One Story

At our recent open house, visitors received a complimentary sampling of Network Chiropractic, shiatsu, and cold laser therapy. One of our guests had this to say about the results of her care that day:

I just wanted to let you know, I returned home after the treatment/massage and was able to completely touch my hands behind my back reaching one arm over, one arm under on both sides  (I had not been able to do that with left arm "under" since my injury 10 mos. ago) with fingers completely overlapping.  This was a greater reach/stretch than what I could even do before the injury.  I was not expecting that and was shocked.

Thanks again to all who attended!

Strengthening & Stretching for Busy People

Check out my listing on Teach Street to learn more about my new class. You will learn to safely stretch and strengthen your major muscles groups in a simple routine that takes just 20 minutes.

Dates:

Saturday, September 12

Saturday, October 10

Laser Light Speeds Healing

Your cells love light! How are they going to get it? Through low level laser therapy (AKA photobiomodulation)! More than 2500 research reports and more than 125 randomized, double-blind clinical trials have show effectiveness for a myriad of conditions from addictions to weight loss. Some of the common reasons laser therapy would be used in a chiropractic practice are:

• improving athletic performance
• stress reduction
• speed healing of sprains and strains (from sports injuries or accidents)
• reduce nerve pain
• arthritis (with restoration of cartilage as a side-effect)
• disc degeneration (again research shows actual healing of the disc tissue!)
  
• plantar fasciitis
• osteoporosis
• carpal tunnel syndrome
• headaches (tension and migraine)
• sinusitis
• TMJ

An Easy Way To Get Your 12 Daily Servings Of Vegetables

The nervous system coordinates and controls just about every function in your body. Chiropractors adjust the spine. They do this because the movement of your spine has such a profound affect on your nervous system, and hence your general health.

Wellness chiropractors look at all the ways your lifestyle habits either promote a healthy spinal-neural system, or detract from it.  It comes down to two simple concepts: purity and sufficiency.

One of the best things you can do for your spinal-neural system is to eat lots of fresh vegetables. But because our soils are depleted, and most fruits and vegetables have only a fraction of the nutrients they did years ago, the federal government now recommends that we get 12 servings of fresh vegetables every day. Wow, that's a lot!

An easy way to add several servings of fresh vegetables to your diet is with the "Innate Salad." Take an array of vegetables (roots, greens, etc.), chop them into thumbnail-sized bits in your food processor, top with the juice of a couple lemons, and store in your refrigerator.  Now you're ready to add a dollop of your Innate Salad as either a side dish to your meal, or to your green salad.

Bon appetit!

Does No Pain Mean All Is Well?

Most people believe that if they feel pain, they have a problem, and if they don't feel pain, everything is okay. But nothing could be further from the truth.

To give you one example: half the time, the first symptom of heart disease is death.

Last week a practice member was in a relatively minor car accident. She kept saying she was "fine!" but I insisted that we do a re-exam to find out for sure. Fortunately, there was no evidence of tearing of her muscles or ligaments (which would have caused pain), but there were other distortions which would mostly likely lead to problems down the road, so I recommended a short course of corrective care.

Kudos to all who make the wise choice of getting a check-up after any injury, no matter how minor it seems!

Why A Small Tear Can Be So Painful!

Most people have experienced back pain at one time or another in their lives. You make a movement you've done a million times before, you feel a twinge of pain, and suddenly it's getting worse by the minute.

Many times the reason for this pain is that there has been a minor tear of the teeny-tiny deep (intrinsic) muscles of your spine. The deep muscles of the spine are over 50% neural tissue, and their purpose is not to move the vertebrae, but rather to constantly calibrate the need for stability vs. movement, so with a slight glitch in your spine, a muscle gets a minor tear which is then amplified to the larger muscles of your back, and before you know, you're in pain!

Chiropractic care (and I have found this to be especially true of Network Chiropractic) re-educates the spinal-neural system so that it is better able to constantly adjust to the demands of movement and stability that we constantly place upon ourselves.

Why Regular Care For Performing Artisits

A high percentage of my long term practice members are involved in the performing arts. Like athletes, singers, musicians, actors, and dancers know that in order to perform at their best they need to keep their bodies in peak condition at all times. They find that regular care keeps them healthy, physically fit, full of energy, and allows their creativity to flow through them without restriction. As one actor says, "I can honestly say that my health, coordination and enjoyment of life are better for having known and worked with Connie all these years."

Your Inner Surfboard

Einstein said, "Reality is an illusion, but a persistent one." What really surrounds us is nothing but waves: light waves, sound waves, pressure waves, which we interpret as color and shape, music and honking horns, a hug or the ground beneath our feet. But sometimes our bodies clamp down on receiving or perceiving those waves, and this may appear as physical pain.

