Archive for neck pain

DO YOU HAVE THE STRUCTURAL ADVANTAGE?

Posted in health and wellness, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , on July 11, 2014 by chiropracticdouglasville

 

With all the excitement of the World Cup, we get to witness some of the greatest athletes in the world performing and competing with each other. Many of us watching on TV, witness these world class players get the most out of their bodies to win the game. The average athlete that gets to play in these world class games has to be functioning at their optimal levels. With so many skilled players competing any single advantage can mean placing on the team or staying home.
The structure of the body can make huge positive or negative differences in performance for a top athlete and also for the general public that is going about their day working hard and living life. A great example is a car. At the competitive level performance cars are constantly checked for alignment. When winning and losing can be determined in milliseconds, having a structural advantage is something that the pit crew at a race is deeply concerned about. The Structural advantage is very important to professional car racing but the same applies to people driving around everyday. The alignment of your car affects the performance (daily function). If the alignment of the car is off than certain areas (tires, shocks, brakes…) will start to age and breaks down faster than normal. I see this with patients that have certain areas of their body that are wearing down and deteriorating faster than others. Many of such patients have been told, “you are just getting old”. I usually comment with “how old is the rest of Understanding-web

your body and why is it not aging as the area that is bothering you”. After laughing at my comment, most people do recognize that abnormal wear or tear can be because their structure has gone outside of the normal range. The abnormal structure equates to abnormal pressure on the body and this process will deteriorate certain areas faster than the rest.
The misaligned car burns more gas even though it is performing worse costing more too.
This equates for a person that feels they have less energy and gets tired much faster than they used too. For a top athlete all these factors are important to be placed and playing or not. For the average person their structure is also very important for everyday living. At work energy and job performance can equal a raise or getting replaced. This applies to a person’s relationships with their family too. It is hard to keep up with the family and kids if your energy is low and your body is performing like it should. This also applies to fun hobbies and activities. There is no doubt that the average person that is functioning below their body’s abilities is missing out on all that life has to offer. The structural advantage affects all parts of life and allows for a life lived at your full potential.

Leave a comment »

ARE YOU SHRINKING?

Posted in health and wellness, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 16, 2014 by chiropracticdouglasville

Is it true that you lose your height as you age? Is this something that is unavoidable?

You can observe that many people start to shrink over time and although this is a common thing to happen, it is absolutely not normal.

     To fully understand why the height changes, we first need to understand how  a spine works. There are normal ranges for most systems in your body. There are normal ranges for blood pressure, body temperature and, indeed, the spine too has a normal range. A normal spine is straight from the front and from the side there are three curves. These banana shaped curves are in the neck, mid-back and low back. The whole spine is made up of 24 individual bones (vertebra). In between each bone is a cartilage pad called a vertebral disc. When the spine is within the normal range it has the average height of 71 cm.

    There are many different types of stresses that cause a person’s spine to go out of the normal range. A few of these include the birth process, fall, traumas, accidents, and job hazards including, but not limited to, sitting for long periods in front of a computer, driving for long periods, manual labor, etc.

Strong-Foundation-web.jpg

The people with a shrinking spine and structural abnormalities will experience many secondary conditions such as neck and back pain, disc bulges, radiculopathy,headaches, arm or leg pain, muscle spasm…. People with these issues are at a greater risk of experiencing height loss.

Although most traditional doctors have focused on treating the secondary conditions, a Structural Chiropractor’s first concern is to examine if the issues are coming from a structural abnormality. This is done by a thorough examination that includes Digital Structural Radiographs,  Bilateral Digital Weight distribution analysis, Functional movement analysis and a Neurological exam. The examination determines if the person’s has structural abnormalities and,  if so, recommends a structural corrective care plan to stop the shrinking process

Leave a comment »

Don’t Let ARTHRITIS Slow You Down!

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 9, 2014 by chiropracticdouglasville

Arthritis is one of the most common disorders seen in today’s society and can decrease quality of life and function. Some arthritis is a result of old age, while others result from an improperly functioning nervous and immune system. If left uncorrected, arthritis can cause increasingly painful and debilitating movement as the disease progresses. Although there are many great natural or pharmaceutical options to treat the symptoms brought on by arthritis, improving the structure of the body can actually get to the underlying cause.

