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Dr. Tori here with some helpful tips on how to recover from those summer activities. Making sure that we are staying hydrated should be your number one priority, because staying hydrated will help your body feel better and heal better. And having that water intake is important when you're doing all these things, like sitting out on the boat all day, going on hikes, walks. Any kind of sport game, any kind of sweating you're doing, that's water leaving your body. Making sure you have that water storage build up so that way your body can perform and recover the way it's supposed to. You can also throw in an electrolyte pack, like in a Liquid I.V. element or any of your favorite electrolyte add-ins. Try to steer clear of those sport performance drinks like Gatorade and Powerade to limit the extra stuff in them. Just use some electrolyte packs, and you'll be good to go. As well as having three balanced meals through the day, making sure you have that protein, those carbs for those big sport days you have, to use up those for your fuel, as well as some fruits and veggies added in there to help with that daily diet. Be Well -Dr. Tori

Hey, Dr. Rose here. If you've ever been feeling stiff before golfing, pickleball, hiking, gardening, or even chasing your kids around the summer, you might be warming up in the wrong order. Here's the best sequence to get your body ready to move. First, I want you to do three to five minutes of light activity, like walking or biking. This is going to help increase blood flow. Next, I want you to go through active mobility, controlled movements like hip circles, arm circles, or leg swings to get your joints moving. Lastly, if needed, you can add dynamic stretches like walking lunges or inchworms. These are going to help prepare your muscles for the movements you're about to do. Save those long static stretches when you hold a stretch for 30 or more seconds until after your activity. Warming up this way can help you move better, perform better, and may even reduce your risk of injury. Your body will thank you for the next time you're out enjoying summer. Be Well -Dr. Rose

We all know as Minnesotans, when summer is here, we really want to be outside and enjoying our activities. So the worst thing is when one of those activities, whether it's ones that you have to do like working in the yard, taking care of the landscape, or if we're out on the water and we're tubing or water skiing, the worst is when one of those things takes away from the next thing. And our body isn't able to bounce back and recover from the things that we're enjoying doing so that we can keep doing those things all summer long. And so the great news is is that chiropractic is a great way to make sure that not only you can feel good while you're doing all of the things that you're doing when your joints are functioning well, when you have good range of motion and nothing's getting achy and sore, we can participate in those activities and feel good about it. But then we can also have a better recovering body as well. And so when our body and our nervous system are well aligned and functioning well, we can bounce back from those things that we get up to and we're enjoying throughout the summertime that much more efficiently and making sure that we can get out there and enjoy the next one. So check out this series and we're going to dive a little deeper into how chiropractic can help out along the way. Be Well -Dr. Daniel

Hey, Dr. Tori here - Did you know that what you eat and drink can sometimes contribute to headaches and migraines? The biggest, most overlooked trigger for headaches and migraines is dehydration. With the temperatures rising and spending more time outside, it's important to make sure that you keep your water intake up to stay hydrated. Another thing that you can avoid are processed meats such as hotdogs, brats, and deli meats, everything at the cookout basically, and making sure to limit aged cheeses, anything with MSG in it, and added sugar as well. Another big one, alcohol. The beer, the wine, the cocktails. They all not only contribute straight to the headache and migraine, but towards dehydration, which can then lead to headaches and migraines as well. Caffeine's another subject where sometimes it helps people, but too much can have a reverse effect, as well as taking away too much too soon. But we need to keep an eye on these things. Next time you have a headache or migraine, write down what you were eating before, make sure you were hydrated during it, and just keeping a log of everything that's happened to help you prevent further headaches the best you can. Be Well, Dr. Tori

Dr. Tony here, continuing our series on headaches and migraines. And I wanted to share an interesting conversation I had in the adjusting room a couple days ago. It centered all around the connection between posture and headaches. And the most common postural issue we see that relates to headaches is something called forward head carriage or forward head posture. It's where the head, instead of being over the shoulders, is poking forward. When you look at a spine instead of that neutral cervical curve, what it does is it pushes this forward, flattens that curve out and really compresses and tightens the muscles in the upper cervical spine. Now the problem is that the nerves that go up around the head come from there. So if you put extra pressure on those, that can be a trigger for headaches and migraines. And we all know what that comes from, right? It can be called tech neck because it's holding devices in our hand or laptops or looking down all day long. Now here's the real simple, easy fix for that. In addition to the adjustments, we teach a lot of our patients something called the chin tuck exercise. Very simple, something everybody can do. So what you do is you simply find a surface you can rest your head against. It can be a wall, even the headrest in your car and you do this simple thing. Tuck the chin, hold the head back. Hold that for about 30 seconds, do it two or three times a day. That can help dramatically improve and take the pressure off some of those muscles and nerves in the upper part of the neck and help with headaches and migraines. Be Well, Dr. Tony

