As a chiropractor, my biggest concern with sitting is that it can be damaging to the joints, discs, muscles, and other tissues of the spine – especially when you sit incorrectly.  You can usually tell if you are damaging your spine based on the amount of pain and stiffness you feel.  As  pain and stiffness levels increase, you can bet your spine is heading down a rocky road.  Pain is your friend.  Pain is your body communicating with you.  Learn to listen to it.

It is estimated that 80% of the population will battle severe, disabling back pain at some point in their lifetime.  Back pain now accounts for 1 in 5 doctor visits and costs more than $100 billion per year in medical bills, disability and lost productivity at work.  And now, sales of addictive opiate pain killers like oxycodone and hydrocodone are at all-time highs.  Basically, it has become blatantly obvious that spinal problems are a HUGE drain on individuals, families, and communities.

What if most of this could be prevented?  What if the cause of much of the pain is from the way in which people are sitting and the amount of time they spend sitting?  Well, I believe sitting (especially incorrect sitting) is one of the fundamental causes of spinal pain and disability.

In my clinical practice, I treat people for spinal pain and dysfunction that results, in part, from sitting incorrectly.  One of the most important skills my patients can learn is how to sit correctly.

I’ve created a short video to explain and demonstrate one of the fundamental rules of correct sitting.  Check it out:

So, after watching, you can see that the key to sitting upright without using a lot of muscle effort is to keep your pelvis from rolling backward.  The simplest way to accomplish this for most people is to keep your knees lower than your bottom.

As seen in the video, you can use the “Slump Test” to evaluate whatever surface you are sitting on.  In this test, you are simply breathing in and out and letting all your postural muscles relax.  If it makes you slump, it’s BAD for your back.

Many times you will need to use something under your bottom, like a seat wedge, folded towels, or some type of cushion.  This helps get your bottom up higher than your knees, allowing your pelvis to stay in the correct position.

Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.  And remember… don’t let gravity get you down!

Be Well,
Dr. D.

Dr. Jamey Dyson is a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) and Certified Chiropractic Wellness Practitioner (CCWP) who has been in private practice at Advanced Chiropractic in Salem, Oregon since 2000.

The boys at a Blazer game.

Recently, our 8 year-old son, Alec, came down with symptoms of fever, lethargy, loss of appetite, diarrhea, and chills.

His fever was 101-102 degrees.  It lasted about 5 1/2 days.  He slept a lot and we kept him well-hydrated.  Although it was generally a very yucky experience for him, his body eventually defeated the evil germs that had apparently “invaded” his helpless body.

A funny thing happened… none of the rest of our family-of-four got sick.  How could this be?

We sat in the same room with him.  He slept in our bed a few nights.  We even kissed him and hugged him a little more than usual during his ailing days.  In fact, I am certain we were exposed to his scary germs!  So why didn’t the rest of us get sick?

Makes you think, huh?  It begs the question… “Do germs really make you sick?”

Author's unscientific rendition of a Scary Germ magnified 100,000 X.

Maybe there is something deeper and more profound at work here.  Maybe, just maybe, germs don’t make you sick, but instead, a stressed body allows germs to grow.

I know, it’s a profound concept.  However, it’s very close to the truth when you understand how living things work.  You see, our bodies are an ecosystem.  Ecosystems will always strive for balance.  When we make choices that throw our ecosystem out of balance, our bodies become more prone to germs going crazy.  This is how we get sick.

Looking back, we asked the question with Alec, “What stressed his body recently?”  Bingo!  We remembered what it was!  The day before his symptoms kicked in, he neglected to wear appropriate warm clothing to his sister’s outdoor soccer game.  The temperature was about 40 degrees, the wind was whipping and all I remember is him huddled up under a blanket complaining about how cold he was.

Side note:  I know some of you may be thinking we are terrible parents for letting our kid go out in the cold without proper clothing.  We try to follow the Love & Logic philosophy with our kids, which allows them to learn from their mistakes within a loving environment.   I suggest reading up on this method of child rearing because it is probably the best way to raise kids that I know of.

So, putting it all together, the yucky symptoms our son suffered from for 5 1/2 days were merely his body doing what needed to be done to correct the imbalance.  He stressed his ecosystem, the germs had a little party, and his body rebalanced everything with fever, sleep, and diarrhea.

My hope is that you consider looking at colds and flus the same way I do.  Understand, it is not the germs that are causing the problem.  The problem starts with your ecosystem getting stressed in some way.  Handle the stress and allow your body to re-balance your ecosystem without using medications if at all possible.  The use of meds for colds and flus is a whole other issue I’ll write about another time.

Be Well,

Dr. D.

