Text Neck 101

As technology evolves, so do the health challenges. When computers became used by the masses, the incidences of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome became more widespread. This generation’s new health scourge is Text Neck.

In the month of June, the news reported a 14 year old child diagnosed  with text neck and had an x-ray showing a reversed curve in her neck. This resulted in constant neck pain that disrupted her way of life.

With a reversed curve, the pressure distribution on the disc gets concentrated on the front one-third, irritating its cartilage which ultimately will wear it out.

This is a common problem for most of us now that there seems to be an app for everything, eating, exercising, and socializing to name a few.

The solution is to focus on preventative measures such as holding the phone up to eye-level during use when possible as well as neck and coordination exercises that we cover in our free classes and consultations.

One must keep in mind that it is much easier to prevent text neck by practicing proper ergonomics and spinal hygiene exercises rather than attempting to reverse it once symptoms begin. 

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Spinal Hygiene: How to Properly Care for Your Spine

Why do we recommend exercises for patients to implement as a part of a healthy lifestlyle? Simply put, it is the right thing to do. Just as a dentist recommends daily dental hygiene routines that includes, toothbrushing and flossing, we recommend corrective spinal exercises that complement the neurospinal chiropractic care you are receiving in our office in order to get faster results that last.

 Maintaining a healthy spine includes proper posture, ergonomics (which is why we recommend a custom-fitted cervical pillow to our patients), chiropractic care that focuses on neurospinal correction and an effective spinal hygiene routine. Not a single choice mentioned above can be considered as a substitute for the other just like a healthy diet is not a substitue for exercise or a healthy mental attitude.

 All patients at Complete Chiropractic are taught a spinal hygiene regimen that focuses on two things: ease of application and effectiveness as stated in the most up‐to‐date research for their specific issue.

It does take more time and effort to instruct a patient to perform a specific routine of spinal hygiene exercises, and we at Complete Chiropractic, believe that our patients are worth the extra mile as it yields the best possible outcome in the long term.

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Scoliosis: Things To Consider

Scoliosis comes in two forms: Structural Scoliosis and Functional Scoliosis.

Structural scoliosis, as the name implies, is when the vertebrae are misshapen from improper childhood development and have been formed to stack in a curvy manner that is normally associated with the condition. Chiropractic care CAN'T fix the curve due to bone structure however, adjusting the spine helps the spine to function optimally in relation to the disc and its related nerves going through. 

Functional Scoliosis is the result of imbalanced function of one side of the body in relation to the other.

The imbalance can come from a few reasons and is oftentimes a combination of all the reasons mentioned:

1. Muscle imbalance: when a person is overworking a group of muscles on one side of the body and is underworking the other side of the same muscles. This causes a certain group of that muscle to get bigger and stronger on one side and smaller and weaker on the other, leading to an uneven pull on the spine. A perfect example of this is would be a painter who is right handed and spends 6-10 hours a day working that right side while neglecting the left. In said example, the right side's muscles get bigger and stronger while the left can be significantly weak in comparison.

2. Ligament tension. From sleeping in certain positions, to posture, to the way we go about our day, we allow ligamentous structure to be tight and taut from not challenging the ligament enough in relation to the other side. This imbalance again throws the balance of the spine off.

3. Spinal Shift: when the vertebrae is not functioning optimally in relation to the vertebral disc, inflammation ensues and nerve irritation occurs while throwing the curvature of the spine off in the process.

Depending on each individual case, Functional Scoliosis can be reduced if not reversed completely when a combination of exercises, stretches and chiropractic adjustments are done in conjunction with one another.

Symptoms of scoliosis include, but not limited to:

- Unilateral Scapular Winging: When one shoulder blade bulges out compared to another.
- Spinal Shift: The structural imbalance results in a spinal segment to shift from its proper alignment, irritating surrounding tissues, disc and nerves.
- Body tilt to one side
- Unevenness in the shoulder
- Uneven waist
- Uneven leg length from pelvic unevenness
- Hip hike from pelvis
- Elevated hip from one siderter than the other

Whether you or a loved one has scoliosis, send them in for a complimentary consultation by contacting us  (323) 902-6457

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The Best Diet for You

As you know, at Complete Chiropractic, we endorse a healthy lifestyle that complements the NeuroSpinal care we deliver in order to help you get better results and keep them. 

