DrBaiata.com Blog

Is chiropractic addicting?

admin — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:55:56 +0000

A common response to why people have never tried chiropractic care is because they are under the false assumption that chiropractic is addicting. Chiropractic is not any more addicting then healthy habits such as eating well, exercising, and flossing your teeth. In general people feel very good after getting their back adjusted by a chiropractor and would like to maintain that level of optimum health so they return periodically to have their back realigned, but it is not because they are addicted to chiropractic.
People return to chiropractors for a number of different reasons. Many people are put on a specific treatment plan where repeated visits are necessary to fix a certain problem. Some people love the way they feel following a chiropractic adjustment and want to maintain optimal health and visit chiropractors regularly. And some people utilize chiropractic when injuries occur and return to the chiropractor’s office as a natural form of pain relief.
I personally get my back adjusted on a regular basis not because I am in pain or that I am addicted, but because it makes me feel great and I know that regular chiropractic care is the key to maintaining health and aging gracefully.

What Is Stress and How Does it Affect the Body?

admin — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 19:26:32 +0000

Lets say your walking through the woods and you come across a bear. First off you see the bear and instantly you become frightened and go into a stress response. The brain interprets the potentially harmful stimuli as a stressful one and instantly transforms your body in such a way that it can respond to the threat and enhance the chance for survival. Just like that the sympathetic or “fight or flight” portion of the nervous system prepares the body for the confrontation.

Instantly your blood pressure shoots up, your heart begins to race, and your face turns white as a ghost. This is because the blood in your body is being redirected to the large muscles of the body responsible for locomotion. Certain systems of the body are enhanced and other parts of the body are shut down for optimal efficiency. For instance, digestion shuts down because when you are about to become a meal digesting that vegi-burger you just ate isn’t so important. Sexual organs shut down because procreation is the last thing on your mind, in fact the brain begins to shut down too because you don’t have time to think only react. All healing and growth comes to a screeching halt and the body stops producing vital components of tissue generation, healing and immunity and starts to increase cortisol levels as well as blood glucose and cholesterol.

Its no wonder that the most popular drug ads on TV are focused on indigestion, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, sexual dysfunction, sleep disorders, etc, etc, all working to suppress the body’s normal physiological reaction to stress. Drugs may be successful in lowering blood pressure or cholesterol but they will never produce health in the patient or improve life and, worse, they leave the cause of the problem unresolved and add a further stressor in the form of changes in blood chemistry.

What happens when we put ourselves in a chronically stressful environment like New York City, is that we force our body to adapt to this environment by producing a chronic stress response. Stress is not a disease! Problems arise when the body is unable to adapt, and stress becomes chronic. The only way to produce health is to decrease the chronic stress response by either reducing stressors or by improving the body’s abilities to adapt with lifestyle changes. Drugs do neither; chiropractic can do both.

Dr. Nicholas Baiata is a chiropractor in New York City. You can call Dr. Baiata at (212) 343-3112 to schedule your visit.

Chronic Back Pain Shrinks the Brain

admin — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 18:58:24 +0000

Is your back pain so bad you can’t think straight? Well, a study published in The Journal of Neuroscience in November, 2004 may have answered why.

Researchers found that the gray matter of the brain (the area that processes memory and information) can shrink up to 11% in one year in those with chronic back pain. That is the same amount of brain density that is lost in 10 to 20 years of normal aging which is equivalent to a loss of 1.3 centimeters of gray matter a year.

The good news is, the author of the study assumed any brain changes revert to a normal state after the pain stopped. Thus, Visiting your chiropractor is the smartest thing you could do.

Dr. Nicholas Baiata is a Manhattan chiropractor. You can call Dr. Baiata at (212) 343-3112 to schedule your visit.

Spinal Injuries

admin — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 18:47:57 +0000

Did you know that spinal degeneration (DJD/Osteoarthiritis) could start to occur within two weeks of an accident, even if there is no pain. Physical, emotional, and chemical stress can set the following cascade into motion.

The muscles surrounding a joint, in an effort to protect an injured joint will go into spasm and contracture. These tightened muscles then lead to the stiffening of the joint and surrounding tissue. The cartilage begins to shrink and the joint begins to degenerate.

This whole process takes place even after the pain disappears. This can be cooking in your spine for years before the symptoms rear their ugly head. You may bend down to pick up a pencil and not be able to stand back up, or just wake up not being able to move your neck.

The good news is that chiropractic can help not only reverse this process but more importantly prevent it from happening. The only way to know if this process is taking place is to visit your New York City chiropractor to get your spine checked.

For more information check out the Chiropractic conditions page of our website.

Dr. Nicholas Baiata is a chiropractor in NYC. You can call Dr. Baiata at (212) 343-3112 to schedule your visit.

Yoga and Chiropractic

admin — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 03:45:21 +0000

Having a hard time touching your toes or nailing that advanced yoga pose. Visiting a NYC Chiropractic clinic can help. Full spine chiropractic adjustments not only improve the range of motion of the spine, they also improve the flexibility of the arms and legs.

Increasing spinal range of motion can positively influence lives in many ways. For some, an increased range of motion means being able to bend down to pickup the grandchildren. For others, it translates into being able to perform more advanced yoga poses such as Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (Pigeon Pose).

Chiropractic care has a long history of helping individuals like you reach these and other goals through increases in spinal range of motion. Best of all, increases in spinal range of motion can occur immediately following chiropractic treatments. This is one of the reasons why many top professional sporting teams have team chiropractors treat the athletes prior to and during sporting events.

Dr. Nicholas Baiata is a NYC chiropractor and a long time yoga practitioner. You can call Dr. Baiata at (212) 343-3112 to schedule your visit.