What is Bursitis and how can Chiropractic help?

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What is bursitis and how can chiropractic help?

Bursitis is a painful condition that occurs when the fluid filled sacs that cushion your joints, called bursae, become inflamed.  The most common causes of bursitis are injury or overuse but it can also be caused by infection.

Chiropractic can help these painful conditions caused by injury or overuse through a number of methods and these include deep tissue massage, electrotherapy, and also dry needling methods. If you feel you maybe suffering with this condition please give us a call.

HIP PAIN

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This type of joint pain affects a wide variety of people in various lifestyles and life stages.

Understanding the root cause of your pain can help to determine the next steps in your treatment including how chiropractic care can help manage your condition and alleviate symptoms.

One cause of hip pain may be impingement which is a general impairment of movement due to the lack of joint mobility. Through chiropractic treatment, we can help to improve the joint mobility. We would also prescribe a personalised exercise programme using fully narrated exercise videos to increase muscle tone and mobility.

Sciatica pain occurs when there is a compression of the sciatic nerve near or around the hip. The sciatic nerve runs through the piriformis muscle which can be manually stretched by chiropractic care and again specific exercises would be prescirbed.

Many people have experienced pain due to inflammation or irritation of a tendon at the point it meets a bone, which is called tendonitis. Treatment of this condition would include working through the “belly” of the muscle instead of the pain site to relieve muscle tonicity and alleviate some of the tension on the tendon, allowing it to heal properly.

When the connective tissue that cushions the joint degrades, the resulting pain is called osteoarthritis. While we can’t treat arthritis, we can definitely help alleviate some of the symptoms through consistent joint and muscle care.

With bursitis, there is pain due to swelling and hypersensitivity on the lateral hip.

Many of the conditions and symptoms related to hip pain can be managed and improved.

How to lift heavy items to avoid injury

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  1. Bend at the hips and knees not at the low back
  2. Keep the chest forward and avoid twisting
  3. Keep the weight close to the body
  4. Most importantly, if the object is too heavy for you STOP and ask for HELP!

Benefits of Vitamin D

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The claim to fame for vitamin D is the extraordinary health benefits it offers. Believe it or not, there is more to vitamin D than just bone health.  Vitamin D behaves like a hormone. The advantages vary as the research is accumulated. Only recently have the medical community started realizing the variety of benefits provided by this vitamin. As they continue to study it, more and more benefits are emerging. Vitamin D promotes huge health and wellness perks with little cost.

We all know that vitamin D is vital to our bone health but recent studies have shown that it also reduces our chances of diabetes. In addition, it plays a vital role in cancer treatment and prevention. Vitamin D also helps regulate blood pressure and reduces the chances of heart attack and stroke. Furthermore, regular vitamin D supplements help lower the risk of multiple sclerosis. All of the incredible benefits of Vitamin D are still emerging so stay tuned.

Sources of Vitamin D

The largest single source of vitamin D is, and always has been, sunlight. About twenty minutes of sunlight between 11am and 3pm a day will produce the recommended daily amount.  The sun must be at 50 degree angle in order to get the healthy ultraviolet B rays that are necessary for your skin to produce your very own vitamin D.  Your body needs 30,000 to 40,000 IU of vitamin D, however you cannot take that much in supplement because you will have a negative health reaction. Other natural sources of vitamin D include certain fish, like salmon and tuna.  There are also the obvious places to find vitamin D, like milk. You can also take over the counter supplements do not go over 5000 IU of  D3 per day.  They are pretty affordable and easy to find. During late fall and winter you may need certain sunbeds that are equipped with a high Ultraviolet B lamp.  Call my office 870-932-5661 and we can direct you.

Vitamin D Deficiency

The studies on Vitamin D are relatively new in the medical community. We do know that it essential to our overall health and wellness. Vitamin D deficiencies have been linked to a number of ailments including certain infections, cardiovascular disease, and even cancer. Common symptoms include depression, obesity, and gut trouble. Even people with darker skin run a higher risk of being deficient in vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiencies affect over a million people world-wide. Waking up every two hours may be Vitamin D related.

Any vitamin deficiency can be hazardous to our health. Vitamin D is essential to our well-being in more ways than one. Most of the time the sunlight we get on a regular basis is sufficient for our bodies to produce what we need so don’t break out the lawn chairs just yet. Be sure to exercise regularly and eat a balanced diet with a wide variety of vegetables. If you suspect you have a vitamin D deficiency you should consult with your doctor before adding a daily supplement. Go to www.vitamindwiki.com for the best web page on the HUGE array of diseases associated with deficiencies.

My health changed dramatically when I started laying on the sunbed that had the high Ultraviolet B lamp.  I sleep now 6 uninterrupted hours.  Inexpensive health from God’s gift the sun.

Why Do Therapists Tell You To Use It Or Lose It?

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When you have a back problem, you will often be told to ‘use it or lose it’. Why is this so important? As our joints get a little older, they will begin to stiffen. This happens because quite naturally our muscles and ligaments begin to contract and the cartilage padding between the joints starts to thin and become less spongy and flexible than in our youth.

If you have a look at the x-rays in this post, you can see that the dark space at the bottom of the spine on the left(which is the cartilage disc) has become very thin compared to the  normal spine on the right.

Once this happens, the joint will lose its flexibility.  But here is the good news: If you keep stretching the area regularly, it is possible to keep worn joints working well for many years to come.  The x-ray on the left belongs to an actual patient of ours and for the last three years he has been stretching his lower back for 10 minutes each day. Since he began doing this he reports far less pain and stiffness than he was experiencing before he knew how to manage this condition.

And that is why we say ‘use it or lose it’!

 

Does My Back Really Go Out Of Place?

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Most of us have experienced a situation where we are going about our usual business and then suddenly out of nowhere our back locks and we cannot move.  A lot of people will come to us and say that they think their back has gone ‘out of place’. Is this really what is happening when we experience this situation?

Well not quite. Our back is actually brilliantly designed and is supported by strong ligaments and powerful muscles that will stop it from going out of place in everyday situations.

It is more correct to say that as we get a little older, our back gradually stiffens and because of this, the joints become prone to seizing, locking or jamming from time to time.  Once this happens, the little facet joints that sit towards the back of our spine become inflamed and irritate the millions of tiny nerve endings that are inside these joints.

This picture gives you an idea of what is happening on the inside when our back suddenly becomes painful.

Sitting Solutions

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Sitting for hour after hour like this is one of the worst things you can do to your spine. While some of us have to do this for a living, the maximum amount of time you should sit without getting up and moving around is 50 minutes. Take 10 minutes out of every hour to move around, do some stretches or do something else that doesn’t involve sitting!