Spring Cleaning for a Healthier Home

30 Mar 2017 Tips & Tricks ,

You may not have time for a full-blown house cleaning, but we have a suggestion for 10 things you should throw out for a healthier cleaner home.

1. Makeup – toss out all makeup you haven’t used in 6 months.
2. Too Small Clothing – ones you haven’t fit in maybe ever. We sometimes buy clothes that don’t fit us well or aren’t that comfortable but our guilt makes us keep them. We say donate or toss.
3. Mismatched Tupperware – Throw it out or buy lids that fit. This takes up less cabinet space. In our office, we prefer glass containers for leftovers because there are less toxins present than in plastic.
4. Library of Magazines – Recycle this stack if you haven’t looked at them in over 6 months.
5. Art – Children’s artwork or old pictures. If you are emotionally attached to them, scan them or keep them in a digital file stored in your safe. But many pieces of paper you have around are not important and can be recycled.
6. Old shoes – There are shoes you may love but are broken or ones that don’t fit well; toss them.
7. Gifting – Get rid of your regifting shelf to provide a less cluttered environment in your home and life.
8. Old Electronics – Phones, MP3, IPODS, IPADS, or ones that you no longer use; recycle them.
9. Broken Jewelry – Send or sell and turn it into cash.
10. Bags – recycle old gift bags, grocery bags and get rid of plastic bags.

Good Housekeeping’s best tips for Green cleaners

30 Mar 2017 Recipes & Home Remedies , , ,

1. GLASS CLEANER
Great for: Windows and mirrors

Ingredients

  • 2 cups water
  • 1/2 cup white or cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol (70% concentration)
  • 1 to 2 drops of orange essential oil, which gives the solution a lovely smell (optional)

How to use: Combine ingredients and store in a spray bottle. Spray on a paper towel or soft cloth first, then on the glass. Hint: Don’t clean windows on a hot, sunny day because the solution will dry too quickly and leave lots of streaks.

2. HEAVY-DUTY SCRUB
Great for: Rust stains on porcelain or enamel sinks and tubs

Ingredients

  • Half a lemon
  • 1/2 cup borax (a laundry booster; find it in the detergent aisle)
    How to use: Dip the lemon into the borax and scrub surface; rinse. (Not safe for marble or granite.)

These are some of our favorite recipes from Good Housekeeping to keep your house clean.

Pregnancy Protocol for Acupuncture

30 Mar 2017 Women & Pregnancy

Acupuncture is extremely beneficial for pregnant women.  At Light & Joy, we specialize in caring for you during this special time.  We often get questions about how it can help and how often patients should be treated throughout pregnancy.  Our basic protocol for pregnant patients is as follows:

Weeks 0-14

Weekly treatments are invaluable to support the pregnancy during the early weeks if there is a history of miscarriage and/or infertility.
For patients undergoing various western infertility treatments such as IVF or IUI, acupuncture can help to moderate the side effects of synthetic hormones the patients are taking and improve the chances of a healthy pregnancy.

For more typical pregnancies, treatment is recommended on an as needed basis for the variety of things that can come up and cause discomfort during the first trimester.  Women are often more anxious during the first trimester as they wait to get confirmation that the pregnancy is viable and the baby is healthy. Acupuncture relieves stress and anxiety and also helps with fatigue, headaches, and changes in mood as our bodies adjust to everything going on within. Chinese medicine is beneficial for managing nausea and hormone fluctuations as well.

Exercise tips: It is very important to stay active during your pregnancy.  We recommend getting some form of exercise 3-5 times per week. For the first trimester, exercise can be very difficult if you are not feeling well.  If nothing else, do your best to take walks.  You can take shorter walks 2-3 times a day if a longer walk doesn’t seem feasible.

If you are feeling good and want to be more active, just make sure you aren’t overdoing it. A good rule of thumb is to not start any new kind of exercise that your body isn’t accustomed to doing.  Stick to the basics and don’t overdo it.  The hormone relaxin is pumping through your body helping to prepare your body to carry a baby and birth it, so be careful not to overstretch as the relaxin makes your joints and muscles more mobile than normal.  Ask your health care practitioner if you are unsure about what types of exercise are appropriate for you.

