Walk It Off

Child bumping their head, smashing your finger with a hammer, a baseball player getting hit with a pitch what do these all have in common? Well they hurt but something else that they have in common that you may or may not realize is that they all three do once thing similar.... the use movement to help it feel better.

When a child bumps their head a mom will almost as a reflex tell the child to rub it. Don't go trying it but when you smash one of the first things you'll to is start shaking your hand in the air. Coaches alway tell their players no matter the situation to get up and "walk it off". Why is that you ask? What makes movement so important that we do it almost on instinct when we are injured?

To understand first you have to know a bit about how our nervous system works. There are millions upon millions of nerves that go to and from every part of our body. These nerves have different jobs with out getting too complicated we'll talk only about two types ones that send pain from your body to your spinal cord and brain that sense movement.

The first type there is easy enough to understand their job. when you smash your finger with the hammer these nerves let your brain know it.

The other type have special movement detectors (mechanoreceptros) When they detect movement they let your body know. That is how you are aware that you are moving, walking, jumping or whatever it may be. These nerves as well as sending a signal to your brain informing it of movement it also send substances (neurotransmitters) into the spinal cord that help to block pain signals. This is why in the before mentioned scenarios rubbing it or walking it off helps you feel better. It also it why we feel so good getting a massage.

Movement is important for keeping our joints healthy, keeping us physically fit and now you know that it also helps with dealing with pain. Chiropractic adjustments help to decrease pain (short term affect of care) and improve the motion of joints in your body to improve or maintain proper movement and keep the joints and you healthy and functioning well.

I enjoy being a chiropractor and helping people feel and function better. If you or someone you know wants to talk about how chiropractic care can help please email me.

Are your electronics killing you

Have you ever watched a person text or work on their mobile phone or hand held device for an extended period of time? If you have maybe you have noticed some of the following things; The longer a person texts the lower and lower the head may go down and you may even see their head start to stick out more and more. Also they tend to roll their shoulders and slouch their upper back forward. Another common thing is to see their arms wrist of fingers sore from the constant tapping of the keys or with a lot of devices now they are not even keys just a continual tapping on the screen accessing the virtual keyboard.

Some of the above are things that I notice in me and others who use their mobile device a lot to work and play. In myself I notice that using the phone a lot to text and write emails causes the muscles in my neck and upper back to get very tight and I can even on occasion start to feel a headache come on.

In the article Your Body is Sending You a Message by Dr. Dean Fishman, it's mentions that the Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that young people 8-18 years old spend in excess of seven-and-a-half hours a day using some form of mobile media. The continual head forward position among other things will be a cause of aches in pains for years to come. In the book Physiology of the Joint Volume 3 by Kapandji it explains that every inch of forward the head is from its normal position over the shoulders can equate to increasing the weight of the head by 10lbs!! reach back and feel your traps, is Kapandji talking about you? The forward head posture can also lead to long term muscle strain, disc degeneration, and even nerve impingement (Mayo Clinic Health Letter, March 2000).

Now if you are like me you are probably not going to go as far as to get rid of your phone, PDA, PSP or whatever your device of choice may be. Our phones are great we just have to learn how to use them and still take care of our body. The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) has a few simple guidelines that one can use to help you get the most out of your electronics while saving your neck and back. A few of them are the following:

Sit upright, keeping your ears over your shoulders.
Look down with your eyes and gently tuck your chin in, not forward.
Never pinch the phone between your ear and shoulder.
Using a headset
Minimize the time you bend the elbows to hold the screen up to see it.
Instead of returning all your e-mails on the phone, wait until you can

use the computer.
Avoid leaning on the flexed elbow while talking on the phone or in the car.

If after trying these tips you still can't seem to get rid of pain or discomfort that you may be feeling its may be a sign that you need to get help from a health care professional. This type of mechanical pain is a big part of what I as a chiropractor deal with day in and day out. Chiropractors are a great cost effective way to treat this and similar types of pain. if you need helping finding a chiropractor near you I would be more than happy to help. Also if you would like to have a copy of the article for the ACA with more information and tips you can email me and I can send it to you in PDF format at DrCarpenterDC@gmail.com

Family Time

Summer is in full swing now. I love this time of the year there is so much to do and its a great time for family bonding. While the family time is great its easy for aches and pains to creep in and spoil the fun. Here are a few ideas of easy things to you can do to make sure you get the most out of your family time this summer.

