Returning To A Normal Life

 

For many of us, the past few months have been spent in the comfort of our homes. Away from work, friends and family, at a much slower pace than before. But, with restrictions beginning to tentatively lift, some people may be feeling a little anxious about returning to normal life.

Lockdown has been difficult on our bodies, both physically and mentally. That's why at Family First Chiropractic, are doing everything possible to support people who are struggling. This is the time to focus on our health and come out of lockdown fitter than before. Here are some tips on how to navigate through this season of change:

Maintain new-found good habits

We all had the opportunity to break the cycle, adopt new habits, behaviors, learn a new skill or take up a hobby during lockdown. As we start to return to normal, life will get busy again. Then again taking care of your health is usually the bottom of the priority list. Lets try to maintain some of the positive habits from lockdown, whether that's exercising or cooking healthy meals at home, keep your health priority, and you will reap the rewards in the long-term. 

Listening to and honoring your body

Prioritize what's best for your body. Embrace rest days and gentle movement. Keep going on walks, take breaks from work to stretch for 10 minutes and try to end most nights with a gentle yoga flow. It's important to listen to your body and give it what it needs. Your body will thank you for it, especially when the world returns to its usual hustle and bustle. 

Meeting family and friends

Meeting loved ones we haven’t seen for weeks, except virtually, is likely to be the first thing many of us will want to do. Make the most of this opportunity to spend more time than ever with friends and family, and value it. Continue to love, appreciate and embrace the great outdoors, meet up for walks and bike rides.

Getting life back on track

Getting our lives back on track after lockdown will be both exciting and daunting for many of us. While we will find ourselves needing to embrace new ways of living and working, it’s important to stay positive and view the lifting of lockdown as one step on the road back to how we wish to live.

Remember, for you to be your best self with your family, friends and work during a time like this, you need to take care of number one. It's difficult to embrace lockdown restrictions being lifted if you are tired, in pain or unable to focus. 

At Family First our aim is to make a meaningful and lasting impact on your health and quality of life by relieving you of pain and enabling you to live your life to it’s fullest. We believe in natural healing and the body's ability to heal itself. By gently realigning your spine over time and thereby reconnecting and maintaining the integrity of your nervous system, healing takes place. 

Our goal is to get you feeling and moving better as quickly as possible, by fixing whatever is causing your pain, so that you can get back to doing the things you want or need to do.

Relieve pain. Live life to the full. 

Dr. Elton Clemence is a Chiropractor at Family First Chiropractic and Wellness, located at 142 Erickson Dr, Red Deer AB. www.family1stchiro.ca 403-3473261 to book an appointment.

Common Myths About Chiropractic Treatment.

 Common Myths About Chiropractic Treatment:

Many Canadians have questions about the role that chiropractors play in the healthcare team, and what benefits chiropractic care has on their health. We will go through some common myths in this regard.

1. Once you see a chiropractor you have to keep going back This is false. When seeking care from a chiropractor, we will perform an assessment including a history and physical examination to determine the cause of the pain or dysfunction. From these observations, a diagnosis will be made and the treatment plan developed in collaboration with the patient – according to their needs and goals. The treatment plan will recommend a number of initial visits to remedy the patient’s symptoms/ pain and scheduled re-evaluations as necessary.. Depending on the patient and the condition, the recommended course of care may vary. Ultimately, the decision to continue care is yours. As a patient, if you have questions or concerns about care, you should feel comfortable to ask the chiropractor for more information on the recommendations made and address any concerns. The care plan should be part of a shared decision-making between the patient and practitioner.

2. Chiropractors are not ‘real’ doctors

Chiropractors are regulated in all 10 Canadian provinces, and are designated to use the title “doctor” similar to physicians, optometrists and dentists after completing the extensive Doctor of Chiropractic degree program. Those professions who are recognized to use the “doctor” title have extensive training in their area of expertise that allows them to be diagnosticians – to provide a diagnosis.

3. A medical doctor must refer you to a chiropractor In all provinces in Canada, chiropractors are primary contact providers, which means you can access them directly. Due to the extensive training of chiropractors as diagnosticians, chiropractors will perform a comprehensive assessment to help determine a diagnosis or clinical impressions. Depending on the outcome, the chiropractor can discuss a course of care or refer to another healthcare professional, as needed.

