LOWCOUNTRY CHIROPRACTIC
  • Home
  • Services
    • Chiropractic
    • Massage
    • Products
  • Español
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Testimonials
  • FAQs
  • Non-Discrimination
  • Blog
  • New Patient Info
  • Home
  • Services
    • Chiropractic
    • Massage
    • Products
  • Español
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Testimonials
  • FAQs
  • Non-Discrimination
  • Blog
  • New Patient Info

Beyond Adjustments: How To Stay Healthy At Home

6/30/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Hello, everyone! This is Dr. Bob Salamon with Lowcountry Chiropractic. As always, I hope you’re doing well and staying healthy! In my last post, we talked about how water benefits the joints. Today, we’ll be discussing ways to care for your back and stay healthy at home. Chiropractic adjustments are a great way to keep your spine in good condition and keep your body functioning at its optimal best. Seeing a chiropractor is often the first step towards living a healthier life. However, oftentimes, chiropractic care works best when used in conjunction with other healthy habits and lifestyle changes. Luckily, there are some easy steps you can take to get the most out of your chiropractic adjustments! If you’re interested in learning about how you can achieve optimal results from chiropractic care, you’re in the right place. Let’s get started!

Stick To A Routine

One of the most important things you can do is to be consistent with your chiropractic visits. When you visit a chiropractor for the first time, they will create a treatment plan tailored to your specific needs. Ideally, you should stick to the treatment plan, since it has been customized to give you the best outcome. Don’t skip appointments! Keeping up with chiropractic appointments can keep your body functioning at its best and prevent future problems, such as subluxations. Think of a chiropractor in the same way you think of a dentist– You visit the dentist routinely to maintain the health of your teeth, not only when you are in extreme pain. Why should your spine be any different? Seeing a chiropractor routinely will maintain your spinal health and your overall body health.

Maintain Proper Posture

Did you know that poor posture is often a cause of back pain? Poor posture leads to aches and pains, but having poor posture over long periods of time can cause real damage. Poor posture causes the muscles in your neck and back to overexert themselves. It puts stress on the back, core, and abdominal muscles, reduces their blood supply, and can slowly develop stiffness or weakness. This not only pertains to having a hunched-over posture while standing, but it can apply to sitting for prolonged periods as well. For example, someone who sits at a desk all day for work is maintaining a “static” posture– This means it lacks in action or change. Sitting for prolonged periods can place stress on the arms and legs as well, and can even put pressure on the spinal discs. Poor posture can also apply to incorrect lifting techniques. Over time, incorrect posture can decrease your flexibility, affect how well your joints move, and wear away at your spine. Here are some tips on how to improve your posture.

  • If you need to sit for prolonged periods, be sure to get up and stretch occasionally. If you need to, set an alarm or reminder on your phone.
  • While sitting for prolonged periods, switch sitting positions often.
  • Be mindful of your posture while you are doing everyday activities like watching television, reading a book, walking, or doing laundry. 
  • Stand up straight and tall, put your shoulders back, and put your weight mostly on the balls of your feet. Keep your head level and let your arms hang down naturally at your sides.
  • When sitting, avoid crossing your legs.
  • Wear comfortable, low-heeled shoes.
  • Make sure work surfaces are at a comfortable height.

Maintain A Healthy Diet

We have all heard that a proper diet is important to our overall health. But did you know that nutrition and chiropractic care go hand in hand? If you are not eating foods with the proper nutrients that your body needs, then your body will not be able to perform at its full potential. When receiving chiropractic care, you can maximize the benefits of the treatment by maintaining a healthy diet. Various foods have different nutrients and benefits, but here are some of the best foods to eat in order to support a healthy nervous system and maintain bone health:

  • Dark leafy greens: Greens such as kale, spinach, broccoli, and collard greens are packed with calcium. Calcium is a mineral most often associated with bone health. It helps your body build and maintain strong bones. Kale, broccoli, and spinach are also great for fighting inflammation. 
  • Salmon: Salmon is a lean protein and is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids promote bone and tissue health and fight against inflammation. Salmon also contains Vitamin D, which is necessary for strong bones and muscles.
  • Citrus fruits: Citrus fruits such as oranges and grapefruit contain Vitamin C, which is important for maintaining bone health. Vitamin C is also essential for the production of collagen, which is the foundation that bone mineralization is built on.
  • Nuts: Not only do nuts contain some calcium, but they are also rich in magnesium and phosphorus. Magnesium helps absorb calcium, and phosphorus is a key component of bones. Almonds and pistachios are great options– A handful every day makes a great, healthy snack that is good for your bones!

Exercise Regularly                              

Just as we’ve heard of the importance of a healthy diet, we have also heard about the benefits of exercise. Not only can exercise improve your overall health, but it can also have benefits for your bones. Bone is a living tissue that becomes stronger with exercise. Weight-bearing and resistance exercises are some of the best exercises to build stronger bones. Weight-bearing exercises include walking, jogging, climbing up stairs, hiking, and playing sports like tennis. These exercises force you to work against gravity. Resistance exercises include weight lifting and squats. These are designed to improve strength and endurance. Besides benefiting your bones, certain exercises can strengthen your core muscles, which will help support your back and minimize your risk of back pain. Before starting an exercise routine, be sure to warm up by stretching properly. A good warm-up ensures that your muscles are well supplied with oxygen and raises your muscles’ temperature for optimal flexibility. After exercise, you should cool down as well. A proper cool down allows your body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure return to normal levels.

Get A Good Night’s Sleep

The importance of a good night’s sleep goes well beyond just improving your overall mood. In fact, your body needs adequate sleep in order to function properly. Sleep is essential for every process of the body, including our ability to fight disease and develop immunity. During sleep, your immune system releases proteins called cytokines. Certain cytokines must increase when you have an infection or inflammation. Sleep deprivation can decrease production of these cytokines, which means your body needs to sleep to fight off infections, diseases, and other invaders. The recommended amount of sleep for adults is seven to eight hours.

