Blog
Is Massage Therapy Considered Health Care?
There is nothing quite relaxing like a good massage. It can help you unwind, release stress, break the tension in your muscle, and get rid of pain and aches. In addition, it can get your blood flowing, which helps your body heal and repair minor damages. Some people wonder whether massage therapy is considered healthcare or just an...
How to Do the Graston Technique On Yourself?
Injury experts are always coming up with new ways to overcome muscle pain and tightness. The Graston technique emerged in the 90s when an amateur athlete, David Graston, wanted to show the world his way of overcoming a knee injury. This method is a unique form of massage using steel instruments to locate problematic areas, and...
What Is Myofascial Release Massage Therapy?
Myofascial tissue spreads through your entire body and connects your bones, muscles, and joints, and helps keep your organs in place. It is vital for normal body functioning. When there is a problem in myofascial tissue, we can experience a range of symptoms, including pain, stiffness, and a restricted range of motion. Myofascial...
What Is Dry Needling in Physical Therapy?
The biggest misconception about dry needling is that it is a form of acupuncture. The only resemblance to this traditional Chinese medicine technique is the use of thin needles during the procedure. So, what exactly is dry needling, and who can benefit from it? What Is Dry Needling? Dry needling is a popular treatment used to ease...
What Is Cold Laser and Spinal Decompression Therapy?
Cold laser therapy and spinal decompression are two modalities offered by chiropractors throughout the US. They both focus on pain relief, but the mechanisms of producing the effects are completely different. If you are interested in one of those two chiropractic therapies, read on to learn all about them and discover whether they...
How Does the Graston Technique Work?
Muscle injuries are common, and we have many ways to treat them. However, experts are always looking for better approaches to overcome muscle injuries. The Graston technique (GT) is one of the novel tools practitioners use for a more effective treatment. This technique was named after an amateur athlete David Graston, who...
How Long Does Active Release Technique Take to Work?
Active people and athletes are always looking for innovative treatments to help them overcome pain, injuries, and other symptoms affecting their performance and ability to perform physical tasks. Active release technique (ART) is a successful novel treatment for soft-tissue injuries popular in gym and athlete circles. In contrast...
How Often Should You Do Spinal Decompression?
Spinal decompression is an FDA-approved therapy used to treat back and neck pain. It has been around for more than 10 years, and practitioners sometimes offer it as an alternative to surgery. The patients who undergo spinal decompression most commonly struggle with herniated, degenerated, or slipped discs. Since this treatment has...
What You Can Expect on Your First Chiropractic Visit
If you have never visited a chiropractor, you probably have many questions. What can you expect? How are you going to feel afterward? How effective are the treatments? And the biggest question of them all: will it hurt? Anything unknown can be scary, but luckily, good chiropractors discuss treatment options and explain them before...
5 Exercises to Improve Your Posture at Home
Improving your posture can help relieve muscle tension, prevent back, shoulder, neck, and hip pain, and reduce your energy expenditure throughout the day. And let’s face it, proper posture looks so much better than slouching. We have selected five exercises you can easily do at your home to improve your posture. These exercises...
Can Chiropractic Care Help With Fibromyalgia?
According to the CDC, fibromyalgia is a condition that affects around 2% of the adult population, or approximately 4 million US adults. It causes chronic pain, among other symptoms, and it is a real diagnostic nightmare for medical professionals, as symptoms overlap with many other conditions. To minimize the pain, doctors often...
Should I Go to a Chiropractor After a Sports Injury?
Playing sports puts our soft tissues under a lot of pressure, and the intensity of today’s athletes makes sports injuries inevitable. Muscles, ligaments, and tendons can sustain an injury as a result of physical trauma, overuse, or improper warming up and cooling down practices. When athletes sustain an injury, the number one...
Best Stretching Exercises to Start Your Day With
People always look for different ways to help them wake up in the morning. Coffee is the most common thing used to fight off sluggishness and start the day on the right foot. However, there are other things you can do to get rid of the morning fog. Stretching can be an excellent way to ease yourself into the day gently. It can help...
Can I Get Cryotherapy in Spring, Texas?
Every year we develop new technologies that help us reduce the healing time and improve the recovery outcomes. Cryotherapy is an approach that has been used for some time to enhance the rehabilitation process. We are all familiar with the concept of putting ice on the injured area to reduce pain and swelling. Well, cryotherapy...
Good vs. Bad Chiropractic Practices: 5 Tips for Choosing a Chiropractor
Good chiropractors provide a series of holistic approaches to improve physical function, reduce pain, and enhance the overall quality of a patient’s life. However, the chiropractic industry is filled with practitioners offering treatment that ranges from ineffective to downright harmful. Here are a few tips on things you should...
Can I See a Chiropractor in Spring, TX, After a Car Accident?
Being in a car accident is always stressful and traumatizing for your mind and body. You should always visit a medical professional after a car accident, even if you don’t have serious injuries. If you have small bruises and feel sore or shaken from the impact, visiting a chiropractor in Spring, Texas, could help you get back to...
Top 5 Benefits of Massage Therapy
We all have different ways to help us relax. However, most people agree that massages are one of the best options for instant relaxation and decompression. Besides relaxation, massage therapy can be an effective tool against a variety of physical and psychological conditions. It can also alleviate pain and a range of other symptoms...
Can a Chiropractor Help with Stress Relief?
The modern way of living brings many daily challenges that often make us feel overwhelmed and stressed. Whether it’s boss at work, our partner not understanding our needs, or something completely unrelated, we have to find an outlet that can relieve some of that build-up stress. The question that many people have is whether a...
The Importance of Sleep in Recovery
Everybody knows that rest is vital for recovering after an injury. However, rest refers to more than avoiding heavy exercise and moving around less. The essential part of any recovery journey is sleep. Sleep plays a crucial role in the recovery after an injury or surgery, and it is vital for anybody, from inactive individuals to...
How to Manage Back Pain Caused by Sitting the Whole Day
Back pain is one of the most common problems people complain about to medical health professionals. A sedentary lifestyle and lack of activity are two of the most common causes of back pain. We simply aren’t designed for sitting for prolonged periods. So, what can you do to prevent back pain if your job requires you to sit the...
How Can a Chiropractor Help with Sciatica in Spring, Texas?
Sciatica is characterized by sharp, piercing pain that originates in the lower back and runs down the legs. It affects up to two out of five US adults, which means that you are likely to experience it at some point in your life. The traditional medical care for sciatica includes pain medication, lifestyle adjustments, physical...
The Benefits of Cold Laser Therapy in Spring, Texas
Chronic and acute pain is something most of us deal with every day. But it doesn’t have to be that way. If you are looking for a non-invasive therapy option that can eliminate the need for pain medication, cold laser therapy is an excellent choice. Chiropractors use this approach to reduce swelling, inflammation, and repair damaged...
What’s the Best Sleeping Position for Back Pain?
Getting a good night’s sleep is essential for your well-being, but it can be tough with back pain. Although sleep is vital for recovery, severe back pain can prevent you from getting the rest you need, impairing your ability to heal, which can become a vicious cycle.So, if you are struggling with chronic back pain, there are some...
5 Signs You Need to See a Chiropractor in Spring, Texas Today
Our bodies are complex systems that have a way of letting us know when something is a little off. Learning how to read your body’s signals is essential, as it can help you improve the quality of your life significantly. Each year, millions of Americans seek chiropractic care to help them with these body ailments. Here are the most...
Are Chiropractic Adjustments Safe?
Every year, millions of Americans visit chiropractors searching for solutions to many problems like back pain, headaches, shoulder stiffness, arthritis, etc. On the other hand, many more people are willing to go to a chiropractor’s office, but there is one thing holding them back: fear. If you wonder if chiropractic adjustments are...
How to Find the Right Chiropractor in Spring, Texas
Chiropractic is one of the most unusual professions out there, as it consists of a wide range of techniques and philosophies. Each chiropractor goes through the required training to get certified, during which they develop a unique style for curing ailments. That is why it is vital to ask different questions when finding a...
Do You Have a Pinched Nerve?
Nerves are a collection of neurons that connect your brain and spinal cord with other parts of your body. They are an integral part of your nervous system, as all essential information in your body is sent through these tiny fibers.Sometimes, our nerves get damaged, which can cause mild to severe pain and discomfort. A pinched...
Common Factors Affecting the Speed of Your Recovery
After a car accident, sports injury, or surgery, it is vital to commit to your recovery plan to get back to your full strength as soon as possible. However, people don’t always understand the things that affect the speed of their recovery.Understanding these vital factors can reduce your recovery time, resulting in more complete...
Chiropractic for swimmers
Swimmers often undergo very strenuous training, especially if the performance to be followed is that of a professional athlete attending competitions. Training several times a day, exercising in and out of the water, doing double sessions, among other things are part of a swimmer's daily routine. Certainly, the wear and tear can be...
Chiropractic in weightlifting
Exercises that include weight lifting in their routines can be used by everyone, whether as general exercise, strength training, power training, rehabilitation, among others. However, it is necessary to be very attentive to a very important element during these routines: the spine. While weightlifters are more in tune with their...
Chiropractic in the elderly
Aging, considered as the decline of all physiological qualities, is a normal and expected process of time, which, no matter what we do, will always arrive. But this does not mean that we cannot prevent the ailments that come with it. In this case, chiropractic can be of great help. Chiropractic helps to increase the general...
Chiropractic for headaches
Headache is one of the most common pains suffered by individuals, being very frequent in the society in which we live. However, for a percentage of the world's population, suffering from headaches can become a chronic condition, which would merit the inclusion of therapeutic alternatives for its resolution. Possible causes include...
Children and chiropractic
The nervous system is mainly responsible for controlling and regulating many of the functions of the human body. Therefore, it is logical to think that any alteration of this system can provoke a wide range of symptoms that diminish the quality of life of the individual. This also happens in children, where some conditions can be...
Chiropractic and CrossFit: a relationship of strength
To have a body worthy of the Spartans takes not only time, money, and sacrifice, but also proper physical conditions, as doing high-intensity workouts without the right preparation can lead to severe injuries. This is being increasingly observed in CrossFit. CrossFit is defined as a strength and conditioning training system based...
4 ways to correct poor posture
It is precisely these days, when more and more people spend their time sitting in front of computer or TV screens, that posture becomes a very important topic to talk about. Simply put, posture is the way a person arranges his or her body or body parts. Knowing that only a small part of the population maintains a correct posture,...
Differences between a chiropractor and a physiotherapist
Nowadays it is quite common that, at some point in their lives, people need to consult a health professional to treat some ailment related to the musculoskeletal system. When deciding to seek professional help, many choose between a physical therapist and a chiropractor as if they were the same profession, but they are not the...
Chiropractor in 77379 Zip Code
If we consider that, nowadays, the vast majority of people have a job where they maintain the same posture for long hours, either in front of a computer or standing, or have suffered some kind of musculoskeletal injury that limits their physical activity, it can be said that the common factor of many individuals is the lack of...
Chiropractor in The Woodlands
If you are one of the many individuals that suffer from some type of musculoskeletal issues, such as spinal, knee, hip, or shoulder problems, you might be getting tired of hearing about the usual treatments based on anti-inflammatory medication, steroid injections, opiate pain drugs, or, in some cases, based even on surgical...
Chiropractor for Auto/Car Accidents
If we consider that car accidents have a prevalence of approximately 6 million cases each year in the United States, there is no doubt that these problems represent a serious health problem that millions of people may face every day. Now, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics, 27% of these...
Treating auto/car accidents at Spring Chiropractic
Experiencing some type of auto/car accident can mean needing a period of physical rehabilitation due to the possible injuries that can appear, resulting in multiple symptoms that affect the day-to-day life. Our team of experts at Spring Chiropractic understands the health complications you can have after being in an accident of...
Leading with auto/car accidents at Spring Chiropractic
In the United States, auto/car accidents continue to be one of the leading causes of accidental injuries. In fact, more than 6 million of these accidents happen every year, and according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), approximately 27% of all vehicle accidents result in nonfatal injuries, which can...
The Benefits of 1 on 1 Personal Training
Staying in good health is a common goal among adults. Everyone reaches their health goals differently. No matter who you are, you should understand the benefits that personal training offers with one-on-one instruction at Spring Chiropractic. Many residents of Spring, TX, have already discovered that the benefits of personal...
Keeping Athletic Kids Healthy & Fit
In today's age of health and fitness, more and more kids are involved in sporting activities. Although being part of a football, soccer or Little League team is an important rite of passage for many kids, parents and their children could be overlooking the importance of proper nutrition and body conditioning needed for preventing...
Today’s Fashion Can Be Tomorrow’s Pain
Looking your best might not always be the best thing for you. Today's society is extremely fashion and style conscious. Unfortunately, clothing designers and stylists aim to please by creating unique looks that might not always be practical or even comfortable.The look of the season shows runway models in high platform heels and...
Travel Can Be a Pain In Your Back
Traveling can be rough on the body. Whether you are traveling alone on businessor on your way to a sunny resort with your family, long hours in a caror an airplane can leave you stressed, tired, stiff and sore."Prolonged sitting can wreak havoc on your body," says Dr. Scott Bautch, immediate past president of the American...
Prepare for Winter Sports Activities
When snow, ice and frigid weather blast into town, watch out, says the American Chiropractic Association (ACA). Winter recreational activities and chores can pose problems for the outdoor enthusiast whose body is not in condition. Winter sports like skating, skiing and sledding can cause painful muscle spasms, strains or tears if...
Surviving the Holidays
The day after Thanksgiving is a milestone of sorts in America. It reminds us of just how quickly the year has gone by and how close we are to the holiday season. This realization coupled with the fabulous sales at major department stores and malls everywhere helps make the day after Thanksgiving our biggest shopping day of the...
Don’t Let Housework Be a Pain in Your Back
Household chores can be a pain in the sacroiliac. Unless you're careful, routine activities around the home washing dishes, vacuuming, even talking on the phone can strain your back, including the sacroiliac area near the tailbone, and result in debilitating discomfort. But you can protect your back by knowing the right way to go...
Strong Lower Backs: Having One That Works
Give Your Kids the Gift of a Healthy Spine
The health of a childs spine needs to be taken very seriously. A healthy spine will decrease their chance of injury, improve their posture, improve their overall health and help to avoid spinal problems such as scoliosis. in fact, studies have shown that children who receive regular chiropractic care are less frequently sick, are...
Sleep Better: 8 Simple Steps
Ten to fifteen percent of Americans suffer from chronic insomnia. Do you? Most of us experience an occasional sleepless night, but prolonged bouts of insomnia can lead to decreased mental function, frazzled nerves, and lowered immunity. The good news is that you dont have to pop a pill or count sheep: Just follow these simple,...
Osteoporosis: Not Just An Elderly Disease
It used to be that osteoporosis was considered a disease that affected only the elderly. We particularly associated osteoporosis with older women whose backs were slightly hunched over or those who could no longer stand up straight. Today, the truth is that an estimated 20 million American women suffer from osteoporosis, and 80...
The Truth About Multivitamins
During a graduate nutrition course at the University of Minnesota, a professor posed a challenge to the class: Construct a 2000 calorie-per-day diet that at least met the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for vitamins and minerals without the use of supplements. Most of the graduate students thought that this was going to be a...
Erasing Migraines: An M.D. Turns to Chiropractic
Stress, sleep deprivation and fatigue have been no small component of Dr. Michael Bensons life. As a fetal surgeon, Benson is often up for 24- to 36-hour stretches at a time looking after patients. He has little time to rest or eat regular, healthy meals. Its no wonder he has suffered from migraines for years.Benson is not alone....
Experiencing Headaches?
If you have a headache, you're not alone. Nine out of ten Americans suffer from headaches. Some are occasional, some frequent, some are dull and throbbing, and some cause debilitating pain and nausea.What do you do when you suffer from a pounding headache? Do you grit your teeth and carry on? Lie down? Pop a pill and hope the pain...
Neck Pain: Chiropractic Can Help
Who hasn't had neck pain at one time or another? What's more, many of us have experienced on-going neck troubles at some point during our lives. Looking at human anatomy, it's no wonder pain strikes us so often in this vulnerable area. While the neck structure gives us an amazing range of movement with which to see our environment,...
The Bottom Line on the Bird Flu
Its hard to turn on the television or listen to the radio without hearing about the dangers of an impending pandemic of the Avian Flu (often called the bird flu). Day after day, the media interview expert after expert who claim that the bird flu is going to cause massive world-wide illness and death. Fortunately, the bird flu...
Get Healthy, Stay Healthy in the New Year
So, it's a New Year, which traditionally means it's time for a fresh start. This year, why not make a resolution to improve your health? It's time to start the self-improvement plans we've been putting off for so long. Following these ten tips will increase your chances of living longer and more fully, and greatly reduce your risk...
Soccer Kids Need Protection
Ever since 1984, the year soccer passed baseball as the most popular team sport in the United States, participation in this sport has skyrocketed. With increasing numbers of children running and kicking their way down soccer fields across America, doctors of chiropractic are urging parents to take a step back and learn how to...
Bad Habits Lead to Bad Health
Did you know that drinking too much soda or other carbonated beverages could interfere with calcium absorption - a problem that could eventually lead to osteoporosis? Or that slouching at a desk all day or tapping away at a computer keyboard can lead to painful strains in your wrists, shoulders, elbows and back?These are just a few...
