San Diego Chiropractic Blog

What if I told you that over the last 15 years I have helped countless low back pain sufferers overcome their pain with a fast, natural, drug free therapy? In addition, that therapy is reasonably priced and covered by most insurance companies.

Of course I am writing about safe and effective chiropractic care.

At this point, some of you will be thinking “Chiropractic doesn’t work!” or “I wouldn’t go to one of those guys!”

I have heard all of these arguments in the past. I was even one of those people. I was raised in a semi anti chiropractic household.

My opinions changed after a car accident I was involved in back in 1984. After a mild fender bender, I slowly developed neck pain and stiffness. Before long that pain was “creeping” into my left shoulder and arm. I began to go to my primary physician at Kaiser for treatment. I followed his advice but nothing worked.

Early on in my treatment, I told my Kaiser doctor that my chiropractor uncle told me that I should see a local chiropractor. My Kaiser doctor dismissed that thought with some derogatory remark and told me to stick with his care - which I did.

Kaisers’ treatment was not helpful!

Eventually I saw a chiropractor who had my condition completely turned around in about 3 weeks. Mind you that the chiropractic care followed 5 months of pills and occasional physical therapy from Kaiser - that didn’t work.

My chiropractic treatment was so successful and actually enjoyable that I switched my college studies to pre-med and later attended Chiropractic College.

What does this have to do with low back pain you ask?

Everything.

Chiropractors are known for treating low back pain, it is what my profession is associated with. The reason that we are associated with low back pain treatment is because of my professions’ tremendous success rate with delivering fast, safe, natural, drug free back pain relief.

I recently read a study that indicated that the use of chiropractic care for low back pain relief is nearly 4000 times safer than using medications or other traditional western medicine inspired treatments.

Most cases of low back pain occur as a direct result of injury or dysfunction involving the joints and muscles of the low back. These are biomechanical problems that are not efficiently treated with medication (drugs). Biomechanical joint problems account for 80% of low back pain cases and usually worsen with age.

Chiropractic care and its use of specific joint adjustments is the logical and efficient treatment for biomechanical joint problems that are responsible for most cases of low back pain.

More Coming Soon

Dr. Jones

Here’s To Your Health

Call (619) 280-0554 for an appointment
San Diego Chiropractic
Dr. Jones Your Mission Valley Doctor for :

• Whiplash Doctor
• Treating Whiplash Mission Valley SD
• Whiplash Treatment San Diego
• Whiplash Personal Injury Claims
• Work Related Injury
• Sport Injury Pain Relief

I had a new patient that was visiting San Diego from Hawaii the other day. She was in her mid forties and had severe neck pain. She was referred to my chiropractic office in San Diego for treatment of neck pain that began after sleeping funny on the airplane.

The first thing out of her mouth when she walked into my office was “I need to tell you that I have never been to a chiropractor before and I am really nervous!”

I found out later on that she also told my assistant the same thing when she called for an appointment only at that time she used the word “scared”.

Of course my response was “why in the world are you in my office?” After all, she was on vacation, in pain and in a type of doctors’ office that she had never been to before and really wasn’t comfortable with.

It turns out the people that she was visiting were patients of mine and they thought that I could help her and she followed their lead. I also promised her that I would not recommend treatment if I wasn’t sure that I could help relieve her neck pain. I also promised her that I would keep every portion of my treatment within her comfort zone.

I examined her and found that she had the typical, “slept wrong” kind of neck pain. She couldn’t tilt her head backwards or turn it to the right side without wincing in pain. She definitely had a classic pinched nerve.

I asked her if she had done anything for it since it started hurting and she said that she had been using heat to help sooth it. I hear this often. People use heat because it is soothing. I explained to her that heat actually causes more inflammation and that she should switch to ice packs right away.

I could tell that she was getting more and more comfortable with me and she was getting more comfortable with being at the chiropractor.

I told her that getting a chiropractic adjustment would help restore her range of motion, that it probably wouldn’t hurt and that I would not need to see her more than 5 to 6 times based on what I saw in the examination.

