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Chiropractic Care When You Are Feeling Down

In today’s fast-paced world, mental well-being is as crucial as physical health, yet it often receives less attention. While traditional mental health interventions focus on psychotherapy and medication, emerging evidence suggests that chiropractic care can also play a vital role in managing mood disorders and improving overall mental wellness. This holistic approach to health care, primarily known for addressing musculoskeletal issues, might offer a surprising benefit to those feeling mentally down.

The spine is a central conduit of nerve impulses throughout the body, and misalignments, known as subluxations, can disrupt this system, potentially affecting mood and mental health.

The connection between chiropractic adjustments and improved mental health lies in the body’s response to treatment. Adjustments to the spine can reduce physical pain, which in itself is a significant factor in mental distress. Chronic pain is a known contributor to depression, anxiety, and reduced quality of life. By alleviating this pain, chiropractic care can indirectly lift one’s mood and enhance feelings of well-being.

Moreover, chiropractic adjustments may influence the body’s biochemistry. Research suggests that spinal adjustments can lead to hormonal changes, including increases in endorphins and cortisol, which are associated with pain relief and mood elevation. These hormonal shifts can provide a natural boost to one’s mental state, particularly for those dealing with stress, anxiety, or mild depression.

A critical piece of evidence supporting the link between chiropractic care and improved mental health comes from a study published in the “Journal of Upper Cervical Chiropractic Research.” This research found significant improvements in psychological health in participants following chiropractic adjustments, with reductions in depression and anxiety scores. The study underscores the potential of chiropractic care as a complementary approach to traditional mental health treatments.

While chiropractic care is traditionally associated with physical health, its benefits may extend far beyond, offering a complementary solution for those feeling mentally down. By addressing the physical discomfort and promoting hormonal balance, chiropractic adjustments can play a role in improving mental wellness. As always, it’s essential to consult with healthcare professionals to determine the most appropriate care plan for your specific needs. Integrating chiropractic care with conventional mental health interventions might provide a holistic path to improved well-being.

Make an appointment with us today.

517-627-4547

Your Blood – the River of Life

What exactly is your blood? It is billions and billions of cells floating in a liquid called plasma. Blood is like a river that flows to every part of your body through your arteries, veins, and capillaries.

The red cells in your blood are like delivery trucks. They bring oxygen from your lungs to all parts of your body tissue and take waste gas (carbon dioxide) from your tissues back to your lungs.

Your white cells are like warriors. They are always on guard to gobble up germs and anything that shouldn’t be in your blood and tissues.

Your blood contains platelets that join together to close cuts so you don’t bleed out. Platelets form tiny threads called fibrin, which trap red cells to form a clot or dam.

A single drop of blood contains about 5,000,000 red blood cells, 7,000 white blood cells, and thousands of platelets.

Your blood is constantly being replaced. A red blood cell lives only about four months, and in that time, it makes about 300,000 trips through your bloodstream. About 10 million red blood cells wear out each second. Fortunately, new red cells are constantly replenishing in your blood.

The approximately 25 trillion red cells in your blood would reach nearly halfway to the moon if lined up side-by-side.

You are indeed a mystery and a universe unto yourself.

Chiropractic Care is as Easy as 1, 2, 3

Number 1

Your body possesses a healing ability that can dwarf the feats of the world’s greatest doctors. Your body is the world’s greatest doctor. Numerous studies and clinical reports show that your body can heal any disease or condition. The same power that can heal a cut is capable of treating cancer. No better healer exists than your wisdom-filled being. The body, however, needs to be permitted to express its healing potential to its maximum.

Number 2

Subluxations interfere with your ability to reach your healing potential. These tiny misalignments in your spine interfere with the nerves that make up your body’s communication pathways, limiting the body’s ability to perform its job optimally.

