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WORKPLACE WELLNESS: GOOD FOR EMPLOYEES AND GOOD FOR BUSINESS

A survey of CEOs has found that “healthier employees” is the number one reason why companies implement health promotion programs. Numerous studies show that improving employee health can have a direct financial return on investment by lowering health care costs, lowering absenteeism, and increasing employee productivity.

Anti-obesity programs often result in the most significant and immediate improvements for both employees and the business. Weight loss among obese employees has the potential of positively influencing spouses and children, significantly reducing an organization’s participating health care costs. For example, obese people spend 77 percent more on medications than the non-obese.

Obesity is associated with numerous serious health conditions, including hypertension, Type II diabetes, stroke, heart disease and certain types of cancer, which contribute to higher health care costs for employers. High obesity rates in the US directly raise health care costs and lower employer profits. Employers spend $13 billion annually on the total cost of obesity, and 9.1 percent of all health care costs in the country are related to obesity.

Obesity also reduces productivity, for two related reasons. The first is obvious: chronic absenteeism due to various chronic illnesses associated with obesity. But “presenteeism” is also a serious factor – the cost of lost productivity due to employees actually coming to work and producing far below job requirements because of health and other personal problems.

Potential benefits to employers of an employee health and wellness program are:

Reduced cost for chronic diseases
Decreased absenteeism
Reduced employee turnover
Improved worker satisfaction
Demonstrated concern for your employees
Improved morale

Potential benefits to employees are:

Greater productivity
Reduced absenteeism
Improved fitness and health
Greater social opportunities and support within the workplace

Other benefits that can result from a successfully implemented obesity prevention program include improved employee morale, better worker retention and improved recruiting of new employees.

No Comments by Laurie Puckett on July 28, 2011

filed in Articles, Just for Fun, Uncategorized, Wellness

CHILDREN WITH HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE HAVE 4X GREATER RISK

Children with hypertension (elevated blood pressure) are much more likely to have problems with learning and behavior than children with normal blood pressure, says a new study from University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) published in the journal Pediatrics.

When variables such as socio-economic levels are evened out, the study says, children with hypertension were four times more likely to have cognitive problems. In other words, it’s harder for them to remember, learn, and think.

The study also found that children with high blood pressure are more likely to have the symptoms commonly labelled as “attention deficit hyperactivity disorder” (ADHD). In other words, they have trouble paying attention, performing and completing tasks, and tend to be ‘hyperactive’, and impulsive.

“Although retrospective, this work adds to the growing evidence of an association between hypertension and cognitive function. With 4 percent of children now estimated to have hypertension, the need to understand this potential connection is incredibly important,” said Heather R. Adams, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at URMC, and an author of the study.

The 201 children in the study were between 10 and 18-years-old, and their parents reported their diagnosis and symptoms. Fully half of the patients, 101, actually had hypertension (sustained high blood pressure) as determined by medical monitoring.

Overall, 18 percent of the children had “learning disabilities”, well above the general population’s rate of 5 percent. However, the percentage of children with normal blood pressure who had learning and behavioral problems was closer to 9 percent, and in those with hypertension the rate jumped to 28 percent.

Twenty percent of the children with hypertension had “ADHD” symptoms — trouble paying attention, performing and completing tasks, hyperactivity and impulsivity — whereas only 7 percent of those without hypertension had those problems.

The usual treatment for hypertension is dietary changes and various types of medications. Drugs can have unwanted side effects, but fortunately other treatment options exist which are safe and effective.

For example, according to the World Health Organization, controlled clinical trials have proven that Acupuncture is an effective treatment for essential hypertension. Acupuncture opens up specific channels that the body uses to flow energy, and can quickly relieve hypertension and normalize blood pressure.

The chronic stress of physical abnormalities of the musculoskeletal and nervous systems can also create blood pressure problems — problems that Chiropractic care handles very effectively. By realigning and reestablishing correct nerve function, Chiropractic care helps relieve underlying causes of hypertension.

No Comments by Laurie Puckett on July 18, 2011

filed in Articles, Children, Heart Health

CONDITIONS THAT MAY BE TREATABLE BY ACUPUNCTURE ACCORDING TO W.H.O.

The World Health Organization (WHO) published an official report on four categories of symptoms, conditions and diseases that have been shown to benefit from Acupuncture. In a recent Health Report, we presented WHO’s Category #1 list – diseases, symptoms or conditions for which Acupuncture has been shown, through controlled trials, to be effective – as a guide for patients seeking treatment, and to help patients and healthcare providers seek insurance coverage by showing WHO’s official recognition of Acupuncture benefits.

