Posts by Barton Chiropractic Clinic

Getting wet: refreshing for the mind and soul; and, incidentally, extremely beneficial for the spine. With the downward force of gravity suspended, feel your body come alive in the pool. For such a holistic activity, swimming is rarely thought of as a first-choice fitness activity. It usually falls behind biking and running, two activities that are much harder on the joints and muscles than a swim because they involve repetitive impact under the omnipresent gravitational pull. 

Here are some ways that being buoyant can benefit your body:

• Soaking: how good does it feel to be in a hot tub? As long as the water is not scalding hot, a good soak gets your blood circulating, encourages muscle relaxation and healing, and is excellent for decreasing inflammation and support of the joints. Another plus is that you can perform this in the comfort of your own bath! For an extra boost to help aches and pains, add some epsom salts. 
• Water therapy programs can be specified to the individual. They require stretching and aerobic activity within the (usually warm water) pool, which provides you with all the benefits of soaking plus the benefit of movement to improve flexibility and reduce pain. They can be used to treat back pain of varying degrees.
• Once you are ready to up the ante, swimming is a great way to work out all the muscles of the body because the water provides gentle resistance for your movement but also supports you as you propel yourself through the water. 

Swimming is not right for everyone, but it could be right for you: you can never know until you try it. It is important to remember that if you are in pain, No activity should be undertaken unless it is advised by a professional. We offer you the peace of mind that your back has been evaluated to the full extent. Together, we create a plan for rehabilitating and strengthening that addresses your specific condition and gets you back to a state of full health. Call our office to schedule an appointment today.

Talk about a 21st-century condition: the name itself is enough to conjure images of buses full of commuters, head-phones in and heads down, scrolling through their individual news feeds. As a chiropractor, cell phone culture makes me despair. We are seeing the premature onset of spinal conditions linked to young lifestyles that involve too much electronic consumption and not enough physical activity.

Pull your cell phone out of your pocket and have a look: chances are you moved it from pocket to lap, and are looking down at it from above. Very few people heed the conventional wisdom of holding their cell phone at arm’s length and eye level; it’s just not a “cool” look.  The problem is about weight: particularly that of the head in relation to the spine. When you hold your phone at hip level and crane down over it, you are magnifying the weight of the head to the spine and creating imbalance at the same time.

Symptoms of text neck:

• Stiffness and soreness in the neck
• Upper back and shoulder pain
• Muscle spasms
• Reduced range of motion in the neck

At our office, we take a proactive approach to treating text neck. Prevention is the name of the game: reducing the amount of time you spend daily looking down at the phone and encouraging you to take breaks if looking at screens for an extended period of time. Any excessive amount of time spent looking down is creating strain on the neck. Rehabilitation is the next logical step: we provide you with spinal adjustments to improve your range of motion and reduce nerve irritation. From here we work on strengthening the core as a support for the upper body and increasing the strength and pliance of muscles in the neck and shoulder through stretching and exercise. 

A diet for herniated discs is surprisingly similar to a diet for good spinal health, excepting that you probably need an extra boost of anti-inflammatory nutrients to reduce painful inflammation and help you focus on healing. Nutrition for the herniated disc is directly related to the anatomy of the injury: spinal discs are made up of 2 layers. 

• Annulus fibrosus: the outer layer, made up of strong collagen fibers. 
• Nucleus pulposus: the inner layer, composed of looser fibers that allow for movement and shock absorption. 

Because the injury involves the annulus fibrosus becoming strained and splitting, we want to focus on consuming ingredients that help rebuild and fortify the existing cartilage that makes up the structure. Foods to consider include: 

• Vitamin C: helps to form collagen, which binds and supports tissue. 
• Sulfur-rich foods: supports collagen production, includes foods cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts.
• Glucosamine sulfate: often found in supplement form, this is great for helping the body to form chemicals that help with cartilage repair. 
• Omega-3 fatty acids: for their anti-inflammatory properties which help with pain. 

As part of a holistic health plan, nutrition is one of the three big elements along with exercise and physical therapy that will help you heal quickly. Your injury could be the wake-up call you need to start eating a more balanced diet to account for the degradation that naturally occurs to our bodies over time. If you are suffering from a herniated disc, it’s time to give our office a call. We specialize in helping you create a plan that incorporates nutrition with chiropractic care and corrective exercise to help you address your pain, get back on your feet and repair the injury fully. 

