Pregnant Women Who Exercise Have Healthier Babies

The January 27, 2001 British Medical Journal published the results of a new study that showed that exercise during pregnancy may increase birth weight. The study done at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, followed 46 women who were not exercising by their eighth week of pregnancy.

These women were divided into two groups. One group was placed on a mild exercise regime while the other was not. The results showed that women who exercised gave birth to babies who were significantly heavier and longer than those babies born to women who did not exercise.

In a related article also in the British Medical Journal, was the results of another study that showed that larger babies are smarter and develop into children who perform better in school than smaller babies. The study considered a birth weight of 5.5 pounds to be normal. The lead author of the study, Dr. Marcus Richard of Britain's Medical Research Council states, “It seems clear that birth weight has an influence on cognitive function.” He did go on to state, “Birth weight is only one of the numerous factors that influence cognitive function.”

The study did say that in follow ups of the effects of birth weight on intelligence, the effects were most noticeable under the age of 26. By the age of 43 there were no noticeable effects.

Caffeine

Depending on who you choose to believe, and depending on if you really enjoy that cup of coffee, you get your choice of reports concerning coffee and caffeine. In a recent French study at the French National Health Medical Institute a researcher found that "moderate amounts" of coffee consumed increased energy while having little chance of addiction. These researchers state that caffeine has no effect on the brain centers that could cause addiction. The only flaw with this study is that it was done with rats! Which leads us to the question of just what is a moderate amount of coffee for a rat?

In a seperate study at Duke University Medical Center, researchers found that people (not rats in this one) who drink four to five cups of coffee in the morning forced their blood pressure higher as well as increasing their stress levels all day into the evening. According to this study, even a moderate amount of coffee makes a person react as if they are having a very stressful day. So the question is, "to drink, or not to drink". Your answer probably depends on whose study you believe and how much you really like coffee.

Breast Feeding Shows Benefits for Mothers

Two new studies show more evidence of the importance of breast-feeding for both infants and the mother. According to a report from the Associated Press on January 30, 2001, women who breast-fed their babies for two years or longer reduced their risk of breast cancer by 50%. The study by Yale University following rural women in China, found that the benefits to the mother are long lasting and can reduce cancer risk before and after menopause.

In the US less than 1/3 of women continue breast-feeding for six months after the birth of their infant. Only small portions of women in the US breast-feed their babies until 2 years old. However, in China, as in other developing areas, breast-feeding for longer periods of time is normal.

One of the two possible reasons given by the researchers was that breast-feeding reduces exposure to estrogen and the regular female hormone cycles. The other possible reason given by the researchers is that fat-soluble cancer causing agents and other pollutants are not stored in the tissues of women's breasts as easily when they are breast-feeding.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breast-feeding for babies at least up to the first year of life. UNICEF and the World Health Organization go even farther and recommend that babies be breast-fed with the addition of other foods until at least the age of two.

Breast Feeding Is Best For Baby

Two separate stories from the February 27, 2002 and March 27, 2002 issues of Intelihealth both tout the benefits of breastfeeding. Breast FeedingOne of the articles starts off by explaining the financial benefits of breast feeding, where estimates that mothers who breastfeed can save around $3000.00 per year on formula. Additionally, the article states that breast feeding will help a baby to develop maximum intelligence, eyesight, and protection from disease.

One article written by Stacy Kennedy, M.P.H., R.D., L.D.N., C.N.S.D. of Brigham and Women's Hospital, slams the formula companies with the quip, "One of the top manufacturers of infant formula boasts that it has been developing its products for over 70 years. Human milk has been in development for 65 million years, since the Cenozoic Age, which saw the rapid evolution of mammals. So the oldest formula companies have been doing research and development only for .0001 percent of the time our biology has been perfecting a product all females have in their possession." She continued by stating, "We have learned that the longer a child is breast-fed, the better he or she will do in school and the higher the child will score on IQ and other standardized tests compared to children who are formula-fed."

