Apr 23 2020

Types of Diets Recommended by Chiropractors

Chiropractic Care gives great importance to a healthy and balanced diet. A lot of ailments and diseases can be avoided just by adhering to a proper diet. A good diet can help a person to lead a long, healthy life, control weight, blood pressure and heart rate.

It is a fact that Americans are overfed, while being undernourished. Scores of fast food chains have made unhealthy eating habits a part of the American lifestyle. Such high cholesterol foods coupled with a sedentary lifestyle can lead to obesity. With obesity come a lot of complications including heart diseases and blood pressure problems.

There is no doubt that a well-balanced diet consists of a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, a reduction in caffeine intake and saturated fats.

A chiropractor may recommend one of the following diets based on your body’s needs:

High Protein Diet

A high protein diet is recommended for those who aim to build muscles without accumulating too much fat. High protein foods include:

Turkey breast
Fish
Cheese (low fat varieties)
Beef (low fat)
Tofu
Beans
Eggs
Milk
Nuts

Heart-Healthy Diet

A heart healthy diet usually consists of a lot of vegetables and fruits along with large intakes of whole grains. It may also contain low-fat meats, including fish and poultry. Special emphasis should be given to fish as it is a very healthy source of protein, Omega 3 and little fat.

Following combination of fruits and vegetables are extremely nutritious and a healthy choice for heart-healthy dieters:

Pineapples
Broccoli
Tomatoes
Blueberries
Watermelon
Oranges

Vegetarian Diet

A vegetarian diet can be recommended for those who prefer to lead a meat-free lifestyle, for whatever the reason. Several types of diets are based on vegetarianism:

Lacto-Vegetarian: These diets include no meat of any kind or eggs. However they do include dairy products like butter, milk, cheese and yogurt.

Ovo -Vegetarian: This diet contains no red meat, seafood, poultry or even dairy products, however it does include eggs.

Vegan: The strictest of all, excludes all meats, fish, eggs and dairy products.

Flexitarian: As its name implies, this diet is flexible. It mainly consists of vegetables and fruits, with occasional consumption of meat, fish or poultry.

No matter which diet is recommended by a chiropractor or dietician, a balanced lifestyle that includes plenty of activities can go a long way in extending the life of a person.

Apr 23 2020

Back Problems in Teens

Will a chiropractor ever treat an adolescent during his professional career? Junior took a baseball right in the back. Julie fell off the human pyramid during cheerleading practice and landed on her back. Needless to say, parents of athletic adolescents are usually first in line at the chiropractic office.

Can Teens Suffer from Back Problems?

While back problems are more common in adults, they are a rarity in teens since the latter is more flexible and agile. That is why any backaches that accompany any athletic event (such as contact sports) should be immediately checked by a chiropractor.

Back Conditions in Teens

Back conditions that can affect teens or kids include –

Any pain that worsens by performing gymnastic activities such as handsprings or the butterfly stroke in swimming may be indicative of spinal conditions such as Spondylolysis. Younger athletes have more chances of developing the condition than older kids who take part in sporting activities. The condition is often caused by over-use that causes constant trauma and is one of the most common causes of back pain in kids.
This is also why the condition has more chances of occurring during a teen’s growth spurt, which is also why it is more common in boys rather than girls. A chiropractor might diagnose Spondylolysis in teens who are aged between 15 and 16.
Any type of backache that causes compromises a teen’s balance or coordination may be caused by a problem in the spinal cord.

Adolescents and teens might put themselves in dangerous situations more than the average five year old, but the fact remains that they are still kids. In other words, they tend to be more aggressive in their activities than younger children. A four year old will probably not stick his hand in a light socket if he has been electrocuted once. However an adolescent will have to keep stressing his back especially if he is pressured to make a tackle or prevent a touchdown in order for his team to win.

Parents cannot stop commercial advertising or peer pressure that expects their kids to push the envelope, but they can educate on taking better care of themselves. A teenager can always be grounded if he/she doesn’t comply to the rules, but parents will be helpless if a backache worsens or worse, ends up paralyzing their child

Apr 23 2020

Chiropractic Care to Relieve Symptoms of Pregnancy

A woman has to get used to the uncomfortable symptoms of pregnancy for 38 to 42 weeks. There are ways to relieve such pain through medication, but they can pose potential side effects on the mother and the child. Chiropractic care, on the other hand, has shown to have remarkably alleviated the symptoms of back problems associated with pregnancy. Therapy, nutrition and exercise are the basics of the treatment that makes chiropractic and pregnancy go hand in hand.

Chiropractic Care for Pregnancy

Chiropractic treatments are non-invasive and address the misalignment in the spine to alleviate pain. Studies have also shown chiropractic care to have no known side effects on pregnant woman and the innate child. It promotes development in the mother and the baby. The Webster Technique is commonly employed to treat pregnant women, as it tends to apply as less pressure on the abdomen as possible.

Common Symptoms of Pregnancy

Back pains are very common during pregnancy. Women put on extra weight during the period, thus increasing the pressure on the spine. This leads to nerve stress, which can halt the development of a child. Other common symptoms during pregnancy include:

Pelvic pain
Nausea
Vomiting
Morning sickness
Heartburn
Shortness of breath
High blood pressure
Swollen ankles
Hormonal changes

Complications That Can Arise

Dislocation of the vertebra, or better known as vertebral subluxation, can interrupt the nervous system and affect the ability of communication within a body. Subluxation can result in:

Nerve Tension – Muscles around the spine become tight and experience inflammation on areas with misalignment in the spine. This adds stress on the nerves, and these nerves lead to various parts and organs in the body, like muscles, glands and blood vessels. Neglecting nerve tension can cause degeneration in various body systems.

Body Imbalance – Subluxation in the neck can lead to head tilting on one side. The righting reflex in the brain causes lower cervical spine to bend on the opposite direction of the head tilt. This can cause one side of the pelvis to draw up, making one leg appear shorter than the other. The uneven distribution of weight puts more stress on the joints. Extremely painful for the mother, it may even cause problems for the baby to get into the right birthing position.

A visit to the chiropractor throughout pregnancy can help you get started with the treatment, and can make the pregnancy and delivery comfortable and faster

Apr 23 2020

Choose Chiropractic Care for Healthier Living

Chiropractic care is a medical system that aims to eliminate the root of a problem rather than just suppressing the symptoms. Chiropractors manipulate the spinal column along with other parts of the body with the aim of easing pain, promoting the body’s systems to naturally heal it along with prescribing exercise to eliminate postural problems.

This approach introduces a healthier lifestyle for an individual.

Chiropractic Treatment Techniques

Here are numerous chiropractic treatment techniques that are used in treating patients:

Activator

The activator is a device that is used to correct minor misalignments in the spine. It sends a small impulse that is sufficient enough to move the vertebrae without causing any injury.

Bio-Energetic Synchronization Technique (BEST)

This is a non-forceful technique that is used to remove blocked energy in the body and allows it to heal itself.
Cox Flexion Distraction

This procedure is a safe alternate to back surgery and is designed to relieve lower back pain by altering the spinal column. However, it is also used to treat disc herniation, stenosis, arm and neck pains as well as many other complications.
Applied Kinesiology

Applied Kinesiology gauges a muscles’ strength or weakness to find an illness.
Thompson Terminal Point

This technique utilizes a special drop table to adjust the full length of the spine.

Sacro-Occipital Technique (SOT)

The SOT technique is designed to reduce and sometimes completely eliminate pain in the head, neck, spinal cord, TMJ as well as improve function of many organs.

Logan Basic Technique

The Logan technique applies a gentle and sustained pressure at the base of the spine, that corrects the balance of the spinal column and releases tension.
A gentle, sustained pressure is exerted at the base of the spine. Correcting the sacrum corrects the rest of the spine.

Nimmo Technique

Nimmo technique is designed to relieve people of their chronic pain, whether in the muscle system, nervous system or skeletal system.

Orthotics

Orthotics focuses design and construction of external devices that help in modifying the structure of the body, such as uneven leg length, incorrect spinal curvature and tilted pelvis.

Emphasis on Exercise

Chiropractors believe that physical exercise is essential for the well-being of the human body. This is why they prescribe exercises that are easy to carry out at home. These exercises aim at reducing or preventing obesity that is a major factor in causing heart diseases, diabetes and many other diseases

Apr 23 2020

Contacting a Chiropractor for a Spine Bulging Disc

What is a Bulging Disc?

Structure

The disc provides cushioning between two adjacent vertebras and allows for flexibility of the spine. In total there are twenty three discs that are found at intervals throughout your backbone that also serve as shock absorbers and keep together the structure of the spine. Size of these discs varies with the level of the spine. A disc is spongy in nature and has a tough cartilage called annulus fibrosus. Annulus fibrosus contains a soft jelly like material known as the nucleus pulposus.

The Bulge

Mostly a disc covers the entire space between two vertebras and is in alignment with the length and shape of the spine. A bulging disc occurs when a disc extends beyond its normal spacing. Analogically, bulging disc injuries are said to be similar to an oversized meat patty that bulges out of its bun.

When bulging disc injuries occurs, the tough outer cartilage, annulus fibrosus, expands in size. Even after becoming oversized for the two vertebras it resides between, the nucleus pulposus (the inner jelly like material) stays in its rightful place.

Symptoms of a Bulging Disc

The Nerve Story

It is common knowledge that the spinal cord is the relay station and has nerves running through it, enabling communication to and from the brain. These are known as the spinal nerves or nerve roots. Any disturbance in a section of the spinal cord can disrupt the passageway for these nerves.

How Bulging Discs Effect the Nerves

Bulging disc injuries can easily disturb or disrupt the smooth flow of the nerve roots. When a disc spills out of its normal spacing after becoming larger in size, it pushes against the nerve causing compression. With such a disc injury, signal transmission can cause symptoms of pain to arise in several different parts of the body. It is interesting to note however that for several individuals, a bulging disc is asymptomatic.

Chiropractics and Disc Injuries

Not only are chiropractic treatments effective in dealing with bulging disc injuries, they can help reduce pain and heal the injury in the long run. Through intense physical therapy, after a thorough examination of the patient, a bulging disc condition can be resolved. Several chiropractic practitioners will often make use of machines in addition to manual therapies. For instance, a disc compression machine is often utilized with disc bulging cases. The machine is a traction that applies a controlled amount of force to the area of concern.

We hope that you will find relief for your spinal condition under a chiropractic practitioner

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