March 2014 Health Newsletter

Ever noticed painful knots or nodules within your muscles? If so, you’ve likely found what the medical community calls a trigger point. Trigger points are painful areas within the muscles that when touched or palpated, feel like knots or nodules within the muscle. They can also be extremely painful and additionally radiate pain away from the trigger point itself, such as down an extremity. If you’ve got them, your doctor of chiropractic can help. Chiropractors offer several treatment methods to reduce and manage those nasty trigger points. One such method utilized by chiropractors, ischemic compression, was shown in a recent study to provide office workers with chronic neck and shoulder pain significant improvement in general neck and shoulder complaints, pressure pain sensitivity, mobility, and muscle strength. In the study, only 8 treatments were provided to obtain these improvements. Chiropractors offer a number of safe, natural and effective solutions for chronic pain. If you’re suffering from chronic pain in the neck, shoulder or other areas, call your local chiropractor today.

Have a hectic schedule that leaves the only opportunity for you to workout later in the day or at night? Many individuals naturally assume that working out later in the day or at night will keep them from getting a good nights rest. New information suggests this may not be the case. Recently, 1,000 participants completed either a phone or web-based questionnaire with questions related to sleep and physical activity. According to the results and contrary to what one might think, individuals who engaged in moderate to vigorous exercise within 4 hours of going to sleep reported having the same quality of sleep as those who did not exercise. Even with those findings, experts recommended that the late night workouts within a few hours of sleep be less intense and that what may work for one individual, could affect another individual differently. So while late night workouts may not be for everyone, they actually do appear to work for some. If the only time to squeeze in a workout is at night, it’s definitely worth giving it a try!

Looking to lower your blood pressure? A recent review of past studies finds vegetarian diets can help. High blood pressure is associated with cardiovascular disease including heart attack and stroke. The usual treatment is to prescribe medication in order to lower the blood pressure. However, as with most prescription medications, there can be serious side effects. Researchers now believe that for many, dietary changes consistent with those dietary choices made by vegetarians can help to reduce and manage blood pressure without the use of medications. According to researchers involved with this newest study, their analysis found vegetarian diets are able to lower blood pressure very effectively and the evidence supporting this is now "very conclusive." Additionally, aside from lowering blood pressure, vegetarian diets are also shown to result in healthy weight loss, lower cholesterol levels and better blood sugar control - all extremely beneficial. Vegetarian diets exclude meats and instead focus on plant-based foods (fruits and vegetables) but may also include dairy products as well as fish. Ensure to talk with your doctor prior to discontinuing or altering any existing prescription medications.