San Diego Chiropractic Blog

Does joint pain limit your ability to exercise?

Do you struggle with losing weight or maintaining your weight because joint pain prevents exercise?

Is joint pain causing weight gain?

Chiropractic care can help you make exercise less painful or pain free helping you lose weight and get into better shape! In my San Diego Chiropractic Center we work with patients everyday who use our health care services for the sole purpose of helping them lose weight and get into better shape.

That being said, I don’t want to miss-lead you - there isn’t a chiropractic adjustment that will stimulate your body to lose weight and tone muscle (at least not one that I am aware of). However, there are many people that don’t exercise because of chronic aches and pains that can often be helped with safe, conservative chiropractic treatment. If you avoid exercise because of joint pain - you may be able to take significant steps towards improving your health by utilizing chiropractic care to restore healthy, pain free range of motion to your stiff and aching joints.

Pain free!

My patients that struggle with their weight get out of shape for a variety of reasons. In some cases, neck pain, headaches or low back pain prevents consistent exercise leading to weight gain. In other cases, pain from specific injuries in your past that have not healed correctly can cause joint pain and stiffness resulting in limited activity and in some cases no exercise at all.

In most cases chiropractic care can reduce or completely eliminate joint pain, restore your joints’ range of motion and relieve some of the physical stresses of daily living that hamper your ability to exercise. You will find that exercising is much easier when you are not struggling with nagging pain and stiffness. With less joint pain, exercising becomes much easier giving you a better chance of attaining your weight and fitness goals.

Sincerely,

Dr. Steve Jones

Your San Diego Chiropractor

(619) 280-0554

Do you struggle with losing weight or maintaining your weight?

Are you finding it difficult to get into shape – especially if you are struggling with joint pain?

It should be no surprise that chiropractic treatment can help you lose weight and get into better shape by making exercise more comfortable or pain free. In my San Diego Chiropractic Practice we work with patients everyday who use our care for the sole purpose of helping them lose weight and get into better shape.

I don’t want to miss-lead you - there isn’t a chiropractic treatment that will stimulate your system to lose weight and tone muscle. There are many people, however, that don’t exercise because of various aches and pains that can often be helped with chiropractic treatment. If you are avoiding exercise because of joint pain you may be able to take significant steps towards improving your health through exercise by utilizing chiropractic care to restore healthy, pain free range of motion to your stiff or aching joints.

People get out of shape and gain weight for a variety of reasons. In many cases, acute neck pain, headaches or back pain prevents healthy exercise habits leading to de-conditioning and weight gain. In other cases, chronic pain from specific injuries in your past that have not healed correctly can cause lingering joint pain and stiffness resulting in limited activity or even no exercise at all.

In many cases chiropractic care can reduce or eliminate joint pain, improve your joints’ range of motion and relieve the physical stresses of daily living that may be interfering with your ability to exercise. You will find that exercising is much easier when it isn’t accompanied by nagging pain or stiffness. With less joint pain exercise becomes easier providing you with better chances of attaining your weight and or fitness goals.

Have a Great Day

Dr. Jones

Click here for your San Diego Chiropractor

(619) 280-0554

Health magazines and articles on the internet provide a continuing flow of information regarding the importance of core strength in the prevention of back pain.

This guy has tons of core strength!

When I discuss the importance of core strength with my patients in my San Diego Chiropractic practice it becomes clear that most of them don’t really know what core strength is or how it affects them. In fact, most of my patients think that core strength comes from doing hundreds of sit-ups and / or crunches. There is nothing wrong with doing sit-ups and crunches but they only partially help improve core strength.

Great abs don’t always mean that you have great core strength!

The benefit of core strength comes from working the postural muscles that help hold your spine erect. Exercising the muscles that help hold your spine upright will help improve your posture as well as help provide much needed stability when you are lifting, carrying, changing body positions or performing tasks that will test your ability to maintain your posture.

One variation of good core exercise

Sit-ups and crunches work the abdominal and oblique muscles that work to round your back forward - flexing our spines into a “C” shape. A complete set of core strengthening exercises should actually work the muscles of the back, hips and legs – all of which help you hold your spine upright. Conditioning of all of these muscles will build the core strength that you often read about on the internet or in health magazines. One of the best exercises for building core strength is the plank and variations of the plank.

