As a chiropractic and acupuncturist, Dr. Oskardmay’s goal is to help each patient achieve their best health naturally. During an examination, she will review your health history with you regarding various health aspects and concerns, including how much time you spend outdoors. Many people eschew sunshine, thinking that too much sunlight will cause health problems such as skin cancer and premature skin aging. Some people also have jobs that force them to stay, so they don’t get much opportunity to go outdoors. Just the thought of going outdoors around all the bugs and the heat and the need to put on sunscreen to blocks the sun’s rays causes so much stress for some people that they avoid going outside much at all during the summer months. But the lack of sun can have serious health ramifications, and everybody should strive to get at least 15-20″ of sunlight each day, preferably in the morning to ward off serious health concerns. Studies show that sunlight exposure in the morning has the most benefit, incidentally, on weight gain, and nighttime sleep. If you go out in the early morning before the sun’s rays are directly overhead and exceedingly powerful, the sun’s rays will not be damaging to your skin. Additionally, if you wear some sunscreen such as zinc oxide on the more delicate areas, or wear some sun protective clothing, you can stay outdoors a little longer to get the full benefit of the sun’s rays.

Sunlight helps the body in many ways when it hits the skin and transforms cholesterol under the skin into Vitamin D. Vitamin D is a precursor to many body hormones including estrogen, testosterone and many others that we need to slow the aging process, fight cancer, and other diseases such as multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, obesity, depression, insomnia and many others. Studies have even demonstrated a link between the higher prevalence of back pain in people with limited sun exposure, such as persons who live in higher altitudes or people who cover up their skin whenever they go outside. A lot of people who have had their Vitamin D levels checked in recent years come to learn that they are deficient in this vital nutrient and begin a supplementation plan to combat hypovitaminosis D. It is unclear, however, whether or not Vitamin D supplementation is the answer for sunlight deficiency.

Talk with Dr. Oskardmay about your health history and any concerns you have regarding sunlight exposure. A few simple changes to your daily routine might be helpful to add sunlight back into your life at levels that can help you in myriad ways. Contact Acupractic Natural Healing Center today.

Acupuncture Chapel Hill, NC

We talk about nutrition in our office here at Acupractic Natural Healing Center because what you eat affects your health and wellbeing in many ways.  Back pain, shoulder pain, foot, and ankle inflammation can flare up with improper diet and nutrition. When you choose foods with higher fiber, better glycemic index, closer to nature- less processing, healthier fat, you are more likely to maintain a healthy weight and get the vitamins and minerals you need. To get through the hype of advertising, take a few minutes while shopping to choose your foods carefully. One of the things I recommend at my practice is label comparisons of various foods to gain insight into how the foods can best serve your nutrition needs. Some seemingly healthy foods may not be so nutritious when scrutinized in this way as processing affects foods and can either add or detract from the source. For that reason I looked into pasta made from beans- is it as good as the original beans? Or has it lost its mojo in processing? Importantly, is pasta made from beans better than pasta made from flour? How about egg noodles?

The ingredient list/nutrition content photos below of cooked garbanzos (chickpeas), chickpea flour and chickpea pasta demonstrate that, for a serving size of about 50 g, garbanzo beans, flour made from garbanzo beans, and garbanzo bean pasta all share similar nutrition contents which shouldn’t be surprising since the process of making pasta doesn’t remove anything. (I needed to see this for myself, however). Pictures of pasta made from durum wheat (regular pasta) are below the page for comps.

Here are the compared nutrients for 30 grams Dry garbanzo beans, garbanzo bean flour, garbanzo bean pasta followed by the nutrients in durham wheat pasta and egg noodle pasta where F=fat, CH20=carbohydrate, Fi-fiber, S=sugar, P=protein, Ca=calcium, I=iron, Po=potassium

Dry garbanzo beans:       F:  1.8g,  CH2O: 18.0g,   Fi: 5.4g,  S: 3g,   P: 6g,  Ca: 30mg, I: 1.9mg,  Po: 264mg

Garbanzo flour:                F: 1.0g,  CH2O: 18.0g,   Fi: 8.0g,  S: 1g,   P: 7g,  Ca: 23mg, I: 2.0mg,  Po: 348mg

Dry garbanzo pasta:        F: .53g,   CH2O: 19.8g,   Fi: 4.8g,  S:<1g,  P: 7g,  Ca: 21mg, I: 1.4mg,  Po: 397mg

