Staying Cool and Healthy This Summer With Chiropractic

 

The summer is finally here!  School is out, people are traveling, the water is warm and it finally feels like summer.  From all of us at Heavenly Chiropractic an d Wellness Center we’d like to remind you of a few precautions to take during these hot summer months.

• SUNSCREEN:   During the summer the sun’s rays are strongest between 10am -3pm so if you are out in these hours make sure you are not only wearing plenty of sunscreen but you reapply often.  Some studies have even shown that chemicals in many sunscreens can actually cause cancer.   Try to buy sunscreen that does NOT contain vitamin A.    Look for sunscreens that block the sun’s rays through zinc or titanium oxide.    It’s also very  important to have your skin and moles checked once a year by a dermatologist to look for signs of pre-cancerous moles or lesions.

• HYDRATE:  Drinking plenty of water cannot be stressed enough, especially during the hot summer months.  Our bodies are 70-80% water and we need to stay hydrated for proper metabolic functioning of cells, allowing our body to rid itself of waste, to keep our joints lubricated and to keep our bodies cool among so many other functions that requires water in the body.  Did you know that many time when we get a food craving it’s actually your body being slightly dehydrated?   You can actually use water to help you loose weight.    The next time you have those mid morning or afternoon food cravings, before you grab a snack, try drinking two big glasses of water and wait 10 minutes.  Most often the water will curb your appetite.   This will cause your body to keep burning fat instead of using the instant energy that a quick snack provides.  Less calories consumed and more burned = weight loss.

• GET YOUR SPINE ADJUSTED BY A CHIROPRACTOR:   Can you imagine having a car that is your age and have never taken it to a mechanic?  You spine is like a finely tuned engine, all the parts need to be in perfect alignment and moving together for optimal performance, minimal wear and tear, proper lubrication and for a long and healthy life.  The catch here is you can replace your engine parts but you can’t replace the parts of your spine.  I tell my patients that chiropractic works best when used as prevention, ie. to keep you healthy.  It is so much easier to take care of and keep a spine healthy rather than wait until all the wear and tear builds up and creates a big problem such as poor posture, arthritis, disc degeneration, sciatica or many other problems.  When these problems arise, it usually requires a lot more chiropractic treatment to get you feeling good again and those extra treatments result in a higher cost to get you back to health.  It is so much cheaper, easier and more healthy to keep your healthy spine tuned up through regular chiropractic check ups and adjustments so problems don’t develop.   Keeping your spine flexible and healthy also helps prevent injury for all those active, sporting people out there.  Peoples’ activity levels tend to increase in the summer time with sports such as surfing, soccer, baseball, biking and hiking.   Make sure you make your appointment at one of our offices for your summer chiropractic “tune-up.”

Dr. Sam Vella has served as the attending chiropractor for the Triple Crown of Surfing from 2004-2011 and has help the world’s best surfers stay at peak performance for their competitions.  He can now be found at Heavenly Chiropractic and Wellness Center in South Lake Tahoe, CA. 

For questions or to schedule your first appointment please call (530) 600-3669.

To find our more information about our clinics, doctors, locations and hours please visit our website at www.mytahoechiropractor.com

From all of the Doctors and staff at Heavenly Chiropractic and Wellness Center we wish you happy, healthy and excellent summer.  Aloha….

Dr. Sam Vella featured in Today's Chiropractic Magazine

The following is an article from Today's Chiropractic Magazine.  Dr.Sam Vella was featured with two other chiropractors from around the nation that have a strong influence of surfing, chiropractic and maintaining a healthy balance on life, fun and taking care of patients.

Dr. Vella now practices at Heavenly Chiropractic and Wellness Center in South Lake Tahoe, CA.  To schedule an appointment with Dr. Vella please call (530) 600-3669.

Heavenly Chiropractic and Wellness Center
3637 Larch Ave. Ste 1
South Lake Tahoe, CA  96150

www.mytahoechiropractor.com 

Chiropractors On Board

See the actual article here:http://todayschiropractic.com/Archive/AugustSeptember2012/ChiropractorsOnBoard.aspx

By Katie Brown

Whether an occasional recreational hobby or part of a daily routine, surfing is one of the most popular water sports. Now, with variations like wakesurfing, bodysurfing and paddleboarding, almost anyone within water’s reach can join in on this popular and physically challenging pastime. From a surfing enthusiast to a professional competitor to an enjoyment-seeker, Today’s Chiropractic LifeStyle spoke to three chiropractors who have found that there are few things better than catching the perfect wave.

