Tag: Healing

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Omega 3 For Athletic Performance

Omega 3 For Athletic Peformance

Essential fats are required fats we cannot make and therefore must consume from an outside source. One category of these fats found in fish oil – Omega 3 fats – are a must when it comes to optimal athletic performance. Here are some of the ways they can help you maximize your performance and get results.

Faster recovery: Omega-3 fatty acids are renowned for their anti-inflammatory properties.  After a tough workout, you may feel sore or stiff, or you might experience swelling, redness or tenderness in certain areas. This is called inflammation, and it’s the body’s way of protecting itself. It can also slow down the body’s recovery process and tissue repair.  Look for a supplement high in EPA, which is the essential fatty acid with the most anti-inflammatory properties.

Less soreness: Omega-3 assists blood flow to muscles during exercise, and some studies show supplementation decreases muscle soreness by 35%. As well, athletes with a high omega-3 intake experience less swelling and an increased range of motion after a workout.

Increased fat burning and metabolism: Studies show that omega-3 supplementation combined with exercise leads to increased fat burning in muscles and inhibits fat storage.

Increased mental focus and concentration: Omega-3 has been linked with an increase in clarity, memory, and concentration and can actually help you stay focused and alert.

Improved cardiovascular function: Omega-3 improves heart parameters during exercise by reducing heart rate and improving oxygen delivery to the heart. Continue reading “Omega 3 For Athletic Performance”

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Avoid Stress And Sickness This Holiday Season

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We all know that exercise, clean eating, and proper supplementation can have a profound impact on our health. But what about our stress? If left unchecked, it can ruin your holidays and hurt your health.

The truth is that no amount of supplements or good nutrition could counteract the toxic effects of chronic, repetitive stress responses on the body – and the overload of cortisol and epinephrine that accompany these physiological “fight-or-flight” responses. Chronic stress has been found to increase the risk of anxiety, depression, digestive problem, heart disease, and sleep problems just to name a few.

In addition, it increases both the risk and duration of cold and flu symptoms substantially – not fun. However, when we are better able to adapt to these stress responses, the natural self-repair mechanisms of the body are able to go about the business of doing what they do best – heal the body. This is where chiropractic fits in. After all, balance is the key when we’re dealing with the nervous system.

When the spine shifts from it’s normal structure – there are 3 components involved: a misalignment of the vertebrae, which then causes fixation (the bone becomes stuck), which in turn leads to interference and stress placed on the nerve(s) in that area. We know now that this can cause the entire nervous system to go into a state of fight/flight – known as the sympathetic stress response. Continue reading “Avoid Stress And Sickness This Holiday Season”

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5 Tips For Building Healthy, Happy Children

We have the power to determine how healthy we are by the choices we make with our bodies. Our bodies are equipped with an incredible ability to go towards health when they’re supplied with the right building materials. For optimal health, children should eat right, move more, and enjoy life to the fullest (which happens to be the same advice for us adults).

The idea behind these five daily strategies are to build healthier kids, because as we know healthier kids are happier kids, and happier kids are more successful. Continue reading “5 Tips For Building Healthy, Happy Children”

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I Don’t Believe in Chiropractic

believe in chiropractic

“I don’t believe in Chiropractic.” This is something that all chiropractors hear from time to time when out in public or in the office. I always get a kick out of it because after all – I am alive and real AND I am a Chiropractor – so do they not believe I exist? Okay, maybe people don’t question the existence of chiropractors. However, there are many people out there that question the notion that chiropractic is a viable health care tool. That’s fair enough. Let’s take a closer look, though.

Most of this comes from not understanding what chiropractic is. Chiropractic is a “clinical science based on the fundamental laws of biology, anatomy, and physiology” therefore; belief, religion, and/or faith don’t factor logically into the equation. Fortunately – you don’t have to believe in chiropractic – it works regardless of your belief system. In our office we see a lot of pediatric patients – and guess what? They don’t believe in chiropractic. In fact, some (newborns, infants) have no idea what it is – but they still get better, and their health problems still resolve.

The first question I ask when I hear “I don’t believe in chiropractic” is – do you believe you have a spine? That’s an easy one. So, now if we understand that there is a normal range for your spine’s structure, is it reasonable to say that IF your spine is outside of normal, this can lead to dysfunction and eventually pain?

Better yet, if there was a profession that detects and corrects a spine when it is outside the normal range without the use of medications, long therapy or even surgery – would that be a good thing? Well, then you do believe in Chiropractic, especially my type of chiropractic that detects and corrects abnormal structural problems of the spine.

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“I Can Adjust Myself”

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“I don’t need a chiropractor. I can adjust myself.” If you had a tooth ache would you break out your Black and Decker drill and fix it yourself? It makes the same noise as a dentist’s drill – crazy right? It is even crazier to think that you or anyone other than a licensed chiropractor knows how to examine and specifically adjust your spine without hundreds of hours of specialized training.

Chiropractors themselves go to other chiropractors to be adjusted on a regular basis because we know that the nervous system and spine are way too important to play around with. And yet we are always running into people who proudly say, “I don’t need a chiropractor, I pop my own back!” or “My osteopath knows how to pop my back.” or “My physical therapist does it for me”, or “My wife walks on my back”. (There are even videos on Youtube on adjusting your own neck – scary.)

More importantly, a chiropractic adjustment has very little to do with simply getting your spine to pop or “crack”. The popping noise is incidental (at best) to a thorough chiropractic examination and specific adjustment of only those segments of the spine that are actually misaligned and shifted. With care for not disturbing those vertebrae that are in proper alignment, the chiropractic adjustment respects the spine for good reason – your spine protects the nervous system which controls everything in your body. 

Trying to “adjust yourself” or letting anyone other than a chiropractor adjust your spine, is a lot like drilling your precious teeth with a family drill; it’s a very bad idea. Safe and specific care of your spine and nervous system is a chiropractor’s only business and we take it seriously.