Sometimes, even for chiropractors, the potency of chiropractic treatment and its ability in helping people get rid of pain and back into participating in life can seem, well, almost miraculous. When I hear from chiropractic patients who’ve not only experienced pain relief through chiropractic care, but also more life and energy, stress relief and peace of mind, and a greater ability to get a good night’s sleep, I feel gratified.

Still, sometimes I come across something, like this particular research article I read in the scientific periodical, Journal of Pediatric, Maternal and Family health, and I am moved to a new level of admiration for my profession. The research detailed the case of a severely disabled 16-year-old girl experiencing spasticity and sleep disturbances due to Cerebral Palsy. It was her inability to sleep through the night that caused her family the most distress. To compound the young girl’s condition,when she was seven years old, surgeons fused metal rods in her spine, from neck to base.

The mother of the girl hoped that chiropractic treatment could correct her daughter’s spinal misalignments and ease her often abhorrent pain. One can only imagine that the examination was difficult. Fortunately the chiropractor was able to diagnose that there were several subluxations that could be safely corrected. The chiropractor treated the girl twice per week. The girl was sleeping through the night after just six adjustments. A measurable improvement in her muscle spasticity was found by her ninth visit.

While full recovery was not expected, the authors of the research article noted that “the patient and her family were able to return to a normal sleep schedule as well as enjoy improved quality of life.”

Improved quality of life. Who could ask for more from any type of health care? No one!  But, do you want to know something? More chiropractors experience just that with their patients than medical doctors do.

Technorati Tags: back pain, chiropractic treatment, chiropractor, improved quality of life

Would it surprise you to know that chiropractors like me, your chiropractor in Dallas, treat almost as many patients with knee pain as we do patients with back problems? It’s true! But, I’m convinced that we, chiropractors, would see fewer knee problems if more individuals came in sooner for back care. That’s right! Taking care of your back can help prevent knee pain!

What does your back have to do with your knee? The answer is that the musculoskeletal system of the body functions in a corrective, “chain-reaction” manner. Which is to say that when one area of the musculoskeletal system isn’t functioning properly, the rest of the system shifts and tilts in order to compensate for the problem.  For example, pain in the patella (kneecap), also known as Patella Femoral Syndrome (Knee Cap Pain) is frequently caused by imbalances in the quadriceps muscles of the thigh that attach to and move the patella. These imbalances frequently begin in the low back, especially in the sacroiliac joint. It’s similar to the old song, “…the knee bones connected to the thigh bone…”. From our head to our toes, we are one, whole, organic structure. It is for this reason that chronic challenges are never separated. But, even though you now know how your back can affect your knees, it’s not always the culprit! A case in point, reduced foot function due to foot pain can also cause painful knee problems as well. In addition, poor knee tracking due to unhealthy gait patterns, such as pronation (walking like a duck with toes pointed out rather than straight ahead), can create wear and tear on the knee joints and extreme pain over time. And, finally, excess body weight and, not to bum out the ladies, but the wearing of high heels on a regular basis more often than not causes knee problems over time.

Happily, chiropractic treatment can reestablish healthy muscle balance, restore appropriate movement to the patella and other knee joints, and adjust subluxations of the sacroiliac joints or bones of the foot. Your very last resort in attempting to get rid of your knee pain, should be knee replacement surgery! Try a conservative course of chiropractic treatment first.
But, you should never ignore knee pain, or “play through” knee pain, or continue walking in those lovely Jimmy Choo heels when your knees are aching. Pain is the body’s way of letting you know that there’s a problem that needs correcting. If knee problems are left untreated, knee joint tissue, especially the cartilage, will continue to degenerate. If the bones begin to rub on one another, changes such as bone spurs can occur.

Musculoskeletal problems, such as knee pain and degenerative joint disease (osteoarthritis), frequently increase as a person ages. But remember, no matter what your age is today, right this minute you are younger than you will ever be again. See your Dallas Chiropractor today…for tomorrow’s sake!

Technorati Tags: arthritis, chiropractic, knee injury, knee pain

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Are you sidelined by your tension headaches? Do they cause you to be absent from work or ineffective while you’re there? Do they interfere with your family and social life? Most people have experienced more than one tension headache in their life. If you are someone who’s had a tension headache, then you know that the pain usually feels like an intense, but dull ache in your head. Such pain is commonly accompanied by a sensation of tightness or pressure along the forehead or on the sides and back of the head. Sometimes, you might feel a tenderness of your scalp, neck and shoulder muscles, and periodically you may experience a loss of appetite or even nausea.

