Long Term Health Benefits of Chiropractic Care

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Many patients experiencing chronic pain on different parts of their body have on clear goal – to find relief for their pain fast. However, most of them are not aware of the long term benefits of seeking chiropractic care for their condition and the promise of better health beyond relief for their pain.

Regular Health Check

Chiropractic doctors usually ask their patients to visit regularly to monitor their spinal health and maintain its good condition for as long as possible. This is just similar with visiting your dentist for regular dental checkups and to maintain oral health. But many people find the notion of regularly visiting chiropractic doctors peculiar and only remember to do so when they finally feel something wrong with their back and spine.

When you experience pain in your lower back, tension headache and neck pain, the immediate goal you have it to make it stop. And when the same happens to recur, you have to start looking for long-term health goals and start understanding that proper spinal health is actually more about finding relief for different types of pain. Good spinal health means good impact on the functions of your nerves and this influences each organ of your body.

The Body and Your Spinal Health

Not many are aware of how spinal health is associated with different functions of the body. One significant example of this is the case of a 53 year old man with a history of chronic obstructive pulmunary disease for the last 20 years. After 14 months of going through chiropractic care, showed great improvements on the air he exhales in a single complete breath and the air he inhales in the first second of the completed breath.

Long term implication of how chiropractic care and lung volumes cannot be exaggerated because even lung volumes do not improve in adults even for those who do not have pulmonary issues, it fact it even decline as you age. Depressed lung volumes are actually linked higher risks of heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. But apart from better lung volumes, chiropractic care is also known to benefit balance, vision and reaction time.

Chiropractic Care Means More than Just Relief

Most people only aim for their short term goal of finding relief for their pain, but chiropractic care can help people achieve better spinal health and improved overall health in the long run. You will be glad to regain better lung capacity, reaction time, balance, visual acuity and cardiovascular health as you regularly visit and monitor your condition with your doctor over time.

How Neuropathy Leads to Social Exclusion

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Neuropathy sometimes can be severely debilitating and may adversely affect a person’s social life. It may seriously limit a person’s functioning and may make even everyday simple tasks almost impossible to complete. Certain severe forms of neuropathy like the Guillain-Barre Syndrome may make a person completely bedridden for many weeks, while in many other cases, like autonomic neuropathy causing incontinence, the affected person voluntarily starts avoiding all social gatherings due to fear of embarrassment.

Neuropathy may cause social exclusion by severely disabling a person. Often patients with neuropathy may have difficulty in walking and sometimes even frank ataxia also. Patients might develop certain deformities, for example, claw hand due to nerve damage, and may start avoiding social gatherings. The pain and altered sensations like tingling, numbness and other paraesthesias associated with neuropathy sometimes might be very severe and may make the patient seek comfort of home more rather than going out. Diabetic patients with distal neuropathy affecting the lower limbs may prefer to stay at home due to fear of causing injury to the foot. Diabetes often runs in families, and many a times, the patients have witnessed in other family members the serious complications arising from such an injury and are thus are very cautious. Bowel disturbances like severe diarrhea may also make a person more and more confined to home, especially if he has other symptoms of neuropathy.

One way in which involvement of autonomic nervous system in neuropathy may present is with incontinence. The most common form is urinary incontinence but fecal incontinence may also occur. In urinary incontinence, there is involuntary leakage of urine from the bladder. Similarly, in fecal incontinence, there is an involuntary passage of stool. Incontinence is one of the most important causes of social exclusion in people suffering from neuropathy. The social withdrawal is most often voluntary due to fear of humiliation and embarrassment. Patients tend to avoid all social gatherings and prefer to remain confined to their homes. Autonomic neuropathy may also cause impotence in men and make them socially withdrawn because of low self-esteem because of being unable to achieve erection. Sometimes autonomic neuropathy may present as gustatory sweating, in which there is profuse sweating on forehead, face, scalp and neck whenever a person ingests food. A person may feel very embarrassed by this condition and may start becoming socially withdrawn due to fear of embarrassment. These are few examples of how a neuropathy can lead to social exclusion.

Find Relief For Your Spinal Disc Injury

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Spinal discs, or intervertebral discs, are ring-like pads situated between the bones or vertebrae of our spinal column, protecting those bones from rubbing against each other. Each disc is made up of an outer, fibrous membrane called the annulus fibrosus, which houses the soft, inner core called the nucleus pulposus. When the nucleus pulposus protrudes due to a tear in the annulus fibrosus, it is termed as spinal disc herniation.

