This weekend I had one of those moments. You know the ones. One where your head feels like it's going to explode. Where giant green flames feel like they're going to shoot from your nostrils, large enough to topple an infrastructure that is corrupting America, large enough to engulf to money-loving sell-outs that are touting “Health-Care” reform, and bring down an industry that is literally brain-washing our kids, and to a lesser extent, adults as well. So what could have been so aggravating? What could have gotten me so frustrated that I needed to compose myself before I could answer my son’s commercial-inspired question? It was something that I’ve seen hundreds of times already. I don’t know why, but this time I had an epiphany. THIS IS WRONG! THIS IS AFFECTING MY CHILDREN!

My son and I had been watching a really cool episode about construction crews building a huge bridge adjacent to the Hoover dam, when a commercial came on for Cialis. What I realized was that the pharmaceutical industries are teaching our children a new vocabulary without our knowledge. Yes, that’s right. If you have kids that watch TV, they have probably already been exposed to terms such as incontinence, acid-reflux, or the one that my son and I heard: Erectile Dysfunction. And this burns me up! My son doesn’t even know what an erection is for, let alone that it can be ‘dysfunctional.’ And he has to hear that he should ‘ask his doctor’ about it? Why should every other commercial be an advertisement for prescription drugs?

Now what I realized, other than the fact that my six year old asking me what erectile dysfunction is is quite an uncomfortable moment, is that we are desensitizing our kids to the truth about prescription drugs! These substances are being peddled like candy, often with the side effects minimized or not discussed at all. The average child will see over 50,000 pharmaceutical commercials before the age of 18! Psychologically, kids, and many adults, are being trained to think that when you have a problem, you take a pill. We have an obligation to set the record straight and shout from the top of our lungs – NO! This is not right!

Even medical doctors are taught that the care of their patients follow a course of least invasive, to more invasive in the treatment. The first steps should always be to focus on lifestyle change: Diet, exercise, relaxation, CHIROPRACTIC! Yet how often does a person’s doctor prescribe a pill FIRST, without taking the time to look at their patients’ lifestyle? Is it because it is so much quicker to push a pill than to take the necessary  time with a patient, or because Big Pharma is subsidizing  the doctors’ education about the drugs, as well as paying out bonuses based on the number of prescriptions sold? How can you “ask your doctor” and expect an honest, non-biased report on the drug if the people educating the doctor about the pill are pharmaceutical salesmen, not scientists?

Something even more shocking, the pharmaceutical industry spends about $4 billion a year in direct-to-consumer ads such as commercials. THAT’S A LOT OF MONEY! What if they took that money and actually made the pills safer? Or used it to promote lifestyle change so our society could actually be healthier, not just doped-up? Or maybe just reduced the costs of the drugs they sell so they could be afforded by those without health insurance, and reduce the payouts of insurance companies, which could ultimately lower our health insurance premiums? The amount of wasted money is ludicrous, not to mention it inflates the over-all health care budget in our country, which we all wind up paying for one way or another.

Over an eight year period from 1997 to 2005, direct-to-consumer ads have increased 296.4%, and direct-to-physician promoting has gone up 86%. In the past 7 years, we have seen a 65% increase in hospitalization from prescription pain killers, 33% increase for all other prescription drugs, a 37% increase in accidental poisonings from prescriptions and a 130% increase in INTENTIONAL poisonings. According to a 2007 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, over  106,000 people die each year as a result of prescription drugs. We are fighting the WRONG war on drugs. The pushers aren’t the ones on the streets, they are the ones training our doctors, the ones advertising on TV, the ones brainwashing our children.

So please, if you don’t want your kids asking you what E.D. is, or why they should ask their doctor if the ‘purple pill’ is right for them, turn the TV off! Or at least mute the commercials. You could get involved and write to your legislator. The truth needs to be told: Health does not come from a pill bottle, or from a scalpel. Health comes from inside of us, from the regulatory systems that we have been created with, and controlled by the NERVOUS SYSTEM. Chiropractors are the ONLY professionals trained to locate and remove this interference in a safe, gentle and natural manner. Make an appointment today!

PS:  In the words of Bill Maher (love him or hate him), “Ask your doctor if getting-off-your-butt is right for you!”

WOW! What a great month it has been! So much has changed. Many hours were put in breaking down everything in our old office, and moving it piece-by piece to our new space. Renovations were done. Carpets were torn out, yanked and ripped bit-by-bit from the floor they were once glued to so the new carpet could be fit in and glued down. Walls were scraped, sanded and spackled so that the proper paint could be applied. Rooms were measured to see if our furniture would fit. Four-Hundred pound tables were heaved, pushed, pulled and thrusted in any way possible in order to get them to the proper position within the rooms. Network cables were ran, re-ran, and ran again until they were right. So many little things had to be done so that we could open and begin to care for you, our incredible clients, in this new office space.

