Santa Barbara Chiropractor

I’ve always appreciated the old saying, When you consider the alternative, getting old isn’t so bad.” But, if the aging process is creating pain in your body, you are painfully aware that aging is no joke! As a Santa Barbara chiropractor, I treat a lot of patients suffering from age-related challenges that likely would not have happened if the original cause had been addressed earlier in life, especially when it relates to musculoskeletal breakdowns. Poor posture, improper gait, and repetitive overuse frequently create needless stress in the back, neck, hip, knees, and even the feet that can create painful challenges over time. Unfortunately, as another saying goes, “Hindsight is 20-20.” If we only knew back then how our aging body would feel now!

Back pain is at the top of the list as the most common musculoskeletal problem to develop as we get older. Back pain that is age-related is generally caused by spine osteoarthritis, or Spondylosis, a degenerative disorder.

Spinal osteoarthritis is caused by advanced deterioration and weight-bearing pressure on the spine that, over time, does harm to the discs, joints, and surrounding ligaments. The specific area(s) and degree of the degenerative process of spondylosis is individual, varying from person to person. It is likely to affect the cervical (neck), thoracic (mid-back), or lumbar (low back) regions of the spine. Depending on the severity of degeneration, Spondylosis symptoms vary from person-to-person as well, and can extend from minor pain and numbness to extreme sensory loss and muscular atrophy.

Calcium is deposited in the tissues around the vertebrae due to repetitive stresses that adversely affect the cartilage around the joints These calcific deposits, known as bone spurs, can constrict adjacent nerves, blood vessels and soft tissue. This particular of compression is at the root of Spondylosis.

Fortunately, whether or not you have developed spondylosis, regular chiropractic treatment and overall chiropractic management can significantly decelerate the aging process of your spine. Even though “you can’t un-ring a bell” or “turn back the hands of time,” but it isn’t too late to give your spine the attention it deserves. Chiropractors are experts when it comes to treatment of the spine. See your chiropractor in Santa Barbara today, for the health of your spine.

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Corona Chiropractor

Your Corona Chiropractor offers a highly successful non-invasive, drug-free approach to easing hip pain and frequently eliminating it altogether. As most of us know, surgery should be a last resort whenever possible. So, before you decide on hip surgery, consider the following questions: Is it impossible for you to get a good night’s sleep because your hip pain wakes you up at night? When you get out of bed in the morning, and/or when you step out of your car, are you stiff and do you find it difficult at first to get your legs moving adequately? Do you feel pain in one or both hips when you cross your legs or rotate or twist your hips? If these symptoms sound familiar, it is likely that you have asymmetries and misalignments in your lower extremities that, in addition to causing your hip pain, can eventually lead to osteoarthritis in your hips if not treated. The good news is that whether or not degenerative changes have already begun, chiropractic treatment can help!

It may be true that you’re getting older and your hip joints just aren’t what they used to be. But, are you aware that your hip pain (and related problems), which usually are thought to be age-related degenerative conditions, may not actually be produced by osteoarthritis? That’s right. In many cases, rather than being the root cause of your pain, osteoarthritis of the hip joint is often the result of a past injury (or injuries) to your hips.

More often than not, hip problems have to do with asymmetry or imbalance when you are in motion, as when you are walking. If you tend to walk “pronated” with your toes pointing away from your body (like a duck), sooner or later you will feel pain in your hips due to the asymmetrical stress on your hip joints as your body attempts to compensate. However, you can learn to alter your gait pattern at any age, and your chiropractor in Corona can help you to do it.

In addition, you may have had gait changes as the result of an ankle sprain or knee strain, and since “the knee bone’s connected to the hip bone,” these biomechanical accommodations generate pain in the hip(s). There is no doubt that, if not corrected, your hip joints will suffer further consequences, i.e, wear and tear that leads to degenerative changes.

