Archive for December, 2009
How to Avoid Winter Snow-Shoveling Injuries
Posted by: | CommentsIf you live where it snows or if you’re planning to following the “chill” until you find a snowy scene for the holidays, here’s a little advice from the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress.
Every winter, millions of Americans grab their shovels and start digging their way out of the snow and into pain. Shoveling snow improperly can lead to potential spasms, strains, and aches. When shoveling snow, the Foundation for chiropractic Progress suggests the following tips to maintain overall health:
- Always stretch and warm-up before shoveling
- Wear extra layers to maintain muscle warmth and flexibility
- Avoid sudden twisting and turning motions
- Limit the amount of weight lifted per load
- Bend your knees, not your back
– Take frequent breaks to avoid body fatigue
If you happen to experience discomfort or pain as a result of shoveling snow, please contact your local chiropractor.
To find out more information please visit the Foundation at www.yes2chiropractic.org or call 866-901-3427
What is vertigo? Vertigo is a term for the dizzy disturbance that a person feels within a fixed environment. The perception is that the surroundings are tilting or spinning. Vertigo can be sudden and short-lived or chronic. In both cases, the exact cause of vertigo should be uncovered and the necessary treatment undertaken.
There are many causes for the symptoms of Vertigo. An inner ear condition, known as Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo, can occasionally occur as the aftermath of a head injury or severe cold. In addition this kind of vertigo can be the result of the aging process. The cause, however, frequently is unknown. Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo may seem like an exceptionally long term, but it describes perfectly this non-progressive condition that is produced by, as its name implies, a quick change in head position. The symptoms are normally unexpected and unpredictable.
To get an idea of what brings about the frequently disabling symptoms of this type of vertigo, it is beneficial to note the function of the inner ear. The brain senses movement and maintains balance through the medium of the fluid contained in the inner ear. The inner ear also contains small calcium carbonate crystals, known as otoconia. These crystals will float in the inner ear fluid if dislodged. As the crystals strike against the sensitive nerve endings in the inner ear, they cause the symptoms of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo or BPPV.
The good news is that chiropractors using a technique known as the Epley maneuver, can get rid of the symptoms of BPPV quickly and effectively. Using this technique, your Sacramento chiropractor slowly turns the head of a BPPV sufferer into several different positions, allowing gravity to move the calcium carbonate crystals away from the nerve endings and into an area of the inner ear where they won’t generate further dizziness.
Your Sacramento chiropractor has assisted hundreds of patients for Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo using the Epley Maneuver technique. Often, with just one treatment the majority of patients no longer suffer from dizziness. Call your chiropractor today!
Chiropractic Medicine for Neck Pain
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Primary Causes of Chronic neck pain-
Sudden trauma – whiplash
When the head is suddenly thrust forward and stopped, the resulting injury is known as whiplash. Generally, a person knows when this type of injury occurs. However, you may not always recognize the accident. It does not have to occur in a car as any sudden jerking motion can cause whiplash.
Bad posture
Hunching over a steering wheel or computer can cause the head to lean forward and the muscles in the neck to strain. Since the average human head weighs between eight and ten pounds, this strain can add up and cause quite a bit of pain.
Slipped Disc/ Herniated Disc/ Disc out of Alignment
Sometimes a disc in the spine moves slightly out of place and causes pain in the neck. When this happens, the pressure is put on the nerves resulting in pain on the nerves.
What to Expect from a Chiropractor On Your First Visit-
On your first visit, the chiropractor will ask you for a complete medical history. He or she will want to know when the pain started and what makes it better or worse. X-rays may be taken to better examine the cause of the pain. The more information you provide the chiropractor, the better results you can expect from the visit.
Many times, the chiropractor will ask you to rank the pain on a scale from one to ten with ten being the worst pain in your life. This s not a competition but a way to rank how well the treatment works. Therefore, think carefully and be honest. It is important if the treatment is to be effective.
Treatment Options Provided by a Chiropractor-
It is a myth that chiropractors only “pop” your back. Nothing could be further from the truth. A chiropractor is more of a holistic healer. They offer a wide range of healing options to help you understand why your neck is hurting and to get to the root of your neck injury.
Treatment options may include:
” Progressive Rehab – a combination of chiropractic adjustments and pain relieving techniques
” nutrition Counseling – A nutritionist can help you understand any deficiencies in your diet.
” Massage Therapy – Sometimes neck pain is caused by muscle strain and tension and massage therapy helps.
” Physical Therapy – Strength training is always available when you need it even for your neck.
” Chiropractic adjustment – This is what most people think of when they think of the chiropractor. The “pop” is actually gases escaping when the joints are moved back into place.
The most important part of being treated is choosing a chiropractor you trust. A chiropractor should be able to see you the same day. You are already hurting. You should not have to wait several days or even weeks to get an appointment. You should be greeted in a friendly manner and be treated well. Go with your instincts and you will be fine.
Source: HealthSourceChiro
Study Explains How Exercise Helps Patients With Peripheral Artery Disease
Posted by: | CommentsPeripheral artery disease (PAD) affects 5 million individuals in the U.S. and is the leading cause of limb amputations. Doctors have long considered exercise to be the single best therapy for PAD, and now a new study helps explain why. Led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and published in this week’s Online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the findings demonstrate that a protein called PGC-1alpha plays a key role in the process.
