Champaign Chiropractic Center

04/28/2025

Dr. Stickney will be on vacation and the office will be closed Monday, April 28 through Friday, May 2, 2025.

07/31/2023

Did you know that chiropractic works for babies? Many people ask me why an infant might need an adjustment and my response is always, have you seen where they come out? The process of birth is not always an easy one, and little ones can be stuck with their heads in awkward positions in utero or during delivery. Chiropractic works very well for pregnant mothers as well, helping to alleviate common discomforts of pregnancy. This is Dr. Stickney, checking and adjusting her grandson, Bentley, shortly after his birth. Check out the smile at the end, he was one satisfied patient 😊

02/19/2023

So many people, primarily women experience this. Here is the explanation.

Cortisol keeps us alive by raising blood sugar.

Cortisol belongs to the glucocorticoid family—a name for substances that can raise your glucose.

This is cortisol’s main job: to increase your glucose and store the excess in the liver.

When you are chronically stressed, you make more cortisol.

Cortisol plays a major role in fat storage.

By raising blood sugar in the body, high cortisol leads to the sugar being stored as fat.

To put it simply, excess cortisol is a weight loss blocker.

Anything that raises cortisol levels and keeps them elevated will make it very difficult to lose weight.

Often when people find it hard to drop the extra pounds despite a diet low in refined sugars and carbs, they may look to increase their workouts. Racking up countless hours on the road or treadmill will likely trigger an undesired hormonal response, which can negatively impact your attempt to lose weight.

The longer your workout, even at a moderate intensity, the more cortisol your body is releasing.

For some people, chronic cardio raises cortisol too high and leads to an overactive stress response system. It’s like overstepping your fitness boundaries and causing more harm than good.

Bottom line: if cortisol is consistently elevated, it could be the reason why you are not losing weight despite a healthy diet and exercise regimen.

07/14/2020

With so much of the world focus on Covid-19, case numbers and deaths, very little attention is ever given to how we could arm ourselves and our immune systems to make us less likely to get the coronavirus or lessening the severity if we do get it. If you have been in my office in the last year, I have more than likely mentioned the importance of Vitamin D. As I have studied nutrition, Vitamin D was heavily indicated as an important nutrient that the many are deficient in. Research shows Vitamin D has been helpful in autoimmune disorders, bone health, cognitive health, cancers, heart disease and high blood pressure, and immune health. There have been studies showing that 50% of women diagnosed with breast cancer are deficient in Vitamin D.
Approximately 42% of the population is deficient, however, that percentage is higher in people in the African American population, at 82%, and Hispanics is around 69%. The elderly are also amoung those having a higher incidence of deficiency. Skin pigmentation plays a large part in synthesizing Vitamin D through our skin. Because many people fear sunbathing or burning from sun exposure, they use sunscreen which also prevents sythesis while being out in the sun.

Many research articles have linked severe Vitamin D deficiency to an increased risk of developing and dying from Covid-19. Experts believe that the cytokine storm, where the immune system overreacts and begins attacking your own tissues, could be caused by Vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D helps boost innate immunity and helps prevent overactive immune responses. A simple lab test can be done to assess your Vitamin D status. If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of Vitamin D or having your levels tested to assess your need, call my office and I would be happy to help.