Archive for May 2016

Get off the couch and into child’s pose! No one is saying you can’t keep watching Game of Thrones for six hours at a time; simply take a few minutes out of every hour to make a purposeful movement. Commercial breaks happen to be the perfect amount of time to stretch your spine. Whenever the thought strikes you, take 1 minute and do the following:

How to do child’s pose:

1. Kneel
2. Touch buttocks to feet
3. Exhale and lower torso over thighs
4. Touch forehead to the ground
5. Lift buttocks and bring arms overhead
6. Touch palms to floor
7. Reach out until you feel shoulders stretch

With this stretch, there is a focus on breathing. Inhale and feel the oxygen circulating through your body. Yoga is a good way to get moving. This is a stretch that requires minimal physical exertion but leaves your spine tingling with good health.

The benefits

• Lengthens the spine
• Relieves tension by stretching muscles in the shoulders, neck and back
• Stretches hips, thighs and ankles
• Relieves neck/back pain
• Deep breathing calms mind, easing anxiety

At Family Chiropractic & Natural Healing Center, we don’t want to radically upend your lifestyle. Many people are comfortable with their routine, even if it might be slightly damaging to the spine. However, the largest changes come in small packages. Gaining an appreciation for purposeful stretching will really change your attitude towards being so sedentary. Call our office in Milpitas at (408) 263-8025 to schedule an appointment and let us help you rediscover movement.

Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C. 

Spines are at the mercy of myriad factors that are conspiring to move vertebrae out of alignment. The fact is that the spine is not one long bone: it is a column of individual structures, punctuated by discs, that protect the spinal cord and facilitate the nervous system. It is an incredibly complex structure whose health can determine a life of health into old age, or become a huge blight on people’s lives. But one thing that all spines must do is move. 21st century spines are more vulnerable than ever to the damages that accrue from immobility. The computer is taking on tasks that humans have done for centuries, and as such, the human involved in working the computer is shifted into a chair in front of a screen for long periods of time.

If you spend significant amounts of time working or relaxing in front of a screen, it is important to be wary of the damages you could be doing to your spine. Poor posture is a topic for a different day, but consider the stagnation that occurs when you spend 6-8 hours in front of a computer, with little variation or movement, and then come home and watch television before bed. Your muscles are weakening due to lack of use, a condition called atrophy, that can spiral out of control if left unaddressed. Spinal discs are tightening as they absorb fluid, restricting your flexibility and making you more vulnerable to injury from movement.

At Family Chiropractic & Natural Healing Center, we want to get you moving again. It begins with an awareness and becomes an appreciation: taking 4 minutes out of every hour to stretch or walk around can be a boon for your back. We help you find these minutes and make them second nature. We will help you return strength and endurance to muscles that are being chronically underused and treat your spinal discs if they have suffered damage. Call our office in Milpitas to schedule an appointment today.

Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C. 

Running is a world of its own, or perhaps a religion, filled with hard-nosed adherents who swear by the “runner’s high.” As you make your steps in this fast-paced world, conquering your neighborhood stride by stride, the body is exposed to both health and trauma. Chiropractic helps you maximize the benefit you reap from a run, while minimizing the damage that is sustained by joints and muscles in the legs and back. Like a fine tuned machine, the runner’s ultimate success is determined by a mix of aerobic health, muscular strength and resilient joints.

At Family Chiropractic & Natural Healing Center, we specialize in fine-tuning the athlete within you. By looking at both the bones and connective tissues of the spine, we identify problem points that could be leaving you in pain after a long run. At our office in Milpitas, you will not be diagnosed and then referred to another specialist.The diagnosis and treatment happen under the same roof, and we can often effect changes on the basis of a single visit. We have a conversation that determines your personal fitness goals, and a physical examination that determines whether misalignments are causing you difficulty.

We support the runner within by:

• Strengthening muscles
• Improving range of motion,
• Improving coordination, nervous system regulation

The benefits of seeing a chiropractor are hard to ignore: call our office at (408) 263-8025 to schedule an appointment today.

Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C. 

Your own two feet could be your greatest ally in the fight against back pain. With more days and lifestyles requiring time spent commuting, working and relaxing on the couch, finding time for a walk is falling by the wayside. Rediscovering the simple joy of a walk releases endorphins that naturally relieve pain and ease stress. 

Walking should be the most basic building block of any fitness plan: finding or letting yourself take the time to walk somewhere as opposed to driving a car is good for your physical and mental health. A National Geographic article recently cited a group of researchers in Japan who found that a, “15 minute walk in the woods causes measurable changes in physiology” (story by Florence Williams), including a lower heart rate, lower blood pressure and lower stress levels.

Other benefits include:

• Managing back pain, by releasing endorphins and encouraging joint movement.
• Promoting circulation of the blood, feeding thirsty cells with nutrients and oxygen.
• Managing weight, which is a contributing factor to many cases of back pain.
• Improves your range of motion and state of mind.

