How long does it take to get better? Depends on what damage was done. Are your joints jammed up or did something tear or break? There are numerous assessment exams and diagnostic tests ie. X-rays or MRI to figure out what has happened to you. Strains/Sprains can heal in 12 weeks if it is a simple sprain/strain. If there are multiple layers and planes of tissue that are involved, it could take years. There are other considerations like age, body type, nutrition, and stages of disease that would obviously interfere with healing. Stress plays a big role too. The best case scenario is to do an exam to see if there are any red flags and treat the chief complaint or what hurts most. Chiropractic care usually addresses the entire body so your body can heal correctly and efficiently. For example, if a patient is involved in a car crash that damages their neck, the chiropractor would work mainly on the neck, but the upper back, low back and pelvis need to be adjusted as well to support the foundation of the body and to support the healing of the entire body. Once adjustments begin whether 2-3x/week or more frequently depending on the injury, exercises must be done to transition the body back to normal function. The patient starts with range of motion exercises to reestablish soft tissue coordination across each joint and among each joint above and below it. Mild stretches can be done to bring the body back to symmetry and further reduce stress on the body. Stay with the program to heal faster. But remember, like a cut takes time to heal so do deeper tissues in your body. Nature does have its limitations. Fast healing can neglect quality so slow healing is probably best, don’t rush it or you will have to pay later. Every injury has its complexity and individuality depending on the trauma. Did you just hit the dirt or were you in a car crash that you didn’t see coming. If you’re lucky you are in good shape and you will heal fast, if you are not in shape it could be a long time to get humpty dumpty back together again. Stay in shape and see your chiropractor.
Author Archives: createhealthchiropractic
Ergonomics is Economics
It is amazing how far we have come isn’t it? What’s ergonomic? It is the position you put your body in that puts the least amount of stress on the body while working or doing repetitive tasks. The quote, “He who will not economize will have to agonize.”-sums it up. You have to conserve and minimize the use of certain muscle groups in the body. For example: If you continue to lift things just by bending forward and picking them up, eventually your back muscles will let you know you are doing it wrong. Lifting with your back straight and using your upper legs is much more economical and is less likely to cause injury in the long term.
Another place where people get into trouble is sitting at a desk or work station. Typically, you shouldn’t feel discomfort or strain while sitting or standing without movement. All items…
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Healing and Awareness
Healing and awareness go hand in hand. One of my professors used to say, “you can’t heal it until you can feel it.” So, why the beach picture? Well, I know most people have felt sand between their toes or a wave crash against their body and these are pleasant sensations to most. This is not different from the sensation of pain in the brain except where our awareness and focus is. We can focus on what we want to, the sand and waves or the pain in our bodies. You see healing takes place when you pay attention to the pleasing sensations and expand the pleasing sensation over the top of the pain. What do I mean? I understand that this kind of focus and awareness takes time to develop and extreme pain demands attention, but so does relaxation and ease. I don’t know how many times I have exercised beyond my capacity or encountered pain from an injury and those are valid pains to pay attention to, but you need to “check-in” to what is “feeling good” too. How do you maintain a sense of “feeling good” or great. It is mental you know, but you can get help to get there. Many years of adjusting the spine I have discovered that you better be feeling better than your patients or they won’t improve with your adjustments. People recognize the “feeling good” or the lightness of heart that you express. Yes, I need to have a sense of well-being in my life in order to help someone get out of their pain and find that well-being too. That is where awareness comes in. I am keen to many sensations in my body and pay attention to a lot of feelings. If you are not careful you can get overwhelmed with pain sensations and it is hard to get out of it. Releasing the tension from your spine with chiropractic adjustments is a way of establishing a “feel good” base that you can work from. Chiropractic adjustments work by establishing balance in your movement and making sure each part of your body is connected and doing it’s part, so tension doesn’t accumulate in areas of the body because the body is at ease and the tension in your body and spine moves right through and adapts as it is supposed to. Chiropractic is a great way to improve your health and to put out some “feel good” into whatever you do. So, until you can feel the sand or waves again, get a chiropractic adjustment and “feel good” where you are.
