Month: January 2017

Do Chiropractors need Chiropractors?

by seedoflifechiro, posted in Health

This is one of the most common questions I am asked in practice. 

YES! As a chiropractor, I still need to see a chiropractor to take care of my own spine.

Even though I can analyze and adjust the spines of my patients, I can’t do this for myself. It is important to realize that each and every time a chiropractor checks the spine, they do it methodically, evaluating the bones and muscles for patterns of compensation and alignment. This is impossible to do to yourself!

It is also impossible to “self adjust”. In your spine, the bones line up, making joints with each other and moving in a coupled motion. When one of these areas gets stuck, or moves in an abnormal way, the joints above and below have to move more to allow you to do things like tip your head to the side. (As in the left side of the graphic below)

Chiropractic versus self-adjusting

Self-Adjusting releases the joints which are already moving too much. (Center graphic) This feels better because it sends a burst of information to your brain. However, over time these joints can become hyper-mobile from having to work too hard. This leads to sloppy joint movement and early damage.

A Chiropractic Adjustment normalizes the motion in the spine by releasing the restricted or subluxated joint. (As in the right side of the graphic above) By maintaining normal motion in the spine, the joints are protected and there is less pain and restriction.

The next time you catch yourself twisting to “pop” your back when you have been sitting poorly or pulling your head to the side, remember that you can actually be causing more damage than help. Always leave adjustments to the professionals! Don’t “pop” your friend’s backs or give someone a “bear hug”, these can injure the delicate joints of the spine. I don’t self adjust and I am a trained Chiropractor.

Do you have questions about anything you have read here? Drop me a private question below or in the public comments.

206 Bones- Things you didn’t know about your skeleton!

by seedoflifechiro, posted in Chiropractic

As a chiropractor, my life revolves around the skeleton, the muscles, and the way that the human body moves. Both in school and afterward I have learned some fun facts about the human skeleton that I would love to share!

Skeleton

A newborn baby has roughly 300 bones, while the adult has only 206

How cool is it that our skeletons change so much as we grow up?! Bones fuse together as we age AND new bones are formed (like your kneecap) when little ones start to crawl.

The bones of your skull actually have joints with one another

skull-31060These joints move when you breath, chew, and with the movement of your cerebrospinal fluid (the fluid that bathes the brain). This means that, as a chiropractor, I often work with the bones of the skull to influence sinuses and help people with migraines.

Babies with plagiocephaly (bulges or flat spots on their skulls) also benefit from chiropractic work with the skull!

The smallest bone in your body is located within the hardest bone!

The smallest bone in your body, the stapes, is shaped like a stirrup and is a bone that helps you hear. It is so small and delicate that it needsgiraffe a lot of protection. It is located in the most dense and strongest part of the temporal bone in the skull.

You have the same number of bones in your neck as a giraffe

Giraffes and humans both have 7 cervical bones in their necks. They are just very differently shaped! A giraffe’s neck is so long that it cannot cough like a human can because its lungs and epiglottis are too far apart to coordinate.

The hyoid bone is the only bone not connected to another bone by a joint

This bone is a delicate horse shoe shape and it sits in front of your neck. Many muscles connect to the hyoid bone, but it is not shown on most plastic skeletons.

Your femur, or thigh bone is the longest bone in your body

It is also one of the strongest bones of the body. This is because it supports our body weight in running and jumping.

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There are 54 bones in each of your hands

This means that 108 of your 206 bones are contained in just 2 body parts! As a chiropractor, working on the wrists, elbows, and neck can help relieve symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Do you have a fun fact about the skeleton that you would love to share? 

Comment below and let us know what you think!

Overcoming the “Gross” in Gross Anatomy

by seedoflifechiro, posted in Chiropractic, Health

back-pain-1491801_1920This blog comes from a speech I recently gave.

I am passionate about anatomy and feel that it is an amazing and integral part of my practice. Each time that I work with a patient, I use the amazing skills that I gained working in the anatomy lab. I feel there was no better way for me to learn about the human body.

Enjoy!

On my first day of dissection for Gross Anatomy, I had no idea what to expect. I came to class prepared with gloves, dissection kit, lab coat, instructions, and a ton of anxiety.

I got to class about 15 minutes before my lab group so that I could see how I reacted in private. I opened the double doors and entered the lab full of cadavers in rank and file on metal tables. The smell of formalin and antifreeze assaulted my nose and I walked through the room to my assigned body. I pulled back the plastic and muslin, gagged once, and began my dissection.

I had no idea that first day how important that lab would become to my life.

Class by class, I learned more and more about the human body and uncovered its secrets. Soon the weirdness faded and the magic took over. I spent hours in the lab outside of class studying and teaching my fellow classmates. The anatomy lab woke me up and I found a new passion. Did you know that you have a tiny pulley system in your eye? Or that you have a pressure and chemical receptor in your neck? These facts and many more bring to light the incredibly intelligent design of the human body. I was hooked.

After completing my coursework in Anatomy, I took a job working as a professional dissector in the lab- dissecting the teaching body one step ahead of the class. I took up anatomical drawing. I loved integrating my anatomy with my chiropractic and adjusting skills. Even today, when I lay my hands on a patient, I can see the anatomy beneath my hands, guiding my touch and fine tuning my patient care.

Through tutoring I got to share my passion for anatomy with other students and pass along knowledge in a way that makes it come alive. From the student struggling in class, to those wanting a review before taking board exams, teaching others forced me to be better than average and hone my skills. I even became a guide for “Tours of the Body”- a program where nursing students, massage therapy students, and even future barbers are given the opportunity to visit the cadaver lab and bring book learning to life. In the anatomy lab, I found my home in chiropractic school and a lifelong obsession.skull-778073_1920

During the three and a half years that I worked in the anatomy lab, I worked on upwards of 30 cadavers and- as cliché as it sounds- we are all unique and individual snowflakes. Nerves take paths that aren’t in the books, we find muscles that aren’t supposed to be there or search in vain for a blood vessel that doesn’t exist in that body. Some of these are so common they are considered a normal abnormality. This is much to the chagrin of the studying anatomist… For example, in about 17% of the population the sciatic nerve, the large nerve that travels from your pelvis all the way to your big toe, pierces a muscle instead of diving underneath. If that muscle spasms… presto! Sciatica. In addition, new anatomical findings are still being made. While I was in school, a fellow prosector made an anatomical discovery that is now published in scholarly journals and in the new Gray’s Anatomy (no, not the TV show).

Dissection is an art form- much like sculpture. Its goal is to uncover and reveal the structures of the body hidden away beneath skin and tissue. These bones, organs, and muscles tell the story of a life. What kind of work did this person do? Did they smoke? Have children? Work with their hands? Through patient study, Gross anatomy becomes less gross. It becomes fascinating. While not everyone has access to an anatomy lab, I feel that it was one of the most important experiences of my education and I will take its lessons with me always.

Do you have anatomy questions? Comment below or email at seedoflifechiro@gmail.com

Sitting Too Much is Ruining Your Health (and Spine)

by seedoflifechiro, posted in Chiropractic, Health, Movement

computer-15812_1920

How many hours do you sit each day?

How many days a week do you sit?

Do you ever sit for a period upwards of 11 hours in a day?

 

These are very important questions to ask yourself. As I sit here writing this blog, I am aware that I, myself have been sitting for the past hour researching statistics for this very article… with my posture suffering as minutes tick by.

In some sense, we all know that we shouldn’t sit too long. That prolonged sitting is detrimental to our health. What most of us don’t realize is that it is probably worse for us than we think…

According to Web MD, sitting too much is linked to worsened mental health as well as increased risk of heart disease and disability. Why? No one seems quite sure. What we do know is that the most detrimental data came from a study looking at women who sit for over 11 hours per day.

What’s worse is that it does not appear that your morning walk or jog is enough to combat your 8+ hours of sitting each day. These activities appear to be mutually exclusive. By no means should you stop your regular workout, but this does suggest that- as a society- we need to change how we function. We need to sit less and move more. Revolutionary!

Another study even suggests that sitting is harmful to our children. This study looked at sitting times of only 3 hours. It demonstrated a marked negative change in the blood flow through the arteries of the group that did not move out of chairs for a full 3 hours. However, the group that rode a bicycle (gently) for 10 minutes out of each hour had no change.

text-neck

How often do your kids sit for long periods? School has them seated for 8+ hours each day which is not even counting video game or TV time in the evenings. Our society asks kids to sit still and pay attention. We tend to squash the wiggles right out of them by the time they are in the first grade.

Maybe this is why kids are wiggly, naturally?! Maybe we are meant to move around a lot more than we do! Movement pumps our blood back to the heart through our veins. Movement causes positive changes in our cardiovascular health. Movement keeps our joints lubricated and healthy! Movement keeps us alive and healthy.

And guess what else comes along with too much sitting? Back pain!

Our spines are made with gentle curves that support our weight and absorb shock. When we sit, we often curve our spines into a C- shape, rounding the low back, hunching the shoulders, and thrusting the head forward.

We are simply  not built for this. These abnormal stresses on the spine overwork our muscles and can cause a lot of damage to our spines. They are often accompanied by low back pain and headaches!

Proper sitting, ie: sitting on the sit bones and tall through the spine, is far less detrimental to the spine and is difficult to maintain for long periods- necessitating movement.

I feel like I am sounding a bit repetitive, but movement is what we are made for. So… here are some tips to help you to improve your health, sit less, and MOVE MORE.

  • Use a standing desk– Your posture will automatically  be better and you are more likely to move about the office. It is also easy to incorporate simple exercises like heel raises, toe taps, glute squeezes, etc into your day when you are standing at work.
  • Be conscious of your posture– I sometimes place a ball between my middle back and the back of my chair. If the ball moves, I am slouching and probably need to get up and move about.
  • Set movement reminders– If you have a tendency to get locked into a task, try setting an alarm on your phone or computer that reminds you to get up and walk a bit. Remember, the study in young girls found that moving 10 minutes out of each hour made a dramatic change in their vascular condition.
  • Try sitting on an exercise ball– It is really hard to slouch on an exercise ball. Plus, your core will remain engaged and you can perform exercises like pelvic tilts while sitting at your desk.

Now, get out there and move! Remember that regular care for your spine includes an evaluation by a Doctor of Chiropractic as well as movement and good posture. Are you worried about your posture? What about your kids? Stay tuned for my next blog about posture- How to tell if you have good posture and what to do about it!

Get Your Flu Adjustment Here!

by seedoflifechiro, posted in Chiropractic, Health

woman-698943Flu season is generally considered to be present from October-February. Many of us have experienced that we are more likely to “catch” a cold during this time of year. Signs pop up for you to “Get Your Flu Shot Here”. (For more info about the flu shot click here).

But why?

Flu and cold viruses are no more prevalent in the environment in the winter months… so why do we get sick!?

During the winter, our lifestyle drastically changes. We are enclosed with more people in work/school and are outdoors less. This also means that our Vitamin D levels are probably low because we aren’t getting as much sun exposure. Vitamin D plays a role in immune system function as well as mood and Seasonal Affect Disorder.

cookie-1792259

It’s also no secret that stress levels rise in the holiday season with travel, family, and increased demands on our time. The holidays are also a time of increased sugar consumption. A study performed by Loma Linda University in 1973 found that 100g of sugar correlates with white blood cells being 40% less effective at killing germs for up to 5 hours.

These factors and many more mean that we are far more susceptible to colds and flu.

Don’t. Panic.

There are simple steps you can take to boost your immune system and protect yourself during the winter (and year round).

  1. Get Your Flu Adjustment Here!

patient-adjustmentThe nervous system and, therefore, spine have a tremendous influence on the function of the immune system. In fact, one study demonstrates that Fighter T Cells work better for 24-48 hours after an adjustment for a review of literature click here.

This means that getting adjusted regularly can help keep your immune system in top shape.BUT it also means that when you are sick, an adjustment can speed your recovery.

2. Monitor Your Sugar Intake

cake-727870It is recommended that women consume no more than 28g of added sugar, daily. By cutting sugary drinks, like pop and sports drinks, and keeping an eye on your cookie and dessert consumption you can improve your overall health and keep yourself from getting sick. If you want to learn more about sugar, join our book club which is reading Sugar Nation this January.

3. Get Your Vitamin D Levels Checked!

Vitamin D is essential for many bodily processes. Living far North of the equator, many of us are deficient in Vitamin D year round- and our levels plummet in the winter months. I love Biotics Vitamin D drops for easy and safe supplementation for both children and adults.

Is there a topic you would like to see me discuss?

What are your favorite ways to keep your immune system boosted?

Comment below!