San Diego Chiropractic Blog

Being a practicing chiropractor in San Diego for the last 15 plus years has given me the opportunity to manage hundreds of cases of lower back pain. I would say that of these cases of low back pain, at least 75% of them are the result of a sedentary lifestyle and lack of core strength.

Our spines are essentially a stack of bones that give use the ability to flex, bend and twist while at the same time provide protection for our spinal cord. Ligaments, which are tough fibrous bands of tissue help provide stability of the joints. Another major contributor of stability for our spines comes from the muscles. The muscles in our bodies, regardless of where they are located should be strong and flexible. Strong flexible muscles in our core help prevent injuries.

The trend in America is that we are becoming heavier and exercising less. In addition to this trend, or perhaps a contributor to this trend is the fact that so many people have work that revolves around the computer. I know that some of my patients sit at a computer station all day long - every day of the week.

Sitting at a computer has multiple ill effects on the health of our spines. The postural stress of sitting puts stress on the discs that separate our vertebrae. When we sit, the normal forward sweeping curve of our low backs round backward which displaces the weight of our bodies forward putting increased pressure on the discs. This posture also stretches the muscles that run down the back of the spine eventually causing what is known as a “stretch weakness”.

It is the loss of core strength combined with the postural stress of sitting at work for hours and days on end that leads to most of the back problems that I see at work. I always find it ironic that office workers who are in for treatment make comments about how I must see so many heavy laborers for back pain while my office is filled with computer jockeys.

The solutions to the problems described above are simple but require diligence. First of all, you have to take breaks if you sit all day. I had a seminar years ago where one of the speakers gave a simple solution to get you up and moving during the day. He suggested that you have a small, 8 oz glass of water on your desk that you drink from all day. With this plan, every twenty minutes or so you will have to get up to get more water or get up to go to the bathroom. These mini breaks in your day help relieve postural stress.

The second part of taking care of your back involves building strength in your core. This involves exercise. Walking, jogging, bicycle riding, crunches and various exercises on a Swiss Ball will all go a long way towards building core strength and reducing your chances of lower back injury.

Your’s In Good Health

Dr. Jones

www.JonesPainRelief.com

Does acute or chronic back pain have you down? Looking for alternatives to what your current back pain management plan is? Read on!

Practicing chiropractic in San Diego has exposed me to a patient base that is more interested in their health then in other areas of the country. In addition to traditional chiropractic treatment for neck pain and back pain our office offers our patients a host of recommendations for self care of their pain that can become part of a healthy lifestyle.

In order to help control episodes of back or neck pain, immediately drink several glasses of water. In some cases, dehydration will cause muscular aches and back pain. The rule of thumb of drinking eight, eight ounce glasses of water per day is healthy in general. Incidentally, headaches can be caused by dehydration as well. If you have headaches on a regular basis, increasing your water consumption may give you relief.

Ice applications to the area of pain can also be beneficial. Ice helps reduce inflammation which not only causes pain but can trigger local muscle spasms that lead to functional losses. There used to be an old rule concerning icing that suggested ice for the first 48 hours and then apply heat after that. Modern clinical studies indicate that as long as you have pain, you have inflammation. Inflammation always responds better to ice than it does to heat. We recommend that our patients ice their back pain or neck pain 20 minutes at a time at least two times per day with at least a 20 minute break in between sessions. Ice with a soft gel pack through a thin piece of clothing. Lastly, watch for frostbite - if the skin over the area that you are icing turns red or brown and scabs over you did too much.

Try to not sleep on your stomach. Stomach sleeping puts your back into extension which compresses the joints that run down the back of your spine. You should either sleep on your back with your knees supported with a pillow or sleep on your side in the fetal position. Either of these two positions may be comfortable for you and allow for a better nights sleep.

Do not try to exercise out of the pain. Exercise is vital to strengthening your back and providing stability but it needs to begin when your original pain has subsided and or is no longer aggravated by physical activity. The joints in our spines are supported by the ligaments and muscles. Once injured, ligaments heal slowly and may never provide the support that they did before the injury. We can improve our muscle tone, however, through exercise to regain pre-injury stability.

One last bit of advice that I will mention in this article is nutritional supplementation. Nutritional supplements can not only help you heal faster but can help control pain and inflammation as well. Among the common supplements that we recommend are essential fatty acids, Glucosamine, Chondroitin, SAMe and vitamin C.

Yours In Good Health

Dr. Jones

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I don’t know about you, but I am a headache wimp. I hardly ever get headaches, when I do I don’t handle them very well. I get moody and I tend to “snap” at people that really mean me no harm.

In addition to my San Diego chiropractic office treating patients with neck pain and low back pain, we see many people with headaches. Headaches have many causes and there are many different types of headaches as well.

The most common types of headache that we provide treatment for are migraine and muscle tension headaches.

Muscle tension headaches typically begin in the muscles of the neck and upper back. When these muscle become tense, they pull on the muscles that cover your head. This tension results in a headache.

Muscle tension headaches can result from postural stresses such as long hours of computer work, they can develop as a result of car accident injuries, or just plain old work and home stresses.

One common reason for chronic, on going tension in the muscle is miss-aligned vertebra. When the vertebra become miss-aligned due to postural stress, awkward sleeping positions, accidents, etc., the muscles around that vertebra tighten up as a protective mechanism. The tight muscles are commonly the root cause of the muscle tension headache.

Chiropractic care re-aligns the joints of the spine causing a relaxation of the surrounding muscles. When the joints in the neck are re-aligned, the muscles that move and support that particular vertebra relax and return to their normal functions.

When the muscles are relaxed, the muscle tension subsides and the headache goes away. Treatment for muscle tension headaches usually requires a series of treatments but you should notice a decrease in the frequency and the severity of your headache with subsequent treatment.

Your’s In Good Health

Dr. Jones

www.JonesPainRelief.com

Several years ago, Florida Sate University was selected as a site for the newest Palmer Chiropractic College. While this blog post revolves around a story that takes place thousands of miles away from my San Diego Chiropractic Office, it is relevant because it would initiate a study that would explore current beliefs and opinions regarding chiropractic care. After all, this would be the first general studies university to have a chiropractic college integrated into its campus. As with most changes, there were both accolades and anger. As a result of the divide between those in favor and those against the addition of Palmer College (my school by the way), an intensive study of chiropractic was launched by the Florida State University to find out exactly what chiropractic care was and why so many people seek out chiropractic treatment.

The following findings are taken directly from the overview found on the first few pages of the FSU report.

Reasons and Conditions for Patients Seeking Chiropractic Care

The primary reasons that patients seek chiropractic care are for illness related to back pain, headaches, and neck pains. Other types of illnesses for which chiropractic treatments are sought include lower and upper extremity pains, chest pains, and abdominal pains.

The primary causes of patient conditions for which chiropractic care is sought are activities of daily living, motor vehicle accidents, overuse/repetitive stress, work and sports/exercise/recreation.

Almost 10 percent of the patients seeking chiropractic care do so for wellness and preventive care reasons.

Consumer Use and Satisfaction with Chiropractic Care

Consumers of chiropractic care have expressed overwhelming satisfaction with the services. A survey of Floridians revealed that over 90 percent of those who have used chiropractic care during the past three years were satisfied with those services.

Nationally, the percentage of the U.S. population who has used chiropractic services has increased from 5 percent in 1980 to over 45 percent in the late 1990s.

A 2000 Florida survey revealed that over 29 percent of Floridians have used chiropractic care just within the past three years.

The survey also revealed that 92.3 percent of those who previously used chiropractic care would do so again if they had illnesses that chiropractors treat.

Research Proves Effectiveness of Chiropractic Care for Selected Conditions

During the past 20 years, over 100 studies of the effectiveness of chiropractic care, both alone and in combination with other treatments, have been conducted by reputable researchers. The studies have included clinical trials, research of medical records, consumer surveys, and chiropractic surveys. Very little research has been conducted on the wellness/preventive effectiveness of chiropractic care. Thus, no evidence currently exists either supporting or denying the hypothesis that chiropractic care improves the overall health of an individual.

