Michael Schuneman, DC

In the year 1895, chiropractic founder, Daniel David Palmer coined the phrase “the body is a machine, whose parts can be manipulated to produce a drugless cure”. This is essentially what chiropractic treatment was back then, and still is today: the hands-on manipulation, or movement, of the neuromusculoskeletal regions of the body in an effort to remove nerve interference, which helps the body cure the patient of pain and stiffness. Pain is inevitable! At some point in all of our lives we will be victimized by it – for many, the aches will quickly go away, while for some the pain will be more persistent.

Persistent pain and stiffness can negatively affect the sufferer’s life to the point of immovability, and this is where chiropractic treatment is valuable. We at Life Symmetry Chiropractic understand that pain and stiffness are often what cause individuals to initially seek chiropractic treatment. We provide excellent chiropractic treatment in Colorado Springs with the aim to balance the body with the mind and soul, so that the body is given the chance to heal itself from pain and any number of conditions.

4 Reasons to Seek Life Symmetry for Chiropractic Treatment:

1. Can manage many types of pain: Although chiropractic care is best known for managing pains in the neck and in the back, the treatment can be used to manage much more. In fact, chiropractic care can be beneficial in relieving pain in the joints, sports injuries, whiplash, headaches, carpel tunnel, stress, pregnancy pain, colic in babies and much more.
2. Drug Free: Pain medication isn’t a cure for pain, it is a cover-up. While medication may be necessary for those who are in extreme pain, it is important to tackle the cause of the pain, so that it is eradicated. Chiropractic treatment is holistic and depends on activating the nervous system so that the cause of the pain is eliminated.
3. Improves lifestyle: Going beyond chiropractic treatments, we also strive to improve the lifestyles of our patients by offering nutrition counseling and holistic stress management.
4. Affordable: Many people shy away from seeking chiropractic treatment because of the presumed expense involved, however, the treatments are more affordable than most people realize. We accept most health insurance plans, and we always have discounts available. In addition, we also offer flexible payment plans that can fit any budget.

Pain medication should be used as a temporary method of pain management, if used at all. To truly be free from neuromusculoskeletal pain, the body should be allowed to heal itself, and we at Life Symmetry Chiropractic can help with that. Contact us today, and be on your way to being pain free and a healthier life.

Today I want to talk a little about our country and the principles it was founded upon. Now if you bear with me I do believe that some of those principles do have an application to health. The 4th of July has special significance for me. The 4th of July is actually my birthday and I don’t know if that is why I feel such a strong sense of patriotism or if it is something else. But to start off, I need to get a little pet peeve off my chest. We do not celebrate the 4th of July because it is the 4th of July but because it is our nation’s Independence Day. And the common thing is to say “Happy 4th of July” or something like that. In my mind that is like wishing someone “Merry 25th of December” which if you are trying to be politically correct may be a good option, but to me that is absolutely ridiculous! I know the “4th of July” has become ingrained in us as a nation but please stop and think why the 4th of July has special meaning. I personally would prefer being wished “Happy Independence Day” over “Happy 4th of July.” To some it may seem trivial what you say, but I believe that words have power and we should call things what they are. And if we didn’t have our independence the 4th of July would just be another day.

Okay, so now that I got that off my chest, let’s talk a little about the principles this nation was founded upon. The biggest I believe is freedom. The king had been infringing upon the unalienable rights (including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) of the people in the colonies, and they felt it their right to throw off a tyrannical government and establish a new government. It is interesting to note that they set up a government with a limited central government and gave more power to the individual state governments. It is also interesting that anything not specifically named in the Constitution as the responsibility of the federal government is left to the states and closer to the people. Unfortunately this has slowly been changed that the federal government now has much more control than it was ever intended to have. And I think it is leading to the people suffering and having their rights infringed.

So what does this have to do with health? Well I believe the same thing is happening in our “healthcare” system (actually it is a sick care system). Whether you like it or not the Affordable Care Act or also known as Obamacare gives the government and big insurance companies more control over what options are readily available to you. They are trying to force you to buy medical insurance whether you want it or not, and then what your insurance covers will likely dictate what treatments you will seek. And my gut feeling is that alternative treatment options are probably going to be covered less and less because they do not make money for those in power.

