FDA issues warning on osteoporosis drug

Here is the article from the Wall Street Journal printed the first week of September this year.  

By Jennifer Corbett Dooren

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The Food and Drug Adminstration said doctors should screen patients for kidney problems before prescribing Novartis AG's (NVS) bone-building drug Reclast.

In a drug-safety communication posted to the agency's website Thursday, the FDA said it was updating an existing warning about the risk of kidney failure. The agency said kidney failure "was a rare but serious condition associated with the use of Reclast in patients with a history of or risk factors for [kidney] impairment."

Reclast is an infusion that's given once every one or two years to treat or prevent osteoporosis as well as treat Paget's disease of the bone.

FDA said doctors need to give patients a blood test to check kidney function as well as monitor patients already on Reclast. Patients with evidence of acute kidney impairment should not be prescribed Reclast, FDA said. Such instructions are being added to Reclast's drug label.

In 2009, FDA added a kidney-failure warning to Reclast's label after receiving about two dozen reports of kidney failure, some of which were fatal, following Reclast infusion.

Since then, FDA said it has received 11 reports of fatal kidney failure and nine reports of non-fatal kidney injury after Reclast infusion.

-By Jennifer Corbett Dooren, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9294; jennifer.corbett@dowjones.com

One thing this article did not include was that the warning was also aimed at those who are taking potentially kidney-damaging (nephrotoxic) medications or diuretics at the same time as Reclast.  This is another example of a drug designed to treat osteoporosis that also has severe side effects.  It started with Premarin, Provera, and PremPro. These drugs were first used for the prevention of hot flashes related to menopause but, soon their manufacturer was promoting the drug to stop osteoporosis. Today conservative estimates are that several hundred thousand women suffered unnecessary breast cancers while taking these drugs. After the Women's Health Initiative was released, the FDA intervened and harsh warnings went on the label.


Then came the “miracle” drug Fosamax. For a time it was the latest, greatest drug doctors could give to prevent osteoporosis until researchers started noticing that it rotted jaw bones. Teeth fell out, infections set in and women’s lives were ruined.  The latest revelation about Fosamax is that instead of strengthening bones it actually makes them more brittle. Even more ironically, women are now suffering fractures of their legs and hips doing even the simplest tasks. Recently drug Bonevia was being investigated to determine if it may contribute to esophageal cancer. 
Ultimately these drugs only barely increase bone density most of the time they are used to prevent further loss.  An MD once told me that they are happy when there is a 0% difference in bone mineral density in a one year time span while taking these medications.  Why?, because the patient is one year older and has not lost any more bone density. It is common to be only on these medications for 5 years at a time.  After that 5 year mark the risk for severe side effects increase beyond the benefit of limiting bone loss. 

The best option available is to engage in an effective strength training program.  A program that will allow you to place a significant stress or load on your musculo-skeletal system and stimulates muscle and bone cell growth.  This is part of our reason for getting involved with BStrong4Life.  Not only has it made for great improvement in spine and spine related pain, but it will load the body in a way that stimulates bone growth.
The BStrong4Life program has made enough of an impact in the Naperville area Edward Hospital is involved in a study of its effects on bone density growth.

If you haven't already, or if you have but it was a long time ago, check out our BStrong4Life website at geneva.bstrong4life.com 

Pain may be causing you to loose your mind.

The picture will link you to the article where the data for this post comes from.



A few years ago in the office I posted on our bulletin board a series of articles that lay this out how chronic pain is affecting brain function.  My data was from a number of years ago but, like this more recent data, show how chronic pain can have a serious negative affect on brain function. 

Chronic pain is basically any pain that we may have that lasts longer than 6 months, although some clinicians say it is pain that lasts longer than 12 months. For a lot of us it is that little twinge of pain that persists over years that may progressively get worse with each exacerbation or aggravation.  In practice most of the patients we see have chronic pains with phases of acute exacerbations.  For some that chronic pain can last for years and, as this research points out, may negatively affect our brain function.    

The good news is that the research notes that the loss or negative changes in brain function are all reversible.  Treating to elminate the cause of chronic pain can restore and improve the loss of function.  Do not ignore those signs and symptoms your body is giving you.  Work to eliminate the causes of chronic pains instead of masking the signs and symptoms. 

The care we are giving in the office is aimed at eliminating chronic pain, not just managing symptoms.  Our care combined with the BStrong4Life program has been creating great results with patients who have been suffering from chronic aches and pains for years. 

Child Car Seat Safety

Recently the American Academy of Pediatrics changed its position on car seats by increasing the age to two years old that we should keep our children in rear facing seats.  Here is part of their statement on the subject:

A rear-facing child safety seat does a better job of supporting the head, neck and spine of infants and toddlers in a crash, because it distributes the force of the collision over the entire body,” Dr. Durbin said. “For larger children, a forward-facing seat with a harness is safer than a booster, and a belt-positioning booster seat provides better protection than a seat belt alone until the seat belt fits correctly.”

