The Value of the Adjustment

This is something I have wanted to write about for some time. Life is really about values isn't it? Our behaviour is a function of our beliefs and our values. Most of our daily decisions and activities are based around a value system that has been under ongoing development all of our lives. Some of our values were given to us by our parents and/or surroundings and others we have developed on our own. Some common areas or facets of life include our physical health and vitality, finances, social, family/relationships, spirituality, vocation, and mental development. Each person has their own unique set of values and has their own heirarchy of most important to least important.

The reason I bring this up is is because I get to witness people's values all day long. I have my own and I don't believe it is necessary to impose my values on anyone else but rather accept where others are and respect each person's own wishes and desires. Our practice has many different types of patients: some come only for pain relief and then choose to discontinue care, others stay for a while longer and discontinue care when their coverage runs out, and another group of people choose to continue with their care beyond pain relief for preventative care. They tend to be in consistently and rarely missed scheduled visits. The interesting thing is that the last group is not necessarily millionaires who have nothing better to do with their time. These are people who value their health. They value the ability to move well now and to move well later. They value their body being in balance and having the nervous system (which controls everything) working in perfect order to benefit their overall health. These are people that despite their hectic lives drive across town and pay for care even when their coverage has run out. Some may say they value their health more than anything but the only way to determine your true set of values is to see where do you spend the most time, energy and money in your life? Behavior never lies. Cindy recently had a quote to have her tooth repaired: $900. Not her TEETH, her TOOTH. Since this is not covered in our health plan we too now have a decision to make based on our values. What could we do with $900, hmmm..... not hard to figure out there is a lot of stuff you could do with this money so our values will determine how we spend that money. THe same is true for most people. When care is recommended to them they have to see how it weighs against their own set of values.

Dr. Jason Plotsky

What Does Your Future Health Look Like?

When our new government was voted in there was a lot of talk about reform to the health care system. Talk about how we can increase expenditures for medications, especially for seniors and of course increasing the amount of beds in nursing homes. Although these may be band-aids to help remedy the situation we as a society have gotten ourselves into, they definitely don't fit my definition of what I want my health to look like in the future. How are you planning for your future health? What action steps are you taking today? Are your daily activities congruent with what you want your future health to look like? The reason I often write about this topic is because there is often a disconnect between how people live their daily lives and what they think their retirement years will look like. What is the point of going through life like a blur and looking so forward to retirement if you don't have your health?

Let's talk about cardiovascular disease for a few minutes as this is something that we spend a lot of money on and is also something that is highly related to lifestyle choices. They have estimated that the Maritimes has the highest risk in Canada for developing cardiovascular disease. I would assume that if you are reading a natural health publication we don't need to spend any time talking about smoking and the increased risk. How much of cardiovascular disease is preventable? Numerous physicians and cardiologists have thought that approximately 80% of heart disease is preventable and is caused by poor lifestyle choices.

What are poor lifestyle choices? Are you carrying around an extra 15-30 lbs? Are you eating as much as you did when you were a teenager or a young adult? Do you eat a lot of sweets or drink pop (diet pop is NOT a better option)? Do you consume alcohol as a habit? Do you eat late at night? This is often an easy way to shed a few pounds and you will probably sleep better as well. Do you eat breakfast each and every morning or is breakfast a stop through Timmy's on the way to work (no wonder we consume the most sugar per capita in the WORLD). Are fruits and vegetables a regular staple in your diet or just a good idea? Is your largest meal in the middle of the day when you still have lots of time to burn it off, or is it late in the day when you are very inactive? All of the above mentioned things are HABITS, which means they are easy to change as long as you are consistent. If you are looking for motivation for changing a few of your eating habits, think of the difference of enjoying your health as you age, or being limited and restricted in your lifestyle. I see plenty of health conscious people who are carrying around extra weight and still having many bad habits. We ALL have work to do but the pain of the discipline it takes to make change will far outweigh the pain of regret in the future.

