Commerical Drive – East Vancouver Chiropractor; Dr. Dominic Chan DC – “Sitting Too Much May Be Killing You”

This is a very interesting study that came out this week from the University of Sydney in Australia. Now what I find very impressive about this study is the number of participants involved; according to the study, over 220,000 people over the age of 45! That is a staggering amount of people involved in this study using self-reported data.

The findings included a sharp increase in the risk of death after more than 11 hours of daily sitting was reported. These numbers were compared to the risk of death for people who sat for less than 4 hours/day and those who sat between 8-11 hours/day. The researchers found that those who sat more than 11 hours/day had a 15% increased chance of death in the following 3 years compared to those who sat between 8-11hours. However, the shocking result was that compared to those who sat for less than 4 hours/day, the increased chance of death shot up to 40% for the 11 plus hours group. 

“The evidence on the detrimental health effects of prolonged sitting has been building over the last few years,” said study author Hidde van der Ploeg, a senior research fellow at the University of Sydney. “The study stands out because of its large number of participants and the fact that it was one of the first that was able to look at total sitting time. Most of the evidence to date had been on the health risks of prolonged television viewing.”

 This study appeared in the March 26 edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Some background would also be helpful in relation to this article. Of the over 220,000 Australian participants in this study, about 62% considered themselves to be overweight or obese. This number is very close to North Americans as well. As mentioned before, the participants were also over the age of 45. With the huge global concern regarding chronic illnesses that only increase with time, the age of the participants is also important.

After reviewing this article, a word of caution is warranted here. As the authors also noted, this study does not provide a ‘smoking gun’, cause and effect relationship between increased sitting time and death. However, other factors may also come into play. For instance, perhaps people who sit for more than 11 hours/day are simply less active and have increased cardiovascular risk factors than those who sit for less than 4 hours/day. Perhaps it’s the other ‘factors’ that are contributing to their increased mortality?

 But I think it’s fair to say that sitting for more than 11 hours/day is clearly unhealthy for your health. I would even venture to say that it’s common sense. Having  a sedentary lifestyle is harmful to your health. Period. Now if the myriad of health problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle weren’t enough, isn’t the increased chance of death enough to get you moving? Something to think about and take to heart.

 Come visit your COMMERCIAL DRIVE – EAST VANCOUVER CHIROPRACTOR or visit the website here; COMMERCIAL DRIVE – EAST VANCOUVER CHIROPRACTOR; DR. DOMINIC CHAN DC!!!!

Commercial Drive – East Vancouver Chiropractor; Dr. Dominic Chan DC – “Knee Alignment Linked to Osteoarthritis”

This study, funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, was released online before being published in an upcoming print issue of the journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

The study suggested that people who’s knees (Knee caps) point outwards may be at an increased risk of developing Osteoarthritis in the knees later on.

This knee position where the knees point outwards creates a relatively large space between the knees while the ankles are closer together. It resembles a condition commonly referred to as “bow-leggedness” but it’s not as extreme. In anatomical terms, this position of the knees is referred to as the varus alignment.

The study looked at 2713 volunteers between the ages of 50-79 who had arthritis or who were at an increased risk of developing arthritis due to prior trauma or being overweight. As an aside; Osteoathritis is a painful, sometimes disabling condition where the cartilage at the ends of bones, meant to cushion joints, wears down over time. Often associated with ‘wear and tear’, Osteoarthritis will commonly affect major weight bearing joints like the ankles, knees and hips.

Volunteers with the outward facing knees were nearly 1.5 times more likely to develop osteoarthritis than those with a straight-legged stance. There was no increased risk for people with inner-facing knees (valgus alignment), the investigators found.

According to Dr. Leena Sharma of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, about 70 percent of the force transmitted to a healthy knee while walking is focused on the inside of the knee. Therefore, when the knee faces outward, as in the varus alignment, there is even greater stress on the inside of the knee, which may increase the risk of osteoarthritis.

I hope this study helps people realize that undue stress of improper alignment in the joints can be harmful to your overall health in the short term and long term.
Now it would not be hard to translate the findings of this study that focused on the knees to other joints in the body like your pelvis or spine. Imagine if the pain and discomfort you are feeling was simply due to unnecessary pressure/strain on your joints due to a slight misalignment? These issues is what Chiropractor specialize in. Finding and treating these joint issues in order to relieve strain and pain. Allowing our patients to return to a healthier, active lifestyle.

