Do you suffer from chronic pain? Where is it? Is it in your back, wrist, neck, or leg? There are natural solutions to heal chronic pain throughout your body.
It starts with discovering the source of the chronic pain and then creating a treatment plan to address it. Your medical professional can help.
For example, in Doylestown, Pa. You can see a chiropractor to help you pinpoint the reason behind the pain and find natural pain relief.
As you may know, chiropractors practice a safe and effective approach to relieving chronic pain.
Your Spinal Health Matters
When you think about it, it makes sense, chiropractors keep your spine in good working order and your spine is connected to your central nervous system (CNS). Your CNS is responsible for sending and receiving messages throughout your body.
Chiropractors love to say, “your spine is your lifeline” because it’s so critical to your health. It connects your nervous system to everything in your body. When the messages flow easily, everything goes well. Your body works like it’s supposed to and you feel good. When it doesn’t, it’s kind of like when your internet buffers. You notice it and it’s irritating. For some, it’s debilitating.
Chronic pain is wearing. It nags at your central nervous system all the time and often triggers something called “central sensitization” which means you’re more sensitive than before. In other words, chronic pain intensity might mean you move up the pain scale from a 3 to a 7 or an 8 quicker than before. If you’ve ever lost patience or said you were on “your last nerve,” then you’re familiar with the feeling.
However, regular exercise, massage therapy, and chiropractic adjustments can help you feel your best.
Why Do You Have Chronic Pain?
Pain is a warning. It may stem from an injury or a poor posture or overuse of certain muscles (like carpal tunnel.) You might know exactly why you’re in pain and you might not. Yet, everything is connected to your spine and your spine is connected to your brain where the messages originate.
There are 33 bones in the spinal column, plus nerves, muscles, and tissue. From there, everything else in your body is connected. There’s a reason we call chiropractic care an “adjustment.” We adjust your bones, muscles, and tissue and make sure your body is re-aligned.
That way, if your chronic neck pain, for example, originates from the way you jut your head forward from long hours at the computer (it’s a subtle jutting – no one would notice – but it puts a ton of pressure on your body), then your adjustment realigns your neck and takes the pressure off the nearby nerves. You’ll immediately feel better.
In other cases, you might have hurt your back or be suffering from sciatica. Chiropractic care can help with those too. In some cases, you may have a bone pushing into nearby tissue and even the nerve. This is common and chiro care excels in helping you find natural pain relief from pinched nerves and other common pains.
What to Expect From Your Chiropractor
At McQuaite Chiropractic in Doylestown, your first visit starts with X-rays of the painful area. That gives insight into what’s causing your pain and how to best treat you. Next, we’ll make recommendations for your treatment. This could include hot and cold therapy, spinal manipulation, and a modest exercise program. Though it varies for everyone.
You deserve to feel better! If you’re in Doylestown, Pa. or the surrounding area, give us a call. We accept walk-in’s, crawl-in’s and various insurance.
If you’ve heard the dangers of chronic inflammation, you’re probably wondering how you can reduce yours.
A Washington Post article reports that many people don’t even know they have it until it’s already damaging their bodies. In fact, scientists believe chronic inflammation enhances oxidative stress on the body which leads to a host of chronic illnesses, including cancer.
They also agree that many aspects of modern life can trigger chronic inflammation — especially diet and stress.
However, there’s evidence that chiropractic care helps chronic inflammation.
But first, what is inflammation?
What is Inflammation?
There are two kinds of inflammation: acute and chronic inflammation. Acute inflammation is what you experience when you’re chopping veggies and accidentally cut your finger. It throbs and turns red. That’s your body sending blood cells to kill any potential infection and start the healing process.
But chronic inflammation is different. It’s long-lasting, and when your body stays in a state of chronic high-alert, it damages your body. Those white blood cells that rush to destroy infection can attack healthy cells because they mistakenly think those cells are dangerous. Over time, they’ll also attack healthy organs and joints too. It’s a miscommunication in your body where it attacks itself.
