 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:
#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:
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!
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 Dr. Bob is here to talk about a very common situation people find themselves in at some point in their lives - car accidents! Have you been in a car accident recently? Continue reading to learn why you may want to stop by and see us!
Hey everybody! It's Dr. Bob Salamon with Lowcountry Chiropractic! I hope you're all well out there and staying safe! Today we are going to talk about something pretty common on the roads here in South Carolina; car accidents! Since so many of us deal with car accidents, it is very important to talk about their effects on your body and what you can do to help yourself. Today we are going to be talking about the injuries that affect your spine after a car accident. The most common type of injury you'll find from a car accident is a whiplash injury. This injury can happen when you're stopped at a red light and someone comes plowing into the back of your car. Your head will flex back and forward very quickly, causing a shock to your neck and spine. What commonly happens is that this will create tension and stress on the muscles around the base of your neck, the top of your shoulders, and your upper back. When you are in a car accident, the damage done to the car does not necessarily correlate to the damage done to your body. Many insurance companies will try and reason that since your car wasn't damaged very badly you must not have been either. In these situations, medical bills might not be covered or taken care of, which can be very frustrating. The bottom line is that you were inside the damaged vehicle and subjected to rapid damaging motion from the impact of another car. This was not your fault, and you are now left with the pain in your back to show for someone else's mistake. When an accident occurs, what typically happens is that police will be called, papers and information are traded, and you may or may not take a trip to the hospital to get a CT Scan, some x-rays, and other procedures to see if you have any serious damage. A lot of patients come and pay us a visit after their trip to the emergency room. This comforts me to see them after an ER visit because I know they have already been checked out and they don't have a brain injury, fracture or other serious issues. Of course, we are still going to take our own set of x-rays when you come to get checked out at our offices after an accident. We do this because what we are looking for is not what your ER doctor was looking for. We are looking at whether the accident negatively affected the spine to cause the pain you could be feeling. We are looking to see if the accident caused your spine to get misaligned thus affecting spinal nerves. It is my job as a chiropractor to restore alignment to your misaligned vertebrae and to take the pressure off of the nerves coming out of those vertebrae. Irritated nerves from misaligned vertebrae can cause back pain, headaches, radiating pain down your arms and into your hands, sciatica and many other issues. Inflammation is going to be a big problem when you get into a car accident, and as we know, inflation causes pain. My job is to get you realigned (adjusted) and out of pain as quickly as possible. My advice is to visit your chiropractor as quickly as possible, to avoid being in pain for long periods. For those dealing with the effects of car accidents, therapeutic massage therapy is a wonderful service. The massage therapist will relax your affected muscles and remove toxins.. I will almost always have my personal injury patients see a massage therapist before an adjustment. This will allow me to do a more effective job adjusting your spine. I did want to make it very clear that even if you feel fine after an accident and have no symptoms, you should get checked by a chiropractor anyway. Symptoms can occur days, weeks, or even months after an accident, and you don’t want a car accident to leave you with chronic issues. I hope this has helped all of my readers out there. If you have unfortunately been in a car accident, please give us a call or send us an email. We would love to help you. We've helped lots of people with these issues and have a lot of experience in the area of personal injury. Until next time, I'm Dr. Bob and I've got your back covered!  Staying on top of your health and wellness is so important! Working out, eating well, and brushing your teeth are things we hopefully do regularly. Did you know that your chiropractic care is just as necessary for your body's maintenance?
Hi everybody! Dr. Bob here with Lowcountry Chiropractic. Today's blog is going to be dedicated to the maintenance for your chiropractic care. Anyone that has a car knows that they have to go in and get it serviced regularly. Rotating your tires, getting an oil change, and things of that nature need to happen regularly. This helps your car run better and last longer. Everyone I know brushes their teeth, works out, and tries to get enough sleep regularly. Why do we do these things? Inherently we know, like keeping up with basic maintenance on our cars, these things are going to help prolong our health, lifespan, and quality of life. They will also help prevent serious issues down the road if we take care of ourselves. Taking care of your body and putting good things into it will promote good things coming out of it. You can prevent cavities, help create a better sleep schedule, and keep your body fit and working at its optimal health all by maintaining these normal services to your body. With chiropractic care, it is very similar. Most people who come into my office, depending on what the condition is, are going to need some level of intensive care in the beginning. This is very normal, especially if they've never been to a chiropractor before. It is also very normal if the problems and issues in their spines and bodies have been around for a long time. There are four different goals of chiropractic care:
Wellness and maintenance care is a very important step in this process. It is something that is done or should be done anywhere between once a week to once a month. Most people need some care on an on-going basis to ensure that the work we've done on their spine is being maintained. This way things don't fall out of place and the problems don't reoccur. If you want to stay healthy, you have to continue going to your chiropractor. Once we've done all the work to get you lined up you're going to be exposed to physical, emotional, and chemical stresses in your life. These stresses will eat away at the weak areas in your spine that we work on fixing. These stresses can lead to you getting out of alignment again if you don't keep up with maintenance. A good analogy would be to look at what braces do on teeth. When you put them on, it doesn't take long for those teeth to change their position and become aligned. What does take time, up until the braces come off, is the remodeling of the gums and soft tissue around the new position of the teeth. This allows the teeth to stay in their new correct positions when the braces come off. Maintenance care in chiropractic is very similar to that. We know that we are subject to a lot of stresses in our lives that tend to harm our spine. Wellness care is there to make sure that we are doing everything we can for you to deal with these stresses. This will prevent you from returning to the state of health you were in when you first came into my office. Now, some people do come into the office and they don't have a lot of issues or pain. They might not need intensive care at the beginning of their treatment. But, they are certainly going to wellness care going forward just like anyone would. I hope this helps to clarify a little bit about why wellness care is so important in chiropractic. If any of you out there thinks you need a chiropractor, you probably do. If any of you out there is hurting, come in and we'll take a look. We will sit you down and go through a very thorough workup and take some x-rays if we need to. Then, we will get started on getting you back to health and maintaining your health with regular care. I hope this helps. I hope everybody out there is staying safe and well, and I look forward to next time. Take care!  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.
