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is a common misconception that chiropractors only treat back and
neck conditions. Below are just a few of the conditions chiropractors
treat on a day to day basis.
Arthritis
Arthritis is any inflammation to a
joint. There are over 200 types, with the two most common being
osteoarthritis (OA) and Rheumatoid arthritis (RA). OA is a degenerative
joint disease as the result of “wear and tear”, whereas RA is
an auto-immune disease (body attacks its own tissue), causing
joints to become severely inflamed, causing scarring within the
joints and deformity. OA mainly affects the weight bearing joints
e.g. hips and knees and joints in the hands, but may strike at
any age or gender. RA primarily affects females between ages 20-50
and attacks the lesser joints in the body.
Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a disease in which
bones become fragile and are more likely to fracture. If left
untreated, osteoporosis can progress painlessly until a bone breaks.
Fractures usually occur in the hip, spine and wrist. 1 in 3 women
and 1 in 12 men are at risk of this disease. Osteoporosis is often
called the “silent disease” because bone loss occurs without symptoms.
Usually people only know that they have osteoporosis when their
bones become so weak that a sudden strain, bump, or fall causes
a fracture to a hip or wrist or a vertebra to collapse.
Nutrition
Diet is one of the most important contributions
to our health. What we eat keeps us healthy or makes us sick.
Nutritional deficiencies are linked to many of today’s
chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and
even cancer. The food we ate yesterday is now part of our skin,
heart, eyes and everything else. It is recommended that you eat
at least 5 portions of fresh fruit and vegetables a day- preferably
some of it raw. Limiting packaged and processed foods can also
help, as these contain unnecessary sugar, salt hydrogenated fats,
preservatives, etc, and will toxify the system.
Headaches and migraines
More than 10% of the UK’s
population suffers from headaches and are the most frequent reason
people seek medical advice. There are over 20 varieties of headache,
but he most commonly treated are migraine, tension, and cluster.
Migraines come on at intervals with no pain in between attacks.
The headache may last for hours or days, with other symptoms like
nausea; visual, hearing and smell disturbances; throbbing pain
only on one side of the head; and light and sound sensitivity.
Cluster headaches usually affect men over 40, occurring suddenly
several times in one day but do not last very long. Alcohol and
tobacco can bring them on. Tension headaches create dull pain
on both sides of the head; no nausea; are long lasting; exercise
is possible; an could also be described as “live wit it” headaches
TMJ
The letters TMJ are an abbreviation
of Temporo-Mandibular joint, which is the joint between your lower
jaw and your skull.
Movement of this joint allows you to open and
close your mouth and chew from side to side. Problems with this
joint are common, nine out of ten people having at least one sign
or symptom. If your jaw is in the wrong position, the muscles
that move your jaw will have to work a lot harder. Your teeth
come together up to 2000 times a day during biting and swallowing
so it is not surprising that a TMJ problem can lead to muscles
getting tired and going into spasm.
Pregnancy
The joy of preparing for a new baby
is diminished for many women by persistent back pain during pregnancy,
causing much stress and frustration due to the lack of relief
available. If you experience back pain during your pregnancy,
you share the problem with almost half of all pregnant women.
In a recent study of 950 women, 49% complained of back pain. During
pregnancy a women’s body changes dramatically. These changes cause
the spine to undergo adjustments in its form. The most common
postural changes are due to the bulk of the growing baby, the
enlarging breasts and secondary weight gain as the body prepares
to nourish the new baby. Due to the growth of the abdomen, the
lower spine is pulled forward, causing women to throw their shoulders
back and their heads forward to compensate for these changes.
This often results in the backache and tension headaches associated
with pregnancy.
Infantile colic
Infantile colic is the term commonly
used to describe persistent and most often violent crying for
no apparent reason in otherwise healthy and thriving young infants.
Accompanied with crying, babies often bend their knees to their
stomachs and arch their backs and their heads backward.
Colic often occurs in most cases at 1-4 weeks
of age and most often the symptoms spontaneously end at 3-4 months
old.
Other conditions such as scoliosis, poor posture,
ageing of the sine, frozen shoulder, sciatica, RSI, carpal tunnel
syndrome are frequently treated by chiropractors. If you think
you may be suffering from these or any of the above conditions,
talk to your chiropractor.
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Tennis elbow
Tennis elbow is one of the most common
injures seen from tennis, together with back and shoulder injuries.
The term tennis elbow is used to describe pain found on the outer
part of the elbow and the upper part of the forearm.
