It’s all at how you look at it. Literally!

Phones and laptops have been around long enough for us to know about the many negative effects it is causing society. In chiropractic, a very common thing we see is the effects technology is having on our spine. “Text Neck” is a real diagnosis! It’s a syndrome! It’s not going anywhere. In fact, we are learning more and more about the importance of posture as it leads to other more serious conditions down the road. Even if you aren’t experiencing pain right now, you must listen and start being mindful of your posture.

Rise Up! No, Raise up.

Raise up that screen! Whether it is your laptop, computer screen, or phone – we encourage you to stop looking down as much.  Do it! Your head weighs about 10-15 lbs. if your neck is properly aligned over your shoulders, and the muscles in your neck are designed to support this weight… in the correct position. When your neck is forward, it can weigh anywhere from 30-60 lbs and then your muscles and ligaments suffer big time. Ever had that trigger point you can’t seem to get rid of that recurring migraine. Proper neck posture is vital for maintain health.  Picture your head as a bowling ball. When you look down at your phone as your scrolling through the latest self-improvement videos for a solid 15 mins, your neck muscles are working extra hard to keep you in that position.

3 Main things happen when you look down for an extend amount of time:

1. Your neck loses its “curve” aka “forward head posture”
2. Your shoulders round forward and elevate
3. Your neck muscles will tighten and spasm 

1 thing to do right NOW to help a “Text Neck”

1. Raise your phone to eye level!

Now, that you have accomplished that. Consider seeing a chiropractor. We would love the opportunity to talk more about poor posture and how chiropractic can help!

Do it!

In Health,

The Mindful Chiropractic and Wellness Team

DONE BY HAND.

Muscle weakness? Muscle Tension? Achy, dull pain? Tightness and Stiffness? Numbing? Decrease in function?

These are just a few questions a Chiropractor will ask when you make a visit to their office. So, for those who are new to chiropractic, welcome! Here is a quick description of what chiropractic is.

The word chiropractic stems from the Greek words “cheir” which means “by hand” and “praktos” meaning “done”. Therefore, a direct translation of chiropractic is “done by hand.”

The medical definition of chiropractic: a system of therapy which holds that disease results from a lack of normal nerve function and which employs manipulation and specific adjustment of body structures.

Here at Mindful Chiropractic and Wellness, chiropractic takes a holistic whole-body approach to help you achieve optimal wellness. We use the adjustment to restore joint function and help to remove nervous system interference. When you get adjusted regularly, it helps your body function at its most optimal performance. In addition to chiropractic adjustments, we utilize soft-tissue therapies, kinetic loading and resistance exercises, nutritional consultations, and lifestyle recommendations to help align the mind, body, and soul.

In health,

The Mindful Chiropractic Team

Can I eat the egg yolk? Egg white omelets and other yolk-free recipes have become synonymous with “healthy” to many. But if you toss out your egg yolks, you’re also tossing out some of the most nutritious parts of the egg. For instance, egg yolks (but not whites) contain vitamins A, D, E and K along with omega-3 fats. Compared to the whites, egg yolks also contain more beneficial folate and vitamin B12. The yolks also contain far more of the nutrient choline than the whites, and all of the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin.

Want to know more about methylation and how this genetic snip could be affecting your life? Read this article by Dr. Kendal Stewart to learn more or call our office today!

Methylation Overview by Kendal Stewart, M.D. / Neurotologist & Methylation Expert

The term methylation describes a biochemical process that is utilized in the body for transport of nutrients, energy production and in gene modulation. In patients with decreased methylation activity (i.e. methylation deficiency), there are significant shortcomings in the ability to execute a variety of important chemical functions in the body. These shortcomings can leave the body unprotected from the everyday assault of environmental and infectious agents, sluggish in neurotransmitter production and slow to recover from inflammatory damage. This shortfall can result in a wide range of medical conditions including neurological issues, such as seizures, migraines, dizziness, depression, anxiety, OCD, ADD/ADHD, developmental delay, autism, dementias and memory issues, chronic persistant infections, auto-immune disease, neural tube defects, infertility and pregnancy complications. Appropriate supplementation with the proper methylated vitamins and nutrients will bypass the genetic and acquired deficits and restore appropriate function of the pathway resulting in improvement in these complicated syndromes.

