Colic Relief For the Gassy Baby - Do Chiropractors Really Help?

The potential causes for colic are numerous - from potential digestion difficulties of a gassy baby, to stress, to simple temperament mismatches between infant and parent, colic's actual origins remain elusive. For stressed out parents looking for answers, chiropractors offer yet another possible cause - strained muscles and/or tendons from the birth and delivery process. Chiropractors who treat colicky infants claim that the stress of childbirth can cause some infants to have minor misalignments in their backs and other areas which can cause digestion troubles, and may even be the real reason your gassy baby cries so often.
 
Adults who have been treated by chiropractors can often be skeptical - after all, the forceful alignments and sometimes rough handling that a chiropractor employs to straighten out misalignments in adults seems brutally out of place when dealing with a gassy baby. However, chiropractors who specialize in treating infants do not use the same type of adjustment techniques. Often, gentle pressure is applied to areas along the back, akin to the massage techniques used in infant massage. Some chiropractors also work on the necks of older infants, but most pediatricians advise against this practice, as it carries an unnecessary risk of potential harm. And what about effectiveness? If you have a gassy baby, can adjustments made by a chiropractor really help?
 
When it comes to the effectiveness of chiropractic treatment of colic, there have been numerous studies, but few that have been conducted with a proper control group and sampling size to be of a credible nature. Of the few that have, results do seem encouraging - most babies seem to reduce their crying overall after being seen by a reputable chiropractor in only a few sessions. However, just like with any potential colic treatment, results will vary from infant to infant, and what helps one gassy baby to find relief may not necessarily help another.
 
The best advice for those considering taking their baby to the chiropractor is the same advice for any other type of colic treatment - talk to your baby's pediatrician first. Make sure that other potential causes for the crying have been ruled out, and get a recommendation from your baby's doctor or another medical professional when compiling the list of potential chiropractors to visit. Handled responsibly, chiropractic services may be a successful treatment for your baby's colicky symptoms. 

Pain Or Numbness of the Legs Or Feet and Wonders of Chiropractic Care

Numbness or pain in the legs or feet may often start with a problem in the lower back where the sciatic nerve originates, and then goes along the path of the nerve. Also, it could be the blood vessels. When arteries get blocked and blood flow will be reduced, these eventually results to pain and numbness. The affected leg will feel cooler rather than the other leg.

There are various reasons why a person suffers from numbness or pain in the legs or feet such as sprain or strain of the lower back due to macro-trauma or repetitive micro-trauma, misalignment of the lumbar spine that is often exacerbated by increased or decreased lumbar curvature, disc herniations, bulges, or nerve entrapments, or being overweight. All of these can cause inflammation and pain in the affected part. Inflammation of the nerves may also cause loss of sensation, weakness, tingling, and numbness of the lower extremities.

One may be surprised to know that even sneezing can cause pain or numbness to the legs or feet. The discs in the lower back supply the sensory and motor function to the lower extremities. A disc could have shifted in the past and a micro-trauma such as stumbling or sneezing can inflame the lumbar region.

Another cause can be diabetes. It is well-known that diabetes affects limbs especially the feet. Having leg or feet problems may be indications of growing complications from diabetes. This may also reflect a neurological disease that attacks the feet and the other organs as well. Other medical conditions that can affect the feet and legs are arthritis, neuromuscular diseases, hypertension, osteoporosis, pregnancy, and medications.

Anyone with numbness or pain in their legs or feet should visit a chiropractor for an examination. Chiropractors are spine care professionals that are well suited to administer diagnostic exams and treatment for patients with this kind of problem. Patients can be managed with physical therapy, medications, injections and the intervertebral disc decompression which is a non-invasive and non-surgical method.

In clinical trials, it is proven that chiropractic treatment can be able to provide long-term relief and restoration to patients with leg and feet problems. A 7-year-old male who once suffered from severe leg pains from hitting his head hard from a fall against the floor. It was found that the child has an injury in his upper cervical spine. He was relieved from his leg pain after he was being administered with upper cervical care.

A 29-year- old runner had been running during high school and college, but decided to stop due to chronic achilles tendonitis. During his initial examination, it was discovered that he was suffering from spinal injury at his upper neck. After having his neck injury corrected through chiropractic care, the pain completely healed and never came back. Once again, he was able to continue running 60 miles per week.

A 48-year-old female suffered from neck pain, numbness and tingling down her arms and legs, and headaches, since she had an auto accident 10 years ago. The examination revealed that the woman had an upper neck injury as a result of her accident. After her first upper cervical adjustment, all of the numbness and tingling she felt before were gone. Followed by a few adjustments, she has been living free from symptoms and pain ever since.

Chiropractic Salary - What Can You Expect to Earn As a Chiropractor?

How much money you make as a chiropractor depends first and foremost on whether you are hired as an employee or run your own practice.  Chiropractic employees typically work for other chiropractors or for Western medical doctors.  This scenario tends to be much more limiting in its long-term potential, as one will often seek out employment for immediate financial stability.

The range for chiropractic employees can be anywhere from $30-100,000 per year depending on the amount of patients seen and the agreement worked out with the employer.  In the clinic I worked at, the staff chiropractor told me he made $40,000 per year and saw about 120 patients a week on his own.  (He was not very thrilled with this arrangement).

What is perhaps more important than the annual salary is the amount made per patient.  In the above scenario, the doctor was making very little per patient and per hour, which is why he was so frustrated with this arrangement.  As a practice-building consultant, I advise new practitioners to only seek out employment if they have no means to start their own practice.  In my experience, it is rare for chiropractors to find total fulfillment as employees.

Building a private practice, of course, comes with its own set of potential pitfalls and challenges.  As a business owner,  one's salary depends on 3 essential factors: 

1.  Mindset - Developing a mindset of success and prosperity is vital to one's level of income.

2.  Marketing - The most lucrative practices are the ones who have developed their marketing skills.

3.  Communication - Chiropractors who know how to educate their patients and build rapport will undoubtedly end up making substantially more money than those that don't.

If all 3 of these factors are well-integrated and developed, the practice can definitely gross a high 6 figure or even 7 figure income.  If any one of these is deficient, however, one's level of income will be substantially reduced.  In my experience, the average chiropractor in private practice pays themselves about a range of $45-75,000 per year. 

