July ‘23 Newsletter
A Letter from Dr. Phillips
The worst part about being sick or injured is not the pain. It’s being unable to do the things you love to do.
When I began college, I had never even heard of chiropractic. I planned to dedicate my life to teaching and performing piano.
Before I even moved into the dorms, I developed pain in my arms. They felt sore, like worn-out rubber bands threatening to pull apart. The pain wandered from wrists to elbows, left to right, unpredictable and inexplicable.
For my first year as a piano performance major I didn’t play piano. Instead I saw specialists, underwent tests, and the physical therapy! I endured so much physical therapy. But there was never a diagnosis, never an explanation, and thus never a treatment. I was devastated to watch all my colleagues progress and perform. On the sidelines I only imagined what that would be like, losing hope that I could ever be like them: a musician who actually makes music.
Until one day, home for the summer, I saw a local physical therapist who manipulated my neck. And it worked. When I returned to college, she suggested I find a chiropractor.
The chiropractors I met changed my life. Not only did they get me back to playing piano full-time in three months, but they explained what was causing my pain (my neck) and were able to help take the pain away with chiropractic adjustments. No longer did my arms feel like pointless appendages–they could do things! Really cool things, like playing Bach and Chopin and Beethoven, oh how I had missed playing Beethoven. That school year, even when the sidewalks were frozen over with layers of packed snow, shivering my way around campus I felt so happy to be a pianist once again.
I am still a pianist, even if I didn’t make it my career. My experience as a pianist didn’t just introduce me to chiropractic, it inspired me to become a chiropractor. Now, I want to help you return to doing what you love. Our bodies can move and create and do amazing things! When something goes wrong in the body, remember that it has the power to heal. Chronic pain may feel static, but it doesn’t have to be.
If you’re fighting pain every day, give me a call. Let me help you get back to doing whatever it is that you love to do.
Yours in health,
Announcements
This spring I had a promo going in which new subscribers to the newsletter earned a $5 pledge and new patients a $10 pledge to the Food Bank of Southern California from Sequoia Chiropractic. With your help Sequoia Chiropractic donated $40 (that’s over 150 meals) to the Food Bank of Southern California. While $40 doesn’t sound like much, to the people who enjoyed a nutritious meal it was certainly something. Way to go!
New home-visit hours for the summer: Monday 9-2, Tuesday 1-6:30, Wednesday 9-12, Thursday closed, Friday 9-2.
Sequoia Chiropractic will be closed Tuesday Jul 4, 2023 and Monday Jul 31, 2023.
Sequoia Chiropractic offers family discounts for two or more people during the same home visit. Get the whole family healing better!
Sequoia Chiropractic also offers adjustment packages at a discounted price: buy 4 adjustments and save $40.
Need a health and wellness speaker for your local event? How about a guest article or blog post? You can email me at drphillips@sequoiachiro.com.
Did you know Sequoia Chiropractic has Facebook and Instagram? Follow one (or both) to stay up to date.
Book Recommendations
I love to read, and in each newsletter I recommend a book or two pertaining to health. You can find them at your local library, or to purchase a copy, follow the links below to Sequoia Chiropractic’s bookshop.org storefront, where every purchase supports the local bookstore of your choice.
All’s Well
Mona Awad
Literary, feminist, propulsive, this novel is a great book to lose yourself in this summer. Enter the mind of Miranda Fitch, actress-turned-professor after literally falling off the stage in a production of Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well. In chronic pain from the fall, she’s miserable despite her physical therapists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), her trusty friend Grace, and her adoring student Ellie. While her theater roster would prefer to put on Macbeth, she insists the college kids do All’s Well. Yet the rest of Miranda’s narrative waffles between the blueprint of these two plays. Is Miranda’s story that of the paranoid Scottish king or Helen of All’s Well? Is Miranda tragic or comedic?
Health Affirmation
Painful conditions do not always have a clear, quick solution. Suffering is distinct from pain: it’s the emotional distress that ensues from pain. When pain must be endured, remind yourself that you can nurture yourself in other ways to minimize the suffering. My go-to is shrinking my to-do list to the bare minimum and doing something low-key I enjoy, like knitting. Maybe curling up for a nap like this little red panda would do the trick. What sounds nurturing to you?
Nutrition Spotlight
Melatonin is a hormone that your brain produces in response to darkness. It signals to the rest of your body that it’s time to wind down for sleep. During the day, the light of the sun suppresses melatonin production.
How Melatonin Works
Using artificial light (indoor lighting, phone and TV screens) can trick the brain into believing that it’s still daytime long after the sun has set. Melatonin taken as a tablet can send the signal to wind down regardless of light exposure.
Some use melatonin as a sleeping pill, but it’s not a sleeping pill. It will not put your body into a state of sleep. It only tells your body it’s time for sleep. Given that it’s a natural hormone and not a sleeping pill, it’s generally considered non-addictive and a safe option for those with difficulty falling asleep.
However, melatonin is not the answer to that problem in all cases. When someone has difficulty falling asleep, my first question is why? Are you dealing with a lot of stress? Are you using your phone or watching TV right before turning out the lights? Are you getting enough magnesium?
The best use for melatonin is when you need to change the time you go to sleep, such as traveling across time zones. In particular, if your bedtime will be earlier than normal, melatonin can help signal that the sun is setting earlier than expected so that your body adapts to the time change. If you’re traveling this summer I recommend using melatonin to support getting quality sleep during your trip, especially because good sleep will keep your immune system strong. I recommend Orthomolecular’s Melatonin supplement which you can order on Fullscript.
You may be wondering, why would I go to the trouble of making a patient account on Fullscript and spending more on this particular brand when I could just pick up a bottle of melatonin at Trader Joe’s? GREAT question. First, it is not easy to find melatonin in the proper dose: 1 milligram or less is all you need. Really. Any more than that and you’ll feel groggy in the morning. Second, not all supplements are reliable! An article from the New York Times highlights new research that found 22 out of 25 melatonin products were mislabeled. YIKES. 😬 Orthomolecular is a brand I trust, and I can’t say that about every brand out there.
If you are curious to learn more about melatonin, check out this article (also by the NYT), or shoot me an email at drphillips@sequoiachiro.com.
One More Thing
This summer has been brightened by gardening adventures. My husband Mark and I selected a variety of succulents for our walkway, with a burst of sunflowers to greet us at the door. Like yoga, gardening is a workout of holding strange poses. Here’s an NPR article that teaches you better ways to garden if you deal with chronic pain including tips like the best seated positions to use and how to stand up from sitting on the ground (a feat not to be underestimated).
Thanks for reading!
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Stay cool and see you in September.