Working the Feet
Years as a runner have made me very aware of my feet. I’ve tried probably 50 different brands of running shoes and tried quite a few different orthotics or arch supports. The greatest success I have had in making running comfortable for my feet has been getting my feet adjusted to keep all the rows of bones moving independently. You can see by the picture above there are essentially seven rows of bones in the foot and each row has a potential for getting stuck together depending on the stress created by the activity we do. Climbing ladders, running, foot injuries, even inactivity can create jammed joints or jammed rows of bones in your feet. The problem being, each row of bones provides movement to distribute and dissipate stress through the foot and create a suspension like your car’s shock-absorber. If you lose the suspension in the foot the force goes up or down into the tissues and joints above and below the area that is stuck, and tears it up creating pain. I’ve seen foot problems create everything from knee pain, hip pain, and even low-back pain. Foot problems can also be secondary to joint areas stuck in the low-back or pelvis which creates pelvis rotation and pushes the body’s weight toward one foot. More body weight on one foot creates an overuse syndrome and the tissue in the foot becomes strained or sprained resulting in pain.
So what do you when your feet begin to hurt during activity? Get them checked? Yes, but you can do some of it yourself. I pull on each toe first (they might pop), then I grab each foot with both hands and wring it out twisting in both directions. Rotate the foot in opposite directions, and point the toes up and down and from side to side. You may get pops and clicks, but that is good to reestablish motion. Next: stand, walk, then run. Try to see if the feet feel better. Try icing for 15-20 minutes with an hour in between if you want to ice it again. You can also try hot salt water bath, (1 cup of rock salt in hot enough to feel good water.) If none of those work you need to be evaluated for posture and function of the foot. Don’t settle for just slipping an arch support in there, make sure the feet and rest of your body are working properly. Get adjusted and heal fast.
The Body Speaks!
There are many ways your body communicates to you. The awareness of your body has great reward in nurturing. Some would disagree and continue to mask pain with medications, but I think they are running from it. I learned you can’t heal it unless you can feel it. Don’t get me wrong there is a need for pain medication, you just can’t live on it without repercussions. Feeling discomforts and pain or just fatigue are clear signals of dysfunction or damage. Find out what it is. I speak with my patients regularly about the quality of pain to help diagnose problems since there are many qualities of pain. Is it burning, sharp, stabbing, dull, throbbing, ache, electric shock, cramping, numb, pins and needles, tingling, or just sore? Each one gives me more information and I can narrow down the problem. Nerve compression or pressure on a nerve can be indicated by electric shock, burning, pins and needles, tingling, and numbness. Tissue damage or tissue stress, usually sprains(ligament) or strains(muscle or tendon), are usually indicated by sharp, stabbing, cramping, ache, and soreness, but are usually preceded by an incident (Did you hit the dirt?). If there is a timing to it, morning or night, or a body position associated with the pain we are looking at inflammatory processes or over-use syndromes. Everyone is different and experiences injuries with their own awareness and I have been fooled by this analysis, but it is a good rule of thumb and gives great preliminary information. That is why we do comprehensive exams and diagnostics, whether it be x-rays or MRI’s if our initial information is misleading . We must make sure the treatments we select for the problem are moving the patient to less pain and better function overall. The typical experience is to move from sharp to dull or from ache to soreness with tissue injuries and tissue stress. With the nerve impingement or pressure there is a retracing of symptoms. So you went from tingling to numbness to burning to weakness, you would typically go back through it. You would get function back, it would burn, it would get numb, then it would tingle, then go away. Weird but nerves are electro-chemical, so that must be how the process, function, and sensation are restored. You’ve got to pay attention and stay in touch to what you are experiencing in order to know if you are getting better or worse. You must experiment and challenge your condition when you are ready. Can you get out of the chair better, are you sleeping better, are you able to stand or walk for a longer period? What movement can you do that you couldn’t do before. Functional improvements are key and indicate a resolving of your condition.
