Dr. Wayne Coghlan: Chiropractor

Visiting a Chiropractor (adapted from the Ontario Chiropractic Association website at http://www.chiropractic.on.ca/ChiropracticCare/VisitingaChiropractor.aspx What to expect on your first visit As your chiropractor I may be treating your back pain, neck pain, headache, or other aches and pains, but I need a complete picture of your health history and overall current health in order to provide the best possible treatment for you. Set aside at least 30 minutes for your first visit with me. Future visits typically last 15 minutes or less, though the time required will depend upon the type of treatment you require. Here’s what you might expect. On your first visit, I may ask about the following: * personal and family medical history * major illnesses you have experienced * surgeries or operations you have had * medications you are taking * a description of your present condition * the steps you have taken to manage your condition * your diet and exercise *

Dr. Wayne's Summary: Of interest in this article is the comparison between high and low carb diets and weight loss. A review of low carb diets reveals that weight loss is less about engaging some metabolic short cut, but more about cutting out junk carbohydrates. In effect... eating less. When reviewing high carb diets, the same conclusion emerges. Eat less simple/junk carbohydrates, and one just generally eats less overall! The superiority of eating a diet higher in complex carbohydrates over a high protein diet is the inherent inclusion of dietary fiber, and the exclusion of animal fats. The Glycemic Index is emerging as a valuable tool in deciding what to eat... choose foods that have less impact on blood sugar. Overall guidance : Eat more fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grain. Eat less meat, dairy, egg, and processed foods. Drink more water. Be more physically active. It's that simple. In the post-Atkins era, this might seem like strange advice: Eat carbohydr

http:// From: Alex Hutchinson. Globe and Mail, May 22, 2009. A lex Hutchinson draws on the latest research to answer your fitness and workout questions in this biweekly column on the science of sport. The question What type of exercise is best for maintaining strong bones? The answer The key word here is "maintain," as 95 per cent of your mature skeleton is already in place by the age of 17 for girls and 19 for boys. Once you reach adulthood, it's basically one long fight against the slow but inexorable loss of bone strength - and the key to that fight, many of us assume, is weight-bearing activities. But the latest research shows that resistance-training exercises like lifting weights can also play a crucial role in bone health - and in some cases are even more effective than weight-bearing activities such as elliptical training. "Over the past decade, people have realized that bone is more dynamic than we thought. It's actually a pretty

Here is a link to the Ontario Chiropractic Association for their brochure, "Plant and Rake Without the Ache." This is a decent bit of information that covers how to manage loads, lifting with care, and some stretching. http://www.chiropractic.on.ca/ecms.ashx/ba3623fb-081b-4585-8d7c-ef6592fa2287/PlantandRakeDocument/GardenTri-fold.pdf

Here is a reasonable overview of low back pain from Consumer Reports Health.org What is back pain? http://www.consumerreports.org/health/conditions-and-treatments/back-pain/what-is-it.htm

Relief for your aching back: What worked for our readers Our survey respondents tried an average of five or six different treatments over the course of just a year. About 80 percent of the adults in the U.S. have been bothered by back pain at some point. The Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center recently surveyed more than 14,000 subscribers who experienced lower-back pain in the past year but never had back surgery. More than half said the pain severely limited their daily routine for a week or longer, and 88 percent said it recurred throughout the year. Lower-back pain disrupts many aspects of life. In our survey, 46 percent said that it interfered with their sleep, 31 percent reported that it thwarted their efforts to maintain a healthy weight, and 24 percent said that it hampered their sex life. Where to go for treatment When back pain goes on and on, many people go to see a primary-care doctor. While this visit may help rule out any serious underlying disease, a surprising number

The May 2009 issue of Discover magazine (May 2009, pg. 14) reports that fruits and vegetables sold in the United States are becoming less nutritious. Agricultural and likely distribution has favoured quantity at the loss of quality. Other reasons to be concerned about the level of nutrition we realize - the level of vitamins, minerals, and essential nutrients we actually absorb and are available to support metabolic function - range from food selection, storage, processing and cooking, digestion and absorption, and how lifestyle issues of stress, antibiotics, smoking and alcohol consumption. The leading indicator of adult onset disease is being over weight. It is wise then to manage our calorie (food energy) intake. Yet to balance off calorie consumption in our generally sedentary culture, it becomes hard to meet our nutritional (food quality) needs by diet alone. (Many people can count the number of steps they take in a day to under a thousand, compared with the old order Ami

Dear Reader: There has been a faction of the Chiropractic profession that has rallied around the evils of vaccination. They make some interesting arguments and personally, I don't like the notion of injecting microbes and preservatives into my body. One must also be mindful that vaccinations are developed and marketed for the purposes of making corporate profits. It is not public health officials encouraging young women to be vaccinated against viruses related to cervical cancer. The source is the private interest motivated by profit that is promoting public demand. It requires robust government regulation and vigilance to ensure that the public good is not undermined. Yet from a public health perspective, the benefits of vaccination outweigh the real and perceived risks. The foundation of responsible democracy is for ordinary people to make informed decisions. If this blog has piqued your interest, do a bit of research for yourself. Please note that while some chiropractors may p