Something about a walk just feels so restorative. The longer you go, the less overwhelming things seem. It allows you to abstract yourself from accumulated pressures of life and view them from an objective standpoint. For tips on how to incorporate more walking into your life, call our office in Milpitas at (408) 263-8025 to schedule an appointment today and start walking your way back to health.

Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C.

Magnesium is a cornerstone nutrient: a positively charged electrolyte upon that influences the health of your nerves, muscles and more than 300 enzyme systems that are used for protein synthesis and blood regulation. Stored in bones, it also serves to strengthen bones and teeth, making them harder and more resistant to damage. Finally, it is essential for the absorption and metabolism of calcium, another mineral that magnesium exists with in a state of balance: too much magnesium and your neuromuscular system is depressed; conversely, too little magnesium leads to the muscles being overexcited.

Letting your magnesium levels drop low is a dangerous proposition: too little magnesium, leaves your nerves and muscles in a state of excitement, leading to involuntary twitching, difficulty with sleep and loss of appetite. At Family Chiropractic & Natural Healing Center, we can discover if hypomagnesium is having an effect on your life: your entire neuromuscular system cannot lie.

Good food sources of magnesium:

• Leafy greens
• Seeds
• Nuts
• Chocolate
• Potatoes

Let magnesium back into your life and experience its magnificent healthful properties. If you are experiencing these symptoms, call our office in the Bay Area at (408) 263-8025 and schedule an appointment.

Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C. 

Calcium’s role in maintaining bone mass and regulating bodily functions is well known. But your body needs help to make the most out of the calcium you feed it: additional nutrients must be included in the diet to help with absorption, processing and distribution of calcium throughout your system.

• Magnesium: is your ticket to successful calcium intake. Without it, your body may not be fully utilizing the calcium you are consuming. Fortunately, magnesium is in plentiful supply in the food chain.
  • Foods: leafy greens, nuts, seeds, grains and legumes. Some cereals are enriched with magnesium.  
• Vitamin D: another crucial role-player in the integrity of your bone health. For children, adequate vitamin D is requisite to strong bones and for adults it is requisite to maintain bone density and strength. Vitamin D deficiency is often a precursor to broken bones.
  • Foods: mushroom, canned fish, fortified milk, egg yolk, cheese. 

Any diet that is focusing on adding more calcium needs the proper dietary aids. At Family Chiropractic & Natural Healing Center, we are involved in your holistic health. This includes prevention of injury by making sure that structures of your body have all the nutrition they need. For ideas for your diet, call our office in Milpitas today at (408) 263-8025. to schedule an appointment.

Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C.

Calcium’s main role in the body is maintaining bone mass and regulating the functioning of heart, blood, muscles and nerves. Insufficient calcium circulating through the body means the body will leach calcium from the bones to run its other programs, leaving the bones weak and vulnerable to injury. As we get older, bones become more porous, meaning that higher calcium intake is necessary. For people under 50, a recommended daily intake is 1000 mg; for over 50, we recommend an intake between 1200-1500 mg.

Here are the cut and dried benefits of a calcium rich diet:

• Strengthens bones
• Prevents osteoporosis
• Enhances muscle functioning
• Balances alkaline pH levels
• Controls blood pressure
• Facilitates nutrient movement 

The easiest and most thought of way to get more calcium in your diet is through dairy products, especially milk. But beans and peas, and leafy greens are also bountiful sources of calcium. 

For lactose intolerant people: 

• Nuts, nuts, nuts: almonds in particular contain about 100mg/calcium/serving.
• Oatmeal
• Beans

As a last piece of advise, cut out the soda. Soda is sorely lacking in nutrients but rich in harmful properties: heavy consumption of soda raises phosphate levels in the body, preventing calcium absorption and actually leaching calcium from the bones.

For tips on how to get more calcium into your life and other dietary concerns, call our office in Milpitas at (408) 263-8025.

Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C. 

There are many reasons for protecting the integrity of the lumbar region, a chief one being the network of nerves that diverge from the spinal cord at this point and influence a whole host of functions in the body, including the mechanics of the hips and knees.

Between each vertebra is a disk which acts as shock absorption and pivot point. If the spine is misaligned, whether through the trauma of a tackle or from repetitive stress, these nerves become pressurized, preventing them from performing their normal duty.

The lumbar region corresponds to the core of the human body: for the athlete, this is a region of imperative importance. Low back pain, while among the most common back complaints we see at Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center, is among the most detrimental to an athlete’s success. We can prevent low back pain and injuries through a dynamic plan that incorporates chiropractic adjustment, exercise and stretching.

Muscles that are most important to the health of the lumbar include the trunk muscles and pelvic-stabilizing muscles. Using the thoracic vertebrae properly is another way that you can displace the burden of weight from solely being absorbed by the lumbar vertebrae.

Call our office in Milpitas at (408) 263-8025 to schedule an appointment and find out how you can optimize your body mechanics.

Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C.