Archive for chiropractic
Santa Barbara Chiropractor: "No Pain, No Gain?" Not When It Comes to Getting Older
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’re over forty years old you know that as we age our body doesn’t feel or respond the same way as it did when we were younger. It hardly seems fair that as our mind appears to improve and become more “inventive,” our body seems to become less “cooperative.” We’re stiff when we get out of bed; certain activities during the day make us sore at night; and, if we’re not mindful, even something as simple as turning too fast or bending over to pick up a dropped object, can cause our back or some other muscle group to go into spasm. The good news is that there is natural treatment for us, “boomers,” that can not only slow down the aging process of the body, but help us to avoid some of those problems altogether.
Take arthritis for instance. In point of fact, barring pharmaceuticals, conventional medicine fails to take care of this age-related affliction. What is the reason? It is because most medical professionals treat the symptoms of arthritis. Chiropractic care, on the other hand, not only is beneficial in relieving the pain of arthritis, naturally, without drugs, but it finds the origin of the affliction and eliminates it. For more than a hundred years, chiropractors, like your Santa Barbara Chiropractor, have been treating people suffering from back pain and other conditions created by arthritic changes in the musculoskeletal system.
Arthritic changes occur as your body ages because, over time, wear of particular joints takes place as a consequence of repetitive stresses, as well as years of incorrect gait, improper posture, and insufficient movement. Chiropractic treatment restores motion back into your joints and reduces pain, and it readjusts any vertebral misalignment that may be causing irritation and restriction. In addition to causing arthritic changes in the spine and increasing pain, did you know that misaligned vertebra can also lower your resistance and immunity? It’s true, and this may be one of the reasons why it may seem to you that as you get older you experience more health problems and that it often takes longer for you to feel better again. Studies have shown that older individuals who are under chiropractic care stay healthier. In fact, you could say that, as you get older, chiropractic treatment 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 is experienced in working with the aging process of the body and has special observational and diagnostic skills that assist in finding spinal misalignments and joint problems. In fact, a chiropractic examination can frequently reveal certain age-related changes before they’ve begun to create noticeable pain. Furthermore, your Santa Barbara Chiropractor can check your posture and analyze your gait to determine if there are any faulty patterns that could create further arthritic changes.
So, if feeling your age has become a painful experience, make an appointment with your Santa Barbara Chiropractor today!
Chiropractic Treatment and Tai Chi Practice Relieve Knee Pain
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Knee X-ray
Research done by Tufts University School of Medicine has found that patients that are at least 65 years of age or older with knee osteoarthritis (OA), and who practice Tai Chi, enhanced their physical function and encountered a decrease in pain. Osteoarthritis is a prevalent form of arthritis that brings about a breakdown of joint cartilage. Chiropractors help many people who have developed OA in a number of places in the body, including the knee joints. Knee pain and disability is one of the most commonplace dysfunctions of the musculoskeletal system, second only to spinal complaints. In fact, an astounding 4.3 million US adults over 60 years of age have been diagnosed with knee OA, according to the CDC, and it anticipates that half of the men and women in America may incur symptoms of OA in at least one knee by age 85. Knee osteoarthritis results in pain, mobility limitations, dysfunction and disability, and a decreased quality of life.
You may be asking why so many men and women develop OA. Inordinate stress over a period of time is a major determinant in the majority of musculoskeletal conditions that develop as we get older. Therefore, as people age they are more susceptible to developing OA in their joints, including the knees. Abnormal mechanics of the knee, improper gait, compensatory foot mechanics as a consequence of foot pain, and overuse of the knee joint all produce excessive stress on the knees. Eventually arthritic changes in the knee joint take place. In addition to chiropractic care, chiropractors wholeheartedly advocate natural, drug-free practices, such as Tai Chi (Chuan), that can decrease knee pain. A traditional style of Chinese martial arts,Tai Chi features slow, rhythmic movements that produce mental relaxation, as well as improved balance, an increase in strength, and improved flexibility.
The 40 men and women selected for the Tufts study were, on average, 65 years of age, overweight, and with confirmed osteoarthritis of the knee. Otherwise they were healthy. Individuals were picked at random to take part 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 type of range of motion, flexibility, muscle conditioning, and aerobic workout that is compatible with prevailing exercise advice for osteoarthritis. Furthermore, researchers noted that the “mental aspect” of Tai Chi promoted a sense of well-being, life satisfaction, and personal concepts of health that helped the participants to deal differently with chronic pain. Compared with the control group, the group practicing Tai Chi experienced 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.
Santa Barbara Chiropractor: Get Relief From the Pain of Sciatica With Chiropractic Care
Posted by: | CommentsYour Santa Barbara Chiropractor knows that sciatica is an extremely painful condition. If you suffer from sciatic pain, you are, unfortunately, all too experienced with the deep pain that shadows your waking hours and interferes with your daily activities.
