chiropractor lifestyle adjustment

Chiropractic Lifestyle

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Chiropractic Lifestyle

A Chiropractic lifestyle is sometimes unheard of in our society, right? However, it is truly a healthy lifestyle! Sure, it is an alternative approach to the traditional drugs and surgeries. But really, it is about making conscious decisions towards healthy living and all-around wellness + wholeness!

What is a Chiropractic Lifestyle?

Most of the time, when people think of Chiropractic, they think of neck or back pain. But a Chiropractic lifestyle is so much more than that! Yes, it includes regular adjustments. However, it also includes a healthy diet, exercise, and other positive lifestyle choices.

Why Should I Choose This Lifestyle?

Although a lot of patients will come into our office with specific issues, Chiropractic care is also used as the preservation of health. Because your nervous system controls every cell, organ, and tissue in your body, Chiropractors focus their attention on the health of the spine being properly aligned.

When subluxations occur, these misalignments put pressure and tension on the nerves exiting from the spine, causing either pain or decrease of function somewhere in your body. This means that the brain and body cannot communicate effectively, which leads to symptoms and dysfunction.

How Does This Fit In With My Lifestyle?

In this day and age, we are always on the go! We are always in the left-lane, going somewhere fast and want things to happen NOW! We choose to pick immediate pleasure over delayed gratification. Unfortunately, we tend to do that in most areas of our life, including our health. Chiropractic care, however, is not a “quick fix.” Although sometimes it is sold that way, it is not meant to serve as an emergency room. If you only come to see the Chiropractor when you’re in pain, then it is similar to only eating healthy food when you’re sick. Make sense?

Good Things Take Time

It takes your body time to heal and adapt to the changes that are being made. It takes patience and positivity and persistence. The truth is, Chiropractic care is not designed to make you instantly feel better, but FUNCTION better! We will give you some “homework” such as special exercises and routines to continue working on correcting between sessions.

Think about it! If you wake up, make it to a workout, work a 9-5 job Monday through Friday that has you sedentary for the majority of the day, drive home, cook dinner, take care of your family’s needs before your own, then do that process all over again… a substantial amount of physical and emotional stress is being placed on your body all week.

How To Get The Best Results Out Of Your Daily Routine

When Chiropractic care is a normal part of your routine, your body is not able to adapt to those constant stressors in your life! Not to mention, when you are properly aligned, your body is put in the most optimal position to heal from the inside-out. If you don’t have patience, you will conform to what society says is “normal” and go straight to the medicine cabinet to cover up your symptoms.

Your body is always going to go through stresses that will come with different seasons of your life. But it’s all about how you adapt to stress when it comes! When you come to understand that patience is required for healing and restoration of life, you will notice that your body’s innate ability to adapt and heal is pretty incredible! Keep your chiropractic appointments! This is essential in maintaining a healthy spine.

Health Is A  Continued Journey

We write all this to remind you to not give up on your health journey too soon! Sometimes, setbacks happen because of something external that is out of our control. We like to encourage our patients, “That’s why we have you on a care plan.” It is only a matter of time before your body begins healing the way it was designed to, naturally!

We will leave you with this awesome quote by D.D Palmer, “Chiropractic is a restorative healthcare profession that focuses on the inherent healing capacity of the body and the fact that the nervous system is the primary system involved in that healing and repair.”

recover from a marathon

How to recover from a marathon

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Your post-race recovery plan

Cheers to training for a marathon!

Your season of grueling training will commence in getting past the finish line, the result of your hard work and discipline. While you revel in the idea of basking in the post-marathon afterglow – sweat, cramps, exhaustion and all – also take recovery into consideration

Everyone’s road to recovery is unique to the circumstances of their race, race condition, training regimen, health, and pace.

Despite these variables, there are tested methods that runners avow to. Follow these proven post-race recovery tips and you’ll be zooming off in a week

 

Walk it off

Tempting as it may be, don’t just drop down on the grass.

A 26.2-mile run is punishing your body, exerting undue stress to your muscles, heart, and lungs that just disappear once you’ve crossed the finish line, and in fact, it’s in post-race that you’ll feel the brunt of it.

Let your body ease out of marathon mode by walking around to gradually decrease heart rate so your blood flow returns to the resting state.

Walking around helps rid of the lactic acid that’s built up in your muscles through the course of the marathon, so walk around for 15 to 20 minutes before taking a rest.

 

Post-race ice baths

Completing a marathon is like putting your body through a meat grinder.

At the final leg of a marathon, the effects of muscle and joint damage starts to be felt – the buildup of lactic acid in the legs results in cramps and every step sends a painful jolt through your body. A post-race ice bath reduces muscle pain because the low temperature forces the blood vessels to narrow which gets rid of the acid build up and reduce swelling.

Don’t just jump into a tub of ice cubes though.

Ice bath:

  • Fill a tub with enough water to envelop your lower body and submerge yourself.
  • Add ice cubes gradually to the water so it’s less shocking to your system and more bearable.
  • Soak in the tub for 5-10 minutes but the rule to abide by is the colder the water, the less time you spend in it.
  • Finish the ice bath with a warm shower. The hot temperature dilates the blood vessels to increase blood flow and oxygen supply, causing a pumping action.

Ice massage: A pack of ice cubes over the strained muscles should do the trick.

 

Eat!

Your post-race chow should be a small snack to take in 300 calories from carbohydrates to maintain blood sugar levels, replenish muscle glycogen and protein to keep blood sugar levels.

Your diet after the marathon should comprise of protein-rich food like nuts, meat, and cheese to hasten the repair of muscle tissues, and while that list sounds drab, indulge yourself with chocolate milk which surprisingly has an optimal ratio of carbs and protein. Also, in the lieu of sports drinks and other fancy drinks, nothing hydrates better than water!

Water will help aid your body’s fast to recover, so drink up!

 

Recuperate

In the heat of things, many people swear that their first marathon will be their last, maybe you’ve been there too. The rush of finishing a marathon and seeing the fruit of a season of training can be addicting though, and the itch to start getting into a form may come soon, even sooner than your body can handle. The meat grinder metaphor exists for a reason and state of your body after a race should tell you why.

Give your body time to recover, and it’s not just the muscles that need R&R. Your kidneys, heart, circulatory system, your entire body is put through so much stress over the course of a marathon it’s not wise to get back out there when it’s just been wrung to a pulp.

Experts advise taking one day of rest for each mile raced or taking three to seven days of no running after a marathon.

After this period, you should take the time to test the waters by going into cross training or any activity that boost circulation and warms your muscles. An easy 30-minute run should clue you in on how far into recovery you are. When nothing hurts and it’s all good, slowly increment your running distance but stick to easy runs.

At the end of this period, try slipping into your regular running routine if you can do it. If all is well. You can go back running at your usual pace if you feel good. The key is listening to your body and giving it the time to repair itself.

Contact us today for sports chiropractor to help you recover from that marathon!