Many people experience whiplash injuries whether it be during an auto accident, sports injuries, or other quick trauma to the head and neck that damages the soft tissues of the neck. If not treated properly, the condition can become chronic and is more difficult to treat. Dr. Russell Brokstein is a chiropractor who treats patients in Freehold, Marlboro, Manalapan, Howell and other surrounding areas in NJ who have suffered with whiplash and are looking for successful resolution of their condition. Here, Dr. Russell discusses why chiropractic is the best treatment if you are suffering with whiplash:
Freehold Chiropractor Educates Your Posture is Important to Maintain Your Health!
My name is Dr. Russell Brokstein, chiropractor and owner of Hometown Family Wellness Center in Freehold, NJ and today I am continuing the blog on Be Health Naturally without Drugs or Surgery.
The previous posts talked about sleep, stress reduction and dietary recommendations. You can read the other blogs by clicking: Chiropractor Freehold Blog
Today we are going to discuss your posture. Your spine is the central support structure of your body. Your spine carries the neurological lifeline from your brain to all the other parts of your body. Your health really depends on the
flow of energy through an unrestricted nervous system. When your spine suffers, your overall health can suffer too. When you respect your spine by taking good care of it, your spine will serve you well by offering its strength and flexibility for a long time to come.
When your posture and spinal alignment are off, it can also lead to pain, back pain, neck pain, headaches and migraines, numbness and tingling, stress, fibromyalgia, sciatica, arthritis, herniations and disc degeneration.
Here are my two top recommendations for taking care of your spine:
- Be ergonomically correct when you sit at a desk, stand, bend or reach. “Ergonomically correct” is a fancy term for body posture that doesn’t cause stress to your body.
For example, which three of these postures do you think would be ergonomically correct:
- Sitting with your legs crossed at the knees.
- Sitting with your legs crossed at the ankles.
- Bending straight over to pick up a box with knees locked for support.
- Bending over to pick up a box with knees bent.
- Standing in a crowd with your weight centered on one leg for a long time.
- Standing in a crowd with your weight centered over both feet with your shoulder, back and head centered over your spine.
The answer is 2. 4 and 6.
Ask me to check out your posture. I’ll be looking at you from the side to see if the center of your ear, the center of your neck, shoulder, hips, knees and ankle all form a straight line. If they don’t, then we need to work more on your posture.
Here’s how I remember how to stand correctly while lifting something heavy or just standing for long periods of time: I think to myself, “Brace yourself!” What I mean by this is that if I’m reaching down into the crib to pick up a baby, I must get ready for the act of lifting by bracing myself. I brace myself by bending at the knees and keeping the weight as close to my body as I can. The farther the baby is from my body, the more I’m at risk of injury.
Reaching for things far away from you is not a good habit if you want a strong spine. Instead of reaching out to push or pull something, get as close to the item as you can, then lift it after bracing yourself.
If you have to stand on your feet for a long period of time, don’t get in the habit of putting most of your weight over one foot or on one leg. Brace yourself by spreading your feet about shoulder distance apart, then stand solidly. You’ll feel better and look more confident as well.
Which of these are ergonomically correct?
a. Loading up grocery bags in your arms, then trying to open your door with a key while holding all those grocery bags
b. Sitting at a desk with the computer keyboard more than a foot away from the edge of the desk
c. Looking at your computer screen that is 2-1/2 feet away by moving your head forward
d. Sitting hunched in a chair or recliner
e. Looking down at your computer screen or TV
f. Doing dishes at the sink on top of a small rug or carpet strip
The answer here is f. Standing on a carpet decreases stress on the spine more than standing on a hard floor. That’s why a lot of the multimillion-dollar companies that set up booths at trade shows have carpeting in their booth on the floor. They want to make you feel more comfortable and reduce the stress on your body that you’ve been feeling by walking for long periods of time. It also helps their staff at the booth.
2. While I’m treating you, it’s important to NOT do any excessive lifting (over 15-20 lbs.) during the first 4-6 weeks of treatment. In some cases, vacuuming and other household chores like laundry may be limited as well. Ask me for specific instructions for your individual case.
So, now that we covered posture, next time we will be discussing your joints and nutritional support, so stay tuned.
Until then, have a chiropractor check your spine, as we are the ONLY health professionals properly trained to analyze, detect and correct subluxations which are misalignments of the vertebra that put pressure on the nerves and spinal cord and will decrease your over health and function. Give your body the chance to be healthy naturally without drugs and surgery!