Please keep in mind that 'average' in this sense is just that; it means that one of the 3 factors listed above is missing or imbalanced. 

The chiropractic profession is certainly one that has tremendous potential for financial success and personal fulfillment.  What is most important is to develop the business, marketing, and mindset skills that directly lead to increased financial worth.

Chiropractic Newsletter Articles You Can Use Today - For Free

A chiropractic newsletter is a great way to stay in touch with current patients. A well-crafted newsletter should focus on disease and injury prevention. When patients heed the advice, they will be fitter and stronger. But, when injury or disease does strike, you will be top-of-mind as the chiropractor that is genuinely interested improving and restoring their health. In this article we explain your options for getting started with a regular chiropractic newsletter and how to get high-quality free content.

Chiropractic Newsletter Options

You have several delivery options for your chiropractic newsletter. The obvious choices are email, print, blog or all of the above. We are proponents of the 'all of the above' approach as long as you can streamline the process to make it easy to manage. Here is what we suggest.

One blog post per week with 200 to 500 words posted to your website.

An email newsletter every month that provides 1) news and timely announcements from the clinic, 2) a one sentence description of the weekly blog posts and 3) a link to read the full article.

A print chiropractic newsletter every quarter featuring the best of the 12 weekly articles. We suggest making these available in your office and having patients sign up to receive them at home rather than mailing to everyone in your database.

Using this plan, you make sure that every patient has ample opportunities to see and absorb your chiropractic newsletter content. And, you only need to spend about 20 minutes per week writing about a relevant, newsworthy subject.

Chiropractic Newsletter Templates

The ideal template has 3 to 4 pages. It should contain no more than 3 feature stories along with several sidebar stories for easy browsing. The entire template should be consistent with your branding and use colors and fonts that are consistent with your logo, signage and other print materials. While it is tempting to grab the very first chiropractic newsletter template that looks good and run with it, don't do it. Have a designer modify a starter template to be uniquely yours. Your chiropractic newsletter is an extension of your brand and a reflection on your practice standards for quality.

Chiropractic Newsletter Articles

Once you've decided on your delivery format and your template, you need articles for your chiropractic publication. You can write the articles yourself, buy articles or get free articles that allow republication.

We don't recommend that you buy any articles. We do recommend that you write your own cover story every month. Knocking out 500 words for the lead story should only take you 20 minutes and is content that can be reused on your blog and in your internet marketing.

Beyond the cover story, you can get all of the interior content for your chiropractic newsletter from online article directories such as EzineArticles, GoArticles or ArticlesBase. There are thousands of relevant articles on each of these websites that would be perfect for a chiropractic newsletter. You may be asking...how do I know I'm allowed to republish these articles? Great question. The Terms of Service for each of the three sites very clearly provide for republication online and in print as long as you do not modify the original article.

What Is a Chiropractic Adjustment and What Happens During It?

Q. How do chiropractors know where to adjust?

This question has far too many answers to limit to just one article, but I will summarize some of the more popular methods chiropractors use to locate vertebral misalignments (also called subluxations).

1) Static palpation - Palpation refers to the Doctor of Chiropractic using his or her hands to feel for signs suggesting the presence of subluxation. These signs can include muscle tension or spasm, areas of hot or cold on the skin, or feeling the bones of the spine actually being out of alignment by running a hand down the spine and noting which bones do not line up with the bones above and below. Sometimes, the location needing adjustment is tender, or may refer pain, numbness or tingling to another part of the body when touched.

2) Motion palpation - this type of palpation involves movement, such as when the Doctor of Chiropractic uses his or her hands to rock he spinal bones back and forth to note if some are "stuck together" or simply not moving at all. When bones are stuck together the process of moving one bone will cause the other to move with it. Sometimes moving a vertebral bone will cause pain at the location of the bone, or will send pain, numbness or tingling, or shooting pain down an arm or leg or other part of the body.

3) Leg check - the leg check is a method many chiropractors use to analyze for lumbar or pelvic subluxations. This can be performed with the patient lying face up or face down. Since the legs insert into the hips the legs may be used as a proxy to measure problems above them. Increased muscle tension in one side of the low back or hip muscles can cause that side of the low back or hips to pull a leg upwards. Normally, everyone has either equal length legs or nearly equal length legs. By analyzing leg length and observing the reaction of the legs to various physical tests, the chiropractor can discover where a problem lies. Sometimes the Doctor or Chiropractic will perform additional testing on the legs, such as bending the legs at the knee, palpating low back or hips muscles, or performing muscle tests. Quite often, testing the leg lengths after an adjustment will show the legs to no longer appear to be different lengths.

4) Many other methods - there are numerous additional methods and techniques used by chiropractors. Listing and describing them is beyond the scope of this article. You are encouraged to contact a local chiropractor, or ask your current Doctor of Chiropractic, and ask him or her about this if you would like to learn more.

Q. What happens during a chiropractic adjustment?

When a chiropractor adjusts a spinal bone there are a number of things happening. I will describe the anatomical and biological processes involved in as simple a manner as possible without "dumbing it down".

The importance of the set-up - In order to adjust a subluxation the joint in question must first be brought to a point of tension. A proper and safe adjustment requires the spinal joint to be first maximally stretched so that the adjustment need only involve a minimal amount of force. This way, the joint is gently pushed beyond it's limit with a final nudge. Imagine rolling a ball up a hill. If we try to roll it straight up from the bottom we need to use a lot of force all at once. If we roll the ball all the way near the top first, then all we need to do is give it a gentle push to get it over the top of the hill. Many times the person who needs an adjustment has tenderness in the area of the subluxation, so the proper way to adjust it in order to minimize discomfort to the patient is to perform a proper set-up by bringing the joint to tension, and then to apply a gentle additional force to complete the adjustment. This method reduces pain and discomfort and makes the procedure much safer. Many Physical Therapists that perform spinal adjustments (called "spinal manipulations" by PT's) use the less comfortable method involving more force, and using a "long lever" to move the bones. When being adjusted, be sure to pay attention to them "setting you up" properly and not causing undue pain. Adjustments can occasionally cause brief pain, especially if the area already hurts, but proper technique can minimize this.

