Category Archives for Chiropractic Care

Hello everyone.

Dr Brad Ivanchuk here. I am a Burlington, Ontario chiropractor at Life Chiropractic Centre on Guelph Line in the Beacon Hill Plaza.

I am also a Certified Posture Expert and Postural Neurologist with the American Posture Institute. And a canfitpro certified Personal Training Specialist.

Today we are going to learn about cervical traction (neck traction).

Chiropractors who specialize in posture correction will use neck traction as part of their posture correction program. There are a few different ways of doing spinal traction and we use standing or vertical traction here at Life Chiropractic as I feel this the most effective and easiest to do.
 
There are many health benefits to neck traction. It forces relaxation of your neck muscles by supporting the entire weight of your head, it opens up your spinal joints and the canals where your nerve roots lie, it reduces pressure on your spinal joints, nerve roots and spinal discs, it improves the flow of nutrients into your spinal joints and spinal discs, and it assists in correcting your (neck) posture.

These things are your best defense against developing spinal degenerative arthritis.
Let’s recap …. spinal degenerative arthritis is a consequence of posture distortions left undetected and uncorrected. It is also an advancing condition when posture distortions are left undetected and uncorrected.

Spinal degenerative arthritis is also one of the fastest growing health conditions and we are
now seeing this in kids as young as 10 years of age.

 
To find out if you or your kids are at risk of developing spinal degenerative arthritis, all you have to do is call and schedule an appointment for your free initial consultation.

These also include a free detailed posture scan and this is the absolute best place to start.
Call 905 335 LIFE (5433) to schedule your appointment.

Remember … good posture is by design and not by circumstance.

Life Chiropractic Centre … helping families just like yours build vibrant, healthy, drug-free lives for over 25 years in Burlington, Ontario.

Hello everyone. Dr Brad Ivanchuk here.

I am a Burlington, Ontario chiropractor at Life Chiropractic Centre on Guelph Line in the Beacon Hill Plaza. I am also a Certified Posture Expert and Postural Neurologist with the American Posture Institute and a canfitpro certified Personal Training Specialist.

The question of whether or not chiropractic care is safe during pregnancy is frequently raised by my practice members who are planning a family and I thought this would be an appropriate topic for today. 

It seems like a lot of people are making babies lately.

Chiropractic care during this precious 9 month time frame has been common practice for many moms as they require professional care for biomechanical complaints (most notably lower back pain) or they simply want to be their best and build a healthy baby.

The 1st trimester is usually uneventful unless and of course morning sickness occurs. Trimester 2 is typically easy going as any morning sickness normally subsides but towards the end of trimester 2 and trimester 3 is when things tend to be the most challenging.

As the baby grows and fills the womb, mom’s posture is going to change. The curve in the lower back will increase which in turn will cause humping of the upper back which in turn will cause forward head posture.

These posture distortions will result in headaches, neck pain, pain between the shoulder blades, heartburn and indigestion, lower back pain and sciatica. These are very common symptoms during trimester #3.

A literature review of 33 research papers on this very subject concluded the results of these papers revealed a favorable outcome regarding the use and effectiveness of chiropractic care during pregnancy.

And this has been my clinical observation over the years as well. Moms who get regular adjustments throughout their pregnancy have a much more comfortable pregnancy and most also have a quick and easy delivery.

So, if you are pregnant and/or planning to have a family, chiropractic care would be an awesome addition to your health care regime.

All you have to do to start is call 905 335 LIFE (5433) to schedule an appointment for your free initial consultation. This also includes a free detailed posture scan and then we will take it from there.

Life Chiropractic Centre … helping families just like yours build vibrant, healthy, drug-free lives for over 25 years in Burlington, Ontario.

Hello everyone.

Numerous!!!

You get your cardio done in 20 minutes or less. (Time efficient!!!)

It is a much more effective way of saturating your body with oxygen. (Oxygen = energy.)

It improves the tone of all your skeletal muscles. (Better support for your posture system.)

It increases the number of fat-burning enzymes in your body. (Increases your metabolic rate … you burn way more fat.)

Reduction in body-fat percentages. (10 -15% body fat is more than enough.)
Improved levels of overall fitness.

And when you are carrying extra weight, HIIT is so much easier on your back, hips and knees.
This is why I recommend HIIT for all my practice members.

If you have any questions about HIIT, please give me a call. I am always here to help.

Remember that consultations and posture scans are always free of charge.

All you have to do is call 905 335 LIFE (5433) to schedule your appointment.

Life Chiropractic Centre …. Helping families just like yours build vibrant, healthy, drug-free lives for over 25 years in Burlington, Ontario.

Hello everyone.