Why Does It Occur?
In simple terms, inflammation is a symptom of a larger problem. With acute inflammation, it’s obvious what the problem is and when the broken arm or cut heals, you’ll be fine.
But with chronic inflammation, it can be tough to dig out the underlying problem. Doctors know that many people with chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and Crohn’s disease often suffer from chronic inflammation. But they’re not sure which comes first.
How Does Chiropractic Care Help Chronic Inflammation?
Chiropractic care can help because it opens up the communication channels in your body. You probably think of chiropractic care as something for back pain. That’s true, but it also has applications for chronic inflammation.
The goal of regular chiropractic adjustments is to re-align the vertebrae in your spine. This practice promotes a healthy nervous system, which affects your entire body. It means your brain can send messages easier through your body, and it can reduce your body’s production of cells, promoting inflammation.
Chiropractic care is an integral part of overall wellness and can easily co-exist with traditional medical care.
What Can Other Lifestyle Changes Help?
Your lifestyle plays a big role in reducing inflammation, and all the usual suspects are at play here. Eating a healthy diet, getting regular exercise, and reducing stress is critical for your health and well-being.
Eat Healthy Foods
What you eat plays a role in combating chronic inflammation. The usual culprits, white bread, pasta, red meat, and alcohol, can make the inflammation worse. Whereas a diet heavy on vegetables, lean protein, and healthy fats can help reduce your inflammation.
Exercise Most Days
Aim for four to five sessions a week and make sure you get in a mix of cardio and weight training. You don’t have to go to the gym. Just get out and make sure you have a brisk walk for 30-45 minutes 4-5 x a week and make homemade weights by using filled water bottles. There are also thousands of YouTube videos geared towards everything from kickboxing to yoga.
You may be surprised by what a difference this can make in your health if you do these regularly.
Manage Stress
You knew this was coming, didn’t you? Modern life is stressful, and this past year has been unusually stressful. Stress takes a significant toll on our bodies, so whatever you can do to reduce it is good. Many people find meditation is a powerful way to reduce stress. Again, YouTube can be your friend here. There are many guided meditations there.
You can also simply practice deep breathing, also, reduce your social media time as that can drive anxiety.
Your Next Steps
Chiropractic care helps chronic inflammation and has applications for many other health concerns. Whether you’re new to the practice or you haven’t been in a while, your body will likely benefit.
If you’re in Doylestown, PA, why not give us a call and see if chiropractic care is right for you? Here’s what you can expect on your first visit.
The reasons why are many. Some people go for chronic pain relief while others appreciate it as a part of their overall wellness plan.
Widely known as a natural pain relief option, chiropractic care is probably best known for back pain, neck pain, and shoulder pain.
In fact, The Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center said, “Chiropractors are the highest-rated healthcare practitioner for low-back pain treatments above physical therapists (PTs), specialist physician/MD (i.e., neurosurgeons, neurologists, orthopedic surgeons), and primary care physician/MD (i.e., family or internal medicine).”
Yet, chiropractic care goes beyond back pain.
What is Chiropractic Care?
Harvard Medical School says, “Chiropractic is a system of therapy focused on the structure of the body, particularly the spine. Chiropractors manipulate the body’s alignment to relieve pain and improve function and to help the body heal itself.”
Chiropractors talk about correcting“subluxations.” What’s a subluxation? It’s when one (or more) of your vertebrae is out of alignment. All kinds of things can knock your spine out of alignment including physical accidents, bad posture, and years of sitting hunched over a computer.
As you might guess, it’s a problem because it blocks your body’s communication system and when your brain/body can’t communicate well, then you can feel pain. It’s like a traffic snarl on I-95. You can probably picture the cars jammed up on the highway. That’s similar to your bodies’ lines of communication.
Fortunately, a chiropractic adjustment can help you feel your best. It improves your range of motion, flexibility, and improves relaxation.
Did You Know? Chiropractic Can Help With These 4 Health Conditions
The world of science is always discovering new things. For example, in recent decades, researchers have found that chiro care is useful for the whole family.
