Active Family Chiropractic

Empowering Your Health

Contact us at (518) 452-2800

How do I tell others about CBP chiropractic when they come from a medical background?

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That is a little bit difficult because most people that either have a doctor in the family or are in the healthcare field, they have very strong opinions on healthcare and on what’s right and what’s not right. Just like anyone with strong opinions it might be very difficult for them to see your opinion or to consider something different.

If you have someone in your family who you would like to have some chiropractic care done and they don’t have any support at home, is to call Active Family Chiropractic. When they call the office they can ask questions and Dr. B will go over what happens at the office and the benefits of chiropractic care and put any fears they might have at bay.

Chiropractic care is safe and effective and it helps thousands of people every day. It is non-surgical and non-medication. So for people who have strong religious beliefs or want more of a holistic approach, it’s worth looking into seeing a chiropractic practitioner.

If you have strong opposition at home to chiropractic care, call the office. or do the research and be your own health advocate. It’s important to not just follow what someone says blindly. Ask questions and make the best decision for yourself and those you care for.

For more information ask Dr. B at [email protected]

How to manage stress during the holidays.

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The best way to manage your stress during the holidays is to make sure you’re meeting all of the fundamental needs of your body. First, you need to make sure that you get a CBP adjustment before you travel and when you get back. That way the adjustment will help to take away a lot of the stressors which come from sitting in airplanes, cars, and trains and just sitting in general.

The second step is to make sure that you are drinking ample amounts of water. A lot of people don’t drink enough water during the holidays. They tend to drink other things like alcohol, hot chocolate, and things that are dehydrating, so you want to make sure that your water levels are high.

Then you want to make sure that you’re managing your stress with some form of exercise. Whether it be yoga, running, or meditation, anything that is mental or physical exercise will be great for managing stress. Stretching when you get to your location and if you’re sitting a lot around the dinner table get up periodically. Move around, don’t get caught sitting on a couch for 5 hours.

You also want to make sure that you are eating as well as you can be. Even though the holidays tend to be very focused on sugar which is very bad for your body. You just want to be really careful about your sugar intake and making poor food choices and minimize those choices.

You can also take some extra vitamin C to support your body and some extra vitamin B complex is very good for anti-stress. B Complex is an anti-stress vitamin. B complex is really good for people who are under stress on a regular basis. Nowadays a lot of companies make something called adrenal support. This contains a lot of Bs, vitamin C and a lot of herbs that are helpful to support the adrenal glands because it is the adrenal glands that get overworked. Most Americans have overworked adrenal glands because of the stress levels we are under on a regular basis. Taking a supplement like that would be helpful to your body through times of stress.

Another thing you can do is to try to get quality sleep, whenever you can because that is when your body heals when you are sleeping. Lack of sleep can lower your body’s ability to handle stress.

There are other things that you can use to help with stress management, topical things. Lavender oil is very helpful for relaxing the body. Some people like melatonin to help with sleeping in a different place. There are a lot of teas out there that are helpful to relax the body, like chamomile.

Lastly, if you can detach from your electronics at least a half an hour before bed and do something that isn’t stimulating your brain as much like reading, praying, or meditating, doing something that would relax your body will make it easier to fall asleep.

So don’t stress out this holiday season and use this guide to help battle holiday stress. Make sure that you’re keeping up with your CBP adjustments and try to sneak an additional one in.

For more information ask Dr. B at [email protected].

Snow Shoveling Erognomics

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When you live in the Northeast, you inevitably have to shovel snow. Armed with your trusty shovel, you are in for at least 10-40 minutes of exercise if you have plans to go anywhere.  Now, this can be back-breaking work if not done correctly and many people do not shovel correctly. Here are some tips to save your back!

1. Find the right snow shovel.

Yes, any shovel will do to remove snow but if you want to save yourself some back pain, pick a shovel with a curved handle or an adjustable length handle. You want to find something that will eliminate that hunched, bent-over position. Finding a shovel that will help you to remain as vertical as possible is the first step.

Look for a snow shovel that looks like this:

 Suncast 18″ Snow Shovel/Pusher Combo with Ergonomic Handle. $35 on Amazon

2. Warm Up before you work out!

You’ve heard this time and time again. You need to warm up your muscles (including your heart, which is a muscle) in order to not strain yourself. The same is true for any outdoor activity and snow shoveling falls into that category. Make sure that you warm up your lower back, legs and limbs before you pick up that shovel. Gentle arm and leg swings followed by marching in place for a few minutes is all it takes. A quick warm-up can be the difference between pulling out your back and getting a good work out. It can also prevent heart attack or stroke.

3. Use Proper Lifting techniques

I’m sure everyone has heard that saying, “Lift with your legs, not your back!” and the same is true here. You want to ensure that your core is tight and engaged before you lift anything. There’s a trick to this if you don’t know what your body is supposed to feel like when your core is engaged.

  1. Stand up straight.  While you’re standing, pull your shoulder blades back, trying to get them to touch behind you at the same time squeeze your butt. This is how your upper body should remain while you’re shoveling.
  2. When you bend over to pick up snow make sure that you bend your knees and hinge at your hips. Think of yourself with your arms full of groceries and you have to shut your car door. If you bend over you might spill all of the groceries onto the floor. In order to keep your groceries and shut the car, you would bump the car door with knees bent. Try to use the same principles when shoveling.

You’ll notice in the photo below that the person is making a straight line with her back while bending over. This is how you can protect your back while lifting. In the second illustration, you can see how to properly shovel.

4. Don’t overdo it

Shoveling is a chore. It’s something that has to be done and not something we particularly look forward to doing. Make sure that when you’re shoveling that you are pacing yourself. Depending on how much you have to shovel, take periodic breaks. Also, remember to drink plenty of water. You may not think that you need it but you do. Also be sure to stretch your entire body after shoveling to prevent muscle soreness.

For more information about stretching or shoveling ergonomics, talk to Dr. B at Active Family Chiropractic.  https://af-chiropractic.com/

Repost from December 13, 2017.

Can CBP adjustments help us conceive?

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What we do know about the body is that all of the body functions need to work optimally. Your body is really good at keeping itself functioning in a state of what we call homeostasis. This is when your body is working in sync with your body parts.

Sometimes when subluxations occur it does disrupt the homeostasis by preventing the messages or the energy from the brain down the spinal cord to the body part. The subluxation can block the nerve flow, the energy flow to certain levels in the nervous system. If those nerves happen to go to the reproductive organs it could lend to problems with infertility.

At Active Family Chiropractic we have seen people who were unable to conceive naturally before they begun to get their spines corrected with Chiropractic Biophysics. Once they began to get adjusted regularly they were able to conceive naturally.

It’s not 100% possible for all people conceive naturally because there are some structural malformations that people have which prevent fertilization from happening. In those cases, Chiropractic adjustments would not be able to help because of the structural problem. However, if it’s a nerve flow problem that can be corrected with adjustments and AFC has seen it a lot.

For more information ask Dr. B at [email protected]

 

Is it flu season or sugar season.

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A lot of people are hearing on the radio and on television that this is flu season. The flu is around all year long, it isn’t just here during one season. The thing is that the other months of the year people make better health choices. That means that they are making wiser choices on what they eat and they tend to exercise more. They also get a lot more natural sunlight which gives them natural Vitamin D and they tend to drink more water because they are hot.

When the weather starts to get colder, people start to change their habits. They don’t exercise as much, their water consumption goes down, they aren’t seeing as much sunshine and they start to fall off of good habits like eating healthy. People start to eat more comfort foods which are laden with refined sugars, such as Pumpkin Spice lattes, hot chocolate, cakes, and cookies.

When you look at the holidays, the major holidays start in October, during Halloween. Every holiday after that encourages some sort of sugar eating. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Easter are all major sugar holidays. During these holidays there is a lot of encouragement to eat a lot of pies, cakes, and sugar.

The problem with sugar is that it destroys your immune system functions. It actually suppresses your immune system for 6 hours after eating it. When your immune system is suppressed, it is not working at optimum levels, your immune system is distracted from other things, other jobs it normally has like identifying the flu virus and getting rid of it before it becomes a problem for you physically.

This is what happens in the summer. When you are eating less sugar and are making better health choices your immune system has the opportunity to fight off the flu virus and remove it from your body.

The flu is around all year long, so why the press for the flu vaccine now, during this time of the year? It is because people are making bad health choices. The medical community knows that people are going to be over-consuming sugar in all forms and they are trying to stop an epidemic of the flu.

