by Admin | Aug 18, 2017 | Uncategorized
Are you getting enough sleep? Most Americans are not. In fact, the average American gets five and a half hours of sleep…that’s a lot less than the standard requirement of seven to eight hours. Sleep is a crucial requirement to our body functioning properly. It’s the only time we have the chance to let our heart muscle repair, our brain rest, our lungs take a break, etc. Without this down time, our body begins to wear out and tire. If you think about a laptop computer that hasn’t been plugged into the electrical outlet for awhile, eventually that computer is going to run out of battery life and crash. Well, the same thing happens inside our bodies. In fact, nothing leads to a decrease in life expectancy more than a lack of sleep. There are two major classifications for loss of sleep, aka Insomnia. There’s Acute Insomnia and Chronic Insomnia. Insomnia is classified as a lack of sleep, usually less than seven to eight hours per night. Acute Insomnia is a lack of sleep that occurs once or twice in a row and then typically goes back to normal. This may happen multiple times during someone’s lifetime. It seems very insignificant but can also have very serious repercussions. For example, one night’s loss of sleep can affect a person’s ability to operate a vehicle in the same way as driving under the influence of alcohol. Meaning, we’re just as dangerous on the road when we’ve missed one night’s sleep as we are when we’ve drank two to three margaritas. Chronic Insomnia is a loss of sleep that occurs for...
by Admin | Aug 11, 2017 | Uncategorized
Have you been told you have arthritis in your spine? Have you heard a friend or family member mention they had this problem? Arthritis is common in the spine. Although, it isn’t normal. Big difference. So, what is arthritis, and can anything be done to help it? Arthritis, also known as degeneration, is abnormal wear of the bones. This can happen in the fingers, knees, feet, neck, low-back, etc. Anywhere there’s bone, there’s the potential for degeneration. This abnormal wearing takes place due to imbalance. Shifting in the spine, uneven musculature, repetitious movement, or injury can cause the degeneration. This sort of thing, unless it happens after a traumatic incident, typically takes many years to form. After a number of years symptoms can arise. Some of the more common symptoms are numbness and tingling, pain, achiness, loss of motion, etc. However, arthritis doesn’t always cause symptoms. It can be what’s called asymptomatic. People who have this typically won’t even be aware of it unless an x-ray is taken of their spine. Here’s the thing about arthritis…once it occurs, you can’t reverse it. But, you can keep it from getting worse. Over time, arthritis usually gets worse if nothing is done to correct the underlying problem of imbalance. However, if the structural problems that are leading to the degeneration are removed, then the progression of the arthritis will be halted. The first step that we would recommend is to see a chiropractor. A chiropractor is a doctor of the nervous system and will examine the spine for any degeneration as part of their initial exam. Follow the recommendations you receive...
by Admin | Aug 8, 2017 | Uncategorized
It seems backwards doesn’t it…the idea of having a curve in something that looks so straight from the outside, your neck. When we think about our spine, we typically see it from the front or back. Only rarely do we have it pictured from the side. But it’s true…you should have a forward facing curve in your neck. In fact, it’s vital to your health. A curve in your neck, referred to as your “cervical curve” is there for a very important reason. It acts as a shock absorber. See, your head weighs approximately 10-12 pounds. So, positioned directly over your neck, it’s a lot of weight to carry. However, with the neck curve fully developed, the weight gets dispersed evenly and it’s much easier for your neck to carry. Problems arise when the curve decreases. Instead of having a nice cervical curve, the neck develops into what we call straight or kyphotic. This type of neck causes lots of problems. First, it’s a lot more stress on the structure of the spine to hold and support all the head weight. Therefore, degeneration begins and continues unless something is done to stop it. Degeneration is the body’s natural process to try and stabilize an otherwise unstable spine. Next, there tends to be lots of secondary conditions that occur from a straight neck. Symptoms like headaches, dizziness, loss of energy, sleep apnea, shoulder tension, and numbness and tingling can occur or be made worse due to the loss of neck curve. In chiropractic offices everywhere this has turned into an epidemic. The reason for it is the constant use of...
by Admin | Jul 28, 2017 | Uncategorized
Are you a person who thinks health is based on how you feel or how you look? Maybe, you’re a person who believes health is based on how your body functions. Or, further still, maybe you feel as though good health equals being able to do all things you want to do today, tomorrow, and years down the road. All three of these concepts are common in America, with the first idea being the most popular. Truthfully, how you feel or look can play a role in how healthy you are, but ultimately, it’s a very small percentage. Function is a much more accurate indicator of overall health. Meaning, how well your brain is communicating to the rest of your nervous system and body. Is your heart working like it should? Lungs? You get the idea. There are hundreds of thousands of stories where people have felt good and looked good, yet been diagnosed with some sort of terrible disease, or even worse, died because their body wasn’t functioning as well as it could. When our bodies function appropriately, we’re able to perform all tasks asked of us during our daily lives. When function is not at 100%, we run the risk of not being able to live the life we deserve or imagined for ourselves. So, how do you ensure you have proper function? There’s five major requirements for proper function. The first is eating clean, healthy, organic foods. Second, make sure you’re getting proper movement, or daily exercise. Third, keep your negative emotions in check and deliberately focus on positive emotions and feelings. Fourth, ensure you’re getting...
by Admin | Jul 21, 2017 | Uncategorized
When someone is in severe discomfort or pain a common solution is to reach for medication to alleviate the problematic symptoms. Most people are concerned with “getting rid of the pain”, but is that truly what they want? You may be thinking…“What a stupid question! Of course I want to get rid of pain.” We know. It seems obvious. But let us explain why you may consider a different solution, other than medication, to be a better choice. The common prescription medications to help alleviate pain are also known as Opioids. Opioid medications are created from the poppy seed, which has pain-relieving effects, among others. Opioids are also some of the most addictive substances known to man. This has created a problem. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have become addicted to these drugs in the past ten-years. As a safe guard against all the over-prescribing and addiction they’re seeing, the federal government has created a law to stop doctors from peddling the harmful drugs. However, due to the sudden stoppage of doctors renewing Opioid prescriptions, patients are left with no other option to feed their addictions. So, they turn to the closest thing they can get on the street…Heroin. Twenty to thirty years ago Heroin ripped through poor neighborhoods and destroyed those communities. Now, due to the Opioid epidemic, Heroin is terrorizing middle-class and upper-middle-class neighborhoods. This slippery slope isn’t something that an average American dealing with low-back pain or shoulder pain things about, which doesn’t help the situation. “Getting rid of pain” is something that should never be a goal. The first thought should be to explore why...