The research has shown that chiropractic care is either more effective or as effective as comparable pharmaceutical and surgical treatments for back and neck pains and for certain types of headaches.

Perhaps of even more importance, the research has shown that chiropractic care is significantly safer than comparable pharmaceutical and surgery treatments, producing far fewer (about 4,000 times fewer, according to one study) negative side effects such as chronic pain, disability, or death.

This is just a small piece of the FSU study on chiropractic care. In future posts I will provide more details from this document. I hope you enjoyed it!

Yours In Good Health

Dr. Jones

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The study of workstation ergonomics tells us that the objects that we use most often should be located closest to your body and accessed easily, without awkward body positions or movements. Repeated reaching or prolonged fixed postures that involve leaning forward from your chair are stressful and fatiguing.

Some people are aware of computer ergonomics and have purchased various ergonomic devices. These devices, such as keyboard trays, gel mouse pads, and ergonomic keyboards rarely provide solutions to the big picture of computer ergonomics. These items must work with each other in order to produce a significant reduction in postural stress. For example, an ergonomic mouse is of little use if it is positioned in an area that requires reaching and stretching in order to operate it. Limiting reaching and stretching for desk items is essential to maintaining a healthy ergonomic environment.

The most frequent complaint that I have seen in my office is due to computer work is the combination of mousing and reaching to the desk for the mouse.

Most computer stations are designed in a way that involves the worker operating the computer mouse on a pad on the desk. Reaching to the desk for the mouse places direct stress on the joints and soft tissues of the neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand. Additionally, reaching forward for the mouse stresses the lower and middle back.

So How Does Reaching for the Mouse Set the Stage for Injury?

Reaching for the mouse causes you to lean forward in your chair, extend your arm and support the weight of your body through your extended arm.

The stresses placed on the human frame when reaching for the mouse are easily identified. Contrary to popular belief, sitting, which most people believe is relaxing, is hard on the back. Sitting for long periods of time can cause increased pressure on the discs of the spine.

In recent years, studies on postural stress have indicated that we should be sitting upright with our hips flexed at 90 degrees. As it turns out, the most up to date studies show that a slightly reclined sitting posture with the hips flexed at 100 to 115 degrees is ideal if you have to sit at a desk. If your mouse is not positioned close enough to your body, you will have to reach for it. Reaching for your mouse stresses your back by reducing the angle of your hips.

Next, we have to look at the effects of reaching on the neck and shoulder. When the mouse is being operated at a distance that makes the operator reach, the shoulder extends forward and the shoulder blade abducts (rotates forward). This position stretches the muscle groups that connect the medial portion of your shoulder blade to your spine and the superior portion of your shoulder blade to your neck. In the short term, this stretch aggravates the affected muscle groups causing spasm, fatigue, headaches and stiffness in the neck and shoulder. In the long term, this position creates a condition called a “stretch weakness” resulting in muscular imbalance, trigger points and chronic variations of the conditions listed in the prior sentence.

Lastly, placing the mouse too far away, too low, or too much on one side can cause shoulder, wrist, elbow, and forearm discomfort. When the operator is forced to reach for the mouse, his / her body weight shifts forward and ultimately results in weight bearing stress on the extended arm. Spending prolonged periods of time leaning on an extended arm is an unnatural and destructive posture that will eventually lead to the development of a repetitive stress syndrome; likely resulting disorders would include tendonitis of the wrist, elbow or shoulder.

Yours In Good Health

Dr. Jones

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In addition to neck pain, back pain and headaches, my San Diego chiropractic office provides treatment for many patients with various types of repetitive stress injuries. This post will continue from where the last one left off and will describe what repetitive stress injuries are.

A Repetitive Stress Injury is a kind of catch all phrase for many conditions. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Tenosynovitis / DeQuervain’s Syndrome, Tendonitis, Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, Trigger Finger, Myofascial Pain Syndrome and Chronic Sprain / Strain are some of the actual diagnosis that are rendered in my office. All of these conditions are serious and in many cases can cause great pain, permanent disability and sometimes loss of employment.

