by Admin | Nov 17, 2017 | Uncategorized
Do you squat? Many people do it as part of a strength regimen, but how many people just squat to simply do that? Squatting was something that was very common in our species thousands of years ago. In Western societies, toilets have replaced holes, thus eliminating as much need for squatting. In Eastern countries, squatting is still very common. The position of squatting is something innately ingrained in us as infants. Babies will typically get into this position to rest. As we age, this position becomes less and less common. We tend to sit in chairs instead of squatting. This might be because of our tendency to look at squatting and think it looks immature or childish. However, there’s nothing childish about the benefits that can be gained by squatting. The position is a much more natural way to remove waste from our bodies, as well as deliver babies. By avoiding this position, we don’t get proper motion in the hip or knee joints. Without proper motion, the joints will stop producing as much synovial fluid and become much more difficult to move. After all, if you don’t move it, you lose it. This philosophy is true when applied our body’s muscular and structural systems. As a chiropractor, squatting opens up the hips and pelvis and allows better range of motion in the area. This allows for better blood flow and nervous system energy. Many people use walking as their major form of exercise. The problem with this is they never get proper motion in the joints of the hip or knee. Walking just doesn’t provide enough movement to...
by Admin | Nov 10, 2017 | Uncategorized
If you weren’t aware, November is Diabetes Awareness Month. Due to the theme of the month, we’re going to focus this post towards the epidemic that has overtaken North America. Diabetes Type I is a congenital disease that a very small percentage of the population suffers from. Type II is a lifestyle disease that the majority of diabetes sufferers deal with. Diabetes Type II happens because of blood sugar problems, due to our diet. Most people who suffer from this issue consume entirely too much sugar and processed food. Diabetes doesn’t necessarily kill you, however, it does make your life a living hell after you get it. Therefore it has been termed a ‘disabler’. The most common disablers in N. America are diabetes and stroke. Although, Diabetes Type II is a specific disease due to blood sugar issues, it isn’t the only one that can be caused by too much sugar in our bodies. Alzheimer’s is now being called Type III Diabetes due to its link with blood sugar issues. In fact, someone who suffers from Diabetes Type II has a much higher rate of suffering from Alzheimer’s later on in life. Typically, when someone thinks about a Diabetes Type II sufferer, they imagine an overweight individual. However, this is not always the case. Many people who deal with this problem actually are normal weight. It’s not a weight issue, although that can come with it. Diabetes is an insulin and blood sugar issue. So, what can we do to prevent ourselves from becoming a statistic? The first step is to avoid sugar and processed foods. The foods you...
by Admin | Nov 5, 2017 | Uncategorized
Many people feel that our world is less connected than ever before. When you go to a restaurant it’s highly likely that you will look around the room and see multiple phones out and in use at the table. Instead of engaging in conversation, we’re looking at an electronic device. Maybe following our friend’s day, or our favorite celebrity’s current vacation. This is reality in 2017. Although, it’s up for debate about if it makes us less connected, or not. If anything, it probably makes us more connected than ever. We can pick up our device and connect with anyone in the world at any moment. There’s no shortage of options to communicate with each other and keep up on all the latest happenings. Connection is fundamental to a healthy life, in a variety of ways. The importance of connection can be found in all aspects of life, not just how we choose to interact or not at the dinner table. For example, our bodies rely on connection between the brain and body at all times. This system works by the brain sending a signal down the spinal cord, out the corresponding nerves to the location in the body that needs to perform a task. After the task is completed, the specific area of the body sends a signal back up to the brain to inform it that the job has been done. This information highway, called your nervous system, sends information back and forth each and everyday. Much like a call that has 4-bars of cell phone service, our bodies require a clear signal as well. When a...
by Admin | Oct 20, 2017 | Uncategorized
A healthy person has nothing but hopes and dreams to think about. A person who is sick and unhealthy has only one wish or dream. To be healthy again. When most people who are sick think about losing their health, they usually think back to the moment when they found out they weren’t healthy. Typically, when their doctor informed them of the results. Unfortunately, our health never changes in an instant. Truthfully, the process of going from healthy to sick takes months, and even years. In fact, the first moment someone notices a sign or symptom that they aren’t feeling “normal”, that was not the moment they became unhealthy, or sick. Symptoms can take months or years as well before they show up. Underneath the surface, the physiology was changing for a long-time beforehand. What can we do with this information? Well, the first thing would be to begin addressing our health now. Waiting till we ‘feel sick’ is not enough. As I mentioned above, if we wait that long, it’s already too late. Our body doesn’t move into a state of disease or sickness overnight. If we start to implement healthy strategies into our daily experience, our bodies will reap the benefits. These actions we take to improve our health do not need to be drastic. In fact, I highly recommend not to do a complete overhaul. Break this challenge off into bite-size pieces. Start by making a 5% change in your daily habits. Maybe you decide to have a healthier breakfast by making a green smoothie when you get up in the morning time. Or, maybe you...
by Admin | Oct 6, 2017 | Uncategorized
We all experience rhythms. They’re a natural part of the balance in this world. After all…without the rain, we’d have no rainbows. Without sadness, we’d have no such thing as happiness. It’s easy to look around our world today and see chaos. To some it may seem that there’s more now then ever before. This may be true. Or, it may be due to the role the media plays in our perception of reality. Regardless, there is no shortage of negativity. On the flip side, there is no shortage of positivity either. In America, we still to this day have live very fortunate lives. The opportunities are abundant here, and there is still the chance to make something of yourself. If we look around the globe, that isn’t necessarily the case. There are many countries where advancement is extremely difficult, or downright impossible. In these places they don’t worry about having enough money for Starbucks, they worry about when their next gulp of water will be. After a downturn, or negative cycle, it’s typical of us to sit in our protected homes and nice offices and wonder why our world is so horrible, or if we’ll have enough money to purchase a new car next year. Instead of pondering the negative, maybe we should compare. Compare with the other countries of the world. The less fortunate, and the so-called “industrialized” ones. It’s one thing to see our lives in the tiny bubble we habitate most days. However, it would benefit us to look outside and see what everyone else has to deal with on a daily basis. This is...
