2010 - This Is The Start Of Something Good
—Dec 29, 2009In a few days a new decade begins and with it comes optimism. Many people believe that 2010 will be a good year…maybe even a great year. Some of that is due to the sheer exhilaration of being done with 2009. Let’s face it, this past year was very tough on a lot of people. But it is on its way out the door and that’s just fine with me.
Take a deep breath and try to let go of the stress. Begin the new year feeling good. Take a few minutes to think about the coming year. What will you change in your life? What do you want to learn? Achieve? Make up your own questions and write down your answers. Wait a minute. Am I trying to trick you into making a list of resolutions? No, not resolutions…goals. Spend a bit more time thinking about those goals and you have a plan. It’s a good way to kick off a new year.
And as you’re moving toward your goals, it’s important to keep records. And believe it or not, it’s fun. That’s right. I’m bringing up the Achievement Ledger idea one more time. Update a word document at the end of each day of the year. This takes 2 minutes…max. Watch the achievements pile up. It’s a great feeling to get to the end of the year and see how many things you have done. Want more details? Click back to the Get The Year Started Right Wellness Wave blog.
Beginning the New Year right starts with ending the Old Year well. If you’re stressed out, suffering from joint pain, exhaustion, sleep problems, indigestion…the list goes on…you don’t have to end 2009 on that sour note. Chiropractic and acupuncture services are available Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and New Year’s Eve morning. There are also a few massage appointments available.
Have a happy and safe New Year. Viva La 2010!
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
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Arrive Alive...Driving Tips For The Holidays
—Dec 12, 2009The holiday season is upon us and with it comes dark nights and slippery roads. And while it’s tempting to dash here and there for gifts and parties remember that it’s more important to arrive safe and sound. Here are a few tips to help make sure that happens:
- Stop checking your watch while you’re driving. This habit tends to accentuate the anxiety of running late. Worrying about the time won’t get you to your destination any faster.
- If the cell phone rings, let it go to voice mail. You don’t need any distraction in bumper to bumper traffic. If you’ve ever been insane enough to text while driving, thank your lucky stars that you haven’t caused an accident. It’s as bad as drinking and driving.
- Speaking of drinking and driving, you need to be extra vigilant for the party goer on the road during this season. Keep checking your mirrors, including the passenger side view mirror for knuckleheads who are passing on the right.
- Beware of the tailgater. If you’re on a road and someone is riding your rear bumper, pull over and let him pass.
- The deer are out in force, especially at dusk. When you’re on country roads, slow down and keep scanning the sides of the roadway. And remember these are herd animals. If you see one crossing the road there are bound to be others right behind.
- If you do get in an auto accident, let us help you. Call the office and get checked. Seemingly minor injuries can end up as years of pain without treatment. For more information on auto injuries, visit our sister website www.auto-injury-leesburg.com.
Have a happy and safe Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa!
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
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Swine Flu Panic...You Can Thank The Media For This One!
—Nov 06, 2009When it comes to the swine flu, if you believe what you see on TV, read in the papers or stumble upon on the Internet, it’s only a matter of time before we will hear cries of, “Bring out your dead” from the streets below.
Relax. No matter what the news actress spouts on the tube, this is not a rerun of the 1918 killer flu.
To begin with, no one can say with certainty how many have been inflected by H1N1. Since August 31st patients exhibiting flu-like symptoms have been counted as swine flu cases. Specific testing for H1N1 was deemed too expensive to do it on every case. What passes for testing now is a nasal swab, which will only confirm that influenza is present. It doesn’t identify the strain of flu. But for our 24 hour news cycle media that fact is considered a minor technicality. Instead it’s reported that the CDC stated that 5.7 million Americans were infected by the H1N1. Actually the CDC said that between 1.8 million and 5.7 million were infected. To get the top number the CDC took the total number of confirmed cases and multiplied it by 80. That’s right…80. That’s based on the assumption that for every confirmed case, 80 had it and toughed it out. If that’s true, it sounds like a fairly mild virus.
