Do you suffer from a shifting of the spinal column that causes abnormalities, pain, and local inflammation?  While biomechanical stress onto the spine is not normal it is very common.  A true Scoliosis of the spine is much different than Translations of the Spine.  The most common form of a Scoliosis is a right dextroscoliosis.  This is a translation to the right and it is more commonly found in the thoracic region.  It is not common to find a levoscoliosis in the spine.  When this is present it can cause compression onto the heart structure and cause a disruption of this organ.  This is a potentially dangerous condition that may require surgical intervention to straighten the spine.  Adolescent Scoliosis is most commonly found in younger females.  Scoliosis is not commonly found in males and is commonly found within families.

Treatment to correct the curves

The most common ways to treat the abnormal curves is Chiropractic care, physical therapy, and massage therapy.  Chiropractic care is very useful in correcting the curves because it will stretch the abnormal ligaments of the spine and basically re-deform them back in to their correct position.  Mechanical traction is the best way to change an abnormal curve and this should be done for a minimum of six minutes and this can be performed up to twenty minutes in duration.  Post mechanical traction icing procedures should be performed for a minimum of twenty minutes on and at least sixty minutes off and then repeated as often as necessary.  Based on the severity of the curves within the spine treatment will be dependent on that.  Some individuals might need to brace the spine, get surgery performed to insert rods and brackets, or receive chiropractic care or physical therapy to effectively correct the curves of the spine.  The patient can perform side-lying traction to effectively train the muscles and ligaments to re-shape the spinal column.  For instance, if the patient’s spine translates to the Right within the lumbar spine at the level of L4/5 the patient should lie on that side on a block or have a strap pulls in the direction in the Left.  Sometimes, this may be uncomfortable for the patient to lie on this block due to the nature of the device.  It is a higher grade of foam that is hard in nature.  Talk with your chiropractic physician today about your options for Scoliosis treatment.

Muscles may become extremely tight for many different reasons.  Some of those reasons may include the following: trauma, scoliosis, muscle imbalances, and repetitive stress injuries.  A muscle spasm is very different than a muscle that is hypertonic.  A muscle spasm will have true fasciculation’s of the muscle tissue.  Based on this, it is very different in the treatment aspects.  If a spasm is clearly present than moist heat is the proper course of care; however, if it is truly a hypertonic muscle than ice is more appropriate especially in an acute situation.  Acute injuries require ice for 20 minutes on and at least 60 minutes off and repeated at least for the first 72 hours in length.  This may be repeated as often as necessary to reduce the inflammation present in the area.  This will also help to decrease the pain that is caused by the inflammation.  It is important to also utilize an all-natural anti-inflammatory as well to further influx the area with anti-inflammatory modalities.  After the acute phase is over, the sub-acute phase may begin in which heat may also be incorporated to the therapy.  This is repeating between ice and heat therapy and ending in the modality in which the desired outcome is wanted.  When heat is applied, it is crucial that it is only applied for ten minutes in duration.  It is important to also only use moist heat and never heat from a dry heating pad.  This only dehydrates the muscle tissue causing further insult and Spasticity of Muscles themselves.

Water Intake

It is extremely important to make sure water intake is of the utmost importance in your daily diet.  As a general rule of thumb, drink half of your body weight of water in ounces per day.  If you drink less than this amount than mostly likely your muscles are not getting hardly any.  Muscles, joints, and ligaments are the last thing to get any water after your organs get the water because of their importance ultimately in the body.  As we age, our discs begin to lose water in them.  This is why individuals say that they are shrinking.  They are not really shrinking but losing the overall water consistency in their discs so in essence their discs are shrinking, not their spinal column or the bones.  If we open up the disc spaces and take pressure off this allows for more blood flow to be pumped in the area taking pressure off and bringing in nutrients into the area of concern.

