When I became a chiropractor in Glendale, I discovered that my technical skills were unusually advanced because I’d been playing guitar for more than fifteen years. It probably goes without saying that my hand coordination was well-developed!  I also became aware of the hand problems that many musicians develop, like carpal tunnel syndrome. And, I can tell you without bragging that in addition to being a well-known chiropractor in Glendale, I was also referred to as “the music doctor” because musicians from all over started coming to see me to “fix” their hand problems. The pain relief and increased mobility that my patients experienced, and the carpal tunnel surgeries (often ineffective or worse!) that were avoided resulted in a whole bunch of “thank yous.” In fact during the holiday season, I not only got numerous “fruit baskets” from my grateful patients, but plenty of “fruitcakes” from overjoyed insurance claim adjusters who spent far less each year in patient reimbursements for chiropractic treatment than they did for carpal tunnel surgeries!

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What does the word, “vertigo, ” mean? Vertigo is a term for the dizzy disturbance that a person suffers within a fixed setting. The perception is that the external world is tilting or perhaps spinning. Vertigo can be sudden and short- lived or constant. But bear in mind, no matter what, the precise reason for vertigo should be identified and the proper treatment plan undertaken.

There’s lots of causal agents for the disorder of Vertigo. An inner ear ailment, known as Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo, may occasionally occur as the impact of a sustained head injury or very bad cold. Quite often this particular vertigo is the result of the aging process. The root, however, usually is unknown. Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo is a wordy diagnosis, but it characterizes perfectly this non- progressive condition that is brought on by, as its name suggests, a quick change in head position. The symptoms are as a general rule unexpected and varied.

It is helpful to look at the performance of the inner ear in an effort recognize what induces the ofttimes incapacitating discomforts of this sort of vertigo. The brain takes in movement and maintains equilibrium utilizing the fluid within the inner ear. Also in the inner ear are minute calcium carbonate crystals, known as otoconia. These crystals usually float in the inner ear fluid if dislodged. As the crystals strike against the responsive nerve endings in the inner ear, they trigger the disorder of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo or BPPV.

The good news is that chiropractic treatment can minimize the complaints of BPPV very quickly and effectively employing a technique that is called the Epley maneuver. Through the use of this approach, a chiropractor turns the head of a BPPV victim into a number of the different positions, letting gravity shift the calcium carbonate crystals into a space of the inner ear that is away from the nerve endings where they will generate no further dizziness.

Your chiropractor has aided hundreds of people for Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo making use of the Epley Maneuver technique. Usually, with just one treatment the majority of patients no longer suffer from wooziness. Call Orlando Chiropractic today!

Technorati Tags: BPPV, chiropractic, chiropractor, dizziness, epleys, vertigo

Knee X-ray

New research coming out of Tufts University School of Medicine has determined that men and women that are at least 65 years of age or older with knee osteoarthritis (OA), and who practice Tai Chi, increased their physical performance and experienced less pain. Osteoarthritis is a prevalent form of arthritis that causes a wearing away of joint cartilage. Chiropractors provide therapy for quite a few men and women suffering from OA in a number of places in the body, including the knee joints. Second only to spinal problems, knee pain and disability is one of the most prevalent abnormalities of the musculoskeletal system. In fact, an astonishing 4.3 million individuals in the U.S. over 60 years of age have been diagnosed with knee OA, according to the CDC, and it anticipates that half of the people in America may suffer from symptoms of OA in at least one knee by age 85. The consequences of knee osteoarthritis are pain, mobility limitations, dysfunction and disability, and a reduced quality of life.

You may be asking why so many men and women develop OA. Excessive stress over a period of time is a major factor in the majority of musculoskeletal problems that develop as we age. It follows that as people get older they are more susceptible to developing OA in their knees, as well as other joints. Abnormal function of the knee, improper gait, compensatory foot mechanics as the result of foot pain, and overload of the knee joint all produce undue stress on the knees. Eventually arthritic changes in the knee joint occur. Many chiropractors suggest such natural, drug-free practices as Tai Chi, in addition to their chiropractic treatment. Tai Chi (Chuan) is a traditional style of Chinese martial arts that features slow, rhythmic movements that generate mental relaxation, as well as an enhancement of balance, an augmentation of strength, and more flexibility.

