The Connection Between Obesity and Prescription Drug Use

A recent study by Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health shows that more people are taking prescription medications and that many of them are taking multiple medications at once.[1] There was a 9% increase in adults who used prescription drugs in a 30-day period compared to the study results from just a decade ago (59% vs. 50%).[2] This, naturally, raises concerns about how medications can negatively interact with each other, particularly when people self-medicate or are untruthful with their doctors about what they’re taking.

One interesting conclusion made by the researchers was that “the increase in prescription use may be driven in part by the rise in obesity…because many of the widely used drugs treat conditions that can be related to obesity, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.”[3] It’s no secret that the U.S. is one of the unhealthiest and most obese countries in the world, and we don’t show many positive signs of improvement in that area.

There are various other surveys that support the fact that prescription use has increased and that Americans are spending more on medicines each year. One such survey by IMS Health, a healthcare industry information company, “found that spending on medicines increased by 10.3 percent to $374 billion in 2014 from 2013.”[4]

As I’ve written in previous blog posts, there are many alternatives to prescription medications, including (of course) chiropractic care! The next time you’re about to pop a pill as a sort of “Band-Aid approach” to your ailments, remember that adopting a healthier lifestyle can greatly reduce the need for pills. A healthy diet, exercise, attention to your emotional health, and chiropractic care can work together to make a happier, healthier you without having to ingest handfuls of harmful drugs.

Working to restore GOD’s perfect design in you!

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[1] Kodjak A. “Americans Are Using More Prescription Drugs; Is Obesity To Blame?” NPR.org, November 3, 2015. <http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/11/03/454241609/americans-are-using-more-prescription-drugs-is-obesity-to-blame>

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] Id.; IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics. “IMS Health Study: 2014 a Record-Setting Year for U.S. Medicines.” IMSHealth.com, April 14, 2015. <http://www.imshealth.com/vgn-ext-templating/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=c578dcd8474bc410VgnVCM1000000e2e2ca2RCRD&vgnextchannel=2e11e590cb4dc310VgnVCM100000a48d2ca2RCRD&vgnextfmt=default>

Types of Chiropractors

The leading causes of death today are heart disease, cancer, and medical doctor error. Each can cause significant irrevocable damage before discovered or felt. Because of this, it is important to inform yourself about your ailments and learn how chiropractic care can benefit you in a more natural way than traditional medicine. But it is also important to know how chiropractors differ before choosing the right one for you.

Symptom Relief Chiropractors

First, there are symptom relief chiropractors. They focus more on symptom relief than long-term skeletal correction and wellness. If you visit a symptom relief chiropractor, you will likely feel better temporarily, but these effects will ultimately wear off and result in damage and dysfunction. Though no one would argue that feeling an improvement in your condition is a bad thing, many medical experts agree that aiming only to treat symptoms once they occur is not nearly as valuable as treating the underlying causes of these symptoms. In fact, they even go so far as to say that this approach can harm patients in the long-run.

In his book, Health Revolution, Robert C. Atkins, M.D. states, “Orthodox medicine tends to treat the symptom, and once it has made the symptom go away, it tells the patient that his or her condition is cured or at least controlled. Actually, in most cases, the disease hasn’t been treated at all. Its symptoms have been masked or obliterated, but in due time the disease may well assert itself in another direction.”^[1]

Traditional Chiropractors

Traditional chiropractors, on the other hand, are those who follow the traditional chiropractic philosophy of spinal subluxation and structural correction. As you read earlier, subluxations interfere with the nerve impulses that send signals from the brain to the rest of the body—so making sure that subluxations are corrected is understandably very important! But the potential problem with this form of correction is that it is often concentrated on individual segments of the spine, rather than the spine as a whole.

Living Well Family Chiropractors

The chiropractors at Living Well Family Chiropractic are different. We are what might be called spinal restoration chiropractors. We focus on improving our patients’ daily lives by helping with symptom and pain relief, but ultimately our goal is to remove subluxations and restructure the spine to create the most stable position for your body. We take the approach of traditional chiropractors and carry it a step further by focusing on global subluxations—deviations from the ideal structure of the spine. Any variation from this ideal position leads to premature spinal decay and dysfunction, so we do what we can to prevent these harmful effects before they begin.  This means that, if a patient comes in with a sore lower back, we explore the spine’s entire structure to determine how a subluxation in the neck might be affecting and even causing this pain.

We use Chiropractic BioPhysics (CBP), the technique that has been named in the most peer-reviewed journals and is one of the most scientifically validated techniques in our field.^[2] The methods of CBP, including Mirror Image Adjustments, Mirror Image Exercises, and traction will significantly improve your overall wellness.

With a spinal restoration program, your symptoms may lessen or disappear completely long before your treatment comes to an end (and who doesn’t want that?). But at Living Well Family Chiropractic, even once your symptoms are gone, we will continue to rigorously correct and adjust your spine until it reaches its maximum corrected position in the shortest amount of time.

Working to Restore God’s Perfect Design in You!

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[1] Atkins, R.C. (1990) Health Revolution.

[2] http://www.idealspine.com/cbp-research/

Reasons Your Spine Might Deviate from the Norm

There are a variety of reasons why your spine might deviate from the Harrison Spinal Model. First is leg length. If you have one leg shorter than the other (and this length difference is often so small you might have never noticed it!), your body becomes somewhat lopsided and certain areas of your spine must over-compensate. As we discussed before, over-compensation may allow you to function “normally,” but your structure is still compromised. Once we discover a shorter leg, we can measure and fit you for a foot lift, a small shoe insert that easily and painlessly evens out your leg length.

Next is genetics. Unfortunately, through no fault of your own, your spine may be predisposed to deviations from the norm based on hereditary factors. If your parents, grandparents, etc. had spinal issues, you are more likely to experience the same issues. The good news is that you can work to repair these deviations and share your success with other family members!

Traumas, both macro and micro, can also hugely impact spinal health and cause deviations. Macro traumas include injuries sustained from car accidents (e.g. whiplash), falls, sports injuries, and others. Macro traumas are bigger and more intense than micro traumas and are usually caused by one specific injurious event. Micro traumas, on the other hand, include everything from poor posture, sitting for very long periods of time, improper lifting, and even certain sleeping positions (e.g. sleeping on your stomach or on your side with your body twisted). Though you may not think of these micro examples as “traumas,” it’s important to realize how your daily activities truly do impact your spinal health.

Stress also causes differences between your spine and the ideal spine. Living with constant stress, which causes muscle tension and heightened levels of adrenaline (triggering your “fight or flight” instincts) is extremely unhealthy and affects many areas of your body, including the spine.

Last but not least is life in today’s world. The human body had not evolved very much in 10,000 years, while our modern world is constantly changing all around us. We are subjected to unnatural forces every day, as well as living conditions and habits that we were not made for. Is it any wonder that our bodies struggle to keep up with what we ask them to do?

Working to Restore God’s Perfect Design in You!