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Moms - Keep Your Children Healthy and Safe From Colds and Flu This Winter

They (and you too), Can Avoid Catching a Cold or the Flu - Without Getting the Flu Shot

Yes, it is possible to prevent your children from getting sick this winter.

Learn the six easiest ways to avoid catching a cold, the flu, or any other illness this winter without spending a fortune, without taking drugs.

To Learn the Six Easy ways to avoid catching the flu read this short handbook called :

The Six Ways to Keep Your Children Healthy and Safe From Illness This Winter

This book, written by a doctor / father (of two very healthy and grown children who never missed a day of school for illness), is not a large, lengthy, hard-to-read book. It doesn’t take a long time to read it and it doesn’t require advanced education to read, understand and follow the recommendations in it. Actually, most of the recommendations in it will not cost you anything extra to implement.

You may have even heard some of the information in it before but never in this format and so concise as it is here.

Follow the recommendation here in this book and your child will be very safe from catching a cold or flu this winter (even if their friends do get sick and cough all over them ) - all without getting a flu shot and all of the inherent risks involved in that...

This book is Not for sale. It is FREE !

All we’re asking is that you pay $10.00 for packaging, shipping and handling.

This will be the best spent $10.00 purchase you’ll make this entire year!

To learn how to keep your children healthy and safe from cold and flu -

Send your $10.00 to:   Dr. John Hannigan

  11 Marshall Rd. Suite 2A

   Wappingers Falls, NY 12590

  You can also pay through paypal or send your credit card information with yourequest.

We promise to send it right out to you and you will have it in a few days

Most Back Problems Are Anything But New

One of the most important points that should be made regarding your back or neck problem is that it did not just start "out of the blue"

Except for sudden traumatic injuries (which are, themselves, often made worse due to silent prior existing problems), most neck and back problems are more the result of lifestyle related habits and activities - which you have been doing for years.

Therefore - your neck or back problem is not going to "go away" with a Pill or a couple of "quick cracks"

Don't shoot the messenger - take a look at the way (position), you sleep, sit inthe car, at your computer, watching tv, eating, the way you stand, the way you bend and lift, carry things, the way you do repetitive activities

Getting Older Is Unavoidable

...As long as you keep living, that is  

Obviously, you cannot change the date you were born.

But, you can change the way you spend your time and thus the effect that all of those years has upon you.

Whether we like it or not - we all do have an expiration date - we just don't know it is.  Maybe that's to keep it exciting or interesting.

There are things you can do and a way to live to get more milage out of these bodies we live in.

and there are also lifestyles and habits you can adopt that will certainly shorten your stay here.

It is largely up to you

Yes - getting older is unavoidable but aging is optional.

  

Love Care and Miracles - Free Childrens' Chiropractic Field Clinic

Hannigan Chiropractic Office, P.C.

will be presenting -

Love, Care and Miracles

A Free Alternative Health Care Field Clinic For Children

To be held at the Holiday Inn in Fishkill, NY

Located at the intersection of I-84 and Route 9

Date: Sunday, October 18, 2009

We will start at 10:00 AM and continue until all children present are seen

Care is Free of charge to all children to age 18

A parent or guardian must be in attendance

All children present will be seen in the order of arrival

While the health-care debate rages on in Washington - Many children continue to suffer from a wide variety of conditions and health related problems, and they are not receiving adequate care due to lack of access, HMO restrictions or lack of insurance coverage.

It has been our experience that a surprising number of these childrens’ health conditions including asthma, allergies, ADD, ear infections, stomach problems, colds, flu, headaches, back pain and many more do respond favorably to chiropractic care.

Love, Care and Miracles

is a field clinic set up to provide that missing care at no charge to any child in need. If you are aware of any child who could use a miracle, any child who might even possibly benefit from this, or perhaps someone at increased risk from the flu this year - this care might be just the answer for them -

Please suggest that their parents bring them to the Holiday Inn in Fishkill on October 18.

The care is free ...

In fact - Come yourself and watch. Expect to see miracles - We see them all of the time in chiropractic...

