Well-being is a key aspect of the chiropractic lifestyle:  a conscious mode of living that Dr. Winchester encourages patients to embrace.  It encompasses healthy choices for body and mind, including a nutritious diet, daily exercise, stress reduction, proper hydration and regular chiropractic care.  Unlike medication with limited effectiveness, this lifestyle has proven positive long-term effects on well-being- all without side effects. 

Research shows that chiropractic care affects all aspects of emotional well-being.  Call our office to schedule an appointment with Dr. Winchester to discuss ways to improve your well-being:  614-760-5555 or visit our website at thewinchesterinstitute.com for more information on this subject and more.

Dr. Winchester explains that, according to new research, a common malady known as vertebral subluxation may affect the psyche. Vertebral subluxation is linked to a wide range of physical health issues as well.

Vertebral subluxation is a condition in which spinal bones (vertebrae) have restricted mobility. It occurs when vertebrae are slightly out of place or not functioning properly. Dr. Winchester practices the Gonstead technique, and uses gentle chiropractic adjustments to correct vertebral subluxations by restoring motion and spinal alignment.

Call our office today to schedule a consultation with Dr. Winchester. 614-760-5555 or visit our website for additional information: thewinchesterinstitute.com

The Gonstead technique has a rich background.  Dr. C.S. Gonstead, like many who studied in his generation, decided to become a chiropractor because he was helped by chiropractic.  At 19, Gonstead was bedridden with rheumatoid arthritis.  Having tried all conventional solutions, Gonstead’s aunt sought help for Clarence from a chiropractor who came and stayed with him, adjusting him every four to six hours for three days. Eventually, this chiropractic care pulled him through.  Dr. C.S.  Gonstead graduated in 1923 and brought his engineering background into his concepts of spinal biomechanics.  He considered the disc an important aspect of the spinal motion unit.  This concept was not generally accepted at the time.  His emphasis was on the effects of the soft tissue of the spinal joints and also the extremity joints.  This emphasis on the soft tissue structures as the cause of neural deficits in what we call a subluxation, also set him apart.  Much of what he taught was based on his clinical observations.  He was a doctor who often practiced eighteen to twenty hours a day six to seven days a week.  The technique and analytical procedures that have come to be known as the Gonstead technique have withstood the clinical test of time. 

Schedule an adjustment with Dr. Dana Winchester today, and feel the difference a Gonstead chiropractor can make in your life.

Sitting at your desk for long periods of time may impress the boss and temporarily increase your productivity level. But studies show the longer you sit, the higher your risk of developing back pain.

Ergonomics- the design of science that maximizes productivity by reducing fatigue and discomfort-can make a big difference. Companies that purchase ergonomically correct chairs can substantially reduce employee work-related back pain.

Schedule a consultation with Dr. Winchester today to discuss proper ways to alleviate work-related back pain. Call our office at 614.760.5555 or email us at info@thewinchesterinstitute.com

Dr. Winchester knows that work-related back pain is a global epidemic.  In fact, back pain continues to be the leading overall cause of physical dysfunction and lost productivity in the workplace.

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders including back pain, have accounted for “a significant proportion of work injuries and workers’ compensation claims in industrialized nations since the late 1980s.”

Cost estimates related to low-back pain (LBP) exceed $50 billion.  These estimates include both direct healthcare costs and costs resulting from disability payments and lost productivity.

Dr. Winchester believes the need for injury-prevention education and promotion of drug-free therapeutic alternatives-such as chiropractic care is more crucial than ever.

The Problem with Pain Medications

Along with the rise in work related back pain has come an explosive proliferation of highly addictive medications.  For instance, investigators note that the prescription of opioids for musculoskeletal pain “has increased substantially in recent years”-particularly for work-related back pain.

Opioids include morphine, methadone, codeine and oxycodone.  Common side effects include drowsiness, nausea and restricted breathing.

Dr. Winchester is opposed to the indiscriminate use of pain medication.  Drugs serve only to mask pain-not eradicate.  Chiropractic care, on the other hand, addresses the source of discomfort:  not merely its symptoms.

