More Information

Topics:

A Brief History Of Chiropractic The first recorded chiropractic adjustment was performed on September 18, 1895, by Dr. Daniel David Palmer, a Canadian-born teacher and healer. Dr. Palmer was, at the time, studying the cause and effect of disease. His patient was Harvey Lillard, a janitor working in the same building as Dr. Palmer in Davenport, Iowa. Mr. Lillard, who had complained of hearing problems for over 17 years, allowed Dr. Palmer to examine his spine. Dr. Palmer discovered a "lump" on Mr. Lillard's back and suspected that a vertebra might be out of place, which he then repositioned the vertebra with a gentle thrust. After several such treatments, much of Mr. Lillard's hearing was restored. Since Dr. Palmer's first chiropractic adjustment, the art and science of chiropractic has progressed significantly. Today, advanced diagnostic procedures, sophisticated equipment, scientific research, and the growing acceptance among other health care professionals makes chiropractic a popular health care choice. Chiropractic Philosophy The chiropractic perspective on health and disease emphasizes two fundamental concepts: 1) the structure and condition of the body influences how the body functions and its ability to heal itself; and 2) the mind-body relationship is instrumental in maintaining health and in the healing processes. Although chiropractic shares much with other health professions, its emphasis and application of philosophy distinguishes it from modern medicine. Chiropractic philosophy gravitates toward a holistic ("total person") approach to healing which combines elements of the mind, body and spirit and maintains that health depends on obedience to natural laws, and that deviation from such laws can result in illness. Widespread Use of Chiropractic Care The increasing interest in alternative forms of care has caught the attention of several health associations and government agencies. A 1993 study in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that "The estimated number of visits made in 1990 to providers of unconventional therapy was greater than the number of visits to all primary care medical nationwide," and chiropractic was among the most frequently used non-medical therapies. A followup report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1998 found that the use of non-medical treatments had increased significantly since the 1990 survey, with "overall prevalence of use increased by 25%, total visits by an estimated 47%, and expenditures on services provided by practitioners of alternative therapies by an estimated 45%." Of the survey respondents, one in nine (11%) had used chiropractic care within the previous year. Healthy Tips for a Healthy Spine The following tips can help you take better care of your spine: 1) Make sure you have a firm mattress that keeps the spine aligned and supports the spine's natural curve. A mattress can be too hard, so some pad or cushioning might be needed. The best sleeping position is on your back. The next option is to be on your side with the bottom leg bent forard more than the top leg. DO NOT SLEEP ON YOUR BELLY. 2) When standing for extended periods, rest one foot on a small stool to maintain spinal curvature and relieve pressure. The knees should be bent when bending forward. Low-heeled shoes may help by maintaining spinal curvatures and cushioning your weight. 3) Use chairs that promote good posture and support your back. Placing a lumbar support in the lower portion of your back may help support your spine's natural curve. Readjust the seat of your car so that your knees are level with your hips. 4) Try not to sit for more than 20 minutes without getting up and moving around. 5) When bending forward, bend at the knees and hips, but keep your back straight. This will help to keep your spine's curvature in proper alignment. When lifting, keep your spine straight while using your legs to do most of the work. Hold the objects being lifted close to your body to keep the weight on your spine to a minimum. 6) When lifting do not hold your breath. Breathe through your mouth on the initial lift. 7) Exercise regularly. Walking is very good for the back. Light-weight lifting in a gym can be very beneficial if done carefully and properly. Swimming is a good exercise for the whole back. 8) Stretch and warm-up your muscles and joints before doing anything like housework, gardening, raking leaves or shovelling snow. Take stretch brakes in the middle of activities and be sure to do cool down stretches and exercises after activities. 9) Maintain a healthy weight for your body. Excess weight adds strain to the back and to the hips, knees and feet. Too low weight reduces muscle strength and joint stability. 