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Lifestyle Care Continuum

Homework Headaches

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Successful homework sessions don’t just happen. A little effort, planning and support make the difference between the headache, frustration and battleground around the completion of homework and the peaceful smooth sailing episode of your dreams.

The Real Headache – Afternoon headaches can be symptomatic of numerous causes. Getting to the cause is vital. A chiropractic examination or check-up will determine if there is misalignment of the neck, shoulders or other part of the spine – a common cause of headaches. Many times, there is immediate relief. Is the book bag or backpack too heavy? Did an injury occur during practice or rehearsal? Is dehydration possible? Is an essential vitamin or mineral missing from meals? Address the cause as soon as possible. Some chiropractic practices offer nutritional recommendations in addition to spine and nervous system services.

Study Skillset
Set Up – Arrange the study area to allow focus, good posture, and time management. Eliminate distractions and the battle stations structure. Successful homework sessions begin and end positively so determine what works for the best long term benefit. Good set-up includes a reset of thoughts. If today was a challenge, remember that tomorrow is a new day. Recalling successes, big or small, that occurred through the day help redirect discouragement and fatigue.

Stretch – Sitting for extended time can cause discomfort, a fidgety feeling, and a sense of boredom. Set a timer or alarm as a reminder to stand up and stretch, walk around the room, climb up and down the flight of stairs and breathe deeply. While standing, rest your eyes by looking out the window or simply closing them briefly. If it is a challenge to sit or concentrate, ask when the last chiropractic exam or checkup was scheduled. There can be pressure on a nerve or misalignment without pain that causes dis-ease in organs, systems or functions.

Snack – Keep nutritious snacks on hand to regulate blood sugar and help with concentration. Avoid sugary foods. Water is essential. Herbal tea may help de-stress from the day. If eating for the sake of “something to do while studying” is a habit, make changes now and snack sensibly. Avoid using food as a reward. View it as fuel to keep the engine running.

Reset – During the break, check your calendar and arrange the next chiropractic appointment to reset focus on the mind-body connection. This action can be a huge reward at the following homework session. After a break, do a “reset” with good intention and purposeful thought. Mark off what has been completed. Set a new goal for the next segment of the homework or study session. Reset the alarm or timer.

Success Awaits – The familiar saying, “They didn’t plan to fail. They failed to plan.” speaks as a reminder that in the same way homework won’t do itself, the body needs help to perform at its best. Small steps and small changes lead to achieving goals of all types. Contact us today to assist you in reaching yours.

Acute and Chronic Injuries

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Acute injuries can occur from slips, falls, household chores, accidents, sports, trauma, car wrecks and work injuries to name a few. In extreme or life threatening cases, the injury could require the attention of paramedics or an emergency room physician and you should take this action step immediately.

However, many acute injuries such as strains, bruises, and whiplash can heal quickly with chiropractic care which helps the body to heal itself. Getting the nerve system healthy is an important first step towards beginning and optimizing the healing process. If the acute injury has a nerve and spinal component, and this component is not addressed, acute injuries can become chronic and affect your health for a lifetime.

Chronic injuries are those that cause discomfort and dis-ease over a long time causing deterioration in the spine and nervous system. This type of injury can lead to serious long-term health problems.

Chronic conditions may have been caused by an acute problem earlier on in life. You may have dismissed the original injury as no big deal. The pain has dissipated or been masked so the cause of the problem is now ignored. We frequently see people in our practice who have deterioration of their spine and nervous system who may not be bothered by the pain any longer, but instead, they have conditions related to organs and systems that are beginning to malfunction. Over time and left uncorrected, these conditions can worsen.

Age is not the only factor in the seriousness of the chronic injury. Infants and children are just as likely to experience troublesome conditions as a 35 year old professional football player. It is not uncommon to see a child who had a traumatic birth develop asthma, allergies or headaches later on in life. Childhood falls while learning to walk or playing on the playground can come back to cause more serious conditions during or after a growth spurt.

You may be reading this after trying several medications and seeing more than one type of doctor for an acute or chronic condition. The Chiropractic care we provide may be just the thing your body needs to help you make a comeback to pre-injury health status or beyond.

Don’t let an acute injury become chronic, and don’t let a chronic injury limit your quality of life. A healthy spine and nervous system is vital to healing no matter what the condition or length of time you have had it. Schedule your appointment regardless of how you feel today, before your condition becomes more chronic than it is right now.

