Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Get Moving! Walk Your Way to Health


In the U.S., more than half of all adults fail to meet the surgeon general’s recommendation of 30 minutes daily of moderate physical activity. One of the best ways to move more is just by walking…

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Purpose of a Chiropractic Adjustment


This may seem like a self-evident topic. Well, it's not. The Chiropractic profession cannot even agree on the purpose of an adjustment. There is the fundamental, basic purpose that has been around since 1895 (the inception of Chiropractic) which has not changed, deviated or strayed from its first day. Then there are the fads, the misconceptions, and the attempts to fit nicely into the Medical model.

The most common misconception is that a Chiropractic adjustment is solely for the elimination of symptoms; such as neck pain, back pain, headaches, etc... Although Chiropractic is highly effective at helping to relieve these symptoms, this misconception usually stems from the fact that much of the population does not understand the Nervous System. They believe that nerves only carry messages of pain to the brain. That is obviously not the case. If it was, then there would have to be something other than the brain controlling all of your organs and chemical reactions going on within the body. Simply not so!

The second misconception was perpetuated by early Chiropractors themselves. They actually believed that a Chiropractic adjustment was the cure-all for all diseases. This was in part due to the overwhelming number of "conditions" that seemed to get better under Chiropractic care; and in part due to the frustration directed towards much of the Medical community and their treatment of symptoms, neglecting the "entire person" in many cases. This is obviously just as wrong as the belief that Chiropractic is only for neck and back pain because many times other things are needed as well to get sick people well. Such as proper nutrition, exercise, rest, and even Medical intervention. Other times, however, a person may have been "sick" for too long for even the body's inborn healing ability to overcome the damage done by years of disease or neglect. Or even for medicine to undo the damage. (i.e.. terminal cancer, people that have had multiple heart attacks, etc).

So what is an adjustment for? Well, when you remove all of the misconceptions and the fads, you are left with one simple fact. A bone in your spine out of place (Vertebral Subluxation), will always have a detrimental effect somewhere in the body due to interference in the Nervous System. This is because structure ALWAYS affects function. Example: If you change the structure of a boat in the water by putting one oar in, the boat will go around in circles. If you put a spoiler on a car, it makes the car more aerodynamic. If you tie a string around your aorta (the largest artery in your body), blood flow will lessen or stop completely. Structure always changes function. If a vertebral bone is out of place - then it will restrict the communication between the brain and some distant part of the body. ALWAYS! If you remove the interference by removing the bone (vertebrae) from the nerve or spinal cord (this is a Chiropractic adjustment), you once again change the function - in this case improving it. The body's inborn intelligence is once again allowed to control and coordinate all bodily functions so that the body can adapt itself to the external and internal environments; survive and prosper.

It comes down to one simple fact; the body will ALWAYS function better without a vertebral subluxation than with a vertebral subluxation. That goes for any and every person with a spine and a Nervous System. Everyone knows that if you do not brush your teeth and get them checked regularly your chances of good oral hygiene are not good. What is more important - your teeth or your spine? When was the last time you had your spine checked?

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6616772

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Pain: Chiropractic Can Help


People who value a natural, whole body approach to pain relief and better health depend on chiropractic care to feel and function their best.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

How Blood Pressure Works - Wilfred Manzano


If you lined up all the blood vessels in your body, they’d be 60 thousand miles long. And every day, they carry the equivalent of over two thousand gallons of blood to the body’s tissues. What effect does this pressure have on the walls of the blood vessels? Wilfred Manzano gives the facts on blood pressure.

Lesson by Wilfred Manzano, animation by Fox Animation Domination High-Def.

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Backpack Safety Tips from ACA


Back pain is pervasive among American adults, however it is not uncommon among children and teens either. In a new and disturbing trend, young children are suffering from back pain much earlier than previous generations, and the use of overweight backpacks is a contributing factor.

Monday, October 14, 2019

What To Expect During Your First Chiropractic Adjustment


Watch as chiropractor Dr. Dan Eleuteri demonstrates the process on an audience member right in our studio.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Frequently Asked Questions About Chiropractic


Q: What conditions do chiropractors treat?
A: Doctors of Chiropractic (DCs) care for patients of all ages, with a variety of health conditions. DCs are especially well known for their expertise in caring for patients with back pain, neck pain and headaches...particularly with their highly skilled manipulations or chiropractic adjustments. They also care for patients with a wide range of injuries and disorders of the musculoskeletal system, involving the muscles, ligaments, and joints. These painful conditions often involve or impact the nervous system, which can cause referred pain and dysfunction distant to the region of injury. The benefits of chiropractic care extend to general health issues, as well, since our body structure affects our overall function. DCs also counsel patients on diet, nutrition, exercise, healthy habits, and occupational and lifestyle modification.

