Our active-duty service members push their bodies to the brink when fighting for our country, it comes as no surprise that low back pain is one of the most likely conditions to interrupt combat duty. Typical medical interventions for low back pain in the VA include NSAIDs, physical therapy, spinal fusions, steroid injections, and opioids. Up to 87% of veterans are prescribed opioids for moderate/severe pain. The excessive number of opioids being prescribed to service members feed into the ongoing US opioid crisis creating an urgent need to evaluate for alternative low-risk non-pharmacological treatments.

There are 2 types of people in the world: those that have been in a car accident, and those that are going to be in a car accident. I know I’ve had my fair share of collisions (none of which were my fault, of course!), and on more than 1 occasion, the term whiplash has been thrown around. I remember the first time I heard it when I was rear-ended at a stop light my senior year of high school. As a teenager, it meant very little to me. I didn’t know anything about it, and I sure as heck didn’t know what I was supposed to do about it. Oh, if I only knew then what I know now!

Here are several things you can do to help keep you healthy during the pandemic, or any other time really!

The natural colors of foods serve a nutritional purpose. Eating a wide variety of colors will help ensure your body is getting plenty of vital nutrients to support the numerous functions that work to keep your body healthy.

Quarantine got you working from home? Here are 5 stretches you can do in your makeshift home office to help alleviate back pain.

Years ago (in a simpler time known as the 90s) middle school me was sitting on the couch watching Saturday morning cartoons eating baby carrots. While mid-chomp on a carrot my jaw suddenly locked and I couldn’t open my mouth again. As a young person this was terrifying! I didn’t know what was happening with my jaw except that it was incredibly uncomfortable as I worked to get the remaining carrot out of my mouth so I wouldn’t choke while I panicked. At the time the only person home was my mother who worked overnights as an oncology nurse. She had just gotten off a 12-hour shift so there was no way I was going to wake her. After several minutes of locked jaw and some slight panicking I ended up slowly maneuvering my jaw around until I was able to open it again. It was sore for several days, but my jaw was working again and that’s all I cared about.

I LOVE to dance!

I was enrolled in dance at a very young age, and I used to dream about being a ballerina when I grew up. The problem was that I didn’t LOOK like how a ballerina is supposed to look. I was a tubby wubby kid that grew up into a tubby wubby adult. My parents were never particularly health conscious, so naturally I wasn’t either. By the time I moved out on my own in my early 20s I didn’t know anything about nutrition, and heck, I barely knew how to cook for myself. My diet consisted of a lot of cereals, ramen, frozen TV dinners, and toaster pastries. Even when I did start learning how to cook it was things like pancakes and spaghetti. I had the stereotypical idea of what health and nutrition was supposed to look like in America. I kinda-sorta watched what I ate but not really (because calories are all the same, right?), and I had a gym membership where I would go in and walk on the treadmill for 20 mins then I would leave frustrated when there weren’t any changes to my physique. Obviously, I had a lot to learn!

I stopped at the gas station the other day and decided to pop inside and grab myself a drinky-drink. I wanted something that was delicious (to help satisfy this sweet tooth I can’t seem to shake), so I reached for my favorite tasty soft drink…but WAIT! I just remembered that I’m trying to watch my figure, so I'll opt for the “diet” variety, because it has less sugar, and everyone knows that too much sugar = BAD!

Wake up with arm pain?

Do you know if you sleep in the “proper” sleeping position? Don’t fret, that’s a trick question. If you ask 5 different people what the proper sleeping position is, odds are you’ll get 5 different answers. It’s difficult to say what the “proper” position is because there’s evidence to support each opinion. (That can be said for a lot of happenings in the world today for that matter.) I myself am a stomach sleeper. There are arguments that sleeping on your stomach is bad for your back, but recently there have been counter-arguments that sleeping on your stomach is actually the instinctual thing to do because it was a way to protect your vital organs in the event you were attacked in the middle of the night. It also helps to maintain core strength because every time you breathe your abdomen is pushing against a surface causing resistance, and that resistance encourages core tone and stability. But anyway, I digress because this article is not about sleeping…

Your plate is full.

You have a deadline to meet, you still have to cook dinner, and you need to get the kids to soccer practice and dance class. You have this weekend to look forward to though! This weekend is the first family trip you’ve been able to plan since the youngest was born, and the kids are over-the-moon excited, but you’re struggling to get through this week because the headache is bad today. Three weeks this has been going on now, but today is particularly unpleasant So you take some ibuprofen and push through it because dinner won’t prepare itself.

What is a "dark room" day?

When was your last “dark room” day? You know the ones I’m talking about. When light and sound hurt your face, and the only thing you can do is curl up under a thick blanket in a dark room because the squirrel climbing the tree outside won’t SHUT UP ALREADY! I get it. I’ve been there. Migraines are a common challenge worldwide, but dark room days don’t have to control your life.

How many chiropractors have you been to in your life? One? More than one? (If your answer is zero, think about other physicians you’ve visited, such as a medical doctor or a dentist.) Perhaps you found the perfect chiropractor for you and had no desire to go anywhere else, or maybe you’re still looking for the right one. Whichever the case, I want you to do something for me. I want you to think…hard…about what your thoughts were going into a chiropractic office for the very first time. Did you know what you were getting yourself into? Did you have NO idea what to expect so everything was a pleasant surprise? Chances are if you’ve visited multiple chiropractic offices you noticed that no 2 clinics are the same. Why is that?

Welcome back! I have returned to ask you a VERY important question…

Being a chiropractor, OF COURSE the first thing I’m going to talk to you about is back pain.  If you’re reading this, I’m willing to bet you’ve experienced low back pain at some point in your life, am I right? It’s okay! You are NOT alone! In fact, up to 85% of the American population suffers from low back pain at least once in their lifetime, and a quarter of those experience low back pain every 3 months! Now I know what you’re thinking, “Wow, Doc! That’s so fascinating!” I know, right? And since this is such a prevalent issue, I’m here to talk to you about some of the things to consider when deciding what to do about it. The 2 most common options for back relief are to seek care from a Medical Doctor (MD) or a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC). So, what's the difference? Which is the right choice for me? Don't worry, I'm here to help!