A new study finds that care for low back pain initiated with a chiropractor saves 40% on healthcare costs when compared with low back pain care initiated through a medical doctor, the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) announced recently.
The study, featuring data from 85,000 Blue Cross Blue Shield beneficiaries, concludes that insurance companies that restrict access to chiropractic for low back pain treatment may inadvertently pay more for care than if they removed such restrictions.
Published in the well known Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT), the new study looked at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee’s intermediate and large group, fully insured population over a two year span.
Comments:
- Why would insurance companies want to pay more for low back pain care?
- Why did Canada drop all Chiropractic care from their government paid national health care several years ago?
- If 80% of the entire population has back pain at least once in their life, that would cost insurance companies and or the government a lot more money.
- Why not embrace Chiropractic care as a lower cost alternative to expensive medical care for low back pain!
Source: American Chiropractic Association, Chiropractic Economics; 1/20/2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Don't Get Sick This Winter!
Bacteria present naturally in your body and sometimes found in food could keep cold and flu viruses at bay. According to a study, young children who drank a mixture of such bacteria, known as probiotics, had fewer colds, needed fewer antibiotics, and missed fewer days of school. Researchers have already shown that probiotics can benefit those who are ill, and the bacteria are thought to boost the immune system's response to invaders.
For most of you reading this, cold and flu season is here, and with it comes the yearly push urging you to get a flu vaccine to stay healthy. If you take nothing else away from this article, let it be this: you have at your disposal tools to bolster your immune system and drastically reduce your risk of colds and the flu. You do not need a vaccine to do this. In fact, a vaccine could easily make your health worse. One of these “tools” is good bacteria, or probiotics.
Eighty percent of your immune system is located in your digestive system, so--it makes perfect sense that probiotics would be very effective at warding off cold and flu viruses Remember, a robust immune system is your number one defense system against ALL disease, and in order to keep your immune system in top working order you must have a healthy balance of good to bad bacteria in your gut (the optimal balance is about 85 percent “good bacteria” and 15 percent “bad”). The researchers in this new study actually found quite significant benefits among 3- to 5-year-old children who received either a single strain or combination of probiotics twice a day for six months.
Compared to the placebo group, the single and combination probiotic groups had reduced fever by 53 percent and 73 percent respectively, decreased coughing by 41 percent and 62 percent, and reduced runny noses by 28 percent and 59 percent.
Why are Probiotics so Important?
In many cultures, probiotic-rich food and drinks, such as the fermented superfoods natto, kefir, lassi (an Indian yogurt drink) and sauerkraut, are an integral part of the daily diet. If you eat a diet rich in fermented foods like these that have NOT been pasteurized (pasteurization will kill the probiotics), then you will likely enjoy great digestive, and immune system, health. However, if you find yourself strongly drawn to processed foods or rely on mostly cooked foods, as is commonplace in the United States, the balance of bacteria in your digestive tract will have a hard time staying optimal.
This is most unfortunate because this ratio between the "good" bacteria and the other bacteria is one of the critical factors determining your optimal health, as the good bacteria are essential for:
• Proper development of your immune system; Protection against over-growth of other microorganisms that could cause disease; Digestion of food and absorption of nutrients
The probiotics in your gut also play a role in helping numerous bodily functions, such as:
• Digesting and absorbing certain carbohydrates; Producing vitamins, absorbing minerals and eliminating toxins; Keeping bad bacteria under control; Preventing allergies.
Sugar is also an incredibly efficient fertilizer for growing bad bacteria and yeast in your gut, so if you indulge in a lot of it you’re fueling the bad bacteria rather than the good. Likewise, stress, pollution, and taking antibiotics can further upset the balance in a negative way. Since helpful bacteria are increasingly absent in most people’s diets, it is important to purposely include foods that contain live probiotic bacteria in your diet, or take a probiotic supplement -- especially since flu season is here.
Here’s What You Need to Know to Avoid the Flu This Year
Now is the time to start making healthy changes that will keep you virtually immune to cold and flu viruses. If you follow the tips I recommend, you can easily sail through each and every winter (and fall, spring and summer) without so much as a case of the sniffles.
How do I know this?
Follow these simple guidelines.
• Optimize your vitamin D levels. Vitamin D deficiency is the likely cause of seasonal flu viruses. Getting an optimal level of vitamin D will help you fight infections of all kinds. In fact, the largest study yet of the association between vitamin D and respiratory infections found people with the lowest blood vitamin D levels reported having significantly more recent colds or cases of the flu.
• Eat plenty of probiotic-rich fermented foods, or take a high-quality probiotic supplement to support your digestive and immune system health.
• Avoid or Limit Sugar. Sugar decreases the function of your immune system almost immediately and a strong immune system is key to fighting off viruses and other illness.
• Get Enough Rest. Just like it becomes harder for you to get your daily tasks done if you're tired, if your body is overly fatigued it will be harder for it to fight off cold and flu viruses.
