Can Chiropractic Help With Fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia:

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition characterized by widespread pain throughout the body. It affects twice as many women than men and it affects about 2% of the population or 4 million adults in the United States. Fibromyalgia can also be flared up by illnesses, physical trauma or emotional stress. According to the CDC, fibromyalgia symptoms can include:

• Musculoskeletal pain and stiffness, often through the entire body.

• Fatigue and tiredness.

• Depression and anxiety.

• Sleep issues.

• Memory, thinking or concentration issues.

• Tension headaches or migraines.

• Digestive issues (i.e. irritable bowel syndrome)

• Pain in the face or jaw.

• Tingling or numbness in the hands and feet.

What Causes Fibromyalgia?

The cause behind fibromyalgia is still uncertain, but the most researched theory behind fibromyalgia pain is that at some point in a person’s life, their nervous system changes in a way that this person experiences an increased sensitivity to pain. This can happen numerous ways, such as:

• One can have increased levels of chemicals that signal pain, resulting in inaccurate pain signals.

• Pain receptors develop a memory where they overreact to both painful and non-painful

• stimuli.

How can Chiropractic Treatment Help?

The nervous system coordinates and regulates the function of every tissue, organ and system in your body. As we saw, in the case of fibromyalgia patients, there’s an issue in the functioning of the nervous system that affects how your brain processes pain signals.

Chiropractic treatments are all about optimizing the communication of your nervous system. The aim is to correct vertebral misalignments that put pressure on the nerves that relay information to and from the brain. By removing this nerve interference, chiropractic adjustments can improve the functioning of your nervous system which in turn can help support people suffering from fibromyalgia. By restoring structural integrity, chiropractic care can also help to alleviate pain, increase range of motion and increase sleep in people who suffer from this chronic condition.

On the other hand, practice members who come in with fibromyalgia tend to be different from those coming in with typical neck pain or low back pain in the sense that they sometimes require us to modify their adjustment. Because people with fibromyalgia tend to have a lower threshold for pain signals, they tend to do better with a more specific and gentle adjustment.

If you want to learn more about how to manage fibromyalgia pain through conservative and alternative means, reach out to your local chiropractor!

What's Making Us Unhealthy and How Can Chiropractic Help?

In the world we live in, there are as many emerging things to do to be healthy as there are things to avoid doing so as to not become unhealthy. It can be pretty overwhelming, but we believe that understanding the big-picture elements affecting our health is a great place to start before we start talking about how your health is related to chiropractic. So let's get into it!

There are 3 Types of Stress Bombarding us Chronically:

Physical stress:

This type of stress can encompass a wide scope of physical elements, big and small. On one side, we've got macro-traumas that can have an immediate impact on our body, such as:

• Motor vehicle collisions

• Slips and falls.

• Injuries.

On the other hand, we have microtraumas that have a subtle, yet effective effect on our body over time, such as:

• Our posture.

• Sitting for long hours in one position.

• Having a physical job.

• Repetitive movements in sports (i.e. swinging a golf club, kicking a soccer ball, swinging a baseball bat) or life.

• Gravity.

Chemical stress:

This type of stress involves the toxic substances that our body is exposed to that then affects our levels of inflammation, our body's ability to detoxify, and our cellular health. Examples of chemical stress that we experience include:

• The quality of our diet.

• The quality of the water that we drink, shower in, and use to wash our clothes.

• Air quality in our homes and urban areas.

• Products such as laundry detergent, deodorant, makeup, candles, soaps, toothpaste, and pesticides.

Mental/Emotional stress:

This type of stress typically needs no introduction. We all have many different mental and emotional stressors bombarding us day in and day out. Unfortunately, this is also the type of stress that we push down or try to push through. Here are some examples of mental/emotional stress:

• Work-related stress.

• Being a parent, managing multiple schedules.

• Managing debt.

• Declining social relationships.

• Planning a holiday vacation.

What does having chronic stress mean for me and my body?

What these 3 types of stresses all have in common is that they add physiological stress to our body. Physiological stress relates to any factors that challenge the homeostasis of a cell or organism. You see, our body is always working very hard to keep us running and in good health. When we have long-term stress, whether physical, chemical, mental, or all three, our body is going to start dysregulating itself. Mayo Clinic states that symptoms of chronic stress can include:

• Anxiety.

• Depression.