Q: How do I select a doctor of chiropractic?
A: One of the best ways to locate a doctor of chiropractic (DC) near you by using Find a Doctor. You can also select a DC is by getting a referral from a friend, family member, colleague, or another health care provider.

Q: Is chiropractic treatment safe?
A: Chiropractic is widely recognized as one of the safest drug-free, non-invasive therapies available for the treatment of neuromusculoskeletal complaints. Although chiropractic has an excellent safety record, no health treatment is completely free of potential adverse effects. The risks associated with chiropractic, however, are very small. Many patients feel immediate relief following chiropractic treatment, but some may experience mild soreness, stiffness or aching, just as they do after some forms of exercise. Current research shows that minor discomfort or soreness following spinal manipulation typically fades within 24 hours.

Neck pain and some types of headaches are treated through precise cervical manipulation. Cervical manipulation, often called a neck adjustment, works to improve joint mobility in the neck, restoring range of motion and reducing muscle spasm, which helps relieve pressure and tension. Neck manipulation, when performed by a skilled and well-educated professional such as a doctor of chiropractic, is a remarkably safe procedure.

Some reports have associated high-velocity upper neck manipulation with a certain rare kind of stroke, or vertebral artery dissection. However, evidence suggests that this type of arterial injury often takes place spontaneously in patients who have pre-existing arterial disease. These dissections have been associated with everyday activities such as turning the head while driving, swimming, or having a shampoo in a hair salon. Patients with this condition may experience neck pain and headache that leads them to seek professional care—often at the office of a doctor of chiropractic or family physician—but that care is not the cause of the injury. The best evidence indicates that the incidence of artery injuries associated with high-velocity upper neck manipulation is extremely rare—about one to three cases in 100,000 patients who get treated with a course of care. This is similar to the incidence of this type of stroke among the general population.

If you are visiting your doctor of chiropractic with upper-neck pain or a headache, be very specific about your symptoms. This will help your doctor of chiropractic offer the safest and most effective treatment, even if it involves referral to another health care provider.

When discussing the risks of any health care procedure, it is important to look at that risk in comparison to other treatments available for the same condition. In this regard, the risks of serious complications from spinal manipulation for conditions such as neck pain and headache compare very favorably with even the most conservative care options. For example, the risks associated with some of the most common treatments for musculoskeletal pain—over-the-counter or prescription nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) and prescription painkillers—are significantly greater than those of chiropractic manipulation.

According to the American Journal of Gastroenterology, people taking NSAIDS are three times more likely than those who do not to develop serious adverse gastrointestinal problems such as hemorrhage (bleeding) and perforation. That risk rises to more than five times among people age 60 and older.

Moreover, the number of prescriptions for powerful drugs such as oxycodone and hydrocodone have tripled in the past 12 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that abuse of these commonly prescribed painkillers is among the leading causes of accidental death in the United States. Overdoses of opioid painkillers are responsible for some 15,000 deaths per year; that’s more than the number of deaths from cocaine and heroin combined. Doctors of chiropractic are well-trained professionals who provide patients with safe, effective care for a variety of common conditions. Their extensive education has prepared them to identify patients who have special risk factors and to get those patients the most appropriate care, even if that requires referral to a medical specialist.

Q: Does chiropractic treatment require a referral from an MD?
A: A referral is usually not needed to see a doctor of chiropractic (DC); however, your health plan may have specific referral requirements. You may want to contact your employer’s human resources department—or the insurance plan directly—to find out if there are any referral requirements. Most plans allow you to just call and schedule an appointment with a DC.

Q: Is chiropractic treatment appropriate for children?
A: Yes, children can benefit from chiropractic care. Children are very physically active and experience many types of falls and blows from activities of daily living as well as from participating in sports. Injuries such as these may cause many symptoms including back and neck pain, stiffness, soreness or discomfort. Chiropractic care is always adapted to the individual patient. It is a highly skilled treatment, and in the case of children, very gentle.

Q: Are chiropractors allowed to practice in hospitals or use medical outpatient facilities?
A: Chiropractors are being recognized to admit and treat patients in hospitals and to use outpatient clinical facilities (such as labs, x-rays, etc.) for their non-hospitalized patients. Hospital privileges were first granted in 1983.

