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HEALTHBEAT SHOW NOTES .... Episode #46 - Recorded May 26, 2006

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of HealthBeat, Chiropractic OnLine Today’s Health, News and informational Podcast.

In this week’s news:  We’ll Look At –

• Senate Bill 1955 Defeated

• CAM Conference Scheduled

• Americans Less Healthy than British Counterparts

• Personality, Lifestyle and Cardiovascular Disease

• British Chiropractic Association and Posture Recommendations

• Back Pain and Computers

• Wash Those Hands

• More Americans Opting Out of Health Insurance

• Chiropractic Expansion in the US Veterans Administration

• Cervicogenic Headaches

For HealthBeat, This is Dr. Todd Eglow.

Welcome to HealthBeat Podcast #46, recorded May 26, 2006.  HealthBeat is Chiropractic OnLine Today’s radio program, providing current news and commentary about Chiropractic and Health.

This week’s Episode is sponsored by DaVinci Laboratories.  Please surf to our web site at ChiropracticRadio.com and click on the DaVinci link for your Health and Nutritional needs.

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And Now for some news ….

Senate Bill 1955 Defeated

In HealthBeat’s ongoing coverage of Senate Bill 1955 and its potential effect to consumers and doctors, we are pleased to report that the bill has been defeated.

In a historic victory for chiropractors and their patients, S.1955, the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act, was withdrawn from the Senate floor and effectively defeated when Democrats threatened to filibuster the bill. The controversial small business health plan legislation spurred an unprecedented grassroots lobbying campaign by the American Chiropractic Association and hundreds of provider and consumer groups that believed the bill would gut state patient protection laws and leave millions of patients without crucial health care benefits.

Deliberations on S.1955 began Tuesday, May 9, when Senate Democrats, in a procedural move, voted to allow the bill to advance to the Senate floor -- with debate limited to 30 hours. On Thursday, May 11, after Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced that debate would end and limited amendments to S.1955 would be considered, Senate Democrats voted against this and the bill was pulled from consideration.

Surf to the ACA’s web site at acatoday.org for more information - http://www.acatoday.org/content_css.cfm?CID=1198

CAM Conference Scheduled

The North American Research Conference on Complementary and Integrative Medicine will be in Edmonton , Alberta , Canada , on May 24–27, 2006.

The conference will showcase original scientific Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) research through keynote and plenary presentations, oral and poster presentations, and innovative scientific sessions.

For more information, surf to the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine, www.imconsortium.org

American Less Healthy than British Counterparts

Americans may have won the Revolutionary War, but 230 years later they're losing the battle for good health to the British.

An extensive new study comparing the health of middle-aged, white residents of both countries finds that "we get sicker, sooner”.

he gap between the two countries is significant, despite the fact that people in the United States have a standard of living that is 25 percent higher than their counterparts across the Atlantic, and that they spend more than double on health care than the British -- $5,274 per capita vs. $2,164, respectively.

The findings appear in the May 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association - http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/295/17/2037

Personality, Lifestyle and Cardiovascular Disease

According to the British Medical Journal, a study was conducted to observe the relation between measures of personality and risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer in a large cohort.

To understand the conclusion of this study, first let’s discuss a few definitions:

Self-Efficacy – refers to the belief in your ability to change and to reach a goal

Locus of Control – refers to the sense of being in control of your life

Individuals most likely to reach a goal are those who believe they can.  The stronger the belief, the more energy and persistence will be put into making the change.  The opposite is also true, especially for health behaviors.

Individuals who believe that internal forces or factors play a greater role in achieving good health, referred to as an Internal Locus of Control, are more likely to seek preventive health care and are more optimistic about their work lifestyle, rate their health as better than those who rely on external factors.  Internals tend to be more optimistic about their future.

The study concluded that Internal locus of control over disease and time urgency seem to be associated with reduced risk for common chronic diseases, probably by affecting unmeasured health related behaviour. The other personality traits assessed had no major impact on cardiovascular disease and cancer.

For more information, surf to our Show Notes for a link to this study - http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/short/bmj.38833.479560.80v1?etoc

BRITISH CHIROPRACTIC ASSOCIATION: DON'T JUST SIT THERE!

New research commissioned by the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) reveals that 32% of us spend over 10 hours sitting down every day, adding up to an amazing 32 years and 4 months of our lives.

The BCA undertook this research into people’s obsession with sitting down to coincide with the launch of Chiropractic Awareness Week, which began on Monday 17th April 2006 with the theme of "Keep Moving."

On average, we spend 16 hours awake per day and 9.4 million of us spend over 75% of our waking day taking the weight off our feet.

The main culprits are the 18- to 29-year-olds. Thirty-eight percent of respondents in this age range spend 10 hours or more seated, compared to just 25% of the over 50s!

The BCA research reveals that 17% of people never exercise and a further 12% exercise less than once a month.

COT’s HealthBeat always recommends discussing any Exercise tips or recommendations with a Qualified Healthcare Professional.

For more information on Chiropractic Awareness Week visit http://www.chiropracticawarenessweek.co.uk

Back Pain and Computers

A recent article in the Technology news site, CNET.com, published information about a condition referred to as Postural syndrome.

Postural Syndrome is defined as a condition of the neck and upper back most commonly felt in those who work in sedentary jobs such as those which are computer related, but may also be experienced by athletes who are commonly in a bent forward position such as cyclists or wicket-keepers. Symptoms are due to prolonged, poor posture in a slumped forward position. (http://www.injurytreatment.com.au/home/injuries/neck/147)

Of interest is that only Medical doctors and Physical Therapists were interviewed for the article.

