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3 Benefits of Getting Chiropractic Adjustments on a Regular Basis

Many people think that seeking out chiropractic care is something to do if they are specifically experiencing back or neck pain, as these are the most common reasons why people make an initial appointment with a chiropractor. But chiropractic does much more than treat neck and back pain.

It can help with a variety of ailments from headaches to digestive issues, and address problems from infant colic to arthritic pain in the elderly. It also does more than help with issues that are episodic in nature, or the result of a specific injury. Matter of fact, regular trips to the chiropractor are a good idea for many reasons. Here are three important benefits that you’ll get from getting chiropractic adjustments on a regular basis.

Taking an Active Role in Your Health

Chiropractic is a holistic kind of care that has a chiropractor serve as a guide as your own body uses its own innate ability to heal itself. When you see a chiropractor on a regular basis, even if there is not a pressing problem, you are taking an active role in assuring you are in the best health you can be.

Chiropractic adjustments correct misalignments in the spine that may be blocking nerve function and causing pain to muscles, joints, and ligaments. When you are adjusted by a chiropractor, these blocks are removed and you are able to move and function better than you did before.

A chiropractor can also provide you with nutritional and lifestyle advice, including exercises you can do between visits that will improve strength, flexibility, and various other functions. Without your active participation and cooperation, the success of chiropractic diminishes, so you can feel good about taking responsibility for your own health.

Improve Neurological Conditions and Functions

The spine connects to several different areas of the body, including the brain. Adjustments have been shown to increase blood flow to the brain, which in turn improves function in many areas.

The brain and spine are frequent communicators, and the nervous system is often the “wires” that are used to assure proper communication. Stress can trigger misalignments and the breakdown in these systems. Chiropractic is able to identify when stress is placed on these nerves, and has even been shown to increase white blood cell count in some patients.

Reduced or Eliminated Need for Pain Medications

One of the cornerstones of chiropractic is that it does not rely on pain medications or surgery in order to treat pain. Instead, it is designed to trigger your body’s own ability to heal itself without drugs and surgery.

Through methods such as manual adjustment, massage, and electrical muscle stimulation, chiropractic strengthens communication throughout the body in order to help it heal naturally. Chiropractors use important diagnostic tools such as x-rays, laboratory analysis, and reviewing your health history to pursue a treatment plan.

Conversely, when misalignments are allowed to build up over time, there is a greater risk that you will be tempted to seek out pain medications in order mask pain temporarily. While occasional use of these is okay, over time they can build up in the system and damage liver function, so it is important to find other methods of pain management whenever possible.

In closing, chiropractic benefits the overall health of people that utilize it consistently. So if you’re ready to experience these benefits yourself, just pick up the phone and give us a call. We’re here to help!

How Chiropractic Can Help Increase Flexibility

Posted on 11.23.20 | Leave a Comment

In childhood, flexibility can almost seem like a parlor trick. The other kids notice which kids can do the splits or put their foot behind their head. But as people grow into adulthood, maintaining normal flexibility gets to be much more challenging and losing flexibility can result in a lot of pain to the musculoskeletal system.

Unfortunately, many of us do not retain flexibility through daily activities, even when they attempt to be active. Many jobs are largely sedentary, and even leisure activities keep us stuck in one place. In order to remain functional, joints and muscles need to be used, which means they need to be properly stretched without being overworked. The balance is often very delicate, and is something that chiropractic can help with.

The Role of Chiropractic in Flexibility

Most adults are not concerned with being able to twist like a pretzel, however, they do want to be able to maneuver through daily life without a lot of pain. One of the main things accomplished in most chiropractic visits is that the chiropractor will look for misalignments in the spine and seek to correct them with a combination of chiropractic adjustments and exercises.

Chiropractic Adjustments

When the spine is misaligned it can affect many different areas of the body including flexibility. Someone who is not flexible will have a limited range of motion (ROM) and treatments are designed to improve this, and restore natural posture.

But being flexible is about more than moving better. When the body is stiff, even simple movement results in pain because it is blocked by the misalignment. When this is corrected, blood flow improves and the process of improving flexibility becomes less taxing

Nutritional Adjustments

There is more to a chiropractor’s day than correcting misalignments in the spine. Chiropractic is holistic in nature and in order to be truly successful, it relies on the patient to be a cooperative participant in treatment. Giving nutritional advice is a big part of this.

