San Diego Chiropractic Blog

Rotator Cuff Injuries and Shoulder Pain

Rotator cuff injuries are among the worst type of shoulder injuries. At my San Diego Chiropractic Center we diagnose and treat rotator cuff injuries on a regular basis.

The rotator cuff muscle group is responsible for coordinating rotational movements of the shoulder – especially for activities like throwing a ball - hence the name; rotator cuff. This group of shoulder muscles is made up of the following as listed below:

1) Supraspinatus

2) Infraspinatus

3) Teres Minor

4) Subscapularis

The most frequently injured / torn rotator cuff muscle is the supraspinatus. This muscle is about the size of your index finger and has a tendon that is about as long as the muscle itself. This muscle can be injured through trauma related to sports, work and automobile accident injuries. It can also atrophy and tear from being under used – this underuse also known as “senile degeneration” is often found in older or sedentary patients.

Rotator cuff injuries must be taken seriously. If left untreated they can not only cause chronic shoulder pain and disability but they can also lead to neck pain / stiffness and pain between your shoulder blades. While pain is a motivation for most patients to seek care, the resulting disability can restrict a host of activities of daily living ranging from loss of ability to perform work duties to being unable to throw a ball and in many cases making getting a decent night sleep impossible and should be of great concern as well.

Rotator cuff injuries aren’t the only source of shoulder pain but they are one of the more serious causes of shoulder pain. If you suspect that you have injured your shoulder and need professional help please feel free to contact us – we would be happy to help diagnose and treat the source of your shoulder pain.

Dr. Jones

Click here for your San Diego Chiropractor

(619) 280-0554

Whiplash and Neck Pain

Neck pain is common after a whiplash accident. The treatment that you receive (or don’t receive in some cases) following that accident impacts your spine and your health for the rest of your life.

Whiplash damages your joints and the muscles and ligaments that move and support them. Most of the time these injuries are painful immediately after the accident and other times they don’t become problematic until years later. Relieving pain and avoiding future episodes of related pain or disability requires getting treatment for your whiplash as soon as possible.

The forces involved in auto accidents are severe. Whiplash places forces on the muscles and ligaments that far exceed the amount of force they were designed to handle. Whiplash accidents tear muscles and ligaments resulting in swelling, pain, muscle spasms and eventually cause scar tissue formation. Scar tissue not only can become a source of pain but it severely restricts the range of motion of your spine as you age.

We all know older people (and sometimes younger people) who have to rotate their entire bodies in order to look behind them. Those people have limited range of motion of the joints in their necks. With rare exception, this limited range of motion is caused by scar tissue and arthritis that has accumulated from old whiplash injuries.

Chiropractic treatment helps with many different conditions and is exceptionally effective in resolving injuries related to whiplash injuries. In fact, chiropractic care is the perfect therapy for most injuries that are related to whiplash. Chiropractic care helps control the pain associated with torn muscles and ligaments and it is also very effective with breaking down excessive scar tissue that restricts the normal range of motion of your spine.

We have successfully treated hundreds if not thousands of patients who suffer from either current whiplash injuries or the later effects of those injuries in my San Diego chiropractic office. Chiropractic treatment combined with a stretching and exercise program and proper nutritional support can be the difference between chronic long lasting pain and a healthy pain free spine.

Sincerely,

Dr. Steve Jones

Click Here For Your San Diego Chiropractor

(619) 280-0554

Do you suffer from ankle pain during or after running?

I treat many patients in my San Diego Chiropractic practice with ankle pain that they experience either during or after running. Running creates tremendous impact stress on your ankle joints making them prone to injury. Many people use running as an exercise to help them lose weight, since these folks are already heavy – that extra weight puts more stress through the ankle making them more prone to injury.

Ankle pain can appear after minor ankle injuries – frequently the injury is simply due to repetitive impact from running or jogging.

Typical ankle injuries that cause pain are:

1) Sprain / strains

2) Tendonitis

3) Achilles Tendon rupture

4) Fractures

5) Arthritis

Some cases of ankle pain are noticeable while running but not during normal daily activities. In most cases, ankle pain that is experienced during a run is either tendonitis or a sprain / strain type injury of one or more of the many ligaments and muscles of the ankle and foot. These injuries can occur as a result of a specific injury but in most cases the injury is due to the repetitive stress that the activity of running places on the ankles. If these injuries are left untreated they can become more severe and even normal walking can sometimes cause pain. Chronic inflammation in the joint due to tendonitis or chronic sprain / strains can lead to the onset of early arthritis.

Serious injuries such as an Achilles tendon rupture or a fracture require immediate medical attention since they are often so painful that they prevent weight bearing on the affected side.

Treatment for ankle sprain / strains and tendonitis include RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation) after running as well as chiropractic treatment that should include joint manipulations of the subtalar joint combined with various types physiotherapy.

