Holistic Health Tips from NYC Chiropractor Dr. Louis Granirer

I have many patients that are runners and marathoners, and oftentimes they come into my office with a severe injury. A common scenario may be that they have been training for a marathon for many months. There may be 6 to 12 weeks to go before the big day, and they hobble into my office with pain in their low back, hips, knees, ankles, feet or all of the above. They say, psychically of course, "Get me better now, I need to resume training within one week, I'm perfectly healthy, I'm doing everything right, hurry up get me better, the clock is ticking." Running is not just about the physical exercise, but it's also the one thing many have to channel their stress in their lives. I get it, when I've had an injury; I have also sought help and expected the practitioner to "fix me". When my activity level has diminished (hiking, biking, yoga, chi gong, dance, etc.), because of an injury, it has been challenging for me. So, I am especially sympathetic...

I have numerous patients come see me for jaw pain and neck pain. Some of these patients are teeth grinders and this can be the underlying cause of most of the pain in their neck and jaw. Most don't even realize that they are grinding their teeth, until I look at their teeth or a dentist mentions it to them. Their teeth may look like they are wearing down and have sharper irregular edges. Unfortunately, since this is not a conscious act, most people do not know how to stop themselves from doing it. The proper term for this kind of teeth grinding is bruxism. There are many theories of why bruxism takes place. Too much excitation of the nervous system is a common held belief of why this occurs. When the body should be in a state of rest and calm, it actually is revved up. Most patients that grind their teeth at night have what is called a sympathetic dominant nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system should be less active at night, and the parasympathetic nervous system s...