Lifetime Care Study Reveals

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In a new pilot study performed by the Life University Research Department, Dr. Eric Plasker and The Family Practice, the data suggests very promising results relating to quality of life and length of time under chiropractic care.

Eleven clinics and more than 100 patients ranging from one to three years under care to more than 20 years under chiropractic care, show two trends worth noting.

The first trend is that people under chiropractic care during their first three years showed a definite improvement in their overall health even beyond their initial complaint. In patients under care from three years to more than 20 years, the second trend takes the form of a leveling off effect – indicating that there was no decline in health with age.

This is an important finding as many advocates for lifetime chiropractic care have described how chiropractic care as a part of their lifestyle contributes to their quality of life and activity level as they age.

Staying healthy is more important than ever as we are learning that we have a greater longevity potential than our parents and grandparents.

In fact, 100-year-old people are the world’s fastest growing group and we are the first generation in history that is getting the advanced notice that whether we like it or not, we will probably live longer than we ever thought.

According to the New England Centenarian Study, “Health span equals lifespan…Instead of the aging myth that the older you get, the sicker you get, it is much more the case of, the older you get, the healthier you’ve been”. Staying healthy is more important than ever to ensure your quality of life as you age so that your health span matches your lifespan.

Too many people are crisis oriented when it comes to their health. As the study suggests, if you want to be healthy, make the critical transition from Crisis Care to Lifestyle Care and make the health of your spine and nervous system a priority.

The pilot study results are preliminary and require confirmation in a larger study that we are planning now. We will keep you informed as to when the results of Phase Two are completed and ready for circulation. Between now and then, make this transition with your family and make Lifestyle Care your top priority.

1. Hitt R, Young-Xu Y, Perls T. Centenarians: The older you get, the healthier you’ve been. Lancet, 1999;354 (9179):652.

Mastering Personal Change

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Are there things in your life that you know you need to change? Is it your health, your priorities, your habits or the dynamics of your relationships?

How long have you known that you needed to make these changes? Has it been a day, a month, a decade or longer?

Here’s an important thought to consider: everything will stay the same until you make the changes you know you need to make.

There are two motivating factors that cause people to change: crisis or quality of life. Which will you choose? Too many people suffer at tolerable levels until a crisis forces them to take action. Don’t wait for your suffering to become so severe that it forces you to change.

Use this article to be the final push that gets you to commit to the change you know you need to make. If you want to master personal change, choose Quality of Life Motivation over Crisis Motivation.

These three Life-Changing Principles of The 100 Year Lifestyle will keep you on track…

1. Life-Changing Principle #1: Changes is easy. Thinking about change is hard.

2. Life-Changing Principle #2: Change comes one choice at a time. Think progress not perfection.

3. Life-Changing Principle #3: If you’re going to make a change, make it with your ideal 100 Year Lifestyle in mind.

If you feel like you have been on a roller coaster ride, stop living from crisis to crisis. There is no better time than the present to make the changes you know you need to make. You will eliminate unnecessary suffering and enjoy the quality of your life that comes with these changes for decades beyond today.

When you commit to mastering personal change, you are much more likely to attract good health, vitality and all your other goals like a magnet.

We are proud to be a part of your journey to help you and your loved ones make the critical transition to Chiropractic Lifestyle Care and optimize your health for a lifetime.

Celebrating the Great Outdoors

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The National Park Service in the US is celebrating 100 Years. In nearly every country, people are enjoying the great outdoors through hiking, fishing, exploring, camping, photographing, climbing and many other activities. Full time work crews, Park Rangers and volunteers keep the National Parks accessible and useable. These people are exceptionally skilled at preserving the integrity, natural beauty and environment that make travelers want to visit the parks year after year.

Have you considered the natural resources available to you right where you are every day? Do you take advantage of the great outdoors?

The National Park Service made it to 100 years and your chances of living this long are increasing every day. If you want to be able to enjoy all of your remaining decades, including the beauty of our environment, your health must be your top priority. Here are two ways to help optimize your outdoor experiences:

First, heighten your senses. Your senses include your sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste and intuition. Barrett Hedges, award winning National Geographic Photographer who is also a photography tour guide and founder of Bearheadphoto.com recently said in a 100 Year Lifestyle interview that it’s important to “keep your senses sharp when you are in the wild and have an exit plan”.

You can keep your senses sharp by keeping your nervous system healthy. This will enable you to fully enjoy the elements, resources, environment and terrain while keeping you alert to potential hazards as well.

Second, make your FitNESS a priority. If you want to be able to get around better and be more active in the parks or the environment in general, your fitNESS is vital. In The 100 Year Lifestyle there is an acronym using the NESS in the word fitness that is important to remember. It is Neurology, Nutrition, Endurance, Strength and Structure.

In addition to keeping your senses sharp, a healthy nervous system will keep your muscles strong and your organs adapting to the challenges and stresses you may encounter in nature. Good nutrition, including good hydration, will fuel your explorations. Endurance and strength training will give you the confidence and stamina to do more. And a healthy structure, spine and skeletal system will help to prevent injuries and contribute to your longevity in being able to enjoy the outdoors.

Chiropractic Lifestyle Care is vital to keeping yourself neurologically healthy throughout your lifetime, starting today, regardless of your age or current fitness level. “I can’t afford to be sick, injured or slowed down. Chiropractic care makes a big difference for me,” says Hedges. Don’t wait for a crisis to force you to take action on your health. Don’t be put in a position to have to turn down an invitation to explore nature and optimize your enjoyment of the environment.

Taking care of the planet and our natural resources is important for quality of life today, and for future generations. The same is true for you and your health. Follow these suggestions and enjoy the environment for 100 years and beyond.

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

The Hero and The Villain

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If your personal journey of health and well-being was a story that lasted 100 healthy years or more, who would be the hero of this story? Who would be the villain if you did not live these quality years and instead lived a deteriorating life to 60 or 70? Understanding the hero and the villain will help you make choices that ensure that you and your loved ones live an active, healthy life and express your full potential throughout your lifetime.

The hero of this story is your Innate Intelligence. Your body has within it an Innate Intelligence that, from the moment of conception, strives to keep you functioning at your best. From the moment you were conceived, one cell grew into over eighty quadrillion cells without any direction from a doctor, drug, or research.

Your brain and spinal cord were placed in protective casings of bone for safety as they are the most important systems in your body. Your heart was placed in the center of your chest, an efficient location to distribute oxygen, nutrients and waste products to their proper locations with great efficiency.

Your Innate Intelligence knew how tall you were going to be before you were born and was equipped with the resources to digest your food and adapt you to your environment. As long as your Innate Intelligence is free to express itself, then you would have a great chance of expressing your full potential for eighty, ninety, a hundred years and beyond.

The villain in this story is anything that interferes with the expression of your Innate Intelligence.

Nerve interference, lifestyle interference and environmental interference can reduce your body’s innate ability to communicate or regulate itself. It is very common during the birth process for a baby’s spine to be injured, especially in the upper neck, which can reduce nerve transmission over the spinal cord and nervous system. This type of nerve interference can result in immediate symptoms like colic, constipation, diarrhea, allergies or other problems or it may lie dormant for decades until your body can no longer adapt.

Nerve interference can occur during childhood through sports injuries, childhood falls and poor nutrition, again, causing numerous symptoms or lying dormant and asymptomatic for decades. Car accidents, falling down the stairs, weight gains or losses and emotional stress are just some of the additional causes of nerve interference.

Lifestyle interference can also alter the expression of your body’s Innate Intelligence effecting your health while also causing nerve interference, sickness and disease. Lifestyle interference includes poor diet, being overweight, eating excessive amounts of sugar and caffeine, taking drugs, poor posture and stress. Interference is the villain of this story, your story, because it robs your body and mind of your true innate capabilities.

Environmental Interference is caused by toxicity from air, food, water, or chemicals, as well as accidents or natural disasters. With chem trails blanketing the sky, GMO foods on our tables dangerous chemicals in our crops and water, environmental interference has never been more of a problem to our nervous system. So much so that Robert Zieve, MD recently wrote in an article called Neurological Disorders: The Growing Epidemic of the 21st-Century, that chronic neurological diseases are fast becoming the debilitating epidemic of our time. As Dr. Zieve points out, “We live in a toxic world. The great majority of chemicals we now take in daily were not on the planet 30 years ago. These toxins become neurotoxins, damaging the nervous system.”

Our chiropractic office will do everything we can to nurture your hero and eliminate this villain from your life, and keep it out of your life for the rest of your life, so that you and your loved ones can enjoy the quality of life you deserve. By nurturing your Innate Intelligence and expressing your full potential and you will enjoy health for a lifetime.