Keep on Truckin’

A medical doctor, a lawyer, and a trucker are having lunch together at the local diner. Which one would you trust to best explain chiropractic to you? I hope you picked the trucker. For many years, truckers and chiropractors have had a sort of symbiotic relationship. The truckers keep chiropractors busy, and we keep them working. For a guy (or gal) who is self-employed, being unable to drive because...

Yahaira’s 100% Natural Pregnancy

I am so excited! My “nephew” Gerald’s wife Yahaira is expecting soon. I am so proud of Yahaira for the homework she’s doing to make sure she has a natural childbirth and a healthier baby. She’s been getting adjusted while pregnant. (Yes, pregnant women can definitely get adjusted. I use a pregnancy cushion so they can still lie face down until about month 6 or 7. After that I...

Carmageddon–Bikes beat Plane 1:34 to 2:54

Carmageddon was fun, don’t you think? Especially for those of us out in the Inland Empire, who got to watch things unfold on the news without really having to change our routines at all. You may have heard about the race between a Jet Blue plane and a group of guys on bikes who call themselves @wolfpackhustle. As the Jet Blue plane landed in Burbank to load passengers for...

Otoscope $24.00, Avoiding Antibiotics, Priceless

Your small child comes down with an earache. He’s hurting, he’s crying! What do you do? I was in this position more than once, as a young mother. “The eardrum will bust, your child will go deaf!” is what the M.D.’s told me. Should I fill the prescription for antibiotics, I wondered? Well, I didn’t. Much to the shock of my friends and relatives, my babies never had prescription...

Spinal Manipulation vs. Arnold Schwarzenegger

I am not anything like Conan the Barbarian, in spite of having some martial arts training. For years, the medical community has promulgated the idea that chiropractic spinal manipulation causes strokes. I’ve met many people who have “heard stories” about chiropractors causing strokes. When questioned further, the stories sound more like urban legend (or Fox New, take your pick) than fact. It’s not uncommon for prospective patients discuss their...

Children on Prescription Drugs

Some childhood illnesses, such as earache and gastrointestinal distress, respond well to chiropractic care. Claudia Anrig is a Fresno chiropractor who specializes in pediatric chiropractic.  Kudos to her for pulling together the following information about children on prescription drugs.  She cites a Wall Street Journal article from December 2010, which reported about one in four children, and 30 percent of adolescents are taking medication for a chronic condition in...

On the Front Lines of Research–Chiropractic and the Military

Could the government save money and improve our nation’s safety by making chiropractic care available to soldiers? My opinion: yes, SIR! A $7.4 million-dollar research project has just been awarded jointly to the Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research, the RAND Corporation and the Samueli Institute. The four-year study will focus on the effects of chiropractic care on the military readiness of active-duty military personnel. While chiropractic care is currently...

Chiropractor vs. MD for Lower Back Pain: Let the Evidence Decide

One of the positive things coming out of health care reform is that health care providers are going to have adhere to “evidence-based practice guidelines.” That means, if clinical studies provide evidence that one thing works better than another for a certain condition, doctors should advise patients about the thing that works better. An example would be, if eating cherries cleared up gout just as well as an expensive...

Un-Bag It for your Health

Why does everything we bring home have to come in a bag or some plastic wrap? It turns out, a lot of plastic is not recyclable, even if it does have a little number in a triangle on the bottom. And it’s bad for us. How is that, you say? In the documentary, Bag It, you’ll find out. I watched the movie Friday night at the Packing House in...

Fibromyalgia Smells Lemony Fresh

When you have fibromyalgia, you hurt all over. Your purse feels like it weighs a ton. You wake up feeling like you need to get some rest. You go in for lab work to see if anything can explain why you are feeling so badly, but the tests come back normal. Sometimes, even going to the chiropractor can make you feel worse instead of better. Frustrating, isn’t it? I...