Massive Frozen Food Recall issued! Please read and share.

Here's a brief on for you guys today. Please read the article posted below and share. Also, check out your freezer to see if any of the listed brand named foods are in there. Last week I had 3 patients show up in my office stating they recently suffered food poisoning. with severe gastrointestinal upset as a result of eating foods from this list. Two of them spent time in the hospital. This serious stuff, people! Fortunately, we can all protect ourselves and our loved ones with a small investment in time and energy.

So here's the article, cut and pasted from the following web link:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/03/health/frozen-food-recall-listeria/

(CNN)CRF Frozen Foods announced Tuesday that it's expanding a voluntary recall of frozen organic and non-organic fruits and vegetables because of possible health risks.

The company issued the recall in cooperation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because the products might be contaminated with listeria.

Republic of Tea organic turmeric ginger tea recalled

Listeria is a serious infection usually caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. It can cause serious, sometimes fatal infections in older adults, pregnant women, newborns and individuals with weakened immune systems, according to the CDC. Symptoms include high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, stomach pain and diarrhea.

CRF said the CDC notified it that seven people from three states have become ill and were hospitalized due to listeria. Some of these illnesses have been linked to consuming CRF-manufactured or processed products. Two of these individuals died, but listeria was not the cause of death in either person, CRF said in a statement.

Foster Farms recalling chicken nuggets

The expanded recall of frozen vegetables includes all of the frozen organic and non-organic fruit and vegetable products manufactured or processed in CRF Frozen Foods' Pasco, Washington, facility since May 1, 2014. All of the affected products have the best by dates or sell by dates between April 26, 2016 and April 26, 2018. These include about 358 consumer products sold under 42 different brands.

Products include organic and non-organic broccoli, butternut squash, carrots, cauliflower, corn, edamame, green beans, Italian beans, kale, leeks, lima beans, onions, peas, pepper strips, potatoes, potato medley, root medley, spinach, sweet potatoes, various vegetable medleys, blends and stir fry packages, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, peaches, raspberries and strawberries. For a complete list of affected products and for the UPC codes, check out the FDA site, www.fda.gov.

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CRF initially recalled 15 frozen vegetable items on April 23, 2016 out of concern that they were potentially contaminated with listeria. The listeria was discovered through routine testing by state health officials in Ohio. Listeria was found in one lot of Individually Quick Frozen organic petite green peas and one lot of IQF organic white sweet cut corn. CRF suspended operations at its Pasco facility as of April 25.

CRF apologized for any concern or inconvenience the recall has caused their customers. Consumers who purchased these products may return them to the store where they were purchased for a refund and are warned not to eat these products.

Questions can go to the company at 844-483-3866.

As always, thank you for your time and attention. Make today a great day!

Yours in health,

Christopher B. Renne, D.C.

Chiropractic Physician

www.activechirocenter.com

On May 10th, 2016 Can this possibly be true?

Medical Errors May be the 3rd Leading Cause of Death in the United States!

Hey there again, friends, Dr. Chris here sharing some thoughts regarding a recent CNN article that came out earlier this month regarding medical errors.

I think many people would be shocked to learn that recent estimates suggest that over 250,000 people per year are dying here in the United States due to medical errors.  Most alarming is that research supporting this claim also suggests that many of the medical errors are simply due to logistical problems such as inventory, barcode, and medicine tracking short comings.  Let me state this again, over 250,000 people potentially dying in arguably the world’s finest hospitals due to preventable errors. This number breaks down to over 685 lives everyday dying from potentially preventable causes. 

Let me also state that I am not one of those crazy chiropractors that believes you should never go to your medical doctor.  That could not be any further from the truth.  As most of you already know, my team consists of chiropractors, medical doctors, massage therapists and registered chiropractic assistants.  Most certainly, I would be the first to refer a patient out for necessary and timely medical evaluation and treatment recommendations.

That said, the point of sharing this CNN article is highlight how imperative it is to be an advocate for a loved one that winds up in the hospital.  Just last year my family and I spent several weeks in the hospital overseeing the care of a dear family member. On multiple occasions the well intention staff, being overburdened with multiple patients and extreme responsibility, nearly made significant errors that could have been critical.  Had we not been there to ask questions and to seek additional medical staff to help, perhaps he too would have become a contributor to this statistic.