Sam Vella, D.C.

Dr. Sam Vella on the North Shore of Oahu

While on track to become a dentist, Vella, an accomplished downhill skier, found himself surfing in California after making a major career change. A pre-medicine major at Oregon State University, Vella had sustained a few neck and lower back injuries from skiing and was seeing a chiropractor. “After going to a chiropractor for those injuries and seeing what he did, I thought it would be a lot cooler than looking at people’s mouths all day,” he says.

Soon, Vella enrolled at Life Chiropractic College West and took up surfing to satisfy his athletic inclinations. After graduating in 2000, Vella embarked on a nine-month trip around the world. With a portable adjusting table and surfboard in tow, he visited 22 countries throughout Europe, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia and beyond to spread the chiropractic message and experience the world.

Upon his return, Vella opened two practices in San Diego before landing in Haleiwa, Hawaii, on the North Shore, where he opened his third practice, Vella Chiropractic. Aside from caring for his patients at his practice, from 2004 to 2011 Vella served as the attending chiropractor for the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, a series of three professional surfing events in Hawaii that take place in Haleiwa, Sunset Beach and the Banzai Pipeline.

“I think the special moments are being able to care for the world’s best surfers. It’s an honor to be able to do that,” Vella says. “I absolutely love what I do, and I think it’s an honor and privilege to be a chiropractor. I love how it fits into my lifestyle in Hawaii. I’m keeping people healthy and myself healthy.”

In September 2011, Vella opened a fourth practice in Honolulu. While Vella’s main focus remains providing chiropractic care to his patients and expanding his practice services, he’s still able to surf about three days a week. “With surfing, I like the physical activity side and being in nature,” Vella says. “It’s the way it teaches you to be absolutely present and go with the flow, and you learn to go with the next wave that comes at you.”

Tim Brown, D.C.

Since childhood, surfing has been a staple in Brown’s life. His dad was one of the top surfers in Newport Beach, Calif., and Brown was eager to follow in his footsteps. Fifty years later, Brown is still catching waves at least five times a week.

A multi-sport athlete, Brown’s interest in becoming a sports doctor was sparked during his time at the University of Redlands in California, where he played quarterback and receiver for the university’s football team. “I was injured often and was intrigued by the mysteries of the healing process,” he says. “I was constantly bugging the trainers and team doctors for their ‘secrets’ on how to perform and recover more effectively.”

After college, Brown began preparing for the MCAT with the hope of attending medical school. One day while he was surfing, Brown ran into an old friend who suggested that a career in Chiropractic would be a good fit for him. “He knew I was into living a healthy, natural lifestyle, and he recommended that I look into Chiropractic,” he says. “He gave me an article on Dr. Leroy Perry. He was one of the first internationally known sports chiropractors. Perry framed it up nicely for me by talking about health as being a balance between what we eat, think and do. It simply felt easy to decide that [addressing] the causes of disease, caring with natural means and offering the patient better lifestyle and activity choices for daily living was much more appealing to me than the career of the allopathic doctor who focused purely on symptom-oriented care, drugs and surgery. That article forever altered my path and purpose. For the first time in my life, I truly knew what I was meant to dedicate my life to—
becoming the best sports chiropractor I was capable of becoming.”

Brown graduated from Cleveland Chiropractic College in 1984, and three years later he opened his own practice, Newport Spine and Sport. Since becoming a chiropractor, Brown has had the opportunity to combine two of his passions—surfing and caring for athletes. He spent nine years as the Director of Sports Medicine for the OP Pro Championships, also known as the U.S. Open of Surfing, and is currently the Co-Medical Director for the Association of Surfing Professionals, Northern Hemisphere. His career has also led him to adjust and care for some of the world’s top athletes in sports other than surfing. Upon being named Director of Sports Medicine for the Association of Volleyball Professionals, a position he held from 1987–1996, Brown became the first chiropractor to be named medical director for a professional sport. Brown has also been named to many sports medicine teams over his career, including the U.S. Track and Field Championships, Ironman World Triathalon Championships, U.S. Diving, Ballet Pacifica and Race Across America. In 1998, the American Chiropractic Association Sports Council named him Sports Chiropractor of the Year.

Today, Brown’s main focus is his company IntelliSkin, which produces posture-correcting garments. Having worked with athletes who were competing primarily in sand and water, Brown began using his Specific Proprioceptive Response Taping techniques (SPRT) on his athletes. “After five years of taping many hundreds of injuries, one of my athletes said, ‘Hey. When are you going to wise up and just build me something I can put on and take off?’” Brown says. “Intelli-Skin can be used during competition, training, recovery and travel. It protects from injury while improving function because its futuristic design stimulates the sensorimotor system to improve muscle balance by retraining posture and quality of movement.”

