It is well documented that high levels of stress can contribute to heart disease, cancer, headaches, ulcers, digestive disturbances, backaches and nearly every other condition known to mankind. How can one word cause so many unique and different problems in different people especially since the stress reaction is the same for everyone? The answer may be simpler than you think.
Stress is a nervous system reaction that causes your heart to beat faster, your muscles to be tense, your stomach to tighten, and your hair follicles to stand up, all as a way to prepare your body for an emergency. When you interpret a situation as stressful, whether it truly is or not, your brain triggers this reaction by sending a signal over your spinal cord and nervous system to every cell of your body. In prehistoric times, this would have been the perfect reaction to escape from a hungry dinosaur, but in today’s stress filled world and no Tyrannosaurus Rex, this chronic reaction can cause pain, sickness and disease.
Where your body breaks down from stress may depend on whether or not you have a condition known as vertebral subluxation. A vertebral subluxation is a spinal injury that interferes with the normal function of your nervous system which can affect your health on every level whether you have symptoms or not. If you have this in your spine, your body is already pre-stressed.
Many people deal with stress through deep breathing, meditation, exercise and healthy food choices. These are all very good things to do as part of your lifestyle to counter balance stress, but if your nervous system is pre-stressed, the slightest deviation from the perfect stress management plan can send you into a frustrating, uncomfortable, or painful tailspin. Removing this pre-stress causing subluxation can improve your resistance to daily stressors dramatically.
Research shows that it only takes the weight of a dime to reduce nerve transmission. Additional research has found that nerve compression can exist without pain and can cause deterioration within two weeks.
In this pre-stressed condition, your body becomes more vulnerable to outside stresses while other people may be much more resistant. The location of the subluxation can determine what types of symptoms, if any, you experience. For example, someone with nerve interference in the upper part of the neck might feel headaches, have allergies, or a stiff neck. Because the nerves fibers that come out of the upper neck also go to the entire body, pressure here can literally cause or mimic nearly every symptom or disease you can name.
Interference to the nerve supply in the lower back can cause a backache, leg problems and also affect ovary, prostate, bladder or bowel function. Interference to the nerves in the middle of your back can affect your heart and lungs or cause tension, stomach problems, digestive disturbances and discomfort.
The scary part is that like most serious conditions, vertebral subluxations can cause stress for decades without any symptoms. This is when serious problems occur, many of which could have been avoided by eliminating this pre-stressed condition right away. The birth process, childhood falls, sports injuries and poor lifestyle habits are just a few causes of subluxations. Rather than getting to the cause and removing this underlying problem, many people attempt to chase their symptoms away with drugs, or another type of quick fix, and then wonder why their condition returns. Removing the cause and optimizing the function of your nervous system is a better immediate and long-term plan.
Regardless or your symptoms, a chiropractic examination can locate pre-stressed areas in your spine that may be affecting your health on every level.
Crisis care is one way to deal with stress, only receiving care when you are hurt. A much better option is to remove the subluxation, stress, from your body and keep it out as a part of your lifestyle. This will help you to stress less, live more, and enjoy the quality of life you deserve.
Cummins Chiropractic and Wellness is an Affiliate of the Family Practice for the 100 Year Lifestyle in order to be a health and wellness resource to the Bellevue Community. For more information, call 425-590-9158. Bringing you to gold medal health!
Archives for October 2012
Free Dinner with the Doc! Get your "E.S.S" in Shape Workshop!
Will you live as long as your parents and grandparents? You have their genes, what will your quality of life be like?
Free Dinner with the Doc: Get your “ESS” in Shape Workshop
Thursday, Oct. 18th 7-8pm
That’s right, Thursday night get your “ESS” in shape. Led by Dr. Cummins and his wife, Olympic Gold Medalist, Anna Cummins. They’ll take you through how to focus on Endurance, Strength, and Structure (E.S.S.)to bring you to gold medal health.
- Endurance tips to improve your staying power
- Strength tips to empower your mind and body
- Structure tips to keep you standing straight,strong, and healthy for life
- BONUS: Dinner’s on us for you and a friend
Bring your friends and get the “E.S.S.” you’ve always wanted.
Must RSVP so we have enough healthy, tasty dinners! Call or email Cummins Chiropractic at: (425)590-9158 or events@cumminschiropractic.com
The Benefits of Lifestyle Care
The benefits of Lifestyle Care are many and well documented. From improving athletic performance, increasing brain function and increasing bone density to strengthening the immune system and preventing deterioration, the results can be dramatic. And as common sense and world renowned chiropractor, Dr. Ernie Landi has stated so eloquently, “If you prevent it, you don’t have to treat it.”
Lifestyle Care is about keeping your spine and nervous system aligned, balanced and functioning to its full potential throughout your lifetime. This allows your brain and your body to communicate efficiently, without interference, so that they can function at their highest level and you can enjoy life to the fullest.
People will frequently ask, “This makes a lot of sense. How often should I come and get my spine and nervous system checked?”
The answer is quite simple and depends a lot on you. The intensity of your Lifestyle Care will depend on the intensity of your lifestyle as well as the underlying condition of your spine and nervous system. People who live stress free lives and have no underlying deterioration in their spine or nervous system require much less Lifestyle Care.
On the other hand, people with moderate amounts of stress and deterioration require more frequent visits and people who are under severe stress or have a lot of severe deterioration in their spine and nervous system require much more frequent visits to keep their body functioning at high levels of health. You and your chiropractor will determine together the frequency that is best for you based on your personal health condition and goals.
As the intensity of your lifestyle changes from month to month or from year to year you may find that the intensity of your Lifestyle Care also needs to change.
For example, if you have found that an adjustment every two weeks has been ideal for you and you change to a more stressful job with a lot of sitting or a long commute you and your chiropractor may find that one adjustment a week works better.
If you are a casual exerciser and decide to start participating in triathlons, the increased intensity of your training might require you to increase the intensity of your visits to multiple times per week. On the other hand, if your life becomes less stressful, you begin meditating three times a day and your underlying spinal conditions have already been corrected, you may find that your Lifestyle Care frequency may decrease in its intensity.
The most important thing for you to understand is that Lifestyle Care is not based on symptoms. Your frequency is not determined by how you feel but instead is determined by whether or not you have a subluxation, a spinal imbalance with nerve pressure, that needs to be adjusted. Since additional research has revealed that nerve compression can exist without pain, waiting until you have symptoms to get checked is not a good idea. Only your chiropractor can determine whether you need an adjustment or not through a chiropractic check-up.
Ask around and you will find that there are millions of people who have been under chiropractic care for decades not just because they have had a problem but because they have experienced the benefits of Lifestyle Care. These people may be some of the healthiest people you meet. Too many people in our society are suffering because they are crisis oriented when it comes to their health. Don’t let this happen to you. It is easier, less expensive and more fun to stay well than it is to have to get well after you become sick or injured. Make Lifestyle Care your top priority.
Nerve Compression Without Pain – M. Hause in Spine
Bone Density –JBSR September 2002
Increased Brain Function – In Touch Volume 4:3 March 2000
Cummins Chiropractic and Wellness is an Affiliate of the Family Practice for the 100 Year Lifestyle in order to be a health and wellness resource to the Bellevue Community. Bringing you to gold medal health!
