If you’ve ever watched your favorite sports team play without one of their star players because of injury, you know about the frustration they must feel when they go out onto the field of battle undermanned or short-staffed.

Often the player is sitting on the bench, and looks okay to you – but the team doctors’ evaluation says that this player is not fit to play at this time, no matter how he or she might look on the outside, or even how they feel. The doctor knows to look for certain signs and details that make the player ready or not ready to perform, especially when re-injury would extend the disability and cost the team even more time without that player. Going back too soon might create an even bigger problem, and it’s the doctor’s responsibility to make that judgment call, to tell the player, “Careful, now!”

At times, your Doctor of Chiropractic may also ask you to refrain from certain activities. In the beginning of your care (for many injuries and in certain situations), you would readily agree to the wisdom of “not doing” and “not participating” in such activities.

 But then, when the miraculous healing process begins, and you start to feel much better, you may begin to wonder if the doctor is being overcautious. Doesn’t the doctor understand that you have to … have to what? You fill in the blank. When you are feeling better, your nature is to want to return to your normal daily activities and habits … but it may be premature to do so.

 Your doctor of chiropractic knows how to deliver your program of care, and how to advise you on what you need to do, and not do. This is why you have chosen to work with this particular doctor. Your chiropractor is an expert, and you greatly benefit from his or her experience in situations like yours. If you go back to “normal” activities too soon, worse injuries are possible. And, too often the re-injury complicates the recovery, sometimes making it tougher to get well.

 So, if your chiropractor asks you to refrain from doing things that you may feel ready to do, please follow the doctor’s recommendations – when your chiropractor tells you to be “Careful, now,” it is probably good advice you should strongly consider following.

How Chiropractors Help People Get Well and Stay Well

 Understanding that a chiropractor is looking for disturbance in the nerve system caused by subluxations, spinal bones that go out of place, is only the first step to comprehending what a chiropractor can do for you and your family.

 Throughout your life, you are subjected to all kinds of stresses – some of them are based on mechanical stresses and trauma, like injuries, car accidents, slips and falls, and other types of physical insults.

Some of the stresses you encounter are chemical stresses, like poisons in the air and water, household agents like hairspray, insecticides and detergents, food additives like preservatives and colorings, and the by-products of faulty eating, like excessive sugar or fat or not drinking enough high quality water. Such habits reduce the raw materials needed for proper health and body function, and risk contaminating or polluting the body much like a lake, river or ocean may become toxic and filled with inappropriate substances.

 Finally, we can be stressed for psychological reasons, where we interpret our daily experiences to be harsh, harmful, difficult or painful, and this brings about responses in our minds and bodies that do not serve us, that do not move us toward health and wellness, but rather toward poor body function  and disease. While “psycho-somatic” illnesses were once dismissed or relegated to those with serious psychological issues, we now know that even small interruptions in healthy thinking can produce health problems.

 Some chiropractors concentrate entirely on the adjustment of the spine and correcting subluxations, to counteract the effects of stress on the spine and nerve system directly and exclusively. These doctors may or may not make specific recommendations about diet and emotional support, but they invariably see the value of addressing these issues, even if it means engaging other professionals to advise you on these relevant topics.

Other doctors of chiropractic include counseling on nutrition and psychology, either themselves or through other professionals they refer to, on site or not. This gives you a chance to develop your team of health and wellness advisors, so you can feel prepared to handle any of these types of stress and minimize the negative effect on your health.

That’s why you will benefit more by being an active participant in your health and wellness care – knowing that you need a proper blend of structural care, nutritional advice and psychological support gives you the power and responsibility to be as healthy and well as you wish to be.

In fact, that is the technical difference between health and wellness. Health is what happens when your body is working right, but wellness is a deliberate choice to make things even better – improving nutrition, improving your mindset and worldview, and of course keeping your spine and nerve system healthy, with chiropractic care, appropriate exercise and avoiding traumatic injury.

 Everyone has a slightly different and unique blend of these factors, and you will discover that personal blend by pursuing some of these habits and behaviors mentioned above. You can be healthy, and you can move yourself toward wellness – get regular spine and nerve system check-ups and adjustments when necessary, refine your diet and avoid or eliminate toxicity in your surrounding environment, and strike a sensible balance between family, work, leisure and other personal issues so you can maintain a positive mental attitude.

Apply these ideas, and you will get the most out of your chiropractic care, and help your chiropractor to help you to get well and stay well the natural way.

These three sources of stress, trauma, toxins and thoughts, are responsible for many of the maladies we suffer and the disease process that comes about as a result. That’s why your doctor of chiropractic is interested in addressing all of these, to varying extents based on his or her particular specialty and focus.

Dear Patient and Friend,   

No doubt when you go to any of your assorted doctors and health advisors, on occasion he or she uses a term you are unfamiliar with or do not understand. So it goes with your chiropractor, who is trained in a very special and unique healing art that differs from anything else available, and because of that, the terminology a chiropractor uses is also different from what you may have heard your doctors say before.

 One of the words you may have heard your chiropractor use is the word “subluxation”(pronounced sub – luck – say’ – shun), a technical term that describes the main problem a chiropractor looks for and aims to correct. When a bone in your spine goes out of position and disturbs the nerves it’s supposed to protect, it’s called a subluxation, and while it causes many health conditions and problems, no other kind of doctor has the tools for finding and correcting it.

 That’s why developing a relationship between your family and the chiropractor of your choice is so vital – if no one else fixes this problem, and so many people have it, only a chiropractor can advise you and care for you properly.

 A subluxation prevents normal healing and body function by disrupting the control mechanism of your body. The brain uses the nerves like wires; to connect to all your body parts, and if anything interferes with that control, your body parts don’t know what to do and can’t work properly. This direction from the brain is responsible for regulating your body and healing it when it needs repair, which is the reason why chiropractic care has such far-reaching effects on our health and wellness – it helps the body to work better overall, so all of the various body parts are brought into harmony with all the other parts, which leads to not only healing any problems, but better health in general.

 How do you know if you have a subluxation? Well, you don’t – sometimes they cause overt symptoms, like pain or illness, and frankly, sometimes they don’t. Like diabetes, heart disease and cancer, often the early stages of subluxation have no tell-tale signs whatsoever.

 That’s why it’s so important to get periodic chiropractic examinations for yourself and your family, even if you’re feeling fine – an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father.
– Pope John XXIII

Small boys become big men through the influence of big men who care about small boys.
– Anonymous

My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, “You’re tearing up the grass.” “We’re not raising grass,” Dad would reply. “We’re raising boys.”
– Harmon Killebrew

I don’t know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.
– Abraham Lincoln

The most important thing that a father can do for his children is to love their mother.
– Theodore M. Hesburgh

Any man can be a father but it takes someone special to be a dad.
– Anne Geddes

My father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.
– C.B. Kelland

When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry.
– Jewish Proverb

I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection.
– Sigmund Freud

When I was a kid, I said to my father one afternoon, ‘Daddy, will you take me to the zoo?’ He answered, ‘If the zoo wants you, let them come and get you.”
– Jerry Lewis

By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.
– Charles Wadsworth

Father taught us that opportunity and responsibility go hand in hand. I think we all act on that principle; on the basic human impulse that makes a man want to make the best of what’s in him and what’s been given him.”
– Laurence Rockefeller

I just owe almost everything to my father [and] it’s passionately interesting for me that the things that I learned in a small town, in a very modest home, are just the things that I believe have won the election.”
– Margaret Thatcher

A man’s children and his garden both reflect the amount of weeding done during the growing season.
– Unknown

If you want to bake a delicious cake, what would you have to do?

You would follow a recipe, which tells you the ingredients you would need, and then, how to combine them and cook them so you come out with the best cake possible. Knowing exactly how much and exactly in what order to combine those ingredients is the difference between success and failure.

So even if you are committed to baking the very best cake by using the highest quality ingredients, if you don’t know the correct sequence to combine the ingredients, or the correct amounts of those ingredients, the cake won’t come out right. And, the temperature and duration of cooking time are essential. This may seem obvious, but it’s important to think this way when you realize what your chiropractor does to help you.

Everyone who visits a chiropractor has an individual, unique formula that leads to being as healthy as possible. Your doctor of chiropractic is an expert in the delivery of chiropractic care, and in creating a personalized recipe for your health and wellness.

That program of care is not, however, just given in the same doses or in the combination or for the same duration for everybody. Like the recipe for a successful cake, the amount of each ingredient and the time when each ingredient is introduced is very important to the desired outcome, which of course is your optimal health and wellness.

Just like baking a cake, your chiropractic health care is a recipe for success, and the amount and frequency of care and the other ingredients that contribute to your health and wellness need to be administered in just the right way in order to insure success. Different cakes have different ingredients, and it’s the same with chiropractic care – different people require different programs of care to get the best results.

Which areas of your spine and nerve system need attention? How often do you need to receive adjustments to get the best response? Which of the many types of adjustments are ideal for you, and in what combination? Which other health-related services and products will contribute to the best results possible?

Do you need other advice and guidance beyond your program of in-office care? Do you need recommendations on improving your diet, your exercise, your mental attitude? Do you need suggestions on how to reduce your stress, or coordinate your daily activities so they are easier for your mind and body to withstand? Do you need to add some new habits, or break some old ones?

Everyone is somewhat different, and that means that your doctor of chiropractic will help you develop a recipe to produce the very best health and wellness experience for you and your family.