Dr Brad Ivanchuk here. I am a Burlington, Ontario chiropractor at Life Chiropractic Centre on Guelph Line.

I am also a Certified Posture Expert and Postural Neurologist with the American Posture Institute and a canfitpro certified Personal Training Specialist.

One of the things I regularly have to explain to new practice members especially is why it is so important to have a proper curve in your neck.

This will be our topic for today.

Remember that your neck should have a C-shaped curve in the forwards direction.

The 2 most common posture distortions are a straight neck (military neck) or a neck that is curved backwards (the C-curve is reversed).

Now, here are the consequences of having either one of these posture distortions in your neck ( and this is not just Dr Brad talk …. these have been validated by scientific research);

1.When your neck is straight or reverse curved, this will create pain syndromes. Such as headaches, jaw pain, neck pain, upper back and shoulder pain.

2.Either one of these posture distortions will decrease the amount of blood supply through the arteries in your neck that feed your brain. This will result in brain fatigue and even make you more likely to have a stroke.

3.And we have talked about this many, many times before; you are much more likely to develop spinal degenerative arthritis in your neck.
 
4.And 2 things will happen to the spinal cord in your neck if you have either one of these posture distortions. Your spinal cord will stretch and become thin and tense just like when you stretch an elastic band. Secondly, there will be a disconnection between the nerve cells that make up the spinal cord in your neck. Both of these will impair the flow of
vital nerve energy that originates in your brain and needs to pass through the cord in your neck to reach the rest of your body.

This will put your overall health potential at risk.

Here then are the benefits of having a proper curve in your neck …
1.Less likely to develop pain syndromes.
2.Less likely to develop spinal degenerative arthritis in your neck.
3.Improved blood supply to your brain tissues.
4.Un-impaired flow of vital nerve energy from your brain to your body. In other words, improved health potential.

So, how do you find out what your neck curve looks like? The first thing you need to do is schedule an appointment for your free initial consultation which also includes a detailed posture scan.

 This will give us a good idea about your neck posture and we will go from there.

All you have to do is call us at 905 335 LIFE (5433) and schedule an appointment for your free consult.

Always keep this in mind …. Good posture is by design and not by circumstance.

Life Chiropractic Centre …. Helping families just like yours build vibrant, healthy, drug-free lives for over 25 years in Burlington, Ontario.

Hello everyone.

Dr Brad Ivanchuk here. I am a Burlington, Ontario chiropractor at Life Chiropractic Centre on Guelph Line. I am also an American Posture Institute Certified Posture Expert and Postural Neurologist, and a canfitpro certified Personal Training Specialist.
 
Most likely everyone reading this has had a headache at one time or another. A sinus headache, a cluster headache, a tension headache, a migraine etc.

In fact over 8% of the population or 2.7 million Canadians have been diagnosed with migraines. And almost everyone has experienced a tension headache to some degree.

So, what is the difference between a tension headache and a migraine (arguably the 2 most common types of headaches)?

Tension headaches are typically a steady ache and stiffness in the neck – usually along the base of the skull. The pain can often times radiate to the top of the head or even to the forehead/eyes/temples.

Migraines on the other hand are much more severe, intense, piercing and often times incapacitating. They usually happen on one side of the head and are associated with an aura (visual disturbance), nausea and vomiting.

There are many different causes of headaches; lack of sleep, poor diet, medication side-effects, sports injuries, car accidents, whiplash, concussions etc. but posture is a very important and often-times overlooked consideration.

Forward Head Posture (Tech Neck) is not only associated with neck pain and back pain, but it is also associated with headaches as well.
 
With every inch the average 12 pound head shifts forwards, there is an extra 10 pounds of load put on the neck and upper back muscles to hold the head upright.

One inch of forward head posture then will put 22 pounds of load on the neck and shoulders,
2 inches – 32 pounds, 3 inches – 42 pounds and so forth. I recently had a patient with 5 inches of forward head posture and the load on his neck and shoulders was over 60 pounds!!

He had excruciating headaches and neck pain, and his family doc told him to just take more pain-killers. As if his forward head posture was due to a lack of medication?!

The more that we interact with technology (computers, laptops, tablets, cell phones etc.), the more likely we are to develop Tech Neck.
 
The good news is that there are many research studies showing that chiropractic care is highly effective for patients who suffer from tension headaches and migraines both.

So, if you or anyone in your family is struggling with headaches, I would like to invite you in for a free initial consultation. Remember that these also include a free detailed posture scan. And when we review your posture scan together I will tell you if I will be able to
help.

The number to call to schedule your free initial consultation is 905 335 LIFE (5433).

Remember that good posture is by design and not by circumstance.

Life Chiropractic Centre … helping families just like yours build vibrant, healthy, drug-free lives for over 25 years in Burlington, Ontario.

Hello everyone.

Dr Brad Ivanchuk here.

I am a Burlington, Ontario chiropractor at Life Chiropractic Centre on Guelph Line in the Beacon Hill Plaza. I am also a Certified Posture Expert and a Certified Postural Neurologist with the American Posture Institute, and a canfitpro certified Personal Training Specialist.

Today I am going to share another case history with you. Case histories are an excellent way to learn about your posture system and chiropractic care both.

I recently consulted with a lady who had a whiplash car accident injury to her neck and she was also wondering if the whiplash was also causing her terrible jaw pain. She had never ever had jaw pain before until her car accident.

So, today we are going to learn if there is a connection between jaw pain and whiplash.
And the answer is a most definite yes!

Studies have shown that injuries to the head and neck (posture Quadrant #1) such as a whiplash trauma can also traumatize the muscles around the jaw joint as well as the jaw joint itself.

Either one of these can cause pain in the jaw. But they can also cause ear pain, tooth pain, piercing headaches, inability to open the mouth fully, clicking of the jaw when chewing, dizziness, ringing in the ear and misalignment of the jaw where the top teeth do not sit properly on the bottom teeth.

It has been my clinical experience that many patients who suffer from jaw pain or TMJ syndrome get great results with chiropractic care.

So, if you have had a car accident, a slip or a fall, or a sports injury and you have unexplainable jaw pain, I can help.

Your first step is to schedule an appointment for your free initial consultation which also includes a detailed posture scan.

This will be our starting point and we will take it from there.

The number to call to schedule your appointment is 905 335 LIFE (5433).

Life Chiropractic Centre … helping families just like yours build vibrant, healthy, drug-free lives for over 25 years in Burlington, Ontario.

Hello everyone.

Dr Brad Ivanchuk here.

I am a Burlington, Ontario chiropractor at Life Chiropractic Centre on Guelph Line in the Beacon Hill Plaza. I am also a Certified Posture Expert and a Certified Postural Neurologist with the American Posture Institute, and a canfitpro certified Personal Training Specialist.

I have had some inquiries about what a posture scan actually is so this will our topic for today.

We take 2 pictures of you with our ipad from head to toe standing in your normal, relaxed posture. One from the front and one from the side.

Along with your height and weight, the software will provide me with a detailed analysis for each one of your 4 posture quadrants.
 
Posture Quadrant #1 – head and neck.
Posture Quadrant #2 – thoracic spine, ribcage, shoulders and arms.
Posture Quadrant #3 – lumbar spine and pelvis.
Posture Quadrant #4 – legs from the hip joints to your feet.

This will give me vital information as to where your posture system is collapsing, where you will be most likely to develop spinal degenerative arthritis and to what degree you have Tech Neck (Forward Head Posture).

Remember that Tech Neck is now an epidemic problem and will cause your entire posture system to eventually collapse if it is not detected and corrected.

So, the posture scan itself is very easy to do, it is totally non-invasive but on the other hand it is highly informative.

Remember that a posture scan is always included in your free initial consultation here at Life Chiropractic Centre.

All you have to do then is to call 905 335 LIFE (5433) to schedule your appointment to receive both.

Remember that good posture is by design and not by circumstance.

Life Chiropractic Centre … helping families just like yours build vibrant, healthy, drug-free lives for over 25 years in Burlington, Ontario.

Hello everyone.

Dr Brad Ivanchuk here.

I am a Burlington, Ontario chiropractor at Life Chiropractic Centre on Guelph Line in the Beacon Hill Plaza. I am also a Certified Posture Expert and Certified Postural Neurologist with the American Posture Institute. And a canfitpro certified Personal Training Specialist, Active Aging Specialist and Children’s Fitness Coach.

School starts in a couple weeks so the stress level for all students is soon going to ramp up. And the higher the level of education, the higher the level of stress.

So this would be a more than excellent time for every student to get their posture checked to identify where any weaknesses may lie, and to learn how to interact with technology in a safe and healthy way.

Let me explain why.

The physical and mental stresses associated with sitting, studying, typing, texting, using a laptop/tablet, deadlines and wearing a backpack – all of these can cause spinal misalignments and subsequent posture distortions.

Especially Forward Head Posture or Tech Neck.

Tech Neck will cause ‘hump back’ and eventual collapse of the entire posture system.
As the posture system collapses, mental acuity, the ability to focus, energy levels, strength, stamina and endurance will decline resulting in a whole gamut of uncomfortable symptoms.