That popping noise

That noise is actually gases "escaping" the joint capsule. When the joint is taken beyond it's normal range the capsule experiences brief negative pressure inside it which pulls nitrogen and other gases through the membrane, causing a popping noise in each joint adjusted. You can verify to yourself that this noise is not bones hitting each other by simply pulling your fingers and hearing them pop. Clearly, the bones are separating, not colliding.

Why it feel so good

While the adjustment does some obvious things like re-align your neck or back, it also causes some other things to happen as well. By relieving pressure on the nerve roots at the spine, the muscles those nerves feed will relax, and the pain from those injured nerves may disappear within a very short time. Any organs or tissues that those nerves feed will begin to function more optimally with the inflammation and physical pressure reduced at the location of a nerve root or disc lesion.

How Your Chiropractor Relieved Migraine Pain

Many people experience different sorts of headaches & tension headaches to unbearable head pain brought by migraine attacks. This pain can affect your physical condition and as well as your daily activities. In most cases, migraine is accompanied by other symptoms such as eye pain, nausea and sensitivity to sounds and light. Migraine sufferers tend to rely on OTC drugs which give short-term relief. Soon as the effect of the medication wears-off the same pain comes back which again is countered by another dose of pain reliever. Unknown for many, these drugs only works short-term and deals only with the symptoms, not the real cause of your pain.

Why do you experience Migraine attacks?

Headaches and migraines can be due to a misalignment of a spinal vertebra in your back. Misalignment causes tightening of muscles in your upper shoulders and neck, a combination of these two then causes compression on the nerves and a growing headache.

Neck tension is also one of the key causes of migraines. This is usually due to spending a lot of time in a single fixed position - working on the computer, too many hours standing or sitting and very little sleep. People too busy with work tend to ignore early warning signs for the body's call for movement and goes through a habitual posture decline. A migraine headache is your body's call for help and it means that more serious issues should be addressed.

Chiropractic Treatment for Migraines

Chiropractic treatments are one of the safest and most effective methods of correcting or realigning the spine to address health issues and symptoms such as migraine and chronic pain. Adjustments made during treatments help relieve pressure on the nerves and ease tension headaches. You will also be able to relax tightened muscles through massage therapy to further relieve pain.

Chiropractors may also use cranial adjustment techniques which uses very light touches on areas of the face and head to offer significant relief. This kind of technique helps lessen or remove abnormal nerves around the bones of your skull to provide normal motion as well as correct circulatory and lymphatic functions.

Chronic migraine sufferers can take advantage of consistent chiropractic care to minimize attacks as every tension in the spine area are tackled and corrected. Nerves which have been blocked for a long time will be relieved and receive lesser stimuli as you continue with your treatment. Pressure on these nerves is also released and eventually, the body will achieve a corrected state and sufferers will have fewer migraine attacks as time goes by.

Save Yourself an Expensive Trip to the Chiropractor

Chiropractic therapy is basically a discipline which works to cure, or at least alleviate, muscle and skeletal aches and pains by manipulating the joints and muscles. This is sometimes known as 'cracking' your bones. Some of the main things that lead people to develop musculoskeletal problems and eventually with a need to see a chiropractor can be easily avoided. Here are a few of the major causes of suffering and how to avoid them.

Bad Posture

Having bad posture is not just something your mother has chosen to scold you about. Bad posture can involve a combination of body postures in a range of situations. Most common the curling of the shoulders forward while walking. Made famous by Harry Enfield's teenage character Kevin, his posture is an example of bad posture in action. Head nodding forward, shoulders fallen forward, neck curved downwards following the head.

This can result in a number of ailments requiring chiropractic treatment: sore neck, shoulders or upper back and a permanent irreversible hunch causing an almost flat section at the base of your neck before meeting your neck.

To avoid needing to go to the chiropractor to have your bones manipulated you should sort out your posture before any of these develop. When you walk, walk with your head up and as if someone is pulling you up by the centre of your chest while pulling your shoulders back (not too hard). Try taking a deep breath and imagining you are a soldier. This should save you a trip to the chiropractor in later life.

Not Enough Exercise

Not getting enough exercise will not only leave you less cardiovascular less fit than you should be, it will allow your muscles to deteriorate and put strain on your skeleton and in particular your spine. Your spine takes the weight of your head and upper body. The spine needs muscles to provide support for the vertebrae and without them it will cause you pain and discomfort.

However, as you use your back a lot more than you think you do, any kind of moderate exercise should help you keep your muscles working and save you a trip to the chiropractor.

Inappropriate Seating

Similarly to walking bad posture, having a bad seating posture, especially at work where you might be sat for an extended period of time, will result in the need for chiropractic therapy. Make sure your can sit with your feet flat on the ground, your arms are at a comfortable height for typing and that your screen is slightly below the middle of your eye line so you don't have to bend your neck top much up or down.

To help your body deal with some other common ailments, health supplements such as Coenzyme Q10 100mg, Coq10 100mg or triphala can be just as effective as chiropractic therapy. Even some of the best probiotics can have a truly positive effect.

So the next time you feel a dull ache coming on, why not consider some of these alternative remedies.

Chiropractic Treatment Can Help Alleviate High Blood Pressure

Some chiropractors and health researchers have conducted studies over the past several years looking into how specific chiropractic techniques can help to alleviate common ailments such as high blood pressure.

The University of Chicago conducted promising research that did in fact see a drop in the blood pressure of individuals who received what is called an 'atlas adjustment' versus patients who received a placebo treatment.

What is an atlas adjustment?

The part of the spine that researchers believe may be in part responsible for blood flow and blood pressure is located near the neck, and is referred to as the cervical or vertebra. This vertebra is also called the atlas vertebra.

X-rays are necessary to perform the adjustment and alignment on this part of the spine, and your chiropractor may use a special sound wave machine to complete the treatment. While not the answer to everything, many patients who have received an atlas adjustment report feeling much better, with a reduction in pain.

Choosing a Chiropractor

If you are interested in having an atlas adjustment treatment, seek out a professional who is a member of the National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association (NUCCA). These men and women are certified in this type of procedure and likely have a great deal of experience with the appropriate techniques.

There is still uncertainty about how effective the treatment is in the long-term, so it is wise to not put all of your eggs in one basket, so to speak. You should continue to consult with your medical doctor on a regular basis regarding your high blood pressure.

It may be possible to cease taking prescribed medication for the condition after receiving an atlas adjustment, but it also may be possible to need to resume taking the medication if the adjustment's immediate effects do not have longevity.

If you are experiencing neck pain or hypertension, always visit your regular general practitioner first, who can then refer you to a professional for a spinal adjustment if they feel it may help. If your doctor does not outwardly suggest the adjustment, you should feel comfortable with bringing it up and having a discussion about their opinion on the treatment and its results.

Some doctors are reluctant to send you to a chiropractor because it may not be an absolute cure or may require repeated visits, and there is so far a lack of solid research into the aspect of hypertension relief.

Chiropractic Profitability: Task Management, the Foundation for Teamwork

True Teamwork can only be achieved through transparency, accountability and reliable communication. A good task management system not only provides these things but is mandatory for sustainable teamwork and patient loyalty.

Obstacles to Effective Teamwork

When a practice's staff members are unable to communicate their activities and coordinate together there are risks of tasks falling to the side and remaining incomplete while other tasks may be unnecessarily duplicated, wasting precious staff resources. For example, if front office staff are unsure when vital patient information is missing, critical data can be overlooked and patients can become frustrated by later attempts to gather this information. The opposite problem can also arise. Front office staff can end up making multiple request for patient information which can also create frustration and paint a picture of disorganization and chaos. All members of the team must learn to communicate effectively and have clear understanding of their respective responsibilities or tasks. As a team, they must function together to get tasks accomplished in an efficient and professional manner.

Consider for a moment the average hourly rate a chiropractor can earn at optimum capacity. If a void in the cohesiveness of the team causes the Dr. just a few hours time wasted on unnecessary administrative tasks, that can quickly become several hours per month, or thousands of dollars over the course of a year. Few practices can afford to be throwing money out of the window because of difficulties that could otherwise be easily resolved.

Poll shows teamwork to be number #1 concern among Chiropractic practice owners.

A lack of cohesiveness in a practice plagues many offices. Roughly one-third of participants in a recent survey indicated that it was the biggest problem facing their team. Of the group who indicated this was their problem, the largest single category was managers. Managers, who are responsible for overseeing the rest of the organization, easily recognize the negative effects brought about by a staff lacking teamwork. It is also interesting to note that in this same survey, only 16 percent of participants indicated that task management was the biggest problem in their practice. This clearly indicates many practice managers do not perceive task management to be a necessary component of teamwork. Between all five options, nearly half of all of those who participated in the survey indicated that issues related to teamwork were negatively affecting their practice performance.

Building teamwork within a practice

Once a particular office has come to understand the difficulties that can be caused by a lack of teamwork, it is natural that they look for solutions to help encourage the building of these essential relationships.

When considering teamwork not only should interpersonal relationships between those working in your be examined but we should also examine accountability and transparency. When the work environment becomes transparent, communication flows more naturally between members of your staff. Management can make this possible by adopting both technology and methodologies that are task management centric. By offering recognition for tasks that have been completed and making transparent tasks that are neglected a practice builds task ownership among individual staff members.

The manager should also look for ways to clearly communicate job roles and expectations. "By sharing numbers with employees, not just executives, you can increase employees' sense of ownership. However, being open is not enough. You need to be sure your employees are trained... and have enough insight into their own jobs to know how to affect the numbers (bottom line)." - Torben Rick. It may be a good idea to review job descriptions and interview members of the office to hear their understanding and perspective.

Software solutions that offer integrated task management functions are excellent options which allow managers and others in the office to track what is being done and by whom. For example, when the information that is gathered by a doctor's assistant or nurse is passed along to the staff member at the front desk, this will be documented. Tasks can be tracked making it easy to see exactly what stage they are in, who has them, and how close they are to being completed.

Neglecting teamwork can be devastating to any office. Employees need to successfully work together to build an environment of efficiency and productivity. When there is a void in workflow/ task management there are always consequences to the practice's bottom line, patient satisfaction, the work environment, and more. Making this cohesiveness a priority allows practice staff to take their Chiropractic organization to the next level.

Headaches and How Chiropractic Can Help

There are 5 main types of common headaches:

1. Tension headache - Often felt either on both sides of the head like a headband squeezing the head or at the base of the skull and back of the upper neck. These headaches can last anywhere from 30 minutes to nearly non-stop for a week. Tension headaches are caused by tight muscles around the head and neck.

What your Chiropractor can do - Chiropractic adjustments to the neck will release muscle tension in the head and neck especially the sub-occipital muscles at the base of the skull.

What you can do - These headaches are common in people who are in a static position all day such as sitting at a computer or driving. Stretch your neck and go through all ranges of motion once every hour or so.

2. Migraine headache - Can be on one or both sides and are usually felt as throbbing. These can last from a few hours to 3 days. You may also experience sensitivity to light or sound and can also experience nausea and vomiting associated with the headache. These are usually caused by a decrease in blood flow to the brain.

What your Chiropractor can do - The vertebral artery supplies blood to the brain. Its course is straight upward through holes in the vertebrae of the neck. When one of these vertebrae gets out of position, it can cause a kink in the hose so to speak, decreasing blood flow to the brain.

What you can do - Feverfew is a medicinal herb from the Chrysanthemum family and is available over the counter at health food stores. It has been used for centuries to treat headaches and had been helpful by numerous users. Also, consult with your Chiropractor and get your neck adjusted.?

3. Cervicogenic headache - May or may not have accompanying neck pain. The muscles around the neck are usually sore if pressed upon. These headaches are commonly confused for migraine headaches as they can have an almost identical presentation including sensitivities to light or sound. Many of these headache sufferers have had previous trauma to the neck like a car accident but this is not always the case. Cervicogenic headaches are caused by irritation of the nerves coming from your spinal cord at the level of your neck and traveling to the head.

What your Chiropractor can do - The nerves of your spinal cord exit through openings created by the bottom of one vertebra and the top of the one below it. When the vertebra of your neck are misaligned, this opening is narrowed causing irritation or compression of the nerve exiting at that level of your neck. Chiropractic adjustments are safest and most effective way to return these vertebrae to their proper position.