These are just a few simple ways that you can keep yourself healthy and maximize the benefits of your chiropractic visits! Remember, combining any form of exercise with chiropractic care can help further relieve and manage pain and help you achieve optimal results. Additionally, creating and maintaining healthy habits and lifestyle changes can improve your body’s overall function, making chiropractic care even more effective. Chiropractic care promotes the body’s natural ability to heal itself. I hope you found this article informative. If you or a loved one are suffering from any type of joint or back pain, you may benefit from chiropractic care. Consider reaching out to Lowcountry Chiropractic! We specialize in different chiropractic techniques, as well as both therapeutic and Swedish massage. Send us an email or give us a call and we’ll assess the situation and develop a long-term treatment plan to address your needs. We want to help you live a pain-free life– It’s what you deserve. As always, this is Dr. Bob and I have your back covered!
0 Comments

What Are The Positive Effects of Chiropractic Care on Children?

3/3/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
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 
  • Overall Healthy Living
As I've mentioned, chiropractic care is plays a huge role in keeping the neck and spine aligned, which helps clear the neural pathways. This will help the brain and the whole body function as it should. It can also help with better posture. It can help as children begin to move, crawl, and walk and to help them recover from slips and falls. It will also help them build a strong immune system from day one! 
  • Breastfeeding
The birth process can be very difficult on a baby, leaving them with trauma and stress on their spine, shoulders, or neck which can make breastfeeding very difficult and painful for them. It can also make latching onto the breast very difficult. Chiropractic care can remove this stress to help make the process less painful and less stressful. It can also help reduce acid reflux! 
  • Common Maladies and Development
Helping a child's nervous system grow properly with the use of chiropractic care can help their whole bodies develop as they should. It can help prevent ear infections, asthma, allergies, constipation, colic, can help with the common cold, and can even help with bedwetting. Chiropractic care will help with nerve and brain development and encourage them to be as healthy as possible. It can help with ADHD and ADD, and other neurodevelopmental disorders. It can also help with behavior disorders and help promote emotional well-being and concentration. Learning, sensory development, and tactile learning can also be drastically improved with chiropractic care! 
  • Bumps, Bruises, and Nighttime Care
If your child has issues sleeping at night or sleeping through the night as they begin sleep training, chiropractic care can be the missing piece in fighting these difficulties! They might not be sleeping well due to pain caused by a subluxation or their body being out of alignment. Chiropractic care can also assist in minimizing injuries, which our little ones are at the risk of experiencing. It can help keep their little joints and ligaments strong and it can help them comfortably transition from crawling to walking. When they do fall at this young age, these little bumps and falls can lead to small traumas that can cause subluxations and stress that could lead to long-term health issues or issues later down the line. Chiropractic can help remove these issues and prevent health problems from appearing later in life! 

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! 

0 Comments

A Safe and Healthy New Year; Tips and Tricks from Dr. Bob

1/19/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
A brand new year is here! I want to share some of the best tips you can do for your body to keep healthy and happy in 2021! 

Hello everyone! It's Dr. Bob Salamon with Lowcountry Chiropractic. Welcome back to the blog and a very Happy New Year to you! I hope you're staying safe and well out there, and I hope you're taking care of yourselves! Welcome to 2021! I think we are all very happy to see it here, and we are all happy to get out of last year and all of its craziness. With a new year comes resolutions to work out, eat better, and be healthier overall, right? Sadly, these resolutions usually only last for a short time. In honor of that and in honor of 2021, I want to help you achieve your goals. So, I wanted to share a list of things with you that you'll be able to stick with and make part of your everyday life, to make sure this year and beyond are the healthiest they can be. If you do everything on this list that you're about to read, you will get healthier without question. It's a simple list, but I won't lie to you; it won't be easy. Each of the listed items takes effort on your part to incorporate them into your lifestyle. I personally have nothing to do with this list, outside of providing it for you, except for the last point we will talk about today. Let's kick off this new year and jump into this list to start on a healthier and happier you! 

#1 Go Green! 
I'm not talking about saving the earth, I'm not talking about saving trees from getting cut down, and I'm not talking about global warming. I am talking about eating healthy and eating green things. Some of the best ways to eat green are by eating things like salads, fruits, and vegetables. It's not only about eating green things but also about eating multicolored things. They call this kind of diet "eating the rainbow" because those are the things that have a lot of phytonutrients and antioxidants in them like berries, nuts, peppers, romaine lettuce, and much more. I eat a lot of my green food raw. I eat salads a lot, but at night I'll have a piece of fish with green beans and the green beans will be raw, because when you cook food it tends to remove the nutrients from it. When I say "go green" I really mean that you need to get away from eating food that's white or brown, and you need to eat colorful things that come out of the ground or grow on trees. Eating this way will help you become much healthier! Another reason to eat green is that they are alkaline in nature and not acidic. You'll find acidic elements in starches, bread, pasta, candy, and sweets. Fruits and veggies will make your body more alkaline. This is so important because diseases like cancer thrive in an acidic environment, and you don't want that! 

#2 Refine Your Life! 
What do I mean by this? I'm talking about refined sugars. You want to try to eliminate eating foods that have unnaturally occurring sugars in them and replace them with foods that only have natural sugars. Unfortunately, almost all the products you see on the shelves of a grocery store have a ton of refined sugars in them. Why do we want to avoid refined sugars? There are a lot of reasons, but the two most important are as follows:
  • When sugar is not metabolized by your body, it gets stored as fat in your tissues and organs.  This is obviously not a good thing.  Eating refined sugars at night is worse since your body does not have time to metabolize them.
  • Most importantly, sugar creates inflammation in your body. Inflammation can lead to a lot of problems with your organs, glands, blood vessels and joints. Inflammation in your joints can lead to arthritis and pain.