The proper functioning of the methylation cycle is essential for a number of critical reactions in the body. Consequences of genetic weaknesses (mutations) in this pathway are increased risk factors leading to a number of serious health conditions. A central pathway in the body that is particularly amenable to bio-molecular genetic weaknesses is the methionine/folate pathway. There are several sites in this pathway where blocks can occur as a result of genetic differences. In general, single biomarkers are identified as indicators for specific disease states. However, it is possible that for a number of health conditions, including autism and other severe neurological syndromes, it may be necessary to look at the entire methylation pathway as “a biomarker” for underlying genetic susceptibility for a disease state. It may require expanding the view of a “biomarker” beyond the restriction of a mutation in a single gene to a mutation somewhere in an entire pathway of interconnected function.

This does not mean that every individual with mutations in this pathway will have one of the health conditions listed above. It may be a necessary element, but there may not be a sufficient environmental or infectious “trigger”. Most health conditions in society today are multifactorial in nature. In essence, there is an underlying genetically determined risk that requires a significant infectious or environmental “trigger” to initiate the process. A certain threshold or body burden needs to be met for each of these factors in order for multifactorial disease to occur. However, part of what makes the methylation cycle so unique and so critical for our health, is that mutations in this pathway have the capability to impair all three of these factors. This would suggest that if an individual has enough mutations or weaknesses in their methylation pathway, it may be sufficient to cause the multifactorial disease by itself, as methylation cycle mutations can lead to chronic infectious diseases, increased environmental toxin burdens and have secondary effects on genetic expression.

There are so many do and do not's when it comes to eating. If you don't know where to begin to start a clean eating habit, you came to the perfect spot. Begin by adding these top 10 foods into your daily routine.

1. Coconut Oil
2. Dark Leafy Greens
3. Avocados
4. Nuts - Walnuts, Almonds, Pistachios, etc.
5. Beans
6. Fermented Foods
7. Lemons/Limes
8. High Omega 3 Foods - Wild Salmon, Chia Seeds, Hemp Seeds, Flax Seeds
9. Hot Peppers
10. Garlic

We love to answer questions about diet and nutrition. We want to help you create more of a lifestyle than anything else! Email us at info@mindfulcw.com to set up a nutrition consultation. Whether you are trying to lose weight, gain muscle, get off medications, improve blood work or just get rid of all the junk, we are here for you!

Here is a simple new year's resolution: Get YOUR spine checked. If our spine was as visible as our teeth, I think every single person would be getting their spine checked. The interesting thing is, if we can't see it, then it does not motivate us to do anything about it. Dentistry has done an amazing job at showing the world the scientific proof and effectiveness of getting their teeth checked and cleaned at least two times yearly. I meet people daily who have never been to a chiropractor, are scared of chiropractic, or just don't have any "pain" so don't see the need for chiropractic. Chiropractic has been around since 1895, proven to help people get healthy and then STAY healthy throughout their life. Many people know chiropractic is very beneficial at treating low back pain and neck pain, but that is truly only the beginning. Chiropractors are doctors of the nervous system. The nervous system is composed of 2 things: the brain and the spinal cord. Both of those systems sound important, right? Well, they are! Chiropractic helps the body function at its optimal potential. The spine protects the nerves that goes to your heart, lungs, liver, GI system, sex organs, arms, legs, and every other organ, tissue, and muscle of your body. By keeping your spine aligned, you are keeping your body it's healthiest. What do you have to lose? We would love to be your chiropractor and help show you all the amazing benefits of chiropractic care today!

A chiropractor treats all of these spinal disorders: normal discs, degenerative disc, bulging disc, herniated disc, thinning disc, and degenerative disc with osteophytic changes. Today, we are going to explore the differences between disc bulge and disc herniation. Discs act as cushions between the vertebrae in your spine that act as shock absorbers. They make it possible to jump up and down, move, stretch and everything else we do. Life would be very boring without our spinal discs. At birth, our discs are made up of 80% water that usually declines with age. They are composed of an outer layer of tough cartilage that surrounds softer cartilage in the center. It may help to think of them as miniature jelly doughnuts, exactly the right size to fit between your vertebrae.

