I want to thank our staff and patients for helping come up with this list of fun Spring activities.  I hope it helps encourage you to stay active and enjoy this beautiful world.

1. Walk dog at the park.
2. Getting a massage at Spectrum Wellness.
3. Having a picnic at Kelly Drive park.
4. Playing hopscotch with the kids.
5. Playground!
6. Riding bikes.
7. Play my acoustic guitar.
8. Riding a Ripstik.
9. Play capture the flag in the woods.
10. Playing with the grandkids.
11. Plant a garden.
12. Driving with the windows down.
13. Ride a Harley!
14. Gardening.
15. In the morning, running in the cool grass.
16. Walking on the beach.
17. Biking to Spectrum Wellness.
18. Sitting on the porch drinking a banana, pineapple smoothie.
19. Cutting the grass in the sun.
20. Go to the park with friends.

Have you ever wondered why some physical problems never seem to get better? Perhaps you have an injury that has become “chronic”.    Maybe it’s a “bad” back… or a stiff neck… or a sore shoulder.  Whatever it is, you know that something’s wrong.  You should be feeling better by now.  You would love to get out and enjoy the Spring weather.  Or start going to the gym.  Or begin that new exercise class.But you hurt too much.  So why isn’t your body healing normally?  Some days you feel like there’s an improvement, but then the pain is back again.  Why?

I put together the simple diagram at the top of this post to help you understand why. The diagram describes a concept called “The Vicious Cycle of Injury or Trauma”.  This diagram explains the process of an injury and the reasons why you may not be healing properly.

The top of the diagram is where things begin.  Your injury may be mild, severe, or somewhere in between.  But whatever your injury, cellular death occurs at the tissue level.  Muscle fibers tear, ligaments stretch, discs bulge, etc.

Going clockwise, the next circle shows that your injury results in pain, inflammation, and spasm:

• Pain is your body’s “alarm system” letting you know that your body has passed it’s limit.
• Inflammation is your body’s response to the damaged tissue.  Inflammation is the beginning of the healing process.
• Spasm (uncontrolled muscle tightening) is your body’s way of putting a “natural splint” on the area to prevent further injury.

Next you suffer a loss of range of motion.  Examples of how this could manifest include:

• Low back stiffness in the morning.
• A tight neck while in the car.
• An inability to reach behind yourself and scratch your back.

Any of your joints can suffer a loss of motion if there’s local swelling, pain, or muscle spasm. When you have a loss of normal motion for some time, two things happen:

• Your muscles will shrink and weaken (atrophy).
• Adhesions (tough patch-up tissue) will develop in and around the injured area.

Unfortunately, chronic pain results in fatty infiltration into the supporting muscles.  You can get a sense of this by inspecting a cheap cut of meat.  The marbling of fat is the “fatty infiltration” into the muscle.  The tough gristle areas are the adhesions that can develop in and around your muscles.

When you suffer a loss of motion, adhesions and spasm, your normal blood flow will be restricted.  Limited blood flow means that your injured site is receiving less oxygen and less nutrition than normal.  This leads to more tissue death, and the cycle starts all over again.

So how can you get out of this cycle if you feel you’re trapped?

It all starts with coming in to our center for a visit.  After a thorough exam, I will develop a reasonable wellness strategy to help you break the cycle.  Always remember that physical problems can be best fixed with physical solutions.  It can include:

• Chiropractic care
• Massage therapy techniques
• Trigger point therapy
• Laser therapy
• Weight loss techniqes
• Rehabilitative exercises

Please understand that we can’t make you heal, but we can ensure that as you heal, you’ll heal more perfectly.

In your care, we’ll use natural techniques to “attack” each area of the Vicious Cycle.  We have found that the combination of natural therapies works the best to break the vicious cycle because we target multiple points of the cycle at once.

With the help of natural therapies we can:

• Reduce your pain, inflammation and spasm
• Improve your range of motion
• Restore muscle strength and endurance
• Reduce adhesions and trigger points
• Improve blood flow to your tissues

If you’re in pain due to a big or little injury, don’t ignore the problem.  It is critical that healing start as soon as possible.  By getting treatment early, you can prevent abnormal chronic pain patterns from taking root.

With natural therapies you can finally be free of your pain and be the best you can be.

