FREE YOURSELF
FROM PAIN & STRESS

GET THE BEST TREATMENT FROM

THE BEST PRACTICE!

Our therapists can help you with:

•
•
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Headache & Migraine
Fibromyalgia
Back & Neck Pain
Recovery after surgery & injuries*

• Muscular & Joint Pain
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
• Chronic Stress
• Boost your Immune System
with Lymph Drainage Therapy

*for patients after car accidents (may be covered by insurance with Dr.'s prescription.)

Call (888) 98RELAX (987-3529) OR (248) 851-3700
and start the process of becoming pain free again
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mkk International
Therapeutic
Massage

,1:. 12 Mika Rd.

1

29930W. 12 Mile Rd. • Farmington Hills

A new dimension in pain care treatment is here...

NEURO PAIN CONSULTANTS. P.C.

•

Todd Lininger, MD • James Honet, MD • Nadine S. Jennings, MD

•

Alexander Tsinberg, MD - Lawrence Rapp, MD, FACS

D. Croissan

Neuro Pain Consultants, P.C. offers a multi-disciplinary approach in the diagnosis and
treatment of acute and chronic pain. Our expertise include:

• Pain Management
• Neurosurgery
• Physical Therapy
• Sports Medicine
• Medication Management

• Psychological and Behavioral Counseling
• Intrathecal Spinal Infusion
• Nudeoplasty Biaculoplasty
• Intradiscal Electothermal Therapy (IDET)
• Vertebroplasty / Kyphoplasty
Diagnostic and Therapeutic Nerve Blocks • Spinal Cord Stimulation

Visit our website, http://neuro-pain.com/, to take a virtual tour of our state-of-the art facilities.

Bloomfield Office

Clarkston Office

799 Denison
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302
248.751:7246

7650 Dixie Hwy.
Clarkston, MI 48346
248.620.9310

B32 September 25 • 2008

iN

HEALTH & FITNESS
alternatives

Lifestyles Impact
Effect Of Genes

H

ow many times have you
heard someone attribute ill-
ness, behavior or emotional
style to heredity? Many people think
that the genes they inherited deter-
mine not only their height and eye
color, but also their happiness, health
and longevity.
The Human Genome Project, which
began in the 1990s, was based on
this type of thinking, called genetic
determinism. Scientists hoped that
mapping the entire human
genome would lead to the
identification of the genetic
causes of disease and the
development of new treat-
ments. They expected
to find 120,000 or more
human genes, which they
believed would account for
all of the complexity of the
human organism.
Imagine their surprise
when they found only
23,688 human genes. A
primitive worm made up
of 969 cells, which is used
for studying genetics, has a genome of
24,000 genes. If our genetic makeup
is less complex than the worm's, what
accounts for our variability?

A New Field
The search for an answer to this ques-
tion has given birth to a new branch
of science called epigenetics. It is the
study of the sources of signals that
turn genes on and off. We are learning
that, while genetic makeup is not as
individually distinct as once thought,
we vary greatly in the expression of
our genes.
Genetic expression is impacted by
factors such as nutrition, exercise,
thoughts, emotions, social interactions
and spiritual connections.

Effects Analyzed
One recent study found that practi-
tioners of relaxation techniques had
different patterns of gene activation as
compared to nonpractitioners. A simi-
lar difference was found in practitio-
ners of Qi Gong, a technique based on
energy flow and focusing the mind.
Evidence that these simple practices
actually affect gene expression pro-
vides an explanation for the improve-

ments seen in response to mind-body
and energy therapies in conditions
like pain and inflammation.
Another large study found that peo-
ple who lacked nurturing as children
have an alteration in the expression of
a stress-dampening gene in the brain
and have a much higher rate of many
common illnesses.
If the stress-dampening gene is not
functioning, these individuals may
have an exaggerated response to stress
and a greater release of the
hormones that are known
to cause damage in the
body.

What We Learn
This growing body
of epigentics research
is teaching us that our
thoughts, feelings, nutrition
choices, exercise habits and
social and spiritual interac-
tions can be as critical to
our health as the genes we
were born with.
Optimal nutrition, exer-
cise, relaxation techniques, energy
healing, spirituality and even kind-
ness and nurturing are available to all
of us.
While medication and surgery will
always -have their place in health care,
we now have scientific rationale for
using other, gentle and safe techniques
for optimizing our health.

Enhancing Life
As Dawson Church, Ph.D., states in
The Genie In Your Genes, "When the
doctor of the future tears a page off
her prescription pad ... the prescrip-
tion might well be — instead of, or
in addition to, a drug — a particular
therapeutic belief or thought, a posi-
tive feeling, a gene-enhancing physical
exercise, an act of altruism or an affir-
mative social activity"
We can all enhance our own health
and healing by building these activi-
ties into our lives right now ❑

Dr. Denise Jacob, RN, Ph.D., CHt, practices
hypnosis, healing touch and health counsel-
ing in Birmingham and is a speaker for area

organizations.
Visit www.jacobholistichealing.com or call
(248) 514-8259.

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