Though spinal disc injury can be a result of trauma or unknown causes, disc generation as a result of aging is the major cause of this medical condition. The wear and tear that these discs undergo due to the normal aging process renders the spine to become less flexible. Activities which alter the spine’s alignment, such as sitting and lifting, can increase the internal pressure within the discs and cause damage. In most occasions, a disc herniation occurs when lifting a heavy object while the body is bent at the waist.

Symptoms of spinal disc injury depend on the location and severity of the herniation. Some people may be asymptomatic or show only minor discomforts even with the presence of injury. The disc injury itself is seldom painful, however, when a large portion of the nucleus pulposus protrudes, it can irritate the surrounding nerve endings, which in turn causes an excruciating, debilitating pain. Other symptoms may include weakness, numbness and tingling sensation, paralysis, abnormal reflexes, and bladder and bowel incontinence, which is a severe manifestation of cauda equina syndrome, a condition when both sides of the body are affected during a spinal disc injury. Physical exams and imaging tests such as X-Ray, MRI, CT Scan, and Electromyelogram are conducted to support the diagnosis of spinal disc injury.

The pain from spinal disc injury can hinder performance of activities of daily living, and thus can affect an individual’s sense of function. To reduce the agony, the simplest pain relief measures include Non- Steroidal Anti- Inflammatory Drugs (NSAID’s), muscle relaxants, and oral corticosteroids. In some instances, epidural steroid injection is performed, a procedure wherein cortisone is injected into the spine at the site of injury. Supportive measures such as physical therapy and traction are also used to correct mechanical factors and decrease internal pressure within the discs.

In severe cases when neurological function is affected, especially with the presence of cauda equina syndrome, a surgical procedure called spinal decompression may be required. There are two types of spinal decompression, namely microdiscectomy and laminectomy. While microdiscectomy involves removal of a herniated nucleus pulposus by means of laser or a surgical instrument, laminectomy involves removal of a vertebral arch to relieve pressure on affected nerves. This is a last resort and should be done when non- invasive procedures have failed to relieve the pain.

To further minimize the occurrence of spinal disc injury, it is advised to observe proper body mechanics, especially when lifting heavy objects. Instead of bending at the waist, the person should bend the legs for support while keeping the back straight. Good posture should be maintained at all times and regular exercise should be performed to prolong one’s flexibility. In addition, weight control is also recommended to avoid too much pressure on the spine.

What Therapeutic Treatments Help Neuropathy

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Neuropathy is a general term denoting disturbances in the normal functioning of the peripheral nerves. The causes of neuropathy are varied and so is the treatment. Many a times, the neuropathy is almost irreversible and the treatment is mainly focused on preventing further progression of the nerve damage and other supportive measures to prevent any complications due to neuropathy.

Neuropathies due to nutritional deficiencies are mainly treated with the replenishment of the deficient nutrient. Neuropathies due to deficiency of vitamins like cobalamin, thiamine, pyridoxine, niacin are treated by giving the vitamin supplementation orally or by intramuscular injection of the vitamin if deficiency is due to defective absorption of vitamins from the diet. Treatment may or may not completely reverse the neuropathy and alleviate the symptoms and in many cases there is some permanent damage to nerves and persistent symptoms despite therapy. Recently neuropathy due to copper deficiency has also been discovered. It too is treated with oral copper salts or intravenous injection of copper salts. Again the response is variable and may take many months.

Entrapment neuropathies like carpal tunnel syndrome, radial neuropathy, meralgia paraesthetica, etc are treated based on specific cause and the nerve involved. Carpal tunnel syndrome treatment varies from medical approaches like NSAID (like Ibuprofen), local injection of steroids in wrist, and avoiding aggravating factors like typing in wrong positions, use of hand tools etc. If symptoms not alleviated by this approach, then surgery is also an option and is most often curative if no permanent damage to nerve has already occurred. Again, each neuropathy is unique and treatment is variable.

