Christian Medical Bill Sharing and other ideas for health coverage

I came across this article on something called Christian Medical Bill Sharing (http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/06/24/christian-medical-bill-sharing-a-growin/).  The catch to this that you need to be Christian, adhere to Christian values for coverage (they do not cover abortions, sexually transmitted diseases which are considered un Christian like behavior) however, the premiums are considerably lower than traditional insurance.  Members like the plans because as long as they stay within the PPO network, they have a low co payment and it covers their needs.  Of course, there are going to be critics of plans like these, however, as people look for more affordable types of coverage, or are displaced from their current employment or start their own businesses, the cost of insuring you and your family can be a deal breaker (Many average plans can cost 16 thousand dollars for an average plan and just ok coverage).

The big idea here is everyone shares everyone else's health care needs for the greater good, a very Christian ethic.  Ethics seems to be a problem everywhere we look so an ethical type of healthcare plan with a strong belief system behind it that practices what it preaches is a good idea.  They also work with people to help them maintain a healthier lifestyle, a paradigm that has been abused in todays society and health insurance plans.  I can get into the healthier lifestyle area however, that is an entirely longer discussion since it encompasses what we eat, processed foods, the government helping corn growers with subsidies for corn syrup and other unhealthy foods rather than helping to keep the cost of good quality food affordable so even the poor can easily buy it and live healthier lifestyles.

I am currently shopping for new health insurance and quite honestly, the price increases over the past year have been incredible.  Also incredible, is Aetna just decreased our reimbursements for chiropractic services again (something they have done every few years) by up to 18 percent, yet their rates are some of the highest I was quoted.  Where is this money going if it does not go to providers who are already cash strapped by greedy insurance companies who have done this repeately over the years.  Unlike this shared plan idea, insurance companies, and their focus on bottom line and CEO bonuses in the millions is very un Christian like especially when they deny medically necessary care by a reviewer you cannot communicate with other than appeal letters which often go nowhere, especially with self insured plans that are administrated by plans like Aetna.

Ethical shared health care - perhaps this is an idea we need to explore not just in the Christian communities but for other people like myself, a Jewish doc trying to help people live a better quality of life.

What do you think?  I value your opinion

Salt and Heart Health - Know what you are eating and what is in your prepackaged food

I read an article that was reprinted in the Star Ledger today from Bloomberg News (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-24/potato-chips-help-drive-up-salt-intake-for-most-american-adults-cdc-says.html) regarding problems in the american diet.  The Centers For Disease Control is sharing their concerns about food and the amount of sodium used in it.  Many junk foods such as potato chips are laden with salt, way to much for our bodies needs.  More salt means more electrolytes which means your body will retain water which means it can have an effect on blood pressure.  Many of the pre packaged foods we eat are flavor deficient and salt is used to get them to have flavor.  Many restaurants use salt, sometimes in abundance with soups and other dishes to give it flavor.  Better restaurants find foods that mesh well together and therefore do not require too much salt.

Lets face it, many of use like salt however, often less can add more.  Many times I have pushed away soup in a diner because of the salty taste.  It really is overkill and our health may suffer long term for this.  The answer is not your doctor or the blood pressure medication to control this.  The answer is for the public to refuse to eat food that has exorbitant amounts of salt.  You can check the packages and if the salt levels are way too high, dont buy that food.  French fries if they are really good and flavorful need minimal salt (as opposed to what Mcdonalds sells)

The solution really is public awareness, changing tastes (corporations will make that the public will buy) and a willingness to change.  This will be better for our health and should affect health care costs nationally if we make salt reduction a national priority.

What to you think.  I value your opinion.

Pressure on doctor pushes up costs, or does it

I was reading the opinion column in todays NJ Star Ledger regarding an article written by Stella Fitzgibbons MD, who is a hospital based board certified doctor in the Houston Area (http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/17/opinion/la-oe-fitzgibbons-health-costs-20100617).  She talks about her experiences and who health cost containment is difficult leading to unnecessary testing.  Apparently, many families pressure doctors to run many tests to rule out rare problems which the doctors experience had shown will respond well without the increase testing and intervention.  She mentions other sources such as web sites and magazines which tell the patient to literally bully the doctor into doing certain procedures and tests.

From the health care providers perspective,  what she has said is true from her unique perspective, however, people make many health decisions based on emotions and fear.  Fear is a great motivator and our healthcare system has used and in some cases abused this to push patients into doing things they may never have done to themselves, sometimes with horrible and disfiguring effects. People have also been talked into taking harmful substances they would never have taken with horrible side effects because of the false hope they saw on television or the education their doctor received from the local drug rep convincing the doctor that this medication was indeed good for their patient.

When people come to the hospital with symptoms they do not understand, fear is ever present and rational thinking often is scarce, especially around caring family members who found their distressed family member. Our broken healthcare paradigm has literally brainwashed the american public to expect all these tests  to leave no stone unturned even though a good exam and responsible recommendations are enough to stay within community standards of their medical specialty, which would protect them from malpractice lawsuits.   .

There are not clear protocol recommendations for patients who enter the ER which eliminate the unnecessary use of diagnostic technologies giving families and the one who is ill a greater sense of confidence with the healthcare provider.  The system is actually set up for people to want more because of the perception that more is better and the legal perception if liability if every last thing should be tested, even though in many cultures, it is not and people are in many instances are better off.  A better system that would save costs, suffering and over testing would be one that would force  the doctor to do certain protocols first. Then the patient has to wait a few days after following their home recommendations before further tests are done as they follow up with their own doctors.  This would make sense and eliminate some unnecessary testing but not all.  I doubt that would happen though because some lobbyist would likely call this rationing, some attorney would call it malpractice (which  they cannot if the doctor follows community guidelines which is the way the average doctor in that specialty would behave) and would get the public in an uproar by using the appropriate buzz words.

