International Chiropractic Pediatric Association
Tis’ the season for giving and spending precious time with loved ones during a magical time of year. Unfortunately, tis’ also the season for back, neck and shoulder injuries. Let’s review some of the potential dangers lurking this holiday season and how you can reduce your risk of injury.
All Boxes Are Not Created Equal
The culprit for back injuries is typically a smaller box that looks deceptively light because of its size. Don’t fall for it! Lightly kick or push the box with your foot to determine how heavy it is before you commit to the lift. The lesson here is to take extra time to test the weight of an object before you lift. Every second counts.
Slippery Slopes Will Get You Every Time
Even if you don’t live in an icy, cold environment, the first strategy should be to expect the unexpected. Become aware of your surroundings and become very intent with every movement. Doing balance exercises is also a great way to prevent falls.
It’s a Long Way Down From Up There
Climbing up ladders or standing on stools/chairs to hang lights and decorations can be a dangerous adventure. Take special care to ensure all ladders are functioning properly and you have a “safety spotter” to help in stabilizing any device you are standing on.
Holiday Stretches Under the Mistletoe
When you become more sedentary, you inherently become less flexible. Your muscles shorten and become weak from inactivity, making you prone to injury. You can make significant improvements by stretching to increase the performance of your body. The better you move, the more resistant you become to injury.
Your chiropractor can tell you more about holiday health risks and suggest simple strategies to ensure an injury-free holiday season.
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The aging process takes enough of a toll on the human body without having the mind share the same fate. As we age, the brain is susceptible to various degenerative processes, from simple lapses in memory and concentration to outright cognitive decline or Alzheimer’s. Fortunately, there are simple ways to keep your brain healthy into your golden years. Here are three brain boosters to keep you on your mental toes:
With worldwide obesity rates doubling in the past three decades, is it any surprise that artificial sweeteners have been gaining popularity? Beginning with the creation of saccharin, “sugar substitutes” have become the answer to a dieter’s prayer.
How would you like to increase coordination, reduce muscle tension, increase range of motion, prevent future injury, improve posture, develop body awareness, and enhance proper movement patterns?
Back on April 27, 2010, the Santa Clara County (California) Board of Supervisors approved an ordinance banning the use of toys to encourage children to eat unhealthy meals offered by restaurants. This was the first move by a government body to try to address the obesity epidemic that is plaguing America’s children. Then on Nov. 2, 2010, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 to require that kids’ meals meet certain nutritional standards before they can be sold with toys. This law sets the bar for healthy children’s meals as those “that have less than 600 calories, contain fruits and vegetables, and include beverages without excessive fat or sugar.”
Circuit training is doing a number of exercises back to back (short exercise bursts with intensity) including a short recovery or break between exercises. This type of exercise is known for numerous health benefits including helping you achieve your fitness goals faster. You can add in cardio exercise including running in place, jumping rope, or using equipment such as a treadmill, elliptical or stair-stepper. It’s a great technique to focus on strength and cardiovascular training to sculpt your own body. You can experiment with a large variety of exercises and equipment at whatever intensity you choose. You compete only with yourself, and you don’t have to be in sync with others. Use these 10 examples to jumpstart your new workout routine.
Originated in ancient India, the practice of yoga helps many achieve spiritual insight and peace from their hectic lives by challenging the body to go beyond its current limitations through a series of poses. Over the years, yoga has evolved to include many different variations, providing a wide range of mental and physical benefits. Regardless of the type of yoga style you choose, expect any yoga class to provide a serious mind/body workout well worth your time. Here are 3 types of yoga classes you can try.
On the hunt for a nutritious, vitamin-packed vegetable that is also loaded with great flavor? Try kale. There are many reasons to pile this cruciferous veggie on your plate. It is low in calories, has zero grams of fat and contains nearly 20 percent of the RDA of dietary fiber, which promotes regular digestion, prevents constipation, lowers blood sugar and curbs overeating.
The number of adults with diabetes worldwide has more than doubled since 1980 to a mind-numbing 347 million, officially making it a global epidemic. But believe it or not, there’s good news about diabetes: There are a number of ways to combat and even outright prevent this growing disease.
A European study found that “an important proportion of cases of cancer can be attributable to alcohol consumption, especially consumption higher than the recommended upper limits.” The “upper limits” were defined as one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men.
Americans are eating out at an ever-increasing (sometimes daily) rate, and usually paying the health consequences. It’s tough enough finding healthy food when grocery shopping these days, but put your trust in the hands of a burger joint, a diner, a pizza parlor or the vast majority of other restaurants and you’re generally asking for trouble. Here are five substitutions to infuse a little more health into your next dining experience away from home.
Ever run into someone who’s irritable? Not exactly the person you want to be around. Now consider that on some days, that person is you. When you’re in a good mood, everything seems right; when you’re in a bad one, look out! Between work, kids and the countless other responsibilities your daily life entails, how do you stay sane and avoid becoming a stressed-out, irritable mess? It starts by understanding and then controlling some of the primary causes. Here are three big contributors to irritability; figure out how to reduce them and improve your day.
History shows us that people will go to great lengths to search for ways to remain young. The literal and figurative quest for the elusive “Fountain of Youth” is alive and well to this day. While there is no way (at least yet) to “live forever,” the process of searching has helped us to learn more about the multitude of factors that seem to allow for longevity and lifelong health. Here are some easy ways to find your own 
Has your workout program been in a downward spiral lately? Have you been doing less and less physical activity? Are the once pain-free activities now causing increased pain? If so, you might want to resume your workouts with isometric exercise. Find out more about isometric exercises and try these beginner exercises to get you started.
The fast- and processed-food industries offer a staggering variety of sodium-laden foods, many of which make a huge dent in your recommended daily allowance for sodium in a single serving. These days, a major culprit when it comes to sodium intake isn’t what we sprinkle on our foods – it’s the food itself. Here’s why sodium can be dangerous in excessive amounts and what you can do to help keep it in check.
In order to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than your body consumes and uses on a daily basis, pure and simple. Exercise is one of the main ways to burn fat calories.
When it comes to yogurt, the health benefits are endless. Yogurt has everything from probiotics, which help promote healthy digestion, to calcium, which is essential for strong bones.
1. Cross It Off: Burnout is physical and mental exhaustion, commonly caused by too much work, stress or routine. It also can be a lack of organization that overwhelms you. The solution: make a list of your daily, weekly and monthly priorities, then cross them off your list one by one. Satisfaction of accomplishment and feeling “in control” will keep you motivated for the long term.
The entire digestive process is orchestrated by good stomach acid. If there isn’t enough, the gallbladder doesn’t get triggered properly to function, and the pancreatic enzymes aren’t released for proper digestion.
After the age of 40, we tend to lose about 0.5 to 2 percent of our muscle each year. If you aren’t concerned about looking good, then also realize that this loss is a large factor in falls in older age, which can most often lead to fractures and even death. The good news is that there’s an answer to helping fight this. Follow these steps and you will find yourself getting in shape for life:
Not all calories are the same, especially when it comes to the calories you drink. Most people tend to revolve their diet plans around the foods they consume, often forgetting that what they drink on a daily basis is just as important. Countless drinks on the market tend to be very high in sugar content, which we all know eventually turns into fat, derailing our weight-loss goals.
In the long run, repeated episodes of unhealthy weight-loss attempts are more likely to cause damage to our body and outweigh the health benefits of short-term weight loss. That doesn’t mean it’s better to stay at an unhealthy weight. We just have to make sure that we are losing weight in a healthy way and are able to maintain that weight loss.
Stretching is important for several reasons. It improves flexibility, which can come in handy whether you’re reaching down to pick up a pencil from the floor, climbing a ladder to the roof or trying to grab your overeager child before they run into the street. From a sports perspective, flexibility allows you to move more easily and with a greater range of motion while reducing the odds that you’ll pull, strain or overstretch something in the heat of battle. It also can protect against long-term injury, in the sense that flexibility and range-of-motion deficits can cause overcompensation patterns to develop.
More than 3 million people in the U.S. have peanut allergies, among them millions of children. (Allergies among children have doubled in the past two decades, according to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology.) Fortunately, adults and children can snack on almond butter as a sandwich spread or use it as a dip for veggies and know it’s good for them. Here’s why: