just ask us about vitamin D3 and we'll get you started.

Ken Hicks, D.C.
www.lookoutvalleychiro.com

Creating the Habit of Doing Your Spinal Exericses

I've been practicing since 1999 and if there's one thing I know it's this:  the great majority of patients don't do their spinal exercises.  Over the years I've learned that if I ask how the exercises are going and the patient says "Well.." or "Um.." it means "I'm not doing them".  It's so consistent that it makes me laugh a little these days.

Here's the thing though, a five minute spine routine done on a regular basis can make all the difference in the world in both how strong you are and how you feel.  In essence for a few minutes each day you get a huge pay off.

Our patients are smart folks, so why do so few stick with it? 

I believe it boils down to trying to use willpower instead of habit power.  Willpower is a limited resource.  This is well documented.  In the beginning, when motivation is high, we're good at sticking to the plan.  But as motivation fades and our days get busy, the five minutes spine routine gets skipped ...and eventually dropped all together. 

What's the solution?  Create a habit.  The advantage of a habit is that it takes willpower out of the equation.  The spinal exercise routine become "automatic".

How do we do this?  First, and probably most important, you need a cue.  A cue is simply a sign to do the spine routine.  I have a cup of coffee in the morning and I've used finishing my coffee as my cue to do my spine routine.  It took a little motivation at first, but now it's on autopilot.  My coffee is done, I do my spine routine, period.  I don't even think about it.  It works for me.

What did not work was thinking "I need to do my spine routine sometime today".  I needed to tie it to a cue ...and so do you.  Find a cue , "right after ________ I will do my spine routine."  You will have to power to create a life long habit instead of relying on willpower each day.

If you need help with the WHAT to do part, just ask.  We've got a great printout of a very effective spine routine that only takes a few minutes a day!

Ken Hicks, D.C.
Lookout Valley Chiropractic
www.lookoutvalleychiro.com

Our genes control everything, right? …well, not exactly.

Did you know scientists discovered the gene that causes osteoporosis?  They did!  It’s a gene that controls the Vitamin D receptor.  The news even made the cover of the journal Nature.  It was a researcher's dream come true …well, except that it wasn’t really true.

According to Professor Tim Spector of King’s College in London, “In the case of osteoporosis, we now believe there may be 500 genes involved.”  Oops.  I guess they didn’t find THE gene that caused it after all.

Far more interesting than trying to find the ONE gene that causes ONE disease is looking at how our choices and our environment play a role in our overall expression of our genes and how that affects our life.  Science for science sake is pretty interesting, but what I find most interesting is when science shows us real things we can do to improve our lives.

And that’s where the twins come in, specifically identical twins.  You see, identical twins are the result of one fertilized egg that splits in two.  The result is they have the same exact genes …they're clones!  I should say “we’re clones” as I am an identical twin myself.  

The reason identical twins are so useful to look at is that if our genes controlled everything, then the twins would have exactly the same health advantages and problems as they age.  But, they don’t.  In fact, over their lifetimes, identical twins can have dramatically different health.

The reason for this is epigenetics.  There are whole books about this, so I will not try to explain it in detail.  The bottom line is pretty simple though: our genes are affected and controlled to a degree by our environment.   That is, what we eat, how much we exercise, what chemicals we’re exposed to, all of that and more, actually have the ability to turn genes off or on.

Here’s my favorite part: You could ignore all of the science and just make healthy choices and you will be improving your genetic expression and therefore improving your health.  I know it sounds overly simple, but the research proves that good choices help good genes express themselves and bad choices help bad genes get expressed.  It’s like all we really ever had to do was listen to our great grandmothers!

…and what does this have to do with chiropractic?  Getting your spine adjusted is a great way to take stress off your spine and nervous system and is one more healthy choice that affects your overall health.  So, if it’s been more than 4 weeks since you’ve been adjusted, it’s time to come in!

One thing you need to know about your discs

Over the past 15 years, I have worked with many folks with disc problems, some mild, some severe.  One of the things I have learned is that very few people understand how their discs work and how to keep them healthy.  Even those who have been through the wringer with physical therapy, orthopedists, surgery, and even chiropractic care still have very little understanding of how the source of all their agony actually works.

So, what's the one thing you need to know about discs?  Except for at the very edges, it has no blood supply!  The only other part of the body that has no blood supply that I know of is the cornea of the eye.

With no blood supply, how does it get it's nutrition and stay hydrated?  It literally draws fluid in from the vertebra above it and the vertebra below it.  Your vertebrae, by the way, have a great blood supply.

I know I said you needed to know one thing about discs, but there's actually two things you need to know.  The second is this:  for nutrients and water to flow into the disc from the bone, there has to be motion in the joint.  If the joint is stuck, even a little, the disc can't get rid of waste, can't draw in enough nutrients, and can't draw in enough water.  In other words, without motion in the spinal joint, the disc becomes a weak, malnourished, dehydrated mess.

Then one day you bend over to pick up a paper clip and BAM! ...your back "goes out."  Keeping your spine moving keeps your discs healthy.  If you haven't been in to get adjusted in more than a month, it's time; no matter how good or bad you feel!  Give us a call and come on in for a tune up, and we'll keep those discs healthy together.

Ken Hicks, D.C.
www.lookoutvalleychiro.com

How to make your chiropractic results last longer!

OK, so for the vast majority of the folks we take care of chiropractic works. It works really well.

So, what's next?  How do we keep feeling good and maybe even keep getting better?  It really boils down to two things:  Spinal exercises (which I will cover in another post) and maintenance adjustments.