 Is it rational to steer patients down the most logical path based on the current science we have available?  I believe it is and our healthcare systems can certainly help patients better with more rational and concise  recommendations that take the patient and their families emotions out of the decisions.

In another case she mentions, she has a patient who just came into the IC unit after a huge stroke.  She mentions that the family wants everything done to save the life of someone who is also in kidney failure and also has pneumonia.  Again, failure of having concise protocols has the family making emotional demands that will prolong his suffering, are likely to fail on an individual with insufferable brain damage.  The outcome with or without tubes and procedures is the same - the loss of a loved one.  Our healthcare system needs to be able to council a family on the right thing to do which is prepare the patient and their family for the inevitable, rather than having these stressed and scared people make a decision they are likely unqualified to make in the situation that presents itself.  The loss of a loved one is awful, and we do not want to let go.  If the outcome is the same, and comfort rather than intervention is more humane, yields the same results and does not totally drain the persons bank account as well, shouldn't the best course of treatment be a protocol that leads the family down the right path, rather than giving them the right to push for intervention which clearly is wrong.
Some may say that this takes away freedom of choice and is rationing.  I call it rational health care policy.  As many studies are finding out, often less is more which is especially true in healthcare.  Many developed countries do more with less and the care is often excellent.  Their understanding on life, death and taking care of oneself is healthier as well (our country is #38 in the WHO for health care quality).  Yes, we americans can  learn from other countries healthcare systems and we should.

In life, we are born, we live our lives and at a certain time, our bodies will fail, while we used our lives to procreate and create our legacies.  Disney called this the great circle of life.  Disney had it right, perhaps our medical systems should learn from Disney. Its as simple as that!

What do you think.  I value your opinions.

Shocked by $9M Horizon CEO salary? N.J. Chiropractors Association has own Horizon horror stories

BY SIGMUND MILLER

COMMENTARY

The recent revelation that Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (Horizon) CEO William Marino's compensation package last year was nearly $9 million has come as no surprise to the tens of thousands of doctors and patients throughout New Jersey who have been cheated by the healthcare giant for many years; especially to the Association of New Jersey Chiropractors (ANJC), which represents over 1,600 chiropractors statewide.
As the outcry continues from the general public, legislators, and medical practitioners across the state for legislative hearings regarding Horizon's outlandish executive compensation packages, the ANJC, whose members have experienced first-hand the intransigence and audacity exhibited by Horizon, continues to pursue several strategies to rectify various injustices visited upon chiropractors in New Jersey and their patients by Horizon.
For example, on May 25, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois upheld claims filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) against 22 leading Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers across the country, including Horizon. The action was filed by a number of individual healthcare providers on behalf of a putative nationwide class of healthcare providers, and multiple state chiropractic associations on behalf of their members, including the ANJC, the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association, the New York Chiropractic Council, the Florida Chiropractic Association, and the California Chiropractic Association.
The lawsuit challenges the BCBS defendants' abusive practices in using post-payment audits, improper repayment demands, and automatic recoupments, to pressure providers to repay substantial sums that have previously properly been paid on behalf of BCBS subscribers. In denying a series of motions to dismiss the case, the court validated the Plaintiffs' primary legal claim that even retroactive claim denials, including those made as a result of a post-payment audit, require proper appeal rights and other procedural protections under ERISA. The Court also upheld the rights of the state chiropractic associations, including ANJC, to pursue significant policy changes in these auditing and recoupment practices on behalf of their members.
Through the lawsuit, the ANJC hopes to level the playing field for chiropractors facing repayment demands from Horizon by requiring Horizon to fulfill its existing obligations under the law. "We are not challenging Horizon's right to audit claims to ensure payments are made appropriately," said John W. Leardi, Esq., of Buttaci & Leardi, LLC, Special Counsel to ANJC, and co-lead counsel in Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association et al. vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield Association et al., Case No. 1:09-cv-05619. "But too many chiropractors in this state have been unfairly subjected to inflated or otherwise illegitimate overpayment demands from Horizon and been forced to settle because of an inherently unfair process. What we want is a process that requires transparency and fairness; a process where a doctor is given a meaningful opportunity to understand and object to an overpayment demand before facing automatic recoupments from current claims."
The ANJC also continues to fight for fair reimbursement to its members by Horizon on the "front end." For years Horizon, unlike virtually every other private insurance carrier doing business in New Jersey, refused to pay chiropractors separately for patient exams and physical therapy modalities. Instead, Horizon "bundled" reimbursement for these services into payments for chiropractic adjustments. Last October, however, the Department of Banking and Insurance (DOBI) held that Horizon's chiropractic reimbursement policies violated the New Jersey Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act and ordered Horizon to cease and desist from "bundling" payment for patient exams and physical therapy modalities into the reimbursement it pays for chiropractic adjustments. Nevertheless, it was not until April 15, 2010, that Horizon finally began processing and paying these claims separately in compliance the DOBI's order.
Certainly the DOBI order was a tremendous victory for chiropractors in New Jersey and, more importantly, their patients. And to Horizon's credit, they appear to have stopped bundling chiropractic services on all claims, including those submitted to self-funded plans, which fell outside of the DOBI order. But they have not addressed the thousands, if not millions, of chiropractic claims that were improperly denied in violation of the Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act prior to October 7, 2009. And frankly we owe it to our members and their patients to explore all possible avenues of potentially recovering these amounts, which we believe are substantial.
The bottom line is that chiropractors and their patients in New Jersey have been subjected to unfair treatment by Horizon for years. So the recent news that last year, when health insurance premiums increased an average of 25% and the economy nearly ground to a standstill, top Horizon executives collected over $24 million in bonuses, came as no surprise to the ANJC, its members, and chiropractic patients throughout the state.

