Is better brainpower another benefit of chiropractic treatment and exercise?

Can you boost brain power with physical activity? Several relevant studies were reported on at the annual Meeting of The Society of Psychophysiological Research in Montreal recently.


The findings showed both immediate benefits from physical activity, as well as long-term effects. Physical activity seems to help your brain work more efficiently and actually may make you smarter. In one study, the thinking ability of subjects was tested. After the tests, they ran on a treadmill for thirty minutes. Then, when their hearts returned to normal resting levels they took the follow-up tests. For all tests the subjects were connected to an electroencephalogram (EEG), in order to track their brainwaves. The first thing researchers noted was that exercising had sped up the speed of their decision-making. It was a significant difference. Upon scoring the tests, it was also found that the subjects answered more accurately after the exercise than before. The study participants were between 18 and 24 years old, but researchers think the findings will hold true for other age groups as well.

Utah residents have many great opportunities and venues for exercise that may help improve their mood and cognitive function. But if chronic pain or aching joints is stopping you from exercising, chiropractic treatment from one of our Salt Lake City locations may help get you back on track (or back in the gym, or back on the trail).

Another study showed that just ten minutes of moderate exercise each day can improve mood and reduce fatigue. Brainpower specifically wasn't tested, but it seems likely that less fatigue means better brain power.

The benefits of exercise include better sleep, a healthier immune system, weight control, and a lower risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Now you can add better brain power to that list. If you are having difficulty exercising because you have aches and pains in your neck and back, come see us at The Joint Cottonwood Heights for chiropractic evaluation and treatments that can help relieve your pain so that you can get out and do some regular exercises.

~ Dr. Brad Hendricks

How Does Posture Affect Your Mood?

I've talked a lot about posture and health lately and that is because I see how important proper posture is for overall spine function in my Utah patients. Many aches and pains can be eliminated if you are able to practice good standing and sitting posture, and chiropractic is ideal for helping you straighten up. But a new study conducted by the American Psychological Association revealed that body posture also may be important to how we express emotions.

The experiment assigned participants to two groups, one who they forced to sit in a slouched and slumped position and one that they had sit upright with good posture. They had the participants complete a series of tasks and the upright participants reported higher self-esteem, more arousal, better mood, and lower fear, compared to slumped participants. Linguistic analysis showed slumped participants used more negative emotion words, first-person singular pronouns, affective process words, sadness words, and fewer positive emotion words and total words during the speech. The researchers concluded with this statement: “Adopting an upright seated posture in the face of stress can maintain self-esteem, reduce negative mood, and increase positive mood compared to a slumped posture. Furthermore, sitting upright increases rate of speech and reduces self-focus”.

So not only does good posture relieve physical symptoms, it may also affect your emotional health. If you find yourself sitting in a bad slouched position either at work or at home and you start to feel the strain in your back, take a break to reduce the stress. One of the most effective micro-break exercises is the Brugger's Relief Position developed by a European neurologist. Studies show it will help to reduce tension, improve breathing and improve posture within just a few weeks of practice.

Performing the Brugger's Relief Position:
If sitting:

1. Sit or perch at the edge of your chair. You should feel the "sit bones" just around where the top of your legs meet your butt cheeks.
2. Hold your head up high. Imagine a string fixed at the crown of your head pulling you toward the sky.
3. Spread your legs slightly apart to the sides
4. Turn your legs out slightly
5. Rest your weight on your legs and feet and relax your abdominal muscles
6. Tilt your pelvis forward and raise your breastbone up.
7. Turn your hands palms-up
8. Turn your arms slightly outward

Hold this position and take deep "belly" breaths for 10 seconds
Come in to The Joint Cottonwood Heights for a postural evaluation. Regular chiropractic adjustments at our Salt Lake City locations will help you maintain proper posture.

~ Dr. Brad Hendricks

Can Chiropractic Adjustments Help Your Allergies?

We are entering the time of year when many people start the annual battle with seasonal allergies, hay fever, asthma, etc. Some of the most common springtime allergies in the Salt Lake City area are tree pollens like cottonwood and maple, followed by wild grasses in early summer.

Many people feel it’s simply OK to have allergies. That it’s quite normal to be allergic because so many other people are also afflicted. That it’s OK to have a season for coughing, blowing, wheezing and sneezing. It’s not.

Many parents don’t question why their children, or even themselves, have allergies. It has just become an accepted fact of life. Allergies seem to be a problem with no apparent solution. Why is that?