4. There is no evidence to support the effectiveness of chiropractic care Chiropractic treatment is at times questioned on its effectiveness. Yet, the chiropractic profession and others have invested significant resources to build a robust body of evidence studying the impact of manual therapies on musculoskeletal conditions. Spinal and joint manipulation has been shown to be effective treatment for acute and chronic musculoskeletal conditions, like back pain. In fact, spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) is recommended as first line intervention for back pain in numerous clinical practice guidelines including the Bone and Joint Decade Task Force,, the American College of Physicians and American Pain Society, as well as Britain’s National Institute of Health and Care Excellence. Utilizing chiropractic treatment as opposed to medications like opioids for pain can be beneficial.

5. Chiropractors can only treat back pain Chiropractors are musculoskeletal experts and are trained in assessing, diagnosing, treating and preventing biomechanical disorders that originate from the muscular, skeletal and nervous system. In addition to the evidence that supports chiropractic care in managing musculoskeletal complaints of the spine, there is also evidence that it supports chiropractic management of the extremities, headaches and even TMJ pain. Chiropractors are also able to provide lifestyle counselling about nutrition, fitness and ergonomics among others that may be useful in managing or preventing a variety of health conditions. The health of your musculoskeletal system doesn’t just start with a healthy spine, you need to be fully aware of your health to maintain a well-rounded healthy lifestyle!

6. Adjustments are painful

In general, adjustments or joint manipulations do not hurt. In fact, many patients report immediate pain relief after chiropractic treatment.. Patients may be nervous about the ‘cracking’ or popping sound that may occur during an adjustment. The sound results from the release of gas from the joint – this is a normal part of the adjustment and is perfectly safe.

Asking questions about your health and treatment options is very important. You are a partner in your care and your participation is critical to helping us provide the best care to meet your health goals.

If someone you know needs chiropractic care for pain relief or just to function better, pass this along to them.

Don’t put things off until they worsen. Take care of your body now and discover how chiropractic can help you.

Dr. Stephen Kelly

Family First Chiropractic 403-347-3261

The World Of Tendons

A tendon is a cord or band of dense, tough, inelastic, white, fibrous tissue, serving to connect a muscle with a bone. Think Achilles tendon, which attaches your calf muscle to the heel. Damage or injury to tendons is quite common. There is two different issues-tendinitis and tendinosis. One you’ve probably heard of before. The other, probably not. While they both sound the same, in reality they are worlds apart.

Tendinitis is, by definition, inflammation of a tendon.  Tendinosis on the other hand is defined as chronic tendinitis without inflammation and implies chronic tendon degeneration at the cellular level. Basically, one is short-term with inflammation, the other long-term, without inflammation, though both are caused typically by overuse. Repetitive strain injury (RSI) goes by a lot of names – it can also be called tenosynovitis or chronic tendinopathy by doctors. Don’t let their fancy jargon scare you! It’s kind of simple – tendinitis happens when you repeat a motion frequently on tight tissues and when the rate of damage exceeds your body’s natural rate of repair. 

NORMAL TENDON Uniform, Organized, & Parallel            

 

 

FRAYED TENDON (TENDINOSIS) Unorganized, Tangled, & Random

 

      

                         

Tendinitis, the most popular diagnosis of the two, usually presents with swelling and tenderness at the sight of pain, often accompanied by stiffness, and less often by weakness. Tendinosis presents most often with stiffness, tenderness to the touch, and weakness–almost identical to tendinitis. Recovery of tendinitis lasts anywhere from days to six weeks, a relatively “quick fix.” Tendinosis recovery can last a few short weeks to a couple months or more depending on the level of degeneration. If left untreated, tendinosis often leads to “tear” injuries

Tendinitis and tendinosis, both, occur most often in the Achilles tendon (ankle), patellar tendon (knee), proximal hamstring (high hamstring), common extensor tendon (elbow), and the supraspinatus tendon (shoulder). With both of these problems being so relatively close, while treatment is vastly different, proper diagnosis is vital to the recovery process! So which one do you have? Let’s go to the research.

While tendinitis is the wildly over-popular diagnosis among general practitioners, it may not be the case. Most research coming out on this topic is now showing that at a cellular level, once believed tendinitis actually is, in fact, tendinosis.

