Mental Health awareness from an expert!

We here at Healthy Spines Chiropractic work with the spine and muscular structure, but we understand that emotions cause stress. That is why we team up with other professions to help us in helping you! What good is it to let you suffer with an emotional or mental health issue when we can refer you to someone who can help. Dr. Ruxandra is an amazing woman and here she is to help you with some Mental Health awareness tips during this difficult time. Below you will find her contact information. If any of this resonated with you I recommend sitting down with her to see how she can help you. You will be amazed on how your body reacts.

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Has distance learning been kicking your butt? It has kicked mine. Are you exhausted, burnt-out, irritable, even angry? As a therapist, I haven’t seen much of an increase in sessions when Covid first started, but I surely have seen it when distance learning took over our lives in August.

When we talk about mental health awareness week, we usually talk about severe depression, bipolar disorder, autism, suicide and other chronic conditions. But this time, I want to talk about distance learning, especially as related to the parents that have to work while having to teach their kids and the teachers that have to manage the chaos on the other side while being parents themselves.

The stress has gone through the roof for kids, parents, and teachers. The work has doubled or tripled and the results have gone down because I truly believe across the board we are feeling and thinking we are half-a**ing teaching, working, and parenting…..and to a certain extent, we are. We are completely burnt out.

What makes it worse is the guilt and shame that come with feeling this way…because deep down, we feel like we should be handling our kids and the rest of our lives without any problems. But the stress from handling these things below is REAL:

·         Managing staggered schedules of online log-ins especially if there is more than one child

·         Becoming IT managers and making sure everything is working smoothly and on time

·         Making sure the kids are paying attention in class, being fully clothed, taking notes, not picking their nose, not playing with toys, not eating (these are worse, the younger the kid)

·         Brushing up on math, grammar, phonograms, then teaching these to the kids that have no interest in watching a zoom call, and then doing homework with them

·         Feeding them, bathing them, managing video games schedules

ALL, while trying to get their own work done…The stress is REAL.

I don’t want to turn this into a long article because it would be completely counterproductive since no one has time to read more articles but I would like to make 3 major points:

1.       Drop the perfection! It’s ok to half a** things during these times. We may miss some work, and assignments, and have leftovers, and have the kids fetch themselves some cheerios in the kitchen.

2.       You need to re-charge your batteries in any way that’s possible; some days it may be just for 10 minutes, some for a full hour, but you need to put the oxygen mask on first, make a conscious effort to take time for yourself every day. Work out, make a smoothie, get a massage, do some acupuncture, chiropractor care, manicure, pedicure, get your hair done, go out with a friend and vent about how all of this sucks but you’ll get through it together because we WILL!

3.       Social support makes a big difference. Despite all the covid restrictions, it is possible to have meaningful social contact. I’m not encouraging anyone to break covid protocol, but masks, 6 ft apart, zoom calls, phone calls all work and are important for adults as well as kids.

 Ruxandra LeMay, PsyD

www.ruxandralemay.com

Fresh Start Therapy & Consulting

13575 W. Indian School Rd. Suite 500

Litchfield Park AZ 85340

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Relaxation

Relaxation

” Why would one want to get a massage?”

That is a particularly good question one would get a massage for many reasons. Such as muscle tension, lack of range of motion, headaches, stress, and the most common one is for relaxation. But there are other reasons why one would want to get a massage.

How does a massage help you relax?

By getting a massage it helps improve your sleep, helps lower your stress levels, improves your blood flow or circulation, as well as brings your proprioception back to your muscles.

How does it allow you to relax/ how does it work?

With getting a massage it helps you relax by knowing that you do not have to be doing anything besides letting the massage therapist do their job. By having them work on the tension in your neck, shoulders, or even in your feet. You get to be pampered for one whole hour where no one is going to be bothering you for snacks, reports, or telling you to respond to an email now. You get to improve your health but just lying on the table. How fun does that sound knowing that all you have to do is lay on the table and your stress is whipped away, or that your improving on your sleep because you’re finally getting the break you deserve.

Let us do a little experiment if you close your eyes and then put on finger on your arm for a second and then open your eyes do you still feel like your finger is on that stop. Now what I want you do to is take a drink of water or look a report or a business card read that and no tell me if you can still fill that stop that you touched. If you said no to feeling that spot after doing that task its because you are now focusing on something else rather then what you just did.  That is how massage works. You notice it for weeks because you notice that your body is different is small way. Such as you notice that you can lift your arm up just a little higher than you used to be able to or that you are getting more sleep throughout the night. Little things like that are the reasons why you should still and want to get a massage.

