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3 Ways Pro Athletes Benefit From Chiropractic… & So Can You!

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Chiropractic care is a respected, effective treatment for a variety of conditions as well as for promoting overall wellness. Every day patients seek it out manage their pain, find relief from health issues, and recover from injuries.

What many may not realize is that an estimated 90 percent of top athletes use chiropractic to step up their game. You don’t have to be an athlete to step up your own game with chiropractic care. Here are three benefits that the pros enjoy – and you can too!

Chiropractic is an effective treatment for pain management.

Chiropractic has long been regarded as a natural, non-invasive, drug free approach to pain management. Numerous studies have proven its effectiveness in treating pain for a number of conditions and injuries. Many pro athletes utilize this option to manage their own pain from over taxed muscles and ligaments to activity related injuries.

When the spine not properly aligned it can put pressure or stress on other areas of the body. Spinal adjustments can help relieve pain in ligaments, joints, discs, and muscles. However, chiropractic techniques can be used on all parts of the body, including arms, hands, fingers, feet, hips, and knees.

Chiropractic helps in preventing injury and enhancing performance.

Doctors of Chiropractic understand that when it comes to treatment, there is not a one size fits all option. Every patient is different and they will tailor a custom plan that benefits the entire body based on lifestyle, activity level, age, health conditions, and other factors.

The first appointment will include a variety of evaluations that help the doctor determine the best course of treatment for you, including the activities you engage in and the frequency. This way he or she can get an idea of your risk of injury and the areas to concentrate on in your treatment. So, whether you are a pro football player or a weekend warrior, chiropractic can definitely improve your performance and help protect you from injury.

Chiropractic helps in treating many types of injuries.

For pro athletes, injuries are just part of the game. High impact sports like hockey, football, and wrestling tend to result in injuries, but even non-contact sports like baseball, cycling, and golf can lead to injuries as well.

Low impact as well as low impact athletes find great value in routine adjustments and spinal alignments. This alone helps to lower their risk of injury as well as improve flexibility and enhance performance. It can help reduce the stress and strain that all types of physical activity places on the body, whether you are a pro golfer or football player, or if you enjoy working in your garden or are a stay at home mom running after kids all day.

Some of the top names in pro sports rely on chiropractic to treat injuries, manage pain, and enhance athletic performance. You might recognize some of the names: Barry Bonds, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lance Armstrong, Evander Holyfield, Tiger Woods, Joe Montana, and Martina Navratilova are just a few. You don’t have to be an athlete, though, to reap the same benefits that the pros do. You can get them by scheduling an appointment with a chiropractor.

Chiropractic care is a safe, effective healthcare option that is appropriate for all ages and activity levels. Your Doctor of Chiropractic will sit down with you and work with you to create a treatment plan that is tailored to meet your unique needs.

Because this type of treatment focuses on the root of the problem instead of just managing symptoms, your own treatment plan will usually involve not only adjustments and chiropractic techniques, but dietary recommendations, exercises, and lifestyle modifications as well so that you enjoy whole body wellness.

Give our clinic a call to schedule your assessment today! Visit www.ocwc.ca for more health and wellness information.

How Chiropractic & Massage Therapy Work Hand-in-Hand

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Duos often create more exciting outcomes. Lewis and Clark, the Lone Ranger and Tonto, and even Batman and Robin functioned more efficiently together than apart. Complementary pairings propel results and enhance efforts.

This is decidedly true with massage therapy and chiropractic care. While each offer considerable benefits on their own, they often mesh well with each other to create a comprehensive treatment plan for many conditions or injuries.

So, sit back and let us show you how massage therapy and chiropractic care are a pain-fighting, mobility-enhancing dynamic duo.

Massage enables a more effective chiropractic visit. Therapeutic massage warms up muscles and relaxes the individual’s entire body, enabling the chiropractor to maximize his or her chiropractic adjustment for optimal results.

Massage brings about a more stable adjustment. When a chiropractor performs an adjustment to alleviate pain or increase mobility, pre or post massage couples with it to increase the body’s acceptance of the adjustment.