What you can do - Loss of the natural cervical curve is extremely common, especially in those who have had previous neck trauma such as a car accident. Chiropractic care as well as therapeutic stretching and strengthening can help return this natural curve.

4. Sinus headache - Felt in the face and often, but not always, have accompanying congestion. Pain feels like pressure between the eye brows or along the sides of the nose. These are caused by congestion of the sinuses.

What your Chiropractor can do - Adjusting the neck will normalize nerve function of the nerves traveling to the face and sinuses. Also, your Chiropractor can recommend supplements to help regulate your histamine levels and dry out your sinuses.

What you can do - Over the counter saline solutions or a neti pot will get saltwater into the sinuses and help to dry up the mucous. Sinus infections can lead to serious complications, so they must be taken very seriously.?

5. Cluster headache - Felt on one side, usually around the eye. Cluster headaches may last from 15 minutes to 3 hours and can come and go multiple times throughout the day. The pain is sharp and boring and can be associated with runny nose, watery eyes, and redness of the eyes. These headaches are caused by irritation of the nerves which travel to the face and eyes.

What your Chiropractor can do - The trigeminal (tri-gem-in-al) nerve exits your brain from the brain stem. The brain stem is located just behind the first two bones in your neck. Getting a neck adjustment can help normalize nerve function and calm down irritated nerves going to the face.

What you can do - Avoid alcohol as it is a big-time trigger for cluster headaches. Stress is another trigger, so find some time to relax and take some time for yourself.

Back Pain Solutions, Use Medication Or Chiropractic, Plano Chiropractor Offers Alternatives You Need

As a Chiropractor in Plano, TX, I see patients who take over the counter or prescription medication all the time to relieve their back pain. I prescribe certain regimens of care for a majority of patients who have continual pain with their neck and back. The variations of therapy I offer do not include recommending drugs, even though most of my new patients have been taking some form of pain relief before they see me. The family doctor and doctor of chiropractic definitely approach the practice of healing from different perspectives. It's common place for anyone that has continual pain to first seek help from their family doctor because society has taught us that the physician is the first line of defense against sickness, illness, and injury. Sadly most physicians will prescribe some form of drugs for whatever ache or pain you feel before thinking about referencing the expertise of a chiropractor. I don't tell my patients to ignore their doctors advice, but I will tell them that pain killing drugs are a temporary fix that does not get at the root source of the problem.

How do I Determine The Source

When I first meet with a new patient that has back or neck issues, I ask for a detailed health history, along with asking a series of targeted questions which will reveal information about what they feel has caused the source of their problem, verify medication they're taking, past and present lifestyle, forms of recreation, and work background. Once we've discussed all these areas, I'm going to do a full exam, x-rays and possibly an MRI. After reviewing the compiled results I will visit with the patient to share with them where I believe the root cause of their problem exists. Whether it's an impingement of the nerve, a compressed disc, or cervical issue, the findings will guide me to the problem area and I will determine an immediate course of action along with explaining their options. I realize that some patients will continue to use drugs to alleviate their pain but I do suggest that they try alternatives that most have not even considered.

Alternative Gels, Balms and Rubs

Many chiropractors are firm believers in tested and proven topical rubs and ointments for minor back or neck issues. This is an economical solution in conjunction with rest and hot/cold compresses which work better than just taking Tylenol or Advil. You might buy Icy Hot or Myoflex right off the shelf, but I've found that these only provide minimal pain relief. One that you can't buy at your pharmacy or Super Center is BioFreeze. Many chiropractors have found that this alternative to store bought rubs last longer, penetrates deeper into the muscle and joint, and has no side effects. If you're an athlete, weekend warrior, desk jockey, busy parent, or senior, you need to have this supplement handy when you tire of taking your med's. This product is a roll on rub you can apply directly to the muscle or joint. Patients tell me that they've received pain relief up to 6 hours using this product. As I mentioned, this is an option if it is discovered that you have only minimal issues with your back that can be dealt with in a short time. Otherwise you will need to look at more stringent measures that I've listed below.

Chiropractic Alternative Treatments To Consider Instead of Medicine

There are various forms of therapy I use to treat the many spine related issues my patients confront me with daily. For the majority of back problems I see, I find that a combination of spinal decompression, electric muscle stimulation, and cold laser therapy will return the back to a much quicker state of pain free health. These (3) techniques along with gentle stretching exercises, use of stretching bands, and possible nutritional supplements work wonders for my patients. These are just a brief list of the alternative treatments that can be used instead of relying solely on medicine. My training, education, and years of experience has convinced me that there is almost always a chiropractic solution besides taking a pill, which will end most any pain you're feeling or future recurrence that's related to your neck, back, and other joints.

I want to stress that most any course of treatment I recommend requires a team approach with myself and the patient working together to achieve a return to better back health. For therapy to be a success, it happens both at my office and at the patients home. To really solve the root cause of pain the patient is feeling requires active participation through self administered exercises and dedication to following the regimen set by your chiropractor. With the correct diagnosis and therapy, patients can heal quickly and return to a normal routine free of the pain they have. I want to stress that chiropractic won't solve every health problem related to the spine, but more and more people are turning to doctors of DC as an alternate source of healing to avoid the continued use of prescription and over the counter drugs.

Combining Both Massage and Chiropractic Care

When physical dysfunction of your body occurs, whether by accident, injury, or just regular wear and tear, getting treatment is recommended to speed your recovery. Knowing who to see is an important consideration as you are trusting your well being to the actions of another. Recommendations from friends are a good place to start, but it is important to know the roles of the different health care providers that are available for you to see.

In simple terms, chiropractors work on bones and massage therapists work on muscles. If you are in pain or have limited mobility, treatment from therapists in both modalities may be needed for you to feel both happy and healthy again.

Tight muscles increase the tension on their attachment points. As the body of the muscle fibers condense into a tendon, it has the ability to provide such a consistent force on the bone that it can actually pull it from its natural position.

