Posted by chiropam on Feb 28, 2010 in Chiropractic
I was speaking with a group of people over the weekend, and I’ve come to realise that there are people who still share a few untruths about chiropractic. Let me share these 2 myths primarily, and shed some light on these topics:
Myth #1:
“Chiropractic care is only for back pain.”
This is just not so. Chiropractic care can benefit a wide variety of health problems that stem from the spine and nervous system. Old injuries, everyday wear and tear, stress (emotional, physical, mental) or repetitive daily activities can contribute to the spinal bones (vertebrae) losing their proper position and/or motion. This dysfunction of spinal joints may cause pain and nerve interference in one or more areas of the body. Any type of dysfunction of these spinal joints can be a source of irritation to the nervous system.
Myth #2:
“Chiropractic care is either rough, painful, dangerous, or all three!”
I would like to share with you that there are alternatives to what would be considered mainstream manual chiropractic techniques. There are several other low-force, gentle, safe techniques that would be an alternative, yet with health benefits.
One of the main techniques on instrument adjusting is the Activator Method Chiropractic Technique (AMCT). The Activator Method uses an activator instrument. An activator instrument is a hand-held instrument designed to give the patient a very specific, low-force adjustment. The activator instrument delivers a controlled, light and fast thrust without causing undue strain to patients. The activator adjustments are so quick and controlled, that the body’s muscles are less likely to resist, allowing for a more precise and exact adjustment. It’s so gentle and it is actually relaxing.
Activator Instrument
Another technique involves an instrument called the Impulse Instrument. This is an electric powered instrument that offers specific, low-force adjustment to the affected area. This instrument offers all of the benefits associated with the Activator instrument.
Impulse Instrument
Perhaps there is an ankle or wrist, hip or shoulder, or hand or foot that may need an adjustment. There are bones and joints in these areas as well that can benefit from an adjustment by a chiropractor. This may not be well known either as chiropractors can be streamlined as “back doctors” only.
Conditions that have been helped through chiropractic care include, but not limited to:
I hope this sheds some light on the 2 very common myths associated with chiropractic. Have you had an experience with ‘instrument adjusting’? Activator or Impulse? Are you aware of the health benefits that can be obtained through chiropractic care? Comments welcome…
T’was a Superfood Christmas, and all through the house,
The decorations complete, even tea towels with Mickey Mouse.
Some snacks before dinner, cinnamon coated walnuts with care.
Saving the dark chocolate for dessert, with almonds to spare.
There was spinach and roasted pumpkin salad,
Garlic & Lemon dressing made it more superfood valid.
Took the bottle of red wine out of the gift wrap,
Steamed the broccoli, peas and beans - no time for a nap.
Tarts with cranberries and cherries adorned the Christmas platter,
Saving the blueberries for the morning, for pancake batter.
That was my version of the traditional Christmas poem that I’m sure you’ve heard more than a few times before. Just because it was Christmas, it was not a reason to overindulge. The superfoods were in abundance in our home.
Superfoods contribute to a healthy body and mind. Our Christmas Eve menu consisted of almonds and walnuts as snacks. The sparkling shiraz was the start of the red wine health benefits, and red wine to accompany the meal.
A mixture of different berries: blueberries, cherries and cranberries gave us many health benefits. Broccoli, spinach and pumpkin were packed with superfood benefits and of course, a bit of dark chocolate and sweet potato pie for dessert.
Christmas morning started with an early swim at the beach, to get our exercise to start the day. Then we came back and had pancakes for breakfast. The pancake batter was wheat-free and dairy-free with blueberry superfood benefits.
Wishing you a very healthy start to the new year - all the best to you and yours for a fabulous 2010!
Posted by chiropam on Oct 22, 2009 in Chiropractic
The sciatic nerves are the largest and longest nerves of the body, about the size of your thumb in diameter. Each of the two sciatic nerves is formed by four or five nerves branching off the spinal cord and running down the back of each leg. Sciatica is a severe pain in the leg caused from compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve.
What Causes Sciatica?
