Calculating BMI

What is BMI?

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a number calculated from a person's weight and height. BMI is a fairly reliable indicator of body  fatness for most people.

How is BMI used?

BMI is used as a screening tool to identify  possible weight problems for adults. However, BMI is not a diagnostic tool. For example, a person may have a high BMI, however, to determine if excess weight  is a health risk, a healthcare provider would need to perform further  assessments. These assessments might include skinfold thickness measurements,  evaluations of diet, physical activity, family history, and other appropriate  health screenings.

Interpretation of BMI for adults

For adults 20 years old and older, BMI is interpreted using standard weight
status categories that are the same for all ages and for both men and women.
The standard weight status categories  associated with BMI ranges for adults are shown in the following table.

BMI	Weight Status
Below 18.5	Underweight
18.5 – 24.9	Normal
25.0 – 29.9	Overweight
30.0 and Above	Obese

Access a BMI calculator - http://1.usa.gov/9pydGt

If your BMI is above 25.0, you should consult with your health care provider to determine if your excess weight is a health risk.

Information above was taken from the CDC website.

Blood Pressure Tracker

Here is an instruction sheet from the American Heart Association that give some tips on how and when to take your blood pressure.

Why Water is Good for You

Did you know that your body is 60-70 % water?  Water is a major component of your blood, and your muscles, lungs, and brain all contain water too.  It is important to drink enough water to regulate your body temperature, and to move nutrients to your organs and tissues.

Every day our bodies lose water through urination, sweating, and even breathing.  Certain medications and alcohol may cause your body to lose more water than normal.  Caffeine drinks also have the effect of increasing the amount of water your body loses during the day.

If you don't drink enough water each day, you may suffer from dehydration - symptoms include chronic pain, lower back pain, headaches, and constipation. And although thirst is the most obvious sign of dehydration, you should be drinking well before you feel thirsty.

A big question for most people is how much water should I drink?  Opinions vary, but one common rule of thumb is to divide your weight in half and drink that many ounces of water daily.  There fore, if you weighed 140 lbs, you should drink 70 ounces of water daily.  You will also get some water from the foods you eat, but using the formula above is the safest bet.

Water is always the best choice when you are thirsty - beware of sugary drinks, sodas with artificial sweeteners, and highly caffeinated beverages.

Female Heart Attacks

We recently received this information in an email and wanted to make it available for all of our patients. Please feel free to share with your female friends!

FEMALE HEART ATTACKS

I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the best description I've ever read.Women and heart attacks (Myocardial infarction). Did you know that women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing heart attack .. you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we see in the movies. Here is the story of one woman's experience with a heart attack.'I had a heart attack at about 10 :30  PM with NO prior exertion, NO prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might have brought it on. I was sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and actually thinking, 'A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up.

A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when you've been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like you've swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow motion and it is most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn't have gulped it down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drink a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was my initial sensation---the only trouble was that I hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p..m.After it seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was probably my aorta spasms), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering CPR).This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out into both jaws. 'AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was happening -- we all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of the signals of an MI happening, haven't we? I said aloud to myself and the cat, Dear God, I think I'm having a heart attack!
I lowered the foot rest dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself, If this is a heart attack, I shouldn't be walking into the next room where the phone is or anywhere else ... but, on the other hand, if I don't, nobody will know that I need help, and if I wait any longer I may not be able to get up in a moment.

I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next room and dialed the Paramedics ... I told her I thought I was having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating into my jaws. I didn't feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts.. She said she was sending the Paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to un-bolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see me when they came in.

I unlocked the door and then laid down on the floor as instructed and lost consciousness, as I don't remember the medics coming in, their examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance, or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way, but I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the radiologist was already there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending over me asking questions (probably something like 'Have you taken any medications?') but I couldn't make my mind interpret what he was saying, or form an answer, and nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where they installed 2 side by side stints to hold open my right coronary artery..

'I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the paramedics, but actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and St. Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was already to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and installing the stints.

'Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned first hand.'

1. Be aware that something ve ry different is happening in your body not the usual men's symptoms but inexplicable things happening (until my sternum and jaws got into the act). It is said that many more women than men die of their first (and last) MI because they didn't know they were having one and commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox or other anti-heartburn preparation and go to bed, hoping they'll feel better in the morning when they wake up ... which doesn't happen. My female friends, your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING is unpleasantly happening that you've not felt before. It is better to have a 'false alarm' visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be!
2. Note that I said 'Call the Paramedics.' And if you can take an aspirin.. Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!  Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER - you are a hazard to others on the road.  Do NOT have your panicked husband who will be speeding and looking anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road.  Do NOT call your doctor -- he doesn't know where you live and if it's at night you won't reach him anyway, and if it's daytime, his assistants (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn't carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr. will be notified later.
3. Don' t assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it's unbelievably high and/or accompanied by high blood pressure). MIs are usually caused by long-term stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps all sorts of deadly hormones into your system to sludge things up in there.

Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep..
Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we could survive..

New Nutritional Health Counseling Services

We are pleased to announce the addition of nutritional counseling services at Schubbe Resch Chiropractic and Physical Therapy.

I am  attending a two year program to obtain a diplomate in clinical nutrition.  The program involves 350 hours of additional education, a research paper, three exams, and three clinical case histories at which time she is eligible for the board exam.  Once I pass the board, I will be a Diplomate of the American Board of Clinical Nutritionists.

My services include nutritional counseling and functional medicine recommendations to achieve whole body wellness.  Functional medicine is a way of looking at your body as a whole unit, rather than individual parts, to allow your body to heal itself naturally.  Many conditions can be treated; such as diabetes, female issues, skin disorders, headaches, or anyone looking to achieve better health.  A typical patient will undergo initial consultation, nutritional examination, review of recent blood work, and other possible lab tests as necessary.  Then a specific treatment plan to include vitamin, mineral, and herbal supplementation will be rendered, individualized to the patient, based on this cumulative information.

Nutritional services such as these are generally not covered by insurance, and will be done on a cash basis only. Services are $100 per hour, supplementation and lab tests are extra.  To further inquire about our nutritional services or schedule an appointment, please call our office at 920-738-0200.