Executive Health

Executive Health Practitioner Associations are coming together to customize health programs for groups of executives and independent businesses with an objective of reducing the lost productivity time.

Varenicline

Most recently, the Federal Drug Administration approved varenicline as a medication for smoking cessation. Varenicline acts on a subset of nicotinic receptors (alpha-4 beta-2) thought to be involved in the rewarding effects of nicotine. Varenicline acts as a partial agonist and antagonist at these receptors as it mildly stimulates the nicotine receptor, but not sufficiently to allow the release of dopamine, which is the rewarding effect of nicotine. As an antagonist, varenicline also blocks the ability of nicotine to activate dopamine, interfering with the reinforcing effects of smoking, thereby reducing cravings and supporting abstinence from smoking.

Manipulative and Body Practices

Manipulative and body practices focus primarily on the structures and systems of the body, including the bones and joints, soft tissues and circulatory and lymphatic systems. Spinal manipulation by chiropractors and by other health care professionals such as physical therapists, osteopaths and some conventional medical doctors is medicine. Practitioners use their hands or a device to apply a controlled force to a joint of the spine, moving it beyond its passive range of motion; the amount of force the doctor applies depends on the form of manipulation. Spinal manipulation is among the treatment options that people with low-back pain have.
The term massage therapy encompasses many different techniques. In general, therapists press, rub and otherwise manipulate the muscles and other soft tissues of the body. People use massage for a variety of health purposes, including relieving pain, rehabilitating sports injuries, reducing stress, increase relaxation, address anxiety and depression and aid general wellbeing.
Physicians have used spinal manipulation since the time of the ancient Greeks. Doctors incorporated spinal manipulation into chiropractic and osteopathic medicine in the late 19th century. Massage therapy dates back thousands of years. References to massage appear in writings from ancient China, Japan, India, Arabic nations, Egypt, in Greece Hippocrates defined medicine as the art of rubbing and Rome.
According to the 2007 NHIS, chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation and massage ranked in the top 10 complementary medicine therapies among both adults and children. The survey found that 8.6 percent of adults and 2.8 percent of children had used chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation and 8.3 percent of adults and 1 percent of children had used massage.