While advice can vary from patient to patient, generally, when a person struggling with flexibility adds protein and fatty acids into their diet it can help joints and muscles to be properly nourished. People should also monitor their intake of processed and pre-packaged foods as these can contribute to inflammation.

Flexibility Training Exercises

Because of many factors in our lives, as well as the affects of aging, people’s range of motion inevitably decreases as time goes by, especially if nothing is purposefully done to maintain it. Flexibility exercises are commonly strongly suggested by chiropractors as they strive to help their patients with range of motion (ROM) and flexibility issues.

In many cases, such as those where someone is suffering from tendinitis or bursitis, the truly therapeutic exercises are resistive exercises. These, however, are limited, unless a higher level of flexibility is achieved.

Flexibility programs are implemented in order to make a given joint have a wider level of extensibility,which may be achieved by either traditional static stretching or Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) techniques, which incorporates a slow reversal hold.

Working with a chiropractor on a regular basis for help in gaining flexibility can help assure that a patient moves forward at an appropriate pace that is in line with their age and fitness level. This will help them achieve a higher level of success in their chosen sport or similar activity, and/or become more productive in their daily lives while experiencing less pain.

The Impact of Chronic Stress During the Holiday Season

Posted on 11.23.20 | Leave a Comment

Stress can actually a good thing. If a lion were chasing you, an increase in heart rate, muscle tension, and focus would hopefully help you escape unharmed!

Thankfully, we don’t need to worry about being chased by a lion today. It might be someone cutting you off on the way to pick up your holiday gifts that could put your body into the same fight or flight mode. Remember the last time you saw a car veering into your lane, and your heart rate went through the roof? That is an acute stress response in action.

Your brain and body respond to negative stress whether real or imagined, and chronic stress can have a profound impact on your health.

Why it Matters:

Remember, in the short term, acute stress can be a good thing. It helps us react quickly. Your brain tells your adrenal glands to release hormones (chemicals) that help your body respond in an instant.

If, however, that stress continues, you may slip into chronic stress mode, which can wreak havoc on your brain and body.

What’s more, the symptoms of chronic pain and chronic stress overlap and often feed into each other.

Did you know…

Chronic stress can lead to anxiety, depression, headaches, sleep problems, and potentially more
Stress, pain, and inflammation are all connected by the stress hormone cortisol.
Spinal adjustments may be able to decrease your cortisol level.

Next Steps:

We repeat, emerging research has shown that chiropractic care, specifically spinal adjustments, may help to decrease your body’s overall stress level.

Be sure to keep an eye on your stress level this holiday season. If you start to feel it rising, we hope you’ll give us a call and make an appointment for a tension relieving, soothing adjustment.

Let’s work together to keep that stress from becoming chronic and making sure you can enjoy the holidays!

Why Runners Need a Chiropractor

Posted on 11.16.20 | Leave a Comment

If you are an active amateur or a competitive runner, using the services of a chiropractor can make a vast change in your overall health, reduce your pain from injuries and improve your alignment for a more effective run. Chiropractors offer excellent rehabilitation care, and they can help you keep your body in top condition as an athlete. In fact, sports is an area that chiropractors can specialize in, focusing their training and experience on targeted treatments for runners.

Recovering from a Sports Injury

Most athletes get injured at one point or another in their career, whether it is while participating in their sport or an accident in their daily lives. Recovery from an injury can be difficult at times, and even after hours of physical therapy, you may feel that you aren’t ready to start training again.

Physical therapy is a great help in recovering strength in soft tissue and muscle after an injury or surgery. However, sports-medicine trained chiropractors can improve the mobility of your joints after an injury. Sports chiropractors work with the soft tissue in conjunction with the joints in a coordinated fashion. An examination will take a look at:

How you move
How you stand
What the arch of your foot looks like
How your knees are aligned
How your hips are aligned

After the examination, the sports chiropractor will assess the runner to recommend treatment.

Sports Chiropractic Treatments for Running Injuries

According to U.S. News and World Report, there are four primary chiropractic treatments for running injuries.