And then... the pain set in.

Each movement sent shooting, cramping pains throughout my limbs. The dull ache in my back reminded me for weeks of the immense work that I had done, and still was doing. It was as if to say, "STOP! You are doing to much! You're just one man!" And guess what. It was right! My body was working perfectly. My pain was there as a sign, a reminder not only that I had pushed myself pretty hard, but also as an early warning system to prevent me from hurting myself by continuing.

You see, almost all growth requires us to push ourselves, to reach beyond our comfort zone, get a little uncomfortable. This is how we grow. Bones strengthen only when stressed. Muscles grow in size only after they strain from so much effort that they use up all the oxygen around them. Our mind learns only after we force the use of a specific pathway over and over again until the brain 'glues' it into place. Nothing comes without effort.

After a hard workout, you should feel a little sore. After doing a new workout, you should feel a little sore. But there is a difference between feeling a little sore because of pushing yourself and hurting because you have damaged your body.

Pain is our friend. No, that is not a typo. Yes, I meant to say that. In fact, look at what happens when someone can't feel pain.

There are neurological conditions out there where people lose the ability to feel pain. They bump their toes into things, they bleed, get infected, in some cases gangrenous, and need to be amputated. Otheres will burn themselves and not know about it. They risk serious infection, loss of body parts, the risk of bleeding to death, and many other complications because their body cannot tell them there is danger.

Pain is GOOD!  It often brings clients into our office. They realize it is not natural to have headaches or low back pain, shoulder pain, etc as much as they do. They listen to their body and want to know why this pain reccurs. They eventually understand the relationship between their pain and their nervous system, and learn how to prevent recurrences in the future through Wellness-based chiropractic care, not symptom-based care.

Pain is an early warning system designed to stave off danger. Fail to pay attention, and you risk damaging the very body that tried to warn you. Listen to those subtle clues, and you will have a long and wonderful relationship with the 'human suit' you are wearing.

Yours in Health

Dr. Powell

As we look around our world, change is evident all around us. The wintery mess that has been slowing things down all up and down the East coast is finally starting to thaw, and for the first time in weeks, I've seen grass! A season of transformation is beginning, and it will only be a matter of time before our landscape is blooming with the beauty of Spring. My life is shifting with incredible personal change. In addition to all these things, our office will be moving across the street to a brand new, ground level, store-front location the first week of March. Change is the only thing in life that is constant, and we can choose to embrace it, or to fight it.

That puts alot of us in an uncomfortable situation. We can get comfortable, stagnant, set in our ways. We can resist change because of the uncomfortable, unfamiliarity of it. We can stubbornly decide to fight the laws of the universe but the only thing that will bring is failure.

To truly grow, we must make ourselves uncomfortable. We must step out of the box, and try something new. The first daffodils of Spring don't rest in the soil and wait until things feel comfortable to grow. Their shoots extend out from the bulb, pushing up through the hard soil, often punching through snow and ice in order to get that first glimpse of the sun, the brisk, cool air of the early Spring. The caterpilar encases itself in its cocoon, disolving its body into a primordial soup before metamorphosing into a beautiful new creature. Its old form dies, completely dissolves, so it can become something more beautiful and free. So is the path we each must take.

Life is not easy. But one thing is for sure. Change is inevitable. Change can be tough. But change is the thing that allows us to grow. Staying where you are, staying comfortable, will only keep you stuck in your current situation. We need to adapt.

These principles are evident in our health as well. When a cell fails to adapt to the stressors it encounters each day, it either dies or it grows out of control. This out-of-control growth is what cancer is. Groups of cells make up tissues. Groups of tissues that have similar functions make up organs. Groups of organs make up systems. And groups of systems make up a living organism!

The macrocosm of the cell that can't adapt is that of a person failing to adapt to their surroundings. Over long periods of time, this failure to adapt at the cellular level leads to chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer or diabetes. Failure to adapt can occur quickly in the face of serious trauma, such as a motor vehicle accident, or other trauma that causes uncontrollable bleading, inflammation or central nervous system compromise. Adaptation is the key to our survival.

And the key to ensuring that we can properly adapt to our stress is ensuring that our nervous system is working free of interference. We experience our lives through our nervous system. It is how we interact with our surroundings, interpret our experiences and respond to them. It controls every function of our body, from what we feel, how we move, and the billions of processes that occur automatically.

Chiropractic is the only profession that is trained to locate and then remove interference to the nervous system that is caused by our everyday stress. When interference is removed, this master control system of the body can function uninterupted, giving you the best possible chance of adapting to your surroundings, and leading a healthy life.

When we fail to adapt, we die. Whether or not it is a quick process or a slow process depends on what we are adapting to. So, how do you ensure that your body is adapting without interference?