Author Archive
Welcome to Chiropractic Life and Wellness Center's Archive. Here you can learn more about Chiropractic Life and Wellness Center, Chiropractic, and Dr. Brandon Chorney, today's choice for Chiropractors in New Fairfield, CT. Read Dr. Brandon Chorney's Chiropractic for the health of it.
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by Dr. Brandon Chorney | Apr 8, 2014 | Health Articles
Is your body able to predict the weather better than your local meteorologist?
The Human Barometer
It’s true that many people with back pain, neck pain or other joint complaints are often surprisingly accurate in predicting when storms are approaching, and believe it or not, there is some validity to their weather forecasting abilities.
In 2010 by the International Journal of Biometeorology, researchers established a direct connection between low barometric pressure, inflammation and joint pain in rats. Additional research has demonstrated the same phenomenon occurs in humans. For instance, a 2002 study from the Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques concluded that “back pain may be aggravated by atmosphere depression in patients with lumbar disc disease.” And a 2007 study from the American Journal of Medicine determined that “changes in barometric pressure are independently associated with osteoarthritis knee pain severity.”
It really drives home what chiropractors have been saying for decades: The absence of pain is not the measure of good health! So while there’s validity to the idea of “aches and pains mean coming rains,” anticipation of weather changes should not interfere with you enjoying the quality of life your desire.
Sunny days ahead are no substitution for proper exercise, good diet and supplementation, and regular chiropractic care.
Spring Showers Bring May Flowers so Call Today!
Don’t hide under your umbrella of pain! Call us today and let us help you get to the underlying inflammation and back to singing in the rain!
by Dr. Brandon Chorney | Apr 3, 2014 | Health Articles
Let's Spring into Health! Do you want to lose that stubborn weight? Did you promise yourself that this year you would get into shape? Do you want to feel young again and enjoy your health and life? It can happen. But, it is up to you to make a change. Do something different. It comes...
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by Dr. Brandon Chorney | Apr 1, 2014 | Health Articles
As the Alzheimer’s disease epidemic continues to expand – some describe it as a ‘health meteor’ that’s going to strike the elderly populations from modern countries around 2025, great information is surfacing about how to avoid Alzheimer’s disease. The Difference: Small Brain Syndrome: People who have Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have ‘shrunken’ brains – i.e. smaller brain volumes;...
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by Dr. Brandon Chorney | Mar 27, 2014 | Health Articles
Future Olympic champions are following the steps of some of the greatest athletes on the planet. Their training regiment now includes proper spinal alignments for optimal performance and to avoid or recover from injuries.
In today’s age of health and fitness, more and more kids are involved in sporting activities. Although being part of a football, soccer or Little League team is an important rite of passage for many children, parents and their children could be overlooking the importance of proper nutrition and body-conditioning needed for preventing injuries on and off the playing field.
“The majority, if not all, sports are good, provided that the child prepares appropriately,” says Dr. Timothy Ray, a member of the American Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries and Physical Fitness. “Without proper preparation, playing any sport can turn into a bad experience. There are structural and physical developmental issues that need to be taken into consideration before children undertake certain sports.”
Highly competitive sports such as football, gymnastics and wrestling follow rigorous training schedules that can be potentially dangerous to an adolescent or teenager. The best advice for parents who have young athletes in the family is to help them prepare their bodies and to learn to protect themselves from sports related injuries before they happen.
“Proper warm up, stretching and strength-training exercises are essential for kids involved in sports, but many kids learn improper stretching or weight-lifting techniques, making them more susceptible to injury,” says Dr. Steve Horwitz, an ACA member from Silver Spring, MD, and former member of the U.S. Summer Olympic medical team. “Parents need to work with their kids and make sure they receive the proper sports training.”
“Young athletes should begin with a slow jog as a general warm-up, followed by a sport-specific warm-up. They should then stretch all the major muscle groups,” says Dr. Horwitz. “Kids need to be instructed in appropriate exercises for each sport to prevent injuries.”
Proper nutrition and hydration are also extremely vital. “While an ordinary person may need to drink eight to 10 8-ounce glasses of water each day, athletes need to drink even more than that for proper absorption. Breakfast should be the most important meal of the day. Also, eating a healthy meal two to four hours before a practice or a game and another within one to two hours after a game or practice allows for proper replenishment and refuels the body,” adds Dr. Horwitz.
Young athletes today often think they are invincible. The following tips can help ensure your child does not miss a step when it comes to proper fitness, stretching, training and rest that the body needs to engage in sporting activities.
Encourage your child to:
- Wear the proper equipment. Certain contact sports, such as football and hockey, can be dangerous if the equipment is not properly fitted. Make sure all equipment, including helmets, pads and shoes fit your child or adolescent. Talk to your child’s coach or trainer if the equipment is damaged.
- Eat healthy meals. Make sure your young athlete is eating a well-balanced diet and does not skip meals. Avoid high-fat foods, such as candy bars and fast food. At home, provide fruit rather than cookies, and vegetables rather than potato chips.
- Maintain a healthy weight. Certain sports, such as gymnastics, wrestling and figure skating, may require your young athlete to follow strict dietary rules. Be sure your child does not feel pressured into being too thin and that he/she understands that proper nutrition and caloric intake is needed for optimal performance and endurance.
- Drink water. Hydration is a key element to optimal fitness. Teenage athletes should drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. Younger athletes should drink five to eight 8-ounce glasses of water.
