Chiropractic Care Supports Olympic Athletes

New York (MedscapeWire) Sept 29 — Many US Olympic athletes striving for gold in Sydney, Australia, will be using a secret weapon to help achieve their goals — chiropractic care. Many athletes use chiropractic not only for rehabilitation purposes, but also because they feel it gives them an edge in their competitions.
Dr. Andrew Klein, the official chiropractor for the 2000 US Olympic medical staff, identified a key reason why athletes have taken to chiropractic: it keeps them in top shape without the use of drugs. “Athletes have come to rely on manual therapy because the list of banned substances (for the Olympics) is so long, and also because they feel it enhances their performance.”
Nicole Freedman of Stanford, California, qualified for the 2000 US Olympic squad as a cyclist at the Olympic Team trials in Jackson, Mississippi, after being adjusted by American Chiropractic Association’s (ACA’s) Mississippi delegate Dr. Alfred Norville. Freedman penned a note to Dr. Norville, thanking him for his “winning adjustment.” Dr. Norville explained, “[Freedman] told me that she thought she needed an adjustment to be at her peak [performance level]. So I gave her an adjustment, and she went on to qualify for the Olympics.”
Dr. Jan Corwin, a past president of ACA’s Council on Sports Injuries and Physical Fitness, became the first doctor of chiropractic to travel overseas with the US Olympic Team in 1988, when he represented the chiropractic profession in Seoul, Korea. The athletes in Seoul were delighted with the chiropractic care they received.
Dr. Corwin said, “They were totally into it. I had so many patients while I was there, I didn’t even have time to eat. By the time I left Seoul I had lost 12 pounds.” Dr. Corwin went on to say, “At least 50% to 75% of all the athletes I treated had prior chiropractic care and were very aware of the benefits of chiropractic to them as athletes.” He suggested that chiropractic care “has been so successfully appreciated and received by the athletes because of all the chiropractors around the country who have been doing such a great job with the athletes in their offices on a daily basis.”
The roster of Olympic athletes who have benefited from chiropractic care is truly impressive. Star performers such as Carl Lewis, Greg Louganis, Willi Banks, Edwin Moses, and countless other greats from previous Olympics have taken advantage of chiropractic in order to get a leg up on their competition.
ACA member Dr. Steven Horwitz served as the chiropractic physician for the U.S. Olympic medical staff at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. Dr. Horwitz found his helping the athletes and the appreciation they showed for his work to be the most rewarding elements about the time he gave to the U.S. team. Sheila Taormina, 1996 U.S. Swimming 4×200 gold medallist, and Marisa Pedulla of the U.S. Judo Team, each took the time to write to Dr. Horwitz and thank him for the care he gave them. He explained that the athletes in Atlanta were so excited about the chiropractic care available to them that, “They wanted to be sure I was there for the American athletes only.” They said to him, “We fought hard to get you here, and we don’t want to give an advantage to the other athletes.” Chiropractic Care Dale Giessman 94513 at Delta Spine Care in Brentwood, CA

