Did You Know?

Shoppers who do not regularly wash their reusable grocery bags may be placing themselves and their families at heightened risk of food borne illness.

It is estimated there are about 76,000,000 cases of food borne illness in the United States every year. Most of these illnesses originate in the home from improper cooking or handling of foods. Reusable bags, if not properly washed between uses, create the potential for cross-contamination of foods.

Only 3 percent of shoppers wash their reusable grocery bags out regularly. Most shoppers don't use separate bags for meat and produce, and some shoppers even use their bags for toting objects other than food. Contamination potential exists when raw meat products and foods traditionally eaten uncooked (fruits and vegetables) are carried in the same bags, either together or between uses. This risk can be increased by the growth of bacteria in the bags.

Washing the bags by machine or hand reduces bacterial presence to nearly zero.

"Baby It's Cold Outside" Clothing & Food Drive

Help us donate to the less fortunate this holiday season.

Donate your unwanted winter apparel (in good condition), as well as non-perishable food. Items will be distributed to food pantries, charities and community organizations, such as Jersey Cares, Goodwill, The Salvation Army and local New Jersey community groups.

Simply place your donated items in our Clothing & Food Drive Drop-off Box at 350 Ramapo Valley Road in Oakland and we’ll take care of the rest.

Non-Perishable Food Items:
Such as: Cereals, Canned Fruits & Vegetables, Soups, Gravies, Juice Boxes, Coffee, Tea, Jam, Crackers, Cookies, Rice, Pasta, Potato Flakes, Stuffing, Baby Food, etc...

Clothing in Good Condition:
Winter Coats, Hats, Gloves & Scarves

Drive ends January 10, 2011.
Your participation would be greatly appreciated by so many.

Labor Day Office Hours

Our office will be closed on Monday, September 6th, in observance of the Labor Day holiday weekend. We are adding office hours on Tuesday, September 7th, to help our patients make up any missed appointments from our Monday closing.

We will be open on Tuesday, Sept. 7th, from 9am to 12pm and 3pm to 6pm.

It is very important to keep up with your treatment! Please call our staff to reschedule any appointments that will be missed over the holiday weekend. We are happy to help you!!

Wishing everyone a fun and safe Labor Day weekend!

Food Drive

For years Oakland Spine & Rehab has successfully been able to raise hundreds upon hundreds of bags of food to support our local food banks during our annual food drives. Because of our success, we were recently contacted by the Center for Food Action because they are dangerously low on supplies. It seems the economic down-turn has put a tremendous strain on families in our area and now these families stand to go hungry. I can't accept that.

Beginning Monday, June 21st, we will be conducting a special food drive event which will run until Friday, July 9th. We are asking EVERY AND ALL of our wonderful and generous patients to join us in supporting our local families with whatever you can. The food drive will be for non-perishable items only (think canned and boxed). Our goal is 100 bags of food - a goal we set every year during our Thanksgiving food drive.

To participate - simply bring the items in to our office over that 3 week period. We will arrange to have the food delivered. I know many of you are already generous with various charities, but there has always been a special place in my heart for helping our neighbors right here in our area.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!

If You Have a Bad Chiropractor or a Bad Plumber

It's a shame, but as they say "Hind sight is 20/20" for a reason. Meaning lots of times you don't know what has really taken place until AFTER the problem has made itself apparent. As most of you know we just moved into our state of the art new office last August. It is my fourth "new" office in Oakland in 12 years. As our practice has taken off and become very successful we have had to move to bigger and better space. Along the way we have always tried to lead the field by offering new, cutting edge therapy that is done right. My patients who have been with me since the beginning have seen the most change and have asked me why we were adding these new services - and each time the answer was, "because I want the best care for my patients and I want it done right".

So what does this have to do with a plumber???

OK - so here it is. When we were building this new office we had VERY little time to get it done. So I worked out an arrangement to have my landlord's crews do the work. This move would greatly cut down on the projected time frames for getting the job done on time. Everything went great in the planning stage, but I did make one request. I asked my landlord to use MY plumber because he is fantastic, ethical and does the job RIGHT the first time. He and his family have also been patients for many years so I know the kind of guy he is. So Keith, (my plumber), put in a bid that was well under the other bids. He did that as a favor to me. Unfortunately, though, my landlord went back to "his guy" (are you getting the picture) and showed him Keith's bid. This guy under-bid Keith by a couple hundred dollars and my landlord went with him because HE WAS CHEAPER (again, are you getting the picture). Sadly, when I informed Keith he said to me, "Doc, there is no way you can do that job THE RIGHT WAY (emphasis mine) for that. This guy is cutting corners somewhere". I had no choice in the matter and the job was completed using THE OTHER GUY.

