Bones

Surprise: Chiropractors Can Treat These 5 Conditions

March 16, 2018 blog@chiroaddict.com

Read on if you’re stressed, have a migraine or struggle with flexibility.

Chiropractors are trained as neuromusculoskeletal specialists, and one of the main focuses of chiropractic care is the positive impact it can have on a person’s nervous system.

You might think chiropractors are only able to help with back aches, stiff necks, slipped discs and whiplash injuries. If so, you’re not alone – but you’re missing out.

Chiropractic care – which is based on the understanding that, given the opportunity, the mind and body can heal itself – can treat many issues that might surprise you.

Here’s a look at the top five most surprising conditions a chiropractor can treat:

1. Migraines and tension headaches

Nine out of 10 Americans suffer from headaches. Some are occasional. Some are persistent. Some are dull and nagging, while others cause debilitating pain and nausea. Taking a painkiller and hoping your headache goes away is one option. But there’s a better one.

Research shows that spinal manipulation – the primary form of care provided by chiropractic doctors – is an effective way to treat tension headaches and headaches that begin in the neck.

In a clinical trial conducted at Macquarie University, 72 percent of migraine sufferers experienced either “substantial” or “noticeable” improvement after a period of chiropractic treatment.

In fact, most headaches are related to muscle tension in the neck, which is an increasingly common condition among Americans who spend hours in the same position or posture (such as in front of a computer or television), leading to joint irritation and tension in the upper back and scalp that cause headaches.

What Can a Doctor of Chiropractic Do?

Perform spinal manipulation or chiropractic adjustments to improve spinal function and alleviate stress on your system.
Provide nutritional advice, recommending a change in diet or the addition of vitamins.
Offer advice on posture, ergonomics, exercises and relaxation techniques.

2. Stress and anxiety

We perceive stress from three basic sources: our environment, our body and our emotions.

Environmental stress includes noise, weather, physical threats, time pressures and performance standards. Body stress includes disease processes, organ malfunction, poor nutrition, poor sleep and physical injury. And emotional stress is more difficult to define, but it encompasses our reactions, in both thought and emotion, to environmental and physical stressors.

Jobs today are increasingly complex as the business world becomes more and more competitive. Physical stresses such as sound, air and water pollution have also grown worse over the last century – especially in the United States – and so have emotional and psychological stresses caused by an increasing awareness of troubles and tragedies around the globe, brought to our attention every hour by the Internet and its 24/7 news cycle.

Many illnesses are caused or worsened by stress, which activates our “fight or flight” reaction. This systemic reaction affects almost every part of the body, as the hypothalamus in the brain stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, which causes an increase in heart rate, blood volume and blood pressure, redirecting blood away from our digestive system and extremities.

When prolonged, the long-term effects of this state can be disastrous to good health and cause high blood pressure, muscle tissue damage, diabetes, infertility, damage to the immune system and slowed healing from disease and injury.

Chiropractors work primarily with the spine – the root of the nervous system through which nerve impulses travel between the brain and the rest of the body – and can help the body manage and process this stress in a healthier way.

What Can a Doctor of Chiropractic Do?

Chiropractors can release muscle tension, one effect of chronic stress that leads to nerve irritation and creates uneven pressures on the body’s bony structures, which can cause the spinal column to become misaligned. This, in turn, helps the body return to a more balanced, relaxed state.
Chiropractic adjustments can reduce spinal nerve irritation and improve blood circulation, which can help signal the brain to turn off the “fight or flight” response and begin the healing process.
A doctor of chiropractic can suggest nutritional supplements, like B complex vitamins, to help the body cope with stress.
A chiropractor can also recommend relaxation techniques and discuss posture and environmental changes to help you recover from chronic stress.

3. Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a chronic disorder involving widespread pain and sensitivity throughout the entire musculoskeletal system. To be diagnosed with FM, a patient typically has a minimum of 11 out of 18 specific tender points on the body. In addition to pain, patients also report long-term fatigue and/or disturbed sleep and mood. Other disorders commonly associated with FM include irritable bowel syndrome, TMJ pain and dysfunction, psychological conditions and some autoimmune diseases.

Fibromyalgia is a widespread condition that affects about 2 percent of the United States, and medical science has yet to discover the cause of this condition.