Other circumstances that can occasionally injure the hip joints are starting a new job or beginning a new sport that requires you to move your body in unfamiliar ways. Also, carrying a child (or grandchild) on one hip can generate hip pain. Even the way you sit or driving for long periods of time on a routine basis can cause hip injury and pain.

See? Not every pain is caused by “old age,” although we may start to feel more pain due to the progressive nature of untreated injuries.

Your chiropractor in Corona will treat our hip problem directly, and as part of your chiropractic management will suggest individualized rehabilitative exercises that include gentle muscle stretching and strengthening, and will also study your gait and may offer simple pattern changes.

Your hip pain won’t vanish by itself. Hip pain is a symptom telling you that there’s a problem that requires correcting. If put off, it is very likely that you will eventually require that hip replacement surgery. So, don’t put off until tomorrow, what truly needs to be done today. Your Corona Chiropractor can relieve your hip pain, get your body back into balance, and help you get to back to enjoying your life again!

Technorati Tags: chiropractic, chiropractor, hip pain, osteoarthritis

Cincinnati Chiropractor

At my Cincinnati Chiropractic Clinic I treat many seniors who suffer from balance problems. In fact, 9% of adults, aged 65 and older, are affected by dizziness, “wooziness,” and other balance-related challenges. Good balance is essential, of course, in helping seniors to remain independent and to avoid falling down and encounter injuries that are often extremely serious or even fatal. But, you may be surprised to hear that falls contribute to a large number of work-related injuries for workers under 65 years of age, including those in their twenties and thirties. That’s right! No one is “invulnerable” to balance challenges, no matter how young they may be. It is for this reason that those who work at “dangerous heights” like construction workers, roofers, oil platform employees, windows cleaners, or any other place where a ladder is involved are far more likely to sustain serious injury if their balance is “off.”

The primary capacity of good balance is to help us to manage and maintain our body position, whether standing still or moving, and whether on the ground or high up on a platform. Good balance helps us to walk without staggering, arise from a sitting position without teetering, and to climb stairs without tripping. In other words, good balance is vital to our health and well-being.

What may be shocking to you is that you could have a balance dysfunction without realizing how significant it is. On occasion an individual can “shake off” a dizzy feeling and the sensation may not come back for a while. The danger is that when sudden dizziness happens at a decisive time, it is too late to shake it off and a fall is usually certain.

The feeling by some people that they, themselves, are spinning or that things around them are moving is called “vertigo.” Nearly 40% of people in the U.S. will have at least one episode of dizziness that is distressing enough to seek out a health professional, such as your Chiropractor in Cincinnati. However, if you are involved in any of the activities listed above, it is an extremely good idea for you to have a chiropractor check your balance prior to a sudden episode of dizziness, rather than as a response to such an episode. Why? Because as a chiropractor, I can not only check your balance, and make adjustments if needed, but can assist you in maintaining good balance in the future. And, of course, having good balance will likely save you from serious injury or worse.

Balance disorders are risky at any age. It is crucial for you to be evaluated and treated quickly if you feel as if you may have a possible balance disorder. To help to make your decision easier if you can answer “yes” to any of the following questions, even if the experience is seldom or infrequent, you should discuss the symptom(s) with a chiropractor as soon as possible:

• Have you experienced a feeling of being “unsteady?”

• Has the room seemed to spin around you?

• Has there ever a time when you felt as if you were moving when you knew you were standing still?

• Have you lost your balance and/or fallen down?

• Have you ever felt as if you were falling?

• Has your vision ever become “blurred?”

• Have you ever felt disoriented, or lost a sense of time, place or identity?

Remember: Balance problems are not specific to a particular age group. Our falling down is an ever-present possibility from the time we learn to walk until we take our final step All the more reason to have your balance checked if you work in a job that makes your falling down a “critical” issue. Don’t wait until it’s too late! If you’re in the area, give your Cincinnati Chiropractor a call today. I can help!

Technorati Tags: balance, chiropractic, chiropractor, dizziness, falls, vertigo

Wichita Chiropractor

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!

