Dr. Patch's 2-Minute Health Tips

Six Simple Secrets to a Successful Life

1) Breathe Deeply!

Oxygen is FREE ENERGY; breathe it in fully.

CO2 is your waste gas; breathe it out completely.

Long, slow breaths keep you calm and centered.

2) Spine Erect!

Keep your head up high on top of an upright spine.

Great posture keeps your mind and nerves alert and vibrant.

Get your chiropractic adjustments to keep your spine aligned.

3) Smile!

Brighten your mind and spirit every day—you’re in charge.

Use the power of prayer, meditation, positive affirmations.

Be grateful for every breath, and every minute of your life.

4) Eat & Drink Well !

Eat organic foods and drink fresh, clean water.

Avoid the Fake Factory Frankenfoods.

Avoid poison chemicals as much as you can.

5) Exercise & Rest!

Exercise your body and mind every day—no one else can.

Keep moving all your lifetime—“Use it or lose it.”

Sleep well at night; take naps when you’re tired.

6) Be a Good Citizen to the World!

Share the love inside yourself with all those outside yourself.

Be of Service to your family, friends, and strangers as well.

Help all the mothers and children of the world to be happy.

Life is Movement; Use it or Lose it!

Picture a two-year-old playing on the floor, and a ninety-year-old sitting in a rocking chair watching. Who moves more, who is more vibrant? The answer is obvious. Ah, the energy of youth. You want to keep that as long as possible.

We know we should exercise daily for strong muscles, joints, and bones. Science tells us that the brain needs stimulation for good health too; not just math problems, music, or video games, but everyday movement. Your brain responds to bodily movement.

The more you move, the more alive your brain is.

So, for vibrant health—physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and immunological—get out of your chair and go for a walk! Full-range stretching: Yoga, swimming, Tai Chi,

Gi Gong, or dance—all stimulate the brain to maintain the hologram of youth. If you don’t want to lose the vibrancy of life, act like a two-year old and keep moving!

As you move through your full range of motion, not only do you oil up your joints, tone up your muscles, and improve your balance, but your brain is stimulated into action repairing and maintaining a full-service body. Consider your body to be your “funmobile.” Keep it tuned-up. Use only premium fuel. Get it out of the garage and take it for a spin around the block every day! You only get one mobile body per lifetime, so use it or lose it.

docpatch@gmail.com www.PatchFamilySpineCenter.com

Why Does Your Chiropractor Stress Spinal Health?

Hippocrates Taught His Students, “Look Well to the Spine.”

Hippocrates, “The Father of Western Medicine,” was a Fifth-Century, BC, Greek physician. His advice to his student doctors of medicine:

Look well to the spine for the cause of disease. Many ailments are caused by the spine.
One or more vertebrae may go out of position, slightly, and if not properly adjusted,

can cause serious illness, even death.

Hippocrates was a genius. He knew that misaligned vertebrae affect your nerves, your nerves affect your physiology, and thus your spine affects your health. The word “chiropractic” was fashioned from Greek to honor Hippocrates. It translates to “practical work, done by hand.”

After many joyful years of correcting spinal misalignments (vertebral subluxation) with my own two hands, my happy patients and I can attest, Hippocrates got it right! The cause of many common ailments are relieved by a well-placed adjustment—the list is long. But, more importantly, a well-maintained spine helps prevent the cause of disease. Hippocrates lived to be ninety years-old, 2500 years ago! He must have known something about living well. Take his advice, and let an expert look to your spine. Live long, live well, get your chiropractic adjustments, and keep your spine well-aligned!

What is a Subluxation?

A vertebral subluxation is a minor misalignment of opposing joint surfaces, or failure of proper movement between two adjacent vertebrae. America’s first chiropractor, Dr. D.D. Palmer, coined the word “subluxation” in 1895. The joint surfaces are not dislocated, but are either mismatched, too loose, or stuck together. A subluxation affects neural function at that level of the spine, and altered nerve function means altered physiology. The results can be far-reaching, even disastrous for your health. Pain is not an indicator of subluxation. It does not necessarily hurt unless it is inflamed. Inflammation of a joint is arthritis, and it does hurt. But, not all subluxations are inflamed. Over time, a chronic subluxation leads to joint degeneration, “arthrosis.”