What if I have pain for no reason? You are crazy, there is always a reason. There are more places to look. Bones, tendons, ligaments, and muscle are not the only pain producing parts of the body. There are organs: liver, lungs, heart, pancreas, spleen, kidneys, digestive tract, lungs, etc. The beauty of organ systems is they are usually in the same location, have specific everyday functions, and can be tested with blood tests or other diagnostics to evaluate their integrity. Don’t ever miss the normally recommended time for colonoscopy or mammography and get your blood tested just for your own curiosity if it hasn’t been recommended. One of our local hospitals has a low cost blood exam clinic quarterly. So check your local hospital’s website for clinics. Listen to your body, get adjusted, and optimize your health!
“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.”
Jim Rohn
Head Injury or Concussion
You ever rung your bell or hit your head hard. Well you may have a concussion or MTBI, mild traumatic brain injury. It is an awakening experience for some or a unconcious experience for others. Last time it happened to me I fell on a bike and woke up in the ER 2 hours later. Headaches, Foggy mental state, inability to focus, and fatigue. Thank god for helmets, it could have been worse. The impact of your skull hitting something creates a wall for your brain to slam into since your brain has no brakes.
You ever stop fast in your car and all the stuff on your front seat goes into the dash and onto the floor? Crash, it’s like that. This causes a bruise on your brain that creates a lot of the problems like headache, mental haze, etc. This also creates jamming of the joints in the skull called cranial sutures as well as jamming of the joints in the neck. Grading systems were used to determine how bad it is based upon symptoms, amount of time person is unconsciousness, or length of amnesia, but not anymore. There is disagreement as to which symptoms are associated with which grade since concussions are a unique experience for each person and the severity and type of symptoms can vary, probably depending on where the contact injury occurs in the brain and on the skull.
So, what do you do once you get a concussion. Get back in there! No thanks coach, I would rather be functional in society in my future. Hopefully, there is a trained individual that understands the signs and symptoms of a serious problem. If you see someone get a good bang on the head, you need to watch their movement and coordination. Are they staggering, are they maintaining their balance. If not get medical attention. Another assessment tool is the brain injury/mental status questions: Do you know where you are? Do you know who the president is. Do you know your name? etc. If the injured person doesn’t know the answers get medical attention quickly. In my case I got back on my bike after my crash and continued to ride down the road with my group of friends until all of my friends turned to go back to the car and I went straight. When one of my friends caught up with me he asked me those questions and I didn’t know any of the answers, not even where I was or what my name was, but I was able to ride my bike down a busy road and stay to the side, SCARY. Not sure where I would have ended up if I wasn’t stopped by my friend. The point being I was totally functional physically, but not mentally until 2 hours later.
The problem with concussions is they are progressive and the more concussions you get the easier you can get knocked out and the more serious symptoms you can have. So, if you get a good hit on the head take it easy if you are aware and if you are not aware hopefully someone will be near who understands what just happened to you and will help you by assessing you properly and get medical attention. Chiropractic adjustment helped me a lot and made the pain resolve faster. Time is what was needed most. It’s a tissue injury and it takes time to heal or get better. Good Luck! and keep the rubber on the road.
Weekend Warrior
How many times have you been told to not do too much on the weekend? But there is more time to do stuff. You will pay for it on Monday. That’s what I say to myself. Thank god I am a chiropractor and have friends to fix me on Monday morning. It is always easy to say I will ramp up my running mileage or I will work on the yard in stages, but I end up throwing in a long run or doing all the yard work in one day only to pay for it with muscle soreness and pain. I hate to take an anti-inflammatory too , but sometime you need to work or sleep for that matter and sometimes pain will put an end to that. The best tricks I know how to deal with muscle soreness are #1 Drink fluids and electrolytes (gatorade, etc.) all day and afterward#2 Take a hot bath with a cup of rock salt in it afterward to help pull out the lactic acid or the toxins or whatever is making the muscles sore. #3 Get your body moving properly via chiropractic, yoga, stretching du jour. #4 Don’t forget your protein to help rebuild the muscles, so eat some. and#5 build up if you can and don’t do it all in one day. Enjoy!