Crystal Stewart, LMT, NMT

Wow you know a lot its like your a Doctor!

In the last few weeks, I have been hearing this a lot. It might just be from patients seeing me rather than going to their General Practitioner to avoid the COVID. Do not get me wrong I’m not undermining the Corona Virus I’m simply saying patients are looking for alternatives to their pain relief other than simply medication and being told it will go away in a few days. The answer is yes the pain medication will help with the pain as that is what they are designed to do, and yes your body will shut off the pain sensors because if our not going to fix the problem it’s going to just move on to another problem which will lead me to another blog in a few days on the importance of taking care of your pain when it first occurs.

Medical Doctors and Chiropractors should be working together at this time as we are. We (the chiropractors) can truly focus on what was trained to do. Allow the body to heal itself. When we do what we were trained to do the body can ease out of the pain phase and more into recovery and later on into the maintenance phase. COVID allowed the medical system to do just that! My practice itself had several patients who went to the hospital for back pain once they were given pain medication and muscle relaxers they were told that they have a “pinched nerve” to go see their Chiropractor. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to help them it was out of their procedure to hold on to them when the risk of exposure was too great. Where Chiropractors really can not do anything to help with COVID symptoms as that is out of our scope we refer on to the ER or General Practitioners. This is a great relationship in this time and I truly hope it continues because the number of individuals we can help and eventually save their livers, kidneys, stomach linings, and maybe even avoid additions issues down the road I am all for it!!!

Now that that is all said and done let me show you that I am a Doctor. I have had 4 years of undergraduate schooling at Lakeland College in Sheboygan, WI. Where I got a bachelor’s degree in Biology. I then went to school for my Doctorate in Chiropractic from Northwestern Health Science University in Bloomington, MN. Chiropractic was a 4 year accelerated program consisting of Ten trimesters each one around 21 hours a trimester. HERE is the full list of classes I took while I attended the University. That does not even include the additional 1200 hours I had for my Acupuncture Certification. To get licensed you must complete 4 medical board exams. Part one is general science HERE are the topics covered in that exam. Part 2 is a written test as well and it covers Diagnosis and general conditions that we would see in practice. Here are the topics that part 2 covers. Part 3 is written as well and covers general Diagnosis and conditions along with the proper course of care. HERE is a list of reverence material for that exam. Part 4 is a practical exam. Take everything you have ever learned in your last 4 years and do it.

So when I introduce myself as a Doctor am not kidding I am a real Doctor. Now, what does that look like in the overall picture compared to Medical Doctors, Well I’m glad you asked because Cleveland Chiropractic College did a great job of putting this chart together.

In the long run, remember that Chiropractors are Doctors we simply look at your health from a different perspective. Our goal just like your General Practitioner is to keep you healthy! So let me ask you when was the last time you were adjusted? If its been a while come on in and see how we can help your body to heal itself. Check our availability by going HERE or calling 623-925-1386

How does chiropractic work?

I hear from a lot of patients that they don’t understand how chiropractic works. They just know that it works. So I’ve decided I should write for those that want to learn how it works.

Overall understand my job as a Chiropractor is to decrease the interference on the nervous system by correcting the vertebral subluxation (the bones that are not in alignment). This maneuver is called an Adjustment. An Adjustment allows the body to regain physical mobility in that joint and restoring function to the body.

Why is movement so important? Well movement is life and when the body is not moving it is losing blood flow and nerve flow. When you lose blood flow you lose oxygen, nutrition, and start to build up waste, because if nothing is moving things start to get backed up such as lactic acid from improper movement of the muscles and that would cause them to get fatigued. The brain response on simple instructions pain, pressure, and temperature. When the body does not move and pressure is building on that joint then it sends a signal to the brain. That signal tends to be pain. We don’t like pain so what happens, is it forces you to see your doctor. If you know how chiropractic. Its very simple, by moving that joint it will then decrease the interference on that joint, which will then send a signal up to the brain that the joint is moving. If you don’t know how it works then your path is to go to the doctor to decrease the pain. Remember my job is to allow the body to heal itself. Its causing pain for a reason so what is the reason? If you eliminate the reason you can eliminate the symptom.

