How Your Chiropractor Can Help with Knee Pain
Wondering what you can do about your knee pain? Whether your symptoms are recent or you're suffering from chronic pain, all-natural chiropractic care can relieve your symptoms and improve your mobility.
Why Visiting the Chiropractor Is a Must if You Have Knee Pain
So many things you do depend on strong, healthy knees. Climbing stairs, bending to pick up a fallen fork, or even sliding behind the driver's seat of your car become painful and difficult when your knees are sore and stiff.
Although knee pain occurs for many reasons, arthritis is a common cause. Knee osteoarthritis cases have doubled since the middle of the last century, according to a 2017 research article in PNAS. The article's authors believe that the increase in knee arthritis could be happening because people today live longer and weigh more.
Other causes of knee pain include:
Knee pain isn't always due to an injury or arthritis. A subluxation (misalignment of the vertebrae in your spine) could be the reason why your knee hurts. Subluxations in your back can lead to misalignments of the bones and joints in your hip and legs. You might have a subluxation if you have both back and knee pain, or you notice tight hamstring muscles or weak muscles in your hips or thighs. Back pain might also cause you to change the way you walk, which could affect your knees and the muscles that support them.
Your chiropractor offers a variety treatments that may relieve your pain, including:
Are you tired of living with knee pain? A visit to the chiropractor could improve your comfort. Give our office a call to schedule your appointment with the chiropractor.
Sources:
PNAS: Knee osteoarthritis has doubled in prevalence since the mid-20th century, 7/12/2017
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1703856114
PLoS One: Massage Therapy for Osteoarthritis of the Knee: a Randomized Dose-Finding Trial, 2/8/2018
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22347369/
Arthritis Foundation: Chiropractic Care for Arthritis
Medical News Today: What Causes and Links Lower Back and Knee Pain?, 3/31/2023
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/lower-back-and-knee-pain
Arthritis Foundation: Change the Way You Walk to Ease Knee Pain with Osteoarthritis, 1/4/2017
http://blog.arthritis.org/osteoarthritis/knee-pain-oa-walking/
Your Chiropractor Can Help You Recover from Sports Injuries
Do the days seem to drag on when an injury prevents you from participating in your favorite sport or activity? If you don't want to spend a minute more than necessary on the sidelines, consider paying a visit to your chiropractor. In addition to easing pain and stiffness, chiropractic treatments can reduce your recovery time.
The Benefits of Chiropractic Care for Sports Injuries
When you make chiropractic part of your recovery, you'll enjoy these advantages:
Regular Chiropractic Care Helps You Reduce Your Risk of Sports Injuries
Are you worried about reinjury after you recover from your initial injury? Chiropractic treatment not only treats your current injuries, but also helps you avoid new ones. When your spine is properly aligned and your tissues are loose and flexible, you're less likely to become injured.
Good spinal alignment is essential for body symmetry. Subluxations affect your body's balance and may cause weakness in opposing muscles. If this happens, you're more likely to lose your balance and hurt yourself when you're defending the goal or trying to shag a fly ball. Subluxations may also increase your risk of injury by changing your gait, the way you walk and run. Fortunately, periodic spinal manipulation treatment will improve your symmetry and balance.
It's not unusual to feel a little sluggish after you've been sidelined for a few weeks or months. Chiropractic just may help you get up to speed more quickly. According to a study published in Trials Journal in 2019, chiropractic treatment improves reaction time. Military personnel who participated in one chiropractic manipulative therapy session completed a whole-body motor task faster than other soldiers who received no treatments.
Whether you recently experienced a sports injury or want to avoid getting hurt, chiropractic is an excellent addition to your sports regimen. Ready to get started? Contact our office to schedule your appointment with the chiropractor.
Sources:
Chiropractic & Manual Therapies: Effects of Spinal Manipulative Therapy on Inflammatory Mediators in Patients with Non-Specific Low Back Pain: a Non-Randomized Controlled Clinic Trial, 1/8/2021
https://chiromt.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12998-020-00357-y
Trials Journal: Effect of Chiropractic Manipulative Therapy on Reaction Time in Special Operations Forces Military Personnel: A Randomized Controlled Study, 1/3/2019
https://trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13063-018-3133-2
National University of Health Sciences: Everything You Need to Know About Chiropractic Medicine for Athletes, 6/12/2020
https://blog.nuhs.edu/the-future-of-integrative-health/chiropractic-medicine-for-athletes
Is Your Spine Ready for Summer?
You may be ready to welcome summer, but is your back? Taking a few precautions now, such as visiting your chiropractor, will help you ensure you're ready to experience all the fun the season offers.
Is Your Spine Properly Aligned? If Not, You May Be at Risk for Back Pain
Summer is the perfect time to try a new hobby or sport, transform your yard into a gardener's paradise, or brush up on your tennis skills. Unfortunately, the summer activities you enjoy can spell trouble for your back, particularly if you haven't been very active during the winter.
Although injuries rise during the entire summer, hospitals see a sharp increase in emergency room visits on July 4 and 5, according to the Pew Research Center. Some of the visits are due to firework injuries, but sports- and exercise-related injuries and falls also bring people to the emergency room.
It's impossible to completely prevent injuries, but you can reduce your risk of back pain if your spine is properly aligned. Inactivity, poor posture, falls, sports injuries, and even stress can cause subluxations in your spine. Subluxations occur when one or more vertebrae become misaligned. The vertebrae are the small hollow bones that protect your spinal cord and allow you to stand upright and bend, twist, and move easily.
Back pain and stiffness are common symptoms of subluxations, but they're not the only problems a misaligned vertebra can cause. Subluxations can:
Unfortunately, it's easier to hurt your back when you're weeding the flower bed or playing a pickup game of softball at a family picnic if you have a subluxation. If your spine isn't properly aligned, you may be more likely to strain the muscles in your back, sprain the ligaments that hold the bones in a joint together, or injure a spinal disc.
A disc herniation could also spell trouble for your spine. Spinal discs absorb shock and give the spine its flexibility. If these discs begin to bulge, or they rupture and the gel inside the disc oozes out, you may experience pain, weakness, numbness, and tingling in your back, legs, or arms. Discs begin to deteriorate due to age-related wear and tear or injuries. Fortunately, chiropractic treatment can relieve painful pressure on your spinal discs.
How to Prepare Your Back for Summer Activities
Protect your back by following these tips:
Don't let back pain ruin your summer. Call the chiropractor today to schedule your visit.
Sources:
Pew Research Center: Hospital Emergency Rooms See Boom in Patients Around the Fourth of July, 7/3/2019
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/03/hospital-emergency-room-visits-fourth-of-july/
JAMA Network Open: Innovating to Improve Care for Low Back Pain in the Military, 5/18/2018
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2680415
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health: Spinal Manipulation: What You Need To Know, 9/2022
https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/spinal-manipulation-what-you-need-to-know
MedlinePlus: Chiropractic Care for Back Pain, 7/8/2021
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000416.htm
Chiropractic Can Help You Stay Fit As You Age
It's no secret that an active lifestyle can help you stay healthier as you get older. In fact, vigorous exercise performed just 15 - 20 minutes per week decreased the risk of death by 16 - 40% in a research study published in the European Heart Journal. Luckily, chiropractic will help you keep your muscles and joints limber and ready for your favorite type of exercise.
Worried About Falls? Chiropractic Helps You Keep Your Balance
Good balance is important whether you're running, playing pickleball, or participating in a dance class. Even a walk around the neighborhood can become dangerous if you step on a rock and can't keep your balance.
As you get older, balance can be affected by weaker muscles and declining bone strength. Subluxations, misalignments in the vertebrae that make up your spine, can also cause balance problems. A subluxation can affect the mobility of your joints and increase tension in your muscles, ligaments, and tendons. If you have any of these issues, a slight wobble or misstep could turn into a nasty fall.
Many people have subluxations, but don't realize it. In fact, poor posture is a common cause of misalignments. It's easy to forget about posture basics whether you're walking, driving, or hurrying to finish a project at work. Over time, posture issues can pull your vertebrae out of alignment. Headaches, stiffness, tenderness, sore muscles and joints, or difficulty moving your joints easily may mean you have a subluxation.