If running has become painful for you feel free to give us a call – we would be happy to help you through your rehab.

Sincerely,

Dr. Steve Jones

Click Here For Your San Diego Chiropractor

(619) 280-0554

Do you want to break the Junk Food Cycle?

Why is it that junk food always smells and tastes so good? It’s strange how we train our bodies to crave food that is of low nutritional value and damages our health.

A big part of the “junk food cycle” is that we have gotten into the habit of using food for reasons other than simple nutrition to energize our bodies. A hallmark of an unhealthy diet is to use food to satisfy cravings that are generated by stress, boredom, depression, frustration, anger, etc. Patients in my San Diego Chiropractic Clinic struggle with unhealthy cravings all the time. This type of eating usually involves cookies, cake, chocolate, candy and a host of fattening foods.

Cravings aren’t simply gaffs in will power. There are physiological reasons behind our desire to eat fattening foods. Although these physiological reasons are many and complex, the bottom line is that eating sweets triggers the release of insulin which stimulates neurotransmitters and hormones that make us feel better. This sugar induced “feel good” is only a short term solution that has us quickly reaching for more sugar. There are also specific “trigger foods” that cause cravings for sugars. A specific example is that hot and spicy foods increase the desire for chocolate. By keeping a close eye on your diet you may discover similar patterns – once you are aware of them you can start to avoid or control them. For example, I know that if I brush my teeth right after eating spicy foods that my chocolate craving is almost immediately “fixed”.

We know that emotional stress triggers the desire to consume foods that make us feel better but these situations remain difficult to control. Unfortunately, emotional eating usually doesn’t just start – it is typically a learned behavior that is carried from childhood making it extremely difficult to control. The best bet is to not have sweets in the house at all – if they are not there you can’t eat them. If that doesn’t work for you, try these other techniques based on actual physiological responses to control your cravings.

1. Choose chicken, tuna, or eggs to cut your carbohydrate cravings. These foods contain tryptophan which increase serotonin and lifts your spirits making it easier to resist cravings for sugary carbohydrates.
2. Practice deep breathing to help reduce stress. Put one hand on your belly and one on your chest - inhale deeply to a count of five, feeling your belly expand. Next, exhale slowly to a count of seven, drawing your belly in toward your spine. Breathing like this moves nitric oxide to your lungs, widening your blood vessels and sending extra oxygen and blood to your brain. This exercise is calming and can help you resist comfort foods.
3. Getting enough sleep can curb sugar cravings. When your body doesn’t get at least 7 hours of sleep every night to rejuvenate its supplies of serotonin and dopamine, it tries to compensate for the shortage by making you crave sugary foods.
4. Be wary of “trigger foods” that increase sugar cravings. Hot, spicy foods and sweets can make you crave sweets. Spicy foods in particular make us crave chocolate. Lose the spicy stuff and you will lose some of your cravings.

If you can get some of your cravings for sweets and other junk foods under control and add regular exercise and stretching to your lifestyle you will make fast, noticeable improvements in the way you look and feel!

The primary purpose of chiropractic care is to improve your overall health through chiropractic adjustments, nutritional support and specific exercises and stretches.  If you are new to chiropractic care or simply need a new chiropractor we would be happy to help you achieve your health goals in any way that we can.

Yours in Good Health,

Dr. Steve Jones

Palmer Chiropractic Graduate

Click Here For Your San Diego Chiropractor

(619) 280-0554

Are you out of shape? Do you have trouble deciding where to begin with your efforts to regain your health? Have you set a date on which you are determined to begin a new diet and exercise program?

With our busy lifestyles, sometimes people find themselves so far out of shape that they don’t know how to begin with their efforts to turn their health around. In most cases trying to manipulate your diet and begin an exercise program at the same time quickly becomes overwhelming and ends with failure.

In my San Diego Chiropractic Office I encourage our patients who are interested in losing weight and improving their health to start simple – taking one step toward health at a time. I like to have my patients begin their journey toward better health by beginning to eliminate their worst dietary habits first. This plan involves reducing or eliminating;

1) Fast Foods

2) Soda

3) Caffeine

4) Canned Foods

5) Sugar

For most of my patients (and people in general), dietary issues are challenging. Diet probably has a much bigger impact on your health than you think. It seems so logical but true that you are what you eat.

Canned foods made the list above because they contain preservatives which contribute to chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation causes neck pain, headaches, low back pain and a host of serious health consequences. Fast foods are a huge energy drain. They are calorie dense but low in nutrients. That affects you because when you eat that burger and fries from the local fast food establishment that meal uses lots of energy to digest but you don’t get the nutrients that you body needs. The result is that you are tired after eating and hungry sooner because you are starved of the nutrients that your fast food didn’t supply. This tired feeling is usually remedied with coffee or some other caffeinated drink that leads to loss of sleep and adrenal stress which causes yet more fatigue.

