Tag Archives: spinal column

Who Should Go to a Chiropractor?

Is Chiropractic Care for You?everyone-needs-chiropractic-care

A very simple yet profound question.

The answer is dependent upon one’s concept of the goal of chiropractic.  If the goal of chiropractic is to get sick people well, then presumably sick people should go to a chiropractor.  If the goal is prevention of sickness, presumably all patients should be on a maintenance program.

Everyone can benefit from Chiropractic Care at some point in their lifetime. 

We would like to share the very unique goal of chiropractic as practiced in this office.

We would like to see ALL people, sick or well, young and old, getting their spines checked for vertebral subluxations on a regular basis to allow their bodies to better express all of their life potentials.  This would in turn allow each person to get more out of life.  In order to understand this concept, one must understand how vertebral subluxation affects the quality of one’s life.

Physiologically, it is known that virtually every expression of life is controlled, at least in part by body chemistry.   It is changes in body chemistry that determine our energy level, our ability to resist and recover from disease, our ability to extract nutrients from food, our moods, attitudes, sense of humor, our manual dexterity, and virtually every other expression of life.

Therefore, if anything happens to alter body chemistry it can affect every aspect of one’s life.  This is why the law does not allow people to drive after consuming too much alcohol.  The alcohol can produce blurred vision, slowed reaction time, poor coordination, and make a generally good driver a menace to society.

Of course the individual reaction to alcohol varies from person to person. Some people become sad, some become happy, some become violent, some silly, and some just fall asleep.  All however, seem to suffer from poor judgment and lack of coordination.

Medication is Not Always the Only Solution

Another example would be people who use medication to “treat” a variety of problems.  Just look in the Physician Desk Reference (PDR) to see that for every drug listed; side effects which can change you mentally, physically and emotionally.  It is easy to understand…

“Vertebral subluxations are, by definition, an interference with the innate control of the body.  You cannot have body chemistry in balance when vertebral subluxations are present”

…how altering body chemistry from the outside-in can affect everything we are and everything we can accomplish.  In short, it can negatively alter our potential in many different areas.

Imagine if more people knew about this!

What we really desire is to see hundreds of people who are concerned enough about their health to come in regularly with their families to receive adjustments to stay healthy and be the best they can be in life.  Imagine if more people knew about this and were getting checked and adjusted. Wouldn’t that be the community you’d want to live in?  We hope that it is your desire to be one of these type of people. If there is ever something about chiropractic health care that you do not understand, please ask us. It is our desire and pleasure to make you aware of all the benefits of being subluxation free.

While our potential, or performance levels, may be affected by drugs from the outside, they can also be affected by chemical changes that originate within.  Our body is an incredible natural chemical factory.  With a chemical reaction needed for virtually every aspect of life, there are countless numbers of chemical reactions occurring constantly.  It is the wisdom of the body, innate intelligence, which uses the brain, spinal cord and nerve system as its medium of expression, to control and coordinate the chemical producing organs and glands of the body. Any alteration in the production of chemicals like thyroxin, insulin, adrenaline, cortisone, testosterone, estrogen, and dozens of others (known and unknown) in the body, will produce just as drastic a change as would chemicals administered from the outside-in.

Related: Your Are the World’s Greatest Drug Store!

What are Vertebral subluxations?

Vertebral subluxations are, by definition, an interference with the innate control of the body. You cannot have body chemistry in balance when vertebral subluxations are present.  When you have an imbalance of body chemistry you are unable to fully express your potential in any number of areas.

It is not our goal to be a “sore back/neck doc”” dealing with neck aches and backaches and referring people out.  Every man, woman, and child in our community deserves to know the truth.   Chiropractic is not just for backaches, nor is it for cancer.  It is not for any particular malady.

Chiropractic is for people! All people!

Chiropractic is for people! All people!  There is not a person you will ever meet, who should not have his or her spine checked regularly.  It is the goal of this office to share chiropractic with as many people as possible, to allow their bodies to function and perform at a higher level of efficiency.  Thus enabling them to more fully express all of their potentials and abilities, and therefore, get more out of their lives.

