That average person spends a LOT of time in front of screens these days. There is a good amount of research that explores detrimental effects of too much screen time for both kids and adults. It's important to give your eyes (and brain) a rest periodically, and to limit your exposure to electronic devices in the evenings when possible. Your body also needs a chance to move every so often, whether you work at a sitting or standing desk. Set a notification timer for a reminder to pop up on your computer screen every 30-60 minutes while you're working. When you see the notification, smile - it's time to give yourself a 30-60 second body and mind break! Choose one of the following during each break. 

Option A. Stretch your psoas muscles! 
The psoas is a muscle that connects the front of your lumbar spine to the femur, or thigh bone. While we sit, the psoas is shortened. Long periods of sitting can create compression in the low back by pulling the lumbar spine forward, thus increasing the lumbar curve and potentially causing pain in the spine, if the forward pulling motion is not periodically offset by counter postures (like some simple stretching, described below). 
A high lunge pose in yoga is a great way to stretch this large, deep abdominal/hip flexing muscle. Stand in a wide forward lunge position with the pointy hip bones you can feel at the front of your pelvis aiming straight ahead. Get into position and hold for 5-30 seconds on each side. You should feel a pleasant stretch from the front of your thigh that crosses the groin, and goes deep into your abdominals. To deepen the stretch, you can bring the arms straight up toward the ceiling and/or gently tuck your pelvis (imagine a dog tucking its tail between its legs and you'll get a similar effect). 

Option B. Contract your lower trapezius muscles!
The upper trapezius muscles (traps for short) can become notoriously tight with things like stress and extended screen time - or really any prolonged work in front of our bodies. When the lower trapezius muscles are contracted, the taut upper traps will naturally relax. To help the shoulders relax for a few seconds, concentrate on sliding your shoulder blades down your back, each one heading in the direction of the back pocket of your pants on the opposite side. Hold this position for a few seconds, then relax back into a neutral position. When the lower traps are contracted, you'll notice your chest lifting slightly, and usually your posture will momentarily improve as your upper body sits more upright. To strengthen your lower trapezius muscles, hold this contraction for 10-30 seconds a few times each day, and enjoy having more naturally relaxed upper traps. 

Option C. Do the twist!
You can decide whether or not to put on a minute's worth of your favorite dance tunes, but with or without music, a short and simple "twist" dance move will get energy moving around in your body, bringing blood flow to different areas, and will probably put a little smile on your face. For an old-school demonstration, see this video - the dancing starts at 1:45. 

Option D. Close your eyes and take some belly breaths. 
Our autonomic nervous system is divided into two equally important parts: the sympathetic nervous system, known as our "fight or flight" system, is responsible for our stress response; the parasympathetic nervous system is in charge of our bodies' healing and "rest and digest" capacities. You can imagine how things like global pandemics, systemic societal injustices, and work deadlines will contribute to overloading our sympathetic nervous systems. If you can take a minute to shut out the outside world and remember to BREATHE, you can help lower your stress response. Here's how: close your eyes and focus on slowly inhaling into your belly, so instead of your chest rising, your belly extends. You can either count to 5 with each inhale, hold the breath for 3-5 seconds, and take another 5 seconds to exhale, OR, just allow your belly to rise and fall as you pay attention to each breath coming and going. Let yourself have a little minute of zen. This can not only calm you, but it's been shown to improve cognitive function, naturally regulate emotions, and even give our immune systems a little boost as well. For more on the benefits of diaphragmatic breathing, and additional techniques, check out this article.

Head spinning, room spinning, unable to see straight… and then, the nausea sets in. It’s extremely difficult to function normally when vertigo hits. Did you know that your atlas may be the problem behind vertigo, dizziness, and balance disorders, and that a specific Atlas Orthogonal adjustment can be the solution?  

The top third of your spine, located in the neck, is called the cervical spine, and the family of chiropractic techniques that specialize in the upper part of the neck is called upper cervical chiropractic, Atlas Orthogonal among them. Your atlas, or C1 vertebra, is located at the very top of the cervical spine, just under the skull. This tiny bone has two very important arteries wrapping around it that supply blood to the brain. When the atlas is misaligned, pressure on these arteries can result in lack of blood flow to the brain. In addition, your whole body is thrown off balance as your core tries to make up for your crooked head and neck! Pressure on the brainstem can also result from an atlas misalignment. The combination of undue stress on the nervous system and reduced blood flow to the brain can create a host of symptoms, dizziness and vertigo commonly among them.

When this bone is re-aligned to its proper position, adequate blood flow is restored, the nervous system returns to an interference-free state, and your entire frame regains its balance. This means an end to vertigo and all the discomfort that comes with it.  

One research study looked at 60 cases of chronic vertigo, and results showed that 100% of cases either improved or completely reversed their condition with specific chiropractic adjustments. Fifty-six of the patients recalled a history of trauma, but all of them had a neck imbalance, which was treated by a precision upper cervical correction like the Atlas Orthogonal chiropractic procedure. All participants had been diagnosed by their physicians with various forms of vertigo, including Meniere’s, positional vertigo, and migraine-associated vertigo. And all of them got better after they got their heads on straight. 


If you or someone you know suffers from vertigo or balance problems, let them know that chiropractic can help!

When you mention the word “chiropractor” to the average person, they think, “the doc who fixes back pain.” Chiropractors actually affect the entire nervous system by adjusting the misaligned bones of the spine, allowing nerve flow to properly reach every organ and tissue of the body. While chiropractic is about much more than helping your pain, it is true that chiropractic care has been shown to be the most effective treatment for chronic and acute back pain.

Dr. Lauri Webb specializes in very specifically and gently aligning the top bone in the neck (the atlas), and adjusting the rest of the spine from there. Because the atlas is the bone that supports your skull, a misalignment here affects how you hold your head, and can therefore cause neck pain and back pain all the way down the spine, even in the low back and hips. Some people will even get a searing or sharp pain in their rear, and/or down their legs due to sciatica. By correcting the atlas misalignment, thus getting your head into an orthogonal, or straight, position, the body is brought back into balance. When this occurs, the kinks and curves of the spine (which were present in order to compensate for your crooked head placement) are able to relax and straighten, and the causes of your back pain are corrected so that everything can feel normal again. So, getting your head on straight with AO Chiropractic can get rid of your back pain!

As school starts back up, keep an ear out for neck or back pain your school-aged child may be complaining about. The culprit might be that heavy backpack they’re filling with books and carrying around all day long. Look into the backpacks on wheels, so your little one can roll the weight around instead of hauling it on their spines.

If you or someone you know is suffering from back pain, make sure they know that chiropractic can help. And if they want to fix the problem so it doesn’t return, tell them about Atlas Orthogonal care with Dr. Webb. Because getting the atlas in place is the first step in correcting spinal misalignments that are the root cause of back pain.

PRO TIP: A good rule of thumb is to not have a child’s backpack weigh more than 10% of their body weight. So if s/he weighs 60 pounds, carrying a backpack that weighs greater than 6 pounds may put undue strain on your child’s neck and back and could cause problems later in life. Try to keep the heavy books at home, if s/he doesn’t need to use them at school.

 

You might be thinking, how could chiropractic care possibly help me when there’s increased stress in my life? To answer this, we have to look at what can cause your spine to go out of alignment.

Most people think that some degree of physical trauma is the main cause of spinal problems. Subluxation, or slight misalignments in the bones of the spine which put pressure on the nervous system, can result from physical, chemical, or mental stress. Physical stresses can arise from situations such as a fall or car accident, or prolonged poor posture or sleeping patterns. Chemical stress can come in the form of toxins that we inhale or poor dietary choices we make. Additionally, emotional and mental stresses can take a toll on your spine and your overall health.

When we experience a stressful situation, one of the common ways our bodies respond is tensing the muscles, especially those in our necks and shoulders. These muscular spasms and knots can then in turn pull your vertebrae out of alignment. This is why it’s important to get your atlas checked in times of increased daily stress!