We are pleased to announce the introduction the Posture Pump – Back Model 2000.  This device is designed to be used at home to help relieve back pain and stiffness.  It is painless and easy to use and can physically decompress, shape, and lubricate your spine.   It is portable and can be used at home, in the office, or when traveling.

In February we first introduced the Posture Pump – Neck Model 1000 for the neck.  (For more information on the Neck Model 1000 click here.)

Since then we have had great results with several clients.  So I started exploring the Back Model 2000 and was very impressed with the research behind the product.

This Posture Pump – Back Model 2000 device provides effective relief and lasting correction for:

• Acute back pain
• Chronic back pain
• Sciatica
• Disc bulges
• Disc herniations
• Slouching posture

You can learn more on the Posture Pump web site by clicking here.

You will also be happy to know that both models of the Posture Pump are covered 100% by most major medical insurance if prescribed by a licensed chiropractic doctor.

Please let us know if you are interested and we will schedule a time for a quick evaluation to see if you are a good candidate to for Posture Pump therapy.

Hearty Lentil Stew

• 2 cups of dried lentils
• 2 cups organic sweet corn
• 2 large tomatoes, diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 6 cups of water
• 2 cups of kale, chopped
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp of oregano (or Italian seasoning)
• 1/2 cup crushed walnuts
• 1/2 tsp chili powder (or to taste)
• 1/2 cup raisins

Rinse and drain the lentils.  Add all ingredients to a slow cooker (crock pot) and cook on low for 6-8 hours.  This is a simple and delicious recipe your family will love.

From the American Chiropractic Association (ACA)…

Although many uncertainties remain – it remains entirely possible, perhaps likely, that Congress will soon enact into law a comprehensive legislative package of health care reforms.

Should this occur, it is critical for your welfare and that of your family, that Congress does the following:

1. Ensure that any new legislation includes provisions that place a heavy emphasis on “wellness” and “prevention” of disease – and thus substantially improves on the deficient “sick care” oriented system that now exists.

2. Ensure that you have fair, unimpeded and direct access to essential chiropractic health care services as an accessible “alternative” to routine forms of covered care provided by insurance companies.

3. Ensure that your freedom to choose the individual and type of doctor of your choice is guaranteed without discrimination, including your chiropractic physician.

4. Ensure that “patient friendly” provisions, including important non-discrimination provisions, are retained or inserted in any bill Congress enacts into law.

5. Ensure that the special privilege (anti-trust provisions) that allows health insurance companies to conspire together in order to fix prices and dominate markets to the detriment of patients and providers is repealed.

It is urgent you TAKE ACTION NOW to persuade Congress to protect your rights and interests when they finalize health reform legislation.  Accordingly, PLEASE GO HERE in order to SEND A STRONG AND IMMEDIATE MESSAGE TO CONGRESS regarding your concerns.

Please do not delay – time is of the essence – CLICK HERE NOW TO TAKE ACTION.

We now have available a special type of cervical (neck) traction, called The Posture Pump.  This device provides effective relief and lasting correction for:

• Acute neck pain
• Chronic neck pain
• Headaches
• Disc bulges
• Disc herniations
• Forward head posture

In many cases, the Posture Pump device adds a needed complement to your in-office care.  A thorough evaluation will provide the necessary information to determine if the Posture Pump is right for you.  If you are interested in this device or have any questions about it, just ask.  You can learn more on the Posture Pump web site by clicking here.

The Posture Pump is safe, easy to use, and is covered by most insurance carriers.  It may be the missing piece of the puzzle to your optimal recovery.

Hello everyone!  I hope you’re doing well, keeping warm, and staying safe.  With help from my family, I was able to dig out this morning and get to our wellness center safely.  With the help of Rachel and Shauna, I was able to dig in to our center.  We channeled a nice, clear path from the lot to the door.

The parking is a bit messy right now and we have only about five parking spots available.  If parking is too difficult, please feel free to use the lot at the Bethayers Professional Building right next door.  The Century 21 lot is also available to use after 5:00 PM.

We will be re-opening at 3:00 today.  Hope to see you soon.  Stay well!

Due to the heavy snow we’re receiving, our office will be closed Wednesday, February 10th.  We will do our best to reopen tomorrow (Thursday the 11th), but may start 1-2 hours late.  If you have an early appointment, please call to confirm.

