Chiropractic and Disability: Let's Work Together

In this week's Citizen...

I work with many folks who are disabled. The stigma of disability is very painful on the emotional front due to isolation and loss of employment which complicates the ability to heal the physical damage.

It is quite a blow to self esteem when someone's pain keeps them from performing adequately at his or her job. Someone with multiple absences and a much lower level of productivity faces the difficult decision of leaving a job that was once fulfilling. For jobs that are physically demanding, it becomes unsafe to remain employed.

Insurance companies often put limitations on treatment. Because no one fits a textbook example, care is usually prematurely stopped even though published studies have shown a less intensive care plan leaves people in a state of chronic pain one year after a traumatic injury. Fair or unfair, patients need to do the best they can to remain consistent with strategies to assist their healing.

I have worked with people who have dealt with debilitating headaches, fibromyalgia, depression, post-concussion syndrome, herniated discs, severe fractures, arthritis and multiple sclerosis, just to name a few.

The most common goal is to help people have more energy so they can take part in family activities. For many of them, getting their pain to a tolerable level so they are not always in bed is a monumental improvement.

From a long term standpoint, disability accelerates aging. As much as I hate the word aging, I need to use it in order to help folks get the help they need. Disabling conditions have one thing in common, the body's reserves were so low at the time of injury or illness that healing became greatly impaired.

The chiropractic adjustment helps spinal joints release mechanical tension that disrupts messaging to and from the brain. This can have an effect on organ function and how well the immune system protects the body from pathogens.

When the spine is not moving, health deteriorates. Getting people to move as much as they can without causing a severe flare up is an important aspect of maintaining health. This takes quite a bit of trial and error to find the happy medium for each person's needs. Chiropractic certainly helps with the ups and downs.

Probably the most compelling aspect of care is looking back at the ways the body was already in a weakened state prior to the injury or illness. There may have been a destructive pattern going on for years. Recognizing this and reversing the behavior patterns can be an important stress reducer.

Another benefit of chiropractic care is mood enhancement because of the brain and body connection at the spine. The spinal cord contains limbic system cells just like the brain does and a greater feeling of well being can be achieved with spinal adjustments. Anger and grief from past events can be managed more effectively.

Dealing with a disability or similar crisis can be a disheartening experience. Adding a chiropractor to your support team can be of great help.

Depression Behind the Smile

 How do you handle stress?

We tend to hide a lot of our life, such as the  parts we are ashamed of, or the parts we dislike about ourselves.  We don't want it to appear we are crumbling under stress.

What is worse: the stress or how we deal with stress?

It is very easy to become depressed, but we have to hide it don't we?  Should we?

And what does that do to our overall health?  It's not ideal.  Your thoughts create patterns that can disrupt or enhance your health.  

Along with your chiropractic care for better brain health, I recommend mind-centered approaches for healing, as well.  That is why we have a Hidden Gems mentoring group here at the office.  Also, I have a short ebook available on Depression Behind the Smile to address this other side of stress.  Check it out here.    

The spine coordinates your healing response and that includes your mental/emotional healing.  Chiropractic is your ON-switch. 

--See you at the table...the adjusting table.

--Dr. Lisa
--Your Health Freedom Advocate

After the Stress

Alternate titles for this article:

When the doctor has troubles

Easy come easy go


So I let a mental stressor take over my life during the month of January.  For my poor family, I was not that much fun at home, especially in the evenings when we were all tired at the end of the day.  I worked through my issue and it has been a memory for quite some time.  That was in January and it is now March.

The problem is the after effects.  I let my diet go.  I let my workouts go.  I began staying up too late at night and  found it more difficult to get up early enough to do an adequate work out.  The diet is probably the easier one to fix.  I resumed better eating with a sincere commitment to myself.

I began taking the Metagenics supplement, Phyto-Multi and this gave me fast improvements. I slept better and had more energy.  I still have to make an effort to quit all my activities at 9 PM and just get to bed.  I am getting better at that, as well.

My workouts were probably affected the most and that is a little disheartening.  For two weeks at Christmas I allowed myself to eat anything I wanted and that didn't help when the new year rolled around.   When your carbohydrate intake is too high, you cannot work out with your usual intensity.  I always notice it the very next day after a high carbohydrate meal.  I get tired very quickly and my muscles give out much too soon.  It almost feels as if I am coming down with a cold.   (What's the big deal with carbs?)  (Whole grains are not your friend)

It's also easy to correct if  too much time hasn't elapsed.  If you lay off your work out for about two weeks you will have to start from scratch all over again.  That's how quickly we lose muscle tone.  If I go three days without a work out, I have to use lighter weights and take more rests.

During this time off the routine someone can easily come down with a cold or flu like illness and once that is over it takes even more time to get back into balance.


Lesson learned.

It isn't easy to get back up to speed.   I am blaming it on boredom with my current collection of workout DVDs. Often we blame aging and old injuries.But should we?

