Your Chiropractic Doctor's Health Tips For Fall

Chiropractic clients often wonder what Dr. Ariel does to stay healthy. The number one thing I do is stick to my own chiropractic care plan. Yes, I get adjusted regularly, too! In fact, the time period before I found a chiropractor to visit regularly in Tokyo was when I had my worst health of the last 15 years! I post about this on Instagram regularly. In addition to regular chiropractic adjustments, I also have my own routines and products to stay healthy. Here are some of my favorites that I have discovered and implemented in my own life over the years.

As Electra Chiropractic's founder, I am no stranger to stress. Starting a business from scratch in a new country was no easy feat. I am not shy to admit that it took literal blood, sweat, and tears to get here. So, how did I handle the stress?

Hydrotherapy For Stress

Whenever I start to notice symptoms come on, after ensuring I've gotten my weekly chiropractic adjustment, I turn to a traditional Japanese technique for relaxation and stress adaptability: hydrotherapy. Onsens have been a part of Japanese culture for so long for good reason. They help the body adapt to stress. This is how that looks in my practice:

1. Hot bath (or shower if a bath is not available or time is a constraint) until I'm fully warm. Usually 2 minutes.

2. Cold plunge (or shower; ensuring that the water fully covers my front, back, underarms, legs, and feet to the point where that skin feels cool to the touch). On my first plunge, I only go long enough until I feel like I can't comfortably breath calmly or I'm about to start shivering.

3. Hot bath (wait for the tingling of the return of blood flow to the extremities). Go long enough to start to feel a little uncomfortable from the heat.

4. Cold plunge (usually on this second dip, I can go longer before feeling uncomfortable).

5. Repeat as desired.

Take Your Shoes Off For Better Stress Management

Have you ever wondered why I ask you to remove your shoes in the Electra Chiropractic studio? Yes, I want to keep the dirt off the floor, but I also care about the connection between your feet and the ground. You have 200,000 nerve endings in your feet that provide you with proprioception (knowing where you are in space; remember the marching test on your first visit? That was checking your proprioception). Ensuring that those nerves can communicate fully to your brain is essential. As a chiropractor, I am most concerned with your nervous system health and that includes all of the nerves that go to your feet. Because it's not just about being able to feel the floor well, it's also about the impact on your brain. The information that comes into your brain from your feet helps you have better neuroplasticity and adaptability.

Because of the great importance of complete nervous system health, I wear Altra running shoes with a wide toe box. Closed toe shoes are ruining our feet by forcing them to conform to an unnaturally narrow shape. Altra shoes are shaped to allow the foot to get back to a more natural way of walking. Over thousands of years, the human foot evolved to be wider than the average foot is today. Think of modern shoes as just a new version of foot binding. Have you ever heard that shoes are coffins for our feet? We don't want dead feet; we want them alive and sensing the ground beneath you. These shoes support your foot relaxing into a wider position. Additionally, these shoes have a thinner, flatter sole that lets you actually feel the ground better. Check out these shoes at https://altrafootwear.jp/

More questions about how to manage stress this fall in Tokyo? Contact Dr. Ariel directly at Electra Chiropractic in Tokyo. Find comfortable, expat-friendly chiropractic care from an American trained chiropractor in the heart of Tokyo. Book your first visit today and get on the path to good health!