Since those with FM often experience an altered mood, like depression, many experts focus on the psychological aspect of the disease. Others feel that FM is more physiological and has its origins in physical trauma or chronic postural alterations. Still others suggest that FM is a central nervous system disorder rooted in neurochemical imbalances, since those with FM are hypersensitive to even the slightest stimuli and often have a pain response to normally non-painful pressure or activity. Since all information from the outside world is collected and analyzed by the nervous system, it’s logical to assume that if a person with FM is sensitive to a stimulus that others are not, there may be something wrong with this system.

It’s often difficult for patients to find solutions for all of their symptoms, but recent studies show that chiropractic adjustments combined with a soft tissue technique called ischemic compression can help FM patients.

In one study, 60 percent of the subjects treated by a chiropractor experienced a significant improvement: reduced pain, improved sleep and decreased fatigue.

What Can a Doctor of Chiropractic Do?

Chiropractors are trained as neuromusculoskeletal specialists, and one of the main focuses of chiropractic care is the positive impact it can have on a person’s nervous system. Therefore, chiropractic adjustments can improve a FM patient’s nervous system, which gives them a better chance for recovery.
Chiropractic care can treat pressure points, back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, headaches and pain from musculoskeletal injuries.
Chiropractors can also reduce a patient’s overall pain through spinal adjustments that increase the mobility between spinal vertebrae, which have become restricted, locked or slightly out of proper position, thereby increasing cervical and lumbar range of motion.

4. Weak immune systems

The nervous system, endocrine system and immune system are inextricably linked. Together they share tiny messenger molecules that mediate communication between them, creating optimal responses for the body to adapt and heal appropriately.

Until recently, one of these messenger molecules, IL-2, was thought of as an immune system molecule. But recent studies have clearly shown its presence and activity in the nervous system, leading researchers to believe that neural dysfunctions due to spinal misalignments are stressful to the body and can cause abnormal changes that lead to a poorly coordinated immune response.

Subluxation is the term for misalignments of the spine that cause compression and irritation of nerve pathways, affecting the body’s organs. Subluxations are an example of physical nerve stress that affects neuronal control. According to researchers, such stressful conditions lead to altered measures of immune function and an increased susceptibility to a variety of diseases.

It’s important to note here how the endocrine system also impacts the immune system by producing cortisol in the adrenal glands – endocrine glands that are directly connected to the nervous system through the sympathetic nervous system – a stress hormone that inhibits the immune system.

If the sympathetic nervous system is too “switched on” due to stress and subluxation, it can increase the adrenal glands’ synthesis of cortisol, in turn affecting the immune system.

What Can a Doctor of Chiropractic Do?

Chiropractic care is the only way to detect and eliminate subluxation, and chiropractic adjustments have been shown to reduce the stress on the nervous system, thereby boosting the coordinated responses of the nervous and immune systems.
One research group found that when an adjustment was applied to a subluxated area, the white blood cell count collected rose significantly.
Another study measured the effects of six months of regular chiropractic care on the immune system function of HIV patients. At the end of six months of care, the patients who had received regular adjustments showed a 48 percent increase in the number of CD4+ T cells, whereas patients who had not been adjusted showed an 8 percent decrease in CD4+ T cells.

5. Flexibility

When we’re younger, it’s easy to take our extensive range of motion and flexibility for granted. As we age, a number of health conditions – and the cumulative effects of wear and tear – can affect our ability to move the way we used to.

But a decrease in range of motion and flexibility can result in a downward spiral of disability.

For example, an injury or degenerative condition that causes pain, swelling and stiffness, may limit our flexibility and range of motion. When this happens, we may avoid activities that involve the affected body parts, either consciously or unconsciously.

This then becomes a classic case of “use it or lose it.” Without regular exercise, the muscles and joints stiffen, adhesions and scar tissue can form, and mobility may be further reduced. Eventually, a person can become completely incapacitated, and ordinary tasks such as picking up something off the floor or tying your shoes can become extremely challenging or painful.

Regular chiropractic can help increase both range of motion and flexibility.

A study performed by researchers at the Phillip Chiropractic Research Centre of RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, and published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics found that chiropractic adjustments increased range of motion in the 105 patients who participated in the study. There were three phases of this study, in which each of the participants was given no adjustments, fake adjustments or true adjustments. In each phase, the patients who were given the true adjustments showed a significant improvement in range of motion, which was not the case for the other two groups.

What Can a Doctor of Chiropractic Do?