Before the thaw of winter finally comes by spring, I will be back to my usual routine.  I'm fed up with the dragging feeling.

So join me in turning over a new leaf ...or shamrock.
Don't forget to keep up with your adjustments.  And remember, adjustments don't work when the interference is greater.  Poor diet, lousy exercise, no sleep. dehydration, mineral deficiencies are all terrible interferences.

Stress effects have a prolonged effect.  That is why people are depressed, overweight, diabetic, having issues with metabolic syndrome.  The spine develops calcium deposits.  Muscles become spasmed. Scar tissue takes hold.  The brain loses healing connections with the body.

But not in our office.  We are dedicated to health building.

See you at the table...the adjusting table.

--Dr. Lisa
--Your Health Freedom Advocate


What's new at Primal-Chiro?

Why grains aren't good

Chiropractic Saved Me

 

My x-ray in 1995 was similar to this

one.  The curve was reversed from 

a head injury as a child in 1971.  I 

was forming bone spurs in my mid- 

twenties.  I had a 20-30 year head 

start on arthritis.

This resembles the beginning of 

very debilitating fibromyalgia and 

other pain syndromes.  Also, 

studies of mild brain trauma are 

showing a correlation with 

depression and bipolar disorder, 

especially in teens who play sports.

It wasn't back pain or a headache 
that brought me to chiropractic.  In 
fact, I was pain free when I 
received my first adjustment.

I had a condition more painful than a physical injury 
because it was not physically obvious.  I had a certain 
arrogance that would have taken my health away if I 
hadn't been exposed to chiropractic thinking 17 years 
ago.

I was arrogant about health and healing because I 
was young. I took my health for granted because I 
thought nothing would make me sick.  I thought I 
knew how to take care of myself.  Boy, was I wrong!  

I  worked with people who were challenged by the 
label of mental illness. They were told they had a 
brain imbalance and they needed a steady supply of 
brain altering drugs to keep them "normal" by 
society's rules.

No one proved they had brain problems.  No one 
measured brain improvements to check if  the drugs 
really helped.  No one gave them an option to stop 
taking these drugs.   It was all one sided and my 
clients were actually getting worse.

If you or someone you know

has suffered under the psychiatric system

become a member of the 

Study of Empathic Therapy, Education & Living

I started teaching a few of my clients about stress 
reduction techniques and dietary changes.  Much to 
my surprise, they were improving and gaining  self 
confidence.  While I was addressing their physical 
health I began to see how the state of the body has a 
great deal of influence on mental function.

I realized my job as a therapist was a joke. If the 
body isn't healthy, the mind stays stuck (more like 

trapped).

After prayerful consideration to change careers, I 
looked at chiropractic.  I had no pain or health 
problems, but I volunteered in a chiropractor's office 
to learn about this drug free approach.

Not much of a science buff, I was awe struck when 
my new chiropractors (a married couple) taught me 
how the nervous system controls every cell, organ, 
body function, thought and emotion.  The nervous 
system is also considerably affected by the condition 
of the spine.  

It was also a major revelation when I learned how 
damage progresses for years but we don't feel it.

They showed me my X-rays and explained how 
mechanical disruptions of the spine adds incredible 
stress to the brain and spinal cord.  A sample X-ray 
above is very similar to my own X-rays.

This was a big mind shift to me.  I thought spinal cord 
damage was paralysis like Christopher Reeve.  I 
never considered milder forms of damage could have 
such an impact on disease and mental status.

If I never addressed this 17 years ago, I would have 
suffered from a gradual and progressive degenerative 
process. Pain doesn't show up until damage is fairly 
permanent.  Combine it with a stressful life style and  
poor nutrition and chronic disease takes hold.

I also learned chiropractic gave mental patients great 
results in the early 1900's before drug therapy 
became the monopolizing treatment.  It is now 
showing great promise for addiction recovery.

I often think about my therapy clients who felt 
helpless and defective.  Their nervous system/life 
force was stifled and no one offered them the release 
chiropractic can provide.

Chiropractic is not about pain relief.  Pain is  part of 
being human.  Chiropractic is about knowledge, 
personal power and being given options.  

My first interest is in mental wellness.   

Inside the mind are the sparks that ignite great 

ideas.  The body is the engine that allows us to push our ideas forward.  

They work as a team.

In my work as a mental health counselor I saw a serious separation 

between this awesome team.  

When physical health is not properly addressed, it clouds the mind.  

The body often 

gives us important clues.

Chiropractic rejoins the mind and body in an extraordinary 

way as the adjustment  enhances how the nervous system

 fosters innate intelligence.

Thanks for being curious.  

It means you are  looking for something new to try.  

You are in the process of a personal evolution.   

It's a superb journey!

I can't convey much more of it on a website.  Come to a health talk, come in for 

an appointment, or let's chat on a phone-coaching session.

Read more about my journey here.

Watch the New Member Orientation Video Here

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