The Basler Blog

Oct 25
0

Understanding The Pain

By | ADHD, Allergies, Asthma, Benefits of Chiropractic, chiropractic adjustment, Chiropractic Myths | No Comments

Blog brought to you by Dr. Heidi Haavik, Did you know that pain is created by your brain?4-9

The interesting thing is that you don’t actually have to have any actual tissue damage to feel pain.10 If your brain is not aware of tissue damage, you may not feel any pain at all, even if you’ve injured yourself.4,6

Experiencing pain is normal

Everyone experiences pain now and then.1 Pain is supposed to be protective to make you stop doing things that may be dangerous.2 Chronic pain that has persisted for more than 3 months is no longer protective, nor informative.3 So, what is chronic pain and what can you do about it if you suffer from it?

What does the research show?

More than one-third of people with chronic pain become disabled by their pain to some degree.12 13. The pain can be from headaches, joint pain, neck pain, back pain or pain from an injury. Other kinds of chronic pain include tendinitis, sinus pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and pain affecting specific parts of your body. The common thing with all these types of pain is that the actual feeling of pain is always, 100% of the time, created in your brain.5 8 14 15

This does not mean it’s not real – but understanding that the pain itself is created in your brain is really important for how you can get rid of it. And because pain depends so much on what you think and feel about the pain,2 it’s very important you understand pain properly. Your pain experience depends on why your brain has decided you need to be protected – why it’s creating the feeling of pain for you in the first place.5 We know that the brain can be retrained,16 so you need to use all the tools available to you to retrain your brain to be out of pain.16 Some of the keys to retraining your brain are staying active,17-19 staying positive,20 eating well,21 22 and sleeping well.23

One important way that you can help yourself if you are in chronic pain is to stay active.17-19 Your posture and how you move plays an important role in how you feel and how you experience pain.18 19 If there are movements you cannot do because of your pain you can still help by imagining these movements.24 We know from neuroscience research that imagining a movement influences the brain in a very similar way to actually doing the movement.24 25 This can help retrain your brain to understand that the movement is not dangerous – because imagining doing the movement will not hurt.

You can basically trick your brain into giving you back pain-free movement.24 The movement of your spine is also very important.26 Yoga or simple spinal exercises can be great for this and chiropractic care may be really important to help you move too.27-29 The main focus of chiropractic care is to improve the movement and function of your spine.30-32 This is so important because proper movement of your spine helps your brain know more accurately what is going on, not only just in your spine, but also elsewhere in your body.33 34

Research tells us that chiropractic care can help people who suffer from back pain,38 39 and headaches.40 This is most likely because chiropractic care helps your brain know more accurately what is going on in your spine and body33 41 and may help your brain to switch off feelings of pain, when they are no longer needed. So if you suffer from chronic pain do your best to stay positive,20 move often,18 19 eat well,21 22 sleep well,23 and go see your family chiropractor to help retrain your brain to be out of pain.38 39