Number 3

Chiropractors are specially trained to locate and correct or adjust subluxations. This frees your body’s healing potential. Our goal is to permit your body to function better – not to ‘treat’ a symptom of malfunction. DC means Doctor of Chiropractic, but many people say it stands for “Doctor of Cause.” When your chiropractor switches on your internal doctor, you have more energy for healing, and you come closer to reaching your inner potential. This is why it is crucial for everyone, young and old, to be checked for subluxations by a Doctor of Chiropractic. For some, it may be the difference between a life of high energy, vitality, and good health and a life of fatigue, low energy, and disease. It can make all the difference in the world!

Schedule an appointment with us today!

(517) 627-4547

Babies Heal their Mothers

The birth of a child is miraculous; there are miracles we are discovering from that miracle. A more recently discovered “miracle” is the discovery that the unborn baby can help the mother heal while the mother is growing the baby inside her. This win-win relationship has been named “mother-fetal microchimerism”.

This is how it works: during pregnancy, cells from the fetus cross the placenta and enter the mother’s body. These cells become part of her breast, thyroid, brain, lung, thymus, and other tissues and will remain there for decades. The baby leaves a permanent imprint on the mother.

This occurs with every child, even if a baby is stillborn, or if the mother has an abortion, those baby’s cells are still in her.

Benefits to the mother benefit to the baby

Baby’s cells were identified in healed cesarean section scars which indicates that the baby participates in the mother’s wound healing.

It’s more than just wound repair. If a mother’s heart is injured, for example. fetal stem cells will rush to the injury site and transform into different types of cells that specialize in repairing the heart. The child helps the mother repair, while the mother builds the child. Obviously, mother-fetal microchimerism is good for both the baby and the mother.

Some fetal cells have stem-like properties that may allow them to provide maternal benefits…We predict that microchimerism should be associated with enhanced maternal health where there is potential for the fetus to enhance maternal health at low or no cost to itself, such as in the transmission of fetal stem cells that might provide a benefit for somatic maintenance (i.e., maternal tissue repair or replenishing stem cell niches). (1)

This may be the reason why some diseases fade away during pregnancy.

When a mother says they feel like, “my children are still a part of me,” long after they’ve been born…she’s right!

Boddy AM, Fortunato A, Sayres MW, Aktipis A. Fetal microchimerism and maternal health: A review and evolutionary analysis of cooperation and conflict beyond the womb. Bioessays. 28 August 2015.

Traditional Eating & Myocardial Infarction

Myocardial infarction (MI) was almost non-existent in 1900. Doctors thinking about specializing in heart ailments were told that they’d starve because heart disease was so rare, that they might see only one case in their entire career.

MI is when there is a massive blood clot leading to obstruction of a coronary artery and consequent death of the heart muscle.

By 1960, there were at least 500,000 MI deaths per year in the US. What lifestyle changes had caused this increase? What made MI go from rare to the number one killer? Three words: hydrogenated vegetable oils.

For all human history, the only oils or fats (they are the same) that were used were those that were found in nature: olive oil, coconut oil, butter, tallow, lard, chicken fat, goose, and duck fat (mostly saturated fats).

Good fat consumption is essential.

In 1900 egg consumption was three times what it was in 1956 and corn oil was unavailable, and Mis didn’t exist. Good fats don’t cause heart disease, but bad fats do.

Today, we have cheap seed oils that are created under high pressure and temperature and are damaging to the cardiovascular system: canola oil, soy oil, corn oil, sunflower seed, cottonseed, safflower, and other “seed” oils (mostly unsaturated fats). Another dangerous product is margarine. These oils cause inflammation of the heart’s arteries and promote blockages.

If you’d like to live a healthy, long life do yourself and your family a favor and ditch the hydrogenated vegetable oils for traditional fats. (4)

The Oiling of America. By Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig. https://www.westonaprice.org/oiling-of-america-in-new-york/

The Earthquakes in Your Life

Earthquakes are the movement of the earth’s crust. They may be on land or under the sea (where they can cause tsunamis). The magnitude or strength of an earthquake is measured by the Richter scale. Each numerical jump is on the order of ten (i.e., a 7.0 earthquake is ten times more powerful than a 6.0).

