Taking Care of Older Joints (and Younger Joints, Too)

 

 

Taking Care of Older Joints (and Younger Joints, Too)

Chiropractic Care and Musculoskeletal Joint Flexibility

Chiropractic care is designed to, among other benefits, improve flexibility of spinal joints. Loss of spinal vertebral motion leads to spinal muscle tightness and pain, which in turn may result in numerous other physical problems. For example, headaches, lack of restful sleep, and increased irritability may all have a common cause in loss of spinal flexibility. By helping increase mobility in your neck, mid back, and lower back, chiropractic care improves your body's overall functioning, including balance and coordination. By helping remove ongoing sources of musculoskeletal irritation, chiropractic care reduces internal physiologic stress. The many benefits may include improved peace of mind, enhanced interpersonal communication, and a better ability to respond effectively to your home and work environment.

Many people experience increasing musculoskeletal joint stiffness as they get older. Shoulders, knees, and ankles don't seem to be as flexible as they once were. It seems more difficult to bend over and pick up a dropped object. It may be uncomfortable to turn your head around to see the car in the next lane that's right in the center of your driver's blind spot. The bad news is that, left unattended, your joints do get stiffer as you get older. Left on their own, your joints will likely lose full mobility. The good news is there's plenty you can do about it. You can regain and retain much of your youthful flexibility if you are willing to be proactive.
First, some basic physiology. Joints such as the shoulder, knee, and ankle are lubricated by synovial fluid. Synovial fluid keeps joints moist, provides oxygen and nutrition, and washes away toxic end-products of normal metabolic processes. The joints in your spine are also lubricated and maintained in this way. But aging reduces the amount of available synovial fluid. Also, normal aging processes increase the viscosity of the remaining synovial fluid. You have less available lubricant and the lubricant that you do have is thicker. The result is stiffer joints, pretty much from top to bottom.
The specific countermeasure to such physiologic aging is to keep active. This is a pretty challenging prescription in a world in which most of our time is spent seated. Our bodies were designed for hard, physical work. But as we've transformed from an agrarian to an industrial society, and more recently from an industrial to a service-based society, the nature of our work has changed dramatically. The vast majority of our work is now done seated at a desk. When we're not typing on a computer keyboard or reading a spreadsheet, we're at home watching TV, playing games on our computing devices, or very rarely, reading. None of these activities involves active motion. If we want to take care of our bodies, we're going to have to be proactive about creating the time to do so.
We're going to be creating time for exercise. Almost any type of exercise causes synovial fluid to be more available, pumping synovial fluid into joint spaces and helping to lubricate joints.^1,2 Exercise increases your internal core temperature, which in turn decreases the viscosity of synovial fluid. The overall result is increased joint flexibility. This benefit is often experienced immediately. The benefit will be long-lasting provided that you continue to exercise regularly.
Thirty minutes of exercise per day, 5 days per week, will assist most of us in maintaining as much joint flexibility as possible. Alternating a cardiovascular exercise day with a strength training day is an optimal program.³ Yoga provides a total body workout which incorporates cardiovascular exercise, strength training, and flexibility. Ultimately, the types of exercise you do are less important than the long-term consistency. Regular, vigorous exercise, done over months and years, will provide great benefit, not only in terms of improved joint flexibility, but also in terms of overall health and well-being.
¹Seco J, et al: A long-term physical activity training program increases strength and flexibility, and improves balance in older adults. Rehabil Nurs 38(1):37-47, 2013
²Garber CE, et al: American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and neuromotor fitness in apparently healthy adults: guidance for prescribing exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc 43(7):1334-1359, 2011
³Micheo W, et al: Basic principles regarding strength, flexibility, and stability exercises. PM R 4(11):805-811, 2012

What Should I Do About My Pain?

What Should I Do About My Pain?