Just as water can, you can be consumed with weight loss, so too can water be used as a workout medium that is less physically stressful to the body than other sports such as running. As a chiropractor, I wholeheartedly endorse the aerobic, low-stress nature of swimming as a means of losing weight and feeling great. Assuming you are comfortable in the water, here are a few reasons why you might want to consider making swimming your new go-to workout: 

• Being buoyant: studies link being in the water with improvement in mood for both men and women. Perhaps this is because as you float, gravity is partially suspended and muscles can relax for a minute. 
• Less repetitive trauma: running is the most thought-of aerobic activity, but it comes with one significant detractor, the repetitive shocks to the joints that wear them down over time. This is not the case with swimming.
• Better respiratory function: water is denser than air, meaning that your diaphragm and the accessory muscles must work harder to capture and supply oxygen to your cells. Essentially, you are toning your breathing muscles which will benefit you during your everyday life. 
• Whole body workout: water provides a natural resistance that tones the entire body, without you necessarily being aware of it. You may even feel less fatigued, even though an hour of vigorous swimming can burn up to 500 calories. 

Swimming is a great thing to add to your life if you have been lacking movement. However, we realize that no exercise can be comfortably attempted if you are restrained by pain. We offer treatment modalities that can treat a body wracked by the stiffness and aching of a sedentary lifestyle and show you why swimming a few times a week may be desirable. Give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

Weight management is an integral part of any health plan and the importance only becomes more pronounced as we get older. When we decide to “diet,” to lose weight or use nutrition to maintain a healthy weight, it is important to take stock of your pantry. Diet is about attitude: if you choose to believe it and pursue it, eating healthy ingredients can be as easy as eating conveniently. A nutrient that exemplifies this: H₂O. The plain and simple truth: drinking more water can help you lose more weight. 

Drinking water helps boost your resting energy expenditure, which is measured by the amount of calories you burn without activity. With no exercise involved, drinking water boosts REE by up to 30% for about an hour after consuming 1/2 liter of water. 

Drinking water helps curb your appetite. Perhaps because it makes you feel full, drinking water before meals reduces appetite, leading to less calorie consumption and more weight loss.

Replacing soda, alcohol or coffee with water is one of the best things you can do to impact your health immediately. Each of these liquid alternatives come with their own set of negatives, whether it is empty calories or high sugar content, they are at best mildly refreshing and, at worst, fat-building and dehydrating. If you made no other lifestyle changes at all in terms of exercise or other dietary considerations, drinking more water would still help you lose weight over a 12 month period. 

For people trying to rehabilitate from a variety of back-pain inducing conditions and injuries, the pain-masking effect of alcohol could be causing you more trouble than the consumption is worth. Alcohol is known for it’s anesthetic quality which make it an easy go-to when severe pain or stiffness has got you down. However, along with this comes a host of other side-effects which could be sabotaging your rehabilitation progress. 

• Pain is a signal: we shouldn’t try to block out clear distress calls from our body. Instead, we should focus on finding the root of the problem, healing it, and strengthening to prevent further injury. 
• Alcohol is an impediment: muscle growth, hydration and energy levels are all affected negatively by alcohol. 
• Sleep deprivation: faulty logic leads us to think that the sedative effect of alcohol helps us reap a restful and productive sleep. While it may help you to clock out, achieving the full benefits of REM sleep is made more difficult with alcohol consumption. 
• Encouraging a sedentary lifestyle: Alcohol inhibits us from following through with activities that would have gotten our bodies moving and strengthening. 

At our office, we help people find balance. When seeking success in injury recovery, we want to stack as many odds in our favor as possible. Alcohol, for all its effects negative and positive, could be counter-productive to your rehab plan. We can provide you with chiropractic adjustment, therapeutic massage, and teach you stretching and corrective exercise that will keep your joints limber and muscles strong. From there, minor lifestyle adjustments can make the difference between an efficient recovery and a drawn-out one. 

It’s time to take stock of your pillow flock. How many of them are providing you with the comfort and support needed to sleep productively? On the flip side, how many of them are causing you to toss and turn in discomfort, and putting you at risk for obesity and depression? If assigning such serious outcomes to an inanimate object seems excessive, the logic is simple: a less perfect pillow causes you to get less rest. Less rest and sleeping at an improper angle will worsen the following symptoms: 

• Headaches
• Neck pain
• Breathing
• Back pain
• Mental clarity
• Physical performance

If you have been holding on to a beloved bag of feathers, it may be time to toss it aside and invest in a better pillow. The elements of a good pillow are simple: while brands vary in quality, you want to seek out a pillow that maintains the neutral alignment of your spine by assuming the space between mattress and neck. In this picture, your spine would maintain a straight line through the neck region. This means different things to different sleepers:

A side-sleeper wants a firmer pillow to assume the distance between the mattress and neck, as measured from the outside of the shoulder.

A back-sleeper wants a thinner pillow to avoid moving the head at too much of a forward angle. 

