Sober living is a type of living or lifestyle that is free from any substance use and abuse, including drugs, alcohol, and nicotine. Sober, referring to sobriety or the state of not having any measurable levels or effects from mood-altering drugs, is often the term used in describing a peaceful, calm, and clean condition.

While sober living is obviously the better choice between that and a drug-controlled life, many people are still risking their life by abusing and overusing drugs and other addictive substances. If you are one of the people who think that there is an advantage in substance abuse, you should read the following and learn why sober living is important.

Sober living is good to your overall health – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. If you are living a clean lifestyle, you wouldn’t catch diseases or suffer from bad health conditions as fast as those whose body is imprisoned by the negative power of drugs and alcohol.

It can lengthen your life. Studies show that drug users, alcoholics, and smokers die earlier than normal people because their body starts to malfunction when they use illegal substances.

It enhances mental abilities such as clear thinking, sound decision making, communication skills, problem solving, art appreciation and many more. When you are living a sober life, you can think clear and understand well. Furthermore, it retains peace of mind.

It keeps you going everyday, allowing you to work properly, take care of your family, reach your dreams, and simply enjoy life. When problems arise, you would know how to handle them because your mental and emotional states are not blocked by any mind-altering substance.

It helps you connect with people. You start to build new relationships and maintain existing ones. On the other hand, if you are controlled by the power of drugs, people may tend to avoid you.

It is every youth and adult’s goal then to attain sober living and not be imprisoned by substance abuse.

Osteoporosis is the significant loss of bone mass that causes the bones to become weak, thin and fragile. Having osteoporosis can potentially cause the breaking of any bone in the body. In fact, a broken bone, and the intense pain that goes with it may be the first indication of osteoporosis for many people. Osteoporosis is described as a “silent” disease because the thinning and weakening of the bone is a painless symptom. The bone structures where fracture commonly occurs are the hip, arm, wrist and vertebrae.

Treatment Options for Osteoporosis

Although there is no cure for osteoporosis and its effects are irreversible, it can be treated and can be prevented from becoming severe. There are several ways this can be done, including:

Use of non-hormonal medications that inhibit bone loss

Antibodies that help inactivate the bone-breakdown mechanism of the body

Hormone replacement therapy

Exercise program to strengthen bone mass

Diet consisting of calcium and vitamin D to build and strengthen bones

Improving lifestyle habits to reduce the risk of osteoporosis and fall

Chiropractic treatment, which helps prevent osteoporosis from worsening and treat osteoporosis-related injury. It may incorporate the non-medication therapy options in the treatment.

Chiropractic Treatment of Osteoporosis

Chiropractic treatment may involve adjustments or spinal manipulation, rehabilitative exercises, relaxation techniques and counseling on nutrition dietary supplements and lifestyle changes. The type of chiropractic care you will need depends on how advanced the condition of your osteoporosis is and on your age. For example, the treatment for a post-menopausal women suffering from osteoporosis may include spiral manipulation, exercises that promote bone-building and dietary supplements like calcium and vitamin D. The chiropractic treatment plan will be developed for your specific needs. If your osteoporosis condition is advanced, more gentle approach like low force or soft tissue techniques are more likely to be used to address the pain and other symptoms.

In your initial chiropractor visit, you will undergo physical exam and tests like x-rays. Based on the findings from these exams, a treatment plan will be developed for you. This treatment plan may incorporate various chiropractic treatments.

A suitable exercise program will be developed for you. You will be advised on exercises that will improve muscles for core stability and control bone density, such as regular weight-bearing exercises. If you have been diagnosed previously with osteoporosis, vigorous and high impact exercise will be avoided.

Some chiropractic centers provide monthly screening services to assess potential problems such as osteoporosis. Osteoporosis and compression fractures are often identified on x-rays and patients are advised to undergo further tests to determine how severe the problem is. With the screening procedure, it is quick and convenient to diagnose osteoporosis. We can all suffer from osteoporosis but it is almost impossible to know whether or not you are affected unless you get tested.

Lani Simpson, a chiropractor and an expert on osteoporosis, who herself has suffered from and hurdled osteoporosis emphasizes key points about the bone condition and its treatment approach:

You are never too old or too young to build healthy bones. It should be a lifetime effort.

Bone is a reservoir for your body’s nutrients. It is dynamic and alive.

It is not easy to increase bone density although bone quality is more than just bone density.

Through exercise and proper nutrition, it is possible to improve bone quality at any age.

Good balance is of paramount importance in preventing falls.

Each osteoporosis case is different, and should be treated accordingly.

Chiropractic care may not cure osteoporosis but can help in the aspects of diagnosis, treatment and prevention of deterioration of an existing condition or of the condition itself.

