At Total Health and Wellness Center, we take great pride in providing the finest care to our patients. Below is a sampling of the different services we offer in our Carol Stream office.

Chiropractic
Acupuncture
Physical Therapy
Massage
Custom Foot Orthotics
Personal Training
Stress Management
Wellness
Total Life Coaching
Kinesio Taping
Pre-natal Massage
Muscle Activation Technique (MAT)

The Chinese practice of using needles at specific points of the body to cure disease and/or relive pain. The ancient Chinese believed that there is a universal life energy called Chi or Qi present in every living creature. This energy is said to circulate throughout the body along specific pathways that are called meridians. As long as this energy flows freely throughout the meridians, health is maintained, but once the flow of energy is blocked, the system is disrupted and pain and illness occur. Imagine rivers that flood and cause disasters or an electrical grid short-circuiting that causes blackouts. Acupuncture works to re-program and restore normal functions by stimulating certain points on the meridians in order to free up the Chi energy. This alternative therapy along with Chiropractic treatment will allow your body to heal itself naturally and help to keep you healthy and live longer.

Personal Training is about having a personalized exercise program created just for you that will enable you to bring your body to ever increasing levels of strength, flexibility, mobility, and health. Our personal training will allow you to gain an increased awareness of your physical body and what it needs to function optimally. Whether your goal is to lose weight, tone your body, increase your flexibility, or improve your endurance, we can help! We incorporate all facets of health and wellness in order to achieve your ideal goals. We can also design a nutritional program for you to assist with your success. Call our office today to set up a complimentary fitness evaluation with our trainer and see how she can get you back on the road to health.

What is Stress?

Stress! What does it mean to you? Relationship problems, financial difficulties, deadlines, commuting, raising a healthy, happy and productive child, or just plain housework. These are all demands on you, physically, emotionally and financially.
Stress is the tension you feel when there are more demands than you and your body can handle. These pressures may be from your work, relationships, home, or other responsibilities. Stress is like an out-of-balance scale-the pressures on one side of the scale outweigh the coping resources on the other.

Types of stress

Eustress:

This stress is a good stress and happens in pleasant or rewarding situations. This healthy stress can energize an athlete to win a competition. It can animate an actor to give a stirring performance. Stress may fire up a sales person for a speech that closes an important business deal.

Distress:

This is the negative stress that most people talk about when they talk about stress. There are 2 different kinds of distress, Acute Stress and Chronic Stress. Acute stress is intense stress that appears after an event is over. For example, imagine you are pulled over by the police for a traffic violation. Your heart races, you sweat, your breathing gets faster.

Chronic stress is a less intense stress than this, but it lasts for a longer period of time. For instance, imagine the pressure from a large credit card debt or the conflict from a bad relationship. You may notice headaches, difficulty sleeping, and mood swings. These physical changes take a toll on your health and well-being.
Either too much or too little stress can be harmful. Too much causes health and relationship problems. Too little can cause boredom, lack of performance, lack of productivity and carelessness. The key is finding the stress level that is ‘optimal’ for you.
What causes Stress?
Any demand you see as a problem or issue can cause you stress. These demands are called stressors. Most stressors fall into one of these categories:

• Social or Family: Major life events such as Marriage, divorce, children, retirement, or death.
• Occupational: Job-related problems like losing a job, changing jobs, promotions, demotions or deadlines.
• Educational: Pressures from attending school like homework and exams; getting accepted into the school of your choice or being liked and accepted by your peers.
• Health: Illness, health problems or pain.
• Financial: Money problems; chronic debt or inability to meet expenses.
• Environmental: External conditions such as hurricanes, poor air quality and pollution.

What does stress do to the body?

