The chiropractor Brooklyn Blog at Community Chiropractic & Acupuncture located in Park Slope, Brooklyn 11215, was started to let you know how we apply both Eastern and Western medical theory to establish a diagnosis and treatment plan designed specifically for each patient.
Furthermore, our goal is to help our patients enjoy an optimal quality of life with improved physical health, mental well-being, and a sense of spiritual tranquility.
Take a look at some of our health tips below in our chiropractor Brooklyn blog for information about improving your life.
Lack of blood flow hampers athletic performance
You have provided your body with all the nutrients it needs by paying attention to your diet; now you need to move those nutrients to places where they matter. One of the biggest problems facing athletes is lack of blood flow to the muscles- a circulation problem that prevents your muscles from getting the oxygen and nutrients they need to perform. This has two negative effects; first, it effects efficiency while you workout; second, it prevents your muscles from rebuilding efficiently post-workout.
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Pharmaceutical treatments for anxiety and depression are rife with side effects and carry high risks for dependency
Benzodiazepines such as Xanax and Valium treat anxiety and depression symptoms by slowing down the signalling of the nervous system leading to a calming, sedative effect. The potency of the drug allowed it to become prescribed for everything from panic attacks to sleep problems; benzodiazepines are now widely prescribed for alcohol withdrawal, muscle tension related to the central nervous system and epilepsy. But concerns about overuse, sustained use, dependence and side effects have fought their way to the fore as benzodiazepines have been linked with deaths from overdose. Other side effects include:
- Drowsiness
- Headaches
- Paranoia
- Irritability
- Personality changes
Interestingly, studies have shown that benzodiazepines can actually interfere with normal sleep patterns and long-term use has been associated with furthering symptoms of depression. As with all prescribed medications, it is important to realize that these are powerful drugs that come with a long list of side effects and a potential for dependency.
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Intense physical exercise lowers the body’s immunity
Every athlete is treading on a fine line- the harder you push yourself, the more vulnerable your body becomes to the effects of fatigue. From upper respiratory illness, to muscle injury and back pain, the body’s ability to fight off malefactors is lowered in the period of time immediately following exercise. The traditional response is to combine diet, stretching and rest to help the body restore itself so that you can challenge it anew. However, there is a breaking point that every athlete can reach in which the body’s immunity is overwhelmed. Acupuncture has been shown time and again to be an effective treatment for increasing immunity in the immediate aftermath of exercise.
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Trigger points are sensitive areas in the soft tissues that cause pain and dysfunction
Pain then radiates from this point throughout the surrounding soft tisse, causing myofascial pain and muscular dysfunction. Often this pain is referred to other parts of the body, even disparate parts which may seem entirely unconnected to the epicenter, which means that a physical examination is necessary to determine the origin of the pain. There are two types of trigger points: latent and active. It may surprise you to learn that we are often walking around with several latent trigger points; it is only when they become active that they start to cause pain and dysfunction. Trigger points in athletes most often occur in the following muscles:
- Gluteals
- Levator scapulae
- Gastrocnemius
- Upper trapezius
Because they cause pain in other parts of the body, a primary goal of our practic at Community Chiropracitc & Acupuncture is to locate and deactivate trigger points using acupuncture. How does this work? Read on.
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Acupuncture is an athlete’s aid
Even though acupuncture has been around for millenia, its practical applications are more relevant than ever. As sports medicine evolves, it is starting to incorporate more of the tenets of Traditional Chinese Medicine philosophy into its arsenal, chiefly the ideas of injury prevention, balance of the body and mind, and natural healing. At Community Chiropractic & Acupuncture of Park Slope, we combine Western knowledge of the musculoskeletal system with the healing philosophy of acupuncture to keep athletes ahead of the game.
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Something everyone should be doing: engaging your postural mucles
Stop what you are doing and engage your postural muscles! If you are sitting, try this:
- Sit upright
- Pull your belly button in toward your spine, and up toward the ribs
- Roll your shoulders back and drop them so that your shoulder blades are pushing downward
- Drop your tailbone down toward the floor.
- In this position, your spine should feel straight and your chest expanded.
- Now try to maintain this position.
In this position, you look confident, your spinal muscles are engaged and keeping you upright which is working to prevent pain, and you are breathing your best. Chances are, however, that after five minutes, you will be back to slumping over your computer, or slouching in your chair, or leaning against some odd object. And that’s not your fault! It’s human nature. But it is something that we need to address if we are going to keep you looking your best, and feeling young and free of pain.
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Before you reach for the painkillers…
…it may be worth asking yourself if you really need them. The use of non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen and Advil, is widespread in the athletic world because they offer short-term pain relief that allows athletes to ignore the aches and pains that accumulate naturally throughout training. The first problem is that by ignoring this pain, you are leaving yourself open to the risk of over-training syndrome, in which you push past the point of no return, causing actual injury to your body. The question is: are you using NSAIDS to treat the pain of an acute injury, or simply to override the natural aches and pains of breakdown and repair that are part of muscle building and conditioning?
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For certain sports, hip rotation is absolutely essential
Take baseball, golf and tennis, three sports where power gives you a competitive edge. While it appears at first that strong arms would make all the difference, sports mechanics show that the majority of power is generated by the hips. Therefore, effective movement of the hips is a necessity for athletes looking to generate optimal power. Chiropractic offers a range of natural modalities for improving hip mobility and mechanics, allowing you to become a more effective athlete.
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What is postural transitioning?
Postural transitions are the small movements you make when you change positions. Simply put, changing from posture to another involves movements, however small, that engage certain muscles and encourage blood circulation. Without these movements, the body is left stagnant and this is a problem from many perspectives. From a practicioner of chiropractic and acupuncture medicine, these are the areas we are most concerned about:
- The spine compresses and intervertebral discs harden
- Blood fails to circulate effectively
- You feel stiffer and muscles atrophy
Neck pain drives people to desperate lengths when trying to find relief
Painkilling injections are a staple of the Western pharmaceutical industry’s response to neck pain that have endured for years as a go to response when people are seeking true pain relief. Because they are step before surgery, they are quite often prescribed by medical professionals as a tried and true non-invasive method of pain management. The problem is that painkilling injections are addressing symptoms and not the underlying cause of the pain; furthermore, they come with a long list of potential side effects. Another treatment that uses needles, but in a much different way, is acupuncture, a method of treatment that has a far smaller spotlight, but offers people real pain relief with far fewer side effects.
Read MoreMoreover, at Community Chiropractic & Acupuncture we are committed to providing individualized and compassionate patient care.
Dr. Karen Thomas founded the practice over 30 years ago with the express purpose of providing leading-edge healthcare to the Park Slope community.
As a result, the practice has grown considerably since then, and moved from its original location at Lincoln Place and Sixth Avenue to Eighth Avenue at Union Street, to its present location at 182 8th Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11215
We want you to know that we are prepared for you.
Furthermore, for the protection of our customers and our employees, we’ve followed the guidance of the W.H.O. and the I.C.C. and their directions to business owners.
Additionally, we have disinfected all surfaces and implemented recommended strategies to keep safe distances between all customers and employees to prevent any transmission.
In conclusion, our team is on top of the most current information available to businesses.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions about your health at 718-398-3100
We all speak English and...
Dr. Gabe is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese
Dr. Thomas speaks some Spanish but is not fluent
Yolanda, our office manager is fluent in Spanish
Steve, our front office assistant speaks some Chinese but is not fluent
Sofia, our medical biller is fluent in Russian