Did you know that April is Foot Health Awareness Month? As a chiropractor, I think that it is always good for us to have special days set aside to look at the various areas of our health that we might improve upon. That said, if you are someone who experiences foot pain, you are, no doubt, aware of your feet every single day, week, and month of the year, especially if you are on the run for fun or fitness. Running, though “naturally” good for us, can be hard on our lower extremities for all sorts of reasons from bad gait and poor running shoes to the surfaces we choose to run on.
The impact forces during running can be two-three times your body weight and this, in and of itself, makes your feet particularly vulnerable to injury. Add to this general vulnerability the frequent reasons for foot pain and injury mentioned above, and its no wonder that so many people suffer from foot problems. Pain-free feet are important whether you run or not, but if you’re a runner (or thinking of becoming one) it is critical for you to make sure that your feet, and the rest of your body as well, are in good shape for it. As experts in restoring and improving motion in the entire musculoskeletal system, your chiropractor can examine your feet, analyze your running mechanics, and determine if certain conditions need correction before you continue, or begin, a running regime. With summer just around the corner, more runners than ever will be hitting the roads, parks, and tracks. If you’re planning on being one of them, whether you currently have foot pain or not, it’s a good idea to see your chiropractor, just to “run” on the safe side.As a Wichita Chiropractor for more than twenty years, I have helped a significant number of people suffering from the pain of sciatica, I’m truly aware from experience just how disabling sciatic pain can be. Sciatica sufferers are sadly all too familiar with the deep radiating pain that persists during the day and inhibits almost all of their daily activities.
Here’s how you can ascertain if your low back pain is generated by sciatica. You are probably experiencing sciatica if your pain travels from your low back, through your buttock(s), down the large sciatic nerve in the back of one or both legs, and possibly radiates into your knee(s). Moreover, sitting, as well as activity, can be painful. Commonly lying down will decrease, or perhaps even temporarily get rid of the pain. However, it’s important for you to be aware that sciatica will not go away without appropriate management.
Radiculopathy
A radiculopathy is a medical term used to describe a condition where a disc has protruded from its normal position in the spine and is causing pressure on the radicular nerve, or nerve root, that forms part of the sciatic nerve in the lower back. Such pressure is extremely painful.
Prolonged sitting, especially with bad posture, can create imbalances in the muscles encircling the spine and additional pressure on the intervertebral discs. More often than not, a specific event or injury doesn’t cause sciatica, more often sciatica tends to develop over time as a consequence of ordinary wear and tear on the vertebrae of the lower spine. After a while the lower spine can lose its normal functioning capabilities during everyday stresses.
Ultimately, the intervertebral disc develops small fissures or cracks, which then allow the soft nucleus to protrude the disc outward. Pain is generated as the disc pushes on sensitive tissues. This condition is commonly known as a ruptured, or slipped, disc. If the disc presses on the spinal nerve, sciatica is likely to develop. With chiropractic adjustments and management, which often includes postural exercises, the majority of disc problems, including sciatica, can be totally alleviated.
Periformis Syndrome
Periformis syndrome is another cause of sciatic pain. Periformis syndrome happens when the periformis muscle, for any reason, goes into spasm and irritates the sciatic nerve, which runs “deep to the muscle.” Along with chiropractic treatment, this type of sciatica can be significantly relieved by sciatica stretches that your chiropractor can recommend.
It is vital for you to see your chiropractor for treatment if you are experiencing sciatic pain. If you are in the Wichita area, as your Chiropractor in Wichita, I look forward to helping you to get out of pain and get your life back!
The “hottest” buzz word on the internet today is Social Media. For those of you who would like to consider Social Media marketing as part of your overall chiropractic internet marketing strategy, but aren’t quite sure what all the buzz is about, let’s take a minute to talk about the “Who, What, When, Where, and How” of social media and you, that’s “Who.”
Social media marketing may be very much like, and entirely unlike, any marketing strategy you’ve contemplated. In the “very much like” category, you’d never think of trying any type of marketing plan without making an effort to understand what it’s about and what you want to get from it. What are your goals? Once you’re clear about what you want, it’ll be easier for you to use social media to your greatest advantage.
When you are ready to begin your social media venture, but before you start, it will be highly important for you to make certain that you “own your name” on all the social media outlets, which is to say, make sure that your name or your clinic’s name is procurable so that you can use the identical same name on all of the social channels you desire to use. When you’re ready, there’s a service, which is absolutely free, that can help you with your search. Knowem.com is the who to go to. This service will find out where your name is and/or if it’s attainable or not on a large number of social media sites.
When you have “locked up” all of your social media accounts, the next step is to make a decision as to where you ought to be active. Starting with only a small number of social media sites is preferable because, let’s face it, you have a clinic to run and patients to see. You won’t want to get active in too many social media sites. So, how do you choose the best sites for you? The big ones (where most of the action is) are facebook, twitter, linkedin, and Youtube.
What successful social media activity will do for you is build a genuine presence in your community. What you should never do “sell” on your social media sites, that means don’t sell your chiropractic services, don’t sell products, don’t sell anything! The objective of social media is for you to go out and network with the community. By all means, inform them about what you do, but do it by participating in the conversation. Social media works the same way as social networking offline. It is important to be clear on this point, people on social media do not want to be sold to! Social media sites are very much like a neighborhood backyard barbecue. People are standing around talking about who they are and what they do, and then a person asks you what you do. Or, perhaps you begin the conversation by (just) stating, “Hello, I’m Dr. ____. The same dynamics apply with social media. Social media sites should be handled the same way you’d “work” offline networking opportunities to promote yourself, i.e., answer the questions and concerns that let people know who you are and gets them interested in the who that’s you!
As a chiropractor who believes in the human body's ability to heal itself, often with the aid of natural, non-invasive, drug-free chiropractic treatment, I am always dismayed, but never surprised, at some of the pernicious claims and tenacious effrontery of drug companies when it comes to pain killers, in general, and the "treatment" of a number of conditions that don't get any better with drugs or are made worse by them. And, as a chiropractor who has helped hundreds of headache sufferers not only get temporary, but permanent relief, when I read about a drug study for yet another pain med that will likely keep headache sufferers numbed to their pain, but in the process numb to the rest of their life as well, I feel like shouting from the rooftops: "Try chiropractic first!" But, today, when I read about a study, sponsored by Merck (who also makes the product), I really felt compelled to say that this particular study is shamefully playing to the fears of migraine sufferers when, in fact, the drug itself only offers "less severity" at best when it comes to a migraine headache.
The study, conducted by Dr. X. Henry Hu of Merck & Co.and colleagues, found that one in five migraine sufferers had "avoided" a work-related commitment because they were afraid of getting a migraine, while 27 percent reported canceling a work commitment for this reason, and round 28 percent said they had avoided or canceled social commitments due to fear of migraines.
I have treated many patients who told me how much they'd "feared" the onset of a migraine and limited their activities in life because of that fear, so I do understand how devastating the fear of migraines can be. And, yet, the only "solution" this study offered?
This study is "important," said Dr. Hu, because the unpredictability of migraines could contribute to people's anxiety and fear about them and early treatment with migraine drugs called triptans can help reduce headache severity. "Because of the lack of predictability of future migraine attacks, migraine sufferers may benefit from increased education on the importance of keeping medications available at all times," he and his colleagues concluded.
My conclusion? If you suffer from migraines, give your chiropractor a call today!
SOURCE: Headache, published online March 25, 2010.
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