Useful Tips

What a Pain in the Neck!

You turn your head to the left. Ouch! You turn your head to the right. Ouch! Sharp movements and decreased range of motion can cause a real pain in the neck. It’s one of the main reasons why new patients walk through our door. The cause? Most often it’s stress.

There are 3 kinds of stress that can cause nerve interference that gives you that pain in the neck.

Physical stress, such as repetitive motions on a job, poor posture, a car accident, or a fall can cause tightening in the muscles and joints in the neck.

Chemical stress may result from the air you breathe, food additives, preservatives, smoking, medications, and drug or alcohol – all nervous system irritants.

Emotional stress comes from worrying – about money, health, relationships, a difficult boss, your job, or a death causes muscles to tighten, leading to neck pain.

Some stress-busting suggestions that might alleviate your neck pain? Learn how to meditate. Get up from your desk and walk around every hour. Read a good book. Eat healthier, non-processed foods.
OH…and make an appointment to come in for a chiropractic examination to determine if you need to get adjusted.

What Does an Adjustment Actually Do???

You may know it makes you feel better, helps with pain, boosts the immune system, and “turns the power back on.” But what does a chiropractic adjustment really do?

 When a bone in your spine is even slightly out of pace, it can affect a nerve that is exiting the spinal column on its way to designated area in your body. Known as subluxation, this wreaks havoc with your nervous system, compromising function and causing breakdowns throughout your body. And it often takes years to develop symptoms.

An Adjustment releases the affected nerve and restores integrity to your nervous system. At the moment the adjustment is delivered, pressure on the affected nerve is relieved. In many cases, your symptoms may begin to immediately subside. If the nerve has been affected for quite some time, it may take longer to achieve the desired improvement.

So the adjustment isn’t just about realigning your spine, it’s really all about helping your nervous system to function as designed.

  Pain Isn’t the Problem

If you were to ask our patients about what first brought them in for chiropractic care, most would respond that it was some type of pain. Back pain, neck pain, headaches, joint pain, chronic ear infections (pain). But pain wasn’t really their problem. Pain was a symptom of a bigger problem, a problem that might have even started a birth.

What is the purpose of pain? Pain tells us that there is some problem that needs to be addressed. Something is “out of whack.” Many people walk into their doctor’s office in pain and walk out with a script for a pain relieve. But that only addresses the symptom – the cause is still there.

Chiropractors are trained to locate and help to alleviate misalignments in your spine that are inhibiting your body’s ability to function properly. A vertebra sitting on a nerve can cause any body part affected by that nerve to malfunction. When the malfunction gets bad enough, pain often acts as a warning sign, alerting you that something is wrong.

When Dr. Kris and Dr. Kler locates the misalignment and forces the bone to move off the nerve, healing starts to take place. You may even experience relief from conditions other than the one that you sought relief from in the first place! Has this happened to you?

Want to feel even better? Then we invite you to share the chiropractic message of hope and healing with a friend or family member who needs it, too

Carpal Tunnel

Chiropractic techniques that work so well with the spine can be applied to other joints in the body. Virtually every joint is susceptible to fixations and malfunctions that impair function and range of motion. Trauma, micro-traumas, vibrations and repetitive motions are often culprits.

The Tunnel
The carpal tunnel is a band of ligaments and small bones in your wrist. Painful symptoms can result when nerves are compressed by a collapse of this nerve “tunnel.”

The Spine
Many are surprised to learn that the cause of their wrist problem may be due to functional changes to one or more joints of the neck, shoulder, elbow or wrist. Vertebral subluxations in the upper spine can compromise the workings of any structure between it and the tip of your littlest finger. This is often called the double crush syndrome.

Other Extremities
Shoulders, hip problems, knees, ankles and even the jaw problems have been shown to respond to chiropractic care. Find out before resorting to drugs or irreversible surgery!

It just makes sense to take the more conservative approach first: chiropractic first, drugs second and surgery last! Schedule a consultation with an Association member chiropractor near you and find out what safe and natural chiropractic can do for you.