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Chiropractic Cases:
Where Chiropractic Can Help You
Accidents, Injuries, and Chiropractic
When we think of accidents injuries, violent trauma such as a car accident come to mind. However, starting with your first big trauma, birth, and followed by the spills you take learning to walk, your body is subject to a long series of accidents. No matter how lucky you are, nobody goes through life without quite a few.
Collisions, falls, blows, and tumbles- big or small-can create damage to your nerves and spine. While accidents are often unavoidable, in most cases, long-term damage from the vertebral subluxation complex that may result can be avoided through chiropractic care.
Any trauma to your spine can disturb the normal position and motion of the vertebrae. Muscles, ligaments, and discs attached to the spine are also affected. In turn, neural messages going from the brain to other parts of the body “mis-fire,” interfering with your body’s ability to heal and function normally. These vertebral subluxations may go undetected for years, silently destroying your natural good health.
Minor Accidents
Fortunately, most accidents are too minor to require hospitalization. Some initial pain, a little stiffness or a few bruises, and in a few days all is forgotten. Or perhaps not. All too frequently, lifelong health problems begin as a spill, whiplash, or bump that was dismissed as minor at the time. Even when there are no broken bones or bleeding, spinal damage may be present.
Medical doctors are trained to treat life threatening emergencies: bleeding, shock, broken bones, damage organ function, contusions or abrasions. However they are not trained to recognize the hidden spinal damage leading to the vertebral subluxation complex. Only a Doctor of Chiropractic is trained to do this. So many people, when they are given a green light to leave the emergency room, leave with a hidden health problem that will only grow worse over time.
That is why it’s so important to have a spinal checkup whenever you have suffered an accident or a fall. No matter how minor the accident, spinal damage should be ruled out to protect your long-term health.
Serious Accidents
Since vertebral subluxations commonly occur in minor accidents, they are even more likely to result from serious accidents. Of course, the first priority is to receive the necessary medical care to preserve life and limb. However, after the danger has passed, it is time foe healing to begin.
Our bodies have a remarkable, natural ability to self-heal when they are functioning as they should. A serious accident can interrupt neural pathways from the brain to other parts of the body, interfering with or even shutting down your body’s natural healing power. Untreated, this nerve damage can lead to years of pain, weakness and disability. After such an accident, these victims too often come to rely on painkillers and muscles relaxants, or even surgery as a way of life.
As soon as it is medically safe to do so, give your body its best chance to heal completely by seeking the chiropractic care necessary to restore spinal and neural health.
Whiplash Injuries
Whiplash is one of the most common injuries from auto accidents, this happens when impact throws the head violently in one direction, then muscles react to “whip” ii back in the opposite direction. The spine, usually in the neck, can suffer mild to severe impairment. Muscles, tendons and ligaments as well as often soft tissues are also often damaged.
The initial symptoms of whiplash may be a sore or stiff neck, perhaps along with a headache within a few hours of the accident. Pain or numbness, or a pins-and-needle tingling in the back, arms and hands may occur. Ringing in the ears, dizziness, hearing loss, or blurred vision have also been reported.
In severe whiplash, a concussion may also occur when the brain is violently slammed against the inside of the skull. Concussion symptoms include headache, irritability, restlessness, insomnia, depression and mood-swings that may last hours or days after the accident.
A chiropractic checkup is essential to know the extent of the spinal injury and to provide care to realign the spinal column.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is thought to be a result of excessive pressure on the median nerve as it passes into the wrist through an opening called the carpal tunnel. For those suffering from this repetitive stress injury, the pain, numbness, tingling and burning sensation, weakness or loss of grip, and loss of sleep due to discomfort can be serious and debilitating impairment.
Some cases of CTS respond favorably to a non-surgical approach developed by chiropractic doctors. By reducing pressure on the nerve and permitting it to heal naturally, many patients experience a significant reduction in symptoms without resorting to invasive procedures such as injections or surgery.
Wellness And The Chiropractic Lifestyle
Many people are first introduced to chiropractic care because of an accidental injury. But once the injury has healed with the help of chiropractic care, they often find a health and vigor greater than they enjoyed before the injury.
However, restoring proper joint mobility and function of the spine or extremities will usually require an on-going program of specific spinal adjustments combined with simple, but specific exercises. When care is prematurely discontinued, the problem may recur.