Weeks 15-35

In the second trimester, pregnancy symptoms have usually subsided.  This is a time to take care of yourself and allow your baby and body to do their thing. We recommend treatments only as needed for things that may come up such as aches and pains, gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, acid reflux, and dermatological changes.

During week 34 or 35 the baby is checked for position.  If you find out that your baby is breech, we highly recommend coming in for treatment as soon as possible as this gives us the best chance of helping to turn your baby to a head-down presentation with our breech protocol. For breech presentation, we work in tandem with the chiropractors of In Health Clinic to achieve the best results.

Exercise tips: In the second trimester, most women are starting to feel much better, have their energy back and can eat normally.  Take advantage of the energy spurt and consider upping your exercise frequency or intensity. Yoga and swimming are great choices for pregnancy because they are very strengthening but gentle on the joints.

Weeks 36-40+

During these final weeks, we recommend weekly treatments to prepare your body for birth.  Again we focus on relaxing and opening up the hips and sacral area, creating space for the baby to move down into the birth canal.  Depending on your doctor’s instruction, we tailor the treatments to fit your birthing schedule and will often move into labor induction treatments just before or at 40 weeks. Induction treatments are usually performed every other day leading up to the birth. If there is a set medical induction date due to high blood pressure or gestational diabetes, for example, treatment will be performed daily.

Exercise tips: Kegels are always a good idea throughout pregnancy to help strengthen your pelvic floor and vaginal muscles.  This can help to prevent prolapse, incontinence, and more.  As you get bigger and maneuvering becomes more difficult, you may need to scale down your exercise program.  Consider taking more walks, as walking is good for birth prep as well.

The WooHoo of Chiropractic

30 Mar 2017 Pain, Your Overall Health , ,

How Adjustments can benefit more than just the bones, joints and muscles.  The most common time for a patient to seek out a Chiropractor is when they are in pain or have just been injured.

We as a profession are known for our ability to treat Headaches, Neck pain and Low back pain.  For optimal health of the back, neck and head, it is suggested to get adjusted at least twice a year. We get our teeth checked twice a year but we never really think about the spine and how the nerves are affected when a spine or muscle isn’t functioning properly.  The common objection people have against seeing a chiropractor is: “if I start going, I will always have to go”.  The answer is, “Yes, if your body would only be so lucky to see a chiropractor all the time!”. The actual answer is NO, you will not have to keep coming back week after week.  We ask that you get checked two times a year to make sure you are maintaining proper function.  Every function in your body is determined by the nervous system as a whole and we know that the nervous system protector is the spine.  When a nerve is affected because your body is misaligned in the spine, we can measure that its electrical output goes down, meaning whatever that nerve controls will have a decrease in function.

Based on research, an adjustment of the L4 vertebra in athletes will strengthen the quad muscle.  We can measure this and see an improvement after an adjustment.  Do we know exactly how this happens?? “No” this is the WooHoo factor.  We also see that babies with constipation getting adjusted will suddenly be able to poop more effectively; we can observe it and measure it but we haven’t exactly been able to explain it yet and until our understanding of neurology expands in the medical profession we may not know, we have ideas but no proven mechanism.

  • In our office I have also seen where adjusting the T9 vertebra will improve someone’s stomach pain and because I am a bit of a skeptic myself I always try this as a last resort looking for more organic and more explainable causes first.  But we are now taking a more holistic approach if someone comes in with stomach pain or a cough we will treat those symptoms and disease classically through oral supplementation as well as to adjust the patient, because there is no known way to tell by examining a patient externally if the nerve and interference to the nerve are part of that problem or not.  So we always make sure the spine is aligned so that we remove nerve impingement as part of problem, leaving other issues to be treated and dealt with.  Here is a short run down of what nerves innervate what organs:
    Heart T1-T8
  • Lung T3-T9
  • Esophagus T5-T6
  • Stomach T5-T9
  • Doudenum T6-T10
  • Jejunum T8-T11
  • Large Bowel T8-L1
  • Appendix T9-L1
  • Liver T6-T11
  • Spleen T7-T10
  • Gallbladder T6-T11
  • Pancreas T7-T10
  • Kidney T9-L2
  • Ureter T9-L2
  • Testis/Ovary T10-T11
  • Prostate T10-T11
  • Uterus T12-L1

