April / June 2006

S t r e s s e d ?
Try this:
Take a long slow breath in through your nose to the count of four (relaxing the abdomen & imagine the breath reaching down to the abdomen) – hold for the count of six.
Slowly, breath out through the nose to the count of eight (relaxing the abdomen & imagine any tension in the body melting away & passing out through the soles of your feet). Repeat a few times.

Want to heal faster?
Over the past decade or so we have noticed a wonderful trend of increasing exercise participation from more of our older patients. Research has been endorsing the benefits of exercise for the older as well as younger population.

Older adults are likely to experience slower wound healing. Exercise has been shown to have a positive effect on physiological and psychological functioning (i.e. more or less, healthier body and healthier mind). So perhaps if your body functions better with exercise, could exercise help you heal faster?

A recent study(1) evaluated the effect of a 3 month exercise program on wound healing, neuroendocrine function and perceived stress levels among healthy older adults. Participants in the study were randomly assigned to an exercise activity group or a non-exercise control group.

The authors found that exercise participants achieved significant improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness, much faster wound healing and improved stress response.

We already knew that increased exercise levels can help the older patient with strength, flexibility, endurance, balance and therefore more independence for longer. So why not add faster wound healing to the list of reasons to keep on or start exercising.

(1) Emery, CF, Kiecolt-Glaser JK, Glaser R, Malarkey WB, Frid DJ. Exercise accelerates wound healing among healthy older adults: a preliminary investigation. Journals of Gerontology 2005; 60: 1432-36

Chiropractic has a Vitalistic Paradigm of Health. We recognise that there is a universal force and intelligence that organises matter and energy. Our bodies are regulated by an innate intelligence which controls every cell and every function in the body via the nervous system. Chiropractic care is directed towards removing any nerve interference to allow for the normal expression of innate intelligence and optimum health.

Straighten Up Australia
Chiropractic Care Week, May 22 – 28, this year, is focussing on an easy and convenient 3 minute exercise program that can be done in the convenience of your own home. This program’s main aim is to help improve posture and reduce spinal problems in the future. Ask us if you’d like a brochure.

Our contribution for Chiropractic Care Week, 2006, is a free check up for anyone who may be wondering if chiropractic care may be of benefit to them.

Please pass this offer of a complimentary examination on to any friends, family or work colleagues. We offer this opportunity from 22 – 28 May, 2006.

Ask Sue/Shannon for more details.

The lungs of the average adult, unfolded and flattened out, would cover an area the size of a tennis court.

Phantom Limb Pain
Following the amputation of a limb people commonly experience phantom limb pain which is the sensation that pain is coming from where the limb used to be. A study (1) conducted by The Department of Rehabilitative Medicine, Washington University, Seattle, set out to examine the types of treatment and frequency of treatment used to deal with these pains. They examined both pharmacological treatment (drugs) and what they termed “rehabilitative interventions”.

72% of the amputees surveyed reported that they were suffering phantom limb pain, but only 53% had sought treatment. Of the treatments used only chiropractic care and opioids were rated as moderately to extremely helpful by the majority of patients who had utilised these interventions.

Consider that a person with a structurally normal leg can experience sciatica or pain down that leg that comes from nerve pressure in the spine. Adjusting the spine to help remove that nerve pressure may allow the symptoms to resolve. Hence whether the leg is there or not, the perception of pain at a different site to the origin of pain or area of injury is very common. Similarly pain in the hand or arm often results from a subluxation in the neck or upper back. So these study results are not surprising.

Becoming an amputee also interferes with the balance of the body causing more stress on joints and muscles thus increasing the likelihood of the development of subluxations and nerve interference. Much less significant problems causing imbalance such as a knee injury or wrist injury can also set up dysfunction in the spine and lead to nerve interference.

As chiropractors we would maintain that getting to the cause of the problem by adjusting the patient’s subluxation and clearing the nerve interference would be preferable to covering up the symptoms with opioids or other pain relieving drugs.

(1) Hanley MA, Ehde DM, Campbell KM, Osborne B, Smith DG. Self reported treatments used for lower limb phantom pain: descriptive findings. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2006; 87: 270-

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