What does your average day look like? There is no question that we are all busy. However, I don't think that being busy is an excuse to let your health slide. If we are being honest it is usually more about priorities than anything else. There are plenty of busy people who get up early to exercise or to pack healthy food for themselves all day. They do it because they value their health enough to make sure they do the daily things necessary to protect their future. We have seen very busy people make a few changes to their lifestyle that had an enormous impact on their overall health. Need some recommendations? Consult your health care team. (You do have a team, right?).

Let's mention a few things about movement. We are designed to move, plain and simple. Movement is necessary to good health but can come in many different ways. A lot of people will say they don't want to go to the gym or start running when we talk about movement. No problem, what would you love to do? For some people it may be a walk through the park or with their dog 4-5 times a week. Some people love to swim which is an excellent form of movement. There are many styles of yoga out there and I'm sure there is one that would suit you well. Some people like slow moving activities like Tai Chi or Qi Gong. These are often excellent techniques to incorporate movement, relieve stress and increase energy. Some people like working with a Swiss ball to improve core stability. For others the gym is their best option. So the bottom line is there is likely some form of movement that suits you well. Try a few different things and incorporate them into your routine.

How much stress are you carrying around with you? Our bodies were given the "fight or flight" response to get them out of harm's way. However, a lot of people spend each and every day in this response moving from one emergency to the next. They often rely on caffeine and sugar to get them through the day and at some point usually end up in some form of exhaustion or fatigue.

Do you love what you do? Do you live your life with purpose and direction or do you let life bring you up and pull you down like a roller coaster. There are many books that have had a large impact on my life but two of my favorites are: "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari" by Robin Sharma and "Count Your Blessings" by Dr. John Demartini (both available at Chapters). Someone once told me the quality of your life is determined by the quality of the questions you are willing to ask yourself. So don't be afraid to ask yourself the tough questions. What are you willing to change in your lifestyle to protect your health in the future? What is good health worth to you?

There are many things that we cannot control in life. We only have one chance with our bodies and it really is an amazing machine. Why is it that we take better care of our vehicles than we do our bodies? It is never too late to get rid of a few pounds that have crept up on us over the years. There are a few habits that are easy to change and worth the effort. Busy is not an excuse to treat your body poorly. If you truly see the benefit to movement you will likely make it a priority in your schedule. Two of the greatest things that will impact your life are the people you meet and the books that you read. Pick up the two books that I've mentioned and I'm sure they will have an impact on the way you live your life.

Our system spends so much money on the treatment of preventable diseases. The scary part is that the incidence of things like obesity, diabetes and heart disease have all gone up over the last 30 years. What impact will this have on our health care budget? You can never underestimate the impact you may have on other people. By simply changing a few daily habits it may spark some other change in your workplace or your household. What if everyone who read this article made some small change or improvement with their self-care. What impact would this have on our community? I'll do my part. Will you do yours?

Dr. Jason Plotsky

The 100 Year Lifestyle (Part 2)

In the first article we talked about the fastest growing age group in the world: Centenarians. In this book written by Dr. Eric Plasker he outlines the necessary steps to enjoy a long and happy life. In the last article we talked about the framework and the mindset for the 100 year Lifestyle and in Part 2 we will discuss more of the specifics (and by no means is this a complete synopsis of the book).

The first "how-to" recommendation is to stop killing yourself. This is so important because many people literally have habits and make daily choices that are killing them. Of course there are the obvious things like smoking but then there are less obvious things like carrying around 15 extra pounds of belly fat that will increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes and this increasing your risk of heart disease (one of the #1 killers in North America). As he explains, "...it's not the resolutions that matter it's the actions we take every day. It's those very destructive actions, or inactions, done over time, that are literally killing us slowly over time." Eating well, keeping yourself at your ideal weight, exercising regularly and keeping your blood pressure in check are all things that will help prevent things like heart disease and add years to your life.

In the section about "Don't just treat the crisis" he talks about the importance of self-care. Many people confuse self-care with selfish. What we are referring to is the ability to make it a priority to take care of one's self. This is really about dedicating some time to yourself in different facets. One of these has to be some type of movement or exercise. There's really no way around this except to pick something that works well for you that you can stay consistent with and to continually try more and more challenging things. Proper posture is so important as we age as is the normal alignment and mobility of the spine (it only takes one bad disc or spinal joint to really put a damper on your quality of life as you age). Drink clean water, breathe clean air, avoid toxic chemicals and eat organic as much as possible. Manage your stress properly by meditating or doing yoga. Consider a retreat or a spa day. You're worth every penny.

Dr. Plasker does a summary of keeping an ideal internal and external environment. The first is to have gratitude and appreciation for your current situation. The second is to begin to develop your vision for your ideal 100-year lifestyle. I think this is great because the more you talk about your vision and continue to modify and refine the plan the more likely it is to come true. He makes a wise recommendation to let go of trying to control the things that are out of your control.

Time is the one commodity that is common between everyone. He has some amazing recommendations around using your time effectively so that you can remain present and focused now, all while creating your plan for the future. He talks about prime time, prep time and play time and how to achieve the ultimate balance between all three. As you can imagine prime time is what most people would consider their most productive time (eg. dinner rush at a busy restaurant). Prep time is what he recommends you use to plan, organize and research so you are prepared for your prime time. The 3rd category is play time. Ultimately, this is your time to decompress through vacations and promoting the self-care we mentioned above. "Taking charge of how you spend your time ensures that you'll live a quality, purposeful life for the rest of your life. Finally he talked about making sure you have the financial reserves to ensure a high quality of life for as long as you live. Sounds like good advice to me!

Maybe through this advice we can approach our genetic potential to live well past 100. Here's to a long, happy and healthy life!

Dr. Jason Plotsky

The 100 Year Lifestyle (Part 1)

What a great book and great concept! This book is written by Dr. Eric Plasker, Chiropractor and Wellness Expert. I saw an Oprah show last year and consequently wrote an article in this publication about the fastest growing demographic on the globe: Centenarians. This was so interesting for me as it not only pertains to my personal health and wellness but also to my practice.

The 100 Year Lifestyle concept is quite symple. As our knowledge and understanding increases about the body and how it works, we are more likely to reach our genetic potential that some have estimated at 120 years old. As the author asks, "If you knew you'd live to be 100, how would you change your life?" In Part 1 I would love to highlight the three main principles of this book and in Part 2 I will outline more of the tools and plans to help fulfill your true potential.

The first principle is "Change is easy. Thinking about change is hard." As Dr. Plasker points out, "resisting change is harder than embracing change." I get this, I really do. I have 2 small kids. I am not up at 6am to workout everyday because the thought of having to change my HABITS of going to bed at certain times and getting up at certain times feels like it would be really difficult. Luckily for me my week is set up so I still make time to fit these essential activities in (and other essential activities like spending quality time with my family). I also hear this all the time when a patient knows they need to change an unhealthy habit but just the thought of having to change something they have done for many years (like sleeping on their stomach) sends them into panic. "How could I possibly sleep in a different position? A pillow under or between the knees, what are you crazy??" I used to sleep on my stomach too until I realized it was part of the reason that my back hurt everyday when I got out of bed! It really only took a month or two and then it was changed forever.

The second principle is "Change happens one choice at a time-think progress, not perfection." I've also read in other books the idea that perfection paralyzes people. I used to suffer from this quite a bit where I wouldn't want to start something unless I knew it could be done right. I also see this everyday as I recommend a few exercises that might take 2-3 minutes/day three times a week but if a person can't do that perfectly they won't do it at all. I used to feel this way about yoga - I wouldn't do it in pieces because I didn't think that it would be effective. Then as my free time got more challenged and completely sporadic I realized that every 5-10 minutes of yoga would help prepare for my day or assist me to unwind after a busy day. I know I would benefit more from an entire class, but I didn't let this stop me from doing a little bit each day. Let's face it, habits are hard to change so we need to allow ourselves permission to not do everything perfect and just start to take baby steps that lead us in the right direction.

