“Back and neck problems usually begin with an acute episode which heals quickly.  However, much recent evidence indicates that these problems tend to reoccur, with gradually increasing pain and disability.

Many studies have found that the best predictor of a new episode of back pain is a previous one.

It is now understood that back and neck pain are similar to asthma.  They are both chronic, intermittent problems that occur periodically over the course of a lifetime, rather than an acute disease that can be cured.  Like asthma, back and neck problems must be managed and kept under control.

Two thirds of people who have had back pain in the past are likely to have symptoms every year.  There are more than 100 million back pain sufferers a year in the United States.

If tissue heals with poor function, symptoms can persist long after they heal.  Such areas may become chronic and at risk of re-injury.

A good long term recovery is best achieved by restoring function.  The back and neck are used every day.  If they are injured and function is not restored, they will get hurt again due to the repetitive stress they are exposed to in the course of everyday life.

Exercise training is effective in preventing back and neck pain.

Proper exercise improves muscle strength, endurance, and motor control, enhancing the way muscles work together to stabilize the spine, protect it from injury, and decrease pressure on discs, joints, and ligaments.

Chiropractic care increases the benefits of exercise by restoring and maintaining movement and function, as well as, reducing pain and relaxing muscle spasm.

Chiropractic empowers patients, encouraging them to play an active role in their care.  Patients work together with their doctor to understand their health problems, gain a sense of confidence, effectiveness, motivation, and control of their own health.

Chiropractic and exercise help restore and maintain health, function, activity levels, and quality of life.”

www.ashbychiro.com

The first stage is the inflammatory stage. This is typically the first three to four days after you hurt yourself or a chronic injury flares up.  The most important thing to remember about this stage is DO NOT USE HEAT as a method of feeling better.  It will make your condition worse!  ONLY USE ICE  for the first three to four days.  And….only apply the ice for a duration of 20-25 minutes every 2 waking hours.  That’s right.  Do not put any ice on an area when you are in bed, laying down, or anywhere where there is a possibility of you falling asleep.  Bad, bad, very bad idea.  Heat and prolonged use of ice will cause EXCESSIVE SWELLING in the area that you are trying to heal and create less inflammation.

Another great idea for this initial time period is to rest.  Yes, rest.  Those projects that you’ve been putting off can be put off for another week.  The dishes that you always do can be done by another family member.  Give up the guilt!  They’ll probably be hurt sometime in the future too and then it will be your turn to do the laundry and all those other daily chores.

It’s also a great idea to find a highly educated, qualified body practitioner to lead you through this process to totally recovery so that your injury will not effect you for the rest of your life.

The second stage that your body goes through to heal an injury is the Repair stage.  This can be up to six weeks after the injury/acute flare-up.  The most important thing to remember about this stage is that your body TAKES LONGER TO HEAL THAN YOU EXPECT.  It’s true every time.  There is more going on under the surface than we can feel.  Take your time returning to your normal way of life and your normal intensity of exercise.  Mark 4-6 weeks from your injury on your calendar, your phone, and your refrigerator.  Wait until those dates to resume your weekend warrior zesty-ness!

Again, for all of you “I don’t usually like a stranger touching my body” or “I’m fine.  I don’t need to pay for bodywork.” or “I just don’t need bodywork.” people…… make it happen.  Your future self with thank you.  Especially if you find a good practitioner.  I guarantee it.   Bodywork is awesome once you find the practitioner that will listen to your story and covey real confidence that they can help you.

Finally, the last stage is the Remodeling stage. This can last up to one year after your initial injury.  Isn’t that amazing?  Again, it takes longer to heal than we expect.  Every time.  Anyway,  the most important thing to remember about this stage is to stay regular with your active lifestyle, exercises, stretches, and bodywork even though you feel good.  Pain is a wonderful motivator.  But who likes to be in pain?  Enroll your friends and family in a preventative maintenance plan to do with you so that you can add life to your years and years to your life.

-Dr. Matt Green   www.ashbychiro.com

All of the above symptoms are signs of a body that is properly adapting to its environment.  Scientists clocked how fast microorganisms come out of our mouths when we cough – 120 miles per hour!  This is an intelligent way to rId the body of a virus, bacteria or debris generated from adapting.

We all wash our clothes and dishes in hot water because we know it kills germs.  A fever accomplishes the same thing in our bodies.  The American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend the administration of any drugs to reduce fever below 104.2 (unless present in an infant) because it results in increased time of the cold or flu and lowered immune function in the long term.

A lack of appetite is the result of the body funneling its energy to respond to the invading pathogens.  Digestion uses a lot of energy and the body decreases its appetite to reduce food intake to save energy for other balancing functions.  The fatigue is often the result of all the internal biochemical and physiological functions your body is doing that one cannot see.  In additon, a decrease in food intake will result in a more tired body.  After the system has calibrated, the symptoms leave.

Are these miraculously apporpriate and orchestrated symptoms the sign of sickness?  No, they are signs of wellness.  The truth is your body can be considered healthy whether you have symptoms or not!  If you are not experienceing symptoms, your body is performing its regular functions to allow you to live.  If you are experiencing smptoms, the body is focusing inward to respond to an altered internal invironment.  A system that responds, adapts, and changes is HEALTHY!

That’s more than just the tagline on the back of my business card.  That’s the inspiration that keeps me going after many years in theater, film, and video, working as a performer, a teacher, and a producer.  I love to hear people’s stories, and I love to help tell those stories to the world.  And, I believe that one of the most effective ways for people to tell their own stories these days is through video, and specifically through video on the Internet.

It’s certainly useful to have still photographs, graphic images, and descriptive text on your website, but the most personal and powerful connection you can make with your Internet audience is through video.  And, what works best in this medium is you talking from your heart about what you care about.  Check out these two videos to see what I mean:

http://www.vimeo.com/9513695

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfO9IczSEcY

This is the dawning of the age of social networking on the web, and to stay up with the communication forms that viewers are responding to, you need to embrace and employ the tools that people are using.  Video is one of the most effective of those tools, and it can be a friendly medium between you and your audience as long as you see it as a positive, linking force.  To be most effective in the medium, you need to talk THROUGH the camera – that is, talk as if you were sitting across the desk from the person who is watching.  And, you need to remember that spoken language is different from written language.  The communication is not about delivering a memorized speech based on the text of your website or brochure, but rather about you making a personal introduction of yourself and of your service.  In fact, it’s more about creating a positive impression than giving specific information.  You use the text on your website to give details of your service.  You use the video to “shake the hand” of your viewer and begin a relationship with them.

–Terry Lamb, Videosyncracy

Estate Planning is more than planning for death.  A good Estate Plan will protect you at incapacity.  You -not the courts- keep control of your assets and decisions about your medical care when you are still alive but no longer able to handle your affairs.  This is why you must include a  Durable Power of Attorney and an Advanced Healthcare Directive in your Estate Plan.

The advantages of Reverse Mortgages:
You have no monthly mortgage payments
You can live in your own home as long as you desire
You retain Title to you home/the bank does not own your home!
Use the money for whatever you choose
All proceeds are tax-free
No income or credit qualifications

You can:
Pay off your Mortgage and have no mortgage payments
Help cover costs of Healthcare and In-Home Care
Use the money to improve your quality of life
Gift to your children, grandchildren or favorite charities while you are still living
Reduce your estate taxes

Congress Enacts New FHA and Stimulus Packages Reforms for Reverse Mortgages!

New Temporary Lending Limits for Reverse Mortgages: for 2009 Congress has approved a new lending limit increase of $625,500 for Reverse Mortgages.  Get more money when you apply for or refinance a reverse Mortgage!
Congressional Legislation reduces HECM Origination Fees! The new formula for maximum origination fees – 2% of first $200,000 of Principal Loan Limit, plus 1% of the balance above $200,000, to a maximum $6,000 – will become effective with the new HECM loan limits. This is the beginning of lowering the fees, one of the sole complaints about reverse mortgages.
Allows for HECM for Home Purchase: You can now purchase the Retirement Home of your dreams with a Reverse Mortgage. You must be 62 years or older and have a substantial down payment such as the proceeds from the sale of a current residence.  Unlike a traditional mortgage, no repayment is required until the home is sold or the owner permenantly moves out.  No income or credit scores required!
HECM for Co-ops is also part of this new legislation and is probably a few months away before being implemented. This adds one more property type to the list of eligible properties.

Payments for Counseling Effective within thirty days, lenders will no longer be permitted to pay for HECM counseling.  The borrowers will be responsible for the payment; this insures the objectivity of the counselor! New counseling improvements will also be implemented this Fall.

Cross Sales of Financial and Insurance Products Reforms: The new legislation requires HECM lenders to have “safeguards and firewalls,” to assure that originators (sales people) have no incentives for cross-sales of other financial or insurance products.
The money you receive from a Reverse Mortgage can come in the form of a lump sum payment, a line of credit, a monthly payment or a combination of these options.
For your free Reverse Mortgage Handbook or to see how much money you can receive; call me at 415-464-8209 or e-mail at : mbottari@allcalifornia.com.

Many of Us Plan to “Age In Place”

A recent study found that the majority of seniors intend to remain in their home for retirement and for those homes that are appropriate, many seniors are planning on staying indefinitely.  Simple changes to one’s home can make a living environment more comfortable and safe for older adults as they age.  Some of the things that make a home more comfortable for aging-in-place are:

Installing a shower stall or seat
Installing grab bars
Installing walking ramps
Installing medical response devices

While most of us recognize these needs, a major concern is how do we pay for them?  Now seniors can turn the equity in their homes into tax-free cash!  The Reverse Mortgage is a loan that allows you take equity out of your home and live in it for the rest of your life.  Like a home equity loan, you get the money to use any way you wish, you don’t loose control of you home but unlike a home equity loan, there are no monthly mortgage payments during the life of the loan. You don’t pay back a Reverse Mortgage, if you don’t want to, until you move out of your home, sell it or pass away.  Only then must the loan be repaid.  Seniors use Reverse Mortgages for a variety of needs:

Reverse Mortgages are Not Just in the US
The growing popularity of reverse mortgage is expanding past the United States.  Other countries are discovering the benefits reverse mortgages have on the aging population.  Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore and New Zealand are all offering reverse mortgages.  India is also looking to offer these in the near future.
Australia: reverse mortgage have been offered in Australia since the 1990’s, lack of demand caused them to be removed from the market but they have now been re-launched.

United Kingdom: they are known as Lifetime Mortgage.  They began offering this mortgage in 2005.

Canada:   has a reverse mortgage called the Canadian Home Income Plan (CHIP) and it was introduced in the mid 1980’s.

Singapore: decided to offer a reverse mortgage product in expectation of the age shift of the next 6 to 24 years.  In 2030 one out of every 5 residents will be a senior citizen.

India: introduced the reverse mortgage concept in its 2007-2008 budgets.
New Zealand: doubled their reverse mortgage market in 2006.

Learn more at:

www.bottari.net/mortgage-talk

Additional resources:
NRMLA – National Reverse Mortgage Lender’s Association
AARP – www.aarp.org/money/revmort
Fannie Mae – www.fanniemae.com
The National Council on Aging – www.ncoa.org

The results were extracted from a report created by seomoz.org.