Question: What is Chiropractic Care For?

chiropractic careAnswer: Ask different people what chiropractic care is for and you’ll hear:

  • Chiropractic Care is for menstrual problems
  • Chiropractic Care is for ear infections
  • Chiropractic Care is for a better golf swing
  • Chiropractic Care is for headaches
  • Chiropractic Care is for better concentration and higher grades
  • Chiropractic Care is for asthma
  • Chiropractic Care is for autism
  • Chiropractic Care is for low back pain
  • Chiropractic Care is for disk problems
  • Chiropractic is for neck pain
  • Chiropractic Care is for infertility …

 Get the point?

The list can go on and on because people often think chiropractic is locating and correcting subluxations to help their condition or problem. But in reality….

The purpose of chiropractic is to make your body function closer to its full potential. Chiropractors do that by locating and correcting areas of spine and nerve stress called subluxations. Subluxations can weaken or damage every tissue, organ and gland in your body.

What do you use Chiropractic Care for?

Each one of our clients is very different with a unique set of issues that we treat. Sometimes people come in with one complaint and after chiropractic care, several issues are better. We want to hear what you do use (or could use) our care to treat. We want to help you today!

Latest News from Charmaine: August 2016: Vacations!

charmaine at tournamentGreetings all,

Are you vacationing or have you this year?

We hope so. Who doesn’t like to go on vacation? Summertime is the best time to go on vacation. So is the winter. So are the fall and spring. OK, any time is the best time to go on vacation. It’s always good to let go of day-to-day worries and cares and nurture ourselves.

It is NOT a badge of honor to declare I don’t need vacations or haven’t been on one for years…your body is probably sending you all sorts of “impertinent” memos in the  form of aches and pains and feeling less than 100%. You CANNOT drive a car on fumes,- so why think you can do that to your body.  RECHARGE/VACATION!!!!!!

Sages have said that we should spend a little time each day going on vacation. Every day we should do something that we especially love to do, something that’s deeply true to our purpose in life. Whether that’s making music, meditating, praying, exploring, learning, sharing heartfelt time with someone or another healthy diversion, it should be done every day. Why? So our lives will have balance.

So if you’re on vacation (or soon will be) remember to take that feeling home with you when you return to your “regular” life. Remember to keep a little place in your heart and mind where you’ll feel a release from stress and joy in nature, where you feel happiness and a little carefree. You just need to do a little – it’ll keep you warm on cold winter nights and keep you cool on hot summer evenings.

And THANKS for letting us give you a little respite by caring for you and your family – letting the stress out and the healing in.

Enjoy the summer and remember…. as the kids go back to school and get into sports…chiropractic care will keep them functioning at their best!!!

See you on the table, on the yoga mat, under the barbells or just walking around town!

This is What You Were Born For

You are born to live a lipainfe of vitality, strength, peace and happiness! It is your birthright, your natural state. That life should be long and full of joy, excitement, pleasure and fulfillment.
But it doesn’t always seem that way. Too many people are not living to their potential; too many people are living lives wracked with physical and mental disease and pain.

Remove Obstacles and Pain

In order to discover physical and mental health you need to remove anything interfering with your proper function.
The chiropractic profession has discovered a serious condition that interferes with your proper function. It is an back paininternal distortion of your spine and body structure – a subluxation. Subluxations are structural distortions that stress your nervous system – your brain, spinal cord, cranial nerves and related structures.
Subluxations are caused by any stress your body cannot handle: a difficult birth, a fall, an accident, emotional upset, chemical toxicity, overwork, or a combination of stresses (i.e. physical, chemical or emotional stress while you are tired, overworked, malnourished, etc.).

Chiropractic subluxation correction improves your health in many ways.

 In over a hundred years of clinical experience, millions of patients have praised chiropractic for helping  them with menstrual problems, a more comfortable pregnancy and labor/delivery, ear infections, high blood pressure, fevers, asthma, colic, eczema, headaches, migraines, back pain, arthritis, stress, sleeplessness, dyslexia, vision, learning disorders and so much more.
But it’s more than pain and sickness. Chiropractic is an excellent way to maximize sports performance, improve overall health and enhance balance, strength and fitness.
Subluxations are epidemic in our society; most people have them in their body and don’t know it. For that reason, everyone needs periodic chiropractic checkups to locate and correct (adjust) their subluxations.

Make an appointment to have your spine checked today!

Latest News from Charmaine: June 2016: Changes

charmaine at tournamentGreetings all,

This has been a time of great changes just in the last couple of weeks.  What with the children getting out of school…some of them graduating, others moving up a grade level and the deaths of several great icons with whom we all felt a personal connection– it has been a little unsettling.
Making changes to one’s daily overall health regime is generally uncomfortable until we settle into a routine; but in this day and age of such a sedentary lifestyle and very often, our daily job…it become vitally important that we get out and exercise…whether it is walking, running, cycling, yoga or Tai Chi or anything else.  We need to keep our joints and spine supple so that we can be as healthy and pain free as possible for as long as possible.
How do you fit in your exercise? What is you favorite thing to do? Let us know in the comments. Who knows, maybe you will inspire someone else to get out there and start moving!
exercise latest news

Relief through Chiropractic: Case Studies

Researching Chiropractic

Chiropractic clinical case histories have been a regular feature of our patient newsletter since its inception. There seems to be no limit to the health problems that respond to chiropractic care. How many people suffering, on drugs, facing a life of limitation could be helped by chiropractic care? Probably most of them.

Erb’s Palsy and chiropractic

Erb’s Palsy is a paralysis of the arm caused by nerve damage (to the brachial plexus) in the neck. It is most often caused by obstetrical mistakes. These injured children grow into adults with permanent nerve and arm damage – a shorter and smaller arm – unless corrected. This is the story of one lucky baby.

In this case a 5-month-old girl diagnosed with right-sided Erb’s Palsy was brought in for care to a chiropractic office. Under chiropractic care the infant’s symptoms resolved within two months. (8)

Reference: Resolution of Erb-Duchenne Palsy in a 5-month-old female following subluxation based chiropractic care. Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health – Chiropractic. 2016;1:9-13. 

Headache and neck pain in an eight-year-old girl

An 8-year-old girl was brought in for chiropractic care suffering from neck pain and headaches. According to the patient’s mother, her daughter reported her headaches and neck pain had been going on for four months with approximately two episodes per week.

Medical examinations did not find any problem and the doctors recommended treating the neck and headache symptoms with Tylenol. Following four chiropractic visits, the child’s neck pain and headaches completely resolved.

Reference: Simmons-Stone D, Alcantara J. Resolution of chronic cervicogenic headache & cervicalgia in a child following chiropractic care. Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health – Chiropractic. 2016;1:1-4. 

Neurofibromatosis

A 3-year-old boy with a history of Neurofibromatosis Type I, asthma and ear infections was brought in for chiropractic care. His asthma attacks were so severe he required ER hospital visits two times per month.

He received chiropractic adjustments two to three times per week. Within one month after beginning care he no longer had violent exacerbations of his asthma and was able to sleep through the night. As of this writing he continues to improve and has decreased his inhaler usage. (10)

Reference: Kachinsky B, Kachinsky J. Improvement in a pediatric patient with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 and asthma: a case report. Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health – Chiropractic. 2011;1:1-4.

Questions and Answers about Chiropractic

Chiropractor treating a patient

Q: Where did chiropractic come from?

A: Chiropractic was rediscovered and named in 1895 in Davenport, Iowa by DD Palmer, a magnetic healer and teacher who performed the first chiropractic adjustment on his deaf janitor. When the man’s hearing returned Palmer began to investigate the relationship between health and the spinal column.

Q: Why “rediscovered?”