10) Drink plenty of water. The ABCs of Subluxations "Subluxations" is a term used in chiropractic to describe the altered nerve function caused by the subtle misalignment or loss of movement of a spinal segment or vertebra. It has been found that when a joint area looses its normal motion, there are chemical and physiological changes that happen in that area that cause irritation and inflammation in the area. These have a variety of effects initially causing stimulation of neural receptors which tell the brain that something is going on - we translate that as discomfort or if the information signal is strong enough - we call it pain. If these signals are ignored, in time the brain stops "listening" to that information and we happily say, "the pain went away and it got better on its own." However, unless the cause of that irritation, the abnormal joint movement is corrected, the problem didn't go away and continues "silently" to cause damage to the joint surfaces (there are measurable levels of arthritic degeneration within 2 weeks) and expanding alteration of the nerve information being sent and receieved through that area, like an overloaded circuit board, which in time results in muscles, blood vessels and internal organs not receiving the correct neurological information to function in harmony with the related muscles or organs. Chiropractors are uniquely and specifically trained to find these areas of "subluxation" and also are trained how to go about restoring normal joint function and subsequently removing the irritation from the nerve system. THE BIG PICTURE How things work, There are always hazards that we encounter in our daily lives, whether it is the seasonal factors of raking leaves or shoveling snow, or the incidents of lifting something too heavy or twisting the wrong way. Sitting too long or sitting with poor posture can also be hazzardous to our spinal health. If something does happen while we are doing something, what is it that actually happens in the body? Say, for example, someone is shoveling the heavy wet snow and feels some pain in the low back. What causes the pain? What happens to the muscles? How does the body respond? This is probably the most important information about how your body works that I could ever pass on, and understanding this opens the door to the "owner’s manual for the human body". I hope that I can say it without getting too technical so that the message is conveyed without getting anyone lost in the forest. First it is necessary to convey how the nerve system is constructed and the basics of how it works. The nerve system is about communication. The brain and spinal cord form the “central nerve system” and are contained within the skull and spinal canal. The nerves out in the rest of the body are called the “peripheral nerve system.” There are two aspects of the nerve system – the part that gives information out to the muscles of the body telling them to do their thing, the motor nerves, and the part that brings information back from the body, the sensory nerves. The nerves, composed of many nerve fibers, exit from the central nerve system and then branch multiple times like a root system with finer and finer branches to single fibers, which branch again into multiple nerve endings. There are nerve endings almost everywhere. All nerve-to-nerve communication in this system happens in the central nerve system. There is a specialized part of the nerve system that controls and monitors the internal organs and functions almost automatically without involving the brain in the process. This is called “the autonomic system.” After exiting from the central cord, the autonomic nerves form a chain of interconnections through which information is passed up and down the chain so that the internal organs co-ordinate and function together. The nerves of this system are able to communicate in both directions. The autonomic system has two parts, the sympathetic, which acts as the accelerator, and the parasympathetic, which acts as the brake. A “motor” impulse arises in the brain when you decide to move your arm. The information is transmitted from the brain down a nerve fiber to the level of the spinal cord that controls the muscles in the arm. That nerve communicates (synapses) with one or more nerves in the spinal cord. The information is gathered in the cell body and then the impulse is sent out along the nerve axon that goes all the way to the muscle. Some of the information from the brain is also received in the cells of the specialized autonomic system and through it is sent out to the blood vessels to get more blood to the muscle. When the arm moves, a lot of information is collected from specialized sensory nerve endings. The contraction of the muscle pulling on the tendon triggers some nerve endings in the tendons. The movement of the joints of the arm triggers others. If in moving you contact something, pressure sensitive nerve endings are triggered. All of these and other nerve endings not mentioned here, combine to send information back to the spine and up to the brain to let you know that the arm is moving, how fast it is moving, where it is in space and that it has come in contact with something. The number of nerve endings that are stimulated determines the intensity of the signal along a particular nerve fiber. The nerve fibers are the long tails (axons) of the sensory nerve cells. The impulse coming to the cell has to reach a threshold of intensity before the cell passes the information along across the synapse to the next nerve cell in the line of communication. It has been found that an amazing amount of communication happens at this level. The information is first conveyed to the sensory nerve cells two or three spinal levels above and below the stimulated nerve. The second communication is with the motor cells at the same level telling the muscles to contract. The third level of communication is with the autonomic nerve