• Digestive problems.

• Headaches.

• Muscle tension and pain (i.e. neck pain, back pain).

• Heart disease, heart attack, high blood pressure and stroke.

• Sleep problems.

• Weight gain.

• Problems with memory and focus.

How is My Health Related to Chiropractic Care?

The first thing to keep in mind is that when it comes to your health: It. Takes. A. Village. It takes consistent effort on many fronts (i.e. exercising, physical therapy, nutritional therapy, setting boundaries, managing external factors) to get healthy and keep yourself healthy. There is no one single thing that will do it.

On the other hand, while chiropractic adjustments alone aren't enough to solve all of your issues, by getting pressure off nerves, chiropractic can support your body's ability to cope with physiological stress. The nervous system is also the master control of your body, which means that when it is functioning optimally all your other organs and tissues can have improved coordination and function as well. An example of how the nervous system can affect other parts of your body is neuropathy: when there's damage to peripheral nerves people will typically loose sensation in their feet, but this problem is due to nerve damage, not due to a problem in the skin or muscle of your feet!

A third way in which chiropractic treatment helps is by stabilizing the foundation of your body, which is your pelvis and vertebral column. Structural misalignments here can put pressure on nerves and affect our body's function, it can mean that our joints can tear and wear quicker, and it can also make us more prone to injuries. One of the most important things to keep in mind is that we're not talking about a single chiropractic adjustment, our body needs consistent checks and care to counteract the stress that bombards us day-in and day-out. For many patients this can mean weekly care and for many others it can mean less frequent care.

Through chiropractic services, you can strengthen your body from the inside-out so that you're in a better position to adapt to the different types of stresses that life likes to throw your way. The magnitude of what we do goes way beyond back and neck pain because the nervous system is in charge of much more than that! If you're interested in learning more about your nervous system's health and spinal manipulation, reach out to your local chiropractor or seek out people from your community who are chiropractic patients!

Can Chiropractic Help with Insomnia?

Anyone who has had a rough night of sleep knows that sleep can play a significant role in how you feel on a given day. But for those who deal with insomnia, getting a good night's sleep can feel like an impossibility. But what is it about sleep that affects our body's ability to function so much?

Why is Sleep so Important?

Sleep is vital to maintaining good health. It is essential to every process in the body and allows your body to function physically and mentally as it should. Sleep helps your immune system, digestive system, metabolism, mental health, mood, and so much more. In children sleep is even more critical in that it helps them develop mentally and physically. Poor sleep in children has been associated with difficult behavioral issues, difficulty learning and retaining information, and even poor eating patterns.

While your body sleeps, your brain gets a chance to process and perform healthy brain functions like storing new information in long-term memory, clearing the cortisol that has built up from the day's activities, and recharging mentally so that you can think clearly tomorrow and maintain good mental health. Physically our bodies get a chance to rest and recover from a day of activity so that we are ready to work, exercise, and play the next day.

Sleep helps our brain function properly, it helps our emotional and mental state stay healthy, it reduces our risk of disease, and so much more. And poor sleep and sleep deprivation have been associated with a whole host of issues such as fatigue, higher levels of stress, anxiety, depression, lower immune system, weight gain, and behavioral issues, and sleep deprivation can even increase your risk of having a car accident.

What is Insomnia?

Insomnia is defined as a sleep disorder where it is difficult to fall asleep, stay asleep, or get back to sleep. This can then make you feel groggy and sap your energy level, as well as lead to poor health, work performance, and quality of life. This lack of quality sleep at night can also then cause daytime fatigue. Those with trouble falling asleep often will find their body's ability to function the next day is decreased, and their low energy levels can lead to other health issues. Insomniacs may try to get more sleep, but if their body still does not get a chance to have true restorative sleep, their issue will remain the same.

Chronic insomnia can also lead to a weakened immune system, as the poor quality of sleep means that the body never gets a chance to recover.

Common causes of insomnia can be stress, eating too late in the evening, drinking too much caffeine, a poor work schedule, and poor sleep habits, but can also be associated with medical conditions or the use of certain drugs. Mental health can also contribute to insomnia, anxiety, PTSD, and Depression can also have a side effect of insomnia.

