Digestive Health: Do you have that “Gut” feeling everything is functioning?

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Digestive Health: Do you have that “Gut” feeling everything is functioning?

“A healthy gut is the gateway to a healthy body and mind.” -Dr. Mark Hyman

What do you think of when pondering gut health? We’ve always been told garbage in, garbage out which is true because based on what you put in your body is how your body is going to utilize that food for energy and immune function. Making food our medicine is not so easy these days due to all the processed foods and preservatives.

So how else can we combat the battle of maintaining a healthy gut? Our nerve system controls every aspect of our body. Specifically, there are spinal nerves that come out from our spinal cord in our low back which innervates our stomach and intestines/colon so ensuring there is no interference of those nerves is pinnacle. If lack of communication is occurring to the stomach and intestines from the brain through the nerves, it can lead to constipation, gas build-up, cramps, heartburn, and diarrhea along with malfunction of other organs. Most of the nutrients from our food when it is broken down is absorbed in our small intestines, it then enters our bloodstream, and then it is carried by proteins to our cells, so we definitely want the function of our small intestines to be optimal.

 I’m going to share a scenario about how powerful the body can be when communication between the brain and the body is restored. I witnessed a patient who came in with severe constipation, so severe that this patient could only pass a bowel movement once a week for the last 18 years and experienced 4-6 kidney stones a year for the last 16 years. Other doctors could not figure out the issue and claimed this patient had to live with it. The patient’s L2, which is top of the low back, was adjusted three times. On the third adjustment, the patient went home, experienced immediate relief and has consistently had a bowel movement every day since then. Furthermore, the kidney stones ceased as well. Due to the build-up of feces in the colon, it began to put pressure on the kidneys which caused them to malfunction causing the kidney stones.

To the best of our ability, let thy food be thy medicine as well as getting checked so the body is functioning!

https://www.atlanticchirofl.com/blog/172877-chiropractic-and-gut-health

Chiropractic and Mental Health

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Chiropractic and Mental Health

Research supports that vertebral subluxations may result in altered autonomic nervous system activity. How does this affect mental health and behavior? We will look specifically the vagus nerve “fight or flight” response and “rest and digest” response. The vagus nerve is a major component of the HPA-axis which coordinates neural, behavioral, endocrine, and immune/inflammatory responses. This is why we check heart rate variability in the office to gauge how well your vagus nerve is functioning, therefore how well your HPA-axis is functioning.

There is a theory called the Polyvagal Theory (PVT) that was proposed by Porges in which nervous system regulation affects our emotional expression, communication, and social behavior. Or in other words the neural pathways supporting behavior are involved in maintaining health.

In a study by Williams et al, “There was some evidence that spinal manipulation improved psychological outcomes compared with verbal interventions.” A different study by Holder et al, looked at patients who received instrument assisted adjustments, the test group who received adjustments showed a significant decrease in anxiety compared to the control group.

Chiropractic care a whole is concerned with totality of the human experience. By correcting subluxations, patients are more optimally able to adapt to the world around them and build resilience. When an adjustment is delivered, a patient’s nervous system immediately responds by altering the body’s ability to function at it’s fullest potential again.

Holder JM, Duncan Robert C, Gissen M, Miller M, Blum K (2001) Increasing retention rates among the

chemically dependent in residential treatment: auriculotherapy and (in a separate study)

subluxation-based chiropractic care. Journal of Molecular Psychiatry 6.

Williams NH, Hendry M, Lewis R, Russell I, Westmoreland A, et al. (2007) Psychological response in spinal

manipulation (PRISM): A systematic review or psychological outcomes in randomized controlled

trials. Complementary Therapis in Medicine 15:271-283.

Sports Performance With Chiropractic

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                Neuromuscular fatigue aka exercise-induced muscle weakness and reduced power are not only detrimental to athletic performance but also increases the risk of sports-related injuries. These factors are brought about by neuromuscular mechanisms in which our brain and spinal cord control how much our muscles contract and reflex responses or how fast our muscles respond to something. By optimizing these factors, athletic performance is likely to be improved.

                Lucky for athletes receiving chiropractic care it has been shown that chiropractic adjustments alters many of the brain functions that control muscle reflexes, muscle endurance, muscle strength, and “muscle memory” (creating muscle patterns). (Herzog et al. 1999; Niazi et al. 2015; Kelly et al. 2000; Lersch et al. 2005; Haavik Taylor and Murphy 2007; Hillermann et al. 2006; Botelho and Andrade 2012).

                In a study performed by Lykke et al., 11 elite Taekwondo athletes were evaluated on muscular strength. In the study, the force during the push-off phase of walking was evaluated and following an adjustment this force was increased. In the control intervention, in which the participants did not receive an adjustment, their force decreased over time. Following the adjustment intervention force increased!

