Time to Visit Your Chiropractor – Even When You’re Not in Pain

To Your Health
October, 2018 (Vol. 12, Issue 10)

Time to Visit Your Chiropractor – Even When You’re Not in Pain

By Editorial Staff

Why visit your doctor of chiropractic periodically – even when you’re not experiencing pain or other symptoms? Here’s why. The latest study on maintenance care for low back health suggests receiving chiropractic care periodically dramatically reduces the number of days you’ll experience “bothersome” low back pain over the course of a year.

Published in the multidisciplinary open-access journal PLOS One, the study included 328 patients ages 18-65 with nonspecific low back pain who experienced a favorable response to chiropractic care during their initial course of treatment. Patients were then randomly allocated to one of two groups for one year: a maintenance care group that received periodic chiropractic care or a control group that returned to their chiropractor only when LBP symptoms were present. Every week, researchers assessed subjects’ low back pain with a single question: “On how many days during the past week were you bothered by your lower back (i.e., it affected your daily activities or routines)?”

During the 12-month tracking period, members of the maintenance care (MC) group made an average of 6.7 visits to the chiropractor, compared with 4.8 visits by members of the control group. Those additional visits correlated with 12.8 fewer days of bothersome low back pain, on average, for the MC group compared to the control group.

calendar event - Copyright – Stock Photo / Register Mark

How important is 12.8 fewer days of bothersome LBP a year? We’re sure you agree it’s worth a few additional visits to your chiropractor! And that’s the beauty of chiropractic care – it helps minimize the chances your pain will occur / recur, rather than treating it with medication once you’re already in pain. If you’re smart, you don’t wait until your car breaks down to take it to the mechanic, and you don’t wait until your teeth fall out to visit the dentist; so why wait until you’re in pain before going to your chiropractor?

As we mentioned at the beginning, this isn’t the first study – and likely won’t be the last – to suggest maintenance chiropractic care is more effective than symptom-guided care for low back pain. Click here to read our summary of a study published in 2017.

The Unhealthy Holidays: 5 Worst Things You Can Do

To Your Health
November, 2014 (Vol. 08, Issue 11)

The Unhealthy Holidays: 5 Worst Things You Can Do

By Editorial Staff

Another year winding down means another string of holidays to test our health will. The last two months of the year bring seemingly endless trips to visit relatives, malls and other hectic locales far from the comfort of your regular exercise and fitness routine.

That’s danger with a capital D when it comes to staying on track. Let’s count down the top five unhealthy holiday behaviors that can undo your hard work from the previous 10 months:

5. Not sticking to a schedule: Look, no one said it was easy to eat right, exercise, get enough sleep and do all the other things it takes to stay fit and healthy. Those challenges are compounded during the holiday months, when get-togethers, gift shopping and other responsibilities seem to pile up one upon the other. Who has time to stay healthy? You do, of course, and you need to do it the way you’ve done it all year: by sticking to a schedule. Calendar your exercise days and keep and eye on what you’re eating to ensure you stay on track. This is no time to “wing it” – after all, how well did that work last year and the year before that?

4. Telling yourself you’ve earned it: We all deserve a “treat” now and then, whether it’s a cupcake at a birthday party or a day off from the gym. We also need to continually remind ourselves of how hard we’re working and why we’re doing it. Staying in shape takes effort, and you deserve to feel great about that effort. But taking the last two months of the year “off” because you think you’ve “earned it” is the perfect recipe for health disaster. Before you know it, bad habits will have replaced good ones and you’ll be back at the starting gate, wondering where you went wrong. (See No. 1 unhealthy behavior below.)

unhealthy holidays - Copyright – Stock Photo / Register Mark

3. Falling prey to “the blues”: As we’ve discussed before, the final few months of the year (and the first few months of the next year) can increase your risk of depression. It’s called seasonal affective disorder, characterized by depressive symptoms and mood changes associated with a particular time of year. Shorter days, longer nights, less sunlight and colder weather can be a bad combination for some people. One solution is to make sure you get outside for 10-15 minutes a day when the sun is shining. Take a few walks during the workday to ensure you spend a little time in the sun (which boosts your vitamin D levels, by the way), rather than spending all day inside and leaving for home at dusk. You’ll feel better and your body will thank you for it.

2. Doing the “same old, same old”: You may think your exercise and diet plan has been working all year, but at some point, you need to mix things up. Why? Because the brain and body get used to the “same old, same old” over time, leading to a diminished sense of achievement, boredom and stagnation. It’s the “Who wants to do these same exercises again?” or “Who wants to eat these same foods again?” mentality, and it can cause you to jump off the wagon. The solution? Stay strong by incorporating new exercises into your workout regimen and trying different (healthy) foods. Variety is the spice of life, and in this case, it can carry you through the holidays committed to your health and wellness goals.

1. Looking ahead: Yes, next year is right around the corner, particularly when you consider how hectic the next several months generally are. That’s no reason to make “getting in shape again” your New Year’s Resolution in early November. Think about how great these first 10 months of the year have been in terms of the results you’ve seen and how you’ve felt. Now try to imagine having to go right back where you were on Jan. 1 of this year. Not a pretty picture, huh? Replace that picture with a portrait of confidence, determination and health by deciding now to finish the year strong. Your New Year’s resolution won’t be to “start again”; it will be to continue the great things you’ve done and become an even better, healthier person.