Wellness Articles

Why Take Care Of Your Spine?

Most people want to be as healthy as possible. Some think it’s luck, some think it’s genetics, some think it’s for someone else besides themselves.

But what most people don’t realize is that there is a way to improve the quality of your health, by following some simple, logical guidelines, which improve your chances of living a healthy life.

These easy-to-understand lifestyle choices will lead to a better quality of life overall, as well as relative freedom from the pain, suffering and inconvenience that often comes when we don’t follow these basic rules.

  1. Get enough rest and sleep. Too many of us “burn the candle at both ends,” and the result is that we deplete our energy. Allow for 7-8 hours of sleep each night, on a comfortable and supportive bed, and if you can’t do that, then find time to rest during each day so your body and mind have a chance to recover from the stresses of daily life.
  2. Eat a healthy wholesome diet. Eating more fruits and vegetables and less heavy, fried or processed food makes it easier for your body to use your nutrition and leads to reduced body weight, which experts agree leads to a longer, healthier life.
  3. Drink enough water. Your body is mostly water, and that means you need to constantly replenish your cells that lose water through breathing, sweating, urinating and other body functions.
  4. Exercise enough. As little as three thirty-minute sessions of walking each week can set your body on the road to fitness. Be reasonable, start at the right pace, but be consistent and it will reward you many times over.
  5. Develop a positive mental attitude. Look for the bright side of life, and be nice to yourself and those around you. Find ways to reduce and manage your stress.
  6. Take good care of your body parts – your skin, eyes, teeth, and spine require periodic maintenance, and as long as you take the responsibility to keep your body working right, it’s more likely you will experience a sense of vitality.

 Why take care of your spine? Your spine protects your nerve system, responsible for communication between the brain and all body parts, so an unhealthy spine leads to an unhealthy body. Take care of your spine by visiting your chiropractor, and he or she will advise you on any further attention that may be necessary. For many people, this is the missing link that brings together everything else they do to stay healthy – find out for yourself what your spinal health care needs may be, and make the decision to take proper care of your spine – it makes a big difference!

Understanding Chiropractic

Being a practicing chiropractor for many years, I have the opportunity to meet a wide variety of people everyday.  When patients enter my office on their initial visit, they enter with certain symptoms as well as very specific expectations of what it is they want to accomplish.  Most commonly, they present with back pain, neck pain, headaches and other symptoms of disease and have a simple understanding, or should I say misunderstanding, that chiropractors “fix backs.”  And, their expectations are that they want to feel better “NOW.”

For these reasons, it is my belief that it is absolutely critical to take time to educate and empower every one of my patients so that they have a complete understanding of the following 4 things:

  1. What exactly has caused their problem.
  2. What it is going to take to correct their problem.
  3. How long is it going to take to correct their problem.
  4. Exactly how chiropractic can help.

You see, what I want every patient to understand is that as unique as each individual is when they enter my office, they ALL have certain things in common.  For me, the very best part about being a chiropractor is knowing that every patient that walks through the door walks in with a problem and the solution inside of them.  Remember, healing always comes from within each of us.  It is my responsibility as the Doctor of Chiropractic to help facilitate that healing by removing vertebral subluxations from the nerve system.  When interference is removed, the body can adapt and heal on its own.  How long that will take is unique for each individual. 

It is absolutely critical to empower patients to live a healthier lifestyle … a chiropractic lifestyle.  This includes proper diet, exercise, stress reduction and adding love to their lives.  I find that patients who own a greater understanding of exactly what it means to be “healthy” can make the best health decisions for themselves and their families.  I am truly proud that my chiropractic practice is comprised of families who choose to be lifetime chiropractic patients because they are empowered to live long, healthy and vital lives.

Your Body And Your Automobile

What do our body and our automobile have in common?  Our body and our car have very complex operating systems that we take for granted and infrequently think about unless something goes wrong. 

Years ago, you may have learned to drive a car with a manual gearshift, which was located either in the steering column or in the floor of the car.  You learned deliberate motions to move the gears through each position.  Most cars today have gears that shift automatically while driving and you are not even aware of these movements. 

In Many ways, our body functions like a car with an automatic gear shift.  Every second, the human body automatically performs millions of vital functions, without us even being aware that it is occurring.

The brain, the master controller of the body, sends messages to all parts of the body through the nerve system.  These millions of detailed processes are ordered and controlled by the brain.  A critical element in this communication system is the spinal cord, which is housed within the spinal canal.  This canal has many openings in the vertebrae through which the spinal cord and its membranes pass to all parts of the body.  The vertebrae protect the delicate nerve system.  This system is a miraculous network of inborn intelligence and it enables the body to heal itself and regulate itself, as long as there is no interruption in the system.  However, stress and strains of daily living can cause the spinal vertebrae to misalign and cause an interruption of the communication process.

