Category: Chiropractic Care

A helpful variation to carry a car seat

This video made by a chiropractor has gone viral and for good reason. The chiropractor demonstrates a good way to carry a car seat without putting as much stress into the shoulder girdle, hip, leg and back.  It distributes the weight differently. 

However, with that being said, do I think this technique should be used for when the travel seat is used for long distances.  No, because it still one-sided distribution of the weight. For shortened distances like transferring the travel seat from the house to the car and vice versa, it is recommended.  

Once again if you know that you are travelling long distances and are able to take your stroller or even a baby carrier with you, do so. 

By: Dr. Teesha Geevarghese (B.Sc., D.C.) Chiropractor

To learn more about Chiropractic care click here!

Should you have any questions or concerns contact us for your free 15 minute meet and greet today!

How your thought process can alter your pain perception

Many colleagues would agree that pain is the most common reason why people will come and seek out your help. That statement has a lot more variability than you would think. I would like to say that we all wish that everything could be a quick fix but in most cases that isn’t the case because our bodies are such masters of adaptation.

We are wired to avoid pain and your body does everything it can to guard ourselves from dangerous situations. Beyond the physicality, each person is unique in their perception of pain. It can be very subjective as per their tolerance. Looking at a Visual Pain Analog Scale, from 0 to 10, 0 means you don’t feel any pain at all and 10 means the maximum amount of pain that you have ever felt. So what one person may feel is a 2 out of 10 another may say that is an 8.

Lately, I’ve been having a lot of patients come in with some chronic aches and pains and we have talked a lot about how your thought process can influence your health and well-being. This particular article post by the Canadian Chiropractic Association sheds a little bit more light on some of the potential cognitive barriers that can hinder your recovery.

“This is just how I am and I have to deal with it.” People get stuck in the chronicity of it all because they think that’s their normal. That being said, you should listen to your body. I tell my patients all the time that they are their best advocate. No one can tell you how you should feel. Health professionals can give you their recommendations and expertise from an objective standpoint. Our job is to inform you and educate you and give you treatment options.

There are many aspects of dealing with issues that manifest through your health so seek out various health professionals that can address and are experts in those areas. A multi-disciplinary team approach is an ideal one and can be the most optimum.

By: Dr. Teesha Geevarghese (B.Sc., D.C.) Chiropractor

To book an appointment contact us today! 

Back to school posture check: what to look out for!

Since it is the first day of school it is important to address posture with our children now carrying backpacks, sitting for prolonged periods and poor postural habits on a day to day basis such as texting, video games etc.

I usually will hear about a lot of parents who complain about their child’s slouching and keep on reminding them to stand up straight. Poor posture can actually affect more than the vanity aspect of the body but rather have a profound effect on the dysfunction of many vital systems and cause certain symptomology due to the compression of specific spinal areas.

Here are a few issues to watch out for:

Uneven Base of the Skull 

Symptoms– Headaches, Neck Pain, Ear/Eye Problems, Sinus, Focus Issues

Rounded Shoulders/ Uneven Shoulders 

Symptoms– Arm Pain, Middle Back Pain, Respiratory Issues, Digestive Issues 

Uneven hip/ Increase in Lumbar Lordosis-curvature in the lower back 

Symptoms– Lower Back Pain, Bowel and Bladder Issues, Constipation and Diarrhea

Flat Feet/Placing too much pressure in the medial arch and/or lateral portion of the foot.

Symptoms– Hip Pain, Knee Pain, Plantar Fasciitis

A common cause for the variation in a child’s posture can actually be due to a backpack and the incorrect mechanics of how to wear it properly and the actual weight distribution of it.  A lot of the time a child’s backpack has everything but the kitchen sink inside of it. It is important to look at material, wearability and weight.

Here’s a link to the Ontario Chiropractic Association’s article on Pack it Light, Wear it Right.

www.chiropractic.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/Pack-it-Light-Children-PDF.pdf

Feel free to visit or contact us if you have any questions. We would be happy to assess posture, backpack fitting and overall spinal health of your child.