An extensive study on breast feeding recently took place in Norway and Sweden and was conducted by researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The study showed that full-term babies who were small at birth and who were exclusively fed breast milk for the first six months of their lives scored an average of 11 points higher on IQ tests at age 5, compared with similar-sized babies who were fed breast milk and formula, or breast milk and solid food.

The article also notes that breast-feeding can help to ensure that children won't overeat. Breast fed baby's immune systems also grow into powerful defense arsenals, equipped to protect him or her from a lifetime of exposure to infections and disease. The first human milk that a woman produces, colostrum, is jam-packed with antibodies and key protective nutrients. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends feeding only human milk to babies for the first six months of life and continuing to breast-feed for the first year.

Breast Cancer Linked to Antibiotic Use

From the February 18, 2004 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, (JAMA) comes an alarming study that suggests that breast cancer is linked to the use of antibiotics. Researchers pored over the medical records of thousands of American women and found that those who took the drugs most often had twice the risk of the disease.

Dr. John D. Potter, director of the division of public health sciences at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and an author of the report noted, "This is potentially worrisome, but we don't know why this connection exists, we only have an observation." He went on to qualify his findings by saying, "At the moment, we need to see these results replicated with more research before drawing any conclusions."

This was not the only study on this phenomenon as in 2000, scientists in Finland found that women younger than 50 who had taken antibiotics for urinary tract infections also had an elevated risk for getting cancer.

The original JAMA study ended with a compelling conclusion, "Use of antibiotics is associated with increased risk of incident and fatal breast cancer. It cannot be determined from this study whether antibiotic use is causally related to breast cancer, or whether indication for use, overall weakened immune function, or other factors are pertinent underlying exposures. Although further studies are needed, these findings reinforce the need for prudent long-term use of antibiotics."

My Bag is Killing Me

The above headline comes from an article in the December 7, 2006 New York Times and describes a growing concern that women's bags are growing bigger and creating more spinal problems. The article interviews several experts who seem to agree that women's bags are getting heavier and therefore putting more pressure on their spines.

Dr. Karen Erickson, a chiropractor who has a private practice in New York City and also serves as a spokeswoman for the American Chiropractic Association, stated, "In the last year or so, I've been seeing the same kinds of issues with adult women that I'm used to seeing with kids who carry heavy backpacks on one shoulder. They're experiencing neck pain, not just while they're carrying their purses, but all the time. A lot of women even get bad headaches.” She also reported, "Lately, when a patient comes in complaining of these symptoms, I walk over and pick up her purse. Without fail, it weighs a ton."

Dr. Marta Callotta, a chiropractor in Long Beach, California, who was also interviewed for the article, said that she advises patients to clean out their purses once a week. She added, "At the end of the day, handbags are one of the biggest culprits for back pain right now. For a year patients have been coming in to me with these giant purses and complaints of soreness. This will keep happening until the trend dies down.”

Dr. Erickson, the chiropractor in Manhattan recommends that women who insist on carrying oversized or overweight bags should alternate the shoulders they carry the bag on. She also suggested that women may want to consider carrying the bag in the middle. However, she noted this suggestion may not be so popular. "It's not exactly glamorous, but if at the end of a long day you find your shoulders aching, slip the bag off and carry it in front of your body with both arms like it's an infant,"

Chiropractic Care and TMJ Problems a Case Study

In the January 2002 edition of the peer reviewed scientific journal, the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, (JMPT) appeared a case study on a 41-year-old woman who sought chiropractic care with complaints of pain at the TMJ on both sides, ear pain, ringing in the ears, vertigo, decreased hearing ability, and a sensation of pressure or fullness in both ears. She also reported that movements of her jaw while talking or chewing provoked pain at the TMJ.

Before seeking chiropractic care she was treated for her TMJ by two medical doctors. She was also referred to an eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist, who diagnosed her with TMJ syndrome. Additionally, she was referred to a dentist for the problem. Medical recommendations were to apply heat to the area, reduce talking and yelling, and change her diet to a soft diet. Even with all this medical and dental care her symptoms steadily continued to get worse.