Backpacks: Lighten Your Child’s Load
As millions of kids get ready to go back to school, many will pull out old backpacks or purchase new ones. While the books, homework assignments, lunches, and other school gear those bags carry may be important for success in school, some experts point to backpack use as the leading cause of a growing trend in back pain among...
Choose the Right Shoes
Look around any crowded city street, and you'll see plenty of footwear from stiletto heels to platform shoes that is more than a little unkind to our feet. It's no wonder that foot pain is such a common complaint. But it's not just our feet that are hurting. Improper footwear places strain on the knees, hips and back. According...
Weight Loss Made Easier with Chiropractic
If you need to shed a few extra pounds, you're not alone. Excess weight is possibly the largest health concern in the United States today. According to the Surgeon General, well over half of all adults in the U.S. were overweight in 1999. The good news is that your chiropractor can help you achieve your ideal weight and stay there....
Sleep Apnea and Weight Gain
Is a lack of sleep thwarting your best weight loss efforts? There is much evidence to suggest that a lack of sleep goes hand-in-hand with weight gain. But first, it is important to address why you aren't sleeping well. Is your stress level or caffeine intake to blame? Or is your sleeplessness due to a common but very serious...
Key to Senior Fitness: Chiropractic Care, Healthy Lifestyle
Over the hill at age 65? Ready for the rocker at 70? Not these days. Americans are living longer and making more of their later years. One key is exercise. "Perhaps the most debilitating influence in people's health as they age is a sedentary life," said Dr. Jerome McAndrews, national spokesperson for the American Chiropractic...
Are You Protecting Your Children?
The growing awareness of safe driving and state safety laws have alerted the general public and parents to the importance of using car seats for their small children whenever and wherever they are driving. Most states require the use of car seats for children under the age of 4 and weighing less than 40 pounds. However, these...
Suggested Reading
Discover Wellness: How Staying Healthy Can Make You Rich by Michael Zimmerman & Dr. Jason A., Deitch. Discover Wellness teaches us how to avoid the impending health care crisis by staying healthy. Well researched and full of powerful information, Dr. Deitch's book describes the process of staying well in a toxic world. Buy Now...
The Quest for Strong Abs
The abs rule. As a result of this not-so-subtle imperative, a flat abdominal musculature is one of the primary goals of all exercise programs. Flat abdominals have great aesthetic appeal, not only to the "owner" of those abs, but also to the person's spouse or partner.Of course, a flat abdominal musculature is necessarily strong,...
Self-Actualization and Regular Chiropractic Care
Whether you're going out for a walk or a run, to the gym to lift weights, or to the pool to swim a few laps, the self-affirmation involved in the concept of "going out" or "going to" something for the sake of exercise is quite substantial. For most of us, it takes an extra effort, an extra application of willpower, to get us out of...
The Skating Rink
In his 1856 journal, the great American philosopher and naturalist Henry David Thoreau wrote, "I love the winter, with its imprisonment and its cold, for it compels the prisoner to try new fields and resources." Thoreau, a fearless explorer of inner and outer landscapes, welcomed opportunities to learn and expand his capabilities....
Taking Care in Winter Weather
The onset of winter does not signal the end of exercise and outdoors activities. There's plenty of skiing and snowboarding available in the Northeast, the American Rockies, across Canada, and even in Southern California. For those who like their exercise with less dramatic velocity and acceleration, walking and running continue to...
Cold Snap
As the weather turns colder, our metabolism begins to slow ever so noticeably. This change is natures design to synchronize our systems with the world around us and conserve resources. Instead of pitting ourselves against the laws of nature, it's a much wiser course of action to do our best to align ourselves with what's happening...
Backpack Misuse & Chronic Back Pain
Back pain is pervasive among American adults, but a new and disturbing trend is emerging. Young children are suffering from back pain much earlier than previous generations, and the use of overweight backpacks is a contributing factor, according to the American Chiropractic Association (ACA). In fact, according to the U.S. Consumer...
BACK To The Stats
Although doctors of chiropractic (DCs) care for more than just back pain, many patients visit DCs looking for relief from this pervasive condition.Thirty-one million Americans have low back pain at any given time (1). One half of all working Americans admit to having back symptoms each year (2). One third of all Americans over age...
The Long Game
We've heard a lot lately regarding how certain nations play a long game in terms of regional influence and global geopolitics. The concept of a so-called long game is interesting in that it implies a more than common degree of patience and a commitment to outcomes that are evaluated over decades and generations, rather than months...
Forty Winks
When we think of healthful lifestyle choices we generally consider requirements for a healthy diet and regular vigorous exercise. We want to be sure we're eating a wide variety of foods from the primary food groups and that were careful to watch our daily calorie intake. In the realm of exercise, we want to do a minimum of 30...
The Four Seasons
Change is an undeniable force that impacts everything. Nothing in the physical world, either on Earth or in the Universe itself, is able to resist change and ultimate decay. Supernovas, for example, are the final explosive moments of massive stars. Our own changes through life are not as dramatic, but nonetheless, they are just as...
Your Wellness Profile
All of us have had health-related issues at some time or other. Whether it's low back pain, headaches, asthma, gastritis, an ankle sprain, or a rotator cuff injury, we've all had a health problem that ultimately needed treatment. Chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and various types of cancer are especially...
Rejuvenation Versus Resignation
Rejuvenation Versus ResignationThis is the time of the new year when our recently made resolutions are put to the test. Were they holiday-fueled imaginings or meaningful expressions of our heart's true desires? Are our resolutions sturdy things that will help us carry out our goals and plans for the rest of the year or are they...
Chiropractic Facts and Figures
As evidence supporting the effectiveness of chiropractic continues to emerge, consumers are turning in record numbers to chiropractic care a preventive, non-surgical, drug-free treatment option.Just a few interesting facts on this increasingly popular form of health care: Chiropractic is the largest, most regulated, and best...
Advice For A Healthy New Year
There is no better time to rejuvenate your health than the start of a new year. So don't let your resolution to eat more nutritiously fall by the wayside. Just a few simple changes in your diet and lifestyle can have a positive impact on your health and can also prevent you from experiencing a variety of health problems in the...
Chiropractic Advice for Moms-to-Be
The weight gain, the bloating, the nausea... Most new mothers will tell you that the aches and pains of pregnancy are a small price to pay for the beautiful bundle of joy they're rewarded with nine months later.But as many new mothers can attest, the muscle strains of pregnancy are very real and can be more than just a nuisance....
Children & Good Computer Ergonomics
At least 70 percent of America's 30 million elementary school students use computers, according to a recent New York Times article. As a result of this increased usage, doctors of chiropractic are treating more young patients suffering from the effects of working at computer stations that are either designed for adults or poorly...
Carpal Tunnel
There are a number of different ways to treat this condition. In most cases, a chiropractic adjustment to the affected area is an extremely effective solution. In some cases, a misalignment in either the back or neck can cause this condition, and chiropractic manipulation of the neck and/or spine can also serve as an effective...
Auto Accidents
If you have been involved in a car accident, your injuries need to be taken very seriously. Because symptoms of some injuries can take weeks or months to manifest, it is easy to be fooled into thinking that you are not as injured as you really are.Too often people don't seek treatment following a car accident because they don't...
Asthma
Allergies are often treated with chiropractic care. Many allergic and asthmatic reactions are caused by hypersensitivity of the immune system and/or respiratory system. Researchers have found that the immune and respiratory systems depend on normal communication from the brain and spinal cord to control and coordinate their...
Allergies
Allergies are often treated with chiropractic care. Many allergic and asthmatic reactions are caused by hypersensitivity of the immune system and/or respiratory system. Researchers have found that the immune and respiratory systems depend on normal communication from the brain and spinal cord to control and coordinate their...
Ear Infections
Almost half of all children will suffer from at least one middle ear infection (otitis media) before they're a year old, and two-thirds of them will have had at least one episode by age three. The symptoms of otits media include ear pain, fever, and irritability. If you look into the ear of a child who has otitis media, you will be...
PMS
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is characterized by mood swings, swollen abdomen, headaches, back pain, food cravings, fatigue, irritability or depression in the days before a woman's monthly period. The severity of these symptoms can range from mild to incapacitating and may last from a couple of days to two weeks.It has been...
Pinched Nerve
The term "pinched nerve" is somewhat of a catch-all phrase that is commonly used to describe the pain associated with a variety of conditions from subluxations, to tunnel syndromes to the referred pain from trigger points.Most of the time, what is called a pinched nerve is actually an irritated, or inflamed nerve where the nerve...
Read the Labels
Learning how to read food labels is like looking at a prescription for your health and your life. We recommend looking for red-flag ingredients- if a Hall of Shame ingredient is listed among the top five ingredients overall, steer clear!Food Hall of ShameFood Hall of Fame1. Sugar 2. High Fructose Corn Syrup 3. Enriched Wheat Flour...
Identity
The big distinction about wellness psychology is that it is largely a manifestation of your identity, who you believe yourself to be. If you consider yourself a well person, it goes a long way toward producing well habits and a well mind. Your identity is your self image, your self concept, your beliefs and your values. Choosing...
Spirituality
No discussion of wellness psychology would be complete without mentioning the impact of spirituality on wellness. Appreciating religious values and spiritual beliefs can help to form a solid foundation of wellness in your life. Learning to balance physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual harmony is a theme found in many spiritual...
Wellness Psychology
Wellness psychology is the study of mental and emotional wellness - in other words, the way to create conditions of thinking and feeling that are consistent with healthy living.Wellness psychology is a way of responding to the challenges of life with positive expectancy and self-esteem, based on the awareness that our natural state...
Personality
The technical end of wellness psychology encourages normal responses to the challenges of life, rather than just treating mental and emotional conditions. Understanding the concept of personality makes this approach clearer. For example, people tend to have patterns of behavior, some of which work better than others, but the...
Chiropractic Objective
When a subluxation occurs, a chiropractor can correct the misaligned bone and allow it to return to its proper position. This procedure is appropriately called an adjustment, and the adjustment enables the body to heal. The chiropractic adjustment is a quick thrust applied to a vertebra for the purpose of correcting its position,...
Effects of Chiropractic Care
Now let us be clear that we are not under the illusion that everyone who creates a wellness lifestyle will be immune from pain, sickness, and disease. There are many people who do everything right and still get sick and die. Some will argue that there are many people who do everything wrong and live long, seemingly healthy lives....
Love Others
Sharing love is the most powerful force of nature, whether it's with a pet, a friend, or a significant other. Experts stipulate that loneliness and social disconnect result from our increasing attention on technology and work. Regarding ailments such as heart disease, Dr. Ornish says that "the real epidemic isn't physical heart...
Quit Smoking
Smoking throughout the day is akin to living inside a burning building. Smoking degrades the collagen of your skin causing premature aging, destroys the cells inside your lungs, and promotes heart disease, cataracts and cancer because of the oxidizing radicals released into the blood stream. It can contribute to back pain by...
Turn off the Television
There are three major trends in the health of both children and adults that have public health workers concerned: an increase in obesity, attention deficit disorder (ADD) and the amount of time spent watching television. Several recently published research studies indicate that television may be the culprit that leads to both of...
Quality Of Life
The most obvious and desirable benefit of a well mind is a better quality of life, which of course is determined by each individual's model of the world. Our values and beliefs will shape our definition of a great quality of life. A well person or family seeks to live consistently with their own meaning of living well, so...
Relationships
While you can't be responsible for someone else's behaviors and values, you can help to create an environment that makes relationships work better. Gaining and maintaining rapport establishes a bond or connection that improves communication. Sharing and committing to support each other's values calms rocky waters and sets the stage...
Wellness vs. Medical Care
What's the main difference between wellness care and standard medical care? Wellness care seeks to turn on the natural healing ability, not by adding something to the system, but by removing anything that might interfere with normal function, trusting that the body would know what to do if nothing were interfering with it. Standard...
What’s An Adjustment?
Spinal adjustments to correct subluxations are what make chiropractic professionals unique in comparison with any other type of health care professional. The term "adjustment" refers to the specific force chiropractors apply to vertebrae that have abnormal movement patterns or fail to function normally.The objective of the...
History
Manual manipulation of the spine and other joints in the body have been around for a long time. Ancient writings from China and Greece dating between 2700 B.C. and 1500 B.C. mention spinal manipulation and the maneuvering of the lower extremities to ease low back pain. In fact, Hippocrates, the famous Greek physician who lived from...
Scoliosis
Scoliosis is a sideways curve of the spine that causes stiffness and pain. It is called an idiopathic disease because the cause of it is unknown. Scoliosis is more common in females and begins in childhood. However, merely two percent of the population is afflicted. If it is detected early, scoliosis treatment will prevent it from...
Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a metabolic disease involving loss of bone tissue and the disorganization of bone structure. Osteoporosis affects more than 200 million people worldwide and more than 10 million Americans. In the United States an additional 18 million persons have low bone mass. The total of 28 million individuals represents almost...
Orthotics
Your feet are the base that your body stands on. If your feet are weak or have structural problems, this can lead to problems in your knees, hips and low back, and can even cause headaches. Many people wear orthotics because they are good for their feet, but orthotics are even more important for those who experience pain after...
Exercise Ball
These days an exercise ball is a great tool to have and use at home. You can do a thorough workout on it, you can stretch on it and you can use it as a desk chair. Make sure to get the correct size. There are great videos that you can use to learn basic exercise routines.
Foam Roll
A foam roll is exactly what it sounds like a long roll made of foam which can be used to help with balance and coordination exercise, to help you stretch your muscles and to "roll out" the stress and tension in your muscles in order to release the lactic acid that builds up in muscles and causes pain.
Personal Trainer
Another great way to get results is to make sure you are getting expert advice and supervision. A personal trainer is a great way to ensure that you are exercising safely and effectively to accomplish your goal. All exercise is not the same; some people want to build more muscle mass, some people want more tone and definition, some...
Power Plate
The Power Plate's Advanced Vibration Technology is the most innovative health and fitness tool in the industry today. Backed by over 40 years of scientific research, vibration training enables you to achieve a higher level of fitness faster than traditional methods. The Power Plate produces a vibration that is transferred to the...
Resistance Bands/Weights
In order to keep your muscles strong, you must stress them by resistance training. Dumbbell weights or resistance bands are great ways to strengthen your muscles. Resistance bands are great because they are easy to travel with. Take them on your next business trip and you won't miss a workout wherever you are.
Videos, Books, & Internet
With today's technology there really is no good excuse not to stretch and exercise properly. You can check out exercise videos for free at the local library, rent them from video stores or access free information online. You can even purchase exercise, yoga and pilates programs to download onto your iPod.
Wrist Metabolism Monitor
If you are a gadget junkie, a professional athlete or just like to have the most advanced new technology, you'll want the Suunto t6. It is a wristwatch that calculates your heart rate, energy consumption, ventilation, oxygen consumption (VO2), respiratory rate, Training Effect and EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption). You...
Headsets
If you talk on the phone regularly and for long periods of time, a headset is a great tool to prevent headaches, stiff necks and sore shoulders. If you really want a new and healthy experience, invest in a cordless headset. Being able to stand up, walk around and use your hands while talking on the phone is not only healthier, it...
Keyboard & Mouse Pads
Many computer keyboards now include wrist pads as standard accessories. There are, however, ways to upgrade and enjoy the benefits of a liquid filled or foam pad designed to comfortably support your wrists while typing and using your mouse. If you are using a computer regularly, these are worth the investment.
Lumbar Support
A support for your low back is essential to have in the chairs in which you will spend most of your time. Most furniture companies do not manufacture chairs that are actually healthy for you. Often they are hard rather than offering a cushioned seat, and the position of your spine is often very poor and sometimes even damaging....
Monitor Arm
First it was great when computer monitors went from taking up so much desk space to the new flat panels but they are still on the desk taking up space and don't have too many ways to adjust their position to best fit a person's work station. Humanscale, a leader in ergonomic office furniture, offers a variety of computer monitor...
Detox
Every person should cleanse the system of toxins and let the digestive tract rest at least once each year. Cleansing is one of the most direct and effective ways to improve your overall health quickly. Free radicals and toxins can build up in your body over time and may cause fatigue, poor immune function, sleep disturbances,...
Essential Fatty Acids
One component of nutrition that deserves significant attention is essential fatty acids (EFAs). EFAs cannot be produced by the body and therefore must come from the food we eat. They are the main structural components of our cell membranes, and keep our cell walls healthy by allowing nutrients to flow in and toxins to flow out. The...
Greens
Dietary essentials for wellness include getting the five to ten servings of vegetables and fruits per day that will provide you with antioxidants, fiber, vitamins, and minerals necessary for optimum functioning at the cellular level. To help you achieve this goal, we suggest a whole food phytonutrient blend, often called "green...
Protein
Protein is another nutritional foundation essential to building and maintaining muscle during every stage of life. Protein provides a number of benefits in the areas of weight management, immune support, and bone health. As you know it is always best to nourish your body with natural organic foods, but you may also benefit by...
Vitamins & Supplements
Unless you live on an organic farm, most experts agree that we should take a daily supplement in order to ensure that our bodies are receiving the nutrients necessary to promote our optimum health. Multi-vitamin supplements help your body stay nourished to keep healthy and strong. One of my favorite products is the NutriWell Pack...
