ARE YOU A WEEKEND WARRIOR? CHIROPRACTIC CAN HELP THAT

More and more people are recognizing that exercise is a key factor for achieving a long, healthy life, and that’s a good thing. However, the demands of a job and family, among other responsibilities, make it hard for people to exercise as much as they’d like to. This results in the “weekend warrior” syndrome, where people try to make up for a week’s worth of inactivity by exercising vigorously on the weekends. Some exercise is always better than none, so in theory there’s nothing wrong with getting your exercise even two days a week. However, the reality is that some people overdo the weekend exercise, and this can be a problem, especially as the years go on. Waking up on Saturday morning and running five miles, or playing in a fast-paced basketball or tennis game, can sometimes result in injuries, especially if you don’t stretch properly before the workout.

The good news is that chiropractic care can help you recover from many of these weekend athlete injuries. Chiropractic adjustment returns spinal segments to their normal mobility. Aided by massage therapy to help the supportive tissues (muscles, tendons, & ligaments), chiropractic physicians allow the injured areas to heal and return to normal function. Along with some rest to help the healing process, weekend athletes will usually be able to return to their activities in a short time. A good Doylestown chiropractor will also be able to show you better strategies for exercise and stretching, so that you avoid these kinds of injuries in the future.

SPEAK UP ABOUT ALTERNATIVE CARE

Good communication is essential between patients and their medical providers. In fact, it can slow down or block the progress of treatment if patients don’t communicate well with the people who are treating them. That’s why it’s disturbing to read of a new study released by Kaiser Permanente Northwest, a group model health maintenance organization based in Portland, Ore., that found a third of acupuncture users and 42 percent of chiropractic users in the study did not tell their regular doctors about the care. This adds up to a lot of patients, since the study also found that of the 6,068 chronic pain patients who responded to a questionnaire, 47 percent reported using chiropractic care, 32 percent said they used acupuncture, and 21 percent used both. Only 42 percent said they used neither acupuncture nor chiropractic.

This study shows that a lot of patients are turning to alternative therapies, such as those offered by a Warrington PA chiropractor to deal with their chronic pain, but the bad news is many of them are not telling their primary doctors about it. For medical care to work effectively, patients need to keep all the members of their treatment team in the loop. It’s the best way to coordinate care and make sure nothing is missed. Another reason for speaking up about alternative therapies like chiropractic is that doctors can sometimes offer advice about submitting these procedures for insurance payment. Insurance companies are more willing to pay for alternative treatments from a Warrington chiropractor these days, but many patients don’t know that, and pay the full cost of care themselves.

The lesson is, speak up! Let your primary care doctor know if you’re seeing a Warrington chiropractor.

CHIROPRACTIC IS PART OF THE SOLUTION TODAY

These days people are more educated than ever before about health, and they take a more active role in choosing which kind of treatment they want to receive. Alternative therapies are becoming more accepted as people investigate other options besides the traditional medical solutions of prescription drugs and surgery for many medical conditions.

Chiropractic care is one of those alternative therapies. There was a time when many in the medical profession looked down on chiropractors, and in fact the American Medical Association lost a federal antitrust lawsuit in 1987 because it was falsely claiming that chiropractic was harmful. Today, chiropractic is recognized as a viable alternative to surgery for spinal conditions. In fact, the general recommendation from the National Institute of Health is six weeks of manual therapy before any kind of spinal surgery is pursued. There have been numerous studies in the last decade that have confirmed what Doylestown chiropractors have known all along: that the various systems of the body and mind are much more interconnected than we realize, and problems in the spine and nervous system are often manifested in other areas of the body.

There are still some people in and outside of the medical profession who scoff at alternative methods like chiropractic. However, their numbers are decreasing daily. The smart people these days realize that traditional medicine and alternative therapies like chiropractic can work hand in hand for effective solutions to a host of ailments. Even insurance companies are realizing a health care system that harmonizes both approaches is best for everyone. In the long term, it saves businesses health dollar costs. It also keeps employees well, they perform better, and they’re more satisfied and happier.