Your Chiropractor’s job is to relieve as much Nerve Impingement Syndrome as possible. By allowing the nervous system freely to transport the nerve impulses throughout your body, you will begin to feel like new again, free to enjoy life to the fullest! Chiropractors work to achieve the highest level of function for your body, relieving the pain, eliminating the symptoms and correcting the cause of those symptoms.
It is never too late to improve your health and well-being. To maintain good health and vitality, try these simple, painless routines.
Brush your gums and tongue
We all know to brush our teeth, but few do it long enough and include the gums and tongue. The entire body can be treated via acupuncture points along the gums. Spend 5 minutes each time you brush. (Set a timer because 5 minutes becomes a LONG time at first.) And the more you do, additional benefits result as well. And don’t forget your tongue.
Brush your scalp
We think of brushing our hair. Remember the ‘olden’ days when mom reminded us to brush 50 strokes? Spend time massaging your scalp with your fingernails and even while you shampoo. Do you love getting your hair shampooed at the hair salon? Hundreds of acupuncture points are on the scalp itself. In a hurry? The point (governing vessel 20) located at the very top of the head is the point of 100 meeting points. You are accessing several channels at once.
Push back your cuticles (fingers and toes)
Ever had a pedicure or manicure? Just the act of pushing back your cuticles, something we should be doing daily as part of our hygiene ritual, stimulates acupuncture points that go DIRECTLY to every muscle and tendon in the body. Need to relax? Push back your cuticles.don’t forget your toes! (Need to keep a small child quiet at a recital or church? This works a charm! An extra-long recital? Trace every finger front and back as well.)
Loufa your body
If you live in Florida you can actually grow loufa plants, or you can get them at most Wal-Mart/K-Mart stores. Must say ‘loufa’ on the package. This is a hard sponge that softens with use. (Ones grown in your own yard are much softer than those commercially sold.) Wherever there is skin? Loufa it. There are thousands of acupuncture points all over our body. If you find a ‘sore’ spot, or if you locate an especially ‘itchy’ spot, spend extra time there, it’s very likely it’s an acupuncture point that needs stimulation. Electricity is accumulating there and stimulation via massaging or loufa-ing (if there’s such a word), disperses this accumulation.
Moisten your nasal membranes
When you splash water on your face, keep water on your little fingers. Put your little fingers inside your nose and moisten all around. You do not need to sniff water up into your sinuses. Moistening your nasal membranes increases your ‘chi (your body’s bio-electrical energy).
Breathing exercises
You wouldn’t think we would have to ‘think’ about breathing, but most of us breathe shallow most of the day. If you have ever been in a choir or taken voice lessons, these are the breathing exercises. On inspiration (breathing in), push your stomach out as far as you can. On expiration (breathing out), let your stomach fall back to neutral. This is very difficult to do without ‘thinking’ about it. Most of us are ‘chest’ breathers, rather than ‘abdominal’ breathers. When you breathe with your abdomen, it forces the diaphragm to ‘drop’ and thus increasing your lung capacity (thus, the reason singers practice this so as to be able to sustain notes much longer). More oxygen? More ‘chi? More energy!
You can do the next steps yourself as well, but more relaxing and fun if done by someone else. These areas treat the entire body.
Massage
Massage has great, postive effects. Massage your face, your hands, your feet and even your ears.
These simple steps above are the ‘apple a day, keep the doctor away’ acupuncture steps that can maintain life and vitality. Read up on acupuncture and chiropractors. There are several good books available at the library. Some are basic texts and some are more advanced.
If yours is a more serious and long-standing condition, or if these steps do not help with a particular condition you have concerns about, please see your doctor immediately.
Patricia Wesley practices at Wesley Chiropractic & Acupuncture at 1014 Florida Avenue in Rockledge.
Call (321) 631-2225 for mor einformation, or visit www.wesleychiropractic.info