Other Sleep Disorders

Sleep apnea can also be a cause of insomnia. Sleep apnea is a condition where during sleep the body repeatedly stops breathing. This back-and-forth of loss of oxygen and rapid restart of breathing can mean that the body never enters true restful sleep, and as such, even a person who got an adequate number of hours of sleep can still feel incredibly tired and fatigued the next morning.

How Does Pain Contribute to Poor Sleep?

Another cause of poor sleep can be bodily pain. When the body is in pain, it can lead to difficulty falling asleep; chronic pain can make it impossible. Poor alignment in the spine can lead to issues with neck pain or back pain which can lead to difficulty feeling comfortable and finding a good sleeping position. Long-term poor posture can also contribute to tension and discomfort in the muscles throughout the whole musculoskeletal system.

How does the nervous system contribute to sleep?

Another possible cause of poor sleep is nervous system dysregulation. There are two sides to the nervous system, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system controls the fight or flight response of the body, helping the body protect itself and be able to get away from danger. Sympathetic activation will cause the body to increase the heart rate, decrease the motility of the digestive tract, constrict blood vessels, raise blood pressure, and prepare the body to be on high alert. The parasympathetic nervous system is the opposing side. If Sympathetic is "fight or flight", parasympathetic is "rest and digest". It relaxes your body and increases your ability to digest food, it reduces the amount of work your lungs do during times of rest, and lowers your heart rate. The parasympathetic side of the nervous system is important for helping reduce overall tension in the body and helping attain good sleep.

However, sometimes people can get trapped in fight or flight, and this increased sympathetic activation can lead to insomnia as the body is never truly able to rest.

How can Chiropractic care help overcome sleep disorders?

This is where a chiropractor can help. People can try to relieve stress and pain in the body in many ways, but one of the most effective methods of finding the root cause of pain is chiropractic care. Spinal misalignments can be one of the primary root causes of pain in the body, and chiropractic manipulation helps to correct misalignments that are holding the body in pain. Often patients will report that even after one adjustment they experienced better sleep.

Chiropractic adjustments can also help activate the parasympathetic side of the nervous system and help balance communication through the body, allowing the body to switch through the sides of the nervous system as it needs to as opposed to being stuck in one or the other. This better communication can help increase your sleep quality and better your sleep patterns, helping you fall asleep and stay asleep better.

How else can chiropractic treatment help me?

There are so many other ways that chiropractic care can help the functioning of the whole body. Explore our other blog posts to see other examples, and call today to schedule your chiropractic evaluation and see what chiropractic medicine can do to make your life better!

Does Everyone Get Chiropractic Adjustments the Same Way?

As you might expect, many people don't get adjusted the same way (the same adjustment, with the same technique and the same treatment plan) because there are many factors that determine what an adjustment looks like for someone. Let's dig deeper into why this can be!

Chiropractic Technique:

In the chiropractic world, there are many different techniques that allow a chiropractor to analyze someone's spine as well as to execute an adjustment. Depending on the technique that your chiropractor uses, your adjustment could include:

• Manual adjustments

• Drop tables

• Instruments

• Distraction tables

• Sacro-Occipital Technique blocks

• Soft tissue therapy

• Others

Age/Stage of Life

Expectedly, how you get chiropractic care as a baby is not the same way that you get care as a child or an adult. Babies are not tiny adults, which is why their adjustments looks different! When it comes to babies, their adjustments are much gentler and there is a more neurologically-based approach instead of a musculoskeletal one. Additionally, a young adult with a simple case of neck pain may be adjusted very differently than someone past their seventies who has a tougher time getting on the table, shifting positions or whose body is more sensitive to certain types of adjustments.

Past and Present Conditions

On the other hand, there are some people with either past or present medical conditions or issues that could change how a chiropractor approaches their body. For example, you may have a history of hardware in your body, such as spinal fusion surgery. This could mean that your chiropractor cannot directly adjust over the affected region and may have to focus on stabilizing the segments above and below it. People with disc herniations or disc extrusions may benefit greatly from chiropractic, but they will do better with adjustments that do not input excessive rotation into those segments. Patients with a history of cancer treatments may have osteopenia, which also means that they may benefit more from gentler chiropractic techniques when working on their midback. Abdominal aortic aneurysms, neuropathy, pregnant mommas, and people with a spondylolisthesis are more examples of people who typically require some modification to how one delivers their adjustment.