cell at the same level, which then communicates with the whole sympathetic chain and influences the internal organs and blood vessels. The fourth communication is with the fibers of the spinal cord. These convey the information up to the brain. It takes information getting to the brain to translate the impulse as pain. Studies have found that only about 10% of the impulse triggered in the nerve endings reaches the brain, and 99% of the information that reaches the brain is discarded as unimportant. So it is evident that just because we don’t feel pain doesn’t mean that everything is fine. So, if you have survived this far you are doing well. What was the question again??? There are several potential sources for the pain that is felt in the back after shoveling snow. One could be overstrain of the muscles with pain coming from the nerve endings in the muscles themselves. If the strain on the muscles is severe there can be irritation and inflammation at the muscle tendons (the non-contractile tissue by which muscles attach to bone.) These also convey their distress through the nerve endings. If there is a muscle or tendon tear, blood and other material are released into the area and this causes a chemical irritation to the surrounding tissues including specialized chemically sensitive nerve endings. All of this sensory input travels along the nerves to the spinal cord where the information is received. Some of that information is communicated through synapses to nerves that go back out to the muscles at that spinal level and trigger changes in them. This can lead to tightening of the muscles around the vertebral joint and cause loss of motion in that joint. As you will recall from the discussion above, synapses also occur with the sympathetic nerve cells and these send out information through the sympathetic chain to the blood vessels redirecting flow to the injured area. The heart rate is increased to supply the blood. Breathing changes to oxygenate the blood. Information may also go to the adrenal glands, which can make you feel dizzy, weak or faint, and may even go to the digestive system which could make you feel sick at your stomach, if the sensory impulse from the injured area is strong enough. It is also possible that the pain could be coming from the structural misalignment of the vertebrae themselves. This misalignment results in an alteration of normal motion at the joints. Most typically this is a loss of motion, but in extreme situations it can be excess motion. The abnormally moving or locked joint starts causing the release of chemical substances. These chemicals also begin eroding the bone and the disc material. Within 2 weeks there is a measurable loss of material within the bones of the compromised joint. The chemicals are also irritants to the chemoreceptor nerve endings in the vicinity. Through them, further stimulus is sent back to the spinal cord and the input intensity at that level increases. As a result of the synapses information is sent up and down the spine 2 or 3 levels and communicates to the sensory and motor nerves at those levels causing more tightness in the muscles at those levels. This serves to splint the area in an effort to protect the injured area. The soreness and tightness increase. However, because the body needs to continue functioning, a neurological mechanism kicks in wherein the impulses traveling up the spine are blocked by the local nerve activity. This means that we feel less pain. The problem has not gone away, the message isn’t getting through to the brain. While this is useful in survival mode, it becomes a problem in the long term because we can somewhat ignore the fact that there is an area of malfunction. As I indicated there is degenerative change happening in the bone and disc substance that within 2 weeks is measurable. Left uncorrected, this leads to full-scale arthritic degeneration. Also, because the intervertebral disc is dependent on movement of the joint for nutrient supply and waste removal, it too begins to degenerate and weaken. This devolves into disc narrowing, disc annular tears, herniation (bulge) or even rupture. Something not to be ignored is the over-stimulation of the sympathetic system. Again while some of the changes initially may have been useful in an immediate “fight or flight” response, they are not useful if sustained. If the body is running with the accelerator pressed all the time, it causes strain on the adrenal glands, places demands on the pancreas to keep up with the need for blood sugar, overworks the kidneys to remove the extra waste products and triggers many other responses. The heart that was stimulated to pump enough blood for the crisis keeps pumping at that level. This can lead to high blood pressure. The diversion of blood from the internal organs to the injured area can leave the internal organs overloaded with waste products and undernourished for cellular function let alone repair. As the internal organs come under stress they convey that information through the autonomic nerve system (remember this communicates bi-directionally) and the information goes to the sympathetic chain to enlist help from other organs and also back to the spine where the nerve coincidentally synapses with motor neurons. They send out impulses to the muscles controlled from that level and the muscles