Monday, July 30, 2018

Medicare & Exercises

     Your Chiropractor may give you exercises or stretches to facilitate your healing and help keep your condition from recurring.
     Since for Chiropractic care, Medicare only pays for adjusting the spine, they will not reimburse for exercises, so the Medicare patient must pay for this often essential adjunct to their Chiropractic adjustments.
     The profession of Chiropractic is working with Medicare to change this, and hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, Medicare will agree to pay for this important part of a treatment plan.

Monday, July 23, 2018

Tight Psoas

     The psoas is a major postural muscle which attaches to the lumbar vertebrae and goes diagonally down and out to attach at the hip to the trochanter, or upper part of the femur.
     If the psoas is in spasm, it can pull the pelvic girdle into distortion, causing a short leg, and a myriad of other problems. 
     The spasm and resultant distortion cause discomfort, and can impact the gait.
     With my Activator instrument, I can correct the distortion, and reset the tension in the psoas. Then I'll show the patient how to stretch the psoas muscle at home on their own to help keep this from happening again.

Monday, July 16, 2018

Headache "Scrunch"

     Chronic extension of the neck---leaning the head backward---for example, to better see a computer screen when wearing bifocals or graduated corrective lenses---is a common cause of headaches. 
     It causes tension in the suboccipital muscles along the base of the skull, compression at the occiput, and can result in an upward tilt of the posterior part of the C2 vertebra.
     This combination is a reliable headache producer.
     Watch out for this posture, and if you do get in trouble because of it, my gentle, precise adjustments with Activator Chiropractic Method can correct the area and bring relief.

Monday, July 9, 2018

Memory Foam Pillows

     Some patients use them, and love them. In that case, I don’t try to talk them out of their pillow. But I’m not a fan of memory foam pillows, and here’s why:
     A good pillow, in order give adequate proper support to the cervical spine, should provide consistent resistive support.
     Is this what memory foam does? No, in fact the converse is true---it provides little to no such support. When you lie down on it, it squashes down as the weight of your head & neck contact the foam, creating an indentation which offers minimal, at best, support.
           

Monday, July 2, 2018

Calling All Birds


Attracting birds to your yard & garden is easy with native plants, which are adapted to your local climate, and require little special care in order to flourish.
The National Audubon Society offer a “native plant database,” where you can find your native plants, and how to grow them, by putting in your zip code  
Native plants will lure the birds you love to watch, help them to thrive, and support other beneficial pollinators in your area.