Though in good health otherwise, the 40 adults with confirmed OA that were selected for the Tufts study were on an average 65 years of age and overweight. Patients were picked at random to engage in 60-minute “Yang style” Tai Chi sessions twice weekly for 12 weeks. Each session included a 10-minute self-massage and a review of Tai Chi principles, 30 minutes of Tai Chi movement, 10 minutes of breathing technique, and 10 minutes of relaxation.

Tai Chi practice includes the kind of range of motion, flexibility, muscle conditioning, and aerobic workout that is compatible with prevailing exercise advice for osteoarthritis. Furthermore, researchers found that the “mental aspect” of Tai Chi encouraged a sense of well-being, life satisfaction, and perceptions of health that helped the participants to deal differently with chronic pain. Compared with the control group, the group practicing Tai Chi exhibited a significant decrease in knee pain.

Full findings of the study are published in the November 2009 issue of Arthritis Care & Research, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology.

Technorati Tags: chiropractic, chiropractor, knee OA, knee pain, osteoarthritis, Tai Chi, Tufts University School of Medicine

Does hip pain keep you up at night and make it impossible to get a good night’s sleep? When you get up in the morning, or when you get out of your car, are you stiff and do you find it hard, at first, to move your legs? Do you experience pain in one or both hips whenever you twist or rotate them or when you cross your legs? If you answered in the affirmative to any or all of these questions you are likely suffering from imbalances and alignment problems in the lower part of your body that, in addition to causing hip pain, can over time produce degenerative hip joint disease if not treated.

Though hip pain and related problems commonly point to age-related degenerative conditions, particularly osteoarthritis of the hip joint, osteoarthritis isn’t always the perpetrator. In fact, instead of creating the original problem, osteoarthritis of the hip joint can be the eventual result of damage to your hips at a previous time.

Gait changes caused by biomechanical problems such as an ankle sprain or knee strain, can produce hip pain. Also, if you change jobs, alter the way you sit, take on a new sport or activity, or start driving for long periods of a regular basis, your gait may alter to compensate for these new changes.

In addition, gait asymmetries can occur from carrying a baby or small child on your hip, leg length discrepancies, or foot pronation challenges. In other words, anything that generates an asymmetry or imbalance when you are moving can cause painful hip problems.

Along with your adjustments, as part of the chiropractic management of your hip problem your chiropractor may suggest that you wear orthotics. Your chiropractor will also offer suitable progressive rehabilitative exercises that include muscle stretching and strengthening.

Hip pain won’t diminish on its own. Hip pain is an indication that something needs correcting. Your chiropractor can help to get you out of pain, get back into balance, and get your life back!

Technorati Tags: chiropractic, chiropractor, hip pain, osteoarthritis

Attempting to keep up with an active five-year-old can be draining from time to time. If you have an active child of this age, or if you’ve ever been around one for any length of time, you may have found yourself wishing that the kid would just “veg out” for a moment. However, recent research is affirming the long-term health benefits of this whirlwind of activity. In fact, according to a new University of Iowa study, rather than attempting to slow these little ones down, five-year-olds ought be aided in being as active as possible. Why? “Because it pays off as they grow older,” said Kathleen Janz, lead author of the study and professor of health and sport studies in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Being active at age five helps kids to avoid excess fat as they get older even if they don’t continue to be as active later in childhood. “We call this effect ‘banking’ because the kids benefit later on, similar to having a savings account at a bank. The protective effect is independent of what happens in between,” Janz went on to say.

Using a special scanner that accurately measures bone, fat, and muscle tissue, and an accelerometer that measures movment every minute, the UI team tested the body fat and activity level of 333 kis at ages five, eight, and eleven. The kids wore accelerometers to record their activity level for up to five days, supplying much more reliable data than relying on kids or parents to track minutes of exercise.

The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, indicates that kids who are active at age five end up with less fat at age eight and eleven, even when controlling for their accumulated level of activity.  The average five-year-old in the study got thirty minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per day. For every ten minutes on top of that, kids had one-third of a pound less fat tissue at ages eight and eleven.

Although further inquiry is necessary to discover what happens to the bodies of the active kids that keeps them in better shape down the road, Janz said that it may be possible that the active 5-year-olds didn’t develop as many fat cells, improved their insulin response, or that something occurred metabolically that offered some protection even as they became less active.

However, as appealing as this study is, weight moderation is not the only benefit of early exercise. As a chiropractor I have observed in my own practice that active kids don’t have as many common childhood health problems, like catching colds and the flu. chiropractic treatment is, naturally, particularly beneficial in helping kids to stay healthier. But, in addition, the stimulation to the brain that occurs during activities, especially those that require “cross pattern” motor movements of the larger muscles, i.e., right hand/left leg and left hand/right leg, such as crawling, running, climbing, and skipping, also boosts the autoimmune system and keeps kids healthier.

