Active Family Chiropractic

Empowering Your Health

Albany's Premier Biophysics Chiropractic Practice

Can the weather cause migraines?

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Have you ever been going about your day and gradually feel an intense pressure headache come on? Have you noticed that the wind has picked up or the air might feel heavier? Changes in atmospheric pressure have been thought to be a trigger for inducing migraines. According to the Mayo clinic, weather may cause imbalances in brain chemicals, including serotonin, which can lead to migraines. However, there is still no scientific proof that the weather can trigger a migraine.

As a CBP practitioner, Dr. B. has seen it a lot. If there is a storm coming in or some kind of pressure system, such as a tornado or high winds, people tend to have more trouble with headaches and migraines. She believes that there is a correlation but nothing has been proven, scientifically, yet.

If the weather can contribute to migraine occurrence, then what is a migraine?

A migraine headache is a complicated type of a headache. It usually involves hormonal reactions in the body. Sometimes it can be triggered by stress and it’s a different complex of headaches, a different complex of symptoms that attribute to a traditional stress headache.

Can anything be done to curb or prevent migraines? 

One of the best ways to combat headaches and migraines is to receive regular adjustments from a Chiropractic Biophysics practitioner. Having proper spinal alignment leads to better nervous system function and that can help your body to function better. It can help to combat any of these weird weather-related occurrences that might interrupt your body’s natural flow.

What type of subluxation would trigger a migraine?

The top vertebra C1, the atlas, which rests at the base of the skull, is usually responsible for a migraine if it is a physical stressor because it has a direct attachment to the small muscles at the base of the head called the suboccipitals. When those get irritated they can compress what is called the Vagus nerve, that comes out of your brain, travels through the suboccipitals and into the stomach. This can lead to nausea, seeing auras, light sensitivity, and noise sensitivity, those pre-migraine situations.

Can migraines be caused by something other than subluxations and the weather?

Migraines are not always caused by subluxations in the neck, but subluxations are absolutely contributory. Stress is another factor. Both physical and emotional stress can play a role. Stress affects your hormones. It changes your hormones. When you are stressed your body pumps out a lot of adrenaline, which releases more cortisol, which is really bad for your body. Cortisol is the stuff that holds on to fat cells and it lays fat depositions in your arteries. Stress is a very dangerous thing that needs to be managed and it can certainly contribute to migraines.

Weather for some people is a stressor. Especially if they do not like rain or snow or sun. If there is something happening in their environment that they do not like, it can create stress which can lead to migraines.

Do you experience migraines?

Changes in the weather can be a stressor for many and for some unlucky few, it can lead to migraines. If you’re one of these people, you should get regular CBP adjustments. Not only will they allow your nervous system to work more efficiently but they will minimize the severity and frequency of your migraines. If you’re not already seeing a CBP chiropractor, get a checkup and see how a CBP chiropractor can help you.

For more information contact Dr. B @ [email protected]

How Does CBP Chiropractic Adjustments Help Boost Energy?

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Have you been feeling run down? Is it a struggle to get out of bed in the morning? Do you want more energy throughout the day? Have you ever considered, instead of reaching for an energy drink or another cup of coffee you should be making an appointment with a CBP chiropractor? Well, you should.

Corrective adjustments can boost energy levels.

The specific corrective adjustments we do with Chiropractic Biophysics (CBP), reduces pressure on the nervous system, the spinal nerves, and the peripheral nerves, and ultimately that is how the body functions.

If you have a lot of nerve pressure, the messages from your brain to your body will be slowed. When they are slowed your body components cannot work as quickly. That also includes metabolism and production of energy at the cellular level. Therefore, the adjustments provided by a CBP Chiropractor help to stimulate the nervous system to function at an optimal level, thereby increasing energy levels.

Adjustments can provide a metabolism boost

When your nervous system is operating at an optimal level, your cellular function increase as does your metabolism. Regular CBP care can open up nervous system pathways so that your brain can talk to your body uninterrupted allowing you to burn fat more efficiently. When your body is working more efficiently, you will find that you have more energy throughout the day.