Your doctor will carefully monitor your progress through the rehabilitation stage. When you follow your recommended program and keep all your appointments, it will help maintain your progress. This is essential to your long-term recovery.
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Neck Pain Is Common
Changes are, you’ve experienced a stiff or sore neck at one time or another. Given the complex mechanics and functions of the neck, it’s no wonder that neck pain is so common. This slender stem supports and balances a 10-pound head permitting it to bend up and down and to swivel almost 180 degrees. Through it pass blood vessels, nerves, the esophagus, the trachea, many muscles. Ligaments and the cervical spine. All communications from the brain to other parts of the body must pass through the neck.
The Cervical Spine
The seven small spinal bones in the neck, which doctors number C-1 to C-7, make up the cervical spine. Protected inside these cervical vertebrae is the spinal cord, the major neural pathway from the brain to the rest of the body. An injury to the spinal cors can result in immediate paralysis or death.
The cervical vertebrae are linked to one another by discs, ligaments, and tendons that allow remarkable flexibility. The normal shape of the neck rather than straight, is a gentle curve, called the cervical curve.
Problems With The Neck
Many neck problems, while not life-threatening, can damage your health if not corrected. A fall or a car accident may cause sudden damage to the neck, or damage may occur slowly through vertebral subluxation, spinal imbalance, physical or emotional stress or poor posture. Damage or irritated nerves from misaligned cervical vertebrae can cause neck pain. In addition, they also can cause a reduction in the normal range of motion in the neck, as well as pain in the face, shoulder, arm wrist, hand and fingers.
Headaches, vision disturbances, dizziness, difficulties with concentration or memory, a ringing in the ears, learning impairments, nasal, tongue and throat problems have all been associated with problems traced to the neck.
Injury, irritation, inflammation or infection are all causes of neck pain. The chiropractic approach to treating neck pain is to find the source of the problem and correct it.
Minor Aches And Pains
Many everyday habits or activities can contribute to neck pain. Sleeping in an awkward position, slumping over a desk, overwork, squuzing a telephone between the ear and shoulder, or straining to see over a steering wheel all may cause muscle fatigue or strains. Anger, fear or mental stress can cause neck muscles to tighten which, if prolonged, can lead to painful muscle spasms. Tension headaches also frequently follow bouts with neck pain.
Occasional minor stiffness or strain is nothing to worry about. Often it will clear up with a good night’s sleep. Learning what causes your neck pain and avoiding it can help prevent this discomfort. Major pain or recurring problems, however, are a signal that something more serious may be wrong. It’s a sign that you may need professional care.
Serious Neck Problems
When the discs separating and cushioning the cervical vertebrae are herniated or even ruptured, usually due to trauma, intense pain will follow. In some cases, surgery may be needed. However in many other cases, chiropractic treatment can reduce the pressure on the disc and prevent the need for surgery. For most patients, surgery should be considered only when more conservative treatment fails.
Some natural disc degeneration occurs as we age. However, evidence of disc degeneration even in very young children suggests that stresses such as spinal imbalance, spinal subluxations, injury or emotional trauma cause undue wear and tear on our necks.
The head which is approximately the weight of a bowling ball, is in a normal balanced position atop the slightly forward cervical curve of the neck. When it is carried out of line with the spine or off center, a stress called spinal imbalance results. Muscles supporting this imbalanced weight quickly become fatigued. Spinal imbalance can be both a symptom and a cause of stress on your neck.
Arthritic changes in the spinal bones like spurs (abnormal bony growths), disc degeneration, and muscle or ligament deterioration may change the normal, healthy curve of the neck. Producing bone spurs is one way your body attempts to “splint” or stabilize off-balance vertebrae. Research indicates that chiropractic care can reverse some of these effects of osteoarthritis.
Chiropractic Care For Your Neck
Muscle relaxers, painkillers, and tranquilizers are the standard medical treatment for the neck pain. If these medications don’t give relief, then more drastic measures like cortisone injections or surgery may be tired.
The chiropractic approach to treating neck pain is to find the source of the neck pain and correct it. By correcting the source of the problem, the body can heal naturally without nerve interference. Neck pain, often responds dramatically to the restoration of normal spinal function through chiropractic care.
