Plano Chiropractors Have New Tools To Help With Spinal Corrections

Many people we find in our Plano Chiropractor office have, of course, issues with their spine. The patient usually wants to know a few things, can we help them, how long will it take, and how much will it cost. While all of these are excellent and important questions, we are always trying to improve the model in which we correct spinal alignments. We are always going to try and do it fast and better, with less visits. As of late technology has allowed us to do this. We have recently purchased new tools that will facilitate the healing process. The ArthroStim puts a gentle impulse of between 12-14 thrust a second into the vertebral segment in question moving it. Since the sensory motor cortex is on the same 12-14 frequency the ArthroStim sends the signal to the brain where the proper alignment is due to where the force is applied. The Vibracussor is another tool that allows muscle spasms to decrease and spreads out inflammation which allows it to be re-absorbed easier, which helps decrease overall pain levels. We are help to have these tools in our office, which many other chiropractors do not have, to help you get better sooner and keep you healthier long.      

Can Chiropractic Help With Herniated Discs?

We treat a plethora of patients in our Plano Chiropractic office that have herniated discs, and most of them responded very well to care. A herniated disc is when a portion of the gelatinous material inside the outer annulus breaks through and puts pressure on the nerve or causes inflammation which them puts pressure on the nerve.

There are a few options that can be done to treat a herniated disc. The first option is medication, while there can be serious reactions to medication it can be effective, although it is rated the lowest in effectiveness compare to the other options. Most people do not like medication and it seems that every person reacts differently. In this case the medication will usually be in the form of an analgesic and anti-inflammatory. This option could further lead to epidural steroid injections and surgery which could equally be ineffective as well as surgery carries an increased risk of permanent injuries or death. It has been estimated that while some surgeries do work up to seventy percent of lower back surgeries fail. Surgery should always be the last option.

Another option is physical therapy, while physical therapy can be effected and is more effective than medication it is still less effective than chiropractic. Physical therapy usually employees stretching and exercises as well as some passive modalities. Many physical therapy patients get frustrated easily because care can be mundane and usually centers around the physical therapist babysitting the patient in doing exercises. Most active patient learn the exercise then don't see the need for the therapist any more. Chiropractors usually incorporate some sort of physical therapy into their treatment protocol as well which is one of the reasons chiropractic is rated the most effective for lower back pain and disc herniations.

Chiropractic is by far the most effective for treating lower back pain and herniated disc as reported by the patient. Most patients report better customer service due to more doctor face time and report that the therapies overall are more effective. The chiropractic adjustments which work on increasing the zygapophyseal joint space as shown via MRI will increase the overall size of neural foramina allowing greater area for the nerve is question to traverse. Chiropractic is the only conservative treatment that does this. In addition to the above chiropractic increases the range of motion, breaks joint adhesions and helps in decrease inflammation. Including chiropractic with physical therapy is the best choice and since physical therapist cannot preform chiropractic adjustments, the chiropractor should be the first line of defense in lower back pain and disc herniations. If you want help due to a herniated disc or lower back pain we are here to help.     

         

Can Chiropractic Help Me With My Shoulder Pain?

Shoulder pain is a very common symptom we find in our Plano Chiropractic office, as we spend more and more time in front of a computer and at our desk. You are probably at a computer right now or perhaps your phone reading this article. Take note of your shoulders, do you see how your shoulders are protracted frontward and your head is over the keyboard, which is call forward head carriage because you carrying your head forward from the normal line. The muscle that makes the shoulders protract forward are the pectoralis minor muscles which are a tightness prone muscle and conversely the rhomboids which counteract the pectoralis minor muscles are weakness prone muscles. The scalene muscles are the muscle group in the neck that is responsible for forward head carriage and tend to tighten up in the neck causing pain and compressing anatomy.

