Home is Where the Chiropractor is…

Here’s proof that the Martinez family believes in chiropractic wellness care. Note the red adjusting table in the background behind my studious and handsome son, Ben and his little niece, “Baby G.” Getting adjusted is just part of the normal routine for family and friends who enter our home. Ben was about as old as Baby G when he got his first chiropractic exam from Dr. Francis Kelleher, a...

Recent Research turns out to be Prunes

There’s something called the California Dried Plum Board–who knew? And, they are out to help the USDA prove that eating prunes can improve bone density in postmenopausal women. Prefer to peruse the prune research paper personally? Here it is: Comparative effects of dried plum and dried apple on bone in postmenopausal women Shirin Hooshmand,Sheau C. Chai,Raz L. Saadat,Mark E. Payton,Kenneth Brummel-Smith and Bahram H. Arjmandi British Journal of Nutrition,...

Thanks, Orkin Man!

I have to admit, these Orkin pesticide commercials are really funny. Yes, that’s right, I said pesticide! Here at Chiropractic Advantage in Rancho Cucamonga, I advise my patients to discontinue the use of as many household chemicals as possible, as soon as possible. In our culture, we are conditioned to believe that small insects are more harmful than the toxic chemicals that we use to attempt to eradicate them....

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...

Back Surgery? No Thanks, Doctor!

Say you hurt your back at work, and they sent you for an x-ray and an MRI, and they told you that you needed surgery? Would you agree to the surgery, just to get back to work sooner? Would you reason that, once you had the surgery, you could get by with less pain medication than before? Unfortunately, a study of 1,450 injured workers in Ohio tells a different...

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...