Active Release Technique (ART) – combines massage and stretching by applying deep tension while moving a joint through its range of motion. This treatment is used primarily for adhesions in the muscle.
Graston Technique – used to break down surface-level scar tissue with hand-held stainless steel tools.
Functional Dry Needling – releases tension in trigger points through deep muscle stimulation with needles. This treatment can help the psoas muscle, a hip flexor muscle.
Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) – releases tension through the stimulation of surface muscles.

General Chiropractic Adjustments

Chiropractors are trained to look at the whole body and align it for optimum balance. Many runners find it beneficial to have regular periodic adjustments to regain their body’s balance from daily stress and the impact of running. Aligning the body can relieve tension or pain that is caused from misalignment before it becomes more than a minor impediment.

Runners may not even realize that the tension they feel is the beginning of pain caused from being out of balance until it is adjusted. Chiropractic adjustments are often part and parcel of a runner’s training program to strengthen and improve performance. They can also help recover from pregnancy and postpartum bodily changes.

Preventing Injury and Promoting Optimal Performance

With regular care of a sports-trained chiropractor, runners can actually prevent injury and promote optimal performance by keeping their bodies fine-tuned, working at maximum capacity. A trained chiropractor can find imbalances that may lead to injury and correct them before they become a problem. With your body in perfect balance, muscles and joints work more efficiently, powering up your performance as a runner and making the most of your body’s resources.

Misalignment can be caused by many common runners’ experiences including running on the same type of surface every day, running on a slanted surface such as a beach or replacing running shoes too infrequently. As a runner, you can work to vary your running surfaces and keep a better watch on your shoes, but your chiropractor will let you know if your body is in need of more balance.

To learn more or to schedule an appointment, please give us a call at the number provided at the top of this website. We’re here to help!

What Is Myofascial Pain Syndrome?

Posted on 11.16.20 | Leave a Comment

Chiropractic care focuses not only on the skeletal system and joints but also on the treatment of muscle pain. The muscles are interwoven with fascia, a type of tissue that allows muscles to glide smoothly over one another. Both muscles and fascia can develop painful adhesions, often recognized by their hard or knot like texture under the skin.

Muscle pain can be quite uncomfortable and even debilitating in certain cases. When you are suffering from muscle pain, your chiropractor can provide some much-needed relief using a variety of effective treatment options.

What is Myofascial Pain Syndrome?

The word “myofascial” is a mouthful, but there is a reason it is used by chiropractors. The first part of the word, “myo”, generally refers to your muscles. The second part of the word, “fascia”, refers to the connective tissue that is found all throughout your body. Myofascial pain syndrome is used to indicate muscle pain in its various forms. This may include issues with your fascia, muscle tissue, or both.

Myofascial pain can vary considerably, ranging from mild and frustrating to completely debilitating. Fortunately, whatever the intensity of the discomfort, chiropractic treatment can provide a solution that lessens and often eliminates the pain.

Trigger Points

The knots you have probably felt in your muscles or had others identify are also known as trigger points. These tight spots are often sensitive to the touch and can be found in any muscle in your body. As they develop, they may produce symptoms like numbness, burning, weakness, pain and tingling.

Trigger points are caused by trauma to the body, such as an accident in a car or during athletics. They can also be caused by more mild, long-term trauma, such as working at a desk without proper ergonomics or making a repetitive motion over a long period of time.

Trigger points are challenging to identify sometimes because they occur at different spots in different people. They also produce something called “referred pain”, a pain that is felt somewhere else besides where the actual trigger point is. Chiropractors are trained to track down trigger points,, though, so even if they are somewhat hidden by referred pain, they can be found eventually.

How Chiropractic Helps with Myofascial Pain Syndrome

Chiropractors are not only good at finding trigger points, but they are also good at treating them. They accomplish this using a variety of techniques. Some of the benefits of chiropractic for myofascial pain include:

Breaking Up Adhesions

Trauma in the muscles can cause adhesions to form. Adhesions are when muscle fibers and/or fascia bond together into a form of scar tissue. The adhesions cause the muscles to catch instead of slide smoothly, which can have a cascading effect on the body. Not only does the adhesion hurt, but it also causes joints to become misaligned and further problems to develop.

Pressure on the Trigger Point

Sometimes the most effective way to treat a trigger point is to apply pressure to smooth out the muscle and fascia. Chiropractors can do this with their hands or specific tools.

Improving Overall Alignment

The cause of trigger points and muscle pain is often trauma, but sometimes the trauma is not as obvious as an accident or a trauma directly to the affected area. Misalignment in the spine or the extremities can cause the body to move incorrectly. Over time, the incorrect movement patterns can put extra strain on the muscles. Chiropractic focuses on helping your whole body become aligned, which can ease muscle pain and prevent further issues from developing.

Help With Muscle Pain

Please contact our office to schedule an appointment with a chiropractor. Let us help alleviate your muscle pain and get you back on your feet again!

Neck Arthritis: How Your Daily Habits Might Be to Blame

Posted on 11.16.20 | Leave a Comment

Arthritis is the breakdown of the cartilage around your joints. It can happen anywhere in your body and common symptoms associated with arthritis include joint pain, stiffness, swelling, or restricted motion.

While osteoarthritis is a natural part of the aging process, the choices you make today play a powerful role in your future health. When it comes to arthritis, the decisions you make each day can have a dramatic effect on whether it becomes a problem for you as you get older.

Why it Matters:

The thinning discs and bone spurs that may accompany an arthritis diagnosis happen as we age due to gravity, previous injury, and other lifestyle factors.

Many people diagnosed with arthritis believe they are destined for a life of pain, but that isn’t true.

You can manage, and even mitigate, many of the challenges of arthritis by making positive decisions for your spinal health each day.

Here are 3 ways to stay proactive and reduce the potential effects of arthritis:

Perform stretches and exercises that foster a balance of strength and flexibility daily.
Foster proper ergonomics at your work desk by keeping your computer monitor at eye level.
Follow a diet that limits inflammatory foods that can contribute to pain and chronic inflammation.

Next Steps:

There isn’t just one thing you can do to prevent arthritis and making small changes to your habits each day can help you minimize your risk of painful arthritis.

A habit is defined as a routine that’s repeated without you even thinking about it, and it’s estimated that habits form after about 60 days.

Can you commit to following the healthy habits above for the next 60 days?

It’s never too late to start a new set of healthy habits, so call us today if you’re experiencing any of the symptoms associated with osteoarthritis. Remember, to get the most relief, any pain, stiffness, swelling, and restricted motion should be addressed sooner rather than later!

What You Should Know About Rheumatoid Arthritis

Posted on 11.9.20 | Leave a Comment

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a condition that can cause considerable discomfort—something you are probably well aware of if you have been diagnosed with this autoimmune disease. When your immune system starts attacking your joints instead of foreign invaders inflammation results, and inflammation in your joints is certain to be painful.

The worse the RA, the more severe your symptoms. If things get bad enough you can lose mobility altogether, which is why it is so important to get treatment. Fortunately, chiropractic is excellent for reducing inflammation and improving mobility. With regular chiropractic treatment, you can do a lot to ease your pain and get back to moving the way you want and need to do.

Rheumatoid Arthritis and Chiropractic Care

Chiropractic is an effective RA treatment for a number of reasons. Chiropractic treatment is:

Based on Individual Needs

The image many people have of a chiropractic adjustment is one of popping backs and hard, jerking motions. While adjustments can certainly include these things, they do not have to. According to the Arthritis Foundation, chiropractors have more than 150 techniques they can use to adjust your body.

They strive to give treatments specific to the needs of each patient, which means adjusting the body as gently as necessary to produce the desired result. If your joints are swollen and painful the chiropractor will carefully work to realign the joint—which reduces inflammation and improves movement—while minimizing any pain or discomfort you feel from the adjustment.

Designed to Reduce Inflammation

With RA typically the worst symptoms are the result of inflammation. Chiropractic treatment may not be able to change the way your immune system is malfunctioning, but it can do a lot to help the painful areas become less inflamed.

The treatment you get from your chiropractor will ensure that your joints are moving as properly as possible given your condition. By putting the body back in alignment, chiropractic improves the way the nervous system operates and lessens inflammation.

Ideal for Improving Mobility

One of the most difficult things for many with RA is the loss of mobility that comes when their joints swell. When the pain becomes more substantial it is normal for RA sufferers to avoid movement because it hurts.

But it is important to remember that movement, even when it hurts, is necessary to maintain joint mobility. The longer you avoid moving a joint the more likely it is that you will lose function.