Congenital Anomalies

You might be surprised to hear that many people out in the world have congenital anomalies and many don't even know about it! Congenital anomalies are structural anomalies that occur during fetal development. From a chiropractic perspective, we may see that someone has eleven -instead of twelve- pairs of ribs, they might have an extra bone in their low back, or they may have a fusion between two or more segments in their neck. There are many other types of congenital anomalies that we see in the office and most of them are benign and don't change the way you experience life or get adjusted. However, there are some that may affect how we get chiropractic patients adjusted, such as having a posterior ponticle, a cervical rib, or Eagle's syndrome. These congenital anomalies can only be seen through imaging, which is why many chiropractors feel strongly about taking xrays of their new practice members.

Personal Preference:

One last reason why you may see that someone's chiropractic adjustment looks very different than someone else's is personal preference. Some chiropractic patients have years of experience with care, they've tried multiple techniques, and they already know how their body better responds to a spinal adjustment.

Can Chiropractic Help with High Blood Pressure?

High blood pressure is a fairly common condition, with the NHS estimating that 18% of adult men and 13% of adult women have elevated blood pressure. Furthermore, they state that half of the people over 75 years of age have high blood pressure. But what is high blood pressure, and what does that mean for our bodies and our health?

What is High Blood Pressure?

The ideal blood pressure is typically 120/80 mmHg. What does that measurement mean? Blood pressure is measured by the amount of pressure that blood traveling through your body will exert on the artery walls holding it. It is measured in millimeters of mercury or mmHg. The two numbers represent systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Systolic blood pressure refers to the pressure exerted on the blood vessels when your heart beats and pushes the blood flow through your arteries, and diastolic blood pressure refers to the pressure in between each beat of your heart.

High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is defined as having a sustained blood pressure of 140/90 mmHg or above.

How does High Blood Pressure affect the body?

Often, people with high blood pressure will not know that they have hypertension, as it can often present with little to no symptoms. They will often find out when their healthcare practitioner will measure their pressure on an average visit. However, high blood pressure can cause headaches, blurred or double vision, regular nosebleeds, or shortness of breath.

High blood pressure itself often can put a person at risk for developing other health issues such as coronary heart disease, stroke, and heart attack. Furthermore, diabetes and kidney disease have been linked to complications with high blood pressure.

Causes of High Blood Pressure

Oftentimes there is no single identifiable reason for a rise in blood pressure, but there are often factors and things that can place a person more at risk for developing hypertension. Those over 75 years of age are more prone for hypertension, as well as those with poor diet, who have a lack of exercise, people who are overweight, or those who excessively consume alcohol.

High blood pressure can also occur during pregnancy and is often a sign of larger issues, so often pregnant women will be regularly screened and measured for hypertension throughout the course of their pregnancy.

High blood pressure can also be impacted by spinal misalignments. Particularly of the atlas vertebra, or the C-1 vertebra, the first bone in your spine.

Treatments for High Blood Pressure

Often some of the first recommendations for treating and preventing high blood pressure are eating a healthy diet, regularly exercising, and reducing alcohol consumption. But one of the most effective but less well-known methods for blood pressure regulation is chiropractic adjustments.

A study published by the Journal of Human Hypertension showed that regular adjustments of the atlas vertebra showed to decrease high blood pressure at a comparable level to taking two high blood pressure medications.

How can Chiropractic adjustments help with Hypertension?

The atlas bone, also known as the C-1 vertebra is a very important bone in the nervous system as it is the top of the spine and the first bone surrounding the spinal cord once it exits the skull. And as the nervous system controls the cardiovascular system through the spinal cord, misalignments here can apply pressure on the spinal cord and contribute to poor communication throughout the system. By restoring good alignment to that bone and relieving pressure exerted by the spinal misalignment, the body is able to communicate perfectly with the cardiovascular system and better regulate blood pressure. The study showed that C1 misalignments when corrected, improved both systolic and diastolic blood pressure to similar levels as hypertensive patients who take two blood pressure medications together.

Schedule your chiropractic evaluation today and see how chiropractic care can help your overall health!

Should I consider chiropractic care for my baby

A lot of parents come to our clinic because they're interested in getting care for themselves, but often they are surprised to see that we also treat children, toddlers, and newborns. When they hear and see us caring for babies and newborns, and the most common question we hear is 'Why do babies need to get adjusted?'. Today, we decided to address this question as well as the other common questions that we get regarding pediatric chiropractic!