“Health comes from within. When the nerve system is clear from any interference and the communication from the brain to organs and tissues is 100%, the function of the body will be normal, and normal function brings health.”

We seldom think about the complex and automatic operation of our bodies or our cars unless there is a problem.  When we have car trouble, we take our car to a car mechanic to fix the problem because cars cannot heal themselves.  Similarly, when our bodies express symptoms and we feel sick, we often take over-the-counter medications or we go to a health care provider who may prescribe medications.  However, we may forget the first step in restoring health is to locate the cause of the problem.  Remember, the body is capable of healing itself, as long as there is no interference with its inborn intelligence.  The next step toward health is to correct the cause of the problem. 

This leads us directly to chiropractic, the only healthcare system focusing on the correction of misaligned spinal vertebrae that interfere with the body’s communication system.  When these misalignments are corrected, the body’s inborn intelligence can function properly again.  This restores the body’s natural ability to heal and regulate itself, without the need for medications. 

For over 114 years, chiropractors have empowered people to understand that every function of the body is controlled and directed through the nerve system. 

In this blog, I will share with you a wealth of valuable information that is guaranteed to address many of your concerns and answer pressing questions.  It will absolutely provide you with all of the tools necessary to empower you to make the best health choices for you and your family and guide you on a path to “optimal health.”

Bedwetting & Nocturnal Enuresis

Few issues present more embarrassment for children and more frustration for parents than nocturnal enuresis, or night-time bedwetting.  For children it becomes quite a social burden when they are old enough to be invited to sleepover parties only to dodge the invitation due to possible bed-wetting problems.  Some children even go so far as to stay up all night in such situations just to avoid the possibility of embarrassment.  Friends can’t be invited over without lengthy explanations of all the preparations for bed, and no adolescent wants his or her friends to know that they have to wear pull-up diapers every night.  It is a real issue for them. 

Parents are left feeling frustrated by the turmoil the problem of nocturnal enuresis causes at home, too.  Extra loads of laundry have to be done, plastic sheets have to be arranged to avoid ruining mattresses, extra expense of pull-up diapers must be borne, alarms must be set in the middle of the night to wake up their children to get them to the bathroom, and the list goes on.  Add to this list the worry about what might be causing the problem in the first place, and the frustration mounts.  Parents have to be very patient, balance their irritation with their concern, and be careful not to scold children for something that is completely beyond their control.  If you are one of these parents, you are not alone.  According to Claudia Anrig, D.C., author of a textbook on chiropractic pediatrics, approximately 2-3 million children in the U.S. are afflicted with this disorder.  About 10 to 15 percent of 5 year olds and 5 percent of 10 year olds suffer.  The cause is largely unknown, although there is a hereditary component in some cases.

First handling for nocturnal enuresis should always be ruling out organic causes for the problem.  Your child’s pediatrician will know where to turn to make sure there is no urological or neurological cause.  Once these systems have been cleared as being the primary cause of night-time bedwetting, doctors often will prescribe medications for the problem.  Sometimes the medications are temporarily effective, but are not without their side effects and often the problem returns when the medication stops.  So there is no long-term effectiveness against which to weigh the down-sides of medications.  Night-time alarms are also used in the treatment of bed-wetting, but they don’t do anything to stop the problem.  They warn many times only when it is too late.  Often nocturnal enuresis is a self-limiting problem, or one which a child seems just to “grow out of”.  The questions are, however, “When will the child grow out of it?’ and “How much more of this can I take?” 

There is some evidence both clinical and published that chiropractic treatment might help those with nocturnal enuresis.  In the peer-reviewed Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, a study was published that was performed at the Palmer Institute of Graduate Studies and Research in Davenport, Iowa.  The study included a group of enuretic children who received a series of chiropractic treatments and a control group which received no chiropractic adjustments, and showed a 50 percent decrease in bedwetting episodes- measured by frequency of wet nights as reported by parents. Other studies report similar findings, while still others report a smaller decrease but a decrease nonetheless.  Most often the area of spinal manipulation that has shown to be the most effective in aiding those with nocturnal enuresis is the lumbar, or lower back, region of the spine.  The nerves in the lumbar spine supply the kidneys and bladder, so if there is a spinal misalignment in that area which is putting pressure on the lumbar nerve roots which supply those organs, the interference could cause them to malfunction.  It is the job of your chiropractor to locate the areas of misalignment and make the necessary corrections in order to restore the proper nerve flow to the body.  Proper nerve function helps us rest assured that our body’s self-healing, self-regulating properties are at work the way nature intended for them to be.

Getting adjusted can cause a number of positive effects on the body’s nervous system, and helping to decrease the episodes of bedwetting is one of those possibilities.  Ask your chiropractor about the many wonders of correcting interferences in your child’s nervous system.  You will be glad you did.  Treat your body well.