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San Diego Chiropractor

As a Chiropractor in San Diego, I counsel many individuals who come to my clinic who want to lose weight. I know how hard it can be, and I also know how important it is to lose those extra pounds. Before you decide to add a little more “stretch” to the fabric in your wardrobe, there are some things that you should know regarding those few seemingly benign extra pounds you may have gained. As we age, extra weight can add up to a surprising number of health issues from heart and pulmonary diseases and diabetes to back challenges and joint degeneration. Surplus poundage puts excessive stress on organs, like the heart, and on joints in the low back, hips, and knees. A shocking 62% of American adults are overweight or obese, according to recent studies. That is an extremely compelling percentage and an enormous problem (no pun intended).

Though we try to pretend otherwise, most of us know that the human body has not evolved to transport a surfeit of weight in the form of body fat. A mere excess of 20 or 30 pounds can veritably overload and overburden the joints and muscles of the body. Extra weight in the abdominal region, for example, makes it necessary for the body to compensate (counterbalance the weight) by tilting the pelvis forward. The tilt creates compression in the joints of the low back. Joint compression impedes nerve activity and causes painful inflammation. Nearly all individuals that have a “spare tire”experience low back pain as the result of  a pinched sciatic nerve or spinal misalignments that restrict nerves due to weight-bearing stresses. If ignored, misaligned vertebra not only persist in irritating the degenerative changes that have taken place already, but can develop into new arthritic changes in the spine in the future.

Are you wondering how chiropractic can help? Perhaps, it should go without saying that a moderate body weight is requisite in order for the musculoskeletal system to act and respond in the way it is designed to. That said, in addition, chiropractic adjustments relieve nerve restrictions in the spine and assist in getting motion back into the joints of the musculoskeletal system, such as in the low back, hips, and knees. And, naturally exercise and physical activity are a lot easier, and healthier for the body, when the the joints have good movement and the spine is aligned. Not only will exercise help with weight reduction, but it can actually delay degenerative changes as the body ages.

Healthcare professionals, like your chiropractor, can talk to you about your diet and exercise alternatives. In addition to caring for individuals suffering from back pain and joint inflammation, chiropractors can provide expert suggestions on the particular lifestyle modifications that can help you to stay healthier, more vigorous, and more active through the years. Arthritis and immobility due to aging don’t have to be compulsory. 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,as your San Diego chiropractor and someone who cares about your health, I can help relieve your suffering. Make an appointment today!

Technorati Tags: arthritis, back pain, chiropractic, chiropractor, excess weight, joint inflammation, weight loss

Let’s face it, where there’s a musculoskeletal structure, like as part of human body, there is the chance of musculoskeletal dysfunction such as low back pain and neck pain, pain in the shoulder, elbow, hip and knee joints, and ankle and foot pain. No one is immune from misalignment of the spine and joint inflammation, though a large number of problems can be the consequence of sports injuries, accidents, and the aging process. Regardless of the cause, any type of motion on a traumatized part of the body doesn’t simply result in pain or suffering, but consequent in inactivity. And, certainly, specific musculoskeletal challenges, if left untreated, can lead to irreversible incapacitation.

It has been claimed of chiropractic treatment that its “many benefits exceed” eliminating a specific challenge. In actual fact, someone who comes in to see a chiropractor for lower back pain, for instance, not only profits from pain alleviation, but also increased circulation, a reduction or elimination of lactic acid, smoother travel of oxygen and nutrients within the body, more flexibility, less everyday pain and soreness, quicker recuperation time, a more comfortable sensation, and the deterrence of future harm! Is it any wonder why chiropractic care has become the treatment of preference for so many people?

Besides providing specialized musculoskeletal care, chiropractors also include education and guidelines as it pertains to strengthening your complete health and wellness. Chiropractors are well aware that in order for an individual to get healthier and remain that way, it is important to decide on a natural health-oriented lifestyle, e.g., drinking enough water to keep the body hydrated, following a nutritional diet program, and developing a basic stretching and exercise routine.