A bulging disc extends outside the space it should normally occupy. Imagine a hamburger is too large for the bun and comes outside of the bun. That is exactly what is happening with a disc bulge, which is usually affecting the majority of the disc. On the other hand, a herniated disc results when a crack in the outer layer allows part of the inner layer to protrude out of the disc. Many doctors and patient's refer to a herniated disc as a "slipped disc." Patients can present with a lot of pain or no pain at all, it just depends on the severity of a disc bulge/herniation. A patient who presents with severe disc symptoms usually has some sort of low back pain, radiation into glutes or thighs, and/or numbness and tingling symptoms.

These type of spinal disorders are diagnosed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Your doctor will examine the MRI, diagnose your spinal condition and design a custom treatment plan to fit your needs. It is possible to reverse the symptoms you are experiencing caused by your disc bulge or disc herniation, without surgery. Our goal is to keep our patients from back surgery for as long as possible, and get them back to doing what they love! Call us today and let us be your spinal specialist!

Are you suffering with acute or chronic low back pain? Do you often feel tightness or stiffness in your low back area? We have found that most of our patients with low back pain have trouble activating their glutes. Seems odd but what happens when your glute muscles don’t work properly, you make your low back muscles work overtime. No one likes to work overtime, especially the back. Have you ever heard the saying, “it was the straw that broke the camel’s back?” Well that isn’t necessarily true. Your body and especially your back probably have been giving you some kind of warning signs over the years but with everything else that life throws our way, it is easy to ignore the warning signs until you literally can’t move correctly anymore. Stop ignoring the signs and start doing something about it. Keep these simple yet effective exercises in mind to do daily to keep that back healthy and strong. Of course in addition to these exercises, Mindful Chiropractic would love to be your chiropractor of choice to get you out of pain and moving well!

1. Hip Flexor Stretch

• Try doing this stretch seated or standing
• Great to do if you sit at a desk all day
• 3 sets of 30 seconds, 3 times daily

2. Clam Shells

• Great to strengthen your gluteus medius/minimus
• Keep you hip forward
• You should NOT feel this in your back
• 3 sets of 10, or to fatigue

3. Hip Series

• Technique is key in this series
• Keep your hip forward
• Keep your foot flexed
• 3x10 up and down, clockwise and counter-clockwise the size of a basektball

Low back pain is a very common complaint we see at Mindful Chiropractic and Wellness at our Irving/Las Colinas office. Many times patients come in complaining of sciatica, piriformis syndrome, disc bulges, and just overall chronic low back pain. Today we want to talk about 10 tips for improving low back pain- whether you are suffering from long term back pain, or acute sciatica, these things are proven to work with our patients.

1. Exercise your Core – Your inner core muscles provide so much support and stability to your low back muscles. When your core is weak, your back is weaker than it should be. These muscles are not worked often throughout the day, so we need to be doing targeted core exercises to strengthen and support our back daily.
2. Stretch Hamstrings– As we get older, our hamstrings get tighter and our quadriceps get weaker. We need to be diligent about stretching our hamstrings at least 1x daily to reduce the strain or pull on our sacroiliac joints. By releasing tension on the hamstrings, it can help alleviate low back pain.
3. Get Quality Sleep - Approximately two-thirds of people with chronic back pain suffer from some type of sleep disorder. If you aren’t sleeping well, then you aren’t’ healing well and the vicious cycle will continue. Try to get quality sleep to help improve your low back pain.
4. Adjustments – When your spinal segments are out of alignment, it causes unnecessary stress on the muscles and joints. To prevent further degeneration of the spine and to cause the muscles surrounding the spine to relax, it is recommended to see a chiropractor. We would love to be the chiropractor you chooseJ
5. Active Release Technique (ART)- ART treats conditions related to the build-up of adhesions and scar tissue in muscles. These adhesions cause several problems: muscles become shorter and weaker, the motion of muscles and joints are altered, and nerves can become compressed. As a result, the affected tissues suffer from pain, decreased blood supply, and poor mobility. ART is very effective in relieving these issues and helping our patients get better more quickly.
6. Epsom Salt Baths - Studies have shown that magnesium and sulfate are both readily absorbed through the skin, making Epsom salt baths an easy and ideal way to enjoy the amazing health benefits of reducing inflammation, helping muscle and nerve function, and flushing toxins away. Plus, they are super relaxing. I can’t recommend Epsom salt baths enough to aid in the healing of your low back pain.
7. Glute Activation – We have found that if your glutes are not firing, then your low back muscles are working overtime. We need to get the small muscles in your glutes such as gluteus medius and gluteus minimus to begin activating to give the low back a break.
8. Engage your Brain - Pain specialists have long understood that pain is not absolute; it is more complicated than just a sensation. The way your brain interprets and processes pain signals plays an important role in how you perceive your pain. At Mindful Chiropractic, we determine which brain hemisphericity is weaker and develop ways to strengthen that cortex to help with the healing process.
9. Knock Down Inflammation – Where there is pain, there is inflammation. Inflammation is easy to see outside of the body when you have a cut or scrape but inflammation happens inside the body too. To aide in knocking down inflammation, consider these supplements, however always consult a doctor before use:

Turmeric (2-4g daily)

Vitamin C (2,000 to 4,000 mg daily in divided doses throughout the day)

Essential fatty acids (EFAs) (1,000 mg twice daily)

Vitamin D (at least 5,000 mg daily)

10. Stay Hydrated - I tell my patients to drink the number of ounces of water equivalent to half their weight. In other words, if you weigh 160 pounds, you should drink 80 ounces (ten 8-ounce glasses) of water every day. Anything less shortchanges your entire body and can lead to more pain throughout the body. Stay hydrated and notice a healthier, happier you! 

If you have any questions regarding the above information or would like to make an appointment, please call 972-719-9101 or email info@mindfulcw.com. We look forward to serving you!

We are thrilled to be partnering with Cardio Barre DFW/Southlake to host complimentary foam rolling classes after your workout. Come join us Sunday, November 8th at 2-3:30 for the Cardio Barre class, and then at 3:30pm for our foam rolling class! Please RSVP at dallas@cardiobarre.com as space is limited. 

Foam Rolling has been used by professional athletes, coaches and therapists for a long time but now has transformed as an everyday practice for people at every level of fitness. The main purpose of foam rolling is to release trigger points which help to reestablish proper movement patterns and pain free movement, and ultimately, to enhance performance. Utilizing stretching alone is not always enough to release muscles tightness, which is why foam rollers have thrived.  Imagine a bungee cord with a knot tied into it and then envision stretching the cord. This creates tension, stretching the unknotted portion of the muscle and the attachment points. The knot, however, has remained unaltered.  Foam rolling can assist in breaking up these muscle knots or scar tissue adhesions and helping to resume normal blood flow and function. The goal to any corrective or recovery technique is to get you back to the point of normal functioning, as if nothing was ever wrong.

These roller exercises are just as important as stretching. Many muscles can be foam rolled but the key ones to start with are IT band, TFL, Glutes, and Calves. You should focus on each muscle group for about a minute every other day.  

The foam roller benefits are:

    
1. Increased Blood Flow

    
2. Increased Range of Motion

    
3. Increased Injury Prevention

    
4. Decrease Recovery Time

    
5. Decreased Muscle Tension

It is always recommended to consult with your chiropractor or physical therapist for questions regarding therapeutic/sharp pain and receive approval before starting self-myofascial release or foam rolling. For most people you will be cleared immediately and your doctor will encourage the practice.

After foam rolling your targeted muscles, you may be sore the next day. It should feel as if your muscles have been worked/released, however you should not push yourself to the point of excessive soreness. Drink plenty of water, get enough sleep, and eat clean. This will help to flush your system and fuel your muscles more effectively. Give it 24-48 hours before focusing on the same area again.

At Mindful Chiropractic and Wellness in Irving/Las Colinas, we specialize in a myofascial release technique called Active Release Technique (ART) to remove scar tissue in your muscles that your roller exercises aren’t resolving. Give us a call today at 972-719-9101 to schedule your appointment with Dr. Price. She looks forward to helping your reach your personal and athletic health goals.