Get Your Golf Game Back

The other day I took my wife to the driving range to hit a bucket of balls. It was an early Thursday afternoon, so we had the place pretty much to ourselves. As we are enjoying the conversation between swings, I hear a strange "VOOM, VOOOM, VOOM" sound. I turn to see a fellow swinging a hollow red plastic tube. Apparently this is some kind of warm-up tool. We finished our bucket and I decided to stick around and watch the other golfers take their hacks. And hack they did.

While I am certainly not a professional golfer, I have spent considerable time and training in evaluating the golf swing and identifying what is physically wrong. I was amazed at the number of swing faults, posture problems and resultant big sweeping slices. The guy who had the red plastic tube, while adequately warmed-up, still had rounded shoulders, bent at the waist and hit every shot to the right with a very nice sweeping slice to really push the ball even further to the right. Of course, I'm now imagining he has a whole closet full of "Training Aids" much like Renee Russo had in the movie Tin Cup.

Let me give you one piece of advice--Skip the training aids! As Paul Callaway, P.T. (first physical therapist on the PGA Tour) said, "The most important piece of equipment is your body."

Just by getting this guy to address the ball with a straight spine angle, bend at the hips (not the waist), his shots would have been a lot straighter.

As a Certified Golf Fitness Professional, I offer physical training programs to take 5-9 strokes off of your game in as little as 6 weeks. If you are interested in the Golf Doctor Programs, give me a call a the office (920) 730-0611. Mention you read this on my blog, and receive the initial swing evaluation for free (regular $145.00 value).

Enjoy the rest of the golf season! And if your game is not what you expected, give me a call.

Please feel free to leave a comment below.

Health Care Reform-What They Should Have Done

Well, they went and did it-passed "Health Care Reform." This new law will increase costs and does absolutely nothing to improve health. What should have been done? Here is my proposal:

Using basic economic principles (supply and demand)and understanding that health insurance was never intended to pay for routine care; the following makes sense.

Every person in the U.S. is issued a Health Savings Card (HSC) with a $5000 value. People would contribute pre-tax dollars into their accounts. Lower income people would get govt. grants to fill their accounts (in lieu of tax credits)based on a sliding scale on ability to contribute. This money would be used for routine care and can be used for any health related expense. Any money not used by the end of the year would be transferred to a retirement savings account (interest bearing).

Health insurance would only be for catastrophic illness/injury and would have a $5000 deductible (covered by your HSC). Once you have used up your HSC, the insurance would kick in.

This simple plan reduces costs in several ways. People have control of their health care spending and an incentive to spend wisely. Since they are basically paying with cash, administrative costs for providers will go down. Getting paid at the time of service versus submitting a claim and hoping it gets paid is a no-brainer for doctors. They can lower their costs to the consumer.

By allowing all licensed health care providers to be paid by the HSC, you now have increased the number of providers (increased supply) which also increases competition for your health care dollars. More competition means lower cost.

Other side benefits of this plan include; supplementing retirement (Social Security), reduced health care student loan defaults, and better health education. Since people will have control over their own spending, they will become more educated on staying healthy (prevention) and not waste their own dollars on unnecessary or ineffective treatments.

If you have questions or want more details, leave a comment below.

Olympics-What Makes These Athletes Great

The Winter Olympics are in full swing and the athletes competing are truly showing their incredible skills. How are these athletes able to do the things they do? And even more important, when the difference between a gold medal and 4th place can be less than a second; what separates the winners from the rest?

Like any other athlete; training, conditioning, and diet are vital. Mental preparation becomes an even bigger part of success at this level. But there is a secret weapon many athletes have discovered that allows them to train better, recover from injury better and perform better.

What's the secret? Chiropractic care!

Chiropractic has been officially involved with the Olympics since the 1980 Lake Placid games when Dr. George Goodheart, D.C. was selected as the Team USA's Chiropractor. Since then, every Olympics has had chiropractors on staff treating the Olympic athletes. In fact, this year's USOC medical director is a chiropractor!

How can chiropractic care help these athletes? The chiropractic adjustment basically restores normal joint motion and removes nerve interference. When the joints move normally, the athlete experiences greater flexibility and range of motion, and improved strength. Removing nerve interference improves reflexes, coordination and balance. This gives the athlete that little edge needed to perform at optimal levels.

A study done in the early 1990's showed a 14% improvement in athletic performance when chiropractic care was added to the training program for upper level collegiate athletes. Fourteen percent is a huge number!

A few weeks ago, the NFL announced the 2010 Hall of Fame inductees. Three of the finalists, Roger Craig, Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith have credited chiropractic care for enabling them to play for as long as they did and as well as they did.