The plank is the king of the core!

Building core strength is important in your efforts to prevent back pain and injury. The important thing to remember is that you should spend just as much time working your abs and more time performing plank exercises. Performing plank exercises for 5 minutes per day, with good form, coupled with abdominal crunches will help improve your core strength and help prevent injuries to your back.  For more core exercises click HERE.

Have a Great Day

Dr. Jones

Click here for your San Diego Chiropractor

(619) 280-0554

Does low energy effect you desire to exercise? Especially in the mornings? Of course fatigue is always magnified if you have neck pain or back pain at the same time.

I hear patients in my San Diego Chiropractic clinic complain about be too tired to exercise – especially in the mornings on a regular basis. Many of these patients also state that exercise after their work day is even more difficult.

One common thread that I see in these low energy patients is artificial stimulants. Most of these patients “can’t start their day without coffee”. This craving is part of a self fulfilling cycle that includes drinking caffeinated drinks during the day, eating foods that are low in nutrient density (read as fast foods / packaged foods), staying up too late at night and then sleeping poorly because of the caffeine that was consumed during the day. The fact that most of my patients are experiencing some sort of back pain or neck pain doesn’t help either as pain in itself is fatiguing.

This is a challenging cycle to break. The most logical way to real these habits in is to start by eating healthier and getting proper nutrition. Eating healthier will provide more nutrient dense food which will give you more energy. Once you start to feel the benefits of a healthier diet (should be a matter of a few days) you will have noticeably less fatigue and you can start to wean your self off of caffeinated drinks. I always recommend slowly getting off caffeine because many experts consider it the most abused non-prescription drug and it does tend to cause withdrawal symptoms if you rush this dependency break. You can see how all of this is coming together. Eating healthier foods, drinking less coffee and getting more sleep (at least 7 hours per night) will give you better energy allowing you to exercise more frequently and with greater intensity.

If you find yourself stuck in a cycle of fatigue, coffee, and low energy, the strategy described in the paragraph above can help you recapture a healthy, energized lifestyle. Lack of sleep will make you tired – drinking coffee will give you a boost while stressing your adrenal glands which in long run becomes a negative as far as energy levels go – and finally, skipping workouts results in a big energy drain as well.

The fix for this is simple. Get more sleep, don’t trade exercise for coffee and eat a healthier diet.

Sincerely,

Dr. Steve Jones

Click Here For Your San Diego Chiropractor

(619) 280-0554

There comes a point in every ones life when it is time to try something new. This is what we (chiropractors) have been seeing with our patients over the years. When you look at the vast range of doctors and what they specialize in, Chiropractors fill that slot that specializes in pinched nerves that typically cause neck pain, back pain, headaches etc.

Despite this general categorization that people associate chiropractors with, as recent as the early 1980s only about 5% of the U.S. population had visited a chiropractor. My last post gave some figures taken from a recent FSU study of Americans and their choices of healthcare providers and found that the percentage of U.S. residents that had been treated by a chiropractor had risen to nearly 45%. Of that 45% of people who had been to a chiropractor, over 90% reported a satisfactory experience and stated that they would return for chiropractic care in the future.

Aside from the fact that I am a Chiropractor and I know that my treatments are of considerable help to my patients, I am thrilled that some of the negative stigma regarding chiropractic care as a whole is fading. Between the many established benefits of chiropractic care and the many dangers of medications and other medical treatments (4000 times more dangerous according to the FSU report), public opinion has swayed to a supportive stance toward chiropractic treatment.

Chiropractic treatment plays an essential role in natural health care. I have practiced in San Diego for over 15 years. During that period, we have treated many patients for conditions that they had been treated for by their medical doctors with drugs, surgery and other uncomfortable procedures.

More often than not my office is the last stop for these patients. These people usually respond very favorably to our therapy, making improvements that were not realized with traditional medical treatment. I have always wondered how many patients take dangerous medications or undergo surgical procedures that would have experienced full recovery with natural chiropractic treatment.