Stress causes your body to make physical and chemical changes. When you are under stress, your body’s first reactions are a rise in blood pressure, quicker breathing, increased perspiration, quicker heartbeat, and dilated (enlarged) pupils. All your senses go on high alert.
Physiological changes are part of the fight-or-flight response. This reaction is instinctive, it protects us from threats to our survival. Scientists believe that the fight-or-flight response is an ancient survival mechanism. It is probably left over from times when animals, including humans, were often threatened by physical dangers. In the fight reaction, the body gets ready to attack an intruder. The flight response probably is a reaction to fear, and the body gets ready to run away or hide.
In today’s world we are more likely to experience threats to our emotional and mental well being than our physical safety. Still, the body reacts in the same way—it speeds up to produce energy and get ready to move. The body stays keyed up until the danger passes. Then it returns to a state of calmness. However, if high levels of stress continue, the body stays activated. During this activated process the body releases adrenalin and cortizol into the body. This gives the body energy and aggression to take whatever action is necessary for the situation at hand. This adrenalin and cortizol are released by the body naturally through physical activity or exertion. If the body is not able to perform this physical activity, the adrenalin and cortizol can build up in the body. This can cause a problem. When the body no longer has the energy to adapt, it becomes exhausted. This damages the body’s organs and can even eventually cause death.
Stress has been associated with many health problems. Some of these are high blood pressure, heart trouble, asthma, fatigue and muscle pain. If stress is not relieved, it can cause emotional problems as well such as anxiety or depression. Stress can also hurt your relationships with friends, family, and co-workers.
New research now shows that females may have a different way of coping with stress. Females seem to react with the tend-and-befriend response. In stressful situations, women tend the young and seek out support from others to deal with stress.
The hormone oxytocin is secreted by women and men as a response to stress. When oxytocin is combined with other female hormones, like estrogen, it works against stress. Oxytocin has a calming effect, reduces fear and decreases the physiological signs of stress in the fight-or-flight reaction. The tend-and-befriend response may have developed because women are the ones who usually are responsible for nurturing and caring for their offspring. Women are also more likely than men to look for support from others in all types of stressful situations, from work hassles to relationship problems. This does not mean that women are immune to stress, or that they never experience the fight-or-flight response. It does mean that women may respond to stress by reaching out to others.
Signs of stress
Major problems can be avoided if symptoms are identified early. You probably already know some of them—headaches, tense muscles, knotted stomach, sweaty palms. Symptoms may also be psychological and interpersonal, like feeling moody, having trouble concentrating, loss of memory or arguing with others.

Some of the signs of serious problems are:

• Persistent, intense depression
• Frequent illness
• Chronic sleeping problems
• Mental Confusion
• Over-eating or persistent weight problems
• Outbursts of violence
• Sexual problems
• Persistent family conflict
• Excessive drinking or drug use

Stress management:

How a person deals with Stress is more important then the stress itself. Coping is what you do to deal with stress. Some major life events or demands are out of your control, but you can still take charge of how you react. A healthy lifestyle can help you prevent and manage stress. Using stress management practices in your life on a daily basis will keep you healthier and happier both physically and emotionally. Below are the lifestyle guidelines that will help you deal with you stress.

1. Avoid Cigarettes. Cigarette smoking is the single most important preventable cause of illness and early death. People are more likely to smoke when they are under stress. The key to quitting is to find a healthy alternative to smoking. If you smoke because you are under stress, then find another outlet. The effects of smoking can be reversed. It is never too late to stop.
2. Exercise Regularly. Regular exercise helps people of all ages look and feel better. Different types of exercise provide specific health benefits. The key to successful exercising is to find a physical activity that you enjoy. Whether it is walking, running, going to the gym or yoga—find out what works for your body and for your lifestyle and stick to it. You should work out at least 3 times per week for at least 30 minutes at a time.
3. Eat Sensibly. A nutritious diet is essential for maintaining good health and proper weight. A balanced diet, especially one low in fat and sugar, helps to prevent stress. Also eating small frequent meals helps to keep your blood sugar stabilized and your energy and moods normal. An ideal daily food regiment would be to eat 5 meals a day consisting of low-fat sources of protein and good carbohydrates.
4. Get Plenty of Rest. Restful sleep helps you to maintain health and cope better with problems. It is ideal to get 7-8 hours of restful sleep per night.
5. Alcohol in moderation. Alcohol is frequently used to reduce stress because it has a relaxing effect. Regular, heavy use of alcohol leads to organ malfunction and disease. Drinking and driving often leads to fatal or crippling accidents. Use alcohol in moderation for social events and not for a solution to your problems.
6. Avoid excessive caffeine. This is in many products such as coffee, tea, sodas and chocolate. It speeds up the body and can exaggerate the effects of stress.
7. Get Regular Chiropractic Care: Regular Chiropractic treatment corrects and strengthens the spine with protects the nervous system. Your nervous system is the control center for your body. Having a healthy nervous system will allow you to fight off the effects of stress and aging. Remember, only the body can heal itself. Chiropractic allows your body to function at the highest level possible, therefore allowing you to live the longest, healthiest life.

