Check Out Erika’s Story!
August 19, 2011
Back to School: Keeping Young Spines Healthy
August 4, 2011
Photo Credit: o5com
Do you have a child heading back to school soon? As important as school is, it isn’t always the ideal environment for our kids’ backs. Studies show that backpacks, musical instruments, sports and excessive sitting can all cause micro-injuries to the spine that if left uncorrected cause degenerative change that may not be felt for YEARS to come.
The good news is that, whether they’re 5 or 15, there are a few things your kids can do (or you can help them do) to protect their spine:
- Make sure their backpack weighs no more than 5% of their body weight.
- At least once per month, have your student completely empty their backpack and only put back in what’s absolutely needed.
- Encourage your little child to get up and move around every 50 minutes. You might not be able to control how long they sit at school, but reminding them to stand up and move around as a homework or video game break can help.
- Take your son(s) and/or daughter(s) in for a preventative chiropractic appointment. Just as dentists find cavities before you feel them, chiropractors can identify and correct spinal decay before the effects are felt.
What are additional ways you encourage your kids to keep their back on track?
How Much Pain Can You Tolerate?
July 13, 2011
Photo Credit: stevendepolo
“How much pain can you tolerate?” is a very interesting question. Some people have a high pain threshold and are very “macho” in their approach as they act like they can handle anything. On the other hand, many others have a mild to moderate threshold and search for a “cover up” to eliminate their unpleasant feelings. Based on the astronomical statistics of pain medication use, our level of tolerance has gone way down.
In the United States the total cost of health care related to pain is approximately $600 billion and the cost to employers dealing with employees who have reduced work productivity due to pain is in the neighborhood of $100 billion per year. An Auburn University study showed that 67% of children suffered muscle soreness, 51% back pain, 24% numbness and 15% shoulder pain. Studies from John Hopkins Children Center and many other places have shown that backpacks cause back and shoulder pain and poor posture in children. Between 1997 and 2005, the medical expenses for individuals with spine problems grew from $4,695.00 to $6,096.00 per person.
According to CBC News, 54% of Canadian seniors report that chronic pain is interfering with most of their activities. The National Population Health Survey found that seniors who saw their pain increase over a two-year period were more likely to be unhappy or have a negative impression of their personal health at the end of that period. In younger Canadians between the ages of 12 and 44, 10% are already experiencing pain that is affecting their life and limiting their activities.
Too many people look to manage their pain by numbing their feelings with non-prescription or prescription drugs. Certainly in extreme cases this may be helpful as any compassionate person would agree; however, managing pain with medication as part of a lifestyle rather than getting to the cause can lessen your body’s natural pain tolerance and cause horrible side effects including nausea, sleep disruption, lack of mental clarity, lack of energy, depression and potential damage to key organs such as the liver, kidney and heart.
Overuse can create unintended addictions to pain medication that can lead to even more challenges and difficulties in your life.
Chiropractic care is a much better option for both acute and chronic pain sufferers. First of all, a chiropractic examination can locate areas in the spine that are out of balance and are putting pressure on nerves which can contribute to nearly every type of pain condition.
Crisis Care, the type of care that is delivered when someone is in pain or suffering from a health problem, is delivered with frequent visits close together to begin realigning the spine, reducing inflammation and pressure from the nervous system, which usually provides relief and stability within a few weeks or months.
The next phase of care, called the Critical Transition, is critical because it provides consistent care with less frequent visits stretched out over a longer period of time regardless of how people feel so the spine, nervous system and body can begin to regenerate. It is this phase of the care that is necessary to support an active, healthy, long life that is either free from chronic pain or certainly makes pain much more manageable.
Unfortunately too many people ignore this critical transition because they feel better and they go back to the destructive habits that caused their deterioration in the first place. This behavior, including numbing their pain with drugs, can only lead to more deterioration and pain even though you experience relief from the pills. Continuing your chiropractic care through the Critical Transition breaks this cycle and gives your body the chance to adapt and truly heal for the long haul.
