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Lower Your Blood Pressure
Chiropractic adjustments work to harmonize all the body’s organic functions by realigning the bones of the spine. By doing so pressure and irritation are removed restoring proper function to the nervous system. Along with a multitude of other health issues resolved with chiropractic care, chiropractic adjustments consistently achieve remarkable results in helping to stabilize blood pressure.
The nervous system is what allows our internal physiology to adapt to the stresses and demands of the external environment. The skull and spine surround and protect the nervous system providing support and structure to our body. When environmental stress becomes too great our spinal bones misalign, irritating our nervous system. This interference is termed a subluxation. Subluxations cause the nervous system to be stressed and move toward sympathetic (fight or flight) dominance. This process increases stress hormone secretion, inflammatory processes, and blood vessel tone. For many individuals this results in higher blood pressure. Chiropractic adjustments remove subluxations and restore proper function to the nervous system allowing the body to stabilize and heal naturally.
A double blind study of 75 patients was performed to analyze the reports that chiropractic care could help stabilize blood pressure. Within this study, one group of patients with elevated blood pressure received adjustments to the thoracic spine area. Another group received placebos (movements that seemed to be adjustments but were not), and a third group received no treatment. The results showed that the adjusted group experienced decreases in both systolic & diastolic blood pressure while no change was noted in either the control or placebo group.
In another double blind study, attention was focused on upper thoracic chiropractic adjustments. The study consisted of 21 subjects with elevated blood pressure. Subjects in the active group (those getting adjusted) showed statistically significant decreases in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Placebo and control groups demonstrated no such changes and did not differ significantly from each other. Results support that adjustment of the thoracic region significantly reduces blood pressure.
If you suffer from high blood pressure make sure you get a chiropractic evaluation to see if your system is compromised due to subluxations.
Time to Stretch
When we think of the way to ensure physical fitness and health, we often think of exercise and regular scheduled checks. We might also think about various types of alternate medication to treat any wounds, sicknesses or abnormalities. Stretching is a crucial element of overall health that is often forgotten before and after exercise and something which has found its way into alternate medical practices. The advantages of stretching are far reaching and can be used to prevent injury if used correctly and when used in conjunction with different types of care, can even help to correct injuries and ailments.
When the body is stretched correctly and both before and after exercise, it can help cut back the possibility of injury. One of the strategies that wounds frequently occur is when a muscle or joint is stiff and all of a sudden propelled into action. When you stretch, the muscle is gradually loosened and prepared for action. Stretching also increases the flow of liquid to the joints which can help in preventing the cartilage from drying out and becoming subject to fissures and injury.
It is important to stretch for ten to 15 minutes prior to beginning activity and to stretch for a few minutes after your cool down in order to ease muscles back into a more stationary state of being. Stretching a cold muscle nonetheless , can also do damage so it’s best to jog in place or take a short walk to heat up the muscle before beginning the stretch. It is very important that the stretch is steady and to avoid bouncing or competing the muscle so as to try and speed the stretching process along. Ensure also to stop overstretching any muscle which has already been strained.
Another benefit to stretching is that it can help to properly align the body and so promote better overall health. Many forms of alternate care like chiropractic care, acupuncture and massage believe that the body should be looked at as a whole and that is the center of the body, the backbone is out of alignment, then all of the parts can be affected. Misalignment in the backbone is typically caused by shortened or stiff muscles that have pulled the joints out of kilter. Regular stretching ensures that those muscles stay pliant and relieves the discs of some of the pressure they experience from daily life activities.
There are numerous different ways to stretch the backbone, including lying flat on the floor and stretching your legs and arms in opposite directions. You can then slowly pull each knee to the chest, stretching out the muscles in your lower back. After releasing the legs back down, you can support the neck and slowly lean in forward, off the ground. If you are at work and cannot utilize the floor, do variances of these stretches while standing up and stretching every few hours.
Taking the few minutes to correctly stretch your body either before exercise or in your daily life can prevent injury and even help to alleviate any existing Problems. Stretching is crucial to overall health and can be done at any fitness level and by even the busiest of people.
Back Pain & Neck Pain?
If you have back stiffness, neck discomfort or maybe leg discomfort, the issue could be originating from nerve irritation. Folk regularly mistakenly blame the muscles for discomfort or numbness in a limb when in fact the issues results from a nerve. Unless the nerve is treated by a trained pro, like a chiropractor, the symptoms will persist as treating only the muscle is treating a spinoff of the nerve irritation in relation to a misalignment or injury of the spine. The main signs of nerve irritation are discomfort, insensibility and tingling. There are two discomfort causes of nerve irritation: trapped nerve fibres and encircled nerves. These are 2 different sorts of wounds and require different strategies to relieve the problem. That is the reason why it’s very important to consult a trained chiropractor so as to go about healing the injury safely and permanently.
The trapped nerve is the most common sort of nerve irritation and happens when a nerve exits the spine it can become pinched between 2 bones or maybe compressed by a bulging or otherwise unhealthy disk. Stenosis can also cause pinched nerves which is a bony overgrowth that shrinks the exit canal for spinal nerves. A chiropractor can use the location of the pain or shivering to find the source of the pinching. Pinching in the neck can cause tingling or agony in the shoulders, arms and hands and pinching in the back, like sciatica, can cause pain or tingling in the legs and feet. The commonest chiropractic technique for treating a pinched nerve is tiny manual alterations. Certain types of adjustments will be used dependent on the cause of the trapped nerve.
The trapped nerve is a nerve that has become stuck to surrounding soft tissue such as muscles or ligaments and is mostly the result of repeated motion. So how can this happen? When a repeated motion happens, the rubbing of the nerve against the more delicate tissue can lay down scar tissue and cause the nerve to stick to the tissue. Persistent muscle contraction can also have a similar effect. Both situations deprive the delicate tissue of oxygen and cause the scar tissue to form and the sticking process to worsen.
Because these kinds of nerve irritation can be painful and cause lasting damage it is very important to consult a chiropractor as quickly as symptoms happen and not just presume that the issue originates with the muscle. Nerve irritation can adversely affect your life and relief does exist.
Keep the Carbs
Your body is like an engine that’s always turned on, so it needs a steady supply of fuel. Getting rid of carbs completely (your body’s preferred fuel source) can force your body to burn the protein in your meal for energy, which means it’s not available to support and maintain your calorie-burning muscle. You don’t want to lose that benefit of protein, so instead of cutting it out, just cut back and pump up your intake of veggies. According to the latest government data, we’re eating more now than we did 30 years ago, especially women, who consume 22 percent more, mostly from refined carbohydrates. At the same time, roughly 75 percent of Americans fall short of the recommended three daily vegetable servings. If you normally sit down to a cup and a half of cooked pasta at dinner, cut back to a half cup (preferably 100 percent whole grain) and add in one cup of spaghetti squash. You’ll save almost 45 grams of carbs (the amount in three slices of bread), and you’ll still get a big, filling meal and increase your intake of fiber, vitamins and antioxidants.