Looking for a Chiropractor in the Commercial Drive neighborhood of East Vancouver? Visit the site of YOUR COMMERCIAL DRIVE – EAST VANCOUVER CHIROPRACTOR; DR. DOMINIC CHAN DC HERE!!!

Commercial Drive – East Vancouver Chiropractor; Dr. Dominic Chan DC – “Chiropractic Success Stories; LANCE ARMSTRONG”

Today I thought I’d pass along a story about a well known athlete who has benefited from Chiropractic. Many people tend to think of Chiropractic as a means to get relief from pain, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are many people and world class athletes who integrate Chiropractic treatments into their training regimens. Along with this, Chiropractic becomes part of a healthy lifestyle for many of these people.

Let me give you a bit of background on Lance Armstrong. Lance Armstrong is synonymous with the strength of the human spirit and resilience of the physical body. Lance was a gifted youth, and his professional athletic career was well entrenched even before he finished high school. His early potential appeared limitless and it seemed there was nothing he couldn’t accomplish.

However, his life would take a dramatic turn for the worse in 1996. Due to intense pain, Lance sought medical care for the cause and cure. Unfortunately, this is when Lance was diagnosed with cancer. Specifically, Testicular Cancer that had progressed to involve his lungs and brain. Lance’s chances of surviving the cancer was pegged at less than 50%. But he decided to aggressively battle the cancer and decided to face the challenge of surviving head on.

Miraculously, he responded well to the treatment and two years later actually decided to race competitively again. Unfortunately, his return to competitive cycling was not fortuitous and it was apparent he was not the athlete he used to be.

In 1999, Lance decided to re-commit himself and he chose to focus all of his talents and energy into one singular goal; the Tour de France. With a new found purpose and resolve, Lance devised a strategy to achieve his goal and get his body in the best shape possible to challenge the 3,600 km cycling race that spans three weeks and draws the best cyclists on the planet.

An integral part of his success was a Chiropractor, team mate and friend; Dr. Jeff Spencer. Dr. Spencer was crucial to keeping Lance’s body performing at it’s potential while helping to avoid injuries. Dr. Spencer’s work along with the tireless efforts of his team, allowed Lance to not only compete in the grueling race but ultimately win.

After Lance’s first win at the Tour de France, Lance was quoted as saying, “…I could not have won without Jeff’s help.” Lance recognized the benefits of Chiropractic early on and relied on it’s effectiveness to win the Tour de France. But the story doesn’t end there. As we all know, Lance not only won the Tour de France but he would go on win the race every year from 1999 to 2005. That’s a record breaking 7 times! Smashing the previous record of 5 wins held by several other world class athletes!

Lance Armstrong’s legacy and place in history is surely undeniable. After retirement, he continued to give back to charities as well as starting his own, Lance Armstrong foundation. What an inspiration!

If you’re wondering if Chiropractic could really help you, just look at Lance Armstrong!

If you live in East Vancouver, visit COMMERCIAL DRIVE – EAST VANCOUVER CHIROPRACTOR; DR. DOMINIC CHAN DC HERE!!!>

Commercial Drive – East Vancouver Chiropractor; Dr. Dominic Chan DC – “Women Often Underestimate Strokes”

Just a few days after Mother’s day, I got to thinking about women’s health and I was reminded about how little women know about Strokes and how it relates to Cadiovascular health.

I know there is a lot of attention paid to Cancer in the media and especially Breast Cancer. Now I’m not saying that isn’t a worthy cause and an important investment in time and resources but let’s review the facts.

A survey found that nearly 40% of women aren’t even concerned of strokes. However, the sobering fact is that a stroke is twice as likely to prove fatal to a woman than breast cancer is. Another interesting survey finding is that women believe that Breast Cancer is Five times more common than a stroke, but that is grossly exaggerated. Other health professionals also reported that women often miss the signs of a stroke and even worse, are less likely than men to have it treated when they do have one!

What’s going on here?? If Strokes are 1)more common than Breast cancer and 2)more likely to be fatal to a woman, then why is there still the lack of understanding in the general public?

