“Believe it or not…”

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“Believe it or not…”

“Have you more faith in a spoonful of medicine than in the power that animates the living world?”

  • B.J. Palmer, the “developer” of chiropractic (1882-1961)

Ever heard someone say, “I believe in Chiropractic”? What about pills? Xrays? Do you believe in them? Is belief in gravity necessary for it to work? Do you believe in the effects of exercise or a healthy diet? What changes might you see immediately with starting a new regimen? How about after six months of healthy eating and physical activity?

Chiropractic isn’t a religion that you have to “believe in” for it to work. Children and animals get adjusted, and they don’t know enough to be able to “believe in” chiropractic any more than most of us are able to deeply understand the law of gravity. It just exists, and we see its effects every day. An ideological debate isn’t necessary or helpful because the effects tell the story.

The human body is designed and given intelligence (“power” according to B.J. Palmer) to function and maintain itself with great complexity. When the nervous system is functioning at its peak potential, we are able to adapt to internal and external changes in environment. Chiropractic is the philosophy, science and art of removing interference to enable that peak potential. Modern scientific research is slowly catching up with what the founders of chiropractic knew over a century ago, even though they were considered quacks for “practicing medicine without a license.” And patients all over the world are gaining an understanding and respect for what chiropractic has to offer in long term, natural health care. We don’t have to “believe in” chiropractic to receive the scientifically valid healing and improved quality of life. Chiropractic provides a viable alternative to drugs and surgery – a healing that flows from an intelligent nervous system that is fully-functioning. This quiet confidence frees the mind to explore other ideas and experiences in LIFE.

No, you don’t have to “believe in” chiropractic. Faith and trust in the unknown should be a part of all our lives, but chiropractic exists and the results speak for themselves.

It’s Cold and I Have a Cold

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It’s Cold and I Have a Cold

Here in Montana, we are used to different seasons. Spring, summer, fall and winter, the only season we are not used to is cold and flu season. When cold and flu season hits, many of us turn to over-the-counter remedies and stay home to rest. But did you know this is the best time to get a check-up? Chiropractic care is great when flu season arrives, those stuffy nose and clogged sinuses, let us take care of that.

Chiropractic care focuses on subluxations of the spine, particularly the relationship between the spine and the nervous system. Chiropractic treatment is effective for colds and flu because spinal misalignments, or subluxations, can interfere with nerve function, directly affecting the nervous system. By correcting these misalignments, we can help optimize the body’s ability to fight off infections.

Several studies have explored the connection between spinal adjustments and immune function. For example, a 2011 study published in Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics found that chiropractic adjustments led to improved immune system function by increasing the number of white blood cells, which are crucial in fighting infection. Another study indicated that spinal manipulation enhances the body’s response to viral infections, playing a role in reducing both the duration and intensity of symptoms.

Although chiropractic care may not directly cure the cold or flu, many patients report experiencing fewer symptoms or shorter illness durations after receiving adjustments. Additionally, regular chiropractic treatments help strengthen the immune system over time, reducing the frequency of infections.

Additionally, to getting checked-up, here is a recipe with immune boosting properties. Using fresh sliced ginger, we can boil it in water and honey to make a ginger and honey bomb. Ginger has some of the best anti-inflammatory and immune properties and so does honey.

“Healthy Spine, Healthy Mind”

-Dr. Tyler

https://www.clinicalkey.com/#!/browse/journal/01614754/latest

Inflammation The Body’s Silent Alarm

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Inflammation The Body’s Silent Alarm

Understanding Inflammation and How Chiropractic Care Can Help

Inflammation is a natural response by your body to injury or infection: When it becomes chronic, it can lead to pain, discomfort, and other health issues. Whether it’s from an injury, repetitive stress, or even poor posture, inflammation can cause the body to react in ways that affect your overall well-being. As chiropractors, we focus on helping the body restore its natural balance, and understanding inflammation is key to that process.

Inflammation is characterized by redness, heat, swelling, pain, and sometimes loss of function. While acute inflammation is a protective mechanism, chronic inflammation, when it lasts for weeks, months, or even longer, can contribute to a variety of health conditions such as arthritis, digestive issues, cardiovascular diseases, and more.

Chronic Inflammation and Its Effects

When inflammation lingers, it can lead to long-term pain, stiffness, and dysfunction in the body. For example, if you have misaligned joints, nerves may become irritated, which can trigger inflammation and exacerbate symptoms like back pain, headaches, or sciatica. Over time, this can create a cycle, where the body is in constant stress, making it harder to heal.

How Chiropractic Care Can Help

Chiropractic care offers a natural approach to managing inflammation. Through spinal adjustments, chiropractors can help reduce nerve irritation, improve joint mobility, and promote healing. By restoring proper alignment, we can reduce the inflammation that often causes pain and discomfort. In addition, chiropractic care helps improve circulation, which supports the body’s natural ability to heal and reduce inflammation.

If you’re struggling with chronic inflammation or pain, now is the time to see a chiropractor to help address the root causes and start your journey towards a healthy body.

“Healthy spine, healthy mind”

-Dr. Tyler

Gevers-Montoro, C., Provencher, B., Descarreaux, M., Ortega de Mues, A., & Piché, M. (2021). Clinical Effectiveness and Efficacy of Chiropractic Spinal Manipulation for Spine Pain. Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland)2, 765921. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpain.2021.765921

New Beginnings

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 New Beginnings

The brain is a far more open system than we ever imagined, and nature has gone very far to help us perceive and take in the world around us. It has given us a brain that survives in a changing world by changing itself.”

Norman Doidge, The Brain that Changes Itself

Happy New Year!

New day, new week, new month, new year…Our brains and bodies are constantly changing throughout life. None of us is the same today as we were yesterday. Through a complex set of processes, the brain and indeed the entire nervous system have an ability called neural plasticity – the potential to change itself and adapt to changes around it. The “catch” is that these changes can either be positive or negative, depending on what is happening in and around the body.

Did you know that chiropractic adjustments to your spine cause changes in your brain? The brain produces certain electrical signals when touch is stimulated to the body. Researchers have studied these signals and used magnetic stimulation to the brain to learn how the nervous system alters with chiropractic care. They have found that after a chiropractic adjustment, neuroplastic changes occur in brain areas that process incoming information about how the body moves, arrange details for balance and coordination, and plan for performance of future movements. These locations of the brain work hard for us all day as we move our eyes, brush our teeth, cross the street, or do a cartwheel. Adaptations in these areas help explain clinical outcomes like faster reflexes, changes in pain processing, improved organization of sensory input and better proprioception (the body’s ability to understand where it’s parts are located relative to each other –what allows you to touch your finger to your nose with your eyes closed). Spinal subluxations (“misalignments”) give the brain an altered perception of reality. But with adjustments and a clear connection between the brain and body, the brain can better sense reality in the world around it and respond appropriately.

So chiropractic not only changes the brain and body, it has the ability to help improve future outcomes through this neural plasticity. Adjustments obviously work on the body, but they really are all about influencing the brain. Since none of us will be the same tomorrow as we are today, chiropractic is a beautiful way to help ensure those adaptations are positive!

Reference:

Haavik H, Niazi IK, Amjad I, Kumari N, Ghani U, Ashfaque M, Rashid U, Navid MS, Kamavuako EN, Pujari AN, et al. Neuroplastic Responses to Chiropractic Care: Broad Impacts on Pain, Mood, Sleep, and Quality of Life. Brain Sciences. 2024; 14(11):1124. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci14111124

Under the Weather…Under Your Hat

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“Every organ in the body is connected to the one under your hat.” – B.J. Palmer

It’s HERE, in all it’s glory! Yes, cold and flu “season” has arrived. What can we do to stay healthy and active this winter? Are you curious about chiropractic care and a high-functioning immune system? What’s the link?

Chiropractors and their patients and families have experienced for years the positive impact of vertebral (spinal) adjustments on the immune system. Science is still catching up to answer the question of why this happens and what the results are, clinically. An area of active research, immune regulation is a complex topic involving communications between the autonomic nervous system, the immune system, and the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis which regulates stress response. It’s a two-way street of neuro-immune interactions. These systems are regulated by the prefrontal cortex of the brain and are significantly affected by physical, chemical or emotional stresses – also the main causes of subluxations (spinal misalignments). The connection makes sense.

A 2021 review of eighteen different research papers explored the impact of chiropractic vertebral thrusts on neuro-immune markers, showing that adjustments can influence the levels of immune compounds in the body, including neuropeptides, inflammatory and endocrine chemicals. The reasons are most likely due to changes that occur in how the central nervous system – especially the prefrontal cortex – processes incoming information from the body after a chiropractic adjustment. These post-adjustment brain changes include processing and regulating new patterns of spinal movement, monitoring inflammation, and complex alterations in the type and intensity of pain and other incoming signals. Changes also include updated planning in the brain for outgoing communications back to the body. In short, we know a chiropractic adjustment causes changes in your brain, your body, AND your immune system at the same time.

Get your next spinal checkup to keep your nervous and immune systems connected and functioning at their best!

Haavik H, Niazi IK, Kumari N, Amjad I, Duehr J, Holt K. The Potential Mechanisms of High-Velocity, Low-Amplitude, Controlled Vertebral Thrusts on Neuroimmune Function: A Narrative Review. Medicina (Kaunas). 2021 May 27;57(6):536. doi: 10.3390/medicina57060536. PMID: 34071880; PMCID: PMC8226758.

Montana Heartbeats

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Montana Heartbeats

Have you ever wondered why we use the HRV scan and what it’s all about? What does putting fingers into a device for 3 minutes have to do with chiropractic?

Heart rate variability (HRV) is the precise measure of micro-changes in the amount of time between heartbeats, measured in fractions of a second. Different from pathologic “arrhythmias” with large differences in the rhythm, this healthy variability in the heart’s sinus (normal) rhythm is vital to our capacity to adapt to our external and internal environment. Assessing heart rate variability gives us an overall picture of the health and balance of the autonomic nervous system. (1).

The autonomic nervous system controls unconscious functions such as breathing rate, blood pressure and flow, skin temperature, digestion, stress hormones, and of course heart rate. It’s divided into two branches: sympathetic (“fight or flight”) and parasympathetic (“rest and digest”). Ideally, they work in perfect combination, like two children riding on a see-saw, enabling our bodies to quickly and quietly adapt to physical, chemical and emotional stresses in our environment. This concept of adaptation is fundamental. Biologically speaking, one of the seven characteristics true to all life is the ability to be responsive to the environment. Without adaptation, life cannot exist.

Not only does an HRV scan provide a helpful baseline of the body’s stress-response reserve, it can also show differences in adaptability over time. A highly micro-variable heart rate is evidence that our body is equipped to more effectively adapt to changes and be less stressed and feel happier. Low heart rate variability demonstrates lack of resilience and that our nervous system may struggle to respond in challenging situations.

Research shows that HRV scores can change with chiropractic care (2). High and low frequency HRV readings represent how both the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system can be influenced by chiropractic adjustments. (2) One small study found that “Patients receiving continuous chiropractic care to correct vertebral subluxation demonstrated a sustained improvement in HRV. This novel finding objectively demonstrates long-term change consistent with improved neurophysiological regulation, adaptability and resilience in patients undergoing chiropractic care, and suggests the utility of chiropractic care for outcomes greater than only musculoskeletal improvements.” (3) The benefits of chiropractic care include much more than back and neck pain!

Get checked, and keep the Montana heartbeat adapting!

References:

1) Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/21773-heart-rate-variability-hrv

2) Effect of chiropractic care on heart rate variability and pain in a multisite clinical study

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16690380/

3) Sustained Improvement of Heart Rate Variability in Patients Undergoing a Program of Chiropractic Care: A Retrospective Case Series. (2017) Chiropractic Journal of Australia

www.researchgate.net/publication/323934481_Sustained_improvement_of_heart_rate_variability_in_patients_undergoing_a_program_of_chiropractic_care_A_retrospective_case_series

The Attitude Adjustment

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The Attitude Adjustment

Did you know that chiropractic care can quite literally help change your attitude and outlook on life?

Depression is not uncommon today. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 5% of adults and 5.7% of adults over age 60 experience depression, and is about 50% more common among women than among men.

While back and neck pain are prominent reasons people seek chiropractic care, adjustments have also been shown to give patients relief from anxiety, sleeplessness, agitation and other symptoms of depression. Interestingly, pain and depression have similar neurological pathways in the brain and spinal cord, and often occur together. Both are dysfunctions involving the nervous system, the body’s central control. Depression is closely related to imbalances in the activity of the autonomic nervous system – the part under unconscious control – which is the chiropractic wheelhouse! The fact that chiropractic adjustments stimulate and correct dysfunctions in the autonomic nervous system helps explain why research (and many patient stories!) shows how chiropractic can help both pain and depression. Adjustments cause the body to release various neurotrophins: specialized proteins designed to regulate the life, health and function of nerve cells, among other things. And some of these neurotrophins are the same chemicals essential in the treatment of depression! For example, depression is associated with lower levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which also regulates blood sugar metabolism and maintains specialized β cells in the pancreas, and neurotrophic growth factor, which coordinates the life-cycle of nerve cells and aids the immune system. These are just two of the many natural chemical compounds regulated by the nervous system.

Getting regular chiropractic checkups helps the nervous system better maintain and calm itself, reduce inflammation and of course stimulate the release of those all-important neurotrophins for keeping the brain happy and healthy. Better than any happy pill, chiropractic adjustments let your body do it’s own work, naturally, to balance and heal.

Get your spine checked for an attitude adjustment!

W.H.O. statistics on depression:

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression

“Neurobiological basis of chiropractic manipulative treatment of the spine in the care of major depression” published in Acta Biomedica 11/9/20

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8023121/#sec1-3

Garbage in, Garbage out!

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Garbage in, Garbage out!

“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need.” -unknown

As time progresses, the quality of food and nutrient value goes down. We are constantly in the hustle and bustle of life and sometimes find it hard to slow down and choose what is best for us. When it comes to eating healthily, there are always factors that contribute to the public taking various routes. The cost of healthy foods such as fruit and vegetables are usually high and hard to justify when there is a cheaper option which is most likely less healthy. Convenience is another factor; it takes less time to grab fast food than taking the time to prepare healthy meals. Accessibility is another factor, and some might have options available to them depending on where they live as well as obtaining the right knowledge to pick and choose the right foods that give the body the best chance of performing properly and staying healthy. Hippocrates said it best, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”. We are living in dangerous times pertaining to the health factor of our food. One cannot simply understand most of the ingredients below the nutritional facts. What happened to simple ingredients??? Pick up a product from the US and compare it to the same product from other countries, the ingredients are night and day. Our gut is the largest immune organ in the body and the small intestine is the largest absorber of nutrients when we digest food and therefore our gut microbiome (healthy bacteria and fungi that live in our gastrointestinal tract) affects immune cells. The next time you put something in your body, ask yourself this question, “is this helping me or hurting me”? What you put in your body affects how your immune system functions! Be nice to it!

Get checked! Stay healthy!

Nerve System vs Immune System – It’s that time of year!

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Fear and stress weaken the immune system faster than anything else.” -unknown

Who has become ill and not gone to the chiropractor because they think the office does not want sick people to come in to get checked and adjusted? I would have to assume it is a fair amount of people who think that is the case but could not be further from the truth. We want sick people in the office! Like we’ve said before, we live our life through our nerve system. Sickness is the lack of adaptation of our bodies because a component of our body is not performing correctly, hence the immune system because of an interference within our nerve system. Proper messages cannot be sent to our immune system to function at its best when there is an interference. It is out of every chiropractor’s scope of practice to recommend medication or not recommend medication such as antibiotics but we will say antibiotics eliminate the pathogen immediately, not giving our bodies the chance to fight it off on its own. The reason this is crucial is because the body has a memory system.

Once there has been an exposure of a pathogen, the body will recognize it the second time and fight it off more quickly and effectively because our bodies have seen it before. We are about maximizing your health and focusing on preventative care and therefore getting less sick in the future or being able to make a quicker recovery. With these stressful times of our economy, the nerve system is under attack as well as our immune system. Know better and do better! Be pro-active and not re-active when it comes to your health! We focus on function, not feeling!

Do your body a favor and get checked to stay healthy this season!

Tics and ChiropracTIC

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TICS and ChiropracTIC

“Look to the nervous system as the key to maximum health”. – Galen

When we think of motor tics, they are quite the inconvenience when trying to perform daily activities, especially in children when they have less control than adults. Motor tics stem from built-up tension and stress in the nerve system and that is displayed in the form of involuntary motor movements. There are several different varieties of motor tics, they can occur with shrugging of the shoulders, twitching of the face or mouth clenching and opening. The intensity of the tics is usually affected by external factors such as emotional stress, growth spurts, the changing of seasons, or compromised immune systems can all amplify the effects of motor tics. These motor tics often occur with anxiety, Autism, and ADHD due to the bombardment of stress and tension on the nerve system.

The central nerve system is made up of the brain and spinal cord and they are responsible for relaying messages throughout the body. When there is a misalignment of the spine (subluxation), there is a decrease in the connection between the brain and the rest of the body. For example, when a lightbulb is glitchy, it’s a connection issue. The same goes for the body, when there is a glitch in our body, it is either becoming bombarded with information or lack thereof. As we’ve stated before, we live our life through our nerve system. When a muscle spasms, the muscle is not responsible, the nerves innervating that muscle are the cause of the spasm because there has been a disconnect in that area and the brain is having trouble controlling that region due to the lack of communication in the nerve system.

Do not wait for something to go wrong before seeking care, be pro-active and give your body the best chance at combating the stresses of life! Your body will thank you!

https://www.elevatechiroaz.com/addressing-motor-tics-in-children/