Friday, September 21, 2012

The Olympics & Kinesio Tape

The Olympics & Kinesio Tape

By Dr. Marion Constantinides - 8/24/2012
As you watched the Olympics, you may have found yourself asking “What are those brightly colored lines on the athletes’ bodies?”
The answer is Kinesio Tape, which was developed by a Japanese chiropractor in 1979 to reduce pain and enhance performance on the area applied.  It is now used worldwide by physicians for pain management, physical therapy, and every day exercise activities.
When properly placed along injured muscles, the tape reduces pain and inflammation, relaxes overused or tired muscles, and supports muscles in movement on a 24-hour-a-day basis.  Its gentle tug also promotes circulation and facilitates the body’s natural healing process.
The super sticky tape is designed to last up to 6 days, and its water-resistant fabric allows patients to bathe or even swim as usual.
Using the Kinesio Tape and the Kinesio Taping Method, I have successfully treated patients with a range of issues, such as:
• Plantar fasciitis
• Shin splints
• Knee problems
• Ankle sprains
• Lower back pain
• Headaches
• And more

Monday, April 9, 2012

Healing Chronic Injuries One Patch at a Time

Science, medicine and technology continue to evolve at lightning speed, which means many success stories and breakthroughs never appear in the media or appear for only a blink.

One such success story from the medical community is the WHITTE Patch from Wei Laboratories in Cupertino, Calif.  It is a herbal patch that increases blood flow to the injured area to:
·         Break up scar tissue
·         Improve  circulation to the joint
·         Increase lymph drainage away from the joint

Following is a story from a colleague of mine who used the WHITTE Patch to help a 28-year-old athlete with lumbar disc problems.

Patient History
A Division I college football player who was drafted into the NFL. His NFL career was cut short by a lower back injury which required lumbar disc surgery. He has had pain and disability for the past 3 years since the surgery. He has had minor temporary relief with pain medications, injections, physical therapy, and anti-inflammatory medications.

Before the WHITTE Patch treatment
Chronic lower back pain with left lower extremity sciatic pain and muscular weakness. Pain level on a daily basis initially was 6 - 7 on a scale of 1 - 10.  He had limited range of motion and experienced frequent muscular spasms in his lower back.

After the WHITTE Patch treatmentThe patient was treated with a combination of chiropractic adjustments and WHITEE patches.
Within 3 weeks, he experienced complete relief.  He stated that it had been the only real relief since the surgery.

He has returned to running, lifting weights and playing basketball. He has had several minor bouts of lower back pain after lifting weights and playing basketball, but those were relieved with a course of adjustments and herbal WHITTE patches.

We carry the WHITTE Patch
Lower back problems baffle a lot of doctors, but not us. For many years, we have successfully treated men and women with lower back problems through chiropractic adjustments, the WHITTE patch, as well as other medical techniques.

If you are interested in trying the WHITTE patch or would like more information, please contact us at Dr.C@appliedhealthva.com.

Take Charge of Seasonal Allergies

As summer plans take shape, the shadow of seasonal challenges can darken even the brightest day. These frustrations can take a toll, both personally and professionally.
One company’s assessment showed that almost 60 percent of workers reported experiencing seasonal challenges or seasonal allergies. Those workers were (on average) 4.1 percent less productive than their coworkers, costing the company a startling sum of just more than $1.8 million per year.
In another study, authors reported that employees who attempted to work through seasonal challenges with nothing other than a “grin-and-bear-it” approach were less productive (by10 percent) than their “non-challenged” coworkers or other coworkers who took steps to deal with seasonal challenges.
What can you expect Dr. Constantinides to do to support your health during this time? She will focus on preseason planning with concrete protocols aimed at prevention for the current season and many seasons to come.
Planning ahead is key. One recent paper suggests the body’s natural immune response can be higher earlier in the season than in the end, even if the amount of environmental challenge is similar.
So if you know what sends your immune system into a spin, make sure you know when your that stimulus is coming. Daily pollen counts are published in newspapers and online. For the tech savvy, there are smartphone apps that track how a person feels or the weather in general. These apps are useful for evaluating how well you can manage and just how challenging the season turned out to be.
Without prior planning, physically cleansing the nasal passages using a saline solution can help to clear out mucus and the irritant it carries.  Netti pots or Nasal Saline kits are available at any local drugstore.
Instead of working to stop the body’s natural response, consider supplements that are meant to work with the body to support a measured immune system reaction.  Because of the whole food solutions that Dr. Constantinides carries in the office, she can gently guide your body before the seasonal challenges ruin your Spring.
adapted from Standard Process Newsletter April 2012

Monday, February 27, 2012

It’s not all in your head - Treat tension headaches at the source

Treat tension headaches at the source  - by Foot Levelers
Everyone experiences headaches, but did you know there are two main categories? Most people – in fact, 95 percent of people according to the American Chiropractic Association – suffer from primary headaches.[1]
 The most common form of primary headaches, tension headaches, can be triggered by poor posture, sedentary behavior, sleep patterns and work ergonomics. Add in other factors such as stress, fatigue, and malnutrition and a throbbing headache can surface abruptly – a painful way to carry out the day.
 Secondary headaches are typically more severe than primary headaches and are the result of an underlying disorder such as meningitis or a serious neck injury.
 Typical responses for a headache are to reach for the medicine cabinet, lie down for a short time, or simply try to ignore it. Unfortunately, most remedies do not address the issue where it starts, and relief is short-lived.
 Chiropractors across the world will agree – the solution is not to provide relief temporarily, but to find the source of pain, treat it, and let headaches be a thing of the past.
 One thing leads to another
Chiropractors have an extensive knowledge of joint, muscle, and bone functionality. Their expertise in the musculoskeletal system gives them an ability to identify pain at the source. They know that pain in one section of the body can be a response to a disturbance in a completely different area.
 When a tension headache occurs, we experience cranial and facial pain, even though there is not an injury to the face or the brain.
 According to a New York Times article, “The brain is insensitive to pain, so that is not what hurts when you have a headache. Rather, the pain occurs in the following areas:
  • The tissues covering the brain
  • The attaching structures at the base of the brain
  •  Muscles and blood vessels around the scalp, face, and neck”[2]
Most tension headaches are a result of a disturbance in another part of the body. Multiple factors can intensify the issue such as light, work environments, food, and sleep patterns.
 How chiropractic can help
Throughout time, our bodies adapt to repetitive poor posture and work ergonomics.
As this happens, alignment in the neck, upper back and spine become compromised.
This stress and misalignment upon the musculoskeletal system can be a great causer of tension headaches.
 It is important to consult with a chiropractor to discover what is causing headaches, and how to treat them. People may be experiencing headaches but are unaware that their posture and musculoskeletal health can be the source.
 Chiropractors can help by restoring range of motion and correcting the body’s biomechanics through adjustments and spinal manipulation.
 A headache is a message from your body, telling you that something is out of order. If headaches are becoming a common problem, it is up to you to take control – visit with your chiropractor and fix the problem at the source.

[1] American Chiropractic Association. (Accessed: February 2012) Headaches & Chiropractic. http://www.acatoday.org/content_css.cfm?CID=2186

[2] New York Times. (Accessed: February 2012) Headache, Cluster In-Depth Report. http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/cluster-headaches/print.html

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The Importance of Vitamin D

For the past few years, there has been a lot of attention placed on the significance of Vitamin D for good health.  I agree with that wholeheartedly.

You can use Vitamin D to your advantage to:
  • Fight Colds
·         Promote absorption of calcium in the bone and improve bone health
·         Boost immune function
·         Reduce inflammation
·         Slow the aging process
·         Protect against colon, prostrate and breast cancers, as well as other cancers

For such an amazing nutrient, very few foods in nature contain Vitamin D. The best sources are salmon, tuna, mackerel (especially the flesh), and fish liver oils. Beef liver, cheese and egg yolks also contain small amounts.

If these foods are not appealing to you, there’s good news: you don't have to eat them to get your daily dose of Vitamin D!  Vitamin D is actually produced in your body when ultraviolet rays from sunlight strike your skin. The UV rays trigger synthesis of Vitamin D, which then gets converted in your liver into its active form.

One of the best ways to get Vitamin D is to spend 10-15 minutes a day outside in the sun. Keep in mind that wearing sunscreen will prevent you from getting adequate Vitamin D. In the summertime, an easy solution is skipping sunscreen on your legs for the first 15 minutes in the sun. Just make sure you apply it in time to prevent any burns or damage.

How do I get Vitamin D in the winter?
Capturing sunshine is hard to do in the winter, which is why my clinic carries Bio-D Mulsion and Bio-D Mulsion Forte from Biotics Research Corporation.  Just one drop provides your daily dose of Vitamin D, and is easily absorb by your body.

