Creation Chiropractic - Eden Prairie, MN
300 Prairie Center Drive, # 200
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
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Creation Chiropractic Blog - Eden Prairie MN

Bent Out of Shape? Scoliosis

Posted: January 29, 2018
By: Written by Dr. Matthew Alvord,

 

The spine adapts throughout life with a variety of curvatures, beginning at birth. When these curves become bigger than usual, this condition is called scoliosis. Medically, it is usually first treated with physical therapy. When the curves become bigger, bracing techniques are used to try to slow the progression. When curves get even bigger, you become a candidate for surgery, with all kinds of potential complications. All this for a condition with a cause that is largely unknown.

WOAH! We need to step back a moment before we can step forward with the right perspective. No matter what anyone decides to do from a treatment route, whether with children or adults, we need to ask a crucial question: Are these curves a normal adaptation of your intelligent body or not? Spinal subluxations will decrease your body’s ability to physically react to any of the demands placed on it. They interfere with nerve communication that controls all the muscles that maintain your spinal curves. This is done within the posture and balance systems that give your brain feedback relative to gravity, all through your spinal cord. In order for these curves to be exactly as your intelligent body requires, there can be no interference to this process. Otherwise, these curvatures can be different, worsened or caused completely by nerve interference.

Many scoliosis symptoms are considered relatively minor, such as decreased range of motion, tightness or posture issues. The main concern for these people is the curvature itself, not usually pain. This is a real testament to how the body can adapt in all kinds of ways without resulting in obvious symptoms until it becomes bad enough, whatever that is for each individual person. The temptation by therapists is to just try and stretch or manipulate the muscles and joint into what they think is normal, based on how they think the body should adapt. This never addresses why the curvatures are there to begin with, and the results show this. This is like trying to barricade a runaway truck with the foot still on the gas and just hoping to slow the truck, which often ends up rolling over the cliff anyway.

What happens to a snake when there is a stranglehold on its neck? It coils up, even around the very hand holding it. Can you imagine observing all the curvature the snake uses to adapt to this situation, and then just trying to straighten out the snake with the other hand? It doesn’t make much sense, does it? Well, this is kind of like what happens to many people with scoliosis. For the best intentions, most things done to assess these people never addresses their body’s ability to react appropriately, curves or not.

Only a chiropractic assessment and regular chiropractic adjustments will get your body working again the way it was designed. For any the uncertainties associated with scoliosis, one thing is for sure:  You definitely don’t want spinal subluxations complicating the very curves your body uses to survive. Get checked today and make sure the curves in your road are exactly as they should be. 


Can You Stomach the Truth? All About Digestion...

Posted: January 22, 2018
By: Written by Dr. Matthew Alvord,

 

There are many related digestive conditions, including everything from acid reflux, heartburn, ulcers, ulcerative colitis, and even mouth, throat and stomach cancer. And they can all have different causes. But do you know the one thing they have in common? They are all dependent on the nervous system to control and coordinate all the tissues involved with digestion. Nerves coming off the spine, communicating vital information from the brain, directly affect your ability to digest.

Nerves control the muscle that allows the valve to open and close that separates the stomach from the esophagus. This must happen at the right time so that food can move into the stomach and so stomach acids don’t move up into the esophagus. If this nerve from the spine is irritated, this valve will open when it shouldn’t and stomach acids, which are only designed for that area of the body, can now eat away at your esophagus and throat instead of eating away at your food! This will, in turn, affect things like acid reflux, but if you have it long enough, it can actually result in cancer. What’s worse, when people are diagnosed with this, they are given medications to treat the effects without getting to the cause. For example, Pepto Bismol just coats the esophagus to try to prevent the acids from eating it away. But no amount of pink rubber will ever address the spinal subluxations that often lead to this problem.

Nerves from the spine also control the organs of digestion, such as the liver, pancreas and gall bladder. So the very chemicals that break down your food are created in the right amounts only if you have a good nerve supply. In order to absorb the nutrients in your food, nerves must be involved. If this doesn’t happen right, all your good eating habits will be reduced and all those great nutrients will pass through you. After all, what good is good nutrition if you can’t even use it? If someone has spinal subluxations, testing of your body chemistry can show a problem in the blood or other place, but may actually just be a trickle down effect from having a problem in your spine.

As the food moves further down your digestive tract, you are still not in the clear if you have spinal subluxations. The orchestrated movement of your food requires a proper nerve supply from all the nerves that run along your small and large intestines. Finally, in order to eliminate what you are not using, the right muscles have to work in the right way. Otherwise, you can end up with complications like diarrhea or constipation.  

In general, digestion requires your body to be in a relaxed state. Any spinal subluxation can put your body in a flight/fight mode called sympathetic dominance. This means that no matter how much you chew your food and take your time eating in a peaceful environment, it will all be worthless if your body itself is not in a peaceful state. This is not possible with spinal subluxation. Get your spine checked today to find out where and how this interference affects everyone, especially those with digestive problems who probably have no idea of this important connection.


Feeling Outmuscled By Muscle Problems?

Posted: January 8, 2018
By: Written by Dr. Matthew Alvord,

 

Many muscle problems get better with chiropractic care, without ever treating muscles, without even trying. How is that possible? Chiropractic focuses on making sure that the intelligence that made your body, including your muscles, is able to communicate without interference. The power that made your muscles is the same power that gives your muscles power! This power is the intelligence that runs from your head to your toes, through your nervous system and spine, allowing your brain to move your toes with proper muscle tone. And then your toes and muscles return the favor, sending vital information back to the brain so it can make well-informed decisions.

The way to not get outmuscled by muscle conditions is to understand how your muscles work and why they have their tone in the first place. Muscle tone can be increased, which is usually called a spasm, and can produce pain, as well as decreased flexibility and function. But muscle tone can also be decreased, which can often cause similar problems for different reasons. No matter what your muscle tone is, you need to make sure that the tone is exactly what the intelligence running your body needs it to be. That means you can’t have interference between your brain and the nerves running through your spine that communicate with your muscles so they work and adapt correctly. 

Muscles work hard…. almost all the time, even when you are sleeping. Ever wake up with a muscle cramp? Exactly. The only time they stop receiving proper nerve signals from the brain is when you have interference to these signals, or when you are dead. And since you aren’t dead, without interference, your muscles are doing exactly what they need to do to react and compensate for all the different demands in your life.

For example, although people don’t like muscle spasms, they create a natural splint to protect a specific area for a specific reason. This allows you to heal better when it happens for the right reason, at the right time, as long as there is no interference to the spasm. Often times, the interference is causing the spasms altogether! If you treat this effect, it just takes away from this intelligent adaptation and will never get to the cause of why you have the spasm in the first place. You might feel better, but you won’t actually be better until the interference is removed.

Always remember that there is a good reason for everything your body does, whether we understand it or not, or whether we appreciate it or not. Just make sure that your muscles are doing exactly what they need to do for you, without interference from your muscle mover, the intelligence within you from your brain. The key is you spine, where the interference happens. This means that your muscle problem, wherever it is and however it is, may actually be a spine problem. So get checked by a chiropractor and don’t let muscle problems outmuscle YOU.


Your Best New Years Resolution!

Posted: January 2, 2018
By: Written by Dr. Matthew Alvord,

 

The phrase “yule” is derived from the old Norse word for “wheel,” and “yule tide” refers to the moment when the cycle of the year is at its low point, ready to rise again. It’s a time for renewal, restoration and re-creation. In fact, our namesake at Creation Chiropractic comes directly from this concept. Some assume there is a religious connotation, but it’s actually just a simple reference to the cause and effect relationship of life; the creation of life from two cells and one Creator, matter from the immaterial, life from seemingly nothing.  

But it’s that “nothing” that is everything. When it comes to your life, what matters is if it can come to you in the first place. In order for life to be expressed, there can’t be any interference between the intelligence that made you and you. Innate intelligence is specifically communicated throughout your entire body via your nervous system. This system connects your brain to your big toe, and everything in between. When the bones in your back misalign, they interfere with the intentions of the Creator that made you from two cells and creation can only happen when there is no interference to the cause of life. Spinal subluxations always cause your life to be less than what it should be and could be and since your nervous system controls and coordinates everything in your body, it also controls and coordinates your body’s ability to adapt to your outside world as well. So all your experiences, hopes, dreams and every single one of your New Year’s resolutions depend on your ability to relate to the new year through your nervous system. It’s a must for every resolution.

Maybe spinal subluxations have been tapping away at your energy, aspirations and expectations for so long, you don’t have goals for the New Year. Maybe they are just so low that you aren’t excited about the future at all.  Or maybe you haven’t even thought about what is possible when your life is at full expression.

Sometimes, life isn’t that bad but it isn’t that good either. But how would you know? If we get used to something long enough, we could just assume that that is the way it’s supposed to be. And most people can get used to a dimly lit room.

Everyone gets spinal subluxations, whether we have any symptoms or not. If you are lucky, you will have feedback from your body telling you to do something. Anything. But most people have no idea that they need to have their spines checked for subluxations because there aren’t any obvious indication to do otherwise. Most people think they are healthy until they are not. After all, most hospital beds are full of people who felt fine yesterday. It doesn’t have to be that way.

So here we are, at the beginning of another year of our lives. Another yule tide, another you tide, a chance for re-creation of the spirit that celebrates inside you, if it is just given that chance. A new YULE! We can either improve ourselves by making sure we are expressing life at our best or we can let our lives fall away into another year of mediocrity of a lesser life with interference. Make sure that your first resolution is to a visit a chiropractor so you can remove the interference to the rest of your New Year’s resolutions. Your future depends on it.

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