Pain is caused when the sciatic nerve roots are irritated, scraped, twisted, stretched or pinched as they exit the spine. Causes of this may be chemical, physical or the emotional stress of everyday living. A full-blown sciatic flare-up can involve the entire sciatic nerve path resulting in symptoms of lower back pain, burning, cramping or numbness that radiates into the thighs, legs, ankles, feet and toes. Pain may also be limited to various points along the nerve such as the buttocks, knee and calf.
One of the major causes of sciatica is the Vertebral Subluxation Complex. This can be associated with or without disc problems. It can be accompanied by the bulging or herniation of the discs which separate each spinal bone. This can irritate or put pressure on the sciatic nerve roots as they leave the spinal cord. The result can be an intense pain shooting down either or both legs. Other possible causes are pregnancy and childbirth, tumours, and non-spinal disorders such as diabetes, constipation, or sitting on one’s back pocket wallet.
Can Chiropractic Help?
Sciatica (like other health problems that can be traced to the spine) often responds dramatically to the restoration of normal spinal function through chiropractic care.
The chiropractic approach is to use carefully directed and controlled “adjustments” to remove the interference from spinal and associated structures. These chiropractic adjustments can be very effective in reducing nerve irritation and pain that is associated with it.
Sometimes the cause of sciatica is beyond the scope of chiropractic care. If this is the case, your chiropractor will refer you to the appropriate specialist.
Posted by chiropam on Oct 14, 2009 in Chiropractic
Disc Overview
The bones of the spine are separated by tough cartilage pads called discs. Healthy discs are flexible and thick (like a wet sponge) allowing bending and twisting motions. Unhealthy discs are stiff and hard (like a dry sponge) and prone to injuries such as bulging or herniation. Firstly, they act as the spine’s shock absorbers. Secondly, they allow the spine to move in many different directions. Individually, the discs offer very little movement, but in teamwork with the spinal bones, they give the spine just enough flexibility for various ranges of motion.
What are discs made of?
Discs are mainly made up of water, collagen and proteoglycans - a protein found in human connective tissues which helps to attract water and keep the discs hydrated. The inner gel-like material (nucleus pulposus) contains more water than the outer coat (annulus fibrosus).
This water content is very important because it keeps the discs plump and healthy, which enables them to function more effectively.
How do discs stay healthy?
Unlike other structures in the human body, spinal discs do not have a direct blood supply. Instead they get their nutrients and moisture from a kind of pumping action as the spinal bones above and below move in all directions.
This is really important to understand because it is central to why most disc problems develop, as well as providing the key to reversing disc problems after they have emerged.
Without this regular pumping action, spinal discs are unable to get the mosture and nutrients they need for optimum health.
Why do discs become unhealthy?
Over long periods of time, due to gravity, dysfunction in the spinal joints and accumulated trauma, the discs become starved of adequate water and nutrients and begin to become dehydrated and malnourished.
This process can lead to the discs losing their plumpness, causing them to become flattened in appearance and less elastic - and so affecting their ability to function properly.
This is what is known as ‘Degenerative Disc Disease.’
Also, the outer layer of dehydrated discs can become prone to thinning and cracking. This weakening of the outer layer may result in the inner gel pushing out, causing the outer layer to bulge.
Constant and continual compression prevents much-needed oxygen and nutrients from entering the disc. This ongoing starvation causes the once-tough outer layers of the disc to deteriorate (wear & tear) allowing the disc to become injured or diseased.
Disc damage can occur anywhere in the spine. However, the discs of the neck (cervical spine) and low back (lumbar spine) are the most commonly injured.
Because of the way each disc is attached to the spinal bones (vertebrae) above and below, a disc cannot “slip” as commonly thought. However, trauma or injury to the spine can cause discs to tear, bulge, herniate, dessicate or rupture. This can be quite painful, putting pressure on the nerve roots and/or spinal cord, interfering with their function.
Chiropractic and Disc Problems
The chiropractic approach to disc problems is to help restore better motion and position to the spinal joint or joints involved. Besides reducing disc bulging, better spinal function helps reduce inflammation and begin the slow process of healing the surrounding soft tissues.
While results can’t be guaranteed, many patients have avoided needless surgery or a dependency on pain pills, by choosing conservative chiropractic care. The traditional approach to disc problems often ignores spinal function. If detected early enough, conservative chiropractic care is not only safer, but is often more effective than back surgery.
Posted by chiropam on Aug 27, 2009 in Chiropractic
New Foliage
Yesterday was an amazing day outside. In Perth, we are nearing the end of our winter. Now winter here doesn’t even come close to the winters I remember in Michigan where I grew up. Now if you saw the sky yesterday, it was a brilliant blue with no clouds. It spoke of life. I felt like it would be such a waste to not take the time to breathe in some of that fresh air. I remember speaking with a few different patients, just the other day about taking time to ’smell the roses’. We have all heard that expression, and of course the phrase is not literal, as the rose bushes here have all been pruned! But taking it further, taking time to smell flowers, or enjoying a cup of tea or coffee, and just stop and be in the present. We all can let the busyness of life steal away from a beautiful day. I took a photo of my rose bush outside with a new bud growing. This is actually quite significant in my life right now. I have pruned different aspects of my life professionally, in order to have more beautiful flowers result in different areas.
New bud
In my ‘life as a female chiropractor’, that is actually my ’special of the week’. No specific symptoms, but actually acknowledging today for what it is, what it brings. I have a dear friend that reminds me and inspires me to smell the roses as his story is the opposite. He has time, but not the health or ability to move around the way he used to. The reality of my life is that I am able to walk and use my legs to exercise my physical body. This is a gift that we can take for granted as not all people have the physical health. More than a handful of patients brought this theme to their visit, and it was quite exceptional. Wisdom does come with age, but who wants to wait until we are 80 or 90 to realise these things and start living. The time is now - not yesterday, not tomorrow.
“Life is a gift, that’s why they call it the present.”
After I picked up my daughter from school, I asked her if she wanted to go for a walk. She looked at me with a strange look, so I painted a picture of how the walk would be. I explained that it was an opportunity to breathe in some lovely fresh air, have quality time for conversation, and get daily exercise in. The alternative was coming home and diving into the computer and getting on with the usual routine that comes after a normal school day. Well after that walk, she still got her homework done; dinner was still cooked and this blog post was written.
I felt so revitalised after and it was a nice change from the gym which is indoors all the time. Our Spring officially starts next week and with that brings real flowers. Let me encourage you as I will continue to remind myself to stop, and smell the roses…
Posted by chiropam on Aug 13, 2009 in Chiropractic
It wasn’t until recently that I really thought about the phrase, “my life as a female chiropractor”. I used to just think of myself as a chiropractor, not necessarily a female chiropractor. I have been focused on becoming a chiropractor since I was 9 years old. That must have been amazing for my mother when someone asked me as a child, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Instead of the usual response in those days of ‘teacher’ or ‘nurse’ - I come out with ‘chiropractor’ with confidence and certainty that wouldn’t be ‘normal’ for a typical 9 year old. That is why it fascinates me today when so many young people don’t know what they want to do. I guess I was the abnormal one by knowing so early. When I look back, I feel nothing but gratitude for being awakened to one of my main purposes in life.
Being a female chiropractor for me, means juggling that with being a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, mentor and woman in general! I personally have recently been able to bring that to better balance so that one doesn’t unequally outweigh another. I have spent a lot of time over the last few years on personal development including archetype awareness and the work of Dr John Demartini. This included reading books, watching dvds, listening to cd’s and attending various seminars. I believe that you get out what you put in. There are many great personal development tips and tools, but if you don’t implement them, they are useless. It is really quite simple, but it’s not always easy.
‘Yours truly’ with my mentor, Dr John Demartini
As a female chiropractor, I focused on the physical aspects of a patient’s health primarily. As a female in general, I focused a lot on the physical aspects of my own health - primarily nutrition and exercise. Over the course of my career, the insights that were so profound were the body-mind or mind-body connection. The body affects the mind. The mind affects the body. Therefore, the power of the mind is overwhelming in relation to the human body.
I felt that I always knew about how amazing and powerful the human body is. However, after doing the personal development work over the last few years, the power of the mind is what is capturing my attention primarily these days.
Until next time….in the life of a female chiropractor….
A wellness approach to health incorporates a variety of healthy habits for optimum function on physical, mental, social and spiritual levels.
Why It Is Wise To Have Chiropractic When You’re Not In Pain
Many people think that if they don’t have pain or symptoms that they are healthy. Chiropractic care focuses primarily on the nervous system. The nervous system controls virtually every aspect of our body’s functions. In order to be your very best, it is essential to have a properly functioning nervous system. Chiropractic care can be a very important choice for a wellness lifestyle, as well as exercise and good nutritional habits. Those who want to be at their optimum health add regular chiropractic care to their health choices. The health benefits include more vitality, endurance and the ability to enjoy life to the full.
Chiropractic Helps More Than Just “Bad Backs”
Wellness and maintenance care are often thought to be the same thing. However, the objective or goal in these types of health care are actually very different as are their results and benefits. What is most important to understand is that if we want areas in our life to continue to function properly - they require regular maintenance.
Our car, our house, our teeth, our health, our relationships, and yes…our spines! So in any aspect of our life that we are not applying regular maintenance (adding energy and organisation) over time it will breakdown and lead to a crisis. If you don’t maintain your kitchen…crisis! If you don’t maintain your bathroom…crisis! If you don’t maintain your relationships…crisis! And of course, if you don’t maintain your spine…crisis!
The vast majority of people today were not aware of the necessity of spine and nervous system maintenance from birth, therefore it is very likely that even with regular maintenance that a person will still experience the occasional relapse. Why? Imagine trying to maintain your teeth if you hadn’t brushed them for the first thirty years of your life. Of course you would need to go through an extensive process of correcting the problem first just to get your teeth to a place where they can be maintained. Even then with regular maintenance it is likely that you would still experience some problems over time.
Let’s introduce wellness! The main difference between maintenance and wellness is that maintenance simply looks to “maintain” the current state by adding just enough energy or organisation to try to maintain the current state. Whereas wellness looks to find even better states of organisation through a process of “constant and never ending improvement”.
Let’s use our kitchen as an example. We can look to maintain our kitchen in its current state of organisation and over time we will realise that it requires more and more energy to simply maintain the kitchen in its current state. Now if we use a wellness approach toward our kitchen, we would not only be maintaining its current state but we would continue to look for ways to improve the level of organisation, which in turn saves on the energy needed for maintaining it.
The exact same rule applies to every aspect of our lives. If we simply look to maintain our car, our home, our health, our teeth, our relationships, as well as our spines - we will find that over time it will naturally require more and more energy to simply maintain its current state. With wellness care we can continue to look for and implement new strategies to actively organise our lives.
When we look at this in terms of our spine and nervous system we realise that using a wellness approach toward our care is not only a wise investment, it is a better way of life. When we look at what today’s research says in relationship to wellness care we realise that maintaining the spine in a wellness model offers our body the opportunity to learn new strategies for dealing with all the natural stresses in life. In fact, people who have been actively maintaining their spine in a wellness model show increased healing and repair processes at levels which are not seen in otherwise healthy people.
Where do you see your health in 5 years? In 10 years? Do you simply want to maintain you current level of health or would you prefer to see your health continuing to improve every year for the next 10 years?
Posted by chiropam on Jul 28, 2009 in Chiropractic
Walnuts are superfoods for many reasons. Eating walnuts regularly provides the body with essential omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants. Walnuts have the highest antioxidant content of the tree nuts.
Research suggests that walnuts can be a healthy part of the diet for the prevention of not only breast and other cancers, but also diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Walnuts - “The King of Nuts”
Walnuts are considered by many as the “king of nuts” from a nutritional perspective. Walnuts, like other nuts are high in monounsaturated fats. These are the same type of health-promoting fats that are found in olive oil, which have been associated with reduced risk of heart disease. Therefore, to get the health benefits of walnuts, a moderate handful is sufficient.
Other health benefits of walnuts include:
Prevent Gallstones - as little as 1 ounce per week has been shown to reduce the risk of gallstones.
Source of Bioavailable Melatonin - improves the quality of sleep.
Controls High Blood Pressure - omega 3 fatty acids help to regulate the blood pressure.
Antioxidant King - one of the highest antioxidant levels of all superfoods.
Promotes Heart Health - reduces overall cholesterol, reduces LDL’s (bad cholesterol), increases artery elasticity, antioxidant activity reduces heart disease risk by protecting the blood vessels from free radical damage.
Regulates Type II Diabetes - improved overall cholesterol profile, which helps to regulate the effects of the disease.
Protects Bone Health - supports bone health and prevents excessive bone turnover with the bioactivity of alpha linolenic acid, an omega 3 fatty acid found specifically in walnuts.
Enhances Brain Activity - omega 3 fatty acid content helps to sustain a clear, healthy brain by supporting the cellular function via the fatty brain cell membranes.
Walnuts are a fantastic source of omega-3 essential fatty acids, which have been found to not only protect the heart and promote better cognitive function, but also provide anti-inflammatory benefits for asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, eczema and psoriasis.
Walnuts also contain the antioxidant compound ellagic acid, which is known to fight cancer and support the immune system. Studies have shown approximately 16 polyphenols in walnuts, including three new tannins, with antioxidant activity so powerful it was described as “remarkable.”
Posted by chiropam on Jul 16, 2009 in Chiropractic
Ladies, have you fallen into the Superwoman Trap? Are you a woman who operates on overload because you spread yourself too thin? Or if you are a male reading this, perhaps this sounds like your wife, sister or mother?
Women are well known for trying to be all things to all people. We are cooks, maids, chauffeurs, teachers, and on top of all that, many of us also have careers outside of the home. Why do we feel the need to be Superwoman? We superwomen are so determined to do everything perfectly, we lose sight of the physical and mental toll it takes on us. I know how difficult it can be to relinquish control. However, if you want to hold on to the last bit of sanity you have left, you must allow others to take on some of the household and work responsibilities.
The bottom line here is we’ve all got to juggle competing priorities - work, family, personal goals and so on. But it is equally important to remember to take time for self. As women we don’t take time for self as often as we should and we pay for it big time. We pay with our health, peace of mind, emotional well-being and the quality of our relationships.
If you are a superwoman who needs to take off the cape, I invite you to take some time out this week and think about one thing that you can do to take off the superwoman cape - or at least put it down for awhile. Try to get in the habit of taking 15 to 30 minutes each morning to get back in tune with you. When you put yourself at the top of your ‘to do’ list you feel less ‘dazed and confused’ and life becomes more manageable.
The ability to delegate tasks is equally valuable at home and at work, and it is a vital skill employed by many successful managers and mothers. There is a significant amount of guilt felt by mothers who work away from the home. We beat ourselves up about not spending enough time with our children, and worry that the lack of time we spend with them will keep us from forming strong bonds. We often feel the need to compensate for having children by bringing work home or pushing ourselves harder. We need to prove that raising young kids will not harm our career. We’ll work from our children’s bedtime until the wee hours of the morning, or get up before everyone else and get a few things done before taking the kids to school. Sometimes we aggravate our spouses or partners by working in the evenings or over the weekend.
Many women push themselves too hard to do something that can wait until another day. They seem to get into situations that created more stress than could really be handled, placing unnecessary physical and emotional strains on themselves as well as others.
Why do we do these things? We either fail to realise or don’t want to believe that it is physically impossible for us to accomplish everything we task ourselves (or have been tasked) with. To stay mentally and physically healthy, we need to learn how to better manage our time. It has been said that the best way to manage your time is to prioritise and delegate.
A good friend of mine helped me begin the process of letting go of the need to be Superwoman. She advised me that other people may not do things the way I do them, but that only means they do things differently, not poorly. For example, the father might not bathe the kids the way you would, but they get clean and probably have a lot of fun in the process. This is also true at the office. A co-worker might not present to a client the way you would, but they can probably articulate the company’s message in a manner that could lead to getting the job done effectively.
Pushing ourselves to do everything can lead to frustration, resentment, poor performance, and illness. Not to mention the constant guilt we feel when we are thinking of things we need to get done at work while attending to our children’s needs. When we acknowledge that we may not have the ability to complete all the tasks on our ‘to do’ list in the time we would like, and we put our trust in others to assist us, we give ourselves a chance to do the most important tasks well and keep our sanity in the process.
How can we honour our lives in the moment, identify what’s draining us and retrain friends and family to respect our energy constraints and priorities? Stay tuned for next post on some tips to avoid the superwoman trap.
If you want a less stressful and more balanced life, then addressing BOTH externally-imposed and self-imposed pressures are essential. There are times when you can’t change stressful circumstances such as a demanding workload or an annoying co-worker, but you CAN minimise the negative effects of stress by counteracting attitudes that perpetuate stress and limit attention to self-care.
Key To Preventing And Counteracting Burnout
Self-care strengthens your resiliency, which can reduce susceptibility to burnout. Self-care is not just making healthy lifestyle choices. It also includes self-compassion, having healthy boundaries, being aware of your needs, and staying true to your values. Self-neglect takes a toll on your health, relationships, and your effectiveness. Therefore preventing burnout and understanding how stress plays a role is essential.
Simply recognising the importance of taking better care of yourself is not enough. You also need to address the psychological obstacles that limit attention to self-care and foster stress. For example, putting pressure on yourself to always perform with excellence at work while being critical of your mistakes can cause you to become overextended and overlook your needs. This may stem from being judged harshly and having unrealistically high expectations of you.
Self-care practices like meditation or tai chi are great, but won’t stop self-criticism or perfectionism; nor will it address attitudes that foster burnout and undermine self-care such as defining yourself by the good you do for others, an exaggerated sense of responsibility, and difficulty tolerating discord.
Stress Is Unavoidable - Burnout Is
You can take courses on time management and attend seminars on stress management techniques and still suffer from burnout. These strategies are often helpful, but will not lead to lasting changes if you do not address personality traits that foster stress. Much of the literature on burnout focuses more on external pressures than on self- imposed stress. While external pressures such as a demanding workload, juggling personal and professional life, unclear job responsibilities do contribute to stress and burnout, so do beliefs and personality traits. Worries about uncertainty and lack of control can drive to burnout. Even authors who write about personality characteristics that cause stress tend to emphasize overt and extreme behaviors such as the type A personality- overly driven, highly competitive, aggressive and obsessed with work. There are many burnout prone people, however with personalities who do not fit this profile. The most prominent personality characteristics that contribute to burnout are exaggerated responsibility, self-judgement and self-definition.
Perfectionism
Late at night Jacqui lies in bed restlessly, unable to sleep. Two weeks into her new job, she is feeling nervous day and night. She is obsessed with trying to make sure that nothing goes wrong and that no one sees her make a mistake. She has to prove to everyone, including herself, that she is worthwhile. Jacqui believes that she is a failure if anything goes wrong. She needs to realise how never being appreciated growing up causes her to think that self worth comes from perfection.
If you are a perfectionist you push yourself, get overscheduled, promise too many things to too many people, or take on too much work. You judge yourself harshly when you fall short of your expectations or when you make mistakes. You probably would not treat someone you care about in the harsh manner that you treat yourself. You learn to measure your worth by your performance and equate excelling with deserving attention or praise if your parents rewarded you primarily for excelling.
The pursuit of excellence is different from a relentless need to be the best. When you seek perfection and are unable to measure up to your ideal, your self esteem decreases. Developing realistic standards and self- compassion go a long way to counteract stress that leads to burnout.
When you make mistakes, notice how you feel about yourself. Take notice of the ways that you talk to yourself when you fall short of your ideal. You may not recognise that your standards for yourself are excessive. Pay attention during the day to the ways you tell yourself how you did not do something well enough or how you could have done things better. Has anyone else ever spoken to you in this way? You may have internalised the ways that your parents spoke to you. Now picture someone else talking to you the way you speak to yourself. Chances are you would not tolerate them talking to you in this same manner.
Remember, you can’t always control the circumstances that may cause stress, but you can control how well you take care of yourself. Taking proper care of your body, mind and soul can keep you in optimum health and wellness.
Chiropractic is an art, science and philosophy focusing on a nervous system free from interference to allow the body to reach it’s optimum potential, naturally.
Chiropractic is a main passion and interest in my life. Not only is it my profession, but a way to connect the mind and body; a lifestyle - a natural way to allow your body to heal itself, and so much more. It is about looking at the entire body. Our bodies act as a whole unit - from Above, Down, Inside, Out! I love serving the community and being pro-active in making a difference…both individually and collectively as a whole.