But ultimately you have the choice when it comes to your health. In fact you are the only one who can make the right decision when it comes to your health. So the purpose of my ramblings today is to get you to take control of your health. Research and find out what options exist and what would be best for you to help you to truly be healthy. And the interesting thing is most of the things that will allow you to live healthy are not going to be covered by your insurance: eat healthy, reduce stress, get adequate sleep, and exercise regularly. These things will help you to be healthy and are things you won’t find in your insurance benefits. One more thing that may be covered is chiropractic care. Unfortunately most insurance however will not cover maintenance or wellness type care which, I think, is the most beneficial to health. They will only cover when there is a specific complaint that is actively being treated, which goes back to that whole sick care system.

So this weekend take some time to think about the freedoms you enjoy and how you can exercise freedom to choose to be healthy!

Today I wanted to discuss a little about the safety of chiropractic. Occasionally there are stories that make the news about someone getting hurt or possibly even dying after going to the chiropractor. Often these stories go along with the claim that chiropractic is unsafe and basically you should not go to the chiropractor. I will admit that on rare occasions someone is severely hurt or even dies after going to the chiropractor. But the question I want you to think about is if chiropractic is unsafe what are you comparing it to?

If you will allow me to indulge in a bit of hyperbole I could say that going outside is unsafe because you may be struck by lightning or hit by something falling out of the sky. Most people don’t even think about such things because the likelihood of being injured this way is really rather remote. But staying inside could be even more unsafe with the possibility of tripping and falling in the bathtub, etc. However, there are other things that are relatively more dangerous that we do each day without really thinking much about it. Driving actually is relatively dangerous, with statistics for the US from 2010 showing that 11.4 per 100,000 of the population died from a motor vehicle accident. That accounts for 35,332 deaths for that year.¹

Safety of Chiropractic

So to be completely honest, people do die after going to the chiropractor, but that does not necessarily mean chiropractic caused their death. While I believe there are rare cases where chiropractic care may cause or contribute to the death of someone, chiropractic is very safe. To give you an idea of what kind of numbers we are talking about there is an article by a Dr. Edzard Ernst—who in my opinion definitely has a bias against chiropractic—in which he seeks to “summarise all cases in which chiropractic spinal manipulation was followed by death.” He searched the medical literature without restricting for time or language and found that there were 26 deaths recorded in the literature after a chiropractic adjustment. This includes deaths that happened a few hours after an adjustment up to 58 days later (of those that indicated time after chiropractic adjustment).² So chiropractic has been around since 1895 and this article was published in 2010. That is a 115 year span that only includes 26 deaths in the literature that may or may not be caused by chiropractic. Dr. Ernst does say that there may be other deaths that are not included in the literature and cites other sources and I believe it. But even being generous and saying that only 1% ends up in the literature would equal less than 23 deaths per year since the start of chiropractic.

Now I don’t want to make light of anyone’s death, but to put that in perspective using a 30 year average the number of deaths from lightning strikes in the US each year is 51.³ Now remember that Dr. Ernst did not limit his search to just the US, so using his methodology we must assume that is a worldwide number. And Dr. Ernst conclusion is “Numerous deaths have occurred after chiropractic manipulations. The risks of this treatment by far outweigh its benefit.”² I will have to respectfully disagree with that conclusion.

There have been several other studies looking at the safety of chiropractic. One was a prospective survey of chiropractors. This study included “28,807 treatment consultations and 50,276 cervical spine manipulations. There were no reports of serious adverse events.”⁴ While mild adverse events do happen with the most common being soreness in the area of adjustment, serious adverse events are very rare. So again I ask you, if chiropractic is unsafe what are you comparing it to?

