Chiropractic and Infertility

How can Chiropractic Care help with fertility? Watch the clip Here to find out. Leave a comment and share with others!

Cardio & Weight Training: Which one first?

Here's a link to an interesting article I found earlier. It gives a simple explanation of how you should tailor your workouts. Take a look to maximize your workouts and get the results you want: http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/training-day/201104/warm-cardio-then-go-weights-right-wrong

Sports Injuries

Chiropractic care has received much attention in regards to its successful management of sporting injuries. Since the majority of sports injuries are soft tissue in nature and because many of injuries arise from improper body biomechanics and improper sporting techniques, chiropractic doctors have become the doctors of choice - from the weekend warrior to the professional athlete.

According to an article in the June '98 issue of The Physician and Sports Medicine, "Interest in alternative or complementary medicine 'especially chiropractic' is booming... active patients are running to unconventional providers to treat their aches and pains... from chiropractors and acupuncture to magnets and meditation."

It's really quite simple. Chiropractic care - through the use of safe and natural spinal adjustive techniques, physical therapy applications, soft tissue mobilization, stretching and exercise programs, diet and nutritional counseling, and extensive biomechanical training - focuses on all causes which have lead to the symptoms of pain and tissue injury and do not focus on solely eliminating pain.

Successful treatments must focus not only on pain relief, but must address the underlying causes such as muscular imbalances, biomechanical deficiencies, improper sporting techniques, and improper conditioning, to name a few

My, how you've grown

Children tend to grow a bit faster in the spring than during any other time of year


Kids don't grow at a constant rate. As you may have recalled from your own childhood, kids alternate between weeks or months of slow growth and the occasional "growth spurt". While this can be difficult to predict, these tend to occur more in the spring. 

Other major trends in growth spurts are the major growth spurts from age 8 to 13 for most girls and the growth spurts from age 10 to 15 for most boys. Of course, the biggest growth spurt by far is the one at the first year of your life. You can expect a baby to grow roughly 10 inches before its first birthday.


More information on how kids grow in KidsHealth.


Growing Pains

Growing pains occur during the very active years of adolescence. Jolts, twists and stresses of energetic play can result in subluxations (misalignments) in the spine, which affect the nerves controlling the legs, knees, pelvis and hips. All of these nerve problems can manifest themselves in leg pain. Studies into growing pains have identified a number of conditions that may contribute to growing pains, including rapid growth, overexertion, rheumatic conditions, infections, sacroiliac joint dysfunction, orthopaedic problems and underlying poor health [1]. 

If your child has been diagnosed with growing pains, it is recommended that they visit a chiropractor. A physical assessment can ensure that any leg and back pains are not the result of underlying spinal problems such as scoliosis. Scoliosis is a curvature of the spine away from the normal accepted curves of the spine.

This causes strain on joints and if these spinal misalignments are left untreated can lead to premature degeneration, bad posture and gait (walking), painful movement and permanent spinal distortion. Children tend to experience more incidents of back pain than older generations although not as many children undergo treatment for these complaints. Around 84% of back complaints in children extend into adulthood and become a chronic problem.

Treatment in the early stages as a child has greater improvement in pain and mobility than if the problem becomes chronic into adulthood. Children have faster healing capabilities and more mobility and flexibility in the joints to accommodate this. It is also important for children to maintain their flexibility during growth spurts. The chiropractor at Back on Track Chiropractic can recommend appropriate stretching and strengthening exercises to reduce overall muscle tension. This will allow children to perform in regular childhood activities free of pain and tension.

Chiropractic is a safe and natural way to easy the pain and discomfort associated with growing pains. 

1. "Growing pains" in young children: A study of the profile, experiences and quality of life issues of four to six year old children with recurrent leg pain A. Evans, S. Scutter, L. Lang, B. Dansie 16(3), 120-124 

Warning Signs

Heart Disease:

• Uncomfortable pressure, fullness or pain in chest lasting more than a few minutes
• Pain spreading to shoulders, neck or arms
• Chest discomfort with lightheadedness, fainting, sweating, nausea or shortness of breath

Stroke

• Sudden confusion, speaking or understanding
• Blurred vision in one or both eyes
• Sudden numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg, especially side of the body
• Sudden severe headaches 
• Loss of balance or coordination, dizziness, trouble walking

How many chiropractic adjustments do you need?

There are hundreds of chiropractic techniques out there. Some claim to fix serious problems in a single visit. Some chiropractic techniques have treatment programs that take several years...and everything in between. It can be very confusing for the consumer...and that's an understatement.

I have personally benefited from both long term corrective type care and short term relief care. I have never tried the one visit method...somehow this does not seem possible...but there are patients that swear it has worked for them.

I have focused primarily on tailor-made treatment programs based on individual needs. Sometimes this is very short term treatment...just a few visits...and sometimes it's longer term...a few months.

There is no cook book answer...everyone is different.  A patient that was involved in a car accident certainly needs more chiropractic adjustments than a patient that slept funny. 

A patient with a herniated disc in the neck will require more adjustments than a patient with a sprain.

I would consider your age, your over-all level of physical conditioning and health, whether or not there are multiple areas of involvement (eg: neck, mid back, low back), and if the problem is new or chronic.

Managing chiropractic treatment programs is an art. I also learn from my experience helping previous patients with similar conditions.

I also modify the treatment as a patient improves...or not. Yes, chiropractic has a fantastic success rate, as well as patient satisfaction rate...but some people do not respond. We have to decide when chiropractic is not working. We refer out at this point for a second opinion.

Anyway...how many visits you need depends on many factors...but in the end, it's up to you to decide how you wish to use chiropractic. It's not an all or none treatment. Typically, you will benefit from whatever you do...even if it's only one or two sessions.

Personally, I use chiropractic adjustments as a component of an over-all health program which includes exercise, plant based nutrition, plenty of rest, good ergonomics, and lots of water.

The more attention you put on these other components of health, the less you have to lean on chiropractic. But if need be....chiropractic can pull a heavy load for you...naturally!

Can a Chiropractor Really help Neck pain?

Neck pain is a very common problem affecting up to 70% of the adult population at some point in life. Though there are specific causes of neck pain such as arising from a sports injury, a car accident or “sleeping crooked,” the vast majority of the time, no direct cause can be identified and thus the term nonspecific is applied. There are many symptoms associated with patients complaining of neck pain and many of these symptoms can be confused with other conditions. Wouldn’t it be nice to know what neck related symptoms are most likely to respond to chiropractic manipulation before the treatment has started? This issue has been investigated with very favorable results!

The ability to predict a favorable response to treatment has been termed, “clinical prediction rules” which in general, are usually made up of combinations of things the patient says and findings from exams. In a large study, data from about 20,000 patients receiving about 29,000 treatments, was collected and analyzed to find out what complaints responded well to chiropractic treatment. The results showed that the presence of any 4 of these 7 presenting complaints predicted an immediate improvement in 70-95% of the patients: 1. Neck pain; 2. Shoulder, arm pain; 3. Reduced neck, shoulder, arm movement; 4. Stiffness; 5. Headache; 6. Upper, mid back pain, and 7. None or one presenting symptom. Items not associated with a favorable immediate response included “numbness, tingling upper limbs,” and “fainting, dizziness and light-headedness in 4-12% of the patients. The “take-home” message here is that was far more common to see a favorable response (70-95%) of the patients compared to an unfavorable response (4-12%), supporting the observation that most patients with neck complaints will respond favorably to chiropractic treatment.

So, what do we do as chiropractors when a patient presents with neck pain? First, after gathering preliminary information such as name, address and insurance information, a history of the presenting complaint is taken. This consists of information including what started the neck complaint (if you know), when it started, what makes it worse, what makes it better, the quality of pain (aches, stiff, numb, etc.), the location and if there is radiating complaints, the severity (0-10 pain scale), timing (such as worse in the morning, evening, etc.), and if there have been prior episodes. Various questionnaires are included that are scored so improvement down the road can be tracked and a past history that includes a medication list, past injuries or illnesses, family history and a systems review are standard. The exam includes vital signs (BP, pulse, height, weight, temperature and respiration), palpation, range of motion, orthopedic and neurological examination. X-ray and/or other “special tests” may also be included, when needed. A review of all the findings are discussed and after permission to treat is granted, a chiropractic adjustment may then be rendered. A list treatment options may include: 1. Adjustments; 2. Soft tissue therapy (trigger point stimulation, myofascial release); 3. Physical therapy modalities; 3. Posture correction exercises and other exercises/home self-administered therapies; 4. Education about job modifications; 5. Co-management with other health care providers if/when needed.