Disclaimer and References This information is provided for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be professional advice of any kind. Haavik Research Ltd encourages you to make your own health care decisions based on your own research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional. chiroshub.com © Haavik Research 2021 1. Katz WA.1998;105(1, Supplement 2.:2S-7S. 2. Seymour B.2019;101(6):1029-41. 3. Holt K, Russell D, Cooperstein R, et al. Aust 2018;46(1):101-17. 4. Fenton BW, Shih E, Zolton J. 2015;5(4):297-317. 5. Koyama T, McHaffie JG, Laurienti PJ, et al. 2005;102(36):12950-55. 6. Mitsi V, Zachariou V. 2016;338:81-92. 7. Ploghaus A. 1999;284(5422):1979-81. 8. Wager TD. 2004;303(5661):1162-67. 9. Wiech K. 2016;354(6312):584-87. 10. Costigan M, Scholz J, Woolf CJ. 2009;32(1):1-32. 11. St Sauver JL, Warner DO, Yawn BP, et al. 2013;88(1):56-67. 12. Webb R, Brammah T, Lunt M, et al. 2003;28(11):1195-202. 13. Mallen C, Peat G, Thomas E, et al. 2005;6(1):42. 14. Apkarian AV, Hashmi JA, Baliki MN. 2011;152(3 Suppl):S49. 15. Atlas LY, Bolger N, Lindquist MA, et al. 2010;30(39):12964-77. 16. deCharms RC, Maeda F, Glover GH, et al. 2005;102(51):18626-31. 17. Geneen LJ, Moore RA, Clarke C, et al. 2017;4:Cd011279. 18. Booth J, Moseley GL, Schiltenwolf M, et al. 2017;15(4):413-21. 19. O’Connor SR, Tully MA, Ryan B, et al. 2015;96(4):724-34.e3. 20. Schutze R, Rees C, Slater H, et al. 2017;22(3):463-80. 21. Masino SA, Ruskin DN. 2013;28(8):993-1001. 22. Silva AR, Bernardo A, Costa J, et al. 2019:1-29. 23. Burgess HJ, Burns JW, Buvanendran A, et al. 2019. 24. Bowering KJ, O’Connell NE, Tabor A, et al. 2013;14(1):3-13. 25. Mulder T. 2007;114(10):1265-78. 26. Laird RA, Keating JL, Ussing K, et al. 2019;20(1):28. 27. Eliks M, Zgorzalewicz-Stachowiak M, Zenczak-Praga K. 2019;95(1119):41-45. 28. Li Y, Li S, Jiang J, et al. 2019;98(8):e14649. 29. Galindez-Ibarbengoetxea X, Setuain I, Andersen LL, et al. 2017;23(9):667-75. 30. Brown RA. 2016;23(1):22-28. 31. Hart J. 2016;23(1):46-52. 32. The Rubicon Group. 2017:4. 33. Haavik H, Murphy B. 2011;34(2):88-97. 34. Korakakis V, Giakas G, Sideris V, et al. 2017;31:9-20. 35. Gross A, Langevin P, Burnie SJ, et al. Syst Rev 2015(9):Cd004249. 36. Gross A, Miller J, D’Sylva J, et al. 2010;15(4):315-33. 37. Bryans R, Decina P, Descarreaux M, et al. 2014;37(1):42-63. 38. Goertz CM, Pohlman KA, V

• Dr. Heidi Haavik BSc(Physiol) BSc(Chiro) PhD • Dr. Kelly Holt BSc, BSc(Chiro), PGDipHSc, PhD • Dr. Jenna Duehr BChiro, BHSc(Nursing), MHSc

Jul 08
0

Rinse, Wash, Repeat

By | Benefits of Chiropractic, chiropractic adjustment, Chiropractic Myths | No Comments

Imagine you visit a doctor that keeps you healthy without the use of external stimulation.  Imagine a doctor’s office that is interested in the care and prevention of dis-ease.  Keeping the well people well, and getting the sick people healthy!  Welcome to the paradigm of Chiropractic.  
 

Unfortunately, this model of health is not a sought after paradigm.  Without “preaching” on this concept, keeping people well and preventing dis-ease is not BIG business.  One major influencer that goes against the paradigm is programming.  How many times have you seen a commercial that says if you suffer from “xyz”, tell your doctor you need the medication for it—along with all the serious side effects, of course. 
The United States is one of a few countries that tells the consumer to go “tell” their doctor they are suffering from this and medication is needed.   The concept of keeping people healthy by prevention is lost, because there is no need to put in hard work, time, effort, and choices, when you can just wait for a symptom to arise and take a pill for it.

Starting this paradigm of prevention is not a new concept.  Unfortunately, our health care system is based upon a wait and see game, or early detection begins.  Early screening is not prevention.  If you do one screening then another and then another you often become labeled as having a preexisting condition. 
Prevention is making sure you are doing all that is necessary to continue your state of health.  It’s hard work, trust us, and every 24 hours it resets again to begin the cycle again of constant attention.  You brush your teeth at night before bed and when you wake up….guess what you gotta do again…BRUSH! Being healthy is like a habit, you either feed it or you lose it.  No different than being unhealthy.


Work for your health.  Invest in it constantly because it’s the only one you have.  We believe in an adaptive state. If your primary system, the central nerve system, is free of dysfunction then your body is readily able to adapt to the stress you place upon it.  This enables all the other systems of your body to be functioning at an ideal state.  Yes, exercise, food, air quality, water, etc, are vitally important for a suitable environment for your body. You know this already!  It’s just more hard work!

May 02
0

How Long Should I Go?

