by Dr. Brandon Chorney | Feb 7, 2023 | Health Articles
“As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.”
Have You Ever Noticed That Life Imitates Nature?
As I sit in my office and think about the spring season, I look at a picture of a Bonsai tree. On it is a quote from Alexander Pope that says, “A little neglect may breed great mischief.” I visualize how chiropractic care can help with the health, strength and longevity we hope to achieve through proper balance and growth.
Take Time To Understand
The Japanese art of growing Bonsai trees is fascinating. Bonsai trees are carefully groomed shrubs that have been shaped by their owners over many years to look like miniature versions of full-sized trees. This can be accomplished by stressing the tree in a particular way while it grows, or it can happen naturally when the tree has been exposed to harsh conditions for many years.
Second, is the Vision
Good posture doesn’t just mean standing and sitting up straight. It also means being aware of how your posture affects your health and wellbeing. Our bodies crave alignment, so when we are properly aligned, our bones support our weight, reducing effort and strain on our nervous system.
Posture and Your Spine
As a chiropractor, I know that posture ranks right up at the top of the list when you’re talking about optimal health. It’s as important as eating right, exercising, getting proper rest, and avoiding potentially harmful substances like alcohol and tobacco. Ideally, your bones stack up one upon the other: the head rests directly on top of the spine which sits directly over the pelvis which sits directly over your knees and ankles. But if you spend hours every day sitting in a chair or hunch forward or balance your weight primarily on one leg, your muscles will have to carry the weight of your body rather than being supported by your spine. The resulting tension can affect you not only physically but emotionally too.
As a chiropractor, one of our goals is to correct misalignments, which will release tension on the delicate nerve tissues and relieve muscle spasms. As the body tries to protect an injured area, another area of the spine can become compromised.
The Good vs. The Bad
Good posture is vital to your physical, chemical and mental well-being. Your posture affects how your nerves communicate with your organs and glands, so it affects your energy level and stress levels. If you don’t have good posture, you could end up damaging your back every time you exercise.
Chiropractic Grows Healthy Kids
From the time our children are born, we are creating guidelines to help form and develop them into healthy adults. Today’s parents face a new force: the smartphone. Over time, this repetitive activity is grooming our children’s postures into a head-forward posture and rolled shoulders. With these unhealthy curves, we see the path of our children’s health becoming clear: back pain, headaches, short attention spans and depression at earlier ages.
By starting a healthy lifestyle early, you can avoid many diseases later in life. Chiropractic care is a safe, effective, drug-free way to get started on this path. All care is tailored to the individual’s size, age, shape and needs.
Posture Is the Window To Your Spine
What does your posture say about you and your family?
Contact us today and schedule a posture exam. Your posture will be telling all of us more than you think!
by Dr. Brandon Chorney | Jan 24, 2023 | Health Articles
The roar of an engine! The roar of the crowd! The roar of wind racing by as you hold on and enjoy a day at an amusement park. Life today is fast and we play hard. Unfortunately today’s fast lifestyle can have a traumatic effect on your health.
The injury suffered is most often described as Whiplash. Car accidents are most often associated for causing whiplash injuries, however, this action can also occur when a person is participating in a sporting event or known to occur when riding on amusement park rides and sometimes as the result of a fall.
What causes Whiplash?
A whiplash injury occurs when there is an abrupt backward or forward jerking motion of the head which causes an injury to the neck where the intervertebral joints (located between vertebrae), discs, ligaments, cervical muscles, and nerve roots may become damaged. These cervical spinal injuries most frequently result when a person is struck in such a way as to cause the jerking motion of the head and neck to occur. Whiplash is then characterized by a collection of symptoms that occur following damage to the neck.
People who experience whiplash may develop one or more of the following symptoms, usually within the first few days after the injury:
- Neck pain and stiffness
- Headaches
- Pain in the shoulder or between the shoulder blades
- Low back pain
- Pain or numbness in the arm and/or hand
- Dizziness
- Difficulty concentrating or remembering
- Irritability, sleep disturbances, fatigue
It should be remembered that the effects of whiplash may take weeks or months to fully manifest, thus it cannot be assumed that no problems exist just because no symptoms are felt immediately following the accident. These symptoms should always be taken seriously no matter how insignificant they may at first appear due to the areas which are affected.
If you are not very careful, a whiplash injury may end up causing permanent damage when it is not noticed or its effect is underestimated. Around 50% of whiplash victims are still suffering the effects of their whiplash years later.
Whiplash Injury Studies
Nearly 1 out of 15 adult Americans suffers from the annoying and sometimes debilitating long-term effects of a whiplash injury, usually in the form of neck stiffness and pain. Fortunately, Chiropractic offers a very high level of help regarding relief for whiplash. Here are the conclusions of 4 separate studies cited:
- In a study published in Injury, 93 percent of 28 patients showed significant improvements following Chiropractic care. The help protocol utilized included spinal manipulation, stretching and ice therapy.
- Study results published in the Journal of Orthopedic Medicine showed similar findings. “Whiplash injuries are common. Chiropractic is the only proven effective treatment in chronic cases,” researchers said in their study conclusions.
- Finally, two separate studies published in the Journal of Manipulative Physiology and Therapy confirm Chiropractic benefits. “For chronic spinal pain in general, when compared to traditional medical approaches, Chiropractic has generally been shown to be more effective.”
Be Smart
Whiplash is a common injury that can occur in our current lifestyles. Practicing safe driving and using properly adjusted headrest restraints and seat-belts can go a long way to preventing whiplash accidents. Also, wearing the proper head gear in sporting activities, particularly for those playing a violent sport like football, can also help to prevent injury. But when painful blows to the cervical spine occur be smart and have a professional evaluation by a spinal specialist – a Chiropractor. Studies confirm that Chiropractic can provide significant help and long-term healing results.
Ask our expert Chiropractic Team what recommendations we would advise to keep your cervical spine in top condition and help you to avoid injury to your neck and back.
by Dr. Brandon Chorney | Jan 17, 2023 | Health Articles
Workplace Ergonomics Simply Defined Workplace ergonomics is the practice of designing or redesigning an area in which a person works to the specific needs and job requirements of that person. Simply defined that for an ergonomic workplace to be created, a proper assessment of the environment must first of all take place so that appropriate...
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by Dr. Brandon Chorney | Jan 10, 2023 | Health Articles
One of the essential factors when leading a healthy lifestyle is a healthy spine. Many people overlook the benefits of a healthy spine and those who suffer from back pain are generally less healthy than those who do not. There are many problems associated with back pain, both financial and psychological, however these can be...
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“As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.”
