With temperatures dipping, local trees have sprung to life in shades of yellow, orange, and red, while the cool autumn breeze has strewn the leaves on our lawns.  Before you suit up to go out and gather the colorful foliage, I have a few precautions for you to bear in mind.

Playing in the Leaves is Fun, Raking Can Be More than a Chore

Raking leaves is one of those one-sided, repetitive activities that could upset the usual, happy balance in our backs.  Muscles in our back fire in unison to maintain our posture and allow us to do work, but toil in a manner that overworks one side, and this could lead to a real stiff back.

• First, beware working predominantly on one side of the body, like when raking, digging, loading the dishwasher, placing groceries in your car, or putting a child into a car seat.  If you are raking or digging, try to periodically switch the side of your body, where you are working. If you are raking, specifically, alternate between raking front to back and side to side (across your body), to prevent any one group of muscles from fatiguing.
• Split loading activities like packing the car’s truck or bagging those colorful leaves into separate squatting and bending movements.  Avoiding motions that simultaneously twist and bend the low back can help you steer clear of back pain.  Bending and rotating at the same time puts the spine in a position of weakness and increases the chances of injury – this is the mechanism that leads to many disc injuries.
• When bending or lifting, bend your knees to lift with your legs.  The legs are the strongest muscles in your body and using the legs can save your back.

If you should happen to upset the delicate balance of muscles, joints, ligaments and tendons that allow for all our movements, remember I’m here at Matthews Chiropractic Center to help make everything work better again.  And, if just the thought of raking your leaves makes your back ache and pain-free is not your status quo, then chiropractic care could be your remedy.

Office hours will be available on the following Saturdays:

August 1st and 22nd

September 12th and 26th

October 10th…

Please call to schedule a time from 9am until noon.

Matthews Chiropractic Center will be CLOSED Monday, August 10th and Friday, August 14th.  On Tuesday, August 11th, we will offer expanded hours in the afternoon/evening.  On Tuesday, August 11th, the office will be open 8am to 1pm and 3pm to 7pm.

Stay tuned for updates…

Hopefully many of you are learning the importance of maintaining a healthy spine. Something that I haven’t yet discussed in this space is the importance of our spine’s foundation… our feet. With the spring upon us and many outdoor sports and activities starting again, this is a great time to check the health of our feet and arches.

The feet form the foundation of the skeleton in the same way that a foundation provides a steady platform on which a house can be built. If there is a problem with the foundation, then the structure above may lack stability/balance and be prone to excessive wear and tear/degeneration. In our bodies, improper support of the feet can affect the ankle, knee, hips, pelvis, low back and up the spine. So, the importance of a solid foundation can not be understated.

Supporting the Alignment of Your Feet

The more you move and exercise, the greater the importance of good support and alignment of the feet. Every time the foot strikes the ground information is transmitted to the ankle and up to the spine to inform the body of the foot’s position in space, so that our bodies can maintain balance and know how the position the foot and ankle for the next step. Imagine the number of times that the feet hit the ground when you go for a jog or track down a fly ball for example. Moving over unlevel ground (cross country, rounding the bases) or running while avoiding obstacles (basketball, soccer, football, field hockey) put even greater demands on the feet and ankles.

Foot Levelers has devised the following screening to determine if you might benefit from custom made spinal pelvic stabilizers:

1. Do you stand or walk on hard surfaces for more than 4 hours daily?
2. Do you participate regularly in any physical sport?
3. Have you had a prior injury to your knee, back, or neck?
4. Do your shoes/sneakers wear unevenly?
5. Do you have joint pain while standing, walking, or running?
6. Is one of your legs shorter than the other?
7. Do you have knock-knees or bow legs?
8. Do you have obvious foot problems (bunions, corns, etc.)?
9. Do your feet “toe out” when you’re walking?
10. Do either or both feet appear “flat” with no arch support or extra high in the arch area (strong arch)?

Find Balance

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you may be a good candidate for Foot Levelers custom-made stabilizers. Whether your feet need improved support or if you simply desire custom fitting, Foots Levelers offers a full line of products including Spinal Pelvic Stabilizers, Shoethotics, and Sandalthotics to help put the spring back in your step. At Matthews Chiropractic Center, we offer custom scanning of your feet and the full catalog of Foot Levelers products. Come in today to have your feet scanned, so you can be more comfortable in all your spring activities.

Dr. Leibman will be conducting a free foot screening at the Matthews Vitamin Shoppe on Saturday, April 18th from 11am until 1pm.

*Images provided by Caselet & Joel Bedford respectively.

In our ongoing effort to make our services more accessible, I am happy to announce that Matthews Chiropractic Center is now a participating provider for WellPath, Coventry National Network, and First Health Network. If you have health insurance through one of these carriers, we are happy to provide in-network chiropractic services at Matthews Chiropractic Center.

Matthews Chiropractic Center is in network with health plans from the following carriers:

• Aetna
• Blue Cross Blue Shield
• Cigna Healthcare
• Coventry National Network
• First Health Network
• GHI
• Great-West Healthcare
• HealthCare Savings
• Humana Health Care
• Kanawha HealthCare Solutions
• MedCost
• Medicare
• MultiPlan
• NC Health Choice
• Private Healthcare Systems (PHCS)
• UNI-CARE
• United Healthcare
• WellPath

We welcome you to the new online site for Matthews Chiropractic Center. It has been created to help foster a discussion on health that matters to our patients and beyond.

Getting Around Matthews Chiropractic Center Online

First you need to know how to reach us. Check in the upper left-hand corner of your screen. Where we are (click the address for the map), telephone number, and hours of operation are all listed there. If we change our hours for the holidays it will be in a post such as this.

Next we have a few Pages you can read through. Learn more about Dr. Matthew Leibman or see how we can help you find balance with some of our chiropractic services.

We understand that new patients are going to have a lot of questions and we’re ready for you with our ever evolving questions and answers. If you still need help please give us a call at 704-841-3833.

Business and Good Care gets Social

We like to get to know you at Matthews Chiropractic Center and now we can partner with you in good health online too. Fan us on Facebook, or join us on our own regional community site iMatthews.

Inspired by Patients

Many of the articles to follow are started by a conversation I might have with a fellow patient regarding further questions, ways to better health and more. I hope that you enjoy the articles, comment, and if you have suggested questions or topics let us know next time you visit!