The best way to treat shoulder pain is to find the pain generating tissues, where is the dysfunction coming from? In my experience we tend to find that shoulder pain is usually caused by dysfunction in the cervical spine as well as in the shoulder joint and shoulder girdle muscles. The problem typically involves the cervical spine first, as the cervical vertebra can get misaligned and cause improper nerve impulses to the shoulder muscles which than function improperly and the improper muscles cause the shoulder joint itself to have improper biomechanics due to the muscles not working in synergy during normal motion. Treatment would include removing the cervical dysfunction in the cervical spine as well as stretching the tightness prone muscles of the scalenes and pectoris minor. Equally it is also important to strengthen the rhomboid muscles in the back to stop the shoulder protraction. Once the muscles are working proper the shoulder joint itself should start to work with correct biomechanics which will help the pain. If the pain is still present pain modalities can help to easy the progression along.       

Is Chiropractic A Belief Or Science?

In my experience as a chiropractor chiropractic has evolved, granted not as much evolution from the inception of chiropractic to present day, which is more than a hundred years. However, things are changing and they can only be for the better. When chiropractic was in it's infancy there was not a lot scientific methodology explaining why protocols work, there was a limited scientific method in medicine as well, all the evidence collected was almost strictly anecdotal. In the past it use to be common to say I believe in medicine or chiropractor, because quite frankly, you had to. You had to trust in the word of the doctor that a procedure was effective based on the success of the treatment in his eyes. Today, I still hear a lot of people say "I believe in chiropractic" or "I was not a believer until I met you". Why is it that people will take medicine as truth, despite no evidence for the efficacy of a drug, yet still say they need to believe in chiropractic in face of a mound of effective evidence. Chiropractic or medicine is not a belief system today if there is research published, it's either evidence suggest, doesn't suggest, or not sure we need more studies.

It is safe to say, if you do or do not believe a certain therapy or medication is ineffective only if there is no research available, but you can not quantify that to the whole field of medicine or chiropractic. There is research that certain protocols in medicine and chiropractic are effective and other protocols are ineffective. The ineffective protocols should be passed by the way side and new effective protocol should be developed to make patient satisfaction and efficacy paramount. Part of the problem is that for a long time chiropractors while having great patient satisfaction and showed great anecdotal evidence lack the superior research methodology. Chiropractor were painfully behind the medical profession in researching their methods due to a lack of funds and research construct, for example it is hard give real treatments versus sham treatments.

With the recent published data it puts chiropractors in the forefront in not needing to believe chiropractor is effective, but knowing chiropractic is effective through research. Chiropractic has now been proven to been more effective than medication for lower back pain and a host of other condition. Patients report a greater satisfaction of care, felted better, and had more long term benefits. Consumer report recently published a survey done where chiropractors have the greatest patient satisfaction score of any other healthcare provider. I hope with the pile of data many patients and the public will turn where they now not believe in chiropractic but simply know chiropractic is of a great benefit in combating against musculoskeletal symptoms.                     

Why Get Chiropractic When I Can Take Drugs?

This is a question I'm sure many patient have on a day to day basis. The sad truth is many people are brainwashed or convinced that health comes in a pill or drug. They are led to believe this by the pharmaceutical companies and then by their doctor who usually only prescribes a drug. The fact is health does not come in a pill it never has and never will. True health only comes from one place and that's from within. No pill or doctor can heal you, the only one to heal you is yourself. The body has this form of innate intelligence, which is responsible for the vitality of one's self. The only thing we can you as doctors is listen to the innate intelligence and facilitate the body to heal and function properly.

It may be easier to take a pill to get rid of symptoms, but the truth is health is not easy or hard it just is. Giving yourself a foreign compound to quell the symptoms, or the voice your body tells your brain is the exact opposite of healthy. The body is trying to tell the brain something, but why and what? The body tell the brain things all the time, I'm hungry, I'm tried, I'm thirsty, I've got to go to the bathroom. Why would we try to stop the body from communicating with the brain? Can you image if we cut off the communication from our body trying to tell our brain our daily necessary functions? We would die!

Pain seems to be the only acceptable body-brain communication which can be circumvented, but then again why? Pain is your body telling the brain there is a problem it's important to feel pain, it's a normal function on how you judge health. We need to be in touch with our body all the time, severing the communication is not only unhealthy but very dangerous as well. Over 125,000 people die from drug overdoes and drug interactions a every single year by a doctor they think has their best interest. I am not against drugs at all, what I am against is the overutilization of drugs. The United States is only five percent of the world population, yet we consume fifty percent of all the drugs in the world and are one of the unhealthiest populations on earth.