Should I get the flu shot?

It is a totally personal preference. If you are taking care of your body, making sure you’re eating right, taking vitamin D, drinking enough water and getting adjusted regularly, you should have no need for the flu shot. If you choose to not take care of your body, don’t get regular adjustments, and over-indulge then you might want to consider it.

The biggest take away is that you need to make your health a priority in order to stay healthy. During this holiday season if you know that you’re going to be eating sweets, pies, and cakes, moderate your intake a taste of each dessert will do. You don’t have to consume the whole pie!

Make sure that if you’re going to eat sweets you are drinking more water, getting more sleep and try to get some exercise in. Also, try to schedule an adjustment with your CBP doctor and get your spine right for the holidays.

For more information ask Dr. B at [email protected]

Do Chiropractic adjustments cause strokes?

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As a Chiropractor, Dr. B gets asked this question all the time. Adjustments do not cause strokes. Let’s start there.

There have been a few instances where there have been pre-existing conditions, meaning that the patient had problems with the arteries in their neck, that were undiagnosed problems. The patient then had a negative response to the adjustment, whether it had been a stroke or something of that nature. The problem is that their arteries already had the issue and it created something of a ticking time bomb.

People have strokes every day. The only time it’s ever linked with Chiropractic adjustments is right after a Chiropractic adjustment. This happens when the arteries in the person’s neck are already compromised. This happens by the virtue of the person’s choices such as what they eat. If you are eating really bad foods that clog your arteries it will lead to blockages which can cause strokes.

People have strokes in this country all the time. It’s the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States. However, it is only brought to the media’s attention when it is in consort with a Chiropractic adjustment. It is very rare when it does happen.

Chiropractic care is not dangerous, it is extremely safe. Active Family Chiropractic goes an extra step to ensure that there is no way that they could create a problem with someone like, inducing a stroke, by performing a very thorough exam to test for the compromise of those arteries. They also take x-rays which can show if a ligament is calcified and putting pressure on the arteries. They make sure to take care and note if there are any pre-existing issues within the patient before any adjustments are done.

Chiropractics adjustments are done every day all over the world and there are so many people who benefit from Chiropractic care. Don’t be afraid to get an adjustment it’s one of the safest and best things you can do for your body. So call your local CBP Chiropractor and make an appointment today!

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

Why might I have increased pain after an adjustment?

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Have you ever wondered why sometimes when you get an adjustment you might have increased pain? Sometimes people will have increased pain after an adjustment and one of the main reasons for this is dehydration.

A lot of people do not drink enough water and then they get an adjustment and their muscle responds to the adjustment, so they end up having a muscle spasm or some kind of muscular reaction. This can sometimes stay with a person for a while, presenting as a muscle ache or pain.

Another reason might be that other Chiropractors may put too much force into the adjustment. They may try to muscle through an adjustment because their technique isn’t as good and that can cause strained muscles.

Another factor might be tight muscles. At Active Family Chiropractic, patients are encouraged to stretch and warm up before getting an adjustment in order to loosen tight muscles. That way they don’t have muscular reactions to an adjustment.

However, pain after an adjustment is usually a cause of dehydration or a tight muscle. So drink a lot of water to stay hydrated and make sure to stretch before your adjustments.

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

What is the difference between Correction and Pain Management in regards to Chiropractic Care?

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No two Chiropractors are made the same. Much like there are specializations in other branches of the medical field so too are there in Chiropractic medicine. Chiropractic Biophysics focuses care on correction while the vast majority of Chiropractors focus on patch care or pain management.

So what is the difference between correcting and pain management?

Correction is fixing the problem that’s there. Pain management or pain relief is only addressing the problem until the pain goes away but still leaving the problem there to wreak havoc another day. Another way you can think about this is short-term, (Patch care chiropractic) versus long-term (CBP Chiropractic).

Short-term would be relief care, where you would leave with no pain, so you think you’re ok and you stop doing good things for yourself like Chiropractic care. Versus continuing to do good things for yourself like continued Chiropractic care and addressing the real issue which will give you a better quality of life in the long run.

For example, you wouldn’t exercise to lose 5 lbs, and once you’ve lost the 5 lbs you’re done exercising. You probably wouldn’t because you know it’s good for your body. The same thing with Chiropractic care, most people only use it when they have a b0dy signal that tells them something is wrong. However, they should use it even when you don’t have your body signaling you to do so. You don’t always feel problems until your body has had enough.