Chiropractic care takes massage therapy’s efforts further, including the joints and bones. Each treatment offers strong relief and recovery to certain areas of the body. Massage produces relaxation in muscles, relieving tension and toxins. Chiropractic care picks up where massage leaves off and extends the treatment efforts to the body’s tendons, joints, bones and, ultimately, the nervous system.

The combination of both…

…works on the body as a whole. Both treatments focus on broad rejuvenation and healing techniques for full body health. In a variety of instances, chiropractic care shows significant increases in treating the overall root of the problem when used in combination with massage therapy.

…gets in the head. Whoever said "it’s all in your head" wasn’t entirely wrong. Individuals sometimes feel stress, dread, or worry over health procedures in general, and chiropractic treatment is no different. Massage therapy serves to relax and de-stress a person, preparing them to go into chiropractic treatments less stressed or tightly wound. A relaxed person’s body tends to respond better to treatment.

…offers shorter recovery times. Blending both treatments into one builds an all-encompassing regimen that works on the condition or injury from multiple points. Tackling health issues this way reduces the time is takes to heal and regain the body’s full mobility.

…decreases discomfort. Massage therapy aids in warming up muscles, readying them for chiropractic adjustments. This experience is similar to stretching thoroughly before exercising. Pliant muscles offer less resistance to a chiropractor’s regimen, resulting in greater patient comfort. This benefits the entire process, as a painless, comfortable visit increases a person’s openness and commitment to future therapeutic endeavors.

…provides longer lasting results. A relaxed body is more open to treatment. Both massage therapy and chiropractic care serve to attain the goal of healing and recovery, and pain minimization or management. Achieving a synergistic effect is possible when both treatments are employed simultaneously. Chiropractic care is known to work deeper and last longer when paired with massage therapy, especially with chronic, painful health issues.

Patients who seek help with bodily conditions or injuries benefit and see results from massage therapy or chiropractic care separately. Both forms of therapeutic relief used together may create an even more significant, longer last result. Chiropractic care and massage therapy complement each other and offer positive benefits to a variety of painful health issues.

Embark on a treatment plan with this healing, effective dynamic duo! Ask your chiropractor if your specific condition would benefit from both principles of care. Give us a call today!

This article is copyrighted by Blogging Chiros LLC for its Doctor of Chiropractic members and may not be copied or duplicated in any manner including printed or electronic media, regardless of whether for a fee or gratis without the prior written permission of Blogging Chiros, LLC.

3 Ways of Avoiding & Treating Soccer Injuries with Chiropractic Care

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Soccer is one of the most popular team sports in Canada, and offers an excellent form of exercise to children and adults alike. Unfortunately, the nature of the sport, the repeated movement and the chance of collision, add up to quite a few opportunities for injury.

Lower and upper extremity injuries, overuse injuries, and head, neck, and face injuries are commonplace. According to Stanford Children’s Health, "88,000 children 8-14 were treated in an emergency room for soccer-related injuries."

Soccer players who take certain precautionary measures decrease their chances of injury. Let’s look at three ways you can avoid injury as a soccer player:

#1: Use proper equipment

Donning proper fitting cleats, uniforms, and shin guards decrease the risk of being hurt in the first place. Make adjustments often, especially if the player is growing rapidly or fluctuates in weight.

#2: Get checked out by a chiropractor pre-season

Soccer players who allow their fitness less to lapse increase the chance of injury. Visit a Doctor of Chiropractic to ensure there are no underlying issues with participating in strenuous activity. A chiropractor is also able to make sure the spine is aligned and muscles and joints are strong and functioning properly.

#3: Pay attention to the surroundings

A field that is not kept up well offers a greater chance of turning an ankle or falling. It’s vital to check out the playing area beforehand and note any uneven areas that could cause a player to trip.

In addition, consider the weather. Muddy, slick fields create extra issues, and particularly hot temperatures make players run the risk of dehydration or heat stroke. Prepare for weather issues in advance of the game.

If, even though you take all of these precautions, you still end up injured, there are several options for treatment. The injury is hopefully mild and heals on its own after a few days of rest. More serious injuries require a doctor visit, and one of these three treatments.