Well, the key lies in education and exposure. We are regularly bombarded with public service announcements about Breast Cancer and it’s related charities. However, seldom are women reminded to review their cardiovascular health. Here, I’ve listed a few of the symptoms of a stroke. If a woman, or anybody for that matter, suffers these symptoms, make sure they get the appropriate medical attention ASAP!!

* Sudden difficulty speaking, understanding speech, or confusion
* Sudden numbness or weakness in the limbs, particularly on one side
* Sudden facial drooping or numbness and weakness on one side of the face
* Sudden balance problems, dizziness or trouble walking
* Sudden difficulty seeing with one or both eyes
* Sudden severe headache

Please don’t wait. Tell a woman, you love that they need to be wary of their heart health as well!

Visit East Vancouver Chiropractor; Dr. Chan’s website here at COMMERCIAL DRIVE – EAST VANCOUVER CHIROPRACTOR; DR. DOMINIC CHAN DC

Commercial Drive – East Vancouver Chiropractor; Dr. Dominic Chan DC – “How Chiropractic Works – Down to the Basics”

A very common question I get from patients, particularly those who have never been to a Chiropractor before is, “How does Chiropractic Work?”. I will try to explain this here in a very plain and understandable fashion. I’m not going to get into the intricacies of the nervous system and no where will you see me using the term;
“life force”. I want readers to “get” this easily without having to struggle with the rationale.

Let’s start with the basics. Our body’s movements come about due to the beautiful interaction of our Nervous System (Brain/Spinal Cord/Associated nerves), Skeletal System (Bones) and Muscular system. Our brain sends signals via our nerves to the muscles. They Contract/Relax and thus we get ‘movement’. The action of this Contracting/Relaxing actually changes the length of the muscles as they act on our Skeletal system. Because our muscles are attached to bones, as they shorten or lengthen, they create movement.
(Please see the picture above to get an idea of how contracting/relaxing muscles act on our bones and joints to create movement)

Now here in lies the problem. Due to a variety of factors such as; stress, posture, accidents, being out of shape, lifting the wrong way, etc, sometimes we can actually injure our muscles,ligaments or other soft tissue, like discs. This in turn may cause spasms in the muscles and cause them to feel very tight and/or painful. (Think here of how a cramp feels). Current understanding will connect the muscular spasms to inflammation and the inflammatory response. But I also tell my patients that another reason the muscles may be tight in spasm is for protection.

Think about it this way. If your muscles are tight, then movement is restricted. For you it probably feels very bad to be really stiff, but the way I look at it, it might serve a purpose. If there is irritation involving the joints and other soft tissue structures, wouldn’t immobilizing the area so no further irritation/inflammation occur be a good thing?

But unfortunately, that’s not all. These contractions/spasms of muscles also affect our skeletal system as well. If you remember that our muscles affect joints and bones. Then it’s clear that problems with the muscles will also affect the bones and joints. This in turn puts irritation on our joints that is recognized by the nervous system as “something’s wrong”. Now do you know what your brain does when it senses that “something’s wrong”? Well, it will often force you to take notice by making you feel things like Pain, discomfort, stiffness, numbness, burning etc.

Get the picture? Anyone that has ever hurt themselves before can attest to the fact that pain or discomfort is definitely something you will pay attention to.

Well here is where Chiropractic comes in. A Chiropractor is trained to assess and identify the reason, or cause of why a patient complains of symptoms. Very often, bodily aches and pain can be traced back to a structural problem in the spine or joints. Almost always this issue will be accompanied by muscle spasms.

(Side note: This is the reason why I have had patients tell me that they tried Massage therapy to get relief but they felt better for only a short time, and the pain returned. I tell them, often treating just the muscles is only part of the solution, they need to be addressing the problems and irritation of the joints to get better results)

In my practice, not only do I try to relieve the muscular tension and spasms, but at the same time, I try to relieve the irritation on the joints and nervous system. I try to restore proper alignment and function in the underlying joints so the body can start to “work” like it’s supposed to. Often times, I’ve had patients tell me that they feel relief after their very first session. I caution them though because their body and muscles need time to heal.

I hope this sheds some light as to why Chiropractic works for many patients. I think this explanation is very ‘bare boned’. Although there are a lot of details I didn’t mention here, hopefully this post will help.