A chiropractor uses spinal adjustments and manipulations to other parts of the body to realign the bones and joints so as to reduce pain, restore range of motion and improve flexibility, balance and coordination.
Your chiropractor can also recommend specific exercises that can be done at home to increase your strength and flexibility so that you’re able to maintain and build upon the gains from your chiropractic adjustments.
Regular chiropractic care can reduce or eliminate the source of your back and joint pain, allowing you to resume your normal activities and to remain more flexible into your golden years.

Today’s article was written by Dr. David L. Starr is the founder of Starr Physical Therapy, Chiropractic and Acupuncture in New York City, where he has successfully practiced chiropractic for the past 18 years. A native New Yorker, Starr graduated from Life College in Atlanta, Georgia and donated his skills to Flying Doctors of American in the Dominican Republic before returning to New York City and establishing a successful, multidisciplinary office in Union Square.

Today’s article is shared from the following website: https://health.usnews.com/health-news/patient-advice/articles/2015/11/30/surprise-chiropractors-can-treat-these-5-conditions

How Are Bones Made and How Do They Grow?

July 21, 2016 oblanderchiropractic

Each of the 206 bones in your body is constantly undergoing a process of breakdown and renewal, even if you have never suffered a broken bone in your life. Your entire skeleton is completely replaced approximately every 10 years. The construction of bone tissue begins when we are a fetus in the womb, and continues until we die. Our genetics and both the nutrients we receive before we are born and those we get through our diet in our youth have a major influence on the strength and endurance of our skeletal system.

Fetal cartilage is the precursor to bone growth, and is transformed into bone in a process called ossification. The fetal cartilage attracts the minerals calcium and phosphorus, which cover the cartilage cells. The fetal cartilage cells soon die off, leaving small holes through which blood vessels can grow. Osteoblasts, the specialized cells responsible for bone growth, travel to the developing bone via these tiny blood vessels. There they produce the collagen fibers that are the structure over which bone is formed, and attract the calcium with which the fibers are covered. Osteoblasts eventually transform into osteocytes, which become part of the calcium mix that helps to reinforce the collagen fibers and strengthen the bone.

Osteoclasts are the cells responsible for breaking down and removing old bone tissue, leaving small chambers that allow marrow to form. The small holes osteoclasts create are why this particular part of the bone is called spongy bone. Although it is hard, spongy bone resembles a common kitchen sponge. In our youth, the osteoblasts outnumber the osteoclasts, so we have a net gain of bone growth. This is when the growth of bone is referred to as modeling. Bone continues to grow until approximately our mid-20s, at which point we have reached our greatest bone density.

From our mid-20s on, our bones are in a constant process of remodeling. At this point, the osteoblasts can no longer keep up with the osteoclasts. While bone is continually being rebuilt, no supplemental bone is being added, so we can begin to lose bone density. Even though our bodies no longer add to our stock of spongy bone tissue after our mid-20s, we can still continue to add bone to the outer layer of our bones, called compact bone. Compact bone accounts for about 80 percent of our bone mass and protects the more fragile spongy bone inside. Although compact bone is considerably denser than spongy bone, it still has tiny channels for blood vessels and nerves to pass through.

Our spongy bone is filled with two types of marrow, red and yellow. Red bone marrow is responsible for the creation of our red and white blood cells and the platelets that are necessary for clotting in order to stop bleeding when we are injured. Yellow bone marrow consists mostly of fat cells and is more common in our long bones, such as the femur.

A healthy diet with adequate amounts of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and vitamin K, along with a little regular weight-bearing exercise, will help ensure that you maintain the greatest bone density possible as you age, and will help protect against the danger of fractures due to osteoporosis.

Building Better Bones for the Long Run

January 19, 2016 oblanderchiropractic

When it comes to leading a healthy, active lifestyle in middle age and beyond, maintaining your bone density (also called “bone mass”) is very important. To really understand the challenges associated with this—and to appreciate the opportunities—it’s necessary to know a little bit about how your skeleton grows and develops over the years.

Your bones are actually a lot more active than most people realize. Even if you’re an adult, somewhere between 7% and 10% of the cells in your bones are replaced during any given year. This means that your entire skeleton will be replaced in about a decade. The bones in the human body are constantly being broken down, reabsorbed and rebuilt, with those experiencing the most daily wear-and-tear being rebuilt the most frequently. This is referred to as “remodeling” or “bone turnover.”

Even though your bones stop growing in length in early adulthood, they can continue to grow in diameter throughout your life in response to activity. When this happens, special cells called osteoblasts form compact bone around the outside of the bone surface while other cells called osteoclasts break down and reabsorb older bone tissue from the internal bone surface. These two processes work together to increase the diameter of the bone while preventing it from becoming too thick and heavy.