By | Asthma, Benefits of Chiropractic, chiropractic adjustment, Chiropractic Myths, gut problems, High Blood Pressure | No Comments

Have you ever realized that in order for you to obtain what you want, time may be available yet the choices become the biggest obstacle? Think hard, we all may have the same amount of time. We just make different choices. If you capitalize on your choices then time is on your side.

We all have that friend who is waiting for something new, thinking that the grass is always greener on the on the other side. They are always on the latest diet, the newest wonder food that shrinks fat away instantly, or the newest book on how to manage stress. While this might sound appealing, it often leads to life on a roller coaster.

How long should I go for Chiropractic care? We get asked this quite often. And the answer really comes down to what you want out of it. If you are looking for a holistic approach to health care that does not require you to take lotions, potions, and pills, then sticking it out for the long haul might be your call. If you want the “one and done,” sure we can help, yet think about what is actually happening. A good chunk of people only eat good food only when they are sick.

If you can conceptualize that daily your body is under constant repair to maintain a functioning system, and this processing of information is coordinated via your central nerve system; you might think about sticking it out. Understand that your body is intelligent and thrives on function over feeling. When the spinal column is aligned you are designed to “form”. Form determines your function, and with a spine in proper alignment you move better, last longer, and transmit better nerve flow than with a spine that is subluxated.

We ask that you make the choices to give us the time. Without the time, much can be lost. Your body is the biggest investment that you will ever make in your life, don’t abuse it.

Feb 04
0

Young As Your Spinal Column

By | Benefits of Chiropractic, chiropractic adjustment, Chiropractic Myths | No Comments

Do you realize the importance of the spinal column? These bones that run up and down your spine protect the most important system in the human body, the central nerve system. The spinal column allows protection while enabling proper flow of information from brain to body and visa versa. Sound important enough yet?

When a subluxation occurs, (misalignment within the spinal column placing undo stress upon the central nerve system) the brain perceives “road construction” as well as what the body needs to do to function correctly. The saying “in alignment” holds some merit when it comes to your health and well-being. Your body craves alignment, when you are properly aligned, your bones, not your muscles,  support your weight, reducing effort and strain on the spinal column.

The spinal column is specifically  designed to allow nerves to flow through and regulate your heart, lungs, thyroid, biceps, lymph. Remember every system falls under control of the central nerve system. Its communication pathway is via spinal nerves that exit out of spinal bones. Stop and think. Clap your hands together, hold your breath for 30 seconds, these maneuvers you perform originate in the brain and then are coordinated via your spinal nerves to the tissue cell of importance.

The good news: with regular spinal check-ups you can ensure optimal function out of your central nerve system. Your body’s ability to heal is greater than anyone has permitted you to believe. Your health and vitality are related to your spinal health and alignment. By receiving correct spinal adjustments the body is able to restore itself to a higher level of health. Have you ever heard of a spinal transplant? Neither have we, so take care of the one you have. 

Jan 21
0

Strengthen The Inside

By | Benefits of Chiropractic, chiropractic adjustment, Chiropractic Myths | No Comments

“It’s what’s on the inside that really counts.” This saying is used for many things, the main one being relationships. Just because someone looks “good” on the outside doesn’t necessarily equate to anything on the inside. Looks can be deceiving! When it comes to your health and well-being, look to the inside of the body first and foremost.

“While other professions are concerned with changing the environment to suit the weakened body, Chiropractic is concerned with strengthening the body to suit the environment”- B.J. Palmer, D.C. This text really sums up what and how Chiropractic suits your lifestyle. Chiropractors are trained to access your central nerve system (CNS) for subluxations (misalignments within the spinal column placing undo stress upon your CNS). By locating and adjusting subluxations, your body is better able to perceive its surrounding environment, thus keeping you in an ideal state of health.

You see, “bad” health has to start from within the body. You should take care of your body, it’s the only place you have to keep living! Forgo the “theory” that you have to take external “things” (drugs, medicine, lotions, oils, potions) to sustain your health. Start first and foremost by addressing your CNS and the health of the spinal column.

Your ability to perceive and sustain health is directly reflected towards the health of your CNS and spinal column. Think of efficiency. You would never buy a furnace that is only 60% efficient. So, why would you settle for a body that is? Efficacy of health is proportional to the health within the inside. Taking responsibility of health begins with proper spinal alignment, thus allowing your CNS to better able control all systems within the body.