Advanced Citizenry
Each of us has a sphere of influence, a circle of friends and acquaintances who need to hear our message. Whether you decide to do something small or great, please accept your share of the responsibility for moving our society ahead. If we all invest our own special something, the net effect will be a happy, healthy, and fulfilling...
Change Unhealthy Habits
The second thing is to act "as if." Whenever you change what you are doing, it will feel unnatural. It may feel like you are doing something wrong, funny, or something that is just not you. In a way you are right. When you change a habit, you are by definition acting in a way that is 'just not you.' But in a very short time, it...
Get Your Sleep
Sleep expert and President of the American Sleep Research Institute Lynn Larson explains that the link between sleep and decreased longevity is due to the immediate effect lack of sleep has on human performance. Missing sleep leads to poor decision making and affects everything we do: rushing when we should be methodical,...
What Should I Do About My Pain?
What Should I Do for a Herniated Disc?
What’s Wrong with My Back?
When Is Back Pain More Than Back Pain?
Out of the blue, your back starts to hurt. At first, it's just an annoyance. You can live with it. You've had lower back pain before and it went away on its own. Now it's a few weeks later. You've got a low-grade pain that's not getting any better. You're actually worse, in fact, because your back hurts most of the time. What to...
Why Do My Knees Hurt?
What's going on? Is this mechanical failure people seem to be experiencing in their joints a new phenomenon? Or are more diagnoses being made now owing to the ready availability of CAT scans and MRI units? Are more surgeries being done owing to the abundance (at least in urban areas) of surgeons wanting to perform these...
Self-Guided Imagery
Mindfulness techniques can assist a person substantially in achieving improved levels of health and well-being. These methods, including meditation and guided imagery, are gaining prominence as more traditional medicine group practices, hospitals, and teaching institutions 1,2 are embracing an integrated approach.Learning the...
Balance
Strength
Muscles are very efficient at getting stronger or weaker in response to the demands placed on them. Since most of us sit at a desk, drive a car, and sit on the sofa at home, many of our muscles are not challenged. Consequently, they become weak. At the same time, the muscles that are constantly used throughout the day become...
Relationships with Others
As the author Dr. Tedd Koren says "Emotional health is also dependent on being connected - to yourself and others. The more connected you are to yourself the more you can connect with others and the more fulfilling your connections (relationships). The more relationships in your life the more happiness, joy, hope, optimism and...
Control Your Breathing
Have you ever noticed how you breathe when you're stressed? Stress typically causes rapid, shallow breathing. This kind of breathing sustains other aspects of the stress response, such as rapid heart rate and perspiration. If you can get control of your breathing, the spiraling effects of acute stress will automatically become less...
Find Your Mantra
Autogenic means something that comes from within you. During this type of relaxation, you repeat words or suggestions in your mind to help you relax and reduce the tension in your muscles. Find a peaceful place where you'll be free of interruptions. Then follow these steps: Choose a focus word, phrase, or image you find relaxing....
Soothing Sounds
If you have about ten minutes and a quiet room, you can take a mental vacation almost anytime with soothing sounds. Consider music such as relaxation CDs or internet radio stations to help you unwind. To rest your mind and take a visual journey to a peaceful place, consider the following:Spoken word. These CDs use spoken...
A Back Saver Wallet
Most men carry a wallet in their back pockets and in many cases it can be over a half an inch thick. Sitting on a half inch wedge for hours at a time over a period of years is one of the most overlooked causes of spinal misalignments and spinal pain including back pain, neck pain and even headaches. Our recommendation is to clean...
A Healthy Backpack
Another important wellness essential product is an ergonomically designed backpack. It is amazing how we can put thousands of pages of data onto a microchip smaller than the eye can see, yet kids are carrying backpacks that are heavier than ever filled with text books. Many schools are taking away kid's lockers making the problem...
Buy Good Shoes
Most people spend close to two-thirds of their life in shoes, so wearing shoes that fit well is very important. Our feet endure tremendous pressures daily. For example, an average day of walking brings a force equal to several hundred tons on your feet. Feet are subject to more injury than any other part of the body, underscoring...
A Good Mattress
Most people spend approximately one-third of their entire life lying in bed. The quality of your mattress can make a huge difference between waking up feeling refreshed and waking up in pain. In fact, old worn-out mattresses are an extremely common contributor to chronic back and neck pain. Good health and sleep are closely linked....
Cervical Pillow
There are a variety of different types of pillows that are made of different grades of foam and have custom curves designed into them to support your neck. If you are like most people, you sleep on your pillow for six to nine hours every night. Shouldn't you sleep on something that will help you maintain your good health, not...
BOSU/Disc
A great way to both work on strengthening the core muscles that wrap around your waist and support your spine and improve your balance and coordination is with a new workout tool called a BOSU which stands for "both sides up." On one side it is a half of a balance ball on the other side it is a flat surface.This is a great tool...
Core Trainer
The Core Trainer is an innovative, effective piece of exercise equipment from Panasonic that allows you to sit down and perform low impact exercises that help lead to high impact results. This is made possible by innovative counter-balance exercise technology, which constantly moves you off your center of balance, forcing you to...
Desk Chair
The basics of a healthy ergonomic workstation include a bio-mechanically correct chair to sit in. It is best if it's adjustable to support your unique height and curves. Humanscale offers a variety of seating options designed to keep you healthy and well while you are working. These products are an investment in your health if you...
Owning Your Health
Principles of Posture
Rise and Shine!
The Luck of the Draw
Some people do all the right things and still develop serious health problems. Others flaunt their bad habits and are able to live long lives, dying peacefully in their sleep at the age of 95. For example, high blood pressure (hypertension, HTN) is a common chronic disease in the United States. With HTN a person's heart has to work...
Your New Reality
Back Pain – Am I At Risk?
Are there risk factors for back pain? And, if there are, what can I do to keep myself healthy and well? Your chiropractor can help answer these questions and more. One primary risk factor relates to exercise. Everyone has heard, "if you don't use it, you lose it". If you're not exercising regularly, your back muscles are...
Back Pain and Herniated Discs
A 30-year-old mom bends over to pick up her four-year-old and feels a sharp stabbing pain in her lower back. A 60-year-old man bends over to pick up his five-year-old grandchild and feels an electrical shooting pain in his lower back. For both, the pain is so severe they need to sit down. The next day, both the mom and the...
Backpacks and Back Pain
Backpacks are the tote of choice for most school-aged children with two books per class to lug around. In fact, it is reported that between 92% and 94% of schoolchildren carry backpacks. And it appears these contraptions are evolving somewhat with sturdier-looking designs, heavily padded straps and about a thousand small pockets...
Do I Have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?
Effective Diagnosis and Treatment of Low Back Pain
Here's an all-too-common situation. You develop low back pain that lasts for more than a few days and you're uncomfortable enough to go see your primary care physician. He or she tells you it's not clear what's going on and sends you for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of your lumbar spine. The study comes back showing one...
Healthy Hips and Healthy Knees
The numbers of individuals undergoing total hip replacement and total knee replacement are increasing significantly.1 Annual rates in the United States for total hip replacement have increased more than 50%. In Denmark, rates have been increasing by 30%. Annual rates in the United States for total knee replacement have increased by...
Is My Pain Serious?
Lines of Force
Most chronic joint-related problems involving the hip, knee, and ankle1,2 can be successfully managed with conservative treatment. Surgery for such conditions is typically a last resort and frequently does not work out well. Revision (repeat) procedures are common and represent a failure of appropriate patient selection. Severe,...
Replacement Parts: What You Need to Know
If you've ever been involved in a motor vehicle collision, you're probably familiar with the term "replacement parts" or "crash parts". Your auto insurance company will usually offer to repair your car using after-market bumpers, door panels, wheel assemblies, and other parts. Or, you may prefer to have the repair done with parts...
Suffer from Neck Pain?
Do you suffer from neck pain? If you do, you're not alone. Nearly 75 percent of American adults will suffer from neck pain at some point in their lives. And, looking at our anatomy, it's no wonder so many of us do. Though having your head perched on top of your spine gives you a great view of your environment, the set-up is rather...
The Best Treatment for Trigger Points
Trigger points are painful nodules in muscular tissue, commonly found in the upper back, low back, and gluteal muscles. Trigger points are frequently chronic, persisting from day to day without much relief. When someone says, My muscles are all in knots, those knots are most likely trigger points.The formal definition of a...
The Problem of Radiating Pain
Many people experience radiating pain as a component of neck pain or low back pain. A person with neck pain might have pain that radiates down her arm, possibly into the hand.1 A person with low back pain might have accompanying leg pain, possibly traveling into the foot. Such arm/hand pain or leg/foot pain can represent a serious...
Weight Loss That Stays Lost
America's weight problems are now so well-known they're even fair game for jokes at the Oscars. "Americans really know how to fill up a seat," jibes Ellen DeGeneres, host of the 2007 Academy Awards.The statistics are alarming. Sixty-five percent of Americans - 130 million in 2001 - are overweight. Fifteen percent of American...
The Stress of Life
"The Stress of Life" is a perennial bestseller by Hans Selye, written in 1956. Selye almost single-handedly introduced the notion of stress into the worldwide consciousness. By doing so, Selye changed the way we think about ourselves, our values, and how we conduct our lives.As Selye observed, stress is a double-edged sword. Many...
What’s the Problem with Stress?
We live in stressful times. The economy is tough, global conflicts rage, severe weather events are affecting people in every corner of the globe, and our numerous technological devices don't seem to be making things any easier. Of course, this is nothing new. Every generation thinks theirs is the best of times and the worst of...
Trigger Points and Pain
21st Century Stress
This is turning out to be a pretty tough century. Or at least so far. The recent earthquake-like shocks in the economy have impacted everyone, and most people's stress levels are sky-high.Jobs have been lost, retirement savings have shrunk drastically, and energy prices are rising again. Economic stress leads to real physical...
Chiropractic and Reducing Stress
We certainly live in stressful times. It's not easy to assess whether our era is the most stressful, but we do have plenty of daily stress. The job, the home, the kids, the relatives, and the economy - all these stresses add up and yet we wonder why we have so many aches and pains. So many ailments are stress-related. Americans are...
The Inner Game of Health
Way back in the 1960s, when everything was brand-new, the Beatles introduced Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to national television audiences in American and the UK. The Maharishi came to the West with the Beatles to introduce a new thing - Transcendental Meditation.At the time most Westerners were not familiar with meditation in any form....
Enhance Fertility with Chiropractic Care
Thirty-five year-old Tracy had tried everything: monitoring her cycles through body temperature, over-the-counter fertility predictors and finally, fertility-enhancing drugs and in vitro fertilization. But after three years of trying, she still wasn't pregnant. She began to think she was "too old" to have a family, though she was...
Pregnancy, Parenting, and Lower Back Pain
You're pregnant! Congratulations! Your body's changing-wondrously, marvelously. One unexpected and unwelcome change may be lower back pain. Recent studies suggest that two-thirds of pregnant women experience lower back pain.1 These statistics seem reasonable. The weight of the growing baby, plus the weight of the placenta and...
Yellow Light Go Very Fast
Your Computer and You
Windows and Mac users actually do have one thing in common - computer ergonomics issues, namely, pain.1,2 Beyond the usual hardware and software gotchas we deal with on a daily basis, the real bottom-line question is, "how to play nice with my computer". Doing computer work is a funny kind of work, a type of activity we're still...
Childhood Sports Injuries
Kids get hurt all the time. They're running, they're jumping, they're crashing into things. Kids want to have fun, and when they play, they play full-out. So, when kids play real sports, stuff happens.1,2 Whether your kid plays soccer, baseball, football, or studies karate, a broken bone, sprained ankle, or twisted knee is just the...
Chiropractic Check-Ups for Kids
Kids can get checked, too. Do kids need regular blood pressure check-ups or regular tests of their blood glucose levels? Probably not - these simple procedures can be done during a child's annual physical. But kids are very active and more frequent chiropractic check-ups are usually a good idea. Most of us were introduced to...
Healthy Kids Are Smart Kids
American kids are under tremendous pressure to perform well in school. Every year they're required to take more and more standardized tests, and every year they fall further behind children around the world, particularly in science and mathematics.More is required to do well in school beyond sitting in the classroom and managing to...
Avoiding Diabetes
The worldwide type 2 diabetes epidemic has been thoroughly documented.1,2 Yet despite extensive study and analysis, there has been little actual progress in slowing the spread of this chronic disease. Numerous medications such as metformin and glyburide are available to help counter the severe problems that result from unchecked...
Could your lifestyle be making you sick?
What is your lifestyle? Not whether you are married or where you live, but rather, how are you choosing to live your life? What choices are you making to keep yourself and your family healthy and well?It is startling to learn that some of the most prevalent causes of illness, disease, and death - including cancer, heart disease,...
Diabetes and Obesity
Like Scylla and Charybdis, the twin sea monsters of Greek mythology, diabetes and obesity are the twin medical monsters confronting America's children. Diabetes and obesity have even been featured as the story line in a recent episode of Law & Order, a show well-known for focusing on issues that matter. What's going on?...
Fate Or Choice
We all know some people who get sick all the time. They're just getting over one thing when here comes the next round of illness. We also know people who just seem to be full of energy. Those people never get sick or so it seems. What are the key differences between these North and South Poles of health? One key difference is...
Health Care Breakthroughs – Hope or Hype?
Health care breakthroughs are big business. We know this because such news is reported in the Business Section of newspapers and magazines. Discussions relate primarily to the potential impact on the company's share price and revenues. Possible benefits to patients are a secondary concern compared to the amount of money involved....
Let the Flu Go Around You
Since mid-Fall TV commercials have been trumpeting the horrors of the "flu season". "It's never too soon to begin fighting this year's bug" they blare. Public health announcements urge us to get our "yearly flu shot", as if this is something we've got permanently scheduled in our Blackberries. All the leading over-the-counter pain...
Lowering the Risk Factors of Obesity, Diabetes, and Heart Disease
We're in the middle of several deadly epidemics in the United States. Obesity, diabetes, and heart disease are affecting more and more people every year. Recent statistics show that two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. Thirty percent of American children are obese. Approximately 21 million Americans have diabetes. One...
Managing Your Symptoms
Most of us are procrastinators. We let things go until the last minute. Papers, magazines, and books pile up on the desk until the process of finding what we're looking for resembles an archeological dig. Our garages look like our desks. Stuff fills the garage just like stuff covers the desk. Eventually, finding things resembles...
Ups and Downs
Is it possible that ups and downs with respect to our health and well-being are yet another reflection of the ebb and flow of all things? Aren't ups and downs part of the natural process of life? If ups and downs are natural, should you really be concerned with the downs? Isn't disease merely the normal flip side to health? If you...
Being Young, Feeling Young, Looking Young
Poets throughout the centuries have helped us see that being young is a state of mind. That special state of mind impels us to take actions on our own behalf, actions that have specific consequences for our health and well-being. But so many people believe in the power of the dollar. They spend vast sums every year on anti-aging,...
Is 60 the New 40?
"60 is the New 40" is more than a marketing slogan. The phrase is also a metaphor for optimism, as well as a metaphor for good health.How can 60 really be the new 40? First, there are the demographics. Forty years ago, when today's 40-year-olds were just being born, 40 was a fairly substantial age. In the early 1970s, every...
Taking Care of Older Joints (and Younger Joints, Too)
Many people experience increasing musculoskeletal joint stiffness as they get older. Shoulders, knees, and ankles don't seem to be as flexible as they once were. It seems more difficult to bend over and pick up a dropped object. It may be uncomfortable to turn your head around to see the car in the next lane that's right in the...
The Time Machine
The Macintosh operating system contains a subprogram called "Time Machine" that allows you to reset your status to any previously saved state. Provided that you have designated a location for backups, you can literally go back in time and recover documents, directories, and applications you may have overwritten, deleted, or...
You Say It’s Your Birthday
Getting Fit at Fifty and Beyond
What if you used to be really fit and now you're not? What if, as the years have gone by, you've added a couple of pounds here and there, and you suddenly notice you're 30 pounds heavier than you were at your 10th high school reunion? Or, what if you've never enjoyed the idea of exercising, exercise was never part of your...
Senior Fitness
Bob Barker, beloved host of The Price Is Right, recently made headlines by announcing his retirement after 35 years. "Barker irreplaceable!" blared the entertainment tabloids. And yet, Mr. Barker celebrated his 82nd birthday a few months ago.Eighty-two! Who really are the "seniors" among us? And what does "senior" mean in today's...
When Parents Get Older
The average age of Americans is increasing year-by-year. Approximately 77 million babies were born in the United States during the boom years of 1946 to 1964. In 2011, the oldest will turn 65, and on average can expect to live to 83. Many will continue well into their 90s. Most people continue to retain the habits they developed as...
When Are Simple Headaches Not So Simple?
Headaches are big business. For the drug companies, that is. Approximately 10 million Americans suffer daily headaches, and 50 million have headaches often enough to seek medical care. Approximately 23 million Americans suffer from migraines. Billions of dollars are spent each year on Aleve and Motrin for tension headaches and...
The Pain of Clinical Depression
The Life You Want to Live
We all want to get the most we can out of life. Whether we want to find a loving partner, work at a meaningful career, gather an abundance of financial resources, or have enough leisure time to pursue favored interests, the usual bottom line is that we want to be happy. Throughout thousands of years of history, the great...