That's it for today. I look forward to seeing you soon!  One of the most common back pain issues affects over 200,000 people a year - but with regular treatments from your Chiropractor, your pain can be eliminated or managed. Most importantly, if already suffering, you can avoid going under your surgeon's knife.
Even though age is just a number and should never be something that holds you back - sometimes it's your back that betrays you as that number grows. One of the most common and painful diagnoses found in the neck and lower back is called Spinal Stenosis. Affecting over 200,000 people a year - back pain sufferers are no stranger to this malady. Many of you might already be aware of this disease, especially if osteoarthritis has become a part of your daily life. But if you're new to the world of back pain or have put a lot of wear and tear on your body over the years, or arthritis has started to settle in, now is the time to start paying attention. It is also time to start paying attention to how chiropractic care can alleviate this pain without surgery - so you can safely and comfortably continue living your life! Spinal stenosis is the narrowing of the space within your spine (the spinal canal) that can cause pressure on the nerves that travel through your spine. It causes a pinching of the spinal cord and possibly the nerve root which leads to pain, cramping, weakness, or numbing. The condition commonly appears in the neck and lower back and is most often caused by wear and tear over time causing arthritis. Anyone over the age of 50 is at risk of suffering from it, although it can happen in younger patients if they have been exposed to or have experienced trauma, scoliosis, and genetic diseases that affect bone muscle development. Other Causes can also be related to:
Symptoms to look out for in your neck:
According to the US Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, Chiropractic care is beneficial in the treatment of patients with spinal stenosis. Think of it as a preliminary treatment - something that can be done to prevent this diagnosis happening to you, help it from becoming worse if you already have been diagnosed, or slow the progression. Think about it - Chiropractic care focuses on keeping you properly aligned so your nervous system continues to work without being interrupted. This way it can function the way it's supposed to. Continued alignment care can also help the weight distribution on the spine to help it return to its normal functioning speed. So, if you start becoming a regular visitor of your Chiropractor - you may not ever have to know what spinal stenosis is! If you're diagnosed your doctor may start adding gentle adjustments to your care to help regain your range of motion and give you enough space in your back so the nervous system can continue its normal function. What else can greatly help is (doctor approved) exercises, stretches, and activities that boost joint function. Exercise keeps your muscles strong, improves your flexibility, boots strength, keeps your blood flowing, and helps reduce pain. If you have been diagnosed or put a lot of wear and tear on your body - don't jump to a surgeon or pain pills just yet. There might be a simpler and safer way of taking care of that back pain. You're not alone - and you're not without help. Dr. Bob will be here when you need him, and will give your back the care it needs and deserves!
Decrease your Stress
Come up with a routine that allows 30 minutes to an hour of relaxation before you get into bed at night. Take it a step further by having a nightly routine within that time frame. Continue to go through the steps of your nightly routine every night so your brain will become used to the steps and learn to become sleepy after the routine steps are completed Be Mindful of the Food you Eat Understanding what you’re putting in your body is beneficial in many aspects, but it is especially beneficial when it comes to bedtime. We eat in order to maintain energy throughout the day, and we get that energy through carbohydrates. Stay away from foods that contain carbs during the two hours before bedtime. Doing this will allow your body to fully relax and reach a point where sleep is desired. Chiropractic care is about more than just getting adjusted, it is about your overall health and wellness. It is crucial for us as human beings to be well rested for our day. If you are looking to receive a wonderful care plan consisting of chiropractic, reach out to Lowcountry Chiropractic today!  Chiropractic and Mental HealthIt is known that Chiropractic helps the nervous system as well as the entire body, but how does it affect the brain? Many people suffer from mental illnesses like depression, stress, and anxiety. At Lowcountry Chiropractic, we strive toward a body that achieves overall wellness including the brain. Here are a few ways Chiropractic can help assist a life with mental illness.
Mental illnesses are a wide range of characteristics and symptoms caused by chemical imbalances in the brain. Depression Within the field of Chiropractic, there are many different ways to go about aligning the spine. It has been studied that if an Orthospinology technique is used to focus on the upper cervical vertebrae of the spine, the patient may have relief of their depression as well as side effects of said depression. ADHD in children While it is not an attempt to change a child’s personality, a study has shown that Chiropractic can be beneficial in assisting children with ADHD symptoms. This includes attention span, impulse control, and hyperactivity. Adjusting the spine and aligning it properly relieves pressure on nerves and can serve as a relaxing treatment. Stress Every person has experienced stress at some point in their life. Stress can cause the body a multitude of problems ranging from misalignment to muscle tension. Chiropractic can assist in the relaxation of muscles and nervous system by centering the body. This ultimately results in a body rid of stress for the time being. Many factors cause stress, but having a care plan for your body can relieve it. Anxiety Falling under a category similar to stress, anxiety can cause the body to become unregulated. While most anxiety is felt in the stomach or chest, it can also cause the entire body discomfort. With Chiropractic, keeping the body on a regular schedule of alignment can assist the body in healing after anxiety attacks or episodes. Keeping your body well overall can be difficult and time consuming. However, with Lowcountry Chiropractic’s help, we can get you on a wellness care plan that can assist you and your body in becoming a healthy version of yourself. Your body and your brain will thank you! |
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