by sunshine | Aug 29, 2023 | Uncategorized
The great debate has raged on for a long time over whether peanut butter is healthy or junk food. Is this something that we are supposed to be eating or not supposed to be eating? You could put anything with peanut butter and make a sandwich: peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and marmalade, peanut butter and bananas. But is the peanut butter part of it good for you? My staff was trying to get me to commit to the jelly portion, but the answer to jelly is no, jelly is not healthy for you. There is no debate there. Peanut butter is at least 90% peanuts by trade, so the first thing we need to figure out is: are peanuts good for you? A 2021 study found that increasing daily nut intake by five grams lowered the overall... Continue Reading
by Dr. Merrill | Jul 27, 2023 | Uncategorized
Have you heard about nerve flossing for Sciatica Relief? It’s one of those things that almost has been forgotten in time. It was prominent in the US for a while, and now you don’t see hardly anyone talking about it. Although it’s not at the height of its popularity, nerve flossing can be used to get some relief from sciatic pain. This came back up here in our offices because we had a patient asking about how they were having pain down one of their legs when the disc herniation we saw on the MRI was on the other side. It has been challenging to explain what’s happening regarding irritation inside the spinal canal, but the quick answer is that it’s something called friction radiculitis. What happens is when you have anything inside the canal, so here we have... Continue Reading
by Dr. Merrill | Aug 18, 2021 | Uncategorized
The kids are going back to school, and here at Nightlight Chiropractic, we want to take YOU to Back School! The term “Back School” has been around since the mid-’70s. A doctor in Sweden found that if he took physical laborers and taught them how their backs worked and what it was supposed to look like when they’re doing their jobs, they experienced fewer injuries and disabilities. It worked out so well that it was copied again in Canada and then in California. Now, you can find some version of Back School in a lot of different businesses as a tool to prevent injury to employees. Today, we’re going to distill it down into the basic concepts so you can keep your own back healthy. Basic Anatomy Let’s start out with basic anatomy. The spine is 33 movable units... Continue Reading
by Dr. Merrill | Jul 20, 2021 | Uncategorized
Here at Nightlight Chiropractic, I’m always looking for ideas for you to keep you healthy, to keep you at the top of your game. One of the most common complaints we get here at our downtown Orlando chiropractic office is tennis elbow. Whether you’re gardening, golfing, wrapping presents, or lifting weights, if you’re getting elbow pain, I know what it is. And I’m going to show you how to fix it without ever stepping foot in any medical office, including mine. What is Tennis Elbow? First of all, really important, what you’re getting when you’re getting pain along the outside part of your elbow when you’re using scissors or doing some other kind of manual work, is almost inevitably tennis elbow, otherwise known as lateral epicondylitis. But when people think tennis elbow, they think, well, I don’t play tennis.... Continue Reading
by Dr. Merrill | Jun 14, 2021 | Uncategorized
Holiday parties, spring renewal, bikini season, there are so many reasons and motivations to get in shape and look great. Every new season brings a new wave of motivation in hitting those goals that seem to always get away from us each year. Sometimes our patients decide to join a gym and give it everything they have. While exercising can be greatly beneficial towards one’s health as it combats harmful illnesses and can help improve our overall quality of life, are you ready to exercise? Let’s go over why it is important to be ready as well as testing if you are ready to tackle the gym. While we applaud your motivation for the gym and we only want to hear of success, it can be very easy to hurt yourself when starting back up at the gym. A... Continue Reading
by Dr. Merrill | May 12, 2021 | Uncategorized
You’re going to have some stress in your life — we all do, and it’s unavoidable. Here at Nightlight Chiropractic, I often speak with my patients about how they can improve their health by managing that stress, even if you can’t control the source of it. Let’s talk about stress, how it’s affecting you, what maybe you’re not understanding or thinking about it, and then what are we going to do to try and combat this issue and take care of it. How Stress Impacts Your Health We have to start today’s conversation with a basic premise and that premise is this: stress, when it’s too much for too long, severely impacts your health in a variety of different ways. There’s a list I put together here: headaches, muscle pain, insomnia, frequent viral infections, hypertension, obesity, acne, psoriasis, alopecia,... Continue Reading
