Archive for the ‘Back Pain’ Category

Your Santa Barbara Chiropractor Can Help Ease Your Age-Related Back Pain

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

Santa Barbara Chiropractor

No doubt you’ve heard the saying, When you consider the alternative, getting old isn’t so bad.” But, if the aging process is creating pain in your body, you are painfully aware that aging is no joke! As a Santa Barbara chiropractor, I give care to many patients suffering from age-related challenges that likely would not have taken place if the primary cause had been addressed earlier in life, especially when it relates to musculoskeletal breakdowns. Pain in the back, neck, hips, knees, and even the feet are commonly the result of undue stresses due to poor posture, improper gait, and repetitive overuse. If we only knew then how our aging body would feel now, eh? However, as they say, “hindsight is 20-20.”

Back pain is number one on the list as the most prevalent musculoskeletal condition to evolve as we age. Age-related back pain is most often produced by spine osteoarthritis, or Spondylosis, a degenerative disorder.

Spinal osteoarthritis is caused by advanced deterioration and weight-bearing pressure on the spine that, over time, undermines discs, joints, and surrounding ligaments. The specific area(s) and degree of the degenerative process of spondylosis is individual, varying from person to person. It is likely to affect the cervical (neck), thoracic (mid-back), or lumbar (low back) areas of the spine. Spondylosis symptoms are individual as well, depending on the severity of degeneration, and can extend from low-amplitude pain and numbness to severe sensory loss and muscular atrophy.

Calcium is deposited in the tissues around the vertebrae due to repetitive stresses that negatively affect the cartilage surrounding the joints Adjacent nerves, blood vessels, and soft tissue can be constricted by these calcific deposits, also called bone spurs. This type of compression is at the root of Spondylosis.

Whether or not you are suffering from spondylosis, regular chiropractic care and overall chiropractic management can significantly delay age-related degeneration of your spine. No, “you can’t un-ring a bell” or “turn back the hands of time,” but it’s never too late to give your spine the attention it deserves. Chiropractors are experts when it comes to treatment of the spine. See your chiropractor in Santa Barbara today, for the health of your spine.

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Survey: Chiropractic Patients Report High Rate of Satisfaction

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

I just read about a recent Consumer Reports survey of its readers that I, as your chiropractor, found “highly satisfying.” The survey, which included 14,000 Consumer Reports subscribers, found that “hands-on” therapies, led by chiropractic care, were the top-rated treatments for people suffering from back pain. In fact, chiropractors were given the highest “satisfaction with care” ratings, well above those given to medical doctors who administered various forms of care to back pain sufferers

The survey, reported in the publication’s May 2009 issue, found that more than half of the respondents had “pain (that) severely limited their daily routine for a week or longer, and 88 percent said it recurred throughout the year.” The report stated that while many go to a primary care physician first for diagnosis and treatment, the majority were disappointed with the results.

On the other hand, 59 percent reported that they were “highly satisfied” with the care they received from chiropractors. The next highest rated practitioners were physical therapists (55 percent) and acupuncturists (53 percent), followed by “specialized” physicians (44 percent) and primary care physicians (34 percent).

Respondents were also asked to rate the types of treatments they received. Again, chiropractic/spinal manipulation got top honors, with 58 percent rating it as “helping a lot.” Spinal injections were next highest, rated at 51 percent, followed by massage (48 percent) and physical therapy (46 percent). Other highly rated treatments included prescription medications (45 percent), yoga (44 percent), movement therapy and acupuncture (both 41 percent).

According to a Dynamic Chiropractic article on that report, “Chiropractic ranked first out of 11 treatments, including massage, acupuncture, and exercise, in its ability to treat back pain. More readers said that chiropractic ‘helped me feel much better’ than any of the other therapies.” Prescription drugs and over-the-counter drugs ranked eighth and 10th, respectively.

So, if you’ve been “highly satisfied” with your chiropractic care, you’re not alone! In fact, more and more people are turning to chiropractic treatment not only for back pain relief, but for a wide variety of painful conditions from sports and repetitive stress injuries to arthritis.