Simply put, there are a lot of diet trends that are being created. Some are great while others are dangerous and need to be put to scrutiny by regulating bodies to ensure the safety of the people. Currently, the FDA can’t fine someone for writing a book that sells ideas based on personal opinions and junk-science, which are plenty. However, as an individual, you have the power and the obligation to discern the facts from fiction.

 Regardless of which dietary decisions you make, be sure that the food you eat is as minimally processed as possible, organic, and, if it involves animal protein, humanely raised or wild caught. 

Attending our health talks provided by Dr. Ahmed Korayem can help further guide you so that you make the best decisions for you and your family.

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Combining Alternative Therapies to Your NeuroSpinal Chiropractic Care: Help or Hinderance?

 The short answer is yes and no. There are a myriad of therapies, practitioners and modalities out there that promise benefit to you and your body. Some practices and modalities, in our professional opinion are of benefit, others don’t help or even hinder while others can be detrimental in relation to our goal of NeuroSpinal Correction.

 The solution: while under our care, we recommend that you inform us of all the other practitioners/modalities you are utilizing so Dr. Ahmed can sit down with you and discuss as to whether it’s going to help or hinder our goals and how. Dr. Ahmed can also contact the other practitioner(s) in order to coordinate protocols to ensure there is nothing contradicting the work we are doing in the office.

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Importance of Omega 3's

From brain function to heart function. The importance of a clean reliable source of Omega 3 is, in this day and age is no longer an option, as addressed in our previous blog posts here and here, but a necessity. The average person today has an overwhelming imbalanced ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 due to the modern day diet which leads to inflammation amongst other issues. 

Omega 3's don't only improve brain and heart function, reduce inflammation, but it also aids in weight loss as shown in studies as well helps with, but not cure, depression. It doesn't end there! In a study, animals consuming EPA have experienced death of leukemia cells in their bodies. Such claims however, haven't reached the human trials yet and no claims can be made on human benefit till such studies are to be performed.

The average adult needs to consume 1,000 mg of EPA (Eicosapentanoic Acid) per day and getting this amount per serving is not guaranteed from any bottle of fish oil that’s off the shelf at your local supplement store for varying reasons: species of fish, source of fish, and bottling practices of the product’s manufacturer. 

Many companies tend to utilize practices where the fish oil after extraction is shipped in barrels to the bottling site, which in most cases tend to be in a different country altogether. (e.g. oil extracted in Norway, then bottled in mainland USA.) Such practices predisposes the oil to oxidize during its long commute. When an oil is oxidized, it becomes more of a health detriment than a benefit. A higher quality fish oil, like the ones we provide in our office, is extracted and bottled at the source. 

This process is more costly but the superior results and benefit to our patients is worth the price and cannot be replicated by getting off‐brands or something from your local store.

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Why Supplement? A Modern Day Guide to Health

The supplement industry has turned into a billion-dollar phenomenon that is out to sell you every possible pill, potion and lotion in the promise of better health.

What does this mean for you, the consumer? Are you being sold on things that you truly need or are you being simply being duped?

A common argument against supplementation is that our ancestors didn’t use it and still survived. This is, however, a poor argument since it doesn’t take certain factors into consideration. 

First, the state of the planet has been drastically altered in the past few decades, let alone centuries and millenia. The top soils have been depleted of its minerals while the air and water have been polluted. Simply put, food does not carry the same nutritive value that our ancestors enjoyed.

Second, food has been over-processed, making it even more nutrient-deficient and forcing our bodies to work harder than ever before in order to expel toxins and nourish the body. This creates a need to supplement one’s diet in order to power through the day while, simultaneously, do the extra work in the detoxification process.

Lastly, our bodies have been pushed to a near constant fight-or-flight (sympathetic) mode leaving us both deficient and toxic. Being in fight-or-flight through most of the day puts the body in a catabolic state (breakdown) rather than anabolic state where it’s repairing, detoxifying and nourishing itself.

Picking a proper supplementation regimen should focus on two things: creating sufficiency in place of deficiency and purity in place of the toxicity. Anything else can be seen as an adjunct rather than a necessity, depending on the individual’s unique needs.

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