A: Spinal healing had been practiced for thousands of years in nearly every civilization on earth. It has stood the test of time, having been a blessing to millions of people for millennia. But its ancient techniques and principles became lost as humanity became enthralled with drugs and surgery. Dr. Palmer revived and began to teach this old/new healing art.

Q: Was chiropractic accepted at first?

A: People flocked to the first chiropractors. Here was a non-drug, non-surgical approach to healthcare that was safe and effective. The number of Doctors of Chiropractic grew from one man in the American Midwest to thousands in a short time. Chiropractic especially grew in popularity during the 1919 flu pandemic when people under chiropractic care had almost no mortality while people under medical care suffered many deaths.

Q: Did the medical profession accept chiropractors?

A: The medical profession saw chiropractic’s drug-free approach as a threat to their monopoly in healthcare and attacked chiropractors claiming they were practicing “medicine and surgery without a license.” Many chiropractors were actually jailed, fined or imprisoned – but they refused to surrender. Eventually the laws were changed to permit more freedom for non-medical healthcare professionals.

Q: So there is peace now between the healing arts?

A: Not exactly. As more and more people turn to non-medical practitioners the medical profession is finally accepting competition. The medical monopoly is slowly but steadily breaking.

There are different philosophies of health and healing; chiropractic/natural healing approaches and medicine are on opposite sides of the spectrum and disagree strongly on many healthcare issues. The result is that people have access to more information from other perspectives, are often better informed and can make better decisions.

Latest News From Charmaine: April 2016

Greetings All

Trying not to hold my breath…but dang it looks like Spring has FINALLY arrived!

daffodilsSpring Has Arrived

If you look around you will notice the first harbingers of spring…crocus, daffodils, forsythia and a very light green to many of the trees as they slowly start budding.  Hopefully the most recent freezing weather does not affect the fruit crops of the state or the trees that blossom early, like magnolias, etc.

With all the gentle Spring days here, there are lots of wonderful days to get out and walk, or maybe even bike before we can really get into the garden to plant anything new…also time to finish that fall cleanup that didn’t happen!

Think thru a task before jumping in

While I am not a fan of timidity or overly cautious attitudes…please think thru a task before jumping in and possibly ruining your back/ day/weekend.  Happily, we are available to get you out of that pickle, although our first choice would be prevention- not “fixing”.

Quick Spring Trip

The last few days of April, 4/28 thru’ 30th we will be heading down to S.C.  for our college “Homecoming” or Lyceum as it’s called.   So, we will be open in the am on that Thursday 4/28 as a schedule change…signs will be up in the office as a reminder.

Sophia heading off soon

Meanwhile, Sophia is on countdown to graduation and will continue to work with us for a few more weeks before heading off to Northwestern.

Congratulations to Allen

Congratulations to Allen H who has received an Artistic Scholarship to NMU……we have talented people in our midst.

Share your story with us!

OH YES this comes to mind…we have several patients who are state or national or even world champions in a variety of activities/sports….or have received special recognition (like Hall of Fame recognition)….we would love you to share your story with us and the greater Chiropractic Community if you are willing…..talk to me or Dr. Ray.

See you in the office, on the table, on the mat or under the barbells!!

Researching Chiropractic: Case Studies

drawing of spinal column and nervesChiropractic clinical case histories have been a regular feature of our patient newsletter since its inception. There seems to be no limit to the health problems that respond to chiropractic care. How many people suffering, on drugs, facing a life of limitation could be helped by chiropractic care?

Probably most of them.

Morton’s neuroma.

Morton’s neuroma is a nerve tumor in the foot. It is a painful condition that people describe as “walking on a marble.” It usually affects the ball of the foot, often between the 3rdand 4th toes and may cause a sharp, burning pain or numbness. The medical or podiatry approach is to give corticosteroid (cortisone) injections or surgically to cut out the tumor.

This is the case of a 63-year-old woman who suffered with Morton’s neuroma in her right foot for ten years. She sought chiropractic care for a variety of health complaints.

For one month her vertebral subluxations were addressed and reduced using specific chiropractic care. During this period her Morton’s neuroma symptoms completely disappeared and in addition she reported improvement in her digestion, sleep and ability to move without pain.

