Drinking water helps to keep your lower back healthy by removing waste and carrying nutients to the area. But are you getting enough water on a daily basis?

Over the years you may have heard different suggestions as to how much water you need to drink. The "golden standard" today is half of your body weight in ounces of water. Additional fluids besides water can count towards your needed amount, but aim for a least half of your daily fluid intake to be water.

Be careful thinking excess fluids can be healthy. Generally speaking there is no significant health benefit. But excessive fluid intake can result in health complications for individuals with heart conditions, high blood pressure, or swelling in your lower legs.

An additional benfit of increasing your fluid intake is that water is a natural diuretic. If you don't hydrate enough you body will retain  excess fluids. This is the primary reason older adults have to make multiple bathroom breaks during the night while sleeping.

Hopefully this advice will help you drink enough water every day; which in turn can keep your body and spine healthy and happy.

An often overlooked treatment that is highly successful for slipped or herniated disc is available in our office. This is a non-surgical alternative procedure for relieving low back, neck, arm and leg (sciatica) pain.

Treatment is directed towards relieving pressure on structures such as nerves and disc that may be a major source of pain. It can relieve the pain associated with bulging, herniated and degenerative disc. If you or someone you know have any one of these conditions have them call and schedule an appointment to see if they are a candidate for spinal decompression. Chiropractic first, Drugs second and Surgery last!

"Doctor, why do I need an adjustment once a month? I'm feeling fine!" For an answer, let's start with an examination of the human body, which is composed of several hundred trillion tiny cells.

Some of these cells are joined into groups which makes up organs. Some make up bones, some hair and so forth. These systems may work independently of each other or they may work in conjunction with each other. They work, however, only when ordered by the central nervous system.

Your body, like an electronic computer, does what it is told to do by either internal or external stimuli.

As an electronic computer must have an air conditioning system to filter the air in which it works, so must your body. Your built in air conditioning sytem is geared to maintain your normal temperature of 98.6 degrees day and night.

More interesting facts: Your body contains approximately 100,000 miles of blodd vessels, some trillion red blood cells and 232 million nerve fibers. Your heart pumps about 3,000 gallons of blood every 24 hours.

I think that after marveling at these facts performed by your body, you will decide that it makes sense to maintain the central nervous system which controlls all the other systems. We see to it that our car has regular oil changes, grease jobs and tune-ups. Why not do the same for your irreplaceable body? Remember, we can install new parts for a damaged car or simply relegate it to the junk yard. But the body has no trade-in! Let us help keep yours in mint condition with a monthly adjustment. It pays to maintain good health.

The next time you hurt your back, don’t reach for the ibuprofen or ask for a prescription painkiller.  A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concludes you can get on your feet again with the simple, effective, drug-free therapy of spinal manipulation. In chiropractic spinal manipulation therapy, a doctor of chiropractic applies specific forces to your spine to align your vertebrae correctly, thereby improving mobility and reducing pain.  In this study, patients with less than six weeks occurrence of low-back pain used a 100-point scale to rate their pain.  Patients treated with spinal manipulation felt that their pain improved by an average of 10 points. In addition, they moved through their day with less overall pain than people who didn’t receive the therapy.

Ditch the Drugs
Recent guidelines from the American College of Physicians suggest that spinal manipulation and other therapies like acupuncture and massage should be tried before over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen or naproxen. And, with their risk of addiction, prescription painkillers are also strongly discouraged. While spinal manipulation is safe and effective, there is no evidence it has any serious adverse effects. Minor side effects, like soreness, are generally transient.

What kid doesn’t want a ride on one of the flashy self-balancing hoverboards, zipping along the sidewalk without a care in the world? Unfortunately, a new study shows that these seemingly benign toys have sent a slew of children to the emergency room for various injuries. Among U.S. kids under 18 treated in emergency rooms in 2015-16, a total of 26,854 injuries can be chalked up to hoverboards. Right after the first models were launched, there were reports of boards overheating or catching fire. But rather than burns, the majority of injuries sustained by kids using hoverboards came from falls.  The journal Pediatrics reported that kids most often presented with injured heads, forearms, or wrists, with more than 40 percent of injuries being classified as fractures. Doctors also noted contusions, strains, and sprains. Fortunately, only about three percent of injuries required hospitalization. Dr. Sean Bandzar, an emergency physician at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and Columbia University Medical Center in New York City and lead author of the study notes that most of these injuries could be prevented with protective gear. And, since most hoverboard injuries occurred at home, the study found that parental supervision in combination with helmets, leg, and wrist pads, is the best preventative to hoverboard injuries.  While it’s true that wheeled toys like hoverboards and skateboards definitely carry risk of injury, there is a great benefit to children to getting exercise and improving their coordination.  To provide the safest possible environment for play with these devices, parents should provide proper supervision and make wearing protective gear a non-negotiable house rule.

A new French study suggests that lifting with the knees takes more energy than bending at the waist, but that improper lifting can cause lower back pain. The study, published in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, found that heart rates increased when subjects squatted to raise and lower a box. The extra energy demand may be why most people ignore warnings about possible back strain.