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Wellness

Wellness is the quality or state of being in good health. Good health comes from a healthy lifestyle. Lifestyle is the way in which you live your life. In order to achieve total wellness, you must incorporate healthy activities and habits into your life on a daily basis. Total Health & Wellness comes from the Mind, Body and Soul. So feed, nurture and develop yourself physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Take care of your body with proper nutrition, exercise, Chiropractic and pampering.
Stimulate your mind with knowledge and share your wisdom with those around you. The more you use it, the more it grows.
Nurture your soul through love, belief and curiosity. Through curiosity comes experience and depth. And through these comes true connection.

Total health comes from the mind, body and spirit. Take time for yourself everyday, even if just for 15 minutes. Take a bath, read a chapter in a book, listen to your favorite music, sing, or dance. Do whatever makes you feel good. Always be honest with yourself and others. Surround yourself with people you love and that love you. Acknowledge yourself for something everyday, and then acknowledge someone else. Take a moment to appreciate yourself, your family and life in general. But most importantly, love yourself……because YOU are great!

Total Life Coaching

Have you ever felt stuck in your life? Relationship? Or Career? Have you ever set goals and didn’t achieve them? Or perhaps you feel that you just might need someone who can provide you with objective feedback, constructive criticism and consistent motivation.

Total Life Coaching can provide you with just that. Faye Jawad has been doing coaching for the past 10 years. She received 6 years of extensive training from 1995 – 2001. She specializes in working with women on how to create a healthy balance between work, home & private life. Women today have the difficult task of taking on successful and demanding careers, busy home lives with Children and school activities, and maintaining a strong, healthy relationship with their significant others. And that doesn’t even include social lives with friends and colleagues, or how about time for the most important person of all….YOU.

That can be overwhelming for even the best of us!

Over time, we can neglect ourselves and those around us because we have not found a way to balance it all. This is where ‘Total Life Coaching’ can help. Having someone who can take a look into your life from an outside view. Someone who can be objective about what is working and what is not working in your life. Someone who can allow you to see through the fog and clutter and get back on track. Just like having a personal trainer for your workouts, having a coach for the rest of your life can ‘force’ you to do what is necessary to create the life that nurtures ‘you’ and your true desires. We spend so much time trying to make everyone else happy, that we forget about ourselves. If we would only realize that it all starts within. By becoming happy ourselves, everyone else will follow.

The difference with Total Life Coaching from other coaching, is that Faye uses ‘You’ to find out what will bring you the most from your sessions. Every human being is different, and has different desires in all aspects of life. She believes that we as individuals should tune into our own desires and tailor both our personal and professional lives around those desires. This is where ‘True’ happiness comes from. By asking you the right questions, Faye can see when you are curious and excited about something. This is where we can find out what moves and motivates you. You can work on whatever area(s) of your life are in need.
Faye has successfully worked with hundreds of men and women on their relationships and other issues. It is her desire to have patients incorporate this into their ‘Total’ health care regiment. She believes that emotional well being is just as important as physical well being.