Chiropractic students are taught to evaluate the spine scientifically with their powers of observation. When necessary, the use of X-ray and mathematical measuring techniques allow us to define the status of a subluxation, and the state of degeneration caused by it. We are taught the art of how to adjust a spinal subluxation with specificity. I applied the science as I was taught. I found the subluxations, adjusted them, and my patients got well!

Although knowledge of the effects of spinal misalignments goes all the way back to Hippocrates, the “Father of Modern Medicine,” in the 5th-Century, B.C., the American Medical Associations (AMA) long denied the very existence of subluxation. The proclamation that Doctors of Chiropractic could find vertebral subluxations and correct them by spinal adjustments was denounced as “scientifically unproven, dangerous, cultish, quackery.” Did it matter that the AMA campaigned against Chiropractic? Not to our patients who received spinal adjustments and got well!

In 1983, my second year of practice, I received a medical radiology report from a hospital that read, “There is a subluxation at C4-5. C4 is 4mm posterior to C5.” Aha! Not only did they finally agree subluxations exist, they have taken after us in measuring them with a ruler! It only took them eighty-eight years to catch up to Chiropractic.

Q: Why do I need to get adjusted regularly when I don't even hurt?

A: For Your Own Good Health. Life is movement, use it or lose it!

Even if you seem to have a perfect, upright and flexible spine, no one should ever go more than 90 days without getting his or her spine checked by a doctor of chiropractic. You may have subluxation and not even know it. If a vertebra should become stuck, or slightly out of place, and the joints do not inflame, it won’t hurt. In time it will begin to degenerate. Your doctor of chiropractic is practiced and proficient in the science of finding these problems, and the art of making careful adjustments to restore proper movement before a problem is evident.

Your spine needs perpetual daily movement for healthy joints, a healthy brain, and a healthy nerve network. Movement helps keep the joints well lubricated, and helps keep cartilage surfaces polished. Without movement, a joint will begin to degenerate within ninety days. Without movement, the discs between the vertebrae won’t get any exercise, fluid exchange will cease, and the disc will begin to dry out. After ninety days, degenerative changes will become permanent. Life is movement; use it or lose it!

In the Kingdom Vertebrata, spinal movement stimulates the brain. The brain’s job of healing, repair, and maintenance of all your cells is awakened by the stimulus of spinal movement. That’s the way nature designed us. That’s why all animals stretch their spine when they wake up. Should a vertebra become fixated, neurological input from that segment is diminished and the brain tends to lose full association with that area of the body. The brain will fall down on its job to maintain, regulate, and regenerate the tissues of the region. You’ll get neurostagnation[1]. So, keep moving, keep stretching, and get regular spinal check-ups, not only for your spinal health, but also for your neurological health.

www.PatchFamilySpineCenter.com

[Neurostagnation: Sluggishness of the nerve network to stay busy doing its job. (I just made that word up.)

Ice or Heat? Which Do I Apply?

Are you injured? Does it hurt? You need relief.

Are you inflamed? Are you swollen? You need shrinkage!

Most of the time when there is a fresh source of pain — say you lifted something at an odd angle, you felt a mild strain at the time but later that evening your lower back cinches-up on you, or you just woke up with a stiff neck — most likely there is an inflammatory condition accompanying a joint that is out of order. The joint gets hot. It swells. It hurts. You can’t move it. In addition to calling your Doctor of Chiropractic for an appointment, which do you use at home? Ice? Or Heat?

It’s inflamed. Look at the word inflame and you will see “flame” in the word. It’s as if there are flames in there. So, don’t get a blow torch and add more heat. Get an ice pack and start pulling heat out. Ice retards and reverses the inflammatory process. Heat makes things expand, swell more. Cold makes things shrink. Ice is our friend. Here are the guidelines for use of ice:

Ice Application: 20 minutes, every 2 hours: Make sure ice pack is wrapped in cloth, apply over the boo-boo, and then return ice pack to freezer after each use. Do not lay upon the ice pack! You could get frost bite. It is better to perform light chilling applications several times per day at regular intervals, rather than one long deep-freeze application, which is counter-productive.

Purpose: Reduces pain, swelling, inflammation, and muscle spasm. Promotes drainage of lymph and venous blood from swollen tissues. Reduces time and intensity of inflammation.

When do I stop using ice? When the pain and inflammation are gone.

