With bubble gum and orange flavored toothpastes out there how dangerous could the toothpaste be? Should the toothpaste tube be relegated to the locked medicine cabinet along with the Tylenol and prescription medications?

Is our fluoridated water safe to drink?

Fluoridation became an official policy of the U.S. Public Health Service  by 1951, and by 1960 water fluoridation had become widely used in the U.S., reaching about 50 million people. By 2006, 69.2% of the U.S. population on public water systems were receiving fluoridated water, amounting to 61.5% of the total U.S. population; 3.0% of the population on public water systems were receiving naturally occurring fluoride. In some other countries the pattern was similar. Fluoridation was introduced into Brazil in 1953, was regulated by federal law starting in 1974, and by 2004 was used by 71% of the population. In other locations, fluoridation was used and then discontinued; for example, in, Finland, fluoridation was used for decades but was discontinued because the school dental service provided significant fluoride programs and the cavity risk was low.

Other countries that no longer use fluoride in their drinking water: 

• China: not allowed Banned.
• Australia: toxic fluorides not added – Rejected.
• Belgium: Rejected, encourages self-determination – advise ’self administer fluoride if you want it.’
• Finland: see above.
• Germany: Stopped, a recent study found no evidence of an increasing trend of cavities.
• Denmark.
• Norway.
• Sweden.
• The Netherlands.
• Hungary.
• Japan who rejected fluoride because: “…may cause health problems….” The 0.8 -1.5 mg regulated level is for calcium-fluoride, not the hazardous waste by-product which is added with artificial fluoridation.

H20 Kits suggests that only 2/3 of U.S. cities and towns add fluoride to their drinking water. The other 1/3 of all cities and towns oppose the use of fluoride. About 60% of all public drinking water is fluoridated.

There are serious health risks from water fluoridation. Too much fluoride can actually damage tooth enamel and cause dental fluorosis, which is the yellowing and mottling of tooth enamel. Excessive use of fluoride has also been linked to bone cancer, lower IQ and osteoporosis. Adverse thyroid functioning is also linked to fluoride.

And even though dental experts warn of the consequences of giving a child under 1 fluoride, there is a bottled water product now aimed at babies and infants that contains fluoride. It seems the jury is out on this one. Fluoride is a toxin, however it has been deemed safe enough to add in small doses to our water. Toothpaste on the other hand does contain enough fluoride to potentially kill a child.

Fat Free Kitchen  carries this warning:

• Use toothpastes especially formulated for children.
• Under 2 years age: Do not use any toothpaste when brushing the teeth of children under two years of age.
• 2 years age: Use only a pea-sized (5mm) amount of fluoride toothpaste.
• Under seven years of age: Parents should supervise the child when brushing. A child should not be allowed to suck toothpaste from the tube.

The Fluoride Action Network cites 23 published studies reporting an association with high fluoride exposure and diminished IQ scores. Be aware of when and how much fluoride you and your family are ingesting.

Make an adjustment: Stay Healthy ~ Be Happy!

Call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan at Fontana Chiropractic Evergreen CO. at 303.674.1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com

Is the power of positive thinking really true? Is positive thinking something that can make a difference in your life?

Everyday we turn on the television or listen to the radio and can easily and very quickly become disillusioned and sad about the economy, our living situation, our standard of living, or a multitude of other depressing news. But research has shown that the more positive and up beat we are about our lives the more it becomes our reality.

Being optimistic about situations has been shown to pay off in all kinds of areas, including health, longevity, employment situations, and even achieving higher scores on tests. Who wouldn’t want to think “for the best”?

According to Chinese philosophy, for every ying there is a yang, so it stands to reason that those who think the opposite way (Pessimists) are likely to have the opposite outcome i.e.: more depression, shyness, lower job expectations, and less success in relationships. Not necessarily, but the data points overwhelmingly in favor of positive thinking in regards to our health and well being.

