The advertisements are everywhere—at the supermarket, gas station, billboards, or TV—compelling us to ingest this pill or that drug if we have any aches or pains and they will go away. But have you ever thought about how you, the consumer, are being manipulated? These over-the-counter drugs are a booming industry and make huge profits […]
Fibromyalgia?…Got Blood?
The pain of fibromyalgia (FM) can be debilitating. What has perplexed researchers over the years is the source of this pain. Is it scarred muscle tissue? Nerve pain? Is it something in your head? Perhaps the adrenal glands are involved or maybe it’s the stress hormone called cortisol? It is well known that exercise eases […]
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and the Neck
Over the decades, we have come to expect that a pain or tingling in the hand and wrist means there is a local injury in the area. However, people can also develop wrist and hand symptoms that mimic carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) following a whiplash injury or sprain/strain of the neck. These patients may not […]
The Emotional Impact of Low Back Pain
This article discusses how anger and emotional expression may affect your back pain. For years, many medical doctors thought back pain was more of an issue in the brain than the spine. Research has shown this to be the case in many who are disabled from work. But mechanical sprain injuries of the spine are […]
Torticollis and Whiplash
Torticollis is a condition where a joint or disk is injured and you can’t move your neck. Sometimes the head is bent or turned a little to one side, and sometimes it’s straight but can barely move in any direction. This type of problem is usually caused by a disk injury. Whiplash can cause this […]
Headaches: Headache Triggers and Causes
We often think headaches are caused by different stressful triggers. It could be long days at work, staring at a computer screen all night, or the aggravation of spending an extended amount of time stuck in traffic. Some of us get headaches after drinking red wine or eating certain foods. While these triggers make headaches […]
Fibromyalgia and Its Causes
The fibromyalgia diagnosis is based on widespread bodily AND spinal pain. Most patients think that fibromyalgia is more a problem related to how intensely the brain perceives pain. While this is important, you have to also consider why the fibromyalgia patient is susceptible to such little pressure at various points. What makes their nerves so […]
Carpal Tunnel and “Manual Techniques”
Manual techniques refers to massage, deep tissue mobilization, and manipulation of the joints. These procedures are performed by chiropractors as a mainstay of their treatment. Several studies have shown that these techniques are helpful at reducing carpal tunnel symptoms. Sometimes scar tissue and tightness of the muscles of the forearms develop. Specific stretching exercises are […]
Low Back Pain and Failed Back Surgery
Back surgery is quite common in the United States with hundreds of thousands of operations performed each year. Sometimes these are laminectomies and diskectomies, and other times the spine is fused together so certain joints no longer move—a critical spinal function. The conservative medical approach/thinking to back pain is rest, medications, exercise, and physical therapy. […]
Whiplash and Muscle Weakness
Whiplash involves the over-stretching of nerves, muscles, and ligaments. The forces are so great during even low speed collisions that the muscles cannot resist the forces. The injury of whiplash produces inflammation to repair the damaged tissues. During this time, fast movements of your head and neck will result in pain, so most patients become […]