With nervous anticipation, she let me adjust her neck. She let out a little yelp when I adjusted the joints on the right side of her neck and then immediately said “THAT FELT GOOD - IT FELT LIKE EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED”.

I ended up treating her three times - Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. She told me that she was completely healed after Tuesdays’ treatment but she wanted to get treated one more time “just to make sure”.

She told me that she gets the stiff neck five or six times a year and normally it takes about ten days to totally resolve. She was elated that it only took two days this time and she said that she was so happy that she tried chiropractic care.

The patient also said that she was going to find a chiropractor in Hawaii to begin maintenance treatments. I thought that was an excellent idea.

More Coming Soon

Here’s To Your Health

Call (619) 280-0554 for an appointment

San Diego Chiropractic

Dr. Jones Your Mission Valley Doctor for :

• Whiplash Doctor
• Treating Whiplash Mission Valley SD
• Whiplash Treatment San Diego
• Whiplash Personal Injury Claims
• Work Related Injury
• Sport Injury Pain Relief

My Chiropractic office in San Diego, California provides treatment for many patients who complain of lower back pain that is accompanied by leg pain. The term for this leg pain is sciatica and it implies that the leg pain is due to a compression of the sciatic nerve.

More often than not, sciatica is due to compression of the nerve at the point where it exits the spine. The typical scenario is that one of the five joints in the lower part of the spine will become misaligned, irritated and inflamed, putting pressure on the sciatic nerve and causing leg pain.

Because so many cases of sciatic pain are caused by spinal misalignments, in many cases this condition is effectively treated with chiropractic care.

Chiropractic treatment for sciatica can involve spinal adjustments, hot packs, ice packs, electrical muscle stimulation, ultrasound, traction and specific stretches / exercises. Typically, chiropractic treatment for this condition requires a course of care rather than a single visit.

Although many cases of sciatica are due to simple spinal misalignments, there are other causes of this condition that must be examined. Some of the other leading causes of sciatic pain are as follows.

1) Bulging Disc: A bulging disc is also known as a slipped disc. This means the gel-like center of the disc bulges up against the nerve root. Disc bulges can cause pain, numbness, tingling, and muscle weakness. Typically, disc bulges generate pain with sitting, bending and twisting motions.

2) Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: Spinal stenosis is a type of nerve compression that most often affects older people. Leg pain similar to sciatica can occur as a result of lumbar spinal stenosis. The pain is usually brought on by activities such as standing or walking and relieved by sitting down.

3) Spondylolisthesis: Spondylolisthesis is a disorder that is characterized by one vertebra slipping forward over the vertebra below it. When the vertebra slips and becomes displaced, spinal nerve root compression occurs and often causes sciatic leg pain. Spondylolisthesis has many possible origins including developmental (found at birth, develops during childhood) or acquired as a result of degeneration, trauma or physical stress.

4) Trauma: Sciatica can result from nerve compression caused by external forces from such things as motor vehicle accidents, falls, work injuries and sports injuries.

5) Piriformis Syndrome: Piriformis syndrome derives its name from the piriformis muscle and the pain that arises when the muscle irritates the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve runs beneath the piriformis muscle and develops pain when muscle spasms develop compressing the sciatic nerve. It may be difficult to diagnose and treat due to the lack of x-ray or MRI findings.

6) Spinal Tumors: Tumors are abnormal growths that are either benign or cancerous. Fortunately, spinal tumors are rare. When a tumor develops in the lower back, there is a possibility for sciatica to develop as a result of nerve compression.

More Coming Soon

Dr. Jones

www.JonesPainRelief.com

Being a Chiropractor in San Diego, my office provides treatment for many whiplash accident victims. One of the reasons for these accidents is wet weather driving. Since we don’t have rain throughout the year in this desert community, when it does rain, oil and debris that has been sting on the road all year long loosens resulting in a very slick driving surface.

Auto accidents are serious! You may not be aware that approximately 25% of all auto accident victims never make a full recovery. That could mean a lifetime of neck pain, low back pain, headaches, etc.

The best defense for accident prevention in wet weather is defensive driving. The following paragraphs were found on the National Safety Council website and specifically target safe wet weather driving techniques.

