Gratitude, giving and fun and how that may change our pain #BePainFree

Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays. We love it when the families get together. Even though we might not be able to agree on even the simplest things, such as which football team to cheer for, just that act of getting together is so heartwarming. Plus there is a lot to be said for a holiday that brings together good food, great company and giving thanks.

The holiday season also puts everyone in the giving mood. In addition to getting gifts for family and friends, for some of us it may be the time of year when we focus a little bit more on our charitable giving.  It’s also the time of year when we, in spite of our busy schedules, try to volunteer. And don’t we all seem to have a little more fun during the holidays? Holiday get togethers, holiday parties, fun activities for kids of all ages abound. Is it any wonder that this time of year is a favorite for us? 

Every Thanksgiving, and every day we find just so very much to be thankful for. Last year I mentioned to you that we were ever so grateful for the safe arrival of our baby Christian who continues to be such a joy to us. This year at Thanksgiving we are grateful for our new baby.  Before you all start knitting us little hats and booties, (we appreciate so much your wonderful gifts, thank you!)  let me just say that we did not have another child  J but rather we opened up a new 2^nd office in the Farmington area. This was one of those times when things came together in a divine way and we are now blessed to serve an additional community - for that we are truly grateful.

So I know what you are thinking: “OK Dr. Shepherd, what does this have to do with me and my pain?” Well I was just getting to that: Even though this season has the potential to be a wonderful experience, there is also the potential for it to be a stressful time, and I can attest to this personally. I have patients who tell me that this time of year results in an increase in their headaches, neck pain and back pain! Maybe there is something simple that can go a long way to help? What if we all focus on gratitude, giving and fun during this holiday season, and watch how it changes our pain for the better.

Please let me share the results of some research on this topic with you. I know we all have heard about people who have achieved great changes in their lives and health which they attributed to changing their attitude to one of gratitude. We've heard of people changing horrendous conditions in their lives or beating terrible illnesses like cancers, and some information out of Harvard Medical School and studies out of University of California and University of Pennsylvania have shown that an attitude of gratitude does impact our physiology. In one study, 10 weeks of gratitude resulted in fewer visits to a physician. In another study, various treatments were compared and gratitude had the greatest impact and the effects lasted at least a month.

The studies suggest it so let’s try it out! Will you join us? From today until Jan 1^st 2016, let’s focus our attention on the things in our lives that we are grateful for, the acts of kindness that we give and receive and the fun things that we can do safely this holiday season. Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/saporitochiropractic and post about things you are thankful for, random acts of kindness – given or received - that mean something to you, as well as any fun uplifting heartwarming holiday stories that you may have to share. Please use hashtag #BePainFree.

Wishing you all a happy holiday season and a completely pain free 2016!

Dr. Shepherd

Do you have a pain free mindset? ...Step 3 to being pain free

Do you have a pain free mindset? ...Step 3 to being pain free

Thanks so much to everyone who gave us feedback on the last 2 articles. If you missed our articles so far about how to live pain free, just go to www.saporitochiropractic.com and click on "blog" to get caught up! 

So… we were talking about the 3 step process that we have found works wonders for patients with musculoskeletal pain. That includes patients with acute pain or chronic pain, back pain or neck pain. Most readers absolutely were on board for Step 1: Physical Medicine Modalities.  Most readers agreed that they could see how using those techniques would make a difference. Step 2 also was well received. It was interesting to see that some of our readers even shared their own stories about how changing their lifestyle: diet and exercise, posture and ergonomics also helped them. That takes us to step 3 – having a pain free mindset.

Many years ago when I worked at a clinic in southern Connecticut, I had the privilege of treating 2 patients who were in the same minor traffic accident and suffered whiplash. It’s interesting to note here that the 2 patients were reasonably young, appeared in good health overall and had no complications. One of the patients was just a glass half empty kind of guy. Very stressed, worried, pessimistic. The other gentleman was very positive in his outlook. Perhaps the most positive person I’ve ever met to tell you the truth. He was very optimistic about the outcome of his treatment. Well, we treated them as we usually would patients with whiplash, and both patients had spinal imaging done which they brought in to us. Within about 2 weeks Mr. Optimism was pain free, had restored his ranges of motion and mobility and was able to return to playing on his sports team. His pessimistic friend however, did not fare as well. He did get better, but it took quite a bit longer. Last I heard he also quit playing for the team he loved because he felt limited by the possibility of his pain returning. And here’s the most interesting part of this story: Do you remember me mentioning that the patients brought in their imaging?  Mr. Optimism had a significant spinal defect! Mr. Pessimism on the other hand had a beautiful spine and healthy looking muscles and soft tissue.

I’m not saying that the patients’ attitudes were the only factors in their recovery, but that particular incident really got me thinking, so I started my own little anecdotal study. I started looking at how patient’s attitudes to pain and their outcomes correlated, and almost to the person I could predict what patients responses to treatment would be. This led me to look at the literature. I had to find out if anyone had actually studied this and what results they had found. What I saw just amazed me. Most of the studies that I saw looked mostly at patients with chronic conditions such as cancers and how their outcomes varied with their attitudes. It seemed that positive thinking was really a factor to be considered and not just airy fairy baloney!

A study that caught my attention recently, and which I now share with patients all the time, was one which showed that being stressed is worse for you than being obese, diabetic, smoking 15 cigarettes per day and being an alcoholic. It’s not easy to not to be stressed out about pain. After all, it is…well…pain. But from what I have seen in practice over the years, even though it may seem as if the pain will never go away, it’s as one of my mentors always says: “It’s just as easy to think an optimistic thought as it is to think a pessimistic thought.” And both my experience and the studies appear to agree, it’s worth thinking positively.

Patients who stop telling the story of: “Pain is just another part of getting older,” or “I’ve always had this pain,” and instead choose more optimistic thoughts tend to be the ones who use step one and step two of the be pain free process to free themselves of their musculoskeletal pain once and for all.

Regards in health,

Dr. Shepherd

Yes you can live pain free: Step 2

Thanks so much to everyone who read last month’s article. Thanks very much for all your feedback. If you missed our article last month, just go to www.saporitochiropractic.blogspot.com to get caught up! So… we were talking about the 3 step process that we have found works wonders for patients with musculoskeletal pain: acute pain or chronic pain, back pain or neck pain. Step 1 looked at Physical Medicine Modalities and most readers agreed that they could see how using those techniques would make a difference. Many of our patients who do particularly well however take their treatment protocol a little further. They also incorporate lifestyle changes that make a big difference in their pain.

Ergonomics

When I was in chiropractic school I remember one of our professors telling us: If you are treating in the correct way but are not getting the results you expect, look at the patient’s ergonomics. Have you ever sat in an uncomfortable chair or slept in an uncomfortable bed and paid for it the next day? Can you imagine the damage done when someone sits like that or sleeps like that every day for months, sometimes even years? For some patients, it may be that their work station needs to be reorganized. Their chair may need to be adjusted/changed, the computer screen may not be at the correct height, they may need a foot rest or there may be something else in the work environment contributing to their pain. Some of our patients who work in a more manual setting may find that getting into certain positions or using certain tools repetitively may be the culprit. The wrong kind of pillows and mattresses can contribute to neck and back pain as well. Sometimes just making a little change in one of these areas makes all the difference.

Food and pain

When patients come in with pain we always ask questions about their diet. Often patients come in expecting a quick adjustment and are a little surprised to find that diet and pain could be even remotely related! The truth is that some mainstays of the Standard American Diet promote pain and inflammation. For some, increasing the intake of Omega -3 fatty acids is a great idea. Some studies show that foods from animals as well as some grains and seeds may be associated with increased inflammation. Having a plant based diet has been proven to be anti-inflammatory. For some patients adding some anti-inflammatory substances such as green tea, resveratrol, vitamins C and E, curcumin as well as certain compounds found in some fruits and vegetables have been shown in some studies to act on the same pathway as NSAIDS and COX-2 inhibitors to reduce pain!  Most patients will benefit from reducing pro-inflammatory substances from their diets, essentially stopping the pain even before it starts! Patients with an inflammatory condition such as a musculoskeletal injury should consider how what they are eating may be affecting their recovery!

Posture

I have a confession to make. Before I went to chiropractic school I had great posture and hardly ever had back pain. Studying for hours, sitting in classes all day, sitting at the computer for hours, using laptops, tablets and smart phones were all convenient but they have all played a part in ruining my posture and introducing me to the world of back pain! The same techniques that I use for myself are the ones I recommend for patients: I have found that working to change poor postural habits, retraining neuromuscular patterns and using rehabilitation exercises and other such techniques go a long way to reduce pain. Yes your mom was right! Do sit up straight!

Exercise

There was a study published in the journal of the American Medical Association a couple of years ago that showed that daily exercise for patients suffering from arthritic changes was more effective for many patients than NSAID medication. I have also seen studies and proven in practice the benefit of a prescribed exercise program using rehabilitation exercises for many patients with chronic pain.

These are just of a few of the lifestyle changes that some of our patients found helpful in getting to pain free. Next time I’ll give you the secret sauce, the icing on the cake so to speak of living pain free. You will be surprised; it’s not what you’re thinking. You are going to like it and I can’t wait to share it with you!

Regards in health,

Dr. Shepherd

You can live pain free! Part 1

HI! 
This article was in the paper this month. Not sure if you saw it but just in case you did not and you are interested have a look:

You… yes you, can live Pain Free
– A three step process

As chiropractors we see patients in pain all day every day. Most of the patents who come in to see us have some kind of musculoskeletal pain: Back pain, neck pain, headaches, joint pain, muscle pain… The center of disease control (CDC) says that 80% of Americans will have back pain, they weren’t even factoring in any other kinds of pain, just back pain! So as you can imagine we see a lot of patients! Some come in, in the early stages of their painful condition and through a few treatments feel completely better and never even think of their painful condition ever again. That of course is ideal!

Many patients though come in with chronic pain, pain they may have been dealing with for months, even years, and for those the idea of living pain free can seem very far off; Impossible even. Some cannot imagine a time before they had pain. Many have no hope of ever being pain free ever again. Chronic pain can be debilitating, lead to depression and other health problems and so it’s definitely something that needs to be addressed in a big way.

The kind of musculoskeletal pain that we treat in office tends to be a warning sign that something is WRONG. We have found that treating the source of the pain instead of masking the symptoms is preferable for long term resolution and for a pain free life.

Of course the best way to remain pain free in the long term is to stop the pain before it starts, or at least catch and treat with it early, but for the patient already in chronic pain, this recommendation is less than satisfying and in my mind I can see that patient getting ready to turn the page… But wait, there’s more!

Here’s the deal, should you have musculoskeletal pain, start by getting a thorough physical examination. Go to your healthcare provider – that is, your chiropractic physician, internal medicine or primary care provider. We are all specially trained to diagnose these conditions. Even though many cases of back pain do end up being easily treated, once in a while back pain can be a sign of something serious going on inside, so check in and get checked out.

If you suffer from chronic musculoskeletal pain, the good news is that most patients can live pain free just by employing a simple 3 step process. In the almost 20 years that I have been in healthcare, my experience has been that: taken together, these steps provide results. Today let’s talk about step 1:

Using physical medicine techniques to treat musculoskeletal pain.

In office we have found that physical medicine is AMAZING when it comes to stopping the pain. Let’s start with joint manipulation which as a chiropractor is obviously one of my favorites. Many patients who have never been treated in this way may be nervous because they’ve heard of chiropractors “cracking the back!” Well, I’m with you people! If someone wanted to CRACK my back, I’d be more than a little hesitant. So please let me allay your fears, nothing is cracking! What’s really happening here is the joint is being taken to the end of its natural range of motion. This helps with muscle spasms, reduces pain and improves ranges of motion. You may hear a clicking or popping sound as the gasses escape the joint, but nothing whatsoever is cracking! Other physical medicine favorites of mine include rehabilitation exercises and soft tissue manipulation (many patients think this feels more like a massage.) Then there are modalities such as heat, cold, ultrasound, cold lasers and electrical stimulation which help to reduce pain, improve muscle function and promote healing. Other devices such as durable medical equipment, braces, supports and orthotics are also tremendously helpful when used in the correct way as part of a physical medicine protocol.

Physical medicine has a lot to offer and the results continue to astonish many patients, however, I have to say that the patients who do the very best are the ones who also incorporate steps 2 and 3 in the - “Live pain free system.” Step 2 looks at lifestyle interventions, and I know what you are thinking: “Change my lifestyle? WHAT?!!! Who wants to do that? And how will that help anyway?” Well, I’m glad you asked! Why don’t we pick up there next month, same time same place and all your questions will be answered.

Regards in health,
Dr. Shepherd

Health and Vision Boards

Up until recently I had no idea what a vision board was. Just like everyone else I would write my New Year resolutions in a list and I would find that by March- April I would be struggling to keep them, and those were the ones I remembered!

Then one day my dear friend Chloe White invited me to a Vision Board workshop that she was hosting. A little research revealed that this was something recommended by Oprah :) , so I went, I loved it and I was hooked! I've been doing them ever since and I have noticed that sticking to my resolutions is so much easier when you have a visual, and lots of fun!