Many children these days are overweight and unhealthy. Though part of the problem is an unhealthy diet, inactivity is also a major contributing factor. If you have a five-year-old who chooses to watch television or play video games rather than participating in more active play, help your child to get up and get moving into healthier activities. Moderate to vigorous exercise will not only benefit your child now, but will help to build a healthier future. You can bank on it!

Technorati Tags: childrens health, chiropractic, chiropractor

We all know that movement is good for the whole body, right? From our head to our toes, our good health is determined by how much physical activity we get on a regular basis. So, why do so many people suffer from aches and pains in their feet? After all, aren’t our feet made for walking? Yes, but they weren’t designed for abuse. The average, healthy person takes 3,000-5,000 steps each day, not including activities such as running and aerobic exercise. But, often those steps are made by people walking incorrectly, with poor gait patterns and bad posture. In addition, a large number of people wear badly-designed, poorly-fitting shoes. Moving the body through space incorrectly on feet that are inhibited from functioning correctly cannot help but to cause aches and pains not only in a number of places in our feet, but in other parts of our body.  For example, if an individual over-pronates (walks like a duck) in a pair of poorly made or unevenly-worn shoes, or in a pair of high heels, that person is not only likely to develop foot and ankle problems, but will probably experience problems of the back, knees and legs.

One of the most well known foot problems is Plantar Fascitis (heel pain), which is usually caused by inflammation of the plantar fascia. The plantar fascia is a wonderful, multi-tasking band of connective tissue that encircles the muscles on the bottom of the foot, adheres the heel bone to the ball of the foot, supports the arch, protects the foot, and absorbs shock.

There are many factors that contribute to the development of Plantar Fascitis. One such factor is short and tight calf muscles. When calf muscles get short and tight they exert a strong pull on the back of the heel bone, producing undue stress on the smaller and weaker plantar muscles and fascia. How do calf muscles get short and tight? In addition to running and jumping activities such as aerobics, volleyball, running, basketball, and tennis, the wearing of high heels can cause the problem.

Other factors that contribute to Plantar Fascitis include sudden strenuous activity after a period of prolonged inactivity, abnormal walking patterns (such as over-pronation), improper footwear, walking on hard or uneven surfaces (especially barefooted), and obesity.

Once an individual develops Plantar Fascitis, the condition is frequently not easy to manage and can become intensely painful and persistent. If you are suffering from heel pain, your chiropractor will be able to determine the cause of your problem and what chiropractic management is best suited. Such care might include ultrasound therapy, laser, joint manipulation, muscle stretching and strengthening exercises, special taping and, in some cases, orthotics.

Technorati Tags: chiropractic, chiropractor, foot pain, heel pain, plantar fascitis

If you sit for extended periods at a computer, you may be experiencing lower back pain, upper back pain, and/or neck pain that also radiates down one or both of your arms generating additional pain, pins and needles, or numbness. Neck and shoulder pain are, in fact, the most common upper-extremity musculoskeletal problems among computer users. In a 2002 study tracking 632 computer users newly hired at major Atlanta companies, Dr. Fredric E. Gerr, an occupational medicine physician and ergonomics investigator at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, and colleagues observed that roughly 60 percent developed neck or shoulder pain in the first year, though the study did not track how long symptoms persisted.

Younger generations growing up in the digital age are also joining the ranks of the “typing wounded.” Surveys at two universities found that 40 to 50 percent of undergraduates experienced upper-extremity pain from using their computers. Colleges do not build dormitory furniture to be ergonomically adjustable, said Dr. Benjamin Amick, scientific director of the Institute for Work and Health in Toronto, who was a co-author of those studies. “They build it to be indestructible.”

In addition to repetitive stress problems, sitting at your computer too long places your upper back in a sustained, stressful posture, especially if you tend to lean forward when you’re working. This also puts your neck at an unnatural and strained angle. Lower back pain, in addition to being generated by simply sitting for long periods of time without getting up and moving around, is aggravated by bad posture.