Why should I take my baby to a chiropractor?

The first year of life is one where there's a huge amount of brain development happening. As babies see, touch, taste, hear, and smell the world around them, they start forming connections in their brain and progressively laying down the foundation for future knowledge and skills. In order for this to happen optimally, their nervous system needs to be receptive, responsive and adaptive to the new internal and external environment.

Chiropractic is a complementary and alternative medicine whose aim is to support your child's development by aiding the functioning of their nervous system through gentle and precise chiropractic treatment. Our conviction is that healthy kids become healthy adults and that through early chiropractic care we are able to help set them up for success down the road.

What are some signs or symptoms that suggest that my baby could benefit from chiropractic care?

Some signs to keep an eye out for that could suggest that your baby could benefit from chiropractic adjustments include:

• Difficulty with breastfeeding on one side

• Head is often rotated or leaning to the same side

• Excessive fussiness or irritability

• Constant arching of the back and head

• Sleep issues

• Difficulty with bowel movements

While we don't claim to treat specific conditions, by supporting a baby's nervous system functioning we've had parents report improvement in symptoms such as:

• Constipation

• Colic/reflux

• Spit up

• Fussiness

• Chronic illness/immune system

• Ear infections

• Meeting milestones

Because the nervous system directly innervates all the tissues, organs and systems in your body, when your baby's nervous system is able to function properly (without one hand tied behind its back), it's no wonder we see struggling babies thrive. Even babies who are perfectly healthy or don't have a lot of issues going on benefit from chiropractic care because we're able to support their nervous system through their development and help set them up for success in the future.

Can I take my baby to any chiropractor?

Education in the chiropractic profession requires that all chiropractic students go through set hours of education in treating the pediatric population. Nonetheless, you really want to make sure that the chiropractic office that you're considering treats a lot of babies and kids and that they have additional training in pediatric chiropractic care. Your baby will receive the best care possible and chances are that the clinic itself will have special accommodations geared towards you and your baby (for example changing tables, a nursing room, diapers, toys, pediatric pillows, and staff that is friendly and can assist in keeping an eye on older siblings while you focus on your baby's visit).

In order to find a pediatric clinic, you can research different websites or social media before hand. You can also call the office directly and ask if they specialize in pediatrics or if they've had training with pediatric associations, such as the ICPA (International Chiropractic Pediatric Association). If not, ask them if they know of any pediatric chiropractors in the area. Similarly, you can reach out to your pediatrician or other medical professional/health care professionals to see if they know of any pediatric chiropractors in your area.

What does a chiropractic adjustment on a baby look like?

There's a couple of different techniques or ways to adjusting babies and young kids, but the main thing to understand is that babies are not tiny adults. This means that their adjustments are not a gentler copy of adult spinal manipulation, in fact in our office it looks nothing like the way we adjust adults -or even young children for that matter. A baby's body and the way that their neurology responds to an adjustment is different, and so it requires a different approach.

In our office, adjustments on babies are always gentle and specific. We use very light pressure, about the same that you use to check a tomato for ripeness, in order to correct spinal misalignments. We rely on observing baby's positional preference, muscle tone, palpation, and other methods to assess baby's spine. We also make sure that baby's parents are close so that both parties feel comfortable and parents feel included in the process.

How many adjustments does my baby need?

Fortunately, babies don't have years of degeneration or a history of significant injuries like big falls or motor vehicle accidents. This means that their nervous system tends to respond quicker to the correction of misalignments, and parents often report an improvement in mood, sleep, digestion and others quicker compared to teenagers or other adults.

That being said, our goal is not only to correct interruption in their nervous system communication, but to maintain optimal communication between their brain and the rest of their body. Because of this we recommend maintenance care, where they periodically get checked for misalignments and correct shifts as they occur. This is especially important as they start learning how to crawl and walk because at that point they will be falling and getting bumps numerous times per day. Regular check ups allow us to catch these small and gradual shifts in their bones as they occur. Our goal is to prevent them from becoming teenagers or young adults with neck pain, headaches, back pain, or other significant issues.

Have any other questions regarding chiropractic care for your little one? Feel free to reach out to us or your local pediatric chiropractor!

