Chiropractic & Acupuncture

The area known today as the City of Alameda (a Spanish name chosen by popular vote in 1853, meaning "grove of poplar trees") is part of a former Spanish land grant stretching from San Leandro to Berkeley, and given to Luis Peralta in 1818, by the Governor of California. Subsequently, Peralta gave this land to his son, Antonio Peralta.

WW Chipman and Gideon Aughinbaugh, enterprising young men, were the first American settlers to arrive in Alameda. Their pursuits led to the establishment of a large peach orchard signaling the beginning of the area's development. Subsequently, Chipman and Aughinbaugh purchased the Alameda land (then a peninsula) for the sum of $14,000.

On December 27, 1884, the City of Alameda was formally organized and on January 18, 1885, the Official Seal was approved and adopted. Its Latin inscription "Prosperitas terra mari que", freely translates as: "prosperity from the land and sea". The Island of Alameda was created in 1902 when a tidal canal ( the "Estuary") was created joining Oakland's harbor with the San Leandro Bay. With this move, Alameda was put on the map as an important shipping port.

Resplendent Victorian homes grace shade tree-lined streets covering the island's 12.4 square miles. An invigorating climate, manicured parks, historical business districts and numerous recreational opportunities offer Alameda's 72,259 residents (according to the 2000 Census) special living environment.

Chiropractic care can help pregnancy pain and ease delivery

February 26, 2009 — The stress placed on a woman’s body during pregnancy can lead to many complications that, while not life-threatening, cause discomfort or pain. In many cases, chiropractic adjustments can alleviate pregnancy pain, decrease delivery time, and improve the baby’s position in-utero.

Anne Packard-Spicer, DC, a faculty clinician at Northwestern Health Sciences University, says chiropractic adjustments can balance a woman’s spine and pelvis for normal functioning of the muscular and nervous systems. This allows better maternal body function, which will have a benefit to the baby.

According to Packard-Spicer, when a woman’s pelvis is properly aligned, the uterus will be under less nerve and mechanical stress, which causes the baby to be in a more comfortable position during labor. Chiropractic adjustments can begin at any time and can continue all the way up to the day of delivery.

“Many women worry about getting adjusted while they are pregnant, but chiropractic is gentle and very safe throughout pregnancy,” says Packard-Spicer. “There is no evidence that adjustments have ever harmed a pregnant woman or her baby. In my 12 years of experience, it is safe, gentle, and effective.”

Packard-Spicer says that pregnant women who are experiencing little to no pain should seek chiropractic evaluation to assess whether they are experiencing any misalignments. Asymptomatic patients may not need to be adjusted, but should be evaluated on a regular basis during pregnancy. Additionally, women who are considering becoming pregnant should receive chiropractic evaluations three months before conceiving.

Pregnant women who are experiencing back or leg pain should be adjusted two-to-three times a week until their pain is stabilized, says Packard-Spicer. In addition, she says that women who know their babies are going to be born breech should receive chiropractic adjustments.

Packard-Spicer adds that in her experience women who have followed the above regimen have had a much greater chance of turning their babies around under her care.

After delivery, women should seek chiropractic care within the first 12 weeks, adds Packard-Spicer. During pregnancy, the hormone relaxin circulates throughout the body, loosening the joints so that the pelvis can stretch open during delivery. After birth, the joints begin to tighten again. Checking for proper spinal alignment during this time may allow for the correction of chronic problems by allowing the spine to tighten in a normal alignment.

Source: Northwestern Health Sciences University, www.nwhealth.edu/nwtoday/index.html

Seasonal flu shot may increase H1N1 risk

Last Updated: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 | 10:03 PM ET CBC News

Across Canada, public health authorities are fiercely debating the idea of shortening, delaying or scrapping their seasonal flu vaccination campaign in favour of mass inoculation against H1N1. (Greg Baker/Associated Press)

Preliminary research suggests the seasonal flu shot may put people at greater risk for getting swine flu, CBC News has learned.

"This is some evidence that has been floated. It hasn't been validated yet, it's very preliminary," cautioned Dr. Don Low, microbiologist-in-chief at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

"This is obviously important data to help guide policy decisions. How can we best protect people against influenza?"

It's important to validate the information, which has not been peer reviewed, to make sure it's not just a fluke, and that the observation is confirmed elsewhere such as in the Southern Hemisphere, which just completed its seasonal flu season, or in the U.S. and UK.

Four Canadian studies involved about 2,000 people, health officials told CBC News. Researchers found people who had received the seasonal flu vaccine in the past were more likely to get sick with the H1N1 virus.

Researchers know that, theoretically, when people are exposed to bacteria or a virus, it can stimulate the immune system to create antibodies that facilitate the entry of another strain of the virus or disease. Dengue fever is one example, Low said.

No seasonal flu shot?

The latest finding raises questions about the order in which to get flu shots.

Across Canada, public health authorities are debating the idea of shortening, delaying or scrapping their seasonal flu vaccination campaign in favour of mass inoculation against H1N1.

The main reason is that H1N1 may be the dominant strain of influenza circulating when the fall flu season hits, meaning it could be a waste of time and resources to mount a seasonal flu vaccine campaign.

Health authorities in Quebec are considering cancelling or postponing seasonal flu shots for some groups, such as healthy, younger adults.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says it's up to provinces and territories to decide on when to roll out flu shots.

