Beyond Wellness Blog

We have all experienced it and never knew there was an actual term for it.  You wake up in the morning with a stiff, sore neck, and turning your head in either direction, up or down, can be unbearably painful.  In the medical world, we call this torticollis or cervical dystonia, but what you feel is excruciating pain in the neck during certain movements.  The neck muscles contract involuntarily, like a spasm, which causes the head to turn.  Stiff muscles in the neck arise and neck pain results.  As a chiropractor in Charlotte, I come across this condition on a daily basis and there is a simple solution to the pain: chiropractic care.

Muscle relaxers may help short term, but they only mask the problem.  Eventually, the pain will return because you haven’t treated the underlying cause.  The neck pain and stiffness from torticollis is due to severe muscle spasm and spinal subluxations.  Getting chiropractic adjustments along with muscle work will help correct torticollis and prevent it from returning.  I hear it so often when patients go for muscle work and they experience some relief, but the pain returns a couple of days later.  That’s because if you don’t get your spine adjusted, the neck spasms return and that’s why it is equally important to receive muscle work and chiropractic care to help eliminate torticollis.

If you have neck pain and stiffness that lingers for more than a few days, visit your local chiropractor so that you can experience immediate relief.

Have you ever experienced a headache occurring at the same location and at the same time of day for consecutive days?  You could be experiencing cluster headaches.  These are extremely painful and can affect one side of the head at a time.  They occur in clusters, hence the name, and are a fairly common form of chronic, recurrent headache.  People who have cluster headaches experience a sudden and severe headache and most commonly experience them in the middle of the night while they’re sleeping.  Interestingly, cluster headaches affect men more than women and are most common between adolescence and middle age individuals. 

Cluster headaches cause swelling and redness around the eye of the affected side and may also cause nasal congestion and excessive tearing.  They may occur daily for months, alternating with periods without headaches, or they can occur for a year or more without stopping.

To avoid or reduce the occurrence of cluster headaches, it is helpful to stick to a regular sleep schedule and avoid the use of alcohol.  Chiropractors can also help by eliminating the probable cause of the cluster headaches from an anatomical standpoint.  In doing so, pain is relieved and the patient can go back to living a healthy life.  Chiropractors provide headache relief by correcting the misaligned spine that is placing pressure on the nerves, which in turn, can cause headache pain.  Chiropractic has been shown to be effective in helping relieve the pain of all types of headaches, including cluster headaches.

You or someone you know has experienced the uncomfortable and painful feeling associated with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.  The Charlotte area has an overwhelming population of people employed in the banking and IT industries where the majority is working at a computer for 8+ hours per day.  This is a perfect example of where Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can occur if not careful.  It is the compression of the median nerve at the wrist, which may result in numbness, tingling, weakness, and even muscle atrophy in the hands and fingers. 

As with working at a computer for hours on end, carpal tunnel syndrome is common in people who perform repetitive motions of the hand and wrist, such as typing and mouse clicking.  When the wrist is poorly positioned, there isn’t enough space for the median nerve to travel to the hand.  Pressure is then placed on the median nerve where it passes through the wrist and causes a lack of proper nerve flow to the hands and fingers and numbness and pain results. 

Chiropractors focus on realigning the body’s joints as well as spine, to help improve proper blood and nerve flow and clearing out the blocked nerves that may be causing pain and discomfort.  A chiropractor can adjust joints, such as the wrist in this case, to help alleviate the blocked nerves that spread to the hands and fingers and eliminate the pain associated with carpal tunnel syndrome.

Whiplash.  Many of you have heard of whiplash or seen someone experience it on these Charlotte roads before, but not all of you have experienced it.  Oftentimes, whiplash is associated with car accidents because it is the primary result of an auto injury.  What is it and why does it occur? Whiplash is damage to the soft tissue of the neck that occurs from a sudden jerking or “whipping” of the head, much like what occurs during an auto accident.  This type of motion strains the muscles and the ligaments of the neck beyond their normal range of motion.  As you may well be aware, whiplash often occurs when a vehicle stops suddenly in a car crash or is struck from behind.  Both the driver and passenger can be a victim of whiplash as the force can causes everyone in the vehicle to be thrown forward. 

A seat belt will keep a person’s body from being thrown forward, but the head may still snap forward, then backward, causing a whiplash injury in the neck.  In a whiplash injury, you feel pain and stiffness in your neck for the first few days following the car accident.  Then, you feel better, but the pain and stiffness may return several days later.  The discomfort you feel will involve surrounding muscle groups in your head that may cause headaches.  This discomfort may also affect your chest, shoulders, and arms.

