 Hey, everybody! It’s Dr. Bob here with Lowcountry Chiropractic. Hope you’re doing well and staying healthy out there! Midsummer is characterized by luscious blooming flowers, buzzing bees, days spent by the pool, and washing pollen off of our cars. With all this time spent outside, our bodies are coming into contact with so many potential allergens. Which is why today, I want to talk about a common occurrence many people in the US and across the world suffer from - sinus issues and allergies! In this post, we’ll discuss how to practically and naturally treat both ailments. Of course, as with any disease or illness, you can always choose medication to combat your symptoms. In chiropractics, we prefer to target the root of the illness. Medications can come with side effects, some more detrimental than others. Why suffer with drowsiness or potentially affect your organs when you don’t have to, right?
Most allergies occur when stimulants in the air come into contact with our sinuses. We are all exposed to pollutants and irritants on a daily basis; however, some people are affected to a higher degree than others. This difference comes down to how well our immune systems are working. Ideally, when our bodies are functioning optimally, white blood cells respond to the presence of an allergen and remove the unwelcome guest from the body. This quick response stops the body's inflammatory response from taking over and causing us discomfort. However, in some cases, our immune systems can actually overreact. This overreaction leads to the development of certain substances which trigger the inflammatory response. This response is accompanied by sneezing, coughing, blocked sinuses, and watery, itchy eyes. Therefore, how do we regulate our body’s response to allergens? After all, aren’t our bodies just doing what they’re supposed to do, if a bit too well? Over-the-counter medication such as an antihistamine will limit the body’s ability to produce histamine, a chemical substance which triggers the inflammatory response. Decongestants, on the other hand, will attempt to repress the inflammatory response in certain areas, such as the nose and the sinuses. While corticosteroids are a type of hormone which works to repress the body’s inflammatory response long term. After prolonged use, antihistamines can cause excessive dryness. Decongestants can raise blood pressure, cause insomnia, and restrict urinary flow. Corticosteroids are a much more risky endeavor, particularly because they are meant to be taken long-term, even once symptoms have disappeared. Side effects of corticosteroids include weight gain, fluid retention, and increased blood pressure. On the more serious side, they can cause diabetes, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, and fungal infections of the mouth. It sounds like the side effects might be worse than the original symptoms, right? Now, the question is: How can I treat my allergies and sinus problems without using the most common over-the-counter medications? This is where chiropractics come in. The nervous system (i.e., brain, spinal cord, nerves) is where we tend to begin since the nervous system controls the ten other systems in your body—the integumentary system, skeletal system, muscular system, endocrine system, cardiovascular system, lymphatic system, respiratory system, digestive system, urinary system, and reproductive system (female and male). Likewise, the nervous system also controls the immune system. If the immune system is working properly, then there should be no allergic reactions. If the nervous system is triggering the immune system, then we must help regulate the nerves in order to allow the immune system to operate effectively. In some instances, if you’ve experienced a trauma or even slept wrong for an extended period, the vertebrae protecting your spinal cord move out of alignment. Once out of place, these vertebrae can irritate the nerves radiating out from the spinal cord. Each nerve has a specific function. Their job is to deliver information from the brain to various body parts. The nerves which control the immune system are generally located in the neck area, behind the ears. In chiropractic care, we look for subluxation in these neck joints and vertebrae. A pinched nerve in this area could impact the immune system in a negative way. Once found, the subluxation can be manually corrected. No need for injections or medications! The body should then be given a chance to self-regulate and heal. Another treatment option is to manually adjust the sinus passages above and below the eyes. The sinuses consist of eight hollow spaces in the bones, which make up the cheeks, forehead, and temples. Optimally, the sinuses are covered by a thin film of mucus to capture dust and pollutants which might be in the air before they reach your lungs. Certain over-the-counter medications will attempt to dry out these passages, but if you’ve ever suffered from dry sinuses, you know that’s not ideal. When your sinuses are blocked or inflamed, a chiropractic adjustment might be in order. Using a small instrument referred to as an activator, a chiropractor can apply pressure below and above the eyes to open up the sinus passages. This allows trapped mucus in the sinus area to drain and clear out. If you’re tired of taking over-the-counter allergy medications every day and suffering from continued allergy symptoms, try seeing a professional