How much Vitamin D do I need each day?
For all ages, I recommend a daily dose of at least 400 IU.  For those who are:  still growing, have low Vitamin D levels in their blood work, are post-menopausal, pregnant, or nursing, I recommend as much as 2,000 IU daily.

The Bio-D Mulsion contains 100% of the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin D.  The Bio-D Muslion Forte is perfect for those who need the extra boost of Vitamin D.

If preventing colon, prostate and breast cancers, building strong bones, fighting off colds, and slowing aging sounds like a good deal to you -- look for the answer in one simple package: Vitamin D.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Free Massage Giveaway

As part of our Patient Appreciation Program, Applied Health Chiropractic is giving away one free massage per month from one of our massage therapists.

We are also opening this up to any family or friends you wish to forward this email to.

To become eligible for the free massage, simply email via our website http://www.appliedhealthva.com/ by Jan. 25.

Massage therapy is one of the most powerful preventative medicine tools available to us today and provides the following benefits:

• Recovery from tension, stress and fatigue
• Stimulates circulation
• Stimulates lymphatic flow
• Relief of chronic pain
• Enhances well being
• Increase restricted joint movement
• And, of course, PURE RELAXATION

We will email the winner on Jan. 27. If your spam filters are set high, please include your phone number in your email and we’ll call too.
Thank you.

From your friends at Applied Health Chiropractic,
Dr. Marion Constantinides & Staff

Thursday, December 22, 2011

FDA's scheme to outlaw nearly all nutritional supplements created after 1994 would destroy millions of jobs and devastate economy

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com
Yesterday we reported on the FDA's new scheme for outlawing nearly all nutritional supplements formulated after October, 1994 (http://www.naturalnews.com/032912_FDA_dietary_supplements.html). That was just the beginning of this story, because a detailed analysis of the proposed new regulation reveals extremely disturbing revelations that would absolutely gut the nutritional products industry if these regulations are put into practice.

Below are the highlights of the most offensive and onerous portions of these proposed new FDA regulations. The source of all this information is the FDA itself, which proposes its new rules in a rather lengthy post at: http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/DietarySupplements/ucm257563.htm#top

• Every nutritional supplement company will be forced to submit comprehensive NDI (New Dietary Ingredient) documentation for EACH ingredient used in EACH product they currently sell. This will amount to hundreds of thousands of NDI applications flooding the FDA offices. This is a clever FDA scheme to place a huge burden of research and paperwork on every dietary supplement company in the USA. In the FDA's own words:

"The statute places the obligation for submitting the notification on each manufacturer or distributor. Any other manufacturer or distributor who wishes to market its own dietary supplement containing the same NDI should submit a NDI notification to FDA explaining its own basis for concluding that this new product containing the NDI will "reasonably expected to be safe" under the conditions recommended or suggested in the new product's labeling."

• All supplement companies must REMOVE their products from "interstate commerce" for the 75 days after the FDA receives their NDI applications. No product containing an NDI application ingredient may be sold in the United States or it will be considered "adulterated" by the FDA and thereby subjected to confiscation.

• While the NDI provisions of the 1994 DSHEA act merely required dietary supplement companies to notify the FDA of new ingredients, the FDA is now distorting this into a de facto supplement approval process. Without the FDA's new approval, nutritional supplements will all be labeled "adulterated" and potentially confiscated at gunpoint by the FDA (see FDA raid links below).

• The FDA does not support electronic filing for NDI applications. All applications must be done on paper and then mailed to the FDA (yes, as in dropped in a metal mailbox with a paper envelope). The 75 days of waiting does not begin until the FDA says it receives your application.

• While a few ingredients that were in widespread use before 1994 are exempted from these new requirements, the FDA refuses to publish any list of "grandfathered" ingredients. Instead, it requires each supplement company to figure it out for themselves. In addition, even pre-1994 ingredients must receive new approvals from the FDA if they are "altered" in any way, including changing the particle size, increasing the amount per serving, using a super-critical extraction process, baking the substance or even harvesting it from a plant at a different life stage of the plant. In other words, nearly all ingredients use in dietary supplements today are considered "adulterated" by the FDA.

• As a result of the point above, nearly all dietary ingredients will be required to receive new approval by the FDA due to the agency's broad definition of "adulterated." Note that changing the mg per serving of the nutrient makes it "adulterated," as does altering the target market. So if you sell vitamin C to senior citizens, and it's approved by the FDA as a dietary ingredient, you will need a NEW application and approval if you now sell that same vitamin C to children.