1- Allergies – Did you know that seasonal allergies are symptoms of an overactive immune system? They can be. It turns out, those itchy eyes and scratchy throat are symptoms of your body reacting to things like pollen and dust as if they’re “dangerous.” In some cases, chiropractic care can help you find relief from allergy symptoms.
2- Athletes – From high school football stars to weekend golfers, sports can take a toll on your body. Fortunately, chiropractic care is a great part of your wellness plan to both prevent injury and help you heal if you are injured. Find out more about ways chiro care can help athletes be at their best here.
3- Prenatal care – As your pregnant body morphs and expands to encourage the new life growing within you, you may experience all kinds of aches and pains in your body. Gentle stretching, prenatal massage, and chiropractic treatments can help you find relief.
4-Pediatric care – Children of all ages can benefit from a pediatric chiropractor. We’ve helped colicky babies feel better and overly-active kids focus. If you want to know more about how we can help your kids, give us a call at 267-247-7000. We offer a free consultation.
In conclusion, chiropractic care has a place in your family’s wellness plan. We’re located in Doylestown, Pa, across from CB West and have appointments to fit most schedules. We’ll also be happy to answer any questions you may have about chiropractic care and get you back to feeling your best!
When was the last time you woke up with back or neck pain? If you said, “today,” and that’s typical for you, then it’s worth thinking about how you sleep.
As you can imagine, your sleeping position impacts your spinal health. Have you ever fallen asleep in a chair and woken up with a crick in your neck? If so, then your neck needed more support.
The entire purpose of pillows is to cradle your head and neck. Yet, you don’t want it to be too high or low. Ideally, your spine is in a neutral position when you sleep. And by neutral, we mean straight. When your spine is straight, then you’re not twisting it to one side or another for hours on end.
Do you tend to sleep with your pelvis twisted to one side or another? Or, do you sleep on your stomach? Neither of these is good sleeping positions to prevent back or neck pain because they put unnecessary pressure on your spine.
The Best Sleeping Positions to Prevent Back and Neck Pain
These probably won’t surprise you, but the best sleeping positions are on your back or side. You do want to keep your neck well cradled with a good pillow for you, which we’ll cover in a moment, but first, consider the back and side sleeping.
When you’re on your back, with your legs straight out and your arms by your side, your spine is in the straightest position. It’s very happy like this because your body weight is distributed evenly and completely supported. But if you’ve never been a back sleeper, it can be hard to try and train yourself. The easiest way is probably to lay on your back when you’re super tired and allow yourself to relax into the mattress. However, some people find sleeping on their back causes them to snore.
Side sleepers are also in a good place as long as you have a supportive pillow and keep your legs straight. If you’re using an arm for support under your head or pulling your legs up into your chest, then your spine isn’t supported evenly, and you could wake up with back or neck pain.
What’s your preferred sleeping position?
About Those Pillows
There’s a reason there so many types of pillows on the market. From down pillows to memory foam, there’s a pillow for everyone. The right one for you is supporting your neck and head and helping them stay in a straight line with your spine.
If you’re like a lot of people in the Doylestown area, you probably have at least 3 or 4 pillows in your house that you can try. Here’s an exercise you can do to assess them. Take the pillow, put it on your bed, and lie down in your preferred sleeping position. Notice if your neck feels like it’s tilting up or down. Which one feels like it keeps your spine the straightest? If the answer is none, then it may be time for a new pillow.
Of course, if you’re experiencing back and neck pain on a regular basis, it’s a good idea to have it checked out with Dr. Jeff McQuaite in Doylestown, PA. Find out more our neck pain treatment here.
Most people associate chiropractic care with back pain. Yet, your chiropractor can help in other ways too. Take chiropractic for joint pain.
It might make sense that a chiropractic adjustment to your spine can relieve shoulder pain, but you might not think about it helping your knees or ankles, or even wrists. But it’s possible.
The reason why is your entire body is connected. You know this, of course, and if you think back to that old song about the hip bone connected to the thigh bone, that’s a good reminder.
