Starting Fresh

swimming

For many people who have been exercise-free for years, entering the gym can seem like an insurmountable obstacle. The sheer amount of information available at a second’s notice regarding health and wellness can also be overwhelming and leave you feeling disenchanted. However, the blatant reality is that if you want to live longer and feel better, regular exercise is almost indispensible. Besides helping you to maintain a healthy weight, exercise is good for things like promoting better circulation and stimulating endorphins to help manage stress. If you are amongst the millions of Americans who want to feel better and look better but are at a loss as to how to start, give our office in Park Slope a call. We have found that a face-to-face, human-to-human conversation can be the catalyst you need to get motivated and excited about working out. Here’s how: 

  • A clear plan: the main benefit of interfacing. There is no grey area or internet overload; we hash out your health goals, your priorities and limitations and go about setting up a plan to deal with achieve success in a concrete manner. 
  • Starting slow: what are you comfortable with? What are your strengths and what do you absolutely detest? Not everyone is cut out to be a gym rat, but almost everyone can find their happy place with specific workouts and stretches. 
  • Accountability partner: this is key. Great things are built by teams, and we want to be your go-to-resource for information, chiropractic care, acupuncture and accountability. 
  • Managing pain: Certainly working out is made miserable by pain. If an injury or chronic pain is holding you back, we need to correct this so you can stop using pain as an excuse.

A fresh start is attainable if you go about it the right way. As a doctor of chiropractic and acupuncture, I am completely invested in your health and well-being. Let’s start on a path toward a healthier, happier you together and let’s start today. 

Dr. Karen Thomas, D.C., L.Ac. 

Chia Chia Chia

breakfast chia

What if 2 tablespoons of some magical ingredient per day could fortify your bones, regulate your nervous system, and combat inflammation in joints? I can tell you that this prospect would make a chiropractor and acupuncturist very excited. Fortunately, this is not a mere pipe dream: the ingredient is sold in most health food stores and goes by the name of chia seeds. These little black seeds, derived from the Chia plant are dietary superstars.

1 ounce equates to roughly 2 tablespoons and this is what you will find:

  • 4 grams of (clean) protein
  • 11 grams of fiber
  • 9 grams of (healthy) fats, half of which comes from omega-3s. 
  • Varying percentages that contribute to your RDA for: manganese, phosphorous, calcium and magnesium, all of which are important for bone density. 

The best part is that they are tasty: you can mix them into just about any meal and barely notice a difference in flavor or texture. Mixing them into hot foods helps to break them down from a dry seed to a mushy consistency so you barely notice they are in the food at all. But your body will notice and you will feel an uptick in functions across the board. For people managing conditions relating to chronic inflammation, the regular administration of omega-3s is essential. They are also chalk full of anti-oxidants which help fight the oxidation of other molecules in the body.

Dr. Karen Thomas, D.C., L.Ac. 

Bed Rest No Longer

jumping

Bed rest was once the prescribed course of treatment for many debilitating injuries involving back pain and stiffness, including: herniated discs, pulled muscles, muscle spasms and spondyloisthesis, among others. However, time has shown that bed rest can actually be counterproductive to health plans that are attempting to heal an injury and return the sufferer to a, “normal level of activity.” With all but the most serious of back injuries, a health plan that includes a good deal of low-impact activity and stretching is now considered the key to a successful recovery. 

Bed rest can actually delay recovery because it perpetuates a system whereby muscles atrophy and supportive soft tissues weaken. Consider the example of a herniated disc in the lower back, where pain is severe enough to dissuade the sufferer from attempting any activity. As days pass by spent in the illusory, “comfort,” of the sofa and bed, muscles in the core weaken from lack of use, meaning that they cannot be reliably called upon to share the burden of the upper body’s weight with the intervertebral discs. Furthermore, those same discs are losing water and stiffening which makes them vulnerable to injury. 

It seems ridiculous to say, “just get up and get moving,” in this sense. But to give this sufferer the best chance of a successful rehabilitation, we need to help them move somehow depsite the pain. We provide the chiropractic adjustment, acupuncture treatment, spinal decompression, therapetuic massage, and other modalities that will address the injury and reduce pain. From here, we show you how light aerobic activity such as swimming or walking, when combined with proper nutrition and a good dose of stretching, can help you heal quickly and return to a state of normal activity. 

Dr. Karen Thomas, D.C., L.Ac.