The WHO report also contained three additional categories of conditions for which recognized controlled trials had not been done, but for which Acupuncture nevertheless has been shown to be helpful.

The Category #2 list includes diseases, symptoms or conditions for which the therapeutic effect of Acupuncture has been demonstrated but for which further proof is needed.

Here is the list:

Abdominal pain	Acne vulgaris	Alcohol dependence
Bell’s palsy	Bronchial asthma	Cancer pain
Cardiac neurosis	Chronic cholecystitis	Cholelithiasis
Competition stress syndrome	Craniocerebral injury, closed	Diabetes mellitus (non-insulin)
Earache	Epidemic haemorrhagic fever	Epistaxis, simple
Eye pain due to injection	Female infertility	Facial spasm
Female urethral syndrome	Fibromyalgia and fasciitis	Gastrokinetic disturbance
Gouty arthritis	Hepatitis B virus carrier status	Herpes zoster (human)
Hyperlipaemia	Hypo-ovarianism	Insomnia
Labor pain	Lactation, deficiency	Male sexual dysfunction
Ménière disease	Neuralgia, post-herpetic	Neurodermatitis
Obesity	Opiate/opioid dependence	Osteoarthritis
Endoscopic exam pain	Thromboangiitis pain	Polycystic ovary syndrome
Postextubation in children	Postoperative convalescence	Premenstrual syndrome
Prostatitis, chronic	Pruritus	Radicular/pseudorad pain
Raynaud syndrome, primary	Recurrent urinary infection	Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
Retention of urine, traumatic	Schizophrenia	Sialism, drug-induced
Sjögren syndrome	Sore throat (and tonsillitis)	Acute spine pain
Stiff neck	Temporomandibular pain	Tietze syndrome
Tobacco dependence	Tourette syndrome	Ulcerative colitis, chronic
Urolithiasis	Vascular dementia	Whooping cough (pertussis)

If you or someone you know is having trouble with any of the above conditions, check with your acupuncturist to see if they can help.

No Comments by Laurie Puckett on July 14, 2011

filed in Alternative Medicine, Articles, Chiropractic, Chronic Pain, Diabetes, Fibromyalgia, Heart Health, Uncategorized, Weight Loss, Wellness

ACUPUNCTURE FOUND EFFECTIVE FOR HEPATITIS B AND C DEPRESSION AND MYALGIA

Patients with chronic hepatitis infections frequently experience symptoms of myalgia (muscle pain) and depression.

Patients are generally treated with strong prescription drugs that bring many unwanted side effects. Alternative treatments for such conditions that are both effective and free of any harmful or unwanted side effects are of particular value.

A recent study by Turkish scientists has found that both the depressive and pain symptoms in patients with chronic hepatitis B or C respond very well to treatment with Acupuncture – an effective therapy that is free of side effects.

The researchers selected participants from a field of 44 patients with varying degrees of severity of both depressive symptoms and myalgia, all with a background of chronic hepatitis infections. Selections were made using the Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI) for depressive symptoms, and for pain/myalgia, patients were asked to rate their symptoms on a scale from 0 to 10. After working out the baseline, or cut-off point, for both the depressive symptoms and pain, 28 patients who scored above the baseline were chosen to participate in the Acupuncture trials.

Participants were formed into three groups:

Group 1, 13 patients, had high BDI and high myalgia scores
Group 2, 11 patients, had low BDI scores but high myalgia scores
Group 3, 4 patients, had high BDI scores but low myalgia scores

Each participant received 6 weeks of Acupuncture treatments for their particular myalgia and depressive symptoms. The traditional Chinese method of Acupuncture was used.

Adherence to treatment throughout the trials was reported as good; all patients completed their assigned treatment sessions, and there were no dropouts.

Significant improvements were found in end-treatment BDI and myalgia scores when compared to the baseline levels.

The researchers concluded that Acupuncture is a promising treatment for patients with hepatitis B and C based depressive symptoms and myalgia. The study authors recommended that further studies are warranted in large populations of patients to fully establish the therapeutic role of Acupuncture in these situations.

No Comments by Laurie Puckett on July 6, 2011

filed in Alternative Medicine, Articles, Chronic Pain, Fibromyalgia, Wellness

CHIROPRACTIC CARE FOR LOW BACK PAIN CAN SAVE INSURANCE COMPANIES 40 PERCENT

A study of 85,000 Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) patients in Tennessee has found that a course of treatment for low back pain initiated with a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) cost the insurer 40 percent less than a course of treatment by a medical doctor (MD).