Spinal manipulation, a key chiropractic treatment, corrects subluxation and may also improve your balance and the stability of your joints. During spinal manipulation, quick thrusts performed with the hands or an activator realign your vertebrae. Correcting subluxation eases pain, loosens muscles and tissues, and relieves pressure on nerves, in addition to improving your body's natural balance.
Concerned About Exercise Injuries? Chiropractic Can Lower Your Risk
Although exercise is important throughout your life, it comes with certain challenges as you get older. Tendons, ligaments, and tissues stiffen with age, increasing your risk of conditions ranging from sprains to knee injuries to Achilles tendon tears.
If your joints and tissues are tight, you're more likely to experience a workout-related injury. Spinal manipulation, massage, soft tissue mobilization, flexion-distraction, and other chiropractic treatments keep your tissues flexible and lower your risk of strains, sprains, and other injuries.
Improving Your Range of Motion with Chiropractic Offers Fitness Benefits
Subluxations and tight tissues prevent your joints from moving freely. As a result, your tennis or golf swing may suffer, or you may notice it's harder to perform yoga poses or extend your arms fully when swimming. Regular visits to the chiropractor help you avoid range of motion problems that can affect your performance and lead to injuries.
Chiropractic Eases Pain Before and After Exercise
When you're in pain, exercising is probably the last thing you want to do. Unfortunately, pain and stiffness are more likely to occur with exercise as you get older.
Chiropractic treatments relieve joint, muscle and tissue pain, making exercise more enjoyable. Visiting your chiropractor after a marathon, golf tournament, or busy weekend ensures that subluxations are corrected before they can cause muscle or joint pain.
In addition to realigning your spine and loosening tight tissues, chiropractic treatments trigger the release of endorphins and serotonin. These hormones naturally decrease pain and also enhance relaxation and your sense of well-being.
Are you ready to add chiropractic care to your exercise routine? Contact our office to schedule your appointment.
Sources:
Oxford Academic: European Heart Journal: Vigorous Physical Activity, Incident Heart Disease, and Cancer: How Little Is Enough, 12/7/2022
Chiropractic & Manual Therapies: The Role of Chiropractic Care in Older Adults, 2/21/12
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3306193/
WebMD: Chiropractic Care for Joint Problems: What to Know, 10/1/20
https://www.webmd.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/chiropractic-care-for-joint-problems
Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics: Effectiveness of Chiropractic Care to Improve Sensorimotor Function Associated With Falls Risk in Older People: A Randomized Controlled Trial, 5/16
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27050038/
https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/article/43/46/4801/6771381?login=false
Is Your Back Ready for Spring? Visit a Chiropractor
Humans may not hibernate, but we certainly become less active during the winter. Now that spring is here, you probably have plenty of things you'd like to do. Unfortunately, it's not so easy to jump back into sports or start your weekly yardwork routine if your back is stiff and sore. A visit to the chiropractor can relieve stiffness and pain and help you accomplish everything on your spring to-do list.
Got an Aching Back?
About 80% of Americans experience backaches at some point in their lives, according to MedlinePlus. That's not surprising, since your back helps supports the weight of your body, makes it possible to bend and turn, and absorbs shock when you walk, run, and jump.
If you've been a couch potato during the winter, or your job involves plenty of sitting, you may notice that your back feels a little stiff and achy. Reaching for a glass on a high shelf may send pain shooting through your back muscles, or you may notice that it's harder to extend your arm fully. Knots or muscle spasms only make the problem worse.
Poor posture, falls (even minor ones), stress, or tight muscles could lead to subluxations. Subluxations occur when the vertebrae that make up your spine move out of their normal position. If this happens, the misaligned vertebrae may press on nerves causing pain and inflammation. Subluxations don't just affect the vertebrae but may also cause nearby tissues to tighten painfully. Increased nerve pressure from tight tissues could also be a factor in your back pain.
You might only make your back pain worse if you become more active without addressing the source of your pain. Unfortunately, tight muscles tend to become sprained or strained more easily. Both subluxations and tight tissues can affect your balance, making it more likely that you'll fall when you're reaching to trim the hedges or return the ball during a game of tennis.
Luckily, your chiropractor can treat the source of your pain, relieve aches, and improve your flexibility and mobility.
6 Chiropractic Treatments That Can Relieve Your Back Pain
During your visit to the chiropractor, you'll receive a thorough examination, which may involve a few X-rays of your back or other tests. Based on these results, your doctor will create a treatment plan designed to ease your back pain and keep it from returning. One or more of these therapies may be included in your treatment plan:
Your chiropractor may also recommend a few exercises that will help you maintain the results of your treatments in between visits.
Need a little help getting your back in shape this spring? Give our office a call to make an appointment with the chiropractor.
Sources:
MedlinePlus: Back Pain, 10/21/2016
https://medlineplus.gov/backpain.html
SPINE-Health: Chiropractic Treatment for Lower Back Pain
https://www.spine-health.com/treatment/chiropractic/chiropractic-treatments-lower-back-pain
American College of Physicians: American College of Physicians Issues Guideline for Treating Non-Radicular Low Back Pain, 2/14/2017
https://www.spine-health.com/treatment/chiropractic/chiropractic-treatments-lower-back-pain
How Chiropractic Helps Patients With Scoliosis
Managing scoliosis can be challenging whether you're an adult or a teenager. Adding chiropractic to your treatment regimen offers a natural way to relieve pain and improve comfort.
Are You Struggling With Any Of These Scoliosis Symptoms?
Normally, the vertebrae that make up your spine form a straight line down your back when viewed from behind. When you have scoliosis, your spine may look like an "S" or "C" instead. The abnormal curvatures may strain or irritate your muscles, bones, spinal discs, tendons, ligaments, and nerves, causing a variety of symptoms, including:
Scoliosis can also affect the way clothing fits or looks if one shoulder or hip becomes higher than the other.
Improving Your Condition With Chiropractic
Chiropractic treatment helps reduce the strain on your spine and tissues and decreases pain. Spinal adjustments, a treatment chiropractors use to correct misaligned vertebrae, improve joint mobility and ease tension on muscles, tendons, ligaments, and nerves. Quick thrusts with the hands or a handheld activator move vertebrae back into the proper alignment during a spinal manipulation treatment.
Spinal adjustments can also make breathing a little easier if scoliosis affects the thoracic vertebrae in your mid to upper back. When these vertebrae are correctly aligned, your lungs may have more room to expand.
If you have a rod implanted in your spine, you can still take advantage of the benefits of spinal manipulation. If that's the case, your chiropractor may choose to use an activator rather than hands-on thrusts to avoid jarring your spine.
Other treatments chiropractors use to help people manage their scoliosis include:
Chiropractic treatments may even help reduce the curvature of the spine, as evidenced by a case series in the Open Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation. The case series explored the results of chiropractic treatment for a mother and her two teenage daughters over the course of nine years. Although the mother and the daughters could have qualified for scoliosis surgery, they elected to try chiropractic treatment instead.
After nine years of treatment, all experienced a decrease in their Cobb angles by at least six degrees. (The Cobb angle is used to measure the degree of curvature in the spine.) They also had less pain and were better able to carry out their usual activities. Although more research is needed into the effects of chiropractic on scoliosis, the treatment might offer some improvement for mild to moderate cases of scoliosis.
Need help dealing with scoliosis symptoms? Call our office to schedule your appointment.
Sources:
Scientific Research: Open Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation: Chiropractic Rehabilitation of a Scoliosis Family: Results from a 9-Year Follow-Up, 2/2017
https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=73851
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases: Scoliosis in Children and Teens
https://www.niams.nih.gov/health-topics/scoliosis
Spine Universe: Scoliosis Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment, Oct 31, 2022
https://www.spineuniverse.com/conditions/scoliosis
Spine Universe: Chiropractic Treatments, 3/15/2019
https://www.spineuniverse.com/treatments/chiropractic/chiropractic-therapies
Chiropractors and Osteopaths: The Key Difference Between Them
It's not always easy to decide which healthcare professional to see when you're in pain. Although both chiropractors and osteopaths treat muscle and joint pain, treatment approaches do differ.