Even with his non-stop schedule, Brown still makes time to catch a few waves as often as possible “One of the greatest things about surfing is that it’s a constant highlight,” he says. “I’ve got a short attention span and enjoy stimulating my senses, and with surfing, you get to be out in the beauty of nature, getting healthy and exercising. No two waves are ever the same, so every time you catch a wave, it’s a fresh experience that trains you to keep focused and be prepared. I love all sports, but nothing is a close second to a good day surfing.”

Craig Pruitt, D.C.

Pruitt did not have an instant connection to surfing. While working for his practice in Middletown, R.I., one of Pruitt’s patients, who at the time was covered in sand and seaweed, suggested that Pruitt give surfing a try. A lover of water sports, Pruitt enjoyed activities like fishing, scuba diving, waterskiing and spearfishing, and he soon decided to heed the advice of his patient. But after a few unsuccessful—and painful—attempts, Pruitt was reluctant to continue. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘This is not very fun. Being held under water and tossed like a rag in a washing machine really sucks,’” Pruitt says. “But after I caught my first wave, I was hooked for life.”

Before Pruitt became a chiropractor, he was serving in the U.S. Air Force as a Security Police Officer. After hurting his lower back and experiencing muscle atrophy in one of his legs, Pruitt was told surgery would be his only route to recovery. “The Air Force doctors wanted me to do surgery, but I went to a chiropractor instead,” he says. “I literally watched my leg grow back to a normal size and thought, ‘That’s cool—no surgery, no drugs. I would love to do that for people.’”

Pruitt graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1999 and opened his own practice, Pruitt Chiropractic. “We have always focused on contributing to our community and correcting subluxations,” Pruitt says. “Our community was ready for our style of Chiropractic—simple, principled and fun.”

Through his practice, Pruitt has had the opportunity to care for many local surfers and water sport athletes. “In our office, we see a lot of surfers, swimmers, skateboarders, windsurfers and watermen,” he says. “I have a lay lecture designed for water sport athletes to teach them the benefits of chiropractic care to reduce the possibility of injuries and increase performance and longevity. People who surf want to do it until the day they die, and that requires a healthy spine and nervous system—period.”

Now, with 13 years of surfing under his belt, Pruitt has had an array of experiences, from a terrifying injury that almost ended his surfing career to traveling the world to enjoy some of the best waves. Yet, between running his practice and spending time with his family, Pruitt, who still continues to surf daily, says his favorite moments in the water are when he’s enjoying the camaraderie of his surfing friends. “I like when we camp on the beach, surf, cook over a fire and chill out,” he says. “We talk about ‘that wave’ we caught—its shape, its speed and how we rode the wave. You end up remembering a moment in time when you were riding a great wave, and you just keep replaying the image over and over again, like a favorite movie.”

Why Crossfit is an Orthopedic Surgeon's Dream

A few years ago I was completing my post-operative follow up appointment at my orthopedic surgeon’s office after having several pieces of a torn meniscus removed when I expressed to her my interest in taking up Crossfit as soon as my knee had healed.  Here’s how it went:

Me:  “Dr.,  I’m thinking when my knee heals up about taking up Crossfit to improve my overall strength and performance. What do you think?”

Dr.:  “Crossfit? That is an orthopedic surgeon’s dream!!!

Me:  “What do you mean?  You get a lot of business from Crossfit?  You mean by people hurting themselves?”

Dr.:  “Yes, especially shoulders, knees and hips…. I have literally made millions from it…”

So this got me thinking… we hear all the great benefits of Crosfit or bootcamp-like work out programs, but what is this dark secret about all the injuries we don’t hear about?  And more importantly, how can I, as a chiropractor, help prevent those injuries from happening?

On a side note, after my knee healed, I did start Crossfit and I love the way it has made me a better all around stronger athlete with better endurance.  I’m an avid surfer, mountain biker and skier and in my late 30′s, without an ACL in my left knee (yes, the same knee that I had a several parts of my meniscus removed), and find it hard to do all the sports I like, so when I do have time, I play hard.   I started Crossfit to give me more strength in my core and unstable knees (yes, it helps a lot) so I can still surf, ski and ride at a high level .   From my own personal experience Crossfit has improved my ability on all levels in all the sports I like to do.  And no, I haven’t been injured yet from Crossfit.  This is because before anything, I make sure my body is aligned and moving properly before I work out.  So what about these people that have been injured?  These people with injuries who are behind the “millions” of dollars my orthopedic surgeon has made due to their injuries at Crossfit or similar type of workout activities.  How can we prevent this?