tighten. In tightening they can limit the mobility of a vertebral joint and this begins, compounds or magnifies the whole cycle again. This also is the cause of referred pain to different parts of the body from organ malfunction. The role of chiropractic is to locate the areas of the spine that are not moving normally, assess why they are not moving correctly and restore normal motion. Understanding the process of what happens when an area is not functioning correctly, it is obvious how important it is to correct something as soon as possible and not let the whole cycle of malfunction and degeneration get established. It is also obvious that if things have been there a while, it is going to take more to undo the problem. Not only do we have to address the immediate area, but also all of the compensatory nerve effects at the neighboring levels have to be interrupted. The sympathetic imbalances need time to be corrected otherwise things can and will just tighten up again. Add to this, that if one area of the spine, e.g. the low back has not been moving correctly, other areas of the spine have to shift to accommodate that abnormal movement and it is possible to have things show up in the mid back and neck as well. Part of this is purely the compensation for the structural and gravitational effect of blocked movement and misalignment. The other part is the effect of the muscles which are tight in response to nerve stimulation triggered by that abnormal movement. So, in a longer-term condition it is a complex process of unraveling all of the pieces of the puzzle. The primary concern in any condition is the evaluation of the structural and motion integrity of the spine. Sometimes within the chiropractic scope, other things need to be addressed to facilitate change. These include dietary restrictions, dietary supplementation, trigger point or myofascial work, stretching and strengthening exercises. If the problem has progressed too far, other interventions may be necessary as in medication or even surgery. While pain is an important warning sign that something is wrong, its absence is not a good indicator that everything is right. Remember that less than 10% of the impulse generated at the nerve ending gets to the brain and 99% of what does get there is discarded as unimportant. This discarding is done because the information is old known background “noise” that the brain has to “live with” while dealing with the immediate things that are happening. This “noise” is fatiguing and contributes to breakdown at other levels. If the work is done to correct the spinal joint malfunction, there is also release of the sympathetic overload which allows for improved internal organ function, decrease in sensory stimulus and decrease in brain “noise.” There is increased wellness and increased sense of well-being. Definitely after any injury or incident that stresses the spine, have the spine checked. But don’t assume that because it doesn’t hurt that everything is fine. Also don’t ignore the little aches and pains – they are indicators that degenerative change is absolutely happening. Dr. Malcolm Williams INFLAMATION AND THE DAMAGE IT CAUSES The case for not ignoring "little things." It is always recommended that if you have a problem that persists for more than a short time after activity, it should be checked. I thought it would be useful to discuss what happens in an injury situation and why it is so important to have things corrected as soon as possible. When a tissue is injured, the body begins some automatic reactions. As a result of the injury some cellular substances are released into the surrounding fluid. These chemicals are not supposed to be where they now are. Their presence causes chemical reactions that cause further irritation and breakdown – the Inflammatory Response. This triggers the accumulation of fluids around them. Some of the body’s localized defense mechanisms kick in to begin countering the irritation and send the chemical information to the blood system that help is needed. The body responds increasing blood flow to the area. The blood carries white blood cells of various types that have the job of containing and cleaning up the “spill.” As quickly as possible some of the white blood cells go to work neutralizing the irritating substances by binding with them. This not only neutralizes these chemicals but also makes large enough clusters of them and labels them for the big white blood cells – macrophages – to find them and eat them up. As this happens the inflammation gradually decreases and in time things return to normal. The excess fluid is drained away through the blood and lymph systems. Now if this process is triggered by an injury or strain in a joint, the matter is a little more complicated. The joint is in a contained environment within a joint capsule. Inside the joint are lubricating fluids. There is no direct blood supply into the joint space. The blood supply into the cartilage is small. This means that the white blood cells don’t get to the site quickly so the inflammatory process continues unchecked for longer. The swelling becomes more extensive and is destructive in a similar erosive way to a flooded lake or river. Because it is in a contained capsule, the swelling makes the joint stiff and sore. Swelling is the body’s attempt to splint the injury. The