“When there is ‘Balance’ between the Mind, Body & Soul, we can see the true beauty of us all”. -Faye Jawad

Sessions

Sessions are by appointment only. The initial session is 90 minutes in length, and follow up sessions are 1 hour. They are face-to-face only. No phone consultations. They are done in the office and are always private and confidential in nature.
Normally sessions are one time a week unless otherwise discusses. They can go for a set number of weeks, or until you and Faye feel your goals have been reached.
Fees

• Initial Session: $115.00
• Follow Up session: $75.00

Please call us at 630.653.2225 if we can add Total Life Coaching to your health care plan. You can stop in or call Faye at the office anytime to discuss how we can help you on the road to ‘Total’ Health & Wellness!

Kinesio Taping gives support and stability to your joints and muscles without affecting circulation and range of motion. It is also used for Preventive Maintenance, Edema, and Pain Management.
Kinesio Taping is a technique based on the body's own natural healing process. This Kinesio Taping exhibits its efficacy through the activation of neurological and circulatory systems. This method basically stems from the science of Kinesiology, hence the name "Kinesio". Muscles are not only attributed to the movements of the body but also control the circulation of venous and lymph flows, body temperature, etc. Therefore, the failure of the muscles to function properly induces various kinds of symptoms.

Consequently, so much attention was given to the importance of muscle function that the idea of treating the muscles in order to activate the body's own healing process came about. Using an elastic tape, it was discovered that muscles and other tissues could be helped by outside assistance. Employment of Kinesio Taping creates a totally new approach to treating nerves, muscles, and organs. The first application of Kinesio Taping was for a patient with articular disorders.
For the first 10 years, orthopedists, chiropractors, acupuncturists and other medical practitioners were the main users of Kinesio Taping. Soon thereafter, Kinesio Taping was used by the Japanese Olympic volleyball players and word quickly spread to other athletes. Today, Kinesio Taping is accepted by medical practitioners and athletes in Japan, United States, Europe, South America and other Asian countries.
The Kinesio Taping Method is applied over muscles to reduce pain and inflammation, relax overused tired muscles, and to support muscles in movement on a 24hr/day basis. It is non-restrictive type of taping which allows for full range of motion.
In contrast, traditional sports' taping is wrapped around a joint strictly for stabilization and support during a sporting event obstructing the flow of bodily fluids... an UNDESIRABLE side-effect.

Prenatal massage

Therapeutic massage has been used for centuries to improve overall health, reduce stress, and relieve muscle tension. Pregnant women have often received ambivalent responses from the health community regarding the safety and purpose of massage during pregnancy. Modern investigation and research is proving that prenatal massage therapy can be a very instrumental ingredient in women’s prenatal care and should be given careful consideration.

Although most massage training institutions teach massage therapy for women who are pregnant, it is best to find a massage therapist who is certified in prenatal massage. The APA does work with any massage therapist, so it is important to ask about qualifications.

The benefits of prenatal massage or massage during pregnancy:

Studies indicate that massage therapy performed during pregnancy can reduce anxiety, decrease symptoms of depression, relieve muscle aches and joint pains, and improve labor outcomes and newborn health.

Massage therapy addresses different needs through varying techniques, one of which is called Swedish Massage, which aims to relax muscle tension and improve lymphatic and blood circulation through mild pressure applied to the muscle groups of the body. Swedish Massage is the recommended prenatal massage method during pregnancy because it addresses many common discomforts associated with the skeletal and circulatory changes brought on by hormone shifts during pregnancy

Hormone regulation

Studies done in the past 10 years have shown that hormone levels associated with relaxation and stress are significantly altered, leading to mood regulation and improved cardiovascular health, when massage therapy was introduced to women’s prenatal care. Hormones such as norepinephrine and cortisol (“stress hormones”) were reduced and dopamine and serotonin levels (low levels of these hormones are associated with depression) were increased in women who received bi-weekly massages for only five weeks. These changes in hormone levels also led to fewer complications during birth and fewer instances of newborn complications, such as low birth weight. The evidence points strongly to maternal and newborn health benefits when relaxing, therapeutic massage is incorporated into regular prenatal care.

