Chiropractic and Your Marvelous Machine

Last week I stupidly cut my finger on my Ninja® blender blade doing something I didn’t have to, and knew I shouldn’t do. Anyway, as I tried to staunch the ooze of blood, I reflected on how blessed the majority of us are: we don’t have to do anything special, not even any particular thought process, for our bodies to quickly stop blood flowing from a wound, seal it, and then heal it to a condition very close to the original. This often occurs even in the absence of any care for cleansing or disinfecting the injured area (when I was growing up on the farm I seldom stopped to even wipe the dirt, grease, manure, etc. from my various damaged locations).

Our bodies are marvelous machines, miraculously performing as yet uncounted numbers of different processes which include collecting energy and converting it into a form that can be both used and stored, keeping us warmer when it is cold and cooler when it is hot, moving us around so that our goals can be achieved, repairing structural damage, etc. No matter who or what designed us, the architecture is impressive.

Dr. B. J. Palmer labeled the force that creates our bodies and allows them to perform so effectively as ‘Innate Intelligence’. This force controls and coordinates all the activities of our body and its interaction with our environment, the main organ being our nervous system. When the nervous system is unimpeded ‘Innate’ keeps us healthy, happy, pain-free, and able to accomplish the things we desire – all with minimal conscious exertion. At Val Vista Chiropractic all of our efforts are focused on removing the irritations from your nerves so that you can have the best life possible.

Getting rid of your pain,

Dr. Steven Ray, Chiropractor

Val Vista Chiropractic

What’s Wrong With My Recliner?

On a regular basis patients tell me just how wonderful their recliner is. They read, watch TV, and even sleep in it.  It is so comfortable, and they really love it. Oh, and by the way, that low-back is still hurting and we just can’t seem to get it to stay in place.

Sorry to the recliner industry out there, but it appears to me, at least, that’s part of your problem! I realize that they are comfortable – I enjoy sitting in them, too. But, have you ever looked at someone sitting in one? From top to bottom:

There is a cushion under your head and a valley under your shoulders. This is so that your head is propped up to see the television properly (you will have noticed that it cannot be positioned properly to read that book in your lap). After two hours of television or reading is your attention drawn to the fact that your neck is stiff, probably sore, with the possibility of a headache besides? That cushion tilts your head in a manner guaranteed to flatten every last degree of curve from your neck, with the possibility of reversal.

There is a fairly firm cushion bulging out along the upper- and middle-back, and a nice big, soft cushion for the lower-back which flattens out to almost nothing when any pressure is applied. While giving the impression of comfort, the long-term affect is almost assuredly to force a flattening of the mid-back curve, and a sagging of the lower-back which decreases that curvature as well. Can anyone say, “Oh, my aching back?”

Our spines’ curvature serves an important shock-absorbing function, and research shows that a person who has every curve falling within an extremely narrow range is much less likely to experience disc herniation or other back problems. Poor sitting posture of any sort, including that encouraged by recliner design, makes it almost impossible for our bodies to maintain those curves.

Sitting in straight-backed chairs seems to assist our bodies in sustaining those curves through better posture. At this point I need to mention that I am not necessarily referring to uncomfortable, wooden kitchen chairs. Straight-backed chairs which are well-designed can be attractive and comfortable. My office reception area is filled with straight-backed chairs and I have never had a comment that they are undesirable.

If the only thing you ever do that is hard on your back is to sit in a recliner then, by all means, enjoy. If, however, you fall more within the reality realm which most of us inhabit, finding alternative seating accommodations might just be an additional avenue to decreased back pain and increased health. At Val Vista Chiropractic we stand ready to inform and assist you no matter what choices that you make.

Getting rid of your pain,

Dr. Steven Ray, Chiropractor

Val Vista Chiropractic

Chiropractic Care Can Reduce Medicare Costs!

Patients constantly ask me, “Why doesn’t insurance, and especially Medicare, pay for maintenance care?  Prevention is always cheaper than cure.” That statement is correct, and now there is proof.

An interesting study was performed recently by Muse and Associates, an actuarial consulting firm based in Washington, DC. They reviewed Medicare claims of patients who regularly received chiropractic treatments compared to those who did not.  It was discovered that among those who were treated regularly by the chiropractor, the medical costs other than chiropractic charges averaged 48% less than those who did not seek chiropractic care.

While the final calculations and conclusions are not yet available, it is obvious that some overall reduction in Medicare costs could be realized by reimbursing for monthly chiropractic maintenance treatments. For more detailed information regarding this study read here and here.

I realize that almost every treatment regimen in the world, mainstream and alternative, claims to have the answer to lowering healthcare, particularly Medicare, costs, and insists  that they should be the exception to the maintenance care rule. In this case the difference is that there is hard evidence to back up the claim. If you feel that regular chiropractic care should be included in Medicare, contact your senators and representative and refer them to this study.

Getting rid of your pain,

Dr. Steven Ray, Chiropractor

Val Vista Chiropractic

What Have I Done to Deserve This?

The questions I am most frequently asked include:  I’ve only been hurting for a week, why do I have to keep getting treatments?, Why do the vertebrae keep going out of place?, Why am I still hurting?, etc. An illustration is in order.

When you wake up one morning with a toothache, you go to the dentist and he finds a hole in your tooth.  Does he say, “You ate CANDY last night, didn’t you?” NO! He asks instead, “What have you been doing for the last SIX months?” Our spines are no different than our teeth – when we begin feeling the pain, the problem has already been around for a long time.

Vertebrae can only go out of place when the soft-tissue support structures have been damaged. The muscles, tendons, ligaments, discs, and other connective tissues are stretched and torn during a traumatic incident which allows the vertebrae slip out of their normal alignment.

Soft tissues never heal back to 100% -- it is always some percentage less. As a ridiculous example, if a muscle cell is damaged badly enough that it cannot be repaired, it is not replaced with another muscle cell, but by scar tissue. Scar tissue is not as flexible as muscle tissue, and contributes nothing to the strength of the muscle, and so it is now one cell weaker than it was before the injury. In the event of future trauma, that area of muscle, being weaker and less flexible, is more likely to be re-injured than the remaining healthy muscles.

Additionally, if the vertebrae are out of their correct position as the soft tissues are healing, the final positioning will be causing irritation to the nerve roots, which leads to body pain and organ malfunction. Placing the vertebrae into their correct position initially only confuses the body and it will actually pull the vertebrae out of place again in less than 48 hours. The body can be retrained to hold them in place again for some length of time, but this can only be achieved if they are IN PLACE more than they are OUT OF PLACE during this process.

As you can see, the sooner after an injury that chiropractic treatments are begun, the faster and more effective the healing will be, but it is never too late to help the body to improve itself. Our bodies have miraculous recuperative abilities when given the proper encouragement and support, and many conditions that the medical doctors have told us we will have to live with can be improved or eliminated.

At Val Vista Chiropractic we have the knowledge and ability to give your body its best chance for a healthy and pain-free life, all done the natural way, without drugs or surgery. Come in today and discover what we can do for you.

Getting rid of your pain,

Dr. Steven Ray, Chiropractor

Val Vista Chiropractic

What is Chiropractic? – Part 2

Chiropractic is a clinical discipline for health and a clinical science based upon:

The law of biology called Homeostasis.  This law states that there is born within an organism an ability to remain stable and healthy, within itself, and within its environment.

The theory of physiology that there is a system, called the nervous system, consisting of the brain, spinal cord, cranial and spinal nerves, autonomic nervous system, and other special sense organs, such as the eye and ear, whose function it is to control and coordinate all other organs and structures, and to relate the organism to it's environment.

The hypothesis that there is a relationship between the health, harmony and control of the nervous system, and health in the total body.

The premise or conjecture of a relationship between the musculoskeletal systems and the nervous system.  That is, faulty musculoskeletal relationships can cause faulty nervous system function, and thereby a loss of health.

To interpret – Chiropractic care is based upon the scientific principles:

The law that our body is designed to take care of itself.

The theory that the nervous system controls and coordinates all functions within the body.

The hypothesis that the body can only be healthy if the nervous system is functioning properly.

The premise that musculoskeletal problems can cause the nervous system to malfunction.

The medical and chiropractic paradigms are in complete harmony regarding these statements. The opinions differ over whether the musculoskeletal system problems can be sufficiently corrected by external influences to allow the nervous system to resume normal function.

As chiropractors, we find that a large majority of health problems include a component of spinal misalignment, and that when these areas are realigned properly the health problems are spontaneously healed, even in the absence of medications or surgery. At Val Vista Chiropractic our goal is for all of our patients to be healthy and pain-free, and to accomplish this in the least-invasive approach possible. Come in to Val Vista Chiropractic today to see how chiropractic can help you feel better.

Getting rid of your pain,

Dr. Steven Ray, Chiropractor

Val Vista Chiropractic