As soon as the weather warms up lots of people go out to jog and walk around their neighborhood. Most importantly as you are out stay well hydrated. Making sure you drink enough water will help reduce muscle cramps and injuries. Also remember kids dehydrate in the hot weather faster than kids so even if you are not thirsty they may be.

Secondly I see lot of people out jogging or walking with their children in a stroller. Before you start make sure to check the height of the stroller handles to make sure they are not too low. it you are leaning to far forward while you are pushing the stroller this could set you up for some unwanted back pain. Also for your child's safety make sure the stroller has a good harness system and adequate shade from the sun.

Swimming is a great summer activity that allows families to bond. When planning an outing to the pool remember to pack the sunscreen and bring plenty of water. Here are some good tips for pool safety taken from a publication by the CPSC.

Never leave a child unsupervised near a pool.

Instruct babysitters about potential hazards to young children in and around swimming pools and the need for constant supervision.

Completely fence the pool. Install self-closing and self-latching gates. Position latches out of reach of young children. Keep all doors and windows leading to the pool area secure to prevent small children from getting to the pool. Effective barriers and locks are necessary preventive measures, but there is no substitute for supervision.

Do not consider young children "drown proof" because they have had swimming lessons; young children should always be watched carefully while swimming.

Do not use flotation devices as a substitute for supervision.

Also taking a CPR class is a good way to make sure you are prepared for an emergency

Hiking is another great family summer activity. Lots of parks have great places to hike and explore your local outdoors. When hiking its important to make sure everyone has the proper footwear to avoid blisters and sprained ankles. Also make sure you don't get so distracted by all the wonders of nature that you don't watch where your going. Bring along fruit or trail mix for a healthy snack to keep you energized along they way.

ACA - Temporomandibular Joint Disorder

I could talk for hours about the effects of the TMJ on your health but I like this article and I will let it talk for me. I will add that I had a patient that was suffering from headaches and working with her TMJ is one of the things that really helped change her life.

ACA - Temporomandibular Joint Disorder

Vacation time

Now is the time of the year when people are starting to think about where they will go on vacation for the summer. Something that is just as important as making sure all the bags are packed and the gas tank is filled are things you can do to make sure that your body stays healthy and pain free while you are driving, riding or flying to you vacation spot this year.

If you are driving, make sure that you have your seat and mirrors adjusted to keep you in a posture that is comfortable for such a long trip as well as one that will help support the natural curves of your spine. Also don’t forget to get out and stretch every couple of hours if you are going to be in the car for several hours. Also slightly changing your seat position every 30 minutes or so can help with decreasing the aches of a long car ride.

If you are flying, try getting up and walking around the cabin for a moment on longer flights or even just moving your legs around to get the blood moving in them. And most important no matter what why you are traveling stay well hydrated. Lots of times on long tips we forget to drink enough water. This will help keep your muscles from cramping up as you are traveling this summer. Another challenge of vacation trips is trying to remember to eat healthy as you travel. Packing healthy snacks will help keep you from munching on the "junk de jour" at the gas station or airport. And no matter what you do remember to, BE SAFE and HAVE FUN!!!!

Local Honey

This year I have noticed that my daughter and I have had really bad allergies. I believe it is related to the tree pollen in the area around our house. Here are a couple of things that I have done to help us to overcome the itchy eyes and sniffles this year.

1. I got saline drops to put in our eyes 2-3 times a day. This helped alleviate the itchy eyes

2. At night we used breath-right strips to help open our nose and allow us to get a good nights sleep.

3. We bought some honey from a local bee keeper. Local honey is great for helping build up an immunity to pollen and allergens in the area. Another thing we are going to do is go back to the bee keeper and getting some honeycomb to chew on. Even with local/natural honey if heated during the bottling process it may kill of some of the pollen but the honeycomb is not heated or processed and there for the pollen/allergens in the honeycomb are preserved.

One thing that we didn't do and should of done that would have helped is that shortly after the trees in the area started to bloom pollen was all over the cars. We took our time in washing our car to get the pollen off. in doing so some of the pollen got into the ventilation system in the car. Every time my daughter or I would be in the car for a long period of time our symptoms would come back. If we would have took the time to wash our car promptly we could have avoided some of the suffering.

Drink Water

As you are outside more now that its starting to warm up. Don't forget to remember to take water with you wherever you go.

Staying well hydrated is an important part of having a healthy summer. As we become dehydrated our bodies don't function at efficiently and become more susceptible to things like heat stroke and muscle cramps. Also if you have children they are likely to become dehydrated much faster than do, so remember to check often to make sure they have enough water.

Again just another simple thing you can do to help you and your families have a safe and healthy summer.