An interesting thought is just because you’re not sick does not mean you’re healthy. Chiropractic does not keep you from getting sick, it enables your body to adequately adapt to the stressors you place upon it. The chiropractic adjustment removes spinal stress to allow optimal function. The adjustment cannot be replaced by physio, lasers, massage or medication.

Dec 29
0

The Tale Of The Young Man

By | ADHD, Benefits of Chiropractic, chiropractic adjustment, Chiropractic Myths | No Comments

The tale of the young man starts with a common thread that everyone has to either fight with or control…time.  Time to start a family, time to make a career, and time to take care of his health. There are three variables that are typically at the top of the list.  Too often, though, we become sidetracked and focus our time on just one.

Seeing that we are a Chiropractic office we will focus on the health topic.  Some examples of repetitive sayings we hear are; “it’s time to start taking my health back” or ” I have waited long enough”.  Regardless of the tale, we often see the same story but with different characters.  

Old proverb – ‘A healthy man wants many things, a sick man wants only one thing.’  We cannot stress the importance of actively taking care of your health on a daily basis. The adage “if you don’t use it you lose it” is not far off the mark.  Your body is a vehicle that you must care for and its entirety, trading in for a newer model doesnt work here.  

Whether it’s sooner rather than later to start taking care of your health, we are ready for you.  Just as you work on bettering your family and career everyday, prioritizing your health should not take a back seat.  
Why Chiropractic care?  Just think of a health paradigm that is not involved in feeding your body pills, lotions, oils and other external variables.  Chiropractic is a salutogenic (an approach to wellness focusing on health and not on disease)  paradigm that is at the foundational level for health based on the tenants of Chiropractic dealing with the central nerve system.  For without a healthy functioning central nerve system, your health would cease to exist.

The tale of the young person to make the right choices with their time is left to them and themselves alone.  Making an old person wise starts with their approach in their youth.   I will leave you with this age old adage: “A young man in the pursuit of wealth will often neglect his health, the old man he becomes will spend his wealth to acquire his health.”

Dec 08
0

The Power Of ‘Advice’

By | Benefits of Chiropractic, chiropractic adjustment, Chiropractic Myths, inflammation, kids chiropractic | No Comments

Age old advice can be misunderstood and often times falls upon deaf ears. Too often we must deal with our own obstacles to actually learn from a life event. Advice, while it is easy to give, often requires the one giving it not to have to lift a finger to accomplish it. When it comes to your health and well-being we have a reliable truth that your body is designed to be healthy. The steps you take to accomplish this daily task of regular health often times comes from ‘advice’.

So take a grain of salt and listen to some words of encouragement, backed up with laws of truth. No advice given here!

Your body is innately designed to keep you healthy on a daily basis. Ultimately running the ‘ship’ is the central nerve system (CNS). For without your CNS daily functions would not occur, thus rendering you useless. Regular check-ups to ensure optimal function of your CNS comes throughout visiting a Chiropractor to check your spinal column for subluxations (misalignment within your spine placing undo stress upon your body).

There is no such thing as “One and done”. If you have been given the advice that a Chiropractor check-up is an emergency situation and after an adjustment the body is automatically restored back to its orginal state then this is bad advice.

Whether the subluxation is an acute or chronic problem it will still require time to properly heal correctly. Just because you cannot see a wound healing within the spinal column does not mean it doesn’t exist. Take your skin for example. If you have ever sustained a deep cut, it can take weeks to months for the skin to heal. Most important here is that the part of your skin that you can see will not be the same as the surrounding skin tissue. Something changed and it did not take overnight!

Take the time to understand that age old adages are what they are! If you skip the healing steps you will miss the healing stages that your body is supposed to go through!

Nov 05
0

The Importance Of Muscle Memory

By | Benefits of Chiropractic, chiropractic adjustment, Chiropractic Myths, inflammation, kids chiropractic | No Comments

Why do Chiropractors specialize in the Central Nerve System (CNS)? EASY! The CNS is the master controller within your entire body. Every tissue cell that you had, have, and will make is processed and controlled via your CNS. It’s no wonder that there is a specific field (Chiropractic) dedicated to managing the overall function of how your CNS operates on a day to day basis.

Did you know that your brain weighs only 3 lbs and has to coordinate all internal and external functions every second that you are alive!? Specifically, it coordinates external responses via your sensory organs, eyes, ears, nose, etc.