As old adage goes “time will tell,” it sure did in this case.  As Crossfit has become bigger and more popular, the ratio to injuries from these activities appear to be on the rise not only in my orthopedic’s office, but also across the board and in my own chiropractic clinic.  The majority of the injuries being low back, neck and shoulders.  A trend in injuries is happening here and chiropractic has shown not only to be highly effective at alleviating those injuries but also in preventing them.

Imagine this scenario for a second…. You have a door that is slightly off the hinges and out of alignment at those hinges.  The hinges are not gliding smoothly and every time the door is opened or closed the hinges make a loud grinding noise and you see metal shavings fall on the floor from the grinding metal.  Now imagine you have 100 people coming and going through that door per day.  How long do you think those hinges will last?   Now imagine those hinges are the joints in your spine.   You have one or more vertebrae out of alignment in your back or neck and then you walk into the Crossfit gym to do a WOD (Workout Of the Day).  Your first exercise is 100 kettle bell swings.   What do you think is going to happen to those joints?   Just like the door, these joints are going to suffer more much more wear and tear and give out much sooner.  This wear and tear will create more stress on the tissues, decreased strength and overall balance and eventually lead you to engage or use muscle groups or movements that will prevent you from doing this exercise correctly and safely.  When something finally gives, you end up with strained muscles, sprained ligaments,  torn rotator cuffs, back pain, neck pain and disc injuries such as herniations or protrusions.   Prevention is the key here, and if those misaligned joints of the spine and body were in correct alignment and biomechanically functioning correctly before the exercise(s), you could have probably avoided these injuries all together. The longer the problems has been there the more likely you are to hurt something.

This is the big idea with chiropractic; keeping your body healthy, aligned and functioning at it’s highest potential to prevent injuries to the spine, body, neuromuscular and nervous systems.   Just like when go to the dentist to keep our teeth clean to prevent cavities and get our car’s oil changed and valves aligned to prevent our engine from breaking down, it is essential for overall health and peak performance that we tune up our bodies BEFORE they break down.  This in the long run, requires so much less money, and less visits to a chiropractor, than waiting until you have a breakdown in your spine and need to be treated for a major injury.  And for those of you that are Crossfitters this idea becomes even more relevant, you’re not training your body to be a Hyundai, you are training to make your body run like a finely tuned powerful high performance machine like a Ferrari, so why wouldn’t you make sure the alignment is straight and you’re firing on all cylinders?

So how often should you get checked by a chiropractor?  If you are having pain or other musculoskeletal issues, immediately.  For a typical “healthy” person who has been regularly adjusted by a chiropractor, once or twice per month should be appropriate.   People with a history of spinal problems, professional athletes or someone who has never been to a chiropractor before, maybe 1-2 times per week depending on the patient at the start.     In our office we like to get people out of pain as quickly as possible and get their bodies functioning at their peak performance as soon as possible so we  start off with treatment plans that are more frequent in the beginning, then, as their bodies respond, hold their alignments better and learn to move correctly again, we decrease the visits accordingly.    There is a reason almost every professional sports team has a chiropractor on staff, those athletes are going out everyday and pushing their bodies to the limit.   They are constantly putting their bodies out of alignment due to the constant stresses and impacts they are undergoing due to their activities.  If they want to continue to perform at the highest level and prevent injuries, it’s essential their bodies and joints be in aligned.

Whether you are a weekend warrior, avid Crossfitter, trying out a new sport or activity or just going through the motions of daily life.  You will inevitably function,  perform and feel better keeping your body aligned with chiropractic.  As chiropractors our goal is to keep your body functioning at it’s highest potential and keep you from becoming part of an orthopedic surgeons dream.

To schedule your first appointment or to schedule a chiropractic tune-up with Dr. Sam Vella at Heavenly Chiropractic and Wellness Center in South Lake Tahoe, please call our office at (530) 600-3669.

Staying Fit and Healthy with SUPing and Chiropractic

Staying Fit and Healthy with SUPing and Chiropractic

 

Isn’t it amazing that just a few short years ago there were almost no SUP’ers in the water and now, whether it’s the ocean, lakes or rivers, our sport is growing at an amazing rate and you’ll find a SUP’er in a body of water in almost any part of the globe.  With so many people getting involved in our sport, there will inevitably be a few common or reoccurring injuries that people are prone to develop.  This article is written to touch on a few of the most common injuries and how best to prevent them. 

As the old saying goes, “The best offense, is a good defense…”  and protecting yourself from injury in the first place keeps you in the water.  You may have noticed that as you are paddling and you become more and more fatigued, your posture becomes worse, you start leaning more forward on your board, your paddling stroke may change and your balance quickly goes downhill.  This fatigue can result in various injuries, whether it’s going over the falls and having a major wipeout  or straining muscles and/or ligaments due to overuse.  Most of the time, these injuries can be prevented by listening to your body and taking a few precautions before and after your SUP session.

As a chiropractor, I am always looking at and evaluating posture, alignment and biomechanical motion (the way our body moves).  It makes sense, that one of the first steps to protect yourself is making sure your body is aligned and moving properly so it CAN protect itself.  There is a law (much like a law of physics) within the body.  ANY MUSCLE THAT CROSSES A DYSFUNTIONAL JOINT WILL BE WEAK. What would cause a joint to be dysfunctional?   Misalignment, tissue inflammation, arthritis, over use just to name a few.  This means that you could have only one vertebrae out of alignment and EVERY muscle that crosses that  particular joint (and many major muscles cross several vertebrae each with at least 6 or more joints)  will be weak.  That one misaligned vertebrae can cause your back to fatigue much faster, your posture to be off as you stand on your board or your paddling power to be significantly decreased.  These events, in turn can and will lead to injury over time.   The most common areas for these dysfunctional/misaligned joints to occur are the neck, shoulders, low back and hips.  Roughly 90% of the muscles in the body cross over these areas as the saying goes “take care of your body and it’ll take care of you.”

As much as SUPing is a great workout, which is why many people choose to do it besides the fun factor, it is important to practice a few habits that’ll keep you in the water paddling circles around others. 

1. Make Sure Your Body is Properly Aligned.  As a chiropractor I recommend getting your body checked out 1-2 times per month.  You tune up your car, you go to dental, eye and health checkups, so make sure the foundation of your frame is aligned and moving properly.  Also make sure to go to a chiropractor  who adjusts more than just the spine.  The shoulders, elbows, writs, knees and ankles are equally important.  When calling a chiropractor for your first visit, specifically ask if the Dr. does “extremity adjusting” meaning your legs and arms.  Making sure your spinal bones and other bones of the body are in the correct position and moving properly will help prevent over use problems, give you more paddling strength and endurance, increase your balance and help your body function at it’s optimum level.

2. Keep Your Body Flexible.   The joints of the body and discs of the spine stay healthy through motion.   They pump in fluid and nutrients and pump out the toxins through a process called “imbibition.”  Yoga is excellent for this.  I happen to prefer and love Bikram’s or hot yoga.  The workout I get is amazing and I am amazed about how much my surfing, athletic ability and endurance improves after a yoga session.   You may notice that as we age our bodies stiffen.  The stiffer our bodies become, the less they are able to absorb impact or stress (think of a car with no shocks, pretty rough ride).  Your body’s ability to handle a big wipeout or stress (like paddling for 2 hours) put upon it, is in direct relation to how your body can absorb that stress or impact.  More flexibility equals more shock absorption qualities of the human frame and healthier joints.  Remember that motion is how the joints, discs and cartilage stay healthy. 
3. Warming Up and Cooling Down.  Before we just go out and start paddling do some light stretching for the neck, back, arms, shoulders and legs.  Loosening up the muscles and joints of the body will actually make them stronger and work better.  It is also just as important to stretch out AFTER you paddle as it will help the muscles get rid of lactic acid (the chemical that makes you sore) and also cause the muscles not to tighten up so much after a session. 
4. Proper Nutrition.  Would you put poor quality gas in a Ferrari?  How do you think it would run?  When we are fueling our bodies, it is the same concept.  The better the food/fuel the more power, strength and endurance we have.    Make sure you put good fuel in your body before you SUP, and also make sure you help your body recover faster by putting good fuel in it afterward.

What’s great about our sport is that many of us have found that SUPing is much easier on the body than regular surfing.  So much in fact that I’ve seen many surfers give up regular surfing entirely because of how much easier SUPing is on their bodies and how much more fun they have.  It’s also great to see the waistlines shrink due to the high rate of calories our bodies burn when we are SUPing.  I firmly believe that SUPing is one of the most healthy sports we can do for our bodies, not to mention one of the most fun.  With a few healthy decisions and habits like the ones above, we should each find ourselves SUPing well into and beyond our golden years.  After all, a true SUPer never dies, they just paddle off into to the sunset…

Yours In Health,

Dr. Sam Vella

Chiropractor

Dr. Sam Vella can be found at Heavenly Chiropractic and Wellness Center.  He specializes in sports chiropractic for skiers, surfers, SUPers, athletes, family care and assisting people achieve their maximum potential through chiropractic,  holistic care and nutrition.  He has been the attending chiropractor for the ASP World Surfing Tour for the Triple Crown Events at Haleiwa, Sunset and Pipeline for 8 consecutive years 2004-2011.  You can contact him directly at mytahoechiropractor@gmail.com or call Tahoe Chiropractic Clinic at (530) 600-3669.

Is Your Desk Job De-Evolving Your Body?

Is Your Desk Job De-Evolving Your Body?

In an effort to keep up with the latest “trends” in diagnosis we’d like to reveal our latest “syndrome”, we call it “Office Worker Syndrome.”  While the names of these syndromes may be new, the symptoms and underlying causes of the problems go back all the way to when we as humans, started to spend less time hunting and gathering and more time being stagnant or stationary at a desk or in front of a computer.    So, what is “Office Worker’s Syndrome you ask?   We define it by a group of common symptoms resulting from the stress and effects of sitting at a desk for long hours hunched over a computer.  These symptoms include neck pain/tension, headaches, poor posture, upper back pain tension and muscle spasms and reduced range of motion throughout the spine.  More advanced symptoms include spinal degeneration and/or arthritis, tingling numbness in the extremities, migraines, fatigue, high blood pressure and a general feeling of dis-eases-ease or lack of health throughout the body.

Evolutionarily speaking, our bodies are made to be on the move.  Walking from village to village, running from hungry predators, foraging for food and hunting game for food that we’d cook over the fire in our cave, sod house, teepee, igloo or whatever our dwelling of choice may be for that era and geographic location in time.  Notice in the previous sentences it does not say anything remotely close to “staring a computer screen for 8 hours, reading our Ipad, sitting at a desk all day, driving in traffic or going to McDonalds.  For what our bodies have evolved to do over the last tens of thousands of years, none of it includes what most of us actually “do” in a day.

When we do something other than what our bodies have evolved for, this creates unusual or an increased load of stress on our system(s) and symptoms (ie. pain, degeneration, sickness) will eventually become present.    Are bodies were NOT designed to sit at a desk for 8-10 hours per day, and those of us who do, usually have many of the symptoms mentioned in the first paragraph.  So why is sitting so detrimental?  It’s all about structure and gravity.   Our spines have three curves that help the body absorb shock (like a spring) and keep the weight of the head and torso centered over the body (ie. head over shoulder, shoulders over hips, hips over knees, knees over ankles.   The more the head moves forward the heavier it becomes on the spine thanks to gravity.  Gravity is also constant, therefore, you have a constant load or stress on the spine that the body has to resist.  The muscles that hold up the head start from about the mid back and go all the way to the base of the skull.   Since these muscles are constantly resisting gravity (which is constants remember), the results are chronic tension and muscle spasms.  This is just the start of the problem.  Chronic tension and muscle spasms lead to decreased range of motion and arthritis.  The discs of the spine stay healthy by motion, if they are not moving, they are not getting the nutrients and fluid they need so they degenerate and develop arthritis.  This downward spiral of health continues until eventually you have chronic pain, tension muscle spasm and arthritis throughout that compresses vital spinal nerves that carry communication to and from the brain throughout the body.   Chiropractors call this nerve compression or impingement “subluxations” and they can be very detrimental to our health.   The “De-evolution of the human spine” is a rapid loss of posture and spinal health due to the forces put on our spine by sitting at a desk for long hours every day.   Our office jobs reverse the tens of thousands of years of evolution in only  a matter of a few years and that upright posture we have evolved to over millenia to attain is reduced into that prehistoric neanderthal’s posture of long ago.  Isn’t it ironic that modern technology has actually made our physical posture and alignment worse over the years and made us more hunched over as our primal ancestors once were?

 

De-evolution of the Human Spine

So how do you maintain your high paying (hopefully) corporate desk job, your evolutionary entitled upright posture, a pain-free spine and overall structural integrity and wellness of your body?  Once again we go back to structure.

