A week before Christmas 2011, Singapore witnessed and painfully went through a few days of inconvenience due to disruptions of its once reliable train services. The reason quoted was that there was a misalignment of electrical connections between 4 trains and certain sections of the track between Dhoby Ghaut and City Hall stations.
“Misalignment” is a word used very commonly in the chiropractic arena to explain a situation where a bone has gone out of position, causing impingement to nerves.
As some of you may know, our brain controls everything in our body by sending electrical signals throughout our body. These signals go to our muscles, ligaments and organs and they travel on this superinformation highway called our spinal cord, which branches out as small bundles of fine extensions called nerves. As the spinal cord and its nerves are very delicate structures, akin to that of the copper wires in wires, it has to be protected, just like how the copper wires are protected by insulating plastic cover. Our spine, being hard and sturdy, does this job to protect the spinal cord and its nerves.
Our spine has 24 bones. When our spine is healthy, the bones are all sitting in the right place. Our nerve system can be viewed as a train system. Our brain sends out signals to every part of our body, like how the headquarters instruct these trains to ply back and forth their respective destinations. In our body, signals (like trains) travel from our brain and back (feedback loop). The spinal cord and nerves are like the tracks.
When misalignments happen in our body, nerves can become impinged and signals can get stuck and does not get to their pre-determined destinations. This over time, can lead to aches, pains, numbness, tingling, and health problems, just like the resulting frustrations when the train services was disrupted.
Our role as chiropractors is similar to that of the engineers who check the tracks to make sure that there is no misalignment and the tracks are free of any disconnection problems. A spine that is free from misalignment will have an efficient nerve system, therefore optimal health, just like the previous standard of our “world-class” train system. Therefore, it is important for anyone with a spine to see a chiropractor regularly to make sure that there is no misalignment to cause disruption of services to your nerve system.
To better serve my patients and as part of my commitment to continually myself professionally, I took leave from my office from 17 November 2011 to 22 November 2011 to attend the Koren Specific Technique (KST) in Melbourne.
I had the honour to meet Dr Tedd Koren, the founder of KST and had the first hand experience of KST, i.e. I got adjusted using KST. I was surprised at its effectiveness, despite it being so gentle, and equally impressed with the specificity of the technique.
For those of you who are familiar with Chiropractic jargons, KST is derived mainly from Directional Non-Force Technique (DNFT) and Spinal Coloumn Stressology, and the adjustment is done using an adjusting instrument called the Arthrostim. Using a binary feedback through the detection of slight change at the back of one’s skull during a mental challenge (I know this sounds complicated), called the Occipital Drop, KST allows the practitioner the ability to analyse the location of a misalignment (subluxation) and accurately correct it using the Arthrostim adjusting instrument. This technique does not involve any cracking or popping of the joints and can be done in any positions, particularly in positions that produce pain. The Arthrostim is an automatic toggle machine that can introduce a controlled tap as fast as 12 times per second. In line with our office’s philosophy of providing customized care to each individual, I will be incorporating KST into my patients’ treatment accordingly.
Apart from learning some great chiropractic stuff, I also had a great time meeting many chiropractors from Australia, Malaysia and USA. Joanne, Jay Ler and I took time to explore the city of Melbourne and also visited the Philip Island to see penguins and visit the chocolate factory, winery and koala conservation.
Hi, my name is spine and I am an important part of you, yes you! I am the reason that you are able to maintain the position that you are in now and also to bend forward, backwards, sideways and rotate your body.
I am made up of 24 bones called vertebrae stacked together and separated by a jelly like substance called discs. 7 of these bones are found in the neck, 12 in the upper back and 5 in the lower back. I protect a very soft tissue called the spinal cord.
The spinal cord connects the brain to the rest of your body. You have muscles, ligaments and organs in your body and all these are controlled by the brain. The spinal cord and its fine extensions called nerves form the information highway between the brain and these structures. My job is to protect the spinal cord and the brain. So, you can see that I have a very important job to do. Inbetween the vertebrae, there are small holes that allow the spinal cord to branch out as nerves to reach the muscles, ligaments and organs.
When I am healthy and sitting in good position, the nerves will be happy. When I get knocked out of position, I can step or impinge on the nerves. Strong I may be, I can get knocked out of position quite easily, such as poor sitting posture, sleeping posture, emotional stress, or even the birthing process.
When I am out of position, I can cause a lot of discomforts, such as aches, numbness, tingling sensations, degenerations, dis-eases etc. Most people think when they are in pain, it is because of the muscles and other things. They don’t think of me first. They SHOULD! You have to understand this: All muscles attach to bones. When I am out of position, I can cause muscle strains as well, in addition to nerve impingements. Me being out of position can also cause dis-ease and organ dysfunctions and this can lead to a lot of health problems.
If I am the cause of the discomforts and dis-eases, as with most cases, will the medications that people take solve the problem? Or the massage, plasters, etc? Most of the time, I am THE CAUSE. So, seeing a chiropractor to get me aligned is the best way to help yourself. When I am lined up properly, discomforts fade away, health improves, and you live longer.
Wait no longer, see my chiropractor, Dr Kelvin Ng today. Call 6336 7714.
Have you heard of the word “Forward Head Carriage (FHC)”? If you haven’t, look around you. Do you see people sitting or standing with their head in front of their shoulder? That is what is it.
Our head, when in neutral position, weighs only 12 pounds. Every inch that you move your head forward adds 10 pounds to the weight of your head, ie. if instead of sitting upright, you slouch forward, your head can become heavier by 30 pounds to 42 pounds. It then becomes commonsensical for your neck muscles to become fatigued after sitting in this position all day because it is supporting an additional 30 pounds of weight.
Long term sitting posture like that can cause many problems, such as neck strains, tightness, aches, headaches, upper back pain, lower back pain, shoulder pain, etc, in short, misalignments in the spine.
Misalignments as such can cause some of these bones to become locked in a wrong position. Over time, it becomes more difficult to sit in an ideal position and this soon becomes a habit, which will be difficult to break. This can then lead to more misalignments and ultimately, poor posture or FHC. This can further lead to degenerations in the spine.
When someone has FHC, the best way to deal with it is through chiropractic care. Chiropractors are trained to look for such misalignments and correct them. When the spine is well aligned, not only with one’s posture become better, but the accompanying discomforts will fade away. Degeneration in the spine can also be prevented.
If you haven’t been to a chiropractor, you are likely to have misalignments in your spine and there is a high chance that your spine may need some work. To find out how we can help, give us a call at 6336 7714.