chiropractor. You can also look into natural supplements such as vitamin D3. You can pick this up from your local pharmacy, vitamin shop, or grocery store. This vitamin can stimulate the immune system. Most people lack a sufficient amount of vitamin D3 due to a lack of time spent in the sun. For every thirty to forty pounds of weight, it’s recommended you take 1000 IU of vitamin D3. The supplement is relatively inexpensive and will help with more than just stimulating your immune system. Vitamin D3 will also help your body fight off colds, flu, and other ailments. Vitamin D3 also promotes calcium absorption in the intestine. It allows for normal bone mineralization, as well as prevents hypocalcemic tetany (which is the involuntary contraction of muscles, including cramps and spasms). When you lack the required amount of vitamin D3, your bones can weaken and become brittle. The other suggested supplement is olive leaf extract. Similar to vitamin D3, it’s great for stimulating the immune system and maintaining good health. Olive leaf extract is full of antioxidants—mainly polyphenols. Polyphenols are organic compounds mainly found in plants and research shows they might have a hand in preventing cognitive conditions, cancer, and osteoporosis. The superstar ingredient in olive leaf extract is oleuropein. Oleuropein is an anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and antimicrobial agent, in addition to its antioxidant properties which fight against cell damage. Research into oleuropein proves the agent can prevent bad cholesterol build-up in arteries, lower the risk of diabetes, and lead to a stronger immune system. There are always natural remedies to combat our health issues and there’s no reason to continue suffering. If you’re interested in having a chiropractic adjustment done, give us a call! Send in a contact form on our website. We’ll set up an appointment, analyze your spine, and try to help you feel better! We look forward to seeing you in the office! This has been Dr. Bob and I’ve got your back covered!
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 Chiropractic care is an excellent form of care for everyone at every age! Today we're going to be talking about chiropractic care for children!
Welcome back to the blog, readers! I'm Dr. Bob Salamon with Lowcountry Chiropractic! I hope you are all doing well out there, and that you're staying healthy and safe! Today we are going to be expanding on the idea that chiropractic care is beneficial for everyone at every stage in their lives. We've recently talked about the many benefits that chiropractic care offers to the elderly, and today we are going to turn the tables and talk about the benefits of chiropractic care for our children and younger generations. While their bodies are growing and developing, who better to have their brain function and their immune systems strengthened with chiropractic care than our children? When it comes to the goal of any chiropractor, it comes down to going beyond fixing the many ailments that can be connected to poor alignment and a subluxation. We care for your back, which is connected to the nervous system and your brain. The brain controls every operation in our bodies. While we are thrilled that chiropractic care can help so many different things, our goal is to ensure that the body's nervous system has every chance to work as efficiently and effectively as it can! CHILDREN AND CHIROPRACTIC CARE Many might think children don't need chiropractic care. Their bodies are brand new, healthy, and they haven't had to carry the weight and stress that adulthood and time can bring. While this is true, even before they're born, children can experience stress on their nervous system. These nerve irritations or subluxations are a part of everyday life. You've watched a child learning how to roll themselves over, hold up their heads for the first time, learn how to walk, and take their first stumbles and falls. Imagine the stress that puts on their developing nervous system. Subluxations can occur from bad posture, sleeping on their tummies, remaining in one position for a prolonged period, knocks and falls, and much more. Stress can be put on the nervous system before a child is even born. This can happen due to being in an award position in the uterus, restriction of movement, or birth complications like fast or very slow labor or cesarean delivery. We all know the importance of a healthy back and nervous system that chiropractic care can deliver, and we know that children deserve this care just as much as adults! Introducing chiropractic care to children at a young age can put them on a course of having a very healthy lifestyle. While many still might believe that chiropractic care is only for adults, it can be even more important for a chiropractor to care for and check on your children due to spurts of rapid growth, changes in their bodies, and development. Also know that chiropractic care for children, while it might be a new idea for some parents, it is not a new idea overall and has been around for some time. According to the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), many parents have feared how their children would respond to treatments and if they were safe. Over the years, many health professionals have sided with these parents. At the same time, doctors of chiropractic have been spending years trying to teach and assure parents that treatments