Month: December 2016

New Year, New You- What about your personal health?

by seedoflifechiro, posted in Chiropractic, Health

If you haven’t done it yet, now is the time to plan out your 2017 goals.

new-years-eve-1283521_1920

And not just make a resolution. That isn’t enough. According to Forbes, only 8% of people actually keep their New Year’s Resolution.

Why is this? In my opinion, people make lofty goals without a lot of planning behind them. It is easy to say that you are going to take off 5 pounds or 50 this year, but what are the action steps?

I have a few ideas on how to be one of the 8%. The past couple of years I have employed several tools to help me make goals and keep them.

  • Use a planner! I use the Passion Planner and have for the past 2 years. I just got my 2017 one and am excited to use the tools within it to map out my 2017 successes.
    • One great thing about this planner is that the website has printable pages. If you have a planner you love and just want strategy sheets, you can print them out and use them
    • I also love how this planner has you do a monthly reflection that checks back in with your goals to see how you are doing
  • Reflect on your past year before making your goals.
    • I am using this format to reflect on 2016 as well as the tools within my Passion Planner
    • Take some time and get quiet and real with yourself about how 2016 was for you as a year.
  • Dream Big and make an action plan
    • I have a running list of “I Wants”
      • These aren’t things that are material so much as what do I want for myself, my business, my family, my relationships, etc
      • Whenever I am feeling stuck, I come back to What Do I Want? and get clear on that
    • A list only does you good if you plan how to achieve these things (circle back to the Passion Planner)
  • Make yourself a priority.
    • You cannot pour from an empty cup, so what will fulfill you?
  • Be well rounded
    • I am a little biased (being in the healthcare field) and feel like health is a major priority, but it is really easy to focus on weight, energy, etc and forget that health is multifaceted. Below are just a few aspects.
      • Physical
        • I can tell you one thing for certain, Chiropractic can make a huge difference in your physical health… It has turned my life around and allowed me to be a healthier, happier person that is evolving each year. This year I am healthier than ever before. My health strategy has shifted and changed along with my priorities and, year by year, I am finding out more about myself and my needs.
      • Emotional
        • What feeds your soul?
        • What is congruent with what you need in your life to be fulfilled?
      • Social
        • How can you improve your relationships with family, friends, coworkers, and MOST IMPORTANTLY yourself?

How can I help you with these things? Please fill out the form below if you would like my assistance with your health goals.

 

 

 

 

Your knee pain may not be knee pain.

by seedoflifechiro, posted in Chiropractic, Health, Movement

One of the most valuable things I use in my chiropractic exam is functional screening, which is looking at how the body’s joints move. It gives me insight into patterns of motion that can result in pain and dysfunction. For example, the knee is particularly vulnerable to altered biomechanics in other parts of the body.

The knee is, most basically, a hinge.

Because of this, it is significantly affected by the biomechanics of the hip, pelvis, and ankle/foot. Joint restrictions and/or muscular imbalances in these areas are incredibly common from everyday activities like sitting, improper footwear, or repetetive activities. The patterns that we create in our everyday life change the way our joints move and can cause stress in joints and tissues that are farther away.

For example, when the gluteus medius muscle is weak or inhibited (not firing when or how we want it to), it does not properly compress the hip joint. This causes the thigh bone, or femur, to change its angle, resulting in increased pressure on the inner part of the knee joint. The medial/inside part of the knee is usually the first place that arthritis shows up on x-ray of the knee. Slight narrowing of the joint (inside the circle below) is the first physical indicator that the knee is under stress.

knee-xray

Clinically, knee issues show up as pain! Remember, knee pain may not be a problem with the knee!

As a chiropractor, I evaluate to see which muscles or joints are impacting the function of the knee and work with you to strengthen or stretch them appropriately. Many times it is the gluteus medius, but can also be a number of other muscles or tissues.

When it comes to aches and pains, it is important to have a professional evaluate your mechanics for you- you cannot appropriately assess yourself. Only when you know what the true problem is, can you correct it with exercises, stretches, and joint manipulation. Otherwise you can create new problems!

I am a prime example of this. When I was working on my internship to complete my Masters in Sport Science and Rehabilitation, I spent many hours each week in a PT clinic helping to evaluate patients and work with them on their exercises. Thinking that I was helping myself, I did all of the exercises with the patients. In 4 months, I had increased my knee pain, given myself plantar fascitis, and irritated my pelvic joints. Not all of those exercises were appropriate for my body and its previous sports injuries. It took being evaluated for my own movement patterns and months of diligent corrective exercises to undo what I thought was going to help me.

Understanding how your body works and starting from a basic analysis can help to diagnose problem areas and correct problems before they begin. Pain is a warning sign that something is not right within the body. Before you cover it up or dismiss your pain, get assessed and see what can be done to strengthen and support your body.

References:

SBR Sport

Dr. Dooley Noted

 

3 Chiropractic Myths- Busted!

by seedoflifechiro, posted in Chiropractic, Health

There are a lot of misconceptions about chiropractic care and chiropractors floating around… Today, I am going to tackle 3 of the Chiropractic Myths I hear most often:

Once you go to a chiropractor, you have to go FOREVER.

patient-adjustment

Most people seek out chiropractic care when they are in a lot of pain or have an issue they would like to resolve. Chiropractors are fantastic at taking care of low back pain, headaches, whiplash associated disorder, thoracic outlet syndrome, etc. Usually, these conditions can be taken care of with a single treatment plan combined with exercises, chiropractic adjustments, and nutrition.

