I recently returned from attending my second NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show. This year, as in the past, I was working with MusiCares, the charitable health and human services arm of the Recording Academy (GRAMMYs).
MusiCares offers support for musicians in need. Among other benefits, it helps them pay their rent, subsidizes the cost of medical services, and provides free support groups for musicians who are dealing with staying clean and sober. Read the rest of this entry »
With seemingly clear boundaries between our bodies and the world through which we move, it’s easy to feel separated from everything outside our skin. But as physical, chemical, emotional, and energetic beings, this perception belies our true nature.Read the rest of this entry »
You’ve been at the computer for six hours and feel that familiar tug. From your upper back, spreading slowly to your neck and grabbing the base of your skull, stiffness turns to pain and the dull ache turns sharp. Your movement becomes restricted. Unable to turn your head, you tell yourself that it is time to see your chiropractor. You remember that it has been a year since you saw him last.Read the rest of this entry »
Most people come to see me because they have pain: neck pain, lower back pain, head pain. And they want relief.
I first take a history. How long have they had the complaint? What makes the pain worse? What relieves it? Have they had any car accidents or sports injuries? What kind of work do they do? Do they exercise? And so on.Read the rest of this entry »
I just finished reading The End of Illness, a provocative new book by David Agus, MD. Agus is a medical oncologist and a leading cancer researcher. The focus of his research has been the varied mechanisms of cancer development.
One of the simple, profound conclusions he reaches, is that we must stop thinking about cancer as a “thing” to be cut out or poisoned, but as a pathological systemic process. Cancer, he believes, should be seen as a verb. We don’t just “have cancer.” Instead, we “cancer”.Read the rest of this entry »
Rockers play hard. Think of Pete Townsend and his windmill power chords, of Jerry Lee Lewis frenetically pounding the keys. We all love the sound and feel of that hard driving energy. But the physical effects on players can be significant. Repetitive stress injuries to shoulders, arms, and hands can stop a player in his or her tracks with debilitating pain and/or numbness.Read the rest of this entry »
As most of us know, we Americans are a mess—overworked, overweight, and stressed out. In addition to the increased demands of our technologically fueled lives and their damaging effects on our wellbeing, we have a health care system in free fall. In one generation we have seen a shift from low cost, comprehensive coverage to $3000 deductibles, low quality HMOs and escalating numbers of people without any insurance at all. Altogether, these developments have damaged health care outcomes and changed the trust relationships between patients, doctors, employers, and health insurance carriers.Read the rest of this entry »