Hippocrates (Greek Physician 460-357 B.C.) said, “Get knowledge of the spine, for this is the requisite for many diseases.”
Chiropractors also have a favorite saying, “Your spine is your lifeline.” The reason is that your spine connects everything in your body. From your head to your toes, the spine connects everything with bones, tendons, ligaments, and nerves.
A fully functioning spine helps you stay mobile. It’s flexible so you can bend and turn, stand up, sit down, play golf, cook a meal, type, pick up your children, all the things in life.
But when a bone or tendon shifts and pinches a nerve, you may have a limited range of motion. You might find yourself in pain or feeling tingly or even numb down your arm or leg.
In other cases, you might have a disc that’s slipped out of place. The cartilage between discs can also break down leaving you in pain because the discs are rubbing against one another.
According to Georgetown University, 8 percent of American adults experience back pain. Maybe you’re one of them. Back pain can keep you from doing the things you love. It’s also one of the biggest reasons for missed work in the U.S.
Chiropractic healthcare workers hold to the belief that proper alignment of the body’s musculoskeletal structure (particularly the spine) will enable the body to heal without the use of medication and surgery.
Chiropractic Care May Give You Back Pain Relief
If you’ve ever thought about good posture, then you know that standing (or sitting) up straight is what doctors (and your mother), recommend. When your posture is correct, it reduces strain on your muscles and joints.
Yet, most of us have picked up bad habits over the years. We slouch, we spend long hours at the computer and more time bent over our phones. All of this often leads to neck pain, shoulder pain, back pain, and other pains.
No matter the reason for your back pain, if your body is in proper alignment, it will help your body heal. The spine, in particular, needs to stay in its lane so to speak. When it’s aligned in your body, it helps your body heal naturally. No surgery or medication is needed.
Chiropractic care can often help.
Over 22 million Americans visit a chiropractor annually and 7.7 million are seeking back pain relief.
31 million Americans experience low back pain at any given time.
Back pain is the single leading cause of disabilities according to the Global Burden of Disease 2010.
One-half of all working Americans say they have back pain symptoms each year.
Americans spend at least $50 million each year on back pain relief.
It’s time you found relief from your back pain. When you visit a chiropractor, you can expect the following:
Medical history taken
Physical exam with particular attention to the spine
Lab tests and diagnostic imaging to determine an appropriate course of treatment
Manual adjustments (joint manipulation) which involves controlled, sudden force to joints that pushes the joint beyond its normal range of motion
Nutritional counseling
Exercise and rehabilitation recommendations
Most likely, you’ll benefit from some lifestyle changes too. Maybe it’s more exercise (or different types of exercise) or diet changes. Or, upgrading your work environment so it’s more ergonomically friendly.
No matter what, your chiropractor will work with you to provide back pain relief, restore your range of motion, and overall, help you feel better. Our goal is to help you feel better and prevent further injury.
How Chiropractic Care Works
Traditional chiropractic care consists of discussing your medical history, pains, and concerns. Depending on your condition, your chiropractor will work with you on a treatment plan.
Typically, chiropractic adjustments consist of small spinal manipulations that use body weight. But we also have other tools to help as well. For example, here at McQuaite Chiropractic, we have “tapping” tools that help too.
Our overall goal is to help you feel your best. We want you to experience back pain relief and improve your mobility, so you feel great.
Dr. Jay Handt (guest speaker for New York Chiropractic Council and the International Chiropractic Association) believes, “Everything functions better when the nervous system functions at 100%.” Helping patients understand that “connecting the mind with the body” is a process…a lifestyle.
Dr. Jeff McQuaite in Doylestown, Pa. helps his patients ease back pain relief. Book your appointment today!
If you’re like one of the millions of people who suffer from low back pain, you want to feel better. You’ve tried massage, you’ve tried pills, you might even be considering back surgery.
But before you go that route, you decide to try chiropractic treatment for low back pain. After all, at least 22 million Americans use chiropractic treatment for pain relief across the country and thousands use it here in Bucks County.
How Chiropractic Care Works
As you may know, chiropractors use spinal manipulation to help your body heal itself. According to WebMD.com, “Manipulation is used to restore mobility to joints restricted by tissue injury caused by a traumatic event, such as falling, or repetitive stress, such as sitting without proper back support.”
Essentially, your chiropractor re-aligns the 30+ bones, ligaments, tendons and tissues in your body so they’re in their rightful place. When you’re feeling pain, it can be from a herniated disc — which is a spinal disc that’s out of place and pressing on a nerve.