What makes one person allergic and another not? Why would one be allergic to cats, dogs, fur, feathers, grasses, tree pollens or foods such as peanut butter? We all live on the same planet. We’re all essentially the same. If I took one individual with allergies and one without and boiled them down to their essentials, I would end up with approximately 32 kilograms of chemicals. The rest would be water, but the chemical composition would be the same in both individuals.

The difference is most often seen in how one person's body is able to adapt to his/her environment and another is not. So what is it in the Salt Lake City area that’s causing your allergies?

Simply put, an allergy is the inability of your body to handle something that is in their immediate environment–pollen from trees, grasses, flowers or peanuts.

Our immune system is there to fight against viruses and infection, help to keep the body performing at its peak, and also to help dispel foreign contaminants that enter the body.  A study from the University of California found that signals from the nervous system may influence the function of the immune system.  When our body displays signs of allergies, it’s because it detects the presence of a foreign object such as dust, mites, pollen, etc. and it produces chemicals to neutralize and expel the allergens. These chemicals are known as histamines. In the case of allergies, the immune system overreacts to the presence of the allergens in the body.

How can a Chiropractor Help with Allergies?

Most traditional treatments for allergies, such as antihistamines, only deal with managing the symptoms and don’t eliminate the cause. The safety of anti-allergy medication is under debate, the long-term use of antihistamines or combined with other medication may cause cancer. A study conducted in lab rats with brand name anti-allergy medication found that cancerous tumors in the rats grew much faster with the intake of antihistamines. With all the concern over air quality in Salt Lake City, can you afford another carcinogenic risk factor?

When most people start to sneeze or get watery eyes, the first thought is often to pop an antihistamine pill. But did you know that chiropractic adjustments can help you overcome your allergy problems? Most people only associate chiropractors with back and neck pain, but we can also help the body achieve optimum health by ensuring the spine is correctly aligned.

Chiropractic care doesn't treat allergies directly. So, why do so many people with allergies say they get relief from chiropractic adjustments? The answer is simple. Chiropractic care releases stress on a patient’s nervous system. This allows the immune system to operate more effectively, which is beneficial to anyone and especially those suffering from allergies.

At The Joint Cottonwood Heights in Salt Lake City, we can help the body achieve optimal health and improve your quality of life. If you or a family member suffers from allergies, call our office at 801.943.3163 or just drop in for a chiropractic consultation and treatment.

- Dr. Brad Hendricks

Occipital Neuralgia

Most people are aware that one of the common conditions we treat as Salt Lake City chiropractors is neck pain.

 Less known is the fact that headaches are a condition that frequently responds well to chiropractic adjustments. One particular headache condition that is often treatable with chiropractic care is known a Occipital Neuralgia (ON.) This is a condition in which the occipital nerves become irritated or inflamed. Frequently patients with ON are misdiagnosed with migraine headaches. This is because the symptoms can be similar to many of the symptoms associated with Migraines. Frequently patients will experience pain at the base of the skull which radiates up and over the head to behind the eye. Most commonly the pain is one sided, although both sides can be affected.    

While the exact cause of ON is unknown, we know that it stems from the occipital nerves as they exit from between the 1st and 2nd vertebrae in the the neck. ON commonly begins after some trauma to the neck such as a car accident and is frequently accompanied by spasm of the neck and upper back musculature. If it is not resolved it can get progressively worse over time.    There are a variety of options to treat

this condition ranging from massage to microdecompression surgery. Many patients are given prescriptions for medications commonly used to treat Migraine headaches, but do not find any relief.

The most effective treatments for ON are those that have a direct effect on the occipital nerves. As with most conditions it is recommended to start with the least invasive treatment options first and progress to more invasive procedures if needed. One of the least invasive options for treating ON is chiropractic adjustments of the upper cervical spine. The adjustment helps to restore the normal function and alignment of the spine, which in turn can help reduce muscle spasm and nerve compression.

 Typically your Salt Lake City chiropractors will recommend a series of treatments over a number of weeks. In most cases improvement is noted within just a few weeks of treatment. If improvement is not seen within 4-6 weeks more invasive treatment such as a nerve block will likely be recommended. In my time as chiropractic physician at The Joint - Sugar House, I have seen a number of patients with ON show significant reduction and in some cases even total elimination of the flare ups associated with their Occipital Neuralgia.