Almost 100% of our population has been treated with traditional medical doctors. Only 45% of you have been to a chiropractor. Considering that nearly 80% of our adult population suffers with some form of neck pain or back pain, the percentage of patients who have been to a chiropractor are much to low considering how effective and safe chiropractic treatment actually is.

Next time you find yourself complaining of neck or back pain, do yourself a favor and seek out safe and effective chiropractic treatment.

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

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

Sit Up, Stand Tall!!! We have all heard these commands from a parent, grandparent, teacher or our doctors.

I remember hearing this command when I was a kid and I always thought of it as adult badgering. That being said, there are good reasons to work on your posture. I find that poor posture contributes to the health issues of approximately half of the patients of my San Diego Chiropractic Center. The following list gives five reasons for you to work on improving your posture.

1) It doesn’t look good. Poor posture is unattractive making us appear to be tired, dis-interested and lacking in confidence.

2) It wears you down. Poor posture is due to muscular imbalance and weakness. For example, when our heads are jutted forward the muscles in our necks and upper backs have to work much harder. This extra work creates a stretch weakness that results in fatigue, muscle tension headaches, neck pain, back pain, etc.

3) It leads to pain. The pain from poor posture can be significant and even result in disability. Overworked, weakened muscles cause a build up of lactic acid resulting in muscular pain. Chronic postural stress can also cause joint pain and pinched nerves.

4) It makes you injury prone. Chronic postural stress causes sprain/strain injuries that can make ordinary house chores much more likely to result in injuries.

Over my nearly 20 years of practice I have seen patients cancel chiropractic appointments in favor of manicures, tanning sessions and for after-work drinks with their co-workers. Despite the fact that poor posture can have series health consequences, I understand that these consequences may not be what motivates people to correct their posture. If not for the negative health effects, work on your posture for vanity. Good posture will make you feel better and look better!

Jones Pain Relief Clinic
10415 San Diego Mission Rd
San Diego, CA 92108
Ph: (619) 280-0554

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

ve you ever injured your back and scratched your head and wondered - how did this happen when my back has felt fine up until now?

Patients present to my San Diego Chiropractic clinic on a regular basis with neck pain, back pain and other related symptoms that not only lack a history of pain in that area but also have no recent injury or accident to explain their current painful symptoms.

This is frustrating for the patient yet a typical presentation that I see in my Chiropractic office.

When patients come in for care with this type of history recent injury, my inquiries usually lead to a situation that involves excessive postural stress for that patient.

Ongoing postural stress affects our body much like the old analogy of the straws on the camels back. Our bodies are capable of compensating for quite a bit of stress before symptoms appear.

This is good and bad.

The good part of this situation is that if we didn’t compensate for all the little stresses that we are subjected to, we would be uncomfortable all the time. The bad part about compensation is that we often are not keen enough to recognize when our bodies are being exposed to ongoing low levels of stress.

Once the stress levels build to a certain point, the body part in question reacts with irritation, inflammation and muscle spasm. This combination produces pain and tightness and usually is the reason that patients call my office.

Postural stress can place an amazing amount of stress on your spine. One of my reference books has a chart that describes how different body positions affect the amount of pressure on your discs in the low back. The differences are amazing.

When standing straight up with ideal posture, the pressure in the discs of the low back is 100%. When lying flat on your back the pressure is at 24%. While sitting straight with good posture, the pressure is at 140% but when slouching forward with poor posture the disc pressure goes to a staggering 190%.

Considering that most of us sit for a good portion of the day, simply sitting becomes a significant source of stress for the lower back.

This kind of ongoing stress combined with an awkward twist or bend can generate a crisis for the low back leading the patient to wonder exactly how turning to pick that cup of coffee off the desk behind him / her lead to such a severe back pain and spasm.

Here’s To Your Health

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

Have you ever had a case of low back pain?

Statistics tell us that approximately 80% of us will suffer from low back pain over the course of our lives.

My San Diego Chiropractic clinic provides treatment for many patients with low back pain. For decades chiropractors have had the reputation of being the “back doctors”. I can’t tell you how many times I have had a patient tell me about a friend with either elbow pain or knee pain or shoulder pain who didn’t come into my office for treatment because they think that all chiropractors treat is back pain.

A recent episode of back pain that I personally experienced renewed my level of empathy for my patients with pain in.low back. Not that I had lost my empathy for my patients, but a little personal experience always helps with my focus.

Despite the reputation of being back doctors, chiropractors are trained to deal with all of the joints whether they are part of the spine or not.

The process that affects the joints in the lower back is the same process that affects other joints in the body. They are irritated by a fall or some other injury. The irritation causes inflammation and the inflammation causes pain, swelling and scar tissue formation. The scar tissue limits the joints range of motion and can become a source of pain itself.

Treatment can be as simple as a few chiropractic adjustments and a few sessions of therapy.

The next time you have a joint that aches, try chiropractic treatment. Most joint problems that cause lower back pain respond well to safe, natural, holistic chiropractic care.

Dr. Jones
San Diego Chiropractor

(619) 280-0554

Lower Back Treatment

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

Do you know what and what not to do after an auto accident?

It is that time of the year again. You know, when the roads are wet with rain and half the people on the road drive like it is dry (FAST) and the other half slow down to half the posted limit. People who live in San Diego only see an average of 11 rainy days per year. That is about 3 percent of the time. Until your car loses traction and you hit another vehicle, most don’t realize how quickly and easily it can happen. While an accident usually starts and ends in matter of seconds, the neck pain, headaches, back pain, etc. can continue for weeks, months or sometimes, years.

In addition to the typical physical aches and pains associated with auto accident injuries, there are legalities to consider as well. Sometimes there are disputes as to who is the guilty party that is responsible for the accident. Many people will deny their responsibility even though their role in the accident is obvious. If you have been involved in an automobile accident, there are a number of things you can do to preserve your legal rights.

The following is a summary of some of the most important things you can do to protect your legal rights after an automobile accident:
1. Do not leave the scene. If you leave the scene of an auto accident, you may be criminally prosecuted. You are required to provide your name, address, driver’s license and auto insurance information to the other driver.
2. Assess yourself for injuries and then, if you are able, help the injured if there are any. If someone has been injured in the accident, you should call for an ambulance / paramedics and assist them to the extent you are qualified. Before calling for the ambulance, be prepared to give an accurate location of the accident and a count of the number of individuals injured.
3. Avoid additional collisions. Make sure your vehicle is not presenting a safety hazard to other motorists. If possible, it should be moved so that it is not obstructing traffic. You can further warn oncoming traffic to proceed with caution by setting flares, turning on your hazard lights, and raising the hood and trunk of your vehicle.
4. Notify the police. Typically the police will prepare a report that contains specific information regarding the accident and the parties involved. While you may not be required to call the police, the accident reports they produce could be helpful to you later.
5. Do not admit liability. You should not admit responsibility for the accident to the other drivers, passengers, or to the police for that matter. You may convey facts concerning how the incident occurred; however, it is best not to comment on your responsibility (or liability) for the accident. This is a legal matter that is not always readily and easily ascertainable.
6. You should get the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of any individuals involved in the accident, as well as any witnesses to the accident. You should also obtain the name of the insurance company and policy number of the other drivers involved. If possible, you may take photographs to document the accident scene including skid marks, road obstructions, and damage to the vehicles.
7. Notify your insurance company. If you do not give your insurance company prompt notice, your policy may provide that the insurance company may deny coverage for your claim. Accordingly, you should give your insurance company notice by way of telephone and by written notice that provides you a means of proving such notice was given, such as by facsimile or by certified mail. You should provide your insurance company with all information they request concerning the facts of the accident.
8. Consult a chiropractic doctor to evaluate your neck and back for injuries. Some injuries may not manifest themselves until some period of time after the accident; the fact that you do not immediately feel as though you have been injured does not necessarily mean that no injury has occurred. You should consult your insurance agent to see if the cost of seeing a doctor in connection with the accident is covered by your insurance policy. You should not settle your claims for injuries arising from the accident until you have been advised by your chiropractic doctor as to the full extent of your injuries.

I hope that you find this information helpful. Drive safe!

Yours In Good Health

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Dr. Jones

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