Or, it could be a host of other things, the only way to know is with an evaluation. The evaluation will dictate your treatment plan.
There is No “One Size Fits All” Chiropractic Treatment
Everyone has individual needs depending on their medical history and the initial evaluation. That’s why I take an x-ray to better evaluate what’s going on inside. For example, low back pain can be caused by any number of things – from poor posture to a car accident to raking leaves.
Based on your x-ray, symptoms, and medical history, I’ll make a customized treatment plan to help your body heal.
For some people, they may benefit from two to three chiropractic visits/month while others will see the most benefit in two to three visits per week to start. I’ve even had patients where they came daily for two-four visits accelerate the healing process.
The reason you need multiple chiropractic adjustments over a short period of time – especially at the beginning of your treatment plan is that you’ll find the best results over multiple treatments.
You don’t expect to see immediate results after one trip to the gym. One chiropractic treatment can give you immediate relief, but ultimately, the best results build on one another just as it takes consistent trips to the gym to see the best results.
The Benefits of Multiple Chiropractic Treatments for Low Back Pain
Many of those people have never visited a chiropractor before.
When you work with chiropractic medicine, our intent is to get to the source of the problem rather than cover it up with pain pills. In addition to multiple chiropractic treatments for low back pain, I usually recommend other modalities too. Heat or cold therapy, massage, and electrical muscle stimulation can all relieve pain.
As you can see, there are many factors that can affect your chiropractic treatment. There’s no magic formula. We’ll assess your condition and go from there. At our Doylestown office, we do take most insurance and offer a free consultation.
Here in Bucks County, Pa. it seems like the winter predictions for a cold and snowy one are coming true.
“Bomb-cyclones,” blizzards, or just plain old snow has most of us shoveling snow and trying to maintain balance on icy sidewalks.
Not only is it cold, but winter activities like snow shoveling can put a strain on the body. Every year, we see patients who’ve “thrown their back out” due to snow shoveling or a slip n’ fall.
It’s not surprising really, snow shoveling can be difficult and unseen ice is hazardous. One way you can protect your back from such winter hazards is to take precautions. Alternatively, leave the snow removal down to the professionals.
Protect Your Back from Winter Injuries
1—Warm Up
Chances are, you’ve heard this before, but you don’t probably don’t do it. The fact is, shoveling snow is cardio.
If it’s a heavy snow, it’s dense and wet and it won’t take long before you’re drenched in sweat and your heart is thumping.
Pay attention to your body, take breaks as you need to and do some stretching before you start. One stretch that’s useful to do both before and after shoveling is to hold the shovel in both hands and lift it over your head. Then, do a few gentle twists to the right and the left. This will help loosen your back and help prevent strained muscles.
2—Shovel in Increments
There’s a reason seasoned Northerner’s shovel snow throughout the storm rather than letting it build up. It’s far easier to shovel 1-2 inches than a foot and this is especially true if it’s the wet stuff.
Bundle up and go out there before too much has fallen. Try to use the push technique, rather than lifting. Simply push the snow to the side rather than lifting it.
3—Use Your Legs to Lift
When the snow piles up and you have no choice but to lift it, remember to bend your knees and use your legs. Too many people hurt their backs by not doing do this but you don’t have to be one of them.
If you’d like more information on ergonomic shovels and techniques for snow removal, take a look at this post from spine-health.com
4—Use Salt, Sand, or Kitty Litter for Traction
You know that outdoor sidewalks, steps, and porches can be icy. Be sure to prime them with salt, sand, or kitty litter for traction prior to the snow falling and during. If you have areas that tend to stay icy longer than others because they’re in the shade, use ice melting products and if you can, avoid the area until it’s melted.
5—Heat Therapy
After you’ve shoveled, try relaxing in an Epsom salt bath and/or use a heating pad on your lower back to soothe it.
If you DO have an emergency, call the office at 267-247-7000. We accept walk-ins and (crawl-ins) and will get you back on your feet as soon as possible.
Should You Go with Chiropractic Care or Traditional Medicine?
Most people suffer with low back pain at some point in their lives. You’re probably one of them. Maybe you suffer from low back pain because you sit too long or you’ve had an injury. You might be coping OK after an injury but it’s still important to get help with the costs of your care by enlisting someone like this personal injury lawyer springfield il, if you’ve been injured by someone else. Then at least you have less to worry about as you handle your back pain. In some cases the back pain can be incredibly debilitating, rendering it painful to sit or stand for even short periods of time. From taking medication to ease the pain and seeing a chiropractor, to using something as simple as a meditation cushion for back pain, hopefully you find a solution to help manage these symptoms a lot better than before. It can be a lot of anyone to deal with, but it is important to know that there is pretty much a solution to anything you’re going through.
Back pain affects nearly everyone at some time. Ford Motors found employees� back pain cost the company $80-$90 million a year, mostly from disability payments.
It�s clear this is a problem.
If you�re suffering with low back pain, you may have tried steroid shots, loaded up on pain meds and you may be considering surgery. Yet, before you head into surgery, you may want to take a step back and review other options first. There�s mounting evidence that an integrated approach of massage, acupuncture and chiropractic care can help you faster and more effectively. Australia has so many great physiotherapists, Healthfix Physios in Sydney get you back to health faster, so if you are ever in Australia and fancy taking care of your body then they are the best people to get in contact with!
Even many doctors say back surgery typically takes weeks or months of recovery time and doesn�t often work.
On the other hand, a natural approach like chiropractic care can relieve your low back pain quickly and effectively. A recent study in the prestigious journal Spine reported that study participants experienced better results with chiropractic care for their low back pain. They could move easier and decreased their pain with the first treatment in some cases.
Traditional Medical Approach to Low Back Pain
The traditional approach is to recommend regular steroid shots. The idea is that the epidural steroid injections reduce inflammation. In some patients they work just fine. In others, they don�t work at all.
Sometimes, doctors recommend surgery. That�s a process that can leave you bedridden for weeks as you recover. And, it still doesn�t get rid of the pain.
An Integrated Approach
Meanwhile, evidence is piling up that for many patients, using acupuncture, massage and chiropractic treatments may offer more relief.
In a 2009 paper presented at a the Institute of Medicine Summit says healthcare saved millions on unnecessary back surgeries when people used chiropractic care.
In Doylestown, Pa, Dr. Jeff McQuaite treats patients with low back pain.
Do you pop Tylenol for your lower back pain? A new study shows it doesn’t work. Trying an alternative method to managing your back pain could be worthwhile, especially if it affecting you doing simple daily tasks. Plus, you could always look here for more information on how you could effectivly manage your back pain.
The study followed 1600 people for four weeks and it was released in The Lancet, a respected medical journal.
The group was divided into thirds with one third taking acetaminophen, the ingredient in Tylenol on an as needed basis. Another group took it three times a day and the third group took a placebo. None of the participants knew which group they were in.
Both groups tracked their pain daily on a scale of 1-10 for the duration of the study. Here’s the shocker: Each group reported roughly the same amount of pain daily throughout the four weeks.
No matter if they were taking sugar pills or a thrice daily recommendation of acetaminophen the pain was the same.
Three Months Later
Three months later, approximately 85% of the participants were pain free no matter which group they’d been in.
So, is the upshot that acetaminophen doesn’t work? While further studies will be conducted, this could be a surprising finding for most patients and doctors alike.
Lower back pain is one of the most common complaints and is notoriously difficult to treat because there can be so many variables. Lower back pain can contribute to a diminished quality of life. If your back pain has been caused by a fall you may want to speak to a Pittsburgh slip and fall lawyer about any legal action you would like to pursue.
What Does Help Lower Back Pain?
Alternative therapies like massage therapy, gentle yoga and chiropractic can relieve lower back pain effectively and quickly.
Massage therapy
Another study on lower back pain assigned patients a weekly massage for 10 weeks. The results were promising.
After 10 weeks, 36% and 39% of patients who received the weekly massages said their pain was gone or nearly gone. Around 4% of those who had not received massage could say the same.
Yoga
Practicing a few gentle yoga stretches can alleviate lower back pain. For example, lie on the floor on your back and draw your knees to your chest. Next, rotate your knees to the left and stretch your arms out so you make a “T” shape. Then, turn your head so you’re looking in the opposite direction.
Repeat on the other side.
Chiropractic Care
As a chiropractor, I start any treatment plan with Xrays and your medical history so we can have a baseline. We need to know what the symptoms are and what your body shows.
Then, I adjust your spine, shoulder, neck so everything is in alignment.
It only takes a few minutes and it doesn’t hurt. If you have a desk job, you likely sit with your head and shoulders hunched forward for hours at a time. This posture affects your whole body and can cause lower back pain. Old sports injuries, the way you’re sleeping, car accidents and other facts of life may also cause lower back pain. Some people might use liposomal cbd broad spectrum hemp extract and there has been people saying that this approach has been helpful.
The Xrays will give some idea of the problem so we can develop a treatment plan that works for you. It may include some physical therapy type exercises and regular chiropractic adjustments. You may even feel relief within the first visit.