An easy place to begin with your health goals is to pick a few dietary habits that you already know are bad and restrict or eliminate them. For example, if you drink soda – replace it with water, if you eat fast food – plan ahead and replace the fast food with a healthy salad or sandwich - you can do this with any bad dietary habit that you have. Once you eliminate one bad dietary habit – go to work on the next one. Before long you will be living a healthier lifestyle and you will feel the benefits.

The first step towards building a healthier body is to stop putting junk in it. Pick out a problem area in your diet and start changing today and you will be healthier tomorrow.

Yours in Good Health,

Dr. Steve Jones

Click Here For Your San Diego Chiropractor

(619) 280-0554

Do you suffer with neck pain and shoulder blade pain? If so, you are not alone.  My San Diego chiropractic clinic seems to have a deep supply of new patients with these complaints.  The good news is that with a little care the pain usually goes away!

There is a muscle that runs from the upper and middle vertebra in your neck down to the angle of the medial part of your scapula on each side that is usually responsible for this pain. This muscle is called the Levator Scapula and it is highlighted in red in the drawing below.

The Levator Scapula can be aggravated by a number of different things. In most cases postural stress from things like slouching over your computer or smart phone will pull that muscle causing stress on the joints and eventually irritation, inflammation, pain and spasm. In other cases, one of the joints has been irritated and the levator scapula has spasmed in an effort to protect the joint - this is common after auto accident injuries or sports injuries. Sometimes if the muscle is tight enough it will compress the nerves that feed your arms resulting in numbness, tingling and other symptoms.

Treatment for neck pain and shoulder blade pain can be difficult – especially if the pain is chronic. The first step is to get your pain evaluated by your chiropractor. Chiropractors specialize in conditions that affect your muscles and joints and are the best qualified professionals to guide your care. Treatment will most likely involve joint adjustments of the neck and upper back, various types of therapy to relax the muscle and some specific therapies for you to do at home.

If you are new to chiropractic and have a neck pain and shoulder blade pain we can help find a solution.

Yours in Good Health,

Dr. Steve Jones

Click Here For Your San Diego Chiropractor

(619) 280-0554

Is your bad back caused by a bad disc? Are you unsure about the kind of treatment you need? Maybe this post will help give you some direction.

As you probably know, traditional medical options are limited to pain killers, physical therapy, steroid injections and surgery. Alternative types of care, including chiropractic treatment, are an effective alternative to those options offered by traditional western medicine.

I treat patients with bad discs in my San Diego chiropractic center every day with great success. Some of these disc patients come in simply to keep their backs pain free while others have acute low back pain related to a recent disc injury or an old disc injury that have been re-aggravated.

Our bodies have a tremendous ability to heal themselves and to cope with injuries that it has not had to deal with before (also known as compensation – which can be good or bad). Chiropractic care enhances your body’s ability to heal itself by restoring full joint motion and removing the pain and pressure of pinched nerves.

Chiropractic care is very conservative and effective for disc injuries while surgery has potentially severe side effects and in many cases is not successful.

In evaluating your disc injury we will:

1) Take a complete history of your injury

2) Perform an examination that will focus on your particular problem

3) If needed, you may be referred for x-rays or perhaps MRI

4) Recommend a series chiropractic treatments if we feel they would benefit your condition.

5) Provide you with at home stretches, exercises, nutritional suggestions and ice / heat advice in order to help speed your healing process.

If you have a bad disc you should consider trying chiropractic treatment - we can help find a solution for your back pain.

Yours in Good Health,

Dr. Steve Jones

Click Here For Your San Diego Chiropractor

(619) 280-0554

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

Are you a text driver?  Shame on you!.

This Person is Texting While Driving – Not Good for Your Wallet or Your Life Expectancy.

Recent reports have exposed the dangers of texting while driving. These reports have led to new laws and regulations in my state of California that intend to help drivers avoid automobile accidents and the accompanying whiplash injuries and other more severe injuries or deaths. Since I treat many patients with whiplash type injuries in my San Diego Chiropractic Office I can verify that many of them were involved in accident with other people who are either texting or talking on the phone.

One of the most revealing studies regarding texting while driving came from the Virginia Tech Driving Institute. This study found that drivers who text while driving are 23 times more likely to cause an accident than those who don’t text while driving.  A separate report from the National Safety Council found that nearly 30% of all car accidents are caused by texting or talking on the phone (hands free or not).  Another recent report from the Department Of Transportation indicated that cell phones played a role in over 1.5 million accidents each year resulting in a half a million injuries and over 5000 deaths.

These statistics make you want to do nothing but drive while you are in the car – don’t they?  Whiplash injuries are serious and can result in neck pain, pain that radiates into your arms, middle back pain, lower back pain, headaches, etc.

Insure your own safety by avoiding texting while driving and watch out for other text-drivers!

Yours in Good Health,

Dr. Steve Jones

Click Here For 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