First, ice and elevate it: Keep weight off the injured area as much as possible, and elevate it with pillows. Use an ice bag wrapped in a towel to keep down swelling and inflammation. If the injury is painful, over the counter medication helps reduce discomfort.

Then, take a break: The last decision you want to make is to begin playing too soon and re-injure yourself. With more serious injuries, sitting out of a few games, or even an entire season, is a choice that promotes healing and health. Talk to your chiropractor about the timeframe the injury needs to be able to recover correctly, and follow his or her advice.

Finally, keep your chiropractic adjustments: Chiropractors are trained in treating the neuromusculoskeletal system as a whole. Many of the injuries suffered from soccer show an improvement after a few chiropractic visits.

Spinal and joint alignment, muscle healing, and tendon relaxation are all techniques chiropractors employ to promote and hasten healing. Additionally, chiropractors give insight on valuable ways to use nutrition and exercise to keep the body functioning at optimum capacity, to avoid re-injury.

Enjoying physical activity is essential to maintain a routine that provides a healthy, active lifestyle, and joining a soccer team is a great choice for children as well as adults. Knowing the advance precautions to put in place to avoid injury will help keep you strong and safe.

If, however, you or your child end up hurt, these forms of treatment will lessen healing time and get you back in the game at full speed. So give us a call to schedule your next appointment before you get back out on the pitch.

This article is copyrighted by Blogging Chiros LLC for its Doctor of Chiropractic members and may not be copied or duplicated in any manner including printed or electronic media, regardless of whether for a fee or gratis without the prior written permission of Blogging Chiros, LLC.

How Chiropractic Care Works Wonders on Baseball Injuries

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The crack of a ball against your bat, good! The crack of a back or shoulder, bad!

Baseball, the nationwide pass time, heats up in summer. From little league on up, individuals enjoy swinging the bat and running the bases. Unfortunately, the movements baseball requires can wreak havoc on a person’s body, leaving them with strained backs, hurt shoulders, and pulled muscles. According to Livestrong, there are over 600,000 injuries from playing baseball per year, and 5-14 year olds suffer from 117,000 of them.

The aspects of the game — running, sliding, twisting, and jumping — cause the body to maneuver into awkward positions. If you or a loved one has slid into first and felt a pop, or twisted to catch a fly ball and felt a snap, chiropractic care offers several ways to help put you on the road to a complete recovery.

Manage pain

Baseball injuries frequently involve large muscles, resulting in a high degree of pain. Chiropractic treatment offers relief from severe pain of many injuries involving the spine, muscles, and joints.

Using spinal adjustments, a chiropractor is able to help the body align itself properly, and sooth the injured area. Once the body functions normally, pain is diminished. Sometimes this can be accomplished in one visit, while other injuries require a few sessions before pain diminishes.

Increase mobility

A strained neck, pulled back, or overextended knee may cause the individual serious issues in being able to move. Limping around slowly is nobody’s idea of fun!

Chiropractic adjustments are proven to help reduce inflammation and improve mobility in many injury cases. If that last baseball game has you unable to put weight on your knee, your neck won’t twist without pain, or your shoulder won’t lift your arm, it may be time to visit a chiropractor for evaluation.

Promote healing

The premise of chiropractic care is to treat the entire body as a whole, not just the injured part. As the body becomes better aligned, it functions at a higher capacity, and begins to heal itself.

Most injuries resulting from playing baseball, such as tendonitis, strained muscles, torn rotator cuffs, and the like, heal faster with chiropractic care. Increased blood flow to the injured area, and less pressure on the body part (usually due to misalignment of the spine) allow the injured area to regenerate, and a greater chance to begin healing faster than without chiropractic care.

Avoid medication

Even over-the-counter pain and anti-inflammatory drugs cause side effects in certain individuals. Allergies, stomach issues, and other reasons result in many injured people steering clear of medication to relieve pain and inflammation.

Chiropractic care provides these individuals a drug-free, less invasive way to help manage the pain and promote healing. More people every year are choosing to visit a chiropractor for pain relief instead of popping pain medicine.

