Steps to Stay Healthy during Cold and Flu Season

REMEMBER: people DO NOT make you sick.  It is your bodies inability to fight off the invader that lets you get sick.  Follow these rules to stay healthier:

1. Chiropractic Adjustments help keep your nervous system and immune system working at their optimal levels.
2. Drink lots of Pure Water.  Water in coffee and tea is not as beneficial.
3. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables.  Fall/Winter foods like Chili are not as healthy.
4. Daily Vitamins A, C, E, Selenium, and immune Builder.  Buy your vitamins from doctor's office.  Most vitamins in big retail stores are inferior because they are bought in bulk with more effort put into their marketing than health value.
5. Stretch EVERYDAY and exercise at least three times per week for 30 minutes.
6. Fresh Sunlight.  Get outside for walks so the sun can hit your face and produce Vitamin D.  (Windows block the beneficial rays of the sun)
7. Fresh Air.  Get outside for fresh air.  Keep home and office window cracked slightly so fresh air will mix with stale recycled dirty furnace air.
8. Use room humidifier in bedrooms to put more moisture in the air if needed. 

Take this advice for what it is worth.  I have followed these principles throughout my career and have never missed a day of work in 11 years due to illness.  I have never had a flu shot either. 

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Auto Accident Info You May Not Know

Did you know that the typical symptoms from even the most minor auto accident can take six months to a year to present themselves?

From the mild fender bender to the complete collision most people are fortunate enough to walk away from their car accident with seemingly minor injuries.  At least that is what they think.  The truth is that although a person may not break a bone or have major cuts and scrapes there is no question that their body has sustained an injury.  Soft tissue injuries related to auto accidents can lead to such symptoms as headaches, neck and/or back pain, fibromyalgia, etc.

Again, these symptoms in many cases do not appear for at least six months after the accident; therefore in most cases a person that has enjoyed relatively good health has no clue as to why they are now having problems.  In most cases the person will just assume it has to do with their age.

Have you ever watched television when they show a crash test simulation with a dummy at the wheel?  That is what happens to the human body during an accident.  The energy of the impact travels through your body at rocket speed and is over in a millisecond.

If you are braced for impact at the time of the accident because you know you are about to hit someone or about to get hit then the probability for injury rises greatly short and long term.  The rigidity of your musculoskeletal system at the time of impact has no give so therefore bone breaks, muscle tears and/or sprain/strains can occur.

If you have been in any auto accident, boating accident or bad event tubing and/or skiing (same principles apply) please do yourself and your family a favor and get evaluated by a chiropractor as soon after the episode as possible.  A chiropractor can detect if their is a musculoskeletal injury from the accident that needs to be corrected so that it does not lead to symptoms down the road.

After a decade of treating these injuries I can tell you that the early a problem is diagnosed and treated the better the long term outcome is for the patient.

Sports and Chiropractic

In today’s world children are asked to play sports at a level that has never been seen before in history.  Long gone are the days of playing seasonal sports for just fun and exercise.  Today children are pushed to excel in whatever sport they or their parents choose for them to play.  The season no longer ends at a certain point in the year, instead clinics and travel programs pick up so the kids in many cases literally have no break.

I am not here to judge whether or not this is right or wrong.  No, I have written this in order to educate parents about how Chiropractic care can and will help their children not only perform at an optimal level but also help to prevent injury.

Did you know that each year more than 3 million sports related injuries are reported in children under the age of 15.  These children are treated in hospitals, doctor’s offices, and clinics across the country.  Fortunately, with proper treatment these injuries will not be career ending.

Chiropractic care very simply is all about structure and function.  The body MUST have proper structure in order to function at 100%.  If a child’s skeletal structure (spine, hips, pelvis, etc.) does not have perfect structure then not only will they not be able to perform to their fullest potential but they will be risking injury as well.  I use Michael Phelps as an example.  He is arguably the best swimmer in the world, yet he made sure that he was checked and adjusted before each race at the Olympics on the side of the pool to make sure that he would perform at his best.  This is just one example.  In today’s world at least 95% of all professional and college athletes use chiropractic to make sure that they are able to give 100%.

Injury prevention is maybe even more important of a reason to see a chiropractor.  If the biomechanical structure of the body is not correct then the possible of injury rises dramatically.  A trained chiropractor will assess for these imbalances and advise on the best way to correct them.  However, if an injury has already occurred and the athlete is in pain then chiropractic treatment can get an athlete back to playing much quicker than other forms of care. In many cases without the need for prescription medication that only mask the symptoms of the injury and provides no long term correction.  In these cases a subsequent injury can occur quickly to the athlete because the real cause of the problem was never treated.

Other Professionals and Teams who use Chiropractic regularly include: US Olympic Team, Detroit Tigers, Lions and Red Wings, Tiger Woods, Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Charles Barkley, and Arnold Schwarzenegger just to name a few.