ArthroStim - Kinder Gentler Chiropractic Care

by Dr. Dave Edenfield

Even though chiropractic care has been around for more than a century, it still has a reputation for "popping" or "cracking" the back.  While strictly manual adjustments may have been standard operating procedure in the old days, most of today's chiropractic practitioners utilize state-of-the-art technologies that literally take the stress out of performing spinal adjustments.

One of the technologies that we use at Lakewood Chiropractic is a device known as the ArthroStim. (See the video below.) This handheld instrument is used to deliver a gentle force, in the form of multiple light percussion or tapping, to the patient at the appropriate angle and pressure to subtly and painlessly correct joint motion.  In fact these taps are delivered so quickly that the patient doesn't have time to tense their muscles, which is another reason the ArthroStim works so well.  This therapy feels really good.

In addition to spinal issues, the ArthroStim is also great for treating problems with any joints in the body such as the hand, wrist, elbow, shoulder, knee and ankle.  It's so gentle that it can even be used on infants and seniors.  (Arthritis sufferers love the ArthroStim.) This high precision, low impact device has been approved by the FDA as one of the safest methods for treating neck, back and  joint pain resulting from loss of motion.  Unlike pain pills and cortisone shots, there are absolutely no side effects from its repeated use.

While traditional chiropractic treatments are perfectly safe, many patients report that they prefer the ArthroStim to standard adjustment methods.  Traditional adjustments rely on high-energy thrusts and pulls to the neck and back.  These adjustments are not only designed to correct spinal misallignments, but they are also meant to stimulate neural receptors that produce nerve impulses which in turn relay crucial information to the brain.  This neural feedback helps the brain update and evaluate changes prompted by chiropractic adjustment.  This in turn allows the brain to transmit commands to the muscles and soft tissues in order to adjust their tension, all of which is necessary to set into motion the healing process.

By generating a series of controlled and highly targeted micro-thrusts, the ArthroStim is able to not only realign the spine, restore motion and stimulate specific neural receptors, but it also avoids activating the body's pain receptors while doing so.  In fact, this device is so tunable that it allows your chiropractor to progressively reduce the amount of force that is applied as your treatments progress. 

The best way to understand the ArthroStim is to think of it as a device that allows your chiropractor to divide the force needed to make the adjustments into a series of smaller forces that are delivered incrementally over a highly localized area. Some of the benefits associated with ArthroStim are:

• Low Impact
• High Precision
• Non-Invasive
• Zero Side Effects

If you or anyone you know is in pain or has an aversion to standard chiropractic practices, send them this blog and video so they can see that there are technologies that can take the stress out of treatment.

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

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.

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/

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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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