Tennis elbow is in fact an overuse injury. Repetitive,
forceful movements at the wrist, which bring the thumb outwards
and the palm upwards, can cause shortening of the muscles. This
causes the attachment of these muscles at the outer part of the
elbow to be placed under considerable tension and a sudden movement
at the wrist may cause a tear in the muscle and tendon.
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Before explaining the syndrome, it
is important to understand the associated anatomy. The carpal
tunnel is a restricted place at the front of the wrist, bounded
by ligaments, through which pass the tendons that flex the fingers
and wrist, this space is roofed over by a tough ligament which
prevents the tendons from pulling away from the wrist when it
is bent. One of the two sensory nerves to the hand, the median
nerve, also passes through the carpal tunnel and there is little
or no room for expansion. Any swelling in the region, from any
cause, will, therefore, tend to compress the median nerve and
interfere with the conduction of nerve impulses. The result is
numbness and tingling, sometimes even pain, in the half of the
hand on the thumb side which is supplied by a nerve. This syndrome
occurs most commonly in women of middle age although the exact
disease4 causing agent of this common condition is still poorly
understood.
Frozen shoulder
Frozen shoulder refers to loss of arm
movement at the shoulder joint combined with inflammation of the
tissues within the joint capsule that surrounds the shoulder.
These tissues become thickened and shortened and eventually “stick”
together. Initially, there is a progressive limitation of all
movements of the shoulder. This may follow a recent minor trauma,
dislocation, prolonged immobilisation, heart attack and sometimes
neck problems. Pain may or may not accompany this, although pain
will be felt if you try to exceed the limited movement. This stage
is sometimes referred to as the “freezing” stage. Eventually,
the condition progresses until all movement is greatly restricted-
“frozen” stage. Usually, no pain is felt at this stage. The reverse
of this process occurs during the recovery, when pain is again
experienced but once movement is restored, the pain diminishes.
Sciatica
Sciatica is not disease, but the name
given to a sharp pain in the area of the sciatic nerve. On each
side of the lower back, a series of nerves branch off to different
parts of the lower body. The largest, the sciatic nerve, runs
down each leg. When back problems put pressure on this nerve,
the result is pain in the lower pain, buttocks, hip and back of
the leg and possibly all the way down to your toes.
The sciatic nerve may become irritated when the
inner part of the shock absorbing discs between the bones bulge
out into the space where the nerve starts. This is called a protrusion
and if it bulges out too much, disc prolapse or rupture could
occur. This puts even more pressure on the spinal nerves, resulting
in sciatica. Sciatica has many other causes, including tight hamstrings,
tight buttock muscles, joint and muscle problems in the spine
or pelvis, different leg lengths, and back strain.
Scoliosis
Scoliosis refers to curvature of the
spine and is often mistaken for growing pains. Many diseases,
injuries or traumas can encourage a curved spine to develop. Children
with posture problems, including walking badly and slouching or
knock-kneed and pigeon-toed, may well be a result of scoliosis.
Untreated scoliosis can often give rise to problems in later life,
such as pain and deformity, however early detection and treatment
can prevent long term effects.
Scoliosis can develop during infancy or in adolescence.
Ages 7 to 10 are the least at risk when the spine
is growing at a much slower rate to the 10 to 15 age group.
Girls are at a greater risk as they inherit it
from their fathers. Scoliosis hasn’t any warning signs, which
again emphasises the importance of 6-monthly screenings during
the susceptible years. However, you may notice that your child’s
skirt or trouser length is hanging unevenly.
Ageing of the spine
During our lifetime, our spines are
required to withstand considerable weight-bearing stresses resulting
from activities of daily living. As a result of these stresses,
“wear and tear” or degeneration occurs in all parts of the vertebral
column. Degeneration which occurs in the spine as a consequence
of a daily living is considered part of normal ageing process.
The intervertebral discs (IVDs) are the first
to undergo changes, usually around the age of 40, followed later
by the spinal joints and bony vertebra, from the ages 50-60 onwards.
Normal degeneration is usually well-established by the age of
70.
Characteristically, the IVD will lose its ability
to absorb fluid as the chemical makeup and internal architecture
of the disc changes in response to repetitive stresses. As a result,
the normally resilient disc will become tougher, more fibrous
and less able to respond to weight-bearing load. The ageing of
the discs puts greater stress on the spinal joints as well as
the bony vertebrae around the edges of the joints and vertebrae.
The overall effect of degenerative changes in the disc, joints
and bony vertebrae leads to the characteristics feeling stiffness
and reduced movement of the spine.
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