In the meantime, stay home, stay warm, and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate!  If you are going to do some shoveling, check out my post called “How to Shovel Snow Without Getting Hurt”…

http://spectrumwellness.net/how-to-shovel-snow-without-getting-hurt/

If you suffer from chronic low back pain and want to experience freedom from your pain, you will want to pay particular attention to your core.  To finally gain control of your back pain and reduce the chance of a relapse, you have to improve the condition of your core.  The term “core” may have you thinking of Pilate’s, Yoga, or doing sit-ups until your six pack burns.  Unfortunately the term “core” is frequently misused and the true nature of the core is greatly misunderstood.

To understand the true nature of your core, you need to understand your body design.  Your bones, ligaments, and joint capsules (passive restraints) provide stability toward the end of joint motion (ROM).  They don’t provide much stability in the neutral position.  That’s where the muscles come in to play, and provide support and stiffness.  Your body muscles are set up in three basic layers.

The outer layer of muscles are your large muscles.  These are big, strong muscles that are designed to move your skeleton.  They also are the muscles that give your body its shape.  The rectus abdominus muscles (the “six-pack”) is an outer layer muscle, and technically not part of your core.

You have a middle layer of muscles that lie beneath the outer layer of muscles.  These muscles connect to your spine and are designed for stability and control.  These are muscles of endurance that allow you to maintain good posture while you go about your day.  These middle layer muscles work continually to protect your spine as you put your body through its many different positions – sitting, bending, twisting, running, jumping, etc. If your core is weak, you will be susceptible to injury as you try to sustain static postures (i.e. sitting), or try to perform dynamic activities (i.e. playing soccer).

You also have a deep layer of muscles that act as “sensors” for your nervous system.  These small muscles attach to your spine and give continual feedback to your brain with each joint movement. These deep muscles are muscles of endurance and enable you to maintain good posture, balance, and position sense.

The muscles of your middle layer and deep layer make up your true core.  And because your core is composed of muscles of endurance, you must work it differently.  You can’t just do the normal exercises promoted in most health clubs or gyms.  Focusing on strength doesn’t help the true core.  Muscular endurance, posture, and balance must be your focus if you want to improve the condition of your core.

Your body stability is a dynamic function and includes:

• Static positioning
• Controlled movement
• Alignment in sustained postures
• Movement patterns that reduce body strain, avoid injury, and allow efficient muscle action

Your body stability and movement patterns may be altered by any combination of the following:

• Injuries
• Insufficient muscular strength or endurance
• Poor neuromuscular control
• Fatigue

To improve the condition of your core, research has shown that very moderate levels of muscle activity can be enough to create stable joints.  To work the endurance muscles of your core, only about 10% of your maximum contraction is needed to provide joint stability.  In contrast, when doing strength training you have to work at 70-80% of your maximum contraction in 1-2 sets of 8-12 repetitions.

This is great news!  Even if you are suffering from chronic back pain today, you can take active steps towards recovery.  I have been working with patients with chronic back pain since 1992, and have seen many amazing recoveries from patients following our easy program.  If you are committed to our program of core stabilization exercises, you will in most cases be able to gain control of your back pain within 4 to 6 weeks.

No drugs.  No surgery.  No expensive traction devices.  No high-tech computerized exercise devices.

Just a series of core stabilization exercises that are so simple, I’ve pictured the basic part of the program on this site.  Sounds simple?  That’s because it is.

Just click here to see the core stabilization program.

Sweet Cabbage Soup

• 1 C orange juice
• 7 C water
• 1  C rice or soy beverage
• 1/2 C split peas
• 1/2 C steel cut oats
• 1 head of cabbage, chopped into large chunks
• 1 cup Medjool dates
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 C chopped carrots
• 1 C chopped kale
• 3 T veggie base (to make broth)
• 3 tsp spices to taste (oregano, thyme, paprika, etc)

Use a good blender and fill with 3 cups of water.  Add walnuts and dates and blend until creamy.  Then add all ingredients and the blended mixture into a large stock pot.  Cover the pot and cook on a low flame.  Stir occasionally. When the cabbage is tender, use tongs to remove from the soup and put into the blender.  With some soup broth, blend up the chunks of cabbage and pour back into the pot.  Continue cooking, and stirring occasionally, for at least another 60 minutes.