There is a particular kind of headache that is caused in part by a tightening of muscles in the neck and shoulders, called Cervicogenic Headaches (it’s a technical name for headaches that start from the cervical spine, or neck). There is usually limited range of motion in the neck associated with this type of pain. Pain that originates from the neck can often lead to uncomfortable muscle irritation, which can then contribute to headaches. These are sometimes coined “Stress (or Tension) Headaches” and certainly stress is a contributing factor to these irritating pains in the neck (literally).  Pain that’s localized in the neck or base of the skull can also travel up to the eye area, or behind the eyes, and moving the neck a certain way often increases the intensity of the headache.

If you or a loved one is under increased amounts of stress and/or is suffering from tension-type headaches, it’s a good idea to get the spine checked. Sometimes an adjustment of the atlas is all it takes to alleviate the pain. 

What happens when you break a bone? You probably go to the doctor, get a cast put on, and then do a lot of waiting. And what eventually happens? It gets back to normal again. Now how does this happen? Does the cast magically heal the fracture, and cause the broken pieces to grow back together? Well, no. The cast is there as a support, but YOUR BODY is the real healer. That broken bone repairs itself, because the human body has an amazing capacity to heal things that it detects aren’t right. The point is, a cast (or a band-aid, or a pill for that matter) doesn’t bring health and healing to your body when something goes wrong. Healing comes from within, and the only way for that to happen is to have a body wherein all parts communicate with each other the way they were meant to do. The body's master communicator is the same as its master control system. And the system that controls every single function in your body – be it to repair a broken bone, digest the turkey sandwich you had at lunch, or tell you where in space your left pinky toe is at this very moment – is the nervous system.

Often times I’m asked what conditions I can help, as a chiropractor. The real question should be what can’t a chiropractor help? Most people assume I crack spines and fix things like low back pain. It’s true that studies abound with evidence that chiropractic is the best route to treat back pain, but that’s not really the point, in the end. (And as for the cracking part, well, that’s actually not what I do at all.) What I do is look at the structure of your body – primarily the skull and backbone – and determine what’s out of alignment and then realign it, both to help your body move better and without pain, but also to help it heal, and ultimately function, better. What results is better health through natural, non-invasive means. Chiropractors are more doctors of the nervous system than they are doctors of the back. How’s that, you might ask? 

The picture to the left may help demonstrate how every single organ, tissue, and cell of your entire body relies on the nervous system to function properly. In order for the nervous system to carry messages to and from all of these vastly different cells and tissues, the nerves that bring those messages back and forth between brain and body must be able to get where they’re going, without interference. When a misalignment exists somewhere along the way, disrupting the path of that nerve, you can guarantee that 100% of that message is not getting to its intended destination. Reparative functions in the body, just like everything else, rely on the nerve system. Let’s say a spinal misalignment at T7 (see chart) results in mild pressure on a nerve carrying messages to the stomach, and as a result, only 85% of those messages are delivered between the brain and body and can actually get to the stomach. Is it likely, then, for the stomach to function at 100%? Of course not. At its best, with the nerve pressure that’s present, that organ will only function at 85%. This might mean it produces too much acid, or maybe not enough, resulting in some form of indigestion. Or perhaps normal peristalsis – the contractions that occur each time we eat a meal and need to digest it – is affected, and the food sits there too long, causing nausea. A lot can go awry when your body's normal communication pathways have interference. When this obstruction in communication exists, optimum health cannot be achieved.

A good way to think about the connection between the brain and body is through a model called the safety pin cycle. When your spine is aligned, and all the messages between the brain and body are successfully getting to where they need to go, your body is connected, in a state of optimal health, and your capacity for healing, performing, and living at your best is maximized. When a spinal misalignment occurs (referred to as a subluxation), there is an interference in normal nerve flow, thus a disconnect between the brain and body, and something is going to go wrong. Sometimes this means back pain. Sometimes, it just means you're not functioning the way you should be. 

