October is the official month for Breast Cancer Awareness.  According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, exceeded only by lung cancer.  Prevention is key to reducing your risk of developing this devastating disease.  Some risk factors, such as family history, can’t be changed, but breast cancer prevention actually starts with healthy habits.  Here are some lifestyle changes that you can take toward breast cancer prevention.

1. Maintain a healthy body weight: weight gain in midlife as well as having a body mass index above 25 have been shown to significantly increase the risk of developing breast cancer.
2. Limit your alcohol consumption: the more alcohol you drink, the greater your risk of developing breast cancer.  Try to limit yourself.
3. Don’t smoke: long-term smoking is linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, especially in premenopausal women.
4. Avoid exposure to radiation and environmental pollution: high doses of radiation such as those used for medical imaging have been linked to breast cancer risk, so limit your exposure by having test only when absolutely necessary.  Research also suggests a link between breast cancer and exposure to chemicals found in gasoline fumes, vehicle exhaust and parabens found in some shampoos, lotions, deodorant, and makeup.
5. Exercise regularly: research shows that physical activity can reduce overall breast cancer risk by 10-30 percent!  Even a simple 30-minute walk five days a week can be effective.
6. Keep a healthy diet: a healthy diet can help you maintain a healthy weight, which is a key factor in breast cancer prevention.  Eat a diet high in vegetables and fruits and low in refined sugar and carbohydrates.  Choose lean proteins and whole grains and avoid processed foods while limiting your intake of red meat.   It’s also important to consume an adequate amount of Omega-3 fats.

Prevention is the most powerful weapon you have against breast cancer!  Keeping a positive mental outlook and embracing an overall healthy lifestyle can reduce your risk of breast cancer as well as many other diseases so you can enjoy a long fulfilling life.

If you have any questions or need anything... Call your Elkhorn Chiropractor today! 

The Results Are In! 

Perception: 68.7% of patients chose chiropractic care as their first choice for musculoskeletal complaints and 21.2% went in for general health and well-being.

Demographics: While 67.1% of survey takers were female patients of chiropractic care mostly between the ages of 45-65, both men and women frequent chiropractors for their health.

Satisfaction: So far only a small portion of the population in Australia sees a chiropractor, yet most survey takers would receive chiropractic care again as 97.5% were satisfied with their service.

Although 68.7% of patients chose chiropractic care as their first choice for muscle and joint aches, they usually discover chiropractic LAST for help with chronic disease? Chiropractic as a profession has ridiculed, called "quacks" and even been taken to court for claiming to help such cases of chronic disease. The main argument on the other side is, "the reason the patient was able to get such great results with chiropractic was because it was ALL IN THEIR HEAD". 

So the argument is; this same patient who chose medicine FIRST (obviously having more faith in medicine than non-allopathic approaches), didn't get the results they were looking for, left the model of care and then chose chiropractic (obviously having less faith in this model since it wasn't their first choice) and GOT RESULTS?!? 

The same goes for chiropractors who adjust babies and animals... How do these two populations get measurable and reproducible results if it's based on "belief level"? 

Chiropractic is SCIENCE. We explain it every Tuesday at 7pm and Saturday at Noon.  Just RSVP and we'll save you a seat! 

Chad Schleiger, D.C.
Elkhorn's pediatric and wellness chiropractor
262.215.2292 or [email protected]

We all know the old question, "Which came first? The chicken or the egg?"
Just as Adam and Eve preceded their eggs (and hence offspring) so too did the chicken precede it's egg. 

But what does this have anything to do with symptoms or dysfunction?

The answer is simple.  One has to precede the other.  And in this case, and most all other cases, the Dysfunction precedes the symptoms. 

Because our bodies are so adaptable, we often manage in spite of a growing problem that keeps nagging us. We may not yet have obvious symptoms, but our capacity to adapt is diminished.

Then, all it takes is a sneeze, tying our shoes or the stress of a deadline to put us over the edge and symptoms appear.

You might say, “But I didn’t do anything!”

Actually, there were probably subtle signs that something was amiss. We all have a different threshold of “body awareness.” Become more aware of your body. Take note of even small changes in your energy level, sleep habits and elimination. Take action while your body is still whispering, rather than waiting until it’s shouting for help!

Call your Elkhorn Chiropractor today and start the road to prevention and wellness.  Experience what it feels to be fully adaptive through your nervous system! 