Dr. Sigmund Miller is Executive Director of the Association of New Jersey Chiropractors.

Foods that build muscle and proper nutrition

I was reading an article that was posted on AOL.com news (http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/05/07/8-foods-that-pack-on-muscle/) regarding foods that help build muscle.  One of the biggest problems in our current diet is the lack of protein when compared to simple carbohydrates such as pasta's and breads.  As I have gotten older, I have realized since my job as a chiropractor is quite physical, that without an abundance of protein in my diet, I tend to crash after the meal and feel tired and sleepy.  This is typical if I have a lunch abundant in carbs and light on protein.  Although I love food, during the work week, it is my fuel. I remember Michael Phelps talking about how his diet of in excess of 10000 calories a day was his fuel and at my own level, I need to use the proper fuel to make sure I have the energy to sustain my high level of function throughout the week while treating my patients.  As the casual reader, your needs may differ but food is still fuel.  It helps you maintain your edge during the week and in this competitive world, everyone needs to be at their peak while doing business.  As the saying goes, you are what you eat.  Read the article.  It has some great advice.  What are your thoughts?

AOL Reports Surgery for Back Pain Often Fails - Another perspective

I just read an article on surgery for lower back pain (http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/06/08/surgery-for-backpain-often-fails/) published on aol.  Since we treat many people for back pain, and handle many of the disasters that were mishandled, I believe a chiropractic point of view needs to be voiced.

When people are in severe pain and are scared and cannot sleep, they are willing to sometimes make decisions that are not in their best interest.  Back surgery and injections to the spine to numb the area (done at great cost) are often the medical procedures recommended by surgeons because they are by nature, surgeons.  You do not go to an orthopedic or a neurosurgeon to a conservative opinion, even though many are conservative in their recommendations.

The real problem in all this is that in our health care paradigm as it currently exists, we are obsessed with the site of pain being evaluated rather than evaluating the person, their body style and their gait, which are the most common reason for people having lower back pain and sciatica, as well as neck and shoulder problems and even headaches.

More and more primary care providers are sending their patients to chiropractors first.  The reason is that their methods are safe, effective, have high levels of patient satisfaction and in most cases, their way of thinking leans toward the cause of pain rather than the symptoms that resulted from a mechanical malfunction.

If you have or had lower back pain and visited a doctor, did they ever look at your feet?  Most people will say no which is why they never get relief.  Foot problems are the most common source of lower back problems. What likely happened is that you either were sent for an MRI, x rays or some other diagnostic test, referred to a physical therapist or more commonly a chiropractor and they worked on your back with exercises, or any number of regimens.

The problem is that back pain is a gait issue (an issue with the way you walk).  If your gait is irregular enough, you will get back pain, may have disc problems and are a likely candidate for sciatica  or sacro iliac problems and will not be flexible.  If you were unlucky enough to be sent directly to a surgeon because of your level of pain, you may make that rash decision for a surgery that is harmful rather than helpful because if does not correct the way you walk and instead, attempts to put stability in an area that is being torn apart by the way you walk.

In our office, we prevent many people from ever needing back surgery. The few who do are chosen well and generally do much better than they did prior.  The secret to successful back surgery is picking the person properly.

Before even considering surgery for a shoulder, back, neck or hip, you are better off seeing someone like me who will look at you, find out why the problem is occuring and resolve the cause, rather than just the symptom of back pain.  You are most likely to get better faster, have fewer problems in the future and enjoy a better quality of life.  Trying to identify every pain as its own entity is medical wack a mole, with often less than satisfactory results.  Chiropractic is a wiser decision. You can always have surgery....

Summer Back Pain Prevention With Better Footwear

Sandals and flip flops are going to be huge this summer.  The ugly secret though is that for most of our patients, the cheap flat sandals will cause your back to ache. Since your children are most likely built like you, they likely walk like you.  Never buy sandals without arches.  I will show you examples of what you should and should not buy.  A good sandal is worth the extra cash if you have to do any extended walking.  Your feet, knees, lower and upper back will thank you (trust me on this).

 

Reef Sandals (pictured above) are a great example of a terrific design, with a great arch and they look good too. Many local stores carry them and they are available on line.  Notice these have terrific arches.  Also to the right are Croc's which are a hot fashion item this year and they have good arches too.

Note below are examples of what not to buy.  While these flip flops are inexpensive at Old Navy, they are not appropriate for anyone with foot problems that causes back pain.  People without foot issues can wear these with minimal consequences.  To the right are a typical womens sandal again without arches.  These should be avoided by anyone with lower back problems.

 

There are many other companies that make well designed flip flops which are commonly sold at Nordstroms, Sports Authority, Dicks and have names such as NIke, Teva to name a couple.  Since it is the end of the season around here, you may be able to score big during sales and stock up on great summer flip flops and other styles of shoes.  

Lastly, dont forget to put your arches in your regular shoes and sneakers, especially when playing sports.

Hookworms, a cheap and effective way to treat auto immune disease - Now we are talking

I recently came across an article about a man named Jasper Lawrence who has discovered a curative way to treat allergies, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis or other autoimmune diseases. by using hook worms read the whole article at http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/hookworms-a-cheap-treatment-for-autoimmune-diseases/19486156/.


Apparently, hook worms occur in the ground naturally, especially when poor sanitation exists.  They do not naturally occur in the United States because of our improved sanitation so he traveled abroad to inoculate himself because of severe allergies.  He believed that hook worms naturally caused the immune system to be less reactionary, thereby controlling symptoms that are due to auto immune conditions.  He also has shown that drug companies make products that do this but cost markedly more than hook worm inoculation and the hook worms are markedly safer.  Apparently, as we evolved, we required hook worms in our system for our bodies to have a balanced immune system.  Since our obsession with cleanliness and sanitation had gone to the extreme, we no longer contracted hook worms and therefore, we have seen an up tick of many autoimmune diseases processes which would have been kept in check with hook worms.


He has come under fire with the FDA but says the inoculation via skin contact with the live larvae who eventually live in our intestines are safe in low numbers and should be considered as a cost effective and natural/safe alternative to drug therapies.

Drug companies would have no incentive to develop such a treatment which could really cost at lease 90 percent less than the drug alternative.  Personally, I believe that many problems we have in todays society have to do with similar processes that used to be in contact with us. Laetrile is one example of something we used to intake through seeds and pits which is no longer in our diets and evidence suggests it keeps cancer in check.  Cancer rates in our society are skyrocketing and drug companies and hospitals like sloan kettering have no interest in low cost prevention/ alternatives because they are not good for their business model.  Perhaps, we would be better off if truly non profit disease research would exist (it doesn't, even with the american cancer society) because we would find ways to keep people healthier and at lower cost, with better care.  Technology is a double edged sword, and when private industry keeps the price high via patents and administration, of expensive technologies which have to pay themselves off, make a profit and pay their investors, perhaps we need to look outside the box of what we know to get the best answers.


What do you think.  I value your opinion.

Chronic Pain and the Medical Merry Go Round. The problem with over specialization

Today I saw a patient I have not seen in years.  She was in terrible pain and could no longer work due to it.  Her primary doctor had sent her to a number of specialists who drugged, poked, prodded, injected and pushed her off to other specialists, without actually helping her.  Her arthritic knees and legs continued to worsen and be more painful and not at any time did they ever mention the idea of seeing her chiropractor again.

I was quite upset by what I saw because many of the increases we see each year from our health insurance carriers is because of never ending procedures and aimless care.  I was able to help her today and she walked out of the office more easily and in less pain.  The problem is that I am seeing this with increasing frequency.  As your chiropractor, I see myself as part of a persons health care team, however, in many ways I am also primary care for the musculoskeletal system.  I look at people, not just their symptoms.  In this womans case, they looked at symptoms, and somehow forgot that everything is connected.  I suspect this is because of our broken healthcare paradigm, which is proliferated at is source, the educational institutions that teach broken care full of big words, with little understanding behind them.

I firmly believe we need to make primary care to be more important that specialization, and we need to teach doctors about body systems.  By looking at the knees, hips, arms and other painful areas, and ignoring their inter relationships, we are harming people and at worst, ripping off the public.  The public deserves better.

If you know of someone who is experiencing this type of situation, and they have not looked outside the traditional medical system, perhaps they need to place their trust elsewhere.  Doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.  I would be happy to help this person and steer them in the right direction.

The best doctors treat people, rather than the symptoms they'd shown up with.

What do you think?  I value your opinions.

Why Do Medical Doctors Hate Chiropractors

This article was forwarded to us from one of our patients.  It was published by Bottom Line Personal and was part of their email feed. You can subscribe to this newsletter by emailing dailyhealthnews@edhn.bottomlinesecrets.com


Is Chiropractic Care a Visionary Form of Health-Care Reform?


If you’ve ever complained of a terrifically sore neck or lingering back pain, I’ll bet someone suggested that you see a chiropractor. I visit my chiropractor when my recurrent neck pain flares up (as in, when I spend too many hours in front of my computer for too many days in a row), and I know lots of other people who see chiropractors, too. Now research is affirming the efficacy of chiropractic care for a number of conditions, and this trend may be further stoked by changes brought about by health-care reform.
For many complaints, including such varied and seemingly unrelated ones as headaches and digestive distress as well as back and neck problems, chiropractic care can often provide safe, effective and fast-working treatment -- and (unusual for natural therapies) most insurance plans cover it. However, many mainstream medical doctors aren’t fans. Their reasons aren’t always clear but seem to lie somewhere on the spectrum between being worried that chiropractic care is not safe and feeling threatened that good chiropractors may take away many of their patients.
The Time is Right
In a glass-is-half-full kind of way, today’s troubled health-care environment actually presents an opportunity for chiropractors to gain some long overdue respect -- at least that’s a hope that’s currently afloat in the chiropractic community, I heard from Robert A. Hayden, DC, PhD, spokesperson for the American Chiropractic Association. A critical-care nurse for 20 years before becoming a chiropractor himself, Dr. Hayden explained that the nation’s ongoing and pressing concern about health-care costs and treatment efficacy is a good backdrop against which to understand the many ways chiropractic care can help patients.
Why are doctors skeptical? Dr. Hayden told me that one of his regular patients is an orthopedic surgeon -- but another orthopedist in his community won’t accept patient referrals from Dr. Hayden, and a nearby hospital won’t perform MRI scans for his patients. He believes this lack of acceptance is fueled by the very fact that chiropractic does not involve drugs and can be an effective alternative to hospitalization and surgery, which makes it attractive to both patients and the bean counters of health-care costs. The fact that Medicare now covers some chiropractic services enhances its credibility but also adds weight to worries that this natural, less invasive and less expensive alternative will divert health-care dollars away from medical doctors and hospitals.
What Will It Take?
Key to the growing acceptance of chiropractic care is evidence-based research demonstrating that it is safe, clinically effective and cost-efficient. In the latest such effort, funded by Mercer Health and Benefits in San Francisco, Dr. Niteesh Choudry and colleagues reviewed existing literature on the efficacy of chiropractic. Their conclusion is that it works as well as or better than conventional modalities, including exercise programs, drug regimens and surgical intervention, for treating many forms of low back and neck pain, two of the most common medical complaints. Numerous other studies also support the effectiveness of chiropractic treatment for spine and neck issues in particular. For instance, a 2002 study of patients with nonspecific neck pain found that pain was reduced and function improved for 68.3% after seven weeks of chiropractic care, while the success rate for those in the care of general practitioners was only 36%. The patients of chiropractors missed work less frequently and needed less pain medication.
Can It Cause Stroke?
One very specific concern voiced by many medical doctors is that chiropractic neck manipulation has the potential to cause stroke, or -- if done improperly -- even death. The basis for this is a fairly rare and often undiagnosed condition in which the vertebral arteries in the neck are weakened, possibly by high levels of homocysteine. The fear is that in a vulnerable patient, twisting or stretching those arteries during a chiropractic manipulation could cause them to rupture.
To investigate whether this is a real danger, researchers at the University of Calgary (Alberta, Canada) studied vertebral arteries from several recently deceased people and found that it would take nine times the force of a typical chiropractic adjustment to damage these arteries and mobilize plaque. In fact, according to Dr. Hayden, normal head and neck movement present a greater risk than chiropractic manipulation for the kind of weak arteries that are of concern. By that measure, it’s risky to have your hair washed in one of those beauty parlor sinks where you have to lean way back (there’s even a name for this one, "the beauty parlor stroke"), play sports or even to turn your head to complete a turn while driving.
The condition that puts people at risk for this problem is very rare, Dr. Hayden said, noting that the statistics don’t support the level of concern being expressed. He pointed out that chiropractic is so low-risk that practitioners’ malpractice insurance costs only about one-tenth what an MD has to pay -- around $1,300, on average, compared with $10,000 to $20,000 for general physicians.
The Trend Is Good...