Arthritis can be broken down into two basic categories: inflammatory and degenerative. Inflammatory arthritis includes Rheumatoid Arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, Lupus, and others. These conditions are caused by an autoimmune reaction in the body that causes inflammation in joints of the hands and feet and may eventually spread to the knees, hips and neck. Degenerative arthritis, on the other hand, is abnormal gradual wearing down of the cartilage within the joint usually from structural abnormalities and repetitive trauma such as work related activity, sports, or from major trauma such as falls and auto accidents. Degenerative arthritis usually affects the large weight bearing joints such as the spine, knees, hips, and ankles but, can also affect smaller joints as well. Degenerative arthritis also produces inflammation but because of wear and tear.

 What are your treatment options?

Traditional doctors have been successful prescribing medicine to treat the symptoms of arthritis and control pain. Although traditional treatment is not correcting the underlying cause of arthritis, it does ease the suffering for a short period of time. As the arthritis progressively gets

Image

severe enough, surgery may be warranted.

A structural chiropractor, on the other hand, will use safe, effective, and non-invasive methods to manage arthritis. Structural chiropractors are trained to identify and correct primary conditions such as structural abnormalities within the spine that cause secondary conditions like arthritis. A properly functioning spine and nervous system will increase mobility within the joints, decrease the stress placed on them, and restore function to the nervous system.  A properly functioning nervous system has been shown to increase immune system function, which can aid in inflammatory arthritis. In inflammatory arthritis, the body is actually fighting itself because of poor communication between the cells. Since the nervous system is responsible for communication between all the cells of the body, it is it is important to maintain a healthy spine to ensure optimal immunity.

Structural chiropractors can also help degenerative arthritis as well. Degenerative arthritis causes a painful lack of motion in the affected joints, as well as inflammation and neurological interference. The spine is commonly affected by degenerative arthritis and can cause dysfunction within the nerves coming from the spinal cord, itself. A structural chiropractor can help by increasing mobility within these joints and at the same time restoring function to the nervous system so that the rest of the body can function at an optimal level.

 

 

Leave a comment »

ARE PROLONG PERIODS OF SITTING, INJURING YOUR BACK?

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 14, 2014 by chiropracticdouglasville

Long hours of sitting over time can lead to many health conditions; including Arthritis, degenerative changes in the spine and pinched nerves. These lead to many other diseases caused by lack of activity including weight gain, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes.  The diseases usually take years of prolonged sitting to develop, however, in the meantime, warning signals of damage develop such as  neck and back pain, headaches, fatigue, problems in the arms and hands, and lack of concentration.

When we sit all day, we place a lot of stress on our spines.  Improper sitting to look at the computer screen, phone or TV  all day causes our heads to move forward, and our backs to hunch over. The bad position leads to structural shifts in the spine causing the development of ANTERIOR HEAD SYNDROME (AHS).

Image

Did you know that every inch our head moves forward from of our shoulders, 10 extra pounds of stress is placed on our spine?  So a person that has an AHS of 3-5 inches is putting 30-50 pounds of extra pressure on their spine. Within 2 weeks of developing AHS our spines start to deteriorate. A deteriorating spine directly affects our nerves, compromising the messages that travel from the brain to the different parts of the body. All communication from the brain to the body happens through the nerves so AHS disrupts total body function.

 Image

It is very important, in order to avoid AHS that we practice proper ergonomics especially if we are going to be sitting for long than 30 minute periods.

Image

Proper sitting ergonomics include the following, the head should be straight and NOT in a down position most of the time. The back should be straight or tilted 10-15 degrees. The arms should be at 90 degree angles and the wrist should be slightly flexed. The legs should be either right under the knees or a few inches forward. It is a bad habit to tuck your feet under the chair.

Due to fact that most people have not practiced proper ergonomics, they have already developed structural shifts in their spines. It is the primary purpose of a Structural Chiropractor to locate these structural abnormalities.  Once a structural problem has been found, Correctional Chiropractic Care specializes in restoring normal structure and function to the spine and to all the nerves that control the rest of the body.  The correction of the underlying problem causes many of the structural abnormalities that sitting all day have caused to be resolved and  the entire body functions at an optimal level. When the spine and nervous system are working better, the rest of the body will also work better.

Leave a comment »

CAN A STRUCTURAL ABNORMALITY CAUSE ASTHMA?

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 14, 2014 by chiropracticdouglasville

First, what is asthma? Asthma is a chronic lung condition that inflames and narrows the airways within the respiratory system, which can cause wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, coughing, and pain. Asthma can occur in all ages, but we are going to focus on the adolescent population.