- Drink milk. Make sure your child has enough calcium included in his/her diet. For children over 2 years of age, ACA recommends 1 percent or skim milk rather than whole milk. Milk is essential for healthy bones and reduces the risk of joint and muscle related injuries.
- Avoid sugar-loaded, caffeinated and carbonated drinks. Sports drinks can be a good source of replenishment for those kids engaged in long duration sports, such as track and field, but water is vital.
- Follow a warm-up routine. Be sure your child or his/her coach includes a warm-up and stretching session before every practice, game or meet. A slow jog, jumping rope and/or lifting small weights reduces the risk of torn or ripped muscles. Flexibility is key when pushing to score that extra goal or make that critical play.
- Take vitamins daily. A multi-vitamin and Vitamin C are good choices for the young athlete. Vitamin B and amino acids may help reduce the pain from contact sports. Thiamine can help promote healing. Also consider Vitamin A to strengthen scar tissue.
- Avoid trendy supplements. Kids under the age of 18 should avoid the use of performance-enhancing supplements, such as creatine. Instead, they should ask their coach or trainer to include weekly weight training and body-conditioning sessions in their workout.
- Get plenty of rest. Eight hours of sleep is ideal for the young athlete. Lack of sleep and rest can decrease performance. Sluggishness, irritability and loss of interest could indicate that your child is fatigued.
Chiropractic Care Can Help
Doctors of chiropractic are trained and licensed to treat the entire neuromusculoskeletal system and can provide advice on sports training, nutrition and injury prevention to young athletes.
by Dr. Brandon Chorney | Mar 25, 2014 | Health Articles
If you have ever had a headache, you have a true understanding of how debilitating they can be. Studies have shown that roughly a third of all people suffer from headaches and a more frightening statistic is that nine out of ten Americans suffer from headaches. Headaches can vary in form and intensity. The causes of headaches also differ; they include such things as certain foods, toxic fumes, preservatives, alcohol, and the most often over looked muscular tension around an area of the spine that is misaligned. Spinal misalignments are shown to be involved in up to 80% of all headaches. With the increasing use of texting and smart phones not only is the poor posture exacerbating the condition of headaches but is adversely effecting people’s overall health, the old and the young.
Unfortunately, our society has evolved to a “take away” or “quick fix” solution in standard procedures. This includes taking numerous medications to fight off not only the pain associated with headaches but with the counter effects they may induce instead of addressing and removing the cause of these headaches. The greatest majority of primary headaches are associated with muscle tension in the neck. Today, we engage in more sedentary activities than we used to, and more hours are spent in one fixed position or posture. This can increase joint irritation and muscle tension in the neck, upper back and scalp, causing your head to ache.
What the Research Shows
Recent research at the University of Odense, Denmark and Harvard Medical School has shown that chiropractic treatments can dramatically decrease the frequency and length of headaches as well as the number of painkillers needed for relief. With a proper spinal examination, a chiropractor is able to determine if someone has spinal misalignments and nerve blockage to the head region.
Another report released in 2001 by researchers at the Duke University Evidence-Based Practice Center in Durham, NC, found that spinal manipulation resulted in almost immediate improvement for those headaches that originate in the neck, and had significantly fewer side effects and longer-lasting relief of tension-type headache than a commonly prescribed medication.
What Can You Do?
- If you spend a large amount of time in one fixed position, such as in front of a computer, on a sewing machine, typing or reading, take a break and stretch every 30 minutes to one hour. The stretches should take your head and neck through a comfortable range of motion.
- Low-impact exercise may help relieve the pain associated with primary headaches. However, if you are prone to dull, throbbing headaches, avoid heavy exercise. Engage in such activities as walking and low-impact aerobics.
- Avoid teeth clenching. The upper teeth should never touch the lowers, except when swallowing. This results in stress at the temporomandibular joints (TMJ) – the two joints that connect your jaw to your skull – leading to TMJ irritation and a form of tension headaches.
- Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day to help avoid dehydration, which can lead to headaches.
What Can a Doctor of Chiropractic Do?
- Perform spinal manipulation or chiropractic adjustments to improve spinal function and alleviate the stress on your system.
- Provide nutritional advice, recommending a change in diet and perhaps the addition of B complex vitamins.
- Offer advice on posture, ergonomics (work postures), exercises and relaxation techniques. This advice should help to relieve the recurring joint irritation and tension in the muscles of the neck and upper back.
We Can Help!
If you are tired of suffering from headaches on an ongoing basis and you want to find out what the cause is, our office may have your solution. Besides spinal care, our expert team will look at the need for nutritional changes, stress management, stretching, and best of all help you conquer Tech Neck!
Is your body able to predict the weather better than your local meteorologist?
If you have ever had a headache, you have a true understanding of how debilitating they can be. Studies have shown that roughly a third of all people suffer from headaches and a more frightening statistic is that nine out of ten Americans suffer from headaches. Headaches can vary in form and intensity. The causes of headaches also differ; they include such things as certain foods, toxic fumes, preservatives, alcohol, and the most often over looked muscular tension around an area of the spine that is misaligned. Spinal misalignments are shown to be involved in up to 80% of all headaches. With the increasing use of texting and smart phones not only is the poor posture exacerbating the condition of headaches but is adversely effecting people’s overall health, the old and the young.