New Year, New You: Embracing Wellness in 2024 with Chiropractic Care

As we welcome 2024, it's the perfect time to set intentions for a healthier, happier year. In the journey towards achieving our wellness goals, chiropractic care emerges as a key ally, offering support not just for pain relief, but for overall health and vitality.

A Holistic Approach to Health

Chiropractic care is rooted in the belief that a well-aligned body is the foundation of good health. Regular adjustments ensure the spine – the backbone of our nervous system – is functioning optimally, facilitating the body's natural healing processes and maintaining overall health.

Goal 1: Enhance Physical Wellbeing

For those aiming to boost physical fitness in 2024, chiropractic care can be instrumental. It helps in enhancing mobility, reducing the risk of injury, and improving athletic performance. Regular adjustments ensure that your body is in prime condition to take on new physical challenges.

Goal 2: Manage Stress Effectively

The past years have highlighted the importance of mental health, and chiropractic care can play a vital role here too. By relieving physical discomfort, chiropractic treatments can reduce stress and anxiety levels, promoting a more relaxed and focused mind.

Goal 3: Improve Posture and Ergonomics

With many still adapting to remote or hybrid work models, proper posture and ergonomics have become crucial. Chiropractic care can help correct postural imbalances and offer advice on ergonomic setups, preventing the long-term effects of poor posture.

Goal 4: Boost Immune Health

A less known benefit of chiropractic care is its potential to boost the immune system. By maintaining the health of the nervous system, chiropractic adjustments may contribute to better immune function, a crucial aspect of maintaining health and wellness.

Goal 5: Achieve Better Sleep

Quality sleep is integral to health and wellness. Chiropractic care can contribute to improved sleep by alleviating pain and discomfort that might interfere with a good night’s rest.

Conclusion: Your Wellness Partner for 2024

As we embark on this new year, consider incorporating chiropractic care into your wellness routine. Whether your goals are to stay active, manage stress, improve posture, boost immunity, or sleep better, chiropractic care offers a holistic approach to help you achieve them.

When Your Headache Comes From Your Neck

One of the most common things we help with are people with headaches and migraines.  

How would a chiropractor help with headaches you ask?

There are many connections between your head and neck.  Changes in the neck can affect nerve, bone and/or soft tissues connecting to the head, and sometimes this can result in head pain or more often referred to as headaches.

One very important area in the upper neck is the suboccipital region.  There are four tiny muscles on either side, and one called the Rectus Capitis Posterior Minor has a direct attachment to your Dura.

The Dura is part of the sheath around your spinal cord and brain.  Changes in the structure of the neck can put strain on this small muscle (that is connected from your skull to the first vertebra) and cause tension in the Dura and lead to headache.

One case study looked at a man who suffered for years, and the migraine medication was not working.  The surgeons cut this connection between the muscle and dura and the headaches disappeared.

As a chiropractor I look at what is causing the tension in the first place.  If you have structural shifts in the spine leading to this you will know when I test your neck.  

In most cases I feel the shift, put a slight pressure on the irritated tissue and the patient reports that it creates the same headache they have been feeling.

Search for the root problem, and not just the symptom.

Setting Up a Work Station

Many people suffer from the constant strain of poor posture.  This article will give you the optimal set up at your work station.  However, it is important to understand that any posture will at one point lead to fatigue.  Therefore small changes in posture and micro-breaks throughout your workday will give you most relief. The following information is from the Ontario Ministry of Labour website.

Computer monitor should he at a height to allow your neck to be straight (top of screen at eye level).  If you wear bifocals the screen should be slightly lower so head is neutral when reading the top line on the screen

There should be a 90 degree bend at your elbows, with your arms hanging naturally at your sides

Your hands should be in line with your forearms, so there is no bending of your wrists

Your thighs should be parallel to the floor, allowing your feet to rest flat on either the floor or a footrest

Your chair should have a lumbar (low-back) support to help maintain your natural lumbar curve in the seated position

Your mouse hand should be supported so there is no bend in the wrist

Use a document holder that is adjustable, to the same height as your monitor

Although the above is helpful, less people are using desktop computers as the popularity of laptops increase.  With the screen and keyboard connected, the screen will be too low, the keyboard will be placed too high or a little bit of both.  This means the importance of micro-breaks increase, and more frequent changes in posture will be needed.  

If you follow the above protocol you will put yourself in a less compromising position.  However, you still will put your neck in a compromising positioning.  Losing the normal curve in your neck can cause headaches, neck stiffness, numbness and tingling into the arms and hands as well as shoulder pain. If you suffer from any of these symptoms you should seek out a corrective care chiropractor who can assess your neck and let you know if you would do well under care.