Posts Tagged ‘pain’
Acupuncture for the Modern Athlete: Using Acupuncture to Boost Immunity
Acupuncture’s effect on immunity
Acupuncture boosts the body’s immune response by increasing circulation and fighting off inflammation. From the Traditiona Chinese Medicine perspective, acupuncture regulates the body’s energy pathways. In Western Medicine, this effect is experienced as improving blood flow throughout the body. Furthermore, acupuncture has powerful anti-inflammatory capacities. Because inflammation is now thought to be the base of so many diseases, the anti-inflammatory effect of acupuncture is seen as an effective aid for the body’s immune response in battling off illness when energy reserves are low.
What slow’s an athlete down more than illness?
During any interval of training, acupuncture is recognized as an effective aid for improving immunity and resistance to illness. Receiving treatments in the hours following intense exercise increases circulation, oxygen and nutrient flow and allows your body to rest and recuperate effectively for the training ahead. If you are interested in using acupuncture to improve athletic performance, give our office in Park Slope a call to schedule an appointment today.
The Importance of Postural Transitioning
Using postural transitions to your advantage.
Chances are you don’t want to remain locked into a stiff and stagnant position. But many of us end up this way because over time, our body learns that this is what we want, and our muscles respond to make this unhealthy posturing feel more comfortable. This is a trap! Even if your body feels better slouching, you are causing innumerable damages to your spine. At Community Chiropractic & Acupuncture, we want people to overcome stagnation by awareness. An ergonomically aware person should make at least one purposeful movement every 20 minutes of sitting or standing. These can be slight, like simply raising your feet onto a footrest from the floor, or stretching the back; or they can be more purposeful like standing up and walking to get a drink of water.
Postural transitions keep your core engaged
If your job involves a whole lot of one position, make sure that you listen to the signs of stiffness before they give way to pain. If you are interested in optimizing your work life and finding more ways to keep your body healthy despite the demands of your job, give our office in Park Slope a call to schedule an appointment today.
Acupuncture versus Injection for Back Pain
Acupuncture is effective at addressing neck pain
While painkilling injections quite often achieve their goal of reducing pain and helping people live a more normal life, there is every chance that the pain will come back and the necessity for injections will continue. Acupuncture seeks to encourage the body’s intrinsic healing response and addresses pain in the following ways:
- Stimulates nervous system response in muscles and connective tissues.
- Releases painkilling endorphins and alters the processing of pain in the brain
- Reduces inflammation
- Releases muscles from stiffness and improves spinal joint mobility
- Increases local circulation to provide nutrients and oxygen to the injurious region.
Acupuncture for neck pain in Park Slope
At our office in Brooklyn, we specialize in the treatment of neck pain through holistic methods including chiropractic adjustment and acupuncture therapy. If you are interested in overcoming your long standing neck pain, give our office a call to schedule an appointment today.
Making Life in the Commuter Lane Less Painful
If commuting is an inevitable part of your lifestyle, keep the damage at bay…
…by being proactive. There is no use denying it: commuting is a stress inducer- to the body and to the brain, it can be hard to find positives for sitting in traffic twice a day besides the fact that it gets you to work to earn your daily bread. If we must commute, let’s be smart about it: here are some ways that we came up with to negate the effects of a commuter lifestyle.
In the car, keep the zen alive.
- Driving posture: stay upright with hands at 9 and 3. Use a rolled up jacket to support the lumbar
- Deep breathing: Use this time to focus on establishing a pattern of deep breathing and get the oxygen you need to stay sane.
- Podcasts: while the news is important, it can add to your stress level. Switch it up and focus on a subject you love with a podcast; it will keep your brain engaged and happy.
- Comfortable shoes: wait til you reach the office to put on those stiff shoes! Slippers can be a comfortable way to commute.
- Stretching: the neck and lower back are the regions which take the most damage during a drive- simple stretches can reverse this damage.
On the train, take a deep breath.
- Focus on relaxing activities: reading, listening to your favorite music or a podcast.
- Progressive relaxation: tense a different muscle group with each inhale and release on the exhale.
- Massage yourself: focus on trigger points to release muscles from tension.
Don’t let stress sink you before you reach the office
These techniques can help you stay balanced as you enter the workplace and this sets you off on the right foot. One way that we help at Park Slope Chiropractic is by reversing the damage that may have been wrought from years of commuting. By focusing on keeping the spine in balance and reversing muscle tension, we can help you experience less pain which is sure to take a bit of stress out of the picture.
Dr. Karen Thomas, D.C.
Acupuncture for the Relief of Arthritis Symptoms
Essentially a family of conditions involving chronic inflammation and stiffness in the joints, arthritis prevalence is on the rise in the United States. According to the CDC, by the year 2040, some 78 million adults 18 years and older will be affected by some form of doctor-diagnosed arthritis. As there is no clear cure, there are naturally myriad remedies on offer, ranging from medication to lifestyle adjustment to specific dieting and exercise. At Community Chiropractic & Acupuncture, we offer another dimension to the arsenal against arthritis: acupuncture.
Acupuncture is a particularly potent natural pain-killer. By stimulating the body’s release of endorphins, our brain’s natural pain threshold is heightened. This pain-masking effect is further enhanced because it inhibits the body’s ability to send pain signals to the brain through the nervous system. The fundamental benefit of acupuncture is that it provides these bonuses with minimal feasible downside, as compared with pharmaceutical and over-the-counter medication. Furthermore, we can combine acupuncture with chiropractic adjustment to effect great improvements in joint mobility.
While there is no distinct cure for arthritis, the addition of acupuncture can be used to great effect within the framework of your already-established pain management plan. We look forward to hearing from you and helping you to create a plan for living beyond your arthritis pain.
Dr. Karen Thomas, D.C.