Meanwhile though, patients are voting with their feet -- so maybe doctors should try to learn more about chiropractic care rather than stand in the way of progress. The number of chiropractic patients in this country doubled in the two decades from 1982 to 2002, and an estimated 10% of Americans have seen a chiropractor in the past year.
As for me, well, when my neck hurts, I visit my chiropractor... and I feel better. If you’re interested in exploring this form of alternative medical care, you can go to http://www.acatoday.org/search/memsearch.cfm to find an experienced, licensed practitioner in your area.

Source(s):
Robert A. Hayden, DC, PhD, founder and director of Iris City Chiropractic Center, PC, Griffin, Georgia, and spokesperson for the American Chiropractic Association.


You can subscribe to this newsletter by emailing dailyhealthnews@edhn.bottomlinesecrets.com

Personal Gene Tests? Good or bad idea?

Do you think we should be able to purchase a personal gene test over the counter to find out if we have genes for high blood pressure, Alzheimers disease, high cholesterol, cancer and a host of other potential diseases that may or may not occur?  Not long ago, genes were patentable until the patent office was challenged on the patenting of genes such as BRAC 1 and 2 known for breast and ovarian cancers.  People spent close to 3000 dollars to do this test that should cost less but due to the patent, there was a monopoly.  I guess the monopoly is broken but if we now can do it yourself gene testing, does it show things we can do things about, things we cant and can our privacy be breached by life insurers who make this part of their screen along with the typical blood tests that are done?  I am also concerned because it may make certain people do things they may never consider doing including self mutilation in the name of prevention (women have had breasts and ovaries removed with the discovery of BRAC 1 and 2 for example) even if the problem has never appeared.

People are not always rational and giving them information like this can cause them to worry about problems they may have even though they may never develop the problem. A television series called Flash Forward entertains this idea by having a global blackout where everyone either sees their future or does not.  Those who did not are assumed to have died and others see things happen they could never imagine.  As the date approaches or passes, they of course learn the future is pliable and can change or be modified.  The same idea goes to genetic testing where the gene says this is likely to happen but may of course not if we change the way we live in some cases or things may never happen; we really do not truly know.  To act on something we believe is likely but do not know is taking a risk that can either pay off handsomely or create a problem that never existed after all (kind of reminds me of our current health care interventions and the mess they have created) On the other hand, some genes such as obesity can be attacked early in life by lifestyle changes and knowing allows us to be proactive.  Many other gene variants are known however, we have no way of fixing them.  Some research has been done with the idea of using viruses to deliver repaired genetic code to the cells, thus altering our future.

I guess gene testing is a start.  I would recommend that anyone who decides to do it should have it repeated.  Imagine if you did the test, believed everything in it only to find out your test was confused with another persons test and you had your breasts removed preventatively with your ovaries.  Part of the argument against the death penalty is that we killed innocent people who were sentenced by a jury, only to find out after that they never did it with genetic testing.

What are your thoughts? I value your comments.