• The requirements for "proving" the safety and efficacy of dietary ingredients is entirely unreasonable. FDA says it requires companies to submit peer-reviewed scientific journal articles, clinical trial test results and even, in the case of botanicals, to provide the name of the scientist who originally gave the plant its Latin name. (Seriously? Is it a trick question?)

• The FDA has no obligation to "approve" any NDIs in a timely manner. It merely says it will acknowledge receipt of the NDI application within 75 days.

• If one company receives approval for a specific dietary ingredient (resveratrol, for example), that approval does NOT apply to any other company. EVERY company must independently apply for approval of resveratrol, and each company must independently supply all the research and documentation required to support the safety and efficacy of that ingredient in the amounts used in its products, and in the context of the marketing of that product.

• Companies that sell dietary supplements containing ingredients that have not been approved under these new FDA regulations will be accused of selling "adulterated" ingredients and can have their inventory seized by federal marshals or have their company founders arrested for selling "adulterated drugs" even though they might only be vitamins or herbs.

• These proposed regulations are NOT a law under the control of Congress. Neither the House nor the Senate has any control over this. The FDA can simply issue these regulations on its own, regardless of what publicly elected officials want the agency to do. The FDA is run by unelected bureaucrats who answer to no one and write their own "laws." (See attorney Jonathan Emord's book The Rise of Tyranny to learn more.)

• The FDA can simply choose to DENY all applications and thereby outlaw virtually all nutritional supplements. There is no obligation by the FDA to honestly and accurately review any applications whatsoever. It can simply rubber stamp 'DENIED' on every one of them. In the FDA's own words: "FDA's failure to respond to a NDI notification does not constitute a finding by the agency that the NDI or the dietary supplement containing the NDI is safe or is not adulterated."

• The real kicker in all this? Synthetic molecules that mimic dietary supplements (i.e. those used in pharmaceuticals) are EXEMPTED from all these requirements! So synthetic molecules need no approval from the FDA, while the natural ones do! This conveniently exempts the pharmaceutical vitamin companies who use synthetic vitamin chemicals rather than natural, full-spectrum nutrients.

The FDA's plan to kill the supplement industry with a thousand paper cuts

This is all revealed on the FDA's own proposed regulation page:
http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/DietarySupplements/ucm257563.htm#top

A sample form for requesting NDI "approval" is available at:
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/DietarySupplements/UCM259759.pdf

Remember, the FDA will receive hundreds of thousands of these applications if it adopts this regulation. Under that mountain of paperwork, guess what we'll see next? The FDA begging Congress for "more money" to handle the work load!

The FDA also provides a decision chart to help you decide whether your ingredient needs to seek FDA approval:
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/DietarySupplements/UCM260199.pdf

Notice that nearly ALL ingredients lead to the conclusion of "NDI notification required." And even for those ingredients that the FDA says don't require notification, it recommends voluntary notification (bottom right corner of the chart).

Note carefully, too, that merely altering the intake level of a nutrient is enough to require new FDA notification and approval! So merely increasing the level of omega-3s in a supplement will require a manufacturer to seek a new approval from the FDA.

The FDA will turn vitamin company founders into wanted criminals

Also note: All products made with ingredients that are not APPROVED by the FDA under these new rules will be called ADULTERATED. The FDA has a long history of engaging in armed raids against companies that it accuses of selling "adulterated" products (http://www.naturalnews.com/021791.html).

Owners of these companies will be hunted down like common criminals and accused of "dealing drugs" -- a label that can earn them a red flag on Interpol (http://www.naturalnews.com/027750_Greg_Caton_FDA.html). This is exactly what happened to Greg Caton, who was kidnapped from Ecuador by the FDA after manufacturing and selling anti-cancer salves that actually worked quite well to eliminate skin cancer tumors.

Caton's listing on Interpol said he was wanted for "drugs, related crimes, fraud." That's the official Interpol listing. What drugs? The skin cancer salves. What fraud? The "fraud" of selling anti-cancer products. What "related crimes?" The "crime" of refusing to bow down to the FDA's outrageous censorship and tyranny.

In this way, the FDA can simply fabricate fictitious accusations against sellers of nutrients and herbs, then use either U.S. marshals to arrest them at gunpoint in the USA, or invoke Interpol to have them kidnapped from other countries, in complete violation of expatriation agreements between nations.