Back pain, neck pain, and headaches are the most common reasons why Canadians first consult a chiropractor. Every time you overdo, there’s a small amount of damage done to your spine. Vertebrae (the bones of the spine) can slip out of position or move improperly as muscles pull. In a few days the muscles heal, the pain eases, yet the vertebrae stay out of place, creating a chronic but unfelt vertebral distortion. This causes pressure on nerves and sensitive tissues and can lead to fixation (a sticking together) of two or more vertebrae. When the position and movement of vertebrae become distorted there is abnormal pressure on the disc and joints. Eventually the joints deteriorate into a condition called degenerative joint disease. You may know this as arthritis (comparable to a car becoming rusty). Constant lifting, bending, poor posture, etc., put consistent stress on your joints. It’s usually not the one big thing that you did, but the many small and repetitive things that you do. Of

Weighing in on Weight Loss There is much talk currently about regulating the diet/weight loss industry. I will leave that up to the reader to opine on the dangers, merits, and extent that Big Brother ought to protect the public from itself. However, as with many things in life, BUYER BEWARE. Keeping one's weight under control is important to promote a longer and healthier life. The number one indicator of adult onset disease is excess body weight. I refer you to http://drwaynecoghlan.blogspot.com/2008/10/losing-weight.html. Weight loss, however, is a very challenging thing for most people to manage and sustain. Many people are desperate to find a better answer and .... in a free society there are those entrepreneurs who will take advantage of persons vulnerable, if not desperate. BUYER BEWARE. I recall a review of weight loss centres and their long term effectiveness. The research supported that for people who did adhere to their program, they were successful in temporaril

The fun of corsets. Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/socialstudies Jan 09/09. ".... "The corset is a vilified article of clothing. It was and is blamed for a host of feminine miseries, both physical and spiritual, for ruining women's bodies and for closing their minds. It is interesting to note, however, that while women wore them, it was male doctors who led the campaign against the corset. Most women were for it. ... Wearing a corset is a little like finding oneself in a permanent embrace, a hug around the middle that goes on and on. This is pleasant and vaguely erotic - a squeeze that lasts." Ahem... Corsets also provided a degree of stability to the lower back and forced the lady to attend to better posture. It had to.. it was too uncomfortable to slump or bend over at the waist. We find a comparable device with industrial back supports (see picture). These devices became popular through the 90's when they were touted as being preventative for low back

"The term syndrome refers to the association of characteristics that often occur together, so that the presence of one feature alerts the physician to the presence of the others." Wikipedia. Standing straight when one leg is shorter is the equivalent of standing sideways on a hill. The person cannot help but lean to the shorter side. The spine may compensate, to limit leaning to the short side, by tilting the upper body in the opposite direction. This produces a "scoliosis" or sideways deviation of the spine. NOT GOOD. Often a person will try to compensate for a short leg by perching on short leg, usually with the other leg bent at the knee and turned out...effectively shortening the long leg. NOT GOOD. Rather than balancing the pelvis, fatigue and strain usually causes the pelvis to over compensate. In either case, the distortion of the spine unevenly loads the joints and muscles, and promotes faster wear and tear, and injury. If you, or someone you care about, i

Count your blessings A new study by researchers at the Universities of California and Miami shows that people who consciously remind themselves every day of the things they are grateful for show marked improvements in mental health and some aspects of physical health, reports The Dallas Morning News. The results appear to be equally true for healthy college students and people with incurable diseases, according to research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Compared with groups of subjects who counted hassles, such as "hard-to-find parking," grateful subjects felt better about their lives and more optimistic. The college students exercised more; the chronically ill adults reported sleeping longer and waking up refreshed. Being grateful was also superior to its distant cousin -- seeing oneself as better off than others. People who took pleasure in the troubles of others had better mental health than those who counted hassles, but worse than grateful

That persistent muscle pain may be drug-induced! Complaints of general muscle pain, weakness, tendonitis, and lupus-like symptoms maybe be caused by the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs (statins). Statins such as Lipitor, Mevacor, Socor, Poravachol and Lesco, all lower cholesterol by inhibiting a specific liver enzyme. Without this enzyme, the liver cannot make its own cholesterol, so the liver removes cholesterol from the blood for use in producing hormones and other cell functions. Reported musculoskeletal side effects include muscle pain, inflammation and destruction of the muscle tissues. When muscle tissue is destroyed, it releases iron into the blood stream. Excessive concentrations can clog the pathways of the kidneys, leading to kidney failure and eventual death. Most patients tolerate statins extremely well though a few experience side effects serious enough to discontinue treatment. Multiple drug therapy, along with the statins, increases the danger. Statins represen

That persistent muscle pain may be drug-induced! Complaints of general muscle pain, weakness, tendonitis, and lupus-like symptoms maybe be caused by the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs (statins). Statins such as Lipitor, Mevacor, Socor, Poravachol and Lesco, all lower cholesterol by inhibiting a specific liver enzyme. Without this enzyme, the liver cannot make its own cholesterol, so the liver removes cholesterol from the blood for use in producing hormones and other cell functions. Reported musculoskeletal side effects include muscle pain, inflammation and destruction of the muscle tissues. When muscle tissue is destroyed, it releases iron into the blood stream. Excessive concentrations can clog the pathways of the kidneys, leading to kidney failure and eventual death. Most patients tolerate statins extremely well though a few experience side effects serious enough to discontinue treatment. Multiple drug therapy, along with the statins, increases the danger. Statins represen