Chiropractic care works on correcting complications and relieving pain associated with whiplash injuries.  Some chiropractors focus on both muscles and joints to help relieve the pain and correct spinal alignment from a whiplash injury while helping restore the body back to where it was before the auto accident took place.

Expectant mothers have a true gift because they are able to experience every move their child makes for nine consecutive months at a time.  At some point during those nine months, typically towards the 2^nd and 3^rd trimester, 50% of expectant mothers share one common occurrence: they will develop low back pain.  As the baby grows, your belly grows and in a healthy pregnancy, be expected to gain between 25 and 30 pounds.  With the extra weight, you will find your center of gravity shifting and causing additional stress on your low back.

To help relieve some of the pain in your low back during pregnancy, it is important to follow some of these guidelines.  For starters, wear flat shoes with good arch support to avoid putting extra pressure on the low back and use a pregnancy pillow or full body pillow when sleeping to help stabilize your spine.

Many women have experienced relief to their low back pain by receiving chiropractic care throughout their pregnancy.  In successful cases, the end result will not only lead to relief from low back pain, but will also lead to an easier delivery for when that time comes.  Afraid that chiropractic care is unhealthy for the expecting mother and the child?  Scientific studies have found that spinal manipulation carries no increased risk to the mother or baby.  Additionally, chiropractors who are Webster certified are well-versed in adjusting pregnant women and help to reduce their chances of a breached pregnancy.

Chiropractic care is also very helpful to the new mom after delivery.  Your body starts to tighten up those loose ligaments that developed during your pregnancy.  It is also important to make sure your joints are aligned before your muscles return back to their pre-pregnancy state.  It is also wise to have your newborn baby checked by the chiropractor as well.

You or someone you know may have at some point in time experienced a terrible pain radiating from the low back into the buttocks and down the back of one or both legs.  This annoyance is termed sciatica and it occurs when the sciatic nerve, the largest nerve in the body, is being irritated.  The sciatic nerve is comprised of 5 pairs of nerves that exit the spine in the lower back.  The nerve can be irritated at any point if the vertebrae in the lower back are misaligned, or the disc between the vertebrae are swollen, bulged, or herniated. 

Extra pressure placed on the sciatic nerve can cause excruciating pain and can lead to severe limitations in your normal daily routine.  Sciatica can cause difficulty walking, moving the foot or bending the knee, and numbness, tingling or burning in the back of the calf or the sole of the foot.

When it comes to chiropractic care, chiropractors focus their attention on correcting misaligned or out of place vertebrae and can help remove the pressure placed on the sciatic nerve.  This will, in turn, reduce pain and improve flexibility and function in the low back.  Stability exercises to improve core stabilization can help to prevent sciatica from recurring.

Stress, the uneasy feeling we all experience at some point in our lives.  We all know it exists, whether it occurs from Charlotte traffic jams, deadlines, paying bills, or even from the workplace.  Some people deal with stress better than others, but for the majority of us, stress can have severe and lasting physiological effects on us that can cause us to experience headaches, backaches, cardiovascular problems, digestive problems, and even difficulties sleeping.  So, what can we do about it to keep it from controlling our lives?

Some of the best approaches in dealing with stress are right under our nose.  Diaphragmatic breathing is an easy solution to help one cope with a stressful situation.  Start by taking slow, deep breathes in through your nose using your diaphragm, holding it, and then slowly release.  Make sure to follow these steps several times.  Also, listening to relaxing music or looking at pictures that make you smile or laugh will help release stress.  Exercise also releases endorphins that help create a “feel-good” sensation while diminishing the effects of stress.

A recent study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics found that there is a correlation between chiropractic care and the effect it can have on dealing with stress in your life.  By improving nerve and spinal function, chiropractic care has a remarkable impact on improving emotional, mental, and physical function.  Communicate with your chiropractor about how to manage your stress and you will be amazed at how many ways you can help improve your health and wellness by reducing stress at maximum levels!

Thirty-one million Americans have low back pain at some point in their lifetime. One half of all working Americans admit to having back symptoms each year. One third of all Americans over age 18 had a back problem in the past five years harsh enough for them to seek professional help.  

I see it all too often here in Charlotte where patients come into our office with low back pain that have not experienced any trauma, accidents or major injuries prior to the onset of their problem. The cause of most back pain is the cumulative effect of poor work habits, improper sitting habits, incorrect lifting, lack of proper exercise and other lifestyle-related factors. Some or all of these could cause stress and imbalances on the spine and over time cause pain. This is why people can injure their back by just bending over to pick up a piece of paper. The spine was already compromised and just the simple act of bending was adequate enough to set off the problem. When this occurs, the surrounding back muscles go into spasm to protect the stressed or injured tissues of the back.