Questions About Cancer
Cancer is a health issue for many families. It's important to understand that there are different kinds of cancers. Not all cancers are life-threatening. Some types may be very serious and some may be dealt with relatively easily. First, it's important to distinguish between benign and malignant tumors. The words "tumor" and...
High Blood Pressure
We all know someone with high blood pressure (HBP), possibly a beloved family member or a lifelong friend. This common problem affects one in four American adults.1 An alarming 75% of patients with type 2 diabetes also have HBP.2 High blood pressure is particularly dangerous because, for the most part, there are no symptoms until...
Heart Disease Is Still Number One!
Healing Chronic Shoulder Pain
Have You Been Suffering From Chronic Knee Pain?
Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain
The condition of fibromyalgia creates many challenges for a person with this disorder. These challenges often go far beyond the characteristic chronic pain which alone can be potentially debilitating. Those with fibromyalgia have pain in many locations and the presence of multiple pain sites is often confusing to their doctor or...
Chiropractic: The drugless solution to headaches
Headaches are an unfortunate and painful part of life for many Americans. In fact, an estimated five percent of adults in this country suffer from chronic migraines or severe headache pain.We spend billions of dollars each year on over-the-counter and prescription pain medication for relief from those nagging headaches. But these...
Breathing Exercises Improve Asthma Symptoms
In the United States, about 20 million people have been diagnosed with asthma; nearly 9 million of them are children. The most common treatment for Asthma has been the use of corticosteriod inhalers. A new study found that breathing techniques can cut the use of asthma reliever inhalers by more than 80% and halve the dose of...
Allergies and Asthma
Allergies and asthma are big business. Approximately 50 million Americans suffer from allergies, and approximately 20 million suffer from asthma. With some overlap between the conditions, more than 60 million Americans experience either allergies, asthma, or both. The costs for medications, hospital and emergency room admissions,...
Your Double Helix
Not everyone will admit this, but there's something magical about exercise. Your brain produces endorphins in response to vigorous exercise and you feel energized, alert, and alive. You derive tremendous satisfaction from doing something you said you'd do. You feel good about yourself all day long. Beyond these benefits related to...
Triple Axel
Mao Asada, Silver Medalist in Ladies Figure Skating at the 2010 Winter Olympics, landed three triple axels in the competition, a feat no competitor had done before. There are no easy figure skating jumps, spins, or technical elements, but the triple axel is particularly difficult. This jump has many moving parts, all of which must...
To Lift or Not to Lift?
If a great Shakespearean protagonist had, anachronistically, joined a gym, his internal existential inquiry might have been, "To lift or not to lift?". Many centuries later, the identical inquiry, or controversy, persists. Joining a gym (health club) usually implies the new club member is going to engage in strength training in one...
The Power of Cross-Training
Cross-training refers to a combination of different methods of exercise. Specifically, cross-training refers to the combination of strength training and cardiovascular training in your overall exercise program. Whether you're a 14-year-old just starting out on your first fitness program, or whether you're a 74-year-old who hasn't...
The Home Stretch
Thanks to effective public health campaigns regarding healthy lifestyle choices, many people have incorporated regular, vigorous exercise, a nutritious diet, and getting sufficient rest in their daily routines. For many people, an additional important component of a healthy lifestyle is regular stretching.Regular stretching...
Swinging for the Fences
Game-changing plays in any sport and at any level are tremendously exciting. Whether we're watching Pop Warner football, middle school recreational soccer, high school basketball, or Major League Baseball, an extraordinary athletic play makes us stand up and cheer. If our team takes the lead as a result, so much the...
Strength Training for Beginners (and Experts, Too)
Strength training, otherwise known as weight training, is one of those activities that provides a wide range of benefits for the person who does it regularly. Like yoga, strength straining makes all your muscles stronger, enhances flexibility, and improves cardiovascular capability and capacity. In fact, two strength training...
Interval Training and Cardiovascular Health
Interval training is an important part of aerobic exercise. If you're a walker or a runner, run intervals once a week. Walking and running build endurance by strengthening your cardiovascular system. Doing interval training once a week enhances your endurance by dramatically increasing the amount of blood your hear pumps every time...
Hamlet’s Fitness
"To stretch or not to stretch." That wasn't exactly Hamlet's question. The Prince of Denmark had matters of state to consider, especially the most effective method to avenge the murder of his father. Getting ready for his next fencing lesson had taken low priority.But for the rest of us who aren't Nordic princes, matters of fitness...
Getting Ready for Summer
Here comes summer! Fun in the sun. Barbecues, fireworks, and cool drinks. And outdoor activities - hiking, biking, running, swimming, skating, blading, and even canoeing. Getting back into shape seems like a very good idea right about now. We want to look good in our shorts and tee shirts, and more importantly, we don't want to be...
Food Combining for Good Health
Most people are aware of the worldwide epidemics of diabetes and obesity. The World Health Organization definition of overweight is a body mass index (BMI) equal to or greater than 25. Obesity is defined as a BMI equal to or greater than 30.1 Worldwide obesity has doubled since 1980. In 2008, 35% of adults aged 20 and older...
Exercise Time Management
We all know that five 30-minute sessions of vigorous exercise each week is necessary for obtaining and maintaining high levels of health and well-being. The type of exercise doesn't matter, although a combination of aerobic exercise and strength training provides optimal benefit. However, what many people don't seem to know is that...
Exercise Smarter Not Harder
We all want to get the most out of the time we spend exercising, and it's natural to think that exercising harder is going to provide a bigger, faster payoff. But exercising harder without adequate preparation often leads to injury. Then there's recovery time, possibly the need for rehabilitation, and ultimately you're back at the...
Dancing in the Streets
As Martha and the Vandellas sang back in the 1960s, summer's here! There's so much to do and we want to make sure we have a great time. Baseball, basketball, volleyball. Swimming and surfing. Walking and running. Hiking and climbing. Rollerblading and skateboarding. Now that summer's here, everything's possible and everything's...
Climbing the Hill
Climbing a hill is a useful metaphor for activities involved in accomplishing a major goal, overcoming longstanding obstacles, or achieving a noteworthy milestone. But you must be prepared to engage in such a climb. Striking out without a metaphorical map, compass, bottle of water, or raingear will consistently result in limited...
Choosing the Right Diet for Me
It seems as if every few months theres a new diet whose rules and requirements we must follow if were going to reach the goal of good health. The paleo diet provides a great example of this phenomenon. Were exhorted by paleo proponents to eat lots of fats and animal protein. Carbohydrate consumption should be fairly light....
Chiropractic and Aerobic Fitness
We think mostly of chiropractic treatment in terms of lower back pain, neck pain, and headaches. In fact, there are numerous additional wide-ranging benefits to chiropractic health care. Many of these benefits are related to getting more out of our exercise activities. For example, aerobic exercise improves cardiovascular...
Aerobics and Strength Training – A Solid Foundation for Fitness
In effect, aerobic exercise and strength training complete each other. When you engage in both activities, consistently, week by week, you are maximizing your training benefits across the board.1,2,3 Together, these life-affirming activities help you paint a beautiful picture of vibrant health and well-being.1Field T: Exercise...
Action or Reaction?
We're all familiar with the mechanism of action-and-reaction in the world of sports. Pitcher-and-batter is an action-reaction duo in baseball. A basketball guard driving to the hoop and a defender leaping to block the shot is another example. A racecar driver negotiating a tight turn at speed is executing a complex series of...
When the Cure Is Worse than the Disease
Chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes have increasingly high prevalence in world populations.1 Such prevalence is rising despite extensive use of prescription medications. Problematically, many people have two or more concurrent chronic disorders and are taking multiple medications. But frequently the various...
Your Own Personal Trainer
Back in the day, there were no personal trainers. If you needed to learn how to exercise, you got a subscription to one of a few well-known "muscle magazines" and read several issues from cover to cover. Then you joined a "Y" and began to discreetly observe what was going in the weight room, trying to match up what you had read in...
Your Personal Cloud
The concept of cloud computing has become a buzzword in recent years. The notion of "the cloud" originally referred to data storage. You could backup your computer files or even an image of your hard drive to a server bank in some remote location. Now you can access fully featured software programs via the cloud, including...
Your Nerve System and You
Your nerve system is your body's master communication system. Your brain - your body's central processing unit - receives information from every other system. Information on sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell is constantly bombarding your brain. Information on muscle activity, placement of your arms and legs and fingers and...
Your Hardware / Your Software
The metaphor linking the human brain with computer hardware is now so well known that it features regularly in news media stories. But computers have only been with us since Colossus and ENIAC (electronic numerical integrator and computer) were constructed in the mid-1940s. The metaphor linking the code embedded in human DNA and...
Your Brain and You
You are the lucky owner of a magnificent piece of biological machinery - the human brain. Your brain is always on, performs lightning-fast calculations, and is a whiz at making connections between seemingly unrelated factors and observations. The only downside is that your brain didn't come with an owner's manual. Fortunately, your...
Strike a Chord
Physicians and scientists have often called the human body a beautiful instrument. The sense in which this metaphor is applied is primarily mechanistic. The human body is a beautiful instrument in that its parts mesh properly and each component performs its function superbly. The metaphor "beautiful instrument" can be also be...
Half-Empty or Half-Full
Cosmic Consciousness
For thousands of years, humanity has struggled to understand the place of men and women in the universe. All sorts of explanations have been brought forward, many proposing that humanity is part of a greater whole and helps contribute to the welfare of all. Equally many theories suggest that humanity is the center of the universe...
Conservation of Energy
Renewability, sustainability, and energy conservation are all over the news. Every newspaper's front page and every television nightly news program features sustainability daily. These are important issues, not only for the health of our planet, but also for our physical health and well-being. Our physical health depends on how we...
The Sunshine Vitamin
We all know that Vitamin D is a critically important component in building strong bones and strong teeth. It turns out that Vitamin D has a vast number of additional functions.For example, recent research shows that low Vitamin D levels is related to increased risk for diabetes as well as cardiovascular disease.1 Insufficient...
The Platonic Ideal
Plato's Ideas were perfect templates, of which everything we perceive are tangible representations. But the Ideas were not to be found in the world around us. Rather, they were conceptions of rational thought, transcendental objects of knowledge existing in a realm beyond our own. And yet, Plato's Ideas continue to be a source of...
Should I Go Gluten Free?
It is now well-known that gluten intake is frequently associated with various serious conditions such as celiac disease, diabetes, and fibromyalgia. Years ago, most people had never heard of this substance or its related medical problems. But today, supermarkets as well as organic markets contain gluten-free sections or even entire...
How Many Fruits and Vegetables are on Your Plate?
The human body evolved to consume a diet that is high in fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables contain a number of plant compounds that your body needs in order to operate correctly. If you don't consume enough of these plant compounds, your energy level will suffer along with your overall health.Everyone knows that they...
Harness the Power of Hybrid Vigor
Certain things in life just go together naturally. In the kitchen, peanut butter and jelly is a classic combination. Another such pairing is apple pie and ice cream.Other categories of life experience, such as human performance, prize the association of freedom and creativity. And in the field of health care, exercise and nutrition...
Gluten Intolerance – What Do I Need to Know?
Approximately 40% of Americans have the genetic potential to become gluten intolerant. More than 1% of Americans have celiac disease. In fact, this percentage may be a low estimate because most physicians are unfamiliar with the signs and symptoms of celiac disease, which can be a "great masquerader". Gluten intolerance and celiac...
Gluten Freedom
The concept of the value and benefit of gluten-free food has been gaining momentum for the last 10 years. Discussion related to gluten-free diets goes back to the mid-1950s, but those peer-reviewed articles were primarily focused on the treatment of celiac disease and related gastrointestinal disorders. Today gluten-free diets are...
Fitness: How Chiropractic Can Help
Efficiency. It is something we all look for in home appliances or cars. How much energy will this thing take to run? Does the system have any weaknesses? If it's a used car, we want to know if the car had its oil changed regularly and if the parts have been properly cared for. We know that when one thing is imbalanced, the whole...
Eat Your Veggies!
Kids don't have that strong a relationship to vegetables. Kids will go through the motions, pushing broccoli spears and lima beans around their plate a few times, but few veggies actually reach the inside of a kid's mouth. And yet, we want our kids to eat vegetables on a regular basis. The best way to do this is to serve fresh...
California Breakfast
The mystery writer Raymond Chandler, author of "The Big Sleep" and "The Long Goodbye", famously extolled a "California breakfast" of orange juice and a cigarette. Of course, this was back in the bad old days when lighting up was part of most people's morning ritual. Today, although the orange juice might remain, a healthy breakfast...
A Fresh Coat of Paint
As all real estate brokers know, a fresh coat of paint will make any property look good. Whether your home is a row house in Baltimore, a Paris atelier, or even a Winnebago, a new coat of paint will bring a shine to the interior and put a smile on the faces of both residents and guests. You may find that a similar smile will appear...
Mission Possible
Everyone knows what he or she "should" do to obtain good health. But the mere knowledge of what we should be doing is never enough. If we've not been in good shape for some time, if we can't remember the last time we did any meaningful exercise on a consistent basis, and if we've added more pounds over the years than we care to...
Hazy Shade of Winter
Simon and Garfunkel [and later, The Bangles] had it right. Winter light is hazy - it's more diffuse. The sun is lower in the sky and the sun's rays reach the Earth at an angle, losing much of their power. And of course, there's less sunlight during each 24-hour day of winter than during the rest of the year.All these facts make it...
Going for the Gold
It seems that at least once a month, some sort of senior fitness competition is featured on the sports page of local and national newspapers. The Senior Olympics was the forerunner of these types of events, and the designation quickly morphed into the National Senior Games. Soon localities and municipalities began hosting their own...
Entropy, the Gym, and You
Lets say youve been taking some time off from the gym. Maybe you reached the end of your 12-week training cycle and youre taking a week off. Its possible that one week turns into two or even three or four weeks. Life happens, you need to attend to some pressing matters, and going to the gym starts to take a back seat. Before...
Your Fellow Travelers
It has long been known that over evolutionary time the human organism developed in tandem with a vast host of microbial fellow travelers. The 100 trillion microorganisms inhabiting our gastrointestinal tracts assist in numerous physiological processes critical to our health and well being. The intestinal microbiome (commensal...
Why Are Super Foods So Super?
In recent years, media pundits around the world have proclaimed the extraordinary value of so-called super foods. Blueberries, broccoli, and especially kale have been described as possessing remarkable, almost magical, properties. What is it about these foods that makes them so good for you?From a basic perspective, adding fresh...
Vitamins for Vitality
People often wonder about taking vitamins. Should I bother? Are they worth the money? Which ones should I take? In order, the answers are yes, yes, and ask your chiropractor to recommend the brand best for you. Why take vitamins at all? The purpose of supplementation is to cover all bases -- to make sure they're covered. How can...
The Three Ps
2Wang YC, et al: Reaching the health people goals for reducing childhood obesity: closing the energy gap. Am J Prev Med 42(5):437-444, 20123Drewnowski A, et al: Sweetness and food preference. J Nutr 142(6):1142S-1148S, 2012
Heavy Lifting
All of us whove experienced a back injury of one sort or another have been told at some point to avoid heavy lifting. That type of advice appears to be a no-brainer or at least redundant, as no one whose back is hurting is going to try to pick up an air conditioner or even a 100-foot reel of garden hose. In this context, its...
Pull Weeds, Not Your Back!
As springtime approaches, weather warms up and leaves turn green, many people will spend more time outside planting bulbs, mowing the lawn and pulling weeds. Gardening can provide a great workout, but with all the bending, twisting, reaching and pulling, your body may not be ready for exercise of the garden variety.Gardening can be...
Repairing an Injured Rotator Cuff
Shoulder Pain – Heart Attack or Rotator Cuff Injury?
The great TV classic ER helps teach armchair physicians to become amateur diagnosticians. He's in shock! She's got kidney stones! Rule-out pheochromocytoma! But sometimes a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. You've learned somewhere - on the network news, in the Science section of The New York Times, or in a CPR class at...
Shouldering the Load
As with much in life that we take for granted, we are not usually concerned with the mechanisms of how our bodies work and how they do what they do. Such knowledge is not required for use of these magnificent machines that have been freely given to us. But just as a wise consumer will care for her or his car in terms of regular...
Strong Bones and Core Strengthening – Good Tips for a Healthy Lower Back
Strong bones are important for all of us, not only for the aging baby boomers about whom we're hearing so much lately. And, "strong bones" are much more than a marketing ploy cooked-up by the dairy industry and pharmaceutical companies. Bones are incredibly dynamic, constantly reshaping themselves in response to physical forces....
Ten Tips for Smart Stretching
1. Why stretch? Stretching lengthens muscles and improves flexibility. Also, stretching the big leg muscles - the hamstrings, calves, and quads - simultaneously loosens and lengthens the muscles of your lower back. So, when you stretch, you're helping your back! 2. When to stretch? Recent exercise physiology studies show that...
Tennis, Anyone?
Repetitive stress injuries are typically very difficult to treat successfully. These injuries are the result of actions done repeatedly, frequently, and consistently over time. They've taken a long time to build up and, therefore, the healing process also requires a fair amount of time. Shin splints, iliotibial band syndrome, and...
The Common Core
Core strength is critical for everyday activities such as placing heavy grocery bags into the trunk of your automobile, carrying a gallon jug of milk from the refrigerator to the dining room table, and even walking to the mailbox. When your core strength is diminished, even bending over to pick up a pencil may result in a serious...
The Top Shelf
Many adults begin to develop shoulder pain, even though they may not have sustained a specific injury. It's important to pay attention to such shoulder issues, as a healthy shoulder joint is the key to full function of the upper extremities. We all know at least one person whose ability to perform normal activities of daily living...
Viscoelasticity: The Hidden Ingredient
Most of us have experienced a painful bout of low back pain brought on by a seemingly innocuous movement such as bending over to pick up a pencil or a dropped set of keys. These painful episodes may last a couple of days or be more severe and last more than a week. We're left wondering, "What exactly happened?" After all, we...
Whiplash – Getting Well Naturally
You're driving to work and stop for a red light. You're minding your own business and - bam! - your car rocks forward and backward, slammed in the rear by another car driven by some guy yakking on his cell phone. Or you're a passenger in a New York City taxi. The driver's cruising down Fifth Avenue when a teenager suddenly dashes...
The Next Ten Years
What does the future hold in store? None of us can know with certainty, although some predictions are possible. Stock market indexes will rise. Then they'll fall. Then everyone will hope that the indexes will rise again. Hemlines will fall. Then they'll rise. Then in two or three years they'll fall again.The French have a saying...
The Long View
In general most people pay close attention to auto maintenance. Whether the concern is tires, brakes, transmission, or windshield status, people make sure that their cars do what they need them to do. People count on their cars to perform effectively. No one wants a surprise, especially in a critical situation. But in stark...
The Fast Lane
Driving fast is not necessarily a good thing. We want to get where we're going as quickly as possible, but we also want to arrive safely. If we drive too fast, we may encounter all sorts of problems. If we drive too slow, we're wasting time and may be causing traffic problems behind us. These competing considerations will both be...
One, Two, or Three Miles?
Even experienced exercisers sometimes find it difficult to know how much to do. For the beginner this uncertainty represents a significant stumbling block. Fortunately well-established guidelines and protocols exist to provide assistance to all exercisers, regardless of your skill level. In general, the beginning exerciser requires...
Making Sense of Guidelines for Care
Not too long ago, the Eighth Joint National Committee (originally commissioned by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) released a new set of evidence-based guidelines for evaluation and treatment of hypertension (high blood pressure). The guidelines committee, comprised of 17 academics, spent five years reviewing evidence...
Informed People Make Healthy Choices
Being an informed patient is an empowering concept.1 In the modern healthcare marketplace, the doctor-patient relationship has become a two-way street. It's no longer a situation in which the doctor tells the patient what to do. Today, patients can be full partners in managing their care and well-being.2 What does it take to be an...
How Do You Rate?
In the field of statistics, a five-point rating scale is commonly used to evaluate all sorts of personal responses, feelings, and assessments. This frequently used tool is known as the Likert scale, and most people have completed such a rating device on numerous occasions, most typically in consumer after-sales surveys. The Likert...
Flocking Behavior
The scientific concept of complexity is only a few decades old, but like many powerful ways of looking at the world it has spread rapidly throughout the public consciousness. Anyone who has watched even a couple of episodes of "The Big Bang Theory" would have heard multiple references to chaos theory, complex systems, and emergent...
Checkmate
In chess, checkmate occurs when a players king is under attack and has no safe place to go. The king is threatened and every possible escape route is blocked. Such an existential condition, an allegorical no exit, is known as checkmate.In life, a person may be similarly threatened by a serious illness. For example, a person may...
A Trifecta You Don’t Want To Cash In
High serum glucose. High cholesterol. High blood pressure. This is a trifecta you definitely don't want to have. This combination of laboratory findings is known as metabolic syndrome, a new medical term that has been in existence for less than ten years. It's well-known that there is an epidemic of obesity in America. Two-thirds...
20/20 Vision
All of us have thought, at one point or another, and possibly more than once, "I wish I knew then what I know now." It's been famously said that "hindsight is 20/20". Our clarity of thought with respect to what we should have done is frequently much more acute than was our thinking in those past irretrievable moments. However, some...
Surf City
Summertime is fun time - swimming, surfing, beach volleyball, beach barbecues, and lots of sunshine! We want to be sure to enjoy ourselves all summer long and not be slowed down by the speed-bumps of sunburn, muscle aches and pains, and back strain. There's plenty we can do for prevention and to make sure we continue to have fun...
The Goldilocks Way
Like Goldilocks, we want things to work out just right. When it comes to our health, though, things don't work out just right by themselves.Neglect causes many serious health problems. Abuse - in the form of unhealthy behaviors - causes many additional serious disorders.Every day on TV and radio news programs we hear about the...
The Rising Costs of Health Care
Health insurance costs are out of control. We're all painfully aware of this inflationary spiral. Monthly premiums are through the roof. Co-payments keep going up and up. Out-of-pocket expenses are so high we often wonder what we're saving by purchasing health insurance at all. Every family has been hit hard by these financial...
Time’s Arrow
As we get older, most of us begin to experience the acceleration of the passage of time. The sensation of time passing gets faster and faster, until for many of us weeks begin to feel like days and months begin to feel like weeks. This is very disconcerting and we'd like to be able to slow things down. We'd like to make the months...
Tips for Good Hip Health
Having a pair of healthy hips is a key to healthy aging. But healthy hips are not only important for people in their 60s, 70s, and beyond. Your hips are one of your most important structural components, regardless of how old you are. Whether you're 20, 30, or 40, your hip joints provide biomechanical support to your entire body....
Tips for Safe and Healthy Travel
Here come the holidays - Thanksgiving, Channukah, Christmas, and New Year's. And the travel - Thanksgiving is one of the biggest travel days and the day before Christmas is just as busy. If you're flying, you know what to expect - long lines, delays, crowded flights. But knowing what's to come doesn't necessarily provide...
Your Body – An Owner’s Manual
Wouldn't it be great if your body came with an owner's manual? You'd probably begin reading it around the age of seven or eight, and right away you would be able to start taking better care of your precious body. You would learn how you can use your body efficiently and effectively. By learning how to use your body correctly, you'd...
Your Health Account
Everyone wants to grow their bank account. We know our financial health is usually estimated by the level of our resources. The more money in the bank, figuratively speaking, the more secure we feel. If our resources include stocks, bonds, and property, we are even more secure.We can use such fiscal accounting as a metaphor for our...
Drivers Education
We all know someone who has suffered a serious driving-related injury that had nothing to do with being involved in a motor vehicle accident. For example, turning your head suddenly and swiftly for a last minute check of your "blind spot" before changing lanes on the interstate could result in a painful neck sprain. Getting out...
What Do Lab Tests Really Mean?
You're at the doctor's office because you think something might be wrong. Rationally, you know tests are probably necessary, but getting the tests done sometimes provokes a lot of anxiety in all of us. We want to know the results, but are very concerned about the outcome."You need blood work" your doctor remarks casually. Your...
Turn Your Medicine Chest into a First-Aid Cabinet
Many people have medicine chests in their bathroom, small shelving units filled with bottles of pills, capsules, and tablets. Others, instead, have first-aid and personal grooming cabinets in their bathrooms, containing rows of bandages, tubes of antiseptic, rubbing alcohol, and adhesive tape, as well as dental care supplies,...
Straight Talk About Health Care
In 2009 there's been lots of conversation about health care, both at the federal and state levels.1-3 Not all the talk has been friendly. Those favoring broad reforms describe serious problems in the health care "system". Those opposing change have spread rumors about impending "socialized medicine". Whatever the outcome,...
Spring Fever
Spring is near. In New York City, yellow, white, and purple crocuses have raised their cup-shaped flowers above the ground for all to see. In California, western buttercups, ground pink, and bush lupine have begun to bloom. Humans, too, are awakening to the glory of a new Spring.For most species, Winter is a time of rest and...
Riding the Brakes
We're all familiar with the highway driving experience of being behind a person who is continually braking for no apparent reason. This is especially problematic if you're in the left-hand lane. You're zipping along at the posted speed limit and suddenly the brake lights of the car in front go on. You have to immediately react and...
Peeling the Onion
In the language of statistics, health is a continuous variable. A person's health can be expressed as an infinity of values ranging from abundant well-being to terminal states approaching death. If health were a discrete quantity you could assign a number to it. You could say that someone had 95% health or 32% health. You'd be able...
Paying the Mortgage
Whether we rent or own our home, all of us pay some form of monthly living expenses. Even if we have paid down a mortgage and own our home outright, we still pay monthly utility bills in order to keep our homes functional and livable. We also pay property taxes as part of our participation in various services provided by local...
Out of the Past
In "Out of the Past", one of the greatest film noir ever made, Robert Mitchum's past inevitably catches up with him and dire consequences ensue for all involved. Are we, in terms of health and disease, also in danger of having our past - that is, our genetic inheritance - track us down and interfere with our life plans?1,2,3 Our...
Chiropractic Care for Short-Term and Long-Term Health
Chiropractic care is the one form of health care that keeps on giving. Chiropractic care certainly helps people to recover from short-term health problems, but this powerful method of healing also helps people stay well and assists in preventing new problems from developing.Your chiropractor treats a wide variety of musculoskeletal...
Frequent Flying
Most of us, at one time or another, have traveled for business. Some of us do this fairly often, and when we travel for business, we're usually getting where we're going by plane. Air travel used to be quick and easy. But lately, within the last ten years, maybe not so much. By now, we're used to long lines at security checkpoints,...
Getting a Good Night’s Sleep
Americans spend more than $2 billion each year on sleep-aiding medications. Sleep is supposed to be a natural process. What's going on? There are many issues in the way of getting a good night's sleep. Daily stresses - work problems, financial difficulties, family challenges - can all keep a person up at night. We rehash what was...
Here Come the Holidays!
The holidays are here - Chanukah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa. Lots of family get-togethers, lots of fellowship and fun, and usually lots of food. Family dinners, parties, family breakfasts, more parties. Is there any way to avoid gaining five or ten unwanted pounds during the extended holiday season? Thanksgiving through early January...
How To Have More Energy
So far 2009 has been a rollercoaster ride - many great new developments. And yet the worldwide economic turmoil has been very, very rough on most people. Stress levels have been sky high, and stress saps a person's energy. Even the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is concerned. In March 2009 the DHHS posted "Getting...
Lifestyle Matters
New Year’s Resolution – Find Out Whether Chiropractic Care Is Right for You
It's early January - a New Year - and you've decided this is going to be the year you actually fulfill your list of New Year's resolutions. This is going to be the year you finally start taking good care of yourself. You're going to exercise regularly, you're going to lose weight, and you're going to find our whether chiropractic...
Planning for Success
Every successful athlete knows that a plan is necessary to reach the highest levels of performance. How many practice sessions are needed each week, what kinds of things to work on during each session, how much rest to get, how much and what kinds of food to eat, how much water to drink - these are some of the factors in an overall...
Proprioception – Making Your Body Smarter
Rice and Beans
Rice and beans is a well-liked combination of foods that is not only delicious, but also good for you. Other well-known examples of food combinations, such as corn and lima beans (succotash), tomatoes and avocados, and even orange juice and oatmeal, provide benefits beyond those gained by eating these sound nutritional choices...
Road Trip
The days are long, the weather's warm, the sky is blue . . . it's summer and we're ready to enjoy the great American pastime - road trips! We want to get to wherever we're going safely - and healthily, too. A safe trip is ensured by following the rules of the road and practicing good driving habits. A healthy trip is ensured by...
Saving the Planet
Did you ever think your health and well-being are important factors in the health and well-being of the planet? It's true. The choices each of us makes each and every day are important for our family's welfare as well as the welfare of our neighborhood, our community, our city, our country, and our global society. We don't often...
Living With Pain
Chronic disease is a major problem in U.S. health care. More than one-third of Americans have one or more chronic diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. The personal costs to patients and families are often severe, daily, and ongoing. The economic costs to society are almost $1 trillion annually. Heart disease...
Your Spine 101
An adult human spine typically consists of 26 moveable segments: seven cervical vertebras, twelve thoracic vertebras, five lumbar vertebras, one sacrum, and one coccyx (tailbone). Intervertebral discs separate the segments from the second cervical vertebra down to the sacrum and a thinner disc is present between the sacrum and...
An Ounce of Prevention
Everyone knows the old adage that declares "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." This time-honored wisdom certainly makes sense. We wouldn't wait until we were riding on the wheel rim before we repaired a leaking automobile tire. We wouldn't wait until there were obvious signs of termite damage to our home before...
Will You be Coming?
An old cliche for getting to know someone in a new social situation entails asking, "What's your sign?" The notion, of course, is that a simple identifier such as astrological sign would provide grounding for a potential relationship - romance, friendship, or even a new bowling partner. As there are only twelve signs of the zodiac,...
Your Spinal IQ
Your IQ that's measured in school has to do with problem solving - mental gymnastics. Your spinal IQ also has to do with problem solving - these are "problems" of the physical kind.How far to bend over to lift those grocery bags out of your car's trunk? How much muscle force is necessary to pick up and carry your five-year-old...
What’s Your Sign?
"Who you are speaks so loudly I can't hear what you're saying." This truism is well-known in human potential circles and can often be heard at personal growth-and-development seminars. But the implications of this meaningful phrase are often ignored in our day-to-day activities and relationships. Sometimes we pretend that others...
Vitamin D – The Superstar Supplement
You may remember the public health slogan, "Vitamin D helps build strong bones". This message could be seen on colorful school posters and heard on radio and television programs as early as the1950s. Getting enough Vitamin D was a major health issue, primarily for its role in preventing childhood rickets - "softening of the bones"....
Staying Well In Winter
Simon and Garfunkel [and later, The Bangles] had it right. Winter light is hazy - it's more diffuse. The sun is lower in the sky and the sun's rays reach the Earth at an angle, losing much of their power. And of course, there's less sunlight during each 24-hour day of winter than during the rest of the year. All these facts make it...
Your Personal Corporation
You are the CEO of your own personal enterprise. In addition to whatever business you might be running or might be in, your personal corporation consists of the value you generate during your time on Earth. Some persons such as government officials make choices and take actions that obviously affect the lives of many others. For...
Coming Up for Air
Both Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, and Charles Darwin, author of The Origin of Species and creator of the theory of natural selection, were born on February 12, 1809. Modern evolutionary theory, of course, is based on Darwin's theory of natural selection. The evolutionary history of humans traces the family...
Five To Stay Alive
It's the rare child who actually wants to eat fruits and vegetables. Kids are bombarded by television and radio ads for cereals, candy, and chips that contain huge amounts of sugar and large quantities of saturated fat. The sugar craving begins in childhood - kids quickly develop a taste for sweets. To a child's sugar-sensitized...
Pathophysiology
Pathophysiology means the function in an individual or an organ is disturbed due to disease, leading to a structural defect. In chiropractic care, it often presents when unusual bony growths, such as bone spurs, attempt to fuse malfunctioning joints, causing the spine to degrade, joints to become altered, scar tissue to develop and...
Neuropathophysiology
Neuropathophysiology refers to pathophysiological conditions that affect the nervous system. A more recognizable term may be neuropathy. Neuropathy is not a single disease; rather, it is an umbrella term used to describe a host of disorders that affect various nerves in various ways, in various areas of the body.It can affect three...
Myopathy
Myopathy refers to a group of muscle diseases that are caused by muscular dysfunction that results in muscle weakness and waste. It is important to recognize that while some myopathic conditions can be caused by reduced nerve supply or excess nerve supply, the disorders do not stem from a neurological problem. Rather, the issue...
Histopathology
Following a car accident, the bones of the spine may shift out of their original position or lose their normal motion, in whats called vertebral subluxation complex. This condition is characterized by a set of signs and symptoms that affect the spinal column. Histopathology is one of its five major interrelated components, and it...
Chiropractic Care for Older Adults
As most older adults know, a single fall can change their lives. For instance, an independent individual may fall in his or her home and land in a nursing facility. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2.5 million older adults went to emergency rooms into 2013 after falling. Of these, 734,000 were...
Chiropractic Care for our High-Tech Lifestyles
While technology creates many new possibilities for entertainment, connecting with others and getting work done, it also spawns new health problems. Ten years ago, nobody had text neck. Now many people are reaping the unwanted musculoskeletal consequences of tech overuse.Instead of holding mobile devices straight out in front of...
Chiropractic Care for Children
Many people think that chiropractors treat only adults. But children can also benefit from regular chiropractic care. Injuries that children receive during their everyday lives and while playing sports can cause many symptoms that can be treated by chiropractors. This includes soreness, discomfort, stiffness or neck pain.Pediatric...
Chiropractic Care for Athletes
Chiropractic care and sports training go hand in hand. Many professional athletes have publicly shared that chiropractic adjustments are crucial before and after their athletic feats. NFL champion Emmit Smith likened a single football game to being in more than 30 car accidents. With this kind of impact on the body, athletes need...
Myths & Facts
A chiropractic college grants a D.C. or Doctorate of Chiropractic degree. Chiropractors are licensed as health care providers in every U.S. state and dozens of countries around the world. While the competition for acceptance in chiropractic school is not as fierce as medical school, the chiropractic and medical school curricula are...