Whiplash – A moment of your time, please. That headrest in your car isn’t for resting your weary noggin while driving. It is an important yet overlooked part of your car’s safety systems – your safety! A Canadian study revealed that only 14% of drivers had their headrests in the proper position. Adjusting vehicle headrests, can help prevent the pain of whiplash. Experts say there are two measurements – vertical and horizontal or, in other words, how high your headrest is and how far from the back of your head (backset). If the top of the headrest is higher than your ear, your rating is good. If the top of the headrest is between the top and bottom of your ear the rating is marginal and poor if below the ear. The accepted good rating for proper backset is two to four inches; if the distance was more than half the width of the head, the position is rated as poor. Mild to moderate whiplash injuries result in neck, joint pain and loss of movement. Symptoms may also include headaches, d

Where necessary, I will recommend a patient get a pair of foot orthotics to stabilize their posture. When you are sitting (in socks or bare feet), notice the general shape of the arch of the foot. A few people will have flat arches, most have a fairly obvious curve. Stand now and note if the arch drops substantially. If so, note how the ankle rolls in, the knees turn, as do the hips. You may be feeling a bit of pressure in your lower back because the distortion from the foot works its way up, the pelvis tips forward and in turn cause the low back to arch more. That’s like bending your fingers back…eventually it becomes sore in the joints. Pronated feet may be the reason behind plantar fasciitis.. that is really sore feet first thing in the morning.. ankle arthritis pains, bunions, pain under the knee caps, hip degeneration and low back problems. Theoretically, a person’s headaches could be related to pronated (fallen arches) feet through a sequential distortion of the kinetic (the foot

Laser therapy, part 2. Low Intensity Laser Therapy...continued... For the sake of clarification, most clinics use two methods to apply light energy to promote healing. A third method using helium-neon devices is beyond the scope of this article. Laser Emitting Diodes produce a concentrated and focused beam of light that can penetrate about 5cm. into the tissue. Energy of the same wave length is also produced by Super Luminous Diodes. While this is a less concentrated energy and does not penetrate quite as deep. It is more suitable for skin and tissues just a few cm. deep. Conditions effectively treated by Light therapy include (but are not limited to): head, neck, and back pain; arthritis (osteo and Rheumatoid); post-surgical recovery; pulls, strains, and muscle injuries' joint twists and sprains; carpal tunnel, and other repetitive strain injuries; tendonitis; shoulder injuries. While not a scientific analysis, I've tried the laser/light therapy on cold sores and those annoyin

LOW INTENSITY LASER THERAPY (LILT) is the most exciting therapy in many years. Using light energy to promote healing is nothing new. Most people will have some experience of rashes disappearing after being exposed to the sun. Infrared lamps have been around since my grandmother’s day. The problem with the sun’s rays, and incandescent flood lamps is the risk of burning the skin before enough energy to be useful can be absorbed. With the emergence application of Light and Laser emitting diodes (LED), we now have a means to apply enough light energy to be therapeutic, with only minimal amount of heat. The skeptical reader might wonder if light can really be an effective treatment method. Keep in mind that light is a form of electro-magnetic (EM) energy which, depending on the wavelength, interacts with living tissue in different ways. The long waves associated with telecommunications, pass through us with no strong effect. The use of microwaves to cook foo

Chiropractic: Safe and Effective Health Care Answering your questions about neck adjustment Chiropractic care has a strong safety record and is widely accepted as a drug-free, surgery-free form of health care. However, no health treatment is completely free of potential adverse effects – even common non-prescription pain relievers carry a risk. Fortunately, adverse effects associated with chiropractic adjustment are usually minor and short-term. What is a neck adjustment and how do I benefit from this procedure? A neck adjustment (also known as a cervical manipulation) is a precise manual procedure applied to the joints of the neck. Your chiropractor has received extensive training to perform this procedure. Neck adjustment works to improve the mobility of the spinal joints in the neck to reduce muscle tightness, restore range of motion and help relieve pressure and tension. Patients typically notice a reduction of pain, soreness and stiffness, improved ability to turn and tilt their h

I am taking liberty to post this excellent article written by Leslie Beck for the Globe and Mail. A link to the original source is provided. The article explains the contribution of excess weight to degenerative arthritis of the weight bearing joints, and some methods to ease the situation . Take a load off your waist to spare your knees. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080917.wlbeck17/EmailBNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home Weight control tops the list of ways to thwart ‘wear and tear’ arthritis, but these foods and supplements may also help your joints It’s no surprise that getting older and being overweight boosts your risk for heart attack, Type 2 diabetes and a number of cancers. Now, researchers say, this combination of risk factors will cause one in two people to develop painful knee osteoarthritis in their lifetime, with those who are obese at greatest risk. Among the more than 100 different forms of arthritis, osteoarthritis is the most common, affecting