Your Spine - The Center of Your Temple

Your Spine - The Center of Your Temple

Dr. Terresa Hwang, DC
Choice Chiropractic and Wellness, Inc.
3400 McClure Bridge Road
Duluth, GA 30096
678-205-2313
http://www.choice-chiropractic.com/


I interviewed Dr. Terresa Hwang, Doctor of Chiropractic about the benefits of Chiropractic care and to also dispel all the common myths and misconceptions of Chiropractors in general.

Dr. Hwang began her undergraduate studies at University of Washington in Seattle, Washington and continued her chiropractic studies at Life University in Marietta, Georgia where she received her Doctor of Chiropractic degree and has been serving the community of Duluth, GA since 2002.There are so many myths and misconceptions about chiropractors and chiropractic care that may prevent a person who can truly benefit from this kind of treatment from seeking it. Statements such as “chiropractors are nothing but a bunch of quacks,” and “Once you go in for treatment you’re a patient for life.”

The first step in overcoming the “quack” stigma is to make sure that the doctor you seek treatment from is a reputable doctor. How should someone go about trying to find a good, reputable chiropractor? What Dr. Hwang recommends is that you get a referral from a friend, co-worker or family. Have a consultation with the doctor and ask questions. You can also find out through your State if your Chiropractor is Board Certified.

Getting a good understanding of what a Chiropractor does should help ease any fears about seeking treatment from one. A Chiropractor finds misalignments in the body that is causing pinched nerves and makes the adjustment in the spine to take the pressure off the nerve. The medical terminology for this is called a subluxation. Some of the common symptoms are neck pain, low back pain, headaches, sciatica or shooting pain. Symptoms of a pinched nerve can be inflammation, pain, swelling and limited loss of range of motion. Sometimes symptoms can be neurological from pinched nerves such as headaches that occur in the neck. The job of a Chiropractor is to find where there is nerve interference in the alignment of a joint and make an adjustment or series of adjustments.

Some people are afraid to go because of the cracking or popping and are worried that it will hurt. An adjustment is a gentle, specific "thrust" delivered by hand or instrument. The purpose of the adjustment is to correct your spinal subluxation(s) thus removing the nerve interference in your body. Chiropractic adjustments feel great. Once you begin receiving your adjustments, you will begin to look forward to them. They will become one of the highlights of your week. When you allow the vertebrae in your spine to return to their proper position, you will notice much less stress and tension.

Things we do in daily life or through our activities cause your body to go out of alignment. For anyone who runs, jogs, does strength training, kick boxing, group exercise classes, whatever your activity of choice is, what is happening is because of the pounding on the body and the impact it has on your joints, you do throw your body out of alignment and the muscles are not lined up correctly with the spine which does cause performance issues when you run, jog, do your workouts or whatever your exercise of choice is. If this goes on for a long period of time without being looked at, all of a sudden you wake up one day wondering why your shoulder or back hurts which is why chiropractic care is so important.

An ignored injury can become a compensatory injury if you had not had chiropractic treatment. If you have been experiencing any sort of discomfort for more than two weeks and have been ignoring it thinking it will go away on it’s own, think again. For example, low back pain can be a biomechanical misalignment which can be corrected shouldn’t be ignored. If untreated, it can become a compensatory injury and potentially cause knee, hip, or ankle problems.

Chiropractic treatment is not just for neck or back pain. It’s great for headaches, allergies, TMJ, and Sinus issues. There are hundreds of nerves throughout the body which can cause pinching or stress. When there is stress in the body, the body causes stress hormones to be released and these stress hormones can cause a lot of health functions/symptoms such as insomnia, hormone imbalances, and thyroid problems just to name a few.

People think that once they seek chiropractic care, they are going to be a patient for life. Once you’ve had your specific issue healed, it is recommended that you go back periodically to keep your spine healthy and aligned, much like bringing your care to a mechanic for routine maintenance like an oil change or alignment.

