Chiropractic Care for Short-Term and Long-Term Health

Chiropractic Care for Short-Term and Long-Term Health

Chiropractic Care Is Comprehensive Care

Following a complete evaluation, which includes a history and physical examination, your chiropractor will design a care plan that will meet your specific health needs. Your care plan will include chiropractic care focusing on improving function of your spinal column. Your care plan will likely include additional recommendations, such as stretches, exercises, and nutritional planning. Your chiropractic care plan may, depending on the circumstances, include strategies for reducing stress and obtaining proper rest. Your chiropractor is a holistic practitioner who has expertise in many areas of health care. Chiropractic care is well known for its ability to treat musculoskeletal problems such as neck pain, back pain, and headaches. As chiropractic care focuses on the nerve system, your chiropractor may be of benefit in the overall care plan for many other conditions.

Chiropractic care is the one form of health care that keeps on giving. Chiropractic care certainly helps people to recover from short-term health problems, but this powerful method of healing also helps people stay well and assists in preventing new problems from developing.
Your chiropractor treats a wide variety of musculoskeletal problems. Neck pain, back pain, pain that travels from the neck to the arm and hand, pain that travels from the back to the leg and foot, headaches, and muscle spasms are conditions commonly treated by chiropractic care. Your chiropractor also treats many types of exercise- and sports-related injuries, such as rotator cuff injuries, tennis elbow, wrist sprains, knee injuries, ankle sprains, and shin splints. Repetitive stress injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome are also treated by chiropractic care. Also, chiropractic care may be a valuable addition to treatment for sleep disorders, digestive problems, menstrual cramps, asthma, and various allergies. Chiropractic care may also be of great assistance during pregnancy, in helping to relieve neck pain and back pain and to ease the process of delivery.
Chiropractic care can be beneficial for so many health problems owing to the fact that chiropractic care directly affects the functioning of your nerve system. Your nerve system, consisting of your brain, spinal cord, and nerves that branch out to the rest of your body, is your master physiologic system. Your nerve system, by sending signals to every cell, tissue, and organ in your body, controls all the other systems. Your heart relies on the nerve system so that it can pump blood at the right time and in the right amount.¹ Your small intestine relies on the nerve system so that it can complete the digestion of food and transmit usable nutrients to the bloodstream.² Your white blood cells and other immune system agents rely on the nerve system so that they can quickly identify and destroy foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses.³
But your nerve system can break down, in a sense, if spinal nerve interference is present. Such nerve interference, caused by irritation and inflammation of spinal nerves, is caused by loss of full mobility of spinal vertebras. Limited spinal motion irritates the muscles that move the spinal bones and the ligaments that hold those bones together. Inflamed spinal muscles and spinal ligaments cause spinal nerve inflammation. The immediate result is distortion in the quality and flow of information sent from the brain to the rest of the body. Too much or too little information is sent to the cells, tissues, and organs. The messages they receive are the wrong messages, or the messages arrive at the wrong time. The outcome is decreased functioning and/or inappropriate functioning of many other physiologic systems. Thus, spinal nerve interference is one of the primary causes of the many problems that may bring a person to his or her chiropractor's office.
Chiropractic care helps reduce and remove nerve interference by restoring increased functioning of your spinal column. The direct result is improved overall functioning of the rest of your body. By directly focusing on your spine and nerve system, your chiropractor can help restore quality of life and overall health and well-being.
¹Muller MD, et al: Mental stress elicits sustained and reproducible increases in skin sympathetic nerve activity. Physiol Rep  2013 Mar 1(1). pii: e00002.
²Zhou G, et al: White-matter microstructural changes in functional dyspepsia: a diffusion tensor imaging study. Am J Gastroenterol 108(2):260-269, 2013
³Straub RH, et al: Role of neuroendocrine and neuroimmune mechanisms in chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases-The 10-year update. Semin Arthritis Rheum 2013 May 31 doi: 10.1016/j.semarthrit.2013.04.008 [Epub ahead of print]

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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

Joint Pain In Children

Joint Pain In Children

 

            Children often complain about pains in their knees or their elbows or some other joint, and it’s rarely a symptom of a serious joint disease. Unfortunately children are not very good at remembering whether a fall or other incident preceded the problem, so the chiropractor’s expert diagnostic skills may be tested in recognizing the problem and easing it.

