Tag Archives: chiropractic care

Why Lifetime Chiropractic Care?

You’ve probably heard the old myth that “once you go to a chiropractor, you have to go for the rest of your life.”

It’s not true.

However, we do have many patients who chose to see us once a month or even more frequently.

What’s going on?

Stress levels

Those who face physical, chemical, or emotional stress (that’s all of us) often find regular chiropractic adjustments helpful in correcting muscle tightness and the resulting postural changes.

Avoiding a relapse

Because long-standing spinal problems can produce weakened areas that are susceptible to repeated problems, regular care may often help strengthen supporting muscles and ligaments, avoiding a flare-up.

Prevention

Regular chiropractic checkups can often detect smaller problems before they become more serious (and difficult to correct).

Wellness

Being our best starts with an interference-free nervous system.

Gravity

And let’s not forget the relentless effects that gravity places on our body. Regular chiropractic care helps maintain proper spinal curves to accommodate the compression of spinal joints due to gravity.

Remember, how long you choose to benefit from chiropractic care is always up to you.

We are here to serve you. How can we help you live life to it’s fullest?

(THANKS, PATIENTMEDIA)

How is chiropractic different from regular (orthodox) medicine?

Question: How is chiropractic different from regular (orthodox) medicine?

Answer: Chiropractic and medicine have different philosophies about life and health.

Perhaps the best way to explain the difference is by looking at how chiropractic (and other vitalistic/natural healing arts) approaches symptoms as opposed to how medicine views symptoms.

Chiropractors view the body as intelligent, and symptoms are mechanisms the body uses to re-balance and return to homeostasis. Chiropractors respect symptoms and do not work to suppress them.

The medical approach, on the other hand, sees the body as a passive “machine,” and symptoms as bad, with no purpose other than to cause damage. Therefore, MDs prescribe drugs to fight, suppress or counteract symptoms. While people on drugs may feel better (while the drugs last), constant symptom suppression drives disease deeper into the body leading to chronic (permanent) illness.

Chiropractors promote natural healing by helping your body use its symptoms to cleanse and detoxify. Chiropractors respect the wisdom of the body when it comes to symptoms.

Your Hips and Chiropractic: A Natural Alignment

They’re your hips!

You need them for a good golf swing, dancing, a healthy pregnancy and to support your spine (and head). They anchor your legs so you can walk and you sit on them too.

Your hips are really two large bones (each made up of three fused bones) that are attached to your sacrum – the base of your spine. They are strapped to your sacrum with lots of ligaments. Around your hips are lots of tendons that attach to many muscles.

What happens if your hips are out of alignment?

If your spine is out of alignment (it’s subluxated), your hips may “do the twist” causing one leg to appear shorter than the other.

One leg isn’t really shorter than the other. It just seems that way because your legs attach to your hips. If one hip is a little higher than the other, then one leg appears longer and one appears shorter. This is most obvious when you lie down. That’s why chiropractors sometimes have patients lie down (usually face down) to measure their leg length difference. This is one sign your body structure is off-balance.

Why do my hips hurt?

Apart from causing problems with your tailor, uneven hips can cause unnatural wear and tear on your spine, arthritis and/or lumbar (lower back) disc bulging, any of which can lead to leg and sciatica pain. If your pubic bones (the front of your hips) are not aligned it may cause sacroiliac pain and pain during pregnancy and childbirth.

Unhappy hips also can cause fatigue and exhaustion because you will be out of alignment with gravity.

Signs of Hip Problems

Signs of hip problems include:

a bad golf swing
difficulty standing or sitting for long periods
leg problems
knee pain
foot problems such as bunions
shoulder problems – your hips and shoulders work together – if one is moving improperly the motion of the other will be affected.

Chiropractic care and your hips

A chiropractic checkup will help ensure a balanced and healthy spine, hip, pelvis and femur (thigh bone) relationship. This ensure that you have a more stable, balanced pedestal from which to work, play, carry children (especially if you are pregnant), and be pain-free and have more energy.