                This study supports the growing research that indicates chiropractic adjustments impact motor control and training. Chiropractic care can benefit patients by improving muscle performance which then affects sports performance, strength training, and other activities.

Pain Is Created In The Brain

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Did you know that scientists now know the feeling of pain is something your brain decides you should experience if it believes there is some tissue damage in your body? In fact, your brain can decide that you should feel pain even if it only thinks there is a potential threat of damage! 2-5

It may seem strange, but it’s totally up to your brain to decide whether you should feel pain or not. Your brain may decide you should experience pain even if you have no actual tissue damage yet,6 or your brain may not create the feeling of pain for you when tissue damage has actually occurred! 7 8 This is called the “pain paradox”. It means that the pain you feel does not always reflect the severity or even the location of your problem – if there is a problem at all. Science has shown beyond a doubt that pain is created in your brain! 2 4 9 10 

Sometimes pain can be very helpful and informative.1 Our brains create the experience of pain to let us know something is not ok.1 Maybe we are overexerting ourselves, or maybe we have had an injury that we need to be careful with to allow our body to heal. The pain can let us know what not to do while our body heals the problem.1 This pain is helpful and informative.1

If we listen to our body these pain experiences can be a good thing. But for some people, pain can persist even after the initial injury that caused it has healed.9 11 12 And for some people, the pain can spread to other areas that are not injured at all.6 For these people, the pain has become non-informative and non-helpful.9 11 12 The pain itself has become a problem. The brain has learnt to be in pain.9 11 12

The way the brain does this is very similar to the way the brain learns anything. It’s called neural plasticity – or brain adaptations.9 11 12 Brain scientists now know that what you focus on drives the way your brain will change.13-15 This can be a problem if you are focusing on your pain because it may make your pain worse. So, even if you’re in pain, try to focus on the good things in your life instead of your pain. Focus on what is working well. Focus on what makes you happy. This alone can help you!1

Brain scientists who have studied the effects of chiropractic spinal adjustments, have discovered that adjustments may change brain function.16

Chiropractic has a neuroplastic effect on the brain.16 In particular, adjustments change function in a part of your brain called the pre-frontal cortex.17 This part of your brain is actually the part of your brain that’s very involved in pain becoming chronic.8 18-21 This might be why getting chiropractic care early on when you have a problem has better long-term outcomes.22 It might also be that chiropractic care can prevent pain from becoming chronic.22

Neuroscientists believe that chiropractic care most likely helps reduce your feeling of pain by helping your brain ‘turn down’ or ‘switch off ’ the perception of pain in your brain.23 This means chiropractors may or may not adjust your spine exactly where you feel that it hurts. They are looking for parts of your spine and/or body where there is a lack of proper movement and they will adjust you there – so don’t worry if it’s not where you feel the pain.

