Tag Archives: chiropractor concord

6 Things You Must Do During a Snow Storm

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Winter wonderlandAs crazy as this sounds, I love the winter. I just don’t like what the winter can do to our bodies.

The naturist in me, loves the snow, it blankets everything in white and is beautiful to look at. The chiropractor in me sees a lot of opportunity for people to hurt themselves.

Here are the six things you need to do to not spend the next 3 days in my office

1. Stretch. Make sure that your back, legs shoulders and arms are warmed up before heading outside.

2. Layers. You are going to work up a sweat, dress in layers to keep yourself warm without overheating.

3. Take your time. Their is no prize for first place. Going zero to 100 in terms of exertion is very dangerous for most people

4. Practice good technique. Remember that bending and twisting is the worst position you can put your spine in. Push snow whenever possible, use a snow blower or better yet, hire a plow guy

5. Hydrate. Yes I know it is cold out, however, shoveling can work up a sweat. Get dehydrated and the chance you hurt you back goes way up.

6. Build an outdoor rink and skate or play hockey! One of the best things about living in the Northeast. Outdoor skating and hockey!

If you do something crazy and ending up hurting yourself, call, text, or email me, I will be happy to help you through what you have done

Enjoy being outside, we don’t do it enough!

 

 

 

 

Fitness Apps

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As the entire world seems to be going mobile, if you are looking to lose weight, get in better shape or keep track of your diet; do not despair. There is an app for that!

As new apps are constantly being introduced I would like to cover a few of the most popular ones when it comes to your health. Best part of all? These apps are all free!

 Jillian Michaels Fitness Motivation

If any of you have ever seen The Biggest Loser, you know that Jillian Michaels is a popular trainer with a great track record of getting people motivated to work out. Her app has easy to use videos that include stretching, calisthenics and free weights. There is also a section for running and tracking calories.

My Fitness Pal Calorie Counter and Diet Tracker

One of the cool things about this app is that it is Canadian Based. Not sure how many calories are in that Tim Horton breakfast sandwich? This app has an extensive database that you can search. This app works best when you use it as a food diary, exercise tracker and diet coach. It currently boasts a database of over 425,000 food. If you are looking to lose weight, this app will flag how many calories you have remaining in order to meet your daily goal.

7 Minute Workout by Bytesize

This app offers a high intensity workout anytime, anywhere for free! This app will have you moving with 12 30 second long exercises with 10 second breaks between them. The only requirements are you, a wall and a chair. Perfect for anyone traveling that wants to stay in shape.

 Map My Fitness

Congrats that you are out running, walking or hiking. Ever wonder how far you went? This fitness app uses your phones GPS and maps out all of your fitness activities. It can calculate distance, pace, speed, duration, elevation and more.

Sit Up Straight and Drink More Water App

OK so I haven’t created this app yet, however, I should! Poor posture is one of the underlying biggest reasons people end up in pain. Sitting too long slouched over your laptop is no way to treat your spine. And don’t even get me started with text neck! A perfect break from sitting? Walk to the water cooler and do one of the healthiest things you can do for yourself…drink water!

With all of the information available today, there really is no excuse for not working out and watching your diet. As smartphone technology gets better and better, the only thing holding you back is you.

Take some action today, and get the ball rolling!!

Is Chiropractic More Than Just Back Pain Relief?

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Back Pain Concord Ma

Most of the people that I talk to consider going to the chiropractor for back pain, neck pain and headaches. Considering in 1970 it wasn’t even legal to practice chiropractic, I would say we have come a long way in the public’s eye.

But have we? Is there more to chiropractic than just pain relief?

I’ll never forget the time a mom was coming to see me. She brought her son along for the ride and I happened to notice that he had a severe tic. He would shake his head, sometimes up to 30 times a minute!

I asked Mom about it and she told me she had done everything under the sun, every drug, test, scan, etc. No one could figure out why this was happening and told her that he would have to live with it.

I took a few moments and explained how I thought a chiropractic adjustment might be able to help. She agreed and after an exam, I adjusted him.

Shame on me for being surprised. Immediately his tic went from 20-30 a minute to 4-6. It stayed like this for several days. When it started to come back, Mom brought him back and we once again got the tic down to 4-6 per minute. Mom was thrilled, and I was ecstatic that we had made a real difference in a young man’s life. This was real world evidence that the nerves coming out of the spine influence everything in the body, not just your back or neck pain.

As an aside, Mom ultimately gave up on chiropractic after a couple of weeks because we couldn’t make them go away completely…sometimes you can’t win for trying!

This got me to thinking. How important is it for us to have clear communication between the body and the brain? Can we live a healthy fulfilling life if the nerves coming out of the spine are compromised?

Should we wait until it hurts? Maybe for the low back and neck that is not a terrible indicator, however, what about the organs that don’t feel pain? Should we wait until an organ has problems before we address it?

Could we head off problems by keeping the nerve flow to these areas as optimal as possible?

Will our energy be greater if the nervous system is running at peak performance?

After 16 years I can consistently say yes that we should keep our nerve flow as optimal as possible and we will have greater energy when our nervous system is running at it’s peak. Does this mean that we will be healthier? How can it not!

I think this is the most exciting time in chiropractic. For analytically minded people, like myself, we are just starting to scratch the surface in our scientific understanding of the brain body connection.

I couldn’t be more excited.

 

Let’s NOT Go to Long John Silver’s

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Are you thinking of heading over to Long John Silver’s for a “Big Catch” meal?

Don’t.

I understand that a business is there to serve the needs of it’s customers but this is ridiculous.

The “Big Catch” is a combination platter of fried fish, onion rings, and hush puppies. Now look, we know no one is ever going to mistake this for health food, however, this is extreme, even for fast food.

The calorie count is 1,320…not awful, however when you dive into the details, it gets a little scary.

According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the “Big Catch” has a jaw dropping 33 grams of trans fats!!! This is more trans fat than you should eat in forever…never mind one meal.

To round out the excellence there were 19 grams of saturated fat, just about a day’s worth and 3,700 mg of Sodium, about two days worth.

Plenty of foods are high in saturated fat and sodium, however, I have never, ever seen a meal that has 33 grams of trans fat. For those of you that just discovered the internet, trans fat has been considered public enemy #1 in the food arena for some time. In a nutshell trans fats lower your good cholesterol and raise your bad cholesterol. Diabetes, heart disease, and stroke are all linked to trans fat consumption. Those are bad things.

Walter C. Willett, chair of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health, said in a press release. “It might have been defensible to use hydrogenated oil in the 1980s, before trans fat’s harmfulness was discovered, but no longer. It is outrageous that Long John Silver’s foods are still loaded with artificial trans fat and that the FDA still permits it in foods.”

This brings us to a slippery slope. Where do we draw the line? Who draws the line? Personally, I see no reason to keep using hydrogenated oils that lead to these high trans fat meals. These oils are used because they are cheaper. While one may save a little now, what is the price on the public in terms of medical care for strokes, diabetes and heart disease.

It is time to outlaw partially hydrogenated oil. It serves absolutely no good and it’s time has run it’s course.

 

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