 

            The joint discomfort may be reactive to a recent sore throat or virus, even a recent vaccination. If the child has a history of joint pain, if there is joint swelling, fever or a skin rash, there may be an underlying systemic condition, such as Lyme disease, rheumatic fever or juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

 

            Most often, though, the cause is much more benign. The chiropractor may prescribe a rest period – no climbing, running or squatting – to let tissues heal. Gentle hands-on treatments can restore any spinal misalignment causing the joint discomfort.

Not Talking Sports

The Best Defense Is a Good Offense

Chiropractic Care Helps Us Help Ourselves

When we eat, we launch a complex series of digestive, endocrine, and metabolic physiologic processes. Numerous cells, tissues, organs, and systems are involved in turning our carrots, apples, grains, and proteins into energy that helps us live good lives. These complex processes don't happen on their own, though. They require timely instructions and guidance from the nerve system to work effectively and produce a coordinated result. Chiropractic care helps the nerve system do its job as the body's master system. Chiropractic care removes nerve interference that can cause important signals to be distorted or delayed. By helping ensure that the nerve system is free of interference, chiropractic care assists us in achieving peak physiologic performance, promoting long-term health and well-being.

Whether you live in the United States, Canada, or Western Europe, your health care decision-making is impacted by the type of health insurance available. In the United States, a fee-for-service system implies that you will be paying for some or all of the costs of every service used on your behalf. In Canada patients receive health care through a publicly funded system. Costs are funded via income taxes, so Canadian patients pay indirectly for their care. The majority of Western European countries have national health care systems in place. In France, for example, the national insurance program pays 70% of costs and much of the remaining 30% is paid by supplemental private insurance (most of this is paid by the patient's employer). Regardless, for any given person, more health problems mean more costs. Thus, preventing health problems in the first place is a strategy that will save families stress, anxiety, and financial resources in the long run. In health care it can be said that the best defense is a good offense.

What constitutes a "good offense" in health care? Being proactive in terms of lifestyle choices helps you put together a health care program that works. Your health care "offense" includes a healthful diet supported by sound nutritional principles, regular vigorous exercise, getting sufficient rest, and regular chiropractic care. All these elements are needed to enjoy long-term health and well-being. Each element provides critical value and helps support the benefits you get from the others. Good food helps you build strong muscle in response to regular vigorous exercise. Doing regular exercise helps you sleep better at night. More sleep helps you have more energy, so you have more strength and endurance when you're exercising. Regular chiropractic care helps your nerve system function at peak level, helping all your body systems work well together.

Such a lifestyle program goes very far toward restoring good health and reducing the costs of using the health care system. For example, regular vigorous exercise is an important part of all lifestyle programs aimed at lowering blood pressure and reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.¹ A healthful diet and regular exercise help lower the incidence of type 2 diabetes and assist overweight and obese individuals, children as well as adults, in returning to more optimal levels of health.^2,3

Many self-help books, DVDs, and television infomercials target those who wish to improve their overall health status. These materials and programs may have some use, but professional advice and guidance is the key to developing long-term, successful health strategies. Your chiropractor is experienced in nutrition, exercise, and health maintenance and can help you design a "good offense" for health care that works for you and your family.

¹Williams PT, Thompson PD: Walking versus running for hypertension, cholesterol, and diabetes mellitus risk reduction. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 33(5):1085-1091, 2013

²Clark JE: An overview of the contribution of fatness and fitness factors, and the role of exercise, in the formation of health status for individuals who are overweight. J Diabetes Metab Disord 11(1):19, 2012

³Wilson V: Type 2 diabetes: an epidemic in children. Nurs Child Young People 25(2):14-17, 2013

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