So, if you have never heard of vision boards, you are probably wondering what they are and what a workshop entails. Basically I would define a vision board as a collage of pictures that represent your intentions. In the workshops that I have attended, we had lots of fun leafing through magazines and cutting out photos, words and images that represent what we would like our lives to look like for the coming year. We used scrapbooking pages as the backing and just glued what we had cut out right there onto the board. Adding photos of self, family and other meaningful things completed the vision board and then it was hung in a place where I could see these images daily as a reminder of my intention.

As a funny aside, at the vision board workshop that I went to recently, we had just had a severe snowstorm and everybody was putting photos of beach vacations on their boards! What fun!

So what does that have to do with health and wellness you may ask? Well, statistics show that most Americans have health and wellness goals within their top 5 New Year resolutions. Achieving these goals can be easy and fun when you set these goals to pictures. Do you aspire to eat more healthily this year? Find those words or images that say that to you and put that on your board! Do you want to achieve more fitness? Put words or photos representing that! This year my vision board has images representing me getting more rest and relaxation, improving my time management and running that race in Hartford that I love! Now that my intention is set to photos, photos that I see every day, I'm sure I'm well on the way to achieving them.

Would you like to make your very own vision board? Please join us in office on March 30^th 2015 for our intention setting open house. It will be hosted by Chloe White who is an expert.  It will go from 5:30-7pm. There will also be a Foam Roller Workshop and Aromatherapy Workshop as well as complimentary massages with Angelica Macaraeg LMT. To attend please just RSVP to 860-589-1491.

Are you SUPERMOM?

· How can we have less stress and better time management skills?

· What are the best nutritional choices for our  families?

· How can we attend to our self care without taking away from other aspects of our lives?

If these questions resonate with you, then you are not alone and you are cordially invited to participate in the: Being SuperMom Bootcamp

 Complimentary introductory workshop date: Thursday, March 26th, at 6pm

Dr. Shepherd, a mom and a physician specializing in holistic health and wellness, will be presenting all seven not to be missed high content, step by step tele-workshops. The boot camp includes:

·  - 7 seminars and all the seminar materials,

·  - Your own personal Q&A time during “open office hours,”

·  - One complimentary personal clinical nutrition get acquainted session.

- In addition you will be given access to our private Facebook group of truly SUPERMOMS who provide the kind of support every mom deserves and needs.

Janet Johnson your local business writer and CEO of

www.Manufacturingadvances.com says about The Mini Mommy Summits™ :

“ …I go, go, and go.  I do this because I care so much for my clients and want the best for them.  … when

I'm in this mode, I tend to put myself last.  As a parent of two little kids… maintaining my health and energy is very important to me.  … [Dr. Shepherd] always reminds me to take care of myself first and gives me strategies on everything self-care: from simple daily stretches to nutrition guidance.   This mindfulness has made such a huge difference in my life.  Now, I have enough energy to do everything I need to do BECAUSE I take care of my health first. The Mini-Mommy Summit is a can't-miss.  It would be a blessing to your life if you attended.” 

                                                 Please register now as spaces do fill up:

 Just call 860-589-1491 or Email drdaviashepherd@hotmail.com

The Mini Mommy Summits™

Healthily navigating the supermarket aisles

I am a great advocate for preparing as many meals as possible at home and saving eating out for special occasions. In many cases this can be a healthier prospect, however so many patients seem to have so many questions when it comes to healthy quick and affordable meal preparation and most of the questions seem to surround what to buy at the market.

Having questions surrounding supermarket shopping is universal and its no one's fault that busy parents want clear cut answers when it comes to making the correct nutritional choices for their families.

Some of the recurrent questions surround reading labels, whole grains, gluten, low fat vs. low carb, which processed foods are ok, when to go organic, fresh vs canned foods and so on. If you have ever been concerned about these issues then you might want to take advantage of a resource that our patients love: Shopping with Dr. Shepherd.

We shop from the local supermarket (we don't even have to go to a speciality health foods market.) The program provides help making a nutritious meal plan for the week, making a healthy shopping list and then making the healthiest choices that the local market has to offer. In addition, I share some of my healthy recipes that even picky kids may love. (I should know, my 4 year old is perhaps the pickiest!)

As you can imagine, we can only do a few of these sessions, so if you are interested, please call the office at 860-589-1491 today to reserve your appointment. Think of registering a friend with you. If this does not speak to you but you can think of someone who may be interested, please do pass the information along. If you have questions or concerns, do call us in office and we will be happy to help.