The Richter scale goes from 1 to 8 and even higher! Since 1900 the earth has averaged the following:

One “great” earthquake each year
18 “major” earthquakes (7-7.9) each year
120 “strong” earthquakes (6-6.9) each year
49,000 “minor” earthquakes (3-3.9) each year.

That’s not all – there seem to be no pause to these earthly events as there are 8,000 “very minor” (1-2) earthquakes every DAY! Every Day!!

So, you see our earth is far from an inert mass – it’s “dancing” all the time. We live on a constantly shimmering, shuddering, pulsating planet.

All Shook Up

Are our lives any different? We may experience a cataclysmic “great” event every year or so. An event that can shake us to our very core. It might be getting a new job or being fired from an old one, the birth of a child or the death of a loved one -pleasant or unpleasant, these are often life-changing.

Thankfully great events are rare, but we experience less earth-shattering “major” or “strong” events that touch and shake us up in many ways. And many more “minor” events that we may experience every day or every hour!

Even among those seemingly settled people we know, living quiet, perhaps dull lives, there is so much more than meets the eye. Under the surface (no matter how deeply covered) you’ll find a roiling, crashing, cascading collection of dreams, passions, fears, hopes, tragedies, and triumphs.

Under the surface, you will always find a noble spirit yearning to break free.

Can we break through our crust, our limitations?

Yes, we can, but for too many, the answer is “no,” they will continue to exist and live lives of “quiet desperation” as Thoreau deemed it.

Then there are others who may look into their hearts and declare, “I will grow out of this rut, I will reach for the stars, I will thrive.”

It is not necessary for us to wait for a major earthquake to change our lives – even a minor message can get through and begin our process of healing and growth – we just need to hang on to it and stay for the ride.

The Miracle Question

Those lyrics are from an old (1935) American popular song. Believe it or not, writing to yourself can be very therapeutic. Milton Erickson, the famous psychologist asked a simple question that was so powerful and effective it has been referred to as, “The Miracle Question.” Here it is:

Write an imaginary letter of a day in the future when you are in a wonderful place physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
If you imagine your life is like a novel and the next chapter is a happy one, what will happen in it?
Imagine that a year has passed, and you decide to send a postcard with good news. What would the good news be?
If someone were to tell others the good news about you in the future, what would that be?

Put another way, imagine you awaken one morning, a miracle has occurred, and your problems are gone! How are you different? What are you doing? What are your plans? How do you feel? How do you look? What are your relationships like? How do you see yourself moving forwards? etc. etc. This is much more powerful than simply imagining a future without your problems.

It’s easy to do this exercise, merely writing or talking about your life in the future is wonderful. Just make-believe. Just imagine. You can even tell others about this miracle and ask them to describe you in this wonderful future. Hearing other people’s fantasies about your future may help you do this exercise even better.

Other ways of asking The Miracle Question:

What will you be doing or saying differently such that other people will know you are less depressed (or sad or anxious or confused etc.)?
If you were in a restaurant and people were watching you and your spouse having a meal together, how will they know that you are getting on well?

This can be used with a friend or even a teenager (wow!). Take turns telling each other The Miracle Question and your wonderful changes: physically, emotionally, and spiritually. (1)

A Brief Guide to Brief Therapy; 1993 by Brian Cade and William Huson O’Hanlon and The Miracle Question. Solution Talk-Hosting Therapeutic Conversations; 1992, by Ben Furma and Tapani Ahola.

Why do some people get sick and others do not?

Chiropractic Questions and Answers

Q. Why do some people get sick and others do not?

That question was discussed by DD Palmer, the discoverer of chiropractic.

Palmer wrote extensively on the perfection we are born with and the many ways that perfection can be perverted or prevented from functioning. When we function at less than 100%, when we are unbalanced with spine and nerve stress, when we have physical blockages that decrease life energy flowing through us (subluxations), we suffer from dis-ease, which is a common precursor to diseases of all kinds.

Dr. Palmer was very much ahead of his time when he described the three causes of dis-ease (body malfunction) as follows:

Thoughts-emotional stress. The emerging science of PNI (psychoneuroimmunology) studies the intimate and intense relationship amongst thoughts, brain, and immune system function. This confirms Palmer’s original insights into the relationship between the mind and body. See the article below on marriage and longevity for an example.

Trauma-structural distortions affect and weaken our ability to adapt to all environmental stresses. Physical traumas may be from birth, macro-trauma such as sports injuries, car accidents, and similar events, or micro-trauma such as always working in the same position, always swinging a golf club or tennis racket the same way (and on one side), or living on a planet with gravity-meaning everyone on this earth.

Toxins-poisons that we are exposed to that are internal or endogenous (produced from within) or external or exogenous poisons that we are exposed to from the environment.

Internal toxins can be from a poor diet, an unbalanced intestinal flora, dental/oral infections from root canals, and unhealed wisdom tooth sockets. External toxins can be from the pesticides and herbicides that are in our foods (always eat organic foods), vaccinations (a toxic brew of chemicals), air pollution, smoking, anesthesia, drugs (prescription as well as otherwise), and even EMF-electromagnetic frequency radiation (i.e., cell phones and cell phone towers), among others.

Chiropractic care permits your body to function at its best. By releasing old physical/structural stress from your spinal column the chiropractic adjustment also releases stress from your spinal cord and brain. This improves your nervous system (which your mind uses). That improved function helps your ability to detoxify and rid your body of any internal and external poisons you have accumulated.

Many chiropractors have noticed that in addition to the above, regular chiropractic care may increase a person’s sensitivity to their state of health and they naturally begin to eat better and avoid unhealthy toxins and procedures. Every organ, gland, system, and part of your being is interconnected. Improving any physical, mental, or spiritual aspect of your well-being improves the health of every other part of your mind and body.

Make an appointment today and start to feel better.

517.627.4547

You are the world’s greatest drug store!

You create your own drugs (No, I don’t mean illegally!)

The greatest drug store in the world is your own marvelous body, as long as your body is functioning properly.

Your body manufactures:

antibiotics
insulin
painkillers
blood pressure and heart drugs

Your body also creates hormones and chemicals that regulate:

brain chemistry and mood
digestion
elimination
growth
blood chemistry
hundreds of other drugs, many still undiscovered

That’s where chiropractic care helps

Chiropractors help keep your internal drug store functioning optimally by locating and correcting a very common condition that causes your body to malfunction. That condition is called a subluxation. A subluxation is usually found in your spine and although it often causes pain, it may also be painless.

Want to keep your internal drug store (the World’s Greatest) making and delivering all the drugs you need for your whole life? In addition to a nutrient-rich diet, make sure your body is free of subluxations – that’s the specialty of your chiropractor. Come in for a chiropractic checkup. Your internal drug store will thank you for it.

Can a Pregnant Woman Get Chiropractic Care?

Questions and Answers About Chiropractic

Question: Should a pregnant woman receive chiropractic care?

Answer: Absolutely! If there is one group of patients who benefit from and need chiropractic care more than almost any other, it’s those who are pregnant.

During pregnancy, the body secretes a hormone called “relaxin.” This hormone does as it’s called – it relaxes the tendons and ligaments of the pelvis preparing the body for birth. Unfortunately, if a woman’s body is misaligned, distorted, or subluxated then the misalignment, etc. could get worse! That is one of the reasons why some pregnant women suffer from a lot of back, leg, hip, and other structural pains.

Another problem that could happen during pregnancy is that the pelvis is locked or doesn’t move properly and the unborn baby cannot turn. This could result in a breech birth wherein the baby is not in an ideal position to be delivered. The baby may need to be delivered feet first or butt first or there may be back labor which can be painful.

Chiropractic care, by keeping a woman’s body free of structural stress (subluxations), has been a blessing to millions of women and their babies. Pregnancy is much more comfortable, labor is worry-free, a breech presentation turns to a normal (vertex or head down) presentation and babies are born with more ease.

Please share this article with a pregnant woman you know! You could be helping her prevent a lot of unnecessary ain and discomfort.

Lanjopoulos Chiropractic

Chiropractics, Yoga, Tai Chi, Healthy Living