Active Family Chiropractic

Empowering Your Health

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Spring cleaning and yard work safety

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With spring here it’s important to keep some very important rules in mind when you embark on your spring cleaning and yard work. These are things that can save you from a lot of pain later on.

Warm up!

One of the most important things is to warm the body up before you do any kind of yard work or spring cleaning. This includes arm swings, leg swings, some air squats, just whatever you can do to get your body moving. Even taking a fast walk around your yard to get your blood pumping through your body. It’s very important to avoid straining your body.

Drink Water & Take Breaks

It’s very important that while you’re cleaning make sure to drink plenty of water and make sure that you’re taking breaks. Also, if you are doing a one-sided activity, such as raking, you want to switch sides so that both sides get the same amount of work on the body.

Cool Down!

Finally, when you’re done with the activity a lot of people make the wrong choice. They sit down with a beverage or they reward themselves with some kind of treat such as ice cream. However, it’s most important that after you do a physical activity to reward your body in a positive way. Some of the ways you can reward yourself positively is by stretching and some kind of rebuilding for the muscle tissue such as eating a steak or getting some kind of protein into your system. Also, make sure that you drink plenty of water to replace what you lost.

Follow the steps

Following the steps will allow you to do more and to recover quickly so that you can spend your spare time doing things you love without pain or soreness. As always the way to keep you in optimal health is to get regular adjustments by your CBP doctor. So make an appointment today!

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

 

Allergies. How a CBP Chiropractor can help.

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Allergies are a very common problem for a lot of people and they are often misunderstood. Allergies are your body’s natural reaction to overstimulation of a substance in the body. It’s your body’s way of trying to manage the overstimulation to whatever that allergen may be.

It’s misunderstood because many people think they can’t do anything about their allergies, that they are stuck with them. That is not true. The best thing to do for allergy management is to identify what’s causing the allergen and then once you know what the allergen is you can apply the right solution.

Most of the time it’s just diet modification or even now the newest studies in allergens are showing small doses of exposure to the allergen can allow your body to accommodate to it and overcome your allergy. A lot of allergies start because of lower immune system function in the body which can come from a number of things.

If they are adult on-set allergies it is usually because the immune system is compromised in some way. Your body is just more susceptible to overreacting to your immune system not being able to handle what it normally would.  Childhood allergies are often linked with cervical spine trauma, which is the neck at the time of birth. For example, babies that are c-sectioned are more likely to have allergies or asthma because of the pressure on the spinal cord.

One of the best things you can do to combat allergies is to get a CBP spinal check-up. When your spine is not working right your body is malfunctioning and might be one of the reasons you have allergies. So get a spinal check-up and set up and appointment to rid yourself of allergies.

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

Can CBP adjustments help a hunchback?

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The only time that a CBP chiropractor cannot help someone with a hunchback is when it’s too far gone. Often times you will see somebody who has severe degeneration in their spine from lack of care over time. You may notice it more in seniors.

The reason isn’t because of their age that a hunchback might develop, it is because they might have had a problem in their spine at a young age and it wasn’t addressed. As gravity pulls you and time passes it becomes more of a hunch.

Often times you can reverse any spinal structure as long as the spine hasn’t fused. Your spine can naturally fuse and will naturally fuse to help support your body if you’re not doing anything to help maintain it. That’s what arthritis is.

There are times when people have something called a hyperkyphosis, which is an extreme rounding of the spine. This is like when you think of Quasimodo. That is usually a serious form of scoliosis in the thoracic spine.

There are some conditions when a person is predisposed to having loss of disc height and loss of bone height in the front and your body will start to collapse forward on itself. In those instances, surgical intervention is needed quickly because there is nothing you can do otherwise.

It really does depend on what the problem is and a CBP doctor would not be able to help unless you have a check-up. So the first thing to do is to get your spine checked by a CBP practitioner to determine what is going on. Make an appointment today.

 

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

Is an inversion table good for your spine?

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The idea behind it is to temporarily remove pressure from your disks. This is also what decompression does. It temporarily provides people with pain relief. At some point, it turned into a cure-all for any back pain you might have, however, that is not true.

The reason people have issues with the disks traditionally comes from poor spinal structure. Unless they have had a major accident or something that has changed the shape of their spine. While an inversion table will help for temporary relief of symptoms, it certainly doesn’t fix anything structurally.

An inversion table isn’t necessarily bad for you but it doesn’t solve the problem or the root cause of your pain. An inversion table can become bad if you overuse it.

What happens with inversion or any other type of decompression, is that it stretches your spine and takes the natural cure out of your spine. Muscle change happens at 10 minutes and that’s when we see spine structure change. So when you take a natural curve out of your back and flatten it, that isn’t good. For people who already have a lack of curve in their back, the results are even worse.