• Reduce Stress. We all face some stress every day, but if stress becomes overwhelming then your body will be less able to fight off the flu and other illness.
• Exercise. When you exercise, you increase your circulation and your blood flow throughout your body. The components of your immune system are also better circulated, which means your immune system has a better chance of finding an illness before it spreads.
• Take a good source of animal based omega-3 fats, which is crucial for maintaining health.
• Wash Your Hands. Washing your hands will decrease your likelihood of spreading a virus to your nose, mouth or other people.
Also, be careful not to overdo it. Washing your hands too much can actually remove much of the protective layer on your skin and increase your chances of acquiring an infection.
Source: mercola.com, ABC News, Reuters; January 2, 2011
For most of you reading this, cold and flu season is here, and with it comes the yearly push urging you to get a flu vaccine to stay healthy. If you take nothing else away from this article, let it be this: you have at your disposal tools to bolster your immune system and drastically reduce your risk of colds and the flu. You do not need a vaccine to do this. In fact, a vaccine could easily make your health worse. One of these “tools” is good bacteria, or probiotics.
Eighty percent of your immune system is located in your digestive system, so--it makes perfect sense that probiotics would be very effective at warding off cold and flu viruses Remember, a robust immune system is your number one defense system against ALL disease, and in order to keep your immune system in top working order you must have a healthy balance of good to bad bacteria in your gut (the optimal balance is about 85 percent “good bacteria” and 15 percent “bad”). The researchers in this new study actually found quite significant benefits among 3- to 5-year-old children who received either a single strain or combination of probiotics twice a day for six months.
Compared to the placebo group, the single and combination probiotic groups had reduced fever by 53 percent and 73 percent respectively, decreased coughing by 41 percent and 62 percent, and reduced runny noses by 28 percent and 59 percent.
Why are Probiotics so Important?
In many cultures, probiotic-rich food and drinks, such as the fermented superfoods natto, kefir, lassi (an Indian yogurt drink) and sauerkraut, are an integral part of the daily diet. If you eat a diet rich in fermented foods like these that have NOT been pasteurized (pasteurization will kill the probiotics), then you will likely enjoy great digestive, and immune system, health. However, if you find yourself strongly drawn to processed foods or rely on mostly cooked foods, as is commonplace in the United States, the balance of bacteria in your digestive tract will have a hard time staying optimal.
This is most unfortunate because this ratio between the "good" bacteria and the other bacteria is one of the critical factors determining your optimal health, as the good bacteria are essential for:
• Proper development of your immune system; Protection against over-growth of other microorganisms that could cause disease; Digestion of food and absorption of nutrients
The probiotics in your gut also play a role in helping numerous bodily functions, such as:
• Digesting and absorbing certain carbohydrates; Producing vitamins, absorbing minerals and eliminating toxins; Keeping bad bacteria under control; Preventing allergies.
Sugar is also an incredibly efficient fertilizer for growing bad bacteria and yeast in your gut, so if you indulge in a lot of it you’re fueling the bad bacteria rather than the good. Likewise, stress, pollution, and taking antibiotics can further upset the balance in a negative way. Since helpful bacteria are increasingly absent in most people’s diets, it is important to purposely include foods that contain live probiotic bacteria in your diet, or take a probiotic supplement -- especially since flu season is here.
Here’s What You Need to Know to Avoid the Flu This Year
Now is the time to start making healthy changes that will keep you virtually immune to cold and flu viruses. If you follow the tips I recommend, you can easily sail through each and every winter (and fall, spring and summer) without so much as a case of the sniffles.
How do I know this?
Follow these simple guidelines.
• Optimize your vitamin D levels. Vitamin D deficiency is the likely cause of seasonal flu viruses. Getting an optimal level of vitamin D will help you fight infections of all kinds. In fact, the largest study yet of the association between vitamin D and respiratory infections found people with the lowest blood vitamin D levels reported having significantly more recent colds or cases of the flu.
• Eat plenty of probiotic-rich fermented foods, or take a high-quality probiotic supplement to support your digestive and immune system health.
• Avoid or Limit Sugar. Sugar decreases the function of your immune system almost immediately and a strong immune system is key to fighting off viruses and other illness.
• Get Enough Rest. Just like it becomes harder for you to get your daily tasks done if you're tired, if your body is overly fatigued it will be harder for it to fight off cold and flu viruses.
• Reduce Stress. We all face some stress every day, but if stress becomes overwhelming then your body will be less able to fight off the flu and other illness.
• Exercise. When you exercise, you increase your circulation and your blood flow throughout your body. The components of your immune system are also better circulated, which means your immune system has a better chance of finding an illness before it spreads.
• Take a good source of animal based omega-3 fats, which is crucial for maintaining health.
• Wash Your Hands. Washing your hands will decrease your likelihood of spreading a virus to your nose, mouth or other people.
Also, be careful not to overdo it. Washing your hands too much can actually remove much of the protective layer on your skin and increase your chances of acquiring an infection.
Source: mercola.com, ABC News, Reuters; January 2, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)