Winter has been long and cold here in western North Carolina. While many enjoyed starting the season with the first White Christmas in a decade, by now, people in Asheville are ready for spring. We want to get out and explore the mountains, find a waterfall and swimming hole, shred some trails on a mountain bike, or float down the river. 

This winter has been especially trying for those still working from home while facilitating remote learning. Adults and children who are used to their office or classroom setups have been working at dinner tables and makeshift desks for upwards of a year. Screen time doubled for children throughout the pandemic. Parents are stuck at laptops and screens more as well, with meetings often done exclusively through video conferencing. 

What does being stuck inside staring at screens mean for your body? If your posture is not impeccable, you could be dealing with neck and back issues. If you already had subluxations related to posture, you could be exasperating existing issues. Dr. Monitto has many years of experience correcting posture and spinal issues with a variety of methods, including Y-Strap decompression.

Does Cold Weather Make My Joints Hurt?

It’s that time of year again when the temperatures drop, and the weather is unpredictable. For most, cold, wet weather outside affects their arthritis, past injuries, and joint pain. Different scientific studies jumped on the case to study the different factors involved in the correlation between cold weather and arthritis pain. Many people believe that the weather changes do affect the level of pain they experience.

It’s finally a new year, and residents of western North Carolina could not be more excited. After a challenging year in our area, people are ready to put 2020 behind them and move forward. This is the season where people make resolutions to change for the better. It is a good time to evaluate yourself and set goals to help achieve health and wellness. In this article, we are providing tips for Asheville residents and western North Carolinians on how to set smart new year’s resolutions for health, wellness, and dealing with chronic pain and discomfort.

New Year’s resolutions are a popular tradition that involve people setting new goals, continuing good practices, and changing undesirable traits or behaviors. The purpose is to motivate people to accomplish their personal goals and improve their life. The most common New Year's resolution is the promise to be healthy by going to the gym and eating well-balanced meals. However, these healthy aspirations involve a lot of effort and consistency.

If you plan on going to the gym, you may start out strong but face out by the third week of January. If you plan on making healthier meals, you probably will have more cheating days and eat take-out by the next week. These problems are difficult. Here 6 tips that will make your New Year’s resolution easier.

As temperatures drop during the winter months, you may be experiencing joint pains that keep you from moving around and typically stay indoors when it’s cold and rainy outside. Lounging around indoors is a perfect excuse for ditching your outdoor exercises, but your inactive joints will suffer. When you notice pain and discomfort in areas of legs, knees, arms, shoulders, and other joints that have less blood flow, it is hypothesized that those areas get inflamed due to a change in atmospheric pressure, causing poor circulation and increased nerve sensitivity.