Back to Basics

People often think chiropractic is all about back pain, neck pain and headaches.  But it is much more.  Chiropractic care is something for your whole body health, just like we make good choices with food for healthy nutrition.  Chiropractic adjustments keep the spine moving properly and stable, and even more importantly, it takes pressure off of our nervous system.

A quick review, our nervous system controls all of our bodies functions.  Not only does it send messages out it also brings messages back in as a status report on how the body is working.  With the fact that our nervous system is that important, I would suggest that it is something we should keep healthy.

Since I love examples let’s try one:  I am out watering my garden with a hose attached to the house and along comes the bad neighbor kid.  He steps on my hose and the water starts to slow.  What happens to my garden?  The answer is, over time my garden will die without water.  In this example the house is the brain, the hose spinal nerves, the garden all the body parts, and the bad neighbor kid is a spinal subluxation.  A spinal subluxation is a bone out of alignment putting pressure of the spinal nerves.  Just like the garden, over time with nerve irritation your body parts will not function correctly without proper nerve supply.

Keeping your spine in proper working order with chiropractic adjustments will allow your body to function better.  Your innate intelligence will be able to heal the body as it is intended to.  Never once have I ever met a person that had a headache due to a lack of aspirin.

I maintain my spine with regular chiropractic adjustments and do not use medications that cover up the symptoms.  Because it is much easier to stay healthy then try to fight all the symptoms your body gives you after it is too late.  For more information visit www.drallenchiropractic.com.

Using only one motion

It is that time of year again when the leaves fall faster than you can pick them up.  My wife and I were in the yard making our best attempt at raking the leaves before more fell.  We lost.  But in the time we spent raking I was reminded of something that I will be telling the masses.

And that is…. You need to SWITCH sides when raking leaves.  It is something I have always done and never really thought about it, rake on the right then rake on the left.  It is natural for me, but my wife was comfortable on one side and stayed that way.  Needless to say she was hurting along only the right side of her body, when we finished.

This rule of thumb goes past raking, during any one sided job you need to alternate sides.  Golf swings, household chores, personal grooming, playing catch are all things that are often done with one side of the body.  Before you say I can only use my golf clubs one way, I understand.  But for every swing to the right, you should practice one to the left.  Same goes for cleaning the house, use your other hand to dust and clean the mirrors from time to time.

Why is all this important?  Good question.  The answer is balance.  When you go to the gym, you wouldn’t just exercise your right arm.  More important than the muscle balance is the effects on the spine and what that does to the nervous system.  If you always bend and twist to the right, your spine will wear out quicker on the right, putting uneven pressure on the nerves and other problems arise.

Motion is good, different motions are better.  Stay healthy with chiropractic.

More information can be found at www.drallenchiropractic.com.

Slow start, strong finish

Today was one of those days when if it could go wrong it did.  What should have been several small projects turned into an all day affair.  I was frustrated, tired and almost quit earlier to go home.  But I thought no that won’t get these tasks completed. 

Today brings me to my thought about chiropractic.  One adjustment will not make you better over night.  But if you stick with it, progress will steadily continue.  I was speaking with a newer patient and told him that I wouldn’t fix him today, but each day he should see more relief and feel better all over.  Of course there will be bumps along the way to recovery.  But as his spine becomes stronger and more stable, the amount of good time will increase and there will be fewer and less severe bad days. 

I have always had a running joke that if I could fix you today then I would have a line from here to the airport and my fees would go way up.  That hasn’t happened yet.  But chiropractic works.  I will never be without chiropractic taking care of me and my family, maybe it is time you give it a try as well.  Just like today a slow start, but a strong finish. 

For more information go to www.drallenchiropractic.com.

Being more active…

With the recent cool down it is much easier to head outdoors to work and play.  I have a few projects that include digging, lots of rock and painting.  These are all tasks that I have not done in a long time, which means I am going to be very sore afterwards.

I will do several things to help prevent serious injury.  Before starting I will start drinking plenty of water,  this will help hydrate my entire body including the disc and joints.  A hydrated disc can adapt much better to stressors than a dried and withered disc.  Second, proper lifting is a must.  This means lifting with my legs instead of bending at the waist, which places increased pressure on the lower back.  A final good idea to remember, take breaks.  Just like everyone else, I will be in a hurry to finish the projects.  But taking breaks, or switching to a different job regularly keeps you from being in the same position and using the same muscles  for too long.  thus not over working one body part.

I have been waiting all summer to get to work.  But working within my limits, I will be sore for a day or two.  And hopefully avoid having a serious injury to the lower back by just following a few simple steps and listening to my body.

Please visit www.drallenchiropractic.com for more information about Allen Chiropractic.

It CAN happen to me…

Last week I woke up as normal, got in the shower and then it hit me, my head weighs a ton.  Ok maybe I just slept funny and it will work itself out.  So I let the water beat on it, like I tell patients to do.  Still hurts the entire right side of my neck into my shoulder.  As soon as possible I had the guys work on my neck and get adjusted.  It helped but still there.

I get adjusted on a regular basis and try to do the right things.  But for the past 10 days I have been a real patient myself.  This has been great experience by living what all my patients are telling me. 

What a reminder this has been… It does not get better all at once, but progressively over time.  The cause you ask… well I don’t think that sleeping did it all by itself so it probably is a culmination of things over time.  Motion is good, keep adjusting the spine and stretching the muscles and not just sitting around complaining. 

The discomfort is doing better and changing locations which is a good thing.  Just like I have heard myself say everyday for many years.  Well it is that time when I am going to get adjusted today.  I can’t wait until I am feeling better and I am on that maintenance routine again. 

For more information check out www.drallenchiropractic.com.

Stressed Out

There are several types of stress: emotional, physical, and chemical.  Let’s take a minute to explain each type.  Emotional stress,  something that weighs heavily on your emotions such as a loved one passing away.  Physical stress, demanding physically on your body such as lifting heavy weights.  Chemical stress,  toxic chemicals introduced to the body such as smoking.  Everyone deals with stress each day, but it is how we respond to stress that matters.

I am going to talk about physical stress today.  Our bodies have the ability to adapt and evolve.  If you stopped wearing shoes, your feet would begin to grow tougher and thicker skin.  Over the weekend, I was taking a walk and a pebble found its way into my shoe.  It felt like a boulder to me, but truly a pebble.  I could have continued to walk and favored that side by putting more weight on the other leg.  But over time the other leg would have tired and with it being used improperly would have started to hurt itself.  Thank goodness I did the smart thing: stopped, took off the shoe off and poured out the rock. 

This is like what I see everyday.  The difference is people don’t want to stop and remove those “pebbles” from their lives.  Repetitive motions, improper posture, sitting, hard labor  and the list continues are all ways to cause physical damage to the spine.  Spinal misalignments result and improper wear and tear happens to your spine and spinal nerves.  Chiropractic is a great way to get those “pebbles” out and re-align the spine. 

Start by reducing your stressors, but there is always stress left.  Take time to repair yourself so stress does not get the best of you.  Removing the “barbell” from your shoulders will make your everyday tasks easier. 

Visit www.drallenchiropractic.com for more information.

Sometimes it is worth the wait.

Not everything that happens quickly makes it the best.  As a child, I remember a story about a tortoise and hare.  They get into a race and of course the rabbit is quicker.  This leads to altered plans, that make the rabbit get off track.  The turtle, however, continues to plunge ahead at a steady pace and not waiver from the goal.  As we all know the turtle wins, and what does this tell us?  Somethings in life take time.

I see patients everyday that have had lower back pain, headaches, acid reflux, and the list goes on.  These symptoms did not happen over night.  So why do you think they will go away over night? 

The joints of the spine are like anything else, if you take care of them they will last longer.  I ask people what would happen if they continued to drive on a tire that had a nail in it.  The answer: the rim will wear, the suspension will go bad, the entire cars handling will be shot.  If only they would have pulled over right away and fixed that tire. 

Chiropractic does not work over night, like all good things in life it is ongoing.  Proper care and maintenance will keep you moving at you best potential.  See your chiropractor regularly because life can be tough on your body.  So take care of yourself with chiropractic.

More information can be found at www.drallenchiropractic.com.