Balance in a body is the key... in respect to the left/right and front/back axis lines. If you could picture a neck from behind, the muscles that run from behind your ears to the point of your shoulder are your trapezium muscles. If both left and right are tighter than they should be, the person may suffer headaches and physical discomfort - but if just one side is tight it can easily pull the neck out of alignment. With many people spending considerable time on computers, the right shoulder can be hitched higher for longer periods as the mouse is on that side. Related complaints are a common occurrence. The muscles are tight... but the mobility of the neck is limited and cause extra pain when moved.

If this problem is address early, before the bones are out of alignment, the muscles can be massaged until left/right balance is restored. If the vertebrae are out of line, seeing a chiropractor is the quickest way to get them back in alignment again. But seeing a chiropractor without addressing the tight muscles will only be a short term fix. Although you will leave their clinic with reduced pain and increased range of movement, the tension in the muscle will soon cause dysfunction again. Only seeing a massage therapist will reduce muscular tension, but it may not be enough to restore correct alignment.

There is a general theory... that if you see a therapist 3 times, and your problem isn't better, or you aren't confident that progress is likely... it is time to see another therapist. It is also important to know that a variety of modalities may be needed simultaneously to approach your problem from all angles.

It may seem overkill, but getting an hour massage, and then seeing a chiropractor immediately after, may be what you need to get you back to 100% as quick as possible.

5 Tips to Get More Patients With Chiropractic Marketing

On any given day you will hear, see or read a multitude of advertisements for something, someone or some product. A magazine of 100 pages will have about 15-20 ads. You can't watch a 60 minute television show without at least 20 minutes of commercials. However with all of the busy lifestyles, DVR's have helped to relieve us from commercial laden television viewing as we fast forward through to the next scene in the show. But you can't fast forward through radio so you are left with listening or turning it off. With the computer we have pop up blockers, spam filters and more. The junk mail, don't even get me started. I've threaten to place a trash can next to my mail box. That leaves the newspaper and it too has its share of ads.

Am I an "ad basher"? Absolutely not, I realize that advertising is part of business. It pays for publications to stay in business; it keeps television free, unless you have to have cable, which by the way used to be advertisement free. Advertising keeps radio stations operating and I guess the advertisers are keeping the postal service afloat too.

Business owners have to market themselves in order to compete with other businesses. So business owners market themselves through advertising in various venues in hopes of getting more business, more patients and bottom line more money. There is so much marketing going on that one might wonder if they even have a chance of being seen. But they can be seen, they just have to find their niche, focusing in on their target audience and by doing this a business owner can actually save time and money.

For chiropractor's time and money are valuable as is for most business owners, but let's face it, advertising for chiropractic is different from advertising for ice cream, delicious food or the newest shoes to hit the stores that every teenager wants to own.

There are many opportunities available for chiropractors marketing their practices and get their name out in front of their intended target audience. I've included some tips below to help utilize some common marketing platforms and ideas.

Chiropractic Marketing Tip #1 - Print Advertising. The internet is a great tool for marketing your practice but remember that newspapers are still a viable platform for your chiropractic advertising. Even though there are fewer newspapers than there were 10 years ago, print advertising is a great way to market. Costs to run an ad in the paper will vary from region to region and I will admit, for some the cost is too great to overlook. However there are other print marketing techniques that are more cost effective. Example; ask your newspaper rep about the cost of inserts if the cost or placement of the ad is not working with your budget.

Chiropractic Marketing Tip #2 - Use all available resources. Take advantage of the internet even if you think that you cannot afford a website, web presence is still easy to master. Begin a blog website and write articles about chiropractic in the community, write about your office, fitness, health, sprinkle with some personal experiences. There are blog sites that you can pay for, but there are also free sites. You can even purchase a domain name and direct it to your free blog site. Both Blogger and WordPress offer free writing venues. Later on when you do decide to have a website, you will be able to incorporate your blog posts into your site which will only enhance your web presence by feeding fresh content to your site on a regular basis.

Chiropractic Marketing Tip #3- Jump into Social Media with both feet. Twitter and Facebook are the social media hot spots. Both are very user friendly and what you don't know or can't figure out, a quick Google search for step by step tutorials and you will have more information than you know what to do with. Research and find out information before you plunge in, but if you already have a personal profile on Facebook then you are only one step away from a fanpage. Here's one quick tip; if you are thinking about a Facebook fanpage for your chiropractic practice, you will want to carefully name it using the right keywords so you can be found by those looking for you. Example, your location and your profession go hand in hand. If you are a chiropractor in Smalltown, BigState; then you will want to utilize that information. So your Facebook fanpage could be named Smalltown Chiropractor/Your Name. That way when anyone who lives in or near your location doing an online search for a chiropractor, they simply type in the town name + the term "chiropractor" and your page should pop up on the results page.

Chiropractic Marketing Tip #4 - Think outside the box. Find a reputable source for established, tested and proven chiropractic marketing tools. You already know that there is a wealth of information out there about marketing and now with all of the niche marketing you have many companies marketing their chiropractic marketing products to chiropractors. Be smart! Do your homework, read as much as you can about the companies selling chiropractic marketing products. Things to look for... price of course but more important, what do you get for that price? Do they offer support? Is there a money back guarantee? Are the products tested and proven to work? Find blogs and articles on or about chiropractic marketing. Many offer free tutorials and nuggets of information to implement into your marketing and they cost nothing.

Chiropractic Marketing Tip #5 - Be consistent with your marketing and never stop marketing your practice. Map out a marketing plan for 6 months out to a year. Break it down into weeks. Beginning with holidays, write in a holiday focused marketing plan, then move to seasonal marketing ideas, next go for the holidays that are not known for their national observance, like grandparents day, hug a tree day or make one up. Don't forget to market within your office. A dry erase board with a chiropractic tip of the week only opens the door for your patient's to ask you about what you've written on the board.

My last bit of advice, never miss the chance to get a referral from your patients. You don't have to hound them about it, just have some nice referral cards or coupons printed up and ready to hand out when you hear one of them mention a friend, neighbor or family member.

Selecting the Right Chiropractor

Many people when needing to find a chiropractor seemingly open the Yellow Pages and select one that looks good and is close to them.

Not an extremely bad idea but one that fits the model of "you get what you ask for".

Selecting a chiropractor that is going to fit your needs is really a bit more complex than pointing to a listing in the Yellow Pages and calling them up.

Like your doctor or auto mechanic, this is somebody you will probably be visiting many times over several years.

All chiropractors do not fit into the same mold. All of them have their own philosophies and techniques on how they are going to treat you.

That is why you should always take the time to select the right chiropractor for you.

There are a few things that you can do to narrow your search and point you in the right direction in your selection.

One of the first things you can do is ask your doctor if they can recommend a good chiropractor for you. You can also ask family or friends if they know of a good local chiropractor.

Did you know that you can and should interview a potential chiropractor before undergoing treatment? It is very easy. Call one who is on your list and set up a consultation.

It is there that you can ask them about their philosophy and techniques for chiropractic care. Tell them about your ailments and ask specifically how they plan to treat you.

It is also during the interview that you can get a feel of how well you connect with them. If they are short with you, don't want to take the time, or have standard practices for all ailments, then it might be time to move on to your next candidate.

During the interview you will also want to ask about costs. Some require an initial examination that is a separate charge. They may require X-Rays and some other tests. Ask why these are necessary.

Be sure to ask if they accept your insurance if you have it. If you don't have insurance, ask if they have a discount if paying out of pocket. Most do but won't give it to you unless you ask.

The interview will give you a good idea if you want to set up an appointment to start treatment. Like any job interview it doesn't guarantee success but it does help give a good idea or let you know that you need to continue your search.

Good luck!

Chiropractors - Learn How They Can Help Stop Your Pain

Even though you may have gotten used to that twinge in your back or stiffness in your neck, it's still not a good idea to simply suffer. Seeking out chiropractors and finding one you like can really change how you go about your daily life. Take the time to find out more about how these doctors can help relieve your pain.

Definition
Chiropractors concentrate specifically on the back. They can help narrow down the root of your pain and then figure out the best way to make it stop. These methods do not require surgery or medication, making them a good option for people who don't want to have to rely on prescriptions or a hospital stay in order to get some relief. Most often, the doctor can simply straighten out the back, which is a good idea since ignoring back issues can really wreak havoc on the nervous system.

Typical services
Spinal decompression is a procedure that some chiropractors will conduct in order to help ease the pressure on certain joints. It involves strapping you onto a special instrument that will begin to stretch and pull apart the upper and lower part of the patient's body. While this sounds extreme, it can actually offer quite a bit of relief. After about 20 minutes, the process is done. The patient is advised to relax and apply ice to the general area.

Non-standard methods
Although there are numerous procedures chiropractors perform, there are still some that are not as common as others. For instance, acupuncture involves having the doctor put small needles on particular pressure points. This is said to really repair the body and improve the function of your organs. Again, while this is not a usual method, many people feel it works to relieve back aches and pains. Also, it could be helpful to explore the benefits of massages, water exercising as well as treatments involving heat. The best thing is to chat with your doctor so you can find the solution that's right for you.

Getting started
Before doing any of the procedures mentioned above, chiropractors will conduct a thorough review first. Finding out about the details of your medical history as well as doing blood work and other tests is essential to your diagnosis. Furthermore, eating right, practicing good posture and doing some type of consistent exercise will keep you healthy inside and out - minimizing or totally eliminating your need to see a chiropractor in the first place.

The Education and Training of a Chiropractor

Doctors of Chiropractic are trained to diagnose and treat problems of the spine. They are also formally educated to examine and diagnose the entire body. Training is comparable to that required of osteopathic or medical doctors, making this an educationally-intensive career. Training to be a chiropractor involves coursework, clinical applications, and ongoing education.

Chiropractor Degree Programs

Programs of chiropractic study include anatomy, physiology, pathology, and other basic sciences. According to a Center for Studies in Health Policy, Inc. report, only medical doctors, doctors of osteopathy, and doctors of chiropractic focus on health care interventions that contribute to the well-being of the entire person. Doctors of Chiropractic are considered generalists regarding primary health care services and specialists in chiropractic treatment methods.

Most chiropractic colleges do not require a bachelor degree for admission but four years of undergraduate study in the sciences is recommended. Chiropractic education includes at least four years of professional study, two years of which must include basic sciences and two years of training in the clinical sciences. Part 1 of the National Boards must be successfully completed following the initial two years and Part 2 must be passed following the second period of study. Individuals who plan to use physiological therapeutics must complete Part 3 of the National Boards chiropractic training. On Part 4 of the National Boards, students must demonstrate their skills in chiropractic technique, diagnostic imaging, and case management.

Chiropractor Internships and Post-Graduate Requirements

Students who aspire to be licensed practitioners must complete a one-year internship at a college clinic. This usually takes place after taking the National Boards but before completing the licensure requirements. During the internship, the student learns skills that are necessary within a private practice setting.

At the post-graduate educational level, requirements vary by state. Many states require at least 40 credit hours of approved course work every two years. Post-graduate residency programs are available for practitioners who wish to attain board certification. These span from one to three years and may be taken at a chiropractic college while actively practicing in the profession.

In the United States, chiropractic school graduates receive a Doctor of Chiropractic degree and are eligible for licensure in all jurisdictions. The Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) establishes the minimum guidelines that chiropractic colleges must follow and all 18 chiropractic institutions in the U.S. have CCE accreditation. Classroom-based and clinical training prepare the individual for a career in this medical specialty. Chiropractic license requirements are determined by jurisdiction.

Can Chiropractic Treatment Cure Chronic Back Pain?

The purpose of this article is to go into some detail about my experience of chiropractic treatment as an effective cure for chronic back pain.

After my doctor told me to go home and take painkillers for my bad back of several years, I decided to take matters into my own hands and look at ways of fixing the root cause of my pain, not just the symptoms.

The first idea that popped into my head was to go and see a chiropractor. I imagine this is hardly a huge revelation for many of you. Of course you go and see a chiropractor when you have a bad back.

Where I live, there are several chiropractors dotted around the main drag. I did a bit of research on them; we have a good local online forum where people post their experiences of various local businesses and one of the chiropractors got consistently positive reviews. Well that was that decision made, a quick phone call later and I was booked in for the initial consultation.

