Tag: Stress

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Optimal Structure = Optimal Function

Optimal Structure = Optimal Function

The design of any structure dictates what the function of that object will be. Have you ever looked at the structure of the human frame? The spine is truly an incredible feat of engineering. Each piece is placed in a specific way for a specific function. When the spine’s structure matches the blue prints from your DNA, then it can handle the stresses of gravity and a healthy level of activity. However, when the spine loses its proper structure, then stress of gravity and activity can suddenly reveal its weakness.

As a structural chiropractor, it’s my job to detect structural and functional abnormalities of the spine before they become major problems. In humans, structure is dictated by your spine and function is dictated by your nervous system. The nervous system is responsible for the function of every system in the body. When the nervous system has a hiccup, then muscles, organs, or glands may overreact or under react leading to a wide variety of problems called Secondary Conditions.

What Is A Structural Shift?

A structural shifts occurs when a segment of the spine shifts and disrupts the spinal nerves and spinal cord, which can create many different secondary conditions or symptoms. The reason these are called secondary conditions is because they are a result of the primary structural shift, or the underlying cause. This shift will distort the signals going in and out of the brain. As the spine shifts, the spinal cord and spinal nerves will misfire into the brain. This misfiring causes the muscles of the spine to tighten and spasm, and create dysfunction to anywhere where those nerves travel.

The location of the structural shift and where the nerves are being disrupted will give us an idea about your secondary conditions. A structural shift may produce local pain, but this may also have an effect elsewhere in the body. For example, according to a recent study in the Journal of Neurosurgery, deformities in the neck affect the alignment of the hips and pelvis.

What You Can Do About It

The good news is that these problems are almost always preventable. With proper exercise and proper postural awareness, you can save years of wear and tear on the spine, and maintain full function of the delicate nervous system. As with anything else, it’s always important that you protect the parts of your body that you hold most dear through routine check ups. Your spine is no exception.

Reversing structural abnormalities using specific customized chiropractic care gets to the underlying cause of many conditions. The best thing about someone with Normal Structure is that it allows their spine to be stable. When the structural alignment of someone’s spine goes back to normal and it is stable, secondary conditions will often resolve and the nervous system can function optimally.

At True Health Family Chiropractic, we are focused on delivering a full structural correction to the spine. We use structural x-rays, digital structural analysis, and neuromuscular scanning tools to assess the full nature of your problem.

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Avoid Stress And Sickness This Holiday Season

stress person

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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The Importance of Play

the importance of playExperts have long studied the benefits of play for children (allows them to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength). Play is important to healthy brain and social development. It is through play that children at a very early age engage and interact in the world around them. In his book Play, author and psychiatrist Stuart Brown, MD, compares play to oxygen. He writes, “…it’s all around us, yet goes mostly unnoticed or unappreciated until it is missing.”

It’s easy to justify playtime for kids, its a normal activity for them – but what about us? The truth is that we -humans- are in fact the most neotenous species on the planet. Neoteny refers to the retention of immature qualities into adulthood. As in, humans retain the ability to imagine and play, and this gives us an evolutionary advantage in how flexible and adaptable we are. Bottom line meaning: we are uniquely designed to play throughout our entire lifetimes.

Unfortunately in our hurried lifestyle, playing can be seen as an indulgence – and instead this constant rushing around can be a source of constant stress and anxiety for some and can even contribute to depression for others. Play is crucial to our mental creativity, health and happiness. It lifts stress from us, refreshes us and recharges us. It restores our optimism. It renews our ability to accomplish our work. Plus, there is evidence that it does even more; play appears to allow our brains to exercise their very flexibility, to maintain and even perhaps renew the neural connections that embody our human potential to adapt and expand, evolve.

Play also allows us to be present in the moment – something that is so rare these days – that is the space of play, that lightness of being. When we embrace play, we claim a better quality of life for ourselves. We decrease stress. We connect better with those around us. We get out more and get more out of what we do. We find more fun and maybe even meaning. It’s important to remember that play can be almost anything – art, books, movies, music, comedy, daydreaming, sports, storytelling, you name it.

Any time you think play is a waste, remember that it offers some serious benefits for both you and your family. As Brown says in his book, “Play is the purest expression of love.”

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Why Do I Need Maintenance Chiropractic Care?

maintenance chiropractic care

Every day more and more people are reevaluating their options when it comes to health care. They are realizing that wellness comes from within and that the best way to avoid illness and discomfort is to be “health conscious” in their daily lifestyles. In order to accomplish this we must first understand what it is we need to do to get and stay well.

The simple answer is that we need to adopt lifestyle behaviors that promote health – as opposed to those that lead to sickness. Because the truth is there is no drug that can fix our poor diet or remove the toxins from the processed food we eat. There is no drug that can undo our sedentary living or poor fitness – the answer is in our lifestyle choices. One major lifestyle choice we can adopt is to receive regular chiropractic adjustments, often called maintenance or wellness chiropractic care.

Understanding the reason for maintenance chiropractic care mandates an understanding of two major well documented concepts: 1) immobilization degeneration; and 2) the neurology of pain processing. A primary component of a subluxation (misalignment in the spine) is loss of normal motion in that area; and there is an immense body of research to support the ensuing degenerative process that will occur with this loss of motion and the logical conclusion of restoring movement to the spine.

You see, chiropractic is important for our health in many of the same ways that exercise is so crucial for our overall health and well-being. It’s all about movement. Movement feeds the brain, when we become misaligned we lose the normal motion of that spinal segment – which leads to degenerated joints and  decreases these movement- rich nutrients to the brain (proprioceptive signals). Continue reading “Why Do I Need Maintenance Chiropractic Care?”