Sometimes, the chiropractor has all the services and products you need on site at his or her office – sometimes, he or she works in harmony with other health and wellness practitioners. Either way, the result is like a delicious cake – with the proper ingredients, combined at the right time and in the right proportions, you and your family can experience the benefits of glowing good health, wellness and vitality.

Ask your doctor of chiropractic – what is your recipe? Then, be prepared to follow his or her directions, and you, too, can have the results you want and need.

You probably hear about the chiropractic wellness lifestyle when you visit your chiropractor’s office – what is it, and how does it help you and your family?

The chiropractic wellness lifestyle is a series of decisions you make and actions you take to improve your health and enjoy life more.

The chiropractic wellness lifestyle invites you to:

— Eat healthfully. Eating organic foods that are not full of pesticides, toxins and hormones and whole foods (foods that have no or minimal processing) is a smart decision savvy health consumers make. Find the right rhythm for your meals — some prefer three squares, though modern food scientists frequently recommend smaller meals at closer intervals. Eat a healthy breakfast every day. Exclude heavily processed foods, like “enriched” flour, sugars, artificial sweeteners, and especially aspartame, a known cancer-causing nerve poison, and take nutritional supplements as needed (ask your doctor of chiropractic for his or her opinion about how to eat more healthfully.)

— Exercise. Actively participate in the rehabilitation and strengthening of the body to support repair and maintain your ability to do what you like. You’ll reduce the tendency to be injured, and bounce back from injuries more quickly. Your chiropractor can help you select the right physical activity to fit your age and body type.

— Maintain a positive attitude and optimistic thinking. Adopt a happy mindset, and practice constructive habits like reading, meditating, visualizing, reviewing your goals, associating with people who support your dreams, engaging wholeheartedly in whatever form of spirituality you prefer.

— Get periodic chiropractic examinations and adjustments when necessary for yourself and your family. Good food, proper exercise and a great mental attitude will be helpful in any case, but regular chiropractic care is the “X-factor” that helps you get the most out of these other health and wellness practices. Getting your spine and nerve system healthier improves every aspect of your body function, and paves the way for you to move toward wellness.

Deciding to follow simple guidelines like these will not only make you feel better, it will help you live longer and get more out of life. Choose the chiropractic wellness lifestyle – you and your family will improve your quality of life, and feel better overall, too.

Mother’s Day is set aside each year to appreciate the oldest and perhaps most prevalent role in our culture, motherhood. Moms are called upon to raise children, run households, be a neverending source of entertainment and diversion for kids, and address issues that no one else seems to be able to handle.

Moms contribute so much to our upbringing – they can serve as a sympathetic ear, a strong back, a willing taxi driver, an expert manager, a source of wisdom, a cheery voice, and a world class problem solver.

But one of the most important jobs that lands on Mom’s list is to oversee the family health and wellness. Mothers tend to have an intuition, a sixth sense about what’s right for their families. Often, the mother decides what the family eats, which activities are too dangerous to risk, and which doctors the family goes to.

This is why it’s important for mothers to understand the value of chiropractic care for themselves and their families. Often, when Mom begins her own spine and nerve system care with her chosen chiropractor, she opts to bring the children in for a check-up, to be sure that there are no early problems brewing, and sometimes even insists that Dad has to come in to get checked too.

Why do moms tend to care so much about bringing the family in for chiropractic care? Because mothers inherently know what’s good for their family, and keeping everyone healthy is far better than waiting to get sick and then trying to get better, which can be inconvenient, costly and painful.

It’s more logical to stay well than to have to get well, so moms all over the world bring their families in for regular check-ups and chiropractic adjustments when necessary. Faced with ongoing family decision-making, they usually just naturally know the right thing to do, so if you want to know about health, ask Mom!

Getting healthy depends on what you focus on.

This is more than just an interesting idea, it’s an important and valuable reality. Scientists tell us that the experience we have moment to moment and day to day throughout our lives depends on what we focus on. If that is true, it begs the question “What are you focused on?”

During more private moments, it is easier to notice what you are focused on because all you really have to do is “check in” with your internal chatter and how you are feeling. When things are quiet and you can be with your own thoughts, it is essential to notice what they are and make sure they, and you, are focused on the things you want, as opposed to thinking about the things you don’t want.

Why is this necessary? The human mind often does not notice the “negatives” in our thoughts. For example, if I say to you, “Whatever you do, don’t think about a pink polka dot elephant,” you might notice that a “pink polka dot elephant” instantly becomes your focus. This is because the mind ignores the “don’t” part (negative) and goes right to the “think about” part. This happens naturally most of the time in all of us.

So, if you think to yourself “just ignore the things that annoy you about him,” your tendency will be to focus on the “things that annoy you about him,” not the “ignore” — curious, isn’t it?