You’ve probably heard the phrase that, “Pain is the last thing to come on but the first thing to go away?”  This is very much true and helps doctors in the treatment of their patients.  The main difference between medical doctors and chiropractors is that chiropractic physicians do not prescribe medications; however, they interest their patients in the proper form, diet, and exercise.  This mindset even dates back to 1903 from a comment that Thomas Edison said.  He quoted, “the doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.”  Even in those years people understood the importance of not treating patients based on Pain and symptoms alone.  Chiropractic physicians are concerned about how a patient functions and not how they feel alone.  They do not treat their patient based on their symptoms.  They are most concerned about their activities of daily living and how well they are able to perform these tasks.  They will look for the following things: how well are they able to go from sit to stand, can they wash their hair, dress themselves, brush their teeth, do laundry, cook, clean, etc.  They will rate how they are able to perform these tasks as well as any Pain associated when they perform.  However, they aren’t as concerned about the pain.  Chiropractic physicians like to ask the ever important question, “would you rather feel good or be healthy?”  While many patients chuckle and say they would like both it is really about a state of health and wellness in general.  Covering up your symptoms with harmful medications can be very dangerous and lead to more serious side effects.

The Nervous System and Pain

The Nervous System is the most important organ system in the entire human body because it controls and coordinates every organ, tissue, and cell in the body.  It therefore controls all of the other organ systems as well which makes it the most important.  If there is a misalignment known as a subluxation this can put pressure on a nerve causing local Pain and inflammation.  This can lead to muscle guarding, improve function, loss of range of motion, or reduced strength.  A chiropractic physician will restore function to the body by removing the subluxation through a chiropractic adjustment.  This will relieve pressure from the body, including the Pain.

]]> http://www.echiropractor.org/pain/feed/ 0 http://www.echiropractor.org/obama-health-care-bill/ http://www.echiropractor.org/obama-health-care-bill/#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 14:36:11 +0000 echiropractor http://www.echiropractor.org/?p=5431

Obama’s plan is all about saving families money while protecting consumers.  The Obama Health Care Bill has been in place for about eighteen months and the Patient Bill of Rights has watched how Insurance companies try to deny children of coverage and has now made it illegal to put a dollar amount cap on their lifetime policy as well as denying them coverage for a pre-existing condition.  In addition, this bill holds the insurers responsible that the coverage is actually going to just that medical coverage and at least 80%.  It is not for the insurers marketing plan, CEO salaries, and administrative profit sharing.  It now holds everyone more accountable than ever before.

Affordability

This Obama Health Care Bill now makes it more affordable for youth, teens, college kids, and retirees to receive much-needed insurance even if they have a pre-existing condition in which they were previously denied coverage for.  There is also good news for those who partake in Medicare and Medicaid because this Obama Heath Care bill has tighter rules and regulations governing this type of coverage and ensures that tax payers money is spent wisely and not wasted.  This will ensure that the money will be there for many more years to come so individuals do not have to worry if there will be any left when they go into retirement.  This is an especially sensitive subject for most Americans because the fear of the unknown in retirement years can be scary enough let alone whether or not there will be money left over for them if they need to see a doctor for any condition they may be having.

Strengthing Health Plans

This Obama Health Care Bill is helping to strengthen health plans in the United States and controlling health care costs in the process by not driving up the premiums.  On September 23, 2010, 6 months after the Affordable Care Act was signed many reforms when into effect.  This left individuals scared about their coverage.  Just a year later, the Patient Bill of Rights is helping to increase health care for many millions of Americans.  Based on this Bill of Rights, an insurance company can no longer deny any child coverage for a pre-existing condition.  This is fantastic news because children with conditions like asthma, diabetes, or life-threatening conditions were being denied coverage left and right.  It is estimated that about 75,000 children are now receiving the care they need because of this Bill of Rights.

Have you ever been involved in a car accident, fall, or a significant trauma and now you are left with Nerve Pain?  Nerve Pain can be a painful and debilitating condition that can often cause muscle weakness, rigidity, loss of range of motion, and even local inflammation.  In addition, trigger points may develop in the area causing further pain.  A trigger point is defined as a hyperirritable spot within the muscle tissue that when pressed upon can cause pain and refer pain distal from the site pressed upon.  Trigger points may be found anywhere in the body including but not limited to: the cervical spine both anterior and posterior, the top of the shoulders in the Trapezius muscle, and between the shoulder blades known as the Rhomboid muscles.  These are by far the most common areas to see trigger points in the spine.  A popular diagnosed condition known as Fibromyalgia is when an individual has eleven out of eighteen trigger points that are clearly defined and painful.  These particular points of interest are outlined as such.  In my opinion, this is a catch-all diagnosis for something more serious going on in the body leading to the extreme diffuse muscular pain.  Typically, these patients are overweight, deconditioning, don’t exercise, have a poor diet, have an inflammatory condition, have an auto-immune condition, or a past or recent trauma that is causing this type of reaction to the pain.  The treatment for Fibromyalgia may include but is not limited to the following: pharmaceutical medication, proper diet, exercise routine and moist heat applied diffusely to the body.  This will help to calm down the spastic muscles

Chiropractic Care

Chiropractic Care can help eliminate Nerve Pain.  This can be addressed first in the physical exam and even more in x-ray analysis.  Nerve root compression can be determined by the following cervical spine tests: cervical compression, maximal cervical compression, spurlings test, and cervical distraction test.  Lumbar spine compression can be tested by performing: Seated Kemps, Adams test, straight leg raise, braggards, and iliac compression test.  These tests will determine whether or not someone has a quote on quote “pinched nerve” and more importantly where.  Based on this treatment can begin and may be warranted to help this individual.  Talk with your primary care physician today about your treatment options and whether or not you’re Nerve Pain can be helped through receiving Chiropractic care from a licensed professional.

Are you a well-conditioned athlete or a weekend warrior that likes to try new work out regimens on the weekend?  Unfortunately, Muscle Guarding is a very common complaint amongst these individuals that should be addressed to the utmost extent to prevent further injury and insult to the muscles.  Many times Muscle Guarding is due to the spinal column being out of alignment.  This is known as a spinal subluxation.  A spinal subluxation is less than a complete dislocation of a joint that causes nervous system interference.  This may further put pressure on the nerves surrounding the bones and cause pain and local inflammation.  The subluxation may be removed through a spinal adjustment through licensed chiropractic physician.  They will utilize their hands to correct the bone accordingly to the specific line of drive needed to correct it.  Typically this line of drive is a posterior to anterior, inferior to superior thrust.  Sometimes a medial to lateral thrust is also needed.

Treatment

Other treatments for Muscle Guarding include but are not limited to the following: physiotherapy modalities such as: ultrasound, cold laser therapy, electrical muscles stimulation, cryotherapy, moist heat application, diathermy application, and more.  Other traditional treatments for Muscle Guarding include: massage therapy, acupuncture, stretching, physical therapy, exercise, and more.  Massage therapy and Chiropractic care go hand in hand for patients with Muscle Guarding.  The massage therapists work tiredly to decrease the muscle hypertonicity within the spine well enough for the chiropractic physician to deliver an ample adjustment to the area as to correct the subluxation.  Some stretching techniques that are useful include ART (Active Release Technique) and PNF (Post Neuro-facilitation) technique.  These help to relax the muscle enough to deliver an adequate stretch to the muscle fibers.  In these techniques, the patient is actively participating in their stretching regimen with the doctor or therapist leading the stretch.  These stretches allow for the patient’s muscles to relax enough to overcome the guarding and allow for them to get more of a stretch than otherwise attempting this on their own.  Post stretching it is very crucial that the patient drink an adequate amount of water.  This means at least half of their body weight in ounces per day; however, more needs to be drunk when they exercise because they are hopefully just sweating the water out anyways.  There are mineral waters out there that contain different vitamins and minerals which aid in rehydrating the disc, muscles, and the ligaments.  This is very important for regeneration and Muscle Guarding.