References

  1. Seymour B. Pain: A Precision Signal for Reinforcement Learning and Control. Neuron 2019;101(6):1029-41.
  2. Koyama T, McHaffie JG, Laurienti PJ, et al. The subjective experience of pain: Where expectations become reality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2005;102(36):12950-55.
  3. Hadjistavropoulos TD, S; Goubert, L.; Mogil J.S.; Sullivan, M.J.L.; Vervoort, T.; Craig K.D.; Cano, A.; Jackson, P.L.; Rainville, P.; Williams, A.C.; Fitzgerald, T.D. A Biopsychosocial formulation of pain communication. Psychological bulletin 2011;137(6):910- 39.
  4. Wager TD. Placebo-Induced Changes in fMRI in the Anticipation and Experience of Pain. Science 2004;303(5661):1162-67.
  5. Ploghaus A. Dissociating Pain from Its Anticipation in the Human Brain. Science 1999;284(5422):1979-81.
  6. Curatolo M, Arendt-Nielsen L, Petersen-Felix S. Central Hypersensitivity in Chronic Pain: Mechanisms and Clinical Implications. Physical medicine and rehabilitation clinics of North America 2006;17(2):287-302.
  7. Fenton BW, Shih E, Zolton J. The neurobiology of pain perception in normal and persistent pain. Pain management 2015;5(4):297-317.
  8. Mitsi V, Zachariou V. Modulation of pain, nociception, and analgesia by the brain reward center. Neuroscience 2016;338:81-92.
  9. Apkarian AV, Hashmi JA, Baliki MN. Pain and the brain: specificity and plasticity of the brain in clinical chronic pain. Pain 2011;152(3 Suppl):S49.
  10. Atlas LY, Bolger N, Lindquist MA, et al. Brain Mediators of Predictive Cue Effects on Perceived Pain. 2010;30(39):12964-77.
  11. May A. Chronic pain may change the structure of the brain. PAIN® 2008;137(1):7-15.
  12. Costigan M, Scholz J, Woolf CJ. Neuropathic Pain: A Maladaptive Response of the Nervous System to Damage. Annual Review of Neuroscience 2009;32(1):1-32.
  13. Draganski B, Gaser C, Busch V, et al. Changes in grey matter induced by training. Nature 2004;427(6972):311-12.
  14. Kolb B, Whishaw IQ. BRAIN PLASTICITY AND BEHAVIOR. Annual Review of Psychology 1998;49(1):43-64.
  15. Ungerleider L. Imaging Brain Plasticity during Motor Skill Learning. 2002;78(3):553-64.
  16. Haavik H, Murphy B. The role of spinal manipulation in addressing disordered sensorimotor integration and altered motor control. J Electromyogr Kinesiol 2012;22(5):768-76.
  17. Lelic D, Niazi IK, Holt K, et al. Manipulation of Dysfunctional Spinal Joints Affects Sensorimotor Integration in the Prefrontal Cortex: A Brain Source Localization Study. Neural plasticity 2016;2016:3704964.
  18. Apkarian AV, Thomas PS, Krauss BR, et al. Prefrontal cortical hyperactivity in patients with sympathetically mediated chronic pain. Neuroscience Letters 2001;311(3):193- 97.
  19. Seminowicz DA, Moayedi M. The Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Acute and Chronic Pain. The Journal of Pain 2017;18(9):1027-35.
  20. Kang D, McAuley JH, Kassem MS, et al. What does the grey matter decrease in the medial prefrontal cortex reflect in people with chronic pain? European Journal of Pain 2019;23(2):203-19.
  21. Loggia ML, Berna C, Kim J, et al. The lateral prefrontal cortex mediates the hyperalgesic effects of negative cognitions in chronic pain patients. The Journal Of Pain: Official Journal Of The American Pain Society 2015;16(8):692-99.
  22. Eklund A, Jensen I, Lohela-Karlsson M, et al. The Nordic Maintenance Care program: Effectiveness of chiropractic maintenance care versus symptom-guided treatment for recurrent and persistent low back pain-A pragmatic randomized controlled trial. PLoS One 2018;13(9):e0203029.
  23. Haavik H, Niazi IK, Holt K, et al. Effects of 12 Weeks of Chiropractic Care on Central Integration of Dual Somatosensory Input in Chronic Pain Patients: A Preliminary Study. 2017.
  24. Dalton PA, Jull GA. The distribution and characteristics of neck-arm pain in patients with and without a neurological deficit. The Australian journal of physiotherapy 1989;35(1):3-8.
  25. Holt K, Russell D, Cooperstein R, et al. Interexaminer reliability of a multidimensional battery of tests used to assess for vertebral subluxations. Chiropr J Aust 2018;46(1):101-17.
  26. Haavik H, Murphy B. Subclinical neck pain and the effects of cervical manipulation on elbow joint position sense. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2011;34(2):88-97.
  27. Holt KR, Haavik H, Lee AC, et al. Effectiveness of Chiropractic Care to Improve Sensorimotor Function Associated With Falls Risk in Older People: A Randomized Controlled Trial. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2016.

The Power Of ‘Advice’

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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!

The Importance Of Muscle Memory

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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!

March Of Spines

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Marching towards your health goals begins with owning the certainty of what you would like to achieve. Defining these health goals helps retain focus on performing positive actions over and over again. Take, for instance, the path deemed to be “best” to sustain a healthy life.

 To be “healthy,” we are often persuaded by external stimuli that have given someone else some relief. While changing and maintaining health may begin with a transitional day, for instance, New Year’s Day, being present in health is a constant march that requires your time and energy on a routine basis.

Exercise…check. Food…check. Mindset…check. Spinal care….often left un-checked. Your spine protects the most crucial system in the human body, the central nerve system (CNS). Think of your spine as the body of your vehicle and the CNS as the engine, which is necessary for your vehicle to run properly. Without constant check-ups to your engine and regular care the engine begins to suffer, thus leading to early problems that could have been prevented.

The march towards health is a ever changing game. Being healthy and not healthy is not a black and white picture. In between these two states there are several different shades of gray that you must transition past in obtaining whichever state you would like to be in. You are either marching towards the health state or away from it, either way you must march to your own beat, towards your own goals.

The Chiropractic adjustment is the one thing that fine tunes your engine to do exactly what it needs to do when you need it most…naturally and specifically. The great news is that not all engines are the same and with our system of Gonstead Chiropractic this enables us to perfect your mechanizing to generate results that allow you to perform the march of health on a consistent basis without limitations.  

Saving Money On Your Health

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Saving money on your health makes sense, right? Fortunately, it’s nothing new. Not a ‘quick’ sale, gimmick, fad, or trend that someone is trying to sell you. In all honesty it really comes down to your intentions that you want to make into health forming habits. Now, it just so happens that we are health care professionals – Chiropractors. Our entire basis is the study of health and what causes people to LIVE.

