Posts (news)

Have Hope

This may be a big ask for you. In the last weeks or months you have suffered. You have tried everything you know to try to heal. You may have spent hundreds or thousands of dollars. You have fought with your own limited capacity to think, plan and execute. You no longer feel you are yourself. You are afraid and you may be losing hope.

What if there was one word, one concept that embodied the most significant quality of health and well-being? What do you think that word would be. Well you know I’m a chiropractor, so you might guess that I would say something related to the nervous system, or maybe the alignment of the spine. Maybe preventing Tech Neck. You would warm, but in my mind the single most important thing for health is…

Can Coffee Make You Tired?

Caffeine is the most common psychotropic drug in use. It’s legal and it is oh so good. We drink coffee to battle fatigue, a quick energy boost, and oddly, to relax. But does it really do what we think it does? There is information coming out praising coffee and caffeine in general as being helpful against Alzheimer’s, diabetes and heart disease, but does that really mean that it’s healthy?

The Power of a Healthy Nervous System

Why is it important to make time for your Nerves?  You may come home from work every day completely exhausted.You may spend most of your day taking care of your family with precious little time for yourself. Or you could be a single parent who does it all: makes breakfast, lunch and dinner for everyone, works at a high-pressure job, and rarely has a spare minute to savor anything. Or perhaps you’re an über-busy executive, laser-focused on your business from early morning to late at night, five to seven days a week.

No matter what your situation, if you don’t make time for yourself to see your chiropractor, you’re not being proactive in maintaining good back and neck health. Your nervous system is suffering and you are missing out on having a higher level of energy and vitality.

Jaw Problems and Headaches Are Often Interrelated

Do you ever wonder if tmj jaw problems cause headaches? Do you ever wake up in the morning with a headache? If you yawn or chew, does your jaw click? Do you think your jaw issues and your headaches could be connected to each other?

Concussion can be sneaky. It happens when your brain hits the inside of your skull. You don’t even need to hit your head. Whiplash injuries, that are common in car accidents and sports, jar the head forcefully and can cause just as much damage as being struck.

Advice from a Chiropractor

Do you have a series of head pain that just won’t go away and are affecting you at work or while playing sports? Does the pain of migraines stop you in your tracks? Do your sinuses ache? Is stress bothering you? Do you have intermittent dizzy spells?

Don’t you wish there was a way to have someone prevent you from having to yell, “Why does my head hurt?’

In this article, I discuss the types of headaches that my patients have –– and how I resolve their problems with chiropractic care.

How often do you think high school sports injuries and concussions occur? Whether you have a child who plays in a team sport or not, sports injuries, especially concussions, are a lot more common than you might think.

Clayton Kershaw. Andrew Bogut. Tony Romo. Tiger Woods. Peyton Manning. What do all of these different athletes have in common?  A herniated disc.

They’ve all been in the news over the last few years because of disc herniations in their backs, which can be very painful, even excruciating.

In fact, Clayton Kershaw, the L.A. Dodgers’ pitching ace, was first diagnosed with a disc herniation in his back in June, and was just moved to a 60-day disabled list, meaning he can’t throw, catch or even pick up a baseball until at least late August.

In my most recent article, “Does a Chiropractor Need to Crack My Back?”, I discussed the pros and cons of twisting the body to crack your back.  It’s not always the best way to relieve pain and pressure on the facet joints connecting each of your 33 vertebrae.

In this article, I’ll move up your spine a bit and discuss the practice of cracking your neck.

Concussions are an everyday occurrence in a wide range of sports. Many of my patients are sports enthusiasts and it is not uncommon to hear that they have had one or multiple concussions over their lifetimes.

You might have heard about or seen the movie Concussion, where accomplished pathologist, Dr. Bennett Omalu, uncovers the truth about brain damage among Pittsburgh Steelers and other football players who had suffered from repeated head trauma. The truth is, a concussion head injury isn’t limited to professional athletes.

If you were to stop and ask someone on the street, “What does a chiropractor do?” you might hear them say that a “chiropractor cracks peoples’ backs.” But is that really the truth? Is cracking your back all a chiropractor does?

Stretches You Can Do at Your Desk

Going from the bed to the car to the desk to the sofa, many of my patients feel the need to stretch, but just don’t take the time. When you are sitting all day, you need to stretch to avoid the aches and pains that come with a stiff body. You may not have an hour a day to do a stretch or yoga class, but, it’s important to stretch a little bit frequently to really stay flexible. A good stretch begins from a position of good posture. When stretching at your desk, make sure you have your ergonomics set up first to minimize stress on the body. When you are sitting properly, it will be easier to stretch at your desk or even in your car.

“Oh, my aching back!” Why does your back hurt today and not yesterday? Did you pick something up that was too heavy without bending your legs? Did you sleep with your neck off the side of the pillow? Or did you just wake up and your back suddenly hurt? If you were to ask these questions to my patients, you would hear all sorts of answers. It’s amazing how many myths about back pain there are. To help you understand exactly why your back might be hurting, here are the 5 most common myths that I discuss with my patients and the answers you need to know.

San Rafael Chiropractor Shares Advice

According to the Arthritis Foundation, an estimated 50 to 80% of American adults will experience back pain. When your back hurts, you want to know the cause so you can do something about it.

But, reasons vary and they are often hard to figure out. We all have 24 vertebrae that can get knocked out of line, strained, twisted, or compressed and that can happen in many different ways leading to pain.

5 Proven Techniques from a Chiropractor

Many people realize that their neck or back pain becomes worse after sitting for extended or sometimes even short period of times. In our culture, most of us spend much of our day seated, whether it’s on the drive to work, at a desk in front of a computer , eating and even relaxing on the sofa after a long day. No matter where you are sitting, the same posture and ergonomic concerns apply. The more you are able to apply the following guidelines, the less stress you will have on your spine and the less likely you will be to experience back or neck pain.

You probably haven’t actively thought about how to strengthen your neck, but you wake up after you “slept funny” and you’ve got a crick. Then that crick turns into a lot of pain in and around your neck that just won’t go away by itself. At this point most people start to wonder if a Chiropractor would be good solution or if this is “just” neck pain they will have to live with. The good news, a chiropractor can help you with neck issues.

Do you have headaches more than a few times a week? Are they tension headaches? Or are they migraines? At Balance Chiropractic, many of my patients seek headache help in San Rafael, because their pain can be caused by a wide variety of problems.

In this article I’ll be discussing how you can be treated with chiropractic techniques and cranial therapies to ease your headache pain. I offer a variety of therapies to analyze and correct most issues that address the needs of headache suffers.

What is Causing My Constant Headache?

If you’ve found this page, there’s a good chance that you’re one of the millions of people who suffer from headache. In fact, you may already know that a severe headache is the #1 reason for missing work. So, if you’re one of those folks who’s tired of missing work or loosing quality time with friends and family, because your head throbs or bright lights hurt your eyes, this article is for you.

Chiropractic Solutions for Athletes

When you think about it, Marin is like a giant park, with all kinds of wonderful and easily accessible indoor and outdoor activities to keep you fit, trim and in great shape. It’s our own slice of paradise.

Whether you’re a weekend warrior, training for a triathlon, the Dipsea Race or the Double Dipsea (for you masochists out there), it’s fairly common to tweak a muscle or joint.

How Chiropractic Helps Backs Feel Better
“Oh my aching back,” is a phase I’ve heard all too often in my chiropractic office and it’s not surprising as back pain is one of the most common issues I treat. The fact that you found this article tells me that you most likely have some kind of back pain.

In this article, I’ll outline some of the common causes for lower and upper back ailments, then I’ll describe how I treat them.