I strongly encourage you to click on the link below and read the results of this CNN article.  My hope is this will empower you to be an empowered patient and an attentive patient advocate when that time comes for you.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/03/health/medical-error-a-leading-cause-of-death/index.html

Nobody will ever care for you greater than a family member.  Despite the best intentions of our medical professionals, sometimes errors occur. Please be an advocate for your loved ones and take the time to learn how you can help prevent someone you deeply care for from becoming a medical error statistic. 

As always, I encourage you to be happy, healthy, and well.  Make today and this week your best ever.

Christopher B. Renne, DC

Chiropractic Physician

www.activechirocenter.com

Serving Metropolitan Jacksonville, Florida since 2000.

Just say NO to DRUGS version 2.0

Doctor Renne here, Jacksonville. Today’s topic: painkillers.

Let’s say you’ve been in an accident of some kind and sustained a lower back injury, as many of my patients have. You’re in pain. You come to see me or one of my colleagues, and we start talking about adjustments, stretching, massages, and physical therapy, and all this other stuff. To you, it sounds like a long road ahead.

Why not just cut to the chase? After all, your problem is that you’re in pain. Why don’t we just prescribe some painkillers? That’s what they’re for, right?

Well, as it turns out, this can be a dangerous road to go down.

Virtually all of the really effective pain medications are strictly controlled narcotic-type drugs. And they’re strictly controlled for good reasons: they can be both dangerous and addictive! Every year, thousands of people die from ‘opioid overdoses,’ a category that includes prescription painkillers. And taking virtually any of these medications for more than a few weeks almost always results in dependencies and withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking them.

But there’s actually a sneakier danger lurking in pain pills. Painkillers change your brain.

Without getting too technical, your brain has receptors in it that certain molecules bind with on contact, and when that happens, you feel good. Your body manufactures many of these molecules naturally, and they are known as endorphins. If you’ve ever gotten a “runner’s high” you know what I’m talking about.

Painkillers are designed to slide in and bind to those receptors themselves as if they were natural endorphins. Your brain gets the message, and you start feeling better. But if this goes on too long or happens too often, your brain will get ‘habituated’ to the effect. It starts creating more receptor sites for the drugs to bind to. Your body may also start to generate fewer natural endorphins on its own.

What this means in layman’s terms is that you need more and more of the medication to be effective and that you feel worse without it. In fact, in the long term, the medication may stop working entirely, even though you still feel a powerful need to take it. And that’s a road you really don’t want to go down, especially given the danger of overdoses!

I’m not trying to scare anybody. Some people can benefit from prescription pain medication under the oversight of a qualified physician. But it’s important to remember that these are powerful drugs that have real risks. That’s why when you come in with lower back pain, I typically turn to more natural healing methods rather than recommending prescription painkillers.

If you are experiencing back pain, you don’t have to suffer in silence. My phone number is (904)398-4860. Call today. We’ll figure out a plan to get you on the road to healing quickly.

Yours in health,

Christopher B. Renne, D.C.

Chiropractic Physician

www.activechirocenter.com

"STOP TEXTS STOP WRECKS"

03/30/2016 

From the desk of Dr. Christopher Renne, Chiropractic Physician

Hey everyone! Because I see so many people here in Jacksonville walking into my office every day with back and neck pain thanks to car accidents, car safety is a big concern of mine! And a big danger on the road these days are DWIs: Driving While In-TEXT-icated! Drivers who are distracted by their phones are a serious problem. In 2011, cellphones were involved in 23% of all car accidents in the US, and the numbers have doubtless only gone up since then.

But the group that is most at risk from driving while distracted by their phones are teens. A full 13% of teenagers ages 18-20 who were in car wrecks admitted talking on or texting with their phones at the time of the accident. Yet many young folks don’t see their smartphones as a problem. 55% percent of young adult drivers claim that it is easy to text while they drive!

In fact, the average time that a texting driver’s eyes are off the road is five seconds, during which a car traveling 55 mph can travel a quarter of the length of a football field. Too much can happen during that amount of time, friends! As teens are texting more than ever, they are more distracted than ever behind the wheel, and that spells D-A-N-G-E-R.