And those assumptions and their underlying numbers have been brought into question. CBS completed a three month investigation that reviewed the CDC’s lab results for suspected flu samples from all 50 states. H1N1 was only a small percentage of the suspected samples. That means the real swine flu numbers could be a fraction of the official report. The fact is, when it comes to the number of swine flu cases, no one knows. So don’t let the numbers rattle you. It’s just an opinion, not a hard fact.
Still, night after night, we hear nothing but stories of clinics overrun by panicked mobs demanding vaccines. It makes for good television. It gets viewers’ hearts racing. It freaks people out.
It’s time to put this in perspective. The president stated that 1000 Americans lost their lives because of swine flu. Last week it was reported that 114 were under age 18 [labeled children]. That’s tragic. Unfortunately, people die tragically from a multitude of unexpected illnesses every day. From a statistical perspective, 1000 deaths in ten months is a small crisis. Every year, 200,000 die from medical mistakes in hospitals. And you’d better believe that includes a lot of children. Imagine if we put the same time and effort into solving that problem. How many lives could we save? Personally, I think a little bit of public outrage over that issue would be well placed…but that’s a topic for another day.
Close your eyes, take a deep breath and clear your mind of swine flu worries. And instead of being glued to your television or laptop for the latest news on H1N1, go outside, enjoy the fresh air and take a long walk. That’s the healthy way to weather any crisis.
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
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Tomorrow Is Promised To No One
—May 28, 2009I haven't been giving this blog very much attention lately. My mother-in-law, Adele Metz, who I loved dearly passed away last week. Her death came as a bit of a shock to the family. Last year, at this time she seemed healthy. By Christmas, she felt that something was wrong. In January she was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer and less than four months later she was gone.
There is a point to this post and it's not to elicit sympathy. It's simply this. None of us know how long we have, so it only makes sense to live life to the fullest. Take each day as a gift. Stop putting off calling your old friends, spend more time with your kids and take that vacation that you always wanted. There's no point in leaving anything undone, because as far as we know, you only go around once in this world.
Tomorrow is promised to no one, but today is all yours. Make the most of it.
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
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Achievement Ledger—Get The Year Started Right.
—Jan 04, 2009I have always been a list maker. For me, that’s the only way to get things done. So, as you can imagine, New Year’s Eve is like my personal Superbowl. I always had a long list of things to do for the coming year before the ball dropped. The funny thing was, I never completed everything on my list. When the end of the year came around, I found myself focusing on what I didn’t get done. In 2008, I decided to do something different. I pioneered a concept called the Achievement Ledger. Instead of making lists of things I would do in the future, I wrote down the things I completed. I had no hard and fast rules for this Achievement Ledger, I just wrote down each important item I accomplished that day. I kept this up the entire year and the results were staggering. I had accomplished 914 important things during 2008. Wow, talk about empowering! It sure beat the feeling of thinking that I didn’t get anything done during the year.
I highly recommend the Achievement Ledger concept. You can keep track of your achievements with a Word document on your computer, or take the old school approach and use a paper notebook. Either way, it’s an excellent exercise that is bound to bolster your self-esteem as the year rolls on. And speaking of exercise, the Achievement Ledger is a great way to keep your fitness goals on track, because that’s definitely one accomplishment you want to write down.
One last piece of advice on this subject. Make your Achievement Ledger notes daily. If you wait a week, you won’t remember everything. And, as with any other activity, when you do it every day it becomes a habit. Good luck with your Achievement Ledger. Let me know how this works for you.
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
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Help For Turkey Day Stress
—Nov 18, 2008With that pack of relatives coming to your house, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. Here are a few suggestions to deal with the stress.
Don’t cook it yourself. There are many restaurants that prepare Thanksgiving dinners with all the trimmings. Even Giant is doing this now. My personal favorite is Tuskies. All you have to do is swing by there on Thanksgiving Day and pick up your order. No muss, no fuss and clean up after the dinner is a breeze. If this sounds good to you, call now and get your order in before the cutoff date.
Go for a walk. When the brother-in-law you can’t stand starts to give you unwanted advice, don’t grind your teeth. Put on your coat and take a walk. This light exercise is a healthy way to calm your spirit. If anyone asks why you are going out, tell them, “I have to, doctor’s orders.”
