by Admin | Aug 25, 2017 | Uncategorized
Whenever someone comes into a healthcare office, they’re always wanting to know how healthy, or unhealthy they are. It’s important to consider that health is not some specific point on a chart. Instead, it’s a range that’s always changing. Just like our bodies. We’re always changing and adapting. Unless, of course, we’re dead. When we stop changing to the environment around us, we’re no longer considered “alive”. Take your temperature for example. 98.6 degrees is ideal. But so is 98.7 or 98.8. None of those numbers would be cause for concern. That’s because just like the rest of your body, your temperature constantly fluctuates. As long as we stay within a “normal” range, then it’s fair to say our body is functioning optimally. The problems occur when we start to move out of the healthy or normal ranges. This is when we’re moving away from a state of health into a state of disease. Most people consider themselves healthy if they feel good and look good. While these play a role, they’re not the entire story. In fact, when discussing health, about ten-percent of your health can be based on how you feel. The other ninety-percent should be based on how your body functions. Why is that? Your entire body is controlled by your nervous system. There isn’t one cell, tissue, or organ that’s left untouched. That being said, approximately ten-percent of your nervous system is sensory, or can feel anything. The other ninety-percent is completely functional in nature. Meaning it doesn’t feel anything, it simply controls and directs the body in these areas. Therefore, if you were to...
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...