If you do decide to use an inversion table only use it for no more than 7-10 minutes a day. Anything more than that may result in a change to your spine. If you do decide to purchase an inversion table make sure it is one that has lumbar support. Look for something that will help maintain the curve in your back.

One of the best times to use an inversion table is after a workout. It can help relieve compression in your spine after a heavy lifting day. However, only use it for a few minutes and no more than 10 minutes. You shouldn’t use an inversion table to manage your pain, that’s an indicator that something more serious is going on.

Also, one thing to note is that an inversion table does not help to align your spine. Only CBP adjustments can do that. It’s the only real way to keep your spine healthy.

So, instead of using an inversion table get your spine checked by a CBP Chiropractor. It is important to get a check-up and find out the reason why your body is bothering you in the first place.

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

Can a CBP Chiropractor help with arthritis/spinal stenosis?

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A CBP Chiropractor can help people with arthritis and/or spinal stenosis. It does depend on how severe the arthritis or spinal stenosis is. If there is natural fusion there isn’t a lot a CBP Chiropractor can do with those segments. Traditionally a person’s whole spine isn’t fused, so most people can be helped.

Arthritis, traditional osteoarthritis, the wear and tear type of arthritis, comes from bad structure over many years or it can come from a trauma you’ve had, such as a car accident or a slip and fall. Those things can start to change the structure of the spine. Then when that happens your body produces new bone to help stabilize the bad structure and that’s what arthritic change is. Unfortunately, the bones that grow are sharp and pointy and they start to become compressed.

Spinal Stenosis is when there is pressure from that arthritis around the spinal cord itself. So you’re starting to have major malfunction in the body because of direct pressure on the spinal cord. Whereas a lot of times arthritis will just affect the spinal nerve. One of the branches coming off of the spinal cord will become compressed. However, with something like stenosis it actually compresses the spinal cord. So whatever neural pathways which are being controlled by that are being affected.

For example, if someone has spinal stenosis in the lumbar spine a lot of times they lose bowel and bladder function, they have trouble with reproductive organs, or they start losing function in their legs because of the pressure on the spinal cord. All of these are global problems in the body versus specific problems which can stem from arthritis. Stenosis is certainly more severe than traditional arthritis and CBP chiropractic can help.

CBP Chiropractors can help by fixing the structure through adjustments. You must get a check-up first to determine how much can be done. With the right plan in place, you can start to fix your structure and get pain relief through CBP chiropractic care. So, make an appointment today.

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

 

Why is Chiropractic care considered natural?

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Chiropractic care is considered healthy primarily because there are no unnatural things being forced into the body to get the body to change, such as medicine. It is considered natural because chiropractic does not use drugs or surgery to try to change the body.

The body is changed through adjustments to help the body function at a better rate so that you don’t have to rely on medication. That’s why it’s considered natural. Chiropractors don’t encourage medicine or surgery, unless absolutely necessary.

There are a lot of ways that you can heal your body by just getting your spine aligned. Your body has the power to heal itself and with correct spinal alignment, your nervous system can operate at a higher capacity.

So, get a spinal check-up today with a CBP chiropractor and get yourself on the path to a medicine and surgery free life. For more information contact Dr. B at [email protected]

Can Yoga re-align the spine?

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The short answer is no.

We hear it often when we take yoga classes and instructional videos. However, your spine cannot be re-aligned by yoga.

If you look at how your body functions. The structure of your spine dictates the function of your muscles. Therefore, if you have a spinal situation such as scoliosis, which is a three-part movement of your spine, a rotation, a shift, and a bending of your spine to the side, there is absolutely nothing you can do in yoga that will take and shift those movements in the other direction.

CBP, Chiropractic Biophysics, adjustments are specifically designed to reduce scoliosis and are the only types of adjustments which can help in the re-alignment of your spine. Anyone with bad spinal structure will not be able to get that segment to go back to the normal alignment by doing yoga.

Yoga is for the muscles and ligaments, it’s not for the spine. Yoga is good for you because it helps you to stay limber and stretch your muscles but it does not re-align your spine. It is not a substitution for spinal adjustments.

So you should still get your spine checked by a CBP chiropractor so that you can have a healthy spine and do yoga as a supplement.

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

Kids need Chiropractors too!

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It’s simple, children need to be adjusted because they have spines as we all do. Children need to see a chiropractor maybe more so than adults because of their activity levels.

As a child grows they are learning how to walk, how to ride bikes, how to play sports and with all that comes falling, tripping, and stumbling. All of these things create trauma in the body, which creates misalignments and shifts creating a strain on the nervous system.

A child receives their first subluxation at birth. When the child is born either naturally or via c-section, the first subluxation occurs in the neck when the child is extracted from the mother. We know that upper cervical subluxation can be a cause for sudden infant death syndrome, so it is very important that every child has a spine check-up and adjustments.

As a child grows they are subject to the harsh realities of life. They may fall down a couple stairs or fall off the changing table. They may be tackled by a friend or tumble out of their crib when they’re starting to walk. Any time a trauma happens there’s spinal misalignments. Those have to be minimized in order for the child to be healthy.

Chiropractic care isn’t about how you feel. It’s about how you function. If you fall or have any kind of trauma your function is going to be affected, no matter how old you are. So get your child a spinal check-up today. Their immune system with get a boost and they’ll grow up big and strong.

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

Why it’s important to stay hydrated in the winter.

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Believe it or not, you can become dehydrated during the winter so it’s important to stay hydrated. Your body is almost 80% water. This means that every body function that you have requires hydration.

Whether it be digestion, excretion, circulation, any of the body systems that you can think of like your immune system and vascular systems all require water in perfect balance with electrolytes for your body to function, even your brain. Your spinal column has fluid in it as well, so everywhere in your body, there is fluid.

If you are sitting around in the winter and not exercising, you may think that you don’t need to drink water but you are wrong, because every body process requires water to function. Even when you breathe you are respirating. When you breathe out you are breathing out water droplets, it’s one of the by-products of respiration.

It’s important to drink water in the winter. Many forget to drink water in the winter because you may not sweat or you are less active. Instead, you may find yourself drinking more hot beverages like coffee, hot chocolate, or tea. These all contain caffeine which dehydrates so not only are people not drinking enough water because they are not sweating but they are increasing their dehydration by consuming more caffeine.

Many people will feel very lethargic and worn out in the winter. This may cause you to think it’s because of the lack of sun but it’s really because you’re dehydrated. You also may not realize it but heat is dehydrating so the fact that you’re spending more time indoors in a warm environment will dehydrate you in the winter as well. If your skin is dry on the outside your body is dry on the inside. Dry skin is a good indicator of dehydration.

During the winter it’s important to still have to consume at least half your body weight in ounces per day in order to keep your body functioning and not become dehydrated. If you find yourself drinking more hot beverages containing caffeine you need to drink the same amount of water to replace the water lost. Also, if you find yourself tired in the middle of the day, take it as a sign that you’re dehydrated and drink some water.

So this winter make it a point to drink water, even if you think you don’t need it, more than likely you do!

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

Tips for a healthier New Year.

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Happy New Year everyone! Let’s start the new year off right by establishing good habits. Here are some tips for a healthier new year.

Meet the four fundamental needs of your body.

#1. Your nervous system.

Without your brain telling your body what to do through your spinal cord, your body doesn’t function. If you’re not taking care of your spine through regular CBP (Chiropractic Biophysics) adjustments. Your spine cannot work at 100% or at it’s highest potential. As a result that can give you lower health, give you more physical problems, more pain, more limitations, and, less energy.

Many people think that to be healthy you need to just eat well and exercise but it’s more than that. However, it’s so much more than that and the first step is to get regular adjustments by a CBP chiropractor.

#2. Oxygen in your cells.

The best way to keep your cells oxygenated is through exercise and movement. That doesn’t mean you have to run marathons or do aggressive workouts. You are able to do this by walking, swimming, stretching, or just moving. That is how old cells in your body get replaced with new cells. That is also how you stay young and disease free. It is through the oxygenation of the body. The best way to oxygenate your body is through movement, aka exercise.

#3. Water intake.

To be healthier this year one of the best things you can do is to increase your water intake, slowly. If you increase your water intake too fast you will, more than likely urinate it out and it won’t be absorbed. The best thing to do is to sip it throughout the day. The goal for each person should be to intake half your body weight in ounces. That is your minimum hydration levels, needed to maintain good function in your body. Anything above that would be great! Anything below that means you are dehydrated.

Dehydration will help to slow down all of your body functions, which ultimately will affect your health. So, in order to be healthier, you have to get more water into your body. Make sure that if you are consuming beverages with caffeine you want to consume the same amount of water in addition to your daily minimum.

#4. Nutrition and eating the right foods.

This is different for everyone. Some people need to eat raw foods only and some people cannot eat raw foods because of their digestion. Some people can eat gluten and some people can’t, etc. Nutrition is not a single answer. Every person has to figure out what is going to work best for their bodies.

Your body will tell you whether or not it likes what you are putting into it. If you feel energized after you eat, if you feel healthier, if you feel good then you know you’re eating the right foods. If you are feeling gassy, or have heartburn, or any of those other signs of incomplete digestion then you’ll know that you are not eating foods that are good for your body. It’s a good idea to consult a registered dietitian in order to get a specific diet plan together.

Use these as a guideline

That’s the best way to be healthier in the new year. Working on these four fundamental needs listed above will help to give you a good foundation for building a healthier you for the new year. So make a plan to see a CBP chiropractor, drink more water, eat better for your body and move more!

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

 

 

 

 

About Us: Learn about Chiropractic Biophysics (CBP) through the stories of a CrossFit athlete, a passionate artist, and parents of twin babies

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