A useful aspect of chiropractic is that you can get help with moving, so you are not all alone with the daunting prospect of moving your joints so they start working better. Your chiropractor is your partner in movement, helping to guide your body so that it moves as well as possible. Results are different for everyone based on their unique situations, but you can be sure that chiropractic will serve as a powerful tool to keep your body working as well as possible.

Non-invasive and Drug-Free

In chiropractic the focus is to help the body heal itself, which means avoiding surgery and prescription medications as much as possible. Surgery and medication often have unwanted side-effects—sometimes worse than the problem they were intended to solve. With chiropractic negative side-effects are unlikely. You can get a lot of relief from gentle, effective treatments that will not make you feel worse than when you started.

Your Source for Chiropractic Care

Our chiropractic team has experience helping patients with RA, and we are interested in doing the same for you. We understand how hard it can be to have RA. Let us help you get the relief you deserve.

Please contact our office to schedule an appointment. We look forward to speaking with you!

How Chiropractic Helps Alleviate Golfer’s Elbow

Posted on 11.9.20 | Leave a Comment

Golfer’s elbow is a condition that affects far more than those who hit the golf course regularly. According to Dynamic Chiropractic, golfer’s elbow can affect violinists, construction workers, tennis players, bikers and more. Essentially, anyone who is prone to overusing the elbow can find themselves with pain inside the forearm and elbow, pain that is unlikely to go away without treatment. While medication and surgery are sometimes options for treatment, chiropractic provides a non-invasive, effective way to relieve golfer’s elbow without the many potential side-effects that come with surgery and prescription medications.

What is Golfer’s Elbow?

The joint and muscles on the inside of your elbow are activated during so many activities—pretty much every time you squeeze, grip or throw something, you use them. Even when you are doing less athletic activities like texting or typing at a keyboard, you are activating the muscles, tendons and ligaments surrounding your elbow. It is not surprising that they can be overused, especially during work activities or leisure activities that you love so much you play all the time.

Golfer’s elbow is considered an overuse injury—an injury caused by using one or more parts of the body so much that they cannot recover quickly enough. Inflammation becomes constant, scar tissue can develop and pain becomes a regular problem.

How Chiropractic Can Help Golfer’s Elbow

Chiropractic care is ideal for the treatment of golfer’s elbow. For some sufferers, coming to the chiropractor is the first and obvious choice. For others, going to the doctor is the first place they start.

Once they find that prescription medications are not alleviating the problem, they may be presented with the idea of surgery. Most people are hesitant to go through surgery if they do not have to, which is understandable. They reach out to a chiropractor because they are looking for any alternative that will help them heal without the pain and uncertainty that surgery brings.

At the chiropractor, you will find non-invasive, drug-free treatments that work to return your range of motion, reduce inflammation and break up the scar tissue in the soft tissues surrounding your elbow joint.

Chiropractic Treatment for Golfer’s Elbow

Once you visit a chiropractor you will be given a careful, thorough physical examination to determine the nature of your problem and its cause. With golfer’s elbow the problem is fairly obvious, so your chiropractor will focus on understanding exactly what your golfer’s elbow consists of—including your level of pain, your range of motion and the effects it is having on your day-to-day movement.

Some of the ways chiropractic can treat golfer’s elbow include:

Breaking up Scar Tissue

Scar tissue keeps your muscles from operating correctly and causes pain. Chiropractors have methods for breaking up scar tissue to return normal muscle function, including active release.

Returning Mobility

Joint manipulation from your chiropractor is designed to make your joints move properly. The chiropractor will gently move your elbow back and forth to realign it and to ensure that it goes as far as it should go, and no further.

Reducing Inflammation

Inflammation is what causes much of the pain you are experiencing in your elbow. Joint adjustments and breaking up scar tissue are excellent ways to reduce inflammation. As the inflammation reduces the body can heal more easily and the pain will lessen.

Get the Help You Need for Golfer’s Elbow

As you know, golfer’s elbow can be painful and make it difficult to do the things you need to do. Let us help you get some relief. Please contact our office today to schedule an appointment with our chiropractic team.

