Enjoy Pain-free Gardening

I’ve noticed it’s that time of year in the Northwest – when my wife comes up with any excuse to be in the garden; the grass needs mowing, the weeds need attacking, and compost needs spreading. 

After taking a winter hiatus, I often have to remind my wife to ease into her gardening activities.  She’s so enthusiastic about having a rain-free day to dig in the dirt that she often overdoes it.  Low back pain from gardening is not very relaxing and it often gets in the way of enjoying the activity. 

Here are some healthful Gardening Tips to avoid low back pain:

• Mowing the Lawn – Adjust the lawn mower handle to your chest level (or lower).  A slightly lower handle position will give you more leverage, making it easier to push.
• Weeding – If you’re on your hands and knees, grab onto a weed and use your entire body to pull it out.  (Don’t just engage your shoulders and arms.)  Another back-friendly weeding position is to sit atop an overturned bucket.  Being above the weeds and using your body to pull gives you better leverage without having to put strain on your back. 
• Emptying the wheelbarrow – Remember the adage “bend from the hips and knees, not from the back”.  Grab onto a full wheelbarrow with knees bent.  Straighten your legs to dump the contents. 

If your low back pain persists, give us a call at 206-388-5282.  Our gentle and non-forced approach to back care has helped many Seattle area gardeners do what they love – without pain.  Our office is conveniently located off I-5, in the University District.

Are you thinking about giving up activities you love due to knee pain?

Knee'd Help?

Years ago a neighbor complained of knee pain and said he was probably done running for life. This was a serious blow to a guy who loved to run. After a few visits he was up and running again, without knee pain. It’s been over 10 years, he is in his 50’s now, his hair is mostly white and he is still running without knee pain!

We often hear the expression of something being a “pain in the neck”.  I think runner up to that phrase could be “pain in the knee.” Knee pain commonly causes discomfort, pain and disability. Too many people stop living active lives unnecessarily because of knee pain.

Not surprisingly, knee injury can cause knee pain.  More surprising is how often problems in the low back, hips, feet and even the neck can also cause the experience of pain in the knees.

Unfortunately, pain medications don’t cure the problem. They just mask the symptoms until another time and can lead to many other problems including greater injury.

Changing the biomechanics – the movement – of the knee, other supporting joints and back may very well cure the problem – as it did in my neighbor’s case. That’s what I did for him and I see the results a couple of times each week when he heads out for his runs.

If you love being active and your ability and confidence are diminished due to knee pain (or other joint pain from your hips down), let us know.

Don’t let your knee (or other joint) pain be a “pain in the ____ .”

Call us at 206-388-5282 to schedule your FREE CONSULTATION to see if we can help YOU.

 Benchmark Health Chiropractic; Bringing Your Health to Life!

Ever have one of those days when you wake up and “just know” you’re going to get a headache? Do you suffer from frequent headaches?  Do you get the rare occasion headaches that take your breath away?  Or, are your headaches something in-between?

You are not alone!  Headaches are among the most common ailments.  Estimates are that up to 48% of children and up to 71% of adults get headaches.  [I wonder if hangover headaches are included in these figures…]

Does knowing so many other people suffer, too, ease your pain?  On one hand, it may help you feel not so alone.  UNFORTUNATELY, knowing so many other people suffer from headaches can make us think that having them is “normal.”  IT IS NOT.

Are you ready for the truth?

While tension and muscle tightness are often considered the “cause” for most of the non-migraine headaches, I disagree.  Tension and muscle tightness are symptoms of underlying stress.  When your body improves its response to stress, you feel better.

At Benchmark Health we improve your body’s response to stress in many ways, including:

• better spinal movement through gentle chiropractic adjustments
• teaching you stress management breathing techniques
• biofeedback and audio-visual entrainment 

Does this sound complex? It is really quite simple.  Just ask.

If you or someone you love suffers from tension headaches, we can help!

Contact us for a free consultation and stress response evaluation today.

Call us at 206-388-5282 or on the web at www.universitywachiropractor.com

Best in Health,

Dr. Dirk Farrell

“I’m in pain. What should I do? Who should I see? Why?”

These are great and very frequent questions. The experience of pain drives millions of people to seek help every day. Since the 1990’s, more people with pain and other complaints are seeking so-called “alternative care providers” than are seeking medical care providers.  From the majority viewpoint, then, medical providers are the less sought after alternative.

