Santa Barbara Chiropractic Care Can Ease Your Asthma Symptoms
Posted on 29. Jun, 2009 by admin in Santa Barbara Chiropractic, asthma
Santa Barbara Chiropractic knows all too well that a greater number of Americans than ever before say they are disabled by asthma. It is one of this country’s most common and costly diseases. In fact, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, each day 40,000 people miss school or work due to asthma; 30,000 people undergo an asthma attack; 5,000 people visit the emergency room due to asthma;1,000 people are admitted to the hospital due to asthma;and, 11 people die from asthma.
Asthma symptoms can be caused by allergens or irritants that are inhaled into the lungs, resulting in inflamed, clogged and constricted airways. Symptoms include laborious breathing, wheezing, coughing, and tightness in the chest. In severe cases, asthma can be fatal. There is no medical cure for asthma though drugs may temporarily lessen the symptoms.
Despite the fact that chiropractic is not a therapy for asthma, per se, current research published in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research recorded the results experienced by 81 children with asthma who were provided with chiropractic adjustments. The two-month study reported that those under care experienced a 45% decrease in the number of “attacks” and that 31% of the subjects voluntarily chose to take less of their medication.
What is the technique by which chiropractic care reduces the frequency and intensity of asthma attacks? How can an adjust of the spine affect respiration? Nervous system impedance is removed through chiropractic adjustments. Most of nerves that regulate bodily functions exit between the spinal vertebrae and carry on to their destination. This includes those nerves that affect the respiratory system. If restricted, nerves that control the diaphragm can have a detrimental effect on how beneficially the respiratory system functions. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, why so many men, women and children receiving chiropractic treatment report augmented breathing and an abatement in their asthmatic symptoms.
Chiropractic may be beneficial for you, or someone you love, who has asthma, if it is generated by, or aggravated as the result of spinal subluxations. Chiropractic could help you to breathe a little easier. Call your chiropractor today!
Chiropractor Santa Barbara: An Upper and Lower Case for Back and Neck Pain Relief
Posted on 25. Jun, 2009 by admin in neck pain
Chiropractor Santa Barbara wants you to know that neck pain and other problems of the spine can occur if you sit for extended periods at a computer. Are you experiencing lower back pain, upper back pain, and/or neck pain that also radiates down one or both of your arms generating additional pain, pins and needles, or numbness? Neck and shoulder pain are, in fact, the most common upper-extremity musculoskeletal problems among computer users. In a 2002 study tracking 632 computer users newly hired at major Atlanta companies, Dr. Fredric E. Gerr, an occupational medicine physician and ergonomics investigator at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, and colleagues observed that roughly 60 percent developed neck or shoulder pain in the first year, though the study did not track how long symptoms persisted.
Younger generations growing up in the digital age are also joining the ranks of the “typing wounded.” Surveys at two universities found that 40 to 50 percent of undergraduates experienced upper-extremity pain from using their computers. Colleges do not build dormitory furniture to be ergonomically adjustable, said Dr. Benjamin Amick, scientific director of the Institute for Work and Health in Toronto, who was a co-author of those studies. “They build it to be indestructible.”
In addition to repetitive stress problems, sitting at your computer too long places your upper back in a sustained, stressful posture, especially if you tend to lean forward when you’re working. This also puts your neck at an unnatural and strained angle. Lower back pain, in addition to being generated by simply sitting for long periods of time without getting up and moving around, is aggravated by bad posture.
Problems caused by extended computer use can not only lead to an inability to perform your work duties, but can keep you from enjoying the rest of your life, too. Your Santa Barbara chiropractor can assist in eliminating the lower back pain, upper back pain, and/or neck pain that you are currently experiencing. After that, it is important for you to become mindful of your body as you sit at your computer, and to give your body what it naturally needs. You can cultivate the habit of both sitting straight in your chair (as opposed to slouching) and relaxing your shoulders. This will help to relieve tension in your lower and upper back and neck. Take time to stretch periodically to ease muscle tension and encourage healthy blood flow. If your work station permits, sitting on an exercise ball can not only aide in keeping you in a beneficial posture, but can help to strengthen your core muscles as well. (Make sure that the ball is the right size so that when you are seated on it your arms are at a ninety-degree angle to your keyboard.)