Chiropractic Care and Neck and Back Pain

Your chiropractor is your primary resource for evaluation and treatment of neck pain and low back pain. The majority of these spinal complaints are caused by irritation and inflammation of muscles, tendons, and ligaments that help create the structure of the spinal column and provide for full mobility of the spinal vertebras. By locating regions of your spine where mobility is decreased, your chiropractor identifies areas in need of treatment. By restoring mobility to spinal segments, chiropractic care helps remove the source of neck pain and back pain. An additional benefit of chiropractic care is the removal of nerve interference. Irritation and inflammation of spinal soft tissues negatively affects the normal function of spinal nerves. The ability of these important neural pathways to transmit information from your brain to the rest of your body is compromised. The result may be a wide range of health problems. By addressing the root of many of these problems at the source, chiropractic care helps contribute to your overall health and well-being.

No one really wants to be a worrier. We certainly don't want to visit our chiropractor or family doctor for every ache and pain. But eventually we all experience physical problems and it may be difficult to know what to do about them. Some problems are immediate and serious. If you suddenly experience crushing chest pain and radiating pain down your left arm, possibly with nausea, profuse perspiration, and a feeling of impending doom, you know you have to call "911" immediately, if you can. If you awaken in the middle of the night with an intense, deep, sharp pain in your lower right abdomen, accompanied by vomiting and a fever, you know you need to go to the Emergency Room right away. In these exceptional cases, however, most people know which steps to take. What should you do when your pain is not clear-cut and dramatic, as it is in a heart attack or acute appendicitis? General guidelines are available which may be applicable in many situations.

Overall, pain is a warning signal. But many problems that cause pain take care of themselves. For example, you may twist an ankle on your daily walk. It may hurt to put weight on that ankle and there may even be a bit of swelling, but within two days your ankle is much better. There was initial pain owing to soft tissue injury, possibly involving muscles, tendons, and/or ligaments. However, the injury wasn't so severe that your body's ability to self-heal couldn't manage the situation. In the case of a greater degree of initial pain and more swelling, or if improvement wasn't being obtained within 48 hours, a visit to your chiropractor would be appropriate. In borderline situations involving musculoskeletal pain, whether you choose to seek professional advice depends on your intuition and level of pain tolerance. If you think something is "wrong", regardless of the nature of the injury or the intensity of your pain, you should seek professional assistance.

With some categories of physical problems, making the time to visit your chiropractor is the best course of action.^1,2 A single occurrence of low back pain or neck pain could be ignored, especially if the problem goes away in a few days. But repetitive episodes of spinal pain should always be evaluated by your chiropractor. A severe headache should probably lead to a chiropractic examination, especially if you've never before had the type of pain and the intensity of pain that you're currently experiencing. Persistent radiating pain into an arm or leg, accompanied by numbness and tingling, should be evaluated by your chiropractor. Again, if discomfort persists and you can't clearly explain to yourself why you're having the pain that you're having, the best thing to do is to make an appointment to see your doctor, that is, your chiropractor or your family physician. You want to obtain expert information and advice, and you want to receive treatment if needed and instructions on how to care for yourself in the days, weeks, and months ahead.³

Comfort level is a valuable criterion with respect to your overall health and well-being. After considering the general guidelines, people should take the appropriate action that they believe will best serve their welfare.

¹Smart KM: Mechanisms-based classifications of musculoskeletal pain. Part 1. Symptoms and signs of central sensitisation in patients with low back (plus/minus leg) pain. Man Ther 17(4):336-344, 2012

²Thornton GM, Hart DA: The interface of mechanical loading and biological variables as they pertain to the development of tendinosis. J Musculoskelet Neuronal Interact 11(2):94-105, 2011

³McCarberg BH, et al: Diagnosis and treatment of low-back pain because of paraspinous muscle spasm: a physician roundtable. Pain Med 12(Suppl 4):S119-S127, 2011

Taking Care of Older Joints (and Younger Joints, Too)

Taking Care of Older Joints (and Younger Joints, Too)

Chiropractic Care and Musculoskeletal Joint Flexibility

Chiropractic care is designed to, among other benefits, improve flexibility of spinal joints. Loss of spinal vertebral motion leads to spinal muscle tightness and pain, which in turn may result in numerous other physical problems. For example, headaches, lack of restful sleep, and increased irritability may all have a common cause in loss of spinal flexibility. By helping increase mobility in your neck, mid back, and lower back, chiropractic care improves your body's overall functioning, including balance and coordination. By helping remove ongoing sources of musculoskeletal irritation, chiropractic care reduces internal physiologic stress. The many benefits may include improved peace of mind, enhanced interpersonal communication, and a better ability to respond effectively to your home and work environment.

Many people experience increasing musculoskeletal joint stiffness as they get older. Shoulders, knees, and ankles don't seem to be as flexible as they once were. It seems more difficult to bend over and pick up a dropped object. It may be uncomfortable to turn your head around to see the car in the next lane that's right in the center of your driver's blind spot. The bad news is that, left unattended, your joints do get stiffer as you get older. Left on their own, your joints will likely lose full mobility. The good news is there's plenty you can do about it. You can regain and retain much of your youthful flexibility if you are willing to be proactive.
First, some basic physiology. Joints such as the shoulder, knee, and ankle are lubricated by synovial fluid. Synovial fluid keeps joints moist, provides oxygen and nutrition, and washes away toxic end-products of normal metabolic processes. The joints in your spine are also lubricated and maintained in this way. But aging reduces the amount of available synovial fluid. Also, normal aging processes increase the viscosity of the remaining synovial fluid. You have less available lubricant and the lubricant that you do have is thicker. The result is stiffer joints, pretty much from top to bottom.
The specific countermeasure to such physiologic aging is to keep active. This is a pretty challenging prescription in a world in which most of our time is spent seated. Our bodies were designed for hard, physical work. But as we've transformed from an agrarian to an industrial society, and more recently from an industrial to a service-based society, the nature of our work has changed dramatically. The vast majority of our work is now done seated at a desk. When we're not typing on a computer keyboard or reading a spreadsheet, we're at home watching TV, playing games on our computing devices, or very rarely, reading. None of these activities involves active motion. If we want to take care of our bodies, we're going to have to be proactive about creating the time to do so.
We're going to be creating time for exercise. Almost any type of exercise causes synovial fluid to be more available, pumping synovial fluid into joint spaces and helping to lubricate joints.^1,2 Exercise increases your internal core temperature, which in turn decreases the viscosity of synovial fluid. The overall result is increased joint flexibility. This benefit is often experienced immediately. The benefit will be long-lasting provided that you continue to exercise regularly.
Thirty minutes of exercise per day, 5 days per week, will assist most of us in maintaining as much joint flexibility as possible. Alternating a cardiovascular exercise day with a strength training day is an optimal program.³ Yoga provides a total body workout which incorporates cardiovascular exercise, strength training, and flexibility. Ultimately, the types of exercise you do are less important than the long-term consistency. Regular, vigorous exercise, done over months and years, will provide great benefit, not only in terms of improved joint flexibility, but also in terms of overall health and well-being.
¹Seco J, et al: A long-term physical activity training program increases strength and flexibility, and improves balance in older adults. Rehabil Nurs 38(1):37-47, 2013
²Garber CE, et al: American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and neuromotor fitness in apparently healthy adults: guidance for prescribing exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc 43(7):1334-1359, 2011
³Micheo W, et al: Basic principles regarding strength, flexibility, and stability exercises. PM R 4(11):805-811, 2012

What are you doing that effects your health? Is it good? Is it bad?

Think about what you are doing physically, emotionally, and chemically to your body. How is this effecting it today? What effects are they causing to it for the future?

Shoulder have you out of the Game this summer??

Healing Chronic Shoulder Pain

Chiropractic Care and Rehabilitation of Chronic Pain

Chronic injuries require specific rehabilitation and a long-term approach. Patience is required and it is important to recall that the problem has developed over the course of years and will not be fixed in a matter of weeks or months. Progress should be obtained in the short-term, but such situations usually require consistent, ongoing attention to achieve a long-term solution. Performing the appropriate rehabilitative activities is critically important and chiropractic care can be of great assistance in getting the most out of your exercise program. Regular chiropractic care improves the mobility of your spinal column and removes nerve interference which may cause tight, inflamed muscles. The result is a body that is optimized for good health and full function. By enabling maximum spinal mobility and maximum function of your nerve system, regular chiropractic care helps maximize your body's ability to recover from chronic injury.