About a month or two into the move some of my staff and patients pointed out there was some water seeping out from both toilets in our bathrooms. It wasn't severe or consistent so we ignored it. But the problem persisted and I just wasn't comfortable with having something in my office that malfunctioned - because I demand excellence in every way possible. So, instead of talking to the landlord, I called Keith. When he came to the office Tuesday to see the issue he immediately said it wasn't the wax ring - there was something else. Suffice to say that when he removed the toilet and found that the OTHER GUY had not properly "roughed" the toilets and because of that there was a big GAP between the bottom of the toilet and the drain. The result? Well, I'm not gonna get too graphic - but let's say that when the toilets were flushed only "SOME" of what was supposed to go down the drain actually made it (by the way - we took pictures if you want to see them - yuck). Another "professional" who did a bad job. But it begs the question - IF THEY'RE BOTH PLUMBERS - DON'T THEY DO THE SAME THING?

WHAT'S THE MORAL TO THE STORY, DOC?

So here's the moral to the story : "IF YOU CHOOSE THE WRONG CHIROPRACTOR OR THE WRONG PLUMBER THE RESULT IS THE SAME - CRAP!!"

I know I used a bad word - but in this case, and in my recent experience - it was also "literal".

Before I go - one more thing. After 15 years of practice, with one of the country's larges practices, I have seen thousands and thousands of patients. One of the things that upsets me the most is when a new patient comes to our clinic with LOTS of problems and is looking for help - yet they refuse to understand that NOT ALL CHIROPRACTIC OFFICES are the same! There is a HUGE difference between what we do here and what 99% of the offices in the country do. The education, training, expertise, therapies, and most importantly, the RESULTS are completely different then anything they have ever experienced before. So, as my patient, please remember two things - first, our office is after PERFECTION when it comes to changing lives. And, second, the next time you have an opportunity to - please refer us your friend or family member KNOWING they will get the BEST POSSIBLE CARE, DONE RIGHT, THE FIRST TIME.

How To Live Before You Die

I'd like you to watch this video....Steve Jobs, "How to live before you die".

It's a good one. Share it with friends and family.

What Many People Don't Know About Chiropractic And What We Can Do For YOU... Especially if you have back pain!

Dr. Brad here. In just a moment I'm going to tell you some very interesting information about Chiropractic that most people do not know - but more importantly - what it can do for you and how it might even change your life.

This is really good stuff... especially if you have back pain now or have ever had back pain in the past.

But first, there is something else you should know about. I think you'll really like it.

Did you know the use if Aspirin dates all the way back to around 400 B.C.? It's true. The father of medicine, Hippocrates, who lived sometime between 460 B.C. and 377 B.C., left historical records that included the use of the bark of the willow tree to treat fever, headache and various pains.

It wasn't until 1829 that scientists started figuring out what was going on. That's when they discovered a compound called salicin in the willow plant was responsible for the pain relief.

In that same year, scientists were able to turn salicin into salicylic acid. The problem was that salycilic acid was very rough on the stomach and mouth... which limited its use. Then, in 1853, a German scientist named Charles Frederic Gerhardt buffered (neutralized) the harshness of the acid by coating salicylic acid with sodium and acetyl chloride. Although it worked, it was time consuming and Gerhardt stopped working on it because he didn't think it was worth it.

OOOOPS!

In 1897, a German pharmacist working for a German pharmaceutical company, Bayer, started looking for a solution for his father's rheumatism. His name was Felix Hoffmann and he "re-discovered" Gerhardt's work and in 1899 patented a "new" pain reliever under the name Aspirin.

As a quick and interesting aside: During the same month, Hoffmann synthesized heroin by accident. His discovery of heroin obviously didn't end up working out as well as aspirin! But, one of the truly remarkable things about all this is:

Scientists did not have a clue how aspirin worked until 1971! In that year, John Vane theorized how it worked for which he was awarded a Nobel prize in 1982.

Today, over 70 million pounds of aspirin are produced annually all over the world making it the world's most widely used drug... scientists still theorize about the exact mechanisms of aspirin.

So what's all this have to do with Chiropractic and your back pain?

Here's what: Believe it or not - Chiropractic and aspirin have many things in common.

First -- they can both be traced WAY back in history.

In fact, Hippocrates, who used a form of aspirin back in 400 B.C., also used a form of spinal manipulation... and so did ancient Egyptians and many other cultures.

But, it was not until 1895 that D.D. Palmer invented "Chiropractic". Chiropractic was new and different because Palmer theorized the nervous system controlled every function of the body and Chiropractic adjustments (specific spinal manipulations) removed interference to blocked or pinched nerves. This, in turn, not only relieved pain... it helped the entire body function better and heal from all sorts of illnesses and diseases.

Just like willow bark and eventually aspirin, spinal manipulation got results and became very popular... but the mechanisms were not understood.

But here's where Chiropractic & Aspirin differ - in a very big way…

Doctors and scientists had no clue how aspirin worked - but it was hailed by the medical community as a wonder drug and mass-produced.

Doctors and scientists were not sure how Chiropractic worked - so it was branded unscientific and quackery.

Seems a little unfair - don't you think?

Thank goodness in many areas, research has finally caught up with Chiropractic!

For example, Chiropractic's ability to help relieve back pain is well researched. It is a safe, effective and cost-effective way to relieve back pain.

How does Chiropractic work?... FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK:

Many times when you have back pain it is caused by a spinal joint sprain - or "subluxation". Ligaments hold two bones together to form a joint and a sprain occurs when a ligament is injured by over stretching it.

This can happen due to small micro traumas over several years or one acute event like a car accident, sports injury or slip and fall. When the ligament becomes stretched and injured joints do not function properly, delicate nerve fibers can be injured.

Over time, even if untreated, pain can go away even though the spinal joint is not functioning properly. This can lead to flare-ups in the future and degeneration as the joint moves improperly and wears out. This is why something small - like bending over to pick up a pencil - can cause severe back pain.

Chiropractic adjustments and treatments are designed to normalize spinal motion as much as possible. This allows the spinal joints to heal better.

Here's a simple way to look at it:

If you broke your arm and didn't get the bone set properly - it would heal out of place and crooked. The pain might go away in the short term - but there would most likely be big problems in the future. The best thing to do is put everything in place and let it heal properly.

Chiropractors are experts at getting your spinal bones and joints "in place" and working properly so they can heal correctly.

Chiropractors are also experts at keeping spines functioning properly to minimize future problems - much like periodic Dental check-ups and cleaning prevent tooth decay and loss down the road.

So, if you have back pain, you might want to try something that has a history starting in 400 B.C. with the father of medicine - Hippocrates - and has been practiced, improved and proven to help back pain.

If you do, just give us a call at 201-651-9100 and we will help you in any way that we can; conservatively and affordably!

Watching Your Back

How would you like to see your life change INSTANTLY? Every aspect can change if you change. Your future can change if you change how you THINK. Watch this 6 1/2 minute video. I think you'll like it. Show it to your friends and family. Share it. It works!

People ask me so many questions, but what I've found is that those questions can have so many different answers - depending on the person who's asking me and depending how they think and see their world. Whether it's about health, life, self-confidence, finances - what ever. It's about asking yourself the right questions, doing the RIGHT THINGS AT THE RIGHT TIME, and your personal rituals.

How Would You Handle This One?

The old saying in business is that "if one customer says something, then they're all thinking it". I take this wisdom seriously, which is why I wanted to help you understand a VERY common MYTH about Chiropractic. At least once each week, a new patient, business associate, friend or acquaintance will say to me, "I heard that once you go to a chiropractor you have to go for the rest of your life", or some version of that old myth. It really is a pervasive thought and one that probably hurts the lives of so many people. CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT - what a commitment!! And because human nature is to reflexively avoid any long term commitment, think about how many people that you know who have never gone to a chiropractor or never would step into our office because of the fear of being "roped in".Look at what's going on in commerce right now - how many cell phone companies, TV companies (cable, Direct TV, etc.), gyms and so on are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to sell you on "NO CONTRACTS". Why? Because in this economy they are doing everything possible to put you at ease, to remove OBSTACLES to you choosing to go with them. So, back to the point - virtually everyone you know has a spine, right? :) And hardly anyone you know takes care of their spine - which is why 80% of Americans will develop problems with their backs. Now the sad story is that most people wait so long that they eventually end up on dangerous Rx medication that have terrible side effects or WORSE - 300,00 people each year have surgery which has a 70 - 90% FAILURE RATE!! Why, because they're afraid to go to a chiropractor. So they suffer, lose months or years of quality of life, or even worse, end up being put on depression medications because pain is so chronic.