Fortunately, at least one teenager recognizes the problem and is taking steps to do something about it! T.J. Evarts, a 19-year-old inventor, has created something called the “SmartWheel.” The SmartWheel is really cool. It is a cover that goes onto your steering wheel. This cover contains smart sensors that detect when a driver is paying attention and when they are not - and it also has a big green light that will flash red when it detects its driver is “driving distracted.”

But the SmartWheel doesn’t just stop at a flashing light. It can also connect to a smartphone and give teens real-time statistics for them to review on how they are doing with staying focused while driving - after they get safely home, of course! And in the future, Evarts hopes to add simple touch features to the SmartWheel that will help people to do simple tasks on their phones without taking their hands off the wheel or their eyes off the road. For teen drivers who are frequently distracted, this could be an incredibly valuable tool.

T.J. Evarts and his SmartWheel are already making big waves. He’s been on the TV shows Shark Tank and Innovation Nation, and he was invited to demonstrate his invention to the President and the US Secretary of Transportation!

Unfortunately, you can’t buy the SmartWheel yet, but I highly recommend you check out the website and watch the video for it at SmartWheelUSA.com. We need more teenagers who understand the perils of distracted driving. With great ideas like the SmartWheel, we may yet make our roads safer!

In the meantime, if you have teens of your own, talk to them about the importance of putting down the phone and keeping their eyes on the road. The life they save could be their own.

Yours in health,

Christopher B. Renne, D.C.

Chiropractic Physician

www.activechirocenter.com

New CDC recommendation issued for Pain Management

Happy St. Patrick's Day, laddies and lasses!

Dr. Chris Renne, D.C. here reaching out from Jacksonville, Florida where our season has flipped from winter to summer on a dime. This, paired with the daylight savings time change usually signals the weekend warriors to hit the gyms and backyards with zeal. It also leads to a lot of back and neck pain as a predictable consequence. 

Doctor's offices like ours will soon be fielding the calls of the hurt and injured. And we will be ready to answer these with conservative solutions. Before you reach in to the medicine cabinet for that left over bottle of pills, please read the following edict from the Centers for Disease Control regarding pain management guidelines. 

"According to new proposed guidelines for opioids and chronic pain set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the CDC is recommending conservative forms of pain management for those suffering from chronic pain as an initial treatment option, such as chiropractic care. The side effects associated with opioid usage for chronic pain can be severe and at times even deadly. Thus, the CDC is now advising physicians to first recommend conservative care in the treatment of chronic pain(1). Fortunately, chronic pain associated with the back, neck, spine and extremities can often times can be managed very successfully through safe, natural chiropractic care when delivered by a licensed doctor of chiropractic. If you are suffering from chronic pain, we urge you to call your local doctor of chiropractic today and schedule a no-obligation consultation to see if chiropractic care may be able to help, without all the negative side effects associated with drugs and surgery." So, my advise to you is simple. When attempting to management the aches and pains of life, think conservative first. Ice, rest, over the counter anti inflammatory medications, topical pain ointments and compression supports.  Get more aggressive from there. You will always have the option to ramp up the level of your care choices. But, conversely, if you start with the bazooka, i.e., narcotic medications, where do you go from there? And, will this choice leads to other unwanted and dangerous consequences. Always, when in doubt, consult a trusted physician when you are ailing and need help. If the springtime chores beat you up too much, feel free to contact me for help. Thank you and be well, all! Christopher Renne, DC Chiropractic Physician (1)Source: Proposed 2016 Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain, online 12/9/15 Copyright: ProfessionalPlanets.com LLC 2016

Stand up and be HEALTHY!

Hey there everyone, Dr, Chris here checking in from warm and sunny Jacksonville, Florida. Today I wanted to talk with you about your posture. Specifically, your posture when you’re doing what way too many of us spend our day doing: sitting at a desk! We’ve talked before about how sitting at a desk isn’t very good for you, but sometimes there’s just no way you can avoid it. You’re stuck behind your desk for hours a day, working at your computer and answering phone calls. Well, you still don’t have to accept poor posture! In fact, that is more reason than ever to fight against it! Here are some desk chair solutions that can help you combat ‘sitting disease’!

The stand-up desk

More people than ever are trying stand-up desks these days, and that’s great because it means they are getting easier and cheaper to find! Now you may be thinking, “That’s great doc, but there’s no way I can stand at a desk all day!” Are you sure? People say that it is easier than you expect! A good stand-up situation won’t leave you flat on your feet, either. If you have a foot rail, you can put one foot up and shift your weight from one foot to the other. Leaning against a tall stool can help too. But people report feeling more energized and productive when they stand, so you may find that you don’t want to lean on anything!

Adding a podium to your regular desk

If you aren’t ready to make the leap to a full stand-up desk, encourage yourself to at least stand up more frequently. One way to do that is to put a podium or raised stand on part of your desk that will encourage you to stand up for some tasks, for instance, when you are making phone calls. Changing up the position you are in can greatly enhance your postural health!

Walking desk

If you are the kind of person that likes to read or do other activities on the treadmill at the gym - why not work on a treadmill too? This is a more expensive and difficult setup to achieve, and it certainly isn’t for everyone, but there’s question that walking all day while you work would be terrific for your spinal health!

Exercise ball

The benefit of sitting on an exercise ball is that to stay balanced, your body has to be constantly making tiny adjustments. This results in a workout just from sitting which engages your entire core: your abs and your lower back. As a bonus, the fact that there is no back to this ‘chair’ discourages slouching. Make no mistake, though, an exercise ball chair is a real workout, and you need to ease into it! You can start by sitting on it for just an hour a day. Putting less air in the ball will make it easier to balance on early on. Eventually, you should be able to work up to sitting on the ball for several hours at a time.

Balance stool

Balance stools work on the same general principle as exercise balls, but they have one big advantage: they won’t go rolling around your office every time you stand up! They bounce up and down and wibble and wobble from side to side, making sure you work out those core muscles maintaining your balance. They cost $200 and up.

Kneeling chair

Kneeling chairs help your posture by taking the pressure off your spine and putting it on your knees and shins. You still sit on a seat, but there is no back, and your legs are angled downward. Your knees and shins rest against a pad for support. For many people, this setup is terrific, as these backless chairs encourage them to sit upright and maintain correct posture. For those who have knee problems, this kind of chair might not be the right choice, however.

Recliners

If ergonomic comfort is what you want in your office chair, what is more comfortable than a recliner? The ability to lean back eases pain for all kinds of people with spinal problems. Get a lap tray and put a wireless mouse and keyboard on it, and it will be just like you are parked at your desk. Even better, a recliner is not much more expensive than a top-of-the-line ergonomic office chair - and sometimes way cheaper. The only downside is that a recliner may be too comfortable - if you’re snoozing instead of working, that’s a problem!

Wrap-up

I want to stress that no matter what your desk setup is that you should change it up often. Get away from your desk, walk around, and do some stretches. If you need to, set a timer to remind you to do these things! No matter what your posture is, being stuck in the same position for long periods of time is hard on your spine. So take regular stretch breaks and work out those kinks!

If you have concerns or ideas about your own desk posture, I’d love to talk to you about it. Schedule an appointment with my office today. The phone number is (904) 398-4860.

Yours in health,

Christopher B. Renne, D.C.

4111 Atlantic Boulevard

Jacksonville, FL 32207

www.activechirocenter.com

What is this "Manual Therapy" you speak of?

March 1, 2016

What in the world is “Manual Therapy” ?

Hello again, Jacksonville and friends beyond.  Dr. Chris here today reaching out via the Worldwide Web to describe a therapy that has probably been around as long as man and pain have been.  Perhaps you have even recently heard the advertisements for therapies such as manual therapy, myofascial release, the Graston technique, the Niel Asher technique of manual trigger point therapy, and who knows what else.  In my office, we employ many types of physical therapy modalities many which are very common throughout physical medicine practices.  You may already be familiar with electrical muscle stimulation, ultrasound, hot and cold packs, exercise therapy, and possibly massage therapy. 

What you are likely not quite as familiar with would be “manual therapy” which is typically a specialized form of physical medicine/physical therapy delivered by the hands as opposed to by a passive device or machine.  In some cases such as the Graston technique, a specialized smooth metallic instrument is utilized to render this form of therapy.  In that sense, manual therapy patients receive hands on muscle tissue manipulation which is rendered in an attempt to decrease aches and pains caused by traumatic muscle strain, joint sprain, and other musculoskeletal conditions. 

