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If you would like to perform better at your sport of choice or simply address a nagging pain that has been hanging around, chiropractic adjustments along with Active Release Techniques are a winning team to help you accomplish your goals.  I use these together to help my patients experience the quickest and most direct relief and the results they are looking for.

Additionally, I often recommend Acupuncture as a great adjunct therapy for my patients, for decreasing pain, improving energy, and addressing other specific health concerns that they have. 

A local acupuncturist that I refer my patients to is Rebecca Cates, M.S., L.Ac.  Rebecca's knowledge and professionalism come across in her expert care, using gentle and effective needling.  She knows all the right points to treat to restore balance, reduce pain and invigorate health.  I have enjoyed and derived much benefit from her treatments over this past year.  Her beautiful office is conveniently located at 770 Page Street in North Berkeley.  She can be reached at 415-573-6168 for appointments.  Her website is:  http://rebeccacates.com/

In order for me to be able to help more people stay fit I have opened a second location in Walnut Creek.  It is located at 1280 Boulevard Way, Suite 211, just off highways 24 and 680 at the Mt. Diablo Blvd exit.  I am currently there on Wednesdays.

Our main office's new location is 6330 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA 94609.  Our new Chiropractic Center is a spacious and beautiful building located between Alcatraz and 63rd Street.  You can reach us at (510) 601-6330.  

With You In Health,

Dr. Richard Burg, DC

The pharmaceutical industry earns billions of dollars each year, profiting from the tendency of so many people to suffer from debilitating disease. For example, osteoporosis affects more than 10 million women in the United States. The disorder involves loss of bone mass and may lead to fractures of the hip and lumbar vertebras, both of which may have severe consequences. In June 2010 a new drug was approved by the FDA to help prevent such fractures in postmenopausal women.

It is estimated that 55% of all Americans older than age 50 either have low bone mass or have lost sufficient bone mass to have received a diagnosis of osteoporosis.¹ But if our bodies are built to last, why is the prevalence of osteoporosis so high? It doesn't make sense that our internal systems are simply designed to fail.

It is much more likely that our bodies are designed to withstand a tremendous amount of wear and tear. Human bodies are self-healing, self-renewing, and self-replicating machines. A human cell's most basic survival systems are based on deep complexity. Yet once a woman reaches menopause she joins a group of individuals at risk for losing a significant amount of bone mass and developing osteoporosis. What is wrong with this picture?

The hidden factors, revealed only upon close analysis and understanding, relate to lifestyle - what it is that we're doing with our bodies. If your driving style consists of flooring the accelerator and alternately slamming on the brakes, you'll quickly burn out the brake lines and ruin the tires of your fine built-to-last truck. If you rarely change the oil and oil filter your truck's performance will seriously degrade. If you ignore traffic signals and highway signs you'll probably crash your vehicle.

Defective care and maintenance and dangerous driving will drastically shorten the useful lifespan of your truck. The truck may be built-to-last but you've effectively voided the warranty. The day will quickly come, much sooner than anticipated, that you'll be forced to junk your truck.

This extended metaphor is exactly analogous to how we live our lives. Much recent research demonstrates that lifestyle is responsible for a large proportion of all cases of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. For example, 82% of coronary deaths in women may be related to individual health behaviors.² The main strategy to prevent loss of bone mass and osteoporosis is to engage in regular vigorous, weight-bearing exercise.³

From a broader perspective, the main strategy to preventing disease in general is to eat a healthy, diverse diet, do vigorous exercise regularly, get sufficient rest, and ongoingly engage in rewarding, fulfilling activities with family and friends. Our bodies are built to last. How long they last, to a large extent, is up to us.

¹National Osteoporosis Foundation - http://www.nof.org/advocacy/prevalence/

²Aldana SC: The Culprit and the Cure. Mapleton, UT, Maple Mountain Press, 2005, p 52

³Dionyssiotis Y, et al: Association of physical exercise and calcium intake with bone mass measured by quantitative ultrasound. BMC Women's Health 7:10-12, 2010

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