soreness is the message to stop using it. If a joint remains immobilized too long the bones of the joint begin to lose calcium. The next factor is that the chemicals of this inflammatory process have a mildly corrosive effect on the joint surfaces. They slowly dissolve the cartilage of the joint surface and if unchecked can even dissolve the bone. It is not that this is a wanton destructive event; it has reason in the body’s attempt to handle the situation. The calcium from the cartilage and bone acts as a neutralizing agent for these chemicals. However as the calcium is removed, the bone softens. Add to this the fact that the joint alignment is not correct so that rather than the surfaces meeting squarely as they are designed to, the joint mechanical and gravitational forces meet in places not designed for the job. So this abnormal pressure on a softened bone can deform the joint surfaces in what becomes a degenerated or “arthritic” joint. Some of the recent research suggests that the damage begins as soon as 2 weeks following an injury if it is not corrected. Also complicating the issue is the fact that the joint stability and support through the ligaments and muscles respectively have probably also been compromised. So, how can we help ourselves when we have an injury? The immediate answer is RICE +C, no, not the grain, the acronym for Rest, Ice, Compress and Elevate. I added the +C. I am suggesting Correction should be added to the list. 1. We need to eliminate the irritating factor. Simply put, this means STOP doing what is hurting you. REST. 2. We need to slow the inflammatory process while increasing the circulation to get the white blood cells there and to remove the excess fluid. Heat increases the circulation but also speeds up the fluid accumulation and the inflammatory response. Ice slows the inflammatory response but slows the circulation if left on for too long. However, if it is used in short periods it actually increases the circulation in a controlled way as the blood is brought to the area to warm the tissues. So using ice on for 10 minutes, off for 10 minutes and on again for another 10 minutes every hour is one recommended regimen. ICE (Depending on the size of the injured part shorter or longer times might be appropriate.) 3. We need to contain the injury as much as possible. In some situations wrapping the joint is appropriate trying to slow the swelling. If it is the back that is injured that is not possible. Some supports can be used very temporarily to reduce the amount of movement in the area and thus limit the irritation into the joint. COMPRESS 4. We need to reduce the accumulation of fluids into surrounding tissues. If the injury is to a leg or arm, we can help ourselves by raising the injured area – in theory above the heart – but practically at least that it isn’t the point where blood and fluids can pool in the tissues. ELEVATE. For some areas this may mean simply lying down. 5. In the bigger picture, we need to make sure that the joint is realigned so that the stresses are reduced. This ultimately removes the cause of the continuing irritation and stops the degenerative cycle in terms of the breakdown of the joint cartilage and bone. This is why I recommended calling for an appointment to have things checked and corrected. CORRECTION. There are studies suggesting that nutrients like chondroitin and glucosamine sulfate can actually help in the rebuilding of the joint cartilage. Taken in large enough dosage over time there is indication that some of the joint damage can be repaired. Obviously, the less damage to repair, the better the outcome.* I personally am taking a combination product daily to try to limit any ill-effect from my daily activities. (*These statements have not been evaluated or approved by the FDA. The supplements mentioned are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.) ARTHRITIS IS NOT A NATURAL AND INEVITABLE PROCESS OF AGING – IT IS THE ACCUMULATED EFFECTS OF UNCORRECTED INJURIES. By the way, these are the traumas and injuries at the physical level that I have been addressing here, but there are also traumas and injuries at the microscopic or chemical level. These include free radical oxidative injuries that can cause inflammation and trauma in joints (Rheumatoid Arthritis) or in organs (believed by some to be the cause of cancer, diabetes and many other diseases. They cause the same inflammatory reactions in the body. Dr. Malcolm Williams AGING - IT ISN'T ALL THAT IT IS CRACKED UP TO BE! Myths and Reality of the Aging Process Everybody does it and accepts it. "You have to grow old and accept all of the changes that come with it! They are natural after all, aren’t they?" ARE THEY? If that were the fact then presumably everyone’s experience of aging would be the same. Why then are some people crippled with arthritis while others in their eighties play tennis, dance and are very active and healthy? What makes the difference? In order to discover this, we will need to look at what we consider to be aging and at what seems to contribute to these changes. From the time we are born there are changes taking in our bodies that initially we call growing up. After about 20 to 25 years the body is fully developed and mature; there is no further growth, except perhaps at the waistline! From this time on the changes that happen are considered AGING. The earliest and most visible changes of aging are to the texture of the skin. It loses some of its elasticity and fine wrinkles begin to appear. The next most visible change is the appearance of a few gray hairs which over the years become more and more dominant. For some people, men particularly, there is frequently some loss of hair on the head. Often there are also changes in weight or at least in distribution of the weight giving the shaping of a middle-aged body. For most people somewhere in this process the need for glasses becomes apparent. The further advances of aging produce the awareness of increased aches and pains, joint stiffness, loss of flexibility and decrease of energy. We slow down and find it harder to do the things we used to do with relative ease. What causes all of these changes? There are a variety of factors that inter-relate that are being found as the causes of these changes. One factor is the action of Free Radicals. Another is the effect of uncorrected joint injuries. A third is the build up of toxins in the body. Free Radicals are not young hot-heads with strange ideas, although they do sometimes behave similarly! That is, they don’t conform and fit with the established order. "Free radical" is a chemical term for an electrically charged atom or group of atoms that is floating freely in the body looking for some means of neutralizing its charge. They do this by combining with other atoms or molecules, and because of their strength, they can either deposit where they should not be or pull out other molecules from where they should be by pulling an electron from the other molecules, leaving them chemically imbalanced. Either way the natural integrity of the cell or cellular component thus affected is compromised and begins to break down. The consequences of these changes are multifold. The simplest is that there is a scarring of the tissue which therefore looses its natural capabilities in that area. This is the case with the formation of cataracts and to some degree with bone in creating osteoarthritis, or with the heart and blood vessels which then develop circulatory and blood pressure problems. Where the "injury" occurs, the body sometimes attempts to destroy the involved cells which can lead to further breakdown and possibly even autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythmatosis or even some forms of cancer. In other situations the DNA or RNA inside a cell may be what is affected and this can change the function of the cell which could itself then become cancerous. The second type of cause for some of the changes associated with aging produces "symptoms" of aging that are often grouped under the heading of "ARTHRITIS." These include joint pain, muscle and joint aches, stiffness, decreased mobility of joints and also actual joint degenerative changes. What causes these? Is it just a natural part of aging brought about by wear and tear. To a degree the answer is yes, but there is more to it. Why, for example will a person have arthritic symptoms in one knee but not the other? Both knees are the same age and unless the person hopped a lot, both knees walked, ran and did about the same distance through the person's life. So, why the difference? Research has shown that within two weeks of an injury to a joint, degenerative changes start to take place. The injury causes abnormal alignment of the joint surfaces which therefore begin to irritate each other and ultimately begin to wear down the contact surfaces. In an effort to minimize this irritation, the body tries to restrict the motion of the surfaces against each other and lays down new bone which forms spurs and other deforming joint structures. The research has also shown that the sooner the bones are correctly realigned, the less the damage. So a primary culprit for these symptoms of aging is uncorrected joint injuries. The third aspect of the cause of aging is another broad topic. I am going to address it very briefly under the category of toxicity. While this links with the Free Radicals, it is a little different in the process of causing changes. Toxic substances are of two groups, those we take into our systems which the body cannot use and those that are waste products from the processes going on in our bodies, which because of other overload factors, the body cannot adequately clear. While the product itself might not be toxic, the effect of it and especially too much of it is toxic to our systems. Sugar is an example of this. Highly processed foods have more substances in them which are toxic and leave waste products in the system which are not useable by the body. These toxic substances are often not easily cleared from the body so they accumulate in different parts of the body partly because they simply lodge there and clog up the works or because the body transports them to places where they can most easily be neutralized for example by drawing calcium out from the small joints. This can lead to arthritic changes in the hands and feet. An example of the internal toxins is uric acid which gets stored and produces gout. From what has already been said, it is apparent that at least some of the "symptoms" of aging are not an inevitable feature of growing older, but are the accumulated effects of some unattended injuries, whether those injuries