#3 Get a Supplemental Plan! 
I'm not talking about a medicare supplement for insurance.  I'm talking about health supplements to the foods that you eat. We are not going to get 100% of everything we need from the food that we eat every day. To help with this, you want to try and supplement your intake with various items. I take Juice Plus+, which is whole foods in capsules. If I'm not getting 100% of all my fruits, vegetables, and berries every day this supplement helps to bridge the gap between what I am eating and what I should be eating for a healthy body. In terms of supplementation, I take fish oil and coconut oil which are huge anti-inflammatories. You might want to consider adding one or more into your diet. Another supplement you should look into adding that I always talk about is vitamin D3. It is an extremely great and inexpensive supplement to boost your immune system. Boosting your immune system is so important when we are already dealing with COVID, the flu season, and more. You want your immune system to be working at 100% so it can defend itself against some of these dangerous things that are out there. I recommend most people take between 3000 to 5000 IUs of D3. I'm taking 10,000 right now during the pandemic. I will say that I haven't felt anything in terms of a sniffle or a sore throat since this pandemic has started, so I know it's doing something good for me! 

#4 Don't Be a Couch Potato! 
We've had a lot of couch potatoes in 2020 and so far into 2021 because a lot more people are working from home and they're not as active as they should be! You need to incorporate exercise into your routine. You need to add not only cardiovascular exercises like running, walking, swimming, or biking, but you also need to add in cross-training with weights, high-intensity interval training, and more to trick your body (in a good way!) to keep improving. If you do the same workout every time, your body gets lazy. You have to mix it up, which is why I do Crossfit.  Every class is different, incorporating different body parts every session. Don't be a couch potato!  You have to get up and start a habit. It takes three weeks to make or break a habit, so let's do this! 

#5 Rest and Relax! 
This means getting enough sleep every night, and that means at least 7-8 hours, which is recommended by the experts. The primary reason to get enough sleep is that during your REM stage of sleeping, your body is taking the time to repair itself from all the work you've done throughout the day. The neurons, synapses, the coverings and linings of your organs, your blood vessels, and your whole body heals and repairs itself when you're sleeping. 

#6 Don't Worry - Be Happy! 
What does this mean? Experts say about 95% of what we worry about is either really not important or is never going to happen, so we really shouldn't be worrying about them. We spend too much time worrying about things that aren't going to occur or even impact us. What I would challenge you to do this year is to take a more positive approach to life if you're not already. Try to look at the glass as being half full instead of half empty, and look at the blessings you have in your life instead of the negative things. Put a list together if you have to, but we all have many things we can be grateful for in life. This can give you a little joy and optimism as you go through this year. 

#7 Get Connected
This is the one thing on the list that you need me for! I'm not talking about getting connected on social media (shoutout to Creative Consulting for doing an amazing job!). No, this is getting your brain and body to talk to one another. This is the only way your body is going to stay optimally healthy. There is a little thing called the spinal cord that connects the brain to all of your body parts, along with the nerves that go out from your spinal cord. If you don't take care of your spinal cord and the spinal nerves, your brain (which makes all of your body's decisions and sends out all the messages out to your body) will be sending those messages out, but they will reach their destinations improperly. So, the body is not going to be effectively doing the work that the brain wants it to. Also, if those nerves aren't working properly, the body can't communicate back to the brain. The brain will then not know what decisions it should really be making.

How do you keep this connection working properly between your brain and your body? Go to a chiropractor! I am trained to remove subluxations of the spine, which are conditions where the vertebrae are irritating a spinal nerve and interfering up the conduction of mental, electrical and chemical impulses from the brain to the body. I and my fellow chiropractors are trained to remove those subluxations from your body and allow your brain and body to communicate as they should! It's amazing what benefits you'll see when your body is free from subluxations. By removing subluxations, your body can experience: 
  • Pain reduction/elimination including headache resolution
  • Resolution of acid reflux
  • Reduction of sinus issues
  • Strengthening of your immune system
  • Sleeping better
  • Having better respiratory healthy
  • Having better digestive health
  • Eliminating or controlling diabetes and high blood pressure without lots of medication
  • Restoring energy levels
  • Reduction of insomnia
  • And much more! 
Remember these issues can be helped without the use of dangerous medications that alway have side effects. There is so much that goes hand in hand with chiropractic care because the nerves that come out of your spine do everything and control every function of your body. This is how you get connected! If you need to get connected, you know who to call or email - it's me! Dr. Bob Salamon! 

I don't want you to stress out and think that you have to do this list perfectly. You just need to follow it fairly well, because if you're not doing any of them and you implement even some of  them into your life, you'll see a huge improvement in your health this year. You'll lose the weight that you want to lose, you'll build muscle mass, you'll sleep better, you'll have more energy, you'll have better focus, and you won't get sick as often. The real important thing on this list, outside of the essential chiropractic care, is nutrition. Nutrition is the most important thing you can do for yourself in 2021, but of course, I want you to do this whole list! 

I hope this helps and gives you a little encouragement for the new year. This is going to be a better year for you but you have to want to make it better! ! If you need any help with the items on this list, we do offer consultation on each of these topics. Come see me, call me, or email me to get started. Remember, I am Dr. Bob and I've got your back covered. See you next time, readers. Stay safe out there and Happy New Year!  


0 Comments

Consistent Chiropractic Care; Why You Don't Need to Be In Pain for a Visit

11/25/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
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! 

  • Avoid Going Under The Knife
Chiropractic care is based on the fact that your spine affects every system in your body. If a subluxation (misaligned vertebra causing a pinched nerve) is blocking a message from traveling from your brain to a part of the body, your body will suffer. Treating issues that stem from a subluxation with chiropractic care can help you avoid using over the counter or prescription drugs to help manage your pain or other effects of your subluxations. Chiropractic care can also be an all-natural treatment that helps you avoid invasive, unnecessary and expensive surgeries. Consistent chiropractic care helps to naturally keep your body aligned, helps it function properly, and helps keep your body strong. This can help prevent accidents, everyday wear and tear, and other issues that could eventually lead to surgery and/or strong prescription medications, both of which are better to avoid at all costs. 

  • Pandemic Pivot
Many of my patients and readers have seen a huge shift in their day to day work schedule due to the ongoing pandemic. Many of them did or continue to work from home, which has come with its own share of wear and tear. Rolling out of bed and into your work chair until 5 PM comes has led to more and more time just sitting through the workday. The pandemic itself has also promoted a much more sedentary lifestyle for more people.  Binging our favorite Netflix shows and polishing off that pile of books we've been wanting to read has finally happened, but at what cost to our backs?