The treatment of neuropathies secondary to other diseases is the treatment of the primary disease causing the neuropathy. If neuropathy is due to Myxedema, caused by lack of thyroid hormone, then treatment is replacing the thyroid hormone. Treatment of Diabetic Neuropathy is mainly supportive. In diabetic neuropathies, some forms like Mononeuropathies are reversible but most are irreversible. Strict control of blood glucose levels to slow the further progression is of paramount importance. Other treatment is based on the symptoms, like pain is managed with NSAID and many other drugs. Similarly the neuropathy associated with Rheumatoid Arthritis often responds to the treatment of Rheumatoid arthritis (with immunomodulators).

Treatment of neuropathy due to food allergy is avoiding the allergen food item causing neuropathy. Neuropathy may also be due to toxic effect of certain drugs like Chloroquine, Phenytoin, anti-Cancer drugs and numerous others. Treatment in this case is mainly discontinuation of the drug or dose reduction. There may be some specific treatment in certain cases, like neuropathy due to isoniazid can usually be prevented by giving pyridoxine along with it.

Knee Pain and Chiropractic Care

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When most people think about the types of pain that can be alleviated with chiropractic care, they tend to think about the head and neck. Knee pain, however, is becoming a more common complaint due to chronically poor posture and the eventual strain spinal misalignment can have on the leg joints. Knee pain is showing up more and more in people who work sedentary jobs and spend hours a day hunched over their desks and people who work manual labor and do not lift heavy loads properly.

Knee pain is often found in conjunction with back pain and can be caused both by sudden injury like stomping on the joint too hard or by incorrect posture. So what to do? While pain relievers may offer temporary relief for upper back pain, they fail to address to root of the problem and often lose potency after repeated doses. Chiropractic care can offer long term solutions by targeting the problem areas and correcting the injury but also by preventing future harm.

The majority of knee pain is caused by muscular irritation and dysfunction in the joints. The reason the knee is prone to pain is that the nerves from the lower back and spine travel through the leg to the knee and the muscles and joints can become easily inflamed. A chiropractor can pinpoint which of these areas is causing the pain and proceed accordingly and safely. Your chiropractor will likely perform a physical exam and may use digital x-ray, MRI, or CAT scan to determine where your trauma is located and the areas being impacted.

Treatment for muscular irritation will often include a combination of massage therapy, stretching and strengthening exercises while the joint pain will require manual manipulation and stretching. A good chiropractor will also send you home with exercises and posture adjustments you can do on your own time in order to prevent further damage. A combination of chiropractic care and chiropractor supervised at home care could even keep you from expensive joint surgeries that would require a long healing time and set you on the road to long term wellness.

If you suffer from chronic knee pain, it is time to visit a reputable chiropractor and address the issue before it worsens. A trip to the chiropractor can save you money and free you from pain you may have been dealing with for years! There’s no reason to wait when relief is in sight.

Recurring Headaches and Migraines? Try Chiropractic!

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The chiropractic profession is one that treats the neuro-musculoskeletal  system. The spinal column houses one of the most important organs in your  body-the spinal cord. There are approximately 45 miles of nerves in the human  body and these bundles carry messages and signals to literally every part of  your body. Contrary to the majority of public perception, feeling pain is not  the only function of your nervous system. Your nervous system controls all of  your major organs, your five senses and brain function. Your chiropractor makes  adjustments to the spine to alleviate any pressure on the nerves that might be  restricting these signals. By having a trained chiropractor adjust the spinal  column, you can alleviate many common ailments like headaches, back pain, or  neck aches. Additionally, the chiropractic profession is a holistic one, meaning  that it believes in treating the whole body through rest, environment, diet and  exercise. By addressing the health and well being of each person, conditions can  be treated and possibly cured. This is all done through a natural, non surgical  approach. Of course in addition to chiropractic care, changes and modifications  are often times needed in a person’s environment, or lifestyle.

Chiropractic adjustments are often used to treat someone after a specific  injury like a car accident. Due to the physics of most car accidents, being that  a body in motion comes to an abrupt stop; most spinal columns will need  adjustment following the accident. Whiplash accounts for 30% of car accidents  and in more severe cases nerve damaging misalignment’s. While most certainly,  life threatening conditions should be addressed first. However, as soon as  possible it is often advised to seek out chiropractic care to do a check up and  determine the condition of your spine and whether there is nerve pressure or  interference. Chiropractic adjustments can mean the difference between a life in  pain or disability or even full recovery and range of motion. Often times a  spinal readjustment can do the trick, while in some cases ongoing treatment may  be necessary to eliminate pain.

Spinal adjustments can also be done to treat ongoing symptoms on a regular  basis much like a health maintenance program. Often times chronic headaches can  be treated and kept at bay with regular chiropractic adjustments. Headaches are  often times hard to diagnose much less permanently treat with western medicine.  The holistic approach that chiropractic adjustments offer has shown to be very  successful with chronic pain. While some people are able to manage chronic pain  through the western practice of prescription medication, chiropractic care can  often give the same results in a natural, drug free way – eliminating the  dependence on pills and medicines.

Dr. Adam Boylan is one of the Chiropractic Physicians at Integrative Physical  Medicine. He is licensed in the state of Florida and is an active member of the  Florida Chiropractic Association. His diverse training in multiple chiropractic  techniques and a strong passion to help improve the health and lives of others  makes Dr. Boylan a valuable asset to the staff and patients of Integrative  Physical Medicine Center.

Chiropractic Can Be an Alternative to Surgery for Patients With Pinched Nerves

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A pinched nerve is a medical term for a compressed nerve. These can cause a  lot of bodily destruction because when nerves get pressed, they can no longer  send messages throughout the body properly. This condition can occur at several  sites in your body. A herniated disk in your lower spine may put pressure on a  nerve root, causing pain that radiates down the back of your leg (sciatica).  Likewise, a pinched nerve in your wrist can lead to pain and numbness in your  hand and fingers (carpal tunnel syndrome).

The causes of pinched nerves are trauma, previous injury, and poor sitting  posture. In addition, obesity, sports activities, adventurous activities,  monotonous job stress and pregnancy may be the possible causes of nerve  interference in the lower portion of the spinal cord. With rest and other  conservative treatments, most people recover from a pinched nerve within a few  days or weeks. Sometimes, if the nerve pain endures for an extended period of  time, doctors will suggest surgery to relieve the pressure of the nerves that  are pinched, but chiropractic care can often help you avoid this route  altogether.

Patients diagnosed with pinched nerves are often also diagnosed with  fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is a musculoskeletal symptom that may be caused by  either an injury or trauma to the central nervous system or due to some viral  infection that affects the nervous system. Sleep is the difference in separating  this from chronic fatigue syndrome which causes sometimes severe sleep  abnormalities. The symptoms of fibromyalgia can vary among individuals but one  of the common symptoms is wide spread pain throughout the soft tissue of the  body which includes the muscles, ligaments and joints. The other symptoms which  are also seen are sleep disorders and fatigue, depression, numbness sensation at  various body locations, joint and muscle stiffness after waking up etc.

Patients suffering from nervous conditions such as pinched nerves and  fibromyalgia should talk to their doctor about the benefits of relief from  chiropractic treatment. Chiropractic is a natural and effective alternative to  prescription drugs and surgery. When choosing at chiropractor it is important to  look for one that is very experienced in the treatment of these sometimes  debilitating conditions. Modern chiropractic centers allow patients to receive  the finest quality care through the use of modern chiropractic equipment and  technology. Many clinics also integrate massage therapy, physical therapy  exercises and nutrition. These additional treatments, in conjunction with  adjustments, can provide swift recovery and an overall benefit to the patient’s  lifestyle.

Dr. Adam Boylan is one of the Chiropractic Physicians at MaxLife Health and  Wellness Center in Oviedo, FL. A lifelong love of science and medicine and an  exposure to Chiropractic at an early age led Dr. Boylan to realize that a  profession that was able to help people live a healthier lifestyle naturally was  the career path he was meant to follow. He is licensed in the state of Florida  and is an active member of the Florida Chiropractic Association. His diverse  training in multiple chiropractic techniques and a strong passion to help  improve the health and lives of others makes Dr. Boylan a valuable asset to the  staff and patients of MaxLife Health & Wellness Center.

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Chiropractic Treatments Prove Beneficial to Diabetic Patients

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Many researchers believe that chiropractic adjustments can help reduce the  seriousness or even cure many seemingly incurable diseases like diabetes. The  well respected Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research published a  study about the positive response in a patient with medically diagnosed adult  onset diabetes. The chiropractor corrected spinal misalignments or vertebral  subluxations which in turn corrected imbalances between the organs and the  nervous system. Exercise guidance and nutritional advice were also part of the  program. Remarkably, after just one month, the patient had normal blood glucose  levels that remained stable over time. According to his medical doctor, insulin  would not be required as long as this condition remained stable.