Step One:  Make sure all the bones are aligned and moving properly.  Bone adjusting has been around for thousands of years, but the safest, most effective way of keeping your bones and posture in alignment is to get regularly adjusted by a chiropractor.  You want healthy teeth? You go to the dentist. You want a healthy spine, go to a chiropractor.  People ask all the time, “How long will I have to go to a chiropractor?”  My response is almost always the same “Do you go to the dentist?  How long do you plan on going to the dentist for?”  Arthritis in the spine is just like cavities in the teeth, much of it can be prevented with proper care and maintenance.  Chiropractors are the highest trained and most effective professionals at diagnosing, treating  and correcting spinal and postural misalignments.  If you’ve never been to a chiropractor it’s like having a car that is your age and never taking it to a mechanic.   Can you imagine how horrible the alignment would be on your car if you’ve never checked it or had it adjusted in 30 years?  If your spine is in perfect health with the proper curvatures and you are actively following the steps listed on the page, then you should probably be getting your spine checked and adjusted about 1-2 times per month.  If you’ve been sitting at that desk for years and not taking care of your spine and body, you probably have a bit of chiropractic “correction” to be done to teach and retrain you spine how to move again and maintain the correct alignment.  Starting off, it is not uncommon to see a chiropractor 2-3 time per week to get you spine back to as “normal” as possible.   Of course the best type of chiropractic care is prevention.  If you’d been getting adjusted occasionally (1-2 times per month) throughout your life, then you’d probably not be in the situation your in at the moment.   The longer you put this important step off, the worse it gets and the more visits you’ll need to get back to “normal.”  So make that first or long overdue chiropractic appointment right away and get in and get adjusted.

Step Two:  Make sure your ergonomics are correct at your work station.   Are you using a laptop all day that causes you to be leaning forward, looking down and hunched forward for 8-10 hours a day?  The middle of your monitor should be no less than eye level.  The keyboard should be in a comfortable position where you don’t have to reach to touch the keys.  Your chair should have proper back support where it encourages you to sit more on your sit-bones with your spine straight.  Your feet should be firmly on the floor with your knees bent at a 90 degree angle.  Have a coworker take a picture of you at your work station and bring it to your chiropractor for an evaluation.

Step Three:  Make sure you are doing activities to counter act what sitting as a desk for 8-10 hours per day does to your body.  One of my favorites is yoga.  My patients ask me all the time what type of exercises they can do at home to help prevent their spine from going out of alignment.  Nine times out of ten I answer with “yoga.”  Maintaining health and balance in the body is not as simple as going home and performing a few exercises or stretches.  You can’t just bend forward a few times and stretch out your hamstrings and low back and expect your core to stabilize.  Stretching is not two dimensional, proper stretching is actually 3-D.  Two dimensional stretching, for example, would be stretching out the major muscle groups quadriceps (front of legs) and hamstrings (back of legs).  Although this would be slightly beneficial, in this example it is even more important and effective to stretch out the major AND minor stabilizing muscles of the legs (adductors, abductors, rotators).  This would require flexion, extension, internal and external rotation, adduction and abduction and everything in between.  In my experience, about the only activity that I have found that does this actively (without paying high dollars for a profession trainer to stretch you out) is a good intense yoga class.  In regards to the spine, yoga also puts the entire body and spinal column through a 3 dimensional stretching routine which not only reverses the effects of a desk job, but also lubricates and decompresses the discs of the spine to maintain and promote health.    As much as I’m a proponent of yoga, I still find it hard to conjure up the discipline to find the time and make the effort to do a session of yoga at home that is even close to the benefits I get by attending a class with an instructor.  I personally bounce between sessions at Core Power Yoga and Bikram’s Yoga.   I like how the heat helps my tight muscles stretch and helps my body detoxify by sweating out toxins.    If you’ve never done yoga, remember that there are a lot of different types of  yoga.  The trick is finding a class that works for you.  What I like about the two studios I mentioned before is that they have franchised yoga so no matter where you go, as long as it’s one of their studios you know the type of class you are getting.  That saves me from accidentally  choosing a “yoga” class that only does meditating and breathing when I’m there for a full body workout.   How much should you go?  I recommend at least 2-3 days per week to see and get continual changes and benefits.  At one session a week I feel good that I did the class but also sore most of the week from that one session.   Two days a week keeps me feeling pretty good and I see progressive changes in my strength, agility and flexibility.   At three days week and I feel like Superman and 10 years younger by the end of the week.   For starters, make a commitment to attend at least 2 classes per week for at least a month and you will see huge changes in your health and flexibility by the end of the month.  Remember the saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day?” You’re not going to stretch out and change years or even decades worth of rigidity, fixation, tight muscles and poor posture with one or two yoga classes (or chiropractic visits for that matter).  Chances are, after your first class you’ll walk out feeling like Superman and wake up the next day feeling like an old man.  Very sore.   This is common and the best thing you can do is drink plenty of water and get back into another class within 48 hours.

