Chiropractic Care in the Outer Banks

The aches and pains due to a child’s growth, aka growing pains, affects between 20% and 40% of all children.  If you never experienced growing pains as a child, I can tell you from personal experience that growing pains can range from merely annoying to very painful.

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We have a quick update.  This is International Infection Prevention Week, the largest annual initiative to promote safe, hygienic hospital practices and stop Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) before they happen.

Although all HAIs can lead to dangerous outcomes, what you may not know is that Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP) is the HAI most likely to cause death.  The website, http://vap-news.com, contains news and solutions concerning VAP and will be of interest doctors and patients alike.

Here are some of the facts concerning VAP that you should be aware of:

• Approximately 8-28% of critical care patients develop VAP
• Healthcare-associated pneumonia patients have a mortality rate of 20% to 33%
• VAP increases patient time in the ICU by 4 to 6 days
• Each incidence of VAP is estimated to generate an increased cost of $20,000 to $40,0001
• VAP accounts for 47% of all infections in ICU.
• Mortality rates for VAP are between 20% and 70%.
• VAP leads to increased hospitalization stays, costs, and mortality.
• Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is one of the most common health care-associated infections (HAIs) in critical care settings.
• Ventilator-associated pneumonia is defined as pneumonia occurring more than 48 hours after patients have been intubated and received mechanical ventilation.
• Prevention of VAP involves limiting exposure to resistant bacteria, discontinuing mechanical ventilation as soon as possible, and a variety of strategies to limit infection while intubated.
• Proper hand washing, sterile technique for invasive procedures, and isolation of individuals with known resistant organisms are all mandatory for effective Ventilator Associated Pneumonia control.

If you would like more information about Ventilator Associated Pneumonia, the websites  http://vap-news.com and haiwatch.com/VAP are available.

This information is brought to you by Dr. Craig McGiffin, your chiropractor for the Outer Banks.  Call Dr. Craig for any of your chiropractic needs.

The Outer Banks is the one area of the country where everyone wants to be in great shape and works hard to look good.  Joggers and runners can be seen on almost every road on the beach.  With so many people running for exercise, we need to take a look at running related injuries and how best to avoid them and/or treat them.

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Chiropractors never tire of telling people about the benefits of correct posture.  That is good because so many people spend so much time in bad physical positions.  It is quite easy to stand correctly (in line at the store) and sit correctly (eating at a restaurant), but how about in the car?  How is your posture when watching TV?  What about when you are sending a text message (an earlier post dealt with children and texting).

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Your chiropractor is great at easing and curing your back and joint pain, but it is certainly better if you can avoid having pain in the first place.  Today we will apply a little bit of preventive medicine to help keep you feeling well and pain free.

Here are some tips for avoiding back pain:

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Frozen shoulder, or adhesive capsulitis, is a condition where the shoulder joint shortens, tightens, and adheres to the bones in your shoulder.  This condition can be very painful and often leads to extreme disability if untreated.

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