Q: Do insurance plans cover chiropractic?
A: Yes. Chiropractic care is included in most health insurance plans, including major medical plans, workers’ compensation, Medicare, some Medicaid plans, and Blue Cross Blue Shield plans for federal employees, among others. Chiropractic care is also available to active-duty members of the armed forces at more than 60 military bases and is available to veterans at more than 60 major veterans medical facilities.

Q: What type of education and training do chiropractors have?
A: Doctors of chiropractic are educated as primary-contact health care providers, with an emphasis on diagnosis and treatment of conditions related to the musculoskeletal system (the muscles, ligaments, and joints of the spine and extremities) and the nerves that supply them. Educational requirements for doctors of chiropractic are among the most stringent of any of the health care professions. The typical applicant for chiropractic college has already acquired nearly four years of pre-medical undergraduate college education, including courses in biology, inorganic and organic chemistry, physics, psychology, and related lab work. Once accepted into an accredited chiropractic college, the requirements become even more demanding — four to five academic years of professional study are the standard. Doctors of chiropractic are educated in orthopedics, neurology, physiology, human anatomy, clinical diagnosis including laboratory procedures, diagnostic imaging, exercise, nutrition rehabilitation and more. Because chiropractic care includes highly skilled manipulation/adjusting techniques, a significant portion of time is spent in clinical technique training to master these important manipulative procedures. In total, the chiropractic college curriculum includes a minimum of 4,200 hours of classroom, laboratory and clinical experience. The course of study is approved by the Council on Chiropractic Education, an accrediting agency that is fully recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Q: How is a chiropractic adjustment performed?
A: Chiropractic adjustment or manipulation is a manual procedure that utilizes the highly refined skills developed during the doctor of chiropractic’s intensive years of chiropractic education. The chiropractic physician typically uses his or her hands--or an instrument--to manipulate the joints of the body, particularly the spine, in order to restore or enhance joint function. This often helps resolve joint inflammation and reduces the patient's pain. Chiropractic manipulation is a highly controlled procedure that rarely causes discomfort. The chiropractor adapts the procedure to meet the specific needs of each patient. Patients often note positive changes in their symptoms immediately following treatment.

Q: Is chiropractic treatment ongoing?
A: The hands-on nature of the chiropractic treatment is essentially what requires patients to visit the chiropractor a number of times. To be treated by a chiropractor, a patient needs to be in his or her office. In contrast, a course of treatment from medical doctors often involves a pre-established plan that is conducted at home (i.e. taking a course of antibiotics once a day for a couple of weeks). A chiropractor may provide acute, chronic, and/or preventive care thus making a certain number of visits sometimes necessary. Your doctor of chiropractic should tell you the extent of treatment recommended and how long you can expect it to last.

Q: Why is there a popping sound when a joint is adjusted?
A: Adjustment (or manipulation) of a joint may result in the release of a gas bubble between the joints, which makes a popping sound. The same thing occurs when you “crack” your knuckles. The noise is caused by the change of pressure within the joint, which results in gas bubbles being released. There is usually minimal, if any, discomfort involved.

Article Source: https://www.acatoday.org/Patients/Why-Choose-Chiropractic/Chiropractic-Frequently-Asked-Questions

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

What Causes Insomnia? - Dan Kwartler


What keeps you up at night? Pondering deep questions? Excitement about a big trip? Stress about unfinished work? What if the very thing keeping you awake was stress about losing sleep? This seemingly unsolvable loop is at the heart of insomnia, the world’s most common sleep disorder. So what is insomnia? And is there any way to break the cycle? Dan Kwartler details the science of insomnia.

Lesson by Dan Kwartler, animation by Sharon Colman.

Saturday, October 5, 2019

TMJ Issues? Dr. Pazdel Talks About How Chiropractic Care Can Help


Dr. Pazdel talks of issues with TMJ and how chiropractic care is so much more helpful than just working with the back. Chiropractic care extends through the entire body.

See more at http://www.pazdelchiropractic.com

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

9 Reasons You Should Consider Seeing A Chiropractor


If you’re suffering from back pain or any other form of chronic pain you may have considered going to see a chiropractor.

Chiropractic care is a popular treatment in the US with Doctors of Chiropractic treating over 27 million Americans annually. But seeing a chiropractor isn’t just for back pain, there are many other ways it can help.

Here we’ve compiled the 9 reasons you should consider seeing a chiropractor, but there are certainly many more!

1) Treating the Cause

The essence of chiropractic care is that treatment focusses on the root cause of the problem, not just the symptoms.

Compared to prescribed medications in a recent study, it was in fact found that 56% of patients who saw a doctor, saw a 30% reduction in low back pain after 4 weeks. But 94% of patients who underwent Chiropractic treatment saw a 30% reduction in low back pain after 4 weeks.

