Why Testing Trumps Guessing

By Dr. Jon Thomas DC BCIM

Image courtesy of flickr.com

We’ve all been there, at the doctor’s office for the fourth or fifth time, wondering why we keep getting another prescription for the same problem we came in to cure in the first place.  This scenario is pretty typical for Western medicine.  You start off by going to the doctor in order to explain what is ailing you.  The physician or nurse practitioner listens to you.  Maybe you are asked a few questions, after which you are issued a prescription for some type of antibiotic, painkiller, muscle relaxant or an anti-inflammatory, depending on what the issue is.  Then you are sent on your way, with the hope that the pills you were prescribed are going to provide you with some relief.

Hopefully, the doctor guessed right, and you feel better.  But what happens when the pills you were prescribed don’t eliminate the symptoms?  That means that you will wind up right back in the same office a week or two later with the same complaint.  After asking you yet more questions, you wind up leaving the office with yet another prescription which may or may not cure whatever is ailing you.  Sound familiar? 

Can You Beat Pain with a Pill?

By Dr. Jon Thomas DC, BCIM

Image courtesy of wikimedia

When it comes to living life to its fullest, pain is the regulator on all our activities.  No matter how much you want to achieve a personal fitness goal or take your workout routine to the next level, no amount of motivation is going to be able to overcome pain when it rears its ugly head.  That’s as it should be since pain has evolved right along with homo sapiens to let us know when to back off.  It’s what told our caveman ancestors to pull their hands out of the fire, among other things. 

Why Kids & Chiropractic are a Perfect Match for the Summer

Dr. Jon Thomas DC, BCIM

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

It won’t be long before school is out for the summer.  For parents, that means having to devise activities that let kids burn off all that restless energy they’ve been saving up all year long. For children, it’s just a couple short months to swim, ride their bikes and skateboards, not to mention rough housing with other kids in the neighborhood. As a result, it should come as no surprise that the number of visits to the ER made by children of all ages peaks during the summer. 

Aside from treating scrapes, sprains and the occasional broken bone, there isn’t a lot that ER doctors can do to help moms and dads manage an injury that their child has sustained.  Sure, they’ll schedule a return visit to remove a cast or check for infection, but other than providing a prescription to help relieve pain and/or inflammation, there isn’t a lot of follow up advice they can provide.  This is where chiropractic care can be a godsend.

10 Ways to Beat the Heat While Staying Fit

By Dr. Jon Thomas DC, BCIM

Image courtesy of flickr.com

In most parts of the country, the summer is one of the best times of the year to kick your exercise regimen up a notch.  When it comes to staying fit in Florida, you need to take another tack since June, July and August can produce afternoon temperatures in the mid to upper 90’s on a daily basis.  While many people want to continue such activities as jogging, bicycling, golf, tennis, kayaking, and other healthy pastimes you will need a strategy unless you want to wind up making a pit stop in the nearest ER. You need to use your head if you want to do your body good and avoid the effects of heat.

Looking for a Nutritional Plan That’s Juice Right?

By Tracy Thomas

As you know from my husband’s Feb. 22 blog,  we believe that dietary supplements are a great way to address deficiencies in the body.  Let’s face it, the modern American diet leaves a lot to be desired.  High in fat and low in fiber, what most Americans eat on a daily basis is at the root of many health issues.  The problem is that while most people recognize the fact that their current diet is lacking nutritionally, many are reluctant to alter their eating habits. But what if there was a way you could help balance the books nutritionally by taking a capsule or two every day?

Image by commons.wilimedia.org

Eat Your Veggies

Most of us can remember our mom telling us to “Eat your veggies” when we were little.  Now that we are all grown up, we have nobody to remind us and as a result most of us eat far too little fruits and vegetables.   If you cringe at the thought of bellying up to the salad bar, I might have the solution you seek. 

Essential Oils – Something Old is New Again

By Tracy Thomas

Image courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

Mention essential oils to most people, and they’ll immediately assume that it’s associated with other new age therapies, like using magnets and healing crystals.  What you may not realize is that essential oils are not new.  In fact, they have been used for thousands of years among various cultures who realized their medicinal properties.  Just like modern medicines, essential oils exhibit a number of proven therapeutic properties, including antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits. 

Since the time of the pyramid builders some 5,000 years ago, when the Egyptians used to create essential oils by soaking a variety of plants in oil before filtering the liquid through linen bags, these healing oils have been utilized as medicines, beauty aids, and cleaning products.  While the technology used to manufacture, essential oils has evolved over the past five millennia, their benefits remain the same.

Chiropractic for Moms

By Tracy Thomas

With Mother’s Day being right around the corner, I thought I would take a few minutes to talk about how chiropractic care can help moms deal with every aspect of their lives. Being a mother has its rewards, but it can also come with a healthy dose of mental and physical stress.  Everything from conception and pregnancy, to childbirth and raising a child brings with it a host of life-changing physical transformations that need to be dealt with in turn. This article is designed to cover those changes, as well as how chiropractic care can help mothers better deal with them.

It all Starts at Conception

Imagy by simple.wikipedia.org

From the moment of conception, a mother-to-be begins a physical and emotional journey that will transform her body in many ways.  Being a mom can be hard on the body.  As the fetus grows, a woman gains weight.  This tends to throw everything from the spine and pelvis to the joints, muscles, and tendons out of whack. Once the spine becomes misaligned, it can also cause chronic pain, particularly in the third trimester.   Since a developing fetus shares its mother’s blood supply, this makes taking prescription painkillers problematic.