Chiropractic San Diego

By Michael Dorausch, DC

I was reading a Reuters report that stated fewer than a third of U.S. adults have received a flu vaccine so far this year and only about half said they intended to get one. The report goes on to explain why this is the case.

Rather than rely soley on drug company funded surveys I created a survey of my own, and had results in about 15 minutes. Using my @chiropractic Twitter profile I posted the following tweet…

FLU SHOT Survey: Getting one? Got one? No plans to get shot?

I performed a search for results to my tweet and took some screenshots. Here’s what people had to say about getting a flu shot.

Out of those three replies it looks like we’ve got one person that already had the flu and doesn’t plan on getting a shot, one person has gotten the shot a month ago, and one person got a flu shot and still got the flu. Total = 2 for shot + 1 for not.

In the next set of results we have one not having the time but wanting to get a flu shot, one person that’s already had a flu shot, and two people that have no plans to get the flu shot this year.

I had seven different replies regarding thoughts on the flu shot, so I began preparing this post. When I went to make the screenshots, there were more replies, so I’ve included those as well.

Out of the four replies shown above, we have one saying no way they would get the flu shot, one saying they’ve already had the flu so no go, a third one saying no, and a fourth saying never had a flu shot and no plans to get one. That’s 4 for NO on the flu shot, not good news for flu-shot manufacturers.

But we’re not done yet, I had three more replies.

In this batch we have never got a flu shot and no intentions to get one now, no flu shot for the strong and healthy, and no plans to get the flu shot. That’s a total of three more no’s for getting the flu shot.

Lets total up the numbers. 14 people replied. 3 people got the flu shot and 1 person is planning on getting the flu shot. 10 responded as not planning to get the flu shot. 1 is planning on getting the shot.

3 things I’ve learned from conducting this survey: 1) if these numbers represent general consensus there is going to be a massive surplus of flu shot available for the 2008-2009 flu season; 2) we could save the government and flu shot manufacturers tons of money by doing surveys like these; 3) people on twitter are wicked cool (at least the ones that are following me).

Many thanks to @Pamela_Lund, @steaprok, @TheMadHat, @bharshe, @DannyDover, @WordCures, @kwlow, @thesteffy, @pratt, @lyndseo, @MattMeeks, @CarrieHill, @kid_disco, @rumblestrip, and @BuySellDomains.

NOTE: After completing this post I noticed more replies on this topic. If you want to share your thoughts on getting the flu shot or not getting the flu shot, feel free to post them to the comments, and/or message me on twitter with the hash tag #Flu.

By Michael Dorausch, DC

This post is real simple. The goal is to provide an easy to remember acronym to be used when identifying 5 important parts related to the human cervical spine (neck) as shown on the following x-ray. Landmarks highlighted with red letters identify the parts to be remembered.

LMFAO - Cervical Spine X-Ray

L stands for Lamina - In the cervical spine, the lamina is thin area of bone that helps create a protective ring over the spinal cord. The surgical procedure involving the removal of lamina is referred to as a Laminectomy. The procedure may be performed in cases when a ruptured spinal disc may need to be removed or when bone spurs are putting pressure on the spinal cord.

M stands for Muscle - When taking x-rays on exceptionally muscular individuals, the seventh cervical vertebrae and first thoracic vertebrae areas of the spine may not be as visible on a lateral film. On the x-ray shown above, only six bones in the neck can be counted. In some cases, having an individual hold an object in each arm (such as a 5 pound weight) while relaxing their shoulder muscles, can help improve viewing of this area on x-ray.

F stands for Foramina - Two nerves exit the spine at each cervical vertebra and they pass through the foramina, one on the left and one on the right. Many people don’t realize nerves exit at each level of the cervical spine. It’s not uncommon that  tingling or numbness felt in one’s arms and hands can be the result of pressure on nerves in one’s neck. Foramina is the plural term and neural foramen is the term to identify a single area.

A stands for Atlas - Positioned at the very top of the spine is the first cervical vertebrae, sometimes referred to as C1 or the Atlas. The atlas features two thick bony arches that form a large opening for the spinal cord to pass through. It is the spinal bone located nearest to the brainstem and it is often identified by chiropractors as the most important vertebrae to be in adjustment.

O stands for Occiput - The Occiput is an area of bone located at the base of the skull. It is an important lateral cervical spine x-ray landmark commonly used in identifying location and positioning of the first cervical vertebrae (Atlas). A skeletal abnormality sometimes seen in the upper cervical spine is known as atlanto-occipital fusion, or occipitalization of the atlas.

So there is your anatomy lesson for the day. Go ahead and show your friends how smart you are.

L amina
M uscle
F oramina
A tlas
O cciput

easily remembered as LMFAO