Back To School: Maybe Lighten those Backpacks!

Carrying too much weight can lead to back pain and spasms, shoulder and neck pain and posture issues for children.

http://www.spine-health.com/blog/practical-tips-lighten-school-backpacks?source=3tab

Can Chiro Treat Lower Back Pain in Pregnant Women?

Chiropractic treatments for pregnant women suffering from lower back pain has a very high success rate and can be combined with other treatments that do not include adding medications into the system.

http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/pregnancy-and-back-pain/treatments-low-back-pain-during-pregnancy

Most Kids Don’t Eat Three Meals A Day, Study Says

Kids get 42% of their calories from snacks

Eating three square meals a day is the oldest nutrition advice in the book, and some of the most important for staying healthy. But new research shows that children are snacking instead of eating three meals a day on a regular basis, a habit that could be contributing to overweight and obesity and putting them at risk of heart disease later in life.

In a series of reports published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the International Journal of Obesity and the European Journal of Nutrition, Aino-Maija Eloranta, a PhD candidate at the Institute of Biomedicine and Physiology at the University of Eastern Finland, and her colleagues followed a group of 512 boys and girls enrolled in the Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children (PANIC) Study. The children, ages 6-8, and their parents reported what the kids ate and drank for four days. The researchers also measured their body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose and insulin levels.

MORE: 7 Eating Habits You Should Drop Now

About 45% of the boys and 34% of girls in the study ate all three meals, meaning a majority of them did not. The most-skipped meal was dinner. “That was a surprise,” says Eloranta. “Among older children, adolescents and even adults, breakfast is the one that is skipped.”
Skipping dinner can have major implications for children’s health, she says, since it’s traditionally the most calorie- and nutrient-rich meal, giving growing children the energy they need to develop. In fact, the children who ate three meals a day had smaller waist circumferences and a 63% lower risk of being overweight or obese than those who skipped some of the major meals.

MORE: 5 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Breakfast

The scientists also found that among all kids, snacks provided as much as 42% of the children’s daily calories. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, says Eloranta, except that most snacks are high in sugar and low in healthy nutrients like fiber. On average, the children consumed more saturated fat (which has been linked to a higher risk of heart disease) and salt and ate less vitamin D, iron and fiber than guidelines recommend.

MORE: Alice Waters: The Fate of Our Nation Rests on School Lunches

Eloranta did find one positive trend: lunch. Because lunch was provided at school, it was lower in sugar and higher in nutrients and healthier fats than the kids’ other meals on average. This suggests that one of the best ways to help children maintain healthy weights and avoid heart problems later might be to give them three meals a day. “Maybe we don’t have to worry about single nutrients or single foods [like sugar or fat] that much,” she says. “When you eat meals, you automatically receive the good nutrients.”

Does chronic back pain begin in the teen years?

By Dr. Michael Noonan, Special to the BDN

Posted Dec. 25, 2014, at 10:36 a.m.

 

Dr. Michael Noonan

Most people assume that teens do not have back or neck problems, or if they do, they are just sore from an injury or overuse. But when I ask an adult patient with chronic back pain when they first started having problems, it is not unusual for them to tell me they recall pain in their teens.

I started going to a doctor of chiropractic at 16, for treatment of low-back and leg pain. (The treatment was successful enough to determine my career.)

A recent study published in the BioMed Central Musculoskeletal Disorders journal followed 1,300 11- to 13-year-olds for two years, and the results will likely surprise you. Well over 80 percent said they had some kind of spinal pain, either in the neck, middle back, or low back. As expected, most of the teens just had mild, brief bouts of pain, but about 14 percent of the 11-year-olds and 20 percent of the 13-year-olds described their pain as “frequent.” They also found that, for teens with more pain at the beginning of the study, the pain had a tendency to worsen, as well as spread to other parts of the spine.

In another study, 8 percent of 13-year-olds and 34 percent of 15-year-olds sought some form of health care for spinal pain in Denmark. An earlier study looked at the changes in spinal pain over eight years of over 9,500 Danish twins, ranging in age from 12 to 30.

According to the authors, back pain in adolescence is a big risk factor for more serious pain as an adult. This means that addressing back and neck pain in teens would likely prevent a lot of problems in adults; that was certainly the case with me.

Chiropractic care gave me immediate relief, and continuing care, along with a wellness lifestyle, helps me stay pain-free most of the time, despite a lot of back arthritis. Since back pain is the single largest “chronic disease burden” in the world, according to the World Health Organization, the long-term goal would be to treat back pain when it starts, rather than waiting for it to become chronic. It is also important to treat it from many angles — including getting regular exercise, especially stretching; a healthy diet that keeps inflammation at bay; and controlling stress.

My patients with chronic back and neck pain who “follow through” with their care and self-care do much better than those who don’t. After 30 years of practice, I have many patients return for the same problem we helped a few years earlier. The ones who continued to do their exercises and perhaps improve their diets respond better than the ones who don’t. Even better off are the patients who continue with what is called “supportive” or “maintenance” chiropractic care; they choose to continue care, typically between once a month and once every three months. This not only helps them maintain the relief they got initially, but also to improve over time. There is some research that supports this observation; that is why doctors of chiropractic have always recommended preventive care.

It is very gratifying for me when a parent brings their teenaged son or daughter to me for care. I feel I can give them a fighting chance to control their problem, and perhaps prevent a lifetime of taking pain medications and dealing with pain. And who knows, they just might make a career out of it.

Dr. Michael Noonan practices chiropractic, chiropractic acupuncture and other wellness therapies in Old Town. He can be reached at noonanchiropractic@gmail.com.

Childhood obesity may be prevented through reducing the amount of time kids spend using screen media

http://www.dailyrx.com/childhood-obesity-may-be-prevented-through-reducing-amount-time-kids-spend-using-screen-media

Reduce Screen Time To Trim the Fat

Childhood obesity may be prevented through reducing the amount of time kids spend using screen media

(dailyRx News) Trimming TV time may take childhood obesity down a notch. To help parents and inactive kids take a stand against childhood obesity, public health experts recommended cutting down screen media time among kids.

In a recent report, the Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) found that reducing the amount of TV and screen media helped lower kids' risk of being overweight and obese. Screen media time is time spent in front of a television, computer or cellphone screen.

Based on a past study, the task force confirmed that childhood obesity was tied to screen media exposure. In this new report, strong evidence supported that limiting screen time was effective in improving youth health and weight status, the task force authors wrote.

Barry Sears, MD, president of the Inflammation Research Foundation in Marblehead, MA, and creator of the Zone diet, told dailyRx News that simply reducing kids’ screen time alone would not be enough to stop childhood obesity. Parents can take other steps to keep their children healthy, he said.

“If the goal is to reduce childhood obesity, then there are more effective measures than simply reducing sedentary screen time," Dr. Sears said. "First and foremost is better meal planning that promotes [fullness] as opposed to hunger."

Dr. Sears continues, "The second is spending more interactive time with the child as opposed to using the computer or TV as a babysitter. Third is getting the child outside the house making it less likely to easily get to the kitchen."

The CPSTF — a group of public health experts formed by the US Department of Health and Human Services — reviewed 49 past studies that focused on the benefits of interventions only limiting screen time (screen-time-only interventions) and those both limiting screen time and adding other health components (screen-time-plus interventions).

Interventions were defined as ways to reduce inactive leisure screen time. They were also designed to help kids change their behavior to maintain low screen time. The CPSTF said this would help kids spend less time in front of the TV or computer in the long run.

The CPSTF noted that interventions could include classroom-based education, family- or friend-based social support, ways to track and monitor screen time, and coaching or counseling sessions.

The data showed that, for screen time watched, screen-time-only interventions reduced about 82 minutes of media per day. Screen-time-plus interventions reduced about 22 minutes per day.

Screen-time-plus interventions helped kids become more physically active. Kids who reduced their screen media time took and average of 130 more steps per day.

Concerning diet, screen-time-only interventions resulted in kids eating about 75 calories fewer per day on average. Screen-time-plus interventions resulted in kids eating about 118 calories fewer per day.

Reducing screen time among kids improved their health, the CPSTF said.

“Behavioral screen time interventions were found to be effective among children aged 13 years and younger,” the task force wrote.

The CPSTF noted, though, that only children ages 13 and younger were included in this review. They recommended that future reviews also study the effects of reducing screen time among middle and high school students, as well as adults.

This study has not yet been published but is available in The Guide to Community Preventive Services.

The authors disclosed no funding sources or conflicts of interest.

Travel Aches and Strains Can Be a Pain In Your Back

Traveling can be rough on the body. Whether you are traveling alone on business or on your way to a sunny resort with your family, long hours in a car or an airplane can leave you stressed, tired, stiff and sore.

"Prolonged sitting can wreak havoc on your body," says Dr. Scott Bautch, an ACA media spokesperson. "Even if you travel in the most comfortable car or opt to fly first class, certain pressures and forces from awkward positions can result in restricted blood flow. One of the biggest insults to your system from prolonged sitting is the buildup of pressure in the blood vessels in your lower legs. Contracting and relaxing the muscles helps the blood flow properly."

Dr. Bautch and the ACA suggest the following tips and advice to fight the pains and strains of travel before they occur.

Warm Up, Cool Down
Treat travel as an athletic event. Warm up before settling into a car or plane, and cool down once you reach your destination. Take a brisk walk to stretch your hamstring and calf muscles.

In the Car:

• Adjust the seat so you are as close to the steering wheel as comfortably possible. Your knees should be slightly higher than your hips. Place four fingers behind the back of your thigh closest to your knee. If you cannot easily slide your fingers in and out of that space, you need to re-adjust your seat.
• Consider a back support. Using a support behind your back may reduce the risk of low-back strain, pain or injury. The widest part of the support should be between the bottom of your rib cage and your waistline.
• Exercise your legs while driving to reduce the risk of any swelling, fatigue or discomfort. Open your toes as wide as you can, and count to 10. Count to five while you tighten your calf muscles, then your thigh muscles, then your gluteal muscles. Roll your shoulders forward and back, making sure to keep your hands on the steering wheel and your eyes on the road.
• To minimize arm and hand tension while driving, hold the steering wheel at approximately 3 o'clock and 7 o'clock, periodically switching to 10 o'clock and 5 o'clock.
• Do not grip the steering wheel. Instead, tighten and loosen your grip to improve hand circulation and decrease muscle fatigue in the arms, wrists and hands.
• While always being careful to keep your eyes on the road, vary your focal point while driving to reduce the risk of eye fatigue and tension headaches.
• Take rest breaks. Never underestimate the potential consequences of fatigue to yourself, your passengers and other drivers.

In an Airplane:

• Stand up straight and feel the normal "S" curve of your spine. Then use rolled-up pillows or blankets to maintain that curve when you sit in your seat. Tuck a pillow behind your back and just above the beltline and lay another pillow across the gap between your neck and the headrest. If the seat is hollowed from wear, use folded blankets to raise your buttocks a little.
• Check all bags heavier than 5-10 percent of your body weight. Overhead lifting of any significant amount of weight should be avoided to reduce the risk of pain in the lower back or neck. While lifting your bags, stand right in front of the overhead compartment so the spine is not rotated. Do not lift your bags over your head, or turn or twist your head and neck in the process.
• When stowing belongings under the seat, do not force the object with an awkward motion using your legs, feet or arms. This may cause muscle strain or spasms in the upper thighs and lower back muscles. Instead, sit in your seat first, and using your hands and feet, gently guide your bags under the seat directly in front of you.
• While seated, vary your position occasionally to improve circulation and avoid leg cramps. Massage legs and calves. Bring your legs in, and move your knees up and down. Prop your legs up on a book or a bag under your seat.
• Do not sit directly under the air controls. The draft can increase tension in your neck and shoulder muscles.

Safe Travel For Children:

• Always use a car seat in a car when traveling with children below the age of 4 and weighing less than 40 pounds.
• Ask the airline for their policy on child car seat safety. Car seats for infants and toddlers provide added resistance to turbulent skies, and are safer than the lap of a parent in the event of an unfortunate accident.
• Make sure the car seat is appropriate for the age and size of the child. A newborn infant requires a different seat than a 3-year-old toddler.
• Car seats for infants should always face the rear. In this position, the forces and impact of a crash will be spread more evenly along the back and shoulders, providing more protection for the neck.
• Car seats should always be placed in the back seat of the car-ideally in the center. This is especially important in cars equipped with air bags. If an air bag becomes deployed, the force could seriously injure or kill a child or infant placed in the front seat.
• Make sure the car seat is properly secured to the seat of the vehicle and is placed at a 45-degree angle to support the head of the infant or child.

Chiropractic Care Can Help...
"If you follow these simple tips, you can enjoy pain-free, safe travel," says Dr. Bautch. "If you do experience pain and stress on your back, doctors of chiropractic are trained and licensed to diagnose and treat problems of the spine and nervous system."