Madison AL Chiropractors Talk About How Work Can Be Relaxing

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

Chiropractic Care and Stress Reduction

Stress is an unavoidable part of life.  Fortunately, the human body is well-designed to cope with stress, but sometimes these stress-coping mechanisms can go awry.  We have primitive built-in mechanisms to fight or flight in response to danger, but when the perceived dangers are chronic daily struggles, worries and other internal stressors, the fight or flight mechanism remains continually engaged. That is one reason why a brisk walk or short run can make a person feel so much better.  It's not just because endorphines are released, but also because exercise helps to reset the fight or flight mechanism and thereby lowers the person's stress level. Although it is impossible to avoid all forms of stress, it is wise to minimize internal stress as much as possible. Chiropractic can help by  reducing or eliminating extra sources of stress in our bodies. According to Dr. Greg Millar and Dr. Justin Walbom of Millar Chiropractic Clinics in Madison, Alabama, improving spinal joint mobility can significantly reduce the physiologic stress and metabolic toxins in the muscles, ligaments and tendons that support the joints. When physiologic stress is not properly addressed, it leads to mental stress which then leads to even more muscle tension and pain. It becomes a vicious cycle. By adjusting the spine and thereby reducing physiologic stress, chiropractic care helps the body work more efficiently and effectively.  Breaking the chronic stress cycle results in increased health, happiness and a greater sense of well-being.

If you ask the next person you see "Is your work relaxing?", you would probably receive a snicker or an incredulous stare. For most people, work involves a good deal of stress. If you're in retail or customer service, there is an endless stream of customers with problems that needed to be handled yesterday. For medical occupations is more and more patients and paperwork with less and less people to treat them. Workplace politics can add another layer of stress to the normal daily stress of the work you're supposed to be doing. If you work for yourself, there's the ongoing stress of lining up the next contract or client, even while we're dealing with the pressures involved in fulfilling the demands of the current project. It goes on and on.

If you work at a computer there are additional physiological stresses. Our bodies were not designed for prolonged sitting or for staring a computer screen for hours at a time. The highly complex and highly delicate structures of our forearms, wrists, and hands were not meant to be used for repetitive motions like typing on a keyboard or using a mouse all day. Anyone can type for 15 minutes - that's not a problem. But typing for most of the day, day after day, week after week - that's definitely a problem.

These are some common work scenarios, that no one would likely describe as relaxing. But this is the reality of life in the twenty-first century. How can we turn what might be thought of as "lemons" into lemonade? Are there tactics we can employ in an overall strategy of causing our lives to be healthy, meaningful, and satisfying, as well as relaxing and fun?

The answer is a resounding "yes". But there is effort involved. We need to be creative and willing to take action on our own behalf. First, it's important to acknowledge the conundrum each of us faces every day. We are required to work to obtain food, shelter, and clothing for ourselves and our families. But the work that we're doing may not be our first choice. Or the second choice. Or sometimes even the third. Still, there it is. We need to work. This is where the creativity comes in.

Our work environment and/or our work itself may never be relaxing. However, we can actively choose to be relaxed. This is an ongoing process which occurs in the moment. For example, you can affirm "I am relaxed. My work is fulfilling and satisfying." And then, pretty soon, something happens to which you respond with tension. As soon as you come back to yourself and remember that you want to be creating a relaxing environment, you reaffirm your intention to be relaxed. This is very much like Zen or other mindfulness practices which focus on centering. In Zen, the student is reminded to pay attention and to not take anything personally.

These powerful reminders can help us greatly in our intention to have our work be relaxing. The key is to take on the concept of practice. We are practicing centering. We are practicing self-awareness. We are practicing relaxing. And as we practice these things, our overall experience is one of being centered, relaxed, and self-aware, regardless of all the things that are going on around us.

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

1Chiesa A, Malinowski P: Mindfulness-based approaches: are they all the same? J Clin Psychol 67(4):404:424, 2011

2Zeidan F, et al: Brain mechanisms supporting the modulation of pain by mindfulness meditation. J Neurosci 31(14):5540-5548, 2011

3Ledesma D, Kumano H: Mindfulness-based stress reduction and cancer: a meta-analysis. Psychooncology 18(6):571-579, 2009

Madison AL Chiropractors Talk About Managing Your Symptoms

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

What Problems Need Attention?

In sports injuries there's a very good rule of thumb - a relative scale by which to grade the severity of an injury. Here it is from least to worst. Least bad is an injury that hurts only when you're doing your sport. If you're a football player, your recently sustained injury only hurts when you get tackled, for instance. Next is an injury that hurts when you're doing your sport or another type of exercise. The football injury also hurts when you're doing aerobics on the elliptical machine, for example. Next in severity is an injury that also hurts when you're doing regular physical activity, such as walking to the store. Worst of all is an injury that hurts not only when you're active but also when you're resting. Pain at rest is usually an indication that the injury needs to be evaluated by your chiropractor or your family doctor. Other levels of injuries may also need to be seen by your chiropractor or family doctor, but when you have pain at rest, it's important not to procrastinate.  Pick up the phone right away and get the treatment you need.

Most people are procrastinators. It seems to be human nature to let things go until the last minute. We let magazines, papers, and books pile up on the desks until the process of finding what we're looking for resembles an archeological dig. Some of us have garages, rooms and attics that look a lot like our desks - overflowing with stuff. Eventually, the simple task of finding something you need is like exploring for treasure in a dark, long-abandoned cave.  It often takes increasing levels of frustration to motivate us enough to make the effort to declutter and clean our desks, homes and garages..

Sometimes it seems as if procrastinating is hard-wired into our DNA. This is particularly true when it comes to our health. No one wants to go to the doctor, so it becomes even easier to put off the needed checkup. Whether it's our chiropractor, our dentist, or our family physician, nobody seems to want to pick up the phone, go to the office, and take care of business. Of course, procrastination in relation to our health can lead to some major problems. Tooth pain that comes and goes might not seem like such a big deal. But if the coming and going is fairly consistent, then there's probably a cavity that needs filling. You keep putting it off and when you finally get around to going to our dentist, you learn you need an expensive root canal and a crown. That's not good.

Or perhaps you're playing pickup basketball on the weekend. You go up for a rebound and get shoved in the back. The next day you have lower back pain. You keep thinking it'll go away, but it's now four weeks later and your back is still stiff and sore. Had you seen your chiropractor the first week, after the pain had persisted for four or five days, treatment might have been pretty straightforward. Now you learn it's going to take at least several weeks of treatment before you can play ball again. Not good. Procrastination with your health always costs more time and more money in the end. Prevention and, if necessary, early detection, are the keys.

When it comes to your health, the opposite of procrastination is managing your symptoms. It's not necessary to run to your chiropractor for every ache and pain or to run to your family physician for every sniffle or low-grade fever. However, it is important and necessary to pay attention to what's going on with your body. Pay attention and make note of your symptoms. If minor symptoms linger and become chronic, it probably means something is wrong and your body needs some assistance to get better. Once you begin paying attention a learning curve will kick in. You'll develop skill in identifying problems that need attention. The next step, of course, is to pick up the phone, make an appointment, and get the help you need. Dr. Greg Millar and Dr. Justin Walbom of Millar Chiropractic Clinics in Madison, Alabama will be glad to be of service in identifying the problem and providing appropriate treatment or a referral when necessary.

Millar Chiropractic - Madison AL

1908 Slaughter Rd. 

Madison, Alabama 35758

(256) 430-2700

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