The weather is gorgeous outside and with June being National Headache and Migraine Month, what better way to get into this month here of insights and inspirations than talking about two very common issues that we see folks coming into the office with, both migraine headaches as well as tension headaches. And it's very important just like in any other setting to understand the root cause and the source of those issues and understanding which problem are we dealing with. And as a chiropractor, we are going to take a look at the cervical spine as it being most related to those types of headaches. And so, it's going to help us understand, are we dealing with a muscular or a joint restriction that is contributing to tension, contributing to the type of pressure that's increasing, causing the tension, causing the aching and the pain? Or, is it a little bit of a different style of headache that is living a little bit more in the effect of the nervous system? Both are going to be having positive effect with the chiropractic adjustment, but we need to understand which one are we working with. And so the exam is going to be a crucial step in the process and scans that we do here in the office at ELC are really going to help us pinpoint that not only for your case, but then to help track along the way as we go. So as we're seeing symptoms change, we can also watch and see that function change. We always want to make sure that especially in the limited time that we have with us during the summer, that we get the ability to go out and enjoy it and keeping those tension headaches and migraines at bay. Be Well, Dr. Daniel

Hello everyone. My name is Dr. Rose and today we are going to be continuing the topic of conversation of headaches and migraines. Whenever you start to get a headache, the first thing I want you to do is to drink an extra glass of water or two because hydration is key for headache prevention and treatment. Next, I want you to use ice packs or heat packs. Depending on the situation, if you have the start of a migraine where you have that throbbing sensation in the skull, I want you to place a cold pack right on the forehead. But if it's more of a tension type headache where it feels like you have a headband of pain or tension, I want you to place a heat pack on the back of your neck. That's going to help relax the muscles in the neck. And to help with the relaxation of the neck muscles, I want you to do some gentle stretching. That's going to be tilting your head side to side to stretch the sides as well as doing a chin tuck to stretch the back of the neck. You can also do some gentle massage of the neck as well, focusing on the base of the skull as well as into the sides of the neck. And lastly, also most importantly, regular chiropractic adjustments. That's going to help your spine be aligned and help clear any and all nerve disturbances that may occur, which can cause headaches and prevention is key. Be Well, Dr. Rose

Dr. Tony here in our third and final blog in our sciatica series. Today I want to talk about something that affects a lot of you parents and grandparents who are out there on the sidelines spending hours sitting watching your kids or grandkids play sports. Obviously it's an amazing thing, but what we choose to sit in could have a huge impact on our lower back as well as things that can contribute to sciatic pain. What we want to watch out for is, as I mentioned in the last blog, is that lumbar curve and pelvic angle. Now let's talk about some of these choices of chairs. By far, the most common, the camp chair. The problem with it, however, is that how much that lower seat scoops down. So when you sit down in the chair, you start to sag in there and eventually your spine puts this huge curve in it the wrong way, which definitely leads to lower back pain and can contribute to sciatica. One of my new favorite chairs, this kickback rocker chair, not necessarily for the rocker aspect, but because it has more of a flat bottom on it. So when you sit down in it, it doesn't sag as much so the pelvis stays nice and supported and that lumbar spine doesn't sag into the chair as badly, which helps you maintain that nice curve there. Now if the choice is between bleachers or a bleacher chair, you can sit in bleachers at first, that might be good, but over time what I see is that you'll eventually start to sag into that bleacher and have a curved back, which again looks like this, which is a no-no, that's bad. If you get yourself a bleacher chair, big game changer when it comes to sitting in bleachers, you can sit in those nicely, have the back nice and supported. You can sit in this for a long time without experiencing that lower back pain, discomfort, and potentially aggravating sciatica. Be Well Dr. Tony

Hey, everyone. Dr. Tony here in our series about sciatica. If you missed week one's blog, make sure to go back and read that because Dr. Daniel did a great job of explaining what sciatica really is, as well as what are some of the potential sources of where that pain is coming from. I want to dive into the most common triggers that can lead to sciatica. And a lot of this is lifestyle-related stuff. So what you have to understand is the shape of the spine plays a huge key in this. So if you see in a normal neutral spine, you should have a nice lumbar curve. Anything that seeks to disrupt that can lead to those potential causes of sciatica. Let's talk about a few of those things. Sitting on wallets can have an issue because it'll tip a pelvis forward. That's one. Sports that involve a lot of twisting in, especially that lower spine and pelvis, things like baseball, softball, golf, can lead to that as well. If we look back to the side here, pregnancy is another one because it forces that spine more forward in that lower spine and compresses a lot of this back here. And then, the last area is things that do this, where you tuck that pelvis under, flatten out that lumbar curve, and it looks like this from the side. That is terrible. Things that cause that, by the way, desk chairs, couches, car seats, bleachers, and those camp seats that we sit in at our kids' sports for hours on end will lead to this. Now, stay tuned in the next blog because I'm actually going to have some suggestions on some better options for those last few things I just mentioned. Be Well Dr. Tony

If you're experiencing pain down the back of your leg, maybe it's traveling to your foot, maybe it stops at your knee. You hop online, you do a quick Google search and you realize that you have pressure on your sciatic nerve, and Google is showing you some stretches and showing you some things that you can do. But it is very important along with some of those stretches and with some of those pain relieving measures, that you also determine the cause of that sciatic nerve pain. Because the sciatic nerve is actually a bundle or a branch of nerves that is connected together that goes down the back of your leg, and it starts at L4 and goes all the way down through the bottom of the pelvis at S3. These nerves gather together, and then they travel through the pelvis down the back of the leg, therefore forming your sciatic nerve, stretching into other areas of your leg, and then into your foot. Now, if you have radiating pain into any of those areas, it's important to determine the cause because it could be coming from different places along this root. And so it could be stemming from dysfunction of the joints in your spine, contributing to muscle tension and pressure being put onto the nerve at the level of the spine, potentially a disc injury that is putting pressure onto that nerve and then contributing to the radiating pressure down into your leg. Also, there can be dysfunction related into your pelvis that is putting pressure on other nerves from the soft tissue, tightening around that dysfunction as you move throughout your day. Also, we can have things like the pressure from the muscles that sit over and around that nerve as it travels through your pelvis down into your leg that can be tight and putting pressure onto that as well. So it is very important that we determine the root cause, and a chiropractic examination is the perfect place to determine that. We will do a full examination of your spine and pelvis to make sure that we understand exactly the root cause of what is occurring, to put the pressure onto the nerve that is contributing to the radiating dysfunction that you're noticing. And so if you are experiencing this, I would strongly encourage you to seek a chiropractic examination so that we can determine what the root cause is, and then more importantly, help you take care of it from there. Be Well Dr. Daniel

Dr. Tony: Hey, Dr. Tony here with Essentials of Life Chiropractic. So excited to introduce you to our newest team member. This is Dr. Rose. And here's what I thought. I thought what would be a fun first video for Dr. Rose is get some first impressions. Like when a server delivers your food and they come back just as you're putting those first bites in, they're like, "How's it tasting?" Today I want to ask Dr. Rose two questions. Both first impressions. Number one, what's your first impressions of the team here? Dr. Rose: Well, first off, this team has been incredible so far. Today's day two, and even on day number one I started to get mentored by these guys perfecting and my adjusting and patient interaction, which has been so great so far. I'm looking forward to growing with this team. Dr. Tony: And of course the big one, number two, and we always talk about how amazing our patients are and our community and our family is here. What's your first impressions of all the people that we get to serve here? Dr. Rose: Oh my gosh, they are amazing so far. They're so kind and friendly, and I'm super excited to get to know them even more. Dr. Tony: And stay tuned. The whole goal, the rest of April, she's just getting to know everyone, learning all our systems and procedures here. Starting in May, she's going to start with patient care, and you guys are going to be in amazing hands with Dr. Rose here.

Hey everyone, Dr. Tony here to share four tips to speed up recovery. If you or your kids are active in sports, what you do after workouts, practices, and games is just as important as what you do during them. You see, recovery is where your body actually gets stronger. First, hydration. After activity, your body is depleted. Water helps to restore your energy, supports your muscles, and keeps your joints moving well. Don't wait until you're thirsty, start re-hydrating right away. Second is protein. Your muscles go through a lot of activity. Getting a good source of protein within 30 to 60 minutes helps to repair those tissues and build strength. Think simple, like a shake, eggs, or lean meat. Third is the cool down stretch. This is one of the most overlooked steps. Taking just five to 10 minutes to stretch helps to reduce soreness, improve flexibility, and lower your risk of injury for the next game or practice. And last, but certainly not least, get adjusted. Workouts, practices, games put a major stress load on the foundation of your body, your spine and pelvis. If you want to reduce the long-term damage this could cause, it is critical to keep everything in proper alignment with chiropractic adjustments. As a family wellness chiropractor, I see it all the time. Athletes who recover well, perform better, stay healthier, and enjoy their sport longer. Be Well, Dr. Tony