“Losing control of your car on wet pavement is a frightening experience. You can prevent skids by driving slowly and carefully, especially on curves. Steer and brake with a light touch. When you need to stop or slow, do not brake hard or lock the wheels and risk a skid. Maintain mild pressure on the brake pedal.

If you do find yourself in a skid, remain calm, ease your foot off the gas, and carefully steer in the direction you want the front of the car to go. For cars without anti-lock brakes, avoid using your brakes. This procedure, known as “steering into the skid,” will bring the back end of your car in line with the front. If your car has ABS, brake firmly as you steer into the skid.

While skids on wet pavement may be frightening, hydroplaning is completely nerve-wracking. Hydroplaning happens when the water in front of your tires builds up faster than your car’s weight can push it out of the way. The water pressure causes your car to rise up and slide on a thin layer of water between your tires and the road. At this point, your car can be completely out of contact with the road, and you are in danger of skidding or drifting out of your lane, or even off the road.

To avoid hydroplaning, keep your tires properly inflated, maintain good tread on your tires and replace them when necessary, slow down when roads are wet, and stay away from puddles. Try to drive in the tire tracks left by the cars in front of you.

If you find yourself hydroplaning, do not brake or turn suddenly. This could throw your car into a skid. Ease your foot off the gas until the car slows and you can feel the road again.

If you need to brake, do it gently with light pumping actions. If your car has anti-lock brakes, then brake normally; the car’s computer will mimic a pumping action, when necessary.

A defensive driver adjusts his or her speed to the wet road conditions in time to avoid having to use any of these measures. Reprinted with permission from the National Safety Council”

If you do happen to get into a fender bender, get to the chiropractor ASAP. From a statistical standpoint, the best way to avoid becoming one of the 25% of auto injury patients that never fully recover is to undergo an examination with a licensed chiropractor and follow up with any recommended treatment as soon as possible.

Drive Safe, More Coming Soon!

Dr. Jones

www.JonesPainRelief.com
Auto Accident Personal Injury
Car Accident Whiplash Injury

Have you been to a chiropractor lately? Have you ever been to a chiropractor?

Regardless of your answer to these questions, do you know what a chiropractor does?

I have been a practicing chiropractor in San Diego for the last 16 years. Helping people with neck pain, back pain, sciatica and headaches with chiropractic care is rewarding. As a profession, chiropractors only provide care to somewhere around 10% of our population. I have always wondered why this number is so low since patient satisfaction with chiropractic treatment is so much higher than it is with traditional medical care and that most independent research indicates that chiropractic care is more effective than western medicine for back pain.

Chiropractic care is an excellent , conservative treatment for many types of back injuries including those caused by auto accidents and various work injuries. That being the case, I have always thought that more people don’t seek out chiropractic care for their back and neck injuries because they don’t know what to expect with a chiropractic visit.

In this post, I am going to tell you exactly what procedures that our new patients go through at the time of their first visit.

Once a new patient comes to our office they are asked to fill out a brief informational health history that covers both past and current problems. After they are done with this form, I review the history to acquaint myself with current and past complaints that are relevant to the reason for the appointment.

With the history form reviewed, I take the patient to one of my exam / treatment rooms where I ask the patient to tell me more about their pain. During this time I also ask additional questions to help me get a good understanding of the patients’ concerns.

After I am satisfied with my understanding of the patients’ concerns and they have nothing else to add to the history, I perform an examination on the involved areas that includes range of motion tests, necessary orthopedic tests and neurological tests. Usually the information that I obtain from these tests is sufficient to allow me to make a decision regarding treatment.

If treatment is indicated, care usually involves therapy to relax the muscles followed by chiropractic adjustments to relieve the pain / dysfunction of the involved joints. Since many of our new patients have never been to a chiropractor before, I always ask the patients to help me keep all of our procedures within their “comfort zone”. I have always thought that this is very important since so many Americans are unfamiliar with manual type therapies.

The number of chiropractic visits varies person to person depending on the severity of the injury and each persons response to care.

Your’s In Good Health

Dr. Jones

www.JonesPainRelief.com