According to this health and behavior article in USA Today  positive thinking can be an extremely powerful tool. It is kind of a ‘fake it till you make it’ attitude that often can pay dividends in the end. If you always believe you are being taken for a ride you might miss an awesome and exciting opportunity, if you believe someone will cheat you – you may react that way first to beat them to the punch. Wise up, take each moment as it comes, stop looking for the hidden agenda, and live life to the fullest. Opportunities are there to be taken but you must look for them and see the potential in each situation instead of only seeking the negative.

The Mayo Clinic has suggested that “Self-talk is the endless stream of thoughts that run through your head every day. These automatic thoughts can be positive or negative. Some of your self-talk comes from logic and reason. Other self-talk may arise from misconceptions that you create because of lack of information. If the thoughts that run through your head are mostly negative, your outlook on life is likely pessimistic. If your thoughts are mostly positive, you’re likely an optimist — someone who practices positive thinking.”

For those who can practice positive thinking life becomes less stressful and you may even enjoy better health and well being. Indeed the Mayo Clinic noted that in people who practiced this they had:

• Decreased negative stress
• Greater resistance to catching the common cold
• A sense of well-being and improved health
• Reduced risk of coronary artery disease
• Easier breathing if you have certain lung diseases, such as emphysema
• Improved coping ability for women with high-risk pregnancies
• Better coping skills during hardships

Psychologist and scientist Suzanne Segerstrom even chose to study optimism and the immune system. The 35-year-old Segerstrom is best known for rigorously testing the following question: Is optimism good or bad for the body’s immune system? The answer, according to the data so far, is yes.

What great skills to have at a time like this!

Make an adjustment: Stay Healthy ~ Be Happy!

Call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan at Fontana Chiropractic Evergreen CO. 303.674.1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com

The funny bone really isn’t funny! We call it that because if you accidentally bump this area known as your ulnar nerve, a shock wave feeling travels across your epicondyle which is a rounded, bony projection on the side of the bone in the top of your arm which we know better as the humerus bone. Hence the title “funny” bone.

During birth, it can be quite common for an infant to break their clavicle bone as they travel through the birth canal. There is no need to panic though as the high rate of bone growth in babies fixes the break within days of birth. 

Our first vertebra is called an Atlas after the mythological Greek God who was forced to hold the world on his shoulders; the round globe was likened to a person’s head and so named.

The spinal column consists of 5 regions:

• Cervical vertebrae – The neck area.
• Thoracic vertebrae – The upper chest and rib cage.
• Lumbar vertebrae – Lower back.
• Sacrum – Basically our rounded rump part.
• Coccyx – What we fondly refer to as the “tail” bone.

As the vertebrae travel down the spine they become progressively larger and sturdier to bear the weight of the body.

Did you know that babies are born without kneecaps? The kneecap bones develop between the age of 2 and 6 years old. The Patella or kneecap can be prone to injury such as runner’s knee, housemaid’s knee, or dislocation.

The femur (the long bone in your thigh) joins the tibia (lower leg) and between them they support the weight of our bodies. The fibula, located next to the tibia is much thinner than the tibia but is just as important to hold us up.

From Infancy through puberty, new bone formation exceeds bone breakdown. During adulthood the daily formation of new bone equals the daily rate of bone breakdown. In old age, the problem becomes one of bone breakdown exceeding bone formation; hence the bones become fragile and prone to fracture. At all stages of life, formation of new bone is dependent on having enough calcium and phosphorus in the diet. Eat a balanced diet with plenty of leafy green veggies and lots of fruit, and most important keep exercising to ward off that brittle and fracture prone stage of life.

Make an adjustment: Stay healthy ~ Be Happy!
Call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan with your bone and joint health questions.
303.674.1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com

While processed food is adding too much sodium to the diets of many people, there is a concurrent deficiency in iodine, a trace mineral added to many table salts.

Ingrid Kohlstadt, MD, a physician who specializes in nutrition, cautions that “Iodine, the primary trace mineral required for optimal thyroid function, is slipping away from our diets.  We can take simple, inexpensive, and time efficient steps to prevent iodine deficiency, treat sub-clinical hypothyroidism, and improve overall health.”

• Commercial breads once used iodine, but have replaced it with bromide.
• Milk contains less iodine today than in years past.
• Soils are depleted of many valuable minerals, including iodine.

Unfermented soy products, widely used today, increase our body’s requirement for iodine. (Asian cultures that use soy generally eat sea vegetables, which are a good source of iodine.)

Dr. Ray Hinish notes that the average Japanese ingests about 13.8 mg of iodine daily, about 100 times the amount the US considers to be the daily recommended amount. Iodine is necessary for the production of thyroid hormones, and a deficiency can cause an enlarged thyroid gland (goiter), and mental retardation in infants. However, excess iodine can be damaging and large amounts can be fatal. Many health care practitioners can test for iodine levels.

In recent years there have been numerous articles published in medical journals around the world that link a mother’s iodine deficiency with her child’s later ADHD symptoms. Dr. Hinish points out that, like vitamin D3, iodine plays a part in all of the hormones in the body, not just the thyroid hormones.

He believes that, just as physicians are now recognizing the important role of vitamin D, they will eventually recognize a widespread iodine deficiency.

A 2005 study of children in China found, “The level of iodine nutrition plays a crucial role in the development of children. The intelligence damage of children exposed to sever iodine deficiency was profound…”  Iodine supplementation helped raise their IQ scores.

[Asia Pac J Cln Nutr. 2005;14(1):32-42] Reprinted from Pure Facts, the newsletter of the Feingold Association of the United States FEINGOLD

Make an adjustment: Stay Healthy ~ Be Happy!

Call Dr Paul or Dr Susan at Fontana Family Chiropractic Evergreen CO 303.674.1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com

The governments National Health Service has called on doctors to refrain from giving the ADHD drug Ritalin to children under the age of 5.

Lat year another governmental authority, the Food Standards Agency (FSA), asked manufacturers to phase out the use of synthetic dyes. Then in December the FSA published a list of companies that have discarded the dyes shown to be linked to ADHD. Food manufacturers in the UK are on notice that if they do not voluntarily phase out the unwanted dyes, the government will impose legal restrictions.

One of the champions of healthy food for children is Prince Charles, who believes that poor behavior is linked to junk food and “over-industrialized children” who have no connection to nature and little understanding of where food comes from and how it is produced.

The 2007 Southampton study connecting food addictives and ADHD has resulted in a dramatic increase in public awareness, and the work of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has contributed to improved school foods for children. But the British public has recently learned that these improvements have not reached many of the nation’s pre-schoolers.

Some nurseries in England and Wales are serving foods that are now restricted or banned from schools, foods that are high sugar, salt, fat and additives. A survey of nursery schools show that the average amount spent on foods for each child is about 1 GBP (roughly $1.60 in US dollars). But a few were found to be spending a mere 25 pence per child for an entire day (about 40 cents).

News from Australia:

As prescriptions for ADHD drugs soared by more than 43% in a year, Australia’s government appointed a committee to draw up guidelines for the treatment of ADHD. Unfortunately, seven of the ten panel members have been found to have accepted money and various gifts from drug companies. The committee endorsed the use of the various drugs as a “first-line treatment” for children and warned parents not to use options like diet and exercise to address the symptoms. Committee members attempted to prevent the public from learning their identities.

As in the US, the governmental agency overseeing food in Australia and New Zealand has not been receptive to the growing public demand for the removal of petroleum-based dyes. But consumer pressure is being applied by Australia’s Additive Alert organization. The group’s Kids First Campaign, led by Julie Eady, has sponsored an on-line petition to their Health Ministers; more than 10,000 people have lent their support. (see Additive Alert)

A popular candy will now be made with natural colors, in place of synthetic dyes. Nestle Australia will be changing their Smarties candy (similar to M&M’s) despite the company’s long insistence that the dyes are safe.