Even our lives are waves; sometimes you're up and sometimes you're down. The trick is to find a surfboard and learn how to ride the waves. Network chiropractic care teaches you how to ride your inner surfboard.

Just last week a new patient presented with headaches and back ache, leading to insomnia. After a couple of well-placed light contacts, he immediately felt a sense of ease throughout his body. Those light contact simply showed him the way. The wisdom of his body did the rest.

Quality of Life

Imagine going through life knowing that no matter what happens, you have a tool for peace and happiness...

A landmark retrospective study from the College of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, demonstrated statistically significant benefits for people under Network chiropractic care. Researchers identified improvement in these four domains of health and wellness: physical state, mental/emotional state, stress evaluation, and life enjoyment. Moreover, they found that there was no ceiling to these benefits; the longer someone had been under care, the better his or her quality of life.

Over the years I've found that my long-term practice members have an extremely high degree of life enjoyment (and a corresponding low tolerance for needless suffering). When life's circumstances become a bit more than they can flow with easily, they know that a sense of peace is just a few minutes away. Moreover they know that they have a somatopsychic tool, in Network Care, for mining the golden gifts from any life experience.

Joint Degeneration

Yesterday John and I hosted a reunion potluck of our old Aikido club. Word was spread via phone and internet grapevine, and people came out of the woodwork. It was wonderful to see people I hadn't seen in 10-20 years!

Everyone looks about the same (photo evidence to the contrary!), but everyone definitely does not feel the same. Many people talked about having to give up Aikido or other activities because of degeneration and pain in their hips, knees, or feet. However, in my experience, joint degeneration does not necessarily equal pain or loss of function.

One lady in particular comes to mind. She was over 90 at the time, and radiographs showed severe degeneration of her neck. She came to see me one day after sitting bolt upright upon awakening suddenly from a dream. In the process she tweaked her neck. This is a person, who, going strictly by the physical evidence, should not have been able to turn her head more than about 45 degrees. But within a couple of visits, her neck was once again moving a full 90 degrees in both directions.

Got Bliss?

If your cells are functioning at 100%, you'll be spectacularly healthy and have plenty of energy for everything you want to do in life. Unlike disease "management," health promotion is really simple, because there are just two primary causes of anything less than 100%: toxicity and deficiency.

If your spine is stuck, you have a deficiency of spinal movement. This means an increase in stress hormones (and all the toxic and deficient choices that go with feeling crummy). It also means a decrease in your brain's feel-good chemistry.

Nothing gives me greater joy than to witness the feeling of bliss that patients experience when their spinal movement is fluid and supple. If someone in your life fails to mention how great they feel most of the time, suggest a spinal check-up. There's enough suffering in life; let's have more bliss!

How Long Does It Take?

Most people, when they begin chiropractic care, have at least one question, "How long will it take?" The answer depends on what the real question is.  If the person is asking, "How long will it take to get rid of this pain?" that's entirely different from "How can you support me in staying active and healthy throughout my life?" The first person is oriented toward relief care, which may take as little as a few visits. The second person is oriented toward enhancing his or her quality of life, and has some idea that chiropractic can help achieve a lifetime of optimum health and happiness.

My goal is to listen deeply to my patients' questions and concerns before offering possible solutions, so that their treatment plans work for them.

Desk Ergonomics-New Ezine Article

A new ezine article has been accepted, You and Your Computer: Five Stages in the Evolution of Ergonomics.  Click on the link to read the full article, and find out what's the latest in living life congruently with our genetic heritage, and still earn a living!

1 Adjustment Is Worth 50-200 Biofeedback Sessions

A noteworthy recent study, A Four-Case Study: The effect of the chiropractic adjustment on the brain wave pattern as measured by EEG, showed that the positive effect of one chiropractic adjustment in producing a more balanced brain wave pattern was equal to 50-200 biofeedback sessions. The researchers concluded that "the chiropractic adjustment [placed] the subjects into a predominantly Alpha brain wave pattern. Alpha is the conscious, meditative state, classically associated with a greater degree of relaxation and health... We [also] noticed that the Alpha activity was also accompanied by an increase in general brain wave activity."

In practice chiropractors have long found that chiropractic adjustments decrease patients' stress and increase their sense of well-being. Thanks to these researchers we now have at least one pathway to explain this benefit.

My Journey Into and Out of S.A.D.

For many years I suffered greatly from Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.). Several years ago it had gotten to the point where, at the first sign of those low-hanging clouds, my body and mind cried out in despair, "How am I going to make it through the next ten months? Please, someone, get me out of this godforsaken hellhole!" It took awhile, but gradually I pieced together a solution, and for the past three years I have been complete free of S.A.D. symptoms. Now I can count on feeling happy and having plenty of energy all year long.  For the complete story, view my newly published ezine article, SAD No More - A Seven-Step Journey Out Of The Pit Of Seasonal Affective Disorder.