Education
Osteopaths attend a four-year school of osteopathic medicine after receiving an undergraduate degree. Classes focus on the musculoskeletal system in addition to traditional medical school classes. Upon graduation, students are awarded the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degree. Their hands-on education continues during multi-year residencies and fellowships following graduation. Residencies allow the doctors to specialize in a particular area of medicine, such as family practice, internal medicine, surgery or obstetrics/gynecology.
Chiropractors may attend chiropractic school after receiving an undergraduate degree or after completing 90 credit hours or three years of undergraduate studies. The Association of Chiropractic Colleges notes that 24 of those hours must be earned in physical or life sciences. Completing chiropractic school takes three to four years, depending on the school. Students take classes in anatomy, physiology and chemistry, in addition to learning how to perform chiropractic treatments. During the final year of the program, students usually work exclusively with patients. New chiropractors receive the Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) degree when they graduate.
Treatment Scope
Osteopaths believe that all systems of the body are connected. The osteopathic manipulative treatments (OMT) DOs learn during medical school relieve muscle and joint pain and treat asthma, migraines, menstrual problems, fibromyalgia, digestive disorders and other conditions.
DOs also provide the same type of treatment options as medical doctors. Depending on their specialty, osteopaths can treat the flu, determine the cause of your heartburn, deliver your baby, or remove your appendix. They use holistic diagnostic methods that consider the whole person rather than just a specific system or body part.
Chiropractors focus on issues that affect the bones, muscles and joints and frequently treat back and neck pain. Although chiropractors can't prescribe medications or perform surgery, they also focus on holistic medicine. In fact, some common symptoms, such as indigestion or frequent illnesses, could actually be related to subluxation (misalignments) of the spine. Realigning the vertebrae with spinal manipulation, a common chiropractic treatment, not only eases pain, but can help improve health by reducing pressure on the nerves that control organs and systems.
Procedures
OMT and chiropractic treatments both involve hands-on treatments, although the techniques used for these therapies differ. Among the treatments an osteopath may use are:
Both chiropractors and osteopaths use massage to relax tight muscles and high velocity/low amplitude techniques to realign vertebrae. Called "spinal manipulation," by chiropractors, the treatment involves quick, hands-on thrusts that move the vertebrae back into place.
Chiropractors also offer several other treatments, including:
Treatment Availability
Although osteopaths can provide OMT, many of them don't use the treatment on a regular basis, according to a 2018 survey of osteopathic physicians conducted by the American Osteopathic Association. Seventy-seven percent of the doctors who responded said they used the techniques on fewer than 5% of patients. Fortunately, hands-on treatments are readily available at chiropractic offices.
Bothered by joint pain, stiffness, muscle sprains and strains, or frequent headaches? Chiropractic treatment relieves these painful conditions naturally. Call us to schedule an appointment with the chiropractor.
Sources:
American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine: About Osteopathic Medicine
https://www.aacom.org/become-a-doctor/about-osteopathic-medicine
WebMD: DOs, Chiropractors, and MDs: How They’re Different, 5/4/2022
https://www.webmd.com/pain-management/osteopathic-versus-md-chiropractor
SPINE-Health: Chiropractic and Osteopathic
https://www.spine-health.com/treatment/chiropractic/chiropractic-and-osteopathic
Journal of Osteopathic Medicine: Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) Use Among Osteopathic Physicians in the United States, 1/1/2021
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33512391/
How Active Are You during the Winter?
Humans may not hibernate, but most certainly become much less active as the temperature drops. Unfortunately, even a slight change in your activity level can increase your risk of a variety of health issues, including sore, stiff muscles and joints. Although you may not be able to enjoy your favorite warm-weather activities during the winter, staying active will help you stay healthier and prevent aches and pains.