Repetitive Stress Injuries occur from repetitive movements involving a specific set of muscles and joints. RSI injuries are the result of an accumulation of stress and strain that causes irritation, inflammation, and eventually pain or other disability. A good analogy used to characterize the onset of RSI would be the “straws on the camels back” saying.
Initially, RSI affects the soft tissues of the involved joint(s). Soft tissues include muscles, nerves, ligaments and tendons. However, if left untreated for long periods of time, the involved joint can become arthritic and form bone spurs resulting in permanent damage to the joint.

While various occupations ranging from meat cutters to construction workers develop RSIs that result from the typical duties of their professions, the most frequent cause of these injuries involve computer work. The constant muscular demands of keyboarding and mousing combined with the postural stress of confinement in an office chair with one’s neck and back held in prolonged fixed positions has resulted in an epidemic of injuries that includes hand pain, wrist pain, arm pain, neck pain, back pain and shoulder pain.

I hope that you are finding this information helpful. My next post will continue this series and will describe the basics of workstation ergonomic set-ups.

Yours In Good Health

Dr. Jones

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Have you ever wondered what it takes to build a healthy and strong spine?

Being a Chiropractor in San Diego, I see many types of injuries. These injuries result in symptoms such as neck pain, back pain, chronic headaches, etc. The cause of these injuries ranges from car accidents and work or sports injuries to injuries caused by more domestic duties that result from around the house chores and sometimes things as simple as sleeping in an awkward position.

Of these injured patients, I would say that at least for the moment, while they are in pain, at least 75% of them ask “what can I do for myself to make sure that this doesn’t happen again?” This question served as the inspiration for this article and I will address in this post.

To begin with, pain is a great motivator. When people are in pain they take a proactive approach to their health. People often inquire about what kind of stretch or exercising that they can start right away. Unfortunately, the best thing that you can do while your injury is new is to apply ice packs to the injured area and rest. More often than not, over my 15 plus years in practice I have seen enthusiastic patients ignore this advice and end up giving their conditions major set backs. The time to start exercising and stretching your back for most of us is when it is out of its acute stage of pain.

My biggest struggles in practice have been dealing with my patients exercise and diet habits. Exercise is one of the few things that a patient can do at home, outside of chiropractic care, to help prevent or diminish the chances of developing back pain.

After an injury, you should approach exercise cautiously - almost to a point where the exercise that you are performing feels like it is doing nothing. If you can get through a few low intensity exercise sessions like this without aggravating your condition, you should slowly add resistance which allows you to build confidence and strength at the same time.

This is a sensible approach to exercising after a back injury. Slow and cautious - and under the advise of a health care professional. Strong muscles add strength and support to your spine and can only serve you in a beneficial way.

Yours In Good Health

More Coming Soon Here’s To Your Health Yours In Good Health
Dr. Jones

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Have you ever had an episode of low back pain? How about low back pain with sciatica? Neither of these is good.

Many patients are seeking back pain relief when they visit my San Diego based chiropractic clinic.

That is not unusual since most people consider chiropractors as back pain specialists. That being said, we treat patients for a variety of ailments including neck pain, headaches, sciatic pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc. While all of these conditions sound like very different conditions, they are actually very similar.

Most of my patients that suffer with headaches also complain of neck pain or stiffness. In fact, many headaches are related to muscle tension that originates in the neck. The muscle tension or spasm in the neck triggers the headache. Therefore, by treating the neck with a combination of chiropractic adjustments, hot packs, ice packs, muscle stimulation and ultrasound; the muscle tension in the neck can be resolved preventing the headache.

This is just an example of how one problem in a specific region of the body can be responsible for symptoms in a separate area. Likewise, sciatica is most often related to irritation of joints and muscle spasms in the lower back. Similarly, carpal tunnel syndrome results from a process involving joints in the wrist and the surrounding muscles and ligaments.