Durham what pasta :      F: .54g,   CH2O :21.4g,   Fi: 1.1g,  S:1.1g,  P: 4.3,   Ca:8.0mg, I: 0.9mg,  Po:74.5mg

Egg noodles dry:              F: .80g,   CH2O:22.0g,    Fi: 1.1g,  S:1.1,    P:3.8g, Ca:0mg,   I:0.4mg,   Po:69.7mg

As the compared nutrient values show, pasta made from garbanzo beans has a similar nutrient value to garbanzo beans themselves with somewhat less fat and fiber. Interestingly, pasta made from garbanzo beans has about twice as much fat (unsaturated), four times the fiber, twice the protein, and significantly more minerals such as calcium, iron, and potassium as either durham wheat or egg noodles. Beans do not lose nutrients in processing to pasta and noodles made from beans is beneficial to the diet in ways that regular pasta is not.

If you have questions about nutrition, ask Dr. Oskardmay during your next chiropractic and acupuncture appointment, or email us today: schedule@acudocnc.com. We are here for you!

Acupuncture Chapel Hill, NC

Too much weight gain is a problem that plagues many people in the United States and worldwide. The achievement of stable, ideal weight, and BMI is a goal for vast numbers of us and challenging to attain. The sight and smell of delicious foods inundate us at every corner be it online or outside and we mindlessly consume too many calories as we rush to do our daily work, or we overindulge while we relax. Eating for enjoyment is a pastime which results in weight gain. Natural treatment for this issue is unpleasant and ineffective- many people start dieting and end up gaining more weight over time. Abdominal surgery to reduce food absorption is dangerous and also may not work. Exercising to lose weight is helpful, but needs to be combined with reduced caloric consumption to be truly helpful because people’s feet and knees can only take so much exercise! Many people need a new approach to weight loss.

An article in the NIH Pubmed https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9679359 describes how acupuncture ear point stimulation can help. Specific auricular areas related to appetite, relaxation, and the stomach signal satiety when used in an acupuncture protocol designed to help patients lose weight. Auriculotherapy helps the body produce the hormone serotonin by accessing the auricular branch of the vagal nerve. Serotonin is a hormone that helps us relax and reflect, which can put an end to mindless food consumption stimulated by external sights and smells rather than internal cues of real hunger.  Additionally, ear acupuncture of points directed to the earth channel and stomach organ increase the tone of the stomach’s musculature, which helps us feel full.

In Chinese Medicine, the ear is a body region that contains all of the acupuncture channels in one small location. Stimulation of points on the ear is shown to send messages along the channels, thus affecting organs and tissues distal to the ear itself. Channel pathways are important energy mediators for elements and corresponding organs and tissues; related emotional responses such as fear and joy affect well being, too. That a single ear point or two can access this cornucopia of aligned energies is fantastic and beautiful. As the article above describes, acupuncture in Chapel Hill, NC from Acupractic Natural Healing Center and Acupuncture at Eastowne also has the potential to help people lose unwanted weight by assisting people in naturally.

`Getting Started with Essential Oils` presentation by established nutritionist Jenny Hoffman shows that essential oils can be used in many therapeutic ways. `Essential` refers to the high concentration of volatile plant extractions, and `oil` refers to the fact that these steam-distilled extractions do not mix with water, although they are not technically oils. Essential oils of single source or mixtures have been used for centuries to heal and cleanse, stimulate and relax, sanctify, and invite.  Today, with minimal training, we can similarly use drops of these elixirs and eliminate many toxins in our lives.

The chiropractic adjustment helps reduce neck and back pain, and aromatherapy application or massage with essential oils during the treatment will enhance therapeutic benefit. For instance, the essential oil blend `Aroma Life` from Young Living is a combination of essences such as lavender, rosemary, marjoram, and bergamot. Lavender is an example of an herbal fragrance that reduces the stress hormone cortisol; the application of this oil can help ease muscle tension. Similarly, rosemary essence, in addition to improving nervous system balance, also helps to detoxify surrounding tissues. Bergamot is an antispasmodic sedative oil; its ability to relax muscles and promote relaxation make it another right choice for body work in general. Your chiropractor may use these oils separately or in a blend as described above; whichever, the therapeutic benefit enhances the chiropractic adjustment in many ways. These are just some examples of beneficial essential oils that your chiropractor can use to improve the therapeutic benefit of the chiropractic adjustment.

