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Mark your calendars because a special treat is coming your way! On Saturday, 18th November, from 9am to 1pm, we're hosting an exclusive Patient Appreciation Day and Community Open Day. This fantastic event is all about CELEBRATING YOU, our wonderful patients, and opening our doors to our community. Space is limited so be sure to RSVP NOW by email! Plan on bringing your family and friends and be sure to stick around for the day’s talks and mini-tours so you can learn and benefit and also be entered in our prize drawing at the end of the day! (You must be present to win!) Here’s what you can expect!
Putting YOU first, Dr. Michael  
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Welcome to another edition of my health and wellness newsletter where I share the secrets to better health through the wisdom of the spine. If you are enjoying our Spine Education Series, I hope you share it with others so they may benefit also. Remember, your spine is the gateway to your health. Look to it and you will find all the answers you need. This month, we're moving on from the cervical spine to the thoracic spine. This segment of vertebrae can often be thought of as a group of “unsung heroes”. While persistent symptoms often come from the uppermost (cervical) and lowermost (lumbar) parts of the body, the middle section (thoracic) is uniquely important because of its connection to many organs and it being the largest section of singular vertebra in your spine. The thoracic spine consists of 12 individual vertebrae. They are numbered T-1 to T-12, and like all the vertebrae in your spine, correspond to a particular area of your nervous system. Your nervous system being the operating system of your entire brain and body.  I think of the thoracic spine like the “middle child” as it is often overlooked. Why? In general, it is strong as a unit, rigid in foundation, flexible in function, and, in my opinion, the most stable. thus, causing less injury and problems.
Today pay attention to the way you are moving your entire body. You’ll notice that the middle part of your body is moving all day long. Even when sitting for extensive periods of time (thus often stagnating the lumbar spine), your thoracic spine is in constant movement. Whether it’s breathing, typing, leaning over to grab a pen, driving, walking (and swinging your arms) – there’s always a lot going on naturally. Conversely, sitting for long periods of time, staring at a screen all day keeps both the cervical and lumbar spines in precarious positions less likely to move, rotate, stretch, and bend. Your spine needs 3 things to be healthy:
Over the next days, do me a favor. Your thoracic spine starts at the base of your neck to just above the curve of your lower back. Pay attention to all the movements your body makes within that area.
When you’re in next, let me know what you found, and we’ll go through what it all means and how you can improve your health and live longer! Yours in health, Dr. Michael Have you ever experienced neck, shoulder, arm, or wrist pain, tightness, tingling, or weakening? If you have, you’ll want to listen closely to the story of your C6 and C7 vertebrae. In fact, even if you are not aware of any problems you may have, it’s still important to get to know these vital segments of your spine so you can understand their value to your health. Misalignments of your C6 and C7 can go undetected for long periods of time. There can be years of subluxations, untreated, where you don’t feel anything. Then all of a sudden things start showing up but you dismiss it with “explain aways” like overuse, old age, an old injury, or other reasons to minimise important messages coming from within your body.  Instead of looking to your spine (Because who teaches you to do that?), you are told to treat a headache with ibuprofen, wrap your wrist with tape in hopes that the pain will somehow magically disappear, or leave things for as long as you can stand it only to find yourself in a position of having to seek more radical solutions that you don’t want to do. All of these outward signs took a lot of time to manifest. And for the most part, were hidden or undetectable. This is why it is vital to maintain your health with regular spinal checkups. Like the illustration below, showing the check engine light going on in your car, if you put a plaster over the light to hide it, the root of the problem won't get addressed. This will prove more costly over time.  Whereas, if you keep up regular maintenance appointments and the mechanic can look under the bonnet, do proper diagnostics, and maintain parts and fluids, your car runs smoothly, lasts longer, and doesn’t cost so much to fix.  It works much the same with your health.
Medical solutions normally treat pain with drugs, so the heart of your health issues hide, fester, or only get worse. Whereas, chiropractic solutions look to the spine for the source of the problem so the root cause can be resolved giving your body a better chance to get better and even heal. Highlights of Your C6 Vertebra:
Highlights of Your C7 Vertebra:
Both C6 and C7 work together to collaborate seamlessly to uphold good posture, maintain muscle strength, and facilitate effortless movements. That may not seem very vital when everything is working, but without the ability to do all those things life becomes hard, and the dominoes of dis-ease start to fall into place causing bigger, more painful, and more costly problems you wish you never had. Instead of reacting to things when you feel bad, be proactive with your health so you can experience confidence, peace of mind, and happiness for many, many years to come! Should you have any questions or wish to schedule an appointment, please don't hesitate to Yours in health, Dr. Michael This month, I’ll be continuing our Spine Education Series delving into the remarkable C3, C4, and C5 vertebrae. As a team, they play a vital role in your overall health. (As I am hoping you are seeing that ALL of your vertebrae do!)  "C3, 4, and 5 keeps the diaphragm alive." This famous saying perfectly encapsulates the importance of these vertebrae. Situated within the cervical spine, this Super-Trio holds the key to serving your phrenic nerve system and sustaining the function of your diaphragm – the powerhouse of your breath.  Often when patients come in, adjustments give them the sensation of being able to breathe deeper and fuller and that’s because they are! Simply put, subluxations are like kinks and blockages that start to accumulate toxins and waste which impair the body and can cause stagnation of energy and eventual chronic or even life-threatening diseases. In addition to breathing better after an adjustment, patient’s often experience their senses coming alive. This can result immediately in better eyesight, a sudden surge in energy, mental clarity, and even a spike in positive emotions. THIS ILLUSTRATION IS DESIGNED TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOUR C3, C4, & C5 ARE OUT OF ALIGNMENT:
THIS ILLUSTRATION IS DESIGNED TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOUR C3, C4, & C5 ARE IN ALIGNMENT:
The phrenic nerve system located in your cervical spine is like the maestro of your breathing orchestra. It sends crucial electrical commands to your diaphragm that ensure a smooth rhythm as you inhale and exhale. The harmony between that Super-Trio of vertebrae impacts your entire body - everything from oxygenating your brain and cells to regulating your nervous system to harmonising all the organs associated with breathing. So ultimately, it is vital that you keep your Super-Trio in alignment. I have seen the following symptoms stem from C3, C4, and C5 misalignment:
And that’s just the symptoms that you CAN see. Sometimes symptoms are underlying for a long time until they become visible. Which is why it is important to get your spine checked regularly to ensure your Super-Trio, C3, C4, and C5 are working in harmony for your breathing and overall health! I’ve been adjusting spines for over 30 years and in those years, many people have come to me at their worst. For them, the road to wellness was the hardest thing they ever had to overcome but spine care helped in ways they could never imagine. Conversely, many patients who want to maintain their overall health, athletic performance, day to day focus and energy also come to see me. They see the small differences adjustments make and know how it will make a big impact down the road. No one wants to live in pain or riddled with ailments. My passion for educating people on the importance of their spine’s health is rooted in the firsthand experience that I’ve had in this transformational field of chiropractic and spine health. ALL bodies need their spines to be in alignment otherwise things won’t work or won’t work as well as they should. Your C3 Vertebra: C3 plays a vital role alongside the Atlas (C1) and Axis (C2) in facilitating head and neck movements and keeping the structure of your neck. It houses the nerves that provide sensation to various areas of your face, the back of your head, and neck so you can feel things by touch and sensory perception. You need this to be safe and for survival. Additionally, C3 collaborates with C4 and C5 to ensure the smooth functioning of a crucial bodily function: BREATHING.  If the nerves that flow through C3 are compromised because of a subluxation, your lungs and diaphragm can become impaired. Trust me, you don’t want that to happen. Left misaligned, a whole host of additional problems will arise. Many times, by the time someone goes to the medic to address symptoms, the root of the problem goes overlooked for a long time causing recurring pain, aggravation, and even serious disease. Dr. BJ Palmer, DC said that everyday small things like slips or falls can produce a subluxation. But those small things create big effects on the body, brain, and nerve function over time.  I see this all the time. Things like chewing more on one side, tilting your head for prolonged periods, sitting too much at work, slouching on the sofa while watching television, playing a sport, carrying a child, or sleeping more to one side all can cause subluxations which impacts nerve function. Multiply that over time and those small things lead to bigger and bigger problems.
Adjustments keep your body working and functioning as it should. They also address the root of the problem rather than the symptoms. Maintaining regular adjustments will sustain your health and keeps you thriving over time. If you're finding value in this information, please feel free to share this with your friends and family. Everyone can benefit from this important information and I'm happy to help in any way that I am able to. Yours in health, Dr. Michael Dear Patients, While your entire spine and nervous system are essential for life, there are a few intriguing facts about the first 7 vertebrae in your neck, also known as the Cervical Spine, that you’re going to be glad to know about.  Your cervical spine is unique and different than any other section of your spine. Your spine is made up of 24 freely movable vertebrae and is divided in to 4 sections: Cervical, Thoracic, Lumbar, and Sacral. Unlike the rest of the sections, the vertebrae within the cervical spine contain special openings for your arteries. Your arteries are the blood vessels that have the very important job of carrying blood away from your heart and to your brain. This section also contains two extraordinary vertebrae: The Atlas, and Axis which are designed specifically for the rotation of your neck. The first vertebra, or the atlas, sits between your skull and the rest of your spine. It looks much different than all your other vertebrae and have two prominent masses on each side that contain the passageway for your arteries. The axis, another very unique vertebra , has a bony knob called the odontoid process that perfectly fits into the atlas. Think of it like an aligned door hinge. When everything is in its proper place, your door can open and shut easily, and effortlessly. When the hinge is off, the door can’t shut properly, or can get stuck. The atlas and axis are responsible for the wide range of movements and smooth rotation of your head. Just like the door hinge, if misaligned, can cause a host of problems that you can feel and not feel, too.  Misalignments of your spine are not always detectable which is why regular adjustments are so vital to long term health. When your head is unable to move the way you need it to, your neck becomes susceptible to stiffness, acute and chronic pain, and decreased range of motion. The functions of your arteries can also become encumbered. If left untreated, the degeneration process accelerates, causing more health problems beyond just the neck area.
When performing an adjustment, I am looking for signs of misalignment through a variety of testing, questions, overall health history, and patterns that are on automatic. The simple way to think of it is like the door hinge analogy. When the hinge is aligned, everything moves as it should. The same goes for your body and spine! Your cervical spine offers your body a remarkable degree of mobility compared to other sections of your spine. Adjustments are necessary for optimum health. Like your heart, your spine is constantly engaged and working for you 24/7. Every activity affects your spine in some way so having it checked regularly assures better health, enduring strength, happiness, and longevity. Yours in health, Dr. Michael  Dear Patients, The King’s Coronation is right around the corner and that got me thinking about BAD POSTURE. In my 30 years of adjusting patients, it is probably one of the most overlooked factors in the prevention of serious conditions like chronic neck and back pain, headaches and migraines, digestive issues, accelerated spinal degeneration, osteoporosis, mental health issues, and even cardiovascular disease. Bad posture is hardly ever seen as a DIRECT CAUSE OF ILLNESS therefore no one pays attention to it. While symptoms are an important natural “alert system” that your body has within it, getting to the root cause of why the alert went off is the key.
Imagine your car’s oil light alerting you that you are low in oil and instead of checking your oil, you put a band aid over the light so you can’t see it. Even if the light is no longer visible, it does not mean that your car does not need the oil. Somewhere down the road, it will stop working and then you’ll have a bigger problem. The same can be said about your body. What if the symptoms you or your loved ones are experiencing could be less severe or prevented altogether from better posture? This is why I use the POSTURE SCAN TOOL. It helps patients see for themselves what I see at a glance. When I look at people, I see spines and I can tell in an instant if someone is off balance, degenerating a lot faster than they should be, or will be experiencing painful challenges in the future. The scans help patients to see their own postural improvements while I see the intricacies of better mobility, organ function, and essential energy flow throughout the body. By regularly realigning your spine, you not only improve your posture, but you relieve pain and discomfort, increase flexibility and range of motion, enhance nerve function, and promote optimal organ health. The endless range of vital processes that are needed every minute of every day for you to live, happen because of your nervous system that is housed in your spine. Think of your spine as the CROWN of your health. An aligned spine assures that the trillions of neural connections deliver the critical communication necessary to your brain and every other part of your mind, body, and health. Consistent spinal adjustments help those messages get to where they need to go and that naturally and positively keeps you well from within. When you’re watching the coronation, remember your posture! Yours in health, Dr. Michael  Make sure you’ve saved the date in your diaries to come along to our Open Day next Saturday the 22nd 10am-12pm!
Find out how you can enjoy better health and well-being by attending our Open Day. Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired or looking for a better quality of life? This Open Day event is for you. A special opportunity to find out more about how the following services can be of benefit for you, your family and friends.
- Exclusive discounts available only on the day - A special opportunity to meet the practitioners in person  Dear Patients, I thought I’d write something about allergies since, without fail, a number of new patients coming in during this time of year for a back or neck ache due to allergy symptoms are many times surprised to find that getting adjusted can help their allergies too. UNDERSTANDING ALLERGIES Simply put, allergies are a reaction to something inside or outside of your body that your immune system is not able to process. Think of allergic reactions as a way for your body to get your attention. Something is not right and the culprit must be found! Many times, it’s a lot easier than we think! If allergies are an overreaction to internal and external environmental factors that would otherwise not affect you, then why now? Usually it happens over time. Your body is not able to detoxify fast enough or unhealthy things begin to accumulate until a symptom or two pops up. Instead of going through an allergy checklist, it’s much easier to get a prescription or over the counter medication that will mask the symptom rather than getting to the root cause of why it’s happening in the first place. WHAT DO ALLERGY SYMPTOMS LOOK LIKE?
HOW CHIROPRACTIC PRINCIPLES AND SPINAL ADJUSTMENTS HELP WITH ALLERGIES: I’ve seen so many kinds of allergy symptoms. Probably more than you can imagine and maybe even those you can’t imagine. The one problem that I see is that the body is not in balance and is not able to heal itself due to nerve interference. This is something that most patients, let alone doctors, would not think to treat. The philosophy of chiropractic teaches us how to get to the root cause of dis-ease via the spine because the nervous system is the center of all our bodily functions. Any blockages there should be the first place to look. If your spine is aligned and symptoms are still prevalent then we can explore other options. But the first order of business would always be spinal adjustments and maintenance because it could be as simple as that. I cannot tell you how many patients I’ve seen over my 31 years that have got off their allergy medications altogether just by bringing their body back to balance so they can “breathe” again. (So to speak, even though it’s so much more than that.) It is my belief that if you do everything you can from a more holistic, natural, and drugless approach, then your body will thank you in the long run. If you or someone you know suffers from allergy symptoms, please share this information, have the call or email me, or bring them to our Open Day on April 22 and I’d be happy to answer any questions. See you soon. Yours in Health, Dr. Michael  SAVE THE DATE SATURDAY APRIL 22ND 10AM-12PM HEALTH & WELLNESS CENTRE INVITES YOU! Please join us for a fun and informative day designed to bring our community together to be inspired and motivated to better our health! We’ll be sharing our annual “flu shot” drink (recipe below) and healthy refreshments, give you an opportunity to meet other therapies within Health and Wellness Centres, and Dr. Michael and his team will be on hand all day to answer your health questions. Each year, we share Nature’s Flu Shots and it’s always a hit so we always share the recipe! Please feel free to pass this along to friends and family as it is one small thing you can do that will help your health in BIG ways!   Listen to Your Intuition – Women have a natural sixth sense that can tune in to more than what is obvious to the normal senses. It is what makes them exceptional at caretaking and knowing just the right thing to do at just the right moment! We’ve all experienced our mums being “psychic” when we were trying to hide something! And we’ve all experienced our mums also knowing when to comfort us when we need it most! You don’t have to be a mum to have that “sense” – it's part of a woman’s DNA, so embrace it!  Listen to Your Body – A woman’s body speaks to her all the time. She has a monthly biological clock but also a magnificent internal guide that knows things beyond words. Learn to articulate that knowing into words so that you can ask questions, educate yourself, and query professionals along the way on your self-care journey. Women often forget to care for themselves and can easily ignore their own needs. This month, engage in the practice of listening to your body and tending to its needs just as you would your child, a parent, or a best friend. You are so worthy!  Listen to Your Heart – Your heart center is where your emotions live, and women have a savvy way with feelings. At the same time, self-doubt can creep in and when that happens, listening to others can overtake listening to one’s own heart. This is where a stack of hopes, dreams, and wishes can become dusty like the bookshelf of old books that you never look at anymore. This month, listen to your heart. It really does always know. And it’s never too late to dust off your desires and go after them once and for all!
Thank you to all the mothers, grandmothers, and mothers to be out there! We appreciate you! And to all the incredible women that come through our practice every single day – We see you, hear you, and are always rooting for you! Keep your spine aligned, Dr. Michael and Amber |
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