Safety of Pain Medication

So on the other hand the use of pain medication is something that most people do not consider to be risky. But what are the risks with pain pills? For this blog I will be focusing on a common type of pain drug class the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs for short. This class of drugs includes things like ibuprofen, aspirin, naproxen, and a number of others. They are some of the most commonly used pain drugs and many are available in non-prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) forms. But did you know that these drugs can cause bleeding problems such as ulcers or bleeding from the stomach or intestines? And also NSAIDs (except for aspirin – according to MedlinePlus) increases the chance of heart attack and stroke.⁵

Here is a list of the serious side effects of NSAIDs as found on the medication guide from the FDA.⁶

• heart attack
• stroke
• high blood pressure
• heart failure from body swelling (fluid retention)
• kidney problems including kidney failure
• bleeding and ulcers in the stomach and intestine
• low red blood cells (anemia)
• life-threatening skin reactions
• life-threatening allergic reactions
• liver problems including liver failure
• asthma attacks in people who have asthma

So, yes, those are some terrible side effects, but really how risky is it? Well in an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1999 gives a pretty shocking estimate: “It has been estimated conservatively that 16,500 NSAID-related deaths occur among patients with rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis every year in the United States.”⁷ That is a conservative estimate, only in arthritis patients. This would not include any deaths from OTC NSAID use or other patients with a prescription for NSAIDs. And that really is just an educated guess because there is not an accurate number for deaths from NSAIDs use.

Conclusion

Now I didn’t write this blog to try and instill fear in the populace over using NSAIDs for pain relief. However, I did want to bring some perspective to the risks associated with chiropractic and another commonly used treatment for pain. So as far as risks go for just pain relief, chiropractic is a safe and effective option. However, chiropractic can do so much more than merely relieve pain – it helps unlock your body’s natural ability to heal and function better. So before you pick up that bottle of pain pills think if the possible side effects are worth it and if there is a better option for your overall health.

References

1. National Vital Statistics Report Vol. 61, No. 4, May 8, 2013
2. E. Ernst, MD, PhD. Deaths after chiropractic: a review of published cases. Int J Clin Pract, July 2010, 64, 8, 1162–1165
3. http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/fatalities.htm
4. H W Thiel, DC, PhD, J E Bolton, PhD, S Docherty, PhD, J C Portlock, PhD. Safety of Chiropractic Manipulation of the Cervical Spine: A Prospective National Survey. SPINE Volume 32, Number 21, pp 2375–2378
5. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a682159.html
6. http://www.fda.gov/downloads/drugs/drugsafety/ucm089162.pdf
7. M. M. Wolfe, MD, D. R. Lichtenstein, MD, and G. Singh, MD. Gastrointestinal Toxicity of Nonsteroidal Antiinflammatory Drugs. N Engl J Med 1999; 340:1888-1899

If trying to maintain balance in your life makes you feel like a tightrope walker, you’re not alone. Most of us have so many demands on our time and energy; life can feel like we are on the edge about to lose our balance. The following is a little quiz to see how well you are meeting responsibilities, while also recognizing and fulfilling personal needs and wants to help keep a healthy balance in life. Just answer true or false to the following statements.

1. The only way I can successfully manage my life is to take care of myself physically and emotionally.
2. Nurturing myself enlarges my capacity to help others.
3. I eat healthfully and exercise regularly.
4. I get regular chiropractic check-ups, go to the dentist, and take other preventative precautions.
5. I set aside personal, quiet time for myself, to meditate or simply let my thoughts drift.
6. I take time to experience the joys of each season: ice skating, sledding, skiing; gardening, hiking, more time outside; camping, swimming, barbeques; harvesting the bounty, gathering wood, spending more time inside.
7. Creativity nurtures me. I take time to do what I love, whether that’s cooking, drawing, painting, writing, dancing, singing, etc.
8. Reaching out to others enriches my life. I spend quality time with family and friends.
9. Contributing to the world provides connection and purpose, so I give my time, energy and experience where it is most useful.
10. I notice and heed the emotional signals that tell me I’m out of balance: irritability, overwhelm, resentment.
11. If I feel that I’m catching a cold, I realize I may have stressed my immune system with too much activity, so I stop and take care of myself.
12. When I need or want to, I say no to requests for my time.
13. I listen to and honor the requests my body makes for such things as a nap, a walk, green vegetables, hot soup.
14. If I have something planned for myself, I don’t just toss that aside when someone makes a request of me.
15. I’m busy, but I find time to do the things I want to do.
16. I’m happy. I regularly experience well-being, contentment, even joy.