Chiropractic Care is for children. According to Dr. Hwang, it’s never too early for a spinal analysis. The birthing process is traumatic with the twisting of the spine. A very soft and undeveloped spine of an infant can suffer trauma during delivery. It is estimated that as much as 80lbs of pulling pressure can be exerted to remove a baby from the birth canal. Spinal issues in children can cause nervous system deficiencies. Most common childhood symptoms are ear aches, ear infections and childhood asthma. OSHA estimates a child receives 1000 traumas to the body by the age of 7. Children receive thousands of trauma to the body. As children grow up and become more adventurous, the number of injuries to their spines becomes countless. Repeated falls as children learn to walk, regular childhood play which involve running, jumping twisting, bumping and falling all over the place while playing in the yard or on an athletic field will cause misalignment along with carrying heavy back packs in school. Children tend to not show any signs or symptoms of misalignment until later on in life

Chiropractic Care is a must for Seniors. As we age, our health should become more and more of a priority. Chiropractic care does benefit us as we age as part of keeping our bodies healthy and repetitive motions we have been doing in daily life over the years catches up with us as we get older. Chiropractic treatment should be part of your preventative care by keeping small issues from turning into big issues. As we age, we do lose bone density and weight bearing exercise helps to slow down the degeneration of bone density. Along with bone density, as we get older, our range of motion and sense of balance deteriorates as well. Chiropractic care can lessen these effects.

To learn more about keeping your spine healthy and managing back pain, the following books are recommend.




Click here to listen to my Blog Talk Radio Interview with Dr. Hwang

Your Sexual Health and Fitness

Your Sexual Health & Fitness on Fit Talk with ShariFitness

Click on the blog talk logo to hear the show

Dr. John Stripling
www.striplingcenter.com
678-356-2000
Center For Sexual Health & Education
www.bestsexualadvice.com
888-LOW-DESIRE



Your sexual health and fitness was discussed on my radio show with Dr. John Stripling. Dr. Stripling is a board certified Urologist who specializes in Sexual Medicine. Dr. Stripling is a member of the American Urological Association, the Sexual Medicine Society, and the International Society of Women's Sexual Health. He is also the co-founder of the Center for Sexual Health and Education in Atlanta, Charlotte, and Palm Beach. He has been in private practice in the Atlanta area for over 20 years and is a frequent speaker on Sexual Medicine Topics on Radio and Television.

We hit all the topics, Testosterone, Andropause, Menopause, Sex Drive, Testosterone Supplementation, and how your health, fitness, wellness and lifestyle plays a role in your sexual health, sexuality and sexual performance.

Ladies, if you thought we had “issues” men have them too.

We started the show off by talking about Testosterone or “T”. Dr. Stripling explained that it is the sex hormone that creates desire in both men and women. It is produced to a small degree in women in the ovaries and adrenal glands, and in men, it is produced in the testicles and to a smaller degree, the adrenal gland.

Your “T” levels climb as you reach puberty and remain high in women until they hit puberty. As a man reaches his early 30’s, his testicles start decreasing the amount of testosterone he produces. For men, if they have low testosterone, they experience Andropause, which is a gradual decrease of testosterone. Your lifestyle plays an important role in keeping your testosterone at a good level and is influenced by strength training exercise and the things you eat. A poor lifestyle can decrease testosterone levels. According to Dr. Stripling, weight training is CRUCIAL in keeping Testosterone levels up.

How does a man know if he is experiencing low testosterone? Testosterone levels are highest around 8 a.m. and lowest around 6 p.m. Generally speaking, you should wake up in the morning with an erection. Other signs of having low testosterone levels are fatigue, irritability, low sex drive, low self esteem and mild depression.

The conversation then moved on to Testosterone supplementation. I asked Dr. Stripling about receiving Testosterone from a Doctor or buying one of the popular over the counter testosterone supplements for your local supplement store.

I learned from Dr. Stripling that Testosterone given orally can be damaging to the liver or increase cholesterol. The best way to receive testosterone supplementation is in a gel you rub on your or you can get testosterone injections.

Most over the counter supplements are made in China and there are a lot of impurities in the product. Studies show that the active ingredient varies from 0 to 200 times what they say it is. Some even have an illicit form of Viagra or Cialis in them. You want to make sure you are buying a quality product from a reputable company.

DHEA is recommended for a man who still wants to have children. Testosterone can suppress sperm count. Dr. Stripling recommends 25 mg of DHEA times a day.

Sexual Health Issues – Erectile Dysfunction, Obesity, Diabetes and the “Hidden Penis Syndrome”.

As a Urologist, Dr. Stripling is very well versed with Erectile Dysfunction. Interestingly enough, Erectile Dysfunction is a canary to heart disease. A study showed that men who showed up at a hospital for a heart attack had begun experiencing erectile dysfunction 5 years prior to the heart attack. Dr. Stripling said, “A doctor that gives you Viagra and sends you on your way is doing you a disservice”.

Diabetics can have problems retracting their penis which can become dangerous because you can’t clean it and can possibly develop penile cancer from not keeping the shaft clean. When a man gets a pad of fat around the penis, it literally works the skin of the shaft up so what is really exposed is much less. Fat eats away at the penis. If you want a longer penis, you need to lose weight to gain length. If you are 25-30 pounds overweight, you are at risk of “buried/hidden penis syndrome.” As you get more and more obese, less and less of the shaft is visible and appears smaller and smaller.

Once again, it all goes back to exercise and diet to maintain good Sexual health.

To learn more about Testosterone, Andropause and your sexual fitness, the following books are recommended.

How Toxic Are The Foods We Eat?

Dr. Scott Perlman
http://www.drspines.com/

A&J Family Spine and Wellness Center
1075 Whitlock Avenue, Suite I
Marietta, GA 30064
Phone: 678-797-1104

click on the blogtalkraadio logo to listen to the interview

Body Toxins was the main topic of discussion with my guest, Dr. Scott Perlman on my weekly radio show, Fit Talk With ShariFitness. Dr. Perlman (aka Dr. Scott) is a Doctor of Chiropractic and Alternative Medicine specializing in nutrition and energy balancing techniques, along with homeopathic, organic Vitamins, Minerals and Supplementation. Dr. Scott believes it is more than one entity for total health and wellness. He calls it “The Pie of Life”.

Dr. Scott and I subscribe to the same philosophy: The Body Works a Whole Lot Better Without all The Chemicals. What exactly does that mean? Many categories of illness are created from chemicals or drugs which creates toxins to build in the body. Toxins, by the way, are poisons. It is these toxins that are responsible for many of the health problems you may be having right now.

Americans are consuming a lot of chemicals with al the processed foods which make up the typical American diet, which I refer to as “The Toxic Diet” from all the toxic foods we eat which includes fast foods, soft drinks, frozen dinners, junk snacks such as chips, and the effects is has on the human body. After all, the human body was not designed to digest chemical additives and preservatives that are found in most foods.

The chemicals we are exposed to on a daily basis create free radicals which scavenge on healthy cells. The cells die in the blood and you become a big toxic cell.

Dr. Scott talked about some of the health problems associated with the overload of chemicals and preservatives we are exposed to in the foods we eat such as Thyroid, Prostate issues for men, Ovaries with women such as cysts on fallopian tubes, bowel disorders, chronic fatigue, depression amongst several other illnesses. Essentially, disorders have become “common” and don’t need to be.

According to Dr. Scott, 50% of the mood swings and hot flashes that women experience are due to water retention which causes kidney malfunction. The biggest culprits of water retention issues stem from restaurant foods, fast foods, canned foods, frozen foods, convenience foods and snacks which all contain high levels of sodium. Sodium causes water retention. Couple that with the fact that most people don’t drink enough water and you have a recipe for disaster. This led to our discussion of water and the importance of water in your diet.

Another topic we talked about on the show was Colonics/Cleanses. What they are and the pros/cons of them.
To Listen to the Show, Click on the blogtalkradio logo


To learn more about this topic, Dr. Perlman recommends the following books: