Let's live healthier and more active longer. That alone has become the motto of our generations who may have reached our embracing years of our thirties and older. Our ability to want to play full out is fabulous as long as we maintain and take care our health and our bodies along the way. One...
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As we get older, we begin to find signs of age. Our skin is not as firm. We are not as flexible. We slow down and actually acknowledge we are in pain. But what happens when our joint pain begins to become so excruciating that we are limited in our day to day activities? Unfortunately...
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Does the term chiropractor or going to the doctor put fear immediately into your mind?
If so, you are not alone. It is estimated that about 20 percent of the population suffers from what is referred to as “white coat syndrome,” in which a person’s blood pressure shoots up when in the presence of a healthcare practitioner and even higher when going to a chiropractor. But if the fear of doctors is getting in the way of you receiving proper medical care, you should do something about it for the sake of your health. And acknowledging your fear is the first step to getting beyond it.
There are many valid reasons why people do not like doctors offices, including the association of these places with pain and illness. To begin let us address that many people are embarrassed to discuss medical issues for fear being given a lecture about their unhealthy behaviors. Or maybe they do not like being touched or dread the possibility of a painful procedure. Then there’s an issue of mistrust that’s made worse by the absence of personal familiarity and the stories of medical errors that are always hitting the news.
Unfortunately even when people are feeling healthy, going in for a preventative exam can still trigger uneasiness. They might wonder, “What if the exam reveals problems I didn’t know I have?” Sometimes they’d actually rather not find out. However, not knowing (or finding out about health issues too late) presents its own risks. Truth is, knowledge is power. And ignorance can be dangerous. Despite these facts, some people avoid interacting with healthcare providers.
If you are among those with a fear of doctors, you can use some of the following tips that experts have devised to help people deal with it:
Look Deeper to Identify Cause – Often, people just have a general uneasy feeling that they can’t pinpoint. Identifying the source of your anxiety can help you to manage the fear far better than trying to battle an unknown opponent, and you can then deal with your fears more rationally.
Find A Doctor That Fits – Look for someone you can connect with, who you feel comfortable talking to about problems and who you feel listens to and understands you. Remember a chiropractic health practice has a hands on approach and this trust and connections is especially important.
Ask Questions – It is important to ask your questions. Doctors should always be happy to help you understand not only your health challenge but how this occurred and the method they use to correct and rehabilitate the degenerated or injured area. It will help you to be more mentally and emotionally prepared when going for a visit when you know what to expect.
Bring A Friend or Love One – It often helps to have a family member or friend with you when you visit the doctor or have a treatment done. They can be there to relieve your anxiety and provide emotional support when it’s needed.
Your doctor of chiropractic and his expert team is there to help ensure that you are as healthy as you can be, and prevention is always the best medicine. So make the very best use of your visits with the doctor! Use these tips to help get past your fears so that you can enjoy a long and healthy life, free from illness and get on the path to wellness.
Summer vacation is near! The excitement of warm weather and the well needed break from school or work is upon us. As the last school bell rings or the final confirmation of your travel plans arrives make sure you not only pack accordingly but prepare with these simple tips so you may enjoy the most of...
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Summer is in the air!
Thank Goodness! As for most of the US, this spring/summer season is a very warm welcome to what could only be classified as a very long winter. This year as you are unpacking your summer clothes to enjoy the fresh air do not fret that your clothes do not fit from the extra winter padding and begin a healthy fad crash diet. Embrace the season of change with a new healthier plan of weight loss.
In fact, there is no better way to rejuvenate your health than by eating more nutritiously. In fact, even a few simple changes in your diet and lifestyle can have a positive impact on your health now and in the future.
Gone are the days of the traditional coffee and doughnuts for breakfast; a hamburger for lunch-or no lunch; candy, cookies, and a soft drink for a snack; followed by a huge dinner with more protein than a person needs.
Today most of us know that those are unhealthy dietary choices. But as we were growing up and living stress filled take away lives it became an unhealthy routine. Unfortunately the trend and television still drive our food desires which is taking toll on the health and weight of our children at a younger and younger age. This is prevalent in the statistics of heart disease which continues to rise due to poor diet and an epidemic of inactivity.
To reverse the alarming trend, many doctors of chiropractic urge patients to stop smoking, eat a balanced diet, drink plenty of water, exercise regularly, and augment their balanced diet with appropriate nutritional supplements. Because the are specialists of the entire body’s system, they are able to help you not only change poor habits but achieve better health and weight loss goals.
