Is this Normal after my Adjustment?

We get asked this question every day. What is normal after an adjustment? Why do I feel tired after an adjustment? These are excellent questions, and we wish more patients would ask more questions about their care. Here are a few tips: 

Reminder – what does an adjustment do? 

An adjustment corrects joint dysfunction that leads to irritated (or pinched) nerves. Nerves are the communication pathways in your body, and when a nerve is irritated, the nerve is telling your brain and body that something is wrong. This can lead to muscle tightness, pain and decreased range of motion of the joint. When we are adjusting you, we try to normalize the function of the joint which will take the pressure off the irritated nerve. Our bodies need to understand the changes that we are trying to make, and this is why you feel the effects of an adjustment. 

How will I feel after an adjustment? 

1.  Temporary worsening of symptoms – tightness or soreness. When we are adjusting you, we are giving your body new instructions on how to heal. Your body has been healing in one pattern for a long time, so sometimes your body becomes more sore when we are trying to make it heal in a different way. 

This is similar to when you go for a long walk, run or to the gym to work out and feel soreness the next day. There is a change happening to your body in a physical manner, and your body reacts to it. Each time you have an adjustment, you will experience less and less temporary aggravation and only experience the intended positive effects. 

2. Tired. Our bodies have a natural healing process, but sometimes we need outside help. After an adjustment, you can be tired. This tired feeling comes from both your body trying to interpret the instructions we are giving it to heal, and from the release of certain hormones and enzymes that happens when your body is adjusted. It’s normal to be exhausted with all of this learning, your body is working hard!
3. Changes in numbness or tingling, especially when you have a nerve related problem. When you have a problem with a severely irritated nerve, where you have numbness or tingling in your body, after we adjust you to relieve the pinch on the nerve, your body can react in a different way. Most of the time, the numbness or tingling will become less frequent or intense after the adjustment, but in some cases it can temporarily worsen as your nerve is not used to being less irritated.
4. How long will it take? Sometimes the improvements are quick, and other times they take longer. Remember, the longer a problem or condition exists, the longer it takes to get better and heal. Each time you are adjusted your body gets better and better at remembering the proper posture and alignment (or “new instructions for healing”) and holds the adjustment better. As your body is getting better at this new way of healing, you will need to be adjusted less frequently to feel well. 

This is why it is so important to stay on track with your treatment plan suggested by your chiropractor. They have a good idea on how long it takes for your body to improve, and will lay out a treatment plan that will work for your condition. We will re-evaluate your condition and scenario after the treatment plan and create a new schedule based on the progress made.

A few reminders…

As we start seeing more weather changes please remember to take any wet shoes or boots off in the front foyer. You are welcome to wear sock-feet into the treatment rooms, or we have slip-on shoes (cleaned daily) to wear into the office. There is no need to remove your shoes if they are dry and clean, but we try to keep our floors and doctors dry.

Always remember if you need to change your appointment or if you need an urgent appointment, to please call early in the day. If the phone is not answered, please leave a message as our staff are helping other patients. They are excellent at returning your call quite quickly.

We thought November would stay warm-ish and cozy like October, but in areas north of Cobourg, we may start calling it “early winter”. Sorry to those who have seen the flurries land on their cars in the early mornings- poor Myranda has already had to clear off her car a few times before November has even started! 

Thanksgiving and Halloween were busy times in our office, and we hope that your October was wonderful too. Thanks to our Halloween queens (Dr. J, Carleigh, Louise and Myranda) had big plans for our staff to dress up as different Barbies, and our team really did execute. Dr. Hubbel rocked his role as Chiropractor Ken. Dr. Leguard really liked matching with Dr. H as Chiropractor Barbie. We had Holiday Barbie (Myranda), Cowgirl Barbie (Louise), Travel Barbie (Carleigh), Denim Barbie (Julie) and Apres Ski Barbie (Dr. Johnston). I’m sure the wheels are turning with our team for what we should dress up as next year. 

Dr. Johnston’s girls had fun going out as characters from Super Mario. Carleigh’s kids were seen out in Port Hope as Minnie Mouse and a Ninja. We are confident that they got their fair share of candy and chocolate… lets just hope they shared with their parents! 

November is here, which means we will start to shift into holiday gear. Decorations in our clinic go up after Remembrance Day on November 11, and we again are planning to participate in the “Giving Tree” locally as our fundraiser this year. We will only be accepting financial donations, and with our staff, will purchase the toys and clothing requested by the children on the “Giving Tree”. This year, our clinic will match all financial donations made by our patients so that we can support more children in our community.

Have you ever noticed the pillows that are available in our clinic? We sell Water Pillows, which have a water-tight chamber that you fill with water, covered with a fibre “pillow”.

The ideal pillow gives your neck and head support in order to keep your neck neutral with the rest of your spine when you are lying on your back or sides. The problem is that every person is a slightly different size, and the height at which your head should be lying is different for every person. The reason that we love these water pillows is because they are very customizable in terms of the height of the pillow. You can put a specific amount of water into the chamber to increase or decrease the height of the pillow. 

Please always remember to use a measuring cup to put water into your pillow, as you will then know how much water in the chamber gives you the height that you like. Dr. Leguard often encourages patients to take selfies with their new water pillows so that they can tell if their neck is in line with their spine when lying on their sides. Pillows cost $55, and can be purchased with our front desk staff. 

Carleigh’s son, Roger, recently has been having some trouble with his neck while he sleeps, and has adopted the use of a water pillow. Carleigh reports that he brings it with him even when he is trying to get into bed with Mom and Dad. If that isn’t a great testimonial, we don’t know what is!

Do you ever wonder why you sometimes can hurt yourself by doing the smallest thing, like bending down to lace up your shoe, or lifting up your child in the way that you always do? This comes down to the capacity of your body, and the demands that you put on it. 

Capacity is another way to discuss the readiness of your body to respond to activity or stress. Your body’s capacity can change depending on many things: The quality and amount of sleep you get, the food you fuel your body with, your alcohol consumption, drug use, your stress levels, your physical activity and any chronic problems. Regular maintenance adjustments are another very important way to help increase the capacity of your body. We often find that patients who “tweak” their back when they are lacing up their shoe are under a lot of stress, maybe have not been sleeping well or have ignored a minor problem which worsens over time. 

Interestingly, your ability to heal from any injury is also influenced by your body’s capacity. For example, people who have a new problem but are under a tremendous amount of stress are likely to heal less quickly than those who are less stressed. 

Demand means the activities or strain that you put on your body. The way in which your body understands the demands that you put on it will be different depending on the capacity that your body has. This is why sometimes, something as simple as lifting a laundry basket, a job that you’ve done a million times, can hurt your back. These two things, your body’s capacity and the demands that you put on it, are in a constant flux. Your body is not fragile or weak, or you don’t have to avoid that motion or activity for the rest of your life. Instead, you should focus on increasing the capacity of your body, by having regular adjustments, sleeping well, eating more nutritious food, consuming less alcohol and drugs, trying to maintain lower stress, and adding more movement to your life are all things that will increase your capacity.

When families head back to school, we often see that busy kids have very full backpacks. Full backpacks often mean heavy backpacks with uneven distribution of weight. This can result in poor posture and can even have lasting impacts on your spine. More than 50% of young people experience at least one episode of low back pain by their teenage years, and research indicates one key cause is improper use of backpacks. So, pack it light and wear it right.

Tips for Best Backpack Use: 

Choosing the right backpack: Go for lightweight vinyl or canvas material. Pick a pack that has two wide, adjustable, padded shoulder straps along with a padded back. The pack should also have a hip or waist strap with plenty of pockets.

Pack it properly: Make sure your child’s pack contains only what they need for that day and that the weight is evenly distributed. The total weight of the filled pack should not be more than 10 to 15% of your child’s body weight.

Put it on safely: Put the pack on a flat surface, at waist height. Have your child slip on the pack one shoulder at a time and then adjust the straps to fit comfortably.

Wear it right: Make sure your child uses both shoulder straps and ensure the pack is adjusted to fit snugly to their body, without dangling to the side. You should be able to slide your hand between the backpack and your child’s back.

Prevention is key – Teach your child how to properly use their backpacks and help them avoid an injury. If your child is experiencing back pain, please let us know and we will schedule them in for an assessment as soon as we can. If you ever have any questions about your child’s backpack please do not hesitate to ask us or bring it in for us to check it. 

Bonus Points: Morning Movement 

It is always a good idea to start our day with movement, and that goes for our kids as well. A quick and easy morning stretch routine can help your kids feel ready for whatever the day has in store. As you just read, backpacks can cause aches and pains in the back, so here are a few stretches to help your child relieve some tightness and tension. 

Child pose: Kneeling with your toes touching — or apart, slowly bend over and have your child touch their forehead to the ground. Arms can be by their side, palms facing up or extended in front of them with palms to the floor. Big breath in — inhale and exhale slowly.

Cat/Cow: Starting on all fours with the spine and neck in a neutral position, make sure the back is flat like a tabletop. Eyes looking straight down at the ground, inhale and drop the belly down, slowly lifting the neck and head up. On the exhale, left the belly and spine so that the back is arched like a cat, and eyes look toward the belly button.

Overhead stretch: Standing straight with your feet together, reach straight up toward the sky and overhead without locking your elbows. Hold for 30 seconds.Saddle stretch: Sit on the ground with your legs apart. The width of the straddle is up to your child — whatever feels comfortable and a little challenging. Once seated, bend slowly over the right leg, then to the centre and then over to the left leg.

Happy September! With September comes families trying to get back into routine – whether that means getting ready for school, normalizing sleep schedules (good luck!), or getting back to normal work hours. We hope that everyone has a wonderful first week back to school, whether that means elementary or high school, or starting continuing in college or university. This is such an exciting and anxious time for many of us, we are here to support you however we can. 

We are celebrating Dr. Johnston’s 8 year “doctor-aversary” in our office on September 1st. She has been in practice for 11 years, but has spent 8 years with us. We are also celebrating Karen’s 31st “office-aversary” on September 2nd. Can you believe that she has been putting up with Dr. Hubbel for 31 years? We are so thankful for them both. 

Dr. Johnston’s eldest daughter, Alexandria will be going into senior kindergarten this year. She is super excited and for weeks, has had her outfit and backpack ready to go. Carleigh’s eldest, Roger, is going into grade 1 and her youngest, Delores (DJ) , will be starting junior kindergarten. Carleigh may need an extra little bit of love in the first week of September, as her baby goes off to school! 

Dr. Leguard’s younger sister, Chloe, who has been a big help to us at the clinic this summer, is finally starting law school at Western University. In Chloe’s own words, she has been very excited to tell people that she’s going to law school, but less excited about all of the work of law school. Ha! Her middle sister, Ainsley, started working at Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt as an articling student in Toronto in August. Her first rotation has been busy thus far working in litigation. 

As some of you may know, Myranda’s brother, Brayden Leclerc, has a metabolic disorder called Lafora Disease, which causes seizures. In the last month, Brady has had a flare up of his condition, and has spent much of the last month in the Peterborough ICU. Myranda (of course) has had to take some time off to help her family. Things are starting to look up, but we would appreciate your keeping Brayden in your thoughts and prayers. 

Dr. Johnston will be away from September 14-22, and is traveling to Italy with her mom. She is open to any and all food related recommendations. Dr. Leguard is doing exceedingly well after her knee surgery and she will be back to her regular hours this month. Please, as always, call early if you need an appointment the same day or if you have to change an appointment. We try to accommodate everyone as we can, however, please let us know if you cannot make it as we can give that time to another patient in need.

For years, we’ve heard of people complaining of sore knees, hands, and headaches when we experience weather changes in our environment. It definitely can happen, but have you ever wondered why? 

When the weather changes, the “pressure” in the atmosphere changes. Atmospheric or barometric pressure is the amount of weight that the air around us exerts on the earth and our bodies. It is the force exerted on a surface by the air above it as gravity pulls it to earth. This pressure changes depending on altitude (how high you are from sea level), as well as with weather. A “high-pressure” system leads to fair, calm weather, while a “low-pressure” system leads to cloudiness, wind and precipitation. 

This change in pressure, whether your body is changing from low to high altitude, or with weather changes, can cause changes to your body and pain perception. This atmospheric pressure is also why your ears can pop on an airplane, or as you’re driving up a mountain. Your ears can “pop” as the pressure of the fluid and air inside your ears tries to match the changing pressure in the environment. Your body interacts with this pressure in many ways.

