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During pregnancy, a woman’s body goes through tremendous changes. Fortunately, chiropractic care can help make pregnancy easier on your body. Understanding the changes you will experience during pregnancy will help you see the benefits of regular chiropractic care.

Effects of Pregnancy on the Spine

The most obvious physical change – the development of a ‘baby bump’ – begins to occur during the second trimester. As the uterus grows to accommodate the growing fetus, the lumbar curve of the spine increases. As a result, the pelvis shifts position and the pelvic ligaments soften.

In order to counterbalance the growing belly, many pregnant women leaning slightly backward as they stand or walk. This posture modification can place additional pressure on the pelvis, the sacroiliac joint and the ligaments.

Effects of Pregnancy on Other Joints

Pregnancy can also affect the knees, ankles and feet. Increased body weight and changes in posture may lead to sciatica and swelling in the ankles and knees.

Effects of Pregnancy on Sleep

Pregnant women should sleep in a fetal position, with a pillow between their legs. But many women report difficulty in finding a comfortable sleeping position during their second and third trimesters – especially back- or belly-sleepers.

Chiropractic Care Can Help

There are no known contraindications to chiropractic care during pregnancy. In fact, all chiropractors are trained to work with pregnant women. Regular chiropractic care during pregnancy can help alleviate pain, strengthen your nervous system, and contribute to the overall health of you and your little one. Contact Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center today to learn more.

Inflammation has been linked to all sorts of health problems you don’t want, chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and yet even more serious conditions like cancer and dementia.

Inflammation is your body’s response to injury and to outside invaders like bacteria and viruses. Inflammation also happens when you eat bad foods loaded with refined sugars and processed carbohydrates, both of which are showing to be more and more linked to the health conditions mentioned above. Not only can inflammation attack your physical wellbeing, it can also affect your state of mind, inducing states of anxiety, depression, or even worse.

Below are a few foods that have anti-inflammatory effects that you should try incorporating into your diet. A healthy diet, after all, is the cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle.

1.) Blueberries

Start eating blueberries, whether in your oatmeal or in your salad. Blueberries are loaded with antioxidants that produce anti-inflammatory effects.

2.) Leafy Greens

Leafy greens, especially spinach, are loaded with vitamins and help reduce your risk of getting serious health conditions, like heart disease. They also have anti-inflammatory agents.

3.) CBD

CBD is being shown to provide numerous health benefits, including attacking inflammation in the body and brain without producing the psychoactive effects that its counterpart THC produces.

If you have any additional questions about how you can hack your diet to achieve maximum health benefits, contact Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center today.

One of the silent predators in and out of the workplace is improper lifting technique, which can, after repeat offenses, take a serious toll on your back.

Since back injuries are a common reason many people end up calling in to work, we thought it would be worthwhile to go over some of the hallmarks of textbook proper lifting technique as a way to help our patients and readership avoid injuries that can keep them away from work and play, hurting our paychecks and our well-being.

Lift with Your Legs

Instead of bending over to grab and lift objects, make sure that you perform a squat and rise up with your legs, keeping the pressure off your back and spine.

Grab a Friend

Don’t be a hero, whether you’re at work or home, because you might end up being sorry and looking foolish. Instead, grab a friend, partner or coworker to help you lift a heavy object. Show your friend proper lifting technique to help them avoid injury, too.

Keep a Sizeable (Wide) Base

Keep your feet shoulder-width apart from each other with one foot slightly ahead of the other to establish a strong base to work from.

Remember to also keep whatever your lifting and carrying close to your body to reduce undue strain on your back. If you have any additional questions about how to demonstrate proper lifting technique or if you yourself experience a back injury due to improper lifting technique, please contact Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center today to schedule your consultation.

Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center specializes in chiropractic care treatments that help our patients achieve a better quality of life — in more ways than one! Below we go over a few ways that chiropractic adjustments that you might not know about.

Chiropractic Helps Your Digestive System

Your GI tract can get out of whack just like your spine, which creates all sorts of problems with the rest of your body and your brain. Studies are consistently showing that your gut health is directly related to your state of mind, too. Chiropractic adjustments have been shown to benefit the GI system, improving the digestive tract.

Chiropractic Boost Neurofunctionality

Chiropractic adjustments also benefit your mind/body connection. When our neck and spine get tweaked from everyday activity this can seriously affect the way our brain is able to communicate with the rest of the body, creating a “Dim Bulb” effect. Chiropractic adjustments have been shown to boost mental clarity.

Chiropractic Reduces Stress and Improves Your Mood

Chiropractic adjustments have been shown to improve our patients state of mind, reduce anxiety and stress, and help patients achieve more restful sleep.

If you have any additional questions about how chiropractic care can benefit you contact Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center today. We have a long track record of keeping our patients in prime health.

When you visit Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center for a spinal & postural screening, it’s a very important step in the establishment of your new wellness protocol. This serves as an initial discovery phase which provides you and your doctor with facts regarding issues you might be having in a neuromusculoskeletal sense.

After a quick spinal & postural screening, we can identify problems that might have gone previously unnoticed. Early identification with treatment will help you prevent experiencing chronic problems.

Here’s Our Screening Process:

We make sure that your pelvis, rib cage, and head are properly aligned and balanced upon each other. When the body is out of balance and out of alignment, this means good posture likely isn’t being practiced and the spine has deviated from healthy placement and position. 

Signs of Poor Alignment:

– Injury
– Disc Pain
– Scoliosis
– Neck and Back Pain
– Arm and Leg pain
– Pain in Your Buttocks
– Numbness or Tingling Sensation in the Arms, Legs, Hands, or Feet

If you’d like to schedule you spinal & postural screening, contact Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center today to schedule your consultation.