Gravity can play a factor

If you have proper alignment in the spine then the forces of gravity will be distributed evenly throughout the body so your body doesn’t have to work twice as hard or three times as hard to maintain it’s frame in the state of gravity. When your body is not in alignment, it is expending more energy to maintain function. This causes a depletion of its energy stores and therefore causes you to be lethargic.

CBP care can give you more energy

If you’re someone who experiences a mid-day slump or seems to not have enough energy for your kids or loved ones, you owe it to yourself to seek out CBP care. CBP Chiropractic care has the most research done to help provide the best care to its patients. Give yourself an energy boost and set up an appointment with a CBP doctor today.

For more information, you can contact Dr. B @ [email protected].

 

How does CBP Chiropractic care help Allergies?

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Spring is right around the corner, fingers crossed, and with it comes blooming flowers and trees…and allergies. Did you know that seeing a CBP chiropractor can help alleviate your allergies, naturally? It’s true!

So how can a CBP chiropractor help my allergies?

CBP chiropractic care helps to increase nervous system stimulation from the brain to the body. There are many people who suffer from allergies because of compression of their spinal cord at the very top, at the brain stem.

When someone comes into a CBP office with allergies, the doctor will see a subluxation at C1, which is the first vertebra, the top bone in the neck. The C2 controls sinus function. So, people who suffer from sinus infections, allergies, or hay fever type could have a subluxation in that area. The lower neck area of the spinal cord controls the lungs. When people struggle with scratchy lungs and coughs it can usually be pointed to a subluxation in that area.

What is an allergy?

Ultimately, an allergy is an overreaction of your immune system to a stimulus. For some reason, your immune system is finding a stimulus incredibly aggravating to your body. And what usually starts off those things is exposure at a young age, before your immune system is developed. We get exposed to a lot of things, as babies, that we shouldn’t be exposed to, and because of that, we develop an intolerance later on in life to those items.

If you look at the very common peanut allergy, one of the reasons for that is because they started putting peanut oil into vaccines as a filler because it became cheap. Therefore, babies were exposed to peanuts before their immune systems were ready to handle it and they ended up developing an overstimulation reaction to it. That’s where that allergy stems from.

However, an allergy, in general, is your immune system overreacting to something for some reason. It usually is because your nerves are malfunctioning, sometimes it’s not, sometimes it could be because you were exposed to something at a young age that you were not ready for, that your body was not ready for and now it marks it as a toxin.

Can allergies happen at any time or do they only develop while you’re a baby?

Sometimes people develop allergies later on in life, because of over-exposure. For example, if someone eats too much gluten throughout their lives they can later become intolerant to it because they’ve had too much of it their bodies throughout their whole lives. However, keep in mind if you have bad nervous system flow, then you’re going to be allergic to things that other people might not be, who were exposed to the same stimulus.

It is important that people realize that they can help prevent some allergies. If you have babies, who you are making decisions for, you have to realize the implications of giving them thousands of doses of vaccines before their immune systems are developed. That means they are being exposed to things that their bodies are not ready to handle.

Is there something that can be done for allergy relief?

Getting regular adjustments by your CBP doctor will help increase your nerve system flow and minimize your reactions. Regular CBP adjustments can keep your nervous system subluxation free to flow uninterrupted and deal with overstimulation more quickly.

Have you been suffering from allergies and want a holistic way to “deal” with them? Find a CBP chiropractor like Dr. B who can help alleviate those subluxations that are causing your allergies.

For more information send an email to Dr. B @ [email protected]

 

How Do Adjustments Help My Organs Function Better?

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Believe it or not, every organ in the body, the heart, the spleen, the pancreas, the lungs, every organ you can think of, even your skin is connected to the spinal column through nerve endings. Adjustments help the organs to function better because they reduce the pressure on the nerves that control the organs.

So, even if you don’t think you have a problem, with say, your pancreas, it doesn’t mean that your pancreas cannot work more optimally. You may not be getting 100% messages to the pancreas and it may not show up as a problem now, but it might down the road. Chiropractors will see that often with people, they might start to have kidney failure or bladder control issues and it’s something that could’ve been prevented had they just taken care of their spines with regular adjustments.

Why do Chiropractors adjust from the bottom up?