Before jumping into a baseball game, or even if you or your children play regularly, remember that prevention is worth its weight in gold. Take care of your body by stretching beforehand, being aware of your physical limits, maintaining proper posture, and staying hydrated during the game. With a little extra effort, the chance of a baseball injury can be dramatically decreased.

Summer fun often includes activities such as baseball, whether in a league or in your back yard with your family. Avoid suffering from an injury as best you can, and, if you or your child end up with an achy knee, twisted elbow, or smarting shoulder, call our office @ 780-455-2112 to schedule a thorough evaluation as quickly as possible.

What Chiropractic Patients Ought To Know About Tennis Elbow

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Even if you have never stepped foot onto a court before, you may end up with tennis elbow. Occurring along the muscle that allows extension of the wrist, it is a painful condition that can linger for weeks or months.

Previously, tennis elbow primarily showed up in athletes. Due to the increased interest in physical fitness, tennis elbow is being found in everyday exercisers, as well as people who perform work-related repetitive motion.

Tennis elbow presents several symptoms. Pain will occur on the outside of the elbow an inch or so down from the bony part.

There may also be pain when the individual tries to extend the hand and fingers against resistance. Extreme weakness in the wrist is another symptom.

I have been diagnosed with tennis elbow. Now what?

Tennis elbow is often difficult to diagnose, which can delay treatment. A correct diagnosis of tennis elbow is the first step towards being able to treat the condition and rehab the afflicted area. From there, a variety of treatments for tennis elbow are available.

Passive remedies like rest, ice, and arm braces are critical components to healing tennis elbow. Take measures to reduce the movements that aggravate the pain, and use ice at regular intervals to help minimize pain and inflammation.

An arm brace supports and stabilizes the area to promote healing. These remedies assist greatly in treating the condition, especially in the beginning.

Active remedies consist of stretching and strengthening exercises, and are vital aspects of improving the condition. Individuals suffering from tennis elbow should begin an exercise regimen as soon as the pain allows.

Follow a doctor’s recommendation for the rehabilitative program exercises. The goal is to build strength.

An individual dealing with tennis elbow may utilize a variety of medicinal remedies to manage pain and inflammation. Over-the-counter pain relievers and steroid injections are commonly used to treat the condition. Following doctor’s orders when taking medications is strongly recommended.

Untraditional remedies also provide vast improvements in tennis elbow, and these treatments have gained favor in the last few years due to their effectiveness. Regimens of massage therapy and acupuncture work on small areas contributing to the condition, and make significant strides in pain reduction and promote the body’s restorative healing process.

Another remedy that offers strong benefits to treating tennis elbow is chiropractic care. A chiropractor assesses the condition, then lays out a plan to promote healing.

Treatment often includes working to align the bones and treating the surrounding joints so they function at maximum capacity, and can “take up the slack” of the injured area while it heals. Chiropractic care serves the dual purpose of treating the condition directly, and healing the areas around the injury so that the body continues to strengthen and renew.

In a very small number of cases, the only remedy for tennis elbow is surgery. This is considered as the last straw, once all other forms of treatment have been exhausted.

The best way to treat tennis elbow is to avoid it in the first place. Be sure to stretch before exercising, consistently perform strengthening exercises, employ correct techniques and proper equipment during physical activity, and don’t overexert your arms (this goes for your entire body, by the way) during physical activity.

If you are diagnosed with tennis elbow, it’s essential to understand the variety of treatment options available. The best course is often a blend of more than one remedy. Chiropractic care should be part of your healing process, as it helps decrease pain, reduce healing time, and offers a non-medicinal approach to treating the body as a whole.

How Golfers Can Benefit From Chiropractic Care

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Does this sound familiar?

It’s a warm sunny day with a bit of a breeze, you are on the back nine about to sink a putt. When you swing, your back seizes up with severe pain. The beautiful day of golf turns into painfully riding in the golf cart back to the clubhouse, and you limping painfully to your car.

If you have ever strained your back during a golf game, you are not alone. It’s estimated of the 30 million golfers in the United States, 80% have experienced some sort of back pain. As fun as it is, swinging at golf balls puts an individual’s body in an awkward position, opening up the opportunity for injury.