Vertigo for example is a condition that is found to be much more effectively treated with chiropractic care, as rather than simply dealing with the symptoms of the condition, the Chiropractor will move you in to specific positions to reestablish the balance within the ear.

Chiropractic treatment for vertigo is believed to be very effective, with a recent piece of research finding that after 3-4 treatments, 80% of patients were symptom free!

2) Improve Sleep

A National Sleep Foundation poll found that 60% of American adults experience sleep problems at some time. In fact, according to the APTA Move Forward survey, 37% of adults said that LBP affects their sleep, with over half stating that they suffer from poor sleep quality.

Chiropractic treatment and the manipulation therapies used are believed to help to improve blood flow in patients, which is essential for great sleep.

Chiropractors also focus on correcting misalignments or subluxations in the spine. These subluxations lead to a process called stress response which puts the body out of balance and does not let the body rest.

A well trained chiropractor will adjust these subluxations with safe and careful techniques to get your body to function normally.

3) Assists with Chronic Pain

In a first session with a patient with chronic pain, a chiropractor will aim to get to the root of the problem, working out where inflammation and muscle tension may be occurring and building an effective treatment plan.

It is this approach that causes so many to turn to a chiropractor for help with chronic pain. For those with long term conditions, a study has shown that chiropractic care is more effective in treating pain intensity than pain clinics, which only focus on the symptoms of the pain.

A chiropractor may also employ other complimentary procedures such as ultrasound, electrical muscle stimulation (EMS), TENS therapy and other techniques to complement their spinal adjustment treatment.

4) Boost Your Immune System

There is evidence to support the theory that chiropractic treatment can boost the immune system, as the nervous system and immune system are so interlinked, it’s believed if you tweak one then you tweak the other!

It’s not a new concept either, as it’s believed that chiropractic treatment was used during the Influenza Epidemic in 1912.

In fact, a series of studies published by the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics showed that several types of immune system cells, showed increased biological activity after chiropractic adjustment.

5) Avoid Medication

Many people choose to see a chiropractor as an alternative to taking pain relief medication, and the inevitable side effects than can occur.

Instead of treating the symptoms like pain relief medication does, a chiropractor aims to get to the root of the problem, to help you better manage your condition, putting together a treatment plan to help you get back on track.

A study by Annals of Internal Medicine in to the best option for treating neck pain, found that after following 272 neck pain patients for 12 weeks, those who used a chiropractor or exercise were more than twice as likely to be pain free compared to those who took medication.

6) Help with Migraines / Headaches

It is reported that 9 out of 10 Americans suffer from headaches, though varying in intensity, headaches and migraines can really affect your quality of life.

Both in the treatment of headaches and in the treatment of migraines, chiropractic care has proven to be an effective treatment, with spinal manipulation being the technique which is most commonly used.

In fact, a study by JMPT in 2011, found that chiropractic care improves both migraines and headaches, when treated with spinal manipulation techniques.

7) Pregnancy and Fertility

Throughout pregnancy a woman’s body goes through many changes, which can led to LBP and pain in the pelvis.

At a time when pain medication options are limited, chiropractic care has been proven to not only provide care for lower back pain, but also in a 2002 study an 82% success rate was reported when chiropractic treatment was used to turn breech babies.

There are also links with improvements in fertility with those struggling to conceive opting for chiropractic care as an alternative to other treatments.

8) Improves Sports Performance

Chiropractors are widely used within professional sport – before, during and after a sports performance.

In fact, Doctors of Chiropractic are used by all 32 National Football League teams to deal with ongoing back and neck problems, as well as overall conditioning of the players.

They focus on all aspects of the body and are used across all sports within the US Olympic and Paralympic teams, to improve performance. Within baseball, studies have shown that chiropractic care helps prevent hamstring and other lower limb injuries.

Another study revealed that muscle strength and long jump distances were greatly improved in baseball players who received regularly chiropractic adjustments.

9) Reduce Doctor and Hospital Visits

When you see the impact on the different conditions above, it makes sense that chiropractic care can help you reduce your number of doctor and hospital visits, as well as reduce pharmaceutical costs in the long run.

In the US, two to five percent of all doctor visits are for pain in the back, although this is a small percentage, it equals to around $84 billion in healthcare costs.

Using a Doctor of Chiropractic as your primary care provider was found to, in a study published by the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, result in a 43% decrease in hospital admission, 52% reduction in pharmaceutical costs and 43% fewer outpatient surgeries and procedures.

Article Source: https://www.thegoodbody.com/reasons-consider-seeing-chiropractor/