Clearly, pain has not been as well remedied through “traditional” medical care.  That’s why so many people are turning non-medical services to provide pain relief. Simply cutting off the feeling of pain with meds (if it even works temporarily) doesn’t resolve the underlying issue. Additionally, for too many individuals the meds can be harmful and even lethal.

The underlying issue causing pain? Often we feel pain when our brain doesn’t have the information it needs to normally regulate an area of our body. What most people don’t realize is that movement in our spine and other joints provides a huge amount of critical information to the brain about what’s going on. When this information is decreased or even lost all together, the brain isn’t able to normally regulate the affected area. This can lead to the brain to creating the sensation of pain as a warning sign.

When the movement is restored, the brain no longer needs to send the warning and pain goes away.

Time and again, the common complaints of pain that walk into our University District office are frequently reduced or eliminated when we have appropriately re-established the brain’s regulation of an area of the body. This is accomplished through gentle and quick procedures.  We use gentle tools for putting motion into areas of your spine and extremities in need. From a chronic thumb problem who’s owner is amazed at how much better it feels (having been told he may need surgery) to a sudden headache whose owner gets off the table in five minutes feeling much improved, the right chiropractic adjustment at the right place can change your life for the better.

If you want to do something about your pain – whether its headaches, back pain, neck pain (to name a few) – I invite you give me a call at Benchmark Health Chiropractic (206)388-5282 or check out my website at www.chiropractoruniversitywa.com for more information.  I’d love to help you.

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Benchmark Health Chiropractic is going to be at Central Market in Shoreline, Washington on Saturday April 17, 2010 to help celebrate Earth Day.  We’ll be there from 10:00 – 2:00pm to answer your questions, such as:

• How can chiropractic care help my headaches?
• I’m a runner with knee pain.  What can chiropractic treatment do for me?
• How do I know if chiropractic care can help my neck pain?

We are located in the University District of Seattle, Washington and serve Puget Sound.  Come visit us at Central Market’s Earth Day event to get your health questions answered.  You can also visit our website at http://www.chiropractoruniversitywa.com/  or call us at 206-388-5282 for a free consultation!

Are You and Your Brain Working Together?

Hopefully, your answer is “yes”.  If you’re not so sure, I’d like to invite you to our no-charge, educational workshop at Benchmark Health Chiropractic on April 7, 2010 from 7:00-8:00pm.  We’re going to explore Biofeedback:  Helping You Help You!

Who can benefit from Biofeedback?

Lots of people can improve their health through the use of biofeedback.  Anyone that is suffering from stress-related conditions such as asthma, headaches/migraines, insomnia, and high blood pressure can benefit from biofeedback.  Individuals that struggle with ADD can be helped.  Even world class athletes use biofeedback as a cornerstone to their training.

In this intriguing workshop you will learn:

• What is Biofeedback?
• How does it work?
• What types of biofeedback are there?
• What is “biofeedback for the brain?”

Most Important:  Find out how biofeedback can help you get better results in your life! 

Workshop Details

What: Biofeedback: Helping You Help You!

Where: Benchmark Health Chiropractic

            500 Ninth Ave. NE, Third Floor

  University District – Seattle, WA 98105

  www.chiropractoruniversitywa.com

  206-548-9450

When: Wednesday, April 7, 2010

7:00pm – 8:00pm

RSVP to let us know you’re coming!

 

 

 

 

Health has physical, mental and social aspects.  So far I’ve talked about physical and mental ways to lower stress and blood pressure.  What about social?  Probably not too surprisingly, loneliness can play an important role as a cause of high blood pressure. [Notice how I’m not looking at blood pressure as ‘the problem.’]

The Stress of Loneliness

For five years a University of Chicago research team studied the impact of loneliness on health and quality of life issues.  Part of the challenge was measuring loneliness since it is a subjective experience and not related to the number of people or the number of interactions a person has.  The study included 229 people from the ages of 50 to 68.  A self-evaluation questionnaire was used for each person to rate their level of connection to others through various statements.  The lead researcher, Hawkley, noticed a clear connection occurred between feelings of loneliness and rising blood pressure.  (Loneliness can be defined as a desire to connect with others combined with fear of rejection or disappointment. It seems the fear is what elevates a person’s stress/blood pressure.)

Like blood pressure, loneliness is sometimes not easy to detect.  People who have many friends and a social network can feel lonely if they find their relationships unsatisfying, Hawkley said. Conversely, people who live rather solitary lives may not be lonely if their few relationships are meaningful and rewarding.