The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) study concluded that insurance companies that restrict access to Chiropractic care for low back pain are paying out many millions of dollars more than they would if the restrictions were removed.

The Tennessee study population of Blue Cross Blue Shield patients had full and open access to MDs and DCs with no limits to the number of visits, and no differences in co-pays. After risk-adjusting patient costs, BCBS payments were still significantly lower for the chiropractic group than for MDs. If all patients had chosen DCs instead of MDs, says the study, the insurance company could have saved $2.3 million a year.

National surveys show that up to 85 percent of Americans have low back pain at some time in their lives, seriously impacting employee productivity and adding $50 billion a year to health care costs, placing low back pain in the top ten most costly conditions.

The ACA study, “Cost of Care for Common Back Pain Conditions Initiated With Chiropractic Doctor vs. Medical Doctor/Doctor of Osteopathy as First Physician: Experience of One Tennessee-Based General Health Insurer,” is available online, and will be published in the December 2010 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics.

“As Doctors of Chiropractic, we know firsthand that our care often helps patients avoid or reduce more costly interventions such as drugs and surgery. This study supports what we see in our practices every day,” said ACA President Rick McMichael, DC. “It also demonstrates the value of Chiropractic care at a critical time, when our nation is attempting to reform its health care system and contain runaway costs.”

The usual cause of non-chronic lower back pain are strains or injuries to the muscles and ligaments of the lumbosacral region of the spine, either caused by, or leading to, misalignment of the vertebrae and possible injury to the intervertebral discs.

An important factor not mentioned in the study are the results of treatment by Chiropractic, which addresses the clinical source of the pain, compared to medical doctors who routinely prescribe nothing more than pain pills. Treated only with pills, lower back injuries can progress to serious, chronic conditions which plague people for the rest of their lives.

Chiropractic care, on the other hand, zeros in on the sources of the problem and corrects them, heading off the tendency toward chronic pain and reduced quality of life.

No Comments by Laurie Puckett on June 27, 2011

filed in Articles, Chiropractic, Wellness

WALNUTS AND FLAX SEED OIL HELP LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE AND BOOST ARTERIAL HEALTH

Feeling stressed? Blood pressure going up? Don’t run to the doctor for drugs. Just toss a few walnuts down the hatch and watch that blood pressure come right back down!

According to a team of Penn State researchers, the latest solution to stress might be as simple as a diet rich in walnuts and walnut oil.

Walnuts contain polyunsaturated fats, which influence blood pressure at rest and under stress by helping the body deal with the physical effects of stress. The addition of a little flax seed oil to the diet helps further by assisting blood vessels to dilate when needed.

So, you might ask, what are the effects of stress on our cardiovascular system that walnuts and flax seeds are so helpful with?

The usual first response to stress is a rise in our blood pressure. The next important sign of trouble is the presence of inflammation — the body’s emergency rescue operation in our vascular system that tries to reduce the effects of harmful stimuli and start the healing process. Without inflammation, nothing would ever heal. Inflammation is supposed to be good and useful.

But when we are chronically stressed out, living in a toxic environment, eating high-fat junk food, smoking and carousing and having a generally bad attitude, we chronically shoot our blood pressure into the sky, causing chronic inflammation in our arteries. Now nasty things can happen. Our inflamed arteries, including those in our heart, start to line themselves with deposits of “bad” cholesterol and other stuff called plaque. Our arteries are plugging up, and then start to suffer from “atherosclerosis” — stiffened walls which won’t dilate to carry more blood when needed. Then heart disease comes along, blocked and stiffened heart arteries, and we are diagnosed with “cardiovascular disease”. We are staring at a shortened life span, and it all started with chronic stress and a chronic rise in blood pressure.

The researchers wanted to find out if omega 3-fatty acids from plant sources would “blunt cardiovascular responses to stress.” Omega-3 fatty acids, like alpha linolenic acid found in walnuts and flax seeds, are known to reduce low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) — the “bad” cholesterol. Foods rich in omega 3-fatty acids are also thought to reduce inflammation.

The study involved 22 adults with elevated LDL cholesterol who were otherwise healthy. Meals and snacks were provided during three diet periods of six weeks each. Walnuts and walnut oil in the diet lowered both resting blood pressure and blood pressure responses to stress in the laboratory.

“This is the first study to show that walnuts and walnut oil reduce blood pressure during stress,” said Sheila G. West, associate professor of biobehavioral health. “This is important because we can’t avoid all of the stressors in our daily lives. This study shows that a dietary change could help our bodies better respond to stress.”

Walnuts are a rich source of fiber, antioxidants, and unsaturated fatty acids, particularly alpha linolenic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid), and these compounds could be responsible for the beneficial effects on blood pressure.

Flax oil is a more concentrated source of omega-3 fatty acids than walnut oil, but this study did not test whether flax oil alone could blunt cardiovascular responses to stress. The research learned that adding flax seed oil to the walnut diet did not lower blood pressure any further than walnuts alone. However, a subset of the participants underwent a vascular ultrasound in order to measure artery dilation, and adding flax oil to the walnut diet significantly improved this test. Flax oil plus walnuts also lowered c-reactive protein, indicating an anti-inflammatory effect, which is crucial in reducing risk of cardiovascular disease.

Adding walnuts, walnut oil and flax seed oil to your diet could add years to your life!

No Comments by Laurie Puckett on June 22, 2011

filed in Alternative Medicine, Articles, Heart Health, Wellness

THE COMMON COLD: REGULAR EXERCISE REDUCES FREQUENCY, SEVERITY AND DURATION

A study at Appalachian State University, North Carolina, has found that people who exercise regularly and feel fit have fewer, and less severe cold symptoms than those who lead more sedentary lives.

The study followed 1002 adults through 12 fall and winter weeks commonly associated with colds and upper respiratory tract infections (URTI). The researchers tracked upper respiratory tract infections. Participants reported how much aerobic exercise they did weekly and subjectively rated their personal fitness levels from 1 to 10.

The study found that:

The severity of symptoms among those who “felt the fittest” – scored themselves the highest – was 32 percent lower compared to the least fit
The group that felt the fittest also experienced 34 percent fewer days of cold symptoms than the least fit
Those who perform aerobic exercise five or more days a week had up to 46 percent fewer colds than those who exercised only one day or less a week
The physically active group had cold symptoms for 41 percent fewer days compared to the more sedentary group

Exercise not only burns calories and helps with weight loss, it improves circulation throughout the body, which means more oxygen and nutrients are reaching the organs and extremities on a regular basis. Exercise also reduces cholesterol, lowers blood pressure, improves insulin response, and reduces the inflammation associated with stress — the bugaboo that leads to greater risk of heart attack, stroke and myriad degenerative diseases.

Other exercise training studies consistently report a reduction in URTI. Within certain subgroups such as the elderly or those with high mental stress, the reduction in URTI with aerobic exercise training is even more significant. One study showed an 18 percent reduction for regular exercisers, but this improved to 42 percent among those with a high perceived mental stress level.

A randomized study of elderly women (mean age, 73 years) showed that walking 30–40 min a day for 5 days a week reduced URTI rates to 20 percent, compared to 50 percent among those who didn’t exercise.

Finally, a year-long study of 115 overweight, postmenopausal women showed that regular moderate exercise for 4 days a week lowered URTI risk modestly during the first half year, but then more strongly during the final months. In other words, the more you exercise, the better off you will be.

No Comments by Laurie Puckett on June 13, 2011

filed in Articles, Uncategorized, Wellness

20 PERCENT OF CALIFORNIA HOSPITALS FAIL TO REPORT MEDICAL ERRORS

Nearly 90 California hospitals – more than 20 percent of 418 hospitals in the state required by law to report medical errors – have gone more than three years without reporting any errors at all, says the California Department of Public Health.

Considering the fact that a recent report in the Journal of the American Medical Association found no change in patient harm error rates over the past decade, it is pretty hard to believe these hospitals are error-free.

Health officials in the state apparently agree, and have instituted investigations into the 87 hospitals apparently claiming no significant mistakes in patient care. They are calling for immediate clarifications – either confirmation that the hospital is indeed error free, or full disclosures and reports of errors.

According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, patient advocates are saying the lack of reports is an indication that hospitals are unwilling to police themselves.

A spokesperson for the Santa Monica-based advocacy group Consumer Watchdog told the newspaper it is “almost inconceivable” that so many hospitals have been error-free for three years.

State Sen. Elaine Alquist (D-Santa Clara), who wrote the medical error law, told the LA Times she was concerned that errors are going unreported. “What are the chances that nearly a quarter of California’s hospitals didn’t have a single medication, surgical or safety error since the reporting requirement became law?” she asked.