COT’s HealthBeat recommends discussing all spinal discomfort with your Doctor of Chiropractic for a full analysis.

Surf to our Web Site for a link to this article - http://news.com.com/Your+computer+may+be+a+pain+in+the+neck/2100-1022_3-6073100.html?tag=nefd.lede

Wash Those Hands

And in a story that is hard to believe.... here is a reminder for everyone.... Wash Your Hands!

A story in the May 29, 2006 issue of Business Week discusses how financial incentives can affect transmission of infections in hospitals.

Hygiene is a good example. For 150 years we have known that doctors with unwashed hands pass infections from patient to patient. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention figures that 80% of hospital-acquired infections are transmitted this way, costing billions of dollars annually to treat and killing thousands of people.

With this in mind, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Presbyterian Hospital installed alcohol-wash dispensers in every room and allowed nurses to ban doctors who don't wash up from entering patients' rooms.

One major cause for such huge gaps in care is that financial incentives can be skewed. Insurance companies, which have learned that high infection rates cost them money, are beginning to provide bonuses to encourage hospitals to make big improvements.  But doctors don't have the same incentives. They are usually not hospital employees and are paid based on the number of patients they see and procedures they do. Repeatedly stopping to wash up may slow them down and cost them money. That has hospitals such as UPMC as well as private insurance companies and Medicare scrambling for new ideas.

So wash your hands.  For more information, surf to our Show Notes for a link to this story - http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_22/b3986015.htm

More Americans Opting Out of Health Insurance

According to a posting on the May 12^th National Academies Health Web Site - As the cost of employment-based health insurance and premiums faced by the employee continue to rise, an increasing number of employed Americans are declining coverage, according to a new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. About 3 million fewer eligible Americans signed up for health insurance in 2003, compared with 1998.

There has been a 42 percent increase in the cost of individual, employment-based health care plans between 1998 and 2003, with adjustment for inflation. About 80 percent of eligible workers elected to enroll in their employers’ health care plans in 2003. More than half of all adults who do not have health insurance cite high costs.

A series of Institute of Medicine reports looks at the United States ' uninsured population and what the nation should do to ensure health care coverage. The study Insuring America's Health: Principles and Recommendations calls for universal health coverage by 2010 given the growing stress being placed on the nation's health care system, the exacerbated health problems, and the substantial societal costs that result from more than 45 million Americans lacking health insurance.

Hidden Costs, Value Lost: Uninsurance in America, estimated the societal economic loss for the United States at between $65 billion and $130 billion every year because of the poorer health and earlier death experienced by the uninsured.

For more information, surf to our Show Notes for a link to this study - http://www.nationalacademies.org/headlines/20060512.html

Chiropractic Expansion in the US Veterans Administration

The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) and the Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC) recently applauded Congressmen Jeb Bradley (R-NH) and Bob Filner (D-CA) for introducing legislation that calls for the federal government to expedite expansion of the chiropractic benefit through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system. The two organizations worked closely with Reps. Bradley and Filner on this bipartisan bill.

The recently introduced legislation, HR 5202, specifically requires the VA to have a chiropractor on staff at 75 major VA medical centers before the end of 2008 and for all major VA medical centers to have a chiropractor on staff before the end of 2010. According to the VA web site, there are currently 154 major medical centers in operation nationwide.

For more information, surf to www.acatoday.org

Cervicogenic Headaches

According to the May 11, 2006 online edition of the journal Chiropractic and Osteopathy, a study looks at the issue of Cervicogenic Headaches.

The notion that disorders of the cervical spine can cause headache is more than a century old, yet there is still a great deal of debate about cervicogenic headache (CEH) in terms of its underlying mechanisms, its signs and symptoms, and the most appropriate treatments for it.

Cervicogenic Headaches are typically a unilateral headache that can be provoked by neck movement, awkward head positions or pressure on tender points in the neck. The headaches can last hours or days, and the pain is usually described as either dull or piercing.

Convergence of the upper cervical roots on the nucleus caudalis of the trigeminal tract is the most commonly accepted neurophysiological explanation for CEH.   In most cases, CEH is caused by pathology in the upper aspect of the cervical spine, but the type and exact location of the pathology varies substantially among individual cases.

Anaesthetic blocks may be necessary to confirm the diagnosis of CEH, showing that the source of pain is in the neck. Differential diagnosis is sometimes a challenge because CEH can be mistaken for other forms of unilateral headache, especially unilateral migraine without aura.

Neuroimaging and kinematic analysis of neck motion may aid in diagnosing difficult CEH.

As always, COTs HealthBeat recommends discussing this and any Spinal discomfort with a Qualified Healthcare Professional, such as your Doctor of Chiropractic.

Surf to our Show Notes for a link to this Journal’s Abstract - http://www.springerlink.com/(z1e1shmx3ekwbfqwhhsr4s55)/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,2,2;journal,1,31;linkingpublicationresults,1:105696,1

As always, please surf to our Podcast Show Notes at ChiropractiRadio.com for a full listing of web references mentioned in today’s show.

And remember - COT’s Healthbeat always recommends discussing any nutritional or exercise lifestyle modifications with a qualified healthcare professional.

Thank you for listening…. As always, We Want to hear from you.  Please send us emails…. Simply surf to our Web Site at ChiropracticRadio.com and click on the Email link.

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"Great services are not canceled by one act or by one single error." 
- Benjamin Disraeli

For Chiropractic OnLine Today’s HealthBeat, This is Dr. Todd Eglow.

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