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. 

  • Squeaky Wheel
Going to a chiropractor consistently is the equivalent of getting oil changes and tuneups on your car. You can catch issues early before they become big problems, and you might even be able to prevent some issues entirely if you keep up with this maintenance. Consistent chiropractic care works exactly the same. One of the most common things that can be avoided or managed with chiropractic care is arthritis. My primary job is to keep your spinal bones moving smoothly and correctly, and as long as that happens it can prevent calcium deposits from forming and causing bone spurs, which leads to inflammation and arthritis.  If arthritis is a common malady in your family's medical history, please come and see me as soon as you can. This no longer needs to be something you're dreading.  You can leave your worries behind while promoting optimal health throughout your whole body. 

  • Ball of Nerves
If 2020 has given us anything, it's a heaping pile of stress and anxiety that no one asked for. While these are emotional responses we have in response to what is happening in our lives and the world around us, it takes a physical toll on our bodies too. These heavy emotional moments and feelings that we carry around with us can cause some very serious repercussions. While many people don't like to admit that they're dealing with these emotions, they are just shoving even more pressure on their bodies by not dealing with them. Every human body responds to stress and anxiety in its own unique way, but one of the most common is an extreme amount of pressure placed on your back, shoulders, and neck. What is one of the best natural defenses against this? Chiropractic care! It is an incredible non-invasive way to help deal with the consequences of life. It also feels great and is an overall relaxing experience. 

  • Better Bellies
Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner, and that means many days filled with large, delicious, rich, and difficult to digest meals headed your way. With that in mind, you will be wanting to visit me to deal with the results of poor nutrition. Many digestive issues such as constipation, IBS, food intolerance, gas, and acid reflux can all be connected to poor posture, subluxations, inflammation, high stress levels, a bad diet, and a sedentary lifestyle. As I have already mentioned, continued chiropractic care can help prevent and eliminate stress, poor posture, subluxations, and a sedentary lifestyle. It also helps deal with and combat inflammation which is the major cause of pain.  While chiropractic care doesn't automatically make you eat better, I frequently talk and write about how eating properly can help your body function at optimal levels. 

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!

0 Comments

Building a Better Immune System!

10/19/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
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!

0 Comments

The Truth About Osteoarthritis

9/2/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Something is lurking in the joints of millions of Americans every year:  the very real pain of arthritis. 

Hi everyone! It's Dr. Bob Salamon here with Lowcountry Chiropractic. I hope everyone is doing well. Today we are going to be discussing a topic that is very prevalent in our country, and that is arthritis. A lot of people have it and suffer from its pain every day. In this blog,  I want to put arthritis into perspective. I want to explain what arthritis is and some of the many ways you can treat it. There are many different types of arthritis; there is rheumatoid arthritis, which is an autoimmune problem, psoriatic arthritis, enteropathic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, gout and many more. In this blog though, we are going to be discussing the most common type of arthritis, and that is osteoarthritis. It is also called DJD or DDD, which stands for degenerative joint disease or degenerative disc disease. 

Why is it important to get a grip on your arthritis? The main reason is that it is a degenerative condition. If you don't take care of it, it will more than likely get worse as you get older. Why is that important? Osteoarthritis will and can destroy or at a minimum cause a lot of pain in your joints. It can appear in your hands, your spine, your knees, hips, shoulders, and almost everywhere else in your body. This type of arthritis causes pain because of the inflammation surrounding the joint it is affecting. 

Let's talk about osteoarthritis. Our bodies get out of symmetry as we go through our daily lives. Typically, this type of arthritis is caused by asymmetry, and your joints start to work improperly because they are not working symmetrically. This can happen in your spine as well. You'll find that if you have a vertebra or two that is locked or misaligned,  it's going to put a lot of stress on that joint. What the body does in reaction to this misalignment is it takes calcium out of the bloodstream, and sends it to that affected area to strengthen it. In theory, that sounds like it would make total sense, but what happens is that calcium deposits can form which leads to spurring. In addition, asymmetry causes the discs in your spine or cartilage in your peripheral joints to wear thin. You don't want spurs in a joint that aren't supposed to be there; they're going to get in the way of your ligaments, tendons, and the space the joint uses to properly move. These spurs are going to cause you a lot of pain because of the inflammation they cause. As we know, inflammation leads to serious pain. This is what is happening to your body when you have osteoarthritis. 

The next question then becomes, how do you manage this condition? As I mentioned before, if you don't do something about your osteoarthritis, it is going to get worse. The medical approach is usually some kind of steroidal anti-inflammatory product or injection to the affected joint. These products are created to take out some of the inflammation so you feel better. These remedies don't do much for correcting the cause of your arthritis, and steroids carry their own set of pretty nasty symptoms that might not appear until much later.  

How can chiropractic help? Chiropractic looks at a particular joint (in your spine, shoulder, hands, etc.) and figures out whether or not the bones in that joint are moving properly. What chiropractors do is adjust or treat that bone or bones to restore the proper motion to that joint. Once this happens, your body can work symmetrically and the degenerative process can be stopped.  If the degenerative process is slowed down or stopped the inflammation will decrease, and the pain will get better. If you have arthritis, chiropractic care is something that you need to seriously think about incorporating into your health protocol.

I also recommend a few supplements to my patients that help with inflammation connected to osteoarthritis that help with the pain in a natural way. 

1. Fish oil! If you're going to use this, please use high-quality fish oil. 
2. Coconut Oil! Most people don't know much about the benefits of this oil, but just like fish oil, it can do wonders for inflammation. If you want to add this oil to your diet, take a couple tablespoons preferably after a meal.  Always make sure you use high-quality coconut oil. I recommend virgin, organic cold-pressed brands. 
3. Turmeric is a great spice that you can put in your food or take in pill form that also helps with inflammation and the effects of osteoarthritis. 