The Neck Pain Solution No One is Talking About

Posted on 11.9.20 | Leave a Comment

You may not know that there is a neck pain solution that is recommended by most major health care organizations that almost no physicians talk about. It can work better than medication and is far less risky than injections or surgery. So why hasn’t the world embraced it?

That’s a good question.

Why it Matters:

What are we talking about? Chiropractic care. Spinal adjustments are the neck pain solution that physicians haven’t been talking about… until now!

Gentle adjustments to your neck can help effectively reduce neck pain, improve how you move, and even positively influence your brain and nervous system.

Chiropractors focus on the structure and function of your spine. When your spine is functioning optimally, your body is better able to heal itself without the need for medication. And don’t let a disc herniation make you believe that you’re too far gone for chiropractic care. Research has shown that nearly 80% of people with a disc herniation in their neck found relief with spinal adjustments!

To recap….

Drugs and surgery usually aren’t recommended for the care of neck pain due to their risks and side-effects.
The Cleveland Clinic and American College of Physicians support chiropractic adjustments for the care of neck issues.
Spinal adjustments have been shown to provide more relief than steroid injections for neck pain caused by a disc herniation.

Next Steps:

We believe that the first step to finding relief from neck pain is discovering the root cause. After identifying any structural issues in your neck and spine, we can put together a treatment plan designed to both help improve your movement and reduce your pain.

The 3 Degrees of An Ankle Sprain & How Chiropractic Can Help

Posted on 11.2.20 | Leave a Comment

An ankle sprain is always inconvenient, and often painful. But not all ankle sprains are equal in their severity. When diagnosing an ankle sprain, your doctor or chiropractor will classify the injury in one of three ways—first degree, second degree and third degree. Knowing what each classification means can help you understand the nature of your injury and how careful you need to be with it. For your chiropractor, the classification will help to direct the best treatment options.

Ankle Sprains—The 3 Degrees and What They Mean

A sprain is an injury involving the stretching and/or tearing of your ligaments. With the ankle, it is possible to suffer an injury to either side of the joint, the interior or the exterior. You may have an inversion sprain or an eversion sprain. Whichever type you suffer from, it will fall into one of three categories:

First Degree Ankle Sprain

A first-degree sprain is one where the ligaments have not torn, only stretched further than normal. Symptoms of a first-degree sprain include discomfort when jumping, jogging or sometimes walking. Pain is usually mild and swelling is minimal. The joint may be a little stiff and slightly less stable than normal.

Second Degree Ankle Sprain

A second-degree sprain is the most common type of sprain people seek medical care for. The ligament is partially torn, which can lead to several uncomfortable symptoms. The sprain will make walking difficult, be moderately painful and make it hard to use the ankle. The injury will result in noticeable swelling and often bruising.

Third Degree Ankle Sprain

A third-degree sprain is the most severe and involves a full tear of the ligament. Pain is often severe and swelling is significant. The torn ligament makes the joint unstable, so it is not only painful but also very hard to use.

How Your Chiropractor Can Help With Ankle Sprains

Whether you are walking, running, jumping or just standing, the ankle plays a vital role in how you move and use your body. That is why it can be so frustrating when you find yourself with an ankle injury. Fortunately, ankle sprains do heal with enough rest and the right treatment.

Your chiropractor can help you recover from an ankle injury, both reducing pain and speeding up recovery time. There is research to support the use of chiropractic for ankle sprains. One study showed that patients with ankle sprains experienced less pain when chiropractic was added to their treatment program. Chiropractic also focuses on improving mobility and range of motion, which can be quite beneficial when trying to recover from a sprain and get back to your normal life.

Some of the most common chiropractic treatments for ankle sprains include:

Adjustments

Adjustments can be made to more than just the spine. The bones, ligaments and tendons in the ankle are designed to work in a certain way. A sprain can knock the ankle out of alignment, something that most traditional doctors and rehabs do not consider. An ankle adjustment will work to put things back into their proper places.

Strengthening Exercises

There are a variety of useful exercises that your chiropractor can take you through to improve strength and mobility in the ankle. Things like a wobble board, where you stabilize yourself on a wobbly platform and drawing on a board with a market held in your toes can be surprisingly effective at strengthening your ankle.

Get Treatment for Your Ankle Sprain Today

Please contact us today to schedule an appointment with a chiropractor for your sprained ankle. Let us help you get stronger and heal faster!