Watch a great Thanksgiving movie. Nothing cures stress better than laughter. With this in mind, I highly recommend Home for the Holidays. This quirky classic stars Holly Hunter, Robert Downey Jr., Claire Danes, and Anne Bancroft. While any good comedy can make you smile, this one might make you believe that there are families wackier than yours.
— Dr. Rich Fink
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Maintenance verses Repair: Car & Body
—Sep 02, 2008About a month back I drove my aging VW Passat to the dealer for warranty repair. While I was there, the service department did a 28 point service check free of charge on the vehicle. Their verdict? The 2000 Passat needed $5400 worth of work. Mind you, Kelly Blue Book only valued the car at $5800, so I wasn’t happy. Instead of handing over a pile of money I took the Passat back to The Tire Shop in Leesburg where I always have the maintenance on my car performed. They informed me that all of the work that the dealer said was necessary had been done on previous visits. In fact, the car was good to go and required no repair.
So what’s the moral to this story and what does it have to do with health? First, it’s pretty obvious that the dealer’s crew is either incompetent or unscrupulous. What the dealer was recommending is the equivalent of surgery in the health care field. Many patients when confronted with a doctor’s recommendation to go under the knife, schedule the procedure and hope for the best. Conservative alternative procedures are usually never discussed. And if the surgical procedure isn’t necessary that’s just your hard luck. Here’s an excerpt from a 1989 New York Times article entitled Unnecessary Surgery,
“The surgery rate in the United States grew more than twice as fast as the population between 1979 and 1987. By most accounts, it’s the highest in the world. For example, studies cited by Lynn Payer in her recent book, ‘‘Medicine and Culture,’‘ show that American women are two to three times more likely to undergo a hysterectomy than women in England. Heart patients here are six times more likely to have a coronary bypass. Yet our more aggressive style of medicine doesn’t buy us longer lives: According to the World Health Organization, life expectancy is about the same in the United States as in Western Europe, and Americans are somewhat more likely to die of heart disease than people living in England.”
So the first lesson here is, when you are confronted with a major health related decision, think it through and consider all the alternatives.
The second health care parallel to my auto repair story is the importance of maintenance. I had taken this car to the folks at The Tire Shop for years and years. It was well maintained. Sure it cost money to do that, but the car has 100,000 miles on it and is still running like a champ. Without the maintenance, I wouldn’t be writing this article because that car would be in a junkyard.
What about you? What’s the maintenance plan for your body? Are you exercising regularly? Taking supplements including fish oil? Eating your share of fruits and veggies? Are you getting chiropractic care on a regular basis or are you just waiting until you can barely move before you make an appointment? Patients who receive regular chiropractic checkups and adjustments have a body that just plain works better.
Whether it’s a human body or a mechanical car, the principle is the same. Maintain it now or repair it later. There is one big difference between the two. Original Equipment Manufacturer parts are readily available for any make or model of automobile. For the human body they just don’t exist. Take care of your body today so that you can enjoy life for decades to come.
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
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Beta Blockers, Blood Pressure and Diabetes
—Jul 23, 2008Beta blockers remain a common type of drug to treat high blood pressure and cardiac conditions. The problem with these types of drugs is that they dramatically increase the risk of diabetes by elevating blood sugar. And diabetes has its own share of nasty health outcomes including blindness, circulation problems [which can result in amputations of the feet] and early death.
Instead of trying to recover from a heart attack by taking a drug that might kill you by way of diabetes, starting making some lifestyle changes…starting now. Eating 3-5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily combined with a sensible exercise program will keep your heart healthy, your blood pressure within normal limits and your blood sugar under control. And if that’s not enough for you, you will save money on medical doctor visits, prescriptions and need less chiropractic care to enjoy a pain free life. You know where to find fruits and vegetables. Buy local if you can because the fresher the better. If you need some advice on starting an exercise program, ask one of the doctors at Fink Family Wellness the next time you come in.
— Richard Fink, DC, FIAMA
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