Bowers Chiropractic Center

Diagonal exercises for the shoulder

drbowers — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:19:33 +0000

The sword and the beer

Foot pain doesn’t have to be your achille’s heel

drbowers — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 20:54:13 +0000

I specifically wanted to discourse on neuroma. This is a pain which most often occurs in the ball of the foot and creates a distinct pain and travelling numbness. Often it is after changing shoes or squatting down on a foot. What has often happenened is two bones of the foot have pinched on a nerve which runs between them . Ironically, the bones where supposed to have protected the nerve. However, stress on the foot have caused the nerve to swell, forming a small bubble and now it is more sensitive than ever!

As always the cause has a lot to do with the repair. If you have changed shoes lately, you need to modify that shoe or not use it. It is invariably too narrow across the foot. Loosen the laces to make it wider, take out any new inserts you may have added, or have it stretched at your local shoe repair store.

We also want to soothe the nerve:elevate your foot in the evening, ice the top and bottom of the foot to reduce swelling, massage the foot by pulling it wider- like you are spreading your “hand” of cards. Take a b-complex vitamin to repair the nerve nutritionally.

If you come into the office, I can teach you the techniques for home care ,apply foot adjustments and therapy on the foot. A regular healing time is two to three weeks. Do not get a cortizone shot unless you have exhausted and failed therapy.

We can help you put your best foot forward, again!

How to set up your workspace

drbowers — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 22:01:40 +0000

One rule I observe is that the body likes movement. Static posture is challenging for us. You notice this static position isn’t comfortable even when you sleep: eventually you need to move to gain a more comfortable position. Change is good! However you set up your work station, know that it should be changed regularly. Therefore even the perfect set up can be hard on the body if held for too long.

Good posture in the office begins with the chair. It needs to match your height, so we want the seat to be level with your bent knee height when you are sitting. In other words, the seat of the chair should be as high as the back of your knee. As you are sitting on an appropriate height chair, your heel still touches the ground (not free-swinging).

The Keyboard height will be next to correct. It should be in a drawer, low, just above your lap. This is where your arms hang close to your body and your elbows are bent to 90 degrees. A keyboard up on a desk top will be harder on your shoulders. we tend to shrug instead of just raise our forearms.

The monitor of the computer should be at eye level and arms-length away.It should also be tilted upward slightly (15 degrees). Treat it like a face. Laptops are difficult because it is hard to have a good screen level here. The key board height can be good but our head hangs down, straining the neck . Arm supports on the chair can be good. They should meet us at the elbow height or slightly higher. Armrests also canbe bad if they keep you too far from your mouse and monitor. This results in a slight side-bend of the body and a longer reach with the right arm-NO GOOD. Remember , we want our arms near our side and elbows bent to 90 degrees.

The mouse needs to be near the keyboard and ideally inside the body line (that would be straight in front of the shoulder). Otherwise we strain the shoulder. In other words, if your arms are train tracks, your hands should stay on the rails -in front of you.

Most issues result from having the computer off center in the work station. Try straightening it all up.

As always, you are welcome to call for assistance. Our office phone is 630-322-9522.

“Nobody dies of weakness.”

drbowers — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:30:11 +0000

This is my little proverb about how to prioritize your exercise. Put most of your work into cardio and do a little resistance training. Most of us will battle cardiovascular disease. None of us will die of weakness- or from a lack of strength. Sprint training is good at building power and training for sprint events. However, this should not be the bulk of your workout.

A recent article on intense resistance training(sprints) versus endurance training was released. * It showed no impact in skeletal or muscular health and mild benefit to sugar utilization and cardiorespiratory health after 12 weeks of comparison in 36 year old untrained men. Sprint training was significantly less beneficial to obesity and lipid balance than endurance training.

If you’re going to invest in your health, put most of your effort into endurance training.

Urinary tract infections

drbowers — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:05:26 +0000

One very common problem occurs when bacteria climb up where they shouldn’t be. Specifically up the urethra toward the bladder and eventually the kidney. Bacteria that are OK in the gut are not OK in the urinary tract. This is called a urinary tract infection or “UTI”. The symptoms can vary but most commonly include :

pain / discomfort when urinating
extra urgency when you feel the need to urinate (urgency)
pressure with just small amounts of urine (frequency)
difficulty emptying the bladder fully
burning pain in the low front pelvis
a temperature/ fever

Unfortunately, guys are worse at detecting this problem. Maybe they are less symptomatic or the symptoms are more subtle but it is dangerous if they ignore the signs.