While some golfers suffer through the pain by popping over-the-counter medications, others back away from playing as often, or stop altogether. There’s another way to combat back injuries caused by golfing, without meds. It’s not a magic wand, it’s chiropractic care!

Golfers are increasingly finding chiropractic care to be a valuable tool to help them deal with back injuries. Here are FORE! ways chiropractors can help injured golfers get off the couch and back on the green.

Consistent adjustments can avoid injuries in the first place.

Golfing, or any activity, is more enjoyable and causes less chance of injury if an individual’s body is in top condition and operating normally. Periodic spinal adjustments keep the body functioning at maximum capacity, and reduce the chances of being injured. If the neck and back are aligned correctly, awkward positioning such as a golf swing will have a less negative impact.

Chiropractic treatment can reduce a golfer’s pain.

Back injuries can be extremely painful, and many turn to pain medications to gain relief and comfort. By treating the origin of the pain instead of just the symptoms, a chiropractor helps their patients manage the pain through manipulations, instead of drugs. Over the course of a few treatments, pain is often drastically diminished and much more manageable.

A golf injury can heal quicker with chiropractic care.

Injuries to the back or neck can heal faster when chiropractors treat them than on their own. An experienced chiropractor can adjust the spine, and also work on the joints and surrounding tissue that can cause pain and hinder healing. Chiropractic evaluation considers the body as a whole. By treating the entire body, it promotes quicker healing of the injury.

Increased mobility can be gained with chiropractic visits.

Golfers who play often as well as those who only play a few times a year know mobility is essential to a good golf game. Stiff joints and a weak back not only mess with the golf game, but can be the very issues that end up causing an injury.

A chiropractic treatment schedule keeps the body loose and strong, and working in optimum fashion. This prevents injuries and increases the chances of playing the game of your life.

Golfers need to realize the sport can cause serious injuries just like "rougher" sports like football and rugby. It’s a good idea to stretch before playing, stay hydrated, and avoid overexertion.

If you are a golfer, chiropractic care is a valuable tool in staying healthy. Regular adjustments and manipulations keep your body on track and performing with maximum mobility at the top of your game. If you do suffer an injury, a chiropractor can help you manage your pain and decrease the time it takes to heal.

Contact us today @ 780-455-2112 for more information on how we can help reduce the chance of injury for golfers, and promote healing.

Injury Prevention for Runners in Edmonton

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Injury Prevention for Runners How well you run and how enjoyable running is for you depends on how well you care for yourself. This includes what you eat, how you sleep, and all of your health habits. Clearly a strong stable body is key. Routine chiropractic care, before an injury happens, should be part of maintaining your running machine.

Any physical performance, including running, depends on the body being aligned for the best possible result. Everyone experiences misalignment over time simply through daily living. For a runner, the importance of these misalignments are magnified by the repetitive force applied through the feet and transmitted up the body. Additionally, running can train some groups of muscles more than counterbalancing muscles, which can cause further exacerbation of misalignments.

A negative loop can set in. Running may cause unbalanced development, which aggravates misalignments. Misalignments cause more underlying dysfunction. A lack of comfort causes the runner to shy away from helpful stretching. As this cycle continues, it is not uncommon for highly fit amateur runners to be fairly stiff and inflexible.

Chiropractors will start with an assessment. For a runner, this can be valuable in and of itself since it can provide guidance on muscular development. For example, many runners commonly experience posterior chain weakness. This is simply the muscles from the lower back through the calf on the back of the leg being less developed than the muscles in the front of the leg. This condition can lead to joint problems and for a serious amateur runner can result in decreased performance.

After an assessment, a chiropractor can develop a treatment and tune up plan. The goal of the plan will be coordinated with the patient. The goal can be to improve comfort, to correct a condition that may be leading to true dysfunction or even to improve performance. The key is that the patient is fully aware of what is happening with the body.

Running has great health benefits but can be stressful on the body. Regular chiropractic care can be an important tool to keep runners strong and in good health.