For additional information please call Dr. John Hannigan at Hannigan Chiropractic Office at 845-297-6688

We ask that you pass this on to as many others as possible. Our goal is to see and help as many children as possible. Our ability to repeat this event will depend upon the success of this one.

I Don't Need To Get Adjusted ...

I hear this from people from time to time -

And it makes me want to say - "Based on what information or reason?"

          That you don't feel any back pain at this point in time?

If that is the sole criteria or reason for taking care of yourself then maybe you're right.

Should the diabetic not take his insulin shot today?   I mean...He's not in pain so why take the shot? 

Should the person with high blood pressure skip his medication today? - He's not hurting either.

There are numerous reasons or criteria we use to determine if you NEED an adjustment.

The presence Pain is only one of them.

Pain is merely a reason to look further for the cause of the pain. Not take a pill to cover it up and not feel it ...) 

Your spine could be seriously out of alignment, or there may very likely be a joint that is not moving properly... .but has not yet begun to bother you. 

Do you know how to tell?    Do you know all of the many ways a chiropractor checks a spine for misalignments?

- (Once it does start to bother you - fixing the problem may likely involve a great deal more care and more money than had it been taken care of early-on.)

Therefore this should be taken care of and sooner rather than later is a much better idea.

Just like with your car - If your car develops a shimmy because one of the wheels threw off one of those small balancing weights they put on the rim...would you think it a good idea to have it fixed right away? Or should you wait until the tires starts to show uneven wear?

It's a no-brainer, right?

People who skip their Monday appointment to get checked and adjusted because they're not in pain are not doing themselves any favor.

Concurrent or Sequential Related Health Problems

Recently there was an article in the news about how, many times, seemingly different health problems seem to coincide or run together sequentially...

Are they really different though?

A person could have a kidney problem and then have it become a heart problem - two different organs with entirely different roles and purposes in your body but they’re much related to each other.

If the kidney isn’t working properly it can cause a back-up in pressure and increase the blood pressure and eventually damage the heart.

Example: If a man has prostate enlargement it will prevent complete draining of the urine and this will back up into the kidney and if this problem is allowed to continue too long - the blood pressure is sure to rise. Who knows - Maybe this is even followed by a stroke.

So - is this prostate trouble, kidney trouble or heart trouble?

Obviously it becomes all three but what is it initially?

Maybe it’s low back trouble. Maybe there is pressure on the nerve in the lower back (L3 disc bulge?), that controls what the prostate does, whether or not the prostate is healthy or not and because of that pressure on that nerve the prostate fails - to be healthy.

Maybe it’s a digestive problem. Maybe because of poor nutrition, poor food choices, poor absorption... the prostate isn’t properly nourished and it becomes inflamed and swollen.

Which do you treat - the high blood pressure? Do you treat the inflamed kidney, the urinary retention in the bladder, the inflamed prostate or do you fix the spinal nerve problem or the nutrition problem that might be initiating the entire problem.

What Happens When Your Spine Is Out of Alignment?

When your spine is out of alignment several things happen - some of which you might be aware of and some of which you wouldn’t be:

You might be in pain. You might be but, actually, many people experience no pain at all when their back is out of alignment.

One thing you might notice is you will become weaker -

Any misalignment in your spine and - All of your muscles become weaker - that’s your biceps and triceps, your legs, your colon, your arteries, your heart, (they’re muscles too...)

So your ability to pump blood efficiently, lift a weight, pass food through your GI tract, swallow etc. - it’s all decreased.

Try this - Have someone try to push your out-stretched arm straight down while you try to resist his pressure. He says the word "hold" and you resist as he pushes straight down. Do this while standing straight with both feet on level ground. Now repeat the exercise with a small pad of paper about 1/16 - 1/8 inch thick under one of your feet and you’ll see immediately how being out of alignment will weaken your muscles.

That’s occurring in every single muscle in your body...

When you did that test - everything in your body worked less efficiently / less "well" for that moment.

Do you think you might want that power loss at your heart for even 5 minutes?

Your immune system will be weakened. All of the organs and glands in your body that control your ability to fight illness / disease are driven by and controlled by your nerves.

You won’t notice this and you won’t likely catch the flu by tomorrow afternoon but you’re certainly at more risk than the next guy who is Not out of alignment.

Want to take that chance?

                  You might notice that your ability to think and concentrate will be diminished. You’ll more than likely think you’re just having "bad day" or that you’re slightly "off" today...

Don’t try to do that cross word puzzle or balance your check book if your spine is out of alignment.

Your ability to manufacture all of the various digestive enzymes needed to digest your food properly is diminished.

Yes you can still go out to dinner tonight but it’s a good bet you won’t digest your dinner as well and you might experience reflux or heartburn or an upset stomach....and blame it on the restaurant?

Bottom line: Weaken the nerves and the muscles, organs and glands they control - weaken also

What should you do?

You could take an over-the-counter medication (motrin?...) if your back is hurting but will that help you digest your food? ... Help your heart pump the blood through your arteries better?... You could drink some Starbuck’s coffee but will that really help you do your check book better? . Lift that heavy weight better or easier?...

You could just see your chiropractor and get adjusted periodically and be IN alignment and - stronger

Seeking Help for an Injury at Any Price

I just read an interesting, but distressing article with the same title as this blog entry in the July 23^rd New York Times - Thursday Styles section    by Gina Kolata

Gina is a long-distance runner who tore her hamstring - the muscle on the back of the thigh.

Being a long-distance runner myself, I can only have the most sympathy for her.

Been there, did it done it. It’s the pits. Few things are worse

Well almost.

One thing that is worse is not knowing what to do about the injury.

Gina is getting advice from all quarters and from the article she wrote in the Times, most of it sounds absolutely ridiculous.

If this was your cat, your kid, your car or the space shuttle - would anybody put up with this:

Her hometown MD / Orthopedist Dr. concluded she injured her hamstring ....Brilliant!

He sends her to Dr. Feinberg at Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC.

He says the "magic letters" PRP which stands for Platelet Rich Plasma - Ooh! they take your (at least you know where it came from...), own blood out of a vein in your arm and inject it into the site of the injury. You’re supposed to stop All activity ( running in Gina's case), that caused the original injury for several weeks to months. It theoretically causes a "switch" to be turned on and a miraculous healing to take place. Right!

They charge up to a $1000 for the injection to be done - That’s not for the substance that is injected (that’s yours to begin with). - a $1000 to give you a shot!

The people at Hospital for Special Surgery readily admit there have been no valid studies and there’s none in the works to substantiate that this treatment is anything but experimental and results to date are admittedly anecdotal.

Funny - that’s what the MD’s have always say about chiropractic. When chiropractor gets a gal back to work after a back injury they say "Ah, she would have gotten better anyway..."

Now anecdotal is no longer junk science and is acceptable...

In this case the docs say tendon injuries are not well understood nor is the reason they heel.

But they will charge $1000 to inject you with your own blood because somebody had it done and didn’t do anything for 4- 6 months and her tendon heeled and... So they claim it was the injection of the patient’s own blood that did it ????

Are you kidding me?

I’m not sure about the MD’s, but

we chiropractors study, among other body parts, tendons, what injures them, how they heel and - how long it takes to heel.

Referring to your embryology textbook you’ll find that tendons are made of a type of tissue that takes 6-8 weeks to grow New cells and thus heel... Just like bones and ligaments.

Remember we heel by growing new cells and that doesn’t happen by squirting more of your own blood all over the torn / damaged cells.

     What would really help our friend Gina is to analyze her lower spine, hips and pelvis for misalignments and correct that.

This problem will never go away until you fix what caused it.

I would put my money on finding that the side of her pelvis (that she has the torn hamstring) is tipped forward or anteriorly compared to the opposite. When looking in the mirror, that same side will present as raised up & superior compared to the lower and opposite side. When laying down straight, the leg on the torn hamstring side will present, functionally, longer than the other.

This type of misalignment will cause the hamstring to be tighter and prone to tearing. Her stride when walking and running will be altered and she will not reach / kick as far as the other leg. The brain will over-compensate and the muscle will be torn as result.

It will also, in time, cause failure of the hip on the same side (as the torn tendon). Are they going to do another experimental "PRP" injection for that too?

Following a series of adjustments to correct this imbalance and a series of cold laser treatments to promote natural tissue healing and a several weeks of incremental increases in rehabilitative running, work-hardening, and re-conditioning she will be able to return to a full schedule of running as she had prior to her injury with minimal risk of re-injury.

I bet nobody said this to her. Not when they can get her or her insurance to pay $1000.

The chiropractic treatment program referred to above which has a long track record of successes   would probably cost about $500 but the insurance would probably not pay for it.

No wonder she’s frustrated.

Chasing Fading Youth

When I want to re-charge my batteries I like to go out to Montauk and work on trying to regain my fading youth by working out all day.

Actually, I am in the midst of a short mini-vacation as I write this.

Unlike others who, when they go on vacation, stay up all night drinking and then sleep until noon, I like to get up at first light and go for a 4-5 mile run on the beach and then go for a swim in the ocean before all the people show up and set up their umbrellas and chairs.

Then I make a nice, healthy egg-white omelette for breakfast and sit and watch the surfers for a while. Then I’ll take a twenty mile bike ride.

                                    I basically play and exercise all day.

If you want to feel young and youthful again - go take a long run down a deserted beach at 6 AM

Don’t look for reasons Not to -

I’m too tired...

It’s too chilly at 6 AM...

I don’t like to run...

My knees hurt...

The bed is soooooo cozy at 6 AM...

I can’t find my favorite running socks...

What if I get tired?...

                     All = excuses that don’t make you feel young and youthful again

Yea - I won’t deny it - I love my margaritas too, but I obviously can’t run and exercise if I drink too much of them and that’s my priority.

It’s just three months since I had prostate surgery and at sixty...well, "bouncing" back is a little bit slower than it would have been if it had taken place 10 years ago.

Still, I get up every day and work at it

Maybe a little denial, maybe a little head strong but definitely determined.

Because I see numerous seniors in the practice I have the opportunity to talk about getting older with many of them - they frequently say... "don’t get old"...

Are you kidding me?

Hey - Consider the alternative!

Youth slips away almost imperceptibly slowly...until one day you get up and realize it’s gone

You have to work at all of the time - not just on your get away weekends

What are you doing on a regular basis to maintain your youth?

It can’t be wishing and hoping or even "planning..." - It’s got to be a "doing"

It really ought to be something enjoyable so you keep doing it but it doesn’t have to be -

you just need to keep working at it and never stop

You won’t likely catch the carrot but what's important is that you try to.

The Little Things In Life That Lead to Neck and Back Pain

Margaret was in the office this morning. She hasn’t been in in a while but when she comes in - it’s always for the same reason:

         Her neck hurts on the left side and her low back hurts on the right side.

No - there’s been no injury - not even an old one. Margaret has never had an accident. She doesn’t ski, skydive or play any other sports. She basically gets up every day, goes to work and comes home and feeds the cat. She goes to church every Sunday and the most exertion she gets is going to the mailbox.

So - why does her neck and back hurt?

                           It’s her pocketbook.

It probably weighs 10 - 15 lbs. And she carries it on her left shoulder.

Do you think if I asked her to carry a 15 lb. dumbbell in her left hand all day it might have the same effect?

               Of course it would.

It’s one thing to carry something in one hand for a few minutes and then put it down.

And it’s quite another to habitually carry a heavy weight in the same hand all the time.

We tend to forget, while we’re in the midst of our daily routine, how important it is to maintain our body symmetry and balance.

The same thing happens when you’re raking the lawn and you hold the rake the same way throughout the job...

Next day your neck and shoulder is killing you on one side and the other side... is fine

Another example is the way you hold your cell phone against your ear while driving...(As if the trooper can’t see you doing it), by holding your shoulder up against it - Fine for one call once in a while but what happens when that’s the way you drive / work all day?

You end up like Margaret who comes in and says: "but I didn’t do anything..."

One thing I have noticed is that necks and backs do not get out of alignment and start hurting for no reason at all.