” First of all, I came for the pinched nerve in my neck, I also always had tension in my back and cricks in my back. The pain was going down into my arm, it was burning and had a tuning force type feeling. I went my doctor and did physical therapy, it was fine because it addressed the symptoms but it didn’t address the problem. I always felt like my muscles were tense and I never turned down a massage!

It never limited in what I could do but it limited me in how I felt. It was always in the background.

Now, I don’t even think about my back or neck. I don’t worry about it. It feels normal for the first time in a long time.”

-Lavoyne F. (1.5.2021)

My New Year’s Resolutions

New Year’s hasn’t always been my favorite holiday. It’s because its a time of resolutions and for me it always feels like a setup for failure and disappointment. This changed when I realized that having resolutions wasn’t a final exam or a test of who I am. New Year’s can be a chance to take stock of your goals, who you want to be, and where your life is headed. It’s an opportunity for course correction and growth!

This year my New Year’s resolution is to share my journey and goals with YOU. Once a month, I will submit an update on my blog. I will share my successes and challenges along the way as well as helpful tips and techniques that I have learned. Look for my first entry the second week of January. It will have my goals as well as the strategies that I will be using!

If you are thinking about your own New Year’s Resolutions, here are a few important strategies to make 2017 the best year yet!

Purpose: Make sure you are clear on the reason WHY you want to accomplish your resolutions. If you want to lose weight, is it so you can feel good again and to have more energy? If so, why? Perhaps its so you can keep up with your growing family, or wanting to experience better health. Whatever YOUR reason is, be clear about it and connect with it on an emotional level. It has to matter. And when the time comes when it will be hard (and it will be) remembering your why can help you push through.

Goal Setting: Two things you want to do when you are setting goals for yourself.

1. Be specific about the goals you are setting. For an example, don’t just put down “I want to run a 5k.” Put down the exact time you want to accomplish and by when – “Run a 5k in 28 minutes or less before April 30, 2017.”
2. Tier your goals. What do I mean? Have 3 levels of goals. Start with Run a 5k in 35 minutes. Then an intermediate goal of 32 minutes and then the final goal of running a 5k in 28 minutes. You don’t have to build Rome overnight!

Reward and be kind to yourself: You will fail or slip up on the way. No problem. Don’t beat yourself up. Look at each slip up as an opportunity to BOUNCE BACK and to grow. It isn’t about perfection. It’s about progress and the only way you really fail is if you quit altogether. So be kind to yourself and keep pushing forward! AND when you do push forward and you’re doing well, reward yourself! Buy yourself a new dress or take a staycation. Celebrate! Tie a reward to each tier of your goals.

New Year’s doesn’t have to be something we shy away from. Let’s take this blank canvas available to us and make something awesome and beautiful!

For most people, the dawn of a new year brings with it good intentions of improving their health. However, many of those resolutions fall by the wayside as people eventually slip back into old habits and routines. It’s tough to stay focused and make the necessary choices to take care of yourself, even though you know they are in your best interest.

Smart phones are ubiquitous, and most of us spend too much time staring at them (myself included). Unfortunately for us, that means the only part of our body getting a good workout are our texting and scrolling thumbs. The good news is that we can use our phones to help us make those healthier choices – you just need to know about the right apps to download.

For those of you looking for someplace to start, here are a few apps that can add to your health:

Strava – made for cyclists and runners, Strava tracks your activities, including metrics for distance, speed, and calories burned.

Couch to 5K – if you’ve wanted to get into running but aren’t sure where to start, the Couch to 5K app takes you through a 9 week program that can get you ready for your first event.

Headspace – it’s no longer a secret that a meditation practice is not only good for your mental health, it also has proven physical benefits as well. Headspace takes your through simple 10 minute guided meditation to practice mindfulness, and reduce stress and anxiety.

Yonder – great for people who enjoy their adventures outdoors, Yonder helps you locate great places to hike, climb, ski or bike wherever you might be.

MyFitnessPal – the most popular app for tracking your nutrition, MyFitnessPal has an enormous database of foods. It can help you reach your nutrition goals, whether you’re trying to build muscle or lose weight.

Productive – this app is a good organizational tool and habit tracker, and when used, can help you build a routine of positive healthy habits.

Using apps to bolster your health and track your progress can be rewarding (and beware: it can even be addictive!) Some of the apps above, such as Strava and MyFitnessPal, have a social platform built in where you can both challenge and motivate your friends as you work to meet your individual goals. These apps are only suggestions and definitely just a start – there are many hundreds more out there to choose from. Using your phone as a training tool can be convenient and help you push through times that you may not be as motivated to make the healthier choices.

Have a favorite health-related app? Drop us a line and let us know what’s working for you – we’re always looking for ways to improve our wellbeing and to help you improve yours!

“It’s OK, it’s just my normal headache”

As someone who grew up experiencing fairly regular headaches, at one time I may have found some truth in this statement.  Each time, I’d turn to a bottle of Ibuprofen or Acetaminophen, and then turn into bed until relief came.

Many years later, I’ve come to realize there is no such thing as a “normal headache” (or migraine for that matter).  Each time I popped those two tablets of “Vitamin I”, I instinctually knew that even though it would bring relief in the short term, those pills were not doing a thing to correct the cause of these recurring episodes.

There are many headache types – tension headaches are the most common and feel like a hat that fits too tight; migraines usually come along with a host of other unwelcome symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and visual disturbances.  Modern medicine has struggled to nail down a cause for many headache types, though much research leans towards a combination of blood flow obstruction and impaired neurological function.

If you’re wondering what this has to do with NeuroStructural Chiropractic, allow me to explain.  Our goal is to locate the primary underlying Structural Shift in your spine (and not just the many compensations).  In our experience at Precision Chiropractic, 9 times out of 10, that primary Structural Shift occurs at the very top of the neck, just underneath the skull.  The two vertebrae most often to blame are the Atlas (C1) and Axis (C2) because of their unique shapes and biomechanics.

A misalignment, or vertebral subluxation, in this area can have very negative effects on both blood flow and normal neurological function – both culprits in the genesis of headaches and migraines.  In the case of my stubborn headaches, NeuroStructural Correction was the answer.  Finding, adjusting, and stabilizing the Structural Shift in my spine was the lasting solution I had been looking for.

Instead of focusing on temporary pain relief or reduction of muscle spasm, our purpose at Precision Chiropractic is to correct and stabilize that primary shift for the long-term, which is why we can achieve such positive and lasting results with our patients.  Have you been living with your “normal headache” for too long?  Maybe it’s time to get to the bottom of it.

Schedule your complimentary consultation with Dr. Lin! Click here.

Why does my neck crack and pop?

When you hear a pop or a crack in your neck it is actually joint fluid that is changing into gas. It is a chemical change, NOT the physical rubbing of two bones together. When a joint is stretched, the pressure changes and causes the fluid to change into gas.

AGAIN, it is NOT two bones rubbing together!