are safe. Any injury or pain resulting from a chiropractic treatment was connected to underlying pathologies. Thanks to these studies and years of hard work, more parents and health professionals have gotten on board with chiropractic care. It is recommended that chiropractors do a very thorough examination and speak with parents about their medical history and their child's before treatment begins. Also, just like I mentioned in my previous blog about elderly chiropractic care, an infant would never receive the same kind of care that an adult would. Their treatment would be adjusted to their needs and age to promote the utmost safety and care! Also, don't forget that chiropractic care is non-invasive and its foundations are based on effective and gentle adjustment techniques that are safe and have been well tested. Remember my blog late last year where I discussed the many myths chiropractors have to constantly disprove? The biggest one is that chiropractors are not real doctors. We busted that myth! Your child's care and health are very important and will be in very confident hands any time they are in a chiropractor's office. THE BASICS What do you remember about your childhood? Before every smart device took over, we were outside running, jumping, climbing, swinging, and playing every game and sport we could think of. This also meant a lot of stumbles, falls, and accidents. They're still learning, still understanding their balance and coordination, and they haven't fallen enough yet to understand the full consequences of their actions. Their bodies respond to these incidents and can carry and hold tension and subluxations just like an adult's body. Chiropractic care can help realign their spine and joints, which is incredibly important as a child grows. These subluxations, remember, can get in the way of the brain functioning and communicating to the body as it should. In a body that is growing and changing every day, they need these connections and communications to make sure the best decisions are made for their health and development. Also, remember that chiropractic care is an excellent way to avoid the use of over-the-counter or prescription medications. According to the ACA, one of the most common reasons why parents take their children to a chiropractor is to help with the care and management of chronic ear infections, instead of them taking a plethora of antibiotics. GROWING BODIES Children and adults have the same joints, but they aren't fully formed in a child's body right away. Due to this, as I mentioned above, treatment will be specifically tailored to their little bodies. The adjustments will be done faster and with much less force, due to their increased flexibility in the developing joints and that they are much smaller. Instead of manipulating joints as chiropractic care can do for adult bodies, chiropractic care helps mobilize the joints in a child's body. When it comes to infants and in utero, it's even more tailored. For babies, many common issues include sleep problems, issues with nursing, colic, torticollis, and plagiocephaly. Chiropractic care has shown drastic improvement with each of these issues, along with helping or preventing any long-term effects. In utero, treatments can help prevent any sort of constraint. If the baby moves in a certain way, they can remain in that one position for several months. Wouldn't that be uncomfortable for you too? According to the ACA, "the goal of treatments is to restore motion to the joints and balance the tissues to keep everything as biomechanically even as possible. Taking the tension off from day one can help allow for optimal growth and development." TOP REASONS AND BENEFITS OF TAKING YOUR CHILD TO A CHIROPRACTOR
Your child's health is in your hands while they are growing and learning! I hope this blog helped explain why chiropractic care is so beneficial for children and to assure you that it is safe. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out. If you would like to talk about your child's chiropractic care, please reach out as well! Until next time I'm Dr. Bob and I've got your back covered!  Chiropractic care is safe and effective for everyone at every stage in their lives. Today, we will be discussing chiropractic care for the elderly; benefits, safety, and common myths!
Hello everyone, it's Dr. Bob Salamon here with Lowcountry Chiropractic! Welcome back to the blog. I hope you are continuing to stay healthy and well out there, and I hope you've started to take the advice I discussed in my last blog to heart. Making those healthy additions in your life can make all the difference, keep you healthy, make you feel good, and so much more! Always know that I'm here to answer your questions or to schedule you for a consultation; just give us a call or shoot us an email! Today, I wanted to turn the tables and talk about chiropractic care for a certain age group. I've mentioned before that the myths and misinformation about chiropractic care can get in the way of individuals receiving life-changing treatment that can improve their overall quality of life. I hear these excuses and reasonings why individuals shouldn't get care all the time; I'm too young it's not safe, I'm too old it's not safe, I'm pregnant so it's not safe, I'm not in pain so I don't need chiropractic care. All of these reasons are incorrect. Today, I want to discuss and talk about chiropractic care for the elderly.