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Have you ever wondered why your Chiropractor adjusts you from the bottom up? Why is it important for them to look at your feet or legs first instead of where it hurts?

Chiropractors check posture from the feet up because your feet or legs could project a postural problem that is higher up. So they always start from the bottom and work their way up. It’s also best to stimulate the body from the bottom up because the pelvis stabilizes the body in gravity. Chiropractors want to make sure that they start there.

They will then move up the body to the atlas, which is the reset button for the body. There are a lot of nerve endings in the atlas, which is right below your skull. That adjustment tells your body’s nervous system to remember that this is the new posture that we want and to please remember it.

Do you have other questions about how the Doctor goes about adjusting your spine and why? Ask Dr. B at [email protected].

 

 

How is CBP different from other Chiropractors?

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To say all Chiropractors are the same is to say that there is only one doctor for all medical needs from childbirth to surgery. Although that may have been true in the 1600’s, modern medical personnel are as varied in their specialty as there are fish in the sea. The same is true for Chiropractors and CBP chiropractors are the specialists in their field.

What is CBP?

CBP or Chiropractic BioPhysics is the most researched type of Chiropractic care. Education for these Chiropractors does not end with the 3-5 years of Chiropractic schooling. It will include yearly seminars on advancements in their technique as well as the research, clinical trials and writing of studies in order to gain advanced certifications.

CBP uses measurable and repeatable results to show progress. By using x-rays and orthopedic tests, they can track a person’s progress which is seen in the photo below.

So just how different is CBP from other types of Chiropractic care?

It is different in every aspect except for the use of some similar style techniques learned in Chiropractic school. To start, the analysis of the spine is different. CBP Chiropractors do a thorough exam of the spine including orthopedic tests and x-rays to determine structural issues. Other Chiropractors typically will not take x-rays and will begin to adjust just through a cursory exam using palpations of the spine or thermo-scans which are not definitive for diagnosing subluxations, as  they need to be seen on x-ray.

Why are x-rays important?

X-rays are important because they will show definitively what is wrong with the spine. X-rays will show subluxations, but it will also show things that could potentially be dangerous to adjust, like a broken bone. If it’s a hairline fracture, that isn’t something that can be felt through palpations. To adjust without being able to see what exactly is going on in the spine can be dangerous.

Once x-rays are done, what’s next?

Once we know what the issues are with the spine, the technique used is vastly different from other chiropractic care. CBP chiropractors do mirror-image adjustments versus what is learned in chiropractic school, which is a non-specific type of adjustment. CBP targets specific issues you have with your spine.

For example, if your lower back aches, the issue might be that you are carrying your head too far forward and it is putting extra pounds of pressure on your lower spine. This issue would be identified by a CBP chiropractor through their exams and x-rays.

What are mirror-image adjustments?

Mirror-image adjustments are used by CBP chiropractors to counteract re-occurring subluxations. For example, if you come into the office and you have a rotated spine, a CBP chiropractor will adjust in the opposite direction to counteract that imbalance. Over time this type of adjustment helps to change the structure of the spine to neutral.

 

What is traction?

Traction helps retrain ligaments and muscles, to stretch tight muscles and to strengthen weak muscles. This is an important component to sustaining spinal correction.

Neck traction tables.

How else is CBP different?

CBP chiropractors typically do not use other modalities such as electro-stimulus machines. Those tend to be used by general chiropractors and physical therapists for symptoms and do nothing to correct spinal structure.

CBP Chiropractors look at healing your spine long term. They aren’t in it for the quick fix. You wouldn’t go to the gym and expect to go from fat to fit in one session, why would you expect the same from your spine? Your spine is the most important part of your body. CBP chiropractors want to help people by realigning their spines through focused adjustments and retraining your spine with traction. Continued CBP care will help to improve your quality of life.

 

For more questions about CBP chiropractics and their processes please email Dr. B. @ [email protected]

Ow! My Sciatica is acting up!

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What is sciatica? If you’re anything like me, you could be very wrong on what you thought sciatica pain actually is. I always thought it was a pinched nerve from the front part of the hip. I suppose I was partly correct. It is a “pinch” of a nerve, just not in the location I thought.

