Posts Tagged ‘chiropractor’
San Jose Chiropractor Explains How Chiropractic Care Can Decrease Back Pain Produced by Arthritis
When it comes to back pain and pain in other parts of the body because of arthritic changes, there is a variety of treatment options from which to make your choice, including going to a San Jose chiropractor However, many individuals who are suffering from painful arthritis and back pain still think that they ought to go to a medical doctor as the best way to find a cure for their affliction. But, you might be surprised to know that not many medical doctors are adept in helping individuals overcome the problem of back pain due to arthritis. Medical doctors are taught to treat symptoms through medication, rather than finding and treating the origin of the pain you are undergoing. And, even though particular medications may ease the symptoms of arthritis, there is plenty more that you can do not only for pain relief, but to genuinely slow down arthritic changes in your body.
One of the actions you can take to gain relief from your arthritis and back pain is to go to see a San Jose chiropractor. Chiropractors are doctors who practice entirely in treating the muscular and skeletal system, and arthritis is a joint problem. Chiropractic care has helped many people to slow the process of arthritis by getting their joints moving. Movement is crucial for joint health. A good chiropractor is extremely skilled in treating back pain, even when it is caused by arthritis
If you have never gone to a chiropractor before, you might be a bit concerned about what is going to occur once you are in the office. It might help to give a quick overview about what you can expect. You will be asked about your medical history, which will likely include a family history of arthritis. The chiropractor will want to know about your current lifestyle and may offer explicit changes that will be advantages in lessening the inflammation caused by arthritis. And, finally, you will receive a detailed examination. After the examination is finished, the chiropractor will let you know if chiropractic treatment can help your back pain, as well as relieve your painful arthritic symptoms. After that you will be told about the exact treatment you will need.
Chiropractic treatment is not only painless, but relieves pain gently and naturally. And, the most wonderful part of going to a chiropractor for your back pain and arthritis is that you can feel confident that the origin of your pain is being addressed, and that the ease you experience is not hiding the symptom of pain, but genuinely taking care of the origin of your condition.
Ventura Chiropractor Explains How You May Be Able to Eliminate Allergy Symptoms Once and For All!
Your Ventura Chiropractor is well aware that everyday life can be miserable if you suffer from allergies. A walk in the park, a play date with Kitty, a shellfish stew, or even something as small as a nut can produce such unwelcome symptoms as itchy eyes, a runny nose, sneezing, or a skin rash.
But, occasionally a person’s allergic reactions can progress from just plain irritating to dangerous and life-threatening as the air passageway becomes constricted and breathing becomes a problem. This progression of symptoms can frequently generate a state of panic.
In fact, if you are one of the many people who suffer from allergies, it may even seem to you that, from time to time, your environment is a pretty unfriendly place and that the world around you is, truly, out to get you!
Why does your body react, or rather overreact, to the environment with so extremely while other individuals appear to be unaffected? It’s a great question. The answer is because some individuals, like you, have a hyperactive immune system that actually “freaks out” when you encounter everyday substances such as pollen, dander, shellfish, or nuts.
Can your Ventura Chiropractor help with your allergy symptoms? The answer may surprise you. Many individuals have noticed that they experience freedom 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 whole nervous system, including the autoimmune system. When there’s a disturbance in the nervous system, along with other problems, the autoimmune system, whose responsibility it is to assist you in adapting and responding appropriately to your environment, can become under-active or overactive. In the case of your allergies, the breakdown is the latter (it becomes overactive).
Since chiropractic adjustments decrease or remove disturbances in the nervous system and bring back balance and harmony to the body, the treatments bring that same balance and harmony to the auto-immune system as well. A strong immune system reacts appropriately to supposed allergens in the environment.
So, as mentioned above, your chiropractor doesn’t actually treat allergies. You could say, rather, that relief from your allergies is simply the by-product of a well-adjusted nervous system. If you’d like to get back into harmony with your environment as soon as possible, make an appointment with Ventura Chiropractor today.
Sacramento Chiropractor: If You'd Like to Avoid Golf Injuries, Be Prepared!
With any sort of sport, injuries are not unusual. You can often avoid getting injured in a particular sport by discovering what injury is apt to happen, and then do what it takes to avoid it. Sadly, sports injuries can’t always be avoided. Therefore, it’s important to take good care of your body to make injury less probable, or less traumatic. The most important thing that you can do is to be sure that you have a suitable fitness level prior to beginning to play a sport, such as golf. By maintaining a healthy lifestyle, keeping your joints mobile and your muscles limber, warming and stretching your body before activity, using proper form and good postures while actively playing, and giving yourself sufficient cool down and relaxation time, you may very well keep your body safe from injury.
Golf injuries don’t only happen to amateurs. Nearly a third of pro golfers playing in the same time frame are playing with injury. Fortunately, all-round good health and fitness can decrease how many injuries you may acquire and might actually deter them completely.
Proper body strength in the muscle regions most employed while playing golf is vital. However, before you make an effort to build muscle strength, it’s essential to make sure your spine is aligned and has good mobility. A successful golf swing relies on your spine’s ability to adequately move in a rotational fashion. Back injuries are the most prevalent sort of injuries sustained by golfers. To insure that your spine is in healthy alignment and there is efficient movement in the vertebrae, see your chiropractor in Sacramento. Chiropractic care can go a long way in helping you to avoid back injury.
It’s time to strengthen once you’re “straightened.” Safe, injury-free action on the green is contingent upon your being prepared for your golf activity. You can warm up your muscles and make muscle strain less likely by doing golf stretching and flexibility exercises. Full body range of motion (ROM) exercises will enhance flexibility, relatively speedily, in all areas of the body. Additionally, elastic band conditioning offers functional golf range of motion improvements and can advance needed power in the shoulders, hips and deep muscles of the core. Sports professionals, such as your chiropractor, are adding elastic band training to their golf conditioning programs because the bands supply dynamic resistance that regular weight lifting does not supply.
Besides back injuries, many golfers have painful “Golfer’s Elbow.” There is a minor difference between golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow despite the fact that they are almost the same. Whereas the outside of the upper arm is impinged in tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow impinges the inner arm. Golfer’s elbow, like tennis elbow, can be a reaction to a single intense action, such as (in golf) hitting the mat at the driving range or hitting a hard fairway surface. Although, it most often results from repetitive stress from smaller shocks. Moreover, it can occur for those who suddenly start playing too much golf. For instance, if those that generally play golf once or twice a month decide to play in a tournament, they are potentially at risk for developing the injury.
Golf makes exclusive requirements on our body. Fatigue can be a challenge because the game generally lasts longer than many other sports. Bad posture and lack of coordination are often the consequences of a fatigued body. These two factors combined can create a variety of injuries. In addition, due to continuous swinging of the golf clubs, the shoulder muscles are subject to injury. Just as it is crucial for you to stretch and warm up prior to starting your golf game, be sure to rest your body properly between games.
A surprising injury occasionally connected with golf is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. But, this injury can be induced by numerous games of golf played over several months continuously as it is a condition that comes about as a result of repetitive stress Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can be a serious injury creating incapacitation and on occasion needing surgery. However, if a health professional, such as your chiropractor, diagnoses it at an early stage, chiropractic management and, sometimes, the use of a brace will help the condition.
Many golfers seem to feel that injuries are just an unavoidable part of a golfer’s life. However, a healthy, mobile spine, judicious preparation, proper exercise and muscle conditioning, attaining and maintaining a a suitable fitness level, and reasonable rest and recuperation after your game is over, can assisting in making injuries far less a part of your golfing experience.
Dr. Yong Kim is a chiropractor in Sacramento with over thirteen years of experience helping thousands of patients get out of pain and get their lives back. His office is located at 1707 Professional Drive, Sacramento, CA 95825. He has special training in the area of sports injuries. Dr Kim is himself an avid health enthusiast. For more information go to his website at http://www.sacramentochiropractor.org
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Yong_J_Kim
Work Injuries, Your Balance, and How Your Cincinnati Chiropractic Clinic Can Help
At my Cincinnati Chiropractic clinic I treat a lot of seniors who are challenged by balance problems. In fact, dizziness, “wooziness,” and other balance-related problems affect at least nine percent of adults, aged 65 and over. Good balance is extremely important, of course, in assisting elders to stay independent and to avoid falling down and sustaining injuries that are frequently extremely serious or even fatal. But, what you may not know is that falls are the cause of a large portion of work-related injuries for workers younger than 65 years of age, including those in their twenties and thirties. That’s right! No one is immune to balance challenges, no matter how young they may be. In fact, those who work in “high places” like construction workers, roofers, oil platform employees, windows cleaners, or any other place where a ladder is necessary are in danger of serious injury if their balance isn’t good.