Exercise can also help, but if the joint is damaged you want to be careful about doing too much repetitive exercise to the affected joint. Also, be very careful when doing too much weight-bearing or load-bearing exercises with that joint. Getting in a pool and swimming and some lightweight workouts are good to keep your affected joints moving. 
​

I hope this helps! If you're suffering from osteoarthritis or think you might be, please make an appointment to come to the office. We will do a very thorough exam (including x-rays), show you exactly what's going on and what is causing your problems. We will then get to work on fixing those problems so you can get healthy, out of pain and prevent that degenerative process from getting worse. I am Dr. Bob Salamon, and I have your back covered! Stay well! 
0 Comments

The Importance Of Brain Function

6/29/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Your brain controls your entire body. Did you know that taking care of your body can help give back to your brain and improve its function and health every day?  

Hey everybody! It's Dr. Bob Salamon here with Lowcountry Chiropractic! Today, we are going to be talking about brain function, which is so important! We're going to be talking about some natural things, foods you can eat, and things you can do, all of which can improve your brain function and health. Why is this important? Your brain is the master controller of your body. Your brain controls and regulates every function and system in your body. This includes your immune system, which is so important right now! If your brain is not being nourished and it's not as healthy as it should be, it's not going to work properly. The rest of your body won't function as it should either, including that important immune system! 

What CAN we do? Let's talk about some very simple things that we can do to help keep our brain and brain function healthy! 

Resting! 
We need to get enough sleep at night. The time spent during our REM (rapid eye movement) cycle is when all of our protein bridges and synapses in the brain repair and heal themselves. If we are not getting enough rest, your brain and other parts of your body do not have that time to repair and heal. This will cause them to break down a lot quicker. Everyone is different; some people can get by with less than the recommended 7 to 8 hours of sleep, while others need more. But, I would recommend that you try and get as much sleep as possible, not just what you can get by on. Go to bed sooner, put down your phone, turn off Netflix, and force yourself to get that extra rest. Your brain and body will thank you for it! 

Nutrition!
The second piece of the puzzle that you can do for yourself is having good nutrition. There are at least 10 food items that will increase brain function and brain health. The common theme with these products is that they are antioxidants; they take oxidative stress off your brain and allow it to stay healthier and to heal quicker. These foods are also anti-inflammatory agents. We know that inflammation on your joints is bad, and creates pain. Inflammation on your brain is much worse. Over time, this pressure dulls the senses and can lead to the development of dementia or Alzheimer's down the road. These ten items can help you prevent these issues down the line and keep your brain healthy now!
  • Fish oil - This increases blood flow to the brain and nourishes the membranes surrounding the brain cells. 
  • Coconut oil (virgin organic cold pressed) - It is a huge anti-inflammatory and does similar things like fish oil. 
  • Dark Chocolate- Believe it or not! It is an antioxidant and can reduce oxidative stress on the brain. 
  • Berries - They are filled with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents. 
  • Nuts and Seeds. 
  • Coffee - Believe it or not, again! Coffee can, according to studies, increase the brain's capacity to process information. 
  • Avocados - They have good fat and are a superfood! They can also reduce blood pressure. Increases in blood pressure are known to affect the brain negatively. 
  • Peanuts - One of my favorite foods! They have a lot of good unsaturated fat and protein. They're also great antioxidants. 
  • Eggs - They can prevent brain shrinkage. 
  • Broccoli & Kale - Both help reduce and repair oxidative stress on your body and in your brain. 
  • Think about eating and drinking these items if you aren't already! 

Chiropractic Care
I'm a chiropractor, so of course, I want to talk about chiropractic care and how it affects brain function. Many studies have been done on the effects of chiropractic adjustments on brain function. There have been brain scans that have been performed pre and post chiropractic adjustments on the same day. The pre-adjustment brain is muted, the colors don't pop and it is just sort of existing. That post adjustment brain is lit up and thriving. We know definitively that chiropractic adjustments improve and increase brain function and communication. 

I do want to reference the Journal of Neural Plasticity from January 2016 here as well. This study and journal is a medical one, not a chiropractic one. This study shows that chiropractic spinal adjustments significantly increase activity in the brain's prefrontal cortex. This is the area where higher learning and cognition happens. The journal goes on to say that the prefrontal cortex is also responsible for behavior, goal-directed tasks, decision making, memory and attention, intelligence, processing of pain and the emotional response to it, autonomic function, motor control, eye movement, and spatial movements. All of these are pretty important! In my opinion, if you're not under chiropractic care because you don't think you need it (because you're not in pain) please remember this journal and this blog! Chiropractic care will improve your brain function now and later down the road. 

I hope this information is helpful. I hope you will use it and apply it to your life. If any of you out there needs some stimulus to the brain, which we all do, look us up! Give us a call, send us an email, we'd love to examine you and take a look. We'd love to take some X-rays to see what we can do to help you get healthier. Until next time, I'm Dr. Bob and I have your back covered. Take care! 

To read more about the study I mentioned in today's blog, please follow the link below: 
https://waldronchiropractic.com/study-chiropractic-adjustments-change-brain-function/

0 Comments

Pregnancy and Chiropractic Care

2/28/2020

2 Comments

 
Picture
When your body is going through a huge change as miraculous and wonderful as pregnancy, it's a good idea to make sure your body is optimally healthy. One of the best things you can do for yourself is to get regular chiropractic care. Chiropractic care helps make pregnancy safer, more comfortable, and easier on you and your baby!

I have been talking a lot about healthy lifestyles and the best things for you to reach your highest level of health, with chiropractic care being one of the top priorities on that list. Healthy eating, exercise, rest and relaxation, and positive thinking are the other four important practices that contribute to a healthier you. One of the most common questions I hear is whether it is safe to receive chiropractic care during pregnancy. If you read my blog on my FAQs, then you will absolutely know it is! I wanted to spend a little more time discussing this topic and to share why chiropractic is one of the best things you can do for yourself as an expectant mother and how much it will help your baby!
I would recommend that any pregnant woman strongly consider chiropractic care. It is an excellent way to deal with pain, changes in your body, and to help ensure safer pregnancy and childbirth. As a pregnant woman grows and the baby gets bigger, a woman's center of gravity changes, which can affect posture. This can create a lot of pain in your lower back and hips. Chiropractic care can help keep the spine aligned, help keep pressure off the nerves and keep pain at a minimum, if not get rid of it completely. Spinal misalignments (subluxations) can result from these changes in your body, creating pain for you on top of the many other physical changes you're going through. When subluxations get removed from your spine, pain in the back, neck, hips and other joints is diminished. Chiropractic can also help strengthen your body so that these changes don't affect you as harshly.  It can also help control nausea and its symptoms, along with helping you sleep through the night during your pregnancy.
I, along with most chiropractors am trained to care for pregnant patients.  We believe that it should be a part of your routine care during your pregnancy, just like any of your other doctor's appointments. Table adjustments will be made for a mother's growing belly and the techniques used will not put pressure on the abdomen. I am specifically trained to help with any breech presentation, helping to keep the baby in proper alignment for a healthy and safe birth. Not only does chiropractic care help the mother, but it can also offer wonderful benefits for a baby too. It can help widen and keep the pelvis open, along with keeping it aligned. This provides the baby with room to move through the birth canal, leading to an easier, quicker and less painful delivery. If the pelvis is out of alignment, it can be very difficult for the baby to move to the optimal position to be born. If the baby is not in the right position, it might affect having a natural and noninvasive birthing process, leading to a c-section.
As I have mentioned before, chiropractic care helps keep the spine aligned, allowing all messages from the brain to travel through the nerves without any interference. This then allows the body to function as it should and at its highest level. Another great reason to go to a chiropractor during your pregnancy is that your baby is getting all of their nutrients from you. If your body isn't optimally healthy, you're not passing 100% of health through your nutrition along to the baby. If you want your baby to be healthy, you want to stay healthy.
Pain during pregnancy is not uncommon, but that doesn't mean you should accept it as part of the experience. Don't just assume that having joint and body pain is something normal that you will have to suffer through just because you're pregnant. Chiropractic care can help ease if not eliminate pain connected to pregnancy related subluxations. Chiropractic care is great for pregnant women because it offers a drug-free option of easing pain, tension, nausea, and insomnia. The use of over the counter or prescription drugs is not recommended for pregnant women because drugs can cause harm to both mother and baby. Chiropractic care can help manage pregnancy related pain without using medications.
As I mentioned above, it is very important to follow and practice the 5 elements of health during your pregnancy. As those food cravings start coming during pregnancy, try to avoid those processed sugars and saturated fats as much as possible. Keep eating as healthy as possible. Rest and relax, drink plenty of water, and stay active (as much as your doctor says is safe!). If you have any questions about chiropractic care during your pregnancy please don't hesitate to reach out and call us. I would be more than happy to talk about your concerns and to get you started on your chiropractic journey! Until then, I'm Dr. Bob and I've got your back covered. Take care!


2 Comments

Reading Between The Lines

2/13/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Nutrition is one of the five elements of health, and one of the most important ones that can guarantee a healthy and happy life. One of the best places to start is paying attention to what's inside your food before you eat it! Where can you start to find this information? The nutrition labels! 

Hi everybody, it's Dr. Bob Salamon here with Lowcountry Chiropractic. You know, we talk about the five factors of health quite often. Those five factors are nutrition, exercise, rest and relaxation, positive mental attitude, and chiropractic care. This blog is going to be dedicated to factor number one, nutrition! I am going to be working my way through a nutrition label found on the side of a cereal box to guide us through this blog and to talk about what you should be looking for in your foods and what you should be avoiding. The FDA requires companies to put these labels on their food products to let the consumer know what's inside the food they're buying. It's the best way to determine if what you're eating is healthy or not. 

The cereal box I am looking at is a knock off brand of cereal called "Multigrain Tasteeos". This cereal isn't too bad when it comes to nutrition, but it's not as healthy as it could be. Let's dig in! 
  • Calories The first line on my cereal box is calories. Now, I'm not too concerned with that number. I believe there are more important components inside your food than worrying about those numbers. 
  • Fat Content The next line on my cereal box is the total fat content, which is very important. In my cereal, the total fat content is only 1 gram, and none of it is saturated fat. That's good! When looking at a product, in terms of the fat content, you want to make sure the majority of the fat is unsaturated. You don't want a lot of saturated fat or trans fats in your foods. In food processing, there is a term called hydrogenation. This process changes the chemical bond of a certain product into a trans fat configuration, which is a very unhealthy product. This process is banned in some countries because the product it creates is so unhealthy. Naturally occurring fats, like those in avocados, are good for your body and its functions. When picking out a product and looking at its fat content, you need to make sure that the saturated fat content is as low as possible and the unsaturated fat is as high as possible. If the label mentions that it has been hydrogenated, remember that means something inside the food has been chemically altered, making the product a trans fat. Trans fats are bad because our bodies cannot break them down or digest them properly. When that happens, you can form clogged arteries and all kinds of other issues. 
  • Cholesterol The next line down on the cereal box's nutrition label is cholesterol. There is no cholesterol in my cereal, but cholesterol is something you don't want too much of. Cholesterol is a building block for the cell membranes around your heart and organs. It is pretty important to have. But, your liver produces plenty of it and you don't need to add any more to your body. 
  • Sodium The next line down on the label is sodium. This product has 120 milligrams of sodium, which is not bad. Some of your more processed foods, if you look at frozen dinners and such, advertise that they are low in fat or no fat, which is great. But, a lot of the time these products have a lot of sodium and refined sugars in them. So you need to be very careful there. 
  • Carbohydrates The next line down on the nutrition label is carbohydrates. Proteins, fats, and carbohydrates are building blocks in our bodies and we need to be eating the right portions of each to keep our bodies happy and healthy. But, in my cereal, there are 23 grams of carbs. 3 of these grams are made up of fiber, and 6 of them are composed of sugars (most probably refined sugars), and the rest are other carbohydrates. So, what you want to do, especially if you're buying cereal, is to pay attention to the sugar content. Most cereals have a lot of sugars put in them, sometimes between 20-25 grams worth which is far too much. Cereals like Special K have a much safer and healthier lever of sugar. Why is sugar and refined sugar so bad for you? The primary reason is that it increases inflammation in your body. Inflammation on your brain, organs, and joints is never good! 
  • Protein At the bottom of the nutrition label, is protein. In this cereal, there are 2 grams of protein, which is not a lot but we do need to get our proteins any way we can. We can get them in animal products like meats or fish, and nuts or beans. 
  • The Fine Print Below the list of ingredients, it lists all the vitamins and such that are found inside this particular cereal. The last thing that I always look at on a label is the list of ingredients. Here is the rule of thumb when looking at this list. The shorter the list of ingredients, the healthier the product will be. In the longer lists are your additives and dyes, hydrogenated products, and a lot of other things you don't want in your diet. You want a purely natural product. The next time you're at the grocery store, look at the labels of regular bread versus an organic loaf of bread. The regular loaf will have a lot more ingredients. You might find enriched wheat, which you don't want to eat, along with other additives that are bad for you. A lot of the time the stuff you can't pronounce in the ingredient list are the bad things you don't want to be eating. If you can't pronounce it, try not to eat it or buy products with these things inside them! 