The inconvenience of making an appointment at the doctor’s office, getting a urine sample off to the lab, getting and filling a prescription takes so much time. The side effects of antibiotics can also be unappealing such as a yeast infection/overgrowth or a drug reaction. Things can get worse , instead of better. I recommend that you use a very effective product that can eliminate the problem with out antibiotic therapy. It is UTI Soothe caps. This simple type of sugar found in cranberries can ruin the ability of bacteria to move. So, bacteria then cant climb up! It works within the hour after taking these capsules. Roughly a thousand milligrams of this several times in a day and you can be back to normal. It is great with kid’s UTIs and very safe .

Obviously,be aware of a continuing fever or non-reversal of the symptoms after taking the d-mannose, then an appointment is needed.

We have our product in stock and available. If you are prone to UTIs , stock up for easy home use. Call or email us at BCC with any questions. 630-322-9522

posture and pain

drbowers — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:10:29 +0000

Just released in Medscape Orthopaedics from the Am. J. of Lifestyle Med. in the article on pain and exercise for cervical spine:

“It has been suggested that prolonged postural malalignment may contribute to dysfunction.”

This does not surprise any Chiropractor on the face of the earth. Nor anyone’s mom who told us to straighten up! We all know if you slouch, you hurt.

The article does reinforce what we so strongly believe, which is education and exercise for postural alterations will speed recovery, slow degeneration, and decrease pain. Don’t give up on your exercises. If you don’t have any exercises for your condition, come in and we’ll help teach you the appropriate exercises for your condition.

Finding a Chiropractor

drbowers — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 14:09:24 +0000

Finding a chiropractor:

Your first step is to gather names. Here are a variety of sources you can try:

• Physicians

Narrowing the Field

Once you’ve gathered some names, use these guidelines to help you check out prospective chiropractors.

• Professional Credentials: Call your state’s Chiropractic Board of Examiners. They can tell you if a particular chiropractor is licensed in your state, is up to date with continuing education requirements, and if there is any record of disciplinary actions.
• Practice Arrangements and Location: Find out if the chiropractor has a solo or a group practice. In a group practice, two or more practitioners of the same specialty or different specialties share office space.

Take into account the location of the practice and the office hours. If these aren’t convenient, be honest with yourself about whether you will make the time to get there.

Getting Personal

A personal visit is the only way to evaluate if the doctor has the ability to put you at ease and to communicate. A chiropractor–just like any other type of doctor–should treat you like a partner in your own health care by explaining every procedure, why it’s being done, and what results are expected.
To get the most out of your visit, make a list of what you want to know about the physician, the practice and Chiropractic itself. Some important issues to discuss include:

Will the chiropractor refer you to an M.D. or work in conjunction with one if appropriate for your particular condition? What should you expect and approximately how many treatments will be necessary? Make it clear that you do not want to be treated forever. It’s hard to predict how many adjustments will be needed to correct a problem. For some patients, one visit does it. Others may need several months of regular spinal manipulation. However, patients are advised to get a second opinion from an M.D. or another chiropractor if back pain does not improve after a few weeks of treatment.

It’s your responsibility to reveal everything about your health and medications you are taking so that the chiropractor can make an accurate diagnosis and decide upon the best course of therapy.

: Ask a trusted physician for a recommendation.
• Friends, relatives or business associates: Referrals from people you know are usually based on trust and confidence, which is certainly in your favor. Remember, though, that your contacts’ opinions may be largely based on how they click with the physician’s personality and style. Only a visit with the chiropractor will reveal if these qualities suit your personal preferences as well.

Interpreting your pain

drbowers — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 00:21:04 +0000

People often ask what is causing their pain. This is a guide to interpreting types of pain and their origins. Of course, the usual cautions apply: this is not comprehensive nor does it preclude you getting a professional opinion.

Pain is carried by special fibers. The brain receives these messages and adds location to the information latter. So often there is a discrepancy in where you “feel” the pain. The brain might be off in its reading of the alarm. Most often pain is felt further down the body than its real origin.

Different pain types come from different tissues:

Bone pain can be intense but it is usually really deep and achy. It hurts at rest. It is worse at night. Minutes of long slow surges of hard pain. It is often hard to tell its exact location “The whole area hurts!”

