A Dose of Health

I know this is a blog about health, so I thought I should come clean. I, Felicia, am a crack addict. I must get my “crack on” at least once a week or else I’m no good to the world.

The crack I’m talking about is my chiropractic adjustment. There’s nothing like the sound of a good crack, the release of muscle tension and the ability to touch my toes again. Sometimes it’s all about touching my toes and other times its about being able to look at objects placed to the right of my shoulder and other times I get my crack on because it’s the right thing to do for my body.

Chiropractic visits are like brushing my teeth. I’m not too pleasant to be around if I don’t do both of those things regularly.

The Crack Controversy

People who are either new to the idea of chiropractology (there’s really no such word as chiropractology, but it sounds nice) or folks who are cynical say things like, “They (the chiropractors) are just after your money. They keep making you come back even when you’re feeling better.” Or, “Don’t go to a chiropractor, you’ll be going forever and never get better.” Or, better yet, “I can do it myself. Watch…” followed by the person turning their head from side to side in such a way to invoke the sound of popping Jiffy Pop popcorn (for the young folks, that’s how we made popcorn before the microwave).

Here’s My Chiropractic Story (and Theory)

After the birth of my second child, I experienced tingling and numbness down my right leg. My hip felt like it wanted to live three states away from the rest of my body. My hubby (wise man that he is), recommended that I see a chiropractor instead of going to the family physician.

From past experience, I found the family physician (who we affectionately call Dr. Prescription) would listen to my ailments with his prescription pad in hand. He would dutifully nod his head, hand me a few prescriptions and send me on my merry way. The prescriptions, muscle relaxants and pain relievers, were great if I wanted relaxed muscles and masked pain, but what I really wanted was to get rid of the source of the pain.

It’s kind of like having old broccoli in the trash and forgetting to take the trash out during a heat wave. I could spray all types of sweet smelling aerosols to mask the smell, but nothing will get rid of the stench until someone takes the trash out.

Finding the Source of the Problem

My chiropractor not only found the source of my problems, but my problems didn’t happen overnight. Many years of living has its way of moving bones around in such a fashion to accommodate the lifestyle of the day. If the lifestyle is pregnancy, the spine adjusts itself to accommodate it. When the lifestyle changes from pregnancy to carrying the bundle of joy on one hip while cooking meals and doing household chores, the spine, hips, shoulders all adjust to accommodate walking around with a bundle of joy on the hip.

Once a mom always a mom, after placing the baby on the ground to walk, mom has to carry a duffel bag (which doubles as a pocketbook) on the preferred shoulder. Usually the duffle bag is thrown on the shoulder of the same side that used to carry the child on the hip while cooking and doing household chores, further forcing the hip, back and shoulder to accommodate the current lifestyle. See a pattern?

Life Before and After Children

There were similar patterns before having children (you remember those dreaded school back packs) and even more spine altering patterns after having children. When you walk your dog on a leash, which arm does he pull most? Do you switch up or is Fido always on your right?

Pop a Pill and Call Me in the Morning

This type of wear and tear on the skeletal structure isn’t going to be resolved by a couple of pills. Pills can hide the pain, but it won’t get to the source of the problem. That’s why I became a crack addict. Initially I had to take a large dose of my chiropractic crack in an attempt to undo the poor skeletal alignment that resulted from years of living. One adjustment a week wasn’t enough to fix years of abuse.

After getting back on track, the number of weekly visits diminished. Now, I go once a week and I look forward to getting my crack on. I think of my adjustments as part of my maintenance routine. It fits right in there with brushing my teeth, drinking water, getting exercise, eating dark chocolate and getting my crack on.

There are more benefits to getting properly adjusted, but I’ll save that for another post.

Last week I found a dual use for my blood pressure cuff. Okay, let me back this up a bit.

Quite some time ago I bought a blood pressure cuff. I can’t remember why. It might have been when my Mom was sick or when someone in the house was running borderline high blood pressure. For whatever reason, I have one in the house.

It came in handy the other week when my daughter (who tends to be a bit of a complainer) complained about being ‘wheezy.’ She’s made the school team a few weeks ago and the squad is required to run a few miles a day.

Dr. Mom to the Rescue

Not knowing whether or not she wanted to get out of running, or if there was really something wrong, I whipped out my handy dandy blood pressure cuff and placed the stethoscope portion of it on her chest. Adorning my Dr. Mom personality, I had her take deep breaths.

After her first breath, I snatched the stethoscope from my ears and asked, “What did you say?”

She said that she didn’t say a thing.

Hmmm, with one eyebrow raised, I put the stethoscope back on and asked her to repeat the breathing process. Again I heard it. I wasn’t sure if she had swallowed a clarinet or was making  whistling sounds when I wasn’t looking.

I had her try it. She took a deep breath and then looked at me with her mouth hanging open and eyebrow raised. She heard the clarinet too.

Real Doctor to the Rescue

Off to the pediatrician’s office we went. After a nebulizer treatment, an inhaler and some antibiotics, she’s now better (a week later). Diagnosed with a bronchotic spasm, it seems to be much better now (much to her chagrin as she now has to run several miles a day).

My trusty blood pressure cuff served two purposes. It not only told me that my pressure didn’t go through the roof when I heard my daughter’s bronchiole orchestra, it was able to diagnose the cause of her wheezing.

So, when stocking your medicine cabinet with things like band aids, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol and ace bandages, why not add a blood pressure cuff to the supply list. It’s multi-purpose, relatively inexpensive and sure does come in handy.

If you do opt to get a blood pressure cuff, opt for the old fashioned kind with the stethoscope attachment. I’m not so sure the newer digitized cuffs are designed to detect lung issues.

As a result of one of my reader’s comments, I did a little research on Vitamin K. He suggested checking out vitamin K because I had shared my experience about my brain calcification scare. Thanks Stew for the heads up.

Apparently vitamin K helps the blood to clot normally, and helps to prevent heart disease. It also appears to help prevent calcification of the arteries. Does it help with brain calcification? I don’t know. I would think that since it prevents calcification in the arteries, it would help with the brain also.

According to the Health Encyclopedia, on the subject of Vitamin K “it has been hypothesized…it’s possible mechanisms include inhibiting brain calcification…”

Vitamin K also helps to prevent osteoporosis. Apparently it seems to be a facilitator in keeping the calcium in places where it’s supposed to be (the bones) and not deposited in places where it shouldn’t be (the arteries).

As if that wasn’t enough, Vitamin K also helps fight tooth decay. According to a study performed in the 1940’s by Dr. Leonard S. Fosdick , chewing Vitamin K coated gum for 10 minutes after every meal yielded a 60 to 90% decrease in new cavities over a period of 18 months. Vitamin K appeared to be more effective than fluorinated drinking water. Imagine that?

Where to get Vitamin K

Green leafy vegetables have an abundance of Vitamin K. Things like kale, spinach, collard greens, Swiss chard, mustard greens, broccoli and so on and so on. Go into your garden or your neighbor’s garden (with permission, of course) and start chomping away.

From what I’ve read, there are no ill effects of eating too much of the stuff. There might be ill effects if you choose to get your vitamin K through synthetic supplements. So, do yourself a favor and get it naturally.

Daily Recommended Dose of Vitamin K

I’ve read anywhere from 1-10 mg per day. To save yourself the headache of having to calculate how much to eat, just get your daily serving of greens each day. You’ll have your required amount of Vitamin K. According to The World’s Healthiest Foods, 1 cup of boiled kale gives you 1327.6% of the daily value.

Does Vitamin K Prevent Brain Calcification?

I can’t say that it does for sure, but it sure can’t hurt to get your daily required dose of vitamin K.