Reduction of swelling

Edema, or swelling of the joints during pregnancy, is often caused by reduced circulation and increased pressure on the major blood vessels by the heavy uterus. Massage helps to stimulate soft tissues to reduce collection of fluids in swollen joints, which also improves the removal of tissue waste, carried by the body’s lymph system.

Improvement of nerve pain

Sciatic nerve pain is experienced by many women in late pregnancy as the uterus rests on muscles of the pelvic floor and lower back. The pressure of the uterus spreads tension to the muscles of the upper and lower leg, causing them to swell and put pressure on nearby nerves. Massage therapy addresses the inflamed nerves by helping to release the tension on nearby muscles. Many women have experienced significant reduction in sciatic nerve pain during pregnancy through regular massage.

Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT)

For athletes, dancers, fitness enthusiast, active or sedentary individuals rehabilitating from an orthopedic injury, efficient joint motion is essential to recovery and optimal performance. Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT*) is a revolutionary manual therapy and form of bodywork that prepares the body for all types of exercise (including physical therapy, Pilates, Yoga, etc) and optimal performance. No matter what the type of motion - isolated or integrated - the MAT procedure addresses the weak links; thereby allowing the body to function most efficiently while eliminating pain.

 How is MAT Different?

While most treatment modalities look for and treat muscular tension, MAT looks for and treats muscular weakness, viewing muscular weakness the top priority and viewing tightness as secondary. From this perspective, tight muscles are a protective mechanism that the body utilizes to protect from positions of instability. So, to forcibly take away the body's innate defenses without resolving the underlying causes would be irresponsible, to say the least. MAT restores the neuromuscular control that the body needs to stabilize the affected joints, re-establishing mobility and stability.

Another hallmark of MAT is that it is a reproducible system of checks and balances design to reveal and correct the compensation patterns. From a biomechanics perspective, MAT looks at how all joints are interrelated and how abnormal mechanics in one joint may affect motion at another joint.   e.g. the effect of foot mechanics on hip, shoulder and cervical function.

 How and why does MAT work?

MAT works to increase the stability and mobility of the joints by restoring the proprioceptive sensitivity of the muscle spindles in the muscles being treated. This causes concomitant increase in the alpha motor drive in the homologous and synergistic muscles while reciprocally inhibiting the alpha motor drive in the antagonist via Ia inhibitory interneuron activity. Therefore, activation of a muscle will increase the stabilizing characteristics of a muscle while allowing the opposite, tight muscles to relax.

MAT detects and treats muscular imbalances by exploiting the following principals of Neurophysiology:

• Reciprocal Inhibition;
• Alpha and Gamma motor neuron co-activation and the effect on the sensitivity of the muscle spindle;
• Muscle spindle's influence on alpha motor drive of homonymous, synergistic and antagonistic tissue; and
• Orderly recruitment principle.

 How your therapist will work with you:

1. MAT uses specific arthrokinematic relationships to determine neuromuscular deficits** that lead to compromised performance, joint instability and pain. These deficits are typically found in joint positions where muscles have the least biomechanical advantage and IF THERE IS DYSFUNCTION, diminished proprioceptive input as well. Therefore, limitations in range of motion indicate positions of weakness or neuromuscular deficits.
2. Once positional limitations in range of motion have been identified, the plane or planes of weakness must be uncovered. To accomplish this, joint and position -specific muscle testing (neuroproprioceptive response testing) is applied , through precise the specific planes dictated by limited range of motion.
3. Once the positions of instability have been identified, the neurological connection must be restored. To strengthen these positions of instability, specific, graded-intensity isometrics or precise palpation are used to restore proper proprioceptive input to the muscle spindle.
4. Re-test to make sure that the ROM and strength have been restored.