Muscle pain is more superficial, sharp and delineated. You can touch it and find exactly where it is. It hurts immediately with muscle motion.

Tendon is deep, low grade ache.It hurts when you start to move but gets better as you go. Stretching hurts the first time but then it dissipates.

Nerve pain is hot shooting pain, often travelling in straight lines.It can be in short sharp electrical shots. It causes a restlessness because you can’t find a good position of comfort.

Gut pain is( intestine or organ) is shifty surging pain that usually starts in your mid-line of your body but migrates with time. It comes like waves of intensity but can resolve nicely between bouts. It definitely gets worse within a few hours. It seems to be like a tide.

Vascular pain is pulsey above all things. It hits with each pulse of your heart. Intensely sharp it is made worse with activity, less with rest.

This may help you in your description to a professional. If in doubt, seek help - call us at (630)322-9522.

living with probiotics

drbowers — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 23:47:25 +0000

It was just a few years ago when I sat in a seminar and was told that the most dominant and important bacteria in the human digestive tract was Lactobacillus acidophillus. Also that introducing this one alone would substantially heal the gut. This was the only bug to be putting into the upset tummies of patients.

I had a gut feeling at the time “that this is not how nature works!”: There are very few places where one organism grows, dominating independently and the rest are “not so important”. I kept my mouth shut and wrote down the information.

Now, as I read the information in new research about the diversity and importance of diverse colonization, I reflect, thinking that is how it is in our gut and with humanity. We need diversity of skills and talents to be a healthy “colony”. We need each other.

So, what do we need to put in our upset tummies?

Lactobacillus rhamnosus inhibits bad bacteria, and can stop bad bacteria when they become antibiotic resistant. It can also significantly reduce atopic dermatitis (allergic rash) in children with food allergies.

Lactobacillus plantarum can cause an immune regulation change. It changes your immune system. That means if you have colitis or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), this can normalize you gut! Mice took it for 28 days and overcame there immune induced IBD! Also, there has been a clear connection between autism and yeast overgrowth in children’s’ guts. L. plantarum can help eliminate yeast overgrowth!

Saccharomyces boulardiiis actually a yeast. You might not believe there could be good yeast, but there is! It does not leave the GI tract to infect anywhere else. It can stimulate good bacterial growth, strongly inhibit inflammation and induce our immune system to secrete IgA. This protects us from invaders in the gut. This is the perfect combination of effects for people with IBD (inflammatory bowel disease). It has been proven to curb diarrhea in children with regular dosing for 5 days.

Fructooligosaccharides are also extremely helpful as a fertilizer for bacterial growth in the gut. It has a strong immune evoking response. I have found it to be amazingly helpful with anyone suffering from the stomach flu. Within two hours, people can feel significant relief.

Each of us needs to be mindful of our colonies. What role do you play bringing health to your community?

We have an absolutely great probiotic supplement with these in it. If you suffer from any gut trouble, it is worth talking to us to find out what the appropriate probiotic is for your condition. Call us at 630-3622-9522

a seasoning of health

drbowers — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:57:57 +0000

Do you notice cravings for certain flavors or spices that comes and goes? If you do , you are listening to your body. I highly encourage you to pay attention to your body’s call for spices. They are powerful agents of health.

For example, you headache sufferers may like ginger. It can stave off a migraine in the early stages of onset. Grind up a few teaspoons in hot water, steep and drain for easy ingestion.

Cinnamon has been popular lately for its powerful help with blood sugar trouble. Roughly 500 mg at a dose! You may want to take this much in capsule form. It may also speed up visual processing of information- take note of that for your next test!

Saffron was studied at the university of Tehran and found to have potent anti-depressant properties. Cook with rice, flavor to taste.

Garlic has incredible anti-cancer properties( Cancer, 2007). If your making tomato sauce, add it in powder or crushed clove form. If your making bruschetta, call me!

Finally, turmeric appears to remove the “plaques” that we see on the brain in Alzheimer’s disease. WOW. India suffers 1/4th the rate of this disease. The major ingredient is curcumin. It interupts new vessel formation and growth in tumors. Try to remember to cook with curry powder(turmeric) occasionally.

Spice it up at home!

For more information about nutrients and health, call (630)322-9522

Dr. Todd Bowers