Isn’t it time that you decide to not tolerate a pain and medication based lifestyle and the deteriorating future that it promotes? Take care of your spine and nervous system so that your body can heal itself and enjoy the quality of life you deserve.
Reprinted with permission from The Family Practice.
Can Food Help Your Back Pain?
June 28, 2011
Back pain is cost society ten times more in 2007 as it did in 1997 more than 30 billion dollars! There is some recent evidence that eating certain non-inflammatory foods can help decrease your pain.
Eat more:
- Cherries, or tart cherry juice
- Olive oil
- Canned salmon, sardines packed in water or olive oil, mackerel, albacore tuna, flaxseed
- Vegetable protein
- Vegetables and fruits of every color
- Nuts of all kinds
- Green Tea
- Ginger- try steeping some grated root with boiling water
Eat LESS:
- Corn oil, safflower, sunflower, cottonseed , or mixed vegetable oils
- Margarine and vegetable shortening
- Processed foods
- Products containing high fructose corn syrup
- Foods high in saturated fat, including meat, tropical oils and full fat dairy
- Foods made with trans fats
A lack of vitamin D may also contribute to low back pain. In one study 80% of people who had chronic low back pain also were deficient in vitamin D. When they began taking supplemental D their back pain improved.
This anti-inflammatory way of eating is great for ANY inflammatory condition, aim to eat this way all of the time!
Don’t You Want To Join Us?
May 3, 2011
How Uneven Is Your Body?
April 28, 2011
Photo Credit: ibm4381
Everyone has asymmetries in their body. One eye is smaller than the other; feet are slightly different sizes. In fact, if you put a mirror up to one half of your face, you’ll see the two sides are rarely the same!
Although there are always asymmetries, it’s not good for your body to encourage unevenness. Do you continually sit on a wallet on the same side? Do you always carry your purse on one shoulder?
In addition to seeing a chiropractor regularly, here are a 3 ways to help you keep your body even:
- Try using your non-dominant hand to perform menial tasks for a month. If you’re right handed, open doors or wash dishes with your left hand. This is also very good for your brain and forces you to be conscious of your movement. If you really want intense brain stimulation, you could even try writing with the opposite hand!
- Exercise both sides equally. This is especially difficult for one-sided sports like golf or baseball. To balance yourself out, try using the opposite side when you can.
- Distribute the grocery bags evenly when you carry them in, and alternate shoulders if you’re regularly carrying a diaper bag or purse.
What additional ways do you encourage evenness in your body?
How Long Is Your M-PYR?
April 19, 2011
What is your life expectancy? Do you know your M-PYR? How about your MAX-PYR? Watch to see how to figure our yours. Did you know that lifestyle chiropractic care can add quality years to your expectancy?
Is Your Body Pre-Stressed?
April 13, 2011
Photo Credit: Kreutziana
It is well documented that high levels of stress can contribute to heart disease and cancer. Stress has also been shown to contribute to or cause headaches, ulcers, digestive disturbances, backaches and nearly every other condition known to mankind. How can one word cause so many unique and different problems in different people especially since the stress reaction is the same for everyone? The answer may be simpler than you think.
Stress is a nervous system reaction that causes your heart to beat faster, your muscles to be tense, your stomach to tighten, and your hair follicles to stand up, all as a way to prepare your body for an emergency. When you interpret a situation as stressful, whether it truly is or not, your brain triggers this reaction by sending a signal over your spinal cord and nervous system to every cell of your body. In prehistoric times, this would have been the perfect reaction to escape from a hungry dinosaur but in today’s modern world of chronic stress and no tyrannosaurus rex, this chronic reaction can cause pain, sickness and disease.
Where your body breaks down from stress may depend on whether or not you have a condition known as vertebral subluxation. A vertebral subluxation is a spinal misalignment causing nerve pressure that interferes with the normal function of your body. If you have this in your spine, your body is already pre-stressed.
Research shows that it only takes the weight of a dime to reduce nerve transmission. Additional research has found that nerve compression can exist without pain and can cause deterioration within two weeks. In this pre-stressed condition, your body becomes more vulnerable to outside stresses that can take you over the edge and make you sick or cause you to feel pain.
This is a main reason why some people are vulnerable to every circumstance while others are much more resistant.
Where people are subluxated will often determine how people are affected by stress. For example, someone with nerve pressure in the upper part of the neck might feel headaches, have allergies, or a stiff neck. Because the nerves that come out of the upper neck also go to the entire body, pressure here can literally cause or mimic every symptom or disease.
Pressure on the nerves in the lower back can cause a backache, leg problems and also affect ovary, prostate, bladder or bowel function. Pressure on the nerves in the middle of your back can affect your heart and lungs or cause tension, stomach problems, and digestive disturbances.
The scary part is that like most serious conditions, the vertebral subluxation can cause stress for decades without any symptoms until the body can no longer adapt. This is when serious problems occur, many of which could have been avoided by eliminating the stress and the subluxation. The birth process, childhood falls, sports injuries and poor lifestyle habits are just a few causes of subluxations that can cause your body to be pre-stressed. Rather than getting to the cause and removing the subluxation, many people attempt to chase their symptoms away with drugs, wondering why they always come back. Getting to the cause and removing the pressure is a much better immediate and long-term solution.
Crisis care is one way to deal with it, only receiving care when you are in trouble and suffering. A much better option is to remove the subluxation, stress, from your body and keep it out of your life as a part of your lifestyle. This will help you to stress less and live more, and enjoy the quality of life you deserve.
Reprinted with permission from The Family Practice.
More Than 50 Years Ago…
April 12, 2011
Did you know that the function of the spine directly and dramatically affects the function of the organs? Listen to Dr. Stephanie explain the Winsor Study from more than 50 years ago!
Stress: The Good News and Bad News
April 7, 2011
Photo Credit: bark
Here’s the bad news: Stress is all around us and is not going away anytime soon. But there’s good news, too: You have control over how you respond to stress!
The Bad News
It’s true that high levels of stress can contribute to heart disease and cancer. It’s also been shown to contribute to or cause headaches, ulcers, digestion problems, backaches and much, much more.
Stress is how your nervous system prepares your body for an emergency; your brain sends a signal to every cell in your body through your spinal cord. Although this can be helpful when there truly is danger (such as a dangerous animal attacking), the constant reaction can cause pain, sickness and disease.
The places in which subluxation builds up often determine how stress affects the body. If you have a lot of subluxation in the upper part of your neck, chances are you feel have headaches, allergies and/or a stiff neck. Subluxation in the lower back can lead to backaches, leg problems and ovary, prostate, bladder or bowel dysfunction.
So how do you control the way you respond to stress?
The Good News
Removing the subluxation from your body and keeping it out of your life can help you take control of the stress in your life. In addition to regular chiropractic care, here are 6 tips to stress less and live more:
- Drink plenty of water and eat well. What you put in your body will affect how you feel, so keep putting in things that are good for it so it keeps running smoothly. Remember to avoid stimulants and sugar, too!
- Take a quick break. The 50/10 rule is a good one. After sitting for 50 minutes, standing up and walking around for 10 minutes to help you clear your mind and get back to work with renewed focus, in addition to give your body a break from sitting.
- Breathe deeply. It’s common for stressed people to take shallow breaths, so practice breathing deeply – 5 counts in and 5 counts out. Slowing down and paying attention to every breath forces our nervous system into a relaxed state.
- Laugh. Laughing increases oxygenation to our entire body – there is even research that suggests it activates parts of our immune system as well! Hang out with people who make you laugh, rent some funny movies and laugh out loud!
- Get some exercise. Exercise, as a part of a lifestyle, reduces stress, strengthens your heart and muscles and has been shown to reduce the risk of nearly every disease.
- Be grateful. Thank someone instead of getting annoyed. Optimistic thinking has been shown to keep people motivated to make healthy lifestyle choices regardless of their circumstances, and you’ll feel a whole lot happier.
What additional ways do you like to keep the stress down? Take our poll on Facebook or let us know in the comments!