Problems caused by extended computer use can not only lead to an inability to perform your work duties, but can keep you from enjoying the rest of your life, too. Your Orlando chiropractor can assist in eliminating the lower back pain, upper back pain, and/or neck pain that you are currently experiencing. After that, it is important for you to become mindful of your body as you sit at your computer, and to give your body what it naturally needs. You can cultivate the habit of both sitting straight in your chair (as opposed to slouching) and relaxing your shoulders. This will help to relieve tension in your lower and upper back and neck. Take time to stretch periodically to ease muscle tension and encourage healthy blood flow. If your work station permits, sitting on an exercise ball can not only aide in keeping you in a beneficial posture, but can help to strengthen your core muscles as well. (Make sure that the ball is the right size so that when you are seated on it your arms are at a ninety-degree angle to your keyboard.)

Good posture for ease of movement, variety in the motions that you do, and short breaks to relax and stretch will go a long way in keeping your computer work (or play) pain-free.

Partial source: The New York Times, Health Review, June 22, 2009

Technorati Tags: chiropractic, chiropractor, lower back pain, neck pain, pins and needles, upper back pain

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

Technorati Tags: back pain, chiropractic, chiropractor, Consumer Reports

Everyday life can be miserable when you have allergies. A walk in the park, a play date with Fluffy, a shellfish stew, or even something as small as a nut can cause such unwelcome symptoms as itchy eyes, a runny nose, sneezing, or a skin rash. To make things worse, for some of us allergic reactions can progress from just plain irritating to dangerous and life-threatening as our air passageway becomes constricted and we have a difficult time breathing. If you have allergies, it may seem that, from time-to-time, your environment is a intensely hostile place and that the world around you is, truly, out to get you!

You may wonder why it is that other individuals seem so unaffected by the environment, while your body reacts, or rather overreacts, to it It’s a great question. The answer is because some people, like you, have a hyperactive immune system that actually “freaks out” when they encounter common substances such as pollen, dander, shellfish, or nuts.

Have you been wondering if your chiropractor can help your allergies? You may be surprised by the answer. Many individuals have noticed that they experience ease from their allergy symptoms after chiropractic treatment, even though chiropractic care doesn’t actually treat allergies. The reason for this is because chiropractic adjustments affect the complete nervous system, including the autoimmune system. When there’s a disruption in the nervous system, along with other problems, the autoimmune system, whose task it is to help us adapt and respond appropriately to our environment, can become under-active or overactive. In the case of your allergies, the impairment is the latter. Since chiropractic manipulations lessen or take away disturbances in the nervous system and bring back balance and harmony to the body, the treatments provide that same balance and harmony to the auto-immune system as well. A vital immune system responds appropriately to so-called allergens in the environment.

So, as mentioned above, your chiropractor doesn’t actually treat allergies. You could say, instead, that relief from your allergies is simply the by-product of a well-adjusted nervous system. If you want to get back into harmony with your surroundings as soon as possible, call your chiropractor today.

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Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) impacts an estimated 90% of women, at one time or another, and nearly 20% of those women afflicted undergo severe to debilitating symptoms. Suggesting to a woman that her PMS is “just in her head” can be not only just plain risky, it’s also just plain non-factual! In nearly all cases, there are physiological reasons for PMS, including one that you might find surprising — spinal misalignment. That’s right. Your back could actually be the problem. Spinal misalignment, particularly in the lower back, can frequently produce a diverse variety of female health problems in addition to Premenstrual Syndrome, such as pelvic pain, sexual dysfunction, incontinence, and even infertility.

Are you wondering how chiropractic can relieve the symptoms of PMS? Chiropractic treatments get rid of nerve impedance in your body. Your nervous system controls and regulates every cell, fiber, tissue, organ, and system in your body. Your reproductive system is included in this master regulation. If your reproductive system isn’t operating correctly due to nerve impingement, it can cause an array of symptoms such as those associated with PMS. You would most likely experience agitation, pain, heavy bleeding, or severe cramping if your reproductive system were overactive. Under-activity can cause missed periods or infertility. The good news is that if nerve impingement is producing your PMS symptoms, then chiropractic treatment can help because adjustments restore unimpeded activity to your nervous system and, hence, help it to function more normally.

Many women discover an improvement in their reproductive health, in conjunction with improved general health, while under chiropractic care. So, if you’ve been thinking that your PMS is just in head, think again! Then call your Orlando Chiropractor. Chiropractic care offers  a natural, drug-free answer for PMS that could help you to avoid periodic misery, without medication, and keep you pain-free and active all month long.

Technorati Tags: chiropractic, chiropractor, cramping, heavy bleeding, PMS