California’s law governing error reporting lists 28 medical errors that hospitals must report. These are the types of errors that typically place patients at risk of death or serious injury. After investigating each error, the Health Department can levy fines of $50,000 for the first incident, $75,000 for the second and $100,000 for the third or subsequent error.

But even more money could potentially change hands. Hospitals have five days to file an error report, after which the state can levy up to $100 a day for each day the hospital fails to report. We are looking at three years of failing to report, which could add up to even more money the hospitals could have to find. That’s not an easy thing to do in the health care field, even in the best of times, and these are far from the best times.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, Nov. 27, 2010 http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/27/local/la-me-hospital-errors-20101128

Gives ya’ pause to think….

No Comments by Laurie Puckett on May 9, 2011

filed in Alternative Medicine, Articles

tagged Chiropractic, remmel welless center, St. Petersburg

CHIROPRACTIC COMPARED TO PHYSICAL THERAPY

Three independent studies were conducted to analyze different modes of Chiropractic treatment with physical therapy treatment.

The first study showed that after four weeks of Chiropractic treatment, walking asymmetries were corrected to the same degree as the reference population. Physical therapy patients did not show improvement at any time during the study.

Study two found that wearing a back belt did restrict motion, but it also causes larger forces of impact when subjects were walking.

The third study measured the forces exerted by chiropractors during Chiropractic adjustments. The force applied to the patient before the actual thrust was positively correlated to the amount of force during the adjustment.

Additional studies are underway to measure the force exerted during Chiropractic adjustments under a variety of conditions and for a variety of patient-chiropractor combinations.

Call Remmel Wellness Center today

Chiropractic Services

The Remmel Wellness Center helps patients maintain their body structurally and physically to alleviate pain and improve quality of life through chiropractic services. Chiropractic as a profession has only been around for about 120 years, although manipulation has been around for centuries. The art, science and philosophy of chiropractic believes many conditions, both musculoskeletal and visceral, relate to nervous interference which may relate to a minor misalignments or subluxations of one or more of the spinal bones (vertebrae). Chiropractic manipulation is a leader of the CAM (complimentary and medicine) therapies offered. The following are several of the techniques offered at Remmel Wellness Center.

No Comments by Laurie Puckett on March 1, 2011

filed in Chiropractic, Chronic Pain

Adding Chiropractic to Orthopedic Care Greatly Improves Aching Low Backs

A highly unique, cooperative study between the orthopedic department of a hospital and Chiropractic presents very positive results for patients enduring the onset (start) of sudden and painful lower back pain. The findings show that adding Chiropractic to traditional medical treatment made a world of difference in terms of patient recovery and their being able to resume the activities of their regular daily lifestyles.

The study was initiated by the hospital with full support of the staff. It was conducted at the Department of Orthopedics, Central Hospital of Sogn and Fjordane in Førde, Norway. According to researchers, it was the first report of a chiropractor participating with an Orthopedic Department in Norway with such hospital and staff support.

A total of 44 patients who consecutively reported to the hospital with sudden and painful low back conditions were included in this lengthy study. Orthopedic surgeons examined each person eliminating disease as a possible cause. None had violent trauma in their past. X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging showed all to be normal from a medical standpoint.

The follow-up examination by the Doctor of Chiropractic indicated the patients had subluxations (partial dislocation) in their lumbar region (the area of the back and sides below the ribs and above the hipbone). The Chiropractor treated 33 patients at his clinic, and 11 other patients who could not be transported received their adjustments at the hospital.

Patient follow-up lasted for an average of 2 years. During that time, all but 2 were able to return to work. Sick leave was reduced by two thirds compared with conventional medical treatment. The normal loss of time from work for these patients under medical care is 72 days. The patients in this study were able to return to work in an average of just 21.1 days.

The results bode well for both patient recovery and for the future of Chiropractic in the Norwegian hospital system. The researchers concluded, “Based on our experience, we believe that the inclusion of chiropractors within hospital orthopedic departments is feasible and provides a patient care resource that may benefit not only the patients but also the department as a whole.”

At Remmel Wellness Center, we have the best of both worlds. Dr. Kyle Remmel is a Chiropractic Physician who focuses on Orthopedics and orthopedic health. Getting the most important part of your body, your spine, fine tuned is the most proactive medicine you can practice. Come by and talk with “Doc”.

No Comments by Laurie Puckett on February 22, 2011

filed in Chiropractic

tagged Chiropractic, remmel welless center