These cooler winter months often means that colds and flus are running rampant through your family. Aches and pains also occur quickly in the cold weather, allowing muscle to become injured easily.

Chiropractic Care boosts your immune system to help you ward off those bugs, or to get you through the sickness faster. Chiropractic care will also help to maintain healthy joints and muscles, preventing injuries from occurring or speeding up an injuries recovery.

Here are some other tips on cutting down on your winter time sickness, aches and pains:

·        Take a probiotic, vitamin D and magnesium supplements. Probiotics can reduce the length of a cold and reduce symptoms. Vitamin D reduces the risk of getting colds. Magnesium and Vitamin D are important in keeping your muscles active and healthy. You can also increase your intake through eating the right foods.

·        Have garlic in your foods. Garlic has antimicrobial and antiviral properties, helping to ward off those nasty bugs.

·        Stay at home and rest if you are sick, your body needs rest so that your immune system can focus all its energy on fighting off the illness. You will also keep your cold to yourself making your work colleagues much happier.

·        Exercise is an important part of staying healthy, however if you are feeling sick, allow your body the break it needs to focus on fighting off those bugs instead.

·        When exercising it is essential to warm up properly before training – rather shorten the length of your work out than skip the warm up. Forcing cold muscles to do high intensity; high endurance activities is an easy way to injure yourself.

• Winter is known for an increase in TV watching and game playing, in both children and adults. Sit up straight on the couch and try to take a break from the couch often, even if it’s just to get a drink or go to the bathroom. Our bodies do not like being stuck in one position for long periods of time. 

·        Keep your neck and chest warm. Cold muscles injure easily making your body susceptible to germs. Preventing muscle injury will also keep you pain free! Watch out at night – this is often when our necks get cold, when the duvet cover only covers your shoulders and not your neck.

·        If you feel tension building up in your muscles, try putting a heat pack on the area to help the muscles relax, or have a hot bath and soak your muscles. Be careful not to get cold afterwards.

• Lift packages, firewood and any other heavy items with your legs, not your back. Hold the objects close to your body; and rather than flexing forward, try to maintain a slight arch in your lower back and bend at the knees. Lift the object with your legs, and turn your whole body to put your package down, do not twist your back to the side. 
• See your chiropractic – regular preventative care restores the integrity of your nervous system which in turn keeps your immune system functioning at its best. You and I are self-healing – when we let our bodies get out of sync, disease can occur. Let’s get our mind and body in sync again.
• Don’t wait until you are hurting to see your chiropractor – keep well adjusted. Prevention is better than cure. If you are feeling an niggle, get it seen to before it becomes a bigger problem.