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A Happy Birthday Message

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On September 18th, Chiropractic celebrates another birthday since its founding in 1895 by DD Palmer, DC. Over 100 years ago Palmer asked this important question that sparked a new profession: “I desired to know why one person was ailing and his associate, eating at the same table, working in the same shop, at the same bench was not. Why? What difference was there in these two persons that caused one to have various diseases, while his partner escaped?”

This question is just as important for you and your family today. There is so much toxicity in the air, food and water that we consume. Chemtrails mark the skies, genetically modified foods are sold in our stores, and the quality of our water supply is so poor that the bottled water industry generates $11 billion a year.

How resistant are you to all of these toxins in the environment? How capable is your body of resisting the stress from the negative forces all around us? What is the answer to DD Palmer’s question?

Without a doubt, one important part of the answer is that your body must be able to adapt in a healthy way to your surroundings. The system within your body that controls and coordinates every function of your body and adapts you to your environment is your nervous system.

Healthy nerve supply is essential for a healthy life. Your brain consists of 100 billion neurons and sends messages at 325 mph over 45 miles of nerves within your body. This highly sophisticated and coordinated network is the Information Technology (IT) super highway that must be functioning properly for your body to appropriately adapt to your environment. Cut off this system completely and your cells, tissues and organ systems will die. Interfere with this system and your body cannot function the way that it is supposed to. Your internal adaptation mechanisms become weak.

Vertebral subluxation is a condition that happens in the spine and nervous system when it is injured from the birth process, childhood falls, accidents, or stress of any kind. Because your natural IT system can be affected by this condition, it can result in immediate symptoms and mimic any diagnosis or it can lie dormant and asymptomatic for decades leading to many types of health problems in the future. If you truly want to strengthen your body’s ability to adapt, you must make the correction and elimination of this condition a priority – before it leads to problems.

Certainly, healthy non-toxic food is an important and healthy choice. Exercise to keep your body fit and strong will build your confidence, increase your resistance, and help prevent some health problems. However, without a healthy spine and nervous system, the food and the fitness cannot be assimilated properly. Dr. Palmer was correct and the profession he founded lives on over 100 years later and counting. Isn’t it time that you make the health of your spine and nervous system a priority and schedule your next chiropractic checkup?

Make the health of your spine and nervous system a priority. Make good choices across the board. Live The 100 Year Lifestyle and enjoy a sensational century.

Copyright 2016. The Family Practice, Inc., Dr. Eric Plasker and The 100 Year Lifestyle. All Rights Reserved.

Run Faster. Jump Higher. Recover Better

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As the current sports season kicks into full stride, the desire to do everything we can to maximize recovery time and increase performance is greater than ever.

As the intensity of our training activities puts added stress on our bodies, ensuring proper healing and recovery becomes increasingly important. How would you or your loved ones benefit from gaining a competitive edge over the competition this season? Would you like to set a personal record?

If you are already training hard, eating well and keeping well-hydrated, that is great. And you may be overlooking the most important aspect of health that is vital to achieving your goals this season. Having an optimally functioning nervous system is crucial to gaining the competitive edge whether you are out to win the next match or playing a game of one on one with your child.

The most cutting edge neuroscience and research on the brain is finding that stimulation and nutrition to your brain requires a healthy spine. In Brain Research, Yates describes the importance of proper nervous system function on balance, posture and breathing. Yates writes, “In addition to maintaining stable eye and body position during movement, the vestibular system influences cardiovascular and respiratory control; vestibulosympathetic and vestibulorespiratory reflexes may be important in correcting posturally related disturbances”(1995). In other words, proper posture and nervous system function are directly related to balance, eye movements and control over your breathing pathways. What athlete wouldn’t want better hand-eye coordination, balance, and ability to take in oxygen during the high demands of sport? Having a properly functioning nervous system is sure to give you the extra edge on your competition.

How would being able to run faster and jump higher give you a competitive advantage? In 2000, Colloca and Keller published a study in JMPT designed to see how a single chiropractic adjustment could impact the strength of muscles. They found that after a single adjustment, athletes had stronger muscle contractions measured by EMG technology. By maintaining a healthy nervous system through chiropractic care as part of a healthy lifestyle your muscles will be bigger, faster and stronger (JMPT).

One key factor in becoming bigger, stronger and faster is the body’s ability to recover and heal. New research supports that chiropractic adjustments help reduce harmful inflammatory substances without reducing Substance P, a chemical responsible for cell growth and repair. This study is the first of its kind to support that chiropractic adjustments can help reduce harmful inflammation after grueling workouts while simultaneously boosting the immune system to help the body heal quickly (Teodorczyk-Injeyan, Injeyan, Ruegg 2006).

This sports season, make sure you’re performing at the top of your game. Regular chiropractic care as a part of your already healthy lifestyle is sure to help you run faster, jump higher and heal better. Have your nervous system checked today to increase your function and performance.

Keller, T. S., & Colloca, C. J. (2000). Mechanical force spinal manipulation increases trunk muscle strength assessed by electromyography: A comparative clinical trial. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 23(9), 585-595. doi:10.1067/mmt.2000.110947

Teodorczyk-Injeyan, J. A., Injeyan, H. S., & Ruegg, R. (2006). Spinal Manipulative Therapy Reduces Inflammatory Cytokines but Not Substance P Production in Normal Subjects. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 29(1), 14-21. doi:10.1016/j.jmpt.2005.10.002

Yates, B.J., Siniaia, M. & Miller, A.D. (1995). American Journal of Physiology. Descending pathways necessary for vestibular influences on sympathetic and inspiratory flow. 268, 1381-1385.

Contributed by Daniel Kimbley, DC, BS and Dr. Eric Plasker

The Foundation of Flexibility

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A healthy spine and nervous system is the foundation of flexibility.

For some, just getting to the gym constitutes going past their comfort zone. For many, participating in circus gymnastics has become an accessible and exciting way for them to get physical, build skills and enjoy the excitement of moving the body. Instead of the usual cardio and weight-lifting, most of these gymnastics focus on specific awareness of the body along with the strength to isolate these specific areas in movement.

With the spread of hooping, slack-lining, acro (partner) yoga, aerial silks, hand-balancing and contortion, more and more modern athletes are finding they must remain flexible, as well as strong, in order to stay fit for a lifetime.

Have you ever reached a point in your personal fitness or activity level where you felt hindered due to limited flexibility and a restricted range of motion?

Striving to stretch that extra inch, to keep your shoulders aligned or complete each training set in perfect form, high-performance athletes don’t need the extra obstacle of locked joints, muscles or tendons. Optimizing your flexibility for the long haul requires those pushing their physical limits to keep their senses sharp and their bodies limber: nerves running without interference, longevity-focused care and the correct placement of bones and joints to handle the demands of their bodies.

Stretching can already be a challenging task, but the value of flexibility far outweighs the time required. Chiropractic Lifestyle Care allows your joints and tendons to be aligned correctly, facilitating progress in flexibility. Not only has chiropractic been shown to increase range of motion but ensuring an optimum functioning nervous system helps you to be more aware of your joints’ movement through space, to reduce discomfort and to ensure correct joint and muscle alignment while building that important muscle memory.

“After I got adjusted, I went up to the gym and noticed, ‘Wow! I can stretch further, even before warming up!’ ” exclaimed Jenn Rauscher, a contortionist and aerialist for Root Elements Entertainment. She attributes much of her progress in feats of flexibility to regular adjustments from her chiropractor. The proper alignment of her joints allowed further, and more correct, movement of her body, but it also had an unexpected effect. Ms. Rauscher, like many athletes, recalls becoming increasingly aware of her joints and muscle proprioception through Chiropractic Lifestyle Care. At first, she was pulling and compressing her spine to increase flexibility; and now, “the awareness to align, then lengthen my spine, came from the adjustments.” She used her new awareness to allow more articulate and intentional movement of her body.

Many athletes’ bodies are treated as valuable commodities only when young. However, there are multiple examples of circus performers 85 years young3 continuing to push their talents to the edge. With the odds of you living to 80, 90 and 100 years and beyond are increasing every day, taking care of your spine, joints and nervous system as a priority can help you stretch the number of active, quality years you enjoy.

1. Whittingham, Wayne and Niels Nilsson. “Active Range of Motion in the Cervical Spine Increases After Spinal Manipulation.” Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. 2001; Vol 24, No 9.
2. Millan, Marlo et al. “The Effect of Spinal Manipulative Therapy on Spinal Range of Motion.” Chiropractic & Manual Therapies. 2012; Vol 20, No 23.
3. Poole, Sheila. “85-Year-Old Stays Young Defying Gravity.” The Atlanta-Journal Constitution. 7 June 2016 (visited 7 Sept 2016). (http://www.myajc.com/news/lifestyles/85-year-old-acrobat-stays-young-defying-gravity/nrb6T)

A Picture Worth 1000 Words

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These x-ray pictures are worth 1,000 words about how people age that every person should know.

The three pictures represent neck x-rays of three different individuals who are in their mid- fifties with a very similar history of trauma over the years including mild sports injuries, car accidents, and head trauma.

The x-ray image on the left is of a person who has never received chiropractic care prior to the film being taken. The x-ray in the middle represents a person who has received chiropractic Crisis Care only at times when he was in acute pain. The person on the right has been receiving chiropractic Lifestyle Care for over 30 years. Here’s what we can learn from these images:

No Care: Notice the deterioration of the bone and the disc between C4, C5, C6 and C7. These segments look like a much older person because of the localized bone and joint decay. On the other hand, the segments above look fairly healthy as representing a much younger appearance like you might see in a healthy 20 to 30-year-old person. Yet this healthy and unhealthy appearance is within the same person who has had no chiropractic care to ensure a healthy alignment of his spine and proper function of his nervous system. At times of crisis, this person has resorted to medication and pain relieving treatments such as ice, physical therapies and exercise that masked the symptoms temporarily.

Now, unfortunately, this person has really limited range of motion and organic health problems related to the nerve deterioration and the bone deterioration in the affected areas.

Chiropractic care is providing relief and increased function and mobility, but a long-term correction may never occur. The symptom-based treatments have contributed to this person deteriorating more comfortably. It only takes one area like this to severely limit your life.

Crisis Care Only: The middle x-ray represents a patient who has had Crisis Care only. At times of injury or pain this person would mask the symptoms with medication and only go to a chiropractor to get relief from their condition that the adjustment or other modality would provide. The areas of decay are confined primarily to two segments, C-5 – C6. This person responded so quickly to his Crisis Care adjustments that he never followed through on correcting the underlying structure. This has allowed this patient’s spine and nervous system to deteriorate more comfortably over the years. The deterioration is limiting their function and can be affecting his health on organic levels even while no symptoms are present.

Lifestyle Care: This person is showing proper alignment with no decay and a near normal neck curve. This patient has no history of organ dysfunction and no limit in his range of motion or activity levels. The intensity of his Lifestyle Care varies based on the intensity of his lifestyle and can range from one visit per week to one visit per month.

We’ve known as early as the early 1900s through the Windsor Autopsy Study that spinal nerve deterioration can cause organic disease and dysfunction. We now know that the impact can be even more significant as it can affect the brain. Research has shown that 90percentsign of the stimulation to the brain comes from movement of the spine. A healthy spine and nervous system is vital to healthy aging on every level.

We are getting the advanced notice that our parents and grandparents never received that, whether we like it or not, we will probably live longer than we ever thought. Let’s learn from our grandparents’ generation and make the health of our spine and nervous system, chiropractic Lifestyle Care, a priority during every stage of life and not just wait for a crisis.