With each bone connected to the next and the nerves acting as the messengers for your brain’s communication system, your body operates as a whole (even if we don’t always treat it as such.)
An Ankle Joint Injury Can Affect Your Body
Take an ankle injury on the left side of your body. It’s likely that the right side will find ways to compensate by adjusting your stride or stance for example. Yet, even micro-adjustments make a difference and you may find yourself with an eventual knee injury on your right side because you “favored” one side. However, a chiropractor may be able to help prevent the second joint injury by helping your body maintain it’s balance and symmetry.
The chiropractic approach is to assess your overall health and where your joint pain is located. Here at McQuaite Chiropractic, we run an x-ray of all new patients so we can see what’s going on. For example, your treatment could incorporate gentle manipulation or short sharp bursts of spinal manipulation.
We have a range of specific tools to relieve pain and improve your mobility including the special chiropractic table, TENS treatment, and a small rubber hammer. You can find out more about our treatments here.
Of course, whether chiropractic can help your joint pain depends on your body.
For example, arthritis can cause joint pain but not all arthritis can be safely treated by chiropractic care. So, we want to know if you have arthritis and if so, what type. Assuming you’re a good candidate for chiropractic care for your joint pain, you’ll probably be pleased with the benefits.
The Benefits of Chiropractic for Joint Pain Include:
Each of these can lead to more motivation to exercise or participate in other activities that you might have declined before due to pain. After all, if your joint pain is keeping you from participating in your favorite activities, wouldn’t you want to change that situation?
If you’re in the Doylestown, Pa, area, we’d love to offer you a consultation. That way we can see if chiropractic may be able to relieve your joint pain.
Several years ago, I twisted my ankle. I was wearing boots with a small heel, walking down a Philadelphia sidewalk, and boom! A patch of the uneven pavement caused my foot/ankle to roll.
While painful, I still hobbled the dozen or so blocks back to my car. Later, it swelled up the size of a small melon and I applied the RICE method (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) for several days.
While reading up on healing joint pain, I came across chiropractic for joint pain. Now, if you’re like a lot of people, you associate chiropractors with back pain. Yet, chiropractic care is designed to reduce pain throughout your body by readjusting the spine. The spine, of course, is attached to everything else via bones, nerves, ligaments, and tendons.
For example, if you have shoulder pain, then a chiropractic adjustment can free up a pinched nerve or other problem. It can even help run of the mill neck pain from sleeping “wrong.”
In fact, chiropractic care can help all your joints and improve your overall range of mobility which is great. Of course, it’s effectiveness – and if it’s the right method — depends on what’s causing your joint pain.
Can Chiropractic for Joint Pain Help You?
Causes of joint pain vary from an acute injury like my twisted ankle to arthritis. Chiropractic care can help many of them.
Let’s take the common condition of arthritis for example. As you probably know, arthritis is the breakdown of cartilage in the joints. This decay of the body’s natural “cushion” means the bones rub together with less padding than before and it’s painful.
However, studies like this one show chiropractic care can help patients suffering from certain types of arthritis.
It can also help acute injuries like my twisted ankle.
The reason chiropractic care reduces joint pain is that it can help reduce painful inflammation. It also releases muscle tension and improves your range of motion.
How does chiropractic treatment reduce inflammation? Because it improves your body’s communication with itself. A spinal adjustment can readjust the nerves in your body and help release soothing chemicals through your body.
It reduces muscle tension because when your chiropractor adjusts your spine, then any pressure that’s built up in your muscles is released. The effect is like a big breath of oxygen to your muscles. Chiropractors can also work with adjusting specific joints if needed.
While chiropractic care can’t help every condition, it can help many of them including relieving joint pain. We start with a medical evaluation that includes an Xray. Then, if we decide that you’re a good candidate for chiropractic care, we’ll create a treatment plan to help you feel better faster.
If you’re in or near Doylestown, Pa., call or stop by, we’re right across from CB West High School.