Sciatic pain commonly travels from your low back, through the buttock(s), and down the large sciatic nerve in the back of your leg(s). Frequently, the pain may even radiate into your knee. Motion and sitting, alike can be painful. On occasion lying down will decrease, or perhaps briefly eliminate, the pain. However, sciatica will not go away permanently without proper treatment.
“Radiculopathy,” the medical term for the clinical diagnosis of sciatica, means simply that a disc has bulged from its original position in the vertebral column and is causing pressure on the radicular nerve (nerve root) in the lower back, which forms part of the sciatic nerve. Such pressure is extraordinarily painful.
Added pressure on the intervertebral discs, as well as imbalances in the muscles encompassing the spine, can happen during and after extended sitting, especially in a improper position. Usually, a specific event or definite injury doesn’t create sciatica, but, on the contrary, it tends to develop over time as a by-product of general wear and tear on the structures of the lower spine. Over time the lower spine loses its ability to function normally during everyday stresses.
Finally, the intervertebral disc develops small fissures, or cracks, which then lets the soft nucleus extend the disc outward. If the disc presses on sensitive tissues, it generates the pain that is generally referred to as a slipped disc. If the disc presses on the spinal nerve, an individual can develop sciatica.
Most disc challenges, including sciatica, can be alleviated with chiropractic adjustments and therapies that usually includes postural exercises. If you are experiencing sciatic pain, it is important for you to seek chiropractic attention.
If you suffer from tension headaches or migraines, Santa Barbara Chiropractic knows that you are painfully aware of their dibilitating impact.
Tension headaches: Like it or not, life can be a pain, now and then, and end up as a tension headache. Most individuals have been impacted by more than one. If you are someone who’s had a tension headache, then you probably experience it as a dull, painful ache in your head that is sometimes accompanied by a sensation of tightness or pressure along your forehead or on the sides and back of your head. Sometimes, you might feel a tenderness of your scalp, neck and shoulder muscles, and occasionally you may experience a loss of appetite.
Tension headaches are generally characterized 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 develop tension headaches all the time or they may take place from time to time. If your headaches occur fifteen or more days a month for a minimum of three months, they’re considered chronic. If tension headaches are interrupting your life, chiropractic treatment may be the remedy. Contact your chiropractor today.
Migraine Headaches: Migraine headaches differ from the average tension-related headache. As reported by the National Headache Foundation, migraines frequently occur on only one side of the head. The throbbing or pulsating pain is accompanied by nausea or vomiting. One-fifth of migraine sufferers have auras, visual disruptions an hour before a migraine attack, and symptoms such as pulsating light, lines or dots.
Are you an individual who suffers from migraines? If you are, you know the disruptive, debilitating effects that this kind of affliction can have on your life. The pain of a migraine headache can put you out of commission for hours, for days, for a lifetime, and standard over-the-counter medications are not only ineffective but, like prescription drugs, they all too frequently have alarming side effects. It’s time to finally get rid of the pain and get your life back! chiropractic management has been proven to be highly beneficial in relieving and eliminating migraine headaches. Call your chiropractor today!
Chiropractic Santa Barbara: Chiropractic Treatment Can Eliminate Hip Pain
Posted by: | CommentsChiropractic Santa Barbara is an expert when it comes to relieving hip pain. Do you feel pain in one or both hips whenever you rotate them or when you cross your legs? Does the pain keep you awake at night and make it hard to get a good night’s rest? When you get up in the morning, or when you get out of your car, are you stiff and do you find it initially difficult to move your legs? If any of these symptoms sound familiar, then it is likely that you have imbalances and alignment problems in your lower extremities that, in addition to causing hip pain, can eventually lead to degenerative joint disease in your hips if not addressed.
Even though hip pain and related problems are ordinarily signs of age-related degenerative conditions, especially osteoarthritis of the hip joint, osteoarthritis isn’t always the perpetrator. In fact, rather than being the original cause of the 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 injury such as an ankle sprain or knee strain, can produce hip pain. Moreover, your gait may reposition to compensate for new body demands such as a job change, an alteration in the way you sit, a new sport or activity, or if you start driving for long periods of time on a regular basis..
In addition, gait asymmetries can occur from leg length variances, foot pronation conditions, even carrying a baby or small child on your hip. Strictly speaking, anything that generates an asymmetry or imbalance when you are moving can cause painful hip problems.
As part of the chiropractic management of your hip problem, along with adjustments, your chiropractor may suggest that you wear orthotics. Your chiropractor will also offer applicable progressive rehabilitative exercises that include muscle stretching and strengthening.
hip pain won’t vanish on its own. Hip pain is a signal that something needs correcting. Get out of pain, get back in balance, and get your life back now!
Chiropractic Santa Barbara: Is Foot Pain Keeping You One Step Behind in Life?
Posted by: | CommentsChiropractic Santa Barbara treats plenty of feet, that is to say, relieves a lot of foot pain and also provides corrective information and training to help individuals avoid foot problems in the future. 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.
