They say health is wealth, but what are you doing to look after your number one asset? That’s you!
For many of us, we are troubled daily with the likes of neck pain, back pain, and headaches, but for many of these, our lifestyle plays a major role. Modern-day society is filled with a large number of factors that create and contribute to the issues mentioned above, from sitting, inactivity, emotional stress, and food choices. These all create imbalances and deficiencies, in the body impacting your health and well-being. Our spine and nervous system are the center of our body, with our posture and movement solely based around them.
If you think of your body like a computer, that it has hardware and software. The hardware is the physical components, muscles, tendons, organs, etc. and the software is the nervous system and brain that control our body, and tell the hardware what to do. For our body to be healthy we need good hardware and well-operating software.
So what can we do to ensure both are functioning at their tip-top?
We need to eat well, move well, think well!
Eat Well
Think of our food like the fuel in a car, good in and good out. Fueling your body with, non-processed foods, avoiding excess sugars, and eating fruits and vegetables in as many colours of the rainbow helps to ensure our physical and software run well.
Think well
Our emotions play a major role in how our brains function, and hence the software component of our body. Thoughts and emotions can cause our bodies to either upregulate or down-regulate functions of our body leading to increased muscle tone, change in how our organs are operating, and impact our health. Meditation and mindfulness are key ways to help minimize the stress response in the brain. Regular exercise (even a simple walk) helps to increase blood flow to the brain and alter our brain function.
Move well
Regular exercise and movement help to ensure not only we keep weight under control, but also stimulate the brain (software) and maintain muscle strength and balance for good spinal and postural health. When we are stationary for prolonged periods, muscles shorten and become inhibited (switch-off). Although they can return to normal, the longer they are in shortened and inhibited states the more that this becomes the default pattern. Chiropractors are great and help to lengthen tissue but also help with getting muscle firing.
As a chiropractor, we help people work on both the hardware and software of the body, to help reduce pain and encourage correct posture and muscle function. Using a variety of techniques such as massage modalities, dry needling, manipulation, rehabilitation exercises, and lifestyle advice.
Your body and your health are your number one asset, as all aspects of our lives are better when we are at our best. The healthier we are the better we are, and the better we can help serve the people around us from our families, friends, community, and workplace.
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About Dr Nicholas Miller
Dr Nicholas Miller is a sports and movement-focused chiropractor in Lane Cove. With Over 15 years of experience helping people with, lower back, neck pain, headaches, and a variety of sports injuries. Nicholas has extensive sports experience, from Amateur to Olympic level, from running to Crossfit and many more. A high-level athlete himself, Nicholas works to help his patients to recover but also to perform better. Using a variety of techniques in practice and incorporates home exercises and lifestyle advice to help people live a pain free and healthy lifestyle.
For more information on Dr Nicholas Miller and his clinics, head to his website.
Great article full of useful reminders! Dr Nicholas Miller did a virtual corporate training with our office on how we can improve our health by modifying our desk set up and implementing simple stretches/movements throughout the day. Thank you!