Do you receive massage therapy on a regular basis?  Massage therapy has a host of benefits including but not limited to: reducing Muscle Rigidity, improving circulation, eliminating harmful toxins from the body, increasing range of motion, improving skin vitality, and more.  The toxins that are built up in the body that need to be eliminated are lactic acid build up.  This is caused from muscle hypertonicity within the body that causes insult to the muscles.  Typically, the bones surrounding these muscles are misaligned known as a spinal subluxation.  A spinal subluxation is defined as, less than a complete dislocation of a joint that causes nervous system interference.  When there is no interference to the body then the body can function at 100% of the optimal capacity.  It is very important to drink a large amount of water following a massage in order to flush out the waste products built up.  As a general rule of thumb, every individual should be drinking half of their body weight in ounces of water per day.  More should be consumed when physical activity is performed.  This is because you typically sweat a lot of water out when you exercise.  If someone is clinically dehydrated this means that their muscles, joints, ligaments, and discs are more than likely rigid because your body gives water to the crucial organs first then whatever is leftover then it gives to your muscles, joints, and ligaments.

Treatment

Muscle Rigidity can be helped through massage therapy, chiropractic care, physical therapy, and exercise.  In addition, a sauna or steam room may also help with rigid muscles.  This will also help the body eliminate any impurities or imperfections as well.  Moist heat can help to calm down a spastic muscle while cold therapy can help to decrease the viscosity within the muscle tissue.  When applying cold therapy to any area it should be done for at least twenty minutes on and at least sixty minutes off and then repeated as often as necessary.  When applying moist heat to an area apply for ten minutes in duration then take it off.  Do not use a dry heating pad that you plug into a wall because this seems to only further dehydrate the muscles tissue and causing more Muscle Rigidity.  In acute phases, the first 72 hours it is important to utilize ice therapy.  In the sub-acute phase you can use contrast therapy alternating moist heat and cold therapy and in the chronic stage moist heat should be used to relax the muscle tissue.

you an avid runner?  Do you experience Leg Pain on a regular basis?  Do you Are know why you get it?  Many times avid runners suffer from shin splints.  Shin splints are caused from repetitive stress to the anterior aspect of the tibia bone where the anterior tibialis muscle resides.  When someone runs repeatedly this puts a tremendous strain on this muscle.  These individuals also need to be checked to see if they run correctly.  Sometimes they may be running pronated or supinated; this will cause shin splints to occur for sure.  They may have lost one of their arches in their feet too.  There are three arch supports of the feet: the medial, the lateral, and right underneath the ball of the foot.  All three of these make up the arch of the foot.  Without them, a patient can suffer from not only shin splints but foot pain, bunion, and over-taut muscles of the lower leg.  In addition, they can also start to see problems with their knees, hips, and their pelvis.  The feet start a kinetic chain reaction so it is very important to look to the feet when there is any kind of lower Leg Pain happening.  The patient can get fitted for custom fit orthotics to take some of the burden off of their feet.  The patient is first scanned on a machine to see what their feet look like in comparison to what is normal.  It will show where most of the pressure is being placed on the feet.  Next, the company will make a custom fit orthotic based on what the reading says.  There are many different kinds of foot orthotics including very rigid ones to flexible and moveable ones.  There are orthotics that is built into sandals, orthotics made for dress shoes, and even orthotics made specifically for high heels. 

Treatment

Leg Pain can be managed with orthotics but stripping of the muscles and tendons is important through massage therapy techniques.  Adjustments of the lower leg bones including the feet may also be a necessity to establishing good gait and function as well.  Physiotherapy modalities such as ultrasound, electrical muscle stimulation, and cold laser therapy may also be necessary in reducing the muscle tension in the area and relaxing the tissues.  Stretching of the gastroc and soleus muscles may also provide further relief.  It is very difficult to stretch the anterior tibialis muscle however. 

Chronic sufferers of Headache Pain know all too well what it’s like to live with daily Headaches which cause pain, discomfort, tight muscles, nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light and/or sound, pressure, sinus related problems, and more.  There are so many different types of Headaches and each of them has unique and distinct characteristics to categorize them.

Tension

The most common type of Headache is a tension Headache.  Tension Headaches typically affect women more commonly then men.  They tend to come in the mid-afternoon and are typically stress induced.  These Headaches tend to wrap around the head in a band-like fashion starting from the front and ending in the back.

Migraine

The second most common Headache out there is a Migraine Headache.  These are further divided into two categories: Common and Classic Migraine Headache.  Classic Migraine Headaches have the following characteristics: typically the patient gets the onset of an aura before the headache; this is flash-like lights that appear around their head, the typically have some nausea followed by some vomiting as well.  Migraine headaches in general are usually one-sided either on the left or right side of the head and are pulsatile and throbbing in nature.  They tend to last anywhere from four to six hours in duration and usually subside with rest, ice, or over the counter medications, or pharmaceutical medications.  Common Migraine headaches aren’t as severe because the aura isn’t present; however, the patient still gets the nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light and/or sound, and throbbing pain on one side of the head.  People who suffer with these have fewer days that they feel social and feel capable of working an entire day.  These headaches can and are debilitating to someone’s life.

Cluster

On the contrary, Cluster Headaches usually affect men more commonly than women and even more so African American men that are middle-aged.  There is usually a pattern with these headaches.  They tend to happen anywhere from three to four times per month and then they lapse in time for a while and come back in a pattern again.  These Headaches usually cause the eyes to water or the nose to run in many cases.  Other Headaches that are common are metabolic headaches that are usually brought on my foods that cause somewhat of a sensitivity in the body or caffeine-induced headaches which are brought on by individuals who are addicted to caffeine and then go a period of time where they don’t consume it causing a Headache.

It is estimated that over 75,000 children will receive the coverage that they need to obtain medical care due to this bill.  These children had pre-existing conditions such as asthma or diabetes that would have otherwise denied them the coverage they needed to live and stay well.  In 2014, no American will be denied coverage because of a pre-existing health condition.  This will be made law due to President Obama’s efforts with the Affordable Care Act.  This law is changing people’s lives.  For instance, a Virginia gentlemen suffering from hemophilia has to get frequent eye surgeries and exhausted his one million in lifetime coverage in almost two years.  He found a new company with a six million dollar max.  Thanks to the 2014 bill being passed, he will never have to worry about being denied for his pre-existing hemophilia condition which is a very costly and debilitating disorder to encounter.

Preventative Services

So, insurers cannot place lifetime limits on patient benefits and they cannot drop your coverage when you become ill.  Furthermore, patients no longer have to pay an out of pocket percentage for things like preventative services like the following: blood pressure testing, cholesterol screenings, diabetes and cancer screenings, regular wellness exams for infants and children, routine vaccinations, and breastfeeding support at no additional cost sharing to them.

Women

Women now have access to choose a primary care doctor, an OBGYN, or a pediatrician without getting authorization or a referral.  Patients will have use of the nearest hospital without cost sharing in emergency situations.  This is true whether the patient is in-network or out-of-network.  Consumers now have the ability to appeal insurance companies’ decisions and request an independent appeal to claims made.  This particular portion of the act has already helped over 40 million Americans and will continue to help many more millions in the near future.

Premiums

One of the most important changes thanks to the Affordable Care Act is that insurance companies cannot raise premiums without any transparency or accountability.  This now makes it law that in every state a proposed increase of 10% or more will fall under scrutiny and be evaluated by an expert.  To further help strengthen this review process, $250 million was given in grants to evaluate this process.  This money is available through 2014 in helping states review health care insurance rate increases.  This will hopefully ultimately help the economic deficit to an even greater extent.