Now that you know this - Chiropractic Care (and, in our office, Physical Therapy, too) is NOT A LIFETIME COMMITMENT! It's simply a foolish thought - HOWEVER - you as a consumer must know more than that so that YOU can use Chiropractic the right way. Let me give you an analogy - Millions of people join a gym every year. Everyone knows how valuable fitness is. Now I don't know about you, but when I go to the gym I NEVER have to wait for a treadmill. Is that because my gym has thousands of treadmills to accommodate those millions of people??? No, it's because very few of those people who join COMMIT to working out year round. Most of them have a very small vision of what they want and after a few visits drop out of the gym. Others have a slightly larger vision of losing a few pounds or fitting into a smaller pant/dress size. And finally, there are those that realize that regular exercise has benefits that go FAR BEYOND a few extra pounds. They realize that regular exercise IMPROVES THE WAY THE BODY WORKS - resulting in less stress (emotional health), better sleep, regulates blood sugar (chemical health), increases energy, builds lean muscle mass leading to increased metabolism, lowers blood pressure, cleans the blood....and the list goes on, which leads to a longer, healthier life. So, all of these people are doing the same thing - exercise - but their goals and RESULTS are totally different. Do you see the difference? Chiropractic is exactly the same. What we deal with is the relationship between the spine and the central nervous system. For patients with the smallest vision of care, which is PAIN RELIEF, that can mean just a couple weeks before their symptoms improve and they STOP. For others, they want to correct the CAUSE of their problem, which we specialize in and is called CORRECTIVE CARE. They might be here for a couple of months. Finally, there are those who want to learn about maximizing their body's function to not only get better, but to prevent damage and disease from developing in the future. They continue with regular chiropractic care because they realize that, just like at the gym, when they stop going, the benefits begin to disappear. No one is wrong when they choose what kind of care they want. What we do works every time to get results. The results you get depend upon your goals.

To Conclude - the only person who is wrong is the person who has mistakenly been led to believe that once you go to a chiropractor you HAVE to go for the rest of your life. So "How Would You Handle This One"? Tell them that what we do in our clinic is a TOOL. You can use it any way you want. The next time it comes up - let them know they don't have to be afraid. Tell them that the longer the wait the more damage will develop and the longer it will take them to get better. Chiropractic is not a lifetime commitment - it just works best that way.

What You Tell Yourself Is What You Get!

I see it all the time - a new patient walks in the door with a BIG problem, but an even BIGGER chip on their shoulder. Instead of being excited about the prospect of getting well again and rebuilding their health they say "I don't have the time to get here" or "I've gone to other doctors before and it didn't help" or "I can't afford it". Or whatever. Now, truly there are those that cannot get here or cannot afford to pay for the care we provide, but those few people PALE in comparison to those who use it as an excuse so that THEY don't have to change their habits and take CONTROL over their own health.

On the other hand, I have patients who walk in and say , "No one has ever explained my problem this way before" or "I have been to other chiropractors, but have never seen this type of care" or even "Doc, I trust you. Just get me better. I don't care what it takes". These are the people who see the devastation that happens to one's life when they are in chronic pain. These people see the COST of not being well and are willing to do whatever it takes to get better AND have a great attitude about it. These are the patients who ALWAYS get better results and get better faster.

Is it possible that the biggest difference between them is what they tell themselves? Is it possible that someone's attitude and acceptance and devotion and refusal to accept excuses can make the difference between another miracle at Oakland Spine and a patient who sees few results and quits BEFORE their body ever had a chance to heal? ABSOLUTELY! I am a tremendous believer that my patients who believe in me and my team and the superior product we provide will beat the nay-sayers every time and twice on Sunday. Our attitude affects every part of our life, including our health. Attitude can make the difference between a great marriage and a bad one, a great job and one you hate, a great day and an excuse to have another miserable day.

CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY! CHOOSE TO BE HEALTHY! CHOOSE TO GET BETTER - and then, when others look at you and at how great you look, tell them you decided to have a great attitude and to take control over rebuilding your health.