Stem cell treatments offer relief to arthritic animals

Times Union, Albany, N.Y.
01-26-10
Jan. 26–Carol Ball already had seen one of her dogs suffer from crippling arthritis.
Charlie, her 11-year-old springer spaniel, lived with the pain for years until she ultimately decided to have him euthanized in February 2006 to spare him additional torment.
At the time, there wasn’t another option.
But in 2008, when her black-and-white springer spaniel, Joey, showed touches of arthritis even after the ligaments in two of his knees were replaced, her veterinarian could offer another course of treatment: stem-cell therapy.
In the therapy, stem cells, which produce chemicals that reduce inflammation and pain, are extracted from the animal’s own fatty tissue. The cells are then injected directly back into the arthritic joints, where they can develop or change into other cells necessary for repair.
Pets that receive the treatment typically find relief within a month or two, says Keith Clement, the veterinarian at Burnt Hills Veterinary Hospital who cared for Joey, but results have been observed as early as within three days of treatment.
Before the stem-cell therapy, Joey used to lag behind during walks. Since the treatments, Ball says 4-year-old Joey simply doesn’t wear out and keeps busy roughhousing with her other dogs.
“He has had absolutely no problems,” she says. “He’s a very active dog. We do a lot of off-leash running and hiking together. His life is wonderful.”
Although some countries use the same stem-cell therapies on humans to treat conditions such as arthritis, it has not received Food and Drug Administration approval for human use in the U.S.
Clement was the first veterinarian in the Capital Region to be certified in the treatment regiment by Vet-Stem, a San Diego-based company that started the process in 2004 and does the work of extracting the stem cells from the fat that’s surgically removed by veterinarians. Clement first used the therapy in April 2008, and since then about 10 Capital Region practices have begun offering the service, including Shaker Veterinary Hospital in Colonie, Upstate Veterinary Specialties in Latham, Nassau Veterinary Hospital and Animal Hospital of Niskayuna. (To see the full list, visit http://www.vet-stem.com and type in your ZIP code.)
Since April 2008, Clement has treated 45 to 50 dogs and one cat. All but five of the pets were treated for arthritis, he says, the most common application for the stem-cell procedure. Vet-Stem also approves experimental use of the treatments for issues such as liver disease and kidney disease.
About 85 percent of patients respond to treatment, Clement says, and it’s unknown why it’s ineffective in some animals.
The therapy has no side effects, Clement says. The only risks are those faced anytime an animal receives anesthesia, which is required for Clement to surgically remove the samples of fat from the patient’s abdominal area before sending them to Vet-Stem.
Clement says typical treatment for arthritis would be to put the pet on a regimen of supplements such as glucosamine; nonsteroidal medicines, which can cause stomach irritation; and in some cases surgery such as hip replacement, which can cost $5,000 per hip.
On average, stem-cell therapy costs $2,700 to $3,000 for the treatment of three to four joints, Clement says. Because fatty tissue contains so many stem cells, patients often have more than are needed for the treatment and the remaining cells can be cryopreserved and stored for future use. Ball pays an annual storage fee of $150 after the first year, she says.
Arthritis is a degenerative condition, and stem cells don’t actually make bad joints healthy again, so eventually, pets will need “booster treatments” as their arthritis worsens.
How long the treatments will last varies, Clement says, but he’d expect most pets wouldn’t need additional treatments for 18 months to three years.
For many pet owners, the treatment is worth the investment, Clement says. His own golden retriever, Buster, who suffers from severe hip dysplasia, had the treatment when he was 7 months old to slow and curb arthritic changes.
“If you have to put a dog to sleep because of chronic joint pain, it’s horrible. To be able to offer something that will extend their life and their quality of life … is a good thing,” he says.
To Good Health Dale Giessman, DC
Delta Spine Care Brentwood, Ca 94513

Take Your Vitamin D to Prevent Cancer

Take Your Vitamin D to Prevent Cancer
Especially during the fall and winter months when sunlight exposure is limited.
Vitamin D is produced in your body when sunlight directly hits your skin. Over the past 10 years experts have been telling us to stay out of the sun. Now it appears that low Vitamin D levels are epidemic and many of you are risking a whole array of illnesses as a result. Sunscreens also reduce the bodies ability to produce vitamin D by about 90%. My recommendation is short periods (30 minutes at a time) with as much skin exposed to the sun each day, avoiding the burn is the best way to prevent skin damage.
Thirty years of research has shown that low vitamin D is linked to “both skeletal and nonskeletal conditions, including several types of cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, upper respiratory tract infections, all-cause mortality, and many others.” Several studies, both observational and randomized controlled trials, “have demonstrated that adequate levels of vitamin D can decrease the risk and improve survival rates for several types of cancers including breast, rectum, ovary, prostate, stomach, bladder, esophagus, kidney, lung, pancreas, uterus, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and multiple myeloma.”
A simple blood test can determine your need for vitamin D but there is now ample evidence to suggest that 2000 IU/d of vitamin D3 is a healthy maintainence dose while up to 10,000 IU/d may be required to bring your levels back to a healthy range. I have vitamin D drops for my kids at 1000 IU per drop so they just put a couple drops in their morning juice and it's done.
Dr. Dale Giessman DC
OUR BRENTWOOD OFFICE
350 John Muir Parkway, Suite 265
Brentwood, CA 94513
925.513.8883