The Ultimate Guide to Chiropractic Care - How it Can Benefit Your Health and Wellness

Chiropractic care is a universal healthcare profession that focuses on diagnosing, treating, and preventing mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, particularly the spine, and their effects on the nervous system and general health. Chiropractors use a variety of techniques, including spinal adjustments, manual therapies, and exercise, to help patients manage pain, improve function, and promote overall wellness. In this guide, we'll explore how chiropractic care can benefit your health and wellness.

1. Pain Relief: Chiropractic care is a popular choice for people seeking relief from back and neck pain, as well as headaches and other musculoskeletal conditions. Chiropractors use a variety of techniques to reduce pain, including spinal adjustments, massage therapy, and stretching exercises. Studies have shown that chiropractic care can be an effective treatment for a range of conditions, including lower back pain, sciatica, and neck pain.

2. Improved Range of Motion: Chiropractic adjustments can help improve joint mobility and range of motion, particularly in the spine. By realigning the spine, chiropractors can reduce pressure on nerves and improve the function of the nervous system, leading to improved overall health and wellness.

3. Stress Reduction: Stress can take a toll on the body, leading to muscle tension, headaches, and other physical symptoms. Chiropractic care can help reduce stress by promoting relaxation and improving the function of the nervous system. Studies have shown that chiropractic adjustments can lead to a reduction in cortisol, the hormone associated with stress, and an increase in endorphins, the body's natural painkillers.

4. Improved Sleep: Chronic pain and stress can interfere with sleep, leading to insomnia and other sleep disorders. Chiropractic care can help improve sleep by reducing pain and stress and promoting relaxation. Studies have shown that chiropractic adjustments can improve sleep quality and reduce the time it takes to fall asleep.

5. Improved Immune Function: The nervous system plays a crucial role in regulating the immune system, and chiropractic care can help improve immune function by improving nervous system function. Studies have shown that chiropractic adjustments can increase the production of white blood cells, which play a critical role in fighting infection and disease.

6. Improved Athletic Performance: Chiropractic care can help improve athletic performance by reducing pain and improving joint mobility and range of motion. Chiropractors can also provide advice on nutrition, exercise, and injury prevention to help athletes perform at their best.

7. Overall Wellness: Chiropractic care is not just about treating specific conditions; it's also about promoting overall wellness. By improving the function of the nervous system, chiropractic care can help improve the body's natural healing processes and promote optimal health and wellness.

In conclusion, chiropractic care can benefit your health and wellness in a variety of ways, from pain relief to improved immune function and athletic performance. If you're considering chiropractic care, be sure to choose a qualified and experienced chiropractor who can provide personalized care and help you achieve your health and wellness goals.

Slipped Disc?

You have probably heard the term “slipped disc”, often it is often used very loosely. 

A true slipped disc is referring to a disc bulge or disc herniation. This can happen throughout the spine but most often in the neck and low back. 

Your intervertebral discs are filled in the centre with a material that can shift if the back is injured in a certain way. 

Typical physical demands will most commonly shift the center of the disc towards the back of the spine where the spinal cord and nerve roots are.  (Think of squishing a jelly donut from the front, the jelly will be pushed out the back)

This can compress the nerves either directly or from the pressure resulted from inflammation. The nerves are very delicate and are reactive to the slightest changes in pressure.   Since the nerve roots area are surrounded by boney canals, there is not much room for error. 

This slippage of the disc will commonly cause neck pain or back pain depending on where the injury occurred in the body, and in a lot of cases the pain can be quite severe.  

Not to mention the chances of pinching a nerve that can cause a shocking or searing pain into your arms and hands.  Or if it’s a low back injury it could cause sciatica (low back pain that causes nerve pain down your leg).

In humans there are certain signs and symptoms that will make it easier for your chiropractor to diagnose. Before an examination you should make notes describing exactly what pain you are feeling and any limitations that you have, and during the exam cooperate during physical tests to determine the root cause.. 

With dogs and horses this can be harder to diagnose.  A lot of time this can present as lameness, a weak leg or complete dragging of the hind end. 

Chiropractic can be of great help but the healing process can be quite slow as nerve tissue healing depends on the amount of compression and the length of time it was compressed. 

In humans, dogs, or horses, if there is pain or weakness and both legs as well as incontinence, this should be treated as a medical emergency and you should go to a hospital.

Is Chiropractic for Everyone?

The quick answer is no.  It’s not.

But can most people benefit from seeing a chiropractor?  Absolutely.

First off you have to understand what chiropractic is and what you as the patient want out of it.

The confusing part for the public is one chiropractor may practice completely different than the chiropractor down the road.   As the patient if you understand that the style of practice from chiropractor to chiropractor can vary, it’s up to you to know what your goal is before making an appointment.  This will help you have a better fit when you do make a choice.

On the other hand it is up to the chiropractor to explain exactly what they specialize in day to day so you know what type of treatment and techniques will be used.

My goal for patients is to improve their help condition with whatever complaint that brought them in the first place, through chiropractic care, education and empowerment.  Secondary to that is how can we can prevent that same complaint from getting worse and recurring in the future, by giving recommendations and tips to improve their health, with things like nutrition and exercise.

Not all my patient’s goals match my personal goals, which is completely fine.  My main objective is to be as transparent as possible and support the patient for whatever their health goal is.  Whether that is just getting out of pain or something that extends further like improving their health in all aspects of their life.  

I am very honest with what my limitations are.   So if your goal or your current condition would be better served by being referred to a physiotherapist, or massage therapist, or to your family doctor for further testing, I will let you know.  

At the end of the day, everyone can benefit from seeing a chiropractor, but I might not be the best chiropractor for you.  

The 60 Pound Head

“Sit up straight”

You’ve been told this when you were young and you have probably said it to your kids.  

Your ear, shoulder and hip should be one vertical line, perpendicular to the floor. While inside your neck your vertebrae should have a nice smooth “C” curve to it.

When we lose that curve there is more strain on your neck. But the question is how much?

A spinal surgeon out of New York did a study to figure this out.

The average human head weighs in at 13.2lbs.  10-12lbs of force is placed on your neck while you are in the perfect position mentioned above.

So what happens when perfect changes?

15 degrees forward = 27lbs of strain

30 degrees forward = 40lbs of strain

45 degrees forward = 49lbs of strain

60 degrees forward = 60lbs of strain

This increased strains lead to faster degeneration in the neck and eventually disability.

Corrective chiropractic care aims to restore this changes back to normal as close as possible, and the changes we see in curve correction can be truly amazing even to us.

But it's more amazing when our patients feel and move much better as a result.  It's very simple actually.  Reduce 50lbs of strain off of your neck and it's going to work better. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand that. 

The crazy part is that these bad postures and neck curve changes are now seen commonly in kids with increasing time spent on technology.

In a one year period the average person spends 700 to 1,400 hours a year on smart devices. The average high school student may spend up to another 5,000 hours on their smart devices.

That’s Insane!!!

The bottom line is you don't know what you don't know.  Get your kids checked by a corrective care chiropractor and see if there are in fact any structural changes that have already started and correct it now,  as it is much easier to do while they are young.  

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Check your child's posture with this easy checklist.

Chiropractic and Your Immune System

There are numerous studies that show how getting adjusted by a chiropractor can cause an immediate rise immune markers like white blood cells. This is great but if you get adjusted once to boost your immune system that is only going to have a mild impact on your symptoms, no different really than trying to suppress your symptoms with an over the counter remedy. 

What is fascinating about chiropractic is it may help to reduce the stress load on your nervous system.

This stress response in our body is natural and is innately programmed so we could run from the Sabertooth tiger thousands of years ago.  Even though we don't have to worry about these threats today our body reacts the same none the less when the nervous system shifts into the stress response. 

The following are some of the changes that happen during the stress response:

- increased cortisol,  adrenaline,  heart rate,   blood pressure,  blood glucose levels,  blood lipid levels,  blood cholesterol levels,  breakdown of protein,   clotting factors,  feelings of stress fear anxiety and depression,  sensitivity of sensory systems (including pain)

- decreased short term memory,  concentration,  serotonin levels , growth hormone,  sex hormones, bone loss. 

** and you guess it decreased cellular immunity. 

You see in the short term this response is not a disease, it is normal. 

The chronic stressful environment including your internal environment is pathological, not the response your body has to it. 

When we look at your spinal health, the degeneration it may have will create a chronic stressor to your nervous system.  Checking, adjusting, and rehab type exercise is going to help reduce the likelihood of the stress response keeping your immune system working optimally. 

What Is Sciatica - Can Chiropractic Help?

Sciatica is a blanket term that gets tossed around a lot.  Some patients present with signs and symptoms not remotely close to Sciatica and think they have it.  Others have been suffering for years with debilitating sciatic pain and don't realize they had it. 

Sciatica is a medical term for a set of symptoms, that typically involve low back pain and leg pain.  This could be pain in the hip, buttock, hamstring , and calves region, as well as all the way down to the foot. 

The low back pain and leg pain are classic signs but depending on the cause of the Sciatica you can also have numbness and tingling as well as muscle weakness or twitching. 

Common causes of Sciatica include but not limited to, degenerative disc disease, a disc herniation, a pinched nerve in the low back, and piriformis syndrome. 

Chiropractic care can be very beneficial to help reduce the symptoms of sciatic pain and in some cases it can fix the problem.  There are many different techniques that a chiropractor can use to help this so make sure you contact or have a consultation with the chiropractor before you start can to make sure they are comfortable working with you. 

As with any condition it is important that your chiropractor finds the root cause of the sciatica and low back pain.  This way your chiropractic can have a specific approach, reduce the time needed for correction, and choose the appropriate chiropractic techniques for your case. 

For more information on Sciatic please watch the video listed below.