“Food as Medicine”?. ( Part 2 )
Health is a large word.It embraces not the body only,but the mind and spirit as well.
We all need calcium rich foods in our diets to keep our bones strong.
This is especially true for women under 30:that’s the crucial time they build their calcium stores for later life.
Less understood is which foods we should eat.
Many nutritional guidelines recommend dairy products as a rich calcium source.Unfortunately not everyone is able to tolerate dairy food and there has been doubt that taking calcium in this way offers any significant advantage.
Around the world,many populations have little or no dairy foods and yet have healthy bones and few fractures.There have also been studies - The Nurse study of 77,000 women which found no evidence that women who consumed a lot of dairy products had stronger bones.
If anything those individuals seemed to be more at risk.How our body manage calcium is complicated.For example,while dairy products have lots of calcium they also contain lots of protein,which may leach the calcium back out of the bones.
At present the best advice is to eat a wide range of foods that are calcium rich.
There are many non-dairy foods fortified with calcium like tofu and some orange juices.Eating canned fish with soft bones,green leafy vegetables,almonds,cereals and legumes can all help boost your non dairy calcium intake.
Could your neck be the fault?.
Sometimes it is when the chiropractor ‘puts their finger’ on the spot do people realize that their neck may be the cause of their mid and upper back pain.
The fact that you can feel pain in other places from the actual cause - referred pain is well understood.What is less known,and the reason for many wrong diagnoses,is that the spine is a great mimic - a hidden source of many bodily aches and pains.
The lower part of the neck has a rich nerve supply and any spinal irritation can cause a confusing array of symptoms such as;local neck pain,muscle or joint discomfort felt into the chest,across the mid and upper back,and pains and pins and needles down one or both arms.
The technical name for these particular ‘neck’ caused ‘mid back’ symptoms is Cervicogenic Dorsalgia.Spinal experts belive neck problems are responsible for almost seven out of ten people who suffer from mid and upper back pain.
Diagnosis may be difficult because the symptoms can vary.For instance pain in the mid back can be well-localized or spread out.Some might say it feels like a cramp or burning tense or tired while others describe their pain as deep ache.Some people may experience only mild or even no neck symptoms at all. Others may have normal range of neck motion yet find certain movements can trigger stabbing pain between the shoulder blades,chest or arms.
A comprehensive chiropractic spinal examination is essential to identify these subtle spinal problems - requires years of practice and skill to feel the movement between such small bones.
The correct diagnosis is confirmed when the symptoms are relieved following a chiropractic spinal adjustment.Restoring normal spinal movement is the key to ‘fixing’ the problem.
Certain activities tend to cause mid-upper back problems.
Often the person with mid back pain has had work for long periods with their hands in front of the body and their body and their head thrust forward:computer work,ironing,cooking and dish washing.Often they may experience little or no discomfort while playing sport yet become quite sore whenever they adopt the head forward posture.
Chiropractic management includes exercise and posture advice.Sometimes the workplace may need to be modified,more frequent changes in work duties allowed,or certain exercises prescribed.Regular chiropractic care to ’support’ the weakened area may also be necessary.