As we get older, years and decades of mechanical stress may lead to deterioration of joints, ligaments, and tendons. This degenerative process, commonly known as arthritis, primarily affects weight-bearing joints such as the hips and knees and those found in the lumbar spine. The shoulder, too, is especially prone to undergo arthritic changes owing to its extreme mobility. The extensive range of motion at the shoulder is built-in to the design of this structure, but the tradeoff is instability. The design of the shoulder sacrifices stability for mobility.

Degenerative disorders of the shoulder typically involve the rotator cuff. This broad, flat structure is composed of the muscle-tendon units of the four rotator cuff muscles: the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis, and teres minor. The thick covering of the rotator cuff surrounds the head of the arm bone and supports and strengthens the shoulder joint. But owing to the shoulder's inherent instability contrasted with its great mobility, the soft tissues of the rotator cuff undergo repetitive stress and strain. Ultimately, degenerative changes may occur, leading to the two prominent symptoms of pain and restricted range of motion.

An entire orthopedic sub-specialty focuses on treatment of chronic shoulder pain and includes long-term use of anti-inflammatory medication, corticosteroid injections when medications do not provide sufficient relief, and eventually surgery to repair tears in the various rotator cuff tendons. "Revision" surgery is commonly performed when the benefits of prior surgery are exhausted.¹

The good news is that in many cases, a more optimal approach is available, one that utilizes the body's own natural recuperative powers. For many people, chronic shoulder pain can be reduced and chronic loss of mobility can be improved by engaging in specific activities and performing specific rehabilitative exercises. The goals of rehabilitation are to increase shoulder range of motion and build up shoulder strength. As these goals are accomplished, the likely result is reduction of intensity and frequency of occurrence of shoulder pain.

Engaging in an overall strength training program is an important general approach to managing chronic shoulder pain.^2,3 Strength training should be done progressively, starting with light weights and building up over time. Exercises specific to the shoulder include seated dumbbell or barbell presses, dumbbell or cable lateral raises, seated bent-over rows, and internal and external rotation exercises done with very light dumbbells on a flat bench. If one has experienced an acute shoulder injury, early rehabilitation should precede rehabilitative strength training. Early rehabilitation includes pendulum exercises and finger-walking up a wall in both forward-facing and side positions.

Your chiropractor is experienced in injury rehabilitation and will be able to help you design an effective flexibility and strengthening program for improved shoulder function.

¹Keener JD: Revision rotator cuff repair. Clin Sports Med 31(4):713-725, 2012

²Lewis JS: A specific exercise program for patients with subacromial impingement syndrome can improve function and reduce the need for surgery. J Physiother 58(2):127, 2012

³Andersen LL, et al: Effectiveness of small daily amounts of progressive resistance training for frequent neck/shoulder pain: randomised controlled trial. Pain 152(2):440-446, 2011

Mind and Body Connection.

What's on and in your mind can and will effect your health. A quick look in a few medical dictionaries confirm this.

psy·cho·so·mat·ic (s k -s -m t k) adj. 1. Of or relating to a disorder having physical symptoms but originating from mental or emotional causes. 2. Relating to or concerned with the influence of the mind on the body, and the body on the mind, especially with respect to disease: psychosomatic medicine.

psy cho·so·mat i·cal·ly adv.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

psychosomatic [ˌsaɪkəʊsəˈmætɪk] adj (Psychology) (Medicine / Pathology) of or relating to disorders, such as stomach ulcers, thought to be caused or aggravated by psychological factors such as stress

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

This is also common in sayings in our society. "They seem to have the whole weight of the world in their shoulders." "My boss is a pain in my neck." These are just a few.

It is common for me to see patients with real physical symptoms that may be traced back to emotional stress.

So what can be done? Take time to de-stress. Maybe just some quite time, a walk, exercise, reading a book, prayer, meditation, vacation, ... in some cases professional help with a physiologiest, or a pastor.

Point is you must learn to take care of you Mind, and it will help take care of your Body!

Dr. Parrish Skrien.

Check your Spine

Remember to Schedule Your Spinal Screening

Chiropractic Care and Long-Term Health

Regular, vigorous physical exercise, a healthful diet, and sufficient rest are not the only components of a comprehensive program of health and well-being. Regular chiropractic care is an additional key factor. Each of these lifestyle choices contributes to the benefits derived from the others. In the case of regular chiropractic care, maintaining a healthy spine and nerve system helps support all the other things you're doing. A healthy spine helps keep your muscles and joints limber so you can get the most out of your exercise. By identifying and correcting nerve interference, regular chiropractic care helps your digestive system to efficiently utilize the good food you're consuming. By reducing neck and back aches and pains, regular chiropractic care helps you achieve a more restful, reinvigorating sleep. Overall, regular chiropractic care helps your body be more at ease and helps you enjoy increased health.

Most of us have undergone some type of screening exam in the last several years. Depending on your age, personal history, and family history, you may have needed to go for a periodic mammography, colonoscopy, or cardiac stress test. If everything was fine, you have probably been instructed to follow-up next year, in three years, or in five years or more. As treatment is usually more effective and easier to accomplish in the early stages of illness, screening procedures are an important component of a public health and health care policy. Most people are generally aware of the usefulness of periodic screening exams for chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. Spinal screening, performed by your chiropractor, is an additional important service to assist you in maintaining your long-term health and well-being.^1,2

Your spinal column is designed for two primary purposes: to provide for an extensive range of motion in three directions (forward and backward, side-to-side, and rotation) and to house and protect the spinal cord. Both of these functions are critical to ensuring ongoing health and wellness. A chiropractic spinal screening exam analyzes your spine to identify localized regions of limited mobility and to detect the presence of nerve interference.

First, if your spine is not freely movable, you will likely begin to experience neck, mid back, or low back pain. People often wonder why they have such pains. A person will typically say, "I didn't do anything, really. I was driving and just looked around to make sure I could change lanes safely. Now I can't move my neck." Another person might say, "All I did was bend over to pick up the mail. My back really hurts." The problem causing their pain wasn't the simple twisting or bending motion. The problem was an underlying one - a lack of full mobility in the affected region of the spine.³

Next, your spinal cord is a direct extension of your brain. Your spinal cord connects your brain with the rest of your body through numerous pairs of spinal nerves. These spinal nerves branch out and create a complex communication network, sending signals from your brain to your body and from your body back to your brain. A mechanical problem in the spinal column can cause irritation to local spinal muscles, ligaments, and joints, which in turn can irritate spinal nerves and cause nerve interference. Nerve interference can cause disturbances in your body's neural network, delaying nerve signals or causing information to be transmitted incorrectly or at the wrong time. Over time, symptoms develop in the affected region or regions as cells, tissues, and organs no longer do their job effectively. Eventually, symptoms may develop into full-blown chronic diseases.

Often, mechanical problems in the spine are not immediately obvious. The effects of nerve interference and back pain on a person's health take time to develop. As with other chronic health issues, prevention is the best strategy. A spinal screening performed by your local chiropractor is the best way of detecting underlying problems. Chiropractic care then corrects nerve interference, helping your body perform effectively and helping you to enjoy long-lasting health and well-being.

¹Goertz CM, et al: Adding chiropractic manipulative therapy to standard medical care for patients with acute low back pain: the results of a pragmatic randomized comparative effectiveness study. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 2012 Oct 10 [Epub ahead of print]

²Morningstar MW: Outcomes for adult scoliosis patients receiving chiropractic rehabilitation: a 24-month retrospective analysis. J Chiropr Med 10(3):179-184, 2011

³Bishop PB, et al: The Chiropractic Hospital-based Interventions Research Outcomes (CHIRO) study: a randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness of clinical practice guidelines in the medical and chiropractic management of patients with acute mechanical low back pain. Spine J 10(12):1055-1064, 2010