Health by Coconut Oil
Have you ever felt the health from the food you eat. Sometimes you don’t feel the positive benefit unless you have experienced the absence of health. I have been using olive oil to cook for years, never knowing the harm I was doing to my circulatory system. Over the years and slow progression of chest tension, I thought it was a normal sensation until I switched to cooking my morning eggs in coconut oil. There was a noticeable change of less chest discomfort after a few days of using coconut oil. I’ve always been concerned with my cholesterol levels, but not willing to take statin drugs to control it. Dietary changes and liver cleanses have always kept my levels in the normal range on my chem panel blood labs. Here is some research to show coconut oil is beneficial for your cholesterol levels:
Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2011;20(2):190-5.
Coconut oil is associated with a beneficial lipid profile in pre-menopausal women in the Philippines.
Source
The USC-Office of Population Studies Foundation, University of San Carlos, Talamban, Cebu City, Philippines 6000. alanferanil_2000@yahoo.com
Abstract
Coconut oil is a common edible oil in many countries, and there is mixed evidence for its effects on lipid profiles and cardiovascular disease risk. Here we examine the association between coconut oil consumption and lipid profiles in a cohort of 1,839 Filipino women (age 35-69 years) participating in the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey, a community based study in Metropolitan Cebu. Coconut oil intake was estimated using the mean of two 24-hour dietary recalls (9.5±8.9 grams). Lipid profiles were measured in morning plasma samples collected after an overnight fast. Linear regression models were used to estimate the association between coconut oil intake and each plasma lipid outcome after adjusting for total energy intake, age, body mass index (BMI), number of pregnancies, education, menopausal status, household assets and urban residency. Dietary coconut oil intake was positively associated with high density lipoprotein cholesterol especially among pre-menopausal women, suggesting that coconut oil intake is associated with beneficial lipid profiles. Coconut oil consumption was not significantly associated with low density lipoprotein cholesterol or triglyceride values. The relationship of coconut oil to cholesterol profiles needs further study in populations in which coconut oil consumption is common.
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE:
There has also been some interesting research and case studies regarding the benefits of coconut oil for Alzheimer’s patients. I’ll let the youtube video tell you about Dr. Newport’s work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iScs0uzQZFk
Here is some more information and some links for coconut oil products:
ORDER COCONUT OIL HERE:
http://astore.amazon.com/creathealtchi-20
Enjoy! I hope you benefit from the health charge I get from this incredible natural substance.
Broken Leg
Healing from a broken leg is quite a process. Just ask my son who fractured his tibia skiing this year. Besides the pain, casts, splints, atrophy, learning to walk again, and dad shoving calcium down his throat, it was quite an experience. He learned that he his not invincible and that healing takes time. He also learned that spinal adjustments help his low-back and leg feel stronger. It is amazing to me when an orthopedic doctor just cuts someone loose without any recommendation for chiropractic or physical therapy after a leg fracture. Walking around on a cast for ten weeks really torques your back. Restoring the function of your spine really helps the recovery process. Having a balanced spine and pelvis helps all the muscles function correctly, so there is less to overcome during recovery. My advice, if you know of anyone recovering from an arm or leg fracture, get them to see a chiropractor. It will make the difference in their recovery. There are many low-force techniques that are safe to receive during recovery from a fracture. Get an evaluation within a week after cast removal to determine the balance of your spine and pelvis. Heal Fast! Keep the rubber on the road and boards on the snow too.
Movement and Function
How many times a day do you check in with your body and make sure it’s functioning correctly? I wish we had a check engine light, but we don’t. I do range of motion exercises daily to feel if I am tight or restricted. Do it! It’s easy. wake up in the morning and turn your head left as far as it can go and turn your head right as far as it can go. What do you feel? Tight on one side? Painful? Another one is to cross your arms in front of you at shoulder level and turn right and left as far as you can go. So, same thing do you feel pain or discomfort. If you do then you are restricted. Get to your chiropractor for an adjustment.
Decreased Function = Increased discomfort over time.
Check your body daily and see a chiropractor! It’s a lifesaver!
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