Last week we talked about Drug Awareness Week that was being held in the local schools. Actually, there are a few schools that are having it this week. So, we’re going to continue on the D.A.R.E or drug awareness week. As you remember, last week we talked about the legal drug cartels.

This week, I want to talk about this interesting survey that came out about prescription drugs:

The National Health and Nutrition Survey was done over the course of ten years.

According to the study, over the last decade, the amount of Americans that took one prescription drug in the last month statistically went from 44% in 1999 to 48% today.

Those people that used two or more drugs increased from 25% to 31%.

The use of five or more drugs increased from 6% to 11%.

In 2007-2008, one out of every five children, as well as nine out of ten American adults, had taken at least one prescription drug in the last month.

Interestingly enough, the business of prescription drugs is actually booming right now, which is part of our drug mindset culture that we were talking about last week. The total spent on prescription drugs in 2008 was 234 billion dollars, which is double from 1999.

Another interesting study came out with a potential solution to the over-spending: The Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics revealed that after 4 years, 22,000 patients demonstrated a 51.8% reduction of prescription costs when care was directed by a doctor of Chiropractic.

If you extrapolate that 51.8% reduction of prescription drug costs that would have saved the U.S. Healthcare System 121 Billion in the last decade! It’s really amazing to think that by redirecting the focus away from drug therapy, such a huge change can happen on just the cost of healthcare.

I wanted to really bring that up, I’m not trying to say that medical doctors should be booted out of the primary care position; I think they should stay on as primary care physicians, but I think the way it should be thought of when we see our primary care physician is that when we have a certain complaint, the doctor should look at the complaint, and we should take those medications in an emergency situations, because that’s what they’re designed to do. Then, if the doctor rules out a medical emergency, then just go and see your chiropractor. That way you build your health through receiving adjustments that allow the internal mechanism of the body to enhance and work the way it’s designed to. The body works at its best, like it should, with no interference. So, when you correct spinal subluxations, the body can work at its optimum level.

If we can just get the word out where people start changing their attitudes on how they’re taking care of themselves, we can really affect the whole healthcare system. So, if you can spread the word to other people, you can probably save a life (and a lot of money).

Refer people to our website: www.chiropractormanhattanbeach.com and forward them this health blog.

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