Stress does far more than just affect our minds and our moods. Stress has a direct effect on the body that can result in muscle tension, headaches, illness, and more. That’s why it’s more important in today’s hectic world to be able to manage stress effectively. Below are a few ways to reduce your overall stress on a daily basis.

Stay Active

Turns out we’re genetically wired from our hunter-gatherer ancestors, who spent each day walking no less than 15,000 steps. If you’re not engaging in strenuous exercise multiple times a week, your body and brain are still going to have excess energy to spend, which will likely be spent stressing, worrying, and feeling anxious. Exercising at least 3 times a week — incorporating strength and cardio training — will help you achieve a new level of restful sleep.

Quiet Your Mind

Meditation and practicing deep breathing and mindfulness exercises will help you reduce your stress and improve and build your inner calmness. Meditation is difficult to master, but always worth the effort, paying off in dividends when it comes to your mental health.

Eat Well

Eating well will have you feeling better on a daily basis. It’s true that we are what we eat. Limiting your caffeine intake will also help you reduce stress and anxiety, helping you also achieve more restful sleep.

Chiropractic adjustments are another great way to improve your quality of life. Patients often report back to us with less overall stress, improved sleep, and improved mental and physical functionality. Contact Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center today to schedule your consultation.

Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center helps people optimize their lives through innovative chiropractic care treatments, but we also provide education to our patients and readership looking to continue their adventures in living a healthy lifestyle.

Below are a few ways to keep your wellness practice going in the summer months, which might be months where some of us slack in multple departments when it comes to our health.

1.) Stay Active

Get into hiking, running, swimming, climbing, paddleboarding — anything that will get you active, and, preferably outdoors. You’ll experience new energy and drive, not to mention innumerable health benefits.

2.) Engage in Active Recovery

On your off days try to make sure you’re not sitting there doing nothing. Avoid Netflix binges and instead go for a hike or take that weekend yoga class. It’s a great way to take care of your mind and body while giving it the space and rest it needs.

3.) Stay Hydrated

Staying hydrated is pivotal to your health. When dehydrated, you’ll experience fatigue, loss of focus, and your work and play will certainly be affected. Instead, make sure to drink half your body weight in ounces of water per day.

4.) Protect Yourself from UV Rays

If you’re going to be outside, make sure to bring the sunblock. Cover your skin where you can and retreat to the shade if you’re too exposed. Your skin will thank you!

Chirorpactic care treatments are another fantastic way to stay on top of your health this summer. Contact Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center today to schedule your consultation today.

At Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center, we like to stay current on our patients and whether or not they’re achieving their wellness goals. Many of us make new year’s resolutions that run dry well before mid-year, but as May turns to June it’s a great opportunity to see where you are and determine where you need to be in order to achieve your 2019 health and wellness goals.

Below are a few ways you can honestly assess where you’re at with your wellness.

Are You Pushing Yourself?

Being that most of us like to take the path of least resistance, think if there are any areas you can improve in, whether it’s cardio, strength training, or staying up on your chiropractic adjustments.

Are You Doing Active Recovery?

On your days off you don’t necessarily have to be idle. Go for a hike, take a yoga class, or schedule a chiropractic adjustment with Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center. That way even your rest days can be productive!

Pay Attention to How You Feel

Your body will tell you what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong. Eat good, clean, whole foods, exercise, and stay up on your wellness routine. If you have any questions about how chiropractic treatments can help enhance your wellness routine, contact Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center today.

At Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center we provide education to our patients that will help them enjoy optimum health outside of our offices. Alongside chiropractic care, following the tips we list below will help you enjoy a healthy life, on holidays like Memorial Day and beyond!

1.) Engage Your Core

If you can paddleboard, this is a great activity that you can do on the lake. Swimming is also a great way to stay active over the holiday weekend.

2.) Hydrate

Staying hydrated is important for your body and your brain’s functionality. Being out in the sun and on the beach for long periods of time can seriously dehydrate you.

3.) Eat Healthy Foods

Instead of eating the traditional Memorial Day fare, why not opt for a healthy salad? Try to incorporate healthy greens and fruits in addition to the hot dogs and burgers.

After Memorial Day weekend, be sure to schedule your appointment with Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center to an adjustment — it’s the perfect companion to a healthy lifestyle.

Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center provides many additional wellness services beyond chiropractic care. Corrective exercises are one way to stay active in your recovery from injury or from correcting lifelong issues like bad posture or painful joints.

Below are a few benefits patients can expect from engaging in corrective exercises.

Pitfalls of Bad Form

Poor posture, poor movement, poor balance, and improper lifting techniques can all contribute to daily pain as well as increase your chances of experiencing an injury. Imbalances such as these can certainly cause excessive wear and tear in concentrated areas of the body. This can end up leading to chronic pain or various forms of injuries at work or at play. Chiropractic care and corrective exercise aim to alleviate bad form.

Corrective Exercises Benefits

Corrective exercise provides excellent self-care that is individualized for each patient. We can assist patients in outlining their exercise plans which are specially designed to achieve your personal goals. Personalized exercise plans can help correct irregularities in the body that may be a source of your pain. Our corrective exercises will assist you in spinal alignment and help relieve pain caused by displaced muscle and connective tissues.

Corrective exercise can even with your back pain, neck pain, and headaches. Family Chiropractic and Natural Healing Center will assist you in choosing an exercise plan specially designed to target your specific needs. Contact us today to schedule your one-on-one consultation!