Antacids a cause of bone fractures and infections, Vitamin D and Osteoporosis and more

I was reading in the Star Ledger about certain acid reducing medications  and their relationship to ones health (http://azstarnet.com/news/science/health-med-fit/article_247ef04b-9813-5d77-bbc8-fbeb497a226f.html).  For quite some time, if we have acid reflux, or heart burn or any other stomach complaint, antacid meds such as nexium have been given to relieve the complaint.  Commonly, most regular doctors are quite comfortable with the idea that if we have acid reflux or any other type of symptom representing overproduction of acid which have been thought in the past to cause ulcers and other gastro intestinal distress, these substances buffered the acid and reduced the amount we produced.  The symptoms may have been relieved, however, was it really the right thing to do?  As we age, we normally produce less acid.  This makes it more difficult to digest food, break down minerals such as calcium before it enters the intestines and even allows for increased likelihood of having infections in the stomach such as H Pylori which was treated with, you guessed it, nexium.  Years later, we have studies showing people with reduced calcium in their bones and more gastro intestinal infections as they get older.  This is what I call learning the hard way.  There are of course other treatments such as having a teaspoon of vinegar which has been known to calm the stomach.  Vinegar?  Sure vinegar because it has acetic acid and that helps digest food in older people.  As I have said, we need a paradigm shift, away from symptoms and more toward understanding what we are treating.  How can we treat something we do not understand and call it the science of health care?

The other article was on Vitamin D and osteoporosis (http://www.omaha.com/article/20100511/LIVING01/100519970).  For quite some time, vitamin D has been included in milk which has calcium because it helps assimilate calcium into the body.  Milk producers proudly state their milk has vitamin D added.  Vitamin D also is produced in the body naturally however, many seniors have skin sensitivity due to medications and some have fair skin which is a concern because of melanoma.  Because of this, many seniors stay out of direct sunlight which can cause a deficit of vitamin D.  The article suggests that many hip fractures and other fractures in the elderly may be avoided with vitamin D supplementation.  I agree.  I also believe it is more preventative than dexa scanners and using the results to talk people into taking drugs like boneva.

In healthcare, we are all consumers and in our office, educated consumers (as the Syms commercial says) is our best customer.  What do you think?

Surgery for Flat Feet - Good Idea?.... Not

I was reading an article in the NY Times about actor Gbenga Akinnagbe who decided to have surgery to correct flat feet (read the entire article at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/health/04case.html?ref=health).  Out of desperation, he decided to undergo a surgical procedure to correct a severe problem in his feet to relieve knee and back pain.  Apparently he had tried foot orthotics and other therapies with no real improvement and decided to do this instead. He had his left foot done first and is waiting to do his right one next.

After being in health care for 23 years, I have seen many people resort to many crazy things such as this with varying results.  Almost daily, I am visited by frustrated athletes and regular folks who are in chronic pain in their joints and their doctors just don't understand. Orthotics are casted poorly and are ineffective, they are aggravated rather than helped by therapies and few people they visit understand why they are hurting, even though they pedal cures that "may helP.W"  Recently, I was visited by a woman who hurt her back initially a few months ago, was then told to have an MRI to rule out a disc problem, was then told she had uterine fibroids and needed a hysterectomy and then when she began having knee pain, the orthopedic told her to have knee surgery first.   This patient is a classic case who is drawn into the system and told to do painful and disfiguring things to herself in the name of health.  I sat with her for 20 minutes and explained her symptoms made sense, to get a second opinion on the hysterectomy and to avoid the orthopedic doctor for her knee.  I just completed her third visit today and she will be planting flowers tomorrow for mothers day instead if being miserable and in pain.  She is literally reclaiming her life from the medical experts after a couple of visits and now understands why she was in pain. She cancelled her hysterectomy as well, opting for something more sensible . Informed consumers of health care are not our systems best customers since they will opt out of a bad situation once they finally understand it.


I bring this up because mismanagement of the musculoskeletal system is rampant in our health care system and people who lose hope or are scared are its best customers.  Is it any wonder health care costs are out of control?  


Regarding the actor in the article, I have never had to resort to recommending a surgery for anyone who has e severe foot overpronation which by the way is an inherited trait.  Some of our severe overpronators run marathons.  I believe this gentleman has likely never visited the right doctor who understands his problem and can intelligently treat it conservatively.  Foot overpronation and the pain it can produce is nicely controlled with foot orthotics, myofascial release and repatterning or movement and the myofascial surrouding the core and the lower kinetic chain.  Chiropractic adjustments to the spine and the extremities will help improve movement and reduce pain further while improving outcomes non surgically.  In the case of clubbed feet, surgery is necessary and this is typically corrected in early childhood.  In the case of this gentleman, it is too bad we never met.  The solution is easier than he was lead to believe and much less painful and disabling too.


What do you think?  I value your opinion.

Preserving your knees and hips - avoiding the joint replacement syndrome

On my way back from the New Orleans Jazz Festival, I read an interesting article in the NY Times called Caring for Hips and Knees to Avoid Artificial Joints (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/24/health/24patient.html).  This is an area of great interest to me because as the article points out, 400,000 of these procedures for bad knees and hips are done yearly.  The article is typical advice that I see from the medical community that thinks inside the box.  They recommend the following which you can read in the article

1. Control Your Weight
2. Go Low Impact
3. Avoid Injury
4. Get Fit
5. Be Skeptical

Overall, most people will read this and since it really is very general, most people will not learn much from this.  Since this is my blog, I will go much further and perhaps, not make too many friends in the orthopedic community.  I will address each of these points and give you much better direction on this.

We are all built differently and body style determines how we are to function throughout our lives and also predisposes us to having problems in our knees and hips.  This is especially true for those of you who are built asymmetrically (most chiropractic clientèle). Early detection and intervention with foot orthotics, education and  even myofascial therapy goes a long way to preserving our body parts.  We can start by screening kids at the age of 6 either in the chiropractors office or teach pediatricians a little about the musculoskeletal system so they can give advice that is better than the typical growing pains diagnosis I hear from many patients.If we addressed body style early on, we could eliminate many of the suggestions in the article.