Chiropractic treatment doesn’t exactly work “miracles, ” but it can come fairly close in a considerable number of areas that may perhaps surprise you. For example, chiropractic treatment can help pregnant women deliver more easily. It can strengthen developmental abilities of babies, like increasing motor skills, and often it can eliminate scoliosis. Chiropractic adjustments for kids may help relieve asthma complaints, ear infections, and bed-wetting. Along with the positive aspects just mentioned, routine chiropractic management can help adults to feel more vital and dynamic, which consequently improves productivity and life enjoyment. And, finally, for maturing baby boomers and the growing senior population, not only can chiropractic therapy aide in reducing age-related problems and keep seniors more active in later years, it can reduce the balance problems that all too often end up in critical injury from falls.

If you’re already visiting a chiropractor, good for you! You have no doubt already experienced any number of the plus points referred to above. If so, have you thought to enlighten an associate, family member, or friend about chiropractic? Don’t let someone you care about fall victim to the sort of misinformation regarding chiropractic care that could keep them from living their life more actively. If someone you know is in pain, tell them about your chiropractor in Santa Clara. He can help!

Technorati Tags: asthma, balance problems, bed-wetting, chiropractic care, chiropractic treatment, chiropractor, healthy lifestyle, infections, pregnancy, regular exercise, Where:Santa-Clara-CA

There are a number of 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 particular vertigo can be age related. But, most often, the cause is unknown. Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo is a wordy diagnosis, but it delineates perfectly this non-progressive condition that is generated by, as its name implies, a sudden change in head position. The symptoms are normally unforeseen and unpredictable.

To understand what causes the frequently incapacitating symptoms of this type of vertigo, it is useful to look at the function of the inner ear. The brain senses movement and maintains balance by means of the fluid contained in the inner ear. Also in the inner ear are small calcium carbonate crystals, known as otoconia. When these crystals are dislodged, they then float in the inner ear fluid. The symptoms of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo are caused by the crystals striking against the sensitive nerve endings in the inner ear.

The good news is that chiropractic treatment can get rid of the symptoms of BPPV very quickly and effectively using a technique known as the Epley maneuver. Using this technique, a chiropractor rotates the head of a BPPV sufferer into a variety of positions, and gravity moves the calcium carbonate crystals into an area of the inner ear that is away from the nerve endings where they cannot product further dizziness.

Your Santa Clara chiropractor has treated hundreds of individuals for Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo using the Epley Maneuver technique and the majority of patients are no longer dizzy after with just one treatment. Make an appointment with your chiropractor today!

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The human body was not designed to carry around extraneous weight in the form of body fat. Only an additional 20 or 30 pounds can put the musculoskeletal system literally on overload. Weight in the belly, for example, requires that the body compensate (counterbalance the weight) by tilting the pelvis forward. This causes joints in the low back to compress. Joint compression inhibits nerve activity and produces painful inflammation. Most individuals who are overweight suffer from low back pain caused by a pinched sciatic nerve or misalignments of the spinal column that impinge nerves due to weight-bearing stresses. 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 in the past.

How can chiropractic help? First of all, to be clear, a healthy body weight is requisite in order for the musculoskeletal system to function optimally. That said, in addition, chiropractic treatment relieves nerve restrictions in the spine and helps to get motion back into the joints of the musculoskeletal system, such as in the low back, hips, and knees. A spine in alignment and joints that have healthy mobility make exercise and physical activity a lot easier. Not only will exercise help with weight loss, but it can actually decelerate degenerative changes as a person ages.

It is always a good plan to visit a healthcare professional, like your chiropractor, to discuss diet and exercise. Chiropractors not only help men and women get pain relief from back challenges and joint inflammation due to arthritis, but in addition they offer highly knowledgeable advice on the kind of lifestyle changes that can aid a person in staying healthier and more active through the years. Arthritis and immobility do not have to be a necessary and unavoidable part of aging. The human body was meant to move, to walk, even to dance, without pain, for a lifetime.

