When it comes to hip pain relief, your chiropractor in Corona provides valuable non-invasive, drug-free treatment. Whenever possible, surgery should be seen as a final option. Therefore, before you schedule a surgery to replace that hip, ask yourself the following questions: Is it impossible for you to get a good night’s sleep because your hip pain wakes you up at night? When you get out of bed in the morning, and/or when you get out of your car, are you stiff and do you find it hard at first to move your legs? Do you feel pain whenever you rotate or twist them or when you cross your legs? If you’ve answered “yes” to any or all of these questions you probably have asymmetries and misalignments in your lower extremities that are not only causing your hip pain, but can eventually lead to degenerative joint disease in your hips if not treated. The good news is that chiropractic treatment can help whether or not degenerative changes have already started!
You may be getting older and it may be true that your hip joints aren’t what they used to be. Nonetheless, did you know that your hip pain (and related problems), which routinely signal age-related degenerative conditions, may not actually be generated by osteoarthritis? That’s right. In the majority of cases, rather than being the root cause of your condition, osteoarthritis of the hip joint is frequently the consequence of a past injury (or injuries) to your hips.
More often than not, hip problems have to do with asymmetry or imbalance when you are in motion, like walking for example. If you tend to walk “pronated” with your toes pointing away from your body (like a duck), eventually you will feel pain in your hips from the asymmetrical tension on your hip joints as your body attempts to compensate. Fortunately, you can make changes in your gait pattern at any age, and your chiropractor in Corona can show you how to do it.
Additionally, you may have undergone gait changes as the result of an ankle sprain or knee strain, and since “the knee bone’s connected to the hip bone,” these biomechanical changes create pain in the hip(s). Of course, if not treated, your hip joints will suffer further consequences, which is the wear and tear that produces degenerative changes.
Other circumstances that can frequently impact the hip joints are starting a new job or beginning a new sport that necessitates your moving your body in unfamiliar ways. Also, ferrying a child (or grandchild) on one hip can produce hip pain. Even your sitting position or driving for long periods of time on a regular basis can cause hip injury and pain.
So you can see that not every pain is caused by “old age,” although we may experience more pain as the result of the progressive activity of untreated injuries.
As part of the chiropractic management of your hip problem, in addition to your adjustments, your Corona Chiropractor will recommend individualized rehabilitative exercises that include gentle muscle stretching and strengthening, and will also analyze your gait and may recommend simple pattern changes.
Your hip pain won’t disappear by itself. Hip pain means that there’s an injury that needs treatment. If neglected, there is a good possibility that at some point you will require that hip replacement surgery. Remember the old adage, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Your Corona Chiropractor can relieve your hip pain, get your body back into balance, and help you get to back to enjoying your life again!
If You’re a Woman, Take a Walk!
By · CommentsSo ladies, take a walk! Do it for your health's sake! For more information on this interesting story, click the link provided above.
As a chiropractor who treats many senior patients suffering from painful back problems, I was very concerned when I read about a new study published this month in The Journal of the American Medical Association that found that the percentage of older adults undergoing a complicated fusion procedure for the painful lower-back condition called spinal stenosis has increased sharply– rising fifteenfold from 2002 to 2007.
This type of fusion procedure is not only complicated, but costly. And worse, it carries three times the rate of life-threatening complications than alternative procedures such as decompression (removal of part of the bone pressing on the nerve) or simple fusion (in which two or three vertebrae are fused and only the front or back of the vertebrae, rather than front and back). And, the bottom line is that earlier studies haven’t found that the complex surgery leads to better results or greater pain relief.
Gentle, non-invasive chiropractic treatment can often relieve the severe back pain caused by spinal stenosis. I fully recommend a short conservative trial of chiropractic care prior to considering most surgeries involving the musculoskeletal system. Any type of surgery carries risks and such risks increase exponentially as we age. But, when a study reveals that a costly, life-threatening surgery does little to relieve pain or improve an individual’s quality of life, in my opinion such a surgery should not even be considered.
As a Wichita Chiropractor for more than twenty years, I have helped hundreds of patients suffering from the pain of sciatica, therefore, I’m genuinely aware from experience just how debilitating the pain from sciatica can be. Those who suffer from sciatica are regrettably all too familiar with the type of deep pain that often radiates through the lower part of their body, persists during the day and interferes with almost all of their daily activities.
Are you worried that your low back pain could be caused by sciatica? You are more than likely suffering from sciatica if your pain radiates from your low back, through one or both sides of your buttocks, down the large sciatic nerve in the back of your leg(s), and possibly penetrates into one or both knees. Also, not solely activity, but even sitting can be painful. Commonly lying down will decrease, or perhaps even temporarily get rid of the pain. Even so, it’s important for you to be aware that sciatica cannot be corrected without proper treatment.
Radiculopathy
One of the clinical diagnoses of sciatica is known as a “radiculopathy”, a medical term that means simply that a disc has protruded from its natural position in the spine and is putting pressure on the radicular nerve, or nerve root, in the lower back, which forms part of the sciatic nerve. This type of pressure can cause excruciating pain.
Prolonged sitting, particularly in an improper position, can cause imbalances in the muscles encircling the spine and added pressure on the intervertebral discs. Generally, a particular event or injury doesn’t cause sciatica, more often sciatica tends to evolve over time due to ordinary wear and tear on the structures of the lower spine. After a while the lower spine can lose its normal functioning capabilities during common stresses.
Ultimately, the intervertebral disc incurs small fissures or cracks that then permit the soft nucleus to protrude the disc outward. Pain is produced as the disc pushes on sensitive tissues. This occurrence is frequently referred to as a ruptured, or slipped, disc. If the disc presses on the spinal nerve, a person can develop sciatica. With chiropractic adjustments and management, which usually includes postural exercises, almost all disc challenges, including sciatica, can be significantly decreased.
Periformis Syndrome
Another cause of sciatic pain is periformis syndrome. Periformis syndrome develops when the periformis muscle, for any reason, goes into spasm and irritates the sciatic nerve, is superficial to the nerve Along with chiropractic treatment, this kind of sciatica can be significantly relieved by sciatica stretches that your chiropractor can recommend.
If you are experiencing sciatic pain, it is crucial for you to seek chiropractic attention. If you are in the Wichita area, as your Chiropractor in Wichita, I look forward to helping you to get out of pain and get your life back!
As a San Diego Chiropractor, I counsel many individuals who come to my clinic who want to lose weight. I know how hard it can be, and I also know how important it is to lose those extra pounds. What’s the harm in being just a few pounds overweight? Over the years, extra weight can add up to a large number of health challenges from heart and pulmonary diseases and diabetes to back challenges and joint degeneration. Extra pounds put undue stress on organs, like the heart, as well as on joints in the low back, hips, and knees. Regrettably,more than half (62%) of men and women in the U.S. are overweight or obese, according to recent studies. That is a very significant percentage and a sizable problem (no pun intended).
Though it is able to compensate to some degree the human body has not evolved to transport surplus poundage in the form of body fat. Just an additional 20 or 30 pounds can literally overload and overburden the joints and muscles of the body. Added weight in the belly, for instance, requires that the body compensate (counterbalance the weight) by tilting the pelvis forward. The tilt puts pressure on the joints of the low back. Joint compression impedes nerve activity and causes painful inflammation. Most men and women who have a heavy midsectionfeel substantial pain in their low back generated by a pinched sciatic nerve or spinal misalignments that restrict nerves as a result of weight-bearing stresses. If left untreated, misaligned vertebra not only continue to irritate the degenerative changes that have taken place already, but can create new arthritic changes in the spine in the future.
How can chiropractic help? To begin with the obvious, a healthy body weight is necessary in order for the musculoskeletal system to function in the way it is built to. That said, in addition, chiropractic adjustments relieve nerve compression in the spine and help to get motion back into the joints of the musculoskeletal system, particularly in the low back, hips, and knees. And, naturally exercise and physical activity are a lot easier, and more beneficial for the body, when the the joints have good movement and the spine is aligned. Not only will exercise help with weight reduction, but it can actually inhibit degenerative changes as the body ages.
Healthcare professionals, like your chiropractor, can talk to you about your diet and exercise choices. In addition to helping people suffering from back pain and joint inflammation, chiropractors offer proficient advice on the kinds of lifestyle modifications that can help an individual to stay healthier, more vigorous, and more active through the years. Arthritis and immobility due to aging don’t have to be unavoidable. The structure of the human body is intended to carry a person through an entire lifetime of pain-free movement.
So, if those extra pounds have been sneaking up on you, and they’ve turned into a surprising load of pain, as your San Diego chiropractor and someone who understands, I can help. Make an appointment today!
Drugs…Just in Case?
By · CommentsAs a chiropractor who believes in the human body’s ability to heal itself, often with the aid of natural, non-invasive, drug-free treatment, I am always dismayed, but never surprised, at some of the pernicious claims and tenacious effrontery of drug companies when it comes to pain killers, in general, and the “treatment” of a number of conditions that don’t get any better with drugs or are made worse by them. And, as a chiropractor who has helped hundreds of headache sufferers not only get temporary, but permanent relief, when I read about a drug study for yet another pain med that will likely keep headache sufferers numbed to their pain, but in the process numb to the rest of their life as well, I feel like shouting from the rooftops: “Try chiropractic first!” But, today, when I read about a study, sponsored by Merck (who also makes the product), I really felt compelled to say that this particular study is shamefully playing to the fears of migraine sufferers when, in fact, the drug itself only offers “less severity” at best when it comes to a migraine headache.
The study, conducted by Dr. X. Henry Hu of Merck & Co.and colleagues, found that one in five migraine sufferers had “avoided” a work-related commitment because they were afraid of getting a migraine, while 27 percent reported canceling a work commitment for this reason, and round 28 percent said they had avoided or canceled social commitments due to fear of migraines.
I have treated many patients who told me how much they’d “feared” the onset of a migraine and limited their activities in life because of that fear, so I do understand how devastating the fear migraines can be. And, yet, the only “solution” this study offered?
This study is “important,” said Dr. Hu, the unpredictability of migraines could contribute to people’s anxiety and fear about them and early treatment with migraine drugs called triptans can help reduce headache severity. “Because of the lack of predictability of future migraine attacks, migraine sufferers may benefit from increased education on the importance of keeping medications available at all times,” they concluded.
My conclusion? If you suffer from migraines, give your chiropractor a call today!
SOURCE: Headache, published online March 25, 2010.
Chiropractic Masters Blog Talk Radio
By · CommentsChiropractic Masters Blog Talk Radio
By · CommentsChiropractic News: Chiropractic Marketing internet radio show, Chiropractic Masters on Blog Talk Radio, interviews expert chiropractors around the country. The first episode featured Ventura Chiropractor, Dr. Steven Alff. Dr. Alff talked about spinal decompression and how it benefits his patients.
The Bright Side to Supermarket Fluorescent Lighting
By · CommentsDoes your refrigerator light stay on when you close the frig door? No? Well, new research is suggesting that perhaps it should! As a chiropractor, I’m all about “total wellness,” which means that I believe in routine chiropractic care along with a healthy lifestyle that includes good nutrition, regular exercise, drinking plenty of water, and dealing effectively with life stresses. Getting the nutrition we need from fruits and vegetables used to be a “no brainer,” i.e., just buy them fresh. But, with the current trend towards big farm over-planting that has lead to soil depletion in many areas, sadly the fruits and vegetables grown in, and pulled from, soil lacking in nutrients lack much of the health benefits they once offered. We generally need to search for fruit and veggie stands and farmers’ markets to get anything close to the natural nutrition that was once “a given” when we were children because, let’s face it, it’s hard to find healthy produce in our supermarkets anymore. So, I was pleasantly surprised and very interested in a new study that the harsh, unnatural lighting in most supermarkets — the kind of lighting that seems to have no environmental upside — apparently has a bright side: healthier fruits and vegetables.
That’s right! A recent study found that spinach actually gained nutritional value as it sat for days under fluorescent lights! And, not just “minor” value gains. Some vitamins doubled their concentrations. Apparently, fluorescent supermarket lights mimic the spectrum of natural sunlight, and some supermarkets keep them on all the time, 24-hours a day. Continuous light exposure allows plants to maintain photosynthesis and, of course, photosynthesis produces nutrients.
The study’s author, Gene Lester, is a research plant physiologist at the United States Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, MD. He and his colleagues chose to study spinach because it is one of the most nutritionally complete vegetables commonly available, with significant concentrations of vitamins C, A, K, E and folate.
You can read about how the research was done in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry or by going to discovery.com
Bottom line: To boost the nutritional content of spinach and other produce, researchers suggest (counter-intuitively) that consumers select packages from the front of display cases that are kept under continuous light.