An example I give to my patients on what I do and how Chiropractic works is that you have a garden you like to care for with proper food, sunlight, and water. One day your plants start to droop and you don’t think anything of it. A few days later the leaves start to turn yellow and you get a little concerned, as the plants are getting the right food, the right amount of sunlight, and the water is on but you still can figure out what is going on? A few days after that the leaves start to turn brown now you are really concerned your garden is hurting, so you call out your local landscaper to see how they can help. They find out that you have had a blockage in your water line. So you were watering your plants but not at its full potential. He made and “adjustment” and now your plants are coming back. That is my job in a nutshell. I find the blockage and I remove the interference off your nervous system so your body can heal itself.

Have you been putting off getting care because you simply did not know how chiropractic worked before now, or how it can help you specifically? Simply have more questions? Well then come on in and schedule a consult with Dr. Heather to see how she can help you and your condition specifically.

Myth: I can only be seen by Chiropractors who take insurance!

There is a myth I have been trying to bust for years in my local area that you can only go to a Chiropractor who takes insurance.  The fact is NO you do not.  You can go to any Chiropractor!! In fact you should go to a Chiropractor who is right for YOU!  There are many kinds of Chiropractors out there; find one that is right for you and works for you.

Chiropractors who do not take insurance are called Cash Practice Clinics.  That by any means does not mean we only take cash it simply means we do not bill insurance companies for reimbursement. There are pros and cons to both sides just as with everything so you must find what works best  for you.  We choose to be a Cash Practice in that it was the best option for our patients in our community and the mission of our office.

There are Pros to being a cash clinic.  We can afford our over head with out having to wait for insurance companies to pay us for work we have already done.  We can keep our staffing to the minimum assuring you get the best quality of care with out having to micro manage a team of employees along with our patients just so we can get paid what the insurance companies have agreed to pay us.  We can keep our prices lower offering those who do not have Chiropractic coverage with their insurance.  What do I mean by this?  Well adjusting two different pay scales is called fee splitting and it is illegal.  What you charge the insurance company you must charge your patients without insurance the same price.  To better explain this watch the video below.

 

 

 

 

http://idealmedicalpractices.typepad.com/ideal_medical_practices/2009/02/how-do-doctors-get-paid-.html

Myth: I'm not in pain so I don't need to go to the Chiropractor!

Umm no pain is the last thing to show up and the first to go away.  Think of pain as the squeaky wheel gets the grease right, but when you do it you grease down all the wheels correct.  Than when its not squeaky you just ignore it correct?  Well that is exactly what happens in the spine.  

Your nerves are very sensitive so when your spine does not move or something (disc, muscle spasm, etc...) are to close to the nerve it sends a pain signal to the brain saying hay you need to fix this or I'm going to be in serious trouble.  That's the point we Chiropractors normally see people.  Do we want to see them at this point no because we never like to see people in pain, but does it help hands down yes!!  

We want to keep the body moving and lets face it we want to be active but sometimes we do weird stuff like sit cross legged at the computer for 5 hours a day, or drive a car all over town pulling kids in and out of the car multiple times in that day.  Are we in pain when we do this?  Most of the time no, but improper body mechanics set us up for those subluxations which later down the road cause the problem.  If we take the approach to keep our spine in alignment and moving we find that we can recover faster from that "oh shoot I just moved wrong" moments.  Which leads to preventing the "oh shoot I need to go to the emergency room because I can not feel my leg anymore or I cant even walk" moments.  

So the answer is no you do not have to be in pain to be seen by the chiropractor.  We would love to see you at least once a month to keep that spine aligned and moving the way we were designed because lets face it we do crazy things all the time.  So when was the last time you have seen your Chiropractor?

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How does your machine make Alkaline Water

Earlier I posted that I had jumped on the band wagon of Alkaline water so here are some of the properties of the water which also influenced why I choose this machine over others, but first lets explain how this water is processed.  The water comes out of the tap and runs through a filter that pulls out the chlorine and other chemicals that are in the water.  After that it gets an electrical shock by the machine which separates the large water molecules into smaller ones.  It than runs the water over 7 titanium platinum plated plates which adds and electron to the water molecule. The water than comes out of the hose and I drink it!  Simple right, so now your asking yourself why do I need to know how the water is made?  Well you need to know this to understand why this Alkaline water is different than most.