New Year's Resolutions

Do you really need one more person to weigh in on the value of setting goals, how to achieve them, and on and on (and on and on)? I know I don't! But there is one key that most advice-givers forget, and that's the part about having fun! Research shows that potentially healthful lifestyle changes do not actually yield the benefits we're looking for unless we enjoy doing them! So, if you're not having fun (which I define as a pleasurable physiological state of flow), then you might as well sit in front of the TV and eat bonbons! This year, treat yourself to something special: have fun!

Healthy Skin for Sun Lovers

The sun's rays damage our skin.  People spend hundreds of dollars on skin care every year. Unfortunately, most skin care products are full of toxic chemicals.*  For tips on all-natural ways of protecting and healing the largest organ of your body, read my latest e-zine article, A Youthful Complexion: Six Simple Solutions for Sun Lovers.

*Uncover the toxic dangers of your personal care products at the Environmental Working Group's fascinating and sobering website.

Whole Foods Supplements I Recommend

There are a handful of nutritional supplements that I recommend to just about all my patients.  Over the years I've sorted through dozens of excellent products, and only a few have met the following criteria.  The supplement must be:

1. Based in whole foods
2. Genetically congruent (not artificially altered for one reason or another)
3. Pure (non-toxic)
4. Essential for human health
5. Difficult or impossible to attain in sufficient quantities or purity from the foods we eat.

Here are the few supplements that fulfill all of these requirements:

1. Omega 3's (DHA and EPA):  The ideal ratio of Omega 6's to Omega 3's is from 1:1 to 2:1, but has become 25:1 on average for Americans.  
2. Probiotics:  Research shows that we now consume one-millionth of the healthy bacteria that we did before pesticides, herbicides, and industrial farming.  Be sure to look for L. plantarum in the ingredient list.  
3. Xanthones:  Scientists have identified dozens of benefits from this class of phytonutrients, including anti-inflammatory properties.  The best source of xanthones is from the whole fruit of the mangosteen (especially the rind).  Researchers have identified over 200 positive biological effects from the mangosteen.
4. Vitamin-Mineral Complex:  I recommend this only to my patients who do not always eat their recommended twelve servings of vegetables and fruits, either through salads or juicing.  Not all complexes are equal.  Many are not absorbed and pass right through one's system.  (Ask any portable toilet technician!)  One excellent brand is XanGo's 3SIXTY5, which comes in either men's or women's formulas, and is exceptionally complete.

The best source of Omega 3's and probiotics I have identified can be found at www.innatechoice.com.  To receive a discount, enter access code WP90502 when ordering.  After looking at various brands of mangosteen juice, the only one that is comprised of the whole fruit (pulp, rind, stem, and seeds), and fulfills the above requirments, is XanGo, which you can order at www.DrConnieAmundson.net (3SIXTY5 information and ordering also available at this site).

[To read a longer version of this article, view it on EzineArticles.com.]

Wrist Stretches for Computer Users

Many of my patients have found these wrist exercises--taken from Aikido--to be very effective for preventing and reducing the harmful effects of long-term use of computer keyboards and the infamous mouse!

Each exercise should be performed slowly and gently for ten repetitions on each side. You should feel a pleasant stretch, but no pain.  If you cannot do these stretches without pain, please stop immediately and consult your chiropractor.

Thanks to Nik Kanetomi for demonstrating the stretches and John Kanetomi for wielding the camera!

Wrist Flexion

*Begin by holding

the back of one

hand in front of

your belly.

*Slowly raise your

hands, applying a

gentle pressure to

flex your wrist.

*Stop when you reach

your chest and hold

for 1-2 seconds.

Wrist Flexion With Rotation

*Hold your hands in

front of your chest

with thumb of one

hand placed in the

groove between the

4th and 5th bones

of your opposite hand,

near your knuckles.

*Slowly lower both hands, applying a 

gentle pressure to

flex and rotate your wrist.

*Stop when you reach

the lower part of your

chest and hold for 1-2 seconds.

Wrist Flexion (Z)

*Hold your hands out

in front of your

chest as indicated

in the photo(your thumb is on top).

*Slowly bring your hands

toward your chest,

gently twisting your

hand toward your face.

*Stop when you reach

the end point of your

stretch and hold

for 1-2 seconds.

Another ezine article accepted

Yea, my second article, Inflammation: Seven Ways to Silence the Silent Killer, has just been published at ezinearticles.com.  To find my articles, put "Connie Amundson" into their search function and search by author.