Posture Matters: Why Having Good Posture is Important and How Chiropractic Can Help

The world and society we live in has become overwhelmingly sedentary. We sit for our jobs. We sit while we drive and travel. When we constantly sit, we frequently enter poor habits of poor posture and body positioning. This poor posture weighs on the body and can interfere with good body mechanics resulting in pain and reduced range of motion. This has a daily effect on our lives, but we don't often pay attention to it. So what is posture, why does it matter, and what can you do to better your health?

What is Posture and Alignment, and Why is it Important?

Posture is defined simply as the position in which one holds their body while sitting or standing. People can form habits with their body, leaning into the natural positions of the body or forming alternate habits, these positions can be good or bad for the body. Having good posture can reduce muscle tension, help with increased energy, and even help boost confidence. Good posture will allow the functions of the body to engage and act without external stress. Having bad posture can wear on the body and contribute to pain.

So what do we mean by good posture? We are referring to the positioning of the musculoskeletal system. Good posture will be a posture that aligns with the natural position of the body and the biomechanics of the skeleton. The spine has four main curves in it: the neck and low back, the cervical and lumbar areas of the spine, have natural curves forward, the mid-back and pelvis, the thoracic and sacral curves of the spine, have natural curves backward. Good posture will maintain these natural curves of the body in what we consider a neutral spine. Good posture will also keep the head upright, the chest straight, the shoulders and hips even, and the body in an overall rested and upright position.

This good posture keeps the ribcage open and even, thus reducing stress on the spine providing the structure for the ribcage. An open and neutral ribcage will reduce stress on the heart, lungs, digestive organs, and other internal systems within.

Good posture will also help keep muscle imbalances low, as the muscles will not be over-strained or over-tightened, but will be able to be in a neutral resting position.

Overall Health Benefits

The health benefits of keeping a good posture are numerous. Good posture has been shown to help with pain relief for neck and lower back pain, as maintaining proper posture keeps the body in a healthy position, reducing strain on the muscles and bones of the spine, which can relieve and prevent issues of joint pain, prevent muscle strain, and reduce stress on the nervous system which is housed in the spine.

Better posture has also been associated with reducing headaches, particularly cervicogenic headaches, by reducing stress and tension in the muscles of the neck, relieving neck pain, and stopping these types of headaches at their root cause.

The healthy alignment of the posture of the thoracic spine and rib cage can also result in higher lung capacity because the lungs are able to work and expand and contract to their full ability. If you've ever noticed that you can take a deeper breath when you stand straight, it is because standing upright allows the ribcage to be as wide as possible.

Good posture can also help with increasing energy levels, better form while exercising (thus reducing the possibility of injury), and increased confidence.

The Consequences of Poor Posture

So what does poor posture look like and how can it affect the body? Poor posture is that which runs contrary to the natural alignment of the musculoskeletal system. A forward head posture, also known as excessive curvature of the cervical spine, can place excessive strain on the back muscles and neck muscles providing support, which can lead to pain and joint restrictions in the neck and shoulders.

Often when we sit we end up looking down at phones or computers, hunching our shoulders forward and increasing the curve of our mid-back. This posture imbalance reduces the capacity of the ribcage and alters the physical appearance of the body by causing a "hunchback" look. This position can over time cause shoulder pain, mid-back pain, and stiffness.

All of this poor posture also places great strain on the spinal cord housed within the spine, which places stress and pressure on the nervous system, which can prevent it from functioning at it's optimal level.

The Importance of Posture and Alignment: How Chiropractic Care Can Help

So now that we know the importance of good posture, how can we improve posture and keep proper alignment of the spine? The first step is to acknowledge that there is a problem to begin with. Notice how you hold your body when you sit on the couch, drive your car, sit at your desk, walk, etc. Notice how you are holding your body. Are you pushing your head forward? Are you sitting cross-legged? Are you holding one arm or one hip higher than the other? Are you curving your body forward and looking down?

Once you understand what your body's current habit is, it becomes easier to work to understand and maintain good posture. Try rearranging your desk to have better ergonomics, helping keep your neck upright, and raising your computer screen so you are looking straight ahead instead of down. Keep your feet flat on the floor, and keep your forearms parallel to the floor.

Often when we have been living in bad posture for so long, we need help correcting the structure first. This is where chiropractic adjustments are invaluable. Spinal adjustments by a licensed chiropractor will find areas where proper spinal alignment has been strained by bad habits and will work to correct the structural imbalances in the range of motion of the joints of the body. Chiropractic care focuses on helping correct the alignment of the spinal bones. This good alignment will also help reduce stress on the nervous system by relieving pressure on the spinal nerves themselves. This improved alignment helps restore good communication throughout the nervous system which can also not just help reduce pain but can reduce stress and help your body be better able to relax, rest, and grow.

