Good Afternoon Everyone!
"You have some strong thumbs!" I hear that often from many of my patients. The following statement usually is "ouch!" Then I usually get the question: "What are you doing?" I then explain to them that I am removing adhesions/scar tissue from the fascia in the muscles and between the skin & muscles (this can be a bit painful at first). Next question is: "Scar tissue? How did scar tissue get in my muscles?" So I explain that the adhesions/scar tissue usually come from repetitive stress injuries to their area of complaint.
Repetitive stress injury is doing minor harmful movements over and over again to a specific area. These repetitive movements cause very minor tears in muscle fibers/fascia and the body fixes each of them by laying down scar tissue. If you have enough of this scar tissue in one area, pain and poor function will result. One analogy I use is to compare muscles with scar tissue to that of a road with hundreds of pot-holes. Eventually that road needs to be repaved, just as your muscles need to be stripped of scar tissue/ adhesions to function correctly & be pain free.
Take Home Message:
If you feel like my thumbs are torturing you, it isn't because I don't like you! Actually it's quite the opposite, as I do this along with chiropractic adjustments to get you feeling better as soon as possible!
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
P.S. Please don't ever hesitate to ask about any aspect of your care, should you have any concerns/questions
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Monday, November 2, 2015
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
I Think I'm Getting Arthritis In My Back
Good Evening Everyone!
"I think I'm getting arthritis in by back, because it's starting to hurt occationally." That's what one of my patients said to me this morning. I first assured him it was ok and that with some very simple steps, we could minimize the effect/advancement of the arthritis.
The arthritis that he was talking about is osteoarthritis, which basically is wear and tear to a joint. Wear and tear on anything is best dealt with by using maintenance as a tool. A car does better with regular maintenance and so does your body. That car also does better when you use better products to support it and again, so does your body. So, the advice that this patient and every patient of mine gets is to make sure that they do a few simple things to minimize osteoarthritis:
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
"I think I'm getting arthritis in by back, because it's starting to hurt occationally." That's what one of my patients said to me this morning. I first assured him it was ok and that with some very simple steps, we could minimize the effect/advancement of the arthritis.
The arthritis that he was talking about is osteoarthritis, which basically is wear and tear to a joint. Wear and tear on anything is best dealt with by using maintenance as a tool. A car does better with regular maintenance and so does your body. That car also does better when you use better products to support it and again, so does your body. So, the advice that this patient and every patient of mine gets is to make sure that they do a few simple things to minimize osteoarthritis:
- Keep your spine and extremity joints moving properly and in the best possible position... using Chiropractic adjustments of course!! For this I recommend that most people get adjusted at least once every 4-6 weeks ( some more.... some less).
- Exercise for 30-40 minutes a few times a week.... include 1/2 cardio work and 1/2 muscle training
- Try and keep to an anti-inflammatory diet.... limit sugars, flour and salt (reduce all by 80%). Also include fish oil supplementation for help with naturally reducing inflammation.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
P.S.: It's kind of ironic, but being a chiropractor is hard on the body. So, I try and make sure that I am practicing what I preach above to prevent arthritis (wear and tear) from advancing.
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Some VERY BAD Advice!
Good Evening Everyone,
Recently, one of my patients was diagnosed with non-insulin dependant type 2 diabetes. So in a nutshell, cells are becoming resistant to insulin and therefor are requiring more and more to have the effect of lowering blood glucose levels. The result of this is the pancreas beginning to wear out due to the increase in demand for insulin.
The first step for this is usually adjusting the diet and monitoring the daily blood glucose levels. One would think that the advice/goal for diet would be to reduce the need for higher levels of insulin. This would begin to give the pancreas a rest (allow for repair), and also reduce the effect of insulin resistance in the cells. Hopefully the diet is followed, exercise is added and possibly the type 2 diabetes is reversed (or drastically reduced).
So, this patient did receive dietary advice with the same intent that I described above, but the content was lacking. The advice included the substitution of sugar with artificial sweeteners (spenda, aspartame) and natural sweeteners (truvia, stevia). This advice will drive this patient into full blown insulin dependant diabetes even sooner than if the patient just kept on eating real sugar!
Explanation..... The pancreas responds to sugar, but it mostly responds to how sweet something is. The substitutes for real sugar are in some cases 1000x sweeter!! For example, consumption of a diet soda will cause a more massive insulin release a regular soda. Doing this over and over again will drastically speed up insulin resistance in the cells and the eventual death of the pancreas!
