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Consistency in Golf Performance and Alignment of the Spine and Hips

 

It’s the end of February and you’re probably already thinking about golf.

While you’re probably ready mentally, something to think about first is… Are you ready physically?

 I know many people still think of chiropractic merely as a means to end back pain, but it also has a place in Pre-season Conditioning.

 Before you wrap your driver around a tree in frustration – try wrapping your head around this first:

  You may have spent a fortune with the Pro on lessons and practice but if your spine, neck, hips, shoulders – If your body is out of alignment it won’t matter –

             You will still not hit where you want to, with speed, power and…consistently.

 Do you know how to tell if your spine and hips are out of alignment?

 There are many tests we do in the office but you can check yourself in the comfort of your own home.

 Stand in front of the bathroom mirror and observe your shoulder and hip line by comparing it to the horizontal lines of the bottom of the mirror and grout lines of the tiles.               

                 Not level? – You’re not in alignment. Chiropractic adjustments will fix that.

If your left shoulder is higher the than the right, when you swing – you will slice. If the right is higher you’ll hit with a hook.

 In the front view your neck should be straight upright. Check it in the mirror. If your neck leans to the right but your head leans to the left you will hit with a slice.

 Sit on the edge of your bed and drag yourself backwards (using your arms only to do so) and lay flat, face-up. Now, without moving your legs as you do so, sneak a look at your feet. They should be flared, toes outward, evenly forming approximately a 90 degree angle. Is your right foot flaring more-so than the left?  Is so – your hips are twisted out of alignment and you need an adjustment or you will hit with a hook.         

 Why are you like this? Because of prior injuries and / or because of your posture habits - The way you sit at your computer, the way you sleep, the way you stand at your job, the way you sit in your car, etc.

                Is it correctable?   Usually these misalignments are correctable.  

Do these mis-alignments cause pain? Sometimes they do. Usually they increase your risk of injury. Often, they don’t cause any pain until weeks or months later. Pain is often an unreliable indicator of some problems.

 If you don’t fix the problem though, your golf game will be inconsistent at best. You will not be able to control where you’re hitting, the speed and power of your swing will be less than you would expect and all the lessons and practice in the world will not improve it nearly as much as simply fixing the misalignments will.

 If you call before March 31, 2011 you can have at no cost or obligation our

               Golf Pre-season Alignment & Flexibility Assessment

 Following this assessment we will give you our best recommendations to improve your golf game this coming season.

To receive this free, no-obligation Pre-season Alignment & Flexibility Assessment all you need to do is call our appointment secretary at 845-297-6688 and request an appointment for your Free Golf Pre-season Alignment & Flexibility Assessment.       

 

Assumptions about Back Pain Relief

 Taking care of a back problem is much like getting into shape at the gym, losing weight, taking care of your teeth or taking care of your car.

                          There is a process involved.

 We know that as we get older, to keep that 20 year-old “look” a little longer, or to get into, or just “stay in shape” requires working out, perhaps at a gym, for example.

 We know that to lose weight requires more than skipping lunch on Wednesdays.

 We know that our teeth are going to need to be brushed and flossed daily in order to keep them pain-free and without decay.

 We know that our car will require a regular oil change, a tune up and other maintenance to continue running as well in the 7^th year we own it as it did when we first drove it home.

 It’s the same thing with your back problem.

       It doesn’t just get “better” for all the wishing and hoping.

It doesn’t happen because you took a handful of Motrin which makes you unaware of your problem.

                   - There is a specific process involved to get the desired results.

 The process is specific because it involves specific adjustments to specific spinal joints on a specific schedule with specific exercises to strengthen specific weak areas, plus specific changes in lifestyle and postural habits.  

                        It’s not a miracle that it works so well.

How Can a Chiropractic Adjustment Affect Your Health?

 

 To many people chiropractic care is merely a way to reduce or help an aching back.

                 ... Because it does, in fact, do a great job at that.

 

What most don’t realize is that there’s much more to it.

 Back in the day, around about 1895, people were getting adjusted, not for back pain, but for illnesses ranging from cancer to gall bladder and gastro-intestinal problems to respiratory problem including asthma to diabetes and all of the things one would think only a MD could help you with.

 It only became a “remedy” for back pain in the 1960’s when most states began licensing chiropractors and insurance began to cover it – for back pain.

 

So, what is the connection between getting your neck adjusted and your health?

 The answer is very complex but the Cliff  Notes version is that the nervous system actually directs and controls everything that happens in the body. There is a nerve connecting every single cell, organ and gland in your body  - to your brain. That’s the part of your body that controls everything else.

 There’s actually more than that as there are nerves that give you sensation and there are also nerves that make things happen or function. The nerves are like a wiring system that carries an electric signal between the brain the body part - to make it work.

Mess with those nerves and things start to go wrong. Maybe not immediately, but over time you will see your health decline. Some will say it is due to getting older but lots of older people don’t have the same problem. So age is not the issue.

Look at what happens when you injure your lower back – you typically get sciatica.

That is pain in the back of the leg caused by irritation to the nerve coming out of the lower back where you tore a ligament or disc which is now swollen and bulging against the nerve… again - irritate a nerve the wrong way and you get a function failure.

The same thing can happen in every other part of the neck and spine.

If something isn’t working properly, say your gall bladder isn’t working right, something had to go wrong with the nerves controlling it.

Look at what happens when you bang your “funny bone”. You are actually stimulating a nerve in your elbow and it causes an impulse to be sent down to your little finger. No harm done, no big deal – you just stimulated a sensory nerve; It's a short lasting effect.

A similar effect (without the “Zing” down your arm), can be created by adjusting the spine.  Chiropractic adjustments have the same affect of stimulating and sending a controlled impulse along the course of a specific motor nerve to a target organ to stimulate it to function at better.     

When an individual is ill and she gets adjusted the adjustment sends health-improving impulses along the appropriate nerves to make her body start to respond and function on a higher level the way it is supposed to.

Of course it always makes sense to be a little proactive and get adjusted before your health declines. If one were to get adjusted on a regular basis those healthy nerve impulses would always be getting sent throughout the nervous system and you might never become ill.  

As you can see this is a much different approach then main stream medicine which tries to reverse illness by drugging or medicating the patient so she doesn’t feel the effect of the organ or body part NOT working right because that “electric” signal between the brain and the organ isn’t transmitting properly.

If your battery wire is disconnected putting a gas stabilizing additive in the tank isn’t going to make the car start.