Most tension headaches are defined as mild to moderately intense, but the severity of the pain varies from one person to another, and can vary from one headache to another in the same person. Would you describe your tension headaches as occurring frequently? Did you know that if your headaches take place fifteen or more days a month for a minimum of three months, they’re viewed by healthcare professionals as chronic?

The good news is that if tension headaches are interfering with your life, once in a while or chronically, chiropractic treatment can help. For over twenty years Dr. Helwig has been helping the Oak Lawn Community to get out of pain, whether an individual is suffering from back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, hip pain, knee pain, foot pain, and headaches. That right! Chiropractors don’t just treat back pain. They address the entire musculoskeletal system!

So, if you are suffering from tension headaches that have kept you from living your life fully, call Dr. Helwig, your Chiropractor in Oak Lawn, Illinois today. Get your life back!

Technorati Tags: back pain, chiropractic treatment, chiropractor, foot pain, hip pain, knee pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, tension headaches

Oxnard Chiropractor

Donald Bolt, DC, your Chiropractor in Oxnard, is aware that allergies can make your daily life unpleasant. A stroll in the park, a yarn ball toss with Kitty, a shellfish repast, or merely something as tiny as a nut may well result in such unwelcome discomforts as itchy eyes, a runny nose, sneezing, or a skin rash.

Then again, occasionally a sufferer’s allergic reactions can go from just plain irritating to acute and even life-threatening as the air passageway starts to close and breathing becomes difficult. This kind of development of difficulties can frequently result in a state of acute anxiety and also a trip to the ER.

Allergic reactions can, without a doubt, turn out to be an exceedingly troublesome interruption and cause you to feel unable to participate in daily life. Actually, should you be one of the many men and women who have allergic reactions, it might perhaps appear to you that, every once in awhile, the environment is a extremely unfriendly place and that natural environment out there you is, virtually, out to get you!

You may wonder as to why it is that others seem so invulnerable to the identical environmental challenges that send your body into overwhelm. Other people seem either unaware of or plainly`totally unresponsive to the would-be irritants that lie in wait at every turn, while your body reacts, or rather overreacts, to them. Why you? It is a appropriate question. The answer is that a lot of individuals, not unlike yourself, have a hyperactive immune system that virtually “goes wild” whenever you are exposed to ordinary substances most notably pollen, dander, shellfish, or nuts.

Can your Oxnard Chiropractor assist you in finding a lasting reduction in your allergy symptoms? Happily, the answer is a resounding “Yes,” and the solution could perhaps surprise you. Quite a few chiropractic patients have noticed that they experience freedom from their allergy symptoms after a chiropractic treatment, despite the fact that chiropractic care does not actually directly address allergies, per se. The biology behind the decrease in allergy symptoms is because chiropractic manipulation influences the entire nervous system, including the autoimmune system, which is the origin of your hypersensitive responses. Whenever there is a perturbation within the nervous system, together with other challenges, the autoimmune system, whose task it is to help you to adapt and respond in a healthy way to your environment, may well become under-active or overactive. Where your allergies are concerned, the dysfunction is the latter (it becomes overactive).

Since chiropractic manipulations are intended to decrease or even entirely get rid of disruptions within the nervous system and recreate symmetry and harmony to the whole body, in addition to a number of other corrections, the manipulations include homeostasis to the autoimmune system at the same time. A sound immune system reacts appropriately to so-called allergens within the natural environment.

So, as already mentioned, your Oxnard Chiropractor doesn’t necessarily treat allergy symptoms, but then that doesn’t mean your allergies won’t improve or vanish entirely. On the other hand, one could say, instead, that relief from your allergies is purely the consequence of your rebalanced nervous system. If you would like to get back into harmony with your environment as soon as possible, contact Dr. Bolt, your Chiropractor in Oxnard, today. He can help you to enjoy your life again!

Technorati Tags: allergic reaction, allergies, allergy relief, autoimmune system, chiropractic, chiropractor

As a chiropractor I believe in exercise, whether it’s aerobics, bike riding, or team sports. Keeping the body active keeps the body healthy and strong. However, when it comes to sports activies, it seems that sports injuries are inevitable among young and old alike. And, though many sports injuries can be very serious, I was especially happy to see that there is a current focus on concussions among young athletes who participate in school sports. The question people are asking is: Are schools doing enough to protect their student-athletes? Do you, as a parent, feel that your child is safe when participating in sports at school?  Many parents worry that their young athletes are at risk for serious sports injuries, especially concussions. In fact, the latest C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health found that nearly two-thirds of parents of young athletes between the ages 12 – 17 worry that their children will get a concussion while playing school sports.

To make matters worse, researchers have found that youth athletes are more likely to sustain concussions and to take longer to recover from concussions than adults. Furthermore, if a second concussion occurs before a child’s brain recovers from the first, there is a possibility of long-term neurologic conditions.

When surveyed, most parents indicated that they would strongly support school requirements, such as:

    * If a student-athlete sustained a concussion, he or she would need to be evaluated and cleared by a doctor before returning to sports – 84 percent

    * Coaches should to receive education about the risks of concussions

    * After a concussion there should be a mandatory period of non-participation in sports

    * A certified trainer should be on-site for practices and games

High school athletic organizations, injury prevention groups and professional sports leagues have become increasingly active in promoting policies to minimize the risks of repeat concussions among young athletes. But, let’s face it, parents are in a unique position to recognize concussion signs and symptoms that occur outside of school, and to work with coaches, trainers, and other health care personnel to ensure that their child is appropriately monitored throughout his or her recovery and return to play.

Source: University of Michigan Health System

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Corona Chiropractor

Your Corona Chiropractor provides a valuable non-surgical, drug-free approach to relieving hip pain and often eliminating it altogether. Whenever possible, surgery should be seen as a last resort. Therefore, before you schedule a surgery to replace that hip, ask yourself the following questions: Is it out of the question for you to get a good night’s sleep because your hip pain wakes you up at night? When you get up in the morning, and/or when you step out of your car, are you stiff and do you find it difficult at first to move your legs? Do you feel pain in one or both hips when you cross your legs or rotate or twist your hips? If so, you may have asymmetries and alignment problems in your lower extremities that, in addition to causing your hip pain, can lead to degenerative joint disease in your hips in the future if not treated. The good news is that whether or not degenerative changes have already started, chiropractic treatment can help!

It may be true that you’re getting older and your hip joints just aren’t what they used to be. But, are you aware that your hip pain and related problems, which generally point to age-related degenerative conditions, may not actually be caused by osteoarthritis? That’s right. In the majority of cases, as opposed to being the root cause of your condition, osteoarthritis of the hip joint is typically the outcome of a prior injury (or injuries) to your hips.

Frequently, hip problems have to do with asymmetry or imbalance when you are in motion, as in the case of walking. If you “pronate” when you walk, with your toes pointing away from your body (like a duck), sooner or later you will develop pain in your hips due to the asymmetrical stress on your hip joints and your body’s efforts to compensate. However, you can learn to correct your gait pattern at any age, and your chiropractor in Corona can show you how to do it.

Furthermore, you may have developed gait changes because of an ankle sprain or knee strain, and since “the knee bone’s connected to the hip bone,” these biomechanical alterations cause pain in the hip(s). Naturally, if not corrected, your hip joints will suffer further consequences, namely, the wear and tear that produces degenerative changes.

Other circumstances that can occasionally adversely affect the hip joints are starting a new job or beginning a new sport that makes it necessary for you to move your body in uncommon ways. Also, transporting a child (or grandchild) on one hip can produce hip pain. Even the way you sit or driving for extended periods of time on a routine basis can cause hip injury and pain.

See? Not every pain is caused by “old age,” even though we may suffer from more pain as a consequence of the progressive nature of untreated injuries.

And important aspect of the chiropractic management of your hip problem, along with your adjustments, your Corona Chiropractor will offer individualized rehabilitative exercises that include gentle muscle stretching and strengthening, and will also analyze your gait and may suggest simple pattern changes.

Your hip pain won’t go away on its own. Hip pain is a sign that there’s an injury that needs treatment. If put off, it is very likely that you will eventually require that hip replacement surgery. Remember the old adage, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Your Corona Chiropractor can get you out of pain, get your body back into balance, and help you get to back to enjoying your life again!