In 2008 I attended the Pro Football Chiropractor Association Seminar and had the opportunity to meet several of the chiropractors that work with the NFL teams. Every one stays very busy keeping their players on the field and performing their best.

I also see this in my practice. I serve as team doctor for the Fox Valley Force football team, the Fox Cityz Foxz and Paper Valley Roller Girls Women's Roller Derby Teams. The athletes I treat are the top performers.

Whether you are a weekend warrior or world class athlete, you can improve your performance and lengthen your career by adding chiropractic to your training program. For more information or if you have specific questions, let me know.

As always, please feel free to share this article and be sure to leave a comment below.

New Year's Resolution-How's It Going?

Three weeks into the new year, are you on track with any resolutions? One of the more common resolutions is to lose weight. For various reasons, this is a great time to lose weight. Maybe you gained a few too many pounds over Thanksgiving or Christmas. Maybe you have a wedding or reunion coming up this summer and want to WOW everyone. Or maybe you want to look and feel better, or have health concerns about carrying extra pounds.

All are great reasons to lose weight. So, how are you doing?

Many people do great at the start. Watching portions, counting calories, exercising more and getting results. Usually 3-5 pounds the first week, 2-3 the second week, 1-2 pounds the third week. Then it hits. No more weight loss! You may have even gained a few pounds back. How did this happen?

If you get to a plateau, don't worry. This is very normal. As you read further, you will understand why this happened and how to move on.

Plateaus occur during weight loss because your body has become more efficient and you are carrying around a lot less weight. Less weight equals less work for the body. This is, after all the goal of weight loss, to let your body work less. Unfortunately, when you weigh less and work less, you burn fewer calories. Unless you further reduce calorie intake, you will stop losing weight and can put some back on. The other alternative is to increase calorie burning.

After losing 10 pounds, your body burns less calories throughout the day. By adding the weight back on, with a weighted vest or some other way, your body will continue to burn calories like it did 10 pounds ago. To further complicate this, regular exercise induces a training effect. Your body becomes much more efficient at movement. More efficiency equals less work. Less work means fewer calories burned. To combat the training effect, vary your exercise. Intensity, quantity or type of activity must be changed once in a while to reset your body. Doing the same exercise and diet will lead to failure. Not to mention getting very boring very quickly.

So, here is your weight loss tip for the week. Add the pounds you lost back on through external weight. Change your work-out routine intensity or type of exercise. Vary your foods. Much like the training effect of exercise, eating the same can cause your body to ignore the diet and go into a maintain mode. Changing foods will keep your body on a weight loss path.

If you have questions or need help, don't be afraid to ask. I am here to help you. And if I can't help you, I'll find someone who can.

For more information on weight loss, click on the BlogTalkRadio link to the left on Weight Loss. It is a 30 minute presentation on weight loss. Look for Part 2 to be coming in a week or so, as 30 minutes was not enough to cover all the topics of weight loss.

Feel free to e-mail me or call me at the office (920) 730-0611 if you need help losing weight. As always, please leave a comment below.

The Nightmare Begins-No Cure for Health Care

It is truly amazing that 60 U.S. Senators could support a 2000+ page bill that the vast majority of the population does not want, and haven't even read. Pressure from their leaders and "Pay Backs" should not be the sole reason for passing any legislation.

Hopefully, when this bill goes to conference it will be killed or at least stalled until the November elections. The constitutionality of this bill will/should be tested and hopefully stricken down.

Why is this such a bad bill? As I posted previously, this Health Care Reform Bill does nothing to promote health, reduce costs or improve our system in any way.

The tax and "Mandatory" purchase of insurance will drive the economy even further into recession. Health care will become more expensive and harder to get. Demand will rise (30,000,000+ new consumers) and supply will decrease (up to 30% of current doctors will quit practice or retire early). We are currently in a primary care shortage. Adding 30 million new consumers alone will overrun the system. Over worked Primary Care Providers (PCP's) will be worked even harder to meet the demand. I don't know about you, but when it comes to my health care, I want a doctor that is fresh, well rested, happy and well paid!

Since there will most likely be a public option in this reform, expect insurance companies to go out of business, as they cannot compete against the government. Public plans will most likely be based on a Medicare model which means a drastic cut in doctor and hospital income. Working 60-80 hours per week for a wage less than most factory workers, with potential malpractice liability and student loans pushing $200,000; why would anyone do this?

If doctors can opt out of the program, i.e. not accept insurance and treat patients on a strictly cash basis, many of the top physicians will probably do this. But now you have a situation in which only the "rich" can afford quality care, leaving the poor and middle class depending on the over-worked, under-paid insurance doctors for care.