The FDA now seeks to utterly destroy the nutritional supplements industry

Remember, this is the FDA's "end game" strategy to utterly destroy the supplements industry and thereby hand Big Pharma a complete monopoly over nearly all forms of medicine in the USA. If this regulation is put into practice, it would cause:

• The complete wipeout of nearly all nutritional supplement companies in the USA.

• The bankruptcy of most health food stores and vitamin retailers, including online retailers.

• A loss of millions of jobs currently supported by the supplements industry. How does this come to millions of jobs? Add up all the jobs related to the importing, manufacturing and transportation of nutritional supplements and superfoods. Include all the jobs related to marketing, advertising, promoting, distributing and publicizing these supplements. Then include all the jobs of workers in health food stores, fulfillment centers and supplement formulators. On top of that, you have all the jobs which are supported by successful nutritional supplement companies, including accounting, legal, graphic design and technology jobs. The Natural Products Foundation conservatively says that dietary supplements contribute $61 billion to the U.S. economy and support 450,000 jobs (http://naturalproductsfoundation.org/index.php?src=news&srctype=detail&category=News&refno=20). The FDA's new regulations, however, impact not just dietary supplements but also superfoods and functional foods which are part of an even larger market. In all, millions of jobs will be impacted by the FDA's proposed new regulations. In addition, nutritional supplements boost job performance across all industries because they help employees work better and reduce sick days. So removing their access to these supplements will suppress the productivity of workers across ALL industries. This is one of the ways in which these proposed new regulations could destroy millions of jobs across the U.S. economy.

• Skyrocketing rates of chronic degenerative diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease, because nutritional supplements are practically the only thing keeping these diseases in check right now.

• A worsening of infectious disease and viral outbreaks due to weakened immune systems across the U.S. population. (The CDC will respond by saying we need "more vaccines!")

• Huge increases in health care costs due to more patients having more disease and yet having fewer alternatives available for preventing or treating that disease.

The end of the supplements industry would spell the end of America

Because of these reasons, I believe this FDA regulation, if fully enforced, would destroy what remains of America's economy and, within just a few years, cause a total collapse of the health care system which is already burdened under a rising wave of degenerative disease (diabetes rates have doubled in just one generation, thanks to the utter failure of western medicine).

In this proposed FDA regulation, I believe we are looking at a deliberate effort to destroy America, engineered by the unelected criminals and tyrants who run the FDA and answer to no one. They are writing their own new laws, in essence, with zero oversight from Congress and no responsibility whatsoever to the People they are supposed to serve. This is what happens when we allow runaway Big Government to trash our economies, mandate failed health care treatments (Obamacare) and nullify the U.S. Constitution.

Obama says he is not engaged in a war against Libya (yeah, right!), but it's clear the FDA has declared war on the American people.

And where does the FDA even claim it has the right to deny the use of dietary ingredients? The Commerce Clause, of course! It's the catch-all clause that Big Government always uses to claim supreme power over the people. And yet it's all a misinterpretation of the original intent of the Commerce Clause! The U.S. Constitution was written to LIMIT the power of government in order to protect the People from precisely the kind of tyranny being unleashed against us by the FDA.

Where you can read more:

Ralph Fucetola, the Vitamin Lawyer, shares his thoughts on this issue at: http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=9875

Also, the Alliance for Natural Health, which originally broke this story, offers an excellent analysis along with an online petition I encourage you to sign:
http://www.anh-usa.org/fda-new-sneak-attack-on-supplements/

Alert your local health food stores about this FDA assault on so-called NDIs. Share this article. Make sure your friends know the FDA is trying to destroy the supplements industry.

We must not let them succeed. In fact, I say that in a just society, we would ask the U.S. Department of Justice to lead a citizens' march into the FDA offices and arrest the criminals there, charge them with crimes against humanity -- plus fraud, racketeering, and conspiracy to commit murder -- then hold public trials where all the evidence against the FDA is made public so that the entire population can see the full extent of the crimes this agency is committing against the People of this great nation.

We are not just dealing with bureaucrats here, my friends... we are dealing with murderers who absolutely do not value human life in any way -- and who are committed to causing more disease, more suffering, and more death as long as they can protect the profits of the pharmaceutical industry. These FDA bureaucrats are in the same evil class as Nazi war criminals, and it's time that we subjected them to the full force of common law powered by the People.

The sooner that day comes, the safer our nation will be from tyrants. We are now quite literally fighting for our lives.



Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/032924_dietary_supplements_FDA_approval.html#ixzz1hGAqsJq5