The Last Man Standing

By Dr. Dave Edenfield

Anyone who has ever suffered through the debilitating pain of a lower back injury understands the importance of maintaining a healthy back.  The problem is that automobile accidents and unexpected falls are not the only way in which to injure your lower back.  Sad to say it but the biggest cause of back injury has to do with an occupational hazard that is all too common: Sitting. 

Many of us work in offices or from home where our nine-to-five jobs require us to sit for eight or more hours at a time.  Especially if your business consists of working at a desk for most of the day, this can cause a great deal of strain on your lower back. The human body was never designed for extended sitting.  It was designed for bipedal motion required to hunt and gather food and flee from predators.  It was not created for being a couch potato. 

Worse still is the fact that many people go straight home after sitting for eight hours only to resume the position in front of a TV for another four hours.  It’s a wonder most people can walk at all.  The spine has a hard time dealing with the unnatural position that being seated creates.  Other than the added pressure to your disks and strain to e muscles created by forcibly bending your back when you sit, the electrical activity in your muscles also slows substantially.  What this leads to is a reduction in the muscles ability to burn fat and process blood sugar.  Over time this will affect your body’s ability to do simple things like walk and climb stairs. 

Because of these factors, sitting for long periods of time can lead to weight gain and bone loss, neither of which is going to help your back.  According to a report by the Surgeon General, up to one percent of bone mass can occur by sitting for as little as six hours per day. 

Adults can benefit from exercise as well. Studies show that spine loading exercise (e.g., rowing, upper-body lifting) increases bone density by 2% to 3%; use of a weighted vest combined with impact exercise increases hip BMD by 2% to 3% and also improves lower body strength, balance, and power; controlled impact exercises such as jumping increase hip BMD by 3%; and step aerobics and jumping increase spine and hip BMD by 1% to 2%. In some cases, these benefits can accrue with as little as 5 to 10 minutes of exercise, 5 days a week. That said, adults must continue exercising if they want to maintain these benefits. Studies show that adults lose 1% to 3% of bone mass within three to six months of ending an exercise regimen. As Dr. Snow noted, “if adults don’t use it (bone mass), they lose it.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK44683/

These Boots Were Made for Walking

When it comes to exercise, you don’t have to enroll in a gm.  Actually one of the best exercises for spine health is walking.  The spine is naturally designed for walking. This is where it is at its best. Simply going for a walk every day in the morning or after work can have tremendous benefits for your back.  Plus it can pay BIG dividends for your heart and weight as well.  This is one of the reasons that dog owners have fewer back issues.  They are forced to walk their pets several times each day.  As a result not only does Fido get a chance to answer nature’s call, but his or her owner also gets a chance to stretch their legs as well.

Speaking of stretching, another important factor in maintaining a healthy back is to stretch every day.  While some people are into Yoga and Tai Chi, both of which are excellent stretching routines, simple stretching of the calves, backs of the thighs and front of the legs can help to keep the back strong and flexible.  Stretching also helps your muscles avoid the shock of stressful activity.  (This is the main reason that athletes stretch before they engage in sports.)

 While chiropractic care can help you recover from back injuries, the best way to avoid going to the doctor’s office is the make subtle changes in your lifestyle that will help you keep your back happy and healthy.  This way when those around you succumb to the stresses of modern life, you can be the last man (or woman) standing.

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

Chiropractic - The Gift That Keeps On Giving

By Dr. Dave Edenfield

Tis the season to be jolly.  What could be jollier than giving yourself or someone you love the gift of better health?  We as a nation spend more on healthcare than just about any other country on the planet.  And like it or not, this amount goes up every year.  This is due in part to the fact that Americans are paying more out of pocket for healthcare than ever before.

In fact, the latest New York Times poll reported that just 5 percent of all Americans stated that their cost for health care has moderated.  Half of the respondents claimed that their costs have been rising at a faster rate than ever before.

“The percentage of Americans enrolled in a health plan with a deductible of at least $1,000 has climbed to 38 percent in 2013 from 18 percent in 2008, according to a recent survey by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. And over the same period, the average deductible has increased to $1,097 from $735.” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/19/us/growth-in-us-health-care-spending-slows-but-out-of-pocket-costs-rise.html?_r=0

This is one reason that so many in this country are shifting the way they think about health care.  Instead of going to the doctor only when they are sick, more Americans are spending both time and money in health maintenance.  Indeed, everything from structured diets and workout classes are for the taking.  The problem is that too many Americans are still overweight and out of shape.  How can this be?

Quote from the Huffington Post, “If you added up the cost of your gym membership, equipment and the additional cost of classes, you may be losing a lot more money than pounds.”

That is not to say that exercise and workout routines are not important in the effort to lose weight and stay fit. It’s just that all the enthusiasm in the world won’t work unless you continue to use the memberships and attend the classes.  One of the reasons that many people drop out of most workout regimens is due to either routine aches and pains or injuries.  The mantra of “No pain, no gain,” is all well and good for athletes and young people who bounce back quickly from stress to the system.  It’s another matter altogether when you are beyond your fortieth birthday.  Due to the fact that most people well into middle age or beyond lead less active lifestyles and are more prone to injury, it isn’t at all unusual for them to take a once bitten, twice shy attitude toward resuming regimented workouts after an injury.

Instead of throwing in the towel, what I recommend to many baby boomers is that the best thing they can do before they sign up for a membership is to consult their chiropractor.  After all, chiropractors are trained in everything from exercise to nutrition.  They also realize that there is no on-size-fits-all when it comes to working out.  What may work for one person could be dangerous for another.  Plus, if you haven’t worked out in a while, then you would be wise to get familiar with stretching routines and simple isometric exercises before you jump into a gym and start pumping iron. 

If you are looking to lose weight and/or become more serious about exercise or sports, your chiropractor can also provide guidance into the foods and supplements that can help you accomplish your goals without overtaxing your body.  They can also recommend treatments that can make your workouts less likely to overstress your joints, muscles and soft tissue.  (There’s nothing better than a massage after you finish a workout.)

Best of all, by availing yourself of chiropractic care you will also achieve a number of other benefits, such as improved immune response, increased vitality, better sleep cycles, lower blood pressure and reduced stress.  Add to this the fact that if you do sustain an injury, your chiropractor offers a number of treatments that can reduce discomfort, speed recovery and get you back on track to maintaining peak performance.

So if you are looking give yourself a way to better control the high cost of healthcare while improving your lifestyle, give chiropractic care a try.  It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

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.

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

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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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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:

1. A speeding up of the healing process from the increase in blood flow in the treated area.
2. The second is the decrease in pain from the reduction of swelling and edema.
3. 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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