As always, feel free to leave a message, or contact YOUR COMMERCIAL DRIVE – EAST VANCOUVER CHIROPRACTOR HERE!!!!!

Commercial Drive – East Vancouver Chiropractor; Dr. Dominic Chan DC – “Self-Control is Contagious”

I’m sure many of you have heard the current epidemic of childhood obesity and lack of fitness. I have many parents in my practice and many of them ask me about fitness and exercise for their children. My response is always two parts; 1) Yes, exercise will be great for your kids and 2) It starts with you.

Although I have been saying this for years now, this study reinforces the notion that good (and bad) habits can be contagious. Especially when it comes to children, their parents will be the biggest role models in their lives.

This study looked at the influence of our friend’s habits and actions on ourselves, however it would not be hard to see how the same effect might influence child-parent interactions.

The researchers in this study took some very novel approaches to test one’s self-control. The various methods involved testing one’s level of self-control after experiencing or watching situations where they saw good, and bad self-control. An example was; a study involved assigning 42 people to list the names of friends with good and bad self-control. As the participants took a test designed to measure self-control, a name was flashed very briefly on a computer screen. Those who saw the name of a friend with good self-control did better on the test than those who saw the name of a friend with poor self-control.

The moral of the story was two-fold; one, was that your own self control could be influenced by your social network. So if you wanted to improve and enhance healthy habits, it would suit you to associate with people who already have those habits. (Obviously, this could also work if you wanted to impart good habits on to others, like your children. You would have to assume the role of the model, so your children could learn good habits from you).

The second message from this study was; Accountability. Meaning that others aren’t just watching your behaviours, but can be influenced by them. A perfect example would be a woman who is trying to lose weight but lives with a partner who indulges in junk-food all the time and is a couch potato. Guess what, even involuntarily, the partners actions and behaviours may be sabotaging her efforts to improve her health.

Something to think about.

If you’re in the Commercial Drive area of East Vancouver, contact YOUR COMMERCIAL DRIVE – EAST VANCOUVER CHIROPRACTOR HERE!!!

Commercial Drive – East Vancouver Chiropractor; Dr. Dominic Chan DC – “Prescription Painkiller Overdoses on the Rise According to Study”

In my practice I often come across patients who have used prescription painkillers to manage their pain. Very often,they go to see their family doctors or a doctor at a walk in clinic and they complain of severe back or neck pain. After a usually brief exam and history, they are sent home with a prescription for Tylenol 3, Oxycodone, Naproxen etc. Usually when I uncover this during a history in my office, the patient admits that they don’t want to become “hooked” on the medication for the long term. They are looking for an alternative. A more natural method of pain relief and management, without the aid of prescription drugs. These people are concerned, and according to this study being published today in the the Annals of Internal Medicine, they should be.

This study reviewed the pharmacy files of nearly 10, 000 patients who were prescribed opioids such as; oxycodone and hydrocodone, for 3 months between 1997 and 2005. The results were alarming, but perhaps not surprising. The researchers found that 51% of the patients overdosed on these drugs and tragically, 6 of these overdoses were fatal.

The study found a clear correlation between the risk of overdosing and the dose prescribed. Those who were prescribed a higher dose were 9 times more likely to oversdose. “The rate of overdose was strongly related to dose,” said senior study author Michael Von Korff, a senior investigator at the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle. “For patients currently receiving higher-dose regimens, their rate of overdose was almost 2 percent per year, which is a lot.”

One reason for the greater reliance on opioids is a recognition among physicians that chronic pain is a serious problem, hindering people from working, sleeping and enjoying their lives, Von Korff said. These types of “chronic pain” included; back or neck pain, headaches, jaw pain, pain in the extremities, arthritis and menstrual pain or injuries.

Coincidentally, a Chiropractor can offer very reasonable and effective treatment options for all of the above noted conditions.

On a personal note, I am not a Chiropractor who will advise my patients to steer clear of all prescription medications. I do however believe that a patient needs to be educated and aware of the risks and benefits of medication, especially for pain. I believe that helping patients find strategies to manage their pain involving a healthy lifestyle with sustainable health practices is far superior than to just popping pills.

If you’re in pain and want a natural way to find relief, visit your COMMERCIAL DRIVE – EAST VANCOUVER CHIROPRACTOR HERE!!!!