Freehold Chiropractor asks “Do You Smell Something Burning?”
As a chiropractor in Freehold, NJ a feel it’s so important to educate the local communities of Freehold, Marlboro, Manalapan, Howell, Jackson, and Colts Neck NJ the importance of health and wellness. Part of this is warning signals the body is sending each of you.
A family medical doctor of a patient told him there are 3 stages of pain. First the doctor explains the pain is bad enough to catch your attention. The next stage the pain is bad enough that it takes hold of you, and in the final stage the pain is so bad it compels you to do something about it.”
So my patient then asks his doctor, “when it gets to stage three what should I do?” Without a blink his doctor turns to him and says “take some Motrin…” (True and sad story)
The worst of all of this is that the patient actually thought his doctors advice was good and in many instances, the public follows what the medical doctor tells them as factual.
So, just as I asked this patient, I ask you: “if your smoke detector went off in your home, the 1st time it would probably catch your attention. If it went off a 2nd time it would most likely take hold of you. But if it went off a 3rd time and finally compelled you to do something, would you take the batteries out so you wouldn’t have to hear it anymore? “Of course not,” he replied “that would be stupid…” He got the point! Do you get the point?
The moral of the story… Symptoms are your body’s attempt to warn you to help save it. Masking your symptoms (whether it be pain, sciatica, headaches, fibromyalgia, acid reflux, stress, numbness or tingling, nausea, diarrhea or fever) with drugs doesn’t fix the problem, it actually makes the situation worse.
Think about this for a second: if you went to the dentist, would you want him to just inject a painful cavity with Novocaine and leave the cavity? You know the cavity might not hurt anymore, but the cavity would continue to get worse and you would want the dentist to fix the tooth.
It’s smarter to find the cause and deal with it the right way. That’s why they call Chiropractors DC’s because we are Doctors of finding the Cause! Chiropractors don’t just cover up your pain, we find the cause and correct it.
Until next time…
Freehold NJ Chiropractor explains Chiropractic is more than Neck Pain and Back Pain
As a chiropractor in Freehold, New Jersey, I see patients from many parts of Monmouth County, especially nearby towns of Marlboro, Howell, Jackson, Colts Neck, Morganville, Millstone and Manalapan, NJ.
Many people come in for neck pain, back pain, sciatica, headaches or migraines, and Fibromyalgia. After reading one of the many articles about health (Thank you 33 Principles for your article) one of the first questions is, “How long do I have to come in?”
The question to you is, how long do you want to be healthy? How long do you want to enjoy your normal daily activities? How long would you like to enjoy playing with your children?
In our society so many people think there is a quick fix. They think popping a pill is going to fix their pain, fix their weight, fix their blood pressure, fix their cholesterol, etc. I think you get the point. Well all these medications do is cover up the symptoms with many side effects. These meds do not get to the cause of the problem.
Patients understand with physical therapy, you have to follow a consistent treatment plan to relieve their pain. Chiropractic is going deeper than even physical therapy to actually get down to the cause of the pain, but yet people think one or 2 treatments is going to fix it. Chiropractors adjust the underlying cause, the subluxation. Meanwhile, all the muscles, tendons and ligaments that support the vertebra are used to holding it out of place. It takes a while to retrain the supporting structures so not to misalign the vertebra again, putting more pressure on the nerves.
At the same time, people are very active. You might be walking and miss a curb or step, might carry a pocket book on one shoulder, sit at a desk all day slouching at a computer, lifting your kids all day, and so much more… these activities put stress on the body and can have a adverse affect on the spine.
Think of it this way: If you want to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight, how many healthy meals do you need? How many days in the gym or running outside to stay fit and in shape? Obviously it takes more than just one. You have got to stick with a program to maintain results.
The same is true for chiropractic. To achieve lasting results, it’s all about repetition and consistency. One adjustment might provide temporary relief of pain. It takes more than one adjustment to correct the underlying cause and change your overall health.
Now you can answer: How long should you stay on your nutritional program, workout routine or spinal health maintenance program? I would think you would want to continue as long as you want to remain healthy. You have to stick with a program to reap the true rewards. There is no such thing as once and done.
Your Nervous System Affects Your Health!
The brain is the master system and with the nervous system it controls every aspect of your health. The following video explains how and why it controls your health and the only health professional trained to analyze and correct this dysfunction so your body has the chance to function as close to 100% as possible.
If you would like to experience a healthier happier life, watch the video: