Medical

Whiplash is a non-medical term used to describe injury caused by a rapid jerking of the neck either forward and backward or side-to-side.  It is most often associated with motor vehicle accidents, but can also occur from falls, blows to the head, or sports accidents to name a few.  The sudden, forceful movement with whiplash causes the neck to move beyond its normal range of motion. 

Frank Schlueter was outside a convenience store in June when he suffered a heart attack.  He was rushed to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills where he spent several days in intensive care.  By December he had donned his Santa Claus suit, ready to play the role for family and friends.

All our healing programs are designed to enhance the quality of life for cancer patients, their families and friends.  This month we are teaching Qigong (pronounced “chee-gung”), an ancient (5000-7000 years old) internal Chinese meditative practice which often uses slow graceful movements and controlled breathing techniques to promote the circulation of qi within the human body to enhance overall health.  Qi is considered “the fundamental life energy responsible for health and vitality.”

Free Consumer Lectures and Clinics Offered in February, 2010

On Wednesday, February 10: “Stroke Prevention” will be the subject of a presentation by Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital health care professionals from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. in Activity Rooms 1 and 2 of the SCV Senior Center, 22900 Market Street. 

National Children’s Dental Health Month in February serves as a reminder to all of us of the strong link between oral health and overall general health. Getting children used to taking care of their teeth helps to start them on the road to good dental health.

To understand Spinal Decompression you must first understand the importance of your discs.  Located between each vertebra is a cartilage disc.  This disc is to act as a spacer to keep the vertebrae apart.  It also acts as a rubber bushing, providing a spinal shock absorber.  They also provide a specialized surface for each vertebra to mechanically move on.  This movement is necessary to nourish the discs.

If you had a bleeding sore on the back of your hand, you’d want to see a doctor soon, right?  You should feel the same way about swollen or bleeding gums.  It’s serious.  Researchers are linking the infection of bleeding gums to heart disease.  Healthy gums are the natural starting point for any great smile.

Smoking affects the long-term health of smokers and nonsmokers alike, and has been identified as the number one health risk in California. That’s why Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital is urging smokers to heed the advice of physicians and the Surgeon General and make smoking a thing of the past.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  We’ve all heard it before, but so few of us actually act on it.  What you feed your body in the morning can be the difference between staying alert and energized throughout the day, or feeling tired and lazy.  It can be the difference between staying focused at work, or finding yourself mentally drifting off not able to concentrate on the job at hand.  It could be the difference between staying full until lunch, or constantly snacking throughout the day. 

Many of the estimated 70 million obese Americans are trapped in a life-threatening vicious cycle:  Obesity aggravates foot problems, like heel pain and flat feet; sore feet make it hard to exercise and lose weight; and without exercise, obesity worsens and exacerbates progression of diabetes, heart disease and other serious health threats.  Today, a Valencia foot and ankle surgeon urged obese adults to seek immediate treatment for chronic, activity-limiting foot and ankle problems to foster compliance with physician-directed exercise programs.

Beginning Thursday, January 7, 2010, Samuel Dixon Family Health Center’s Newhall location will be offering pediatric services to patients from throughout the Santa Clarita Valley.
Pediatric services had been offered at the organization’s Canyon Country location for the past few years.  Patrick Robbie, MD, SDFHC’s pediatrician, will be moving pediatric services to the Newhall Health Center, located at 23771 Newhall Avenue.

The City of Santa Clarita is proud to announce the creation of the Santa Clarita Blue Heat, set to begin play the summer of 2010.  A United Soccer Leagues W-League team, the Blue Heat will serve as Santa Clarita’s first ever elite women’s soccer team.
“It is a privilege and an honor for the City of Santa Clarita to be home to the Santa Clarita Blue Heat,” said City of Santa Clarita Mayor Laurene Weste.  “Sports tourism is an important focus for the City of Santa Clarita, and being home to an elite women’s soccer team is a tremendous opportunity for the local community.”

Dr. Fellows, a native of Illinois, studied in both the Midwest and Southern California. He graduated magna cum laude with a psychobiology major from the University of Southern California. He then earned his medical degree from the prestigious Northwestern University in Chicago. After a five-year general surgery residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, he returned to the University of California Los Angeles’s renowned program to complete his plastic and reconstructive surgery residency.

According to Valencia foot and ankle surgeons Leslie G. Levy, DPM and Dana Lavian, DPM, FACFAS the most common types of dance-related foot and ankle problems are overuse injuries, which occur due to the repetitive movements in dance.  “Over 50 percent of dance injuries occur in the foot and ankle.  The severity of the damage is determined by a patient’s age, strength and flexibility and the type of shoes worn when dancing,” said Dr. Levy and Dr. Lavian.

As the New Year begins, people make resolutions to alter their lives.  Most don’t follow through on these resolutions.  How can we motivate ourselves to make these adjustments permanent?
The first problem is focusing on denying ourselves something.  We do things to meet our needs. 

Most of us will be setting goals in this New Year.  How many of you reached the goals that you set for yourselves last year?  Maybe you’re still working on it?  Maybe you keep falling back into your old behaviors?  Maybe it’s time to entertain the possibility of a different approach?  It has been proven that hypnotherapy is a powerful tool for helping people reach their goals.  Millions of Americans have used hypnosis as a safe and natural alternative to help them quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, sleep better, overcome fears, break bad habits and improve their golf game just to name a few. 

Last time we said that key to losing weight is appetite control.  This time, I want to talk about eating habits.  First, you should eat less, but without changing eating habits it is difficult to lose weight.  Oftentimes those who are overweight have slow metabolism and this may have been caused by thyroid problems or low body temperature. 

For decades, the American Heart Association (AHA) recommended that patients with certain heart conditions take antibiotics shortly before dental treatment. This was done with the belief that antibiotics would prevent infective endocarditis (IE), previously referred to as bacterial endocarditis. IE is an infection of the heart’s inner lining or valves, which results when bacteria enter the bloodstream and travel to the heart. Bacteria normally are found in various sites of the body including on the skin and in the mouth.