Dr. Kieu's Total Health Care System

Wellness program

Regular chiropractic care, eating a healthy diet, taking vitamin supplements, keeping your weight under control and stress management are all part of an overall wellness lifestyle that, if followed, results in a longer, healthier and pain-free life. Here is a list of basic tips to help you maintain a healthier, more vibrant body.

Regular Chiropractic Care

The chiropractic approach to healthcare is holistic, meaning that it addresses your overall health. Numerous studies have demonstrated that chiropractic care is one of the most effective treatments for back pain, neck pain, headaches, whiplash, sports injuries and many other types of musculoskeletal problems. It has even been shown to be effective in reducing high blood pressure, decreasing the frequency of childhood ear infections (otitis media) and improving the symptoms of asthma.

The Body Is The Natural Healing Organism

Chiropractic is so much more than simply a means of relieving pain. Ultimately, the goal of the chiropractic treatment is to restore the body to its natural state of optimal health. In order to accomplish this, chiropractor use a variety of treatment methods, including manual adjustments, massage, trigger point therapy, nutrition, exercise rehabilitation, and massage, as well as counseling on lifestyle issues that impact your health. Since the body has a remarkable ability to heal itself and to maintain its own health, the primary focus is simply to remove those things which interfere with the body’s normal healing ability.

Innate Healing Wisdom

Chiropractors understand that within each of us is an innate wisdom, a health energy, that will express itself as perfect health and well-being if we simply allow it to. Therefore, the focus of chiropractic care is simply to remove any physiological blocks to the proper expression of the body’s innate wisdom. Once these subluxations are removed, health is the natural consequence.

Just like continuing an exercise program and eating well in order to sustain the benefits of exercise and proper diet, it is necessary to continue chiropractic care to ensure the health of your musculoskeletal system. When you make routine chiropractic care a part of your lifestyle, you avoid many of the aches and pains that so many people suffer through. Your joints will last longer and you will be able to engage in more activities you love.

Prevention Is The Best Convention

Many years ago, dentists convinced everyone that the best time to go to the dentist is before your teeth hurt ・that routine dental care will help your teeth remain healthy for a long time. It is important to remember that, just like your teeth, your spine experiences normal wear and tear ・you walk, drive, sit, lift, sleep and bend. Regular chiropractic care can help you feel better, move with more freedom, and stay healthier throughout your lifetime. Although you can enjoy the benefits of chiropractic care even if you are only treated for a short time, the real benefits come into play when you make chiropractic care a part of your lifestyle.

Maintain Good Posture

Poor posture creates a lot of stress on your spine and chronic muscle tension, leading to pain and stiffness. This happens because the weight of your upper body must be supported by your back muscles instead of the bones of your spine. The further your posture deviates from normal, the greater the stress on your back and resulting in more pain that you will experience.

To illustrate this idea, think about carrying a briefcase. If you had to carry your briefcase with your arms outstretched in front of you, it would not take long before the muscles of your shoulders would be completely exhausted. This is because carrying the briefcase far away from the center of your body and places an undue stress on your shoulder muscles.

A simple exercise to improve your posture is called the Wall Posture Exercise. To do this exercise, simply find a flat wall. Rest your back against the wall and scoot your heels, shoulders and head back until the touch the wall. Holding this posture, step away from the wall and try to hold this posture as long as you can while you go about your day.

Reduce Your Stress = Better Health

Modern life is full of pressure, stress and frustration. Worrying about your job security, being overworked, driving in rush-hour traffic, arguing with your spouse ・all these create stress. According to a recent survey by the American Psychology Association, fifty-four percent of Americans are concerned about the level of stress in their everyday lives and two-thirds of Americans say they are likely to seek help for stress.

You may feel physical stress as the result of too much to do, not enough sleep, a poor diet or the effects of an illness. Stress can also be mental: when you worry about money, a loved one’s illness, retirement, or experience an emotionally devastating event, such as the death of a spouse or being fired from work.

However, much of our stress comes from less dramatic everyday responsibilities. Obligations and pressures which are both physical and mental are not always obvious to us. In response to these daily strains your body automatically increases blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, metabolism, and blood flow to your muscles. This response is intended to help your body react quickly and effectively to a high-pressure situation.

After decades of research, it is clear that the negative effects associated with stress are real. Although you may not always be able to avoid stressful situations, there are a number of things that you can do to reduce the effect that stress has on your body. The first is relaxation. Learning to relax doesn't have to be difficult. You can learn about specific techniques for stress reduction in the Stress Reduction section of this website.

Maintain a Healthy Body Weight

Most people know that excessive body weight contributes to the development of a number of conditions, such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and colon cancer. However, it may also be a major contributing factor for the development of low back pain. The spine is designed to carry a certain amount of body weight. When it is exposed to the excess pressure of being overweight, the spine becomes stressed and, over time, can suffer structural damage. Being overweight significantly contributes to symptoms associated with osteoporosis, osteoarthritis (OA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), degenerative disc disease (DDD), spinal stenosis, and spondylolisthesis.

In addition to back pain, those who are overweight may suffer from fatigue, as well as difficulty breathing and shortness of breath during short periods of exercise. If the fatigue and shortness of breath causes one to avoid activity and exercise, then this can indirectly lead to back pain as lack of exercise contributes to many common forms of back pain.

If you are currently overweight and suffer from low back pain, talk to your doctor about effective ways to lose weight. Not only will your back pain improve, but you will decrease your risk of most major degenerative diseases at the same time.

Optimize With Top Of The Line Supplements

Many people don’t think that they need to take vitamin supplements because, after all, the human body did not evolve to need supplements ・as long as you eat a balanced diet, you can get everything that your body needs, right? While it is certainly true that people living a thousand years ago did not have multivitamins, they also did not have thousands of tons of toxic chemicals being pumped into their environment every year; they were not exposed to a constant man-made electromagnetic field from powerlines and cell phones; they did not eat highly processed foods that contained artificial colors, flavors and preservatives; they were not sedentary; and they were not under constant stress at work and at home. Our bodies were simply not designed for a fast-paced, high-stress, highly processed lifestyle.

The reality is that we need to give our body some help in order to stay healthy in the world today. That is where supplements come in. Supplements help to ensure that your body gets all of the extra vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and probiotics necessary to function the way it should. You can find more information about the importance of vitamins on this site.

Keep Your Heart Healthy

Heart disease is currently the number-one killer of adults in the United States. This is unfortunate because most heart disease is caused by poor lifestyle choices. The four big lifestyle changes you can make to ensure to maximize the health of your heart are exercise, maintaining a healthy body weight, taking a high quality vitamin supplement and stop smoking.

Just as exercise is important to the health of your neuromusculoskeletal system, it is also critical to the health of your heart. When you regularly exercise, your body becomes much more efficient at using oxygen and burning calories and your blood pressure is normalized. This decreases the stress on your heart.

Another easy way to reduce the stress on your heart is to decrease the amount of body fat you carry around. It takes approximately one mile of additional blood vessels to supply one pound of additional fat. If you are twenty, thirty or fifty pounds overweight, it is easy to see how that extra body fat can place an undue burden on your heart.

Vitamins E and C and folic acid are the three most important nutritional supplements to take for your heart. Vitamin E is a powerful fat-soluble antioxidant which helps to prevent the cholesterol in your blood from becoming oxidized.

Stop Smoking For Everyone's Sake!

If you are a smoker, you are sick of hearing this, but・ it is REALLY important that you stop smoking! Smoking throughout the day is like living inside a burning building. Smoking degrades the collagen of your skin, causing premature wrinkling, destroys the cells inside your lungs, promotes heart disease, cataracts and cancer because of the oxidizing radicals released into the blood stream. It can also contribute to back pain by dehydrating the spinal discs.

Weaker Bone And Discs Degeneration Due To Smoking

Bone is a living tissue dependent on the functions and support provided by the other body systems. When these systems are not able to perform normally, bone is unable to rebuild itself. The formation of bone is particularly influenced by physical exercise and hormonal activity, both of which are adversely affected by cigarette smoking.

Smoking reduces the amount of oxygen in the blood and increases the level of harmful substances, such as carbon monoxide. In addition, nicotine causes a constriction of the small blood vessels that feed your spinal discs, shutting down their nutrient supply. Over time, the loss of normal blood supply leads to your discs becoming dehydrated and they begin to degenerate. Smoking is also known to cause an increase in estrogen loss in women who are perimenopausal or postmenopausal, which can result in a loss of bone density and increase your risk of developing osteoporosis.

There is no question that it is difficult to quit smoking. Many people who have quit say that it was the hardest thing they have ever done. But it is not impossible. People do it all the time. If you currently smoke and want to quit, there are programs that can help you. Some people have also found complimentary therapies, such as hypnosis, to be helpful in quitting smoking. And remember, there will almost always be setbacks. Don’t feel discourage. Try again!