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We have all heard that laughter is the best medicine, but does being happy mean that you are healthier? There is more and more research showing that just might be the case. People who tend to be optimistic are more likely to have lower blood pressure, fewer aches and pains, and even stronger immune systems. Happy people live longer, healthier lives. If you are a happy person then you may see the truth in this already. But that doesn’t mean you’re doomed if you aren’t. You do actually have some control over your happiness. You can work on your happiness level with your actions and nutritional choices. First, be kind and be thankful. Being kind to people is free! Some people may make it harder than others, but most of the time kindness is contagious. You can’t control how others behave, and who knows, your act of kindness might pull them out of a funk. Just think, you can be responsible for adding to someone’s life simply by being kind. Also, be grateful for what you do have. Thankful people look at what they have and not what they lack. When you’re worried about “keeping up with the Joneses” you focus on what others have that you don’t and how you aren’t good enough. This is a never ending cycle. The cool thing is that once you learn how to escape this kind of thinking and switch to being thankful, it can also become a cycle for optimism. Happier people value experiences over possessions. Things are temporary, but you get to keep fond memories forever. Seeing something new, enjoying time with a loved one, or just having time to relax with a cup of coffee are all experiences that can bring you joy. This attitude is much easier to obtain when you surround yourself with positive people. When you are only around negative or gossipy people, they will drag you down into pessimism and unhappiness. Find a supportive network of friends to surround yourself with. Optimists are not without bad days. Studies show that if you respond to problems as challenges rather than crisis, they are easier to manage. Optimistic people recognize that bad things happen, but understand that you have control over how you handle them. They treat problems as learning experiences so they can have a better outcome in the future. Being optimistic means that you anticipate the best-case scenario, but it doesn’t mean you’re unprepared when things do go wrong. Happy people avoid making excuses for themselves. If something doesn’t go their way, they identify what they can control and work to make things better rather than doing nothing and blaming others for their misery. Internal attitude isn’t the only thing that contributes to happiness. Nutrition and activity level are also essential to staying optimistic. Exercise helps to release the happy hormones in our bodies, but even just being outside in nature has been shown to improve mood. Eating a good and balanced diet is also important. When you eat pro-inflammatory foods, it exacerbates pain and makes you lethargic. Eating a colorful anti-inflammatory diet boosts energy and decreases aches and pains. Vitamin D is also important--particularly during the dark winter months. Scientists estimate that 85% of people have a vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D elevates your mood and can minimize the effects of seasonal depressive disorder. The list of things vitamin D helps with goes on and on; it even improves bone density and metabolism! If you only change one thing in 2017, start taking vitamin D. But if you are ready for a brighter happier world view be kind, grateful, and most of all hopeful. The world around you can be a beautiful wonderful place, you just have to look! “Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”

Do you have a young athlete in your life? Have you been driving all over the city, trucking equipment and little people to practice and cheering them on as they play? You probably need an adjustment just from sitting in your lawn chair or on the bleachers. But do you know who really needs an adjustment... that little person you are cheering for. We don't always think about it, but they aren't just small adults playing sports. They are still growing which means their growth plates are still open and there are many places that are still made up of cartilage that will soon become bone once they stop growing. I am seeing more and more injuries in high schoolers that you would typically see in a college age athletes. The worse part is, injuries we once saw in high-school athletes are now coming to us in even younger athletes. Kids are specializing younger and younger these days, and overuse and repetitive motion injuries are on the rise. Just because they are young and bounce back quickly doesn't mean the musculoskeletal system is in healthy working order. It's important to get your young athletes checked, even if they aren't complaining. They may not have pain, but they could be developing dysfunctional movement patterns, which can keep them from optimal performance. Also keep in mind they may not complain for fear of being taken out of the game, or if they are complaining, you might not recognize the problems to be related to their sport. Has your child complained of headaches, stiffness, leg pain, or shoulder pain? You might write it off as growing pains, but often "growing pains" can be alleviated with an adjustment and are often related to the pelvis alignment. The role of Chiropractic Care in a young athlete is to prevent injury, improve balance and reaction time, and increase range of motion. My goal for all young athletes is to have staying power to play the sport they love well into adulthood, if they choose. A study of athletes by the Journal of Chiropractic Research and Clinical Investigation concluded that athletes who received 12 weeks of chiropractic care exhibited 30% improvement in reaction time versus a group with no chiropractic care. The Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research shows baseball players receiving chiropractic treatments enjoyed significant improvement in their capillary count, which leads to healthy oxygenation of blood supply crucial for muscle function, performance and healing. Chiropractic care can play a critical role in minimizing injuries and helping your child perform at their peak. Call us today to get them evaluated!

"My foot hurts, I think I have that plantar fashi-thing." On any given day, I might hear a patient say something along these lines. Many people have heard the words but not everyone knows what it really is and what, if anything, can be done about it. First let's talk about what plantar fasciitis actually is. The plantar fascia is the fibrous tissue that goes from your heel to the base of your toes. Plantar means the bottom of the foot, and fascia is fibrous tissue. When it is added to the end it means inflammation. When the plantar fascia becomes inflamed it creates pain at the bottom of the heel. There are many causes of plantar fasciitis. Most stem from overuse, like having a job that has lots of walking or standing on hard surfaces. People who do lots of running or walking are also susceptible. The plantar fascia is more likely to get inflamed if your calf muscles are tight. This limits the range of motion in the foot, increasing the chance of irritation. Statistically, it is more common in females but in my experience at the office, I have equal numbers of men and women seeking care because of plantar fasciitis. Being overweight also makes it more likely, because increases the load your feet have to bare. Having naturally high arches or flat feet can increase your chances of suffering plantar fasciitis too. Some of these causes can be changed, but others cannot. What can be done to prevent this or stop it in its tracks once it flares? When I am working on people experiencing plantar fasciitis there are several steps we take. Some are things I do in the office, and others are things I have you work on at home. The first, and most important is adjusting the foot. (I may be a little biased.) If your foot does not have the correct range of motion, all the ice in the world won't keep the pain at bay. There are 206 bones in the human body and over half are in the hands and feet. There are 26 in the feet alone. When they aren't all in sync then problems arise. We also want to make sure your pelvis is balanced--if it isn't, it will cause you to put more weight on the bad foot. Once the foot and back are moving like they should again, it's your turn. Ice is the next step. My favorite trick for plantar fasciitis is to freeze a small plastic water bottle and use it to ice and do a pressure massage at the same time. Once your water bottle is frozen, sit in a chair--either barefoot or in sock feet--and roll the bottle back and forth from your heel to the toes. Do this for 10 minutes each day. You can do more, but take at least a 20-minute break between each round. Keep your calf loose with a calf stretch, as seen here. One of my new favorite additions to adjusting is kinesiotape. Taping your foot specifically for plantar fasciitis helps to take tension off of the tissue and speeds up the healing process. I have had several people who have tried many different things to ease the pain, and the combination of adjusting, ice, and taping finally did the trick. If you are having heel pain and haven't told me about it, be sure to on the next visit. If you know someone who has been suffering with it, let them know we might be able to help. Plantar fasciitis is common, but there's no reason to stay in pain when wellness is in your grasp!

I have a wish for each and every one of you reading this. That wish is for you to experience every bit of your life, and not to miss out on it. I never want pain to hold you back from your experiences and goals. The most common thing I hear when new patients come into the office is that they have tried EVERYTHING. Oftentimes, people figure they'll just "give chiropractic a shot" and see if something sticks. Usually, in the weeks following, people tell me they can't believe they didn't try this earlier! When you start to feel good, you kick yourself for waiting so long to make a change. These people are finally getting back to what they love--running, playing with their grandkids, hiking, and lots more. So, here's my question for you: what are you not doing because of pain? In order to really send the point home, I wanted to tell you a few stories about some of those people, and I want you to think if you know anyone in your life that might have tried "everything," except chiropractic. I love working with kids. They usually make positive changes really quickly, their stress isn't the same as adults', and they haven't been dealing with a problem for as long. About five years ago, I had a ten year old come through my door on crutches. He had such severe hip and low back pain that he couldn't put any weight on his foot. He had been going to physical therapy for about 2 months with minor improvement, but he was still on crutches and couldn't do what he really wanted to--play soccer. Within two weeks of starting chiropractic care, he was off the crutches. Four weeks later, he had no pain and could play soccer again! The point is you can do both PT and chiropractic to help the problem from two different sides and see quicker results. One of my favorite big changes was with a two year-old who had never slept more than a couple hours at a time. Needless to say, his parents were running on fumes. The little guy had such bad breathing problems that you could hear him breathing from across the room. He was on four different medications for asthma, and was still having no change. After his first adjustment, he slept for twelve hours straight, His mom said she kept going into his room to see if he was still breathing. With tears in her eyes, she told me that he was consistently sleeping through the night, and after four visits his primary took him off all of his medications. I see constipated babies become regular, little ones with severe acid reflux stop spitting up, and my young athletes bounce back from injuries quickly. I love taking care of young ones! I see how great the body is at healing if you just get rid of interference on a daily basis. More than one patient was able to get off of their blood pressure medication after being under chiropractic care. The nervous system controls everything, including your body's reaction to stress. When you start getting adjusted, you spend less time in fight-or-flight and stress-related high blood pressure starts to come down. One study showed that regular adjustments can be better at lowering blood pressure than two medications taken together! I see knee pain improve, headaches become a thing of the past, and have tons of patients report that they sleep better. Our society is perpetually sleep-deprived, but decreasing pain and increasing mobility can help you get more sleep, which is one more step in the direction of health. I'm willing to bet that at least one person you care about is dealing with a problem that chiropractic can help with, and they might not even know it. If they are not sure about chiropractic, we always offer a complimentary consultation. They can sit down and talk to me about what they are dealing with, and I can let them know if I think there is something we can do. If not, I will help them find something that can. Life is short enough as it is. There's no reason to let pain keep you from enjoying the precious time you have.

This letter is to all of my moms out there running on fumes and caffeine (and maybe a splash of wine.) This applies--in my completely unscientific estimation--to 99% of moms that I see in the office. What I hope you take away from this letter is that it is okay to take care of yourself. Not only okay, but just as necessary as the care you give others. If you put yourself last for too long, you forget how to take care of yourself. There is nothing left but the robot-you that goes through the motions doing everything for everyone else and nothing for yourself. It has been said in many different ways: you can't pour from an empty cup. You have to put your oxygen mask on before you assist someone else. If you give and give and give of yourself till there is nothing left, when you hit your limit that's it that's all you can do for your family, for the world, for yourself. But if you pause and recharge, you are able to continue to do for your family and and the world what you were meant to do. You are like a car. If you drive until you are out of gas then that amazing piece of machinery is useless; you have to fill it with gas periodically in order for it to be continually usable. "Me Time," has somehow become a guilty pleasure instead of being as important as eating right and exercise. You think if you take time for yourself everything will fall apart, or worse that you are selfish if you take time for yourself. But here's the deal: YOU ARE NOT SELFISH! Taking time for yourself is healthy and will make you a better mom. When you are happy and take care of yourself, you are refilling your tank, but you are also modeling this for your children. Do you want them to grow up and feel drained and pulled in every direction? If the answer is no, then demonstrate with your actions that it is right and good to love yourself by making your mental and physical wellbeing a priority--not an afterthought. Hopefully now you see why self-care is so important, but I bet it has been awhile since you have, and you might need some ideas. This is not an exhaustive list but... Ask for help, from your kids, from your spouse, from your friends. I wish it didn't take me until I was 30 to see when my mom would want help, but didn't ask but I also wish she would have asked so I could have learned sooner. • Exercise--good for the body and brain • Take a nap • Take a bath • Read something for fun • Listen to music you love • Just sit, be alone and breathe • Meditate • Say no--you don't have to do it all (no one is, even if it seems like they are) • Create routines--when you have a time set aside for everything, even you-time, then you will have more time to do it. Protect you-time, it is valuable! If these don't work then stop and write down 10 things that bring you joy and put them in your schedule. Not just for mother's day. Make a part of each day YOURS. I want my mom to be happy and healthy and enjoying life. Your kids want that for you too. In order to be a great mom, you must feel great about both yourself and your life. Remember to take care of yourself. Happy Mother's Day!