Lakewood Chiropractic is one of the premier chiropractic, acupuncture and massage therapy clinics i: February 2013

Thursday, February 28, 2013

VAX D: The Non-Surgical Treatment for Back Pain

By Dt. Steven Warfield

Many people have at one time or another experienced the onset of debilitating back pain. It could be the result of anything from trying to lift a heavy object to playing with their children. All of a sudden there is a searing pain and then the body no longer functions as it should. Trying to stand up or in some cases even walk is all but impossible. A trip to the doctor’s office for x-rays and then an MRI reveals a herniated disk. In the past this prognosis most often meant surgical intervention and a long recovery. But modern advances in medical technology have produced an alternative to going under the knife for many people.

VAX-D to the Rescue

Called vertical axial decompression therapy, VAX-D treatment begins by having the patient lie face down on a computer controlled table. The patient, who has donned a pelvic harness, grasps two handgrips. To begin treatment, the table separates slightly stretching the patients ba

English: Example of a herniated disc at the L5-S1. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

ck. Therapy consists of alternately stretching and relaxing the spine in order to relieve pressure. The handgrips allow the patient to halt treatment at any time by merely releasing the handgrips. .

Developed by Dr. Allen E. Dyer MD, VAX-D was developed specifically to treat herniated or degenerated disks by lowering spinal pressure to create a partial vacuum that can then retract the disk. Many times even a large protruding disk can be retracted to where it is supposed to be using this treatment.

How Effective is VAX-D?

The inventor of VAX-D, Dr. Dyer, recommends that patients only engage in nothing more strenuous than walking during the month following treatment. He also states that, “If patients receive this treatment five days a week, for a month, 70% of them will be free of pain. What do they do when it's done? They go skiing. Dumb!" he says. “When the pain is gone, that doesn't mean the fracture is completely healed. Exercise does nothing for an intradisk lesion or a herniated disk. What it does is put stress on a disk that's trying to heal."

What Makes VAX-D Different?

Mechanical traction has been used for decades to treat herniated disks. Conventional traction uses two harnesses, one for your chest and the other for your pelvis. Using a percentage o

Stages of Spinal Disc Herniation (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

f your body weight to pull the bones apart, some treatments use a static pressure while others rely on intermittent pressure. The problem with traditional traction is that the chest harness is uncomfortable. Add to this the fact that traditional traction can cause the muscles to tighten in an attempt to resist the stretch. VAX-D eliminates the chest harness and produces results by creating negative intradiscal pressure that creates a vacuum unattainable by traditional traction or inversion tables. VAX-D also differs from traditional traction in that the patient lies face down, which helps coax the discs back into place, since disc protrusions are most commonly posterior. It also utilizes intermittent periods of traction with gradual increases of force.

Typical treatments last anywhere from 20-45 minutes. The recommended regimen for treatment is 24 sessions over the treatment period, followed by a maintenance program.

Is VAX-D the solution for you? Ask your chiropractic physician. But for those who suffer from chronic back pain, this is one non-surgical option where the only thing you have to lose is pain.

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. If you or anyone you know suffers from herniated discs, degenerative discs or spinal stenosis, visit http://www.lakewoodchiropracticjax.com/& http://chiropractor-jacksonville-fl.com

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Snoring is Nothing to Lose Sleep Over

By Dr. Steven Warfield

If you or someone in your household routinely spends the wee hours in an imitation of a lumber mill, don’t lose heart. Snoring is more than mere annoyance. It can also be a symptom of a more serious condition: Sleep Apnea. Even though many people who have this condition purport that it doesn’t affect their ability to sleep, the truth of the matter is that those with sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly during the night. This can lead to lack of REM sleep, reduced oxygen to the brain and reduced performance during waking hours. Even worse, if left untreated, apnea can result in a number of other health problems, including:

1. High Blood Pressure

2. Stroke

3. Irregular Heartbeat

4. Heart Failure

5. Diabetes

6. Depression

7. ADHD

Side view of a typical CPAP mask hooked up to its air hose. The opening goes over the nose, the tabs press against the forehead. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Caused either by a blockage of the airway by the soft tissue in the back of the throat, by an instability in the part of the brain that controls respiration, or a combination of the two
, this condition affects not only adults, but children as well. Since there are three types of sleep apnea, the diagnosis consists of an evaluation of the clinical symptoms and the results of a formal sleep study, which can be performed either in a clinical setting or at home. The objective is to determine the quantity of apneic events per hour of sleep. Once the type and severity of sleep apnea is determined, then treatment can be initiated.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is the most common type of sleep disorder. Since the muscles of the body routinely relax during sleep, the soft tissue lining the throat can partially collapse, blocking the airway. The elderly, individuals with poor muscle tone and the obese are at higher risk for OSA. Some treatments for this condition involve changes in lifestyle, such as avoiding alcohol or muscle relaxants, losing weight and quitting smoking. Sleeping on one’s side as opposed to sleeping on the back is also effective, as are various kinds of oral appliances, which are all designed to keep the airway open during sleep.

In Central Sleep Apnea (CSA), the brain’s respiratory control centers experience an imbalance during sleep. Carbon dioxide levels and the that monitor them in the body do not react quickly enough to maintain adequate respiration. As a result, the sleeper’s breathing stops an

CPAP continuous positive airway pressure mask installed (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

d starts all night long. Sufferers of CSA may experience episodes of rapid breathing (hyperpnea) as the body attempts to balance the books by blowing off unwanted CO2 and absorbing needed oxygen.

The long and short of CSA is that the part of the nervous system that controls oxygen and CO2 levels gets out of whack. The brain fails to tell the lungs to breathe. Since the brain needs oxygen to live, as a result, it signals the tries to compensate by beating faster. Short of death, drips in blood oxygen may trigger seizures, angina, heart arrhythmia, or even heart attack. If left untreated, CSA can cause a change in the PH of the blood itself.

Treatment of CSA involves oxygen, nasal continuous airway pressure (CPAP) or bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP), as well as certain pharmaceuticals that stimulate breathing. Sufferers of CSA are also advised to avoid the use of sedatives.

Some people with sleep apnea have a combination of OSA and CSA. This condition is referred to as Complex Sleep Apnea. Patients with complex sleep apnea generally exhibit OSA, but upon application of positive airway pressure they exhibit OSA. This condition is most commonly treated by either CPAP, BiPAP or adaptive servo-ventilation (ASV) therapy.

Your Chiropractor Can Help You Breathe Easier

There are also several kinds of chiropractic treatments that can help relieve sleep apnea. Chiropractic adjustments, massage, exercise or a combination of treatments may prove effective. As well as employing a hands-on approach, your chiropractor can also teach you stretching and strengthening exercises for your neck. Since another cause of sleep apnea is neck kyphosis, which is an excess curvature of the neck, your chiropractor can help you determine the underlying cause as well as an effective course of treatment.

While there are surgical procedures that may be used to treat sleep apnea, chiropractic, lifestyle changes and other alternative treatments should be explored first. In a 2009 study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Clinical Care Medicine found that patients who practiced a series of tongue and throat exercises for 30 minutes per day showed a marked decline in sleep apnea symptoms after only three months. Additionally, patients experienced 39% fewer apnea episodes after completing the treatments.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Can Chiropractic Patients Avoid Spinal Surgery

By Dr. Dave Edenfield

“As governments and health systems around the globe search for answers to complicated health challenges such as rising numbers of chronically ill and disabled patients and runaway costs, research is finally demonstrating what the chiropractic profession has promoted for

Ready for surgery (Photo credit: Zdenko Zivkovic)

years: that caring for patients with conservative treatments first, before moving on to less conservative options or unnecessary drugs and surgery, is a sensible and cost-effective strategy,” said American Chiropractic Association President Keith Overland, DC. (The ACA is the largest professional association in the United States representing doctors of chiropractic.)

While at first sounding self-serving, Keith Overland’s commentary has been backed up by no fewer than three recent medical studies:

1. One study in Medical Care found that adjusted annual medical costs among complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) users was $424 lower for spine-related costs, and $796 lower for total health care cost than among non-CAM users. Furthermore, CAM treatments were cost neutral to health care systems, meaning that CAM users did not add to the overall medical spending in a national sample of patients with neck and back problems.

Two additional studies also reinforce ACA’s longstanding position that health care providers should start with conservative approaches to treatment, such as those services provided by doctors of chiropractic, before guiding their patients to more aggressive treatment alternatives.

2. Published in The Lancet, “The Global Burden of Disease 2010,” authored by an international group of experts assessing the world’s biggest health challenges, underscores the need for better solutions to back pain and other musculoskeletal conditions. The massive survey indicates that while people may be living longer they are doing so more frequently with disability. The study cites musculoskeletal conditions as the second leading cause of disability, and cites low-back pain as one of the major contributors to disability worldwide.

3. Another recent study in the medical journal Spine found a strong association between chiropractic care and the avoidance of lumbar spine surgery. The American Chiropractic Association is encouraged by this and other recent research supporting chiropractic’s conservative, less costly approach to low-back pain.

Key findings of the Spine study show that 42.7 percent of workers who initially visited a surgeon underwent surgery, compared to only 1.5 percent of those who first consulted a chiropractor. This important study was conducted by a collaboration of prestigious institutions, including Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, University of Washington School of Public Health, University of Washington School of Medicine, Ohio State University College of Public Health and the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries.

Since back injuries are one of the most prevalent occupational hazards in the U.S., and care commonly associated with it can be one of the most costly, those seeking treatment need to weigh all the facts. When it comes to choosing the least invasive treatment, the numbers speak for themselves. Chiropractic is clearly something that anyone experiencing back pain should consider as the most appropriate first treatment.

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

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Saturday, February 2, 2013

Pill-Free Pain Relief

By Dr. Steven Warfield

When it comes to relieving back aches, muscle aches, or discomfort of most kinds, most people reach for a pill. While pain relievers, either over-the-counter or prescription are one way to ameli

Pain Research & Management (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

orate pain, they aren’t the only or even the best solution.

Laser Therapy

Laser therapy sounds scary, but it is anything but. Unlike industrial lasers that use laser light to cut, therapeutic lasers work by delivering deep penetrating light energy that is absolutely painless. In fact most patients report that laser light actually feels good, as it imparts a pleasant feeling of warmth. The way that therapeutic lasers work is by using light to stimulate change at the cellular level. Cells soak up laser light energy and convert it to cellular energy, which leads to regeneration, tissue repair, and reduced scar formation. Laser treatment can be used to accelerate recovery and potentially enhance the benefits of other treatments.

The number of therapeutic laser sessions depends upon several factors, including whether it is being used as a stand-alone treatment, or whether it is being used in combination with other therapies. As far as effectiveness, many patients notice a reduction in pain within a couple of treatments, while others may take up to 6 treatments before they begin to feel immediate relief. And unlike pharmaceuticals, there are no adverse side effects from laser therapy.

Laser therapy can be used to treat the following conditions:

Neck and Back pain
Shoulder/Rotator cuff injuries
Elbow tendonitis
Wrist and hand conditions
Arthritis or overuse
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Knee pain
Shin Splints
Sprains, strains and muscle tears
Achilles Tendon injuries
Plantar fasciitis/heel pain

(Below is a video that shows a therapeutic laser in action.)

Vaneton - Laser therapy opens new horizons of healing

Electrotherapy and Ultrasound

Electrotherapy is the application of micro-electrical current to the body for therapeutic purposes. This also sounds a bit intimidating at first glance, but electrotherapy is simply the use of several electronic devices that can prevent muscle atrophy and spasms, increase or maintain range of motion, and alleviate pain.

EMS gently and safely contracts and relaxes muscles to soothe and help them recover from injury, fatigue and/or soreness. EMS units work by sending weak electrical impulses that stimulate targeted muscle groups.

Ultrasound

Ultrasound uses high-energy sound waves that are designed to treat soft tissue. Ultrasound is applied using a transducer or applicator that is in direct contact with the patient's skin. Gel is used on all surfaces of the head to reduce friction and assist transmission of the ultrasonic waves. The three primary benefits to ultrasound are:

A speeding up of the healing process from the increase in blood flow in the treated area.
The second is the decrease in pain from the reduction of swelling and edema.
The third is the gentle massage of muscles tendons and/ or ligaments in the treated area because no strain is added and any scar tissue is softened.

Chiropractic Treatment

Chiropractors routinely treat chronic pain by using a variety of non-surgical treatments, such as spinal manipulation, to address chronic pain symptoms, such as inflammation and muscle tension. This is accomplished by hand or by instrument to improve the range of motion in the areas used. Chiropractors are dedicated to the non-surgical treatment of disorders of the nervous system and/or musculoskeletal system. When it comes to pain management, they typically focus on, but are not limited to, care of:

Mid and lower back pain
Neck pain
Shoulder pain
Joint pain in the arms and legs
Foot, ankle and knee pain
Carpal tunnel
Bulging or Herniated discs
Disc degeneration
Headaches

In Conclusion

Before you reach for that bottle of pills, remember that masking the pain and truly alleviating pain are two different things. If you or someone you know are experiencing chronic discomfort, contact a health professional that specializes in helping patients achieve long term, pill-free pain relief.

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. If you or anyone you know suffers from herniated discs, degenerative discs or spinal stenosis, visit http://endyourpain.org

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