Hall of Fame Ingredients
There are many healthy oils, such as olive oil, sesame seed oil, flax seed oil, grape seed oil and canola oil. To maximize their health benefits good oils need to be used properly. Keep it in a dark bottle or in your refrigerator-that's how to keep it healthy so it doesn't go rancid. Healthy oils are delicate, you have to treat...
Prosperity Consciousness
Einstein reputedly divided people in two groups, those who believe we live in a friendly universe, and those who don't. Brilliant in its simplicity, it points out the fundamental basis of wellness psychology - that a well mind knows that we live in a friendly universe, brimming with opportunity and potential, awaiting our actions...
Personal Growth
The end product of wellness psychology is ongoing personal growth. Rather than a psychological treatment for a mental or emotional condition, wellness psychology leads someone from wherever they are to wherever they want to go mentally and emotionally. Instead of stopping therapy when the symptoms resolve, wellness psychology is...
Choices & Decisions
Scientists tell us that much of our self-talk is negative, so learning to be kind and supportive in your mental chatter is a direct step toward a well mind. Practice saying constructive things to yourself, like "I'm a good person, today's going to be a great day, I can do this," simple stuff like that. One of the most powerful...
Aging & Longevity
People who practice wellness typically enjoy their lives and want them to last as long as possible. That's why the wellness mindset usually accompanies other constructive, healthy lifestyle habits. By adopting positive behaviors like: eating well, exercising, saying affirmations, developing healthy self talk, structuring a healthy...
Wellness Coloring Book
Wellness In Space Cover Page Mac's First Visit Mac's First Adjustment Healthy Back Tips with Mac & Family Exercise Tips with Mac & Friends Mac's Healthy Lifestyle Certificate Download Entire Wellness In Space Coloring Book
Printable Games & Puzzles
Help Mac Find His Way to the Chiropractor! Help Mac Find His Way to a Healthy, Balanced Meal! Help Mac Find His Way to the Playground! A Visit to the Chiropractor Word Search Mac's Chiropractic Word Unscramble Mac's Cosmic Chiro Crossword
Posture
The ancient Japanese art form of growing Bonsai trees is fascinating. Bonsai trees are essentially normal shrubs that have been consistently stressed in a particular way for a long time to create a posture which would never be found in nature. Depending on how the tree is stressed while it grows, it may end up looking like a...
Movement
Many patients with severe low back pain report that their pain came on suddenly when they did something as simple as bend down to pet their cat, put on their socks, or pick up the newspaper. Just about everyone would agree that a person's body should be able to handle such simple movements. So what has happened?In every one of...
Relationship with Self
Your relationship with your self is the most important relationship because as they say wherever you go there you are. Wellness begins with "being" well first and then is about "doing" things to be well. If you do not address who you are being than just doing things will not make you well. A simple way to remember this is that we...
Positive Affirmations
This raises a very important point. If we are powerful enough to manifest our negative thoughts, why can't we also manifest our positive thoughts? The answer is that we can. In order to create positive thoughts instead of negative ones, we must decide in advance to be proactive and to discipline ourselves to take out the old mental...
Muscle Relaxation
Your face. Squint your eyes tightly, wrinkle your nose and mouth, Clench your teeth, and pull back the corners of your mouth toward your ears, feeling the tension in the center of your face. Relax. Repeat. Neck. Gently touch your chin to your chest. Feel the pull in the back of your neck as it spreads into your head. Relax. Repeat....
Heat Therapy
Most people have used heat at one time to sooth normal aches and pains such as the use of a hot bath, a heating pad or even an old-fashioned water bottle.Even today, these types of heat therapy play an important role in chiropractic practice to increase circulation and relax the muscles. At the same time, heat therapy can help...
Cold Therapy
Applying ice after an injury is a common method for reducing pain and swelling. It is especially effective for athletes, who often experience sudden, painful injuries. This type of cold therapy, also known as cryotherapy, is used by chiropractors for the same purposes.Many types of cold therapy are available to reduce pain and...
Cold Laser Therapy
Cold laser therapy, also known as low-level laser therapy (LLLT), uses light to treat various conditions. Unlike other types of laser light, cold laser therapy does not produce heat or vibration in the parts of the body being treated.Many therapists, including chiropractors and physical therapists, use cold laser therapy to treat...
Myofascial Release
Not all pain is caused by obvious injuries like broken bones or cuts. Some pain may stem from the myofascial tissues. These tough membranes are wrapped around your muscles to provide support and connect them to other parts of the body.When myofascial tissue becomes stiff, it may restrict movement in both the muscles and joints....
Manual Technique
Manual therapy, also known as manipulative therapy, is a physical treatment primarily used by chiropractors to treat musculoskeletal pain and debility.This form of physical therapy takes a hands-on approach rather than using devices or machines. When a chiropractor uses their hands during manual therapy, they apply pressure on the...
Drop-Table Technique
Forceful spinal manipulation is not always necessary to treat conditions of the lower back, mid-back and neck. Gentle chiropractic treatment, such as drop table techniques, involves less powerful spinal maneuvering and slower, low-velocity movements that allow the affected joint to stay within its passive range of motion.Also known...
Active Release Techniques
When there is damage to muscles and other soft tissues including pulls, tears, or not being able to get enough oxygen (hypoxia), it can result in the body producing rough, thick scar tissue in the affected area.Scar tissue restricts the tissues from moving freely because they bind them and tie them down, and as scar tissue builds...
Spinal Kinesiopathology
Spinal kinesiopathology is the unusual positioning or motion of the spinal bones, to the point where the patients ability to turn and bend is restricted. It is one of five components of vertebral subluxation complex a set of symptoms and signs that affect the spinal column and it puts the remaining four components of the...
Slipped Disc
You may have heard the term "slipped disc" used to describe a low back injury. Discs do not actually "slip." Rather, they may herniate or bulge out from between the bones. A herniation is a displaced fragment of the center part or nucleus of the disc that is pushed through a tear in the outer layer or annulus of the disc. Pain...
Sciatica
The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in your body. It runs from your pelvis, through your hip area and buttocks and down each leg. The sciatic nerve branches into smaller nerves as it travels down the legs providing feeling to your thighs, legs, and feet as well as controlling many of the muscles in your lower legs. The term...
Tension Headaches
Tension headaches are the most common type of headache. The pain usually spreads throughout the head so that sufferers feel like theyre wearing a tight band.Doctors divide tension headaches into two types episodic and chronic. The episodic variety lasts from half an hour to a week, and recurs for up to two weeks each month....
Migraine Headaches
About 36 million Americans suffer from the debilitating headaches known as migraines, according to the Migraine Research Foundation. Women between the ages of 25 and 55 are the likeliest victims. Migraine headaches can last anywhere from a few hours to three days, drastically compromising individuals work, social and family lives...
Headaches
Headaches affect just about everyone at some point and they can present themselves in many different ways. Some people only experience pain in one part of their head or behind their eyes, some people experience a pounding sensation inside their whole head, and some people even experience nausea, while others do not. The pain itself...
Cluster Headaches
While no headache is pleasant, cluster headaches can be particularly uncomfortable. Sufferers liken the sensation to a hot poker being stuck in their eyes, and may even feel like their eyes are being shoved out of their sockets.Cluster headaches get their name because they occur in a cyclical pattern. The cluster of headaches may...
Pregnancy
During pregnancy, a woman's center of gravity shifts forward to the front of her pelvis. This additional weight in front, causes stress to the joints of the pelvis and low back. As the baby grows in size, the added weight causes the curvature of her lower back to increase, placing extra stress on the fragile facet joints on the...
Frozen Shoulder
The term frozen shoulder encompasses a wide variety of restrictive shoulder disorders and can also be referred to as adherent bursitis, pericapsulitis, obliterative bursitis and periarthritis. Regardless of what it is called, manipulation of the joint and neuro-muscular-skeletal rehabilitation are needed to resolve the lack of...
Fibromyalgia
The word fibromyalgia comes from the Latin term for fibrous tissue (fibro) and the Greek ones for muscle (myo) and pain (algia). Fibromyalgia syndrome is chronic disorder which includes widespread muscle pain, fatigue, and multiple tender points that affects 3-6 million people in the United States. For reasons that are unclear,...
Shin Splints
Shin splints are characterized by pain in the front part of the lower leg. It occurs on the inside edge of the large bone there the tibia. This condition is common in runners, but can also occur in other physically active people.Shin splints usually happen during or after a change in the intensity of physical activity, such as...
TMJ
The temporomandibular joint connects the jawbone to the skull. Up to 10 million people suffer from painful temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD), according to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Symptoms include pain in the face and neck, locked jaw or limited jaw movement, painful clicking when moving the...
Plantar Fasciitis
About 90 percent of people will recover from plantar fasciitis within a few months following conservative treatment.Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common explanations of heel pain. It is caused by inflammation to the thick band that connects the toes to the heel bone, called the plantar fascia, which runs across the bottom of...
Osteoarthritis
Patients will find that chiropractic care for hip and knee osteoarthritis can help reduce inflammation, improve joint functioning, reduce pain, and strengthen the muscles around the affected joints.Osteoarthritis in the knee and hip areas can be a very painful injury, and one that is often a chronic condition if left untreated....
Knee Pain
Knee pain is common in people of all ages. It may start suddenly such as after exercise or an injury. But it can also develop over time, starting out as minor discomfort.Chiropractic care for knee pain includes first identifying the underlying cause of the pain, which could be an injury, mechanical problem or some kind of...
Shoulder Pain
Chiropractors will always seek to treat shoulder pain with the most gentle and drug-free methods possible. The ultimate goal of chiropractic care for shoulder pain is to bring the patient's shoulder back to full function while reducing and eliminating the pain caused by the injury.Shoulder pain can have a number of different...
Back Pain-Upper/Neck
Most neck and upper back pain is caused by a combination of factors, including injury, poor posture, chiropractic subluxations, stress, and in some instances, disc problems.Most people do not realize how much they move their neck during the day until they are unable to do so. The degree of flexibility of the neck, coupled with the...
Back Pain-Lower
Eighty percent of people suffer from back pain at some point in their lives. Back pain is the second most common reason for visits to the doctor's office, outnumbered only by upper-respiratory infections. In fact, it is estimated that low back pain affects more than half of the adult population each year and more than 10 percent of...
Whiplash
Due to their complicated nature and profound impact on peoples lives, few topics in health care generate as much controversy as whiplash injuries. Unlike a broken bone where a simple x-ray can validate the presence of the fracture and standards of care can direct a health care professional as to the best way in which to handle the...
Hall of Shame Ingredients
When you eat or drink sugar the sudden energy surge your body experiences is followed by an insulin surge that rapidly drops the blood sugar level-so two hours later, you feel famished and tired. To keep an even keel, replace simple carbohydrates with complex ones so the absorption is more controlled and you experience long-term...
Bursts of Activity
We all know that 30 minutes per day of strenuous exercise will provide many health benefits. Recent Federal guidelines from the Department of Health and Human Services1 have even made this official. The real question for most of us is how to find the time to exercise regularly and consistently. All we have is 24 hours each day to...
Core Fitness – What Is It and What Is It Good For?
Core training is a no-longer-new catchphrase on the fitness landscape. The concept of core fitness, by now, has been promoted by every Pilates school, yoga center, and chain of fitness clubs around the world. Many doctors, including chiropractors, physiatrists, orthopedists, and even cardiologists, emphasize the importance of core...
Exercising Alfresco
In "The Producers", the riotous Mel Brooks movie classic from 1968, the wily and almost washed-up Broadway producer Max Bialystock (played famously by Zero Mostel) takes timid accountant Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder) to lunch. Bialystock steers Bloom to a hotdog vendor's run-down sidewalk stand just outside an entrance to New York City's...
Home Improvement
You've finally decided to paint your kids' bedrooms. Not only that, but you're going to do it yourself. Congratulations. Or your rooftop gutters have become so filled with leaves that the only place for overflow rainwater to go is down the sides of your house and seep into the foundation, and you've decided to install a gutter...
How Much Exercise Is Enough Exercise?
Most of us would agree that we want to be as healthy as we can. Thanks to a steady barrage of commentary by talking heads on television and articles by "experts" in weekend editions of newspapers and magazines, most of us are aware that enjoying good health has a lot to do with specific habits of nutrition and exercise. The big...
Just Try Walking
While some fitness enthusiasts relentlessly seek out the latest, trendiest exercise crazes, many others are returning to good, old-fashioned walking to help them feel great and get into shape. Whether enjoying the wonder of nature, or simply the company of a friend, walking can be a healthy, invigorating experience. And thanks to...
Quick Workouts at Work
The most important thing to do - every hour or so - is change your posture and get the body parts moving again. Stand up, take a few slow, deep breaths, and walk around for five minutes. Change your perspective. Go to the window, look around, see something other than the Power Point you've been working on for the last hour. Refresh...
Running and Running Injuries
Everyone knows that exercise is good for you.1,2 Many people who havent exercised in a while (possibly not in many years) want to know whether running will help them get fit. A follow-up question for those willing to take action in the important area of exercise is how to avoid running injuries. The answers to these questions can...
Ten Minutes of Stretching Can Make All the Difference
Should I stretch before or after I exercise?1 Should I even bother to stretch at all? These are the questions that every busy adult asks whenever he or she is planning to begin an exercise program. The correct answer to the first question is "do whatever is right for you." Some people need to lengthen their major muscle groups,...
Top Three Fitness Tips from the World of Dance
Professional dancers are a pretty select group. These elite athletes are arguably among the fittest people in the world. Dance training provides flexibility, strength, speed, and agility - qualities of which we'd all like to have more. As a result, the dancer's experience provides lifelong guidance for the rest of us as we pursue...
Yoga – The New Fitness
Every five years or so a new fitness craze sweeps through the culture. Television news anchors blather on about the latest, greatest exercise programs. Newspapers and magazines publish features in their Sunday sections, filled with pictures of glistening, glowing, glamorous celebrities hard at work on the new routines.Back in the...
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or Repetitive Stress?
You're getting ready to launch your new business. And, being a savvy entrepreneur, you've been spending a lot of time doing research on the Internet. Entering searches, following links, cutting-and-pasting, typing, mouse-clicking, dragging-and-dropping. By the time you're ready to "go live" you've begun to notice a dull ache in...
Avoiding Painful Leg Cramps
Your mind has finally stopped racing and you've just nodded off, only to be rudely awakened by a deep knot of sudden pain in your thigh, calf or in the arch of your foot. Athletes and high heel wearers alike are often awakened from sleep by the infamous nocturnal leg cramp or "charley horse." And though these occasional cramps...
Detecting Ovarian Cancer
While women are learning more and more about cervical cancer and its prevention, another "silent killer" remains relatively mysterious among doctors and patients alike. Ovarian cancer is only the seventh most common cancer among women, but it causes more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system. Unfortunately,...
Tennis Elbow
Tennis elbow often gets better on its own, but the majority of people who have persistent pain show improvement through non-surgical treatment.Tennis elbow is actually a misnomer in that it occurs in roughly only five percent of people who play tennis. Anatomically, the cause of tennis elbow is repetitive use of the forearm...
Colic
The theory that an irritated spine may contribute to colic is supported by the frequent improvement in symptoms with gentle chiropractic adjustments. Because the birthing process is very stressful on the neck of a newborn, it is very common for there to be several subluxations in the neck and back that can irritate the tiny and...
Bedwetting
Bedwetting is stressful for everyone involved. Lack of bladder control can cause embarrassment, shame, and interfere with normal social development. All of the causes of bed-wetting are not fully understood. There are children whose bladders are underdeveloped for their age and who have difficulty recognizing when their bladder is...
ADHD
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a relatively common condition that tends to emerge in children during their early school years. The most common signs of ADHD are: Inattention Hyperactivity Impulsive Behavior Difficulty Concentrating It is estimated that between three and five percent of children have ADHD -...
Stress
You may feel physical stress as the result of too much to do, not enough sleep, a poor diet or the effects of an illness. Stress can also be mental: when you worry about money, a loved one's illness, retirement, or experience an emotionally devastating event, such as the death of a spouse or being fired from work.However, much of...
Wellness
Chiropractic is so much more than simply a means of relieving pain. Ultimately, the goal of chiropractic treatment is to restore the body to its natural state of optimal health.Regular chiropractic care, eating a healthy diet, taking vitamin supplements, keeping your weight under control and stress management are all part of an...
Your Personal Energy Conservation System
Energy conservation has become an important topic around the globe, in communities, nations, and confederations such as the European Union. Energy conservation is not only critically important for global stability. It also serves as an important metaphor for the health and well-being of individuals.Physiologically, humans have...
Your Personal Marathon
Above-Down, Inside-Out
"Above-down, inside-out" is a poetic coinage by Dr. B.J. Palmer, one of the founders of the field of chiropractic. "B.J.", as he has been affectionately known by chiropractors for almost 100 years, was describing the inner workings of the brain and spinal cord, the complex nerve system connected to all parts of the body, and the...
Are You Connected?
Being connected is very important in our modern world. Could you imagine how you'd feel if you left your cell phone at home? For teenagers, a cell phone is much more than a tool. For teens, cell phones are status symbols, but they also represent a connection to the tribe, a connection to their human network. For teens and adults,...
Ebb and Flow
Ancient peoples closely observed and interacted with the rhythms of their immediate environment. The sun rose in the East and set in the West. Day followed night, and approximately 12 hours later night followed day. The seasons progressed through a more leisurely, although no less regular, rhythm. A season of rebirth and new growth...
Mind and Matter
Scientists and philosophers have pursued the notion of mind for thousands of years. [Of course, being able to think about the mind's origins and place in the universe presumes having a mind, but that's a separate piece of this puzzle.] Regardless of mind's origin, we are well aware that the human mind interacts intimately with the...
Man and Machine
Is a computer like a human brain or is a human brain like a computer? When machines allow us to extend our abilities, are we enhancing our humanness or becoming more machine-like? What are the meaningful distinctions between humans and machines and how do these impact our daily pursuits of health, well-being, and happiness?One...
Day of Reckoning
The human body is remarkably resilient. Your body can withstand a great deal of abuse. It bounces back to fight off many infections, repair strains and sprains, and heal broken bones. You may drive hundreds of miles in a day, fly across multiple time zones, and travel to other countries and other continents. Your body manages it...
A Walk in the Forest
The world is changing. Global populations continue to migrate to urban areas. These ongoing relocations have a profound impact on deeply interconnected environmental systems and also lead to substantial distortions in human biosystems. In a word and to no one's surprise, living in big cities comes with a big cost in terms of our...
Locally Grown, Organically Grown – You Are What You Eat
There is much wisdom in the saying "you are what you eat", but food today is not the food of yesterday. We need to actually work at getting the amount of nutrients that's going to help keep us healthy and well.Our genetic heritage was not designed for an urban environment. Our digestive systems, for example, were not optimized for...
Root Vegetables
In decades past, very few urban kids had ever even heard of a parsnip, a fennel bulb, or a bunch of kale. In those days, fruit and vegetable consumption typically consisted of apples, bananas, corn, potatoes, peas, and lettuce. Oranges were infrequent and grapefruit was a rarity. Today a veritable cornucopia of produce is available...
A Day in the Life of a Working Mom
Sandy Smith woke up to the annoying and familiar sound of the alarm clock. It was another day and the beginning of another hectic week. She rolled from her stomach onto her back and unburied herself from beneath the old, down-filled, pillows. Sandy reached over and pressed the snooze button in an attempt to steal five more minutes...
Secrets of Adding Exercise to Your Life
Most of us are plenty tired of having experts tell us we should do more exercise. Our chiropractors tell us. Our family doctors tell us. Friends who just started taking their first yoga class and aren't really experts tell us. Celebrities tell us. Kid stars on Disney Channel tell us. Now even local television news anchors are...
Can Work Be Relaxing?
Not too many people would agree that "oh, yeah, my work is relaxing". For most of us, work involves plenty of stress. If we're in customer service, there's always a seemingly never-ending stream of customers with an abundance of problems that need to be handled yesterday. If we work in an office, office politics adds an unnecessary...
Heroes – Active Parents Raise Active Kids
We are constantly searching the landscape for heroes. This is not to fill in a missing piece in ourselves, but rather represents an ongoing search for inspiration, stimulation, and motivation. Even those of us who are self-starters need coaches and mentors to cause us to reach ever-higher levels of achievement. In this, we all need...
Holiday Guide to Back Care
Parties. Gift shopping. Family gatherings. Curling up to watch a favorite movie on the couch . The holiday season is full of reasons for good cheer. And yet, according to the American Physical Therapy Association, it is also prime time for Americans to suffer from back and neck pain.For one thing, the stress associated with extra...
Improve Your Golf Game & Save Your Back
Many avid golfers contort their bodies into oddly twisted postures, generating a great deal of torque. Couple this motion with a bent-over stance, repeat 120 times over three or four hours, add the fatigue that comes with several miles of walking, and you've got a good workout-and a recipe for potential lower-back trouble.As...
Effectiveness & Popularity of Chiropractic Care
A study published in the July 1, 1998 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine shows that chiropractic treatment is appropriate for low-back pain in a considerable number of cases. This study by the Rand Corporation found that 46 percent of a sample of low-back pain patients received appropriate care from doctors of chiropractic -...
The Mysteries of Injuries
A person with an exercise- or sports-related injury has many questions: When can I start exercising? When can I get back to my sport? What can I do to prevent this from happening again? The answers to these questions are relatively straightforward. But for some, injuries continue to happen. Which leads to the key question: Why did...
Four Resolutions for a Healthier Back
Eat more vegetables. Stress less. Take the kids out to the park more often. You may already have a long list of resolutions for the new year. This year, honor your spine, too. With the help of your doctor of chiropractic, these simple steps can promote a healthier back for the new year.Do you wake up with aches and pains? It could...
Strong Bones Are Healthy Bones
As with the rest of our physical selves, we don't think about our bones until something goes wrong. Bones are just there, under the surface and unseen, normally never taking up space in our conscious thought processes. Trauma, of course, can injure a bone. But in most circumstances a bone bruise or a fracture heals on its own in...
Forever Young
Most of us like to think of ourselves as young: young in heart at least, if not actually young in years. But is it possible to stay "forever young" in terms of health and wellness? Of course, probably no one would want to remain forever young in terms of life experience. Our experiences give us character and contribute to our...
Decompression
Did you know that your spinal column's spongy intervertebral discs (IVDs) comprise 25% of this segmented structure's entire length? Did you know that an adult's spinal column is approximately 24-28 inches in length? A little quick math shows that the total height of your spinal discs is approximately between 6 and 7 inches. But...
Flourishing
How do you determine whether your life is going well? Whether you're happy and fulfilled vs. merely going through the paces? Whether you're growing and developing as a person vs. merely expressing more of the same old, same old? In short, when the alarm goes off in the morning does the prospect of a new day cause you to be filled...
The Best Defense Is a Good Offense
Whether you live in the United States, Canada, or Western Europe, your health care decision-making is impacted by the type of health insurance available. In the United States, a fee-for-service system implies that you will be paying for some or all of the costs of every service used on your behalf. In Canada patients receive health...
Walking as a Lifestyle Choice
Everyone knows he or she should be doing regular exercise, but most people have not exercised in so many years that they dont know where to begin. As a result, people start and stop various training programs and routines. They join gyms, buy workout clothes, spend hard-earned income, and ultimately fail to follow-through because...
Remember to Schedule Your Spinal Screening
Most of us have undergone some type of screening exam in the last several years. Depending on your age, personal history, and family history, you may have needed to go for a periodic mammography, colonoscopy, or cardiac stress test. If everything was fine, you have probably been instructed to follow-up next year, in three years, or...
The Circle of Life
Many people - adults and children - are familiar with the marvelous animated feature "The Lion King". Most have found themselves humming the film's theme "The Circle of Life" long after they've stopped actively thinking about the film itself. "The Circle of Life" is not only a terrifically catchy tune, but is also a powerful...
The Light Within
What animates us? In other words, what is it that causes us to be living matter? For example, what distinguishes a living orchid from a tissue-paper-and-paint model of an orchid? Or what distinguishes a hawk from an airplane? What is it that causes the material that is us to hold together and function in an organized fashion,...
The Natural World
The natural world functions very well on its own. Left to their own devices, members of the tens of millions of species on our planet thrive and prosper without relying on outside agencies.In order to grow abundantly, plants consume carbon dioxide, water, and nutrients from the soil. Likewise, herbivorous animals consume plants...
Your Inner Ecology
In April 2010 the BP Deep Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in a catastrophic offshore oil spill. Millions of barrels of oil have spilled into the Gulf since the explosion, representing an unprecedented environmental disaster. Many complex ecosystems are affected by the oil spill, ranging from the...
Your Personal Health Insurance Policy
Everyone is aware of the extremely high cost of most health care services. These costs can be measured not only in cash outlays, but also in time spent at a doctor's office. Waiting times can often be an hour or more for a comprehensive physical examination at a family physician's or internist's office. If you have a problem that...
Weight Loss Secrets – Drink Plenty of Water
Overweight and obesity are common health problems worldwide. Food plans that work - those that help people lose weight and help them keep the weight off - embody only a few simple principles. These weight loss secrets include eating five or six small meals each day, combining protein and carbohydrates at each small meal (food...
Top Two Tips for Reaching Your Normal Weight
It's well-known that one-third of American adults are overweight and an additional one-third are obese.1 In addition, 17% of U.S. children and adolescents are obese.2 Worldwide statistics are similar. These facts are strongly associated with ongoing epidemics in diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Diabetes may cause loss of...
Anxiety – Wide-Ranging Health Effects
Humans appear to be hard-wired for modest levels of anxiety as a fear-arousal warning mechanism. Anxiety may be characterized as uneasiness, fear, worry, and apprehension. Anxiety is a common psychological state in which the basic message is "get away from this situation". The state is usually accompanied by numerous physiologic...
Pushing Back the Clock
Many people experience lapses in memory as they get older. Every so often, it may become frustratingly difficult or even temporarily impossible to recall a particular word or a specific person's name. A person might commit a phone number to memory and then immediately forget it. Of course, everyone is familiar with the sinking...
Built to Last
Just like the well-known, best-selling American truck, your body is built to last. But if it's built to last, why do so many people have serious problems with their bodies? If a human body is built to last, why does it seem to break down so easily?The pharmaceutical industry earns billions of dollars each year, profiting from the...
Exercising with Your Baby
From biking and hiking to walking and jogging, today's parents are keeping fit and bonding with their babies in the process. With an array of products unheard of a generation ago like baby carriers, joggers and trailers even the tiniest among us are enjoying the great outdoors. But while these items can make life easier and more...
Breakfast of Champions
We all know we should eat a "good breakfast". Most of us can still hear the voice of our third grade teacher ringing in our ears - "Did everyone eat a good breakfast today?" - the kindly, inquiring tone usually accompanied by a penetrating stare. But as unlikely as it was then that most kids ate a good breakfast, it is even more...
Five Small Meals
Plenty of people go through plenty of suffering trying to lose weight. But why does it have to be that way? Surely there's some discipline involved, but the process can actually be empowering and personally fulfilling. Weight loss doesn't need to be about suffering. Losing weight can actually be fun.The fun part of losing weight is...
Care of Concussions
Concussions are becoming increasingly common, especially among school-age athletes. It has been estimated that there are up to 3.8 million sports-related concussions in the United States each year. Concussions are problematic as, by definition, a concussive injury involves some degree of trauma to the brain. A concussion injury...
Chiropractic Care for the Young and the Young at Heart
Children and adults are the same but different. Most kids want to play all the time, but they also are required to go to school. Most adults would prefer to play all the time relax, go to the gym, read a book, watch TV, or get together with friends but most adults need to go to work at least 5 days a week. Interestingly, what...
Ice Capades
In the depths of winter, adults, as well as children, exert themselves to engage in enjoyable outdoor activities that will keep them warm and provide both excitement and entertainment. Cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, sledding, ice hockey, figure skating, and speed skating all have their enthusiasts.Many people are proficient...
The Sounds of Summer
The variegated songs of the mockingbird. The crack of the bat on the baseball diamond. The screaming of little children at play in the community pool. Wherever we turn, the sounds of summer surround us in a joyful uplifting cacophony. Summertime may mean barbecue and it may mean the beach, but it also means outdoor activities that...
Being a Change Agent
Being a Change AgentFor most of us, change happens slowly, if at all. But as the recent holiday season fades into the distance, many of us wish to be increasingly proactive this year and take real action on the numerous New Year's resolutions that we made in regard to our health and well-being.Back in December, many of us...
Holiday Cheer
In early winter, whether we're celebrating Hanukkah or Christmas, both or nothing at all, families and friends gather to share food and drink and give thanks for a year successfully completed. We send up a rousing holiday cheer and share delicious holiday cheer in celebration of our accomplishments and to honor our cherished...
Find Inspiration in Walden
In this 200th anniversary year of the birth of Henry David Thoreau, each of us can increase our health and well-being by applying his guidance to our regular exercise activities. Thoreau, one of the United States' greatest writers, naturalists, and philosophers, not only walked the length and breadth of Concord, his beloved...
Making the Grade
The recent school year has long been over, but the echoes of learning, striving, and achieving persist. We may, if we choose, apply these remembrances of ourselves when we were in school to the circumstances of our health and well-being. We all want good health for ourselves and the members of our families, but most of us are...
A User’s Guide to Healthy Knees
Healthy knees require continuous motion. However, our generally sedentary lifestyles are at odds with the maintenance of robust knee joint architecture. Left motionless throughout large portions of the day, over time knee cartilage will break down and knee ligaments will become lax. These chronic changes are frequently associated...
Wildfire Inside of You
Comparisons between the inner world and the outer world have been frequently drawn by philosophers, nature writers, and visual artists. For example, "seeing the universe in a grain of sand" is a well-known aphorism. The number of neurons in your brain has been compared to the number of stars in the Milky Way. The golden ratio...
Hip and Knee Security
Everyone knows someone who has undergone hip or knee replacement. These surgeries are no longer exclusively performed on older persons and are now not uncommon procedures for many patients with persistent, significant hip or knee pain. Problems that lead people to be willing to undergo joint replacement surgery include ongoing...
Detective Story
When Sir Arthur Conan Doyles Sherlock Holmes applied himself to a difficult case, he famously utilized his powers of deduction. Holmes assembled and examined the facts before him and employed a scientific method of analysis to arrive at a solution that took into account of all the elements of the case. The great fictional...
Double Indemnity
In the classic 1944 film noir, "Double Indemnity", insurance salesman Walter Neff (played by Fred MacMurray), gets into some pretty hot water involving his client (Barbara Stanwyck) and his co-worker (Edward G. Robinson). Neff tries to misuse the concept of double indemnity and he pays a heavy price. Surprisingly, double indemnity...
Health Statistics and You
We are awash in numbers, thanks in large part to the proliferation of personal mobile devices and the wrong-headed use of so-called big data.1 But applying statistical tools to the same set of data can support competing theories and lead to contradictory results. Such conflicting outcomes, known as antinomies if you remember...
Meditation and Me
For many of us, the practice of meditation seems like a totally foreign notion. In an era of full-time, morning-to-night distractions and distractibility, the concept of quietly sitting with nothing else to do seems impossibly ridiculous. Why would anyone do that, we ask, as we text message with one hand and channel surf with the...
New Beginnings
The time is always right to begin returning to good health. Regardless of whether your issues involve weight, exercise, diet, blood pressure, diabetes, or chronic pain, now is the time to begin taking action on your own behalf.You are not alone. Literally hundreds of millions of people worldwide have various chronic complaints and...
Learning From History
Whether we're driving a car, riding a bike, or trying to record a spare at our local bowling alley, our musculoskeletal system bases its decision-making on past history, that is, what it has learned before. Drawing on years of experience, recorded deep within our muscle memory, we're able to avoid an unexpected obstacle in the...
A Center for Health
Mindfulness programs and practices frequently describe a process of locating your "center." One's center may be conceived as a focus of energy, both spiritual and physical, by which all activities may be grounded and from which all activities flow. Similarly, ballet teachers and gymnastics instructors enjoin their pupils to "work...
Hitting for the Cycle
In baseball, hitting for the cycle means that a batter hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run during the same game. Hitting for the cycle is a rare baseball event, occurring about as often as a no-hitter by a pitcher. Certainly, a great deal of skill is involved in accomplishing such a feat. A batter needs to have a good...
Yoda and Yoga
In the film classic "The Empire Strikes Back," the iconic Jedi master Yoda inscrutably refers to "the Force" during training sessions with his disciple, Luke Skywalker. Yoda informs Luke that he "must feel the Force around you." Yoda himself is frequently seen assuming what may only be described as intergalactic yoga poses....
Should I Use Ice or Heat for Pain?
Should you use heat or ice on your painful injury? The best method of solving this important riddle is to assess the nature and source of the pain. Essentially, a new injury, that is, one that you sustained within the last 48 hours, is best treated with ice. Chronic pain, or pain that you have had for a long time, is generally best...
Indoor Activities and Exercises
How to Exercise IndoorsFor those of us who live in locales such as southern California, outdoor activities and outdoor exercise are available year-round. Elsewhere, winter sets in and many people discontinue their outdoor activities until the return of spring. As it is important to maintain our fitness levels throughout the year,...
Holiday Stress – Take a Deep Breath
Holiday Stress Take a Deep BreathMost of us pay little attention, if any, to the daily functioning of our many physiological systems. Our hearts beat, our digestive systems digest, and our various hormones, such as those deriving from the thyroid gland, adrenal gland, and pancreas, do what they do. It's all good... until it's...
Proper Overindulgence Over the Holidays
Proper Overindulgence Over The HolidaysThe term "overindulgence" is probably best assessed as a red flag, especially with respect to consistent overconsumption of high-calorie comfort food and desserts during the holiday season. An overall healthier perspective could be described as "indulgence" regarding such calorie intake....
The 5 Senses
The five senses, that is, the sense of sight, touch, hearing, taste, and smell, provide us with necessary information regarding the world around us.1 These precious capabilities enable us to navigate our environment with seemingly instantaneous feedback with reference to our actions and activities in our immediate surround. The...