Research shows that a good vegetarian diet as part of a comprehensive health program can help prevent heart disease, cancer, and other diseases. However, fried foods, hydrogenated fats, and commercial meat substitutes may contain more sugar and fat than a meat-eater would consume.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, dietary supplements are not substitutes for foods, nor can a person sustain good health by just taking vitamin and mineral supplements. When taken properly, however, supplements can play an important role in achieving maximum health. If you are considering nutritional supplements, keep the following tips in mind:
Don’t “self-prescribe.” Consult a health care practitioner, such as a doctor of chiropractic, to determine what supplements are best for you. If you have symptoms such as headaches, chronic fatigue, or cardiac problems, seek professional advice from a health care provider who specializes in nutrition.
Call today and begin now so you can enjoy a great summer as a new healthier you!
Our society for the most part lives for the exhilaration of endorphins that we release as we strive for the goal line of victory. We simply love winning. Our addiction will often be the force that drives us to the next challenge. We know that our win is never based on "good luck" but our...
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April showers bring May flowers, but what can May flowers bring? That is right – possible back pain. As springtime gets under way, we head outside into the warm weather and begin the spring clean in our garden. We are invigorated by the warmth and begin tackling the garden in Gung-ho style. Although gardening can provide a great workout, all the bending, twisting, reaching and pulling, your body may not be ready for exercise of the garden variety.
To enjoy gardening fully it is important to stretch your muscles before reaching for your gardening tools. The back, upper legs, shoulders, and wrists are all major muscle groups affected when using your green thumb.
“A warm-up and cool-down period is as important in gardening as it is for any other physical activity,” said Dr. Scott Bautch of the American Chiropractic Association’s (ACA) Council on Occupational Health. “Performing simple stretches during these periods will help alleviate injuries, pain and stiffness.”
Following these simple stretches will help to alleviate muscle pain after a day spent in your garden.
Finally, be aware of your body technique, body form and correct posture while gardening. Kneel, don’t bend, and alternate your stance and movements as often as possible to keep the muscles and body balanced.
A healthy body like a healthy garden takes preparation and loving care. Schedule a spinal check up and address any unwanted weeds that may be taking root in your most valuable asset your health.
Have you ever been walking along and caught your full body’s side profile in a reflective surface? At first glance we are worried about our hair, our clothes, or worse – “look how fat and out of shape I am”.
Now look again closer. Is your chin out in front of your shoulders and chest? Worse yet, are your ears out over your chest? Are your shoulders rounding from the strain of your head being so far forward? Sometimes this is very obvious, yet other times it is hard to detect with the naked eye.
Do also you have constant headaches, neck pain, and/or the muscles in your shoulders that are always so tight that they burn?
Ahh, now that you have pain, do I now have your real attention?
Reach back and touch at the base of your neck – do you have a bump? If so, you may have found a source to your headaches and neck pain. This bump is an unattractive mass of fat and muscle that your body will build over time, and it will continue to grow, to help keep your head from pulling further and further forward. Unfortunately this bump will only get worse with time, unless you change the arc in your neck, called your cervical curve, and line your head back over the center of your body to reduce the strain on your head, neck shoulders and back. As the ugly bump grows so will the pain and irritation in that area.
If you think about the mechanics of your neck, you’ll realize it’s not surprising how easily it can be misaligned and injured. It has amazing flexibility, is constantly on the move, has very little muscular support, but has to support the 14 – 16 pounds of your head. It is like balancing a bowling ball on a stick using only elastic bands in what should be a perfect 60 degree curve. Due to our tech savvy lifestyles a forward head posture is the now one of the most notable posture changes. This change is a huge factor in our overall health because it relates to our central nervous system, which is our body’s power supply. When you have forward head posture your spinal cord is pulled and stretched. This tension changes the shape of your spinal cord and narrows the area in which your spinal fluid travels around the quintessential spinal cord.
When healthy and relaxed, your spinal cord sends signals between your brain and body at approximately 275 mph. When you have lost your curve, the speed of these signals traveling between your brain and body all day long is compromised. Over time as the signal becomes weaker the body will begin to manifest symptoms and conditions to alert you that your body is in a state of dis-ease. Your body will continue to change and adapt with protective measures. If your forward posture is left over time it will result in the condition most often referred to as a Dowager’s Hump that begins with the first visual sign – that ugly bump.
Causes and contributing factors to a forward head posture can range from past trauma, repetitive motions and strains, to emotional stress. Most often a forward head posture is a combination of factors that resulted from an occurrence and is left unrecognized and treated over time. For instance an injury may be combined with poor posture most often produced from today’s tech savvy lifestyles, spinal misalignments, and stress. The significance of the long-term impacts and effects on your health associated with Forward Head Syndrome has been increasingly mapped out in studies related to head position and other bodily functions.
Injuries: Easily the most common injury to the neck is whiplash, the sudden, violent whipping motion of the head in an accident. It is most often associated with a car accidents, but it can happen when playing sports, or any other time the head suffers this particular whipping trauma. When this happens, the supporting muscles, ligaments and other connective tissues in the neck and upper back are damaged, but the full effects of this may not be felt for weeks or even months. This is why anyone who suspects they may have suffered whiplash should be extremely careful not to aggravate it, even if they feel no immediate ill-effects. An assessment should be sought from a chiropractor, in case treatment is needed to minimize the effects and guard against possible irreversible damage.
Poor Posture: Poor posture is one of the most common causes of neck pain which can cause headaches. Unlike sudden injuries, which we usually know have happened, bad posture occurs over time and is something we soon begin to feel as normal. Everyday activities such as texting or working on a computer for extended periods is certainly susceptible to developing a forward head posture and spinal misalignments.
Misalignments: These are extremely common in the neck and upper back area, thanks to the weight of our head resting on such an unstable part of our spine. The majority of spinal misalignments are centered around four areas:
Stress: Mental and emotional stress causes the muscles to tense, especially those in the back and neck. This “muscle guarding” is a primitive survival response to avoid injury in the face of danger, but it ends up causing injury when it happens for any length of time.
With the increasing use of texting and smart phones this epidemic is only getting worse. Kids also now routinely present with all sorts of health problems (like headaches, stomach problems, and chronic colds) related to incorrect forward head posture. This used to be an adult problem but now our children are developing symptoms and conditions earlier which are affecting the health of our future generations.
Our expert team is ready to help you and your families not only address the neck and headache pain but to restore and strengthen function for healthier and higher quality of lives.
Let’s build good health into our high tech lives rather than our poor quality of health lives around our next “pain”.
"Ahh it is just my age." How many times have you used that excuse recently? If you have found yourself saying that or promising that you will start working out and stretching soon, listen up and get ready to start limbering up for "if we do not use it we will lose it." Understanding Joint...
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In my office I quite frequently hear that one of the scariest parts of going to a Chiropractic office is “well the fear that my head my be torn from my body but more importantly the sounds that sharply snap, crackle, and pop”. As I explain more about what that sound is to my patients, they relax and begin to enjoy the release (heard or unheard) and most of all the long lasting results they can achieve.
The sound you may here while receiving an adjustment is called an “audible” and the noise is simply the release of gas and air. Your joints are filled with fluid and a cracking sound might occur when a carbon dioxide bubble is brought inside or outside of that fluid. Just think of it as the sound a bubble makes when it pops. Ligaments, which are fibrous bands that connect two bones over the joint, can sometimes move “too close” to the joint itself, rub against it and “snap”, creating also that cracking or popping sound.
As Chiropractors, we do not necessarily aim for audibles to occur, but move your body within it’s own limits that sometimes causes these natural noises. Please remember that adjustments can occur without an audible! One of our goals is to help you figure out the cause of the cracking noise and how to avoid it by learning correct movements and improving the stabilization of the joints; which is achieved through strengthening the muscles around the joint and increasing flexibility.
So before you decide to “crack your back” or “pop your neck” remember that what you are self adjusting or “popping” may not actually be the area that needs to be addressed. For instance with neck pain, the issue may be with the top two vertebrae, but with self adjusting you may be actually stretching and moving the lower bones more each time, thus making the lower vertebrae more and more unstable. This incorrect over self adjusting is one major causes of hyper-mobility which may lead to arthritis and degeneration in the spine.
When a trained chiropractor specifically “adjusts” the vertebrae that need to be re-aligned normal motion starts to be restored and revitalization of the area will occur. It may take a few weeks for the ligaments and muscles to tighten up with the aid of strengthening exercises but the great result will be proper function and movement with lasting results.
Our expert team has been created for you. We specialize in restoring and revitalizing function. If you would like to begin feeling great and recapturing the quality of life you deserve call today and let us help you achieve those extraordinary results safely and correctly.