I'm Getting Old--- What do I Do??

Every year you have another birthday is a great year. Keep having them!! But, you do know with aging that " little things" just start to happen. Little aches and pains start to show up in your 30s. In your 40s your eyes seem to be going bad, turn 50 and your knees hurt all the time, you hit 60 and menopause and prostate problems show up. Some ailments that happen you'll just have to deal with as you go. So, let's do what we can do to slow the creeping aging process down. Here's a list of five things you can do daily to help slow aging.
1. Water!! Lots and lots of water. Try to get at least a half gallon a day into your system. Start with a quart in the am, even if it takes you all morning to drink it. Finish it at lunch. Start another quart in the afternoon and finish it before 8. Not always easy but you can do it.
2. Rest!! Get plenty of rest. Does that mean 8 hour of sleep every night? Not necessarily. Some folks do fine on 4-5 others need a full 7-8. Take time during the day to take mini rest periods for 5-10 minutes. Go to bed earlier, get up earlier. When you do #3, you'll actually sleep and rest better.
3. Exercise!! Do something every day like walking. You can choose the exercise but just do something over and above your daily routine. Keep moving. Use the stairs, park farther away from the front door at church, the movies, and the store.
4. Eat your vegetables!!! And your fruits too! Eat your meat baked and broiled not fried. Stay away from red meat and pork and stick with fish, chicken and turkey. Don't smoke and keep your alcohol and soft drink intake to a minimum.
5. Have fun!!! Enjoy family and friends, be a part of clubs and fraternities. Read, play games. Study and read about ideas to make the later years fun.
Regular chiropractic care should be a part of your health maintenance routine.
As always, just give me a chance!

STRESS!!

                                   Stress 

Positive thinking: Reduces stress and helps you enjoy life more

Identifying negative thinking
Some common forms of negative self-talk include:

Filtering. You magnify the negative aspects of a situation and filter out all of the positive ones. For example, say you had a great day at work. You completed your tasks ahead of time and were complimented for doing a speedy and thorough job. But you forgot one minor step. That evening, you focus only on your oversight and forget about the compliments you received.
Personalizing. When something bad occurs, you automatically blame yourself. For example, you hear that an evening out with friends is canceled, and you assume that the change in plans is because no one wanted to be around you.
Catastrophizing. You automatically anticipate the worst. You refuse to go out with friends for fear that you'll make a fool of yourself. Or one change in your daily routine leads you to think the entire day will be a disaster.
Polarizing. You see things only as either good or bad, black or white. There is no middle ground. You feel that you have to be perfect or that you're a total failure.
Focusing on positive thinking
Because your self-talk is mainly negative doesn't mean you're doomed to an unhappy or unhealthy life. You can learn to turn negative thinking into positive thinking. The process is simple, but it takes time and practice — you're creating a new habit, after all. Here are some ways to think and behave in a more positive way:

Check yourself. Periodically during the day, stop and evaluate what you're thinking. If you find that your thoughts are mainly negative, try to find a way to put a positive spin on them.
Be open to humor. Give yourself permission to smile or laugh, especially during difficult times. Seek humor in everyday happenings. When you can laugh at life, you feel less stressed.
Follow a healthy lifestyle. Exercise at least three times a week to positively affect mood and reduce stress. Follow a healthy diet to fuel your mind and body. And learn to manage stress.
Surround yourself with positive people. Make sure those in your life are positive, supportive people you can depend on to give helpful advice and feedback. Negative people, those who believe they have no power over their lives, may increase your stress level and may make you doubt your ability to manage stress in healthy ways.
Practice positive self-talk. Start by following one simple rule: Don't say anything to yourself that you wouldn't say to anyone else. Be gentle and encouraging with yourself. If a negative thought enters your mind, evaluate it rationally and respond with affirmations of what is good about yourself.
Examples of typical negative self-talk and how you might apply a positive twist include:

         Negative self-talk.    Positive spin 
  I've  never done it before.  It's an opportunity to learn something new.
 It's too complicated.  I'll tackle it from a different angle.
I don't have the resources.  Necessity is the mother of invention.
 I'm too lazy to get this done.  I wasn't able to fit it into my schedule but can re-examine some priorities.
There's no way it will work.  I can try to make it work.
 It's too radical a change. Let's take a chance.
 No one bothers to communicate with me.  I'll see if I can open the channels of communication.
 I'm not going to get any better at this.  I'll give it another try.
                Practicing positive thinking every day
If you tend to have a negative outlook, don't expect to become an optimist overnight. But with practice, eventually your self-talk will contain less self-criticism and more self-acceptance. You may also become less critical of the world around you. Plus, when you share your positive mood and positive experience, both you and those around you enjoy an emotional boost.

Practicing positive self-talk will improve your outlook. When your state of mind is generally optimistic, you're able to handle everyday stress in a more constructive way. That ability may contribute to the widely observed health benefits of positive thinking.

OK, so you know I didn't make this stuff up my self. I had it in my note note pad of my iPad so it for sure came from some one else to me. But, chiropractic can also help you with these physical side of stress. Spinal misalignments (subluxations) can cause stress. Chiropractors correct subluxations. All I ask is that you give me a chance.

"I Gotta A Crick in My Neck"

It's not just a crick! It's called Torticollis. Interestingly enough its not just adults that get this type of a neck condition. It's a condition where the muscles of the neck go into spasm and pull the head to one side and slightly twisted. This is very painful and makes it nearly impossible to turn your head into the other direction. One form is congenital. This is where a baby at birth is born with Torticollis. It may even be traumatic from the birth process and the use of forceps. There can possibly be a very serious spinal deformation or neurological condition. These should be confirmed or ruled of by the pediatrician. But if there is segmental mal-position and spasm even the baby may be a good candidate for chiropractic treatment. With adults, Torticollis may be spasmodic or acquired. It may be caused by trauma such as a whiplash injury. There can be a degenerative change due to a past trauma that was not taken care of. "I'm fine-- it'll go away". Not smart! Thank the Lord the process for treatment is the same. A thorough chiropractic evaluation and x-ray can locate the misalignment and rule out reason not to "adjust" the vertebra that are causing the problem. Ice and/or heat therapy afterward can be very effective.
Chiropractic should be your first choice for any musculoskeletal condition. Neck Pain, Back Pain, Headaches, Arm/Leg Pain, Sports and Auto Injuries all respond wonderfully to chiropractic care. As I always say, "all I ask is just give me a chance".

How to Survive A Heart Attack When Your Alone

Let's say it's 6.15pm and you're driving home (alone of course) after an unusually hard day on the job.
You're really tired, and frustrated……
YOU ARE REALLY STRESSED AND UPSET ….
Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw.
You are only five miles from the hospital nearest your home. Unfortunately you don't know if you'll be able to make it that far

WHAT TO DO ???
YOU HAVE BEEN TRAINED IN CPR, BUT THE GUY THAT CONDUCTED THE COURSE DID NOT TELL YOU HOW TO PERFORM IT ON YOURSELF !!!

HOW DO YOU SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE? SINCE MANY PEOPLE ARE ALONE WHEN THEY SUFFER A HEART ATTACK, WITHOUT HELP, THE PERSON WHOSE HEART IS BEATING IMPROPERLY AND WHO BEGINS TO FEEL FAINT, HAS ONLY ABOUT 10 SECONDS LEFT BEFORE LOSING CONSCIOUS!

WHAT DO YOU DO??

ANSWER:
DO NOT PANIC, BUT START COUGHING REPEATEDLY AND VERY VIGOROUSLY.
 
A DEEP BREATH SHOULD BE TAKEN BEFORE EACH COUGH, THE COUGH MUST BE DEEP AND PROLONGED, AS WHEN PRODUCING SPUTUM FROM DEEP INSIDE THE CHEST.
 
A BREATH AND A COUGH MUST BE REPEATED ABOUT EVERY TWO SECONDS WITHOUT LET-UP UNTIL HELP ARRIVES, OR UNTIL THE HEART IS FELT TO BE BEATING NORMALLY AGAIN.

 DEEP BREATHS GET OXYGEN INTO THE LUNGS AND COUGHING MOVEMENTS SQUEEZE THE HEART AND KEEP THE BLOOD CIRCULATING. THE SQUEEZING PRESSURE ON THE HEART ALSO HELPS IT REGAIN NORMAL RHYTHM. IN THIS WAY, HEART ATTACK VICTIMS CAN GET TO A HOSPITAL

TELL AS MANY OTHER PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE ABOUT THIS.
IT COULD SAVE THEIR LIVES !!! DON'T EVER THINK THAT YOU ARE NOT PRONE TO HEART ATTACK EVEN IF YOUR AGE IS LESS THAN 25 OR 30. NOWADAYS DUE TO THE CHANGE IN THE
LIFE STYLE, HEARTATTACK IS FOUND AMONG PEOPLE OF ALL AGE

Forward this to others you care about.
Remember, regular Chiropractic care can help keep you naturally healthy--without drugs and surgery.
All I ask is give me a chance!
 

Bugging you about Weight-------Again!!

Our office, Sparlin Health Care, puts out a weekly flier to our patients concerning health related issues. A few weeks ago, " The Wellness Express", discussed obesity and arthritis. Its estimated that 50 million Americans suffer from some form of arthritis. There are several. I will not go into full explanation of these but touch a little on each. Rheumatoid Arthritis is a destructive arthritis that affects the small joints of the hands and feet and other ligaments. It is very disabling and one that patients seem to know about and worry over. They have seen the gnarled fingers of their grandmother. Another form is Psoriatic Arthritis. This has a tendency to affect the larger joints of the body. It's also related to a skin condition called psoriasis. Your grandfather talked about " the gout ". Gout is very painful and comes on in "attacks" when it is active. A lot of swelling and redness at the affected area is common and usually affects the big toe. The arthritis I see the most in my office in my office is Osteoarthritis. Although it is considered a constructive arthritis it it is referred to as "degenerative joint disease". Damage to the joints and natural wear and tear causes the degeneration. The body will put "calcium deposits" at the joints called lipping and spurrring. You can see this on x-rays. When I discuss this with patients it makes it very easy to help them understand their stiffness and pain.
OK, now to the over weight part. Obesity is linked to 1 of every 4 cases of arthritis. It's a two edged sword. Obesity will cause undo wear and tear and stress onto the joints causing them to deteriorate. Having joint pain from arthritis limits your ability to exercise making it much easier to gain that weight. Obesity also causes inflammation in your body and it will go to the weakest links such as already damaged or arthritic areas. More over weight people have joint replacement surgery. Sadly being over weight makes post surgical rehab very difficult. A healthy diet becomes even more important. Get or keep your weight down to take the stress off the joints. Eat right! More fruit and vegetables, less red meat and pork.
Of course, chiropractic spinal adjustments can be your main avenue of joint motion and mobility to help slow the degenerative process.
Keep up regularly. As always, all I ask is for a chance to help you.

Accident?: follow this check list

I just read a great article in the AAA magazine. It actually totally agrees with me! It gave a great list of what you should do immediately after an accident. You're probably scared, nervous, angry and possibly hurt. The first thing you should do is stay calm and keep your cool. You can't make good decisions or get the information you need if you go off half cocked. The second thing is probably as important as the first and that's to check yourself and everyone else for injuries. If needed, call ambulance--don't take chances. Third, call the police--always! There can be hidden injury or property damage. Don't let the other person try to talk you out of it or worse try to pay you cash to "settle" things right there. Fourth, get all and everyones information. Tag numbers, license numbers, insurance company and policy numbers. Fifth, get addresses and phone numbers of all passengers and witnesses. Sixth, write down what you remember that happened in your words. Was it raining? How fast were you going? Even silly things like "my hat or glasses or wig ended up in the back seat". Use your cell phone to take pictures of ALL the cars at all angles and the surrounding areas. Seventh, don't admit fault and don't speak with anyone except the police, your family and your insurance company. Eighth, this is one I really whole heartedly agree with! Don't think you are fine and say your not injured. It is very common not to feel symptoms for one or two day after an accident. There may be a hidden injury. Many people try to treat themselves. This is probably not the best thing to do. Of course I believe every one should come see me first and remember we have a medical facility at our office too. Ninth, call your insurance company as soon as possible. Tenth, this one is not on AAA list. Don't accept calls from or talk to anyone you don't know about your accident. "Runners" or "Ambulance Chasers" will get your accident information illegally. He/she will say anything to get you to go to a doctor or lawyer just to make money off of you. They care nothing about whether or not you will get good treatment or legal representation. Trust your family, a doctor you have seen before, your personally chosen attorney or a very close family member.
Chiropractic is the best avenue for soft tissue injuries. As I always ask, just give me a chance.