San Diego Chiropractic Blog

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

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

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

Have you ever had chiropractic care for injuries from an auto accident?

At my San Diego based Chiropractic Clinic I provide treatment for many patients with neck pain, back pain and headaches. In many cases, the cause of these aches and pains are related to auto accidents or other types of personal injury.

More often than not, the accident in question occurred years earlier and the initial symptoms were not taken seriously by the patient. Most people don’t take the time to seek treatment for themselves yet they scramble to get their cars fixed. This thought process extends into other injury / treatment scenarios as well. I once had an acquaintance who smoked but proudly proclaimed that she didn’t smoke inside her car because she didn’t want to ruin the interior!

I don’t know why so many of us carry these kinds of thought processes. In the case of auto accident injuries, the little bit of neck pain or the slight headache or the lower back pain is often overlooked or dismissed and minimized as being un-important. This is flawed thinking. Imagine if we treated other health conditions with such disregard.

The injury mechanisms in whiplash type accidents are complex. Muscles are stretched and torn, ligaments can sometimes partially tear or rupture, intervertebral discs can become herniated and spinal fractures can occur. These injuries can lead to a vast number of symptoms that can cause anything from slight irritation all the way to severe disability.

While the mechanism of injury in whiplash cases is complex, the typical resulting spinal injuries follow a well established path. Initially, the muscles and ligaments in the injured area are irritated. This irritation leads to inflammation. Inflammation is not only responsible for many of the initial symptoms that you experience but it is also responsible for scar tissue formation which can make your symptoms permanent or chronic.

Statistically, 25% of all auto accident / injury victims will suffer from some ongoing symptom related to their accident. Chiropractors are experts in dealing with the types of injuries that occur as a result of auto accidents. The best way to insure that you are not a member of this group of 25% is to get an examination and possibly treatment, if recommended by your chiropractor.

Yours In Good Health

Dr. Jones

San Diego Chiropractic Care
Chiropractor San Diego Blog

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

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

Chiropractic care is more than just adjusting the spine.  The philosophy of chiropractic includes care of the entire body - a large portion of this care includes nutrition.   Chiropractors use a holistic approach, meaning that when you have neck pain, we not only treat your neck but we also look for the cause of your neck pain.  Sometimes that neck pain is due to a simple misalignment of a vertebra, somtimes it occurs secondary to postural stress and sometimes there are nutrition causes.  If we don’t examin all of the potential causes of your neck pain, back pain or headaches, then treatment may be quite ineffective.

Regarding nutrition, my understanding of the nearly immediate impact of a healthy diet on my own body was recently re-booted.  I have been on a strict diet of non-processed whole foods and a supplement regimen from Standard Process for the last 21 days.

At the onset of this program I imagined that when it was finished that I would no-doubt eat an occasional piece of pizza or a burrito or have a Sunday morning cup of coffee to satisfy my cravings. Well, my thoughts have changed and my cravings are gone!

This has become the jumpstart for the lifestyle change that I have desired and pursued for many years. The following is a list of some of the more noticeable changes that this program has made for me.

1) Noticeable reduction in anxiety

2) Significant decrease in blood pressure

3) Sleep is much improved

4) Complete loss of my cravings for coffee, sugar and fattening foods

5) Increased energy levels through my day

6) No more bloating or indigestion after meals

7) My pants don’t fit anymore - I lost 15 pounds.

 Much more stable blood sugar levels - no more crashing!

9) Significant decrease in knee pain, ankle pain and neck pain.

As a chiropractor, I have always encouraged my family, friends and patients to maintain their spinal health through regular chiropractic care and to pursue a healthy lifestyle. I am embarrassed to say that even though I maintained a diet that would be considered much healthier than the average persons prior to the start of this Detox - Purification - Weight Loss Program, I really wasn’t healthy.

I would encourage all of you to examine your lifestyles, especially those of you over 30. If you are eating fast food, drinking coffee and / or soda and eating processed foods out of cans / boxes you need to consider a lifestyle change. No one wants to be fat and ill when we get older. But that is exactly what the typical diet supports!

I can’t imagine reverting back to my old eating habits after completing this program. The taste of my favorite Mexican food, that occasional cold soda on a hot day or that warm morning cup of coffee doesn’t even begin to compare to how my new eating habits have made me feel. That old diet was easy and fast - and totally not worth the ill health that came with it.

The combination of eliminating the intake of unhealthy foods with the powerful Detox / Purification provided by the Standard Process Supplements and the undeniable benefit of consuming fresh fruits, vegetables and lean animal proteins like fish and chicken have made both Linda and I feel like completely new people.

Those of you who would like to go through the Standard Process Purification program should call the office or just come in and talk to us about what you need to get started.

The cost for the supplements that you will need for the entire 21 day program is reasonable - the benefits of completing the program are Priceless!

Your’s In Good Health

Dr. Jones

San Diego Chiropractic Care
Chiropractor San Diego

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 have always considered myself a fairly healthy person. Until I started taking inventory of all the things that really bother me. To begin with, since I am a chiropractor I will declare that I have my bouts with neck pain, back pain and the occasional headache but for the most part I am pain free. Since college I have suffered from a mild case of office hypertension - meaning that my blood pressure was borderline high but I attribute that to the anxiety I get from taking my blood pressure. Another thing worth mentioning is that some days I would get a little spacey from mild hypoglycemia, but this would only happen on days where my diet suffered from poor planning. Finally, I have another chiropractor in my office so I get regular chiropractic care which keeps my spine flexible and functional. On a superficial level, compared to many people that I know, overall my health looked OK.

One day here about two weeks ago my assistant Linda told me that she had a representative from Standard Process coming to the office to discuss nutritional products for our patients. At the time of this appointment, I really had no expectations of where this would go. I figured that since I exercised and ate right (for the most part) that we would be discussing products for my patients.

By the time the appointment with the Standard Process representative ended both Linda and I had committed to doing a 21 day purification program. It was at this point where I really started looking at my diet. What I found was that vegetables and fruits were a good part of my diet but so were bean rice and cheese burritos, occasional cheeseburgers, potato chips, an occasional soda pop and lots of coffee. All of this stuff would have to go under the guidelines of the purification program. Basically, the purification program involves taking whole food supplements to stimulate the kidneys, liver and intestines to eliminate toxins, supplementing whey protein for animal protein sources and eliminating all caffeine, dairy and processed foods.

Today is the thirteenth day of our purification program. I am embarrassed to say that even as a doctor with extensive schooling in nutrition that I have been taken back by the dramatic positive changes in my health as a result of this purification program. To begin with, what I thought was office hypertension is gone. Since the third day of this program my blood pressure reading has ranged from a low of 115/74 to a high of 121/80. This reading is accompanied by a calmness that I have rarely if ever felt as an adult. In addition to lower blood pressure, my digestion is significantly better - no more bloating, my blood sugar has been stable and my sleep is much improved.

I attribute these improvements in my health to three simple changes that seem so elementary. Stop putting junk in, eat a clean healthy diet and get the toxins stored in our bodies out.

I have been asked what I plan to do after the 21 day program is over. At this point, I can’t imagine not continuing with a healthy diet and taking whole food supplements. The taste of that BRC burrito or that morning cup of coffee will not be missed in the least.

The chiropractor finally got healthy!

Your’s In Good Health

Dr. Jones

San Diego Chiropractic Care
Chiropractor San Diego

A good chiropractic program should include a nutrition component. Treatment for neck pain, back pain and headaches goes beyond spinal adjustments and therapy. Poor diet choices have the ability to cause inflammatory processes in the body resulting in a magnification of the typical aches and pains that we develop while sitting at our desks all day. In my San Diego Chiropractic Clinic, I see patients on a regular basis who would do much better with their treatment if they would address their physical complaints with the appropriate dietary changes as well.

One of the most recent trends in natural health care is detoxification diets. There are many detoxification programs on the market. I have been familiar with Standard Process over the course of my chiropractic career. Standard Process has been in business for over 80 years and they have always been held in high regard for their top quality, natural whole food supplements. My assistant, Linda, took the initiative to call Standard Process and have a representative come discuss their purification process with us.

The purification program that they offer is an extreme departure from my normal diet. While I eat fruits and vegetables on a regular basis, this diet restricts you to fruits and vegetables for the first 10 days supported by nutritional supplements and protein shakes that cleanse the body of toxins. This cleansing process is initiated by supplements that help stimulate the liver, kidneys and intestines.

At this point we are ten days into our purification program. Aside from a day spent with a mild caffeine withdrawal headache and a few cravings that I battled for the first few days this has been less than a painful process. I actually don’t miss the morning coffee, Mexican food and pizza. If you were standing in front of me right now and asked me how I am feeling I would say that “I feel better than I have in twenty years”. And I wouldn’t be exaggerating.

As a result of the first 10 days of this purification, my blood pressure is lower than it was when I was 20, my neck pain and back pain have noticeably improved, my digestion is much improved, my sleep is better than it has ever been in my adult life and I have lost 12 pounds of fat and bloat. This program definitely has supplied the building blocks on which I will become healthier and leaner.

Your’s In Good Health

Dr. Jones

San Diego Chiropractic Care
Chiropractor San Diego

While I know that the practice of Yoga is a wonderful method for keeping your muscles stretched and your spine flexible, it is a compliment for chiropractic, not a substitute.

Many of my peers consider my philosophy regarding the management of my chiropractic patients a bit odd. Instead of placing my patients on long term care programs, I prefer to get my patients out of pain as quickly as possible and then give them a combination of stretches and exercises that they can do at home that will help stabilize their area of pain.

Those of you who have not tried Yoga should do so. Yoga is a discipline that constantly challenges your physical being. The positions used in Yoga routines test your body and mind with combinations of stretching, strength training and balance that very few other disciplines can offer.

From a purely physical standpoint, Yoga helps even your muscle tone, improve your balance and coordination, build strength, prevent injury, focus your breathing, improve your posture and elongate muscles. Mentally, Yoga allows to focus on the “now” which helps reduce stress and consequently, reduce muscle spasms among other things.

It is because of all of the benefits of Yoga that I recommend it to most of my friends and patients. Combining the benefits of Chiropractic care’s ability to break down scar tissue and adhesions that limit or alter normal joint motion and Yoga’s benefits as discussed above makes for an exceptional approach to treating neck pain, back pain and many other musculoskeletal conditions that I see in my office.

Your’s In Good Health

Dr. Jones San Diego Chiropractor

www.JonesPainRelief.com

Chronic pain is defined as pain that persists longer than 90 days beyond the course of the natural expected healing time. As a chiropractor in San Diego, I get calls from both new and established patients on a regular basis who complain of back pain, neck pain, etc. One of the factors that comes into play when planning a chiropractic treatment program is the duration of the patients pain. In general, the longer that a patient suffers with a painful condition, the longer / more intense the treatment is needed in order to fix it. Acute or recent episodes of pain respond much quicker than do chronic conditions.

Pain is very difficult to quantify by any practitioner. Pain is subjective in nature and completely defined by the person experiencing the symptoms, the fact that chronic pain can exist without an obvious cause makes it much more difficult to treat.

I see the difficulties that my chronic pain patients have with their conditions on a daily basis. Aside from the actual pain that they experience, those who suffer with chronic pain often limit their activities for fear of exacerbating their conditions. They also have a much harder time focussing on mental tasks as the pain is a constant source of distraction. The more severe the pain, the more difficulties these people have with attention demanding tasks.

While we strive to avoid pain, pain is a wonderful tool of the nervous system. Pain lets us know of actual or potential tissue damage with an unpleasant sensation that directs our attention to the affected area so that we can either immediately take action to stop the process or focus on healing the injured body parts. Chronic pain sensations are a bit more insidious.

Chronic pain often involves a decrease in the sensitivity of the nerve fibers that send messages of pain from the damaged area. With a decreased sensitivity (threshold), the nerve is much more likely to transmit painful sensations to the brain then a healthy nerve / tissue combination. This activity within the nervous system is know as a wind up phenomenon and it is very difficult to stop once it has been established. In some other cases, nerve fibers that normally don’t carry painful sensations not only begin to transmit pain signals but it is thought that they may actually generate the signals themselves.

In my office, chronic pain is often the result of untreated sprain / strain type injuries of the joints. In untreated or under-treated sprain / strain injuries, the joint or the muscles that move the joint are laden with scar tissue that acts to either limit or alter motion of that joint. With time, the awkward, unnatural bio-mechanics of the scar tissue laden joint results in irritation, inflammation and finally pain and spasm. While chiropractic care is often successful at re-establishing “clean” bio mechanics of a joint, it is always better to get the care in the beginning of an injury versus waiting for that injury to become chronic, with a requiring more care with a decreasing chance of complete recovery.

Because of the possibility of an acute painful condition becoming a chronic one, I always encourage my patients to take care of themselves immediately when they first start to experience pain. I have practiced chiropractic care for almost two decades now and I can say that chronic painful conditions of the spine are devastating. Not only do they make you experience pain, but in most instances they limit your physical activities creating a situation that can easily degrade from inactivity secondary to pain, to de-conditioning and eventually to obesity and ill health in general leading to a dissatisfying lifestyle.

The bottom line on chronic pain is this - avoid it if you can. Don’t ignore your pain. Painful acute conditions that are left untreated can easily spiral into a chronic condition that has the potential to alter your lifestyle in a negative way.

Your’s In Good Health

Dr. Jones San Diego Chiropractor

www.JonesPainRelief.com