Featured Article
A publication for patients and friends of Westford Family Chiropractic
Westford Family Chiropractic's
Spinal Times of 2012
Dr. Richard J. Leigh * 288
(978) 692-4476 www.westfordchiropractic.com
To all of Westford Family Chiropractic patients; welcome to our bi-monthly health newsletter!
Every two weeks we will attempt to address two or three areas that will help improve your health.
westfordchiropractic@yahoo.com
Please comment in the BLOG section of the website.
February 2012, Edition 5
In addition to the electonic Newsletter,
Westford Family Chiropractic will be providing a
paper Health Newsletter which will be issued through the mail.
If you wish to receive this Newsletter you can sign up
in the office, call, or send us an email.
Dr. Leigh
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Could your lifestyle be making you sick?
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| Climbing that Mountain |
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You may have been considering making positive lifestyle changes for a long time. You’d love to lose a few pounds, maybe more than a few, and you’d love to be one of those people who somehow find the time to exercise every day. It’s certainly true that for people who make their own schedules it’s easier to plan time for exercise and food preparation. It is somewhat tougher for those who work on a more formal schedule and for those who are raising children. But regardless of your specific situation and your specific circumstances, each of us gets to choose how we’re going to find the time to do things that are in our long-term interest. A truism is that if things don’t get scheduled, they don’t get done. For people very busy with commuting to work and raising a family, finding time to exercise might require getting up an hour earlier each day or going to bed an hour later each night. That’s just one of the many possibilities for “expanding” one’s day. The good news is that once you’re doing this, you become highly motivated to continue doing it because you begin to feel better and reap the benefits of your new health-focused schedule. |
What is your lifestyle? Not whether you are married or where you live, but rather, how are you choosing to live your life? What choices are you making to keep yourself and your family healthy and well?
It is startling to learn that some of the most prevalent causes of illness, disease, and death – including cancer, heart disease, and diabetes – are all heavily influenced by lifestyle. For example, we don’t usually think of cancer as a lifestyle disease. We think a person is unlucky if they have cancer, and often we have a fatalistic outlook toward news that someone has developed cancer. “It’s in their genes,” we say. Or “stuff happens – the luck of the draw.”
But only approximately 10% of cancers are based on genetics. The vast majority of cancer cases are very much related to how we live our lives – our environment, the food we eat, whether we exercise regularly, and the quality of our relationships. Within the last ten years medical researchers have been learning of the strong correlation between overweight/obesity and a person’s likelihood of developing cancer. It seems that fat cells are not merely passive storehouses of excess energy in the form of fat. Fat cells are metabolic furnaces that spew out a wide range of chemicals, including hormones and inflammatory agents that may often cause normal cells and tissues to become cancerous.1
Most people and even some physicians are unaware of these facts. The connection between lifestyle and heart disease, and between lifestyle and type 2 diabetes, seems obvious.2,3 But cancer, too, is a lifestyle disease. The very good news is that by creating the willingness to make healthy lifestyle choices, you’re making positive long-term changes in your health and well-being.
Chiropractic care is an important component of healthy living. Chiropractic care helps ensure that your body is functioning at its maximum. Chiropractic care helps ensure you’re getting the most out of the healthy food you’re eating and the healthy exercise you’re doing. Your chiropractor will be glad to provide guidance on creating nutritional plans and exercise programs that will work for you.
*From the February 15, 2012 Health Newsletter*
Back Pain - Am I At Risk?
Are there risk factors for back pain? And, if there are, what can I do to keep myself healthy and well?Learning about potential risk factors and taking appropriate action will help ensure a stronger, more flexible, and healthier lower back.\r\
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Your Family and You
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For the most part back injuries are caused by mechanical issues, and the tendency to get such injuries is not inherited.
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Are there risk factors for back pain? And, if there are, what can I do to keep myself healthy and well? Your chiropractor can help answer these questions and more.
One primary risk factor relates to exercise. Everyone has heard, "if you don't use it, you lose it". If you're not exercising regularly, your back muscles are deconditioned and much more susceptible to injury - the strains and sprains we're accustomed to calling "back pain".
Muscles get stronger when they're required to do work. Also exercise helps "train" the soft tissues around a joint - the ligaments and tendons - these supporting structures "learn" how to withstand mechanical stresses and loads without becoming injured. Basically, when you exercise - when you do any kind of exercise - your body gets "smarter" and you're less likely to get those annoying back problems.1
A related risk factor is weak abdominal muscles. When you were a kid, at some point one of your gym teachers probably told you to "suck in your stomach". Actually, it turns out that was pretty good advice. Your abdominal muscles support the muscles of your lower back. If your abdominals are weak or if you're not using them - letting them hang out and droop instead of keeping them activated - your body weight has to be held up by the muscles of your lower back. They're not designed to do that - they're designed to move your spine around. And eventually, these lower back muscles will give way under the excess strain. The result is a very painful lower back injury.
There are many easy-to-do exercises for your abdominal muscles. The key is to actually do them - and do them after you're finished doing the rest of whatever exercises you've scheduled for that day. How often? Three times a week is plenty. Abdominal routines are quick - no more than 10 minutes. And, remember to use your abdominal muscles throughout the day. Imagine your abdominals are being pulled in and lifted up. This is not a "tightening" - your thought should be "activate". Your body will know what to do, once you've started adding consistent abdominal training to your exercise routine.
Risk factors for back pain may also be found in your personal and family medical history.2,3 During your initial visit your chiropractor will ask you about accidents and surgeries you've experienced, and discuss any important elements in your family history. For example, surgery to remove an inflamed galllbladder or appendix or to repair a hernia may result in weakened abdominal muscles. A motor vehicle accident or a fall from a height may have caused injuries that healed with soft tissue scarring.
Learning about potential risk factors and taking appropriate action will help ensure a stronger, more flexible, and healthier lower back.
Look for our "hardcopy" Health Newsletter coming soon....in the mail.
A Westford Family Chiropractic "ALERT"! 90% of prospective patients will find their chiropractor ON-LINE. Positive reviews are so important...and we / I hope that you feel Westford Family Chiropractic and myself provide you with top quality (5 star) chiropractic care. I ask that each of you who receive a newsletter would kindly take the time to "write" positive review on one (or more) of these sites:
Click on the logo for the site which you may wish to provide a "review" and type "Chiropractor near Westford" in the search box. Click on the Westford Family Chiropractic heading...Thank You!
When creating a "review" you will need to "verify" your authenticity by providing an email address. THANKS!
February 2012 Special !!!
Positioning Roll exclusive to persons NEW to our office. Westford Family Chiropractic will always be happy to provide x-rays and evaluations to past and present patients for$25.00.
For any existing patient that refers someone to our office; we will provide you with a neck or back roll as our thank you!
Call Westford Family Chiropractic today!
(978) 692-4476 or
request an appointment on-line.
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