Raymond Chiropractic

If we had to sit down and categorize our individual lives, then we all would probably be able to break life down into six separate categories:

• Financial
• Spiritual
• Family
• Marriage
• Personal
• Health

So if I asked any of you the question, “What is the most important of the previous categories?”  What would YOUR answer be?

Health is our number one asset!

Did you know that the United Stated of America ranked an average of 12^th, out of 13 countries, in 16 available health indicators! That’s kind of sad (to say the least) isn’t it? We are supposed to be the leaders of the free world, but how can we be leaders if we aren’t healthy enough to lead?

We are programmed for health, it’s in our DNA. Each of our body’s has an innate intelligence, which is the ability to function in harmony under the proper circumstances. If you cut yourself, your body is able to heal. When you eat a big, juicy steak, your body is able to run the digestion process to break down the meal into its macro and micro nutrients.

What about our development? When a mother is impregnated, a baby doesn’t just magically appear inside her uterus. Development is a process. That process begins with a very simple cell, which then divides to 2, then 4, then 8, and 16, 32, 64 and so on to create an unbelievable, self-healing, self regulating organism, or more simply, us. Well how then, during the developmental period, does the body know what cell is to become a liver cell, which one is destined to be a big toenail, or how about which one is supposed to become heart muscle tissue cells? It all happens the correct way, because that is how we are programmed, that is how our genes are designed to work, that is our internal blueprint.

So if all of our bodies are designed to be healthy, self-regulating, and self healing, why is our country’s health in such dire times? The simple answer is laziness; the more descriptive answer involves 6 key points:

• Exercise
• Diet
• Sleep
• Mental
• Neurological
• Believe

Now let’s break each of these key points down to the basics and really get into the nuts and bolts of how each of us can help prevent disease and maximize health.

A lot of patients come into the office on a daily basis and state that their “complaints” are related to stress in their individual lives. Be it stress at work, stress from home, stress  from an injury or maybe financial stress, they are all hitting the problem right on the button. So how can we help to manage stress without having to use a prescription or by other unnatural means? First we need to understand what exactly stress is….

The definition of stress is the rate of wear and tear on the body as a result of anxiety, worry or exhaustion from a difficult or challenging situation.  Perhaps another definition would help us all to better understand what stress is and how chiropractic care relates.

“Stress is a hard, difficult, or intense experience which if prolonged, could cause irritation and/or damage to a person’s nervous system.”

So, now that we understand how to define stress. How about we look at some typical causes of stress:

• Job
• Relationships
• Children
• Junk Food
• Environmental Conditions
• Medications
• Trauma (i.e. accidents)

One of the world’s first researchers on stress, Hans Selye, M.D. documented that there are 3 stages a person goes through in response to stress.

No Stress / Normal

The Alarm Stage

• The body’s defense towards fight or flight mechanisms are activated.

The Resistance Stage

• In this stage the body will either adapt to the threat or successfully resist the stress and return to normal.

The Exhaustion Stage

• If the body fails to return to normal in the resistance stage, body malfunction will occur due to the prolonged stress and low resistance.

In the exhaustion stage the nervous system over-reacts and causes the secretion of adrenal hormones.

These hormones cause the following:

• A loss of ability to digest food
• Reduced circulation to the heart
• Reduced white blood cells, which reduce immune response
• Reduced oxygen to the cells or the body

When faced with a stressful situation, our bodies rely on the adrenal glands sitting atop our kidneys to monitor our “fight or flight” response. The main hormones released by the adrenal glands are cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine. Cortisol raises blood sugar and halts the immune response. Adrenaline stimulates heart muscles and makes us more alert and focused. Norepinephrine is released and directed to cells in order to inhibit the gastrointestinal muscles and increase heart activity. Why does this all happen? The adrenal response’s main goals are to rapidly increase our heart and respiratory rates and blood pressure while releasing energy, tensing our muscles, sharpening our senses, and slowing our digestion so we are primed to escape or fight back, whichever is needed. When the threat is gone, the body returns to normal — quickly with respect to adrenaline levels, less quickly with respect to cortisol.

But in today’s society, we are all inundated with stress — stress that doesn’t let up. And when chronic stress repeatedly forces the adrenal glands to sustain high levels of cortisol, two things happen: first, the adrenals can’t attend to their broader role in hormonal regulation, and second, cortisol starts to damage healthy tissues. Eventually, adrenal fatigue sets in, and we experience the symptoms of stress!

Symptoms of Stress:

• Headache
• Fatigue
• Pain and tension in the neck, shoulders and/or low back
• Irritability
• Sleep problems
• Sinus and allergy problems
• Digestive problems

These symptoms indicate that the body is breaking down from stress and that there is a definite need to take action and begin living a healthier life.

So what can we do about the stresses we all will encounter on a daily basis? What are the alternative options? What can we do to manage stress more naturally? The short answer includes implementing the following lifestyle changes. We will break each one down individually, but for now the list includes:

• Exercise
• Eat a Healthy Diet
• Laugh
• Receive Chiropractic care
• Rest
• Sleep

Chiropractic care in relation to sports and athletic performance is a fast growing trend.

Today, just about every professional ream has a Chiropractor on staff. Olympic athletes routinely utilize chiropractic care because it keeps them in top shape – without the use of drugs or other performance enhancing aids. College programs are taking advantage of chiropractic care by placing a D.C. on staff. All of this is even trickling down into the high school level of sports. I personally am the team Chiropractic Physician for Austintown Local Schools.

Athletes and Celebrities that have gone on the record with their pro-chiropractic stance include Hall of Famer Joe Montana, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Olympic wrestler Dennis Hall, John McEnroe, Roger Craig, Emmitt Smith, Robert Parish, Scottie Pippen and many, many more. Why did they all feel that chiropractic was so beneficial and powerful? Simply put, because it works. It helped them to all perform at their peak levels while competing at the highest levels of their respective sports.

With our efforts to continously strive towards helping all of our patients, established, new and future, we have determined that new office hours must be put into place.

Effective June 1, 2010 our new clinic hours are as follows:

Monday                   8am - 12pm / 2pm - 6pm

Tuesday                          Closed / 2pm - 6pm

Wednesday             8am - 12pm / 2pm - 6pm

Thursday                 8am - 12pm / 2pm - 6pm

Friday                      8am - 12pm / Closed

As always, weekends and emergeny office visits are available by appointment.

From both Jaime and I, we hope that these new clinic hours will allow us to continue serving you and your families with the best chiropractic care Austintown can offer.

Dr. Christopher A. Raymond