Dr. Josh Plays in the Mud

Sunday, March 29th, Dr. Josh raced in a 5 mile "Mudders & Grunters" race through FDR park. It was a cold, rainy Sunday morning, but that didn't matter! The course was designed to trek racers off road through as much muck, mud & water as possible. Of course Hudson & I had to go cheer him on & take pictures :) Congrats Dr. Josh!

The Power of Sleep

We often hear the popular phrase, "Sleep is over rated" & "I don't have time to sleep." Living in a society where time is money, we often trade sleep for getting more done in our day. I am at fault of this all too often, until I recently had a wake up call (no pun intended).

I like to think of myself as a healthy person. I know the importance of living a wellness lifestyle & most days do a good job of getting exercise, eating healthy, having a positive mental attitude, etc. I get adjusted 2 times a week (one of the many perks of being married to Josh!). But, alas, I began experiencing symptoms. At first it was a scratchy throat, slight fever, achyness. Day 2 it was coughing, runny nose, more fever, more achyness, general tiredness. Day 3, all previous symptoms worsened & I was cranky. You get the idea. This continued for a week. I made dietary changes, used garlic as a natural immune booster, drank copious amounts of ginger tea for an anti-inflammatory effect. I was getting adjusted every day. I increased my fish oil to 3 grams, again for an anti-inflammatory effect. Despite all of my efforts, I was seemingly not improving, & getting seriously frustrated.

It was Josh who realized I was neglecting the importance of getting adequate, restful sleep. Realizing I was extremely overtired & irritable, Josh took Hudson out for the day. I slept a solid 6 hours & woke up feeling better already. We decided to make some changes to our sleeping arrangements, so that I could get the rest my body needed to heal. This would leave Josh largely responsible for Hudson throughout the night. I was apologetic, but excited to get some more sleep. Guess what happened? I slept like a rock again (and again).

The moral of my story is this: we can be taking care of ourselves by eating right, getting adjusted, exercising, and thinking good thoughts, but if we are not getting enough restful sleep, our body is unable to repair & heal. Healing is a process that requires time. Most healing occurs during the hours that our mind is quiet and our bodies are resting. It is during this time that our body can focus its energy on repairing and restoring health.

Make time for sleep. It is not over rated!

Chiropractic Vs. Medicine: Putting out the fire.

A special thanks to Dr. James Chestnut for providing me with this metaphor.
The medical establishment has become exceptional at helping us out when we find that our body is in crisis. For a true emergency, there is no place I would like to go more than the Emergency Room and experience the modern marvel of the latest technology in medicine and as a result be “saved.” In fact, our medical doctors have gotten so good at fighting fires that many of us believe it is not necessary to take care of our bodies. We ingest food with lots of calories and little nutrients, we deprive our body of movement and fail to exercise. We look for pills to mask symptoms, our indicator that something is going wrong. We accept that we were born with too many body parts and take them out.
Thinking of your body as a house may help to clarify the situation. If my house was on fire, I would want the fire department to come as soon as possible to save my house. They would come with axes and fire hoses to put out the fire and I would be ecstatic and consider them heroes for saving my house. However, I would not invite them back the next day to spray the contents of my house with water to prevent future fires or use axes to tear down walls in case there was a fire one day in the future. I would be looking for carpenters and electricians to repair and rebuild the damage caused by the fire and water. I would use the best materials to rebuild the house to make sure its structure was sound. I would also be looking for the cause of the fire and use caution when using fire in the home. I would make sure that proper maintenance was done on the home so it could function at its best.
In this story, modern medicine is the firemen who put out the fires. Chiropractors are the contractors that help restore the house to its original structure and look for the causes of the fire. They make sure the electrical system is intact and help to repair and rebuild the damage. We also help you with proper maintenance and care for your house as well as give you advice on which materials would be best for repairing and rebuilding the areas damaged by the fire. Lastly, chiropractors help with prevention of future fires and optimize the functioning of the house.

Homeostasis

Homeostasis: The ability of the body or a cell to seek and maintain a condition of equilibrium or stability within its internal environment when dealing with external changes

The key to health is homeostasis. It is the constant regulation of all body functions. Dis-ease occurs when the body falls out of balance, usually due to its surroundings. Environmental factors cause our bodies to make an adaptation to restore homeostasis or balance.

Temperature is an environmental factor that our body responds to and makes an adaptation to. If we are too cold, our body will begin to shiver. Shivering is an involuntary firing of our muscles in an effort to produce heat and warm our core temperature back to optimal temperature. When our bodies are in an environment that is too hot, we begin to perspire and give off heat via convection in an effort to lower our core temperature back to optimal.

Homeostasis is the most important aspect of our health. All bodily functions are trying to maintain homeostasis. Symptoms are usually an indicator that the body has veered away from homeostasis. Often times, people ask me if chiropractic is “good” for this particular symptom or ailment. My answer is always the same. Chiropractic removes interference to the nervous system, the master control system of the whole body. The nervous system is the center of regulation and homeostatic functioning of the whole body. Chiropractic is great for restoring nervous system function and homeostasis. Symptoms are not the problem. They are our helping indicators to let us know that something has fallen out of balance and something needs to be done.

Surprise Photography Momtrepreneur of the Month

Guess who was named Momtrepreneur of the Month by Surprise Photography?


That's right, Dr. Jessica is Momtrepreneur of the Month. Melissa Surprise, a momtrepreneur herself has a fantastic blog that show cases her style and personality. What's even more extraordinary is her ability to empower others using her internet presence and blog as a vehicle.

It was a pleasure to meet Melissa and Kieran (Melissa's youngest son) at our office when she came to meet us and take some pictures. Despite being so young, he seemed like a seasoned veteran when it came to letting mom get her work done. Be sure to check out Melissa's work at http://www.surprisephotography.com/ and http://www.SurprisePhotography.com/blog and her previous work at http://www.surprisephotography.blogspot.com/.

Obesity Tax

Good idea or bad idea? (5 min)

National Day of Service

From Seth Godin's Blog:

"Monday, January 19 is Martin Luther King Day. And wonderfully, instead of adding
yet another shopping day to the calendar, it's being transformed to a day of
service.
If every person in the US spent an hour doing something selfless,
useful and leveraged, what would happen? What if you and your circle committed
to doing it an hour a day for a year? 300 million hours is a lot of hours for
just one day, a year of that would change everything. "

Anouncing Rhinbeck Chiropractic's Day of Service

The Details

Complimentary Spinal Exams for Children (Day of Service - January 19)

Drs. Burckhard of Rhinebeck Chiropractic are offering complimentary spinal examinations to ALL children on January 19th, from 9 AM - 1 PM and 3 PM - 6 PM. Come learn about your spine and nervous system and the importance of maintaining it! Discover health without the use of drugs and surgery! For more information or to make an appointment call 845.876.6450. Parents/Guardians must be present.

Time: Monday, January 19 from 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Host: Dr. Jessica Burckhard
Location: Rhinebeck Chiropractic (Rhinebeck, NY)
13 West Market StRhinebeck, NY 12572
Maps:
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Directions:
Located in center of Rhinebeck. Entrance to office is in the rear parking lot to Fosters Restaurant.





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Chiropractic and Kids
International Chiropractic Pediatric Association
National Day of Service Events