What is Sciatica?

Sciatica is a commonly misused term for what people describe as a lower back pain that shoots down their leg. Sometimes this is a true sciatic nerve compression and sometimes it’s not. One of the first things your chiropractor will do is to rule out muscle involvement because the sciatic nerve travels through one of the buttock muscles. If that buttock muscle is tight, it can compress that branch of the sciatic nerve and create similar symptoms. However, true sciatica is a compression of the sciatic nerve at the spine itself, where it emerges from the spinal cord.

One of the defining characteristics of sciatic pain is a shooting pain that travels down the back side of the leg. It can travel all the way down the leg as far as the foot and can be accompanied by a numbness and tingling.

What are some things you can do to alleviate the pain?

The first thing you want to do is to make sure that you find out the source of the pain. If it’s compressed at the spinal level itself, through a subluxation or something else like a disc herniation, the only thing you can do is consult with a medical professional, namely a chiropractor, to discover the extent of the damage. This should be the first step for anyone. Once the problem has been identified, then the appropriate solution can be applied.

A lot of times someone will complain of sciatic pain but it’s really just the compression of the sciatic nerve by the buttock muscle. If this is the case, one thing you can do is to take extra time to stretch the buttock muscle. You can also use a foam roller to roll out the tightness of the buttock muscle. Another thing to do is to avoid sitting. Sitting increases the pressure on the sciatic nerve. If you have any type of sciatic pain, you want to try to avoid sitting at all costs.

Another thing you can do is to get a massage, acupuncture or even take an Epsom salt bath. All of these can ease the tension of muscles and release compression of “pinched” nerves.

Regular visits to your Chiropractor can also help. Chiropractors can find if there is an issue with the structure of the vertebra. Once this is identified, they are able to restore that structure to as close to normal as possible through specific adjustments and in-office traction, and in the process, alleviating pain.

Are you experiencing sciatica pain? Make an appointment with your Chiropractor and take care of your spine today.

For more information on sciatic pain and how it can be treated email Dr. B @ [email protected].

How do handheld devices contribute to spinal damage?

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Does the above cartoon look like you when you’re on your hand-held device? The world is advancing at an alarming rate and with it, the technology is getting better and better. As time goes by, we find ourselves more reliant on our hand-held and mobile devices. Although these devices make our lives easier, they also contribute to spinal damage. Is my smartphone or tablet causing spinal damage? The short answer is yes.

How is my handheld device causing spinal damage?

Most hand-held devices are designed to be held in your hand, hence the name. However, they tend to have a little bit of weight to them which over the extended period of use can begin to feel heavy. This forces you to seek support for that arm holding the device, whether it be the arm of a chair or a table, or maybe your leg. This causes you to look down at the device. This puts you in forward head projection and causes your shoulders to round.  Holding this position for any amount of time can lead to a weakness in your posture. Have you ever seen Herbert, the old man from Family Guy when he’s walking with his walker? When you continually hold your device in such a way that it promotes poor spinal posture , you are in danger of ending up like him. 

Think about this. For every degree you tilt your head forward, you are adding a pound of pressure to your spine. The way most people hold their cell phones or tablets can put up to 60 additional pounds of pressure on your spine. The Guardian, a British news publication, provided a fantastic graphic to demonstrate this.

But I need to multi-task!

In this busy world, we all tend to try to do several things at once. We talk on the phone while we’re typing on our laptop or tablet. If you’re not using your speakerphone function or your headphones, which the phone company so generously supplied to you, you may find yourself trying to wedge your phone in between your head and your shoulder in order to continue to work. This action can cause spinal damage as well. When you are constantly putting your neck in a side-bending position, you are causing misalignments (subluxation). This can lead to an imbalance in your muscles and you’ll notice your head will start to constantly tilt and eventually if untreated you could look like the picture below.

Not only is this bad for your health, but it is unsightly.

What are some things I can do to prevent spinal damage from using my hand-held devices?

I know it might be hard but try to limit your use of your devices. If that is not an option, think about using your headphones when answering calls. Also, when texting or viewing social media, make sure that you are holding the phone up so that your neck is in a neutral position not tilted or bent forward. Doing these simple things can minimize neck and back pain as well as promote good spinal posture.