All of the conditions that I listed above as well as many unlisted conditions follow the same path to becoming symptomatic. Either through some specific injury or ongoing trauma (such as keyboarding, mousing or improper lifting techniques), the joint becomes irritated and inflamed causing pain and muscle spasm. If the pain and spasm affects a specific nerve, the patient may experience additional symptoms such as sciatica or arm / hand pain.

Any pain that travels from the back or down down an arm or leg is an indication of a more advanced problem that requires immediate evaluation and treatment.

Yours In Good Health

More Coming Soon Here’s To Your Health Yours In Good Health
Dr. Jones

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Have you ever slept on your arm and had it fall asleep? Imagine if it just felt like that all the time.

A few months ago I had a young lady come to my San Diego Chiropractic office with these complaints. In addition to numbness and tingling, she had neck pain, shoulder pain, arm pain, wrist pain and hand pain. She also complained of weakness in her left hand, which was resulting in clumsiness and was affecting her work as an executive secretary.

These complaints are seen with regular frequency in my office. The process is a familiar one and common with many musculoskeletal conditions that involve the nervous system.

Usually, postural stresses such as leaning over a desk or computer will eventually irritate a specific joint in the spine. The irritation of the joint causes inflammation of the muscles and ligaments that surround that joint. This inflammation will cause compression of the local nerves resulting in pain and muscle spasm. If the nerve compression persists, numbness, tingling and weakness of the related muscles will follow.

This patient was displaying signs and symptoms of long-term nerve root compression that involved her left arm and hand.

We treated her with chiropractic manipulations that were delivered with the specific goal of eliminating the nerve root compression. She was also treated with ice packs, hot packs, electrical muscle stimulation and ultrasound in order to address the soft tissue inflammation. In addition to in office care she was given a set of stretches and exercises for at home therapy and advised to use ice packs daily for twenty minutes per session.

It took approximately eight weeks of active care, which is three treatment visits per week, to relieve 90% of her pain and 90% of her left arm weakness. The rest of her symptoms will resolve with at home therapy and chiropractic care delivered on an as needed basis for flair-ups that will occur in the future.

This is just one example of the many different types of cases that resolve with chiropractic care in my office.

Your’s In Good Health

Dr. Jones

San Diego Chiropractic Care
Chiropractor San Diego Blog

I believe we all want to be healthy. The question is, however, what is health? And, how do we “get” healthy?

In my San Diego chiropractic office, I always try to encourage health beyond the obvious treatment for neck pain, back pain and headaches that represent the bulk of my patients concerns. Most of my patients at least entertain the idea of making lifestyle changes for the sake of better health. Some want nothing to do with it. In their mindset, being out of pain is good enough for them.

I always explain to my patients that in the absence of some catastrophic injury, most cases of neck pain and back pain begin as a slight irritation that we are totally unaware of. With time and additional stresses, these slight irritations can become magnified to the point where they become symptomatic.

Our diets act the same way. A few poor meal choices won’t destroy your health by themselves, but frequent poor meal choices over longer periods of time can have a significant negative impact on your health. You only have to look at a McDonalds or Burger King drive-through to see the long lines of people making poor food choices. These people who make frequent poor food choices (fast foods in this example) probably won’t suffer anything more than a little indigestion as a result of each meal. However, the accumulation of the effects of all of these poor food choices will do damage down the road.

Unfortunately, this all becomes more apparent as we age. We pay for our poor eating habits as we age for a couple of reasons. First of all, poor eating choices become habitual. Like any bad habit, changing poor eating habits is difficult. Secondly, with normal aging, our metabolism slows making our poor eating habits more detrimental than they were when we were younger and more active.

Regaining your health takes work on several fronts. Some of these things you can accomplish yourself and other things you need help with.

Patients that come to my San Diego chiropractic office for treatment for their neck pain or back pain often find this task one of the easy parts of getting healthy. In order to get help with pain, all the patients have to do is come to the office for their treatment.

Part of restoring health is complicated with the bad habits that result in unhealthy diets, smoking, drinking and the like. Overcoming bad habits takes an exceptionally motivated person. Focus and you can overcome them and have a healthier body to show for it.

Your’s In Good Health

Dr. Jones

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Chiropractor in San Diego