There are 3 types of stress that we have; Emotional, such as job or family matters; Chemical, such as too much coffee, toxins on food or drugs; and Physical, sitting at a desk for 8-10 hours.  All of these “stressors” result in physical stress on the body that creates everything from spinal misalignments to muscle tension and pain, to postural distortions. It is essential for overall long term health of the body that you are managing all the different types of stress effectively and proactively doing things like getting adjusted by a chiropractor, maintaining proper ergonomics and staying involved in an flexibility activity like yoga, to prevent stress and deterioration of the body.

Dr. Sam Vella at Heavenly Chiropractic and Wellness Center in South Lake Tahoe, CA  is a postural specialist.  His chiropractic technique not only focuses on restoring alignment to individual vertebrae but also restoring postural alignment to the entire body.  Mention this article and receive a detailed postural evaluation.  Heavenly Chiropractic and Wellness Center is conveniently located off Ski Run Blvd. at  3637 Larch Ave.  South Lake Tahoe, CA  96150.  Appointments can be made by calling (530) 600-3669. 

www.mytahoechiropractor.com

Another Type of Safe Chiropractic Technique with Dr. Sam Vella

We often have patients enter our office for their first visit and are either terrified of hearing their spines make a “pop” sound as we perform hands on adjustments, or, they have been injured so seriously and/or have  certain conditions that they need a light force technique or adjustment because their bodies are just not ready to have a manual or hands-on manipulation.   We want our patients to know that at Heavenly Chiropractic we not only provide safe-effective hands on adjustments, but also “light-force” techniques to suit your needs.

Our clinic utilizes a piece of equipment called an “Arthrostim.”   The following paragraphs explain how adjustments work and how we use the Arthrostim to during the adjusment process.

 

Chiropractic adjustments help stimulate the body to heal itself.  Traditionally, chiropractors have used single high-energy thrusting and pulling movements to adjust areas of the body.  The adjustments sets a series of events into motion…

The adjustments produces precise movements which stimulate ‘neural receptors’ in an area.  These receptors, in turn, produce nerve impulses which relay crucial information to the brain.

The brain depends on this ‘neurological feedback stream’ to update its awareness about an area.  Once the brain evaluates the changes prompted by the adjustment, it issues self-correcting commands to the muscular systems, to bring about healing changes.

Recently, new ways of producing this important neurological feedback stream have been developed.  The ArthroStim Instrument is one of the most effective and comfortable tools for creating this valuable input in an area.

The ArthroStim  Instrument

The ArthroStim Instrument delivers 12-14 incremental thrusts per second.  By dividng the energy of a single thrust into rapid successive inputs, the ArthroStim  Instruments modulates the (peak) force.  This allows your doctor to administer an extremely comfortable, and highly effective, adjustment.

The secret to the instrument’s effectiveness comes from its controlled repetitive input.  This input produces a cumulative “snowballing’ effect on neural receptors.

This permits the ArthroStim   Instrument to create extensive neurological feedback to the brain, using greatly reduced forces.

By utilizing controlled, incremental thrusts, the ArthoStim   Instrument is also able to stimulate specific neural receptors (mechanoreceptors and proprioreceptors) without activating undesirable pain receptors.

The ArthroStim Instrument

The ArthroStim Instrument permits Dr. Vella  to maintain the effectiveness of your adjustment while reducing the amount of force that is applied.  This dynamic combination allows the practioner to comfortably manage a wider range of conditions.

Individuals that may especially benefit from the use of the ArthroStim Instrument include:

INFANTS AND SMALL CHILDREN

ELDERLY INDIVIDUALS

SENSITIVE INDIVIDUALS

ACUTE PAIN

CHRONIC PAIN

SPORT INJURIES

Even individuals who are larger and stronger (and may be difficult to adjust with a single thrust) can benefit from the ‘neurological assist’ that the ArthroStim  Instrument provides.

Your Doctor may use the ArthroStim Instrument by itself, or in combination with other adjusting methods, depending on the approach they feel is best for your care.

If you have any questions about the Arthrostim or any of our techniques, make sure to ask Dr. Vella on your first visit.