So lets start with the filter.  Brita and Pur have been around for years now they have educated you on the fact that our government adds Fluoride, Chlorine, and other chemicals in our water in order to prevent pipe rusting and to kill most of the other really harmful stuff we do not want to know about.  Its great to know that this machine will also pull all of that out of our water before we drink it, so now your question is why not just get a filter than? One this filter only needs to be replaced every year not every month which saves in cost and they do not have the other properties of this machine as well so lets move on.

The second feature of this machine is to shock this water making the water molecules smaller.  The analogy most often used here is that of taking a tennis ball and throwing at a chain-linked fence, that is what water is like before the shock.  Now imagine throwing a golf ball at a chain link fence.  Its easier to get threw correct?  Exactly so know this water will hydrate you 80% faster than just regular water.  Allowing you to actually drink the recommend half your body weight in oz without feeling bloated or water logged.  

Which brings me to the last property of the machine the 7 titanium platinum plated plates.  These plates add the extra electron to the water molecule making it one alkaline and two negatively charged.  The alkalinity helps to neutralized our acidic bodies.  For those of you who understand that our bodies will always try to remain alkaline know that we need to pull calcium and magnesium from somewhere to maintain the balance so we pull it from our bones and muscles; hence muscle cramps, the early set of osteoporosis,  and increased findings of disc herniation in younger individuals.  The negative charge allows the water to free up the free radicals in our bodies.  We eat blueberries and drink green tea because they are high in antioxidant, so why not drink this water which you need to drink water anyways.  

So jump on the band wagon with me and be a multitasker with drinking this water!!!  If you would like to see our demo of this water check out HERE for our next demo at the office.

 

What is RockTape

Rocktape is functional moving tape; that can stay on you for up to 7 days (depends on the area that the tape is applied to).  It works by helping the muscles move functionally while still supporting the area in need.  I like to give my patients the example of you hurt your index finger so you hold on really tight at first right but than the squeeze you have on your figure actually causes more pain right?  OK so you lighten up yet still hold the finger it feels better right?  what happened was that you squeezed the figure cutting off the blood and nerve flow to the finger, but by pulling back slightly you allow flow back to the finger but your support is still there.  That is exactly what the tape does.  Below is an image from Rocktape.com showing how the tape does this.

I use this tape a lot in my clinic and I have seen great results with my patients with the use of this tape.  The most often taping I do is between two kinds one is the low back taping and the other is tapping for the knee.  know I have seen people use this tape instead of restricted braces.  For the knee taping sometimes that the only kind of bracing a person can get because they do not make braces for larger individuals that need to lose the weight but can not because of their knee pain, so if I can help them with that one part AWESOME!!!  The coolest results with the tape I have seen is when its used on bruises; the results speak for themselves.  

Comment below to show or tell me how you use it as I always learn form others as well.  So feel free to share  your experience as well :)

The latest Health Fad: Alkaline Water

Health fads come and go we have all seen it one year eggs are go for you and than the next its bad.  The fads come in strong and go out just as fast but this latest one is here and I sure have jumped on this one!  This time the new fad is Alkaline water.  You see it in the stores and you hear it advertised on the radio and TV, but you wonder what the benefits are or is it just some over priced gimmick.  Well today I'm going to tell you what I have found out.  You always have the final decision of what you are going to do for you and your family.

From school I knew that cancer and anything bad could not exist in an alkaline environment, but we were never taught that we could make alkaline water rather we get it from our food.  That is until I met a friend of mine Nick Nesbit who sales Alkaline Water machines.  I researched how to make Alkaline water and all other sources consisted of mixing lemon, vinegar, or baking soda together in one combination or another to achieve the desired results.  Lets face it we do not like the taste of those in our water in any combination.  Than add in the fact of all the other chemicals in that water from either the plastic from the bottle or the chemicals our government adds to the water to neutralize it so it does not rust the city pipes.  I decided to go with Nick's approach with platinum plated titanium plates.

Why did I choice this approach rather than just add lemon to my water.  One I hate lemon every time I drink water.  Two it was affordable I was already paying for water each month through a different company, so why not pay for a machine that will last 25 to 30 years that makes my water not only taste good but is helping me health wise.  Finally this water taste amazing!!!!  

So why should you drink alkaline water well that I will discuss in another post later this week, so stay tuned or you could come to one of our demos check out HERE for our next demo at the office.

 

 

 

Myth: If I go to the Chiropractor I always have to go?

Its a common myth that once you go to the chiropractor that you always have to go.  This is not true. Chiropractic helps with the alignment of the spine.  We usually see people for the first time when they are in pain, so we have been stereotyped with we only help with pain.  When we can help your body with so much more.  My question should be if you were in pain before why would you ever want to go back to that.  That statement alone is the reason people keep going back to the chiropractor.

 

How do get people out of pain and keep them out of pain well we adjust the maligned spine back to its proper alignment.  How does your spine get out of alignment?  Well have you ever fallen down ever in your whole life, have you ever been stressed out emotionally, have you even eaten something that did not agree with you?  These things are the three factors that cause subluxations: emotional, physical, and chemical stressors.  So again I ask who doesn't have at least one of those in our lives every single day?   Ok so with those every day function and life itself those alignments move again into an improper position sometimes causing pain sometimes not. YES you can have a subluxation without pain.

 

OK so you need an analogy to put this into our everyday lifes.  OK my favorite one I like to use brushing your teeth on a regular basis.  We eat and drink something everyday right?  And we brush our teeth everyday correct?  Now here is the ultimate question do we have to brush our teeth everyday?  Ok now you just gave this blogg a stink eye didn't you.  Yes, Yes you did and I know you did, you know how I know cause I sure would have.  So the honest answer to that is no but do you feel better afterwards yes, and it helps prevent heart disease and gingivitis.

 

So you also go to your dentist 2 times a year to get your teeth cleaned ever since that little tiny white tooth peaked through your gums correct.  So its a preventative measure correct?  And your teeth feel amazing afterwards correct?  The same thing with Chiropractic. Did you know the average age a person sees a chiropractor for the first time is in their mid 30s by that time there is damage done to the spine that can never be corrected. We all should be getting out spine aligned because even though we may not be able to see the plaque building up on our spine we will defiantly feel it when we are older and than for the most part there is nothing we can do about it than.

 

So the next time you are thinking about scheduling your dentist appointment make sure to also stop by and check out your local chiropractors office.  They can hook you up with a really awesome deal for a maintenance schedule that is affordable even if your insurance does not cover chiropractic care.  We want to see you healthy not in pain.

 

 

 

 

Please leave your comments below I would love you hear your feed back on your chiropractic care and what you think of my bloggs.  Have a great day and remember a Healthy Spine is a Happy Spine.

Chiropractic and Bedwetting

A good friend of mine found a model spine of the the lumbar region with the sacrum.  The model even included the nerves.  While I was showing her how really cool the gift was I kept thinking about a presentation I did in Chiropractic school on bed-wetting and chiropractic care.  Several studies have been done since than but the one I'll be referring to was done by William R. Reed, D.C.,* Scott Beavers, D.C., +Saroja K. Reddy, PH.D D.C., and Greg Kern, D.C..

 

We all know kids fall down and they get right back up like nothing happened as they start to learn to walk in the first year of their life.  We never think about the implication of all their contentious falls, but we all sit there and go man I wish I could do that fall down and get back up with out lasting effects.   When reality is they do have lasting effects just like us but they do not immediately present them selves afterwards.  We will see it when potty training is prolonging or trying to get them to sleep through the night without wetting the bed.  Only when this prolongs do we start to release something is not right.

 

So lets think about our spine, nervous system, and bladder for a moment.  We are going to make this really fast and to the point.  Our brain controls everything, and it responds to signals that our peripheral body sends it.  Below is an exact image of that from http://www.apparelyzed.com/bladder-function.html.

 

This pathway is called our nervous system and it is protected by our spine.  Childrens sacrum are not fused like an adults sacrum, so when they fall each segments move and shift like our backs do when we bend and twist for something.  The sacrual fusion starts in adolescence and finishes when we reach about 30 years of age.  So know lets introduce the child falling and having a subluxation (malignment of the spine) in the sacrum.  This allows improper signalling to the brain.



How do we fix this??  Well Chiropractic adjustments that is.  How do Chiropractic adjustments help with this well by a Chiropractor adjusting the child's Sacrum and Thoracic region (see image above for clarification why here too) would remove the interference on the nerves that were moved during the repetitive falls and allow the body to preform proper signalling.  This would in turn allow proper reaction from the brain.


If you would like to read the study check out http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/7884329 or contact your local Chiropractor for more information on this topic.



                                                                                                                               Heather Stewart, D.C.