While I am happy to see an organization in the USA make this recommendation they could have gone further. After reviewing the literature I firmly believe that we should keep our children in rear facing seats as long as possible.  In a number of European countries it is commonplace to keep children in rear facing seats until they are 5 years old or up to 55lbs.  Their standards are based on protecting the fragile neck and spine of children that are in greater risk in a forward facing seat than a rear facing one.  In high speed collisions a child is more likely to suffer spinal injuries or even death in a forward facing seat than in a rear facing seat.  Rear end collisions are not as big of a concern because in high speed rear end crashes the car should absorb most of the impact force and protect its occupants.  Here is a video with animation that shows the difference between the two car seats. 

You can say that this is just an animation and might not depict what would actually happen, but this animation is directly from impact tests done in Europe.  Did you know that in the US side impact testing is not required of child safety seats?  That fact alone shows that the US regulation of car seat safety is lacking far behind its European counterparts.

Most people who have reservations about this usually mention two things; first is that it can not be comfortable for a child to sit cross legged or with their knees in their chest, the second is the child might injure their legs or break a leg in a crash. This first concern might be true for an adult, but a child does not share our in flexibility in the hips so they should be comfortable facing rear especially if that is all they know. You might have a problem transitioning them to a rear facing seat after a year or more of forward facing.  As for injuring or breaking a leg, there is little to no evidence of this occurring in a rear facing seat, but there is numerous evidence for severe neck and spinal injuries in forward facing seats. Even if your child might break a leg in a crash, wouldn't that be better than breaking their neck? 

I bring this up on memorial day weekend, not to scare parents but to help them make informed decisions about their family's health.  European safety standards are far better than ours and it is not a wonder why.  In the US there are too many too powerful special interest groups that have control over regulation.  It was a bold move for the AAP to change their recommendations but it has come long after parts of Europe and does not go far enough.  If anything I hope that this article starts a little fire to get better informed on your child's safety as they travel in your cars. To be honest I wish I could say we kept our kids in rear facing until they were 5 years old but we did not, we did make it to about two years old though with each of them.  Today we have them in booster seats that have backs to them, backless boosters are not safe but that is a topic for another day.

Here are a few other Internet sources to read to help you decide the best actions for your family.
American Academy Of Pediatrics 2011 Car seat release

This a a car safety website that has extensive info on rear facing car seats.

This link, and this other one are some blogs that have not been updated in a while but still have good personal information from people who keep their children in rear facing seats.

Chiropractic Manipulation as good as surgery for Sciatica

In reviewing recent research on chiropractic care I came across this paper,Manipulation or microdiskectomy for sciatica? A prospective randomized clinical study., published in the October 2010 Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics.  This is a link to just the abstract, but even that is good enough to see what was accomplished with this study. 
The researchers divided 40 participants who had failed nonoperative management including PT, massage, lifestyle modification, and acupuncture for the treatment of sciatica.  Of the 40 some underwent microdiskectomy, which is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that involves removing a portion of the spinal disc that is placing pressure on either the spinal cord or spinal nerve root.  The other participants underwent a course of care involving chiropractic spinal manipulation.
Ultimately both groups showed significant improvement to about the same degree, which shows that chiropractic spinal manipulation or adjustments can be just as effective as surgery for sciatica. 


This study positively shows that in some cases of sciatica chiropractic care can be effective and in the few cases it is not the delay in surgery did not negatively effect outcomes.  When you pair this study with a few other recent ones a picture starts to develop that a trial of chiropractic care for low back pain and sciatica may be the best place to start as opposed to "medical" care.  The "medical" conservative management of low back and sciatica care that includes PT, lifestyle modification, pain medications, and home exercises have shown to not be as effective as chiropractic care in some very recent studies. A recent study on cost found that care for low back pain is less expensive when starting with a chiropractor than when you start in the ER, UC, or family doctor.

Sciatica is not always caused by a bulging disc although a bulging disc may be involved in these cases treating the bulging disc does not always eliminate the pain. What we do is work to stabilize the lower back that eliminates inflammation around the sciatic nerve and that eliminates the pain as well as helps to prevent it from returning.  This has been made easier with our BStrong4Life system, if you have any questions about this give us a  call or email me with them.

April 23

There is still time to make your apointment for our Patient Appreciation Day on April 23rd.  Call today to schedule your free visit.

2011 Spring Patient Appreciation Day is April 23rd.

Why BStrong4Life?

I had someone ask us why we get involved with BStrong4Life.  He was questioning the value of a fitness machine or device in a traditional chiropractic practice. My answer to this question is really twofold and I hope that by posting it here helps others to understand the value this can bring to your care in our practice.

A big part of the BStrong4Life program is the Biodensity unit and traditionally Biodensity has marketed their unit for strength training and bone density increasing.  For that reason alone the BStrong program can benefit many of our patients.  We see a large number of older people in our office that have weakness across their entire muscular system and have decreased bone mineral density and some are even diagnosed as having osteoporosis. This program allows the patient to load their muscles and bones in a way that is safe and effective to cause a body response in muscle and bone density growth.  This result will definitely help our patients overall health which is one of the goals for all of our patients.

As we all know our muscles work because they cross the joints in our bodies.  If you have a history of neck or back pain you probably have a loss of the normal curves and possibly even spinal arthritis.  In this case it is important to have strong muscles to better support this possibly unstable spine.  What BStrong4Life helps us do is build stronger muscles to strengthen and support not just the joints in your spine, but the joints throughout your entire body.  In this way BStrong4Life is a great tool to help to rehab your body to a stronger and more stable state than every before.

In our office we utilize BStrong4Life as a tool for spinal and whole body rehabilitation as well as a means to better your health through increasing bone mineral density.  To find out how BStrong4Life can specifically help you give us a call and we can set up a free consultation to discuss it.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger has been a long time supporer of chiropractic.  So much so that he has been the keynote speaker at the yearly chiropractic fitness symposium for many years.  This year was different in that there are several videos of the former Governor of California going so far as to say that seeing a chiropractor is just as important as seeing your family doctor or dentist. Take a minute to watch this four minute video.

Jack LaLanne

This news is a little past due, but on January 23rd Jack LaLanne died at the age of 96.  A lot of us remember that Jack LaLanne was the first fitness personality.  He had the longest running fitness TV show in the Jack LaLanne Show that started in 1951 and ended in 1985.  He wrote several books including his last one Live Young Forever that he published on his 95th birthday.

Something  a lot of us might not have known, I sure didn't, was Jack LaLanne was really Dr. Jack LaLanne.  In the mid 1930's Jack LaLanne graduated from a Chiropractic College in California. As far as I can tell he might not have actually openly practiced instead he opened up what is widely considered the nations first health club in Oakland CA.  In which he promoted fitness and exercise when practically no one else did.  In fact doctors at that time thought vigorous exercise would cause a heart attack.  Over the years he had up to 200 fitness centers which he eventually sold to the Bally company to become Bally Total Fitness.

Throughout his life he promoted the natural healthy lifestyle.  Eating fresh fruits and vegetables and of course exercising, things that are right in line with what we do today.   His legacy is living on in those of us that are striving to live as long and healthy as he did. 

The year ahead

This year is probably the first time in a long time that we have set an agenda for what we want to promote for the entire year.  This year we are focused on improving the lifestyles of our patients through promoting healthy eating and exercise habits. The classes we have in the office and the new BStrong4Life program are the biggest additions to help us get you on a path for better health. 

We continue to offer the same state of the art chiropractic care, but we have found that for most patients that is not enough.  Attaining and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is the only way to carry on after you are done with care in our office.

To help you get started in our office we will have three more new patient first visit opportunities. Look for our email newsletter for details on when these are being offered.

What does Staker Chiropractic, the Steelers, and the Packers have in common?

We all three utilize the power plate in our training and rehab programs.  I recently read an article in a men's fitness magazine about Pau Gasol and he utilizes the power plate in his training program as well.

The benefits of utilizing effective whole body vibration for training and rehab can not be adequately described in a blog they have to bee seen.  Give us a call to come see what we might be able to add to your training or rehab program. 

 

Healthy Living Classes

Last Tuesday we started a new series of our Healthy for Life healthy eating classes. If you missed it, fear not, it is a 12 week program that you can start anytime in the 12 weeks.  It is based out of Dr. Ray Strand's book Healthy for Life and includes meals cooked out of the low-glycemic meals in minutes cookbook.  Both books are available at the office for purchase.  The class includes a workbook that we provide free of charge.

The class will not meet this Tuesday but will resume next Tuesday, February 8th. Let us know if you are planning to attend.

Winter Weater Advisory

Due to the projected severe snowfall we are changing our schedule this week.  It appears the worst of the snow will fall between Tuesday afternoon and Early Wednesday morning. 

We will be OPEN Tuesday morning from 8:30 to 12:00pm and CLOSED Tuesday afternoon.  We will be CLOSED Wednesday morning and OPEN Wednesday afternoon.

BStrong4Life

On Friday January 14th we received the machines that make up the Be Strong For Life system. 

We placed the BioDensity unit, part of the BStrong4Life system in what was the massage therapy room.  We moved the massage therapy room up one to the consultation room, and moved the consultation room to another room in the front office.

The BStrong4Life system incorporates usage of the power plate to maximize strength training, as a result we felt like we needed a third power plate to ensure our patients would not see an increase in any idle time in our office. We made a slight re-arrangement of our treatment area to easily accommodate the new power plate.

BStrong4Life is a system to help improve whole body strength through isometric muscle action. Isometric resistance exercises are some of the oldest forms of resistance training and, as some research has found, tend to be more effective than other forms of resistance training. To learn more about this innovative system, give us a call to make an appointment 630-232-6616

BStrong4Life

We are set to get our BStrong4Life system this week.  Look for me to post some pictures with more information on this innovative system later this week.