Constipated?

Grab your coffee and head to your chiropractor!

Just this past week we had a couple practice members ask us about this. Both were in the office with completely unrelated complaints but noticed great changes after getting checked and adjusted!

One asked if an adjustment to the sacrum of a person who had been “backed-up” could help alleviate that issue due to the sacral nerves supplying the bowel, bladder and reproductive organs.

What a great question, and of course it can!

There are many nerves that supply the gut and direct it’s function through impulses to and from the brain. If there is stress on these nerves altering their impulses, the target tissues of those signals will undoubtedly show dysfunction.

If we can identify where the interference to that nerve signal is and remove it, the body functions better!

Another practice member reported noticing how easy it was to use the restroom a couple days after getting checked and adjusted, where previously he may have had to put in some effort.

We’ve helped lots of other people with gastrointestinal issues as well, and the best part is that these improvements aren’t exclusive for adults!

Countless babies with colic and youngsters with constipation have been helped through safe and effective chiropractic care.

After hearing stories like this, we always get curious as to what it says in the literature. While its far from the most popular topic to publish research on, there were several recent papers that supported the experiences of our practice members.

As the narrative review cited below discussed, while more research should be done, there do appear to be positive outcomes between chiropractic care and a wide range of gastrointestinal conditions, such as GERD, colic, colitis, inflammatory bowel disease and constipation.

Chiropractors do not treat conditions, but by locating and removing interference the nervous system, the body is able to function as is was designed to do and heal itself.

This can lead to improvement or resolution with a wide range of issues since the nervous system must regulate every function in the body down to the smallest cell, including digestion of food, absorption of nutrients, and excretion of waste.

Tired of depending on external things like coffee, prune juice, or laxatives to keep one regular? Why not get your nervous system checked to see if you are functioning to your highest potential?

Please reach out if you have any questions or would like to continue the conversation!

1. Angus, BSc(Kin) DC,1, Katherine, Asgharifar, BSc(Hons), DC,2, Sepideh and Gleberzon, DC, MHSc3, Brian, “What effect does chiropractic treatment have on gastrointestinal (GI) disorders: a narrative review of the literature” J Can Chiropr Assoc. 2015 Jun; 59(2): 122–133.

April Showers brings…. sniffles and sneezes

Its April and allergy season is in full swing here in San Jose and around the world. Plenty of people are stocking up on antihistamines like Claritin, Benedryl, and Zyrtec to combat their sneezing, sniffles, stuffy noses, itching, and watering eyes.

Environmental changes have propelled allergy levels to epidemic proportions with reduced quality of life for patients, lower productivity, and increased medical costs. More than 50 million Americans have experienced various types of allergies each year and it is the 6th leading cause of chronic illnesses in the US. The annual cost of allergies exceeds $18 billion with people in America spending more than $8 billion a year on allergy drugs alone (1)

There are other ways to combat allergies rather than relying on medications for short term relief.