Posture Problems

Sitting at your desk for long periods of time may impress the boss and temporarily increase your productivity level.  But studies show the longer you sit, the higher your risk of developing

Ergonomics- the design of science that maximizes productivity by reducing fatigue and discomfort-can make a big difference.  Companies that purchase ergonomically correct chairs can substantially reduce employee work-related back pain.

Schedule a consultation with Dr. Winchester today to discuss proper ways to alleviate work-related back pain.

With all the public concern regarding the H1N1 virus (swine flu) that originated in Mexico recently, many chiropractic patients are asking what they can do to avoid the flu.

Dr. Winchester suggests a few proactive steps you can take to minimize your risk now and prepare your body for the return of the flu season next fall. But first you should know more about the virus.

What is the Flu?

Influenza, or the flu, is a collection of symptoms associated with a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract. The symptoms include fever, body aches, coughing, sneezing and fatigue. The common cold has similar symptoms, but it’s actually much milder in intensity.

Reducing Your Risk

There are two main ways to avoid the symptoms of the flu:

1.) Reduce your exposure to the virus.

2.) Boost your natural ability to fight the virus once it enters your body.

A flu victim’s sneeze or cough releases millions of virus particles into the air. This makes airborne transmission of the flu possible. And when someone with flu wipes his nose or mouth with his hand, he leaves virus particles behind on anything he touches.

To avoid spreading or catching the flu, Dr. Winchester advises patients to take the following precautions:

Wash your hands frequently with soap and water.

When you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth with the inside of your elbow.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.

If you do get the flu, you should quarantine yourself- stay home, get plenty of rest and drink plenty of fluids (water is best). Most flu symptoms subside within a few days.

Improving Your Immunity

When functioning properly, the immune system either prevents you from getting sick, or helps you recover quickly when you’re ill. But a compromised immune system leaves you more susceptible to the flu and vulnerable to more serious complications, such as developing pneumonia.

Boosting your immunity can be accomplished in many ways. Dr. Winchester recommends:

Natural herbal supplements- Echinacea is one of the most popular herbal supplements shown to boost your immunity and speed up your recovery from colds or the flu. Vitamin C and zinc are also beneficial to immune health.

Chiropractic- This approach improves the function of the nervous system by locating and correcting vertebral subluxations (areas of restriction and misalignment in the spine). Since the nervous system plays a major role in regulating the functions of all bodily systems- including the immune system-chiropractic care can significantly improve your natural immunity.

Most of us underestimate how food can affect our moods. The brain reacts quickly to food-both good and bad- fed into your body.

Although you may feel sugary candy gives your mood a lift, you expose yourself to erratic fluctuations in your blood sugar levels. After the “sugar rush” effect wears off, your mood worsens. Caffeine is not much better. As it eventually makes you feel jittery and anxious. A better approach is to feed your brain the right nutrients so you can expect good moods to consistently dominate over bad moods.

Eating right does take some time and planning. Unfortunately, in our rushed stress-filled lives, we frequently turn to quick fixes like fast food. But these quickie meals are often nutrient deficient and heavy with ingredients that make you feel sluggish.

Nutrition for Brain Health

To understand how food affects your moods, you need to understand neurotransmitters. These are chemicals that send messages between nerves in your brain. Neurotransmitters are vital players when it comes to mood: they’re sensitive to what nutrients are circulating in your body. When your neurotransmitters are out of sync, you feel depression, anxiety and irritability.

The best way to start your day in a good mood is to eat breakfast. Dr. Winchester encourages her patients to take the time to enjoy a morning meal. It boosts your metabolism and keeps your moods stable. The best choice is to have both wholesome carbohydrates and protein.

Select carbohydrates like fruits and whole grain products. Fruits that are lower in sugar are the best option: these include berries, apple, and kiwi. If you’re not able to get these fresh or in season, choose frozen fruit (canned fruit often contains sugary syrup). And choose whole grain breads over highly-refined baked products.

Be sure to include some protein with all your meals, as it stabilizes blood sugar, reduces mo0od swings and creates energy. Protein also provides many of the building blocks for the creation of neurotransmitters. Good sources are fish, poultry, eggs, cheese, soy and nuts. Stay away from deep fried protein goods.

To help keep the pounds off, Dr. Winchester suggests using breakfast as your main meal of the day, and opt for lighter meals for lunch and dinner with a couple of nutritious snacks in between.

What do Tiger Woods, David Duval and more than 75 percent of golfers in the PGA have in common? They all sing the praises of chiropractic. But you don’t have to be a professional golfer to benefit from chiropractic. Amateur golfers also reap the performance-boosting rewards of regular chiropractic care.\

Throughout the world-from Scotland to South America- men, women and children of all ages and income levels are hitting the greens. Golf has long been heralded as one of the best ways to exercise the body and relax the mind. As in any sport, however, injuries can occur if you don’t take the proper precautions. Golf can be especially hard on the spine, often triggering back disorders. That’s why Dr. Winchester teaches patients how to keep their spines up to par.

Focus on Posture

Proper posture- both on and off the course- is key to avoiding golf-related injuries and improving your game.

For instance, a level backswing is dependent on proper posture. A backswing is actually two motions in one: the up/down movement of the arms and the rotation of the body- both directly dependent on spinal health.

That’s why a healthy spine is so vital to a golfer’s game. If the spine is out of alignment, the swing will be out of alignment. That’s also why so many professional and amateur golfers alike schedule regular chiropractic check-ups.

By correcting a spinal condition called vertebral subluxation, Dr. Winchester helps to perfect the posture and golf games of patients.

Vertebral subluxations occur when spinal movement is restricted or spinal bones (vertebrae) become misaligned. This common condition is linked with a myriad of health concerns, such s carpal tunnel syndrome, headaches, backaches, and infantile colic and ear infections. Dr. Winchester corrects vertebral subluxations with safe and gentle chiropractic adjustments.

Back in Shape

Low-back injuries are particularly common among golfers.

Why does golf generate -and aggravate – low back pain? According to researchers, the answer is two-fold: poor mechanics and today’s more demanding swing. “Stiff hip and back muscles are often the root cause of flawed mechanics. Also, older golfers may have back conditions that the swing aggravates: The disks between the spinal vertebrae get less elastic with the years and, therefore, are less able to distribute the stresses that the swing puts on the back.” (Harvard Health Letter 2000)

A Chiropractic Checkup: Your Ticket to Golfing Success

Golf is a game. It is also exercise.

The number 1 rule when embarking on a new exercise program is to call your doctor of chiropractic and schedule an appointment for a checkup. To go from a sedentary to active lifestyle takes time and patience. Even if you are already are actively involved in another sport, your chiropractor may suggest some modifications to your golf game-until your body is fully up to par.

Do you remember your mother reminding you to “stand up straight, and don’t slouch”?

You may have been annoyed by her nagging, but Mom knew what she was talking about. Forward head posture is one of the leading causes of pain in the neck and shoulders. Over the years, gradual changes to body position can slowly wear away at joints and surrounding soft tissues. Chronic pain syndromes, headaches and TMJ issues may appear if arthritic changes progress and postural alterations remain uncorrected.

Recently, research has shown that not only can faulty posture be a pain in the neck, but the effects of poor posture can also pose a significant health risks to many other systems in the body, specifically the respiratory, circulatory and digestive systems.

The chiropractic adjustment is very effective in reducing the pain caused by joint restriction and malposition (vertebral subluxation). However, if poor posture is the cause of these subluxations, the symptoms are likely to recur if your posture is not corrected. Your chiropractor encourages you to pay attention to this very important issue related to your spine.

What is Ideal Posture?

Posture is the way your body is held in space- whether standing, sitting or lying down. If your body has proper posture there is a perfect balance to your physical structures. And you’re able to hold your body in a neutral position with minimal effort. Certain physical structures in your body line up correctly with your center of gravity. Chiropractors such as Dr. Dana Winchester are able to assess your posture to see if these anatomical areas are correctly aligned.

