Health and Wellness Blog
Banish Morning Stiffness Before Getting Out of Bed
Stiffness in the morning time causes us to start the day off on the wrong foot
But who among us in the adult population of Dunedin can truly say they never feel stiffness in the morning time? This stiffness is most often a byproduct of both aging and lifestyle, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing to be done about it. In fact, you can defeat morning time stiffness before even getting out of bed, and it won’t take more than 5 minutes. Here’s how:
Leaving Painkillers Behind: The Natural Pain Relief Advantage
Natural pain relief makes a difference
Pain enter our lives and causes an interruption. From a small, nagging pain to a full-blown injury that temporarily incapacitates you, most of us will choose to medicate our pain somehow. But when it comes to the options for pain relief, not all avenues are equal. OTC and prescription painkillers do a lot to mask the pain and help us carry on despite the pain’s cause; in this way, they are useful and actually indispensable for some people’s daily functioning. But by leaving the root of the problem unaddressed, painkillers can actually perpetuate the problem further by lulling you into a false sense of wellbeing. Taking a holistic, proactive approach to pain management means that we can achieve pain relief in a more long-lasting, completely natural manner.
Chiropractic for the Postpartum Period
The post-partum period is broken down into three phases
- The first 6-12 hours after delivery is known as the acute postpartum phase
- The subacute which is the following 2-6 weeks
- The delayed period can last for up to 6 months.
It is important to know that this struggle will not be won overnight. The overwhelming majority of women will report at least one health problem during the postpartum phase- ranging from physical pain and discomfort to deep depression, anxiety. No woman deserves to go through this period alone; each woman deserves a dedicated team of health professionals to help them navigate through the postpartum transition.
Workplace Wellness Techniques for Avoiding Tech Pain
Enslaved to technology
Attached to your phone, glued to the screen, at the mercy of e-mails and social media updates; 21st century jobs and lifestyles often seem to demand that we stay on top of everything at once. We have to have our fingers on the pulse and keep ourselves one step ahead to avoid falling by the wayside. This type of responsibility is felt internally but it manifests itself in myriad ways, including physically. The stress alone is enough to kill, but the actions we take within this lifestyle are also telling. More and more studies are giving credence to the damaging effects of technology on our minds, spines, fingers and everything in between. Tech pain and text neck have become buzzwords to which most of us can relate. So how do we prevent this vicious cycle from chewing up our bodies and spitting us out at the end of our careers in pain? Let’s take a look.
The Webster Technique for Correcting Fetal Positioning
There is no measure for the stress that a baby in breech can cause.
Having gone through the upheaval and preparation of the last months, approaching your due date with a baby in the breech position can cause undue trauma because it leaves your pregnancy open to a host of complications during labor and delivery. That is why your primary healthcare team, including if you so choose, a pregnancy-specific chiropractor, must make turning the baby a top priority in the third trimester. About 3-4% of full-term pregnancies present in breech, and the Webster technique has a great track record in helping these mothers correct the position of the fetus in time for a smooth, complication-free birth. So how does it work? Let’s find out.
Overcoming Herniated Discs with Cox Flexion/Distraction
The varying degrees of herniated disc injuries
While no one in their right mind would disagree that herniated discs are a serious injury, it must be said that there is quite a range of severity within the same injury. Most herniated discs will heal themselves given time, rest and rehabilitation. But others evolve into a chronic condition that can cause debilitating pain and discomfort for a lifetime. Part of preventing the latter from becoming a reality is taking action once you have suffered injury: getting a proper diagnosis and getting started on a proactive treatment plan. At Hayes Family Chiropractic, we want to give your body the best chance at making a successful recovery- to us that means, no pain, full range of motion and a lower chance of reinjury. How do we go about this?
The Effectiveness of Common Chiropractic Techniques
What makes chiropractic care so effective?
We could say our focus on the spine and nervous system as the root of dysfunction and pain; or it could be the fact we specialize only in musculoskeletal disorders; finally, it could be how our techniques focus on correcting problems at their source rather than treating the surface symptoms. Of course it is a combination of all of these things, but we like to think that the one thing that really makes chiropractic so effective is our understanding of your lifestyle. When you come to see us at our office in Dunedin, we use conversation, physical examination and diagnostic analysis to help paint the most accurate picture of your condition and the way it affects your life. This is before any treatment occurs, and it is crucial to determining the way we will proceed. Most likely, once we have a good understanding, we will proceed with one of the techniques listed below:
Relieving Sciatica During Pregnancy
No your baby is not pressing on your sciatic nerve
This is a misconception that was invented to explain a higher incidence of sciatica during pregnancy. While pregnancy does not translate directly into sciatica, it does create a boiling pot of factors that can leave you vulnerable to developing this dreaded condition. Less activity, poor posture, a shifting center of gravity, the growing weight of the baby and loosening ligaments in the pelvis all set the stage for sciatica. You know you have it if you feel a shooting, burning pain in one side of your lower back, or a pain that spreads to the lower extremities; tingling and numbness are further symptoms of sciatica. So what can we do about it? At Hayes Family Chiropractic, we have a plan for relieving sciatica during pregnancy.
What Would Your Chiropractor Say? Getting Rid of Unhealthy Habits
When it comes to spinal health habits, do you really know better?
As humans, we are good at avoiding what’s good for us, and even better at embracing unhealthy habits. Now, we are not equating laziness with human nature but it seems that despite our best intentions we often fall short; and when we fall short by ignoring a healthy habit, we sell our spines and bodies short in the process. Now we definitely agree that you are what you eat, but your body is also determined by the way you behave. Below, you will find a list of the most common and egregious behaviors that are harmful for the spine. Actively living a lifestyle that includes these behaviors is setting yourself up for failure in the long wrong- failure that can have serious ramifications on your musculoskeletal health. If you want to be a mobile, active old person, you need to start acting in the here and now to keep your spine strong.
The Connection Between Stress and Chronic Pain
When chronic pain emerges in the absence of a definable condition
We most often treat chronic pain that stems from conditions including injuries, degenerative spinal conditions and autoimmune disorders like osteoarthritis. But chronic pain doesn’t have to have a definable cause; it can also come about due to stress and anxiety. While people are used to the physical manifestations of stress like headaches, digestion problems and other physical complaints, we are less familiar with the way stress can cause chronic pain. Let’s take a look at the link between stress and chronic pain, because it is not as tenuous as it may seem. And its prevalence is on the rise.