Essential oils can also benefit acupuncture treatment for the relaxation reasons described above. Also, essences can be used to enhance channel work in an acupuncturist’s office in other ways, adding a new dimension to their healing efficacy. The essential oil of cypress, for instance, benefits the lung channel because it soothes coughing and clears infection. Sweet basil essence supports the earth channel and helps to improve digestion and reduce bloating when applied to the skin or taken internally. Citrus essential oils help break up liver qi stagnation resulting in lessened headache, frustration, PMS, and aggression. Your acupuncturist in Chapel Hill, NC can use essential oil acupressure application on channel point locations in place of needles when acupuncture isn’t recommended; this might benefit the very young or individuals with needle phobia. Even animals, who may not be good candidates for needle acupuncture or chiropractic adjustments, can benefit from therapeutic essential oil massage application.

Contact Acupractic Natural Healing Center and Acupuncture for more insight into acupuncture and its benefits.

It’s always a guessing game whenever you have a medical or dental appointment. The schedule could be backed up in flu season, an emergency appointment came in that takes precedence over your regular appointment or things may just be taking longer that day. However, those are appointments we are used to dealing with and, based on what they are for, we can usually guess how much time to budget. What should you expect with a chiropractic appointment? How long does an adjustment take? Those answers depend on many factors from whether this is your first appointment to whether there is an injury involved or it’s simply a preventive adjustment.

New Patient Appointments

Much like visiting your medical doctor for the first time, an initial chiropractic appointment will begin with the reason for the visit and medical history. It is important for the practitioner to understand any previous injuries, illnesses or physical conditions that could affect or influence the course of treatment. The symptoms, or reason for the visit, will involve many questions to help narrow down the source of the problem. They will want to know the location of the pain or injury, a description of the sensation (burning, pinching, aching, etc.), when it began, if there are other impacts when it occurs and what makes it feel better. Once the chiropractor in Baltimore, MD has the information necessary to begin the assessment, they will start to assess the range of motion, nerve response and muscle tone and strength. Finally, the practitioner may want to order x-rays or other diagnostic tests. This could take anywhere from 1-2 hours, based on the need for other tests, to get from the review of the patient’s medical history through the assessment.

Treatment

Once you have completed the history, assessment and any diagnostic tests, the Chiropractor will determine a diagnosis and course of treatment. Your first subsequent appointment will involve a review of their findings and the recommended treatment plan. After that, an adjustment can take as little as from 5-15 minutes. Based on your diagnosis, you may need to go more frequently at first. It is not unusual to start with 2-3 treatments per week. Those should normally take only about 1/2 hour, as there will be a brief assessment of your condition since the last treatment in addition to your adjustment.

Preventive Maintenance 

It is recommended that a patient continue periodic maintenance adjustments to keep the spine in good, healthy alignment once the injury or problem has been resolved. This can head off future injury or reoccurrence of the original injury. Consult with a licensed chiropractic professional to see what the correct course of treatment is for you.

Thanks to Mid-Atlantic Spinal Rehab & Chiropractic for insight into chiropractic care.

Chapel Hill Chiropractor: Advice on How to Address Fire Element Imbalance

You may have heard that your fire element is not balanced. What does this mean? In Chinese Medicine, five vital elements are representing the body’s elemental energies or qi: fire, earth, metal, water, and wood. Each component connects to many aspects of each person, and Chinese medicine diagnosis and treatment of disease relies upon recognition of areas of element imbalance and balance. Asymmetry of the fire element is a diagnosis that aspects of the fire element are not working well in your system for some reason. When there is no disease, all the details are harmonious. Things happen, though- mental discord occur. Injury to and imbalance in the fire element can occur in many ways, and acupuncture and Chinese medicine can help make sense of it.

The fire element comprises four channels, two, and two yins: the small intestine and sanjiao, and the heart and xinbiao. These channels course the exterior of the body from the pinky finger to the axilla and ear, and the middle finger to the lateral nipple region and to the outer eyebrow. Related aspects include: the season of summer and the sensation of heat, the emotion of joy and the bitter taste, the sense of taste and the tongue organ as well as the small intestine and heart organs, the color red and direction south, the nature of growth, of sleep and the liquid blood are all aspects of the fire element. The arteries and veins that carry blood are essential aspects of the fire element. Inflammation anywhere in the body is connected to fire.

Problems with blood pressure or coronary artery disease are connected to the fire element, as is anxiety and insomnia. Upper, mid and lower back pain can be associated, as can shoulder, forearm or hand pain. Mental disturbance of any sort is reflective of fire imbalance, and speech impediment reflects imbalance as well. A person exhibiting characteristics of fire imbalance may have intense dislike or love of the spicy flavor and scorched scent. They may sound like laughter and joy, or they may be entirely devoid of pleasure, and their sense of taste may be heightened or absent.

The imbalance might be slight and transient, especially if the problem is acute and not long lasting, possibly the result of too much sun exposure to a minor injury. The more profound imbalance that has resulted from chronic issues, assaults or untreated injuries will require more attention. Nonetheless, it will help you in many ways to resolve fire channel imbalance. Discuss your concerns with Dr. Oskardmay and, as always, write down suggestions she gives you and follow all instructions provided and keep your scheduled appointments. Fire channel imbalance may benefit most from treatment during the hot summer months, but anytime is a good time to take care of your heart.

To learn more about acupuncture and Chinese medicine, contact Acupuncture and Chiropractic in Chapel Hill today.

Chapel Hill Chiropractor: Advice on How to Reduce Back Pain

Back pain is frequently associated with problems in the hip. A chiropractic physician is a trained healthcare professional who can help determine the source of your back pain and will know how to treat vertebral and hip muscle spasm and inflammation. The hip is a large joint of connected muscles and bones with a pattern of motion that should move smoothly. Imbalance and swelling in any of the hip joints or muscles will create problems in the kinetic chain of strength power and movement in the torso and legs, affecting the body as a whole. It is essential to maintain the integrity of the connected parts of this significant region to provide balanced healing to the organization as a whole. Hip stretching exercises help to achieve this goal and are integral to any chiropractic treatment plan that aims to heal back pain.

The hip is divided into three main areas. The anterior bone made up mostly of the quadriceps muscle and is responsible for flexion and extending the leg.  The lateral hip contains the cartilaginous tensor fascia lata muscle and performs the motion of abduction or moving the leg away from the midline. The posterior pelvis is the location of the hamstrings and serves to extend the leg. In addition to moving the thigh, hip muscles also stabilize the distal knee joint. Nerve supply to the hip muscle mainly comes from the large, thumb width sciatic nerve which begins in the lower lumbar spine; dislocation of the hip can easily damage this nerve and cause pain and instability to the entire lower body. Chiropractic adjustments to the spine and lower extremity help maintain proper nerve supply and position of the hip so that injury is kept to a minimum. Tight hip muscles can negatively impact hip and back pain because contracted muscles inhibit spine and body range of motion and affect nerve flow; holistic back pain treatment pays attention to hip muscle tightness.

Your chiropractor will suggest hip and leg muscle stretches to enhance treatment goals. When a muscle contracts, tiny actin and myosin protein filaments that make up each muscle slide across each other like a ratchet. A fully contracted muscle cannot move further into contraction to move the body or support activity. To regain strength, the contracted muscle has to stretch or rebound from its contracted state before it can slide into power again.  Other, supportive factors need to be in place as well to help the muscles relax and keep injury at bay. In its uninjured, healthy state, the body has the means to accomplish muscle contraction and relaxation easily; when pain and inflammation exist; however, muscle relaxation can be difficult to achieve, and muscle spasms result in pain and inhibited motion. Your chiropractor can help you know how to stretch hip and leg muscle in a safe, supported way to help you recover from injury. She will recommend nutritional changes and other ways to improve health naturally.

Reach out to a hip pain doctor Chapel Hill, NC trusts today to schedule an appointment and get the help you need. Contact us at Acupuncture and Chiropractic in Chapel Hill today!

Chapel Hill Chiropractor: Advice on Metal Channel Imbalance

When you visit the Acupuncture clinic of Dr. Lisa Oskardmay in Chapel Hill, NC, you may receive a diagnosis of metal channel imbalance. What does this mean? It may seem strange at first to think about your health in terms of balance and asymmetry of the natural world, but it makes sense in Chinese medicine which is a logical and orderly health system that has helped millions of people over the millennium achieve better health. Each channel or meridian in the body corresponds to certain health aspects and natural phenomenon we see every day, and each has an element or natural association related to either metal, water, wood, fire, and earth. Patterns help us to understand the source of disease and health problems; treatment aims to resolve distortions of the natural order.

Metal is the season of autumn, of the start of decline, and colors are grayness and white color. Organs associated with this element are the lungs, the skin and large intestine which are our vital organs of detoxification, boundary, and release. Grief and sadness are emotions of metal, and connected smells are rotten or putrid, and the flavor is pungent or spicy. Dryness is a power of metal. The time of day associated with the metal channel is early morning.

Additionally, body areas more likely to be irritated on any level with metal element imbalance are the ulnar (thumb) side of the hands to the anterior shoulders and across the face to the opposite side of the nose. Back spine regions include the midthoracic area (T34) and low back (L5). The metal channel is only one to cross the body. The sense of smell connects with metal element issues, and the nose and sinuses reflect health and disease.

Associations such as those described above for the metal element are helpful to understand the causes and repercussions of problems one may experience. Seemingly disparate and disjointed symptoms can be more readily explained through the lens of Chinese medicine. For instance, a person grieving over a severe loss may develop dry eczema, especially on the arms and shoulders or asthma with symptoms worsening in the early morning hours. They may have back pain between the shoulder blades or low back with constipation.  A person may have an extreme craving of or dislike the flavors and smells of metal- spicy, putrid and rotten. He/she may experience irritation of the thumb and anterior shoulder a lot especially in the autumn season. A person with metal channel imbalance may have trouble grieving and letting go of issues.

These associations are not concrete, and all of them need not be present for the patient to have a metal imbalance. Nonetheless, with disruption of the metal channels, it’s nice to know about the patterns seen in Chinese medicine. Many people choose to come in for a `metal channel tune-up` at the start of the fall season to ward off problems. Visit us at Acupuncture and Chiropractic in Chapel Hill to see how acupuncture can help you.

Chapel Hill Chiropractor: Advice on Back and Neck Pain

Have you ever wondered why back or neck pain is so debilitating? For one reason, neck and back pain frequently accompany pain in other areas of the body. We find neck pain in people who have shoulder or arm pain, for instance. Carpal tunnel syndrome exists in people who have cervical spine problems, and tennis elbow sometimes follows irritation of the lower neck vertebrae. Wrist, arm, elbow and shoulder pain all share nerve connection with the neck.

Similarly, inflammation at the lower lumbar spine region many times precedes or follows foot problems such as plantar fasciitis or heel spurs and pain; knee derangement exists in people who have low back pain. The reason why neck and back pain is thus patterned is that the nerves that exit the spine carry messages to specific areas. When the vertebral column is injured and inflamed, the nerves exiting the spine at that level get irritated, pinched and far-reaching symptoms result. A chiropractic physician is a trained professional who can evaluate and treat neck, back, and shoulder, hip or knee pain because they recognize this connection and treat pain at its source.

The cervical spine has seven vertebrae with eight cervical nerves. Messages from the nerves which arise from the neck and exit from cervical vertebrae travel to and from muscles and ligaments of these upper extremity regions. Irritation at any point in the nerve pathway can affect the neck and upper limb.  What this means is that problems originating in the wrist, for instance, can irritate the cervical spine, just like inflammation in the neck can hurt the wrist. To heal the system effectively, choose a healthcare provider such as a chiropractor who recognizes and treats the body as a whole.

Treatment of neck and shoulder to wrist pain needs to include vertebral care such as posture assessment and spine mobilization. Additionally, the muscles and ligaments of the upper limb need support to heal; treatment can consist of soft tissue massage and muscle stretches to repair altered nerve messages and pathways. In this multifaceted, holistic approach full recovery is expected sooner. Your chiropractic physician will mobilize vertebral subluxations to restore nerve connections and treat injured distal regions such as the wrist and shoulder using physical modalities such as massage, ultrasound therapy or muscle stretching.

The lumbar spine consists of 5 lumbar vertebrae and five lumbar nerves which travel to the hips, legs, knees, and feet. Treatment of lower extremity pain needs to include evaluation and mobilization of the spine to assist the nerves that signal a change in those areas. Likewise, when problems arise in the feet or knees or hips from injury, for instance, it is crucial to have the spine treated as well as the injured area to keep the nerve messages intact. A chiropractor is well suited to handle many types of upper and lower limb pain and disability and associated neck and low back pain.

If you have neck or back pain and want to avoid or need treatment for shoulder wrist and hip knee problems that follow, call the offices of Acupuncture and Chiropractic offices of Dr. Lisa Oskardmay in Chapel Hill, NC today. She is there to help!