Common Conditions Treated with Chiropractic
Subluxation
Subluxation or more accurately a Vertebral Subluxation Complex occurs when one or more of the bones in your spine shifts out of position and gets stuck. This leads to swelling and irritation of the joints and/or disks, tightness or spasm of the supporting muscles, irritation to the nerves and nervous system, and over time to degeneration in the joints and/or disks.
There are three main causes of subluxation; mechanical, chemical or emotional stress to your body.
Mechanical stress occurs with trauma such as an accident, injury, slip, or fall. Mechanical stress also happens from postural stress to our bodies from the way we sit, stand, move, and sleep.
Chemical stress comes from what we put into our bodies. The foods that we eat and drink, medications, alcohol, and caffeine can all excite or depress our nervous system.
Emotional stress can be good or bad stress. Having stress about your job, your family, commuting, your community, or the weather can adversely affect our nervous system. Even the excitement of happy events can put stress on our nerves and nervous system and may lead to subluxations.
Chiropractors are the only health care professionals specifically trained to detect and correct subluxations.
Don’t live with pain. Make your chiropractic appointment today.
Headaches
There are a number of types and causes for headaches. A common cause is irritation of the joints, muscles or nerves in your neck from a vertebral subluxation complex.
Medications can sometimes mask the headache, but prolonged use of most headache medication can have unwanted side affects. If your headaches keep coming back, it is time to make an appointment with our office to find the cause of your headaches and correct the underlying problem.
Don’t live with pain. Make your chiropractic appointment today.
Neck Pain
Many of our patients suffer from neck pain. The pain can be caused by any number of factors including; automobile injuries (whiplash), work injuries, sports injuries, slips, falls, overhead work, repetitive phone or computer use, poor posture, sleeping wrong, slouching, stress, prolonged driving, and exercising incorrectly. Most of us have experienced one or more of these stressors and developed pain in our neck or upper back.
If the pain is transient and goes away in a few hours to a day, it may not be something to worry about. Persistent pain, recurring pain, or pain that radiates to your shoulders and arms indicates an underlying problem that needs to be treated by a health care professional. If left untreated, this can lead to degenerative changes in your spine which will become a permanent condition.
The most common cause of neck pain is misalignment of your cervical spine or vertebral subluxations. These subluxations can lead to swelling and irritation in your joints, tightening of the neck and shoulder muscles, irritation of the nerves, and eventually degeneration in the joints and discs.
Chiropractors are trained to detect and correct vertebral subluxations. If you have neck pain, it’s time to do something about it.
Don’t live with pain. Make your chiropractic appointment today.
Scoliosis
Scoliosis is a curvature to the side of your spine. It can be caused by imbalances in your spine, muscles, pelvis, hips, or legs. A posture evaluation can detect a scoliosis by looking at the spine, shoulders, and hips to see if there are any distortions. Palpation of the spine will detect misalignments and muscle imbalance. If a curve is detected then further testing with an x-ray may be done to confirm the curve and measure it to determine the proper course of care.
If detected early, chiropractic care can be a valuable part of treatment to help balance the spine and muscles. If scoliosis has progressed, chiropractic care can help relieve some of the discomfort caused by imbalances in the joints and muscles. More severe cases may require surgery to straighten the spine if the curve has progressed to cause pressure on the internal organs.
Don’t live with pain. Make your chiropractic appointment today.
Sciatica
Sciatica refers to symptoms going down your leg due to irritation of the sciatic nerve. The pain usually starts in the lower back or buttocks. You may have numbness, tingling, pain, weakness, or burning. It can travel to the upper leg, lower leg, ankle, foot, or toes. The symptoms can vary or be constant and the intensity can change with your activity level. The symptoms are typically on one side of your body.
The cause of sciatica can be from a herniated disc pressing on a nerve, bone spurs irritating the nerve, decreased space in the disc causing nerve root compression, or spinal canal stenosis. Infrequently sciatica can be caused by a tumor or disease process.
Most cases of sciatica respond very well to chiropractic care. Several studies have shown that conservative treatment with chiropractic care should be done before discussing the possibility of surgery. The Manga report found chiropractic care to be cost effective, safe, have a high rate of patient satisfaction and to be more effective than medical treatment for lower back pain.
Don’t live with pain. Make your chiropractic appointment today.
Pregnancy
During pregnancy a woman’s body goes through significant physical and hormonalchanges culminating in the birth process. Throughout the pregnancy, these adaptations in
your body, while beneficial to the baby and your pregnancy, can put stress on your spine,
musculature and nervous system. Neck and upper back pain, headaches, mid back pain,
lower back and leg pain (sciatica) are all common during pregnancy.
As your body changes, chiropractic adjustments can help to decrees the pain and
discomfort while optimizing body function to help achieve the best outcome. Studies
have shown that women under chiropractic care during and after pregnancy have less
discomfort and use less pain medication. Chiropractic care is safe to receive throughout
your pregnancy. It can also help after the delivery to alleviate the physical toll of infant
care and help your body recover more quickly.
Don’t live with pain. Make your chiropractic appointment today.
Whiplash
Whiplash is when your head is forcefully pushed forward (flexion) or backward (extension). This typically happens in an automobile accident when your car stops but your head and neck continue to move until the seat, seat belt, or airbags stop you. Studies have shown that even in low impact collisions of 5-15 mph, tremendous force is placed on your body from sudden acceleration and deceleration.
The damage caused from whiplash can be to the muscles, ligaments, tendons, joints, discs, and nerves. Fractures or head injuries should be seen immediately in a hospital or urgent care facility. Early intervention with chiropractic care is important and will focus on limiting swelling and inflammation while helping reduce pain. As your body starts to heal, treatment will shift to increasing mobility and returning to normal function. Lastly we will work to improve strength and flexibility to prevent long term degenerative changes. It is common in more severe cases to have several health professionals working together with your chiropractor to achieve the best outcome
Don’t live with pain. Make your chiropractic appointment today.
Low Back Pain
Whatever the cause, the result is misalignment of the joints, disks, muscles, and nerves of your spine. The pain can be very debilitating and make it difficult to do everyday activities like walking, sitting, getting out of a chair, sleeping, personal care, child care, and household chores.
It has been said that the five most dangerous words in the English language are “maybe it will go away”. If you wait to have your back problem evaluated, it will usually progress and you will begin to compensate for the pain. This leads to stress and problems in other areas of your body. This makes diagnosing and treating the problem harder and it takes more time to heal.
A chiropractic evaluation will determine the underlying cause of your problem. X-rays may be necessary to detect degeneration and rule out underlying tumors or fractures if suspected.
We will then develop a plan to fix the problem and teach you how to prevent it from coming back. Strength and flexibility are the keys to a healthy spine.
Don’t live with pain. Make your chiropractic appointment today.
Upper Body and Shoulder Pain
Anyone who spends time working on a computer or driving has probably experienced pain in their upper back or shoulders at some point. These days with more people working from home, it is becoming more of a problem since most people don’t take the time to set up their home work space ergonomically. Many of us carry our stress in our shoulders as well. Overuse from repetitive exercise, sports, and hobbies can all put stress on our upper back and shoulders.
Pain or tightness in this area can radiate up to your neck, down your arms, and sometimes even feel like its going right through you. Having an evaluation by a chiropractor can help determine where the pain is coming from and develop the best strategy to alleviate your pain.
Don’t live with pain. Make your chiropractic appointment today.