I just had to share this guest post from Dr. Jeff & Dr. Katie with you today.  It’s mind-boggling.

An April 17, 2005 Associated Press (AP) story printed in many publications reports that Americans are the most medicated population in the world. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), approximately 130 million Americans swallow, inject, inhale, infuse, spray and pat on prescription medications every month.

According to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical consulting company, over the past decade the usage of prescription drugs by Americans has increased by 66% to an incredible 3.5 billion prescriptions per year. Additionally, IMS Health reports that their polling finds that Americans devour even more nonprescription drugs.

The AP story notes that the consequences to this large usage are grave. The article points out that landmark medical studies of the 1990s suggest that well over 125,000 people die from drug reactions and mistakes each year. They note that pharmaceuticals are the fourth-leading national cause of death after heart disease, cancer and stroke. Keep in mind that these statistics are from the 90’s, and this number doesn’t take into account the people who die from taking prescribed medications, where there are no “mistakes” involved. (Although, we would argue that taking any drug to cover a symptom, while ignoring the cause of the symptom, is a mistake!)

When placed in perspective, the volume of medication usage in the US becomes more evident. The article notes Americans spent as much on drugs last year as they did for gasoline. According to drug industry consultants the pharmaceutical industry makes more than $250 billion per year, the vast majority in prescription medications. That translated into $850 for every American.

Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and author of “The Truth About the Drug Companies”, commented, “We are taking way too many drugs for dubious or exaggerated ailments.” He continued, “What the drug companies are doing now is promoting drugs for long-term use to essentially healthy people. Why? Because it’s the biggest market.”

It is no wonder that 5 out of 6 Americans are dying of heart disease or cancer. This is the danger of treating the symptoms of dysfunction with the use of surgery and/or drugs (prescribed or otherwise) opposed to correcting the dysfunction. As a society, we are conditioned to put all of our time, energy and financial resources into getting rid of that pesky “check engine” light, instead of simply taking the time to check the engine! This approach makes no sense. However, it does make the drug companies a lot of dollars.

We applaud you on your efforts of restoring health and life to your body, through our natural, gentle, and scientifically proven chiropractic technique.

Here’s to raising the next generation of healthy, drug-free families!

In health,

Dr. Jeff and Dr. Katie Algajer and staff

I have been fortunate enought to watch many of my personal training and boot camp clients reduce and even completely get off their medications.  Take the healthy approach.  Get your body moving, watch what you put into your mouth and take preventative measures like quality chiropractic treatments.

Have Faith & Take Action!

Justin Yule, B.S., CPT

Your friendly neighborhood Chaska / Chanhassen boot camp instructor and online personal trainer.

Burn 9x more fat at a fraction of the cost of other personal training programs.