So, if extraneous weight has put your system on overload, your chiropractor can help to take some of the load off. Make an appointment today!

Technorati Tags: arthritis, chiropractic, chiropractor, excess weight, weight loss

Take arthritis for instance. To be sure, with the exception of pharmaceuticals, allopathic medicine does little to take care of this age-related challenge. What is the reason? It is because most medical doctors are only concerned with the symptoms of arthritis. The chiropractic method is to uncover the cause of the problem and relieve the pain at its source.  For over a hundred years, chiropractors, like your Santa Clara Chiropractor, have been caring for people suffering from back pain and other challenges created by arthritic changes in the musculoskeletal system.

Arthritic changes take place as your body ages because, over time, degeneration of certain joints takes place as the result of repetitive stresses, and years of incorrect gait, improper posture, and insufficient movement. Chiropractic treatment reestablishes motion in your joints and relieves pain, and it corrects any vertebral misalignment that may be causing irritation and restriction. In addition, did you know that misaligned vertebra, along with causing arthritic changes in the spine and escalating pain, can also weaker your resistance and immunity? It’s true, and this could be one of the reasons why it may seem to you that as you age you experience more health problems and that it frequently takes longer for you to feel better again. Studies have shown that older individuals who are under chiropractic care stay healthier. To put it another way, as you get older, chiropractic care is good for what ails you!

Chiropractors are highly proficient when it comes to the health of the musculoskeletal system, from the small, growing frame of an infant to the full-grown body of a mature adult.  Your chiropractor understands the aging process and has singular observational and diagnostic skills that help in locating spinal misalignments and joint degeneration. In fact, a chiropractic examination can often reveal certain age-related changes before they’ve had a chance to create noticeable pain. Moreover, your Santa Clara Chiropractor can assess your posture and check your gait to determine if there are any incorrect patterns that might create further arthritic changes.

So, if you have been feeling your age lately, but you’d like to feel a whole lot better, call your Santa Clara Chiropractor today!

Technorati Tags: aging, arthritis, chiropractic, chiropractor

Knee X-ray

A new study conducted by Tufts University School of Medicine has determined that patients 65 years of age and over who’ve been diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis (OA), and who practice Tai Chi, enhanced their physical capability and encountered less pain. Osteoarthritis is a prevalent form of arthritis that causes a wearing away of joint cartilage. Chiropractors provide therapy for many 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 afflictions of the musculoskeletal system. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) there are an astounding 4.3 million people in this country over age 60 diagnosed with knee OA, and the CDC predicts that half of the people in America may suffer from symptoms of OA in at least one knee by age 85. Knee osteoarthritis results in pain, mobility limitations, dysfunction and disability, and a reduced quality of life.

Why do so many people develop OA? As with nearly all of the musculoskeletal dysfunctions that we develop as we age, undue stress to a joint over the years is a major element. That is why as people get older they are more susceptible to developing OA in their joints, including the knees. Incorrect function of the knee, poor gait, compensatory foot mechanics as the result of foot pain, and repetitive use of the knee joint all produce undue stress on the knees. Eventually arthritic changes in the knee joint occur. Most chiropractors suggest such natural, drug-free practices as Tai Chi, in combination with their chiropractic care. A traditional style of Chinese martial arts,Tai Chi features slow, rhythmic movements that generate mental relaxation, as well as increased balance, an augmentation of strength, and improved flexibility.

Though in good health otherwise, the 40 adults with confirmed OA that were selected for the Tufts study were, on average, 65 years of age and overweight. Patients were randomly picked to participate 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 involves the kind of range of motion, flexibility, muscle conditioning, and aerobic workout that is consistent with contemporary exercise recommendations for osteoarthritis. As an added benefit, researchers observed that the “mental feature” of Tai Chi promoted a sense of well-being, life satisfaction, and impressions of health that helped the participants to deal differently with chronic pain. Compared with the control group, the group practicing Tai Chi exhibited a substantial 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