So, then, how can this support you in being healthier?

Well, what do you think about, when it comes to your health?

Are you thinking of not being sick? Your mind may be tricked into focusing on “being sick,” not the “not.” Are you thinking about not being in pain? Your mind will tend to focus on “being in pain.” Are you thinking about not having trouble sleeping, digesting, or breathing? Your mind will look right at the symptom, not the “not.”

Instead, you could concentrate on being well, feeling great, and sleeping, digesting and breathing well. By paying attention to the way you construct your thoughts, you can choose better words to express your feelings, and guide your mind toward better results.

So, try on, “I am relaxed, and it’s easy for me to fall asleep.” Or, think “my body works well and I am good at digesting my food and breathing normally.”

Or, “I practice good lifestyle habits like eating well, drinking enough water, and getting regular chiropractic adjustments so my spine and nerve system are healthy.” This is the way you can use your mind to help you be healthier.

Could it really be that simple? Clearly, you’ll have to do more to be healthy than just monitoring and managing your thoughts. But most doctors agree, it’s a secret weapon you can use to improve your chances at health and wellness, when you take the responsibility to create the right mental and emotional backdrop to your health habits.

You’ll still need to develop a healthy lifestyle, but if you want to be as healthy as possible, think about it!

Most people, when asked if they are healthy, usually respond based on the presence or absence of symptoms, as if having symptoms means they are sick, and not having symptoms means they are well.

This is a common misconception, fed by the media, by many doctors, and by the giant businesses that thrive on selling drugs and other symptom-removal products.

Actually, while there is a place for this line of thinking, modern-day health consumers realize that they can be sick and have no symptoms, like when someone feels fine but quietly has a serious disease like cancer or heart disease, or when someone experiences pain while not suffering any serious malady, like when you stub your toe or get a splinter.

The way you feel does provide some valuable information, but it is hardly the determining factor as to your level of health. It’s important to understand this in order to know how to properly care for yourself and your family.

So, you may be thinking, if the way you feel doesn’t tell you enough about your actual level of health, then how do you know if you are healthy or not?

Great question – and here’s where you can end the confusion. Unless you have objective, scientific ways of evaluating your health, you can be misled into thinking things are fine when they are not, or scared into thinking something is wrong when it isn’t. But if you have good information, you can make good decisions about your health habits and which kind of care to seek when you need it.

That’s why knowledgeable health consumers develop relationships with health and wellness advisors, to learn about their body function and understand their health status. It’s not foolproof, but it’s better to get regular examinations of your teeth, eyes, skin, heart, spine and nerve system, to be sure you are staying on course and picking up on any deviations from normal before they turn into something unpleasant or dangerous.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so visit your doctor of chiropractic, and ask about how he or she can advise you on the habits and lifestyle decisions that lead to a better quality of life – you’ll be glad you did!

Right about this time of year, many families and households are emerging from their winter slumbers and lifting their faces to bask in the springtime sun.

Whoever is the “neat freak” in the home makes some comment about “spring cleaning,” and the teenagers run for cover, knowing what that means – it’s that time of year to tear things apart, scrub them spotless and reset the environment to make the conditions as beneficial and enjoyable as possible. Leaving no stone unturned, there is washing, straightening, and repair until everything is shipshape.

Why do we bother with spring cleaning? Even those of us who are not especially driven to keep things in order recognize that unless at least around once a year we put some attention into it, there would be a gradual, relentless decline of the appearance and cleanliness of the home, which after a while would be very unpleasant.

So, we choose the arbitrary convention of “spring cleaning” to restore ourselves to at least a neutral position, if not an opportunity to make things a little nicer and a little better each year.

Those of us who adopt the same policy toward our health often improve our quality of life and increase our longevity. Sure, it’s great for those who have the discipline and passion to maintain their bodies meticulously at all times, but most of us are not quite so diligent – but that doesn’t mean that we can’t be healthy. Just because you can’t do everything doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do something – if you could do a little “spring cleaning” in your body, it would significantly contribute to your overall well-being.

What if you decided to skip the extra dessert or night snacking? What if you got up a little early for a walk in the morning sun before breakfast? What about just sitting quietly for a few minutes each morning to connect with your higher self, or a Higher Power? Could you drink a little less coffee or soda or alcohol, could you choose healthier foods, could you park your car at the end of the lot and stroll a hundred yards to get your blood flowing, or finally quit smoking? Anything you do to make yourself clean out, get strong and move forward is a great gift to yourself.

If you don’t pick a time of year to get back on course, you may experience the same kind of gradual decline that happens to a home without attention. Why not give your chiropractor a call, and he or she can help you put together a “spring cleaning” program for your body that will make you healthier long-term and leave you feeling great!