Category: Chiropractic

All about Chiropractic. What it is. How and Why it works to support natural health.

Stress and Your Gut

Posted on by zgower

Have you ever noticed your stomach doesn’t feel quite right when you’re stressed?  

There’s a reason for that.  Stress and Digestion are interconnected. 

When your body is under stress, it shifts its attention toward dealing with the immediate challenge. Digestion becomes less of a priority.

Stress can affect digestion, including stomach acid production, and can disrupt the gut microbiome. Over time, this can make it harder to digest food and get the nutrients your body needs.

Your brain and gut are constantly communicating through your nervous system. Good communication helps your digestive system do its job.

Your body can’t be in survival mode and recovery mode at the same time.

That’s why the basics matter. Eat well. Breathe. Move. Sleep. Take a break. Give your body a chance to slow down and recover.

Chiropractic care helps improve digestive function. An adjustment provides specific input to the nervous system and supports healthy communication between the brain and body. When your nervous system is functioning well, your body can better regulate things like digestion, movement, and recovery.

Get adjusted and give your nervous system the support it needs for healthy digestion and recovery.

– Dr. Zach Gower

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Does a Chiropractic Adjustment Actually Do?

Posted on by zgower

A lot of people think a chiropractic adjustment simply “puts a bone back in place.”

It’s a little more interesting than that.

Your spine is designed to move. Your muscles control that movement, and your nervous system controls your muscles.

A chiropractic adjustment gives your body specific input. It helps a joint move better, can reduce muscle tension, and gives your nervous system information about movement and position.

And here’s the important part:

I don’t do the healing. You do.

Your body is designed to heal and adapt. My job is to help improve function and give your body input that supports that process.

Chiropractic isn’t just about treating pain. Pain is a signal, not the whole picture. It’s important because it tells us something is going on, but I can’t promise to get rid of your pain. I can help your body move and function better.

Your body is constantly adapting to life — stress, work, exercise, sitting, traveling, and everything in between.

Stress can also affect how your body moves and functions. [Read more about what chronic stress can do to your body.]

If you’re in Port Washington and want to learn more about how chiropractic care can support movement and function, I’d be happy to help.

The goal is simple: move better, adapt better, and function better.

— Dr. G

Chiropractic Stories Series

Posted on by zgower

Return to Sanity

My patient Jim worked as an orderly in a mental institution. Jim’s job included calming down and restraining difficult and sometimes violent patients. He usually got the upper hand, but sometimes the inmates won. He’d come in for an adjustment all scratched up, bitten and subluxated.

“A sucker punch Doc, I didn’t see it coming. She really surprised me.”

But he did more than fight inmates. He also took more manageable patients out for walks and drives.

One evening Jim appeared for his appointment with a tall, good-looking and very wary eighteen-year-old.

“Hi Jim, who’s your friend?” I asked.

“This is Larry. He’s an inmate. He was committed about eight months ago by his family. He’s been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic—hears voices. His condition hasn’t improved and he’s on lots of meds (medications).”

“Want to give Larry an adjustment?”

Larry let me palpate his neck and even agreed to lie on his side for an upper cervical adjustment. His atlas was out. I positioned the drop headpiece and set it up on his neck. I probably won’t get another chance to do this, I thought to myself.

The headpiece dropped down and Larry jumped up. It looked like he went from a lying position to a standing one with no intermediate positions. “What did you do to me?” he yelled.

“I, uh, I adjusted your atlas, it was out.” Not my finest patient lecture.

“It felt like you stuck a sword through my head,” said Larry.

I turned to my patient Craig for some kind of help but he was doubled up in laughter. “Funniest thing I’ve ever seen. You should see your face Dr. Tedd.”

Eventually he came up and put his arm around Larry. “Hey, he does this to me all the time. Let’s go get some pizza. See you in a couple of days doc.”

They drove away. I never saw Larry again.

Jim came in two days later, “How’s Larry?” were the first words out of my mouth.

“Oh yeah, I meant to call you doc. They’ve cut back Larry’s meds. He suddenly seems better. The psychiatrists are convinced the drugs finally started working,” Jim laughed.

Jim came by the next week with more news, “Larry was taken off all meds today. The voices have stopped, and his family is coming in tomorrow to bring him home.”

“He’s back to normal, no more strange behavior?” I asked.

“Well, there’s just one thing that’s upsetting the staff.”

“What’s that?”

“He keeps telling people he wants to be a chiropractor.”

– Excerpt from Chicken Soup for the Chiropractic Soul by Dr. Tedd Koren, D.C.