Why Activity Is So Important
Moving is good for every part of your body, from your legs to your heart and lungs. Any type of movement, whether it's completing a vigorous workout or walking your dog, improves blood circulation. Blood circulates oxygen throughout your body and provides important nutrients to muscles, tissues, and organs. Good circulation keeps your organs functioning optimally, speeds wound healing, and is essential for brain and heart health. Are your feet or hands always cold during the winter months? Even a brief exercise session will warm up those chilly fingers and toes.
Other benefits of moving include:
What's Keeping You from Staying Active?
Is lack of motivation the reason you rarely exercise during the winter? Exercise doesn't have to be a grueling chore. Any type of movement, whether it's dancing in your kitchen, bowling, cleaning your closet, or trying a few yoga moves, will help you stay healthier.
It's much more difficult to skip your daily walk or workout session when you exercise with someone else. After all, you won't want to disappoint your workout partner. Thanks to Zoom and other video calling software, you can work out together even if you live in different parts of the country.
If pain or stiffness makes staying active difficult, your chiropractor can help. Chiropractic treatments ease pain, keep your spine properly aligned, and loosen tight muscles and joints, making it much easier to exercise. Your chiropractor can also show you exercises that will help keep your muscles and joints loose, limber, and pain-free.
Could a visit to the chiropractor help you move more comfortably? Give us a call to schedule your appointment.
Sources:
National Institute of Environmental Sciences: Inflammation
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/conditions/inflammation/index.cfm
National Osteoporosis Foundation: Osteoporosis Fast Facts
https://www.bonehealthandosteoporosis.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Osteoporosis-Fast-Facts.pdf
Medline Plus: Health Risks of an Inactive Lifestyle
https://medlineplus.gov/healthrisksofaninactivelifestyle.html
Ortho Info: Exercise and Bone Health, 7/2020
https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/staying-healthy/exercise-and-bone-health/
Improving Your Body's Natural Energy Level with Chiropractic
Everything in life seems much harder when you're constantly tired and rundown. Luckily, chiropractic treatment can boost your energy level, in addition to providing benefits for your joints and muscles,
How Joint and Muscle Problems Affect Energy and Health
Constant fatigue is a sign that something isn't quite right with your body. Fatigue can be due to illness and stress, but may also occur when your body becomes imbalanced.
Your organs, tissues, muscles, and joints work best when your body is properly aligned. Unfortunately, it only takes a slightly misaligned vertebra or a tight muscle or tendon to cause imbalances that can be subtle or very noticeable. For example, a spinal misalignment, or subluxation, could make one of your legs shorter than the other or one shoulder higher than the other.
Muscles and tissues that become too tight may pull on joints and vertebrae or press on nerves. Although nerve pressure may cause pain, that's not always the case. You could suffer from a slight nerve impingement without being aware of the problem.
In addition to causing pain, pressure on nerves may interfere with the normal functioning of organs and your immune system. Do you recall feeling more tired than usual when you were hurt or sick? Repairing and healing your body takes a lot of energy, which can leave you feeling tired and worn out.
Unfortunately, if you're sick or in pain, it may be difficult to get the sleep you desperately need to rebuild your energy reserves. Fatigue could even worsen your symptoms or even lengthen healing time.
Chronic pain, a symptom that affects more than 20% of Americans, according to the 2019 National Health Interview Survey, can be a factor in fatigue. People with chronic musculoskeletal (muscle, joint, ligament, tendon) pain tend to experience pain first before becoming fatigued, according to a study published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorder in 2022. Study authors note that prioritizing early treatment of musculoskeletal pain might reduce fatigue and make it easier for patients to participate in rehab activities and treatments.
If you don't do anything to correct imbalances, fatigue may not be the only problem you'll experience. In some cases, you may increase your risk of developing a variety of health problems, including:
Improving Energy with Chiropractic
Although medication can be very effective in treating pain, symptoms often return soon after you stop taking the drug. Chiropractic treatments focus on the cause of your pain and fatigue, in addition to easing pain.
Chiropractors use several approaches to treat the underlying causes of fatigue, including spinal manipulation. Also referred to as "adjustments," spinal manipulation realigns vertebrae, the small bones in your back that protect your spinal cord. During an adjustment, your chiropractor uses quick thrusts to bring the vertebrae back into alignment.
