Blog
The Problem of Body Weight Bearing Down On Your Joints
Joint pain is one of the first and most noticeable health problems caused by being overweight
Your joints have it tough. Even at your target weight, they are still under near constant pressure to facilitate movement without giving in or giving out. But when you surpass your target weight, the burden can become unbearable. Take your spinal joints for example: those in the lumbar are responsible for bearing and stabilizing the weight of your upper body while still allowing for a modicum of movement. Piling more and more weight on top of these joints means reduces their capacity to provide this function, while also causing them to degrade.
Spinal Anatomy: The Functional Spinal Unit
Your spine is built for stability but it still has to move
If it was so rigid as to not move, it would simply crack from the shearing forces that we put it through on a daily basis. Therefore, it is ingeniously constructed so as to provide stability but still retain a level of independent movement. This is enabled by the functional spinal unit, also known as the spinal motion segment, or the articular triad.
Unwinding the Stress Cycle
Physical and mental stress go hand-in-hand
A stressful day at work has you feeling mentally anguished and exhausted. But what you may notice in your distraction is that your body is also manifesting this stress. If you take a second to have a deep breath, you might find that your neck, shoulders and back are bound down almost as though by a restrictive jacket. This is natural- as the human body interprets stress, it responds by tightening- a protective measure that is useful if you are in physical danger. But it is singularly not useful if you are trying to manage a stressful work schedule and keep your wellbeing and sanity intact.
Daily Journaling Makes A Difference in Chronic Back Pain
The power of writing things down
Treating chronic back pain effectively starts with understanding the underlying set of conditions that leads to the pain. In many cases, the conditions are obvious: a herniated disc, degenerative disc disease, arthritis, or even a simple back strain. But for many people living with chronic back pain, there is no clear discernible cause; in these cases it is most likely an amalgamation of factors which leave the individual in a state of regular discomfort and pain. Whatever the case, there is one thing we recommend to all of our patients who live with chronic back pain: use a journal.
How Can I Remember to Drink More Water?
Dehydration is rampant in America
We have a love affair with sugary, fatty drinks that give us comparatively little hydration for the amount of side-effects that they come with. Coffee, energy drinks, sodas and juices are often reached for before good old water, which is a shame because of all of them increase our risk of diabetes, weight gain and poor spinal health. It’s time to clean up our act and start reaching for water and electrolyte-fortified water first.
Chiropractic: A Difference Maker for Your Pregnancy
Chiropractic is a good choice during pregnancy
Working alongside your primary care physician and prenatal care specialists, chiropractic offers a further layer of protection to the mother’s body as she goes through the flood of changes that is part and parcel of pregnancy. The majority of these changes involve the growing and shifting of weight, which tends to add pressure onto the spine even as it creates imbalances in the musculature and vertebrae. Added weight and misalignment leave the mother’s body vulnerable to pain related to tense muscles and nerve compression. Later in the pregnancy, pelvic ligaments loosen in preparation for childbirth and the whole system becomes further destabilized; in severe cases, this systemic misalignment and tension can reduce the space available for the growth and development of the fetus in the womb; it can also contribute to the breech presentation in the period leading up to the delivery date.
The Efficacy of Chiropractic
Why is such effective pain relief?
We think it is because of the time and care we are able to devote to your personal experience. Traditional Western healthcare dictates that we diagnose a problem and prescribe a solution; and while that has proved to be effective enough to be deemed the standard, it does not work for everyone. In fact, western medicine often falls short by failing to understand a condition as part of a bigger picture. This big picture approach is what makes chiropractic so effective- we pain a picture of your pain and dysfunction and use diagnostics to get to their source. We then set a course to resolve the root cause and set up an action plan for prevention.
Protecting Our Senior Community with Chiropractic
Chiropractic is effective care for seniors
There is a misconception that chiropractic is too aggressive, or that the adjustments are too forceful for aging bodies, that is simply untrue. The fact is that every patient we see receives a completely individualized treatment based on their unique body and set of conditions; that includes seniors. Chiropractic is not too forceful for an older body; in fact, in tandem with your primary care physician, chiropractic helps seniors maintain mobility and independence of movement. Let’s find out why more and more seniors are turning to the complementary care that chiropractic provides.
Why Choose the Activator Method for Improving Spinal Health
The Activator advantage
The Activator Method is one of the tools we trust to provide profound spinal relief. In fact, it is the only instrument-assisted method that is backed up by clinical evidence. Our goals with the Activator Method align perfectly with the rest of our treatment methods: to help you live a better, more mobile, less painful life. Activator helps achieve this by providing you with:
- Detection and treatment of musculoskeletal imbalances
- Improvement of spinal joint mobility
- Reducing pain in the neck and back
- Testing neurological reflex
Your Changing Body: Adjusting to Postpartum Life
Welcoming a new life to the world…
…is a whirlwind of joy and adaptation. As your newborn opens its eyes to the waking world, your body is going through its own transition. A woman loses up to 12 pounds after delivery, including the weight of the child, the placenta (about 1 pound), amniotic fluid and a few pounds of blood. In the following days, you can expect to lose more weight as you urinate frequently to rid your body of the excess water retained by cells during pregnancy.
But most women won’t see their bellies shrink significantly until they start exercising. This is because abdominal muscles are stretched to their absolute maximum. So while your body is shedding fluid at a rapid rate, you won’t look like you’ve lost much weight at all! And what of your spine, a structure that suffered so much during the last 9 months? Well the conditions that caused spinal pain and dysfunction are still present, and you will need to be proactive in your postpartum months to prevent the pain from lingering or becoming something longer term. Here’s our action plan: