Madison AL Chiropractors Tell You How to Put a Spring Back in Your Step

By: Dr. Justin Walbom, DC and Dr. Greg Millar, DC CCEP
Millar Chiropractic - Madison Al

Regular Chiropractic Care and Freedom of Motion

Efficient and effective mobility is key to good spinal health and good health overall. Spinal mobility depends on interactions between adjacent vertebras, a complex array of small and large muscles, and ligaments that bind the vertebras together. Nerve irritation and soft tissue inflammation may disrupt the smooth biomechanics of normal spinal motion. Left uncorrected nerve irritation and soft tissue inflammation result in a vicious cycle of increasing biomechanical dysfunction, further loss of freedom of motion, and increasing pain. According to Dr. Greg Millar and Dr. Justin Walbom of Millar Chiropractic Clinics in Madison, Alabama, regular chiropractic care helps restore spinal mobility by focusing on the causes of biomechanical dysfunction. By analyzing sources of nerve interference and correcting spinal misalignments, regular chiropractic care optimizes spinal activities such as efficient mobility and weight-bearing. The resulting increased function reduces soft tissue inflammation and pain. Thus, regular chiropractic care helps reduce physiological stress. The overall benefits include improved freedom of motion, freedom of choice, and freedom of action.

We all know people who are light on their feet. Fred Astaire comes immediately to mind, as do tennis star Andy Roddick, the great Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter, and WNBA star Candace Parker. Closer to home, we may recognize similar combinations of grace and athleticism in a family member or friend. We may believe that such qualities are inborn and represent natural abilities. But each of us can develop comparable qualities of fluidity and ease of motion. We may not achieve the skill levels possessed by professional athletes, but we can acquire improved posture, greater balance, and heightened skills in day-to-day tasks requiring dexterity and coordination. In other words, we can all develop a spring in our step.

Such a springiness and lightness are the direct result of efficient biomechanical functioning of the spinal column and weight-bearing bones and joints including the pelvis and hips, knees, and ankles. Such efficient biomechanical functioning is innate, but these abilities are gradually lost as we grow up, encounter the stresses of life, and become more and more sedentary. Over time, our musculoskeletal system loses flexibility, dynamism, quickness, and the ability to respond to sudden changes in the environment. The overall result is an impression of stiffness and heaviness. Gracefulness is lost as soon as physical motion becomes conscious and planned, rather than instinctive and spontaneous. But these losses are not necessarily the inevitable accompaniment to growing up and getting older. The good news is that such lightness can be recovered. We can restore that spring to our step and, in fact, learn to turn back the clock.

The great benefit is that the processes involved in reacquiring gracefulness, lightness, and springiness also lead directly to improved health and well-being. The primary action is to engage in regular, vigorous exercise. Any form of exercise, done consistently, will enhance biomechanical functioning. Your muscles learn how to dynamically support increasingly heavier loads against gravity. Proprioceptors, specialized nerve endings located in weight-bearing joints throughout the body, learn to rapidly respond to mechanical alterations in three-dimensional space. Your heart and lungs become more efficient as your body learns to adapt and respond to increasing physiological demands. You begin to lose weight as your daily desire for excess calories naturally decreases in response to a more physical lifestyle. In many ways, your body becomes much smarter and you soon find yourself noticing a certain ease, a certain economy of physical movement, as you go through your day.

The innate grace that begins to be recovered is the wellspring of the newfound spring in your step. As you continue to exercise and achieve your optimal weight, such physical ease perpetuates and becomes an integral component of your overall enhanced health and well-being.

Millar Chiropractic - Madison AL
1908 Slaughter Rd. 
Madison, Alabama 35758
(256) 430-2700
http://millarchiro.com/millarchiropractic-madisonal-chiropractor.html

1. Iorio JA, et al: Biomechanics of Degenerative Spinal Disorders. Asian Spine J 10(2):377-384, 2016
2. Du CF, et al: Biomechanical response of lumbar facet joints under follower preload: a finite element study. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2016 Mar 15;17(1):126. doi: 10.1186/s12891-016-0980-4
3.  Huang ZY, et al: The location of Modic changes in the lumbar spine: a meta-analysis. Eur Spine J. 2016 Feb 25. [Epub ahead of print]

Madison AL Chiropractors Talk About Maximizing Your Health Account

By: Dr. Justin Walbom, DC and Dr. Greg Millar, DC CCEP
Millar Chiropractic - Madison Al

Deposits and Withdrawals from Your Health Account

In terms of your health and well-being it's very important to not to "overdraw your health account". Withdrawals should never exceed deposits. The trouble is that sometimes we don't even realize that we're making a withdrawal, or we forget to make sure we've had enough deposits to cover a big withdrawal. When this happens, we tend to get sick. Stress can cause a very large withdrawal from your health account. Your body will expend a large amount of resources as it tries to cope with stress. The result is the same whether the stress is psychological, emotional or physical - all types of ongoing stress result in ongoing withdrawals. When we are under a lot of stress, it's especially important to pay close attention to our health accounts. Proper nutrition, sufficient rest, and regular exercise become even more important when we're under increased stress. The trouble is, heightened stress levels go hand in hand with chronic exhaustion - so we tend to feel like we just don't have the energy necessary to do the things that will keep us healthy. We tell ourselves that we're too stressed out and we don't have enough time to workout or make an effort to buy and prepare healthy food. But the thing is, that's when it really is most important to make the effort and take the time to do what's best for our health.  Even if we don't really feel like it. Take the time now to pad your health accounts, so that you will have the necessary health resources down the road when you really need it.

Everyone wants to increase the balance in their bank accounts. The health of our finances is largely determined by the level of our resources. The more money we have in the bank, so to speak, the more secure we feel overall. If our resources are nicely diversified among liquid assets, property, stocks, and bonds, we are apt to feel even more secure.

We can similarly use this type of fiscal accounting as a metaphor for our physical well-being and health. The more resources we are able to accumulate in our "health account" the healthier we will likely end up being. To take it one step further, if we're able to diversify the assets in our health accounts, as it's prudent to do with our financial accounts, we're more likely to experience better outcomes with regard to our long-term health.

You may notice that your physical resources probably fluctuate as often as your financial resources. With the metaphor of health accounting, we can still think in terms of income and expenses. If your "income" is greater than your "expenses", you will likely enjoy overall higher levels of health.  Of course, the opposite is also true - when expenses are greater than income, health tends to deteriorate.

What kinds of things can we use to pad our health accounts? Dr. Greg Millar and Dr. Justin Walbom of Millar Chiropractic Clinics in Madison, Alabama say that the most obvious and crucial aspects are food, exercise, and rest. With each of these, quality is more important than quantity - especially when it comes to the food we eat. Eating a large quantity of poor quality food will eventually lead to being overweight or obese. On the other hand, when you focus on quality - enjoying a diet that primarily consists of high-quality protein, high-quality fats, and plenty of fresh vegetables and some fruits - you will usually become more fit and naturally lean.

When it comes to getting adequate rest, most people usually do best with seven to eight hours of sleep each night. There are exceptions, but for most people, getting less than six hours of sleep per night long-term will eventually deplete their health account. In rare cases, getting too much sleep long-term can also lead to negative effects. Just like with food though, quality can be more important than quantity (or at least equally important).

There are many additional sources of "income" that can increase the balance of our health accounts. Close and loving personal relationships with family and supportive friends, interesting and stimulating interests and activities, exploring new places and learning new skills all help to grow our health accounts, enhancing our long-term health and increasing our overall sense of well-being.

Chiropractic care is another wonderful source of "income" for our health accounts. Receiving regular chiropractic care can help a person maximize the value - on a physiological basis - of the food, rest and exercise they are getting. Chiropractic care assists people in getting the most out of their health resources, by optimizing their physiology and thereby improving their health and increasing their well-being.

Millar Chiropractic - Madison AL
1908 Slaughter Rd. 
Madison, Alabama 35758
(256) 430-2700

http://millarchiro.com/millarchiropractic-madisonal-chiropractor.html


1Greenwald P, Dunn BK: Do we make optimal use of the potential of cancer prevention? Recent Results Cancer Res 181:3-17, 2009
2Jackson AS, et al: Role of lifestyle and aging on the longitudinal change in cardiorespiratory fitness. Arch Intern Med 169(19):1781-1787, 2009
3Smaldone A, et al: Sleepless in America: inadequate sleep and relationships to health and well-being of our nation's children. Pediatrics 119(Suppl 1):S29-S37, 2007