“Exercise is a staple of healthy living,” notes senior author Zoltan Arany, MD, PhD, an investigator in BIDMC’s Cardiovascular Institute and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “One of the many benefits of exercise, endurance exercise in particular, is the generation of new blood vessels in leg muscles.” Known as angiogenesis, this naturally occurring process comes to the rescue when an injury or artery blockage leaves normal tissue starved for blood. PAD is a common circulatory problem in which narrowed arteries reduce blood flow to the limbs. The end result is leg pain primarily encountered while walking. More seriously, PAD is also likely to be a sign of widespread accumulation of fatty deposits in the arteries, which may be reducing blood flow to the heart and brain as well as to the legs. Read more…Fit Teenage Boys Are Smarter?
Posted by: | CommentsIn the first study to demonstrate a clear positive association between adolescent fitness and adult cognitive performance, Nancy Pedersen of the University of Southern California and colleagues in Sweden find that better cardiovascular health among teenage boys correlates to higher scores on a range of intelligence tests – and more education and income later in life.
“During early adolescence and adulthood, the central nervous system displays considerable plasticity,” said Pedersen, research professor of psychology at the USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences. “Yet, the effect of exercise on cognition remains poorly understood.” Pedersen, lead author Maria Åberg of the University of Gothenburg and the research team looked at data for all 1.2 million Swedish men born between 1950 and 1976 who enlisted for mandatory military service at the age of 18. In every measure of cognitive functioning they analyzed – from verbal ability to logical performance to geometric perception to mechanical skills – average test scores increased according to aerobic fitness. However, scores on intelligence tests did not increase along with muscle strength, the researchers found. Read more…Sacramento Chiropractor: Are Extra Pounds Putting Your Joints on Overload?
Posted by: | CommentsIt is no secret that carrying around excess body weight, especially as we age, can cause a number of health problems from cardiovascular diseases and diabetes to back and joint pain. Extra body weight puts undue stress on organs, like the heart, and on joints in the low back, hips, and knees. Over half (62%) of American adults are overweight or obese, according to recent studies. That is a very significant number and a big problem (no joke).
Excessive weight, in the form of body fat, is hard on the structure of the human body. It was not designed for the added. Only an additional 20 or 30 pounds can put the musculoskeletal system literally on overload. Weight in the belly, for instance, requires that the body compensate (counterbalance the weight) by tilting the pelvis forward. This creates compression in the joints of the low back. Joint compression constricts nerve activity and produces painful inflammation. Weight-bearing stresses can cause a pinched sciatic nerve or create misalignments of the spinal column that impinge nerves. This is the reason that most overweight individuals suffer from low back pain. Misaligned vertebra can not only create new arthritic changes in the spine, but can continue to irritate the degenerative changes that have already taken place over time.
How can chiropractic help? Though a healthy body weight is absolutely indispensible for the ideal performance of the musculoskeletal system, chiropractic treatment relieves nerve restrictions in the spine and helps to restore motion back into the joints of the musculoskeletal system, like in the low back, hips, and knees. And, exercise and physical activity is a lot easier when the spine is in alignment and the joints have healthy motion. Exercise will not only help in weight reduction, but it can actually delay degenerative changes as we age.
It is always best to discuss diet and exercise with a healthcare professional, like your chiropractor. Chiropractors not only help individuals get pain relief from back challenges and joint inflammation due to arthritis, but in addition they offer expert advice on the type of lifestyle changes that can aid an individual in staying healthier and more active through the years. Arthritis and immobility as we get older do not have to be inevitable. The human body was designed for a lifetime of pain-free movement.
So, if you’ve been throwing your weight around and all you’ve been getting in return is back and joint pain, your chiropractor can help relieve your suffering. Make an appointment today!
Can Exercise Reduce the Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease?
Posted by: | CommentsOfficials at the new Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute announced today the center's participation in a novel Parkinson's study aimed at determining the physical and neurological impact of simple exercise on Parkinson's patients. Participants' brains will be monitored to determine if increased physical activity actually helps protect the neurons in the brain from the disease.
The study, "Exercise training in Parkinson's disease: Neural and functional benefits", in partnership with Arizona State University is funded by the National Institutes of health and begins as Ali, who has suffered from Parkinson's disease for more than 20 years, helped unveil the new Parkinson's center at the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. The 10,000 square-foot center is the most comprehensive of its kind in the nation and double the size of the original center that first opened in 1997. From its beginning, Ali and his wife, Lonnie, have wanted the focus of the center to be helping Parkinson's patients stay active and involved. This research study underscores that focus and passion. In conjunction with Arizona State University, researchers will test the participants who are aged 50-70. During the trial participants will follow a structured exercise program called "pole-striding", which is walking with ski-like poles. "Until now we have had only anecdotal evidence that regular physical activity is disease modifying," says Darolyn O'Donnell, who will help lead the study at the center. O'Donnell explained that participants will undergo 12-weeks of pole-striding for three days a week as they walk for about 45 minutes during each training session. "One of the key elements of this study is that we are using a simple exercise that can be duplicated by anyone." Read more…