I hope all of this helps! Please know we are here for you at any stage of your life and can help you at any stage of your life. If you have any questions or concerns or would like to come in for a consultation give us a call! Stay healthy and safe, readers! Until next time, I'm Dr. Bob and I've got your back covered!  Many people only search out their chiropractors when they're in pain. Today we are going to be talking about why you should give continued care a second thought.
Hi everybody! It's Dr. Bob Salamon here with Lowcountry Chiropractic. I hope that wherever you are that you are continuing to stay safe and healthy. Flu and cold season has arrived, and it's time to stay on top of your health as best you can. In many of my recent blogs, I have talked about that more often than not, your health is in your hands. Make sure that you're getting plenty of rest, drinking plenty of water, eating well, staying active, and adding vitamin D3 to your diet. Each of these steps can help you feel better, fight off sickness faster, and prevent you from getting sick. What would also be even more beneficial to staying healthy during this time of year and promote a strong immune system, is to come and see me or to visit your chiropractor consistently. While many people think the only time to go to the chiropractor is when they're in pain, I am here to implore you to think otherwise. I often hear from my patients that they have put off coming to see me because they just weren't in pain and they didn't see a reason to come until they were. Why wait to be in pain or when your body isn't working as it should to come see me? Instead of waiting for the pain, how about coming to see me to avoid any pain or discomfort at all? With this idea in mind, I wanted to talk about some of the top reasons why you should consistently be going to your chiropractor even when you're not in pain!
Many of my patients have spent the last 8 months hunched over their desks employing very bad posture. This also hasn't been great for their hips or lower backs either. This pandemic posture and lack of movement can lead to increased pressure in your neck, shoulders, upper back, hips, and more. It can also cause some pretty serious pain or even lead to a slipped or herniated disc. Coming to see me consistently or visiting your chiropractor on a regular basis can help strengthen your back and fight against your pandemic posture and pandemic lifestyle. I can keep you aligned and make sure that while you have to sit still much longer throughout the day, the messages in your brain are still firing without interruption and without causing you any pain.
If you're still unsure about the benefits of consistent chiropractic care, come and see me. Give us a call or shoot us an email, and we will be more than happy to get you in for an appointment. We will chat about your medical history, give you a thorough examination, and I will get right to work on helping you feel and function at your best at all times. Stay safe out there, everyone! Until next time, I'm Dr. Bob and I've got your back covered!  With the change of seasons at hand and the ongoing COVID pandemic, one of the most important things we need to be aware of is how to make our immune systems as strong as possible!
Hey, everybody! It's Dr. Bob Salamon here with Lowcountry Chiropractic. I hope you're all doing well out there! Today we are going to be discussing the immune system. This is the important system in your body that keeps you healthy against colds, flus, COVID, allergies, and all sorts of other ailments. I want to talk about how, practically speaking, you can keep your immune system healthier so you can defend yourself against some of these outside agents that are floating around in the air and that can make you sick. With COVID, everyone has been talking about washing your hands, wearing masks, and practicing social distancing. This is all great to do; however what I think is missing in this equation is a message from the surgeon general that we need to be proactive about increasing our individual immune function. This will help you defend against COVID and anything else out there. How do you keep your immune system strong and powerful? That is what we are going to be talking about today! #1 - LET'S EAT! Let's start with the basics that you need to be doing to keep yourself healthy and your immune system strong. The first step you need to be thinking about and putting effort into is your diet and what you're putting into your body every day. You need to be eating properly. If you're not eating right every day, your body isn't getting the correct amount of nutrients that it needs nor is it getting the correct energy source it needs to keep your body functioning at its highest capacity. If you aren't getting the proper nutrients, your body won't be able to defend itself well. A poor diet will impact your immune system very negatively. #2 - TUCK IN! You have to get enough sleep at night. It’s a must. When you sleep, your body is repairing itself. All the systems in your body need time to heal from all the work they do throughout the day, and those 7-8 hours of sleep every night are crucial for that healing. If you don't give yourself enough sleep, all of your systems will be affected, and you will be more susceptible to getting sick. #3 - PROPER SUPPLEMENTATION! We've talked about this many times and people still think I'm crazy! If you're not currently taking any supplements, you need to start thinking about adding vitamin D3 to your diet. Vitamin D3 is an essential