Chiropractic adjustment combined with posture alterations in your day-to-day life can greatly help not just improve your posture but help improve the overall health and well-being of your whole body. See if chiropractic care can help you and your posture and schedule an appointment today.

The Importance of Rest

The world that we live in in so fast-paced, people run themselves ragged trying to finish all the tasks they need to do. People have a hundred things on their plates and only 24 hours in the day to accomplish them. Hustle culture glamorizes pushing hard, not sleeping, and prioritizing accomplishment, and sacrificing anything to reach your goals. Too often sleep and rest are the things that are sacrificed. We often treat sleep like a commodity that we can exchange for working to get a project done and get ahead. But the importance of rest cannot be understated. No matter how much we need to do, we cannot do them well if we do not allow our bodies heal and rest. Our bodies are wonderfully complex machines that do not work the way they are supposed to if they do not get the time to rest and recharge.

Why is Rest Important?

Often when we say the word "rest" people think of sleep. Sleep is a very important aspect of health. Everyone can attest to how good it feels to get a good night's sleep.

Sleep helps restore your body's energy, repair damaged tissues and muscles, and triggers the release of hormones that help with growth and appetite. But the quality of sleep matters. Higher sleep quality is associated with the amount of time that one spends in REM sleep, or rapid eye movement sleep. That phase of the sleep cycle is the most restorative. Getting at least 2 hours of REM sleep is associated with feeling refreshed, reduced stress, and helps improve mood, reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, increase sexual desire, and other health benefits. However, poor sleep, or sleep deprivation can contribute to a host of health problems including increased risk of heart disease, grogginess, digestive issues, and a chronic lack of energy. The brain is unable to focus as well as it should, and the body cannot recover strength as well as it should. The benefits of good quality sleep cannot be understated.

Basic rest, even periods of quiet wakefulness which are the times when you are having restful activity or lying with your eyes closed for a few minutes, can improve mental abilities. Insufficient sleep is never good, so ensuring that you get enough quality sleep is vital. But that timing is different depending on what phase of life. The National heart, Lug, and Blood Institute recommend that preschool aged children tend to need between 11-12 hours, school aged children are recommended 10 hours, 9-10 hours for teens and 7-8 hours are recommended for adults to ensure enough sleep and adequate rest.

Sleep and Functioning

There are several ways we know that sleep specifically is important for the body to function properly. Driving tired is considered equally dangerous to driving drunk. Multiple studies have shown that sleep deprived drivers have less reaction time, are less vigilant, and have reduced hand eye coordination and ability to multitask. One study conducted by the AAA foundation for Traffic Safety found that sleeping less than 6-7 hours a knight doubled a person's risk of being involved in a crash, while sleeping less than 5 hours doubled that risk again. Most researchers agree that after 20 straight hours of being awake, the impairment of sleep deprivation becomes equal to the legal limit of drinking and driving.

Another study shows that even a little bit of rest can make a difference. A study conducted on people who work long hours found that working a 30-hour shift with 20-minute naps every six hours doubled the performance of those rested workers compared to those who did not get any sleep. Even if those people couldn't truly fall asleep in that 20 minute nap, even the act of closing their eyes and resting improved their work performance.

What do we mean by rest?

When we say rest, however, we don't just mean sleep. Yes, getting quality sleep is very important to keeping your body happy and healthy. However, when we say rest, we mean rest of both the mind and body. Rest and relaxation go hand in hand. Research has shown that having time to relax helps benefit mental and physical health. And relaxation can show up in many ways. Research has shown that enjoyable leisure activities be they creative activities such as hobbies, sports, socializing, or spending time in nature have all been shown to increase measures of health and well being.

Recreation time outside has been specifically seen to be beneficial. Studies have shown that as little as 10 min of sitting or walking in nature significantly and positively impacted defined psychological and physiological markers of mental well-being for college-aged individuals.

Rest reduces stress. So all rest, including sleep, is very important to your body.

How can Chiropractic help with Rest?

Chiropractic care of the body and nervous system helps the whole body function better. Adjustments help activate the parasympathetic side of the nervous system, the part of the nervous system that regulates rest and digestion. Studies have shown that higher parasympathetic nervous system activity is associated with higher levels of immune system and antiviral activity, which helps the body fight disease and illness better.

Chiropractic care can also help with mental health issues by addressing the physical aspects of disorders such as anxiety and depression. Spikes of high blood pressure are associated with anxiety, but studies have shown that Chiropractic care betters to the nervous system's ability to regulate and lower blood pressure. When the blood pressure is better regulated this contributes to better rest which in turn improves the functioning of the immune system, reduces the risk of heart disease, and overall helps daily life be healthier and happier.

Chiropractic care is known to help with regular aches and pains like back pain and neck pain. When the body is not in pain and it has gotten enough rest, mental health improves too. Chiropractic care helps the body function better, and can help relieve issues like chronic pain and fatigue. When the body is not in pain, sleep quality improves, and when the nervous system is functioning without interference and the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, it boosts the body's ability to regulate its sleep schedule and improve sleep quality, thus increasing the body's rest. Chiropractic care over the long term also helps reduce symptoms of long term stress, and help with overall health and wellness.

Contact us today to see if Chiropractic care can help you rest easy.

Can Chiropractic help with Sinus Problems?

Cold and flu season, pollen blooming, rapidly changing temperatures, all of these can drive our sinuses haywire. These clogged nasal passages can lead to sinus pressure, sinus pain, sinus headaches, and even if it goes too far, sinus infections. Sometimes it feels like there is no solution but to wait it out or take decongestants. People can even have chronic sinus issues that do not ever clear up.

What is happening in our Sinuses?

Sinuses are the hollow spaces inside of your skull that help balance pressure and drain mucus from your nose. There are multiple sinuses, but the ones we think about when we talk about sinus pressure are the one behind your forehead called the frontal sinus, and the ones behind your cheekbones called the maxillary sinuses. These sinuses make a thin mucus through our mucus membranes that drains out of the channels at the back of the nose to help keep the nose free and clean of bacteria. They also serve to warm and humidify the air you breathe to keep your lungs healthy.

When fighting off a cold, allergies, or other causes of sinus pressure such as exposure to cigarette smoke, the tissue lining of the sinus cavities become inflamed and block the normal drainage of the mucus, increasing the pressure, clogging the passage, and sometimes even causing swelling in the face. This inflammation and build up is what contributes to chronic sinus problems. When this inflammation does not reduce over time but is constantly present, this can become chronic sinusitis. The immune system will attempt to help fight off a sinus infection, but the thick mucus will impede sinus drainage and continue to build up increased pressure and can even contribute to other side effects like a sore throat or a cough.

How do we treat sinus issues?

While many people will turn to nasal sprays, allergy medication, or common cold medicine, these interventions usually only address the mucus level itself, instead of dealing with the root cause of the inflammation.

Can Chiropractic Care help?

Yes it can! Chiropractic care helps work on relieving pressure on the spinal cord which in turn helps the nervous system communicate and control the immune system better. This relief of pressure will help your body better regulate its immune response which can in turn help with sinus infections. On a physical level as well, chiropractic adjustments of the neck or even of the facial bones themselves can help restore balanced pressure and proper drainage in the head and frontal sinuses providing relief of pain.

Call today and see how Chiropractic care can help you get through the cold and flu season successfully!

An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backwards....

Do you ever feel defeated? Do you ever feel like life or your circumstances are pulling you in reverse?

I think we all have experienced that at different times, life can be very challenging. The responsibility of just getting through each day can be a mountain we often feel we don’t even know where to begin the climb. A recent quote I read that inspired me to write this today is by Paulo Coelho and it says,

“An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backwards. So when life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means that its going to launch you into something great!”

That thought it so powerful and something we see folks struggle with on a daily basis on their journey to better health. The old saying, if it was easy everyone would do it rings so true in my day to day life caring for people. Health is a marathon not a sprint and we need to give ourselves some grace sometimes. We often see people feel worse before they feel better and while we don’t like that happening we are respectful to the process of healing the body takes. Its one of the many reasons we encourage people to get their body right with us and then maintain that going forward. A well functioning nervous system serves not just our body but our mind as well.

So I encourage you today to be positive in all circumstances, find the good in everything and launch yourself into something great today!

Dr. John