A healthy spine-hip relationship is especially important during childhood – that’s why infants, babies and children of all ages should get a chiropractic checkup. It can help ensure a healthier body for life.

If you are experiencing any discomfort or pain in you hips please schedule an appointment with us. We’d love to help you. Call 517 627 4547.

Research Source: De Jong MR, der Elst MV, Hartholt KA. Drug-related falls in older patients: implicated drugs, consequences, and possible prevention strategies. Ther Adv Drug Saf. 2013;4(4):141-146.

How Important is your Health Really?

Do You Really Want To Be Healthy?

There is an old saying, “Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die to get there.”

A similar statement could be made concerning health. In almost any survey taken asking people what they wanted most out of life, good health is one of the top three things on the list.

The only two things that ever top it are usually happiness and good family relationships. Yet how many of us allow other less important things to keep us from attaining maximum health?

Like happiness, health does not come by luck. It is true that hereditary factors are important to good health but most people can be healthy in spite of hereditary weakness. Conversely, hereditary strengths will not overcome a failure to take care of yourself.

A Desire to be Healthy

Most people who come into a chiropractic office indicate a desire to be healthy. Unfortunately, they often do not realize that it will take some effort on their part.

The average person’s experience with medicine has led them to believe that they will be made healthy by what the doctor does to them or what he gives them. They can just sit back, do nothing or at most, remember to take their medication every four hours.

While this approach may be “relatively effective” in the treatment of disease, it has virtually nothing to do with health. For the most part, disease treatment is a passive activity. Health maintenance, or health restoration, is largely an active endeavor. Therein lies the problem.

Sitting back and doing nothing will not promote or maintain health.

Hoping or wishing for it will not make it happen. It must be actively pursued. A choice must be made. Good, nutritious, health-promoting food is available, but then so is junk food. You must make the decision as to what kind you are going to eat and then make the extra effort to get it. Exercise is not a passive activity. You cannot get it by just watching PX90 videos.

Chiropractic is not a passive activity either.

While it is true the patient lies on the table and relaxes, it is the body that makes the adjustment. The chiropractor introduces a force to the spine and the body’s muscles actively move the bone to exactly where it belongs. Further, the benefits of chiropractic care occur after the adjustment, like exercise and eating, they are far reaching and unlike treatments, they are not designed for short-term, immediate effects. It is true you may feel good after eating a good meal or after a good work out. You may also feel good right after a chiropractic adjustment, but the real benefits are the long-term ones. When the body is working better it can actively promote health and well-being and add years to life.

The patient must make the commitment to care.

There is another aspect that makes chiropractic care an active approach. The patient must make the commitment to care. The chiropractor cannot give you a bottle of adjustments and say, “take one every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the next six weeks.”

The patient must make the willful decision to come in, be regular and follow the program. The chiropractor cannot follow you around or take you by the hand.

Do you really want to be healthy?

Sadly, too many people do not want to pay the price, which is time, money and effort. Happiness does not come by accident. Fame and fortune are not a matter of luck. Similarly, you cannot expect to have good health unless you do those things necessary to attain it. Every individual has to establish his or her priorities. Is watching television more important than exercising for your health? Is saving money by eating poor quality food more important to you than spending the few dollars for good food? Is doing whatever you do that interferes with regular adjustments more important than your health? Only you can answer these questions and how you decide on these and other relative questions could very well determine your health, your happiness and your life.

So do you REALLY want to be healthy?

Getting Into Maintenance Mode

Chiropractic patients are divided into two general categories: Healing and Maintenance

#1 Healing the Body

The first category includes a large number of patients who utilize chiropractic to enable their bodies to work better so that they might heal themselves of some condition or symptom. They understand that the chiropractor is not treating the condition or attempting to alleviate the symptom but that if he or she can correct the vertebral subluxation, the body will have greater capacity to heal itself.

They come in to have their subluxations corrected and find that their bodies work at a higher level, quite often high enough to get well of the physical problems they had when they arrived. Thousands of people have had their health restored because when nerve interference is removed at the vertebral level, the principle that heals and runs the billions upon billions of cells in the body is free to work a little better. Sadly though, many of these people do not fully utilize chiropractic care because they often stop once they feel better.

#2 Maintenance Mode

The second group of people realize that the same principle that enables the body to get well can also keep it well. They do not use chiropractic care as merely a way of regaining their health but as part of an overall, health maintenance and enhancement program.

They come regularly whether they feel good or not. They know that being adjusted will enable them to express more life in numerous ways, some we cannot even imagine. We do know that you can have more energy, better coordination, more flexibility, a greater ability to handle stress, and a greater benefit from the food, exercise and sleep that you get.

All of this from regular adjustments?

Absolutely! Which of the above is not affected by your nerve system? Logically, a better nerve system, one free of interference, has to help accomplish all the above. How much benefit depends upon you, but everyone will have a better functioning body with a good nerve supply.

Not only do, these people come regularly but they also bring their families in and refer friends and relatives for chiropractic care. They know that it is far better to get someone under care while they are still healthy than to wait until they manifest the symptoms of a lack of health. They want everyone to experience some of the benefits listed above.

Getting everyone into maintenance mode

Our desire is to see primarily the second category of patients. We obviously would not turn away a patient with a medical condition who wanted his or her subluxations corrected for a greater potential for healing. Everyone needs chiropractic care, people with medical conditions of any kind need regular adjustments as much as people with no medical problems, even if they need medical care at the same time.

Who Should Go to a Chiropractor?

Is Chiropractic Care for You?

A very simple yet profound question.

The answer is dependent upon one’s concept of the goal of chiropractic. If the goal of chiropractic is to get sick people well, then presumably sick people should go to a chiropractor. If the goal is prevention of sickness, presumably all patients should be on a maintenance program.

Everyone can benefit from Chiropractic Care at some point in their lifetime.

We would like to share the very unique goal of chiropractic as practiced in this office.

We would like to see ALL people, sick or well, young and old, getting their spines checked for vertebral subluxations on a regular basis to allow their bodies to better express all of their life potentials. This would in turn allow each person to get more out of life. In order to understand this concept, one must understand how vertebral subluxation affects the quality of one’s life.

Physiologically, it is known that virtually every expression of life is controlled, at least in part by body chemistry. It is changes in body chemistry that determine our energy level, our ability to resist and recover from disease, our ability to extract nutrients from food, our moods, attitudes, sense of humor, our manual dexterity, and virtually every other expression of life.

Therefore, if anything happens to alter body chemistry it can affect every aspect of one’s life. This is why the law does not allow people to drive after consuming too much alcohol. The alcohol can produce blurred vision, slowed reaction time, poor coordination, and make a generally good driver a menace to society.

Of course the individual reaction to alcohol varies from person to person. Some people become sad, some become happy, some become violent, some silly, and some just fall asleep. All however, seem to suffer from poor judgment and lack of coordination.

Medication is Not Always the Only Solution

Another example would be people who use medication to “treat” a variety of problems. Just look in the Physician Desk Reference (PDR) to see that for every drug listed; side effects which can change you mentally, physically and emotionally. It is easy to understand…

“Vertebral subluxations are, by definition, an interference with the innate control of the body. You cannot have body chemistry in balance when vertebral subluxations are present”

…how altering body chemistry from the outside-in can affect everything we are and everything we can accomplish. In short, it can negatively alter our potential in many different areas.

Imagine if more people knew about this!

What we really desire is to see hundreds of people who are concerned enough about their health to come in regularly with their families to receive adjustments to stay healthy and be the best they can be in life. Imagine if more people knew about this and were getting checked and adjusted. Wouldn’t that be the community you’d want to live in? We hope that it is your desire to be one of these type of people. If there is ever something about chiropractic health care that you do not understand, please ask us. It is our desire and pleasure to make you aware of all the benefits of being subluxation free.

While our potential, or performance levels, may be affected by drugs from the outside, they can also be affected by chemical changes that originate within. Our body is an incredible natural chemical factory. With a chemical reaction needed for virtually every aspect of life, there are countless numbers of chemical reactions occurring constantly. It is the wisdom of the body, innate intelligence, which uses the brain, spinal cord and nerve system as its medium of expression, to control and coordinate the chemical producing organs and glands of the body. Any alteration in the production of chemicals like thyroxin, insulin, adrenaline, cortisone, testosterone, estrogen, and dozens of others (known and unknown) in the body, will produce just as drastic a change as would chemicals administered from the outside-in.

What are Vertebral subluxations?

Vertebral subluxations are, by definition, an interference with the innate control of the body. You cannot have body chemistry in balance when vertebral subluxations are present. When you have an imbalance of body chemistry you are unable to fully express your potential in any number of areas.

It is not our goal to be a “sore back/neck doc”” dealing with neck aches and backaches and referring people out. Every man, woman, and child in our community deserves to know the truth. Chiropractic is not just for backaches, nor is it for cancer. It is not for any particular malady.

Chiropractic is for people! All people!

Chiropractic is for people! All people! There is not a person you will ever meet, who should not have his or her spine checked regularly. It is the goal of this office to share chiropractic with as many people as possible, to allow their bodies to function and perform at a higher level of efficiency. Thus enabling them to more fully express all of their potentials and abilities, and therefore, get more out of their lives.

Latest News From Charmaine: September Newsletter: Turning on Life!

Greetings all,

We are now in the final quarter of the year (YIKES!!) Summer and vacations are almost a distant memory and we now (mostly) slip into a routine based on school activities and classroom demands.

Children need adequate rest

As a parent or grandparent, make sure that your child is getting adequate rest, great nourishment and plenty of unstructured time (preferably away from any screen based “thingy” to allow for decompression and also to stimulate their creativity).

With the return to all the school sports, it becomes vital to make sure that your children are checked often for subluxations to ensure that they are given the best possible chance to be as good and healthy as possible.

Thank You, Sophia!

Sophia left us earlier this month, on to a new chapter in her life…along with many of your children and grandchildren entering college for the first time.

Chiropractic Care and College Students

Again Chiropractic care becomes important to them as well as they tend to burn the candle at both ends and in the middle…typical college kids and maybe their diet is not quite like at home as they now have the “freedom” to make their own choices. Hopefully they have also learned that they really need to make time for exercise in order to stay well. When they come home for the weekend…try and schedule an appointment for a check up!!!

Michigan Senior Olympics are done, State meet is next on the calendar (Nov 5th) and we will also be out of the office for a late summer/early fall break at the end of this month….9/22 (pm) thru’ 10/2 back in the office October 3rd.

Stay safe…see you on the table, under the barbells, on the yoga mat or around town!

Turning on Life!

Researching Chiropractic: Case Studies on Infertility, Constipation and Reduced Height

Each month we look at case studies where chiropractic care has helped people with different health related problems. Some of them may seem obvious, while others may surprise you. Please pass this along to anyone who may be suffering from any of the following:

Infertility
Constipation
Reduced Height

Infertility and Chiropractic

This is a case study of a 30-year-old woman diagnosed with:

polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)
hypothyroidism
ulcerative colitis
an eight-year history of infertility

She initially sought chiropractic care for neck pain and ulcerative colitis. Her history revealed 3 prior motor vehicle accidents (MVA’s) – in childhood, while in high school and in 2006 to which she attributed her neck pain.

She was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in 2004 and with PCOS in 2005. Two years of medical fertility treatments consisting of metformin, spironolactone and clomifene failed to help. In 2008 she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis for which she was taking medications.

Spinal analysis consisting of spinal heat readings, palpation and leg checks located her subluxations which were corrected with periodic chiropractic adjustments.

After five months of care she was ovulating again for the first time in eight years. She got pregnant after eight months of care. As of this writing she is the mother of a healthy two-year-old boy and has recently given birth to a baby girl. In addition, the patient reports no more neck pain, improved sleep and improvement of colitis symptoms. (1)

Constipation and bed wetting in a 10-year-old

This is the case study of a 10-year-old girl who was brought to a chiropractic clinic for evaluation. The child had a history of four-day constipation and nocturnal enuresis (bed wetting).

Previous attempts to correct her constipation using probiotics, castor oil and flax seeds were unsuccessful.

Her parents brought her to their neighborhood chiropractor – improvement was seen within an hour of reducing cervical (neck) and ilium (hip) subluxations. On the third visit the mother revealed that a lifetime of bed wetting three to four times a week had ended after the first adjustment. (2)

Increase in height and chiropractic

A 59-year-old man began chiropractic care after suffering from 20 years of low back pain, low energy and poor immune function.

Chiropractic examination revealed long-standing subluxations and degenerative joint disease. This was probably caused or compounded by numerous injuries over his life including a concussion that left him with amnesia for one day. Only acupuncture gave him temporary relief from his back pain.

Various chiropractic techniques were used to correct his vertebral subluxations. The patient showed improvement in all subjective and objective findings – relief from low back pain, improved energy and improved immune function. In addition, due to the increase in disc height throughout his spine, his overall height increased. (3)

Sources:

1.Metzger DK. Resolution of infertility in a patient with polycystic ovarian syndrome, hypothyroidism, and ulcerative colitis. Following subluxation-based chiropractic care: a case report and selective review of the literature. Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health – Chiropractic. 2016;3:68-74.

2.Shtulman I, Cunningham, MA. Resolution of constipation and nocturnal enuresis in a 10-year-old female following adjustment of vertebral subluxations: a case study. Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health – Chiropractic. 2016;2:61-67.

3.Syn G, Harper J, Fedorchuk C. Increase in disc height and autonomic functionin a 59-year-old male undergoing chiropractic care. Annals of Vertebral Subluxation Research. April 13, 2015:34-38.

Question: What is Chiropractic Care For?

Answer: Ask different people what chiropractic care is for and you’ll hear:

Chiropractic Care is for menstrual problems
Chiropractic Care is for ear infections
Chiropractic Care is for a better golf swing
Chiropractic Care is for headaches
Chiropractic Care is for better concentration and higher grades
Chiropractic Care is for asthma
Chiropractic Care is for autism
Chiropractic Care is for low back pain
Chiropractic Care is for disk problems
Chiropractic is for neck pain
Chiropractic Care is for infertility …

Get the point?

The list can go on and on because people often think chiropractic is locating and correcting subluxations to help their condition or problem. But in reality….

The purpose of chiropractic is to make your body function closer to its full potential. Chiropractors do that by locating and correcting areas of spine and nerve stress called subluxations. Subluxations can weaken or damage every tissue, organ and gland in your body.

What do you use Chiropractic Care for?

Each one of our clients is very different with a unique set of issues that we treat. Sometimes people come in with one complaint and after chiropractic care, several issues are better. We want to hear what you do use (or could use) our care to treat. We want to help you today!

The Three T’s: Trauma

Let’s Discuss Trauma

The 3 T’s of chiropractic are thoughts, trauma and toxins.

In this article we cover trauma.

DD Palmer, the discoverer of chiropractic in 1895 said that dis-ease or body malfunction is usually caused by three things: toxins, thoughts and trauma.

Trauma is any force that the body cannot resist or adapt to.

When people think of trauma they often think of something violent – a car accident, a fall, a sports injury, a difficult delivery, sleeping in a weird position, collisions or other sudden disruptions.

What is micor-trauma?

But there’s also micro-trauma – doing the same thing over and over so that it eventually wears down and damages the body: typing in the same position, laying carpet or even playing a sport using the same motion over and over.

The Result is Sublaxation

Whether it is a macro-trauma or a micro-trauma the result is often a subluxation – a distortion in your body structure creating dis-ease. As a result, your body struggles to re-balance and function ideally. Your nervous system is under-working or over-working. There is muscle, organ or tissue weakness, sub-optimal functioning and lack of health (wholeness). This dis-ease sets the stage for disease.

Chiropractic Care can Help

Chiropractors are specially trained to locate and correct subluxations in your body whether trauma has occurred today or at birth or any time in between. That is why everyone, from infants to the elderly, needs a chiropractic checkup and adjustment.