"We don't know with this year's flu shot how it interacts with the pandemic flu shot, so it's a worry," said Dr. Michael Gardam, director of infectious diseases prevention and control at the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion.

"It makes the decision-making a lot more complex," Dr. Perry Kendall, B.C.'s provincial health officer, said in Victoria. "It would be very nice to have information cut and dried, and very clear in advance in plenty of time to make the decisions. But that isn't unfortunately the world that we're living in."

In Thornhill, Ont., Melissa Cass, who usually gets an annual flu shot to protect herself, had been planning to get one this year for her one-year-old daughter, Aliya, as well.

"You have a baby, you sort of want to protect them from everything possible. So if you can protect them from some things, why not?" Cass said.

But this year, she may not get any shots.

"If I knew that it was a risk to get H1N1, I wouldn't get any of them," she told CBC News. "I would just be as I am and just, you know, take all the precautions I possibly can for flus, and that's it."

The Truth about Flu Shots in Pregnancy

Sherri Tenpenny, DO [medical doctor]

October 4, 2009

Recommendations for vaccinating pregnant women are new

1. 12004: The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice (ACIP) of the CDC began recommending vaccination all pregnant women regardless of trimester. Researchers estimated that an average of 1 or 2 hospitalizations could be prevented for every 1,000 pregnant women vaccinated.  REF: MMWR: May 28, 2004 / 53(RR06);1-40.
   

2. 22009: There is insufficient evidence to recommend routine flu shots as the standard of practice for healthy women beginning in early pregnancy.  REF: Skowronski DM, De Serres G. Is routine influenza immunization warranted in early pregnancy? Vaccine. Jul 30;27(35):4754-70. 2009.
   

Pregnant woman are not frequently hospitalized for flu

1. 11998: Hospitalization ranged from 3.1 per 10,000 women-months in the first trimester to 10.5 per 10,000 in the third trimester.  REF: Neuzil KM, et al. Impact of influenza on acute cardiopulmonary hospitalizations in pregnant women. Am J Epidemiol 1998;148:1094-1102.
   

2. 22004: Women in the third trimester were hospitalized at a rate (250/100,000 pregnant women), comparable with that of non-pregnant women who had high-risk medical conditions.  REF: MMWR: May 28, 2004 / 53(RR06);1-40.
   

3. 32009: The numbers of pregnant women hospitalized with pandemic H1N1 infection are small. Pregnant cases represented 34 of 5,469 H1N1 cases diagnosed during a four month study.  REF: Jamieson DJ, et al. H1N1 2009 influenza virus infection during pregnancy in the USA. Lancet. Aug 8;374(9688):451-8. 2009.
   

Vaccinating pregnant women has not reduced hospitalizations

1. 11997-2002: A study of 49,585 pregnant women there was no statistically significant difference in rates of illness among vaccinated vs. unvaccinated women (4.5/10,000 vs.4.4/10,000). There were only two admissions per season for pneumonia.  REF: Black SB, et al. Effectiveness of the influenza vaccine during pregnancy in preventing hospitalizations and outpatient visits for respiratory illness in pregnant women and their infants. Am J Perinatol 21:333-339. 2004.
   

Pregnant women are generally as healthy as non-pregnant women.

1. 11997-2002: A study of 49,585 pregnant women, only 4.7% had outpatient visits for influenza-like illness.  REF: Black SB, et al. Effectiveness of the influenza vaccine during pregnancy in preventing hospitalizations and outpatient visits for respiratory illness in pregnant women and their infants. Am J Perinatol 21:333-339. 2004.
   

2. 22009: Symptoms of H1N1 influenza infection are similar in both pregnant and non-pregnant general population.  REF: Jamieson DJ, et al. H1N1 2009 influenza virus infection during pregnancy in the USA. Lancet. Aug 8;374(9688):451-8. 2009.
   

Careful examination of the numbers used to mass vaccinate pregnant women reveals

1. 1H1N1 occurs infrequently in pregnant women: 34 cases among an estimated 3,392,000 pregnant women in the U.S.
   

2. 2Among the 5,469 confirmed cases in the study, 0.62% were in pregnant women (34/5,469)
   

3. 3Hospital admissions among pregnant women were higher than in the general population (11/34 vs. 229/5,469).
   

4. 4The admission rate for pregnant women was 0.32 per 100, 000 and the estimated admission rate in the general population was 0.076 per 100 000. Hence the statement, “Pregnant women were more than four times more likely to be admitted than was the general population.”  REF: Jamieson DJ, et al. H1N1 2009 influenza virus infection during pregnancy in the USA. Lancet. Aug 8;374(9688):451-8. 2009.
   

Both seasonal flu shots and 2009 H1N1 flu shots are labeled “Pregnancy Category C” drugs, meaning:

1. 1Animal reproduction studies have not been conducted.
   

2. 2It is not known whether influenza vaccines can cause harm to the fetus.
   

3. 3It is not know whether influenza vaccines can affect reproduction capacity.
   

4. 4It is not known whether influenza viruses from vaccines are excreted in human milk.  REF: From a review of all manufacturer package inserts
   

Are anti-viral drugs safe to take while pregnant?

1. 1Both Tamiflu (oseltamivir) and Relenza (zanamivir) are classified as "Pregnancy Category C" drugs, meaning, there is insufficient information to assess potential risks to the fetus.
   

2. 2In lactating rats, Tamiflu was excreted in the milk. It is not known whether Tamiflu is excreted in human milk.  REF: From the package inserts
   

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