Once You Go...
8/14/2018
Did you know? Regular chiropractic care is ideal to help retrain muscles that are susceptible to injury.
Probably one of the greatest myths about chiropractic care is that, once you go, you have to go for the rest of your life. Of course, this isn’t true. However, we do have patients who plan to see us regularly for the rest of their life.
So what gives?
Five Ways To Use Chiropractic
The most common reasons patients choose ongoing chiropractic care include:
Relief – Many people begin here. Their ache, pain or other symptom is often what prompts them to begin chiropractic care.
Correction – With the most obvious symptoms reduced, many opt to continue their care to stabilize and strengthen their spine.
Maintenance – Regular chiropractic care can help you maintain your progress and avoid a relapse.
Prevention – Periodic chiropractic checkups can help catch new problems early.
Wellness – Simply put, we experience life through our nervous system. That’s why optimizing our spine and nervous system is the key to becoming all that we can be.
Visit Our Practice
How far you take your care is up to you. Our job is to offer the best chiropractic care possible, and your job is to decide how much of it you want. If it’s been a while since your last visit, consider giving us a call.
3 Ways To Get Sleep
7/17/2018
Find you’re having trouble getting to sleep? Consider booking an appointment with our practice.
You’ve darkened your bedroom. It’s quiet. You’ve set the temperature to a comfortable 68 degrees. You’ve avoided eating or exercising before bedtime. You get adjusted regularly to quiet down your nervous system. You’ve avoided the blue light emitted by your digital device. It’s time to fall asleep.
Now what?
If you’re someone who has difficulty getting to sleep each night, you’re not alone. Millions of people worldwide admit to some type of sleep problem. Sleep insufficiency can contribute to a variety of chronic diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, depression, and obesity, as well as cancer, increased mortality, and reduced quality of life and productivity.
Once you’re lying down, think about anything but falling asleep. Here are some helpful suggestions:
1. Starting at your toes and slowly moving towards your head, focus on contracting and relaxing your muscles. Repeat as needed.
2. Count your breaths. Become mindful of each inspiration and expiration as you become aware of the subtle changes of your lungs expanding and contracting.
3. Visualize some type of repetitive action, such as swinging a baseball bat, digging with a shovel or the classic, all-time favorite, counting sheep.
Naturally, getting stressed about falling asleep is the quickest way to stay awake. If slumber evades you, get out of bed and read a book. You may also resolve to get more exercise or consider chiropractic care.
Benefits Of Sunlight For Health
6/6/2018
The sun has gotten a bad rap over the years. Dermatologists mean well when they say you should never expose yourself to direct sunlight. Their focus has been helping you prevent skin damage and cancer. But, there’s another side to the sun exposure equation. A healthy side. It’s called the “Sunshine Vitamin,” aka vitamin D. Vitamin D is profoundly important to optimal health. Although it’s called a vitamin, it’s actually a steroid hormone, and it can only be derived from the sun, food and supplementation. Your skin produces it in response to UV radiation. Because almost all human cells have vitamin D receptors, its absorption effects the entire body. Vitamin D is essential in preventing:
- Cancer
- Diabetes
- Cardiovascular Disease
- Dementia
- Bone Fractures
- Infections
According to a recent study, sun avoidance is as risky as smoking. Researchers looked at data for 29,518 Swedish women between the ages of 25 and 64. According to the authors, “Nonsmokers who avoided sun exposure had a life expectancy similar to smokers in the highest sun exposure group, indicating that avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor for death of a similar magnitude as smoking. Compared to the highest sun exposure group, life expectancy of avoiders of sun exposure was reduced by 0.6–2.1 years. It is true that overexposure can damage your skin and increase your risk of cancer. However, the scientific evidence of over 34,000 studies details the many important benefits of sensible sun exposure, beyond vitamin D production. According to Joseph Mercola, DO, here are just five of the many important benefits the sun provides:
- Pain-killing (analgesic) properties
- Increased subcutaneous fat metabolism
- Regulation of human lifespan (solar cycles appear to be able to directly affect the human genome, thereby influencing lifespan)
- Daytime sun exposure improves evening alertness
- Conversion to metabolic energy (i.e., we may “ingest” energy directly from the sun, like plants do)
The Deceptive Slipped Disc
6/5/2018
An improper lifting technique is one of the many things that can lead to a slipped disc.
The intervertebral disc is a special type of cartilage found between each of the 24 bones of your spine. Bands of fibrous tissue surround its jelly-like center. The disc provides space so pairs of nerve roots can exit the spinal cord from between each spinal bone.
However, “slipped disc” is a misleading term. That’s because no slippage actually occurs. Instead, a disc can thin, wedge, bulge, protrude, tear or herniate but never simply slips.
What Causes A "Slipped Disc?"
The jelly-like “ball bearing” center is called the nucleus pulposus. Improper lifting, slips and falls, a car accident or other trauma can cause the disc to bulge or herniate. This can irritate nearby nerves, which can be quite painful.
Traditional management of disc conditions usually involves potentially addictive pain medication and, eventually, surgery.
A more conservative approach is chiropractic care. A series of adjustments can often restore spinal biomechanics. As structure and function are improved, many disc problems resolve naturally. While it may require some type of ongoing supportive care, our all-natural approach avoids the risks, costs and unpredictable outcomes associated with surgery.
Do you know someone suffering from a so-called “slipped disc”? Remember, chiropractic first, drugs second and surgery last.
Good Posture Can Make You Happy
5/8/2018
Feeling down? Straighten up!
No, seriously. Current research shows that slouching may be making you grouchy.
Dr. Michael Hall of BrainDC was interviewed recently and he asked, “If you see a person with their head held high, are they depressed?” Generally, not. He says there is a direct correlation between posture, happiness and chiropractic care. Professor of Health Education at San Francisco State University, Erik Peper, conducted a study where students were asked to either walk down a hallway in a slouch position or to skip. It’s no surprise that the ‘slouchers’ reported a drop in energy and their feeling of depression increased.
What Is Good Posture?
Posture is how you balance your body. Yet, there’s no perfect posture, and it’s more than just standing up straight. What is the best posture? Some say it’s your next posture – actively changing your sitting or standing position throughout the day.
Results Of Poor Posture
We all know that a slumped posture is not good. But, it’s not really a slump. It’s your muscles and ligaments dragging your neck down and pulling your chest and shoulders forward and down. This can be a dangerous thing over time. Your body is an intricate machine. When one part is off, it can affect all the other parts. There are many ways that bad posture habits can mess with you:
- Stiffness
- Headaches
- Chronic back, neck and shoulder pain
- Muscles weakness
- Injuries
- Breathing difficulties
- Digestion issues
- Fatigue
- Nerve impingement and compression
- Sciatica
Want to live longer? Research suggests that the way you hold your body while standing or sitting is an indicator of how long and how well you’ll live. We naturally get shorter as we age, but if you add posture-related back problems to the mix, you put your nervous system and all your organs at risk. Over time, simply allowing poor posture to get worse can shorten your life.
How Chiropractic Care Corrects Posture
Here’s the good news. In most cases, chiropractic care has helped many people regain the healthy posture they thought they lost. Through a course of corrective care, simple chiropractic adjustments can get you back in alignment. When your body is functioning effectively, you feel more energetic, healthier and happier.
To start, your chiropractor does an assessment of your spine and joints to check for restrictions or dysfunctions. Adjustments are performed to correct any that are found and to stimulate your body’s natural healing process. This helps your body work as it was designed to.
Once your joint issues have been resolved, your chiropractor checks for postural imbalances – uneven hips, pelvis or shoulders, spine curvature, forward head posture, etc. These can have serious impact on your body’s central nervous system. Once corrected, your body will work more optimally. Over time, your overall health and happiness will improve through regular chiropractic adjustments, strength exercises and sound nutrition.
References
Poor Posture, Poor Mood
5/8/2018
Whenever you’re sitting at a computer, be conscious of your posture and keep your feet evenly planted on the ground.
As many people are finding themselves spending more time sitting slumped behind a screen or standing on their feet for hours on end without a break, paying attention to your posture is more important than ever. If you’ve never thought much about whether you’re sitting or standing stance is doing harm to your health, you might want to start before you find yourself in a bad mood. Here’s why:
- Each time we lean forward 60 degrees, the stress placed on our neck is increased dramatically. This can lead to numbness, pain, pinched nerves and improper breathing—none of which are good for your mood! Stress on your neck can also lead to tense upper back and shoulder muscles, resulting in headaches which can be very frequent for some with poor posture.
- Your body language is closely related to posture. A slumped stance can make us appear sad, afraid or disinterested to peers leading to different treatment that can bring you down without even realizing it.
- In a 2015 article, researchers concluded that when facing a high-stress situation, study participants with good posture maintained a higher self-esteem and mood, while those with poor posture experienced heightened stress and used negative words to describe their experience.
Dealing With Poor Posture? We Can Help
You can better your posture naturally through chiropractic care, exercise, stretches and avoiding a sedentary lifestyle. Ask us for more tips on your next visit.
Sources: The Official Journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association