Take Home Advice: Diabetic or Not.... DON'T follow that bad advice. Reduce the about of sweet you have in your diet. Drink water (or unsweetened beverages), reduce desserts by 80%, don't overcook pasta, eat sprouted grain breads/products/cereals, reduce refined flour by 80%, limit/avoid orange/yellow fruit and vegetables, and finally.... exercise 20-30 min a few times a week.
Yours in Health!
Dr. Jeff
P.S. That same advice will help anyone loose considerable weight and keep it off!
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Recently, one of my patients was diagnosed with non-insulin dependant type 2 diabetes. So in a nutshell, cells are becoming resistant to insulin and therefor are requiring more and more to have the effect of lowering blood glucose levels. The result of this is the pancreas beginning to wear out due to the increase in demand for insulin.
The first step for this is usually adjusting the diet and monitoring the daily blood glucose levels. One would think that the advice/goal for diet would be to reduce the need for higher levels of insulin. This would begin to give the pancreas a rest (allow for repair), and also reduce the effect of insulin resistance in the cells. Hopefully the diet is followed, exercise is added and possibly the type 2 diabetes is reversed (or drastically reduced).
So, this patient did receive dietary advice with the same intent that I described above, but the content was lacking. The advice included the substitution of sugar with artificial sweeteners (spenda, aspartame) and natural sweeteners (truvia, stevia). This advice will drive this patient into full blown insulin dependant diabetes even sooner than if the patient just kept on eating real sugar!
Explanation..... The pancreas responds to sugar, but it mostly responds to how sweet something is. The substitutes for real sugar are in some cases 1000x sweeter!! For example, consumption of a diet soda will cause a more massive insulin release a regular soda. Doing this over and over again will drastically speed up insulin resistance in the cells and the eventual death of the pancreas!
Take Home Advice: Diabetic or Not.... DON'T follow that bad advice. Reduce the about of sweet you have in your diet. Drink water (or unsweetened beverages), reduce desserts by 80%, don't overcook pasta, eat sprouted grain breads/products/cereals, reduce refined flour by 80%, limit/avoid orange/yellow fruit and vegetables, and finally.... exercise 20-30 min a few times a week.
Yours in Health!
Dr. Jeff
P.S. That same advice will help anyone loose considerable weight and keep it off!
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Got Foot Problems?... We Can Help!
Good Afternoon Everyone,
Hopefully everyone had a great holiday weekend!
This week we're talking about the health of your feet and how poor foot mechanics can cause other problems throughout the body. When having the opportunity to evaluate some of my patients' feet, I can report that most are wearing the wrong shoes (possibly wrong size) and have poor mechanics in the bones/joints of the foot & ankle. Incorrect foot mechanics and foot wear will lead to improper mechanics when walking. This in turn will negatively affect the health of the knees, hips and spine (especially the low back and pelvic/sciatic joints).
So make sure to bring any pains in the feet, ankles, knees or hips to our attention. Don't have any pain in those areas? That's OK, because you can still ask us to have the feet/ankles checked to prevent future problems from arising. If we find issues that we can help, we'll recommend proper foot wear and use chiropractic adjusting to make sure the foot/ankle is functioning properly.
If you have any questions about this or any other topic, please feel free to email me: drjeff@brucechiropracticonline.com
Enjoy this beautiful day!
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
Bruce Chiropractic Center
856-547-6587
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Hopefully everyone had a great holiday weekend!
This week we're talking about the health of your feet and how poor foot mechanics can cause other problems throughout the body. When having the opportunity to evaluate some of my patients' feet, I can report that most are wearing the wrong shoes (possibly wrong size) and have poor mechanics in the bones/joints of the foot & ankle. Incorrect foot mechanics and foot wear will lead to improper mechanics when walking. This in turn will negatively affect the health of the knees, hips and spine (especially the low back and pelvic/sciatic joints).
So make sure to bring any pains in the feet, ankles, knees or hips to our attention. Don't have any pain in those areas? That's OK, because you can still ask us to have the feet/ankles checked to prevent future problems from arising. If we find issues that we can help, we'll recommend proper foot wear and use chiropractic adjusting to make sure the foot/ankle is functioning properly.
If you have any questions about this or any other topic, please feel free to email me: drjeff@brucechiropracticonline.com
Enjoy this beautiful day!