Stomach-sleepers may not need a pillow at all. However, using a pillow under the stomach can prevent the lower back pain that befalls many stomach sleepers. 

A pillow can be a very important and sentimental purchase. Taking the time to find the right one can make all the difference in your well-being. For help maintaining spinal alignment throughout all phases of day and night, give our office a call to schedule an appointment. 

Herniated disc prevalence is on the rise in America. As modern trends lead us into more sedentary lifestyles, the cards become stacked against the spine’s chance at longevity. Cell phone obsession, desk-bound work schedules, and the wide availability of electronic entertainment have taught us to sit more than ever. At our office we are concerned with protecting the integrity of your spine, the superhighway of the nervous system, so that you can enjoy old age without the incursion of back pain and stiffness. While most herniated discs will heal themselves given enough time, the time frame can vary depending on how much attention and care is devoted to the injury. Being proactive about your pain is the best way to heal and prevent the recurrence of injuries in the future. 

Herniated discs are most commonly a wear and tear injury. Performing the shock-absorbing function for the spine, these discs are located between each vertebra and are composed of cartilaginous material. A disc herniation refers to a condition where the disc bulges or breaks and moves outside of its normal space. This bulge often puts pressure on nerves that are exiting the spinal column nearby, creating the pain, inflammation and stiffness that is associated with the injury. 

Most commonly, herniated discs are caused by the wear and tear of age: because we don’t pay enough attention to the nutrition and exercise that is needed to maintain their health, these shock absorbers degenerate until they reach a breaking point. Herniated discs can also be caused by more acute forces such as whiplash.

So, do you want your injury to be one that heals in 6 weeks or 1 year? Do you want your injury to be one and done, healed and strengthened against future injury? We can help you enact a plan that involves chiropractic adjustment, spinal decompression and therapeutic massage that will reduce your pain and get you back on your feet. From here, the trajectory is upward: paying attention to nutrition and exercise can help you have a happy, healthy back long into life. 

On the whole, our society operates with levels of stress that are bound to cause damage. Feeling great physically begins with feeling great mentally; how can you reasonably expect to overcome pain, lose weight or achieve any health objective if your mind is clouded by stress? We want to give you some reasons to consider using our treatment to reduce stress and feel less pain. 

While stress is the word used to describe a state of mental or emotional tension, it often manifests itself physiologically. High blood pressure is frequently linked to chronically high-stress levels, such as headaches and muscle tissue deterioration. We often hear people complain of joint pain when they are experiencing prolonged stress. Here is a concrete example of stress creating pain: Do you ever feel tense or tight in the shoulder and neck region during a day of work? Your body is accumulating tension as you work and, as stress levels rise, tension increases. This kind of prolonged tightening can also create a misalignment in the vertebral column which will result in undue pressure on the nerves and pain.

Chiropractic can be used as a successful therapy for stress. Through spinal adjustment, we ensure that your spine is properly aligned and nerves are free and functioning effectively. By addressing regions that are causing you pain, we remove the need to worry about a problem area that adds to the build-up of stress. Furthermore, we focus on boosting your blood circulation to ensure that all the processes of your body are adequately supplied with oxygen and nutrients. Call our office today and find out how we can help you stress less and feel better today. 

Resistance stretching is about optimization: it allows you to achieve the flexibility improvements of a stretch routine while simultaneously building muscle. The idea is counter-intuitive, relying on the notion that a muscle can be shortened and lengthened simultaneously, giving you the best bang for your buck when it comes to your time. The 2016 Olympics brought this modality into the spotlight, as many elite athletes have made it a part of their greater fitness plans. But you don’t have to be an Olympian to reap the benefits of resistance stretching; it can be helpful for anyone interested in maximizing the value per minute ratio in their personal fitness plan. Stretches we can show you at our office include: 

• Resisted neck twists
• Resisted hip flexion 
• Partner-resisted upper back stretching
• Partner-resisted hamstring stretching
• Core development stretching 

Of course, none of these stretches should be undertaken unless your body is in conducive shape, meaning free of pain and with an appropriate range of motion that will prevent you from incurring injury. A chiropractic adjustment helps keep your spine balanced so that you can pursue any physical activity and feel confident that your body will not falter.  Here are the benefits to be had from resistance stretching:

• Improves core stability
• Encourages spinal balance
• Improves flexibility and, thereby, range of motion
• Contributes to the longevity of the body, pun intended
• Improves joint mechanics
• Reduces joint stress and pain

Stretching and exercise are more about commitment than intensity; instilling a penchant for working out is a key way that you can influence your well-being. Call our office if you want to learn more about how resistance stretching can fit into your life.