The outcome of chiropractic treatment on a diabetic patient can be quite  amazing. The scientific literature has acknowledged that interference with the  spinal nerves can be a major contributing factor of metabolic and endocrine  disorders such as diabetes. In fact, spinal injury has been named as a primary  cause of diabetes. When the nerves that supply the digestive organs are stressed  in the thoracic area, the organs do not operate properly in the body. For  example, the pancreas normally produces insulin to control blood sugar, but if  the insulin is rendered ineffective, diabetes can result. The problem is usually  found in the 5th to 10th thoracic vertebrae which are what the chiropractor  would adjust during treatment. A properly working nervous system is essential to  the well-being and proper functioning of the body.

Another case study was recently published in the Journal of Pediatric,  Maternal, & Family Health. This study dealt with a four year old girl  suffering from Insulin-Dependent Type I Diabetes. She was treated for vertebral  subluxations in the thoracic and cervical regions of the spine. After 24  chiropractic visits over two months, the patient demonstrated a dramatic  decrease in her A1C levels from 7.2 percent to 6.5 percent and the amount of  insulin used on a daily basis went from 15 units to 11 units. Up to this point  the scientific literature has stated that successful lowering of A1C levels  below 7.0 percent was nonexistent. By optimizing neural connections in the body  through chiropractic care, the systems of the body can work together for better  health. Your nervous system will function better which lets the digestive and  endocrine systems work better so that your body can fight disease more  effectively. We have seen the positive impact that adjustments can have on  patient suffering from other debilitating conditions such as mental illness,  high blood pressure, migraines and many more at Integrative Physical Medicine  and look forward to treating many more.

Dr. Adam Boylan is one of the Chiropractic Physicians at Integrative Physical  Medicine. He is licensed in the state of Florida and is an active member of the  Florida Chiropractic Association. His diverse training in multiple chiropractic  techniques and a strong passion to help improve the health and lives of others  makes Dr. Boylan a valuable asset to the staff and patients of Integrative  Physical Medicine Center.

What a Common Auto Accident Injury Looks Like

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Most people understand the need for driving. It is a common and accepted form  of transportation in most metro areas. However, there are inherent dangers  involved in driving an automobile. One such danger is the possibility of an auto  accident. These accidents can be very traumatic and dangerous. You can destroy  your vehicle, destroy property or worse, you could sustain an auto accident  injury.

There are literally thousand of different injuries a person can sustain in an  auto accident, far too many to list here. However, one very common injury is  known as whiplash. The term whiplash is actually a non medical term used to  define an injury to the soft tissues — the muscles, ligaments or tendons of the  neck. While this sort of injury can result from falls or sports related  activities, it is very common in auto accidents, especially those where a car is  unexpectedly struck from behind.

Another very common injury in auto accidents is lower on the back instead of  higher up on the back. This sort of injury, however, is very commonly manifested  sometime after a car accident, usually in the range of a few days. This sort of  injury can be a little more tricky, mainly because there can be pain associated  with the back after an accident that simply won’t show up on an x-ray or any  other imaging method. This can make it very difficult for traditional medicine  to treat these conditions. This is why so many people look to professionals like  chiropractors for finding relief from these pain conditions.

Untreated, back and neck injuries can lead to more serious problems. Many  people who have left their injuries untreated find that later on in life they  are unable to perform the simple tasks that most people take for granted. They  have constant pain and, what’s worse is because they didn’t seek treatment early  on, they often have to have a series of surgeries as treatment.

An auto accident can be a very difficult thing to have to experience and deal  with. There is a financial toll, an emotional toll and in many cases a physical  toll that it can take on a person. If you have been in an accident and are  experiencing any physical discomfort in your neck or back, which is common, you  should seek medical attention immediately. Whether it is a regular doctor or a chiropractor  is your decision, but don’t allow your condition to go untreated.

Dr. Adam Boylan is one of the Chiropractic Physicians at MaxLife Health and  Wellness Center in Oviedo, FL. A lifelong love of science and medicine and an  exposure to Chiropractic at an early age led Dr. Boylan to realize that a  profession that was able to help people live a healthier lifestyle naturally was  the career path he was meant to follow. He is an active member of the Florida  Chiropractic Association. His diverse training in multiple chiropractic  techniques and a strong passion to help improve the health and lives of others  makes Dr. Boylan a valuable asset to the staff and patients of MaxLife Health & Wellness Center.