This is how I look at and read labels. You want to get into the habit of reading your labels and paying attention to what is inside the food you're eating. The front of your food products can say anything that makes you think it's a healthy product. But until you read those nutrition labels, you don't know for sure. So why does this all matter? Nutrition is one of the five factors of health, and so is chiropractic care. How does chiropractic care help with your nutrition? Your digestive organs are getting nerve supply from your spine. If this supply is being impeded in some way due to a subluxation or a bone out of alignment, then the nerve supply into that organ (your stomach, intestines, colon) won't be working as efficiently as possible. Your organs won't be extracting the maximum amount of nutrients from your food as it could be and it is just letting it pass through your system. Chiropractic care can help you get the most out of your nutrition, especially if you're eating healthy products. Chiropractic care will help your digestive system work as it's supposed to. 
​

I hope that helps and I hope these little nuggets of information help you on your nutritional journey. If you feel like your nutrition is not where you'd like it, I would love to talk to you about it. Reach out to us and we will get you in to discuss the next best steps for you and your nutrition. Until then, I'm Dr. Bob and I've got your back covered. Take care!


0 Comments

How Chiropractic Care Can Help Arthritis

1/2/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
One of the most common forms of pain, arthritis, haunts millions of Americans every year. Could chiropractic care be one of the best routes to avoid this pain and help alleviate the pain for those already suffering? 
Hey everybody! Dr. Bob Salamon here at Lowcountry Chiropractic. For this blog, we are going to be discussing arthritis. Arthritis affects about 54 million Americans every year. We are going to be focusing on osteoarthritis, which is the most common type.  There are many other types of arthritis like rheumatoid, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic, and infectious arthritis, but not as many people suffer from these types of arthritis compared to the number of people who suffer from osteoarthritis. 
Another common term for osteoarthritis is ‘degenerative joint disease’. This condition will get worse if you don't take care of it. It will slowly break down your joints. Which joints does this exactly affect? Almost any of them. It can affect your spinal bones, your knees, your ankles, your wrists, and your shoulder joints. Any of your body's articulation points can suffer from arthritis. 
What is arthritis?  Medical experts don't have a cause for it, but we will get to that shortly.  At its base, arthritis is an inflammatory condition of the joints that can cause swelling, lack of range of motion, pain, and discomfort.   Medications are one way to treat arthritis, but anti-inflammatory drugs just cover up the pain you're experiencing. Medications aren't addressing the issue or cause of your pain. Therefore you might not feel the pain as much when you use anti-inflammatories, but they can make the problem worse.
There are three steps you can take that can naturally help you treat and deal with the pain of arthritis without medications. They are simple, and ones that are worth taking the time to do. Let's talk about each of them.
  • Your Diet
    • Nutrition impacts arthritis in a big way. You need to be eating foods with little or no refined sugars. We discussed this in our last blog when I mentioned "going green" and "refining your life". Sugars are inflammatory agents. They cause inflammation in your body. If you can eliminate processed foods like desserts, pasta, bread, and other foods that have refined sugars in them, you're going to start feeling so much better. 
    • You need to consider consuming less saturated fats, fried foods, and anything that has hydrogenated oils in them. These foods will affect arthritic conditions too. They are also inflammatory agents. 
    • Eating better means adding more fruits, vegetables, and nuts to your diet.
    • You need to be drinking plenty of water. Water will help flush out some of the inflammation found in your joints. 
  • Staying Active
    • The next step in helping your arthritis is to exercise. Your joints need to be moving. If you have a doctor that tells you "Oh, your back is bothering you, go lay in bed for a week", that's NOT the answer. That is going to make things worse. Your body and the receptors in your body need movement. They need to stay moving to remain healthy. 
  • Chiropractic Care
    • The third step is to get chiropractic care. Why is chiropractic care helpful for arthritis? I'll give you a little analogy. If you're driving your car and your front end is out of alignment, what's going to happen when you're driving on the highway? If you take your hands off of the wheel, you're going to find that the car is going to pull to either the right or the left. If it pulls to the right, the tires, breaks, and everything on that side are going to wear down a lot more quickly than they are on the left side. The same is true in your body. If your joints are not moving symmetrically, the weak side will wear out more quickly, and your body will lay down extra calcium on the weak side, this creating spurring and inflammation. You need to keep both your car and body in alignment. If you don't, that tire or arthritic spot is going to continue to get worse. 
    • The same situation is found in chiropractic.  Maybe you've had a fall, you had some trauma, and something got out of alignment. Your body will be fighting to restore homeostasis and symmetry, but it won't be able to. What it does then is put down that extra calcium to protect that weak area, thus causing more problems.
    • What I do as a chiropractor is determine what areas of your body are out of alignment. I adjust or correct those areas and get the body working symmetrically again. Effective chiropractic care can stop arthritic degeneration. In some cases, it can even reverse it. It depends on the severity and age of the arthritic condition.
So, that's how nutrition, exercise, and chiropractic can help with arthritis. It is very important to do all of these steps. I tell all of my patients that you have to keep your spine aligned and keep your body symmetrical to keep that arthritis out of your body. If any of you are suffering from arthritis or think you might have it, it's not a death sentence. It can be managed and helped. You can see results with less pain and inflammation. Please, if you're suffering, contact us. We would love to have you come in and do a thorough exam and x-rays. Having an x-ray taken is the most cost effective way to know if you have any arthritis. If you have arthritic conditions, we will be able to help you!
That's it for today. I look forward to seeing you soon!
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018