Chiropractic Care and Arm Pain

Pain is a major problem in the United States and elsewhere. According to the National Institutes of Health, more Americans suffer from pain than from heart disease, diabetes and cancer combined. Data from the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine show that Americans who suffer from chronic pain number approximately 100 million. Back pain, headaches, musculoskeletal pain and arthritis pain top the list of chronic pain conditions. While these conditions are very common, they are certainly not normal. Fortunately, chiropractic care can help with all these and other pain conditions. Chiropractic treatment helps with many issues related to the spine, and that is what many people know. Chiropractic also provides effective treatment for problems with the extremities.

Symptoms of Arm Pain and Problems

Common symptoms of conditions of the arm may include the following: pain, pins and needles, numbness, decreased mobility, stiffness and weakness. The pain symptom can be burning, sharp, dull or throbbing. These symptoms may be mild to severe in intensity. Although symptoms may come directly from the arm itself, more frequently, symptoms perceived as emanating from the arm and even elbow, are referred from a condition in the neck or in the shoulder, actually.

Chiropractic Care for Arm Pain

Chiropractic therapy is a very viable option for arm pain.

During the initial chiropractic consultation, a thorough assessment will be conducted to determine what may be causing your symptoms. A personalized treatment plan specific to your conditions and needs is developed so that the treatment can be started immediately. The goal of chiropractic care is restoring your body’s balance, lost function and mobility and to get you pain-free in the earliest possible time, in a natural way – without using drugs and invasive surgical means.

Chiropractic care has worked for arm pain cases with the following common conditions:

Acute problem from sports injury involving strained sore muscles, or a tear in the rotator cuff

Chronic condition, such as rheumatism or neuralgia that you have suffered a long time from

A condition that gets worse over time, which includes carpal tunnel syndrome or frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis

Referred pain not originating from the arm but from a problem in the upper back or neck.

Conditions resulting from various causes

The chiropractic assessment consists of a series of diagnostic tests to zero in on the exact cause of the condition. This procedure is vital in the successful treatment of your arm problem. The treatment plan will be different from other treatment plans, even if your symptoms are apparently similar to another patient’s symptoms. While most arm pain conditions can be treated well with chiropractic, you may be referred to another specialist for more appropriate care should your chiropractor determine that the cause underlying your arm pain is not suited for chiropractic treatment.

In the course of the chiropractic treatment, your chiropractor will use gentle, effective and safe techniques to relieve you of pain and get you mobile again quickly, all according to the treatment plan that has been developed specifically targeting the cause for your problem. The treatment will most likely include chiropractic adjustments. Other techniques your chiropractor may utilize are soft tissue therapy that can include myofascial release, physical therapy, active and/or passive stretching, IASTM or instrument assisted soft tissue manipulation and electrical stimulation. In addition, your chiropractor may give you advice on lifestyle habits and posture that trigger recurrence, to prevent your condition from developing again in the future.

Unlike some medical options in the treatment of arm pain and injuries that mask the condition’s symptoms and leaving their source untreated, chiropractic treatment treats the root cause while producing quick relief from the symptoms. It is effective, safe and conservative.

It is a known fact that most weight-losing methods are expensive. Gym membership fees, equipment costs, instructional video tapes, as well as special ingredients for one’s diet are but some of the expenditures of a person aspiring to lose weight.

Studies show, however, that one does not need to spend as much in going to gyms and doing special exercises to lose weight. For example, did you know that everyday house cleaning chores can actually burns calories? Here are some of the tasks usually taken for granted, but can actually serve as the key to that gorgeous, fit body.

Gardening – Put your grubbiest outfit and dig that dirt! Working on your garden for 30 minutes will burn a whopping 140 calories. No wonder Martha Stewart is thin.

Washing dishes – Among the most abhorred chores, washing the dishes prove to be worthy after all. Doing it for 15 minutes will burn 33 calories. Well, will you look at that?

Grocery shopping – Having a migraine over skyrocketing costs of grocery items? Don’t worry. Pushing that cart and reaching over those shelves for an hour burns 210 calories. Now that’s a value-added shopping experience.

House cleaning – Here’s a new thought for those who just hate cleaning up your crib’s mess. House cleaning for a couple of hours actually burns 421 calories. Spread this out to all moms and every house will be spotless in no time!

Doing laundry – Washing out those dirty linens proves to be more beneficial than what you think – it burns 124 calories an hour! Who’s up for a laundry business, then?

Ironing – Why don’t you go two for two? After doing laundry, iron those dry clothes for an hour and burn 132 calories! Tell your teens this amazing fact and don’t be surprised if they volunteer to take the ironing duty out of your hands.

There are a lot more chores that prove to be calorie-burners. The trick of this slimming trade is carry out the activity for a longer time and you will burn more calories.