Technorati Tags: chiropractic, chiropractor, hip pain, osteoarthritis

Advantages of in-house chiropractic internet marketing

Technorati Tags: chiropractic internet marketing, chiropractic marketing, SEO

Chiropractic Marketing

Social Media is the “hottest” topic on the Internet today. If you’ve been thinking about getting on board, but you’re not sure where the platform is, let’s take a minute to talk about the “Who, What, When, Where, and How” of social media and you, that’s “Who.” Then you can make a better decision about whether to add Social Media to your chiropractic marketing strategy.

Social media marketing may be very much like, and entirely unlike, any chiropractic marketing strategy you’ve contemplated. In the “very much like” category, you wouldn’t consider any kind of marketing plan without taking the time to understand what it’s about and what you want to get from it. What are your goals? Once you know what you want, it’ll be easier for you to use social media to your greatest advantage.

Before you actually start your social media effort, it will be highly important for you to make certain that you “own your name” on all the social media outlets, i.e., be certain that your name or your clinic’s name is procurable so that you can use precisely same name on all of the social channels you desire to use. There is a free service to assist you with your search when you’re ready. Knowem.com is the who to go to. This service will check where your name is and/or if it’s available or not on a substantial number of social media sites.

When you have secured all of your social media accounts, the next step is to make a decision as to where you would like to be active. Initially only a small number of social media sites is preferable because, let’s face it, you have a clinic to run and patients to see. You won’t want to get involved in too many social media sites. How do decide which sites are best for you? The big ones (where most of the action is) are facebook, twitter, linkedin, and Youtube.

What successful social media activity will do for you is build a genuine presence in your community. What is definitely a no-no is for you to try to “sell” on your social media sites, that means don’t sell your chiropractic services, don’t sell products, don’t sell anything! The objective of social media is for you to have an addition channel through which to network with the community. Of course, let them become aware what you do, but do it by participating in the conversation. There is really no difference between the way social networking works and the way you normally network offline. People on social media sites don’t want to be sold to, plain and simply. Social media sites are a lot like a neighborhood backyard barbecue. People are standing around having a conversation about who they are and what they do, and then a person asks you what you do. Or, maybe you start the conversation by simply stating, “Hello, I’m Dr. ____. The same kind of interaction applies with social media. “Work” your social media sites in the same way you’d work your offline networking communities, which is to say, answer the questions and concerns that let people know who you are and gets them interested in the who that’s you!

Technorati Tags: chiropractic marketing, facebook, linkedin, social media, social media marketing, twitter, Youtube

Okay, as a chiropractor I continue to advise my patients, young and old alike, that routine exercise is a vital component to good health. And, since one in three children in the US is either overweight or obese, it’s apparent that getting enough exercise is becoming a national crisis. That said, exercise, especially when it involves sports activities, should be engaged in with the utmost caution. And, not just for the middle-aged “weekend warrior,” but for children as well. In fact, here’s a shocking statistic regarding kids and the “great American pastime”: According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, in 2008, nearly 200,000 children aged 14 and younger, were treated in hospitals, doctor’s offices and emergency rooms for baseball-related injuries.

Why do so many injuries occur? Well, for thing, young athletes today are taking on the kind of intense fitness regimen that can lead to overworked limbs, and overworked limbs, particularly arms overworked from repetitive throwing, can result in injury. In this case, it the old saying “it isn’t whether you win or lose but how you play the game,” couldn’t be more true and truer still is how you practice “pre-game.” Coaches and parents need to advise their young baseball players to not only practice proper form, but to avoid over-exertion. And, kids need to step up and let the coach or a parent know when they’ve had “enough” practice for one day.

The  American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons recommends the following tips, which we, chiropractors, fully support:

• Always take time to warm up and stretch before and after play. Research studies have shown that cold muscles are more prone to injury, specifically:

• If a child is pitching, he should concentrate on stretching his arm, shoulder and back muscles.

• If a child is catching, the focus should be on the legs and back.

• Children should not be encouraged to play through pain. It is important that they take breaks.

• Limit the number of teams on which your child is playing in one season. Kids who play on more than one team are especially at risk for overuse injuries.

• Wear a batting helmet at the plate, in the “on deck” circle waiting for your turn at bat, and during base running.

• Coaches must teach and allow practice of proper sliding techniques before using a bag, including breakaway bases. Players younger than 10 should not be taught to slide.

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