Posts Tagged ‘Pediatric Healthcare New Fairfield CT’
Welcome to Chiropractic Life and Wellness Center's Pediatric Healthcare New Fairfield CT 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 Pediatric Healthcare New Fairfield CT for the health of it.
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by Dr. Brandon Chorney | May 24, 2016 | Health Articles
Have you ever wondered how life imitates nature? As a tribute to one of our favorite movies, the Karate Kid, from the 80’s, I would like reference one of my first encounters of understanding with the Bonsai tree. The ancient Japanese art form of growing Bonsai trees is actually fascinating. Bonsai trees are essentially normal shrubs that have been consistently stressed in a particular way for a long time to create a posture which would never be found in nature. Depending on how the tree is stressed while it grows, it may end up looking like a miniature version of a full-sized tree, or it may end up looking like a wild tangle of branches with twists and loops.
Applied Application
To most people, “good posture” simply means sitting and standing up straight. Few of us realize the importance of posture to our health and performance.
The human body actually craves alignment. When we are properly aligned, our bones, not our muscles, support our weight, reducing effort and strain on our nervous system.
The big payoff with proper posture is that we feel healthier, have more energy, plus we move and age more gracefully. So while the word “posture” may conjure up images of John Wayne in the old country and western classics or book-balancing school girls, it is not just about standing up straight. It’s about being aware of and connected to every part of yourself.
Posture – The Root To Good Health
Posture actually ranks right up at the top of the list when you are talking about optimal health. It is as important as eating right, exercising, getting proper rest and avoiding potentially harmful substances like alcohol, drugs, and tobacco.
Good posture is a way of doing things with more energy, less stress, and fatigue.
- Without good posture, you cannot really be physically, chemically or mentally fit.
- Without good posture, you can actually physically damage your spine every time you exercise.
- Without good posture, your nerves will not communicate properly with your glands and organs, resulting in all kinds of degeneration and potential chronic diseases.
Ideally, our 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 the knees and ankles. But if you spend hours every day sitting in a chair, if you hunch forward or balance your weight primarily on one leg, the muscles of your neck and back have to carry the weight of the body rather than it being supported by the spine. The resulting tension and joint pressure can affect you not only physically, but emotionally and chemically too.
The Saplings – Our Children
From the very beginning of our children’s lives we are always creating containers or guidelines to help form and develop them into the healthy adults that they will become. As parents of this generation we have encountered a new force that is creating bends and twists in our childrens postures – the smart phones and electronic devices. This repetitive activity over time is now grooming our childrens’ postures to the predictable head forward posture and rolled shoulders. With the unhealthy bends we are seeing the all to clear results of back pain, headaches, short attention spans, depression, indigestion, reflux, high blood pressure, asthma and thyroid problems that are plaguing our youth.
Start Strong – Stay Strong!
As in nature, the earlier one begins a healthy lifestyle the healthier and less dis-ease they will experience.
Is Chiropractic for children too? By all means. Miracles can occur each and every day in Chiropractic with the right adjustment, tailored to the individual’s size, age, shape and need.
What Does Your Posture Say About You?
Contact us today and schedule a posture exam. Your posture will be telling all of us more than you think!
by Dr. Brandon Chorney | Aug 6, 2015 | Zed
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by Dr. Brandon Chorney | Jul 14, 2015 | Health Articles
Flashback from the eighties – a girl wearing a full back brace for scoliosis and trying to get a sip of water from a drinking fountain. At the time it was painfully funny and not so far fetched. Unfortunately the event was even more real for the 5 to 7 million people in the United States, especially girls between the ages of 10 and 15, who suffered with the curvature of the spine and the burdensome prevalent treatment of the time. Thank goodness! Times and advanced technologies have changed in the way we are able to treat the curvature of the spine known as scoliosis.
Understanding Scoliosis
Scoliosis is a general term that is used to describe a progressive lateral (sideways) spinal curvature which is greater than 10% from the vertical that can affect the entire skeletal system including the spine, ribs, and pelvis. Less than 10 degrees may simply be the result of postural changes. Scoliosis is often divided into two categories: idiopathic and functional.
Idiopathic scoliosis often involves changes in the development of spinal bones, where the normal development of a spinal vertebra should be more square. The spine with idiopathic scoliosis may be trapezoidal (shorter on one side as compared to the other). Eighty percent of the time, the cause of this type of scoliosis remains unknown. In the other cases, the condition will be the result of some form of trauma, neurological disease, tumor, or similar. With patients with significant changes in bone structure it is impossible to correct this type of spinal curvature. However, case management of the scoliosis is equally important.
Functional scoliosis patients will show normal development of the bony structures of the spine and the orientation of the vertebra tends to be within the normal ranges of movement. Most often the curvature in the spine was created by postural shifts, muscle spasms, or leg-length inequality. This type of scoliosis responds extremely well with chiropractic care and can often achieve a full correction. Most importantly, identification and diagnosis of scoliosis early is imperative for the best corrective outcomes and as it can affect virtually every system of the body.
Symptoms of Scoliosis
Scoliosis can cause pain, and impair lung function or heart function. It can also lead to psychological problems such as poor self-esteem, especially because it so often happens at an age when peer pressure is at its most powerful. With 4 out of 5 scoliosis sufferers, the spinal curvature is less than 20 degrees, and this is not normally visible to the untrained eye. Provided these cases do not appear to be worsening, there is no great cause for alarm. However, as children and adolescents have bodies that are still growing, mild curvatures can bend by a further 10 degrees or more in a matter of months. For this reason, evaluations should be made frequently. These evaluations are extremely important for pre-pubescent girls with a curvature of at least 25 degrees, who have not yet menstruated for the first time. As there is relatively fast growth in the year before the first period, it follows that any curvature will also progress quickly. After the first period, this progression of the spinal curvature slows down but will take longer to correct as each year passes.
Evaluation for Scoliosis
Scoliosis is evaluated by conducting a detailed family history and a physical examination that includes postural analysis. If a curvature is detected, further investigation is required to establish if there is any obvious cause of the problem, such as a birth defects or any prior injury. X-rays are a useful tool when the curvatures are pronounced, to check more thoroughly on the structure of the spine, and if the scoliosis is impinging upon anything else. The wrist is also often x-rayed because this is used to assess the patient’s skeletal age, as a barometer of where that person is in relation to the accepted norm, and for monitoring the progression of the condition. X-rays may be recommended from once every 3 to 4 months, to once every few years, depending on the doctor’s feelings about the possible rate of progression.
Treatment for Scoliosis
Today the treatment option which is showing the most promise is a combination of spinal adjustments or manipulation, therapeutic exercise, electrical muscle stimulation, and in some cases traction. These can be especially helpful to anyone whose scoliosis is causing them spinal pain such as lower back pain, neck pain and also headaches. Generally, exercise is both advocated and well-tolerated for patients with scoliosis. Most importantly, it should be remembered that most people who have scoliosis lead their lives no differently to anyone else, however, as their spine is exposed to increased levels of strain mechanically it is important to ensure that extra efforts are made to help keep the spine healthy. Chiropractic care is a leader in the field of a great method of ensuring spinal health.
We Can Help!
Our expert team led by a qualified chiropractor has been created to work with the patient that has scoliosis to achieve improved health overall, while addressing the scoliosis rather than just treating the scoliosis. This multi-faceted approach has shown the greatest results in long term success in managing and correcting scoliosis. Be sure to discuss with your chiropractor the various methods which are available for improving scoliosis to find the method that will work best for you.