Good posture for ease of movement, variety in the motions that you do, and short breaks to relax and stretch will go a long way in keeping your computer work (or play) pain-free.
Partial source: The New York Times, Health Review, June 22, 2009
Chiropractic Santa Barbara: "Motion is Life"
Posted on 22. Jun, 2009 by admin in Chiropractic Santa Barbara, exercise
Chiropractic Santa Barbara agrees that “motion is life,” and that exercise and other healthy activities are good for body and soul. We, humans, were designed to walk, to run, to dance, and to move all the muscles of our body for our entire lifespan. So, naturally, it follows that we either “move it or lose it!” Our aging “Baby Boomer” population is discovering just how true this cautionary advice is when it comes to energy, vitality, mobility, and good health in later years. With every year of our life, we have much to gain from being physically active…and plenty to lose by living an immobile or sedentary lifestyle.
As our age-related risks of chronic disease increase, regular physical activity can actually slow down the trend. In addition, research has shown that people who have already developed coronary artery disease, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Type 2 diabetes, and other age-related chronic diseases can benefit substantially by increasing their physical activity and, therefore, often can manage their chronic illness with fewer medicines.
Furthermore, some studies suggest that the cardiovascular benefits an individual gets from physical activity may also help the brain stay healthy. “Physical activity influences the frontal region of the brain,” says Dr. Bradley Hatfield, professor of Sports Psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park. So, if you’ve been wondering what the best thing is that you can do to keep your brain young, the answer may be for you to take a long walk. A key factor is that exercise thickens the brain tissue and builds more synapses in the brain. The brain has 10 billion nerve cells, called neurons, and on average, neurons are connected to each other through 10,000 synapses. Every time we exercise, more synapses form and the active brain gets stronger.
On a regular basis, being physically active increases the quality of life (period). Some of the benefits include improved energy levels, mental sharpness, balance, strength, flexibility, and weight control. Moreover, regular aerobic exericise has been shown to help in the management of depression, anxiety, and stress.
So, even though the facts point conclusively to the validity of the “move it or lose it!” warning, they also confirm that it is never to late for you to “move it” and regain your health!
Chiropractic Santa Barbara Offers Easy Steps for Getting Active Again
Posted on 18. Jun, 2009 by admin in Chiropractic Santa Barbara, exercise
Chiropractic Santa Barbara is a firm believer in exercise and activity at every age. You may have read on this website, or elsewhere, about recent studies that have shown that physical activity is requisite to getting and staying healthy, especially as we age. But, if you’ve been inactive for awhile, even the idea of exercise might seem “exhausting.” The best way, then, to approach this much-needed addition to your lifestyle is, literally and figuratively, to do it one step at a time. A smart “first step” is to see a health care professional, like your chiropractor, for a full physical examination. Once it is confirmed that you won’t make matters worse through movement, then the next step is simply to start moving a bit each day.
Any movement is a step towards better health and physical fitness. Walk a lap (or two) around your house or apartment. Put that TV remote away and get up to change the channels. As your body becomes accustomed to moving again, you will probably discover that you actually want to move more. Then you can slowly add additional movement to your daily routine. Increase the walk around your house to a walk around the block, a walk in the park, or even a walk through the shopping mall. Walking with a friend can often help to keep you on track(especially on those days when you’d rather sit and veg, then get your body moving). If you are physically able, take the stairs instead of using the elevator as often as you can. Park farther away from the entrance to the supermarket and make it a goal to put more and more parking spots between you and the entrance.
After a few weeks of regular physical activity, you will begin to feel the healthful benefits of movement. Then you’ll be ready for new ways to build flexibility, fitness, and muscle strength. Your Santa Barbara chiropractor can advise you on how to become more physically active and help you to development an individualized program.
Santa Barbara Chiropractor: Back Pain Sufferers Report They Are Highly Satisfied With Their Chiropractic Care
Posted on 16. Jun, 2009 by admin in back pain
Your Santa Barbara Chiropractor is an expert when it comes to back pain relief. If you’ve chosen chiropractic treatment for your back pain, you are, no doubt, very satisfied with the results. In fact, a recent Consumer Reports survey of its readers found that the majority of chiropractic patients are “highly satisfied” with their chiropractic care. The survey, which included 14,000 Consumer Reports subscribers, found that “hands-on” therapies, led by chiropractic care, were the top-rated treatments for people suffering from back pain. In fact, chiropractors were given the highest “satisfaction with care” ratings, well above those given to medical doctors who administered various forms of care to back pain sufferers
The survey, reported in the publication’s May 2009 issue, found that more than half of the respondents had “pain (that) severely limited their daily routine for a week or longer, and 88 percent said it recurred throughout the year.” The report stated that while many go to a primary care physician first for diagnosis and treatment, the majority were disappointed with the results.
On the other hand, 59 percent reported that they were “highly satisfied” with the care they received from chiropractors. The next highest rated practitioners were physical therapists (55 percent) and acupuncturists (53 percent), followed by “specialized” physicians (44 percent) and primary care physicians (34 percent).
Respondents were also asked to rate the types of treatments they received. Again, chiropractic/spinal manipulation got top honors, with 58 percent rating it as “helping a lot.” Spinal injections were next highest, rated at 51 percent, followed by massage (48 percent) and physical therapy (46 percent). Other highly rated treatments included prescription medications (45 percent), yoga (44 percent), movement therapy and acupuncture (both 41 percent).
According to a Dynamic Chiropractic article on that report, “Chiropractic ranked first out of 11 treatments, including massage, acupuncture, and exercise, in its ability to treat back pain. More readers said that chiropractic ‘helped me feel much better’ than any of the other therapies.” Prescription drugs and over-the-counter drugs ranked eighth and 10th, respectively.
So, if you’ve been “highly satisfied” with your chiropractic care, you’re not alone! In fact, more and more people are turning to chiropractic treatment not only for back pain relief, but for a wide variety of painful conditions from sports and repetitive stress injuries to arthritis. If you live in the Santa Barbara area, feel free to call our office at 805-882-1956. Thanks for reading!
A public version of the report can be found on the Consumer Reports Web site
Chiropractor Santa Barbara: You Can Eliminate Allergy Misery Once and For All!
Posted on 12. Jun, 2009 by admin in Chiropractor Santa Barbara, allergies
Chiropractor Santa Barbara knows that allergies can turn your everyday life into misery. Unwelcome symptoms such as itchy eyes, a runny nose, sneezing, or a skin rash can occur from a simple walk in the garden, a play date with Kitty, a seafood pasta, or even something as small as a nut. However, occasionally our allergic reactions can progress from just plain irritating to dangerous and life-threatening as our air passageway becomes constricted and we have a hard time breathing. If you have allergies, it may seem that, from time-to-time, your environment is a intensely antagonistic place and that the world around you is, truly, out to get you!
Why does your body react, or rather overreact, to the environment with such a severe allergic reaction while other people appear to be unaffected? It’s a great question. The answer is that some individuals, like you, have a hyperactive immune system that literally “freaks out” when they encounter common substances such as pollen, dander, shellfish, or nuts.
Have you been wondering if your chiropractor can help your allergies? The answer may surprise you. Quite a few people have noticed that they experience relief from their allergy symptoms after chiropractic treatment, even though chiropractic care doesn’t actually treat allergies. The reason for this is because chiropractic manipulation affects the entire nervous system, including the autoimmune system. When there’s a disruption in the nervous system, in addition to other problems, the autoimmune system, whose responsibility it is to help us adapt and respond appropriately to our environment, can become under-active or overactive. The dysfunction is the latter when it comes to your allergies. Because chiropractic adjustments decrease or remove disturbances in the nervous system and bring back balance and harmony to the body, the treatments bring that same balance and harmony to the auto-immune system as well. A strong immune system responds appropriately to so-called allergens in the environment.
So, as pointed out above, your chiropractor doesn’t directly treat allergies. You could say, instead, that a decrease in your allergies is simply a part of a well-adjusted nervous system. Make an appointment, today, to see your chiropractor and get back into harmony with your environment.
Chiropractic Santa Barbara Warns About Your Cell Phone and Repetitive Stress Injury
Posted on 09. Jun, 2009 by admin in Chiropractic Santa Barbara, elbow pain
Chiropractic Santa Barbara is concerned about all of your joints, including your elbow joints, and wants you to know about a new study that could help you to avoid elbow pain. We all know how “irritating” it can be when someone is talking loudly on a cell phone (as long as that person isn’t us!). Honestly, doesn’t it seem as if you can’t even take a quiet walk along the beach or in the park without someone walking by shouting into their cell phone? You could say, in fact, that nowadays the excessive use of cell phones has become a pain in our psyche. Well, the detrimental effects of excessive cell phone use apparently doesn’t stop with “pain in the brain.” A new report outlines the prevalence of “cell phone elbow,” an affliction in which users experience pain and numbness in their elbow due to extensive cell phone use. The idea is similar carpal tunnel syndrome, and the effect on the muscles and tendons concerned is essentially the same except a different nerve is pinched. Instead of being located in the wrist, cell phone elbow (”cubital tunnel syndrome”) cell phone elbow originates in the elbow region and results in pain or numbness in forearms, as well as tingling in pinkie and ring fingers. According to a study from the Cleveland Clinic, doctors are seeing more and more individuals experiencing these symptoms.
What exactly produces the problem? Holding a cell phone to the ear causes the elbow to bend, thereby stretching the nerve between muscles and tendons. When the arm is bent for long periods of time, the nerve gets inflamed. “Repetitive, sustained stretching of the nerve is like stepping on a garden hose,” said Dr. Peter J. Evans, director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Hand and Upper Extremity Center. “With the hose, you’re blocking the flow of water. With the elbow, you’re blocking the blood flow to the nerve, which causes it to misfire and short circuit.” The first symptom of cell phone elbow is usually pain just below the elbow in the forearm. This is usually followed by the sensation of pins and needles in the pinkie and ring finger. In the most severe case those fingers can curl up and become difficult to use.
The good news is that the condition is easily preventable and treatable. Users are simply encouraged to avoid holding their phone in one position for too long in order to reduce the amount of strain on the affected muscles. For those who are already feeling strain, it is advisable to do simple stretches in order to help prevent some of the damage.
And, of course, a quiet walk in the park or along the beach with your cell phone turned off or, better yet, left behind, would not only go along way in reducing cell phone elbow, but it might do a lot to improve the health of your psyche as well!
This study was published in the May issue of the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine.
Chiropractic Santa Barbara: Don't Let PMS Put You On the Bench
Posted on 06. Jun, 2009 by admin in Chiropractic Santa Barbara, wellness
Chiropractic Santa Barbara is concerned about your overall wellness as a woman. At one time or another, Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) impacts and estimated 90% of women and nearly 20% of those women afflicted experience severe to debilitating symptoms. Telling a woman that her PMS is “just in her head” can be not only just plain hazardous, it’s also just plain non-factual! There are physiological causes of PMS in most cases, including one that you might find surprising — spinal misalignment. That’s right. Your back could actually be the culprit. Spinal misalignment, expressly in the lower back, can commonly generate a wide variety of female health conditions in addition to Premenstrual Syndrome, such as pelvic pain, sexual dysfunction, incontinence, and even infertility.
Are you wondering how chiropractic can ease the symptoms of PMS? Chiropractic treatments get rid of nerve disturbance in your body. Every cell, fiber, tissue, organ, and system in your body is instructed and regulated by your nervous system. This includes your reproductive system. If your reproductive system isn’t performing correctly due to nerve interference, it can cause a myriad of symptoms such as those connected with PMS. You would most likely experience agitation, pain, heavy bleeding, or severe cramping if your reproductive system were overactive. Missed periods or infertility can be caused by an under-activity reproductive system. The good news is that if nerve impedance is causing your PMS symptoms, then chiropractic care can assist because adjustments restore unimpeded activity to your nervous system and, therefore, assisting it in functioning more normally.
In conjunction with improved general health, many women experience an improvement in their reproductive health, as well, while under chiropractic care. So, if you’ve been thinking that your PMS is just in head, think again! And, make an appointment to see your Santa Barbara Chiropractor as soon as possible. Chiropractic management offers an all natural answer for PMS that could assist you in avoiding periodic misery, without medication, and keep you symptom-free and energetic all month long.
Chiropractic Santa Barbara Wants You to Know That Your Healthy Future Starts Today No Matter What Your Age May Be
Posted on 04. Jun, 2009 by admin in Chiropractic Santa Barbara, wellness
Chiropractic Santa Barbara believes that overall wellness is possible at any age: Doesn’t it seem that healthy lifestyle information is everywhere you look these days? There are magazines and TV shows all about healthy foods and beneficial exercises. There are even recipes for nutritious meals in the newspaper. But, even though more Americans today are aware that eating nutritious meals, getting exercise, and keeping their body weight down is essential for health and longevity, a new study reported in the June 2009 issue of the American Journal of Medicine has found that the number of middle-aged and older Americans who have adopted a healthy lifestyle has actually declined substantially in the past two decades. Using data from a large government health survey, researchers found that in 2006, only 26 percent of Americans ages 40 to 74 said they ate five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day. That’s down 16 percent from the 42 percent who responded in the 1988 survey! When it came to exercise, the same kind of decline was reported. Only 43 percent said they worked out at least 12 times per month, versus 53 percent in 1988. Not surprisingly, the rate of obesity in the United States went in the opposite direction, from 28 percent in 1988 to 36 percent in 2006.
The findings were based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a regularly conducted government health survey. Researchers focused on surveys conducted between 1988 and 1994 and between 2001 and 2006, which together included more than 15,000 Americans between the ages of 40 and 74. They looked at rates of five lifestyle factors involved in preventing a range of health risks: maintaining a normal weight, getting regular exercise, eating enough fruits and vegetables, not smoking, and drinking moderate amounts of alcohol.
Though the study cannot tell us why healthy lifestyle habits are on the decline, lead researcher, Dr. Dana E. King, of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, said that one reason may be that these changes are just difficult to make. “People’s increasingly hectic lives may be making it hard to fit in regular exercise, or to sit down to healthier, home-cooked meals rather than eating take-out.” He suggested some simple steps can make a difference. “It’s not hard, for example, to take some fruit to work with you, instead of going to the vending machine.” (Parking a little farther away from your destination and walking a bit can help, too.) Most importantly, Dr. King stressed that “it’s never too late” for middle-aged and older adults to make lifestyle changes for the better. In fact, in an earlier study, King and his colleagues found that when middle-aged adults newly adopted a healthier lifestyle — including regular exercise and eating more fruits and vegetables — their risk of developing cardiovascular disease or dying over the next several years fell by as much as 40 percent.
If you think about it, there aren’t many things in life that carry an “it’s never too late” guarantee. So, why not start today, no matter what your age may be? Your healthy future is depending on you!
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