There is a lot of research confirming that people’s pain increases with changes in barometric pressure, more specifically with lower pressure, but no solid evidence as to why this happens. Most research is with patients who have arthritis in their hands, knees or hips, or pressure related headaches.

Current hypotheses include changes to atmospheric pressure:

• Altering the pressure of the synovial fluid in the joint, which forces the fluid in towards the bone, causing the bone to transmit pain signals to the brain 
• Reducing the stability of a joint exerted on itself by the synovial fluid (studies found that hip joints especially were less stable with lower atmospheric pressure), causing the joint to be loaded in unfavorable positions and irritating surrounding nerves
• Changing the inflammatory (cytokine) pathways, which changes how your cells react to stress and transmit information to our nervous systems
• Cause dilation and constriction in the blood vessels in the brain, which change hormone pathways leading to migraine. 

Although we cannot change the weather, we can take some steps to improve our pain during low pressure times. Strengthening arthritic joints can minimize potential for joint instability, eating less inflammatory food. Chiropractic care to help keep joints functioning well in good alignment. These are all key factors. Many of our patients attribute headaches especially to weather, but often find that chiropractic care can help to minimize headache symptoms. 

Happy August! Things are back into the normal(ish) flow in our clinic. Both Myranda and Julie are taking vacation in the first week of August, and Carleigh will be taking another week later on in the month. Dr. Leguard’s knee surgery went exceedingly well, and she is back to her normal hours at our clinic. In her June 27th surgery, her surgeon only had to repair one side of her meniscus (the cartilage in her knee), and her ACL had healed on its own. Fantastic news, as she is now working to strengthen her knee again, without much pain or limitation. 

Our clinic will be closed on Monday, August 7th for the August long weekend, and on Monday, September 4th for the Labour Day long weekend. 

You will see a familiar face in our office this summer- Dr. Leguard’s youngest sister and Dr. Hubbel’s granddaughter, Chloe Leguard, will be helping out on Thursday afternoons for the remainder of the summer before she returns to Western University to start her first year of law school, as well as serving at the Mill for the summer.

We got to celebrate Carolyn’s four year office anniversary on July 22nd, and get to celebrate Julie’s 3 year anniversary on August 4th and Carleigh’s 3 year anniversary on August 12th. To top that all off, Chloe’s birthday is August 10th, and  Julie’s is August 15th. August is a very exciting month for our team!

Ainsley Leguard begins her career as an (almost) lawyer, articling at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt in Toronto, which is a full service corporate commercial law firm, in the first few weeks of August. Please wish her luck as she begins this exciting journey! After her year of articling, she will be “called to the bar” and we can officially call her a lawyer.  She passed her two bar exams just recently.

Dr. Johnston’s two daughters, Alexandria and Isla, are enjoying their summertime. Both Alexandria and Isla are playing soccer this year, and Alexandria just lost her first tooth! Carleigh’s kids, Roger and Delores are enjoying their summer. Roger’s birthday is upcoming on August 23rd, and Delores prepares to start Junior Kindergarten next month!

When you call our office (especially first thing in the morning) and don’t get an answer, it is likely because one of our staff is already on the phone with another patient. We would like to invite you to leave a message instead of calling again, because our staff will see your call almost immediately and will get back to you quickly.

You may remember last month we were discussing the importance of building muscle mass through exercise and high protein diet in longevity. Due to popular demand, we’ve decided to share these exercises with you all! 

When you begin resistance exercises, you will start with a lower number of repetitions (starting with 5 per side or 5 sec hold, moving to 8 per side or 8 sec hold), as well as the number of sets (starting at 2, moving up to 4). Expect things to be hard at the beginning. You don’t need weights, but can use cans or heavy things in your own home if you’d like!

A good self-expectation is to start with 1-2 days per week of resistance exercise, and increase to 3-4 days per week. A perfect pairing to this resistance exercise is to walk, swim or bike for 15-20 minutes if you are able. If you have any questions, please ask one of our doctors or staff members. 

If you’d like a more detailed breakdown of the number of reps and sets that you can do for a 10 week program, please ask our front desk staff for the full version of this workout.