vitamin, which means you can't get this supplement naturally from the foods you eat. The only way to get vitamin D3 naturally is to be out in the sun, and most people can't be out in the sun all day because they're inside working, at school, etc. Vitamin D3 is incredibly important because it boosts your immune system. It gets your body working better and defends it against outside agents. I am a strong proponent that everyone should be taking this vitamin. It's going to help you fight against colds and the flu, allergies, and even COVID! If you get your body working better and you get your defenses on the attack, when any virus or outside agent tries to come into your body, your white blood cells are geared up to go attack it and kill it! If your immune system is not working right, that's when these viruses and opportunistic diseases can take up a home in your body, and wreak havoc on you. I take 5000 International Units (IU) of D3 every day, but during the pandemic, I have doubled my daily dose to 10,000 IU! As a general rule of thumb, you want to take 1000 IU for every 35 pounds of body weight. If you're not taking this vitamin, you will need to get some natural sunlight every day to replace it, at least 15 to 20 minutes of full-body exposure to be exact. A lot of people don't want to do this because of the associated skin cancer risk. The easiest and safest thing to do is just to take the vitamin. #4 - CHIROPRACTIC! The next important step to keep your immune system strong is chiropractic! How does chiropractic help with your immune system? Well, your brain, spinal cord, and all of your nerves that come off your spinal cord regulate every single function and system in your body. The brain is the master controller; it regulates every other system in the body. The immune system, of course, is one of those important systems. If your nervous system is not working at 100%, your immune system will not be working at 100% either. When your body isn't working at its full capacity, you are leaving your health to chance. How does chiropractic help with building up your immunity? Let's talk about it! Your spine is very complex; it is a series of bones called vertebrae. Each vertebra is separated by a disc which is flexible but very strong. In between each bone is an opening (foramen) and a spinal nerve comes out of that opening. The spinal nerve comes off the spinal cord, which is an extension of your brain. Every one of your spinal nerves relays information from the brain to your body and vice-versa. In a perfect world, your vertebrae are lined up, the openings for every nerve are open, and there is no irritation on any of the nerves. This allows your brain to communicate perfectly with the body, and the body can communicate perfectly back to the brain. When this happens, all functions of the body are working optimally, including your immune system. But, life hits us; we get into a car accident, we fall, we pick something up that's too heavy, we sleep wrong at night, we eat the wrong kinds of foods that negatively affect our muscles, or we carry emotional stress. All of these factors affect our body, our spine, and our nerves. This stress can cause the vertebrae to shift out of place. When the vertebrae get shifted out of place, the nerves can get irritated and pinched (subluxated), often causing some pain. More importantly, once this subluxation has occurred, the communication between your brain and the rest of your body is not working as it should. All the systems at the end of that pinched nerve are going to be affected negatively. It could be a muscle, an organ, blood vessels, a gland, or a critical system that is affected by this strain or pinch. The nerves in the upper neck specifically play a huge part in your immune system. When you free up your nerves from subluxations, your body gets to go back to work and do what it's there to do to keep you healthy. That is how chiropractic care can help enhance your immune function. If you can incorporate all of these changes into your life, you are going to be much healthier as we go into cold and flu season with COVID, and you're going to be much healthier in general. You're not going to get sick as much, you're not going to feel run down as much, and you're going to be able to be the best version of yourself. My goal is to educate as many people as possible and to show everyone that your health is in your hands. It's not in a doctor's hands, it's not in a pill or prescription, and it is not in a potion that comes off the shelf. The doctor is inside of you, and you have the responsibility to take care of that! These are some of the best ways to take care of your body effectively and to stay healthy. I hope all of this information helps. If you or anyone out there is suffering, if you're getting sick all the time, you're having sinus issues, allergies, or you're just feeling run down, come and see us! All of these issues can be corrected with chiropractic care and all the other steps I have mentioned in this blog today! Remember, all of these steps are also all-natural ways of taking care of your body. I look forward to the next blog and seeing you soon. Take care!  The next cold and flu season will be here before we know it. Do you have all the information you need on how to take a holistic or over the counter approach to avoid getting sick? The fall temperatures might not have reached the Lowcountry just yet - but they'll be here before you know it. Dr. Bob is here to talk about the upcoming flu season and what you can do to keep yourself healthy!
Hello everyone! Dr. Bob here to talk about the cold and flu season. Pretty soon the cold and flu season will be the only thing you're going to hear about. I want to chat with you about this topic so you can pick the best way for you to prevent getting a cold or the flu this season. The biggest thing I want to impress upon you is that you need to research what your best options are. Don't just do what someone else tells you to do. Make sure that if you decide to put anything into your body that you know what it is and what the possible side effects are. There are two ways to approach this topic of combating the flu. The first is a medical approach which is a vaccine against the virus. The other options are more natural and don't include a vaccination. Before we dive into these two options, I want to talk about the germ theory. The germ theory says, that is if you believe in this theory, that germs are what get you sick. As a chiropractor, I believe a little differently. I believe that it is your body's inability to fight those germs that make you sick. In this situation the medical world will look around and ask how are they going to kill these bugs, how are they going to get them out of your body, and how are they going to prevent them from getting there. The chiropractic approach is a little more holistic. We tend to focus on what can we do to help the body naturally boost its natural defenses against these germs. Building up the body's natural defenses helps it defend itself against viruses and bacteria. So let's continue talking about the flu shot. Me personally, I am not a fan of it for a few reasons.
Those are the main two reasons why I don't personally get a flu shot. But you still need to prevent the flu from coming, so what do you do? There is a more holistic approach that I prefer to follow.
As a chiropractor, I believe in a holistic and natural approach to the cold and flu season over medications or vaccinations. If you have any other questions, please give us a call. We'd love to talk more with you. Come in and talk with us if you'd like, there is no cost to talk! If I can help anyone out there stay healthy then I have done my job! I'll talk to you next time. Take care!  Could there be a drug-free approach to help allergy sufferers live a better life? Chiropractic care is here to save you from your allergies and prevent serious reactions.
Hello everyone, Dr. Bob here! Now that the weather is about to turn and bring in cooler weather and beautiful foliage, that also means the return of terrible seasonal allergies for a lot of people. Following in the footsteps of our last few blogs, we are going to continue talking about how preventing subluxations and keeping the connection from your brain to your body healthy can benefit your health in more ways than you would think. To the surprise of many, regular visits to your chiropractor can reduce or eliminate your seasonal and year-round allergies in a safer and drug-free way! Allergies are the most common cause of chronic illness and at least 40% of people suffer from at least one allergic condition. With the environment changing and heading towards unhealthy and unknown times, researchers are warning that the number of allergy sufferers is going to rise. This will lead to bad quality of life, lower productivity, and a huge boom in medical costs. But where does your chiropractor fit into this? We have talked in previous blogs about how everything in your body is connected. Your brain is connected to your nervous system, the immune system, and all of your systems that keep you functioning. Anytime those connections are compromised it leads to your body not functioning at a full 100% and that means you are not as healthy as you could or should be. When you are operating at a lower rate, your body becomes more susceptible to these allergy attacks. Allergies cause a huge inflammatory response in your system. Having any part of your body inflamed can disturb the flow of messages between your brain and your body, causing it to function at a lower rate. Stress also plays a huge role in your allergies. Allergy reactions and stress provoke similar inflammatory responses. Stress also kills your cortisol hormone which if depleted allows your allergic reactions to become more severe. But adding chiropractic care into your allergy-fighting routine can help you in so many ways!
The brain is an amazing thing, and it does a wonderful job of keeping our bodies healthy and running properly. Having regular chiropractic care gives it a rest once in a while and allows it to power up. It's simple, a spinal adjustment is the first step to a healthy immune system, and it can be done drug-free. It is very important to have regular adjustments to keep up your optimal health and keep your spine aligned. This will help keep your allergies and their reaction at bay. Come on in and visit us here at the office, and we will be happy to discuss this with you and help you get prepared for your next allergy season! |
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