In the US, low back pain is one of the most common conditions and one of the leading causes of physician visits. In fact, at least four out of five adults will experience low back pain at some point in their lives. Common symptoms that may occur are tenderness, pain, and stiffness in the lower back. Some patients report having radiating pain down the buttocks or legs, difficulty standing for a period of time, pain while walking, and even discomfort while sitting.

Chiropractic care works on correcting misaligned or out of place vertebrae, and can remove the pressure placed on the nerve endings that line the surface of the joint. Chiropractors can also help reduce pressure through the space between the joints, reducing pain and improving flexibility and function so that you can get back to the things you enjoy.

Your spine is made up of 23 discs of soft, gel-like centers surrounded by fibrous tissue layers.  These vertebral discs are constantly working throughout the day, acting as shock absorbers to keep up with your busy lifestyle: picking up your child, lifting weights, sitting at a desk, and even standing on your feet all day.  Sometimes, the vertebral discs can undergo additional stress or an injury that can cause the material in the center of the disc to protrude out to one side or even rupture.  In the medical world, this is known as a herniated or bulging disc. It can wreak havoc on your life by causing excruciating pain, and depending upon which disc is herniated and how large the herniation is, numbness and tingling down the extremities can occur.  

Luckily, there are strategies and techniques that can help prevent herniated and bulging discs.  For starters, practicing a good posture and keeping your back straight when lifting will help promote a healthy spine.  Also, by maintaining a healthy weight, less pressure and stress is added to the discs responsible for holding you upright.  If you spend more than 50% of your day sitting, get out of your chair every 20 minutes and walk for a few minutes.  Regular chiropractic adjustments help in correcting misaligned vertebrae and may also help reduce the chance of a herniation from occurring.

Certain exercises aid in strengthen your back and stomach, which is crucial to preventing a herniated or bulging disc.  Core stabilization exercises such as balancing on a wobble board or sitting on a balance ball, will help strengthen the back and stomach.  I utilize a balance ball in place of a chair to help promote good posture while strengthening my back and core at the same time.

Every year, millions of Americans suffer from severe headaches and migraines that can have a serious impact on their life. Oftentimes, migraines occur during or after a stressful event, but they can also arise from hormonal changes, the foods we eat, changes in sleeping patterns, and even environmental changes.  Migraines are characterized by throbbing, moderate to severe pain that affects one or both sides of the head.  Nausea and having extreme sensitivity to light and sound are common signs associated with migraines.  If you have ever suffered from a migraine, this may sound all too familiar to you.  The vast majority of migraine sufferers is sometimes prescribed pain and migraine medication, but still experiences the pain regardless of what they take.

One easy way to help relieve a migraine in progress is by applying an ice pack to your neck. Cool compresses will help to sooth a migraine and help to reduce the intensity.  Alternative measures are surfacing to not only help relieve the pain, but also the frequency of migraines a sufferer experiences.  By using techniques that focus on relieving tense muscles and subluxations in the neck, such as chiropractic adjustments, the amount of migraines one experiences can be reduced substantially.  Acupuncture has also helped migraine sufferers by relieving the pain and symptoms associated with the condition.   Combination therapy, where a practitioner uses a number of techniques simultaneously can be helpful in reducing the pain and frequency of migraines.  The ultimate goal in alternative therapy is to help relieve migraine sufferers from their discomfort and bring them back to balance.

Have you ever been in an auto accident or on a ride in an amusement park where your head is suddenly jerked forwards and backwards and you later feel pain in your neck and shoulders?  This is known as whiplash.  I have seen some people who experience pain immediately after the accident occurred and others experience pain days and even weeks after the accident. 

Although patients’ experiences vary, one thing is for certain: whiplash is an injury to the soft tissues of the neck that occurs from a sudden jerking or “whipping” of the head. This type of motion often strains the muscles and the ligaments of the neck beyond their normal range of motion. This often takes place when a vehicle stops suddenly in a car crash or is struck from behind. Either of these two actions causes the driver and passengers in the vehicle to be pulled by gravity and jolted forward. A seat belt will keep a person’s body from being thrown forward, but it doesn’t support the head enough, causing a whiplash injury in the neck.    

In addition to car accidents, whiplash can be caused by roller coasters and other amusement park rides, sports injuries, or being punched or shaken vigorously.  In my experience as a chiropractor, whiplash victims often experience headaches, neck pain, stiffness, fatigue, and nausea.  Although the pain may slowly dissipate, the pain and stiffness may return later on down the road. 

If you experience whiplash after an auto accident, get checked out by a Charlotte chiropractor.  They are experienced in correcting the problems that arise from whiplash injury and they also help relieve the pain associated with the accident.