are at the microchemical level, the physiological level or at the musculoskeletal level. Almost everything considered so far is potentially avoidable and largely reversible if addressed early and consistently enough. The longer the time between injury and correction, the more residual effect there will be left in the system after correction and perhaps the correction may only be partial because some of the changes have become permanent. What can we do about the free radicals? There are some we can avoid taking into our systems by carefully selecting our foods and our food preparation methods. Whole natural foods eaten raw or lightly steamed, produce the least free radicals in the system. Barbecuing fatty meats produces major free radicals. Smoking causes free radicals. There are many other things to avoid or that we can change the way we do them, that limit the exposure to free radicals, but it is impossible to totally eliminate them especially living in our industrialized world. What we can do is take products called "ANTIOXIDANTS" which scavenge up the free radicals and neutralize them. Antioxidants include the common vitamins like C and E, but there are also more effective products like Melatonin, Superoxide Dismutase (SOD), Catalase, Glutathione Peroxidase and numerous other substances. These can be taken as supplements. They remove the free radicals from the system before they do their damage.* There is increasing evidence that there are some substances that help to repair some of the damage after it is done. Omega-3 and Omega-6 oils, Gamma-Linoleic Acid and Glucosamine Sulfate are some examples of these substances.* Prevention of injury is an expanding field in the application of ergonomics in the design of work stations, tools and almost everything else that we use. We are learning more about the importance of using the right tool for the job, not only because it works better, but because it does less damage to our bodies. Wearing good supporting shoes and reducing unnecessary impacts helps protect the joints in the legs as well as the spine. Recent studies are suggesting that low impact exercises like walking and swimming are far better than running. We must try our best to avoid injuries by taking the appropriate and reasonable precautions at home, at work and on the roads. Unfortunately things still happen and injuries occur. When they do, don't wait weeks for them to go away on their own. Remember, that after two weeks of being injured, permanent arthritic changes can begin to set in. When a joint injury goes away on its own, most times the body has successfully compensated around the injury. It has not necessarily fixed it. Some injuries can be corrected on there own, but there must be no limitation of movement, no discomfort and no residual inflammation if this has truly happened. Some injuries are so severe that even with specific long term care, there will be degenerative changes. In these situations, we can aim to minimize the range of these degenerative consequences. Toxicity is preventable by careful selection of foods, limiting exposure to fumes and other chemicals. There are nutritional supplements that can be used to help eliminate the toxins from the system. One of the most essential things for this is the drinking of plenty of filtered water. The body is composed mostly of water and that water is used constantly in the processes of body function. That water needs to be replaced with water - not with sodas or coffee or any other liquid. The water we drink helps remove the toxins from the body. It also replenishes this vital fluid at every level which stops the body from shriveling up. In this regard, salt intake should be limited as it is associated with causing the deposit of other elements in unwanted places, e.g. cholesterol in arteries and veins and calcium in kidney stones, and contributes to the aging process. So we do have options in how we age. There are some things we cannot stop, but we can make choices along the way that determine the quality of our older years. We need to do what we can to stay as healthy and active as we can. The things we can do to help ourselves to be as healthy as possible in our older years are: 1. Avoid intake of free radical producing elements - artificial food substances, highly refined foods and excess sugars. 2. Take antioxidant supplements to neutralize the free radicals we can't avoid. 3. Exercise regularly but choose the exercises with the lowest impact stresses. 4. Have injured joints checked and corrected as soon as possible and follow through with treatment until as much correction as possible has been attained. 5.Use nutritional supplements that assist in injury repair at all levels. 6. Avoid the intake of substances that are effectively toxins. 7. Limit our salt intake. 8. Drink lots of water 9. Maintain a balanced weight 10. Don’t smoke and avoid second-hand smoke. Additional things that make a difference: Avoid unprotected exposure to the sun. Avoid tea, coffee and spices that are harsh on the skin and on the inner systems. Positive things to do for ourselves to remain younger in mind and body: Keep an open mind and keep learning new things. Nurture a good sense of humor. Enjoy living, be creative and have fun. Love your life - do things that you love with people you love to be with. Dr. Malcolm Williams