5. OMG I think I’m getting sick again, I need to get some pills from my doctor.

6. Oh I can never give that up, I’m Italian.

7. What’s the point, I’m too old.

8. It runs in my family, there’s nothing I can do about it.

9. Exercise is too hard and it’s not for me.

10. Oh she’s healthy and skinny, she’s so lucky…..it must be good genes.

11. Everything in moderation!

12. I feel fine, if it ain't broke don’t fix it.

13. I’m depressed, I think I need another pill to fix it.

14. Eating healthy is too expensive.

15. Diet Coke please. What? It's sugar-free. 

16. I’ll get the low fat one.

17. Water…ewww, I don’t like the taste.

18. I’ve tried EVERYTHING and nothing works.

19. Make sure you sanitize that, and wash your hands!

20. Don’t feed that to the dog, it’ll make him sick! That’s for the kids.

Position Your Body for Success
One important aspect to living a life of wellness is exactly that – living! We live and enjoy this life by being active, allowing our spine, nervous system, and joints to move for optimal functioning.

We can be active by playing a sport, working in the garden, working on a project, or even going on a hike.

Before you dive into your favorite activity, position your body for success and good health. Here’s how:

Remember to warm up.Whatever the sport or activity you love, sometimes it’s easier to just dive in without a proper warm-up. By not warming up the joints, the chances of straining a muscle or injuring a ligament increase, keeping you on the sidelines.

Warming up is simply starting out slowly. Get your body moving in whatever activity you enjoy, gradually building momentum. If your activity is walking, start slowly and gradually build up speed to your comfort level. Starting out slowly allows your muscles and joints to receive the oxygen and nutrients they need to perform the activity.

By warming up, not only will your body be better prepared for physical activity, but you will also notice improved physical performance.

Utilize proper posture and movement. For example, if you’re planting flowers in the garden or working on a project in the garage, remember to lift objects with support from your legs rather than with your back alone. Keeping your back in an upright position while lifting with your legs will help the discs in your spine to stay active and healthy.

Rather than bending down and twisting your back while shoveling, keep your back straight, bend at the knees, lift the loaded shovel with your legs, and turn with your whole body. If you find yourself on your knees for an extended period of time, remember to take a break, get up and move to increase circulation to your leg muscles and knee joints. Studies have shown that active engagement in improving your posture and movement reduce lower back pain.

Together with chiropractic care, warming up with healthy joint movement and body posture will allow you to better enjoy your favorite activities while avoiding injury. You will be able to enjoy a healthier lifestyle, enabling you to further enrich the lives of those you love.

The Link Between Your Spine & Digestive Disorders
Everyone at one time or another has experienced the discomfort of bloating, gas, irritable bowel, constipation, diarrhea and other digestive disorders, and over $80 billion is spent every year on controlling these symptoms. In some disorders, such as Crohn’s disease, patients often require recurring hospitalization and even surgery. Traditionally, triggers have been thought to be stress, diet or infection, but new research has shown that digestive problems have a strong neurological component.

It’s easy to see why patients with all kinds of digestive and intestinal disorders respond well to adjustments performed by a chiropractor. Every process performed in your body is monitored and controlled by the central nervous system and the network of nerves exiting the spine, and removing the pressure on these nerves caused by spinal misalignments allows for normal transmission of messages to your digestive system.

If you are having digestive issues, you may not think to call an Elkhorn chiropractor first, but a growing body of research suggests that perhaps you should.

What The Research Says
A 2012 study evaluated the clinical effect of spinal manipulation (adjustments) in treating irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) compared with medication. Researchers randomly divided 210 IBS patients into spinal manipulation and medication groups. All patients in the spinal manipulation group received a total of five treatments. Symptoms were evaluated based on bowel symptom scale scores before and after treatment to evaluate the effects of treatment, and to statistically compare both groups.

Post-treatment results showed that of the spinal manipulation treatment group, 92 cases had excellent results, 10 cases had good results, 3 cases had fair results, and 0 cases had poor results. There were no adverse side effects from treatment. In comparison, in the group receiving medication, 30 cases had excellent results, 41 cases had good results, 12 cases had fair results, and 22 cases had poor results.

The researchers concluded that displacement of vertebra in the thoracolumbar spine appears to negatively effect the function of the digestive system. Correcting this misalignment and resolving the abnormal stimuli caused by pressure exerted on the nervous system is, according to the authors of the study, “an effective treatment for IBS”.