Here in my office manual therapy is typically rendered by a specially trained licensed massage therapist or a licensed chiropractic physician such as myself.  What is most important to understand, is manual therapy is not the same as massage therapy that you may have experienced at a local Massage Envy or a private massage therapist.  Massage therapy is also a form of soft tissue therapy but it typically involves less intense, less invasive stroking type techniques of effleurage, petrissage, or taponment.  Manual therapy by contrast, involves restoring mobility of stiff joints and reducing muscle spasm in order to return a patient to more natural, pain free joint movement.  Manual therapy techniques aim to  relax tense back muscles and restricted joints in order to decrease pain, increase flexibility, increase muscular endurance, and to remove fibrotic scar tissue and adhesions with muscle. Scar tissue and fibrosis of the muscle, left untreated, can lead to chronic pain but can also lead to premature spinal degeneration.  In a more specific post to follow, I will highlight specific forms of manual therapy techniques that you may find beneficial in treating some of your chronic aches and pains, or healing from an acute injury or trauma.

As always, I thank you for your time and attention and wish you a happy and healthy day!

If you feel that you may be a candidate for a session of manual therapy, please feel free to email jaxchiro@gmail.com and I will help put you in touch with someone that can get you all fixed up. 


Be well,

Christopher B. Renne, DC
Active Medical & Chiropractic

A Valentine's Day Did you Know?

Hello again, friends!

Today I received my monthly e Newsletter from a colleague that I thought would benefit my subscribers and patients here in Florida. That said, below please find a "cut and paste" from
Vonn Roenn and Kelley Accident and Personal Injury Attorneys that I sincerely believe will add value to your lives. I hope you never need to know any of this material, but I know the odds say you will as many as three times in a typical Florida life cycle.

"Happy Valentine's Day.
How Much Do You Love Your Auto Insurance Policy?

Do you love it enough to know exactly what coverage you have, why you have it, and what important coverage you might be missing?  Signing up for auto insurance is something we must do, but few of us know exactly what coverage we have, and more importantly, what protection this coverage provides.

Do You Have Full Coverage?

Frequently we hear someone say that they have “full coverage.”  What this means is that you have the minimum insurance coverage required by your State, which in Florida is Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and Property Damage (PD) coverage. 

• PIP provides you, the insured, with up to $10,000.00 in benefits for medical treatment and/or lost wages in the event you are injured in an accident, regardless of who is at fault (which is why it is called no-fault insurance). 
• Property Damage coverage pays for damage to any property caused by an accident where you are the at-fault driver or at-fault owner.      

If these are the only two coverages identified on your insurance policy, you technically have “full coverage,” but you and your family are far from being fully covered.

How Can I Protect My Loved Ones

There are several additional coverages available that will help to ensure that you and your loved ones are fully covered in the event of an accident or injury.  We have identified a few coverages below that we highly recommend every driver have on their policy.

Bodily Injury Coverage (BI): This coverage protects the insured up to the limit requested in the event you are at fault for an accident that results in injury to someone else.    

Uninsured Motorist Coverage (UM): This coverage provides medical, wage and pain and suffering coverage to the insured in the event they are injured in an accident by an uninsured or under insured driver.  This is the only way to ensure that you and your family are protected in the event you are injured through someone else’s negligence.

Collision Coverage (Coll): This coverage provides property damage repair to your own vehicle if it is damaged in an accident, regardless of who is at-fault for the accident.

If you are worried about the cost of adding additional coverage, keep in mind that you can increase deductibles and select lower coverage amounts to make your premiums more affordable.

Don’t wait until it is too late to change your insurance policy.  For a few extra dollars, you can ensure that you and your loved ones are protected in the event of an accident and minimize the stress and financial impact following an accident. 

If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident and have questions about your rights, contact the accident and personal injury attorneys at Von Roenn & Kelley today at 904-900-3459. "

Thank you, Zach and Michael for sharing this valuable information. 

Until next time, Feel loved and stay safe out there!

Dr. Chris Renne

Chiropractic Physician

Active Medical & Chiropractic

www.activechirocenter.com