by Admin | Sep 22, 2017 | Uncategorized
Many people are unaware that chiropractic has been around for over a hundred years. This month is the anniversary of the first adjustment, or, when chiropractic began. It all started in Iowa. A man named D.D. Palmer who liked to experiment with different healing modalities, originally discovered the profession. The story of how it began is actually very interesting. A janitor by the name of Harvey Lillard had been suffering from hearing loss. At his job he was constantly working bent over making him very prone to developing rounding of the shoulders, forward head posture, and a hump in his back. D.D. Palmer hypothesized that this might be problematic and asked if he could attempt to help him. What D.D. Palmer did was perform an adjustment specifically to Harvey Lillard’s neck. At that point in time, not as much was known about the nervous system as it is today. Although, they did know that the nervous system controlled everything else in the body. Immediately, after the adjustment Harvey Lillard regained his hearing. This was the moment when the chiropractic profession was born. D.D. Palmer went on to start several chiropractic schools. The original school, Palmer Chiropractic College, still bares his name to this day. From that point on chiropractic expanded and many more stories piled up telling of all the amazing testimonials similar to the one that had taken place in Iowa with D.D. and Harvey Lillard. Chiropractic focuses on the spine in order to impact and improve the function of the nervous system. Most people think of chiropractic as just a treatment for neck or low-back pain. Although,...
by Admin | Sep 15, 2017 | Uncategorized
Do unto others as you would have them do for you. Give and you shall receive. There’s no shortage of sayings like this in our culture today. They may sound cliché, but the reason they do is because they’re tried and true. Hands For Life was founded, among other things, to help those in our communities who don’t have access to doctors, get the opportunity to have natural healthcare in the form of Chiropractic. Through our giving and serving, we have been blessed tremendously in ways we could have never imagined. In the years we’ve been running Hands For Life, we’ve had people experience health breakthroughs, touched thousands of spines, created connections with leaders in various communities, and been able to watch feeble children grow into thriving teenagers. We serve out of our own abundance to those who may not be as fortunate. In return, we receive way more than we give. The friendships that have been created through our mission work in Tijuana are outstanding. The gratitude we get as doctors every weekend we go down to serve the people always inspires us to do more of the work. Positive emotions, such as fulfillment, go hand-in-hand with doing this work, and always pay us back ten-fold for any effort we put in. These experiences also create a feeling of connection that’s more powerful than any drug known to man. Reciprocity is the exchange that happens in any interaction. It can happen in the form of money, touch, energy, etc. Without it, someone feels cheated or taken advantage of. Many people are un-interested in mission work, or what some...
by Admin | Sep 8, 2017 | Uncategorized
If you’re somewhat interested in health and the body you may have heard about the advancements in our understanding of Epigenetics. This is a field of study that looks at our environment and the role it plays on our health and bodies. For a long period of time, scientists and researchers thought that genes determined your destiny. In other words, if you had a certain gene for high blood pressure, then it was just a matter of time before you got it. This essentially made us victims without any control over what happens with our health. However, over the past ten-years we’ve discovered new information that proves genes aren’t the sole-determining factor in your health. In fact, they only play a minor roll. Actually, whas the biggest impact on your body and its health is the environment you’re entrenched in. This is what we call Epigenetics. For example, you could have a gene for high blood pressure, but you will also have a gene for normal blood pressure. The high blood pressure gene won’t turn on unless it’s signaled by the environment. What would this kind of signal look like? Typically, an environment that will trigger an unwanted or negative gene to express itself will be due to one or more stressors. The stressors could be, toxic air quality, fast food, lack of exercise, loss of sleep, etc. If your environment is negative and full of stress, then your chances of turning on these negative genes goes increases. The reason chiropractic plays a role Epigenetics is because of the research that shows chiropractic reducing stress in the body. Less...
by Admin | Sep 1, 2017 | Uncategorized
Let me start by first saying headaches are a very common issue. That being said, they aren’t normal. What I mean is many people suffer with headaches rather frequently. However, our bodies weren’t designed to have headaches. They were designed to function normally without the pain. Therefore, whenever a headache is present, it hints at a larger problem. Headaches are symptoms of the problem. They’re the tip of the iceberg. What we don’t see is the root cause of the symptom. That’s usually operating somewhere out of plain sight. Headaches are typically never the main issue. In fact, they are commonly the result of a neck problem. That doesn’t always have to be the case, as there can be rare cases, such as a brain aneurysm. But for the extreme majority, a neck issue will precede any type of headache. So, if headaches aren’t the problem and the neck is, how do you improve your situation? Well, step one is to confirm the neck is in fact the cause of the headaches. You can do that by having an x-ray series taken of your neck. This will show the alignment and curvature of the spine. If there’s any structural damage in your neck, then chances are likely it’s contributing to the headaches. Another way to do this is to have a chiropractor examine your spine and check for any signs of that your neck may be causing your pain. Whatever you decide to do about your headaches it’s important to realize they are just the surface level and the problem usually lies much deeper. To find the true source...
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...