How do I prevent issues in my body from happening?

Make an appointment with your CBP Chiropractor. They will help you to determine what you need to heal your body from the inside out.

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

 

Back to School: Backpack Safety

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It’s that time of year again when kids, teen, and adults are going back to school and that means book bags! So what is the right way to carry your books?

Safety First

Backpack safety is very important, especially as children are growing. They are carrying heavy textbooks to and from class and they should only be carrying 15% of the child’s total weight on their back. So if they have more than that you really have to look at re-evaluating that weight by taking things out or considering an alternative way to cart their books around, such as a rolling backpack.

The Correct way to wear a backpack

How you hold your backpack is important as well. You must make sure to carry the backpack with both straps on and close to the body, not hanging down. The backpack also shouldn’t be bigger than the child or adult wearing it. In addition, if you can find a backpack that has a hip belt attached to it, this can help redistribute the weight from your back and shoulders to your hips. This can make the pack feel lighter.

If you have a backpack and typically wear it by only one strap this can cause structural problems over time. Because you are adding additional weight to one side of your body the other side of your body will try to counter the weight creating an imbalance.

What about Messenger bags or Totes?

You want to make sure that for these types of bags you are equally wearing the weight. If you have been carrying your messenger bag over your right shoulder for the past hour switch to the left for the next hour. Create balance so that your body can function at optimum levels.

How do I know if I’m wearing my back the right way?

If you have questions about the proper way to wear your bag come into Active Family Chiropractic. For the month of September AFC will be conducting complementary ergonomic evaluations. This isn’t only for how to wear your backpack but they can be applied to how your workstation is set up or how you sit and type. Really anything that could use an ergonomic overhaul. AFC will give you an ergonomic evaluation and give you easy suggestions to help support your body.

So call and make an appointment at 518-452-2800 or send us an email at [email protected]

 

Can you correct scoliosis?

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Have you ever noticed that one of your legs might be longer than the other? Or maybe you cannot sleep on your stomach because one of your hips jams uncomfortably into the bed? You may have some degree of scoliosis and it may be correctable.

What is scoliosis?

Scoliosis is a three-part movement of the spine, rotation, flexion, and translation of the components of the spine. In order to fix it, you need to counter all three movements, which is why traditional Chiropractic care cannot help you. There are two reasons why they cannot help you, 1) they typically do not take x-rays so they cannot see what is happening with your spine, and 2) if they do they do not have the knowledge or the training to apply the forces of the technique as well as an in-office traction.

How can scoliosis be corrected?

Only with structural corrective adjustments and in-office traction, which is the Chiropractic Biophysics (CBP) technique. Any other attempt to correct it through the traditional Chiropractic care will not because you need to address the ligamentous and muscular components as well as the structural components of the spine. That is why CBP is so effective at reducing scoliosis because it addresses both of those things.

Some scoliosis is too far beyond correction, for example, the angle could be too severe, that it will actually compromise people’s body parts, their organs, at that point a Chiropractor will have to refer out in order to stop that progression. However, if you can catch it early enough you can certainly identify what is happening, apply the appropriate solution, and reduce the shifting.

How do I know if my scoliosis is beyond correction?

Your spine will be contorted to a degree where it is interfering with your organs. If this is the case seeing a Chiropractor for a check-up should be your first step. Once the problem is identified then a course of action will be recommended. If the scoliosis is extreme enough surgery might be recommended or wearing a scoli brace.

What is a scoli brace?

A scoli brace is mostly designed for youth, people who are still growing because as they grow, they can grow straighter with the help of the brace. The other is post-menopausal women because scoliosis tends to progress at a rapid rate in this group. However, if the scoliosis is too bad then a surgical consult will be recommended.

How do I find out if my scoliosis is correctable?

You would have to get a check-up with a CBP Chiropractor. The check-up will entail an exam, x-rays and a consultation. CBP Chiropractors use x-rays to be able to see what angle the scoliosis is and how severe it is. At that point, they would then be able to determine whether it was extreme enough to refer out or something that could be handled in office. The x-rays and exam also give the Chiropractor the information on how to correct the spine.

To see if your spine is in good working order make an appointment with a CBP Chiropractor and get on the road to healthy.

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

 

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