Image

Studies show that about 1/3 of all asthma patients within the United States are children, it has been shown that parents with asthmatic children lose over $1 billion by staying home from work to care for their children. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), there is no “cure” for this condition. Traditional doctors treat the cause of asthma with medications that the children must be on for life to control the symptoms; these medications are estimated at $1 billion annually. However structural chiropractor’s main focus is on finding the cause of the patient’s asthma.

What we do as structural chiropractors is analyze the spine, checking for any structural abnormalities. Using a series of examinations which includes digital structural radiographs, structural analyzer, and palpation we check the patients spine. It is known that the nerves coming from the mid-back in the spinal column go directly to the lungs and airways, according to Francis Adams, M.D. astructural misalignment present in those areas can be a reason for asthma and breathing difficulties. Also Structural abnormalities in the upper part of the neck cause a back-up of the lymphatics and problems with the tubes draining the middle ear.

So how do structural chiropractors correct these interferences? If the examination shows a structural misalignment in the spine, the structural chiropractor will use corrective adjustments to correct the structural misalignment(s), once these structural corrections are made the nerves leading to the lungs are now free of interference and therefore working at an optimal level. When information optimally flows from the brain to the lungs and airways that were once interfered with, they can now properly function. This leads to a decrease in the inflammation and to the expansion of the narrowed airways, which in turn leads to reduction of the asthma like symptoms. The correction of the child’s spine restores the structural imbalance allowing for the proper drainage in the middle ear.

There have been many case studies in chiropractic dealing with asthma in children. Ages range from 6 months to 10 years old all with positive results. These results include all ofthe following, less asthma attacks, no asthma attacks, reduction in medication use and the complete cure of the condition. In a case study by Dr. Fedorchuk D.C  A 6 year-old girl presented to his office with uncontrolled asthma for three years, the patient was on several medications which she took daily with no help. The patient was under structural chiropractic care and after 30 days was off all medications, and x-rays revealed an increase in lung volume.

Another recent study which was published in the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health in 2011. The research done at Planet Chiropractic in Douglasville, Ga clinic, reported on improvement in a 20 month old girl undergoing structural chiropractic care and revealed that structural chiropractic may play an important role in managing children with respiratory syncytial virus and ear infections.

Leave a comment »

THE RISE OF THE ‘TEXTING’ EPIDEMIC

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 9, 2013 by chiropracticdouglasville

Image

Everyone is doing it. Look at a crowd and you can easily see several people looking down at their phones and rapidly moving their thumbs. The newest research is indicating that people are texting more than calling each other. The habit of texting is much higher amongst the newer generations but everybody is texting more and more. A person texting is usually sitting with their phone in their lap. The head is bent forward and down while the eyes focus on the phone. The average person will also roll in their hips and sit in a slouched position.

The recent research by Business News Daily reports that we Americans are spending more than 12 hours a week texting. The position of the body and the time spent in that position is creating an epidemic is our society. The epidemic is ANTERIOR HEAD SYNDROME (AHS). A Structural Chiropractors, concerned with the Human spine being in a normal range of alignment, are having to correct AHS more than ever before.Image

As science and technology are advancing, we are able to determine normal ranges of many things in the body. There is a normal range for Blood pressure, Heart rate, Liver and kidney function etc. The research and years of clinical data has also determined the ideal norm for the spin and a range within which the human body functions at an optimal level. The normal for the spine is completely straight, looking from the front and having three curves when looking from the side. In Anterior head syndrome the person starts to lose the curve in their neck as the head juts forward. The primary condition of AHS has many secondary conditions that start surfacing over time. One secondary condition is bad posture with the head moving forward causing a hump to develop in the upper back region. Other secondary conditions include pain, numbness, tingling in the neck and going down the arm and the hand. Long periods of looking down and texting causes a rapid degeneration and arthritis.

Imagine a bowling ball weighing about the average weight of the human head, about 15 pounds. If you were holding the ball on top of your shoulders you could balance it easily. Now extend your arms out while holding this ball. What happens within seconds is you feel the pressure from the ball in your entire Spine. You would start to feel that way just by holding the bowling ball for few seconds with texting you would be doing it for much longer periods of time. The body would start to misalign itself into an abnormal range. It is obvious why there is  huge concern about the time spent texting, the spine and the health of the person who has developed Anterior head syndrome.

4 Comments »

PATCH IT OR FIX IT?

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 10, 2013 by chiropracticdouglasville

One of my favorite educational games for our patients is the ‘rubber band’ game.

The way this game works is that I tie a rubber band around your finger. We now wait and see what happens. Within a period of time the skin starts to change its color and the fingers starts hurting. What would happen if we left the rubber band on the finger for the next hour, day month or longer? Of course the finger would keep getting worse and eventually will have irreparable damage.

At this time I ask the patient, from the solutions I give them, which one would you fix the problem with the finger and which solution would just patch it.

One of the solutions might be to exercise the finger. This might make the finger feel better but it does not correct the cause of this particular problem? No

A person can massage their finger to make it feel better. This can offer temporary relief but again in this situation because it does not fix the underlying cause, the finger keeps getting worse.

Another solution is to put some pain relieving cream or medicine on the finger. Does this help temporarily relieve the finger? Yes, but does it fix the problem? No

Finally we can cut the finger off, it might alleviate the symptoms but the person has permanent damage in their body.

The only right answer is to remove the rubber band. This is the only true fix.

A Structural Abnormality in your spine is very similar. Especially because it puts pressure on the nerves just like the rubber band on the finger. Consider looking at what you are doing with this abnormal health condition that you might have. Many people keep patching up their symptoms and not actively pursuing a fix. In my office we see many patients that have been previously trying to patch up the issues they have with their spine, consequentially because the problem is not getting fixed the spinal condition, just like the finger, keeps getting more damaged. What separates me from the traditional doctor is that we look for the underlying cause of the problem and apply Structural Correction to fix it. The correction of the structural abnormality is how we can remove the pressure of the nerve and stop it from coming back.

So, in your daily life are you pursuing a fix or a patch?Image

Leave a comment »

THE HUMP ON YOUR BACK

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 28, 2013 by chiropracticdouglasville

normal-structure-webIt is a sensitive subject with many but it is also very misunderstood. Many have blamed old age on this problem yet we are finding this condition in younger people too. The research is now showing that Dowager’s hump or Granny’s hump is a secondary condition resulting from a primary condition called the Anterior Head Syndrome. There are many documented secondary conditions that are caused by Anterior Head Syndrome (AHS), these include Dowager’s hump, neck, arm and hand pain, headaches, numbness in the arm and hands, nerve impingement Syndrome, muscular tension and spasms, Compressed (degenerated) disc, damaged (degenerated) spine, degenerative arthritis and many more.   Although most traditional doctors treat these secondary conditions, our focus at Planet Chiropractic is find the underlying cause or what is the primary condition an correct it.

 There are many lifestyle factors (physical, emotional and chemical) that cause the development of Anterior Head Syndrome.  A physical trauma like a fall, any type of accidents, sitting or standing in the same  position for long periods of time… can cause an abnormal position in the spine and over time that develops into the Anterior Head Syndrome. The use  of technology is causing many of us to look down all day either at a computer, phone, games, etc. Being in this abnormal position from prolonged periods will worsen  the Anterior Head Syndrome. Emotional stress causes people to go into a protective hunched position and unknowing to themselves they are developing AHS. Even Chemical stress from the air you breath to the environment around you can indirectly cause  the development of this structural abnormality. By the time a person noticeably has Anterior Head Syndrome the damage is already there and professional  intervention from a Structural Corrective Chiropractor is needed to discover the severity of  the structural abnormality and how to properly corrective it.

There is lots of research from the top researchers in the field of human anatomy that have discovered the normal alignment of the spine. There are  ranges of normal throughout your body. There is a normal range for body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate… and there is also a normal range  for your spine. For the spine to be structurally normal it has to be straight from the front and from the side, a person should have a curve in their  neck, mid and low back. The neck curve can be observed from the side, the top of your shoulder and the hole in your ear should be aligned. If the  person is suffering from the Anterior Head Syndrome in their spine than their ear would be more forward compared to their shoulders. Overtime as  the pressure from the Anterior Head Syndrome increases the body starts to develop muscle in the upper back to support the abnormal pressure.  Research shows that for every 1 inch your head moves forward from its normal position equals to fifteen pounds of extra pressure on your upper  back. The development of this extra muscle overtime, is what many have observed to be a hump on the person’s back and is many times referred to as  ‘granny’s hump’. The development of the Anterior Syndrome is primarily a Structural abnormality and not due to the age of the person.

Anterior Head Syndrome is one of the health problems that our office checks everyone for regularly. Our comprehensive structural examinations  helps us measure the amount of Anterior Head Syndrome and allows us to to determine if it is correctable.

Image

Leave a comment »