The International Association for the Study of Obesity is calling for legal action to establish an international code that prohibits advertising junk food and soft drinks to children under the age of 16. The proposed regulations would cover both satellite and land-based TV. Sweden and Norway don’t allow advertising to children under 12, but satellite broadcasting can bypass national regulations.

Reprinted from Pure Facts, the newsletter of the Feingold Association of the United States, FEINGOLD

Make an adjustment: Stay healthy ~ Be Happy!

Call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan at Fontana Chiropractic Evergreen CO. with all your health questions and chiropractic care needs. 303 674 1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com

We are all well aware at this point that eating organic food is the way to go forward. It’s better for our health, our children, and the environment. The farming methods are gentler and more focused on product than ultimate profits. Often people either cannot afford to make a total switch to organic products due to budget restrictions or organic produce might be hard to find because of their location. So what are the basic products that one should look for to get maximum benefits?

If nothing else, make the switch for all fruits and vegetables. There are some produce items that can be considered the worst offenders for pesticides and toxins, specifically items such as grapes, apples, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries.

It is often recommended that these are the non-negotiable produce items. It is important to note that even organic produce should be washed very carefully before eating as it can still carry residue from transportation and airborne chemicals. It is also recommended, when possible, buying the organic option for peaches, nectarines, apricots, pears, and even bananas, which can often suck up chemicals on the trip to America including Thiabendazole which damages the brain and nervous system. Stock up on organic varieties of potatoes, corn, celery, cucumbers, spinach, lettuce, and carrots. Also important to add to your shopping list: Rice, oats, and milk. Certain varieties of milk contain hormones that are banned in Europe and Canada but are still given to American dairy herds. Become informed about rBGH at Delicious Organics.

But how can you afford to purchase these organic grocery options, especially in these tough economic times? First decide how best to structure your new shopping plan. The best idea may be to go back to basics, as hard as it can be to cook every night, it can be simply better for you and your family. It may also be the cheapest way to incorporate good food into your daily regime. If you are part of a large family or have older children, make this an activity you can all enjoy. Take it in turns to either make the dinner, or do it as an entire family. If you are a single person, or a couple, consider making more meals on the weekend and freezing single portions. Obviously this would also work for a larger family, however, un-freezing a large food portion is often time consuming and it can be just as fast to cook a fresh meal from scratch. Consider purchasing one or two decent sized crock pots, simply chop and throw in your meat and veggies before leaving for work and set to an 8 hour low cook and when you come home you just need to make pasta or rice to go with your meal and its that easy. This can also help the grocery bill, as buying cheaper organic cuts of meat and then cooking in the slow cooker, can produce a more tender meal.

Lastly, there are organic coupons out there. Not as many or as widely distributed as the main stream items, but with a little searching they are findable. Go to Grocery Coupon Guide.

Often it is hard to find prices for organic milk and dairy produce at a similar price to the non-organic variety, but this is one of the items that it is recommended buying to avoid the added hormones. Organic Valley is an organic dairy farmer that does offer coupons.

To read more on organic farming and more reasons to buy organic produce go to the Environmental Working Group.

Make an adjustment: Stay healthy ~ Be happy.

Call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan at Fontana Family Chiropractic Evergreen CO. 303.674.1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com

High blood pressure increases your chance (or risk) for getting heart disease and/or kidney disease, and for having a stroke. It is especially dangerous because it often has no warning signs or symptoms. Regardless of race, age, or gender, anyone can develop high blood pressure. It is estimated that one in every four American adults has high blood pressure.

Once high blood pressure develops, it usually lasts a lifetime. You can prevent and control high blood pressure by taking action. But what is blood pressure?: Blood pressure (BP) is the force exerted by circulating blood on the walls of blood vessels, and constitutes one of the principal vital signs. The pressure of the circulating blood decreases as blood moves through arteries, arterioles, capillaries, and veins; the term blood pressure generally refers to arterial pressure, i.e., the pressure in the larger arteries, the blood vessels that take blood away from the heart.

For each heartbeat, blood pressure varies between systolic and diastolic pressures. Systolic pressure is peak pressure in the arteries, which occurs near the beginning of the cardiac cycle when the ventricles are contracting. Diastolic pressure is minimum pressure in the arteries, which occurs near the end of the cardiac cycle when the ventricles are filled with blood. An example of normal measured values for a resting, healthy adult human is 115 mmHg systolic and 75 mmHg diastolic (written as 115/75 mmHg, and spoken (in US) as “one fifteen over seventy-five”). Pulse pressure is the difference between systolic and diastolic pressures.

Hypotension (low blood pressure):systolic <90 or diastolic <60
Normal: systolic 90-119 and diastolic 60-79
Prehypertension (pre-high blood pressure): systolic 120-139 or diastolic 80-89

High blood pressure can cause congestive heart failure (CHF), kidney failure, blurred or loss of vision, hardening of the arteries, and in the case of very high pressure it can cause a break in a weakened blood vessel, which then bleeds in the brain. This can cause a stroke. If a blood clot blocks one of the narrowed arteries, it can also cause a stroke.

Prevent high blood pressure by adopting a healthy lifestyle. The best prevention is to strive to maintain a healthy weight; stay physically active and follow an exercise plan, even if it is just a 30 minute walk each day; follow a healthy eating plan, and ensure that plan emphasizes fruits, vegetables, and lowfat dairy foods; reject pre-pakaged products as they are often high in  sodium and focus on choosing and preparing foods with less salt and sodium; and, if you drink alcoholic beverages, enjoy only in moderation. Despite everything you may have heard about red wine and its health benefits, in one study red wine drinkers had a 2.5 increase in their systolic blood pressure. If you are already borderline and at risk of prehypertension this small jump can increase your risk of the negative effects of HBP.

Make an adjustment: Stay Healthy ~ Be Happy!
Call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan at 303.674.1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com

If you think there is any chance your child has a vision problem consult a trained pediatric optometrist. The optometrist will give careful consideration to your child’s emerging visual abilities. In the event that they evaluate your child’s vision as significantly different from their peer group, your optometrist will guide you through further testing and examinations and develop a plan on how best to proceed from the initial examination.

All children are recommended to see a vision specialist at 6 months, 2.5 years, beginning kindergarten and every year thereafter.  The Optometric Extension Program Foundation Inc. (OEP)is a non profit foundation for education and research in vision, and recommends the following: 

Vision tracking goes further than just testing what the eye is seeing. It also incorporates general motor and bilateral development. After all a child who can not see properly will likely have cordination issues as well, including problems with both fine and gross motor skills. The idea is to increase a child’s vision success by continually challenging both the visual and motor skill combinations as they develop. Starting from as young as a new-born infant, you can work with your babys visual skills. For a child 0-3 playfully move your baby’s arms and legs, separately at first, and then in various combinations. Raise and lower your child while you gaze in each other’s eyes.

Play with your baby every single chance you get, bounce them on your knee and enjoy a gentle massage with baby lotion to keep both a close connection with your baby and also to get familiar with how they move and how their bodies feel.

To encourage visual focusing place a picture of a face 20-40 cms from the baby’s eyes. The face should be approximately 18 cms in diameter and the eyes in the face should be about 2 cms in diameter. Place the face on one side of the bassinet and change sides regularly until the age of about two months. Then hang it from the middle of the bassinet. Make sure you place the face so that the baby has the opportunity of looking towards each side of their body. Provide multi-colored objects for your baby to look at.

Place them in various positions within baby’s view, giving opportunities to look in different directions. Make sure your baby doesn’t face one side of the bassinet or a wall, using one eye all the time. Change the position of your baby, or that of the bassinet occasionally.

Between 4 and 8 months keep up with training your baby’s vision progress. For general motor and bilateral development place a kickable mobile at the end of the bassinet. Also, place a plastic, non-sharp, mirror in a place where your baby will catch a view of themselves. Roll a ball backwards and forwards to your child, play games like peek-a-boo and hide a rattle under blankets and make it reappear. This is fun for your baby and good for their visual development at the same time.

Between 9-18 months play games such as creeping through, around, over and under a family furniture obstacle course, this will keep the general motor skills and bilateral development on track. Encourage them to make small jumps and hops over very low objects. Enjoy playing games like pat-a-cake and other simple clapping games, and make it easy for your child to develop his/her gross motor skills by climbing objects such as stairs and steps.

Encourage eye-hand coordination by playing with stacking cups, blocks and other objects that stack, or fit inside each other, including simple puzzles.

As your child reaches pre-school age start making regular appointments with a vision specialist once a year. Vision problems caught at an early age, like most developmental issues, can sometimes be resolved, even without surgery.

Make an adjustment: Stay healthy ~ Be happy.
Call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan at 303.674.1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com

Fever in children can be frightening, especially as they usually occur later in the day or evening after the doctor’s office has closed. But not all fevers should be feared.

If your child has a fever of less than 100.2 there is usually no reason to worry, unless the child is younger than 3 months old. For children younger than 3 months it is advisable to call the doctor if the baby’s rectal temp is a few degrees higher than the 98.6 normal body temperature, as it may be an indication of an infection.

Why does our body generate a fever? The hypothalamus is responsible for regulating our temperatures and it’s thought that as our body is invaded by bacteria or a virus our body produces a fever in response.

So, why does the hypothalamus tell the body to change to a new temperature? Researchers believe turning up the heat is the body’s way of fighting the germs that cause infections and making the body a less comfortable place for them. It also usually means your body is fighting the infection on its own.

If your child is responding fairly well and acting normally despite the fever it is advisable to let whatever it might be run its course. Make your child comfortable with loose clothing, limit physical activity and feed plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration and your child should be fever free within 24 hours. If the fever lasts more than 3 days it would be prudent to call and check-in with their doctor.

When should you call the doctor for a fever?  Children whose temperatures are lower than 102° typically only require medication if they’re uncomfortable. There’s one important exception to this rule: If you have an infant 3 months or younger with a rectal temperature of 100.4° or higher, call your doctor or go to the emergency department immediately. Even a slight fever can be a sign of a potentially serious infection in very young infants. It is not adviseable to administer the ‘usual’ over-the-counter medications to children this young without first speaking with your doctor.

If your child is between 3 months and 3 years old and has a fever of 102.2° or more, call the doctor to see if he or she needs to see your child. For older kids, take behavior and activity level into account.

Watching how your child behaves will give you a pretty good idea whether a minor illness is the cause or if your child should be seen by a doctor. The illness is probably not serious if your child:

• is still interested in playing
• is eating and drinking well
• is alert and smiling at you
• has a normal skin color
• looks well when his or her temperature comes down

Don’t worry its quite normal if your child refuses to eat, lack of appetite is common in reaction to an infection that might cause the fever. Just watch how much fluids go in and out. Ideally your child will produce tears when crying and urinate about once every 4 to 6 hours.

Sadly, despite the severity of a fever it’s hard to judge exactly how sick your child might be. High fevers in the 102-104 range can be caused by anything from a simple cold to some other viral infection, but again this doesn’t necessarily indicate a serious problem. More problematic is that sometimes a serious infection may cause no fever or may even result in an abnormally low body temperature, especially in infants.

