The Exercisist - Controlling Your Pain Demons Via Exercise

By Dr. Steven Warfield

Being a chiropractor means that I treat many people in pain.  Pain in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing.  It is the body’s way of telling you that something isn’t quite right.  The problem is that instead of heeding their body’s warning and seeking treatment in order to correct the problem, many people reach for pain pills that only temporarily mask the pain and go merrily on their way.  This can create a vicious circle in which the body can become even more out of balance and in turn create even more damage and pain.

What most people do not realize is that pain killers are not the only way to combat pain.  One of the things we teach our patients is the use of therapeutic exercises that can be performed at home.  They are low impact and are designed to help patients attenuate pain between visits by providing increased flexibility.  The reason these exercises are so effective in helping patients control their pain is simply due to the fact that by restricting movement as many people do when they hurt then the body will in turn tighten up limiting motion even more.  Exercising the affected areas promotes flexibility and proper alignment.  Misalignment of the spine is one of the chief causes of pain. 

Bear in mind that performing the proper exercise regimen should not cause much if any pain at all.  Plus once you have finished exercising, the pain should if anything be reduced.  It should also free you to move with greater ease and significantly more confidence.  (People experiencing pain are usually afraid to move for fear that the affected area may lock up or spasm.) 

Lower Back Pain

Back extensions stretch and relax the muscles of the lower back.  Lying on your stomach, prop yourself up on your elbows.  Slowly arch your back by pushing down on the floor.  Hold for several seconds and repeat eight to ten times.  Make sure that you do not bend your neck backwards and keep your hips flat on the floor throughout the entire routine.

Another low impact exercise that has been known to help people with lower back pain is to lie flat on one’s back with one leg bent.  Raise the bent leg slowly toward the chest.  Then wrap your arms around it and lower it slowly to the floor.  Repeat 10 times then switch to the opposite leg.

Pain in the Legs

If the pain you are experiencing radiates down the leg, you may be experiencing what is known as sciatica. If that is the case, then one of the exercises that can help with this condition is a variation of the back extension called the McKenzie Exercise.  As with back extensions you start this exercise flat on your stomach and propped up on your elbows.  The difference with the McKenzie is that instead of simply rising onto both forearms, with this exercise you continue the motion on one side only.  (see video below)  Hold this posture for a couple of seconds and repeat 10 times.

Always employ common sense when performing these or any other therapeutic exercises.  Stop immediately if you experience pain during or after exercising.  To reduce the risk of injury, consult with your chiropractor before doing these exercises for the first time.  While these simple exercises can help you attenuate back and leg pain, bear in mind that your chiropractor may be able to help you correct the root cause of your pain and in so doing help you exorcise the demons once and for all.

Dr.’s Steven Warfield and Dave Edenfield offer the most advanced treatments for back pain, sciatica, neck pain, whiplash and headaches. They also treat auto accident victims with state-of-the-art technologies.  For more information visit http://www.lakewoodchiropracticjax.com/

Don't Short Sheet Your Summer Activities

By Dr. Dave Edenfield

Summertime in Florida means heading out to the beach at first light or getting in a quick nine holes before the sun starts to take its toll.  It means playing tennis under sodium arc lights and night sailing.  One of the things we Floridians know a thing or two about is how to beat the summer heat without short sheeting our summer activities. 

Unfortunately for some, overdoing it on the court, at the beach or on the golf course is one of the reasons that sports injuries abound during the summer months.  There are also inherent dangers posed by a number of traditional summer activities, such as barbecues, fireworks and swimming pools.   Before you or someone in your family winds up cutting their summer short due to an injury, there are a few things you need to be made aware:

      1.      A study commissioned by Michigan State University found the most common summer injuries involved wheeled devices such as cars, bikes, skateboards and rollerblades.  If you or anyone in your family rides after dark, make sure that they have and use lights.  Many injuries can be prevented by making sure that riders are visible.  Also make sure that adequate protection such as helmets are worn. 

      2.      Another magnet for injuries, particularly among children, is the swimming pool.  Be it a private or public 

      pool, the areas surrounding it are wet, slick and prone to causing falls.  Toddlers especially are drawn to pools and can fall easily fall in and drown.  Always make sure that pools are surrounded on all sides by a self-locking gate.  Never leave small children unattended in or near a swimming pool. 

     

      3.      Lawn mowers are also another source of danger to children and adults alike during the summer months.  Every year more than 80,000 Americans are treated at the ER for mishaps involving lawn mowers.  Aside from the obvious risks posed by rapidly spinning blades, many injuries are caused by rocks and other debris that is ejected at high speed.  Any time the lawn mower is being operated you need to wear protective clothing such as long pants, closed-toe shoes, goggles and hearing protection.  You should also make sure that everyone else in the family is out of range of flying projectiles.

      4.      Beware the barbecue.  While nothing beats barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs, burns and fire hazards are something to consider every time you fire up the grill.  In the US, fire departments respond to an average of 8,200 house fires involving barbecues every year.  That doesn’t account for the amount of burns caused by both charcoal and gas grills. 

      5.      Fireworks are a magnet for people of all ages.  They are also a prevalent cause of burn injuries in the summer months.  Caution should be exercised with any kind of pyrotechnics. Even such seemingly innocuous things as sparklers have been known to cause severe injuries.  Sometimes even professional pyrotechnics displays can be hazardous to onlookers, such as an incident this year in California’s Simi Valley when a platform collapsed during a fireworks show, causing the pyrotechnics to arc into the stands and injuring 28 people. 

      6.      Overdoing fun in the sun can also be hazardous to your health, especially for those who are overweight or out of shape.  Many people are drawn to baseball diamonds, golf courses, basketball and tennis courts during the summer who haven’t played in years.  As a result their bodies are ill prepared for the shock of competition.  Strains, sprains and slipped discs can result, especially for those who don’t take the time to warm up and stretch beforehand.  Don’t make the mistake of simply stretching the parts of your body you will be using the most.  Athletics involve the entire body.  If you don’t have a set stretching routine, consult your local chiropractor. 

      

      You can’t beat the Florida heat.  All you can do is come to terms with it.  Anytime you or any family member ventures outdoors for the next couple of months, make sure that they take all due precautions, along with plenty of sunscreen and water.   The last thing you want is an injury to short sheet your summer activities.  

Dr. Dave Edenfield  and Dr. Steven Warfield are part of the team of doctors and therapists at http://www.lakewoodchiropracticjax.com/ who are dedicated to helping you and your family lead  healthier, happier and pain-free lives.  

Back Pain vs. Big Pharma

By Dr. Steven Warfield

Turn on the television to any station and it won’t be long before you see a commercial touting one kind of 

prescription drug or another.  That isn’t unusual since the drug industry spent $2.4 billion in television advertising last year alone, down from a high of $3.1 billion in 2007.  Prior to 1997, drugmakers were prohibited from promoting their products on television. This usually meant that consumers would rely on doctors to make judgments regarding the most appropriate medications to prescribe.  Since that date, however this equation has been turned on its head.

In a recent editorial, Ian Spatz, a former vice president for global health policy at Merck, says doctors feel pressured to prescribe the drugs patients request. And critics say the ads push consumer to ask their doctors for expensive branded drugs, driving up the cost of healthcare. 



Don’t get me wrong, being a chiropractor means sometimes co-managing pain medication with primary care physicians and pain management to provide pain relief to patients.  The chief difference is that medication alone is never given as a solution to back pain.  It should be viewed as a tool for temporary relief while the underlying causes are being treated.  A number of prescription pain killers have been known to induce dependency.  Even worse is the sad fact that there are many prescription drugs that are not only prohibitively expensive, but they can have adverse side effects that in some cases can be worse than the condition they are being used to treat. 

Big Pharma recently began promoting Humira, an expensive drug with a price tag of nearly 20,000 dollars a year. Humira is touted to help treat ankylosing spondylitis, a chronic inflammatory disease of the axial skeleton, which includes the spine. It is outrageous how drug companies promote this dangerous drug for an exceedingly rare cause of low back pain – one that is only responsible for less than a tenth of a tenth of one percent of low back pain! What’s more, Humira may cause severe side effects, such as:

•     Tuberculosis

•     Increased risk of lymphoma and other cancers

•     Hepatitis B infection

•     Liver, nervous system, and blood problems

•     Heart failure

•     Immune reactions, such as lupus-like syndrome

Opioid painkillers like OxyContin, which are also commonly prescribed for back pain relief, also have a highly addictive nature. In fact, opioids are among the most commonly abused prescription drugs today. This is why back pain is now one of the primary reasons why so many American adults get addicted to painkillers. 

The next time you experience back pain, before you reach for the medicine cabinet you need to be aware of the fact that pain relievers only provide temporary relief.  Their only role is to mask pain.  They do not address the underlying causes.  When one considers that eighty percent of Americans are affected by back pain at one time in their lives or another, then this condition is not only a serious threat to health in this country, it is a chronic condition that costs far more in lost income than mere medical expenses can account.  

While accidents and injury account for about half of the patients that seek chiropractic treatment, a number of other factors including obesity, poor posture and lifestyle accounts for the other half.  If you work in an office, everything from the position of your computer monitor to your office chair can act to imbalance your spine and its underlying musculature to cause pain.  If you are overweight or pregnant, this can also put undue stress on your spine that can result in pain.

The best way to overcome these problems is to treat the underlying issues.  From a chiropractic standpoint this starts with an examination (followed in some cases by an x-ray) in order to pinpoint the affected areas.  After this and depending upon the results of the examination, treatment can begin.  This can consist of a spinal adjustment, ultrasound therapy, laser treatment or other rehabilitation treatment modalities that are designed to restore normal biomechanics and in so doing attenuate pain.  More importantly, chiropractic care does not stop there.  Depending upon the injury and its underlying cause, your chiropractor can also advise you on everything from exercise regimens and dietary changes, to posture and lifestyle modification designed to keep the underlying causes of pain from repeating themselves.

The effects of Chiropractic care are much longer lasting and do not to adversely affect your health.  The problem is that unlike Big Pharma, chiropractors do not spend billions of dollars per year on television commercials designed to entice the public into trying our services.  We rely on getting results and word of mouth from patients whose quality of life has been enhanced by seeking us out.  And that’s priceless.

Dr.’s Steven Warfield and Dave Edenfield offer the most advanced treatments for back pain, sciatica, neck pain, whiplash and headaches. They also treat auto accident victims with state-of-the-art technologies. For more information visit http://www.lakewoodchiropracticjax.com/

Some Like It Hot

By Dr. Dave Edenfield

Summer is in full swing.  That means weekend barbecues, trips to the amusement park with the kids and long walks on the beach.  In Florida it also means heat stress, that constant companion that dogs all of those 

Sun Pillar (Photo credit: tomhe)

brave enough to set foot outdoors in July and August when the thermometer is on the far side of 90 degrees day in and day out.  For many people, particularly displaced northerners, heat stress can quickly turn into heat exhaustion or even heat stroke.  So if you don’t want to wind up being chauffeured to the local ER by a team of EMTs there are a few things you need to understand in order to beat the heat this summer.

      1.      Hydration Trumps Prostration

Starting a three mile hike down a nature trail clutching a can of Coke in the middle of July at high noon is one sure way to wind up face down on the trail.  Experienced hikers know that you need to bring enough water to make a long trek in the heat possible.  Since the body can lose up to a quart per hour on a hot day and the typical walking pace is three miles per hour, you need to carry at least a half-gallon of water if you are going to walk three miles and back.

      2.      Made in the Shade

If you do venture outdoors in the summer, make sure you wear a hat or tote a beach or a golf umbrella to ward off the Sun’s rays.  Hats with wrap around brims are preferred to ball caps, since they provide more shade and are not worn tight against the scalp.

      3.      Timing is Everything

The best time to perform any kind of strenuous activity in the summer is either early in the morning or after the sun goes down.  I have a neighbor who is known to strap a bike headlight onto his mower in order to cut the grass at 8:30 pm.

      4.      Dress for Success

While that bathing suit shows off your curves, it also allows the sun to dehydrate and overheat your body in the shortest time possible.  Particularly if you plan on walking any distance in the hot sun, you need to sport the kind of attire that retains moisture and keeps the body cool.  At the very least a tee shirt is a must since it helps to retain moisture which in turn helps to cool the body.

      5.      Be Aware If You Dare

If you insist on venturing outside in the heat of the day, you need to be aware of the onset of heat-related maladies since ignoring the early phases of heat stress can prove deadly.

Heat Fatigue is typically caused by lack of hydration, as are heat cramps.  Both of these conditions while not life threatening is your body’s way of telling you to slow down, seek shelter from the sun and rehydrate.  The onset is usually a combination of fatigue and possibly muscle spasms.  If you don’t heed these warning signs the progression onto more serious conditions is imminent.

Heat Exhaustion is the next rung up the ladder of heat stress.  While this condition is common to athletes who don’t know enough to get in out of the sun, it can also be experienced by hikers and even the 

occasional gardener who push their bodies too hard in the summer heat.  Think of the way your body deals with heat as the radiator in your car.  As long as the radiator has sufficient fluid and the fan keeps turning, your car has little trouble dealing with even the hottest of days.  However, if the fan belt breaks or the anti-freeze level drops, suddenly red lights start to light up on the dashboard until the car sputters to a halt.  The human body works a lot like that.  When it is properly hydrated and attired it is possible to deal with the summer heat without curtailing activities.  However, once the body’s core temperature exceeds 102 Fahrenheit, a cascade of events begin to occur that lets you or those around you know that your internal radiator is about to boil over.  Symptoms can include dizziness, stumbling, nausea or even chills.  Internally the blood pressure will rapidly drop and the pulse will race as the body tries desperately to shed excess heat.  If these symptoms manifest themselves, the only solution is to seek shelter, rehydrate and cool the victim.  Failure to do so could lead to heat stroke.

heat stroke (Photo credit: Shenghung Lin)

Heat Stroke occurs when the core temperature reaches or exceeds 105 degrees Fahrenheit.   Signs of heat

 stroke are slurred speech or disorientation.  The next stage is unconsciousness and possibly death unless rapid cooling and rehydration is performed immediately.

As a trained medical professional, I can’t stress enough the nutritional factors that come into play in triggering heat-related health issues.  Recent studies have shown that heat-related fatalities have risen more than three hundred percent in the past two decades.  Young people in particular are far more prone to heat stroke due to the fact that teens and young adults today consume far more caffeinated beverages than ever before.  While that soda may feel refreshing as it goes down it can actually dehydrate the body.  It isn’t unusual for teenage athletes to pass out or even die on the ball field due to heat stroke.  While parents point the finger at coaches and trainers, in many cases it is the athletes themselves who are also to blame since they push themselves beyond their limits in order to keep from getting benched or cut from the team. In order to prevent your child from succumbing to heat stroke you need to make them aware of the warning signs of heat stress so that they will understand when they or their friends need to head for the sidelines as opposed to being carried off the field. 

Certain drugs such as antihistamines and antidepressants can also lower the tolerance for heat stress.  In 

Goalfinder exercise-produces-energy (Photo credit: gfinder)

allergy season particularly this can be problematic, since antihistamines not only dry the sinuses, they also dry the mouth.  They also reduce the body’s ability to sweat freely.  Particularly if your child takes prescription allergy medication, or any medication that impairs the body’s ability to sweat, you need to tell the coach. 

By heeding the warning signs of heat stress and using common sense to make certain that you and yours are properly attired, hydrated and educated you don’t have to be afraid of venturing outdoors during the dog days of summer.  If your child is involved in athletics also bear in mind that chiropractors can provide a world of advice on sports training and nutrition that can help young athletes maximize their performance while minimizing stress and injury. 

Dr. Dave Edenfield  and Dr. Steven Warfield are part of the team of doctors and therapists at http://www.lakewoodchiropracticjax.com/ who are dedicated to helping you and your family lead  healthier, happier and pain-free lives.