Your brain controls literally everything in your body through the rest of your nervous system. Chiropractic adjustments help relieve pressure on the nervous system, allowing your brain to communicate correctly – at 100% – with the rest of your body. If you want better health naturally, chiropractic care is a key component in allowing your body to function at its optimum capacity.

Ever feel like your neck just isn’t moving like it used to? There’s no pain there, but you wonder when things got so stiff. You might notice it while sitting at your desk at work, or maybe looking over your shoulder while driving just isn't as smooth of an action as you remember it being before. Did you know that often the cause of neck tightness and stiffness is a misalignment in the spine? Guess who might be able to help?

If you said “my chiropractor,” you guessed right! When the vertebrae in your cervical spine – which is a fancy way of describing the bones in your neck – are out of alignment, the muscles in your neck and shoulders tighten up and make you feel stiff. This is especially true for the atlas, the first bone in your spine, which sits at the top of your neck, under your skull. When this bone tips out of place, the rest of your neck (and body) automatically compensates to straighten your head. Because everything in the spine is connected – your head to your neck to your shoulders to your back – that stiffness can crop up at the base of your neck, along the tops of the shoulders, and often into the upper back or between the shoulder blades.

Adjusting the spine with focused attention on the atlas is often the best way to increase the range of motion in your neck. In fact, one of the most common side effects of seeing a chiropractor is better movement! (Warning: other side effects include increased energy levels, more restful sleep, and better immune function.)

Just because you don’t feel any pain doesn’t mean you’re not out of alignment. If you’re beginning to feel like you’re not able to turn your head very far, or feel like things are tight or stiff in your upper body, get your neck checked. We’ll get your head on straight, and help you move more easily.

The atlas is the top bone in your neck that surrounds a very important part of your nervous system: your brain stem. The brain stem controls several vital functions, many of which keep you alive without you thinking about them. Breathing, blood pressure, and upright posture are just a few things regulated by this area of the brain. Just like Atlas in Greek mythology, who held the world on his shoulders, your atlas holds your head on ITS shoulders – and since the head houses your brain, the control unit of your entire body, you can see why the atlas’s role is so significant. When the atlas is aligned properly, the head is able to sit directly above it, and the neck, or cervical spine, is in line just below the atlas. A technical way to describe this straight position of the head and neck is “orthogonal,” which means “at right angles” …hence the term Atlas Orthogonal Chiropractic.

You might be asking, why is it so important to have your head on straight? When the atlas misaligns, the messages going from the brain to the body and from the body to the brain are interrupted or altered, and pain and disease can result. Remember, the nervous system controls every single tissue and function of your body – from digesting the meal you just ate, to maintaining your immune system, to feeling what your left foot is doing right this moment. We certainly don’t want to have interference in such an important system!

Atlas Orthogonal (AO) doctors use a high-tech, specially designed instrument to very gently and specifically align your atlas into a straight, or orthogonal, position so that 100% of the messages can get from your brain to the rest of your body, and vice versa. AO doctors differ from other doctors of chiropractic because they don’t turn or twist the neck to adjust it: the atlas is adjusted back into proper position while the neck remains in a neutral posture. There is also no cracking or popping during the adjustment.

Getting the atlas in place is the first step in correcting spinal misalignments that are the root cause of back pain. We’ve known for ages that whether your pain is in your head, your low back, your shoulders, or even your leg, that highest spinal bone is the key to bringing your body back into balance.

Atlas Orthogonal chiropractic can help not only with headaches, sciatica, whiplash syndrome, and vertigo, but new studies show that it greatly helps resolve the symptoms from post-concussion syndrome. One reason this is true might be the close proximity of the atlas to the brain stem. Pressure in this area of your nervous system (as from an atlas misalignment) can have far-reaching effects, from dizziness and headaches to balance issues.

So what is the difference between traditional chiropractic techniques and Atlas Orthogonal? In two words: gentle and specific. With our highly detailed x-rays and state-of-the-art adjusting instrument, we’re able to align the atlas with precision so that a very low force is needed for correction of the problem, and the procedure remains comfortable for you. And because the adjustment is specialized for your unique atlas misalignment, the results are powerful and, in many cases, life-changing.