Earlier case studies have also shown that treatment by a chiropractor is an effective method for relieving constipation in pediatric patients.

Chiropractic Help For Crohn’s Disease
In another study evaluating the effectiveness of chiropractic treatment for patients with Crohn’s disease, 70% of the patients who had battled with chronic digestive problems showed long-term and stable remission of their symptoms without medication after 12 weeks of regular chiropractic care.

The researchers concluded that “chronic nerve compression secondary to vertebral subluxation in the thoracic and lumbar regions had a significant effect on the immune function of these allergy and Crohn’s disease patients.” Furthermore, “this nerve compression leads to a chronic functional disorder having a significant effect on digestion, absorption of nutrients and liquids, conveyance of food as well as various other functions of the digestive tract extending to excretion.”

The Wellness Pointe : Chiropractic Advantage
The bottom line is this: chiropractic care should be strongly considered as a complementary treatment to conventional medical methods of improving bowel function. The health of the spine and nervous system needs be examined along with diet and nutritional habits.

Need a chiropractor in Elkhorn? At The Wellness Pointe we utilize a low-force, non-invasive, conservative approach to treat the structural problems that cause digestive disorders like IBS and Crohn’s Disease. To make an appointment at The Wellness Pointe, call 262-215-2292 or schedule an appointment via email [email protected].

Chad Schleiger, D.C.
pediatric and wellness chiropractor
elkhorn, wi

Sources:
Qu L., et al. Irritable bowel syndrome treated by traditional Chinese spinal orthopedic manipulation. J Tradit Chin Med. Dec 2012; 32(4):565-70.
Takeda Y., Arai S., Touichi H., Mieda T. Long Term Remission and Alleviation of Symptoms in Allergy and Crohn’s Disease Patients Following Spinal Adjustment for Reduction of Vertebral Subluxations. Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research. March 2003; 4(4).
Alcantara J., Mayer D. The successful chiropractic care of pediatric patients with chronic constipation: A case study and selective review of the literature. Clinical Chiropractic (2008); 11:138-147.

All of us who’ve experienced a back injury of one sort or another have been told at some point to “avoid heavy lifting.” That type of advice appears to be a no-brainer or at least redundant, as no one whose back is hurting is going to try to pick up an air conditioner or even a 100-foot reel of garden hose. In this context, it’s important to remember the words of Shakespeare’s Cassius: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves”. The problem isn’t the heavy lifting, as such. The real problem is in us, that is, in our overall level of conditioning or physical fitness.

Most back injuries don’t occur as a result of heavy lifting, but rather are caused by a seemingly innocuous event such as bending over in the shower to retrieve a bar of soap that has fallen to the floor. Other likely pain-producing scenarios are bending over to place a bag of groceries in the trunk of a car bending over to tie a loose shoelace. None of these circumstances involved lifting extraordinary weight.  Rather, the common elements are lack of flexibility and lack of appropriate muscle tone and strength to support the weight of your body in a forward flexed position.

The problem isn’t lack of big muscles. Picking up a bar of soap or positioning a 15-pound grocery bag doesn’t require bulging biceps or massive lats. The problem is lack of conditioning. Most of us no longer do actual physical work on a regular basis. We spend the large majority of our day sitting, either working, reading, or watching entertainment on television or other devices. The result of such lack of activity is twofold. Muscles lose strength and muscle fibers are replaced by fat. Additionally, tendons and ligaments contract and become tight, losing their necessary composition of elastic fibers. The functional loss associated with these physiological changes is profound. We experience these change every time we feel a twinge, or worse, in our backs.

The fix is easy and primarily focuses on building up core muscle strength.1,2 Core training is directed toward your deep abdominal muscles. The main such muscle is the transverses abdominis, which surrounds your entire waist, protecting and supporting your lower back. You can think of this critically important structure as your internal weight belt. Activation of the core muscles is required for all effective physical activity.3 Without this essential foundation, any minor attempt at work, even bending over to pick up a pencil, can lead to disaster in the form of excruciating back pain.

Core training includes exercises such as the scorpion, lying windmill with bent legs, pushups, squats, and the plank. Many good books and numerous online videos are available to provide instruction in the performance of core exercises. Your chiropractor is experienced in rehabilitative exercise and will help guide you to the training methods that are best for you.

Initial signs of TOXICITY are usually NONE. 

