Monday, October 26, 2015

A Complete Wellness Approach

A complete wellness approach is a comprehensive focus on adopting positive habits that will increase the well-being of your physical, mental, social, and spiritual self. Quality chiropractic care is an essential aspect of your wellness plan. Maintaining your nervous system is essential to balance other areas of your wellness plan.

Wellness plans include regular checkups with your physician and dentist, so why not your chiropractor? Chiropractic care is more than fixing bad backs and alleviating pain. Regular chiropractic care gives the patient energy and increased endurance.

People maintain their teeth and their car, but forget about their nervous system. There is a common misconception that the absence of pain means that the body is healthy. Wellness is more concerned with a higher level of thinking that requires that the patient be at their mental and physical best to get the most out of life. Again, the nervous system brings your body up to this level through regular chiropractic care. For those who seek to live their best life through a comprehensive wellness plan, regular chiropractic care is an essential element.

Chiropractic treatment enables your body to benefit from the rest of your wellness routine. If you are exercising regularly, chiropractic treatment enables you to do so without added pain and stiffness. If you are eating well, regular chiropractic treatments aid in a regular digestion system. Chiropractic has the ability to bring together all aspects of a wellness program so you can reap the maximum benefits from your healthy lifestyle. The result is more vitality, greater endurance, and the ability to be the best in all that you do.

***Disclaimer: This content is solely for informational purposes and should not be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice. It is recommended that you seek professional advice by a licensed health care professional.

Scott Chiropractic and Wellness
Matthew Scott, DC

5080 Virginia Pkwy Ste 550

McKinney, TX 75071
972-540-5445

www.scott-chiropractic.com

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Thumb Arthritis

A Solution for Thumb Arthritis

There is a tiny bone in the carpal (wrist) area known as the trapezium. The trapezium is directly above the first metacarpal (the long bone for the thumb), where the thumb connects to the wrist. This joint is known as a “saddle joint” because it has a unique shape similar to a horse’s saddle. The saddle shape provides this joint a much greater range of motion compared to the other thumb and finger joints. It is at this joint where thumb arthritis occurs.

This thumb joint is the most common joint in the entire body to become arthritic in the greatest number of people.

Because there is such broad motion at this “saddle joint”, it gets the heaviest workout. We use our thumbs to grip and hold most objects, and the thumb is always opposing the four fingers.

The fingers oppose the thumb four against one.

After a period of time the thumb may lose its healthy alignment where it connects to the carpal region. This misalignment will irritate the joint and cause the cartilage surfaces to become worn. This wearing of the cartilage is referred to as degenerative joint disease or osteoarthritis.

It is a common misconception that arthritis cannot be treated through chiropractic. Practically every patient we treat has some form of arthritis. If you break the word down to its root meaning, arthritis means “joint inflammation”. When two bones become misaligned relative to each other, the joint at which they connect becomes irritated and inflamed.

Adjusting the small wrist and hand bones will restore healthy alignment and function to the irritated joints. In addition to pain relief patients often experience increased strength, range of motion and greater ability to grip objects for longer periods of time without pain and fatigue.

Arthritic pain and dysfunction can be helped with chiropractic care. If you or someone you know is dealing with arthritic pain, we recommend a chiropractic evaluation to determine if there is a solution that can provide relief and restore healthy function to their hand.

Scott Chiropractic and Wellness
Matthew Scott, DC

5080 Virginia Pkwy Ste 550

McKinney, TX 75071
972-540-5445

www.scott-chiropractic.com

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Three Important Fall Health Tips

As cooler weather begins to set in it is vitally important to focus on better health and a stronger immune system. We’ve included three important health tips that your family will benefit from this time of year.

It’s also the time of year when more patients start to experience thumb pain and symptoms related to thumb arthritis and/or overuse. You will be pleased to know that you don’t have to learn to live with a painful thumb. This month’s article on solutions for thumb arthritis will provide you the education you need to make an informed decision, for improving the health of your hands.

Enjoy the seasonal changes we’re about to experience, and thank you for sharing our Full Body Chiropractic Newsletter with your friends.

Three Important Autumn Health Tips

Heading into the cooler months there are three very important health tips that come to mind. If you follow these three tips your chances of an enjoyable fall season will increase substantially. Here are those three health tips:

1. Trade sweets for healthy snacks: Studies show that one teaspoon of sugar will reduce your immune system’s function for up to six hours. Those sodas and sugary snacks will provide you with short-term bliss; however they will also hamper your body’s ability to ward off contracting the cold or flu.

If cutting out all sweets seems to be too much of a challenge, you should consider reducing your intake by one-half. So if you’re used to two sodas, two cookies and a handful of chocolates, you may want to trade a bottle of soda for a glass of water, a cookie for an apple and a few chocolates for some veggies with dip.

Although it may not be easy at first, the noticeable health benefits you gain will certainly make up for the sacrifice.

2. Stretch before activities: Cold weather can do serious damage to your joints, ligaments and tendons. Where you might be able to get away with a brisk morning run during the warmer months without stretching, it can cause much havoc to your body if you don’t warm up during cooler months.

Your stretching routine doesn’t have to be a long, drawn out process. Even five minutes of pre activity stretching can make a world of difference. If you’re simply going for a jog you may be fine with stretching your calves, hamstrings and quadriceps. On the other hand if you’re going to play tennis or some other racquet sport you may also want to include upper body stretches for your shoulders and arms.

Also keep in mind that it is just as important, if not more important, to stretch your muscles after your workout as a cool-down technique.

3. Receive your chiropractic wellness adjustment: The testimonials we receive from our patients speak loud and clear the health benefits of getting a regular chiropractic checkup.

Many of our patients bring their entire family in for a routine chiropractic adjustment. They do this because they have found that having a periodic wellness adjustment will keep their spines and other body areas “fine-tuned” and functioning at its optimal potential.

Periodic chiropractic wellness adjustments will also help reduce your family’s medical expense. Good alignment promotes a healthy nervous system, allowing your body to consistently function at its peak performance, thus helping to prevent a major breakdown in health.

Matthew Scott, DC

5080 Virginia Pkwy Ste 550

McKinney, TX 75071
972-540-5445

scott-chiropractic.com