The last principle is "Approach change with your ideal 100-year lifestyle in mind." I interpret this as a means to create leverage for yourself. Always keep in mind the future you want to experience. What is the vision for your life? I hope I don't sound like a broken record, but the choices we make today help define our health for tomorrow and the years ahead! Nobody else can care more about your life than you can. The time is now to take action and help create the life you have always dreamed of. Aging can be a good thing. If we plan and prepare now we can create an opportunity to realize all of our dreams and establish a remarkable legacy!

Dr. Jason Plotsky

Set your family up for success!

Set your kids up for success... A hands on workshop on how to use nutrition to feed your child's body, mind and spirit!




Topics to be covered...

- help your child focus
- boost immunity naturally: how to stop "catching what's going around"
- how to get them to eat their veggies
- healthier options for favorite junk foods
- why high fructose corn syrup is so harmful
- treats that are actually good for kids
- safe skin care products
- milk: which type may be best for you and your child

... and much MORE!

Workshop details...

When: Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Where: Nova Spinal Care, Bayers Lake
Time: 7-9pm
Cost: $25/person OR $40/couple

Registration: by phone (444-6682) or email (info@novaspinalcare.ca)**please register by Friday, June 18, 2010


*please note: Space is limited due to the hands on nature of the workshop!

Kids and Chiropractic

Every child needs a healthy spinal column. The spinal column is the framework that supports us throughout our growing years and into adulthood. Remember the saying, "As the twig grows, so grows the tree." Also of significant importance is the spine's job of protecting the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves that go out to all the cells, tissues and organs in the body. So let me ask you an important question. Who is checking your child's spine and nervous system? Most people will bring their child to the optometrist to get their eyes checked, the dentist to get their teeth checked and their family doctor for their annual check-up. Does the optometrist check the teeth? Does the dentist check the eyes? No, each professional has their respective area of expertise and they do the best job they can within their scope of practice. So who should be checking their spines?

Are you aware the body is self-healing and self-regulating? What controls and monitors these body processes? If you're thinking the nervous system, you are indeed correct. The nervous system is the first system to develop in the body and is responsible for the development of the rest of the cells, tissues and organs. Its job, in a nutshell, is to communicate information between the brain and the body and vice versa. When that communication is interfered with it can lead to a lack of optimum health. For some kids this interference may start as early as the birth process and may show up as things like colic, ear infections and asthma.

Most people think of the birth process as a natural and harmless event. We know that many births are difficult and in some cases forceps, vacuums and excessive force are used to get the baby out of the birth canal. The trouble with these situations is that there is often more stress placed on the neck of the baby than what their tissues can withstand. (Remember how you always have to hold and support the head of a newborn baby). Also to consider are the numerous falls and accidents that a baby or infant may have early in their development. These injuries at a very young age can lead to future health problems down the road.

The nervous system also supports and guides the immune systm. The immune system's job is to protect the body from foreign invaders (i.e. viruses and bacteria). There is constant communication between the immune system and the nervous system which helps to regulate the natural immune response in the body. There is a growing body of research that shows a properly functioning nervous system has an impact on the body's immune system. A case study from our office included a 10 year old boy who had a "weak" immune system, last fall and winter he had missed 26 days from school due to illness. This year he had almost a 65% reduction in the number of missed days at school!! I don't know that he was happy to be back at school, but I do know he was happy to be feeling much better!

It has been interesting taking care of kids in our clinic. They seem to know that we are helping their body function better and they love coming to the office. There are plenty of safe and gentle ways to adjust kids so their bodies are better balanced and so that their nervous systems function better. There are literally thousands of cases where a chiropractor has been able to save a child from a path of complicated and invasive procedures.

Chiropractors have been blessed with the opportunity to affect a child's life in one way or another and it is one of the things that get us out of bed in the morning! So the next time you are visiting your chiropractor, remember to bring your kids with you. They deserve an examination of their spine and nervous system to make sure their master control system is working at its optimum. Some injuries that we walk around with as adults started at a young age and we would be doing our kids a favor by getting small problems checked before they develop into big ones.

Dr. Jason Plotsky