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
Bruce Chiropractic Center
856-547-6587
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Sleep your way to weight loss!
Good Morning Everyone!
Do we actually need less sleep? Well, it depends on how heavy you want to be. In a report by CNN, sleep time was studied on how it affects genetic vs. environmental influences over weight gain. The results were interesting: those who get under 7 hours of sleep per night can attribute 70% of weight trouble to genetic reasons.... and those who get 9 or more hours of sleep per night can attribute only 32% of weight trouble to genetics.
There's some science to the explanation of that, but it's kinda boring. So let's just skip to the take home message from this CNN report:
Take Home Message: If you get 9+ hours of sleep per night, you will have more control over your body's ability to gain weight. If you sleep less than 7 hours, then you are leaving your body's weight gain up to the genes from your ancestors.
*I'm more of a control freak, so if it was up to me (which it's not right now with our new addition coming at home:), I would get the extra sleep so that I could have more control.
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
P.S. pretty cool stuff huh!
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Do we actually need less sleep? Well, it depends on how heavy you want to be. In a report by CNN, sleep time was studied on how it affects genetic vs. environmental influences over weight gain. The results were interesting: those who get under 7 hours of sleep per night can attribute 70% of weight trouble to genetic reasons.... and those who get 9 or more hours of sleep per night can attribute only 32% of weight trouble to genetics.
There's some science to the explanation of that, but it's kinda boring. So let's just skip to the take home message from this CNN report:
Take Home Message: If you get 9+ hours of sleep per night, you will have more control over your body's ability to gain weight. If you sleep less than 7 hours, then you are leaving your body's weight gain up to the genes from your ancestors.
*I'm more of a control freak, so if it was up to me (which it's not right now with our new addition coming at home:), I would get the extra sleep so that I could have more control.
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
P.S. pretty cool stuff huh!
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Having Babies, Stress, Sciatica and Dr Jeff's Big news!
Good Morning Everyone!
It's easy to see how one could link stress and having babies together, but where does sciatica come in? Lets first talk about what stress has to do with sciatica. Many of my patients know that stress in general can cause back pain and tightness, but with sciatica we have to include/discuss a very small gland that is attached to the top of our kidneys. The gland is called your adrenal gland, and it will become exhausted when under higher levels of consistent stress (physical, chemical(diet/medications), or emotional stress). When this gland becomes exhausted, it produces a viscera-somatic effect. In other words, stress wears out your adrenal glands which weakens your low back/pelvic joints and can then lead to sciatica (and a trip into our office)!
So when having low back pain/sciatica as a result of the above, you can get relief from a combination of getting chiropractic adjustments, massage, stretching, etc.. Doing this will definitely help your external/musculoskeletal low back/sciatic pain, but linking that chiropractic care with an Adrenal Gland Support product will help address the possible internal cause of the sciatica/low back pain that you are feeling.
Many times it is difficult to remove the stresses that we are under, but we can at least support the the part of our body that deals with the stress!! The product that I like and personally use everyday for Adrenal Support is called "Drenamin" and is made by Standard Process. I truly notice a difference when using this product during my higher stress times, and so do all of the patients that I have recommended this to.
Lastly, getting back to the title of this blog.... What does all this have to do with babies and My BIG NEWS. Well..... babies = loss of sleep/fatigue/(happy stress) = adrenal gland exhaustion and the need for Drenamin. And the BIG NEWS is that we are expecting our 5th baby around Sept 18th!!!
Take Home Messages:
1) Stress = Adrenal Gland Exhaustion = Sciatica/low back pain
2) Ask Dr Jeff/ Ruth for Drenamin adrenal support product (NOT a very expensive supplement!!)
3) Dr Jeff and family are having their 5th baby!!!! Dr. Jeff will be needing that adrenal support!!
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
drjeff@brucechiropracticonline.com
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
It's easy to see how one could link stress and having babies together, but where does sciatica come in? Lets first talk about what stress has to do with sciatica. Many of my patients know that stress in general can cause back pain and tightness, but with sciatica we have to include/discuss a very small gland that is attached to the top of our kidneys. The gland is called your adrenal gland, and it will become exhausted when under higher levels of consistent stress (physical, chemical(diet/medications), or emotional stress). When this gland becomes exhausted, it produces a viscera-somatic effect. In other words, stress wears out your adrenal glands which weakens your low back/pelvic joints and can then lead to sciatica (and a trip into our office)!
So when having low back pain/sciatica as a result of the above, you can get relief from a combination of getting chiropractic adjustments, massage, stretching, etc.. Doing this will definitely help your external/musculoskeletal low back/sciatic pain, but linking that chiropractic care with an Adrenal Gland Support product will help address the possible internal cause of the sciatica/low back pain that you are feeling.
Many times it is difficult to remove the stresses that we are under, but we can at least support the the part of our body that deals with the stress!! The product that I like and personally use everyday for Adrenal Support is called "Drenamin" and is made by Standard Process. I truly notice a difference when using this product during my higher stress times, and so do all of the patients that I have recommended this to.
Lastly, getting back to the title of this blog.... What does all this have to do with babies and My BIG NEWS. Well..... babies = loss of sleep/fatigue/(happy stress) = adrenal gland exhaustion and the need for Drenamin. And the BIG NEWS is that we are expecting our 5th baby around Sept 18th!!!
Take Home Messages:
1) Stress = Adrenal Gland Exhaustion = Sciatica/low back pain
2) Ask Dr Jeff/ Ruth for Drenamin adrenal support product (NOT a very expensive supplement!!)
3) Dr Jeff and family are having their 5th baby!!!! Dr. Jeff will be needing that adrenal support!!
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
drjeff@brucechiropracticonline.com
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
The Real Food Pyramid!
Good Evening Everyone!
Short blog this week, but taking the time to read through and digest the food pyramid below should help you dramatically improve your health and how you feel. Many of us know the old food pyramid that the FDA put out years ago, and you'll notice that this one is completely opposite to that.
Enjoy and feel free to email me with any questions or topics that you would like for me to cover
Dr. Jeff drjeff@brucechiropracticonline.com
Short blog this week, but taking the time to read through and digest the food pyramid below should help you dramatically improve your health and how you feel. Many of us know the old food pyramid that the FDA put out years ago, and you'll notice that this one is completely opposite to that.
Enjoy and feel free to email me with any questions or topics that you would like for me to cover
Dr. Jeff drjeff@brucechiropracticonline.com
 |
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Monday, June 22, 2015
Lighter Body... Heavier Wallet
Good Morning Everyone!
This is my first blog that I have written in a while, so for those who enjoyed them, I do apologize for the break! I really enjoy writing these, so I hope to continue them regularly again. As with previous blogs, I will try and keep the information useful and relevant.
Over the past couple years I have been counseling/advising many of my patients on diet, glycemic index, weight loss, stress reduction, reducing inflammation, hormone balancing and even sleep. Besides diet modifications and food education, I have also been ordering many supplements/vitamins and meal replacement bars to help with each patient's needs.
The two supplement companies are Standard Process and Nutriwest. These are exclusive to doctors and are of the highest quality. With high quality and exclusiveness the price of the supplements was until recently on the high side. Because of this, it was always hard for me to supply them to everyone in need. That was until recently when I was able to get these supplements at a much better cost! Now, I can offer to these great supplements to more of my patients that need/want them without breaking their budget (usually around 25-30% off of previous prices). The new prices are not that far off from the commercial brands such as Centrum and the quality far exceeds them.
Both Standard Process and Nutriwest are great in their own way and supply products that are necessary for patients specific conditions and general health. Standard process is a company that has been producing organic/wholefood supplements from their very own organic farm since the 1920's. They have truly great products and health systems for all different conditions and ages of patients. Nutriwest hasn't been around for as long, but also has great supplements and fish oils. I specifically like the supplements for digestive conditions from Nutriwest and I usually use Standard process for more general nutrition/ meal supplement/ multivitamin situations.
So in closing, this weeks blog was to let everyone know that I'm always here to discuss your overall health/diet, any need for additional supplementation and overall food education. Also, that there are better options for the supplements that they are currently taking or need to take, and that these don't have cost an arm and a leg. You are always welcome to email me at drjeff@brucechiropracticonline.com with any questions!
Yours in Health,
Dr. Jeff
www.brucechiropracticonline.com
Any medical information provided in Doctor Jeff's Blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. Any information provided is not meant to diagnose, treat or manage any specific disease/condition.Doctor Jeff's Blog respects the confidentiality of individual patients and site visitors. All clinical anecdotes are compliant with HIPAA regulations.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)