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Headaches
At one time or another we’ve all experienced throbbing or stabbing pains in our heads. Beacause the head controls the rest of the body, nothing else can get your attention quite so immediately or completely. If there were only one cause of headaches the treatment would be a lot easier. However, headaches come in many different shapes and sizes, and the causes can be equally complex. There is no one simple answer.
Headaches can be triggered by physical or emotional stress, toxic fumes, certain foods, preservatives, alcohol, bright light, trauma, hormonal changes, too much or too little sleep, allergies, or blood pressure to name just a few causes. Another frequently overlooked cause of headaches is misaligned spinal bones in the neck and upper back. When spinal bones lose their normal position and motion, delicate nerves and blood vessels to the head can be affected.
One thing is certain. A recurring headache is a sign that something is wrong. While pain-relievers like aspirin may temporarily ease discomfort, they also mask the symptoms. They do nothing to correct the source of the problem. And while the problem remains, the headache will come back again and again.
What Type Of Headache Do I Have?
There are specific labels for many types of headaches, but when your head is pounding, it’s hard to care. By far, tension headaches are the most type in the United States and may affect as much as 95% of the population at one time or another.
Tension Headaches
Tension headaches sufferers report dull, steady pain on one or both sides of the head and often a feeling of vice-like tightness. Typically, these headaches begin with physical or mental stress that causes contractions of muscles in the neck, back, and head. These prolonged contractions rob the muscles of oxygen, making them release chemicals that transmit “referred” pain signals to the brain.
So many seemly innocent things can trigger as tension headache, it’s often hard to pinpoint a cause. Emotional stress from a job, home, or relationship can cause muscle tension. Sitting for long periods hunched over a desk or computer, gripping a telephone between the shoulder and ear, driving in heavy traffic or bad weather, adjusting to new lenses in glasses - all these things can cause muscles to tighten in the neck and back.
Physical stress from pain in another part of the body, often spinal problems, can also cause chronic muscle contractions leading to tension headaches.
Vascular Headaches
This category of intensely throbbing, stabbing headaches occur when blood vessels supplying the scalp and brain rapidly dilate. It includes migraines and cluster headaches. Migraine sufferers are often completely debilitated, feeling nausea and unable to bear noise or light, from a few hours to a few days while the migraine lasts. Even worse, can be cluster headaches, so-called because they occur in clusters, lasting from 10 minutes to three hours up to eight times a day.
Vertebrogenic Headaches
These headaches caused by problems within the cervical (neck) spine are felt in the back, sides and front of the head or the front of the neck. Changes in the normal curvature of the neck caused by trauma, degenerative arthritis, or poor posture can cause chronic irritation to vertebral nerve roots. The onset of pain is sudden or acute, and may also cause muscle tension in the neck bringing on tension headaches as well.
When Should You Seek Help For Your Headaches?
When headaches are frequent or recur overt time, they can make life miserable. Everything else becomes secondary to the pain. But remember, pain is how the body tells us that something is wrong. It’s not wise to ignore the signals and treat just the symptoms. Seek professional help in finding and eliminating the cause of the headaches from your Chiropractor.
How Chiropractic Care Can Help Your Headaches
A Doctor of Chiropractic is highly experienced in finding the causes behind headaches as well as relieving the immediate pain. He or she can help determine whether a physical or structural problem may be involved and, if so, correct it. Usually, a series of spinal adjustments to return misaligned spinal bones to a more normal position and motion can relieve pressure on irritated nerve roots. A Chiropractor can also help in identifying headache triggers, suggest relaxation exercises, therapy and lifestyle modification to help avoid future headaches.
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Lower Back Pain
Back Pain is the leading cause of disability for Americans under age 45. Eight out of ten adults in the United States will experience a low back problem at some time in their lives. Most will have more than one episode of acute low back pain. One third will be disabled for more than two weeks because of back pain. With back problems so widespread, chances are, you too will experience back problems at some time.
What Helps Low Back Pain?
Standard medical management of back pain includes a range of treatments depending on the severity of the problem. Painkillers and muscle relaxers are commonly prescribed. Bed rest, physical therapies such as traction, and hospitalization are sometimes used. When the condition doesn’t improve or even worsens, surgery may be performed. However, scientific investigation has proven, these approaches are expensive and often fail to produce favorable results.
The fact is, a 1994 report from the federal government’s Agency for Health Care Policy and Research concluded that chiropractic care is the safest, drug-free initial form of treatment for acute low back problems in adults. The study also recommended that for most patients, conservative treatment such as spinal manipulation should be pursued before surgical intervention is considered.
Evidence and the experiences of millions of chiropractic patients suggests that spinal manipulation is, in many cases, the most effective approach to reduce pain and helping recovery, especially within the first month of symptoms.
What Causes Low Back Pain?
Even with today’s advanced diagnostic techniques, it is difficult to pinpoint the specific cause of low back pain in any one patient. Often, the symptoms are blamed on poor muscle tone in the back, muscle tension or spasm, sprains, ligament or muscle tears, or vertebral problems. Because our vertebra protect the nerve which are channeled through the spinal column, even a small disturbance to the spine can profoundly affect delicate nerve tissue.
Another cause of lower back pain can be nerves from the spinal cord irritated by a bulging or ruptured disc. This condition may cause buttock or leg pain, numbness, tingling or weakness in the legs. Degenerative changes in the vertebrae also can irritate or inflame delicate nerves in the spinal bones.
At higher risk for low back problems are people in poor physical condition, and those with jobs that include heavy labor or long periods of sitting or standing. These people also recover from their back problems more slowly. Emotional stress or long periods of inactivity may intensify symptoms, or trigger recurrence of a previous problem.
How Chiropractic Can Help
The chiropractic approach to treating low back pain is to find the source of the problem and correct it, not just to treat the symptoms. By correcting the source of the problem, the body can heal naturally without nerve interference. Low back pain often responds dramatically to the restoration of normal position and motion of the spinal bones through chiropractic care.
The chiropractor’s primary tool in treating spinal malfunction is the use of manipulation or the spinal adjustment. By applying precisely directed force to a joint that is out of position or not moving properly it is gradually restored to a more normal position and function. Depending on each individual condition, the doctor’s hands or a special instrument may be used to deliver a quick, therapeutic thrust to the affected joint. Other adjustments may require slow, constant pressure.
Your chiropractor may also recommend a program which includes exercise to strengthen and retrain back muscles, hot or cols compresses, massage, and even diet, stress reduction, and lifestyle modification.
When To Seek Help For Low Back Pain
When pain is severe, problems with your back can’t be ignored. “Stop pain” immediately goes to number one on your list. Falls, car accident, sports strains, heavy lifting, or repetitive work may cause sudden damage, or damage may occur slowly over time. However, most problems are more easily treated within the first month symptoms are noticed.
While some patients seek chiropractic care only when pain is unbearable, this “crisis” approach often costs more in the long run -in time, stress, and dollars. Long standing problems that have been neglected for years can’t be cured with a single adjustment, any more than a single pill in a prescription cab cure an illness.
Chiropractic care for low back pain has been proven to work. The sooner you seek professional care, the sooner you’ll find relief from your pain. Don’t continue to suffer.
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Sciatica
What Is Sciatica?
Sciatica is a severe pain in the leg caused by compression, irritation, or inflammation of the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerves are the largest and longest nerves in the body, reaching about the size of your thumb in diameter, and running down the back of each leg. Each sciatic nerve is composed of five smaller nerves that leave the spinal cord from the lower spinal column, join together and then travel down each leg. It then divides into many small nerves that travel to the thigh, knee, calf, ankle, foot and toes. When these nerves are irritated or affected by the inflammation of nearby soft tissues, doctors refer to this as sciatica.
Symptoms Of Sciatica
People with “sciatica” can suffer from a wide range of symptoms. Often the pain will come and go. At times, it may be constant, but then it may subside for hours or days. Some people may feel only a dull ache or numbness, which travels down the back into the upper leg. For others, it may be intense “shooting pains” down the leg into the foot and toes.
Many factors affect the pain of sciatica. Sitting in one position for long periods of time as when driving or working at a computer can increase the pain. Working out or running, or even simple things like walking, bending, turning or standing up may be difficult and painful. Tennis or golf and other twisting activities can cause sciatica pain to flare-up. For some, the pain may be in both legs or change from side to side. For a number of others, back pain may occur before the sciatica itself.
In the most severe cases, sciatica can damage reflexes, or even cause a wasting of the calf muscles.
Causes Of Sciatica
Because the sciatic nerve is so long, irritation can occur at many points. The first place is the lower back. Commonly, a misalignment of one or more of the lumbar vertbra causing pressure on the nerve is responsible. This condition is known as a sunluxation, one underlying cause of sciatica as well as many other health problems.
Another source of sciatica can be disc involvement. Discs are the cartilage-like cushions occupying the spaces between vertebrae. Serving as spinal shock absorbers, they allow the back to turn and bend normally. Trauma or injury from car accidents or falls can cause a disc to bulge to one side resulting in what many people call a “slipped disc.” The proper term is disc herniation.
Sciatica has also been linked to various non-spinal conditions. Arthritis, advanced diabetes, tumors, constipation , and even vitamin deficiencies have been reported as causes.
Finally, degeneration of the spine resulting from long-standing or neglected back problems can also irritate the sciatic nerve. Cases of sciatica have even been reported following childbirth, usually due to pressure on the spine.
Treatment For Sciatica
The medical approach managing sciatica is to treat the symptoms. This may include using painkillers, muscle relaxers or anti-inflammatory drugs. Traction, physical therapy or injections directly into the nerve roots may also be used. In severe cases, even surgery may be tired.
The chiropractic approach to treating sciatica is to find the source of nerve irritation and relieve the pressure causing the pain. By correcting the source of the problem, the body can heal naturally without nerve interference. Sciatica, like other health conditions that can be traced to the spine, often responds dramatically to the restoration of normal spinal function through chiropractic care.
Your chiropractor’s methods will vary according to the specific source of sciatica in each case. First, a complete history is taken to determine when the problem first appeared and possible sources. Next, a complete physical and chiropractic exam is performed, and x-rays may be taken. These tests are reviewed and discussed with you along with recommendations for treatment.
Treatment will vary according to the severity of the condition. With most patients, a series of adjustments to move the related vertebra back to a more normal position is helpful to reduce the pressure on the nerve. In some cases, the use of ultrasound and ice is needed. Massage therapy to reduce the pain related to muscle spasms is frequently helpful. Combining adjustments with physical therapy has proven very successful in treating most sciatica.
Don’t Wait
Whatever the cause of sciatica, it is important to seek treatment promptly. Too many people wait, hoping the pain will go away or get better by itself. However, it is usually easier to treat a problem when it is first noticed. Too many people wait until the pain becomes unbearable, suffering needlessly. Long-term nerve damage may result from this delay in seeking treatment.
Long-Term Results
A 1990 British study compared patients who received traditional medical treatment for a variety of back related problems with others who received chiropractic care. Of 741 patients followed over three years, researchers found that those seen by chiropractic doctors experienced better result and missed less time from work. Back to the top
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Stress
In 1983, Time magazine declared stress “the epidemic of the 80’s.” However, when compared with the today’s pace, the 80’s seem almost leisurely. Evidence of stress-related illness in all age groups is becoming more and more common. Whether it is everyday annoyances such as being stuck in traffic, or more acute forms of stress, such as bereavement or divorce, stress is something each of us copes with daily. One thing is certain. Stress affects each of us, often in very different ways.
For some, a certain amount of stress can be a stimulant causing them to meet challenges and achieve goals. Others, coping with similar stresses may be overwhelmed, suffering mental fatigue and physical illness. There’s no way to predict with certainty how any given individual will respond to stress.
Stress Can Make You Sick
It is unusual to go through a day without reading or hearing something about stress. According to conservative estimates, abnormal stress is the major contributing factor in 75% of all human illnesses.
All of us suffer from occasional stress. Few are immune to the worries or anxieties associated with family or work. However, when occasional stress becomes chronic, or when we suffer acute stress through illness, job loss, trauma or injury, your body responds and adapts in ways that are often unhealthy.
The source of stress can be physical, as with accidents, overexertion, or poor posture, or mental, as with the death of a loved one or an unpaid bill. While there are many differences in individuals, stress produces some common reactions. Emotionally, stress can lead to depressed immune system response, asthma, colds, infections and digestive disorders.
A Major Cause Of Stress
When spinal bones lose their normal position and motion from stress, trauma, or chemical imbalances, this disturbance to the spinal cord can profoundly affect delicate nerve tissue. The resulting interference with normal nerve flow starts a degenerative chain reaction that can affect the health and function of virtually every other cell, tissue, organ, and system of the body. Doctors call this the vertebral subluxation complex. It is one of the most damaging stresses you can experience. Untreated, it can limit your ability to react and adapt to other stresses you encounter in daily life.
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