Blog
Running for your Life
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.
Walking for your Health
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
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.
Supplements for Calcium
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.
Clear Cut Calcium: an Essential Mineral
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.
Lumbar Health
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.
Thoracic Range of Motion
Attention all shoulder slumpers! The 12 most understated vertebrae in your back could be the secret to spinal longevity: I am talking about the thoracic vertebrae, the region that encompasses your shoulders and chest. With all the importance placed on core strength and lumbar health, thoracic vertebrae and their crucial role in the upper body’s range of motion are largely unheard of by the general populace.
Thoracic vertebrae should be responsible for most of the torsion, flexion and extension that you undertake on a daily basis. Unfortunately, most people largely underutilize this region, and the burden is shifted down onto the lumbar and up onto the shoulders, causing all kind of mayhem. Because the burden is displaced to other parts of the back, these are the parts that often end up injured and the thoracic skates by, slumping further forward, perpetuating a cycle of ignorance and injury that is tampering with people’s quality of life.
Here is the boon to be had for those who can harness the power of thoracic vertebrae:
- Increased range of motion for the upper body
- Better shoulder mechanics..
- More efficient spinal mechanics
- Less injury and pain in the lumbar region
- Less strain on the rotator cuffs
At Family Chiropractic & Natural Healing Center, we would like to see everyone utilize their spine to its highest mechanical advantage. Welcome the thoracic spine back into your daily routine of movement and derive all the benefits it has to offer.
For expertise and help in doing this, call our office in Milpitas at (408) 263-8025 to schedule an appointment today.
Dr. Gregory A. Lind, D.C.
Overtraining
Summer is the “no pain, no gain,” season of athletic endeavor: the onset of warm weather in the Bay Area inspires many people to let their inner beach body shine. At Family Chiropractic & Natural Healing Center, we support any athletic enterprise that contributes to a healthier, more resilient body. But there are limits!
Here is a friendly reminder from your Milpitas chiropractor: getting into swimsuit shape should not be sufficient cause to overstrain yourself into a condition of fatigue and weakness.
The recipe for muscle and stamina building relies on a delicate balance between training and rest. Training breaks down the muscle fibers, precipitating a period of hypertrophy: the cellular process by which the muscles repair and rebuild. For muscles to grow back stronger, a proper amount of rest is required during which the following equation must be in place: muscle protein synthesis>muscle protein breakdown.
Overtraining occurs when you surpass the outer limit of your body’s ability to recover and rebuild. In other words, you are not giving your body enough rest before training is resumed. This can be counterproductive to your muscle building efforts, not to mention detrimental to your overall quality of life. Furthermore, it often leads to injury.
To this end, we provide expertise and support for the recovery period of strengthening. There are ways we can influence a quicker rebound, including hydration and proper nutrition. Chiropractic treatment focuses on correcting muscular imbalance, making your body less vulnerable to injury.
Life is about balance: a productive workout depends on solid foundations. Often times all it takes is a conversation with an expert to add that missing ingredient to your repertoire.
We urge you to benefit from our expertise by calling our office at (408) 263-8025 to schedule an appointment today.
Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C.
Breathing for Better Performance
The more you demand from your body, the more support it needs.
In a world determined by split seconds, inches gained and lost, or an extra degree of torsion, your body can use every advantage we have to offer at our practice in Milpitas. Ensuring the alignment of your vertebrae means that your spine, and consequently your nervous system, is supporting your endeavors fully. One area we impact is the respiratory system: boosting lung capacity and helping you breathe more efficiently, to circulate more oxygen throughout your body.
Phrenic nerve functioning: nerves exiting from the cervical spine power the phrenic nerve, which in turn passes motor information to the diaphragm, a large sheet of muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdomen. This is the primary muscle involved in breathing, as it contracts to expand the lungs during inspiration. Unrestricted diaphragm functioning depends on these nerves being free of subluxation.
At Family Chiropractic & Natural Healing Center, we channel the power of chiropractic to you, helping to fine-tune your anatomical standards and give you a competitive edge. Every breath is a potential boon for your performance.
Call our office at (408) 263-8025 and schedule an appointment today
Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C.
Growing Muscle
The muscle building process begins when our motor neurons send a signal to the muscle, telling it to contract.
The key to successful muscle building is to improve your brain to body communication: the better your motor neurons are at signaling to the muscle to contract, the stronger you grow. Subluxation gets in the way of this process by interfering with the communication of nerves that exit from the spinal column and communicate with muscles throughout the body.
Hypertrophy, the cellular process by which muscle fibers repair themselves and grow back thicker, occurs during rest after exercise. This is a process that depends on muscle protein synthesis being greater than muscle protein breakdown. Without the proper attention to nutrition and resting, the body can go into an catabolic, unproductive state. We provide athletes with hands on therapy that enhances blood circulation and speeds the rebuilding process.
At our office in Milpitas, we offer athletes the support and knowledge they need to push their bodies further. After your workout, call us at (408) 263-8025 to schedule an appointment. Together, we can make sure that the proper systems are in place to ensure the efficiency of your muscle growth.