According to Almekinders and Temple, “Most currently practicing general practitioners were taught, and many still believe, that patients who present with overuse tendinitis have a largely inflammatory condition and will benefit from anti-inflammatory medication. Unfortunately this dogma is deeply entrenched. 10 of 11 readily available sports medicine texts specifically recommend non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs despite the lack of clinical evidence.”

In light of this, chances are that if you have been diagnosed with tendinitis the diagnosis was incorrect. Furthermore, traditional, conservative treatment, of such, with the use of anti-inflammatories, corticosteroid injections, and/or pain medication may have left you worse off long term even though pain may have dissipated short term. This is because these drugs inhibit collagen repair and are designed to eliminate inflammation, not regrow tendon. As mentioned above, treatment of tendinosis should be aimed at restoring tendon function and strength. Drugs will not help solve the problem! With all this said, while we cannot assume a tendinitis diagnosis was incorrect, lingering, worsening, or reoccurrence of pain would suggest that it may in fact be tendinosis. It is recommended that treatment plans geared toward tendinitis, in these cases, be re-evaluated.

Tendinitis is one of the most commonly diagnosed injuries and all too many struggle to find relief. With the proper diagnosis and treatment plan, it doesn’t have to be that way!

The next blog will discuss treatments for tendinitis/tendinosis. Stay tuned!

Dr. Stephen Kelly practices at Family First Chiropractic, 142 Erickson Drive, Red Deer, Alberta. 403-347-3261.www.family1stchiro.ca.

Music and Massage

                

Zen meditation is one of my favorites to play, while giving a massage. It helps the client relax and become more calm while receiving a massage. I also find that it helps balance and centers them as well. It can also help with children and calming them down when it is their first massage.

   

There are many benefits of listening to relaxing music while receiving a massage. With playing relaxing zen music it helps benefit you in many different ways. From increasing your positive hormones, to reducing stress, improving brain functions, calming your heart rate, and enhance pleasure experience. 

Relaxing music is also great for feeling as though you have slept throughout your massage. Each person responds differently to music types to help them relax.        

Nichole Mullis, RMT. Family First Chiropractic, 142 Erickson Drive, Red Deer, Alberta. 403-347-3261. www.family1stchiro.ca.

The Foundations of CranioSacral Therapy

The Foundations of CranioSacral Therapy (Excerpt from the presenter’s manual and marketing kit from The Upledger Institute, Inc.)

The original concepts for what is now known as the craniosacral system were put forth by osteopathic physician William Sutherland in the early part of this century.  Dr. Sutherland’s studies culminated in a system of treatment know as Cranial Osteopathy.

Another osteopath, John E. Upledger, is credited with developing CranioSacral Therapy.  While assisting during a surgery in 1970, Dr. Upledger observed a rhythmic movement of the dura mater, the membrane that encompasses the brain and spinal cord.  Neither his colleagues nor medical texts could explain his observation.  Dr. Upledger’s curiosity led him to the work of Dr. Sutherland, and later to develop his own scientific studies to confirm the existence of the craniosacral system.  This work went on from 1975 to 1983, while he served as a clinical researcher and Professor of Biomechanics at Michigan State University.  The findings of the research team he supervised first established the scientific basis for the craniosacral system.

Dr. Upledger’s continued work resulted in his development of CranioSacral Therapy.  He formed The Upledger Institute in 1985 to educate the public and healthcare practitioners about the benefits of CranioSacral Therapy.  To date, the Institute has trained more than 40,000 healthcare practitioners worldwide in the use of CranioSacral Therapy.  Practitioners include osteopathic physicians, medical doctors, doctors of chiropractic, doctor of Oriental medicine, naturopathic physicians, psychiatric specialist, psychologists, dentists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, nurses, acupuncturists, massage therapists and other professional body workers.

With a growing number of practitioners, CranioSacral Therapy provides a new healthcare option – one that uses a gentle approach working with the body.  By following the body’s lead, the CranioSacral Therapy practitioner often can uncover the source of pain or dysfunction that can open the path to wellness.

Jeannette Raskin C.S.T is at Family First Chiropractic on Wednesdays and Saturdays. To book an appointment call 403-347-3261. www.family1stchiro.ca 142 Erickson Dr Red Deer, AB T4R 2C3