The Perfect Posture Breathing Meditation

Instead of breathing in and out through your chest, sit up straight and concentrate on breathing up and down your spine. As you inhale all the way up to your head, raise your eyebrows at the top of each breath. As you exhale all the way down to your tail bone, momentarily tighten your bottom muscles at the end of each breath. Making the little movements at the top and bottom of each breath is like swimming laps in a pool and touching the end of the pool at each length to verify that you made it all the way. This technique promotes full excursion of the breath.

As you raise your eyebrows at the top, your chin and chest will rise naturally. As you tighten you anal muscles at the bottom, your abdomen will naturally contract and push out stale air and stabilize the base of your spine. Your perfect posture will now be long, tall, and mindful.

Try walking tall and breathing at the same time, eyebrows rise at top, anal muscles tighten at bottom. You will move so effortlessly you seem to float. This perfect posture breathing meditation will promote an upright, balanced posture, clarity of mind, and purity to the blood chemistry.

Severe Spinal Damage at Zero Miles per Hour

Looking Down at YourCell Phone

Notice everyone looking down at their phones everywhere you go? The perpetual stress of constantly looking down at a cell phone causes permanent damage to the neck. Sixteen-year-olds who are attached by the nose to their cell phones are now hunched over like eighty-year-olds with severe osteoporosis. We call that the “iSlump.”

It has been documented that our youth are actually growing a bony horn on the back of their heads where the supportive ligaments of the neck attach to the skull! We only see those kind of bone spurs growing on the spine after ten-to-fifteen years of postural distortion. Well, if you give a five-year-old child a cellphone to keep them entertained, by the time they are twenty, they’ve been slumping for fifteen years.

Protect your spine! If you need to look at your phone, don’t hold it in your lap, pick it up and look at it at eye level. If your six-ounce cell phone gets too heavy to hold it up, it’s time to put it away. Remember, “As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.”

3 Simple Suggestions for a Long and Healthy Life

1) Eat & Drink Well: Eat organic foods and drink fresh, clean water.Avoid the Fake Factory Frankenfoods. Avoid poison chemicals as much as you can.

2) Exercise & Rest: Exercise your body and mind every day - no one else can.Keep moving all your lifetime - "Use it or lose it." Sleep well at night; take naps when you’re tired.

3) Be a Good Citizen to the World: Share the love inside yourself with all those outside yourself. Be of Service to your family, friends and strangers as well.Help all the mothers and children of the world to be happy.

Be Your Best, Get Your Rest!

Americans are now getting two hours less daily sleep than they were fifty years ago! Your mind recharges when you rest. Your best healing time is when you sleep. You need at least seven hours sleep per day. Your body won’t heal if it’s inflamed, and inflammation is quelled during sleep. Too much inflammation accelerates aging. We call it “inflammaging.” To be your best, plan your 24-hour day with a healthy balance of dynamic activity, and dynamic rest.

The more technologically advanced our society becomes, with “time-saving devices” and home entertainment (computers, TV, the internet, smart phone apps, social media, email, texting, Netflix programs, etc.), the less rest time we have for ourselves. Your brain & nervous system can only take so much continuous activity, mental concentration, stimulation, stress & strain before it frays and frazzles, leaving you unable to function at top capacity.

Don’t run yourself down at night with pointless stimulation. Turn off the TV, turn off the internet. Get your rest! Meditation is concentrated rest. Sleep when it’s dark, and take little breaks in the daytime. I just love my twenty-minute, mid-day naps, and so does “Spanky.”

"Spanky" taking one of his many daily naps.

The Human Wakeup Stretch

All vertebrates stretch their spine when they wake up. We are vertebrates too. Observe your dog or cat when it wakes up from its nap. Look in on a newborn human when it is waking up. They all stretch their spine and yawn as they awake. We adults need to do it too. Don’t let anybody tell you it’s rude; it’s a necessary part of life.

Your brain needs oxygen, glucose, and stimulation to stay healthy. One of the greatest stimulants that the brain receives is the message that your spine is moving. The brain wakes up when the spine goes through a stretch. That’s why our cats and dogs always do that little stretch when they get up from their nap. And, they nap fifty times a day. Why don’t we? We don’t have time to nap fifty times a day, but we can do a five-second stretch.

How do we do it? Because humans are two-footed, upright vertebrates, we do it either sitting upright, or standing tall: Hands behind your head, fingertips barely interlaced, elbows pointing forward, take a big breath and hold it, look way up, push head and hands together firmly, push elbows skyward, hold like a yawn-stretch for five seconds with a little groan of effort, then let go of your head, exhale, and relax. That’s the stretch. Do it like a little baby yawn. You’ll feel a surge of energy in your mind each time you do it. That’s the wakeup part. Do it every twenty minutes, all day long.

Purpose: Reinforces the “righting reflex,” built into your human cerebrospinal system. It’s hard-wired into our spinal cord to keep our spine upright. It keeps your head and torso upright naturally, to resist gravity, balance your posture, and align your spine so that it works efficiently and protects your nervous system. It also gives our mind a lightening flash of alertness. That’s why we call it the Human Wakeup Stretch.

Grandma Was Right; Stand-up Straight!"

Remember when your grandma would tell you, "Stand-up straight!"? Now we have empirical evidence to give even more weight to her command. Good posture is essential to mental as well as physical health, keeping bones, joints, and nerves aligned while boosting confidence. In fact, an upright posture has been shown to have a greater influence on a person’s feelings of power than his or her job title or position. Slouching one’s shoulders, not surprisingly, has the opposite effect lowering self-esteem. Your vital life energy, chi, or kundalini, flows best when your spine is upright and aligned. So, stand up straight, be healthy, make your presence count!

When you walk into a room, your internal self-image is instantly broadcast to everyone. Carry yourself in a manner that people will take note of. Make your grandma proud!

The De-evolution of Man from Bipedal to Mono-buttal

My Chair is Killing Me

My Chair is Killing Me

Whether or not you ascribe to evolution, man is best described in biology books as bipedal, an upright, two-legged creature who procures food on the move (mobile feeding). As opposed to clams and mussels that sit on a rock and wait for food to come to them, we are designed to stroll, run, swim, or climb in pursuit of our basic needs. But modern man is working hard to overcome nature.

We have devolved into a different form. We tend to sit on our singular rear ends. I have coined that, “mono-buttal.” The human spine is not well designed to sit upon the derriere. The legs are the foundation and shock absorbers for our spine, and walking is both good exercise and a basic necessity for spinal health. When we stand and walk, we are utilizing the natural function of our body. When resting, it is best done in a hunkered-down position, sitting cross-legged, or lying down. Instead, we sit all day like Monarchs upon our thrones, with specialized sitting furniture.

Modern lifestyle requires we endure gravity in chairs most all day long. Walking is limited from bed to bathroom toilet seat, to kitchen coffee chair, to car seat, car seat to work desk chair, to lunch room chair, to car seat, maybe to dinner table chair, but more likely we open our window at the drive-thru, while they shove a burrito in our face, eat “on the run” (actually while sitting in the car), get home and walk to the couch for a good slouch and watch TV. The once springy and supple function of our spines as hunters and gatherers, or farmers, or even factory workers, has been lost to the stagnant lifestyle confined to a chair.

Through the last four decades, I have watched as our activity levels decline, the waistlines advance, blood pressures rise, and the spines degenerate for lack of movement. As your Doctor of Chiropractic, it is my duty to tell you, “Get off your butt, and go outside for a walk!” Park your car at the far end of the parking lot. Take the stairs. Walk in the park, the mountain trails, the beach, Sunset Cliffs. This is San Diego, the land of beautiful weather and beautifully healthy people.

How to Avoid Air-Born Illness;

Don’t breathe in germs! Don’t spread them!

America has lost more than a million souls to the COVID-19 pandemic in just sixteen months. This is an unprecedented death rate within our life spans, but not within human history. It happened during the 1917-18 flu pandemic, and during the famous plagues throughout European history. We learned that when people are packed close together, air-born infections spread rapidly.

We are learning fundamental lessons: Wash your hands frequently, don’t touch your face with dirty hands, breathe through a mask whenever you are indoors with clusters of people, get vaccinated and boosted if you choose, stay isolated if you are sick, stay away from sick people, if you have been near a sick person, isolate yourself for at least five days and get tested. Be a good citizen, take care of yourself, and those around you.

There are two images we want you to visualize. Think of the person who is vaping, and you can see that big cloud of white smoke as they exhale. That’s exactly what your breath does, but you just can’t see it. Second, remember those days when smoking was allowed indoors such as in bars and bowling alleys? The more smokers, the thicker the smoke. Smoking kills, and so does second-hand smoke. So, stay away from COVID-19 concentrated areas!

Stay alert, stay safe, comply with healthy guidelines, be well, have fun, and spread the love!

Dr. Warren and Mrs. Natalie Patch