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.

Why Weekly Care For Optimal Health

Most of my practice members come for wellness care on a weekly basis, and have done so for years. Why? For most of them, it probably has to do with staying in peak performance for the demands of life in the 21st century. Here's the basic science behind why that makes sense:

1) 50% of your spinal cord is dedicated to proprioception (information about movement and position);

2) 50% of that comes from your spine and your ankles;

3) Proprioception hits your brain at the cerebellum, which is the coordination center for movement, balance, memory, learning, emotions, reducing stress, and your internal organs--in other words every function in your body is enhanced by spinal movement.

On the other hand, a lack of spinal movement (fixation) causes nociception (information about noxious stimuli). Nociception means:

1) A decrease in proprioception (all the good stuff);

2) An increase in the stimulation of the stress centers of your brain.

Moreover, research shows that the soft tissue degeneration associated with restricted joint motion starts to become permanent in less than two weeks. Hence, weekly care!