Your 100 IS Coming

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The Pew Research Center recently reported that the world centenarian population is projected to grow eightfold by 2050. This is extraordinary growth. With an estimated 451,000 people around the globe over the age of 100 in 2015, that number is expected to be 3.7 million over the next 34 years. This is a staggering statistic considering that the population over the age of 80 and 90 is also expected to skyrocket.

The evidence is everywhere. Assisted Living Centers are popping up in record numbers in nearly every community. The children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of aging seniors are moving their loved ones closer to home to oversee their care and ease their suffering.

This is your advance notice! The likelihood that you and your loved ones will live this long or longer is increasing every day. What will your quality of life would be like when you get there and will you enjoy great quality of life every day along the way?

Making healthy lifestyle choices combined with taking action to ensure the health of your spine and nervous system with chiropractic checkups will help you adapt to our ever-changing environment, daily stress and empower you to function at your highest level for a lifetime.

Don’t wait for a crisis to force you to take action on your health. Unfortunately, this crisis mentality is responsible for many of the challenges of our aging population.

Be proactive! Adjust your lifestyle now and ensure your best life today while also setting yourself up for a healthy future.

Here is some poetic motivation for you to make the commitment to improve your health every day:

If you want to perform at the top of your game
Eat healthy foods and take care of your frame

The choices you make will direct your Innate
To a life of decay or an optimum state

Take care your body your mind and your spine
Make healthy choices that keep you in line

You’ve got to have nerve to adjust to it all
Your 100 is coming you make the call!

School Success or Stress?

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Every parent wants their child do well in school. Are you doing everything you can do to ensure success, positive relationships and a healthy school year for you and your family, including minimizing stress?

Our children are living with increased amounts of stress. They are constantly being exposed to toxins in their foods, increased levels of pressure to perform well on exams, fears of being bullied and constant exposure to technology that we know can have serious implications on mental states and sleep patterns. Each of these increased stressors in our children’s lives can set them up not only for serious health implications, but also for decreased academic success.

From 1995-1997 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention performed a study to determine how childhood stress impacted lifelong health and success. In the “Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study” researchers found that stressful and negative childhood experiences have devastating impacts on lifelong health and opportunity. These negative effects are especially damaging to the developing brains of children under the age of 18 years old.

The authors found that “disease conditions including ischemic heart disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, skeletal fractures, and liver disease, as well as poor self-rated health showed a graded relationship to the breadth of childhood exposures. The findings suggest that the impact of these adverse childhood experiences on adult health status is strong and cumulative” (251). Simply stated, the more stress a child experiences, the more likely that child is to have poor health and successes later in life. What can be done to combat our children’s increased exposure to stress?

The most current research on stress and its effects on the brain finds that “Unfortunately, inadequate control of glucocorticoid stress responses represent(s) a severe threat to the health and wellbeing of the organism” (Herman-“Neurocircuitry of stress”). High stress responses cause nervous system dysfunctions that have a direct negative impact on the brain. Stress creates physical changes in the brain that are very challenging to combat. Fortunately, checking the body for interference to the nervous system from birth and through every phase of life has been proven to have an immediate and direct, positive impact on brain function.

A leading researcher in the field, Heidi Haavik, found that chiropractic adjustments directly influence posture, balance, brain integration and nervous system activation. The brain integration and nervous system activation processes that Dr. Haavik speaks of “directly control our health and ability to think critically and rationally.”

Help eliminate the stress of classes, teachers and rounds of testing. Having your child’s nervous system checked is critical to ensure their academic success, increased health and vitality. Schedule a chiropractic check-up today.

Herman, Cullinan. (1997). TINS Neurocircuitry of stress: central control of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis

Haavik, Murphy B., Holt, K. (2010). Chiropractic Journal of Austrailia, Exploring the neuromodulatory effects of the vertebral subluxation and chiropractic care

Felitti, V. J., & Anda, R. F. (1997.)The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/ace/index.htm

Contributed by Dr. Daniel Kimbley and Dr. Eric Plasker