Eventually she sought the care of a chiropractor. After an examination it was determined by the chiropractor that the patient had an Atlas subluxation, (first bone in the neck). Care was begun by a series of adjustments. After only a few visits the patient reported significant improvement in her symptoms. After two and a half months she reported complete relief from the TMJ symptoms. She also reported a decrease in the frequency and severity of her headaches. Prior to starting chiropractic care, she was experiencing 1 to 2 migraine headache attacks per month. The effects of the chiropractic care were long term as shown at her 1-year follow-up where she had not experienced any headache symptoms for a period of 9 months and her TMJ complaints had completely resolved.

Chiropractic and Infertility

A study published in the May 2003 issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, showed a strong link between the resolution of infertility and the initiation of chiropractic care. The study consisted of a retrospective review of 14 separate articles of 15 women suffering with infertility. In each of these cases chiropractic care was introduced and the results were documented and published.

The studies followed 15 female subjects ranging in age from 22 to 65. The prior pregnancy history of these women revealed 11 of them had never gotten pregnant. Two of the women had prior successful unassisted pregnancies. One woman had an assisted pregnancy, while 1 had a history of a miscarriage. In this group 9 women had previous treatment for infertility before starting chiropractic and 4 were actually undergoing infertility treatment when they started chiropractic care.

The study noted the huge expense of infertility treatment options currently used by many couples noting the range of expenses can easily go into the thousands. The article also noted that in vitro fertilization has shown evidence of long term risks. A study published in November 2002 in the online version of the American Journal of Human Genetics reported that “babies conceived by in vitro fertilization may be at increased risk for a rare genetic disorder that predisposes them to cancer”.

The chiropractic care rendered to the women listed in this study was from a variety of chiropractors using a variety of techniques. The focus of the care in these cases was correction of vertebral subluxations. The research article defined Subluxation by using the agreed definition of the Association of Chiropractic Colleges. Subluxation, as defined by the Association of Chiropractic Colleges, is a “complex of functional and / or structural and / or pathological articular changes that compromise neural integrity and may influence organ system function and general health". The study noted that all of the women in these studies, who were struggling with infertility, had evidence of nerve system interference, as detected by the presence of subluxations.

The results of these individual case studies showed that even though many of these women had tried unsuccessfully for some time to become pregnant, all of the women in this study eventually became pregnant somewhere between 2 months and 20 months of the onset of chiropractic care. One of the case studies was summed up by the author, Elizabeth Anderson-Peacock, DC, DICCP, "Although chiropractic care is not a treatment for infertility, it is postulated that improvement of spinal neural integrity through specific chiropractic adjustments may have contributed to improved homeostasis and physiological adaptation thus allowing the body to express a greater level of health as an outcome."

Chiropractic and Migraines

From the February 2004 issue of the Journal of Chiropractic Pediatrics, comes a documented case study of a 28 year old women who suffered with migraine headaches for over a decade before being helped with chiropractic care. In her case there was no history of previous trauma. Her migraines would last for several days and would cause nausea and dizziness.

In addition to her headaches, she also revealed a history of an irregular menstrual cycle, she would normally menstruate no more than twice per year. This problem resulted in infertility. After years of not becoming pregnant, she sought help from a reproductive endocrinologist. She was placed on medication which created additional side effects but did allow her to become pregnant. Unfortunately, after 9 weeks she suffered a miscarriage.

After years of these problems the woman started chiropractic care. She was initially given an examination and it was determined that she did have spinal problems. A series of specific chiropractic adjustments were then initiated. A re-examination was performed one month after care began. The patient reported a reduction in her headaches. After the second month of care another examination was performed and the patient reported that she had no incidence of migraine headache for the entire previous month. Additionally, the patient noticed that she had started a regular menstrual cycle. Within six months of the initiation of chiropractic care, she became pregnant.

Vacation relief !!

I saw this guy downtown earlier, and I think i'm going to have him come in when I go on vacation.....so don't worry guys, if you need to get cracked, someone will be at the office....

Chiropractor Evansville | Andrew Lobacz D.C.

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