For more information or to talk about exercises, you can do to strengthen your spine email Dr. B at [email protected].

Why are my neck and back muscles always tight? Part 3: Nutritional Choices

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You wouldn’t think that your nutritional choices could affect how your muscles feel, would you? But they do. Americans tend to ingest large amounts of gluten and sugar on a daily basis. Along with not drinking enough water, you are creating an environment within your body of aches and pains. When you chose a diet of whole foods which are minimally processed you are allowing your body to heal itself by giving it the vitamins it needs.

Why are gluten and sugar bad?

Both gluten and sugar promote inflammation. When you’re sick, if you eat something that contains a lot of sugar, you’ll notice an increase of phlegm.  That’s because sugar feeds bacteria and can prolong your sickness. Too much sugar can cause chronic inflammation which can lead to diabetes and heart disease. If you have arthritis, sugar can aggravate the pain.

Gluten is a gut irritant that can cause inflammation. They are like paper cuts inside your stomach, which causes your stomach to swell and bloat. Over time it can permeate the lining of your stomach and cause leaking. Save your gut and your body and try to cut out these products.

Eliminating inflammatory foods can help your body to digest and utilize what you consume more efficiently.

How can drinking water help with aches and pains?

Our bodies are made up mainly of water and when we don’t drink enough to replenish our “stock” it can lead to symptoms such as headaches, back aches, nausea, and dizziness. Your muscles will feel tired and sore. Drinking water helps to keep your joints lubricated and your skin elastic. Water also aids in flushing toxins out of your system. It can also stave off hunger.

Making good nutritional choices like eating whole foods and drinking water can help you to eliminate inflammation, which is one of the biggest culprits of aches and pains. So why not make good nutritional choices and invest in yourself.

For more information or to talk with Dr. B about good nutritional choices email her at [email protected].

Why are my neck and back muscles always tight? Part 2: Not exercising or stretching enough.

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Have you ever wondered why your neck and back muscles are always tight? There are a number of factors that contribute to this. Bad posture, not exercising enough and bad nutritional choices are only a few. In this 3 part series, we’re going to talk about the biggest contributing factors to neck and back tightness.

Not exercising or stretching enough or at all.

Your structure, the bones of your body, dictate what your muscles are doing. If you have a poor spinal structure, you will have bad muscle function. Additionally, not exercising will cause your muscles to break down and become useless. There are easy ways to get moving.

  • Try Yoga – Yoga is the practice of strengthening and lengthening your muscles. Holding poses and easily moving from one movement to the next will help provide much-needed oxygen to your blood and muscles. Yoga creates long lean muscles and can boost the metabolism.
  • Take cues from wildlife – Many of us have animals, dogs, and cats that bring joy to our lives. Besides running and lounging, they do a lot of stretching. Try to mimic your animal for a day. If they stretch, try the stretch they’re doing. You’ll notice that you’ll start to feel more awake and refreshed throughout the day.
  • Join a social activity – People who build their social network by participating in shared activities tend to live longer and don’t we all want longevity in life? Find something that interests you. Believe it or not, getting out of the house to attend a group meeting or function will dictate that you walk somewhere and walking is exercise.
  • Everything is easier with a partner – Accountability is key to exercising. Having someone you’re accountable to will allow you to keep exercising, especially if that person is relying on you to be their exercise partner. Knowing you have someone to commiserate and rejoice with can inspire you to move more.
  • Dance like no one is watching – So you’re not someone who exercises and you’re not into stretching or yoga, that’s ok. Create a playlist of your favorite songs. Fill it with songs that there is no possible way you can sit in your seat for while you listen and dance! It only takes 1-2 good songs a day and you’re on your way to moving and providing oxygen to your muscles.

Whatever you choose just move.

No matter what you do, it’s important to move, not only for your structure and health but for your mental health as well. Doing any of the activities above will help you to forget about your stresses for a bit and that will give you the freedom to want to move more.

What are some ways that you move? Share in the comments below.

For questions on what stretches you can do at home, talk to your Chiropractor and contact Dr. B at [email protected].

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