Madison AL Chiropractors Talk About the Different Ways to Get Vitamin D

By: Dr. Justin Walbom, DC and Dr. Greg Millar, DC CCEP
Millar Chiropractic - Madison Al

Vitamin D has been in the news a lot recently.  This important vitamin has been strongly associated with preventing cardiovascular disease, preventing autoimmune diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, lowering cancer risks, and helping to prevent diabetes. Vitamin D seems to be a miracle nutrient for helping to fight many serious diseases, and yet vitamin D deficiency is common in the United States. One reason may be because it is difficult to get vitamin D from your diet. Very few foods are natural sources of vitamin D. The main source of vitamin D for humans is sunlight. Mid-day sun exposure causes cells in the skin to produce vitamin D. Unfortunately, most Americans don't spend enough time outside, sans sunscreen, to get sufficient sunlight on their skin to satisfy their normal daily requirement of vitamin D. It is usually necessary to supplement this crucial nutrient by taking vitamin D3 capsules or by consuming things that are fortified with Vitamin D, such as milk, yogurt, and other foods.  For strong, healthy bones Vitamin D can assist the absorption of the mineral calcium in the intestinal tract.  Vitamin D also assists bone cells in utilizing calcium to create new bone. In adults, new bone is only built when it is needed, such as when the body is exposed to mechanical stress. Exercise is the best kind of mechanical stress to stimulate this bone-building mechanism. It takes more than just taking a bunch of supplements each day to experience the greatest benefits. It is also important to make exercise a regular part of our lifestyle to truly get the most out of the nutrition we provide our bodies. When we perform weight-bearing exercise such as walking, bicycling, sprinting, and strength training - our bodies respond by creating new muscle tissue, but also new bone as well. This is a commonly known physiologic principle called Wolff's Law, which dictates that bone will remodel along the lines of physiologic stress. In other words, bone responds to mechanical challenges by building more bone. The result is bones with increased density and strength.  Bones that are stronger and more dense are significantly less likely to fracture.  Exercise is very important when striving to prevent the typical loss of bone mass that causes osteoporosis in so many postmenopausal women and seniors. Chiropractic care helps to assist these metabolic processes. All of our metabolic processes are controlled by signals from the nerve system. These nerve impulses help our cells to know when to begin and end these complex biochemical processes. Chiropractic care can help to make sure your nervous system is free of interference so that your cells receive the proper signals they need for optimal health and well-being. Dr. Greg Millar and Dr. Justin Walbom of Millar Chiropractic Clinics in Madison, Alabama are experienced in nutritional health and wellness, and he or she can help develop a nutrition plan that is suited to you. Millar Chiropractic - Madison AL 1908 Slaughter Rd.  Madison, Alabama 35758 (256) 430-2700 http://millarchiro.com/millarchiropractic-madisonal-chiropractor.html 1 Cavalier E, et al:Vitamin D: current status and perspectives.Clin Chem Lab Med 47:1, 2009 2 Holick Me, Chen TC: Vitamin D deficiency: a worldwide problem with health consequences. Am J Clin Nutr 87(4):10805-10865, 2008

Minimize Your Risk of Osteoporosis It is a common fear in many seniors that they will develop osteoporosis. When someone with osteoporosis falls and breaks their hip, it usually takes longer for them to recover, and they may never be as fully-functional as they were previously. Hip fractures in the elderly may even be fatal at times, if the  person ends up with a blood clot making its way to a major blood vessel in the brain or to the lungs. So it is worthwhile to make an effort to prevent osteoporosis. The excellent news is that prevention is not difficult, though it does necessitate a certain amount of attention, work, and discipline. The most important things you can do to minimize your risk of osteoporosis is to make sure you get enough vitamin D and calcium, and to exercise regularly. Even if you're an older person who hasn't exercised in many years, now is the time to make the effort . Make sure to get your medical doctor's approval, especially if you've been sedentary or have any health issues.  Also see your chiropractic physician for guidance regarding the exercises that are best for you

Madison, AL Chiropractors Talk About Lab Testing

By: Dr. Justin Walbom, DC and Dr. Greg Millar, DC CCEP
Millar Chiropractic - Madison Al

Analyzing Lab Tests

Various aspects of health care have made significant advances in the last few decades . Laboratory testing has also improved, not only in the range of tests available, but also in the quick turnaround-time of results. Unfortunately though, no lab test is perfect. Tests may either inaccurately suggest that a patient has a particular disease they don't have, or instead miss the presence of the disease in someone who actually has it. Either of these situations can be very problematic. MRIs, for example, are a helpful tool that reveal more information than ever before. But not every suspicious shadow on an MRI means something. It takes time and experience to accurately interpret MRI images. It is not unusual for new technology to become available well in advance of our ability to accurately interpret the results. Lab tests need to be interpreted cautiously. In order to have an accurate diagnosis, we need to also have supporting evidence in the form of patient history and physical exam findings, in addition to the lab test results.

You're in your doctor's office because you noticed some unusual symptoms and are afraid something might be wrong. Even though you know some lab tests are probably necessary, that doesn't prevent you from feeling anxious. We may want to know the results, but at the same time we probably are very concerned about what the outcome might be. Hearing the doctor casually mention that "we need to do some blood work," can be enough to trigger a strong bout of anxiety in many people.

Then when you get the results, it can be difficult to decipher the medical jargon, especially when the tests are "positive". Most of us have had the experience of our mind tuning out after hearing the initial news that "your test results are positive".  In this situation, our minds begin racing ahead, imagining all sorts of awful possibilities.

Occasionally, a compassionate physician will endeavor to put the lab results in a less-worrisome perspective for the patient. For patients, it helps to know some important facts  that will help to empower you whenever you have lab tests done.

First of all, statistically one out of every 20 tests performed will be reported as "abnormal", even though the result is in fact "normal" for the individual being tested. If you are perfectly healthy and have 20 tests done on your blood sample, one of those 20 test results will be "out of the normal range" based on statistics alone.

According to Dr. Greg Millar, Dr. Ken Randolph, and Dr. Jessica Davis of Millar Chiropractic Clinics in Huntsville, Alabama, this anomaly is a result of the way the normal test range is calculated, which involves testing a large group of "normal" people and eliminating the top and bottom 2.5% of the results, leaving the middle 95% as the normal range. So if 20 tests are done, statistically one will be considered "abnormal", only because its results will fall in the top or bottom 2.5%.  It may be perfectly normal for you, but it will still be reported as "abnormal".

Other things to consider are the specificity and the sensitivity of the lab test. Specificity has to do with whether or not a particular positive test result actually indicates the presence of the disease for which you are being tested. If a test has a specificity rate of 90%, then in ten out of 100 positive results, the patient does not actually have the disease. Sensitivity has to do with how accurate the test is in detecting the disease when the disease is truly present. For example, if a test for colon cancer is 90% sensitive, it will miss ten cases of the disease out of every 100 cases.

To summarize, if a test has low specificity, test results reporting the presence of the disease may be inaccurate, and if a test has low sensitivity, actual cases of the disease may be missed. All these factors need to be taken into consideration when interpreting lab test results. Things are not always as they seem.

The important thing to realize from all of this, is that lab test results should always be evaluated in the specific context of the patient. An isolated lab test result - or a set of lab test results - needs to be related to the patient's circumstances and condition.  Making a diagnosis based on lab results alone can be a big mistake.

Similarly, x-ray, MRI, and ultrasound results must also be interpreted in context. Attempting to interpret an x-ray without any clinical information will likely result in an inaccurate conclusion. Context is everything. Your doctor should be willing and able to explain why certain tests are necessary, and to help you understand what the results indicate, when taken into consideration along with your exam and other findings.

Millar Chiropractic - Madison AL
1908 Slaughter Rd. 
Madison, Alabama 35758
(256) 430-2700

http://millarchiro.com/millarchiropractic-madisonal-chiropractor.html

1Thomas SL, et al: How accurate are diagnoses for rheumatoid arthritis and juvenile idiopathic arthritis in the general practice research database? Arthritis Rheum  59(9):1314-1321, 2008
2Friston KJ, et al: Classical and Bayesian inference in neuroimaging: theory. Neuroimage 16(2):465-483, 2002
3Kobayashi M, et al: Intraindividual variation in total and percent free prostate-specific antigen levels in prostate cancer suspects. Urol Int 74(3):198-202, 2005