And these uncomfortable and quite frankly unnecessary symptoms will have a negative impact on academic and even athletic performance.
 
But it does not have to be this way and I can certainly be of assistance with this. I can help you with the detection and correction of Tech neck and how to maintain a healthy posture system.

All you have to do is call us and schedule an appointment for your free initial consultation which also includes a detailed posture scan. This will allow us to see where the issues are and we can go from there.

The phone number to call is 905 335 LIFE (5433) or you can email us by clicking on the link found on our home page.

Remember always that good posture is by design and not by circumstance.

Life Chiropractic Centre … helping families just like yours build vibrant, healthy, drug-free lives for over 25 years in Burlington, Ontario.

Hello everyone.

Dr Brad Ivanchuk here. I am a Burlington, Ontario chiropractor at Life Chiropractic Centre on Guelph Line in the Beacon Hill Plaza. I am also a Certified Posture Expert and Postural Neurologist with the American Posture Institute.  And a canfitpro certified Personal Training Specialist.

Today we are going to learn about shoulder osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and is caused when the shiny, smooth cartilage surface of a joint (spinal or skeletal) wears away until there is bone on bone contact. This results in pain and stiffness in the joint.

Although osteoarthritis usually affects the joints under the heaviest weight-bearing load – the hips and knees – it can also affect the joints that make up the shoulder. ( See our 26 April, 2019 post to learn more about the shoulder.)

This is what you need to understand ….. cartilage receives no direct blood supply. It relies on a process called diffusion.

Nutrients are absorbed into the cartilage tissue of a joint when it is compressed by movement. This is diffusion.

Anything that restricts the movement of the shoulder – posture distortions in PQ 1 and/or PQ 2, misalignment of the shoulder joint itself, inflammation, injury – will cut off the nutrient supply placing the joint at risk of developing osteoarthritis.

So, how can chiropractic help an osteoarthritic shoulder? By correcting any posture distortions in PQ 1 and 2, realigning the shoulder joint itself, mobilizing the shoulder joint and traction of the shoulder joint.

All of these will increase the range of motion of the shoulder drawing in fresh nutrients (diffusion) which will promote healing.

And just like with anything else, the sooner you start treatment, the greater the chances you will achieve the desired result.

If you or anyone in your family are complaining of shoulder pain, we should take a closer look because you do not want a small, simple issue to turn into a more complex osteoarthritic issue.

All you need to do is call to schedule an appointment for your free initial consultation which also includes a detailed posture scan.

Our phone number here in Burlington is 905 335 LIFE (5433) or you can email me directly by clicking on the link on our home page.

Life Chiropractic Centre … helping families just like yours build vibrant, healthy, drug-free lives for over 25 years in Burlington, Ontario.

Hello everyone.

Dr Brad Ivanchuk here.

I am a Burlington, Ontario chiropractor at Life Chiropractic Centre on Guelph Line in the Beacon Hill Plaza.

I am also a Certified Posture Expert and Postural Neurologist with the American Posture Institute. I also have the following designations with canfitpro; Personal Training Specialist, Active Aging Coach and Children’s Fitness Coach.

Today we are going to talk about your sinuses.

The connection between our sinuses and headaches has been well established. But what about the relationship between our sinuses and neck pain? Is there a connection here also?

Sinusitis is very common when pollen counts are high and when you have a cold or the flu.

The Mayo Clinic states that at least 2 out of the following 4 symptoms must be present in order to confirm a diagnosis of Chronic Sinusitis (CS).

1-Thick and often times discolored nasal discharge or post-nasal drip.
2-Congestion of nasal passages making it difficult to breathe through the nose.
3-Pain/tenderness/swelling of the eyes, nose, face (cheeks) and forehead.
4-Reduced sense of smell and taste in adults. Coughing in children.

Now, what many people do not realize however is that neck pain and stiffness, jaw pain and teeth pain can also be symptoms of CS.

And this all relates back to Posture Quadrant #1 – your head and cervical spine (neck). We already know that spinal misalignments and posture distortions here can result in neck pain and headaches but they can also make you susceptible to developing CS.

And it has been my clinical experience over the years that people who struggle with sinus issues including CS; a lot of them benefit greatly from chiropractic adjustments.

So if you or anyone in your family is suffering from CS or other sinus issues, I may be able to help. The first thing you would need to do is schedule an appointment for your free initial consultation which also includes a detailed posture analysis. And then we will take it from there.

Our phone number is 905 335 LIFE (5433) or you can email me by clicking directly on the link found on our home page.

Remember that good posture is by design and not by circumstance.

Life Chiropractic Centre …. Helping families just like yours build vibrant, healthy, drug-free lives for over 25 years in Burlington, Ontario