So, once again, in the infinite wisdom of our federal government, trying to help the poor and uninsured, we may in fact be making the problem worse and increasing costs at the same time.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave below or send me an e-mail directly newcaredoc@aol.com

Mammograms-New Guidelines

A Federal Government Health Panel recently announced new guidelines for routine mammograms for women between age 40 and 50. The panel now no longer recommends annual screening for women in this age group, as research has not shown any benefit.

This announcement has come under fire by several groups including The American Cancer Society, radiologists, breast surgeons and oncologists (all profit from cancer detection and treatment). They claim routine mammograms save lives and we are "throwing women 40-50 under the bus."

Some pundits have even linked this announcement to the health care debate, here comes the rationing of care. While I am not a supporter of any national health care system, the link is coincidental.

I applaud the panels recommendation! It took a lot of guts to come out against conventional wisdom and finally base a recommendation on actual science. I have been telling my female patients for years in this age group to skip the mammograms until menopause.

Why would I do that?

Because research over the last 5-10 years is showing not only are mammograms for this age group ineffective for detecting cancer, it actually causes cancer in this age group! The National Cancer Institute reported that in younger women, mammograms cause 75 cancers for every 15 detected. Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS) has risen 328% since mammogram screening began, and 200% is directly linked to the radiation exposure of the mammogram.

A 1992 Canadian National Breast Cancer Study showed mammograms had no positive effect on mortality for women age 40-50. In fact the study suggested women in this age group were more likely to die of breast cancer when screened regularly.

A 2008 study published in the AMA's Archives of Internal Medicine showed marked increases in cancer rates since the onset of regular screening. But even more astounding is they found many of the cancers detected by mammograms spontaneously regressed!

Mammograms done on pre-menopausal women have a very high incidence of false positive tests, which leads to unnecessary treatment, and stress. There is also a very high incidence of false negative results, meaning many cancers go undetected. For every cancer detected, 4 are missed.

This is a very emotional topic, and tempers can flare when discussing this issue. You will hear of women in their 40's that had their cancer detected by mammograms and claim their life was saved. But when you look at the statistics, yes she was saved, but four other women now have cancer because of the mammogram, three others had false negative tests and 70 women were told they have cancer when they didn't.

The women who survives, should be thankful, and at the same time keep the other 77 women whose lives were adversely affected by mammograms in their prayers.

Chronic Illness Running Rampant!

With the main focus in the news lately on infectious disease, H1N1, seasonal flu, pneumonia....And of course Breast Cancer all last month, (and the national health care debate) one truly serious health issue keeps getting pushed aside. Chronic Illness!

Chronic Degenerative Illness including diabetes, obesity, arthritis, fibromyalgia, Celiac, Chron's, thyroid dysfunction, lupus, RA, Alzheimers, etc...... is the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer. And virtually all of these diseases are preventable.

In the next ten years, one in three will be diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, two of three will be obese....before age 20! We are slowly killing our children.

All of these chronic illnesses have one thing in common--Inflammation.

Inflammation that can lead to advanced aging, degeneration, allergies, pain, heart disease, cancer and death.

Causes of inflammation include; acute illness, injuries, vaccines, diet and stress. The simplest way to reduce and eliminate inflammation is with diet changes. The SAD (Standard American Diet) is the biggest culprit in the rapid decline in our health. High in sugar (simple carbs), Omega 6 fats (vegetable oils), low in fiber and essential nutrients. Sugars (sucrose, fructose, HFCS) inhibit immune response, over tax insulin production and cause inflammation. The ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 oils should be 1:1 or 1:2. The SAD ratio is 1:20! This unbalanced ratio of fat types increases inflammation.

The inflammation over time degrades the digestive tract as well. This leads to leaky gut and eventually allergies and of course more inflammation. Nasty Cycle!

To reduce inflammation follow these steps:

1)Start Moving! Simple exercise on a regular basis reduces inflammation

2)cut out-ELIMINATE- sugars, grains and starches from your diet (corn is a grain)

3)eat more fish 3-4 times per week and take a quality Omega 3 supplement

4)eat more fresh vegetables (a pound per day)

5)eat 5 colors of fruits and vegetables per day (cup of blueberries per day is a great start)

6)get adjusted! Adding motion to the spinal joints reduces pain and inflammation

7)reduce stress-meditate

If you suffer from chronic illness or have family members suffering, get checked by someone familiar with Functional Medicine. Many chronic illnesses can be detected years before symptoms appear. But you have to know where to look.

Any questions, give me a call. And as always, please leave a comment.