Control Your Weight - It has been established that being overweight, especially severely overweight will wear down the joints.  While this is certainly true, many overweight people never need joint replacements.  What is different about them?  The bottom line is structure determines function.  If you have poor structure, and you add weight to it, it will fail much sooner.  If you lose the weight, and have poor structure, your joints will likely go bad anyway.  My recommendation is that you address structure first and our office specializes in this.  During the months of May and June, we are having our annual Spring Feet Checkout so people can be looked at for free to determine of foot problems are leaving them prone to having knee, hip and back problems.

Go Low Impact - Many people go high impact and never need joint replacements.  On the other hand, Sports like basketball, especially in adolescent girls is known to damage cruciate ligaments because as they mature, their hips get wider and any foot problems will exacerbate this.  The ultimate cause has to do with the way their core responds to their body style.  Ultimately, girls with these issues have an unstable core which loads the knee joint.  Recommending a sedentary lifestyle is not a great idea.  Why not actually understand, diagnose properly and then come up with an intelligent solution to a functional problem.

Avoid Injury - Duh. Get your body mechanics checked out, get it fixed and then load it up.  Common sense at its best. Certain sports like football take out knees from impact by others upon the knee.  Tackle football is likely not healthy for knees as many pro football players will attest to in their later years.  Many baseball players on the other hand still have their original knees and hips into their golden years.

Get Fit - A stable core will improve knee function.  Foot orthotics will improve knee function.  If your core is unstable, it will load the knee, the legs will tighten and so will your shoulders and neck.  The knee is rarely the problem, and the structure usually is

Be Skeptical - Sure, there are many things like Condriotin Sulfate which have been said to help arthritic knees and other joints as well as other potions.  Taking this further, many people with knee pain going to orthopedic physicians have meniscus surgery again and again and again.  Eventually, at great cost, they replace the once healthy joint with another prosthesis that comes with no warrantee and will likely need replacement again years later.  Since the original body mechanics that destroyed the joint in the first place were never addressed, these joints are likely to fail sooner than later because we addressed the symptom of the bad knee and not the real problem of how did it get there in the first place.

My advice for people with bad knees is not to let that happen to their children.  Make them aware that unless they have themselves checked, they too are likely to suffer from this since they come from the same gene pool and are likely not only looking like you but are walking like you too.

Check out out website at www.backfixer1.com or our site for runners at www.njrunningdoc.com for further helpful information.

Is salt and sugar really making our society ill?

Yesterday, Reuters reported that our intake of salt and sugar is helping to make us ill, raise our cholesterol and our blood pressure (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63J69U20100420).  There are many food gurus that have been critical of the american diet for some time.  People like the taste of salty and sugary foods and the food industry has given them what they wanted.  There is a movement in government to attempt to regulate the amounts of this gradually in our foods.  

In the restaurant industry, items that do not sell do not last.  If foods that have excess sugars, starches and salt is what sells, it is only natural for them to produce what people want.  Unfortunately, we pay for it years later with higher medical costs which may have been prevented.  It has been recommended that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration begin to regulate the amounts of this in food.  While I applaud their ideas and their efforts, this is just a small part of a greater problem.  Most processed foods are full of salts and sugars, with one of the worst being corn based fructose sweeteners, which our body does not understand and cannot process well. We pay farmers to grow corn for the purpose of making corn sweeteners and pay them not go grow other things.  People who are poorer often do not buy certain foods that are healthy for them because of their cost.  On the other hand, Kraft macaroni and cheese which is all chemicals and salt is dirt cheap.  Even when I was a student and much poorer, I would often use this this as a cheap meal.  What would happen if we asked farmers to grow food and then made it so the cost was less in the supermarket, perhaps less than Kraft macaroni and cheese?  My guess is people would eat food that is better for them.  

I also think that we can make prepared meals healthier as well by using less salt and other preservatives.  We probably need a different model for todays busy lifestyle so the fast food we purchase not only tastes good but is good for you.  If we think of all the money we spend on disease, doesn't it make sense that preventing it with better diets will be a better way to live.

Since it is spring, I am again trying to create a successful garden in my back yard.  Many of us were disappointed last year because of the weather but this year can be a winner.  The best food is that which is right off the plant.  If you have never tried to create your own garden, perhaps, this may be your calling for better food, which you now control since it came right from your garden.

What do you think? I value your comments.

Expanding Chiropractic Services Under Medicare - The Effective Truth

I had just read about the report to congress on the evaluation of the demonstration of coverage of chiropractic services Under Medicare.   For those who are covered by Medicare and have never understood why chiropractic was so poorly covered by Medicare, your ship may be arriving shortly. Chiropractic was hastily added to the Medicare program in the 1970's with the inclusion of spinal manipulation only.  Our patients know that manipulation without working the muscles of the body which attach to them is often of minimal benefit however, politics has so far prevented full inclusion as it did in the 70's.  Our profession has lobbied hard for full inclusion because it is a detriment to the public's welfare to leave things the way they are.  Most seniors do not or cannot understand why other doctors are covered for all their services yet, their visit to the chiropractor is more expensive because of this. It makes little sense, especially after the study I will tell you about in the following paragraph.
 
The government ran a study a while back giving chiropractic full benefits in three areas of the country a couple of years ago.   They study showed  that under medical treatment, 11% of the people reported relief of pain.  When you compare this to 60% of the respondents who used the chiropractors reporting relief of pain, without the use of drugs, convincing seniors to visit chiropractors first for back pain, neck pain, and other problems should be a priority. How can the government not cover chiropractic services fully after study results such as these?   The current coverage is a vestige of the 1970's when chiropractic was less accepted.  With statistics like these, the government should be racing to get this passed into law.  Statistics are statistics and the truth is coming out about the effectiveness of chiropractic especially with senior populations.  Stay tuned and hopefully, we will see chiropractic fully covered in Medicare.  I will let you know when this occurs.

