Is it just tight muscles?

One of the things I heard often since starting practice in 1999 is "I think it's just tight muscles."  Patients often say this if there is no obvious joint pain, yet they still feel a tight painful area along their spine.  It's easy to think it's either  a muscle problem or  a joint problem.

In truth, it's usually both. Tight muscles affect the spinal joint and subluxated (misaligned) spinal joints affect the muscles.  It goes both ways.  That's why we use soft tissue techniques to loosen up the muscles and the spinal adjustments to bring the spinal joints back into their normal range of motion.

The interesting thing is the spinal adjustment helps the muscles settle down regardless of whether we do the soft tissue work or not.  In fact, research shows that the adjustment alone reduces muscle tension by 25%.  This was published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2005;28:465-71).

Combining the adjustment with soft tissue work is a great way to return the spinal joints to their proper range of motion and take the tension away.  What does that mean for you?  It means you FEEL and FUNCTION better.  So, come on in and let us keep you in great shape!

Ken Hicks, D.C
www.lookoutvalleychiro.com

Can vitamin D help prevent the flu?

Yep, it looks like it can.  In a 2010 study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, those supplementing with vitamin D3 were almost half as likely to have the flu as those not taking vitamin D3.  The reality is that most Americans are low in vitamin D.  Our bodies produce it when were out in the sun and we spend so much time indoors these days, especially once it starts getting colder, that we simply don't produce enough.  So, we need to be supplementing with vitamin D3.

We carry a high quality vitamin D3, so next time you're in for your adjustment (at least once a month, right?) just ask us about vitamin D3 and we'll get you started.

Ken Hicks, D.C.
www.lookoutvalleychiro.com