Precision Chiropractic

NeuroStructural Chiropractor

upper cervical

The #1 Rule on the Farm

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Someone very wise told me to always keep the barn door closed. He told me that it was the number one rule on the farm.

I didn’t understand at first but he explained that it was much easier to make sure the barn door was closed and locked than it would be to have to go out in the middle of the night chasing after your animals to bring them back. The idea is that it’s better and less costly to prevent a problem than to try and solve a problem once it arrives. Proactive vs. Reactive.

We are taught to be reactive when we are dealing with our health.

How much do we hear about pain and symptom management vs. health and wellness curation?

We hear about the latest innovations in treatment but almost nothing about prevention. 

Chiropractic is no different. Come in for back pain. Come in for headaches. Come in for stiffness. 

But what if there was a better way?

An approach less about pain and symptom management and more about correction and prevention.

Getting your head on straight is effective for pain but it is GREAT for prevention.

Want to Change Your Health? Change Your Perspective

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Do you want to change your health? It all starts with changing your perspective.

No, I’m not going to give you mantras or affirmations, nor am I going to tell you just think positive.

What I will do is point out something that guides how we make decisions about our health that is right in front of us but is something we don’t stop and critically evaluate.

Right now the conventional thought about health is pathogenic. In other words, it’s about the factors that cause disease. This method has very distinct characteristics and principles.

In a pathogenic mindset, you are either healthy or sick. The attention is directed toward the specific diagnosis of the specific disease of the patient. The focus is also aimed at the risk factors for the disease being considered.

The starting point is the disease or problem.

Now let’s try a new mindset.

The Salutogenic mindset. The word Salutogenic comes from the Latin salus (meaning health) and the Greek genesis (meaning origin).

A Salutogenic approach to health focuses on what makes us healthy instead of what causes disease. In this approach you are not either healthy or sick, you’re on a continuum in which you are moving towards health or towards being sick.

The attention is focused on the overall state of the health/illness of a person. Instead of just looking at the risk factors of the particular disease, the focus is on where the patient is on the health spectrum.

The starting point in this approach is the health potential of each patient instead of the patient’s disease or problem.

A pathogenic approach is reactionary. Decisions are made in response to signs and symptoms of the disease.

By definition, a Salutogenic approach is a proactive approach. Decisions are made to enhance each patient’s overall well-being.

Exercise, eating well, and taking supplements are all examples of a Salutogenic approach. Another familiar example is brushing your teeth and seeing your dentist regularly. Taking care of your spine and nervous system would be a less familiar example but can be essential in helping you realize your fullest health potential.

The next time you make any decision about your health, ask yourself, am I being reactive or proactive?

Am I focused on the disease? Or am I focused on creating health?

This change in your mindset can make all the difference.

Why Feeling Dizzy, Wobbly, or Woozy Can Be a Spinal Problem

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Your balance and equilibrium is a complicated, intricate dance between three sensory systems – the vestibular, the visual, and the proprioceptive systems. The information is aggregated from these systems in your central nervous system where it is used to control the muscles in your spine and body to maintain balance.

Good information allows your body to make good adaptations to keep you feeling level and balanced. Bad information can leave you feeling wobbly, dizzy, and off-balance. Have you heard of the term garbage in, garbage out? Your body is constantly receiving information about your surrounding environment and it is important that these three sensory systems are working optimally so that the output is as good as the input.

The vestibular system is centered around your inner ear and it gives your brain information about head position. The visual system is centered around your eyes and it gives information about your body in relation to its environment. Proprioception is a sense dictated by movement detected by your skin, muscles, and joints. Have you ever wondered how you can close your eyes and touch your nose with your fingertip? (If you can’t please give us a call!) or how you can walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night in the complete dark? These things are possible because there are sensors in your skin and joints telling your brain where it is in space all of the time.

Abnormal shifts in the spine at the very top of your neck can disrupt all three of these sensory systems. This is why we use our 3-D structural analysis to detect any abnormal swaying that can indicate a problem in these areas. The very top of your neck houses important neurological connections to your eyes and ears and serves as a gateway for all of the nerves that bring proprioceptive information to the brain.

Finding solid footing means making sure your nerves are communicating properly. At Precision Chiropractic we have the technology to detect and correct abnormal shifts in your spine that cause neurological disturbances to your sensory systems.

 

Got Electrolytes? 3 Great Ways to Stay Hydrated this Summer

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Summer is in full swing and it’s hot out there!  Whether you’re going for a short walk or running a half-marathon when your body sweats it loses more than just water.  Your sweat also contains electrolytes, which are charged metallic ions that keep the pressure in our cells and the pH balance of our blood within their normal range.  The 7 major electrolytes are:

  • Sodium
  • Chloride
  • Potassium
  • Magnesium
  • Calcium
  • Phosphate
  • Bicarbonate

These electrolytes are not only important for good hydration, they keep our bodies functioning by creating a perfectly balanced environment to conduct nerve signals.  If your body’s automatic operating system (aOS) fails to work properly, it can result in the development of many health conditions.  Electrolyte imbalance can lead to muscle spasm, weakness, joint pain, anxiety, headaches, digestive issues, dizziness, heart irregularities and more.