    Categories

    All
    A Better Life For The Elderly
    Acid Reflux
    ADHD
    Adjustment
    Adrenal Support Products North Charleston Sc
    Alignment
    Allergies
    Alternative
    Alternative Treatment
    Alzheimer's
    Ankle Pain
    Ankylosing Spondylitis Arthritis
    Anxiety
    Arthritis
    Avoid Refined Sugars
    Back Pain
    Benefits Of Chiropractic
    Bilingual
    Bilingual Chiropractic Office North Charleston
    Blood Pressure
    Bowels
    Brain
    Brain Function
    Car Accident
    Car Accidents
    Care For Children
    Caring For Knee Pain
    Caring For You During The Pandemic
    Carpal Tunnel
    Carpal Tunnel Bones
    Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
    Chiropractic
    Chiropractic Adjustments North Charleston Sc
    Chiropractic Care
    Chiropractic Care And Car Accidents
    Chiropractic Care At Any Age
    Chiropractic Care For Children
    Chiropractic Care For Pregnancy
    Chiropractic Care For Pregnant Women
    Chiropractic Care For The Elderly
    Chiropractic Care North Charleston
    Chiropractic Xray
    Chiropractor
    Chiropractor North Charleston Sc
    Chiropratic Care Charleston
    Chiropratic Care For Better Bellies
    Chiropratic Care For Children Is Safe
    Chiropratic Care Summerville
    Chiropratic Myths
    Cholesterol
    Cholesterol Is Bad!
    Cholesterol Isn't Bad!
    Cold And Flu
    Considering Medications
    Consistent Chiropratic Care
    Constipation
    Coronavirus
    COVID 19
    COVID-19
    D3 Supplement
    Deductible
    Deep Tissue Massage
    Dementia
    Depression
    Diagnostic Imaging
    Diet
    Donating Food
    Dr. Joseph Mercola
    Eat Healthy
    Eat The Rainbow
    Elbow Pain
    Elderly
    Exercise
    Fasting Blood Sugar
    Fixing Subluxations
    Fix Your Subluxation
    Flu Season
    Foot Pain
    Frequently Asked Questions
    GERD
    Geriatric
    Giving Back To North Charleston
    Giving Back To Summerville
    Giving Back To Your Community
    Go Green
    Good Mattress
    Good Night Sleep
    Good Pillow
    Hand Pain
    Headache
    Headache Cluster
    Headaches
    Healthcare For Children
    Healthy Body
    Healthy Cholesterol
    Healthy Diet
    Healthy Eating
    Healthy Lifestyle
    Healthy Spine
    Helping The North Charleston Food Bank
    Herniations
    High Blood Pressure
    High Cholesterol Is Caused By A Bad Diet.
    Hip Flexor
    Hip Pain
    Hispanic
    Holiday Promotion
    Holiday Promotion 2020
    Holidays 2020
    Holidays 2020 Charleston
    Holiday Safety
    Holiday Safety For Your Back
    Holiday Safety For Your Back 2020
    Immune System
    Important Stretches
    Infectious Arthritis
    Insurance
    Knee Pain
    Knees
    LBP
    LDL Molecules
    Lower Back Pain
    Margarine Is Better For You Than Butter.
    Massage
    Massage North Charleston Sc
    Massage Therapy
    Mattress
    Migraine
    More Things To Consider For Measuring Heart Health
    Natural Care
    Natural Remedies
    Neck Pain
    Nerve Damage
    New Years Resolution
    NMR Profile
    No More Refined Sugar
    Non-invasive Treatment Options
    North Charleston Foodbank
    Osteoarthritis
    Our FAQ
    Our Office Speaks Spanish
    Out Of Alignment
    Pain Management
    Pandemic
    Pandemic 2020
    Peripheral Neuropathy
    Pillow
    Pinched Nerve
    Post-Accident Care
    Pregnancy
    Prenatal Chiropractic Care
    Preventative Care
    Prevntion
    Proper Nutrition
    Psoas Muscles
    Psoriatic Arthritis
    Quality Of Life
    Reasons Behind Knee Pain
    Refined Sugar
    Rehabilitative Care
    Research
    Rest And Relax
    Rheumatoid Arthritis
    Safe Driving
    Sciatica
    Seasonal Allergies
    Shoulder Pain
    Sinus Issues
    Skull Pain
    Sleep/Rest
    Spanish
    Spanish Speaking Chiropratic Office North Charleston
    Speaking In Spanish For Patients
    Spinal Stenosis
    Spine
    Statin Drugs
    Stress
    Stretches
    Stretching
    Subluxation
    Supplements
    Surgery
    Swedish Massage
    Tension Headache
    Tension Headaches
    The Brain
    Therapeutic Massage North Charleston Sc
    The Wellness Formula
    Tips
    Unhealthy Cholesterol
    Vaccination
    Vaccinations
    Vaccine
    Visit Your Chiropractor
    Vitamin D3
    Vlog
    Vlogs
    Vlogs In Spanish
    What Are The Healthy Non-prescription Ways To Treat Your Cholesterol And Heart Disease?
    Whiplash
    Whip Lash
    Whole Body Chiropractic
    Why The Elderly Should Recieve Chiropractic Care
    Workout
    Work Out
    Wrist Pain
    Xrays For Chiropratic Care
    You Don't Need To Be In Pain To Visit Your Chiropractor

    RSS Feed

Dr. Bob Salamon
8988 University Blvd., Suite 104
North Charleston, SC 29406 
843-553-9383

bob.salamon@lcchiropractic.com
Office Hours:
​M, W, F: 10:00AM - 1:00PM & 3:00PM - 6:00PM
Saturday: By Appointment Only
Closed T, Th, Sunday


Site designed by Creative Consulting
Site powered by MadeSimply