Where do we go from here?
One of the best ways to reduce loneliness is to get involved in activities that interest you.  In Seattle, we have a wide variety of organizations to choose from.  Here are some of my personal favorites:

• Seattle Public Library hosts author readings and book club discussions at many local branches.  Check out their Calendar of Events at www.spl.org.
• Earthcorps provides volunteer opportunities to work in our local parks and beaches (build trails, remove invasive plants, and plant native species).  EarthCorps attracts volunteers of all ages.  For more details check out their website at www.earthcorps.org.
• Cascade Bicycle Club is based in Seattle, Washington and serves more than 12,000 members of the Puget Sound bicycling community. They organize FREE rides, bicycle safety classes, and bike maintenance seminars.  Cascade Bicycle Club offers activities for riders of all abilities.  More information can be found at www.cascade.org.

Whatever you do, be easy on your self-evaluation and self-criticism.  As you fill your life with engaging activities and friendships, let your stress levels fall along with your blood pressure!

I invite you to join me in this conversation – either through my blog, my website www.chiropractoruniversitywa.com, or giving me a call at Benchmark Health Chiropractic (206)388-5282.  I’d love to hear from you.

All the best,

Dr. Dirk

What pressure?!

Blood pressure is, to most aging people, one of the key indicators of health.  After all, every MD visit starts with a nurse “taking” blood pressure, doesn’t it?  High blood pressure is considered a problem.  But what if high blood pressure is a symptom and not a cause?  What if high blood pressure is one way a body uses to regulate itself through an unhealthy terrain of stress?  This changes the conversation around high blood pressure entirely.  Because then, we have to ask, “What factor(s) is leading to high blood pressure?”  If we don’t find out and simply do something like take a drug to lower the blood pressure the cause hasn’t been addressed what-so-ever.  Everyone knows that is a bad idea!

Best Practices to Lower Your Blood Pressure:

• Add a good mix of appropriate “Doing” activities.  This is a tremendous way to potentially normalize blood pressure.  
• Eliminate the wrong foods such as those containing caffeine (a strong vasoconstrictor). 
• Eat healthy vegetables and fruits as another powerful choice toward normalizing blood pressure.
• Lowering stress levels is also important.  Not only do we need to lower our surface experience of stress but we need to actually lower our physical stress responses – what our bodies do mostly at the unconscious level.  Meditation is one way to do this.  Biofeedback and gentle functional nervous system care such as I use in my office are other very effective ways to lower stress and have strong positive impact on high blood pressure.

If you want to get some of these best practices in place to lower your blood pressure, enlist help –  from friends, family, and supportive people in your community.  Its harder to make big changes by yourself.  In fact, loneliness can play an important role as a cause of high blood pressure.  But that’s the subject for another blog…….

Dr. Bob Manestar, DC was a customer and friend of Maplewood Bicycles where I worked.  He came into the store one day after I had been hit from behind while commuting on my bike.  A car came speeding from a stop light and hit my back wheel while I was riding.  I went flying. I tumbled and came up fiercely angry.  The driver was very apologetic and took full responsibility.  None-the-less, the next day I was in to see Dr. Manestar to make sure I was okay. 

That is when I first heard about the Safety-Pin Cycle.  It goes like this: brain cells take in information from cells elsewhere in the body.  The brain interprets the information and creates output.  That output is then evaluated while new information makes its way to the brain.  This goes on continuously, quickly and, in the context of health, correctly.  Many problems, it turns out, are the result of interruptions to the brain getting or giving the appropriate information.  Fix the transmission and/or reception of information and you fix the problem.  This made a lot of sense to me.  Even more now in the context of computers! Nobody I know says, “I gotta get back to working on my computer keyboard.”  They say they are doing some work which is, of course, about the output.  Through the keys, though, they create.

As a chiropractor, I adjust the spine and extremities yet what I’m working on is the nervous system.  Through adjustments,  HealthStyle changes and possibly some biofeedback or neurofeedback stress is lowered in a person. Their brain is able to send and receive information better and they heal – from headaches, neck and back pain, digestive problems, anxiety and depression. This is amazing and inspiring.

Every day at Benchmark Health Chiropractic, I look forward to meeting the next person who thought they would “just have to live with it” because I know that most of the time, they don’t.