Source: Lanoue B, Treahy-Geofreda T, Russell D.Resolution of Morton’s Neuroma in an elderly patient receiving Activator Methods Chiropractic Technique to correct subluxation: a case study. Annals of Vertebral Subluxation Research. January 4, 2016:1-5.

Failure To Thrive

Oral thrush and inconsolable crying in a 4-month-old. This is the case of a baby medically diagnosed with “failure to thrive” (FTT). FTT is determined when a baby’s weight or size is significantly below that of other children of similar age and same gender. The infant was reported to have had birth trauma from a nuchal cord – the umbilical cord was completely wrapped around the fetal neck (360 degrees).

The child was 4-months-old when she was brought to the chiropractor. She was suffering from inconsolable crying, oral thrush (an overgrowth of the fungus candida albicans in the mouth and throat), chronic diarrhea and was dangerously underweight.

Chiropractic examination detected vertebral subluxations at C1-C4 (upper neck) and T3-T4 (upper back).

She received chiropractic adjustments from the first visit and afterwards was checked for vertebral subluxations that were corrected when indicated for seven weeks. Her FTT symptoms began to resolve after the first visit and completely resolved by the seventh week of care. 

Source: Neally R, Alcantara J. Resolution of failure to thrive in a 4-month-old infant following adjustment of subluxation: case study & selective review of the literature. Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health – Chiropractic. 2015;4:149-153. 

Hypothyroidism reduction under chiropractic care.

A 44-year-old woman presented herself to the chiropractor with complaints of upper shoulder and pain between the shoulder blades that occurred after a motor vehicle accident 23 years earlier!

In addition, she had been prescribed ArmourThyroid® in order to treat symptoms of low thyroid function (hypothyroidism).

Cervical or neck x-rays revealed that she had an 80.7% loss of normal neck curve (hypo-lordosis) in addition to vertebral subluxations.

The patient received spinal adjustments to reduce her vertebral subluxation complexes (VSC), and to improve her spinal and postural alignment over a seven-month period.

Thirty days into care the patient began exhibiting signs/symptoms of an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism). Her chiropractor suggested that she have her thyroid function checked by her endocrinologist to see if her prescribed thyroid medication should be re-evaluated. After serum lab evaluation, the patient’s endocrinologist instructed the patient to significantly reduce her thyroid medication.

Source: Bak AD, Engelhardt PR. Improvement in cervical curve and hypothyroidism following reduction of subluxation utilizing chiropractic Biophysics: a case study & selective review of the literature. Annals of Vertebral Subluxation Research. December 10, 2015:226-237

We’d like to hear about your experiences with chiropractic care.

Latest News from Charmaine: February 2016

Greetings all,

Much as we want to deny it, time marches on and we may complain about it’s speed.

A simple remedy we use in yoga is to practice mindfulness….be aware of the moment and breathe.

Try not to live in the past or future…shorts visits are ok but dwelling there means you are missing out on what is happening right now. Wishing for things to be different is a waste of energy and even more important, given that we are not getting out of here alive, why would you want to do anything else but enjoy each moment?

Just recently we appointed a new administrator to help us with our Facebook page and website and I would ask you to look at the webpage lanjochiro.com (check out our new blog) and also to like both our Lanjopoulos Family Chiropractic Center page and our Yoga and Tai Chi page: The Center for Yoga. New trends in technology are happening so fast that if you are not actively involved in the IT business, you need to get a specialist to help you out. Amy Zander is just that person…Thank you Amy.!!!!  And shortly I believe, we will have our own Pinterest page too!

Do note our daughter’s page is very similar to ours on Facebook – Lanjopoulos Familiekiropraktikk…..The big giggle is a local company drew our daughter’s logo off the Internet and posted it as our logo for an event here last year until we had to explain the difference!

As this newsletter hits the press we will be close to 30 days to SPRING! Do make a point to get out and enjoy this great winter we are having.

See you in the office, on the mat or under the barbells.