Chiropractic is a philosophy, a science and an art of things NATURAL; a system of adjusting the segments of the spinal column by hand only, for the correction of the cause of dis-ease. What limits health, what causes the body to be in a state of dis-ease (which means your body is not at ease)? The answer is a vertebral subluxation. This is a misalignment within the spinal column that occludes the connection between your brain and body. This hinders the TISSUE cell from adapting to the stresses of life. The tissue cell being the building blocks of everything you do!

Saving money on your health starts and ends with your central nerve system (CNS). How come? If you do not take care of your CNS it’s pretty clear to say it will not take care of you. Ponder this thought process for a while. Take the word “allergy”. Interestingly enough that a 45 year old presents to a Chiropractic office that just “developed” an allergen. Yet they have been living their entire life “allergy” free? Safe to say that something compromised the integrity of their immune system thus rendering this person more stress vulnerable to symptoms occurring.

Now, one would say that nothing is promised. You can eat all your vegetables, workout everyday, have little no body fat, take care of your CNS and still have a heart attack or develop cancer. True. Your quality of life is how you make it. Chiropractic ensures that you CNS is optimal in every season of life.

Chiropractic is premiums small and dividends large. It is health insurance to the max. If you do not take care of your health now, you will have to pay for it later.  

Stay True To Health – Staying Normal During These Times

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Handshakes, high-fives, and hugs have all too quickly transitioned into “elbow bumps” and social distancing – which we totally respect. There is no denying that in this current situation is unpleasant. However we see this as an opportunity to flip the script, and see this as an opportunity to empower our community even more. No matter what is occurring – our health is our most valuable asset. Having an abundance of health means we can take care of those that matter most to us and simply get back to doing the things we love most.

So, what does being “Healthy” mean. Health isn’t found in blood pressure numbers, temperature ranges, or in prescription medication. Put simply, health is the body having the ability to respond correctly, accurately, and the ability to ADAPT to our ever-changing environment. Now in correlation with the hysteria of the Coronavirus, bugs find their way into those whom are already sick or mal-adaptive, not individuals with proper immune resiliency. BJ Palmer said it best, “If the ‘germ theory of disease’ were correct, there’d be no one living to believe it.” You can only be a host to a virus if your perfectly made neuroimmune response is not functioning well. We all touch the same door knobs, shopping carts, breathe the same air… why do some people get sick and others simply will not? It is all about how well you ADAPT to the environment around you. It’s as simple as that. This is at the foundational core of Chiropractic and its history as well as success.

This same principle and truth can be applied to an old adage about rats in a dump… If there was a huge pile of garbage and rats all over the smelly trash, what caused the infestation? Was it the rats that caused the dump to occur, or were the rats a result of a dump already there? Which in turn attracted the rats to the delicious pile of trash. The truth is germs are opportunists – looking for an easy meal or place to harbor. With an immune response that is less than optimal or weakened, rats will arrive. The same applies to our health and Nerve System response to whatever infectious antigens cross our paths. We are on a mission to keep this nation well, and it all starts with proper Nerve System adaption and maybe a solid high-five. It is more important now than ever to Get Checked.

Disc Disc Disc, The Importance Of The Disc Within The Spine

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Disc Disc Disc, The Importance Of The Disc Within The Spine

Let’s talk about disc spacing and why it often gets left out when discussing spinal hygiene.  A disc acts as a cushion between each single vertebra and is your shock absorber for every action that you encounter in life.  Think gravity!  Not only does it function as a shock absorber, it allows proper spacing between each spinal bone to form a canal in which the spinal nerve exits through.  This canal provides protection and open communication for the spinal nerve to be a two way communicator from the brain to the body and the body to the brain.  This makes it vitally important to your overall health.

Understanding the disc space comes from utilizing x-ray analysis.  As a Gonstead chiropractor we study and analyze the x-ray films to calculate and adjust “through” the disc space.  It is the analysis of the disc and the changes it undergoes that gives the most reliable information for locating the subluxation.  To judge the level and condition of the subluxation is to access the surrounding disc space.  When a subluxation occurs it creates a displacement within the spinal column which will place stress upon the disc.  As a result the disc will produce undo stress upon the spinal nerve exiting through the canal.  This in turn will create health problems.

Subluxations that remain uncorrected will cause calcium deposits and bone spurs to occur.  Nerve and soft tissue damage will ensue.  The subluxated vertebrae will become rough and uneven on the surfaces compressing the disc and resulting in the loss of its natural cushioning.  The process accelerates causing the disc to collapse and fusion begins.  The final stage of disc degeneration from an uncorrected subluxation is when the bones are fused together creating immobility and even more severe health problems.  Keep the disc space alive and mobile with specific adjustments and you keep the channel open for the nerve to express your life through.  Happy disc = happy nerve = healthy you.