By: Dr. Teesha Geevarghese (B.Sc., D.C.) Chiropractor

For any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us to book for FREE 15 minute consultation today!

Why you should not self-adjust yourself!

When patients tell me that they crack their own neck and back, it truly makes me cringe. This is a topic that I commonly come across in practice and it surprises me how many people actually do this and how often. If you feel the need to crack your joints consistently, it is because it needs to be adjusted and is stuck.

There can be areas of your spine and into your extremities where there is a lack of motion in one or more direction. This is what is called a restriction or subluxation. There is a certain amount of adaptation where other areas will compensate and pick up the slack for that particular area not moving. These other areas above and below the joint move more and therefore become hypermobile. This hypermobility creates joint laxity and instability due to the stretching of the supportive ligaments. When you self-adjust, you can hear that popping sound and release. The popping noise is created by the negative pressure from the stretching of the joint and releases nitrogen gas.  On your own, it is very difficult to find the end range of motion in order to release the joint in the correct direction it needs. You may feel relief due to the rush of endorphins but that is short lived and can initiate a pattern of becoming a chronic self-adjuster. There is definitely that risk of manipulating the wrong joint.

As a chiropractor, we are trained to assess the movement and function of the spine at various levels. Then we find the specific restriction regardless of whether it is through manual or instrument adjusting and adjust accordingly. This can help take pressure off the joint and thus allows for proper nervous system communication at the various spinal levels.

By: Dr. Teesha Geevarghese (B.Sc., D.C.) Chiropractor

To learn more about Chiropractic care click here!

Tips for a better back this gardening season

The weather is finally taking a turn for the better and going along side with that is the need to get out there and enjoy the outdoors. One of the most popular activities is definitely gardening this season.  

We end up seeing a lot of people who end up injuring themselves because they go from 0 to 100 in terms of activity (weekend warrior syndrome) without taking the proper steps to keep their bodies stable and moving with as much flexibility as possible and no restriction.

In the following article, there are some fabulous tips to follow and some easy stretches you can do before and during your stint outside.

By: Dr. Teesha Geevarghese (B.Sc., D.C.) Chiropractor

To book your free 15 minute meet and greet contact us today! 

Why should you adjust your newborn?

Even within utero, there is a lot of pressure that the baby has to deal with as they grow. The birthing process (whether vaginal or caesarean birth) can be a traumatic one where the baby has to twist and turn in a limited amount of space.   Muscle and joint dysfunction due to birth trauma may cause babies to have colic, gas, and digestive issues which can be interrelated.

Not only are there are changes that may occur to the spine from what was mentioned before but also as they hit various developmental milestones. Milestones such as holding their head up, rolling, sitting up, crawling, standing and walking.

More often than not while trying to achieve these milestones babies and kids fall causing injuries to happen with regular activities and later on in life as they become more involved in sports. They will get many bumps and bruises.  But we don’t always think of the restrictions these injuries may place in the alignment of their spine or if they are placing abnormal pressure in certain areas of their spine due to the repetitive type of activities that they might be doing.

Having their spine checked in the developmental stages can help monitor the curvature of the spine in the cervical and lumbar areas to prevent postural problems such as scoliosis or lordosis.

We want to make sure that there is proper communication from the brain to the body and vice versa with a spine that moves well and encases the spinal cord.

Paediatric Chiropractic care is very gentle. We are able to use a very limited amount of pressure using our hands to adjust the spine or we also have the option of using an instrument adjusting tool called the Activator which uses a limited amount of pressure on the lightest setting(www. Activator.com).

We do go through an initial assessment which involves taking a history and performing a physical exam which can involve orthopaedic, neurological and spinal tests. From those findings we can create a specific treatment plan if they are a good candidate for chiropractic care.

We are happy to treat paediatric patients at Joint Action and look forward to treating more.

By: Dr. Teesha Geevarghese (B.Sc., D.C.) Chiropractor

If you have any concerns or questions contact us to book your free 15 minute consultation today!