Test Yourself

There are three quick self-tests you can perform to see if you have proper posture

Look in a mirror. Ears, shoulders and hips should each line up horizontally from left to right.

Stand with your back and buttocks against a wall. Place your feet approximately six inches from the wall. Does your head easily rest against the wall too? If it doesn’t, you have forward head posture.

Lie down on your back on a hard surface. With your head on the floor, you should be looking straight up to the ceiling. If you feel your head tilt backward, or aren’t looking straight above you, chances are that your upper back curve is the cause of your faulty posture.

Typical Symptoms of Bad Posture

For every inch that your head is held forward, an additional 10 pounds of pressure is placed on the supporting tissues of your neck and shoulders. Muscles along the rear of your neck and the upper back are required to accommodate for this extra load. As a result, they’ll experience stress and strain that is greater than normal.

Also, whenever the position of your body moves away from its center of gravity, your joints are taken out of their normal stress-free positions. You then begin to experience abnormal wear and tear. Over time, joint cartilage erosion, bone spurs and pinched nerves are evidence of this phenomenon. Painful symptoms of poor posture may include:

Muscle pain (aching or burning) and tightness

Nerve pain (shooting, sharp or aching) traveling down the arm or leg

Joint pain (aching, sharp or stabbing) and restriction

Ligament or tendon pain (aching, sharp or diffuse)

How to Improve Posture?

Be aware. Practicing awareness of your posture is the first step to correcting it.

Take regular breaks from sitting at a computer. Research shows a strong correlation between neck pain and lengthy computer usage.

Check the ergonomics of your workstation or desk.

Use a proper pillow for sleep. Avoid sleeping on your stomach.

Stretch the muscles that are too tight, and strengthen the postural muscles that are weak. Dr. Winchester can show you the correct techniques to use.

Get adjusted. When your spine moves properly, it has the best chance to position itself properly

Sure, you know that chiropractic alleviates dysfunction in the spine that may impede nervous system activity. And you know that chiropractic care wards off disability in the hips back and neck as well. You are probably also aware that this drug-free approach to health averts headaches, jaw pain and fibromyalgia. But did you know that chiropractic offers effective correction for problems in the joints of the upper and lower limbs (extremities)?

 Dr. Winchester addresses maladies affecting the ankles, knees, wrists elbows and shoulders with a multi faceted approach. First, alignment in the extremities is influenced by spinal posture. Consequently, a misaligned spine may spark a chain reaction that throws limbs slightly out of balance, leading to uneven wear on joints.

Dr. Winchester examines the spine for areas where movement is restricted or spinal bones (vertebrae) are slightly out of place. These dysfunctional segments are called vertebral subluxations. This condition is corrected with specialized, adjustments, using the Gonstead technique.

Next, chiropractic care targets the specific joint involved. This may include gentle adjustments to or manipulation of the joint. It may also involve physiotherapy techniques or exercises custom tailored to the patient’s unique circumstances. In addition, ergonomic advice is a common component of an extremity care plan. And nutrition and stress reduction are often also integrated into this revolutionary approach to health.

How effective is chiropractic at alleviating problems with joints in the extremities?

Wrists

A growing body of research indicates that chiropractic care is a winning solution for wrist pain due to carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and the lesser-known conditions that mimic it. Findings show that drug-free chiropractic approach is as effective as medical treatment, without the potentially hazardous side effects of hazardous effects of painkillers. Chiropractic care is also effective for the lesser-known disorders that are often misdiagnosed as CTS.

Elbows

Chiropractic adjustments alleviate common elbow problems, such as “tennis elbow” (lateral epicondylitis) and “golfer’s elbow” (medial epicondylitis). Research reveals that a specific type of adjustment to the elbow, as part of the Gonstead technique, produces an immediate and dramatic drop in pain for patients with tennis elbow. Schedule an appointment with Dr. Winchester to begin treatment for these issues and more!