Choosing chiropractic and/or alternative healthcare provides may not be the fancy or easy way, but it's right way. Start with the least invasive treatment first and progress up from there. Chiropractors use a safe, healthy, and effective approached to treating very common problems with our population, such as musculoskeletal pain. Chiropractic will take time it's not an overnight process, the body did not get damaged overnight so it won't be fixed overnight. The best thing about chiropractic is the feeling that you get when your body healed itself with the help of a chiropractor and you did not have to take any side-effect laden or habit forming schedule 2 narcotics. If you have a lower back problem imaging taking a pill and dying from it, something as simple as lower back pain can get you addicted to a drug and kill you. Choose chiropractic and choose health, your body will thank you for it.      

What Is The "Crack" During A Chiropractic Adjustment?

This is a common question I get from patients from time to time, they never really seem to understand how it works. I have heard answers such as "are the bones breaking" or "are you snapping my head off". Of course at this point of practicing I've told patient the cause of the "crack" before they guess that answers themselves, trying to be proactive. The "crack" noise is something that is actually very minor, it is nothing more than gases escaping from the joint capsule. The gas, which is nitrogen, must escape the joint during a chiropractic adjustment, the gas that leaves the joint capsule leaves the joint as an audible pop. So while the "pop" or "crack" sounds scary it's nothing more than a natural process of gas escaping a joint. The quick motion of the adjustment creates a negative pressure inside the joint and takes nitrogen out of solution in the form of a gas. It's important to note that not all joints make an audible click during an adjustment and you also don't need the audible click to have adjustment confirmation. The adjustment is a feedback from how the bones move as sensed by the chiropractor delivering the adjustment. This is also independent of a wellness adjustment or an adjustment treating a certain condition.     

Chiropractic Treatment For Functional Leg Length Discrepancy

A functional leg length discrepancy is when one leg upon measurement seems to be longer than the other when it's not anatomically longer, meaning one just appears to be longer. While measuring is going to yield the same results, radiographs may show a pelvis discrepancy in the iliac crest or greater trochanters. This discrepancy can be attributed to a possible issue within the lower back or sacroiliac joint. When the lower back and sacroiliac joints are not functioning properly it changes the way the tissues response creating an "asymmetry" in the spinal muscles. If the muscles in the spine are either tight (hypertonic) or loose (hypotonic) then the certain structures can be elevated or depressed leading to an appearance of a longer leg. Radiographs will show this and it can be explain to the patient.

If a functional leg length is present and remains for a long period of time without being treated by a chiropractic major issue can arise. Of course lower back and sacroiliac pain will be present but also any joint in the legs can be effected due to a disruption of normal biomechanics. If a joint is holding more weight than the other joint it is going to fail and become inflamed quicker, then a patient will start to favor the sore joint which will then cause the other joint on the other leg, due to compensation, to have aberrant biomechanics and that starts to turn into a long process when now both joints hurt. Long term effects of improper mechanics wear on the overall strength and stability of the lumber spine leading to possible disc herniation or injuries with minimal force compared to a normally functioning spine.

Chiropractic treatment rendered can help, the first step is to correct the muscle to make them more pliable so one side is not completely spasmodic due to the long standing effects. Then after taking careful radiographic measurements you can adjust the sacroiliac joint in their respective position. One side should be done in a posterior inferior direction while the other should be in a posterior superior direction. This chiropractic adjusting can be done in a prone position with chiropractic drops. After a course of treatment there should be a new resting alignment, this could be observed with radiographs or measurements on the patient's body. Once the new resting alignment is observed to satisfactory of the patient and the chiropractor, corrective and strengthen exercises can be done to hold the alignment and possibly help preventing future injury due to weakness. As always wellness care can and should be recommended for maintaining gains and prevent possible future reoccurrence. If you are having back pain and want to see if chiropractic can help you visit our website or our Plano Chiropractic office.