A public version of the report can be found on the Consumer Reports Web site

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Minor Car Accidents Can Make a Big Impact on Your Health

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

If you drive a big car and you’re in an accident if your car looks “uninjured,” it’s easy to presume that you are uninjured, too. After all, isn’t that the purpose of driving a big vehicle? It’s for security, right? Then you might be surprised to learn that research has revealed that occupants of vehicles, both large and compact, can be hurt considerably more than might be predicted from a minor auto accident. In fact, as far as your body goes, there’s truly no such thing as a “minor fender bender.”

Let’s face it. There are going to be consequences when your body is compelled to stop abruptly and without warning. You might be handed a clean bill of health by an emergency room attendant if you haven’t sustained any broken bones, and you may be given a prescription for medication to reduce the muscle spasms that you are surely experiencing due to the structural changes in your neck or lower back that you experienced from the impact. But, unless you’re actually treated for the injuries you’ve received, your condition can go from bad to far worse. In fact, many people encounter problems years after an auto accident due to the fact that they didn’t get the help they needed in the first place.

Your Ventura Chiropractor truly understands what your body undergoes during an auto accident. Chiropractic care includes treatment for soft tissue injuries and spinal bio-mechanics dysfunction. And

If you’ve been in a minor auto accident, you no doubt will need more repair than your car. Neck and back traumas are not only painful in the places in which they take place, but they can also generate pain, tingling, and numbness in your arms and hands and create headaches days, weeks, even months after an accident occurs.

You can get back on the road to feeling good again with drug-free, natural chiropractic care.  It will help to put the trauma of your accident where it belongs – in the past. Moreover, because your chiropractor has experience working with insurance companies and lawyers, not only will you experience less physical stress, but less emotional stress, too!

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Low Back Pain is Nothing to Sneeze At!

Monday, May 11th, 2009

You’re not alone if you’re feeling low back pain. Low back pain afflicts many people, a surprising 80% in fact, making it second only to the common cold in its pervasiveness. However, unlike the common cold, waiting for your back pain to “run its course,” and taking prescription or over-the-counter remedies while you wait, is not the answer. The majority of back pain won’t go away by itself. Frequently, if your pain goes away, it is often due to the fact that your body has compensated for the problem, thus producing new conditions. Low back pain is nothing to sneeze at! You need to seek the advice of a back pain expert, like your chiropractor, if you’d like to defeat your back pain permanently!

Oftentimes back pain is a mystery to most people who suffer from it, and chiropractors are skilled in solving that mystery. Sufferers want to know why it is that they have not had any trauma, accidents, or major injuries prior to the onset of their condition? The answer is that the cumulative effects of unsuitable sitting posture, poor work habits, improper lifting, lack of regular exercise, and other unhealthy lifestyle-related factors create most back pain. These factors eventually add up and create stresses and imbalances on the spine creating subluxations that can become serious back problems. The process is similar to the front end of your car being out of alignment. When you persist in driving anyway, there is disproportionate wear and tear on your tires. If you choose not to get the problem fixed, the situation could worsen until a tire “blows.” When the spine is misaligned, the health of the spine is put at risk. It’s not only a problem waiting to happen, so to speak, it’s a problem waiting to get worse. And then, something as simple as bending over to pick up a piece of paper can be the “final factor” that produces back injury. The surrounding back muscles go into spasm when thistakes place to protect the stressed or injured tissues of the back.

When it comes to dysfunctions of the spine, chiropractors have more education, training, and experience than medical doctors. They provide highly qualified diagnosis and experienced treatment for all muscular-skeletal dysfunctions. In addition to offering welcomed relief to individuals suffering from back pain, but they are aware of what will help you to avoid further back pain. As an adjunct to effectual adjustments and other productive chiropractic therapies, your chiropractor will provide you with a personal exercise plan and recommend additional healthy lifestyle changes that will keep you well-adjusted and pain-free in the future.

 

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