The Benefits of Sleep for Adults
Obtaining sufficient restful sleep is an essential requirement for optimal human productivity. Such a practice is a key component of a healthy lifestyle, which includes a nutritious diet, regular vigorous exercise, and a positive mental attitude. How much sleep one needs varies from person to person. Importantly, failure to obtain...
Back to School and Mental Wellness
Summer is a subjectively fleeting season and school days are upon us once again. For children, this bittersweet time marks the completion of a period of relative freedom and the beginning of a new set of responsibilities. For adults, the onset of late summer and early fall signals yet another turn of the wheel of life, reminding us...
Repetitive Motion Injuries
A repetitive motion injury (or overuse injury) involves doing an action over and over again, as with a baseball pitcher throwing a baseball, a tennis player hitting a tennis ball, typing at a computer keyboard, and most notoriously, typing with your thumbs on the tiny keypad of your phone. It may be reasonably asserted that our...
Left-Handers Day
Left-Handers Day, celebrated on August 15th, was launched in 1992 by the Left-Handers Club, an organization based in the United Kingdom. Since then, Left-Handers Day has become a worldwide event and social media phenomenon. Around the world, approximately one in ten persons is left-handed. But we live in an overwhelmingly...
Peak Experiences
The American philosopher and naturalist Henry David Thoreau roamed far and wide over the hills and mountains of his native Massachusetts and neighboring New Hampshire. In his masterwork, "Walden," Thoreau famously stated that we must "reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the...
Dynamic Warm-ups
In a common occurrence, you bend over to pick up the pencil you inadvertently dropped on the floor. Or you bend over to pick up the soap bar that has slipped through your fingers in the shower. Or you bend over to lift a bag of groceries out of your automobile trunk. These are all daily events. But on a certain day, at a certain...
Summer Sports
Summer SportsIn the summertime, everyone's thoughts turn to the outdoors. We want to get out in the sun and have some fun. Some people do exercise outdoors, such as running, walking, and biking, all year long regardless of the weather.1 For others, summer's warmer temperatures make activity outside the house or the gym more...
Wellness Gardens
When time is spent in an office or indoors day in and day out, some can lose that connection to the outside world. And that loss of connection can lead to higher stress levels and more health ailments without even realizing it. But when that the gap between office life and outdoor life is bridged, quality of life - and health -...
Smart Shoulders
Our shoulder joints have the greatest range of motion of any of the musculoskeletal joints in our bodies. The shoulder joint is really two joints, the glenohumeral joint between the arm bone (humerus) and the shoulder blade (scapula) and the acromioclavicular joint between the acromion (a bony projection off the scapula) and the...
A Book and Its Cover
A book cover may not necessarily tell the whole story and may not accurately portray the nature of the contents within. Publishing companies pay high salaries to their marketing staff to create cover copy that will entice prospective buyers to make a purchase. But many times the book itself does not live up to the hype. Similarly,...
When Your Spine Is In Line
Good spinal alignment means good biomechanical health. Essentially, your spine is the biomechanical center of your body. Your legs are connected to your spine via two large and strong pelvic bones. Your arms are connected to your spine via your shoulder blades, ribs, and numerous strong muscles and ligaments. Spinal alignment...
An Apple a Day . . .
What is so good about an apple? Is it the color, ranging from ruby red to pale pink? Is it the crunch? The sweetness? Or is it, instead, a combination of all of these qualities, plus the natural goodness derived from the apple's secret ingredients phytonutrients? If this were a multiple choice quiz, the answer would be "all of...
Standing Tall
Young peoples' bones stop growing by approximately age 20, somewhat earlier in women and somewhat later in men. Long bone growth, that is, in the arm, forearm, thigh, and leg, ceases later and smaller bone growth, that is, in the hands, feet, and spine, ceases earlier. In essence, you're as tall as you're going to be by your mid-...
Spring Forth!
Spring is arriving. The days are getting longer, the air is fresher, and the sunlight is brighter. Flowers and bushes are beginning to bloom. Tree sap is running and there are new baby animals in the world. In short, the world is being renewed and, if we choose to, we too can actively participate in this process of rebirth and...
Chiropractic and Male Infertility
Chiropractic Treatment Can Offer Help for Male InfertilityMale infertility doesn't often get the attention it deserves. Yet more than 1/3 of fertility problems occur due to male issues, according to the Urology Care Foundation. Chiropractic care may offer a simple, completely natural way to improve your fertility.How Spinal...
Can Meditation Improve Your Health?
How Meditation Contributes to Overall Health Meditation offers many benefits for your mental and emotional health. Regular meditation reduces stress and anxiety, improves your mood and decreases symptoms of depression. Adding meditation to your daily schedule may also help you lower your risk of some health conditions and...
Chiropractic Treatment for Spondylosis
Chiropractic Treatment Can Help Ease the Pain of SpondylosisAches and pains in your back or neck could be caused by spondylosis, a condition that occurs after years of wear and tear on your spine. Although popping a few pain relievers can decrease your symptoms, the relief is only temporary and can be accompanied by unpleasant side...
How to Help Improve Your Children’s Quality of Sleep
How Nightly Routines and Relaxation Techniques Can Improve the Quality of Your Child's SleepUnlike adults, children don't always appreciate the benefits of a good night's sleep. While parents look forward to slipping under the covers at the end of a long day, kids find plenty of creative excuses to delay bedtime. Unfortunately,...
The 3 Most Common Chiropractic Questions Answered
The 3 Most Frequently Asked Chiropractic Care Questions and The Answers to ThemMost people have a few questions when considering chiropractic care to naturally treat pain and injuries. If you've been wondering if chiropractic is a good option for you, you'll want to take a look at these commonly asked questions.What Kinds of...
Chiropractic and Vertigo
Chiropractic Treatment May Relieve Your VertigoIt's hard to focus on anything when the room feels as if it's constantly spinning due to vertigo. The condition affects nearly 40 percent of us at some point in our lives, according to University of California San Francisco Health. If vertigo has disrupted your life, chiropractic...
How to Make Sure Your Chiropractic Adjustment Lasts
How to Extend the Effects of Your Chiropractic AdjustmentDepending on the things you do after your visit to the chiropractor, the effects of your treatment can last days or just a few hours. Fortunately, you can extend the positive effects of your adjustments by following a few simple guidelines.Pay Attention to Your PosturePoor...
Chiropractic and Headaches
Chiropractic Care May Help Your Headache PainHeadaches are often dismissed as minor ailments that can be easily cured simply by popping a few over-the-counter pain relievers. Although pain medication may be helpful for occasional headaches, it's not always effective for chronic headache pain. Pain relievers can also cause liver or...
What is Flexion-Distraction Therapy?
Could Flexion-Distraction Therapy Help My Pain?Most of us experience pain in our muscles and joints occasionally. If we're lucky, the uncomfortable symptoms subside after just a few days. For some people, pain becomes a chronic condition that lasts months or years.Although pain medication can be helpful, it often causes nausea,...
Dehydration and Back Pain
How Dehydration Affects the BodyHealthy nutrition includes drinking at least 4 to 8 glasses of water every day. Admittedly, this is a wide range, but 4 8-ounce glasses of water represents the minimum intake for adult men and women. A useful frame of reference is the presence or absence of thirst. Optimally, you should never feel as...
Posture and Spinal Health
What is Your Posture Telling You About Your Health?Most of us started hearing about posture way back in grade school when our parents and teachers began to tell us to "stand up straight". We were told to have "good posture", often with the implication that such an achievement was associated with strength of character, discipline,...
Asthma and Chiropractic
Can Chiropractic Improve Symptoms of Asthma?According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of May 2018, 1 in 13 Americans have asthma, representing 26.5 million people. Of these 26.5 million, 6.1 million children and 20.4 million adults suffer from this chronic disease. The annual costs of asthma to society are...
Foods for Joint Pain
Can your diet affect joint pain?Joint pain may be experienced as a result of an acute injury, such as an ankle sprain, knee sprain, or rotator cuff tear. Joint pain may also accompany varying types of joint inflammation, including osteoarthritis (degenerative joint disease), rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and joint...
Can Chiropractic Help Alleviate Anxiety?
Can Chiropractic Help Alleviate Anxiety?Many people of all ages experience depression and/or anxiety, whether on an occasional, frequent, or consistent basis. These symptoms may be transient, only occurring at a particular stage in one's life, or they may represent a specific condition such as a depressive disorder or a panic...
What Is TMJ Syndrome and How Can Chiropractic Help?
What Is TMJ Syndrome and How Can Chiropractic Help?The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) connects the temporal bone with the condylar process (flange of bone) of the mandible (jaw bone). There is a TMJ on each side of your skull. The joint provides for all motion of the jaw in relation to the skull, including elevation, depression,...
ACL Injury and Chiropractic
The knee is a hinge joint and stability is provided by the large thigh muscles (the quadriceps and hamstrings), the cartilaginous medial and lateral menisci, the medial and lateral collateral ligaments, and the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments. The cruciate ligaments are located within the knee joint and provide...
Chiropractic and Breech Babies During Pregnancy
At some point during the course of her pregnancy, a woman may begin to experience low back pain and even sciatica, that is, radiating pain down the back of a leg. The likely explanation for most of these cases of obstetric-related low back pain is the increased mechanical load due to the weight of the developing fetus, amniotic...
Natural Remedies for Sciatic Pain
"Sciatica" is an older term describing the symptoms of inflammation of the sciatic nerve, also known as sciatic neuritis. Sciatica involves radiating pain down the back of one lower extremity, usually including the back of the thigh and back of the calf, possibly extending into the foot. Sciatica pain may be described as sharp,...
Chiropractic Care For Pets
The focus of chiropractic treatment is the spinal column and nerve system. Most of us are familiar with the application of chiropractic treatment methods in the care of the human population. What is not generally known is the fact that chiropractic treatment can be applied in the care of the veterinary population. Historically,...
Should I Use Heat or Ice for Pain?
Should you use heat or ice on your painful injury? The best method of solving this important riddle is to assess the nature and source of the pain. Essentially, a new injury, that is, one that you sustained within the last 48 hours, is best treated with ice. Chronic pain, or pain that you have had for a long time, is generally best...
Why You Should Receive Chiropractic Care After an Auto Accident
Receiving Chiropractic Care After Suffering Auto InjuriesEven seemingly minor motor vehicle accidents can cause whiplash, back pain, and other ailments. Visiting your chiropractor as soon as possible after an accident will help ease your pain and prevent long-term complications.Chiropractic Treatment Eases Whiplash PainWhiplash is...
Causes and Symptoms of a Herniated Disc
Do You Have a Herniated Disc?A herniated disc, also called a "slipped" disc, could be the source of that nagging pain in your lower back or legs. Fortunately, your chiropractor offers several treatments that can help ease your pain.How Do Herniated Discs Cause Pain?Rubbery, round discs cushion the spaces between the vertebrae in...
How to Enjoy Summertime Activities Without Back Pain
Summer Activities That Can Lead to Back PainNow that it's summertime, many of us are catching up on yard work and enjoying outdoor activities. Unfortunately, back pain can be a consequence if you work or play too hard and don't follow a few simple back precautions. These activities are common causes of back pain.Gardening and Yard...
How Chiropractic Care Can Help While Pregnant
The Benefits of Chiropractic Care During PregnancyPregnancy may be one of the most joyous times of your life, but it's often accompanied by a few aches and pains. Chiropractic treatment improves your comfort during pregnancy and also offers a few other advantages.How Chiropractic Care Can Help YouThe position of your bones and...
Improve Your Recovery Time With Chiropractic Treatment
How Chiropractic Treatment Can Help with Recovery TimePain, stiffness, and other symptoms often continue for days or weeks after an injury, even if the injury was fairly minor. Chiropractic care can shorten your recovery period and help you to return to your normal activities much sooner.Ways Chiropractic Treatment Speeds Up...
Prevent Back Pain While Doing Yard Work
10 Ways to Prevent Back Pain During Summer Yard WorkLove it or hate it, yard work can't be avoided during the summer months. Mowing, weeding, trimming, and mulching keeps your yard looking its best. But maintaining your yard isn't without its dangers. These 10 tips can help you avoid nagging back pain or injuries this...
May is National Correct Posture Month
The Importance of Good Posture For Your Back and Spine Your parents were right when they nagged you about the importance of good posture. Poor posture can trigger back pain and may even affect the alignment of your entire body. Learning about the many negative effects of poor posture during National Correct Posture Month in May...
The Most Effective Ways to Improve Your Sleeping Position
How Your Sleeping Position Can Lead to Back ProblemsIt's not always easy to narrow down the cause of early morning back pain, particularly if you don't remember doing anything that could trigger the pain. If you haven't fallen, lifted heavy items, or exercised intensely recently, your sleeping position may be to blame for your...
June is Scoliosis Awareness Month
A Guide to Scoliosis: Treatment, Symptoms, and CausesScoliosis occurs when the spine curves sideways. Although you may associate the condition with teenagers, it can affect adults too. An estimated 7 million people in the United States have scoliosis, according to the National Scoliosis Foundation.Scoliosis SymptomsThe bony...
Electrotherapy and Pain Relief
Electrotherapy Offers Natural Pain ReliefDo you struggle to keep your pain under control? Over-the-counter prescription medication relieves symptoms but often causes nausea, dizziness and other side effects that make working, exercising, or taking care of your family difficult. Electrotherapy may offer a better way to manage your...
Exercising After An Injury
Should You Exercise After an Injury?When your muscles and joints are sore and strained from an injury, hitting the gym probably doesn't seem like a very good idea. Although full-out workouts could potentially worsen your condition, moderate exercise may be just what you need to speed the healing process.How You Can Benefit from...
The Importance of Routine Chiropractic Treatment
The Advantages of Long-Term Chiropractic CareHow long has it been since you've seen your chiropractor? Chiropractic visits not only offer relief of chronic or acute (sudden) pain but may also provide long-term health benefits. Making time for regular chiropractic care offers a simple way to protect your health.Why You Should...
Your First Chiropractic Adjustment
What to Expect During Your First Chiropractic VisitHave you been thinking about making an appointment with a chiropractor due to pain in your back, neck, hip or limbs? Chiropractic treatment offers a natural way to ease pain, reduce insomnia and stress, relieve numbness and tingling, and help you stay healthy. Here's what you can...
Preventative Care vs. Reactive Care
Preventative Care vs. Reactive Care: How Regular Chiropractic Visits Can Prevent Pain and Health IssuesDo you only visit the chiropractor when your back or neck hurts? Making time for regular visits can help you avoid aches and pains. In fact, preventive care visits offer a simple way to optimize your health.What's the Difference...
The Benefits of Spinal Alignment On Sports Performance
How Spinal Alignment Can Help You Improve Your Sports PerformanceDo you have trouble meeting your athletic goals despite hours of practice time? Skill isn't the only factor that affects your ability to run faster, throw a ball accurately or prevent the other team from scoring. A misaligned spine may compromise your range of motion,...
How To Ease Into Exercise In The New Year With New Workout Plans
Ease Into Exercise in The New Year With Help from Your Chiropractor Have you decided that 2020 is the year that you'll finally follow through on your plan to exercise more often? Although regular exercise is essential to your health, you may injure yourself if you suddenly begin a rigorous workout routine. Fortunately, your...
Put Your Health First In The New Year
Put Your Health First in the New Year with Chiropractic CareThe new year is the perfect time to reflect on your lifestyle and make a few changes to improve your health. Adding chiropractic treatments to your healthy living regimen can help you avoid illnesses and injuries or manage the symptoms of chronic conditions. More than just...
Does Collagen Help With Joint Pain?
The Benefits of Using Collagen For Your JointsPainful joints complicate even the simplest activities. Walking up a flight of stairs, bending or even rising from a seated position is much more difficult when your joints become stiff and painful. Collagen supplements promise to ease your pain naturally, but do they work?What is...
Staying Healthy as a Caregiver
How to Stay Healthy Mentally and Physically When You're a CaregiverTaking care of others can be hard on your own health. In fact, 17 to 25 percent of caregivers say their health is fair or poor, according to the Family Caregiver Alliance. That statistic isn't surprising. Whether you're caring for young children or elderly...
Chiropractic and Gut Health
Can Chiropractic Treatment Improve Your Digestive Health?Chiropractic treatment doesn't just ease aches and pains in your joints and muscles. The therapy may also offer an effective treatment option if you have frequent stomachaches, reflux, constipation, and other gastrointestinal conditions.How Chiropractic Treats the Source of...
Foot Pain Treatment
Blog Foot Pain Treatment From Spring Chiropractic and Rehab If you have been regularly dealing with pain in one or both of your feet, obtaining proper foot pain treatment is necessary to find relief. Plantar Fasciitis is a common condition that may be to blame for frequent pain in the feet. Contacting Spring Chiropractic and Rehab...
What You Need To Know About Back Pain Therapy
Blog Back Pain Therapy with our Chiropractor in Spring, TX When most people think about chiropractic treatments, they tend to think about injuries related to car accidents and sports-related injuries. Chiropractors provide treatments for a host of other conditions related to chronic medical conditions and congenital defects. Here...
How to Prevent Neck Pain
Blog Neck Pain Treatment with our Chiropractor in Spring, TX Neck pain can happen when we least expect it. Whether it happens to us during physical labor or during our normal routines, neck pain can become a major discomfort in our lives. Neck pain that is not remedied over time can also lead to other problems as well. Fortunately,...