Girls achieve up to 90% of their peak bone mass (the amount of bone tissue in the skeleton) by their 18^th birthday. Boys hit that same milestone by the time they’re about 20 years old. Bone mass can keep growing until around age 30 for both men and women. After this point, bone mass tends to remain stable for a number of decades as bone building activities remain roughly in balance with bone resorption activities. However, this balance begins to change and bone mass begins to decline when you reach more advanced years. For women, this drop in bone density is closely related to menopause.

There are essentially three things you can do to maintain healthy bone mass:

Stimulate as much bone growth as possible while you are still young. Timing counts—the higher your peak bone mass is when you hit your early 20s and 30s, the more bone loss you can experience later in life without the risk of osteopenia or osteoporosis. We recognize that, for many readers, this bit of information will come too late. We include it here for the benefit of parents who are still in a position to help their children.
Eat a bone-healthy diet. Calcium, vitamin K and vitamin D are the keys, but vitamin A, vitamin B12 and vitamin C matter too!
Calcium is integral to maintaining bone strength. Dark green, leafy vegetables are the single best source of this mineral. Ounce for ounce, they’re even better than dairy products (which are also good). So the key to feeding your bones is to incorporate more spinach, collard greens, broccoli and bok choy into your diet in addition to dairy (milk, yogurt and cheese). Tofu is often fortified with calcium as well, so a quick stir-fry including tofu, bok choy and sesame seeds (another great source of calcium) makes an excellent bone-healthy meal.

Vitamin K is key to the production of osteocalcin, a bone protein. Vitamin K is needed to bind calcium to the bones and reduces the amount of calcium that is excreted in the urine. It has been shown to promote higher bone density and reduce the risk of fractures. Fortunately, the same dark green, leafy vegetables that are chock full of calcium are also a great source of vitamin K.

Vitamin D is critical for calcium absorption. However, many experts believe that most Americans may be vitamin D deficient, particularly during the winter months when days are short and there is little sunlight. However, the general trends toward less outdoor activity at other times of the year and more sunscreen use may increase the risk of year-round vitamin D deficiency. According to Dr. Michael Holick, a leading vitamin D expert, “We want everyone to be above 30 nanograms per milliliter,” Holick says, “but currently in the United States, Caucasians average 18 to 22 nanograms and African-Americans average 13 to 15 nanograms.” This is perhaps the best argument for vitamin D-enriched milk and supplementation.
Weight-bearing exercise stimulates bone formation and lowers the rate of calcium loss. You can help to increase your bone density at any age by practicing weight-bearing exercise three times per week for 20 to 30 minutes. This can include activities such as lifting weights, walking or running, dancing, playing tennis, climbing stairs, or jumping rope. Remember—even if you get bone-friendly vitamins and minerals, you will still lose bone mass more quickly if you are a couch potato.
Gary Null, in his book Power Aging notes “Weight lifting, including curls and bench presses, is a beneficial activity.” And for those who’d rather not visit the health club, “Dancing, stair-climbing and brisk walking are all weight-bearing exercises, which promote (good) mechanical stress in the skeletal system, contributing to the placement of calcium in bones.” But what about aerobic exercises? While they are very good for your cardiovascular system, “aerobic exercises such as biking, rowing and swimming do not strengthen the bones.” They simply don’t place enough stress on the skeletal system to stimulate bone growth.

Beyond their role in giving your body its shape as well as supporting and moving it, the bones that make up your skeleton do a number of other really important things that are less obvious:

They provide protection for your body’s vital organs.
They are where your red blood cells and lymphocytes are produced (within your bone marrow).
They store important minerals, including calcium and iron, and are involved in metabolizing them.
They help regulate your body’s endocrine system (including regulation of blood sugar and storing fat).

Be good to your bones and they’ll be good to you!

Have any questions? If so, please call or visit our office today!

Additional Resources

To Ensure Bone Health, Start Early. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/05/to-ensure-bone-health-start-early/

Bone Health: Tips to Keep Your Bones Healthy. http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/adult-health/in-depth/bone-health/art-20045060

Maintaining Bone Health: Why Bone Health is Important. http://nihseniorhealth.gov/falls/bonehealth/01.html

Exercise and Physical Activity. http://www.americanbonehealth.org/what-you-should-know/exercise