N.J. hospitals treating more patients for prescription drug overdose, report says

I just read this article in todays star ledger (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/nj_hospitals_treating_more_pat.html).  One of my peeves is the success of pain killers, especially prescription pain killers.  Many are quite addictive. In my experience, many people turn to these because their doctor thought pain relief was the best way to handle their pain.  In my opinion, dealing with the symptom which is pain rather than dealing with the underlying cause of the pain is going to have long term effects that will degenerate their joints and make other problems more chronic.  Today, I saw an older woman in horrible pain in her back and the solution from her orthopedist for what ails her in her knee, hip or back is a cortisone shot.  Finally it came to a head and she could barely stand in my office as I tried desperately to help relieve her discomfort.  There is a better way...

In my world, I look at the person, not just the painful parts.  I get an understanding of their level of function and then try to find the cause.  No drugs, no short cuts, just good medicine.  It is always good medicine to know what you are treating before you treat it.  It is bad medicine to offer pain relief of something you do not understand while pretending you do, only to have the person get much worse because the original problem was neglected.  Some of those people who take the pain relieves do get hooked on them and drug makers know they are not treating but just relieving pain.  Granted, there is a great market for this stuff and there are many people who buy into the drug model, to their peril.  In the end, health care costs go up, our insurance pays for the hospital visit to detox us and as we get older, we are less well.

Prescription drug overdose - a symptom of a health care system that needs to rethink its goals, its training and its purpose.

What do you think?  I value your opinions.

The Rise and Fall of Patented Genes - The patent office has really done it this time.

Did you see the 60 minutes piece on patented genes (http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6362525n&tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel). This was a real eye opener. A number of years ago, the patent office allowed bio tech companies to patent the genes in your body if they uncovered possible links to functional diseases. One of the most used/abused was the BRAC1/BRAC2 genes which are linked to breast/ovarian cancers. In the back of the minds of most women in our society is the fear of a cancer being discovered. These genes, if mutated, increase the likelihood causing women to prophalactically remove their breasts and their ovaries. Having these mutations does not mean you will get cancer, but it does say the likelihood is increased. This disturbing trend was just curtailed by a lawsuit challenging the decision to patent genes which has not only made the cost of doing the test ridiculous ($3200), but if you wanted to get a second opinion, you couldn't because only one company could do it, namely, the company who owns the patent. I personally do not believe we understand the true underlying cause of cancer so rash decisions made under the fear of possibly or possibly not getting sick and dying does not empower us to make great decisions. The patenting of something occurring in nature is a perversion of the patent process and should become a thing of the past. I believe it hampers research and unnecessarily raises the cost for gene mapping which may have an increase value as we understand it better and come up with better solutions on how to improve humanity with the new information we now have at our finger tips.

Check out the 60 minutes report at the above link. While I believe some people do believe in competition, this is clearly people using the patent office to monopolize genes their research has discovered. True, a company who paid for the research deserves to be compensated for the risk/reward but how can one patent something that occurs in nature that we just happened to discover as we become more knowledgeable about genetics? I understand the company that patented the BRAC1 and 2 genes has appealed this decision. I hope they lose because they have already been paid handsomely for this patent and because genes should simply not be patentable. Cures for genetic ailments on the other hand should be because the cure is not naturally occurring in nature and this is a process someone or some entity created to get a curative result. In my opinion, they should be able to profit there and we would not have patents standing in the way of more effective cures and research.

One more thing is that we need to find the underlying cause for cancers and understand what cancer is, vs what we do now which is scaring, scarring and testing and scaring people to death of death from an entity we still really do not understand and using chemo which is a crap shoot treatment which helps some, and ignoring other inventive ways that are not as profitable to administer or seem heretical at the time but get to the heart of the problem.

What do you think? I welcome your comments.

Florida doctor tells patients who voted for Obama to go elsewhere - What are your thoughts?

I read yesterday that a doctor in florida (Mount Dora) had a sign in his office telling his patients who voted for our president to go elsewhere (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/health-care-reform-starts-now-for-mount-dora-509473.html). Is this really freedom of speech and is this really appropriate for a health care provider? Apparently, the doctor was against the health care reform process and decided to alienate anyone who may have disagreed with him.

Read the article, which has a photo of the sign. In my opinion, healthy discussion about health care reform is inevitable however this, on the other hand is inappropriate. One should wonder why so many doctors did not want reform.

As a health care provider, In my opinion, reform may render doctors such as this obsolete, since the trend will be toward primary care and away from treating the body as the individual parts instead of the sum of its parts and the integrated systems that encompass it. Maybe this is why so many high end specialists are scared of reform? Could the writing be finally on the wall for those who focus on tests and procedures, rather than on cost effective care and results.

What do you think?

I welcome your opinions

Is toughing out a sports injury a good idea?

Yesterday, the NY Times published an article called Sports Injuries: When to Tough It Out(http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/fashion/01best.html). I this article to be interesting because it interviewed a number of physicians who shared their philosophy and most recommended not seeing a family doctor for these types of injuries. It seems they believe their own profession is most likely to take athletes out of their activities and many recommend that you just try to train through it.

Our offices are filled with athletes who tried to just train through it. The fact that medical professionals do not trust medical professionals with sports injuries that are of gradual onset is telling. The question of course is who do/should you trust? In the minds of most athletes, the answer has commonly become chiropractic sports physicians. The International Olympic Committee has a director who is a chiropractor and this year two chiropractors were officially at the games for the american team and the athletes want it that way.

What should you do with an athletic injury: Trust a family doctor with minimal training for this or a chiropractor athletes rely on? I welcome your thoughts.