Before you go too long between your next adjustment remember two things; first, your nerves affect your organs and misalignments don’t just come from falling down but simple repetitive activity like sitting at a desk in front of a computer. Second, a joint that is unmoving for as little as one month will begin to show and develop arthritic changes (meaning that arthritis can develop from simply sitting at a desk and allowing a joint to remain stuck for long periods of time).

What is the Definition of Running?

30 Mar 2017 Your Overall Health , , , , , ,

Running: to go quickly by moving the legs more rapidly than at a walk and in such a manner that for an instant in each step all or both feet are off the ground.

What are the main Muscles and Joints Involved?

Muscles used during running:

  • Hamstrings – works when your foot leaves the ground and your leg moves forward to the next foot strike.
  • Quadriceps- this muscle is used when your lower leg move from bent to a straight position.
  • Gluteal Muscles – these muscles move your foot from a parallel position to the back of the body and you will especially notice the glutes when you run up hills.
  • Hip Flexors- you feel the motion after your foot leaves the ground behind you and moves it forward to the next foot plant.
  • Calves: once your foot leaves the ground when your heel is in the air behind and places behind your body, you will feel the calf muscle with running up hill specifically.
  • Tibilais Anterior- this muscle dorsiflexes the foot and plants it down on the ground.
  • Peroneals- this muscle works when your heel is elevated then drops to the ground.

Joints:

  • Hip joint – Acetabulum joint
  • Knee Joint- Tibiofemoral Joint
  • Ankle Joint – Talus joint

What are the most common Injuries from running?

  • Plantar Fasciitis
  • Hamstring tendonitis
  • Shin Splints – tibial stress syndrome
  • Iliotibial band Syndrome
  • Achilles Tendonitis
  • Runner’s Knee – Patellofemoral pain syndrome

How do to prevent Running Injuries?

  • Improve flexibility by stretching after runs – will prevent most tendonitis issues by properly stretching and keeping someone flexible
  • Include strength training to keep muscles equal and balanced
  • Stay hydrated and eat proper meals to prevent a glucose crash during running
  • Warm up before any run
  • Gradually increase mileage to prevent overuse injury
  • Take periodic breaks in the training

How to Start Running?
Keep it simple, start running 20 minutes a day for 3 days. Then gradually add more time to your run and more days. Never increase either the time or the days till you feel comfortable at your current amount.

How are running Injuries treated?
This will depend on the severity of your injuries. Some injuries will require surgery, while others are treated with surgical alternatives like chiropractic, acupuncture, physical therapy and massage. Some botanical or pharmaceutical options can help with pain and inflammation.

In our office we use muscle release, massage and adjustments to keep our athletes healthy and running a peak efficiency.

Sports Injury Special:
Sports injuries can occur while either falling down while running or getting kicked in the shins during a soccer game, either way we have pain and want to get back on the field to continue to play. Homeopathic medicine is about healing the body at a basic level relieving the discomfort of the symptoms while allowing your body to do its natural healing process.

The following items are 3 homeopathic remedies(called the Acute injury trio). We suggest you have on hand to be ready to treat a young players injuries. Or for the husband/wife who likes to run half marathons, or even for work related tired joints and muscles after a long day.

  1. Rhus Tox – for joint pain and inflammation take 3 pellets 4 times a day away from food.
  2. Arnica – for all over body soreness or injury 4 pellets 4-5 times a day.
  3. Bryonia – When it is painful to get back to running or back to your sport 4 pellets 4 times a day.

*If symptoms or pain persist please seek direct professional or medical care.

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