Archive by Author

Low Back and Obesity.

3 Feb

Losing weight can dramatically reduce Low back pain (LBP). For the next 2 months, we will look at easy ways to lose weight without the need for fancy, hard to follow diets. As the saying goes, this is a “no-brainer.”

Time you meals. Set a timer for 20 minutes and “pace yourself” so that you eat slower. This is one of the most effective ways to reduce weight without a complicated diet plan. Make each bite “count” and enjoy the food’s flavor! This tricks your brain into thinking you’re more full while wolfing down your food in a hurry blocks those brain signals, resulting in over-eating.

Sleep an extra hour. This can result in a drop of 14 pounds a year according to University of Michigan research.

Serve three vegetables and/or fruit vs. one in your evening meal. You can eat more and STILL reduce weight!

Add a broth-based soup to your day. It fills you up without adding calories. Avoid creamy soups as they can be high in fat and calories.

Eat more whole grains. Add brown rice, barley, oats, buckwheat and/or whole wheat when consuming waffles, pizza crust, English muffins, and pasta. If you are gluten sensitive, look for alternatives like quinoa.

Visualize your favorite “skinny clothes.” Think about, or literally take out, a favorite dress or pair of pants that you no longer fit into and use it as a target or goal to wear them again.

Skip the bacon! If you avoid that 2 strips of bacon at breakfast or on your sandwich at lunch, you’ll save about 100 calories / day, about 10 pounds per year! Instead add tomato slices, banana peppers, roasted red bell peppers, grainy mustard, or a light spread of herbed goat cheese.

Pizza perfect! Choose a veggie topping vs. meat and shave 100 calories from your meal. Consider going light on the cheese, use reduced fat cheese and choose a thin, bread-like crust made with olive oil.

Drink “smart!” Trade that soda in for water or zero-calorie seltzer and you’ll avoid about 10 teaspoons of sugar! Add a lemon, mint or frozen strawberries for a much more satisfying beverage.

We realize you have a choice in who you choose to provide your healthcare services.  If you, a friend or family member requires care for low back pain, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services and look forward in serving you and your family presently and, in the future.

 

Is It Fibromyalgia?

3 Feb

Fibromyalgia (FM) symptoms are characterized by chronic generalized pain, and can include debilitating fatigue, sleep disturbance, joint stiffness, numbness or tingling, bowel/bladder dysfunction, and sometimes effects our ability to process thought clearly (cognitive dysfunction).  It can come on fast, almost overnight, or, develop very slowly over years of time. This highly variable onset makes establishing a diagnosis very challenging, and can also sometimes take years before the diagnosis is firmly established. In fact, the term “fibromyalgia” was not formally recognized as a diagnosis by the American College of Rheumatology and American Medical Association until 1987, and it remains a diagnosis made by excluding other diseases!

POPULAR MYTHS

MYTH: “Your symptoms are all in your head.” TRUTH: FM is a “MEDICAL DISORDER” where the nervous system’s ability to process pain is different when compared to those who don’t have FM. Why there is a difference between individuals is the big question. Some research suggests these brain processing differences may be the result of childhood stress, or prolonged or severe stress.

MYTH: “Only lazy, inactive people get fibromyalgia.” TRUTH: Research shows this not to be the case. In fact, most people with FM are focused and driven, and that stress associated with that intense drive may play a significant role in the development of FM symptoms.

MYTH: “There are no effective fibro treatments.” TRUTH: The good news is that as more studies on FM arise, we are beginning to understand more about FM, resulting in more effective treatments. The “catch” is that what works for one individual may not work for another making it essential to find a “good doctor” (or rather, a good team of health care providers) who is willing to listen and continually try different approaches until an effective management approach is found.

COEXISTING CONDITIONS

There are some specific conditions that go hand in hand with FM, and though it’s not clear which comes first (FM or the condition), a clear relationship has been established. Some of these co-existing conditions include irritable bowel syndrome, arthritis (several different types can be associated), chronic fatigue syndrome, various sleep disorders, post-traumatic stress syndrome, anxiety, depression, and others. Often, blood and other lab tests come back negative and hence, the diagnosis is made by excluding those other conditions. What is MOST important is that to feel your best, these other conditions also need to be managed.

TREATMENT

As stated above, the management of FM is aimed at all the condition(s) affecting the person with FM. This is why a multidiscipline “team” of health care providers is so important, as we all have our own emphasis and perspective on what to do for patients. Options include: a clinical psychologist to manage the chemical and hormonal imbalances, a primary care doctor whom “believes in FM,” and a chiropractor to manage the musculoskeletal issues of FM. Other alternative approaches such as massage therapy, Yoga classes, and acupuncture can also provide significant relief. Nutritional counseling is also highly effective in the management strategy of FM. Most important is the fact that coordination between these various approaches be supervised. Since we deal with the whole person, chiropractors are the PERFECT CANDIDATE for that job!

If you, a friend or family member requires care for FM, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services!

 

Neck Pain and Smoking – What’s the Connection?

3 Feb

There is a lot of convincing peer reviewed literature (research) that supports chiropractic as one of the first and best courses of care to consider when choosing a treatment option for neck pain and headaches. This is because there is low risk, few rare side-effects, and most importantly, IT REALLY WORKS!  But, there are other considerations in the management of neck and headache pain that perhaps we haven’t thought about. One is smoking.

There are several convincing studies that have looked at the exposure to tobacco smoke and smoking in terms of its effect on neck pain. Let’s look at some statistics. One study reported that as many as 213 per 1000 people reported neck pain. The 12-month prevalence of neck pain ranged between 30-50% of which activity-limiting pain was reportedly as high as 11.5%. Women were found to be more at risk than men which peaks in middle age. Risk factors for neck pain include genetics, poor psychological health, and EXPOSURE TO TOBACCO. Interestingly, smoking / exposure to tobacco is listed as a risk factors but disk degeneration is not! Researchers also pointed out that the use of equipment made to prevent injury to the head/neck such as helmets and face shields was NOT associated with increased risk for neck injury in bicycling, hockey or skiing as some have suggested that wearing protective head gear increases vulnerability to injury. THIS IS NOT THE CASE, so wear your helmet! This study concluded that there are some things we can’t modify regarding increased risk of developing neck pain (such as gender, genetics, and age); however, the modifiable risk factors of smoking, exposure to tobacco, and psychological health CAN be helped so that’s the LEAST WE SHOULD DO!

Two new studies show that smoking is directly tied to neck / back pain and the development of arthritis. Interestingly, the Harvard study reported that the risk of developing psoriatic arthritis was twice as high for current vs. past smokers, and both current and past smokers were at greater risk when compared to those who had never smoked. The 2nd study (Paris, France) found that smokers had an earlier onset of inflammatory back / neck pain and a worse course of the disease than non-smokers. Taking these two studies together, the interactions between environmental factors and the onset, the degree of severity and the ultimate outcomes of rheumatic diseases, “…it’s becoming increasingly clear how detrimental the influence of smoking is on most of these diseases.” The worst scenario was found in those who smoked >25 years and, >20 “pack years” (>1 pack/day for 20+ years).  The “bottom line” is that smoking and exposure to smoke have significant negative health affects, not only for present health, but also for future pain, suffering and quality of life. Thankfully, it’s been shown that if you quit smoking, the likelihood of improved health affects is high so of course, QUIT NOW and you’ll be ahead of the curve.

In fact, a conscientious surgeon recommending a spinal fusion may say, “…you must quit smoking or else I will not perform the surgery that you need.” The reason for this insistence is because the risk of fusion failure goes up 500% in smokers (fusions are needed in certain types of back and neck surgeries).

We realize that you have a choice in where you choose your healthcare services.  If you, a friend or family member requires care for neck pain, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services and look forward in serving you and your family presently and, in the future.

 

Whiplash: Does Chiropractic Work?

3 Feb

The term “Whiplash” is associated with neck injuries that frequently occur as a result of motor vehicle collisions. There is much published about how injury occurs, the most compelling of which is that we simply cannot voluntarily contract our neck muscles fast enough to avoid injury, as injury to the neck occurs within 500msec. and voluntary contraction or bracing takes 800msec or longer. The question this month is, does chiropractic work in managing patients with whiplash associated disorders (WAD)?

To answer this, a study published in the Journal of Orthopaedic Medicine reported that chiropractic was indeed superior to standard medical care. Most importantly, they studied chronic whiplash patients that (typically) are more challenging to treat compared to the acute, more recently injured whiplash patient.  Their article starts out with the statement, “…conventional treatment of patients with whiplash symptoms is disappointing.” The term “conventional treatment” means medical (non-chiropractic) treatment. One of the studies referenced by the authors reported 26 of 28 patients suffering from chronic whiplash syndrome benefited from chiropractic treatment. The term “chronic” means that those injured have had ongoing complaints for longer than 3 to 6 months, and typically are less likely to respond compared to those more recently injured (acute injuries).

The authors interviewed 100 consecutive chiropractic patients being treated for chronic whiplash of which 93 completed the entire study. Those 93 were divided into 3 symptom groups: Group 1 consisted of neck to shoulder area pain, restricted neck movement with no neurological injury; Group 2 consisted of neck pain, restricted movement, and neurological loss; Group 3 consisted of severe neck pain but had full/normal neck movement, no neurological loss, but had unusual symptoms including blackouts, visual disturbance, nausea, vomiting, chest pain, and non-anatomic neurological complaints, which means the pain or numbness does not correlate with exam findings or were inconsistent.  An average of 19.3 chiropractic adjustments over a mean 4.1 month duration were rendered after which time the patients were surveyed and the results are as follows (“asymptomatic” = no pain or symptoms):

Group 1: 24% Asymptomatic, 24% Improved by 2 symptom grades, 24% Improved by 1 symptom grade, 28% No improvement.

Group 2: 38% Asymptomatic, 43% Improved by 2 symptom grades, 13% Improved by 1 symptom grade, and 6% No improvement.

Group 3: 0% Asymptomatic, 9% Improved by 2 symptom grades, 18% Improved by 1 symptom grade, 64% No improvement, and 9% Got worse.

In their discussion, they reported that similar to the study where chronic symptoms improved in 26 of 28 patients (93%), here 69 of 93 patients improved (74%). They identified a “non-responders” group (Group 3), where neck movement was normal in spite of pain, bizarre symptoms, and ongoing litigation. The mean age was lower in this group vs. the other two (29.5 vs. 36.8 years old). They concluded, “The results from this study provide further evidence that chiropractic is an effective treatment for chronic whiplash symptoms. However, our identification of a group of patients who fail to respond to such treatment highlights the need for a careful history and physical examination before commencing treatment.” Bottom line, try chiropractic FIRST!!!

 

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Low Back Pain and Sleep.

29 Jan

Low back pain (LBP) can arise from a lot of causes, most commonly from bending, lifting, pulling, pushing, and twisting. However, there are other possible causes, including sleep. This not only includes sleeping in a crooked or faulty position, such as falling asleep on a couch, in a chair or while riding in a car, but also from the lack of sleep. So the question is, how much sleep is needed to feel restored and how much sleep is needed to avoid low back pain?

It’s been shown that the lack of sleep, or chronic sleep loss, can lead to serious diseases including (but not limited to): heart disease, heart attack, heart failure, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes. Sleepiness can also result in a disaster; as was the case in the 1979 nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, the oil spill from the Exxon Valdez, as well as the 1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl. With sleep deprivation, our reaction time is slowed down, and hence, driving safety is a major issue. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that fatigue causes more than 100,000 crashes per year with 1500 annual crash-related deaths in the US alone. This problem is greatest in people under 25 years old. Job related injuries are also reportedly more frequently, especially repeat injuries in workers complaining of daytime sleepiness which resulted in more sick days. It’s also well published that sleep plays a crucial role in thinking and learning. Lack of sleep impairs concentration, attention, alertness, reasoning, and general cognitive function. In essence, it makes it more difficult to learn efficiently. Also, getting into a deep sleep cycle plays a critical role in “consolidating memories” in the brain, so if you don’t get to a deep sleep stage (about 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep), it’s more difficult to remember what you’ve learned. An interesting study (U. of Pennsylvania) reported that people who slept less than 5 hours/night for 7 nights felt stressed, angry, sad, and mentally exhausted. As shown in another study of 10,000 people, over time, insomnia (the lack of sleep) increases the chances by 5-fold for developing clinical depression. Other clinical studies have published many other negative effects of sleep deprivation, of which some include aging of the skin, forgetfulness, weight gain, and more.

Regarding low back pain, what comes first? Does LBP cause sleep interference or does sleep deprivation cause the LBP (or both)? It’s been shown that sleep loss can lower your pain threshold and pain tolerance, making any existing pain feel worse, so it works both ways. Specific to LBP, in a 28-year, 902 metal industry worker study, sleep disturbances (insomnia and/or nightmares) predicted a 2.1-fold increase in back pain hospitalizations with one and a 2.4-fold increase with both sleep disturbance causes (insomnia and nightmares). Other studies have shown patients with chronic LBP had less restful sleep and more “alpha EEG” sleep compared to controls. Similar sleep pattern differences using EEG (electroencephalogram – measures brain waves) have been shown when comparing chronic LBP patients with vs. without depression compared to controls (non-LBP, non-depressed subjects).

So the BOTTOM LINE, talk to us about how chiropractic helps reduce LBP, stress and facilitates sleep. There are also nutritional benefits from Melatonin, valarian root, and others that we can discuss. Now, go to bed and get a good night’s sleep!

We realize you have a choice in who you choose to provide your healthcare services.  If you, a friend or family member requires care for low back pain, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services and look forward in serving you and your family presently and, in the future.

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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome – Prevention Tactics.

29 Jan

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is a very common problem that is often associated with work related activities. Our focus this month is on how to prevent CTS. Of course, if you already have CTS, read this Health Update to learn preventative measures that also work while you receive treatment for CTS.

The concept is to think about prevention as a matter of economics; as you lose time from work because of CTS, if affects your bottom line, and I’m sure you have bills to pay and mouths to feed (…or, at least one)! So please take the advice offered here seriously, as we are genuine about our concern for your well-being and not losing work time is a huge component of all of our “well-being!”

If you’ve experienced sore wrists, hands, sudden sharp jabs of pain up the forearm, noted numbness and/or burning in your fingers (especially the index through 4th / ring finger), wake up at night needing to shake and flick your fingers to “wake them up,” have weakness in your grip strength, are slowing down at work (whether it’s typing/computer work, assembly line work, cooking, waitressing, and so on), you NEED to do the following NOW! The goal here is prevent work loss and surgery (as up to 6 weeks lost work time will be required if surgery is needed).

Anti-inflammatory measures: This starts with a healthy diet. STOP eating foods that inflame such as omega 6 rich foods (“GOOGLE” omega 6 and print out the list of food). Emphasize fruits, vegetables, lean meats, nuts and AVOID grains because of glutens, which many of us have a sensitivity against. Vitamins such as a multiple, magnesium, fish oil (omega 3’s), Vitamin D3, and CoQ10 are GREAT! Freeze water in a small cup and rub it on the wrist/carpal tunnel until it gets numb (takes 3-5 minutes) and do that 2-3 times a day. Consider natural anti-inflammatories such as ginger, turmeric, cercumen, bioflavinoides and others.

Stretch: Bear-claw, fist, “High-5” (opened hand with the fingers fanned out) reps, wrist extensions on the wall/table stretches (elbows straight).

Rest: Cock-up splint, take mini-breaks, and get sound/restoring sleep. IT REALLY HELPS!

Ergonomic modifications: Position your computer keyboard, mouse and monitor so that you are looking straight ahead at a slight downward angle and your elbows are at a 90° or slightly less of an angle when typing. Set an alarm on your computer to go off every 15 minutes as a reminder to “shake and flick” your hands, wiggle your fingers, do your stretches, and/or squeeze a soft ball. Write with a fat pen vs. a skinny one – this helps a lot!

Weight management: Obesity is a common risk factor for developing CTS.

Manage other health issues: Diabetes, thyroid disease, inflammatory arthritis, neck/shoulder or elbow problems can all contribute to or, even cause CTS.

Think of the above measures as minimums and obtain professional care to help you. You have choices between the traditional medical model of cortisone shots, anti-inflammatory medication, and surgery vs. chiropractic: manipulation and mobilization of the fingers, hand, wrist, elbow, shoulder and neck as needed, splinting at night, anti-inflammatory diet and nutrients, ergonomic modification and exercise training, which ALL will help to treat as well as prevent future CTS problems, EVEN IF you’ve had surgery already!

We realize you have a choice in who you consider for your health care provision and we sincerely appreciate your trust in choosing our service for those needs.  If you, a friend or family member require care for CTS, we would be honored to render our services.

 

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