Healthy lifestyles are the biggest threat to the growth and expansion of the drug industry. A recent Forbes magazine cover article, “Pharma’s New Enemy: Clean Living,” thoroughly addressed this subject from the position of the consumer as well as the investor. Consider the following perspective from the article: “Do you really need all those prescription and over the counter pills you are popping? Maybe not.  There’s a backlash building against the cost, risk and side effects of medication, and it’s bad news for the pharmaceutical industry.”
The message was driven home even more powerfully when the article noted: “The results of pill dependence are insidious and devastating: billions of dollars in ever-higher drug costs; millions of people enduring sometimes highly toxic side-effects; and close to 2 million cases each year of drug complications that result in 180,000 deaths or life-threatening illnesses in the elderly.”
As the article notes, “Every few years the ultimate medical catastrophe: a miracle cure that turns out to be toxic.” (Think Vioxx, Avandia, hormone replacement therapy, Paxil and the link.) Every drug is a toxin!
It used to be that an apple a day would keep the doctor away. The recommendation now is an aspirin a day. It turns out, however, that an aspirin a day for at least five years increases a woman’s chance of developing breast cancer by 80%. Seems like a good idea to take your chances with the apple.
If you get breast cancer, chances are that the drugs prescribed will cause more harm than good. Many women have been prescribed Tamoxifen. Research now shows that taking Tamoxifen increases the chance of incidence and death from uterine cancer.
Even something as seemingly harmless as over-the-counter children’s cough medicine can be deadly. A cough rarely kills a child, but cough medicine and cough syrup just might. The CDC recently released a warning to parents after more than 1,500 infants and toddlers wound up in emergency rooms and three children died because of reactions to overdoses of pediatric cold medicines. Behind the scenes, one doctor admitted, “Fluids and patience are the best treatments.”
The most common prescription drugs sold in the U.S. today, and possibly the most toxic to your system, are antidepressant medications. Possible side effects include: suicide, aggressive behavior, nausea, insomnia, anxiety, restlessness, decreased sex drive, dizziness, weight gain or loss, tremors, sweating, sleepiness, fatigue, dry mouth, diarrhea, constipation, headaches, and on and on. Clearly, the issues of toxicity are severe with this type of drug.
If you look at the top 20 best-selling drugs in the U.S., you will be amazed to by two things: the sheer dollars spent and what they are prescribed for. The top drugs sold are for pain, heart disease, heartburn and many other conditions that could easily be prevented by nutrition, exercise, chiropractic treatments and the removal of toxicity.
As you’ve heard in the past, there is no free lunch. That is the case with medication. Even if the drug makes the symptoms go away, you will pay the price on the back-end with the side effects of toxicity; side effects that sooner or later tend to turn out worse than the condition the drug was prescribed for in the first place. You want to know what really puts a whole lot of people in the nursing home instead of in a suite on a cruise ship? It’s often the pills they’re taking or have been taking for years.

Start chiropractic in Elkhorn and let us help you avoid the nursing home and spend retirement on a cruise ship, on the lake or enjoy it however you desire. 

[email protected] or 262.215.2292 

Chad Schleiger, D.C.
pediatric and wellness chiropractor

According to a new study in JAMA Pediatrics, concussions are common in middle and high school girls playing soccer. While CDC numbers indicate 173,286 sports-related brain injuries among children, about 50,000 of these injuries occur in middle and high school soccer players. That's almost a third of childhood traumatic brain injuries, and yet the CDC openly acknowledges that these figures are hard to track so the numbers may be even higher!

However, for anyone familiar with the short-term and long-term repercussions of this injury, the scariest stat is that 58.6% of teenagers who get a concussion continue playing soccer through the symptoms! Many doctors feel that "brain rest" is one of the most important things to do with any athlete suspected of having a concussion. Continuing to play and risk additional injury is dangerous.  

It's clear that recreational and school athletic teams must do a better job of assessing, monitoring, and protecting these young athletes, but it's also the parent's responsibility to protect their children. If you have kids, we recommend contacting their school and coaches to make sure both are informed about brain injuries and know how to appropriately assess and treat them.

Additionally, there is more to be concerned about than just the really scary injuries. Physical trauma in sports is very common, and long-term structural changes to the spine can result in chronic pain and dysfunction. That's why I recommend all children, especially athletes, get checked regularly by a chiropractor to ensure they not only prevent chronic injuries, but also perform at their best!

Contact your Elkhorn Chiropractor today! 
[email protected] or 262-215-2292

Chad Schleiger, D.C.