If you answered false more often than true, you may want to take a look at the questions to which you answered false and see if you can incorporate something from it into your life. If you need more help finding balance in your life, feel free to call or stop by the office. I help people to realize their full health and potential by focusing on their body, mind, and soul.

I don’t know if you have seen the news, the Cleveland Clinic now offers herbal medicine. I saw the article here. I thought I would pass this on since I think this is pretty cool. I personally find it interesting that modern medicine is starting to turn to traditional practices like Chinese Medicine. I hope it will help alternative treatments, like herbal medicine and chiropractic, to be more widely accepted. I realize that some in the medical field continue to say there is no good evidence that alternative treatments are effective in treating many conditions. Well, really there is a lot of research out there, but for some it will never be enough or up to the right standards to be taken seriously. However, the fact that it has been used for thousands of years and more people are turning to alternative medicine is evidence to me that it must be effective.

From the article it sounds like the availability of herbal medicine is still minimal and requires a prescription from a doctor. I hope it will become more available and widespread. I do not practice herbal medicine, but I think it is important for patients to have choices. Unfortunately for many patients when they go to see the medical doctor the choice is limited to drugs or surgery. While I believe that drugs and surgery have their place in health care, I also believe they are grossly overused.

The article quotes, Melissa Young, one of the integrated medicine physicians at the clinic as saying:

Western medicine does acute care phenomenally.… But we’re still struggling a bit with our chronic-care patients and this fills in that gap and can be used concurrently.

While I agree that Western medicine does acute care well, I would have to say that they are more than just struggling with chronic care: they are approaching it completely wrong. Chronic care cannot be approached the same way with drugs and surgery as acute care can, and I believe this is one reason why our nation is getting sicker with chronic diseases. Again why it is so important to have other choices besides the one Western medicine offers.

If you thought this was interesting, pass it on to friends. And if you are looking for an alternative to the medical model, try chiropractic. Chiropractic is a safe, natural, holistic approach to the body and health. And you don’t need a referral from your medical doctor to give chiropractic a try. As a chiropractor, I understand that medicine and even chiropractic don’t heal the body, but the body does all the healing when you give it the right conditions to do so. Chiropractic adjustments help remove stresses and imbalances in the body, giving the body the best chance to heal.

Many of you who are practice members know that my wife and I were expecting our second son. Well, he was born at home over the weekend. My wife did an amazing job with the birth of another nine pound baby boy! We personally chose to have a water birth at home, and I thought it was a wonderful experience. I want to thank our midwife Dotti Kirkpatrick of Birth Matters. She did a great job! And if you are wondering why we chose to have the birth at home, the biggest reason was to have a more comfortable atmosphere without pressure to have unnecessary interventions.

I also wanted to take a moment to talk about the importance of chiropractic care for infants. This may surprise some people, but within an hour or so of being born our new little guy was checked and adjusted. Why would a newborn baby need to be adjusted? Well to be completely honest I did not know if he needed it or not until he was checked. But if you think about it, the birth process puts a lot of stress on the body and in particular the head and spine. So there is potential for a subluxation to occur. I checked and adjusted my newborn son, not because I thought there was necessarily something wrong, but that I wanted his new nervous system to be working at its best without interference from the very beginning. And that is what chiropractic is all about – helping the body to function at its best! In my experience infants that are checked and adjusted as needed are less cranky, have fewer ear infections, and overall tend to be healthier.

Also with the new addition to the family we appreciate your patience. With the new baby occasionally the schedule may need to be moved around a bit. Also, my wife was handling the calls to the practice and scheduling, but for the next little while will not be doing that. So if you call and do not get someone please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks!