Your health is easily one of the most important things in your life. When your health is good, you feel better, are more productive and generally happier. When your health is not good, it becomes difficult to accomplish even the smallest tasks—and your mood and ability to enjoy life suffer. Fortunately, there are some simple steps you can take to lead a healthier life. Read on to learn some of the most important tips for healthy living!

Healthy Living from Your Chiropractic Team

1. Body alignment with regular chiropractic.

Regular chiropractic adjustments are the perfect way to keep your body in alignment. Proper alignment of the spine and joints reduces pain and inflammation, speeds up healing and makes moving more enjoyable.

Many times people are unaware of how to move in the best way for their bodies. Poor movement patterns can lead to injuries, which make it impossible to stay as active as you like. If you start to notice any pain caused when you move—like when adopting a new exercise routine—stop doing what you are doing and consult with your chiropractor. Chiropractors are trained to identify movement problems and help correct them. Your chiropractor should be able to help you find a way to exercise that does not cause pain or lead to injury.

2. Keep track of your health.

It is important to get an accurate assessment of your current health on a regular basis. The goals you set for the future will be much more easily achieved if you know where you are starting from. Some of the ways you can keep track of your health include:

• Maintain a relationship with your doctor, dentist, and chiropractor. Preventative healthcare is more effective and less expensive than waiting for something to go wrong. By keeping regular appointments with your doctor, dentist, and chiropractor, you can get valuable feedback on your current state of health. They can also help you catch potential problems early on.
• Keep a diary of your exercise, diet, and mood. The diary does not have to be complicated or overly detailed. You just need a clear picture of how much you are exercising, what kinds of exercises you are doing, what food you are eating and how you are feeling.

3. Start with basics—a healthy diet and regular exercise.

Good health is built on a foundation of diet and exercise. The goal is to improve and maintain a regimen where you eat healthily and exercise regularly over the long-term. You do not have to do anything drastic, either. You will have an easier time making changes if you start small and gradually shift towards a lifestyle that you think is best for you.

Some points to remember:

• The perfect diet for one person may not be perfect for another, but there are some basics that work well for the vast majority of people. A diet focused on whole foods, including plenty of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, is ideal. Repeated studies have shown that a Mediterranean style diet is healthy and easy to maintain, making it a good place to start if you are new to healthy eating.
• Take baby steps. Extreme shifts in diet can be mentally exhausting and difficult to maintain. Drastic changes in exercise habits risk injury and are also hard to maintain. Focus on taking small, incremental steps to reach your goals.

Contact Us & Schedule an Appointment

If you would like a personalized plan for improving your health, please contact us. One of our chiropractic team members is ready to assist you!

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Plantar Fasciitis Pain Relief with *FOOT LEVELERS ORTHOTICS* | El Paso, TX (2019)

Foot pronation is the natural movement which occurs during foot landing while walking or running. Foot pronation also occurs while standing, and in this instance, it is the amount in which the foot rolls inward toward the arch. Foot pronation is normal, however, excessive foot pronation can cause a variety of health issues, including bad posture.

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Plantar fasciitis: A Functional Perspective

Plantar fasciitis is the inflammation of the plantar fascia or aponeurosis. Which can be caused by trauma, e.g. jumping/running activity, or more from longstanding stretching of pronated feet.

• The pain of plantar fasciitis is commonly at its worst when getting out of bed in the morning.
• The initial steps cause a painful stretching of the tissue after hours of being in a shortened position.
• As a person sleeps, the feet naturally go into a position of plantarflexion and shorten down in a relaxed.
• Mild relief is common after moving about for a while.

Treatment

Treatment options for plantar fasciitis include:

• Reduced activity
• Cryotherapy
• Ultrasound
• Taping
• Massage
• Chiropractic
• Orthotics

If the patient is capable of walking without an antalgic gait, look to see how much foot flare occurs during the gait cycle.

Rule of thumb for foot flare:

1. Both feet should be pointing in the general direction you are walking toward.
2. Any deviation from a line directly in front involving one foot more than the other is a red flag for dysfunction in the kinetic (moving) chain and may be a contributing factor in the syndrome.
3. Foot flare is a compensation mechanism to help balance a wobbly pelvis.
4. If this is detected, remove shoes and socks and look at the medial arch.

Gentleness

• Direct palpation of the plantar fascia may reveal painful thickened muscle, especially along the medial longitudinal arch.
• This thickened muscle is the result of repetitive tear and repair process.
• With the foot relaxed, grasp the toes and gently pull them up into passive dorsiflexion.
• Gentleness is essential; as this motion stretches the irritated plantar area.
• It often presents with fixations or subluxations of the bones of the feet.
• The collapse of any of the three arches of the foot sets the stage for joint fixation.

Mobility

• Mobility is life to a joint, so don’t overlook the benefit of adjusting the subluxations or fixations of the lower extremity.
• Once the acute phase of plantar fasciitis is under control, you can address the factors that contributed to the condition.
• Most of the time patients need arch structure to be supported in an optimal functioning position.
• Custom-made orthotics support all three arches of the foot provide the necessary support to reduce the tension on the plantar fascia by blocking the excessive pronation stretches.

Non-invasive treatment

1. Improvement of muscle function of the kinetic chain through massage or other forms of muscle management can improve muscle compliance, or the ability of the muscle to contract and relax.
2. Chronic muscle tension creates joint dysfunction and can lead to inflammation in the plantar fascia.
3. A massaging or mechanical chiropractic compression down the length of the plantar fascia can restore flexibility to that tissue.
4. Roll the foot over a golf ball or similar device for the purpose of restoring fascia flexibility can have profound effects on foot pain and function.
5. Patient tolerance is the key to any technique used, so try to understand that the chiropractor/physical/massage therapists are trying their best to bring relief, increasing the pressure and the length of any intervention.

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Plantar or Neural

Feet are important. When you consider what your feet go through, taking 8,000 steps over the course of a day, according to the Illinois Podiatric Medical Association (IPMA), it’s easy to see how 75 percent of all Americans will have some type of foot pain at some point in their lives. Plantar fasciitis is a common and very painful foot condition that can become chronic if not treated. It is also a condition that responds very well to chiropractic care. As it Reduces Stress in the Plantar Fascia – When a ligament is inflamed or stressed the tissue can develop very small tears that cause the pain of plantar fasciitis. Chiropractic adjustments made to the heel and foot take the pressure off of the plantar fascia, allowing it to relax.

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NCBI Resources

The SMART approach is a guide for setting realistic goals and attaining them. It is an acronym that outlines a success-focused strategy for goal setting:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Accountable
• Realistic
• Timeframe

Each step will bring you closer to achieving your goals and improve your health.

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