As your child’s fever rises and falls, they might experience chills as the body tries to generate additional heat as its temperature begins to rise. The child may sweat as the body releases extra heat when the temperature starts to drop. This is quite typical.

Children with a fever often breathe faster than usual and may seem to have a higher heart rate. You should place a call to your doctor if your child is having difficulty breathing, is breathing faster than normal, or continues to breathe fast, especially if it continues after the fever comes down.

Call your doctor immediately if your baby or young child has any of these warning signs that may indicate something more serious than just a common cold or viral infection.

• Breathing problems, including wheezing
• Consistent vomiting or diarrhea
• Dry mouth
• Earache or an indication of ear pain
• A fever of several days duration
• Abnormal crying (hysterical or high-pitched)
• Is easily irritated, or very irritable
• Pale
• Seizures
• Severe headache
• Skin rash
• Sore or swollen joints
• Sore throat
• Stiff neck
• Stomach pains
• Swelling of the fontanel
• Unresponsive and / or limp, lethargic
• Whimpering and in constant obvious pain

Call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan at Fontana Chiropractic 303.674.1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com
Make an adjustment: Stay Healthy ~ Be Happy!

What exactly is osteoporosis and who should be concerned by it?

Millions of Americans are diagnosed and suffer from osteoporosis every single year. This is technically a bone disease not a disorder and starts with osteopenia, which without treatment will result in full-blown osteoporosis. This disease is a product of the body failing to form enough new bone, and either/or when the body absorbs to much of the old bone. Few people know that as we age the calcium and phosphate that forms our bones may be reabsorbed back in to the body. This makes the bone tissue weaker resulting in brittle and fragile bones, which are then susceptible to fractures, even without injury.

Getting enough calcium during your life, but especially in your formative years, is a great way to prevent osteoporosis.  The most cases of osteoporosis occur in women of menopausal age when a drop in estrogen in women causes the disease to advance (or around the same age, a drop in testosterone for men.) More women than men over the age of 50 will be diagnosed with this disease.

Menopause is just one cause of osteoporosis, other causes include a long term illness confining a person to bed, bone cancer, Cushing syndrome, hyper- and hyperpara- thyroidism and excess corticosteroid levels from extended pharmaceutical use for asthma, some forms of arthritis, skin disease and chronic obstructive airway disease (COPD).

Sadly, osteoporosis starts at a very young age and there is no cure, only management for the disease. Chiropractors.org has this to say about the disease: “There is no cure for osteoporosis, so treatment methods are intended only to bolster bone density and either prevent the condition from occurring or slow its progression. There are various medications available that can help slow down or prevent bone loss.

Ongoing chiropractic care can also help alleviate pain associated with osteoporosis or help treat an osteoporosis-related injury. Also, the treatment can help you increase or maintain mobility and range of motion, which can help you protect yourself from falls and fractures. Be sure to notify your chiropractor of your condition before you begin, so he or she can tailor treatment to your needs. …”

Prevention is the key to this disease, the University of Maryland Medical Center  estimates there are 10 million people who currently have osteoporosis and 18 million are at an increased risk for developing it, based on bone density testing.

If you already are suffering from this disease, if you have been told you are at risk, or better yet are showing no signs of this disease and wish to keep it that way, most experts suggest not just taking a supplement but eating a diet high in calcium, magnesium, potassium, and fruit and vegetables. It is also important to ensure you are getting an adequate amount of strength training exercise, as it may help prevent further or continued bone loss. With osteoporosis, prevention is the key! Ensure sure your children or young teenagers reduce the amount of calcium leaching soda (animal studies show that phosphoric acid, a common ingredient in soda pop, can deplete bones of calcium) they drink and keep eating lots of healthy, calcium packed fruits and vegetables.

For further information and advice on osteoporosis management and continued care, call Dr. Paul or Dr. Susan at 303.674.1500 or email office@fontanachiro.com

Make an adjustment: Stay Healthy ~ Be Happy!