The principal function 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 stumbling, arise from a sitting position without swaying, and to climb stairs without missing a step. It is obvious, then, that good balance is vital to our health and well-being.
What come as a surprise to you is that you could have a balance dysfunction without any idea of how serious it is. On occasion someone is able to “shake off” a dizzy feeling and the sensation may not return for a while. The problem is that when precipetous dizziness comes about at a critical moment, it is too late to shake it off and a fall is usually inevitable.
Vertigo is the medical term for the sensation that you, or objects around you, are spinning. Nearly 40 percent of people in the U.S. will have at least one experience of dizziness that is serious enough to seek out a health professional, like your Chiropractor at Cincinnati Chiropractic. However, if you are involved in any of the activities listed above, it is an extremely good idea for you to see a chiropractor to have your balance checked prior to an unexpected episode of dizziness, instead of as a response to such an episode. Why? Because as a chiropractor, I can not only check your balance, and make corrections if necessary, but can aid you in maintaining good balance in the future. And, of course, having good balance may save you from serious injury or worse.
Balance disorders are risky at any age. If you believe that you might have a possible balance disorder, it is crucial for you to be evaluated and treated without delay. 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 isolated 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 you sustain a work injury! Call a Chiropractor today, and if you’re in the Cincinnati area, I’d love to be your Cincinnati Chiropractor!
Your Chiropractor in Oxnard Offers An Unexpected Solution to Your Allergy Discomfort
Dr. Donald Bolt, your Chiropractor in Oxnard, is aware that allergic reactions can make your daily activities unpleasant. A stroll in the park, a play date with Kitty, a seafood dinner, or even something as small as a nut feasibly can result in such miserable symptoms as itchy eyes, a runny nose, sneezing, or a skin rash.
However, quite often a person’s allergic reactions can increase from just plain aggravating to serious and even life-threatening as the air passageway begins to close and breathing becomes labored. This kind of development of difficulties can typically produce a state of extreme stress and also a trip to the ER.
Allergy symptoms can, indeed, change into an incredibly serious disburbance and cause you to feel sidelined and not able to take part in daily life. In point of fact, if you are one of those unfortunate individuals who have allergies, it may perhaps appear to you that, every once in awhile, your environment is a pretty antagonistic space and that the world around you is, actually, out to get you!
Perhaps you wonder why it is that other human beings seem to be so invulnerable to the identical environmental challenges that send your body into overwhelm. Others seem either unaware of or plainly`totally unresponsive to the would-be irritants that lie in wait at every turn, while your body reacts, or rather overreacts, to them. Why you? It’s a logical question. The answer is that many folks, such as you, have a hyperactive immune system that virtually “goes wild” whenever you come upon everyday substances such as pollen, dander, shellfish, or nuts.
Can your Oxnard Chiropractor assist you in obtaining a significant decrease in your allergy symptoms? Happily, the answer is a booming “Yes,” and the explanation might surprise you. Many chiropractic patients have noticed that they experience freedom from their allergy symptoms following a chiropractic treatment, even though chiropractic care doesn’t necessarily directly address allergies, per se. The scientific explanation for the decrease in allergy symptoms is because chiropractic manipulation affects your complete nervous system, which includes the autoimmune system, which is at the root of your allergic responses. Whenever there is a dysfunction within the nervous system, coupled with other problems, the autoimmune system, whose job it is to allow you to adapt and respond appropriately to your environment, has the potential to become under-active or overactive. When it comes to your allergies, the reaction is the latter (it becomes overactive).
Because chiropractic adjustments are intended to lessen or even entirely remove disruptions within the nervous system and recreate symmetry and relaxation to the entire body, together with a variety of corrections, the manipulations restore homeostasis to the autoimmune system also. A vigorous immune system responds properly to so-called allergens in the environment.
So, as pointed out previously, your Chiropractor in Oxnard doesn’t actually target allergy symptoms, nevertheless that doesn’t indicate your allergies won’t improve or go away completely. On the other hand, you could point out, instead, that relief from your allergies is solely the consequence of your rebalanced nervous system. If you would like to get back into harmony with your environment as quickly as is possible, visit Dr. Bolt, your Chiropractor in Oxnard, today. He will help you get your life back!
Chiropractor in Wichita Advises: Don’t Let The Pain of Sciatica Ruin Your Life
As a Wichita Chiropractor for more than twenty years, I have treated many individuals suffering from sciatic pain, I’m truly aware from experience just how disabling sciatic pain can be. Sciatica sufferers are regrettably all too familiar with the deep radiating pain that persists during the day and restricts almost all of their daily activities.
Could your low back pain be 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 your leg(s), and possibly radiates into your knee(s). Also, not solely motion, but even sitting can be painful. Frequently lying down will decrease, or occasionally even temporarily eliminate the pain. But, you should be alerted to the fact that sciatica cannot be corrected without proper care.
Radiculopathy
A radiculopathy is a medical term used to describe a condition where a disc has protruded from its natural position in the spine and is putting pressure on the radicular nerve (nerve root) that forms part of the sciatic nerve in the lower back. This type of pressure is extremely painful.
Additional pressure on the intervertebral discs, as well as imbalances in the muscles encasing the spine, can take place during and after long periods of sitting, especially in an awkward position. A specific event or injury isn’t generally the cause of sciatica, instead sciatica is likely to progress over time due to everyday wear and tear on the vertebrae of the lower spine. Over the course of time the lower spine can lose its normal functioning capabilities during common stresses.
When this occurs, the intervertebral disc undergoes small fissures or cracks that then let the soft nucleus to protrude the disc outward. If the disc pushes on sensitive tissues, it produces the pain that is commonly called a ruptured, or slipped, disc. Sciatica is the result of the disc pressing on the spinal nerve. Fortunately, most disc challenges, including sciatica, can be completely relieved with chiropractic treatment and management that often includes postural exercises.
Periformis Syndrome
Periformis syndrome is another cause of sciatic pain. Periformis syndrome develops when the periformis muscle, which is superficial to the sciatic nerve, goes into spasm and irritates the nerve. In combination with chiropractic treatment, this kind of sciatica can be significantly relieved by sciatica stretches that your chiropractor will advise you on.
If you are experiencing sciatic pain, it is essential for you to see your chiropractor for treatment. If you are in the Wichita area, as your Chiropractor in Wichita, I invite you to come in to see if I can get you out of pain and help you to get your life back!
Scoliosis and Chiropractic Therapies
When the body is looked at from behind, a normal spine appears straight without much alteration from side-to-side.Scoliosis is an affliction that is generally associated with a lateral, or side-to-side, curvature of the spine.The condition shouldn’t be confused with bad posture, even though it often gives the appearance that the individual is leaning to one side. Scoliosis is a troublesome deformity that is defined by both lateral curvature and rotation of the vertebra often causing a symptomatic “rib hump” in the mid or thoracic spine. This is caused by the vertebrae in the zone of the major curve rotating toward the concavity and pushing their attached ribs posterior thus causing the distinctive rib hump seen in thoracic scoliosis. If the thoracic curve and rib rotation are severe, more than 70 degrees, pulmonary and cardiac function can be obstructed. Often later in life in untreated severe idiopathic infantile and juvenile scoliosis patients, this amount of curve and consequential cardiac and pulmonary changes can be life threatening.
Anatomy
If you were to view the trunk from a side view, the spine would reveal four normal curves: the cervical, thoracic, lumbar, and sacral. The thoracic, in the chest vicinity, has a healthy round curve, “reversed C,” called a kyphosis, while in the lower spine there is a normal “C” curve, known as swayback or lordosis. Increased kyphosis in the thoracic area is called hyperkyphosis, while heightened swayback is termed, hyperlordosis. Scoliosis changes generally accompany alterations from normal on a side view. Some round back deformities are simply due to bad posture and can often be resolved with postural exercises. A small number of people with kyphosis have more rigid deformities than the postural type, which are coincidental with vertebral deformity. This kind of deformity, called Scheuermann’s kyphosis, is much more difficult to treat than postural kyphosis, and it’s cause is unknown.
Almost anyone can help to identify a child or grownup with scoliosis merely by observing the person in a standing position, preferably without a shirt and in boxers, and observing the following:
- One shoulder may be more elevated than the other.
- One scapula (shoulder blade) may be more elevated or more pronounced than the other.
- With the arms hanging loosely at the sides, there may be more room between the arm and the body on one side.
- One hip may appear to be raised or more prominent than the other.
- The head is not aligned with the pelvis.
- When the person is viewed from the rear and asked to bend forward until the spine is horizontal, one side of the back looks higher than the other.
The child or adult should be sent to a healthcare professional, such as a chiropractor, for further evaluation once scoliosis is suspected. your chiropractor would be happy to help.
There are various origins and many types of scoliosis, but the most common, by far, is Idiopathic Scoliosis, which accounts for nearly 85 % of all cases. “Idiopathic” means “no known cause” and is seen with equal occurrence in boys and girls in the mild or low curve magnitudes. This affliction can be sub-classified into infantile, juvenile and adolescent types, depending upon the age of onset. Idiopathic Scoliosis may be due to genetic or hereditary influences as it frequently runs in families. For reasons yet to be found, girls are five to eight times more likely than boys to have their curves grow in size and require treatment. The most common time for the development of Idiopathic Scoliosis is during adolescence when children are completing the last major growth spurt. Unfortunately, at this age young people are hesitant to allow their body to be seen by parents and other adults, so it is smart to have this age group examined on a regular basis.
It is vital that if a scoliotic curve is found in a growing adolescent, the curves be monitored for any change by a periodic examination and from time to time standing x-rays. In ninety percent of conditions, the scoliosis is mild and does not require active treatment, though| increases in spinal deformity demand evaluation to decide if a brace or other therapy is needed. In a small number of patients, surgical treatment may be required.~Surgery may be needed for a small number of people.
Brace support (orthosis) is recommended for both juvenile and adolescent children when an increase in their scoliosis or kyphosis is observed, or when new conditions of moderate scoliosis or abnormal kyphosis are discovered. There are a number of kinds of braces, all made to prevent curves from increasing through the process of acting as a buttress for the spine during active skeletal growth. Braces generally won’t make the spine completely straight, and cannot always keep a curve from increasing. But, bracing is successful in halting curve progression in a significant portion of skeletally-immature adolescents.
Scoliosis has no simple resolution. The majority of cases, even though often monitored, are not actively treated. Severe symptoms are sometimes treated surgically, but the common medical treatment for moderate symptoms is a brace. You may want to see your local chiropractor first.
Along with bracing, many other therapies have been used successfully including specialized exercise, electric stimulation of spinal muscles, nutritional programs, and chiropractic treatments. It appears that the best results have been sustained with a multi-faceted approach to the care of this affliction.
There are chiropractors, that have excellent success treating scoliosis cases.
Do Tension Headaches or Migraines Interfere With Your Life?
Do you suffer from tension headaches or migraines? If so, you are painfully aware of their incapacitating effects.
Tension headaches: Like it or not, life can be a pain, sometimes, and turn into a tension headache. Many people have experienced more than one. If you’ve had a tension headache, then you probably experience it as a dull, painful ache in your head that is commonly accompanied by a feeling of tightness or pressure along your forehead or on the sides and back of your head. Occasionally, you might feel a tenderness of your scalp, neck and shoulder muscles, and at times you may experience a loss of appetite.
Tension headaches are commonly defined as mild to moderately intense. The severity of the pain varies from one headache to another in the same person, as well as from one individual to another You may have tension headaches regularly or they may take place infrequently. Your headaches are considered chronic if they happen fifteen or more days a month for a minimum of three months. If tension headaches are interferring with your life, chiropractic care may be the remedy. Get in touch with your chiropractor today.
Migraine Headaches: Migraine headaches differ from the average tension-related headache. As reported by the National Headache Foundation, migraines often take place on one side of the head only. The throbbing or pulsating pain is accompanied by nausea or vomiting. One-fifth of migraine sufferers have auras, visual manifestions an hour before a migraine attack, and distrubances like pulsating light, lines or dots.
Do you experience the painful symptoms of migraines? If you do, you know the distressing, incapacitating effects that this kind of condition can have on your life. Unfortunately, you probably know by now that conventional over-the-counter medications are ineffective, and prescription drugs all too often have harmful side effects. Even so, the pain of a migraine can incapacitate you for hours, days, even a lifetime. It’s time to finally get rid of the pain and get your life back! Chiropractic treatment has been proven to be powerful in relieving and eliminating migraine headaches. Make an appointment with your chiropractor today!
Fat in the Front Means Pain in the Back
There is a large number of men and women today battling to lose weight, notably excess weight around the middle. However, the imperative to lose weight is, quite frequently, more than just a cosmetic issue. In actuality, if people are walking around with too much weight in their midsection, their back is going to suffer as a result.
The majority of individuals who are overweight suffer from moderate to severe back pain. The reason for this is because the spine was not designed to move something that is more substantial in weight than the body is at its naturally healthy weight. As an individual puts on extra poundage, the spine starts to unduly stress and to compress, causing a lot of pain and discomfort. Additionally, it can have an impact on the pelvis, tilting it forward and perhaps forcing it to pinch the sciatic nerve. That is one of the main reasons why individuals who are overweight tend to have problems with their lower back. The pain is due to either sciatica or the distorting of the spinal column.
If this condition sounds painfully familiar, and you’d like to get out pain, certainly the thing to do is to take off the extra weight that you are lugging around, and your spine will begin to respond and go back into its regular position. Regrettably, losing those pounds is hard and it can take time, even with the best of intentions. However, on a positive note you don’t have to continue to experience back pain as you lose the weight. A chiropractor can offer the pain relief you’ll want as you shed the extra pounds.
Even so, you will still need to lose the additional poundage, and not having back pain will genuinely help you do it. Two things that are simple (but not necessarily easy), but will be highly beneficial to you in losing the extra weight naturally are getting some sort of exercise, even if it’s just a small amount per day, and modifying the food you eat so that you are taking in less calories than you are using throughout the day. Sure, you’ve heard about these two things before. Nonetheless, now that you know your back is depending on you, it’s the perfect time to get truly galvanized for success.
Start exercising slowly, expressly if you’re having problems with back pain. And, most importantly, be sure to seek out chiropractic care so that you don’t go wrong the way many people do, which is exercising into the pain. That will without a doubt make your condition worse. Exercise, though occasionally uncomfortable, should never be painful or cause pain. That’s why it’s essential to see a chiropractor if you’re experiencing back pain.
Do simple stretching exercises and also concentrate on your core abdominal body muscles. Strong stomach muscles help to ease back pain. Your chiropractor will be able to provide exercises that are best for you, individually. After a very short period of dedication to shedding the pounds that are creating your back pain and perhaps other health difficulties as well, you most likely being to notice a dramatic difference in the way that you feel.
Sports Injuries and Chiropractic Care, The Perfect Solution
Sports injuries, today are not just limited to professional athletes or boys who participate in school sports programs. Today, a large number of people of both sexes and all ages are regularly participating in sports and fitness activities. There are women playing traditionally men’s sports such as soccer, basketball, and kick-boxing. The vast majority of both sexes play golf, tennis, basketball, and/or participate in aerobic activities like running. Regrettably, risk of injury is always a possibility with any sports activity.
Nearly all of injuries generally fit into two groups: 1) traumatic injury, such as a slip, fall, or collision and, 2) repetitive stress or overuse injury.
Traumatic Injuries
These injuries create the debilitating problems often associated with trauma. A high percentage of traumatic injuries are to the ligaments, the tissue that connects bone to bone, and to body muscles, although fractures and dislocations do happen at times, in particular with contact sports. Damage to a ligament is called a sprain, while trauma to a muscle or its tendon is a strain. The most frequent places for these types of injuries are the ankles, knees, and shoulders, nevertheless other areas can be affected including the low back and neck. Because the spinal cord and/or spinal nerves can be harmed, injury to the neck and low back can be extremely serious.
Traumatic injuries can vary from a mild “muscle pull” or ankle twist to a serious problem requiring surgery. It all depends upon the degree of tearing of the tissues, the location, and the age of the person. Some degree of swelling takes place with most sprains and strains. But, with certain injuries, particularly those of the ankle and knee, there can be some internal bleeding as well. Strains and sprains demand appropriate attention, especially during the initial stages of an injury, to insure correct healing and avoid future disability. Therapy from a competent health-care professional, such as your Santa Barbara chiropractor, is highly expedient.
If you’ve sustained an injury, the best course of action is to see a professional. Until assistance is attainable, remember the acronym, PRICE:
P Protect injury to prevent additional damage
R Rest the injured area
I Ice injury to abate swelling, bleeding, muscle spasm, and pain
C Compress injury with a specifically designed or elastic bandage to support injured tissues
E Elevate the injury, particularly when dealing with ankles and knees
By all means it is important to get the injury properly evaluated by a chiropractor, or other competent health professional, to ascertain the amount of damage. Nearly all of these injuries can recover, although they do need knowledgeable treatment during the various stages of healing. If not carefully monitored and treated, a sprain or strain injury can result in long-lasting joint instability, painful or weak joints and muscles, and lack of mobility. A chiropractor that is trained in the treatment of sports injuries can give expert advice and management you’ll need to insure that your injury will recoverl in the best possible way. Call your chiropractor if you have sustained a traumatic injury.
Overuse or Repetitive Strain Injuries
These injuries are becoming more prevalent, especially among individuals going out for sports such as golf, tennis, bowling, and any other activity that necessitates the same movement over and over (repetitively). An activity as uncomplex and healthy as running, especially on a treadmill, can also be a factor.
Repetitious activity can frequently create a very slight strain to tissues, expressly tendons and muscles. But, it is the accumulative effects of the repetition that causes the more serious problem. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is one of the most common types of overuse injuries. Over time the muscle or other affected tissue develops changes that no longer allow it to function correctly, resulting in pain, stiffness and disability. Certain factors predispose a person to these sorts of injury. Some are “intrinsic,” i.e., the factor is found within a person’s own body. Other factors are “extrinsic,” which means that the factors are external and can generally be changed or controlled by the individual.
Some of the most widespread intrinsic factors for injury
Age is the most common intrinsic factor for injury. The older a person is, the easier it is for that individual to get injured. Congenital abnormalities are another factor. There are those who are born with joint or muscle problems. And, finally, previous injuries are a factor as they often keep the joints or muscles from functioning properly.
Extrinsic factors for injury
Extrinsic factors are numerous. For instance, sports equipment can insufficient–an inappropriate grip size of tennis racket or worn-out running shoes are clear examples, even a playing surface can be a factor, e.g., a too-hard surface for soccer or an uneven treadmill. Improper technique in any sport, such as an incorrect golf grip is, as they say, an injury waiting to happen Another factor is poor conditioning. Some individuals are injured because they are deconditioned. Added frequency or extended duration of an activity, without easing slowly, can cause the conditions for injury. Insufficient flexibility can produce injury if a person is too stiff to do an activity properly. Lack of warm-up, like stretching and suitable preparation, is a common factor in injuries. And, lastly, and maybe surprising to some, stress is a factor. Muscles that are tense and inflexible as the result of stress are too tight and, hence, unprepared for most sports activities.
It is important to remember that the majority of factors are extrinsic and, consequently, they are factors that can be individually controlled. Before starting a new sport, or as a way to prevent injury in a current sport, it’s wise to get an assessment of your current body condition. If you’ve been injured, it is crucial to seek out a experienced professional, like a chiropractor, to diagnose the nature of the injury and design a plan of care. If left untreated, an injury will not only prohibit someone from participating in a favorite activity, but can significantly affect someone’s life in general. Treatment such as joint manipulation, massage, bracing, and specific exercises is often required to stabilize the condition. A chiropractor is your best source of help. Call a chiropractor if you’re either thinking of beginning a new activity, you’re feeling pain related to a current sports activity, or you’ve sustained a sports injury. Your Chiropractor has years of experience helping people just like you.