Did you know that your muscles are also organs? Not just your muscles that you workout at the gym, but also the tiny intrical muscles that surround your spine. When a subluxation (misalignment within the spinal column) occurs, the information that the muscles are supposed to send to the brain become dysfunctional. Your brain can still function when a subluxation is present due to muscle memory based on past experiences that you have encountered before.

When a subluxation exists for an extended period of time, your brain is not fully aware of its surroundings. Overtime, this leads to a slow breakdown in the communication between brain and body.

In order to correct the communication breakdown, this is where your Chiropractor comes into play. Positive muscle memory is established when your Chiropractor properly locates the subluxation, and adjusts the dysfunctional segment so that your brain can “wake up” and correct the spinal segment. Doing so will restore the spinal column to its proper positioning, and allow the body to properly adapt overtime.

Time is key. Just like correcting a bad habit, you need to stay on top of it, and require patience while you are breaking the cycle that your body has created. If you accelerate the process and do not give the body ample time to heal, you rush the experience and never fully heal. It takes time to make a problem, and it requires time to make the change. Choose wisely!

Oct 15
0

Stop Waiting For A Problem: Be Proactive

By | Allergies, Asthma, Benefits of Chiropractic, Chiropractic Myths | No Comments

Did you know that for several decades the top causes of death in the United States are often associated with a “disease” that takes years to often give you its first symptom? Take heart disease for example, the leading cause of death in the United States. Leading variables that fall under this category are: congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, cardiac arrest, stroke. The first symptom that some of these diseases produce are death itself.

Many people will judge their health based on how they feel. Perhaps not such an accurate measure when sometimes the first symptom can be death itself. Feeling “good” is a major plus in our day to day lives. How the body is functioning is a major component of Chiropractic. We are determined to make sure your central nerve system is functioning optimally to promote a life of health and abundance. The central nerve system gives life to all other systems and components of your body to be in tune with itself. Without overthinking the analogy, think of your central nerve system as the battery to your truck, without your battery, the truck is not going to turn ‘on’.

Being proactive with your health is a daily occurance. You need to weigh the positive over the negative effects to create a continual balance of success. With regular Chiropractic check-ups you can ensure that your central nerve system will be in its top form to perceive and handle any external stimulus throughout your day that will attempt to impact you negatively.

Most patients think if they are symptom-free that they are healthy. However,  just because you are not sick does not mean you are healthy. Of note here, changing the perception to being healthy by being proactive in your daily well being instead of waiting for a problem to arise speaks volumes. Think of this saying, “Going to the Chiropractor only when you are in ‘pain’ is like only eating healthy food only when you get sick.”

Oct 01
0

Collect What You Sow

By | Benefits of Chiropractic, chiropractic adjustment, Chiropractic Myths | No Comments

Now is the time for the harvest. Think of all your hard work that began in early spring while getting the soil ready for your garden to bloom. The harvest brings with it many satisfying emotions as well as even MORE work to process, can, clean, prep, for the next season. Farming is truly a complex system with no easy shortcuts. The same can be said of your health, it’s a daily quest to maintain what you have!

When all your hard-work comes to fruition, you can appreciate the harvest even more. Chiropractic care is very much like sowing seeds and reaping your harvest. You cannot immediately plant a seed and expect fruit to bear. Just as Chiropractic care is not an instant fix, one is not immediately “cured”. Seeds need care and maintenance while they grow, just like our bodies as we go through life.

The similarities between farming and chiropractic can provide us with a striking way to understand what the end goal should or could be. Farmers must be very aware of the temperature, moisture, and nutrients necessary for the soil to continually produce a good crop. Your body must be continually changing and adapting to the external influences that you place upon it. All the routine adjustments to keep your central nerve system free of dysfunction allows your body to maintain and promote health and well-being so you are continually yielding a healthy “crop” over and over again.

Taken one step further, we emphasis the importance of having your kids checked to build a healthy foundational life. It’s better to grow healthy kids than to fix injured adults. Imagine starting from the beginning and having your central nerve system in proper coordination at a young age instead of “fixing” something as it breaks down later in life. Theodore Roosevelt said it best: “Let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out.” When living a healthy lifestyle you have no choice but to wear out appropriately on your time!