But what happens then?

Once you have seen a chiropractor, you become more aware of your body and how it moves. Often, the condition that brings people into the chiropractor have been a long time coming and they don’t even remember what it’s like to truly feel good.When things are moving well, you are feeling great. This is a common awareness in chiropractic patients. These patients progress from acute care- where we target a major condition or problem- to corrective care.

Corrective care focuses on helping to identify, target, and eliminate movement patterns or postures that were behind the low back pain or headaches. This type of care can take a bit of time to work through, depending on how diligent home exercises are performed and how long the problem has been going on.

Following this, some patients elect to continue seeing their chiropractor periodically to prevent future issues and to be checked for wellness. This is the part where people tend to say that you go FOREVER. However, as humans, we are very complex machines that come into contact with all kinds of challenges from long flights, to tech neck from working on computers, to falls and athletic injuries. Many people choose to get checked periodically to ensure that they are doing well and have nothing brewing underneath the surface. But this is their choice!

Chiropractors aren’t REAL doctors.

Chiropractors undergo graduate education to achieve the degree Doctor of Chiropractic (DC). While chiropractors do not treat patients using drugs or surgery, our education is comparable to that of Medical Doctors (MD). In fact, our core studies are just about the same! Click here for a breakdown of the course requirements for DC vs MD students.

Chiropractors are trained in anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pathology, clinical diagnosis, etc; however, our training in treatment involves learning how to adjust the spine and other joints of the body, work with soft tissues, and implement clinical nutrition.

One thing that I feel it is important to emphasize is that chiropractors are especially well trained in recognizing when pain is not coming from the joints or the spine, but from another area. For example, sometimes right shoulder blade pain is referred from a hot gallbladder. In this case, the patient is often referred to an MD, DO, or ND for further evaluation and intervention. This is especially important because many common organ conditions cause back pain, causing people to seek chiropractic care.

In conclusion, Chiropractors are REAL doctors, just not medical doctors 🙂

Chiropractic Adjustments HURT

As I mentioned above, many times pain is the main driver that causes someone to seek out chiropractic care. If you have ever had back pain, you understand that sometimes it is painful to even have your clothes touch the area that is injured. It is understandable, then, that a chiropractic adjustment may be uncomfortable in that area.

However, an adjustment is not, generally painful. I have made a point, in my education, to learn many techniques. This includes one  that uses less pressure than you would be comfortable with on your own eyelid (Did you just push on your eyelid?) as well as instrument adjusting.

When a patient is in pain, I work to make my adjustment as comfortable as possible- sometimes using cold or heat to relax the area before adjusting.

Most patients report mild to no discomfort throughout their adjustments- in fact the majority experience a sense of relief almost immediately.

What is something that you have heard about chiropractic care?

Stay tuned for more Myth-Busting about Chiropractic care!

 

 

 

 

Chiropractic Helps Low Back Pain in Pregnancy

by seedoflifechiro, posted in Health, Prenatal Chiropractic

Pregnancy is one of the most exciting and amazing experiences in a woman’s life. During pregnancy, her body changes and blossoms as it accommodates the tiny human that is being built. This process is beautiful. Somewhat uncomfortable, but beautiful. Most women, however, don’t know that chiropractic care can greatly improve some of the aches and pains commonly associated with pregnancy.

prenatal-chiropractic-patient

As a Doctor of Chiropractic, I have taken advanced training in the analysis and treatment of pregnant women. It is one of the greatest honors afforded me by my patients- the trust that I will take care of them and their growing family. The tremendous changes that a woman’s body undergoes while pregnant (and in the months directly following birth- have you ever tried to carry a car seat!?) cause altered biomechanics and stress that can result in headaches, low back pain, lack of mid back mobility with a feeling of shortness  of breath, pain into the leg(s), etc. Using the Webster technique, as well as modifying other techniques including Sacro-Occipital Technique, Applied Kinesiology, and Diversified, I apply gentle corrections to the spine and soft tissues. Women with malpositioned babies often seek chiropractic care to help balance their bodies as well- for more information on this check out my prenatal page.

Today, I came across a research article with full text available here, that outlines a study performed on pregnant women with low back pain during pregnancy. To summarize, below are the Results and Conclusions part of the abstract:

Results

52% of 115 recruited patients ‘improved’ at 1 week, 70% at 1 month, 85% at 3 months, 90% at 6 months and 88% at 1 year. There were significant reductions in NRS and Oswestry scores (p < 0.0005). Category of previous LBP episodes number at one year (p = 0.02) was related to ,improvement’ when analyzed alone, but was not strongly predictive in logistic regression. Patients with more prior LBP episodes had higher 1 year NRS scores (p = 0.013).

Conclusions

Most pregnant patients undergoing chiropractic treatment reported clinically relevant improvement at all time points. No single variable was strongly predictive of, improvement’ in the logistic regression model.

What fantastic results! Chiropractic care provides statistically significant results in the treatment of low back pain in pregnant women- including at the 1 year mark!

If you are interested in learning more about prenatal chiropractic and/or having your questions answered, please feel free to reach out to me for a consultation or referral to a provider close to you!

Helping to keep Mommas healthy is a passion of mine that I bring to Seed of Life. Stay tuned for future posts about chiropractic care and overall health…