In addition to relieving pain, spinal manipulation treatment reduces pressure on nerves, which may decrease fatigue and improve organ and immune system function. The treatment may also ease muscle tension and decrease inflammation, a condition that can play a role in a range of health problems, including chronic fatigue, asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure and depression.
Treatments like massage and soft tissue mobilization loosen tight muscles and tissues. Whether the tissues tightened due to a subluxation, poor posture, injury or stress, muscle tension can cause pain, headaches and fatigue. These therapies relieve pain and also increase the production of endorphins, hormones that treat pain naturally and also help you feel relaxed.
Have you been feeling lethargic lately? Recharging your energy level could be as simple as paying a visit to the chiropractor. Contact us to schedule a convenient appointment.
Sources:
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders: The Temporal Relationship Between Pain and Fatigue in Individuals Receiving Treatment for Chronic Pain, 3/7/2022
https://bmcmusculoskeletdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12891-022-05162-7
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Chronic Pain and High-Impact Chronic Pain Among U.S. Adults, 2019, 11/2020
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db390.htm
National Safety Council: Who is at Risk for Fatigue?
https://www.nsc.org/workplace/safety-topics/fatigue/fatigue-whos-at-risk
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences: Inflammation, 4/8/2021
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/conditions/inflammation/index.cfm
How Chiropractic Will Help You Reach Your Health Goals
New Year's resolutions are often forgotten once February arrives. While you may have meant every word you said when you made your resolutions, achieving your health goals could be harder than you expected. If you're struggling to improve your health, chiropractic treatment could offer the boost you need to check off the items on your list. Take a look a few ways that chiropractic could help you this year.
Exercising Is Easier with Fewer Aches and Pains
Lounging on the couch seems like a much better option than exercising if your joints and muscles ache. Although a fall or injury can trigger pain, poor posture may also be responsible for your symptoms. Poor posture stresses your muscles, ligaments, tendons and joints and may even pull the bony vertebrae in your neck and back out of alignment.
Posture-related pain can occur if:
Chiropractic treatment is ideal for easing pain and stiffness, no matter what the cause. Your treatment plan might include:
Chiropractic Treatment Can Reduce Your Reliance on Pain Medication
Are you tired of relying on pills to relieve your pain or concerned about medication side effects? Whether you're worried about addiction or struggling with dizziness, nausea, drowsiness and other common side effects, chiropractic will help you reduce and manage your pain naturally.
Just because you can buy pain medication at the drugstore doesn't mean it's harmless. Taking too much ibuprofen could cause gastrointestinal problems or even damage your kidneys, while liver failure could occur if you take more than the recommended amount of acetaminophen.
Your chiropractor offers treatments that:
When you visit your chiropractor regularly, you may find you get fewer headaches or notice that your joint pain doesn't bother you as much as it once did. Thanks to the treatments, you may be able to take a lower dose of the medication or even stop taking it completely.
Chiropractic Helps You Manage Chronic Conditions
Do you need a little help controlling a chronic condition? Chiropractic may have a beneficial impact on many chronic diseases and conditions, including asthma, arthritis, migraines, temporomandibular joint dysfunction, fibromyalgia and insomnia.
If you have asthma, realigning your spine reduces tension on chest muscles and allows your lungs to expand fully when you take a full breath. Treatments can reduce the number of tension headaches or migraines you get, or reduce pain caused by fibromyalgia or arthritis.
Visiting the chiropractor could even help you lower your blood pressure. UChicago Medicine Researchers discovered that spinal manipulation decreased blood pressure in patients who had misaligned vertebrae in their necks.
Are you tired of broken New Year's resolutions? Why not improve your health with chiropractic?
Sources:
UChicago Medicine: Special Chiropractic Adjustment Lowers Blood Pressure Among Hypertensive Patients with Misaligned C-1 Vertebrae, 3/14/07
Chiropractic Economics: Text Neck Pain, Treatment and Prevention, 10/30/19
https://www.chiroeco.com/text-neck-pain/
WebMD: Chiropractic Care for Joint Problems: What to Know, 10/1/20
https://www.webmd.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/chiropractic-care-for-joint-problems
