The difference between acute/traumatic care or periodic care.     Vero Beach, Fl. Chiropractor- Some patients I tell to come back if something ever bothers them and some patients I tell to return tomorrow and the next day.   Why the difference?  When we say acute care, it means you have hurt yourself and acute injuries usually require some sort of plan of care to make the pain better.  Let’s say you picked up something heavy and felt a pop.  The pain that exists is usually significant and will require a couple of adjustments to make the problem better ..read more

Is golf bad for your back?   Chiropractor Vero Beach, Fl.- I get this question a lot.  Golf is not really bad for your back.  Incorrect golf is bad for your back.  An incorrect swing where over rotation occurs and puts stress on the back is bad.  For the most part, your posture is rather upright and slightly arched during the swing.  Most of the rotation occurs at the hips and shoulders, not in the lower back.  In fact, bending over top pick up the golf ball puts more stress on the lower back than the swing itself.  Over swinging a golf club like some of ..read more

What can I do to prevent it from happening again?   Vero Beach chiropractor- Everyone’s favorite question is, how can I keep this from happening again? Most of the time, the answer is core strengthening. Sometimes you just hurt your back and you need a bit of therapy to get it to go away. Once the pain is gone, it probably won’t happen again.  Sometimes, the problem is chronic and happens over and over.  In these cases, core strengthening will help prevent it in the future.  The core muscle share support of the back and keep it from absorbing microtraumas.  If the musc ..read more

Braces that hold your shoulders back   Vero Beach chiropractor- I have had lots of questions about those posture braces and if they work.  They do help improve your posture however, these braces tend to deactivate and weaken the muscles that hold you upright and in good posture.  In the end, our posture worsens and you become dependent upon these devices to remain with your shoulders back and standing up straight. By forcing yourself to stand up straight and keeping your ears over your shoulders will solve your posture issues while strengthening the muscles designed to do this ..read more

  What happens if I get into a car accident?     Vero Beach, Fl.-In the state of Florida, we have Personal Injury insurance built into our auto insurance.  It covers your bodily injuries even if it’s the other person’s fault.  That means if you get hit by another car and have injuries due to the accident, your auto insurance picks up the bills for your treatments.  No matter if you see a medical doctor, chiropractor or need any imaging for the injuries.  Your insurance pays the bills.  There are varying amounts of coverages of personal injury you can hol ..read more

  How often should I come in?    Vero Beach, Fl.- How often should I come in? There are two approaches to this question.   First-You can come in when something happens.  If you hurt yourself, we can try and fix the problem that is causing the pain.  This is what most people do.  If you wake up with a stiff neck, come in and we will work on it.  If you irritate a herniated disc by lifting something.  Come in and we will work to calm the irritation. Second- Come in periodically and let us keep everything in good shape and you should have less of ..read more

My doctor told me to put heat on it.   I have this argument with the medical community a lot.  I pulled a muscle, so I broke out the heating pad and put it on it on.  A lot of times my question is, “Is it better?”  Usually, the reply is no.  Then I get the “why.”  Heat is good at reducing muscle spasms but will generally increase inflammation in the area.  If the muscle needs to heal, you don’t want to create more inflammation in that area.  This inflammation brings extra blood and lymphatic fluid to the area which usually increases swelling.  As sw ..read more

  MTHFR gene variations and how to combat it   Vero Beach, Fl.- The last few times I have spoken on the mthfr gene variation.   Here is how to combat this variation.   Since almost 40% of people have this variation, it can cause certain deficiencies in some vitamins.  If you have this variation, you are unable to perform methylation on certain vitamins as efficiently as someone who does not this mutation.  Testing should be done to see if you are deficient in B12, B6 and folic acid.  If you are deficient in any of these, you should supplement with t ..read more

What is a MTHFR gene mutation?     Vero Beach, Fl.- The last few blogs I’ve written have been about a MTHFR gene mutation.  What is it?  We possess a couple genes that allow us to methylate things we consume.  Vitamins are some of the most important things that need to be methylated to be used within our bodies.   B12, Folate and B6 need this process to be done in order to use them.  If you have mutation within these two genes, you are not able to turn these vitamins into usable items.  They simply just float around and do nothing.  You may do ..read more

What is a walk-in chiropractic office? Vero Beach, Fl.- We do not take appointments at Vero Walk-In Chiropractic. We are a walk-in office. This means, whether you are a brand-new patient or an established patient, you can just come in during our open hours and been seen by Dr. Harmody. You do not need to call first. Just come in. This is a concept most people have trouble grasping, but it works very well. I have been practicing like this for 20 years and most people enjoy the walk-in principle when they get the hang of it. Most times you don’t know you need to be seen by a chiropractor until y ..read more