Dr. Jamey Dyson is a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) and Certified Chiropractic Wellness Practitioner (CCWP) who has been in private practice at Advanced Chiropractic in Salem, Oregon since 2000. 

Not only does modern wheat make you fat around the belly (thus, the term “wheat belly”), but it is also addictive – acting as an “exorphin” – which is an opiate-like protein created from the digestion process of gluten.  These exorphins cross the blood-brain barrier and attach themselves to the morphine receptors in our brains… ahhhhh that feels good… I waaaaant some more… gimmee another bagel NOW!!!  For many people, bread is their “crack”.

Other deleterious effects of wheat in the book:

• causes digestive irritability, leaky gut, and Celiac Disease.
• one of the primary foods that leads to insulin resistance and diabetes.
• changes our body pH to acidic and leads to osteoporosis.
• speeds up the aging process.
• increases the number of small dense LDL particles which is the primary cause of heart disease.
• can lead to cerebellar ataxia and peripheral neuropathy.
• affects the skin, resulting in all types of rashes and skin conditions, including acne and hair loss.

I can hear you crying out, “But wheat is a foundation of our whole grain-based government food pyramid!  Wheat is biblical!  Wheat is so American… “amber waves of grain” and all!  Why the clobber on wheat?”

It turns out that the wheat plant has changed dramatically in the past 50 years.  It has been geneticized, hybridized, and cultivized into a plant that the human species has never been exposed to in history.  All the changes to the wheat plant have been done with plenty of good intentions… easier to harvest, larger yield per acre, ability to grow in a variety of climates, etc.  Very virtuous efforts to help feed the world and prevent mass starvation.  But, have the scientists created a ‘super-grain’, or a ‘franken-grain’?

Based on what I’ve read so far, FRANKEN-GRAIN wins by a landslide.  The plant scientists made a critical error in their grand efforts to solve world hunger… they improved the wheat plant for production, but failed to test this new plant on human health.  They just assumed that people would be fine with it.  BIG MISTAKE!  This new wheat is turning out to be pretty darn nasty.  It looks like modern wheat is screwing up millions, if not billions of people across the planet.  For all the nitty-gritty, “grainy” details, I highly recommend this book.

Be Well,

Dr. D.

  Keys to Living Well – Winter 2011

He tears into the current beliefs, that obesity is caused by overeating and under-exercising, and lays out the scientific facts with excellent clarity and logic.  He knows how to weed his way through good science and bad science to uncover the simple, yet powerful truth.   To summarize the book – carbohydrate toxicity is the ultimate cause of obesity and is strongly linked to all of the big killers like heart disease, cancer and stroke.  If you want to lose weight and live longer, then you must cut out the toxic carbs.

Trying to lose weight by focusing on cutting calories and exercising more has proven to be a dead-end failure zone for most people.  Anyone who is successful at long-term weight loss can only get there successfully by cutting the fattening carbs in their diet, not necessarily the total calories.  This is crucial to understand!  It’s not the number of calories that we eat, it’s the type of calories that really matters.  Carbohydrate = Bad Calories.  Protein & Fat = Good Calories.  We need to count carbs, not calories.

Did you know that there is not an essential carbohydrate?  That’s right, there are essential proteins and essential fats, but no essential carbs.   What does this mean?  Believe it or not, it means we do not need carbs to live, nor do we need carbs to thrive.  All we really need is protein, fat, veggies, and water.  What did Forest Gump say … “Simple is as simple does”?

We need to move toward a low carb diet as individuals and as a nation if we are going to have any hope of fixing the rising obesity and chronic illness epidemic.  Things will eventually change out of economic necessity.  We can no longer afford the rising cost of treating chronic illness that is being caused by eating fattening carbohydrates.

Are you ready to make the change and cut out the fattening carbs?  The only thing you have to lose is a worse, shorter life.  I dare you!

Your beliefs determine the quality and quantity of you life.  Do you believe you are inherently weak and broken?  Do you believe you are inherently strong and whole?  Your answers determine everything.

Why do medical doctors inject newborn babies with chemical-laden vaccines and think it is a “healthy” option to formula-feed?

Why do wellness chiropractors say “no” to vaccines and “yes” to breast-feeding for a minimum of 1 year?

The quality of your health and your life depends heavily on who you are listening to.

You are Invited
I want to invite you to an evening of learning and changing.  Next Tuesday, April 26th from 6-8 pm, I will be doing my Wellness & Prevention Paradigm Talk.  I do these complimentary wellness talks for patients, their families & friends because I have a very strong moral obligation to do so. I have been a student of wellness lifestyle expert Dr. James L. Chestnut, B.Ed., M.Sc., D.C., C.C.W.P. since 2008, and I have critical knowledge that people deserve to hear.

It starts with education
The more you learn, the more control you will have over your health. It is suicidal to think you “know it all” and have all the answers. That’s a very dangerous mind-set for yourself and your family. I am looking for people who are ready to learn new things and figure out how to change their life for the better. I am looking for people who are ready to step-up and take responsibility for their health. I am looking for people who want to be part of the solution to the health care crisis. Are you interested?

You will learn what causes chronic disease and how you can reverse and prevent it. You will learn how to have a life of health, happiness, and vitality. You will learn the key to changing your behaviors and habits so that it is easy, comfortable, enjoyable, and sustainable. This talk is about sharing the truth based on the latest and greatest scientific evidence on health, not opinion or dogma.

The research is in… it’s 80% across the board
Recent studies show that if you are like most Americans, you are suffering from the effects of chronic illness at some level. Did you know that 80% of the working population has 1 chronic condition and 55% have 2 chronic conditions? Did you know that 80% of ALL health care spending goes toward treating chronic illness? Did you know that every year in the U.S., 80% of deaths are due to chronic illness? We are talking about heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, obesity, depression, anxiety, digestive problems, infertility, impotence, osteoporosis, chronic pain, etc.

The Cost
Right now in the U.S. we are spending $5 million dollars per minute on treating chronic illness. No, that is NOT a typo – $5 million dollars per minute. This equates to over $2.6 trillion per year being spent on chronic illness. Every year we spend more and more and, yet Americans continue to get sicker and sicker. Why is that? And we wonder why our health insurance premiums are going up! The tragedy to me is how many lives and families are being devastated by chronic illness.

There is a Solution
The shocking truth with all of this is that the research shows us that 98% of chronic illness is preventable and reversible. In the scientific literature, the solution is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, LIFESTYLE. The more you can learn how to live a healthy lifestyle in a modern world, the better off you will be.

Let’s get something straight, this talk is not about selling you anything other than a new belief about yourself and your health. Everyone is so worried about going to a “talk” these days because they are afraid it’s only going to be a sales pitch for something more, right?

Well, I don’t work that way. I believe in simply teaching people the truth about their health and about how to ask the right questions in life. If people choose to use my services or products as a result of that, then of course I’m grateful for it, but it’s definitely not the purpose of the talk. I just ask that you pay it forward.

I hope you can attend! Please call or email to let us know you are coming because seating is limited to about 16 people. First come, first serve. 503-361-3949 or advchiro@comcast.net

Thanks for your time,
Dr. Jamey Dyson, D.C., C.C.W.P.
(Doctor of Chiropractic)
(Certified Chiropractic Wellness Practitioner)

A dog can be such a great addition to an individual or family.  What a great way to motivate you to get out an exercise!  Dogs need exercise every day.  Their genetics actually require it as an essential nutrient.  Running and playing stimulates a dog’s nervous system, reduces stress hormones, lowers inflammation, builds muscle mass, reduces body fat, improves immune function, helps with digestion, regulates sleep cycles, and improves behavior.

Uh, can you see where I’m going with this?  Humans are animals too!  Our genetics require exercise, just like dogs do.  The benefits of exercise are UNBELIEVABLE when it comes to human health.  Just walking 15 minutes a day on a consistent basis can beat most medications for cholesterol, heart disease and diabetes without the side effects… and walking is FREE!

Choosing NOT to exercise actually causes you to become a burden on yourself, your family and your community.  Other people have to end up paying for the chronic illness you develop based on your choices.  Who wants to be a burden on others?  Not me.

I hope you don’t either, so get moving today!

8 out of 10 Americans are suffering and dying from diseases that are caused by poor lifestyle… the way they eat, move, and think.  Those same 8 out of 10 Americans are spending a FORTUNE on their health care by treating their “diseases” with special diagnostic tests, drugs, and surgeries.  These treatments will NEVER solve the health problems created by poor lifestyle.  They only dis-empower people to think they have no control over their health.  The spending is bankrupting our country. Sad and embarrassing!  Where is our pride?

Now we see that the number of diabetics in America could triple by 2050!  Here’s the news article. Do people not know that 95% of diabetes is 100% PREVENTABLE and REVERSIBLE?  I guess not… most doctors don’t even know that.  Well, that’s the truth.  Just watch The Biggest Loser on NBC and you will see people reversing and preventing diabetes each and every season.  You don’t catch diabetes, you develop it from poor lifestyle.  Sad and embarrassing!  Where is our pride?The solution is LIFESTYLE!  Our Ideal Protein Weight Loss Method and Innate Lifestyle Program are a couple of the greatest solutions I’ve seen to reversing and preventing diabetes.

It’s time for Americans to wake up and re-gain their strength, responsibility, independence, and pride!