October 16th is National Spinal Health Day!

Few people stop and think how important their spines are... So in honor of this day, let's take a few moments to consider some things about the spine...

First, you'll use your spine every minute of every day for your entire life. That's a lot of wear and tear! When your car wears out after a few years, you buy a new one. When your kitchen appliances stop working, you buy new ones as well. And when your carpet gets dirty and ages over time, you start comparing new swatches.

Unfortunately, you don't have the same luxuries when it comes to your spine. You only get one! There are no cosmetic surgeries to give our spines a more youthful appearance.

Another part of your body that you use almost every day of your life is your teeth. You brush your teeth daily, floss, gargle, scrape your tongue, and use whitening strips... all because you want to keep those chompers in tip top shape! And most people are smart enough to visit the dentist each year for checkups... great job!

But their sits your spine, working day-in and day-out to keep you upright, protecting your spinal cord, and giving your ribs a place to hang. It might help to consider chiropractors as spinal dentists. Not only do we help promote spinal hygiene, we also work to improve nervous system function (you only get one nervous system too!)

It's been said that if you had to wear your spine on your face, you'd take a lot better care of it! Oh how true! But instead, your spine works behind the scenes, and all too often gets neglected.

So this month, make it a point to meet a chiropractor in your area, and ask them to give you a pain-free spinal check up!


14 Warnings Signs of an Unhealthy Spine

1.    You have to "crack" your neck and joints often.
2.    The heels on your shoes wear out unevenly.
3.    You have poor concentration.
4.    You feel tired and fatigued all the time.
5.    You have a low resistance to disease.
6.    One leg appears shorter than the other.
7.    You have poor posture.
8.    You get frequent headaches, backaches, sore spots and tender points in your muscles.
9.    You always feel stressed and tense.
10.  You have stiffness in your neck and back.
11.  You can’t turn your head or twist your hips equally to both sides.
12.  You have poor general health and often times just don’t feel right.
13.  Your jaw clicks.
14.  You can’t take a full deep breath.

Warm wishes,
Dr. Tanase

I read this interesting article today about the five mistakes patients make that get them into serious medical debt.
I hope it will be of benefit for MedHelp readers, and possibly save you money in the future.

Summary:

Mistake No. 1: You ignore your bills
Mistake No. 2: You don't look for errors in your bills
Mistake No. 3: You don't negotiate the price down
Mistake No. 4: You're embarrassed to ask for financial assistance
Mistake No. 5: You don't work out a payment plan

Here's the full article link:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/08/28/ep.medical.debt/index.html

Warm wishes,
AT

I would like to share another interesting article with you that I just read. It's entitled, "8 Drugs Doctors Would Never Take" and the weblink is here: http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100205363

Warm wishes,
AT

I'd like to share this interesting article with you that I found in Time Magazine.

"Researchers can gather all the hard-nosed evidence they want about the effectiveness of a particular drug or treatment. But there's one figure doctors don't much talk about despite its importance. It's called Number Needed to Treat, or NNT, a new measure developed in the past 20 years that's one of the best-kept statistical secrets in medicine."

The full article can be read here:
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1590464,00.html

Warm wishes,
AT