How Do I Choose a Good Electrolyte Drink?

When it comes to choosing a drink to replenish electrolytes, the options can be overwhelming.  It’s usually best to stay away with sugar-filled and dye-laden gas station options like Gatorade or Powerade.

  1. Nuun – these easy to use and transport electrolyte tablets are made with very little sugar and simple ingredients, Nuun tablets are great to bring along and drop in a water bottle when it starts getting hot.
  2. Skratch Labs – these powdered drink mixes are great to mix into a shake or sports drink and are naturally flavored with real fruit.
  3. Make your own!  If you need to rehydrate from a day on the ball field or from feeling under the weather, this simple homemade electrolyte drink will do the trick.  Plus, it tastes great!
      • 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
      • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
      • 2 cups of filtered or purified water
      • 2 T organic raw honey or maple syrup
      • 1/8 t Himalayan pink sea salt
      • Place all ingredients in a blender, blend well, and enjoy!

Staying well hydrated in the heat of the summer is important for our overall wellbeing.  These three options make it simple to get the minerals we need to keep our bodies running optimally.  Have any other favorite ways to hydrate after a fun day in the sun?  Leave us a comment below!

6 Easy & Natural Ways to Power Up Your Brain

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Having a POWERFUL brain has the ability to influence your mood, motivation, memory, and energy levels. In this article, we will talk about how to naturally improve the power of the brain by making sure you have the proper amount of dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that acts as a powerful stimulator in the brain. The euphoric feeling of falling in love for the first time? That’s dopamine! The major dopamine pathways start at the base of the brain, near the brainstem. Therefore, the base of the brain is what drives and powers the rest of the brain.

Here are 6 ways you can increase your dopamine production:

  1. Increase your vitamin D levels – Vitamin D activates the release of dopamine. Find the time to play outside in the sun with your bare skin exposed (well.. not TOO Much bare skin!) Sunlight is way more effective than any vitamin D supplement.
  2. Moderate amounts of caffeine – coffee lovers rejoice!
  3. Exercise – Specifically, the kind of exercise that builds muscle. For the purposes of creating more dopamine, cardio on its own is not as effective.
  4. Cold showers – This might be the easiest way to get a jolt of dopamine, but also one where you really have to hype yourself up!
  5. Watch your sugars – Common culprits include white flour and sugar. Sneakier sources include too much fruit and fruit juices. Sugar increases insulin which suppresses dopamine.
  6. Vagal activation – The more your vagus nerve is activated, the more you will stimulate dopamine release. The vagus nerve is the control center of the autonomic nervous system, which controls your body’s automatic and life-sustaining functions. Here are a few ways to promote vagal activation:
    • Is your head on straight? Improper head and neck alignment can disturb the blood and cerebrospinal fluid flow around the base of the brain. This can lead to a decreased amount of dopamine activation. This is what we take care of in our office.
    • Deep and controlled breathing
    • Gargling water for 15-20 seconds

Do these six things to POWER-UP your brain! If you have any questions email us at [email protected] or give us a call at 970.663.1617

The NeuroStructural Exam: The Heart of What We Do

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The heart and soul of our office is the NeuroStructural Exam. I know that might sound mundane or routine, but without the exam, nothing that we do in the office would make any sense. If you look in our office we have walls, a front desk area, a lobby, a few hallways, and a bathroom. If you walked into our office accidentally you could easily think that you were in a dentist’s or a realtor’s office. It’s what we are doing within those walls that makes us different.

The exam allows us to see if you have what we look for in our office, – underlying structural abnormalities in the spine. These structural abnormalities cause havoc in the body in two main ways. They disrupt proper neurological function, primarily the involuntary nervous system, and cause structural weakness within the body. You can read more about these negative effects of these misalignments here.

The results of the exam also establish a baseline. Why is this important? Look at it this way: Would you watch a football game with no scoreboard, downs, distances, and yard markers? How would you know who was winning? If you were losing how would you know? If you are trying to score, how could you strategize and plan? It would be very difficult, if not impossible.

In most cases within healthcare, baselines don’t really matter since most care is geared toward symptom and pain management. As long as symptoms change and pain is reduced then most providers are satisfied and consider you healthy.

At our office, we look beyond pain and symptom management. We are looking for the restoration of proper structural and neurological function. This makes our exam and your baseline the foundation of all we do here.

Here are the components of our examination:

  • Structural Radiographs
  • aOS (Autonomic Operating System)
  • Neural Thermal Analysis
  • 3D Structural Analysis

A mentor of mine used to tell me, “either it works or it doesn’t”. Some might interpret those words as an excuse to be complacent about getting results, but I took his words as a challenge to always measure, test, and push forward our understanding.

If you are looking for something that goes beyond surface-level pain and symptom management, schedule a complimentary consultation with us and let’s see if our care is a good fit for you.

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