You've put your time, energy, and money into getting your spine in better shape.  Let's keep it in good shape.

I believe that each and every one of us should be getting our spine checked at least once a month, preferably twice a month.  And, it's not just me, the research backs this up.

The prestigious medical journal Spine published research showing the benefits of maintenance care.  In it they took patients with low back pain and split them into three groups.  One group got  12 sham or fake adjustments, The second group got 12 real adjustments for the first month, but no maintenance afterwards, and the third group got 12 adjustments the first month and then two adjustments per month for the next nine months.

I'm putting two charts from this study below:

If you look at the chart above you can see that both groups that received 12 adjustments in the first month reported improvements in pain.  The pink line is the group that did not have maintenance adjustments and you can see that over the next nine months much of their pain came back.  Now look at the yellow line. That's the group that received maintenance adjustments two times a month for nine months following their initial month of care.  As you can see, not only did their pain not return, their pain continued to drop even further over the next nine months.

Now, this second chart looks almost just like the first one.  The only difference is that this chart is measuring disability, not pain.  In other words, it's looking at how you function, not just how you feel.  What we see is the same thing as we saw on the first chart.  Disability drops in both groups that received 12 adjustments in their first month of care.  But, the disability slowly returns in the group without maintenance care. In contrast, the group that received maintenance care for the next nine months not only maintained their improvement, the continued to get better!

So regardless of whether you just want to feel better or you actually want to function better, maintenance care is essential.

The authors of the research stated "As patients did benefit from the maintenance treatment, we believe that periodic patient visits permit proper evaluation, detection, and early treatment of any emerging problems, thus preventing future episodes of low back pain."  Or, as I tell my patients, getting your spine checked once or twice a month keeps the little problems from becoming big problems!

Ken Hicks, D.C.
Lookout Valley Chiropractic

Me and Mr. President

When I was in elementary school we had a huge Great Dane.  Really big, especially compared to me.  His name was Mr. President.  We just called him Mr.  When I was in 5^th grade Mr. ran over me and I broke my arm down near my wrist.  I was put in a cast that covered my entire arm.  I thought it was pretty cool.

Weeks later when I finally got my cast off I was surprised to find that I couldn’t move my elbow.  It was a week or so before I could move it freely.  I guess what surprised me about it the most is that I hadn’t injured my elbow at all.  I figured my wrist would be stiff (it was), but why my elbow?  

What I know now, but didn’t understand back in 1977, is that joints need to move.   In fact, when a joint is not moving freely it will begin to degenerate pretty quickly.  This is called immobilization degeneration.   Which is pretty much what it sounds like:  once a joint is not moving the degeneration begins.  Research shows cellular changes begin within days and the changes continue until there are irreversible changes to the bone and soft tissue.  

What does this have to do with you? …or with chiropractic?  Everything.  Just like loss of motion in my 5^th grade elbow caused the degeneration process to start, lack of proper motion in your spinal joints will cause degeneration of your spine.

Does it hurt?  Sometimes.  But, most of the time in the beginning it doesn’t hurt.  My elbow never hurt.  Now, if my elbow had been immobilized long enough it definitely would have started hurting and may have developed some irreversible degeneration.  But, it was only in a cast for a few weeks and after that I slowly got it moving again.  So, there was no permanent problems.  

Same thing with your spine, the best way to keep it healthy is to get it adjusted at least once a month to keep the joints moving BEFORE it starts hurting and BEFORE it has time to have permanent degeneration.

Even if you feel fine, chiropractic check-ups once or twice a month is the way to go!

Ken Hicks, D.C

www.lookoutvalleychiro.com

Do I really need to do spine exercises?

"Injury occurs when load exceeds tissue tolerance.  The spinal column, devoid of it's musculature has been found to buckle at a load of only approximately 20 pounds at L5.  However during routine activities, loads 20-times this are encountered on a routine basis."

-Craig Liebenson, D.C.

Rehabilitation of the Spine: A Practitioner's Manual

So, to answer the question of "Do I really need to do spine exercises?", the answer is a big ole YES.  I've been practicing since 1999 and I would say the majority of my patients have either done no spine exercises or not stuck with it after doing them for a few weeks.  

Why is this?  The great majority of us believe if we feel good then we must be OK.  I certainly used to believe this and even now I have to remind myself to do my spine exercises when I'm already feeling good.

Unfortunately, feeling good is not the same thing as having a healthy strong spine at all.  Keeping our spines in good shape actually takes a little work.  Specifically, it takes routine spinal adjustments (yes, even if you already feel good - more about that in a later post) and it takes getting in the habit of doing some simple yet very effective spine exercises.

Remember, if you take the muscle away, it only takes 20 pounds of pressure on your low back for it to buckle and damage.  Keeping the spinal joints moving through regular adjustments is what keeps the joints healthy, keeps wear and tear arthritis at bay, and keeps irritation off the nerves helping your whole body to function better.

But, it's the MUSCLES that support and protect your spine.  Weak spine muscles equals a weak spine.  Next time you're in, ask us about getting started on your spine exercises.  It only takes about 5 minutes a day a few times a week, but it can make all the difference in the world!

Ken Hicks, D.C.

www.lookoutvalleychiro.com

Our new blog!

Welcome to our new blog!  We'll be posting updates and sharing great information to keep you up to date with what's going on in our office as well as giving you some ideas about how to live a healthier life.  

-Ken Hicks, D.C.