When I got down there later that week I remember sitting filling out the registration form and looking at this poster in the reception. It was of a huge iceberg. The smallest tip of which was the only thing above the surface. Below the surface however lurked the huge bulk of the 'berg. There were two arrows, one pointing to the tip and one pointing to the hidden monster under the water. The caption next to the arrow pointing to the tip was "your symptoms" and the caption next to the arrow pointing to the rest of the iceberg read "your problem". This immediately made all sorts of worse-case scenarios flooding through my mind. What if my sore back was actually the symptoms of spinal cancer or some such other horror?!? It's like that chapter in Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K. Jerome (by the way if you haven't read this, the funniest book in the entire world then get yourself onto Amazon and get a copy) where J starts reading a medical dictionary and realises with dismay he has every condition in there apart from, it appears, Housemaid's Knee!

Just as I was beginning to fear the worst my unassuming chiropractor ushered me into his office. I told him about my bad back and he made me do the same sorts of stretches my doctor had done before sending me home with a bottle of Tylenol. He even rolled a small sharp metal wheel a bit like one of those things you cut pastry with across my thigh. Eventually after a lot of scribbling on his chart he told me that what I needed was a few X-Rays. Only then he said, can we see what is happening. So off I went to the local X-Ray man which funnily enough was in another chiropractor's office across town. An hour later and I had my X-Rays and was heading back to iceberg-central to hear the bad news.

What my chiropractor told me was quite surprising. He said that there was nothing really the matter with my back. The problem, he said, was my neck. But my neck is fine I replied, are you sure there is no spinal cancer in evidence? No he was quite sure the issue was with my neck and to prove it he popped up my neck X-Ray onto the screen. The problem is that you neck has been pushed forward from years of stooping and looking down. Being as tall as you are (6'6″) your neck has, for years been under the tremendous force of your head pulling forward and down. It was, he went on, one of the worst cases he had seen, being some 8 centimetres away from where it should be. He said that I was lucky to have caught it so young as in another 10 years I would have been in a lot of trouble.

After all this had sunk in and I had looked more at my X-Ray with its china marker drawings of angles and lines added by the chiro, I enquired what was to be done. Traction is your best bet. Traction and manipulation but we can do it all here and you are looking at at least 4 months of regular visits. When do we start? Right now.

The next thing I know I am lying face up on his table and he is slowly manipulating my bowling ball of a head which has been the cause of all this trouble. Deep breath, relax, CRACK. If you have ever had chiropractic manipulation you know what I am talking about when I said I nearly jumped out of my skin. When I had recovered sufficiently to realise I was not paralysed from the neck down I enquired whether this was normal. Indeed it was according to my assailant and I had apparently just had a very good "release". My neck actually did feel nice and loose and the manipulation itself didn't hurt per se, it just felt really really odd.

Anyway next up was the traction. For this part of the proceedings I was to lie on a contraption called a Gombali which is essentially a small stool-like affair that one lies down on, puts one's head in a harness which is in turn attached to a piece of elastic rope like a bungee cord for attaching parcels to motorcycles. Once your head is in the harness, the cord is pulled tight which stretches your head right back and keeps it there under tension. The goal here is to slowly pull the neck back into its proper position. Twenty minutes I had to lie in that thing. When the elastic was released I could not believe the the relief. I could also not believe how hard it was to bring my head forward, so used had it become to being in the pulled back position. After a drink of water I had another chat with my Spanish Inquisitor who told me that I needed to come for manipulation and Gombali traction 3 times a week for 6 weeks whereupon I would probably be ready for proper traction.

Proper traction? As opposed to the pretend traction I had just been enduring for the last twenty minutes? But what about my back I asked? His answer was that my biggest problem by far was the parlous state of my neck (this was my hidden iceberg). If I didn't fix that first then there would be no point in looking into the back pain. He said that the two may very well be related but that it was imperative that the neck angle was corrected. In any event I agreed to come back in two days time.

As I walked home I ruminated over everything that had happened in the previous couple of hours. The main thing that struck me was that I had submitted to the traction without doing any research into it. This worried me and I resolved to do a great deal of research into the subject before subjecting myself to more sessions.

The pulling of my neck backwards was pretty uncomfortable and this was certainly not the first time that 20 minutes felt like 20 hours while getting this treatment. According to my chiropractor I had vertebral subluxation of the bones in my neck. When I got home I did a bit of research on this topic.

The term Subluxation is used by chiropractors to describe an altered position of the vertebrae. This misalignment of the bones puts pressure on spinal nerves which causes a knock on effect of improper function to other parts of the body. The traction process is supposed to gently restore the bones to their proper position, thus relieving the pressure on the spinal nerves and thereby relieving the patient's symptoms.

There is definitely strong differences of opinion in the medical profession and even within some parts of the chiropractic community over whether the "subluxation complex" actually exists. Some argue that it is a made-up construct that was retro-fitted by chiropractors to explain the success of their treatments. Others maintain that it is a scientifically testable condition that left untreated leads to disease states in the body.

All I knew was that I had a bad back and my neck X-Ray did look terrible - no nice backwards curve for me, oh no. So after a lot of reading on wikipedia and other websites I decided to stick with the process and see what the results were. I knew that the particular chiropractor I went to had been in the same location for at least 10 years so I reasoned that if he had a track record of crippling people, he wouldn't still be there!

So back I went a couple of days later for my next stint in the torture chamber. This time I got some manipulation on my lower back. This involved lying on my side with one leg pulled up. The chiro then sort of twisted me by pushing down on the pulled up leg and the opposite shoulder at the same time. This gave the most amazing popping sound and all my pain in the back vanished. He warned me at the time that this would not last all day but over time would help with my overall condition.

Then it was time to get back on the Gombali. This time, because I knew what to expect it wasn't such an ordeal. Twenty minutes later I was back out on the street. And so it went on for about a month, at which time my chiropractor announced I was ready to graduate to some heavier traction. This would, he said start to pull my neck back from the base which would ultimately give the correct angle.

With a slight feeling of apprehension I took my seat in front of a pulley system. A harness attached to my head, and to this harness was attached a bag containing 5Kg of weight. The Gombali was a walk in the park compared to this. The pain as the weight was brought to bear was very intense and I had to support the back of my head to make it bearable. So we dropped the weight and this time it was merely very unpleasant.

After a week I was able to build up the weight again but it really was a very uncomfortable thing to go through. What made things worse was the radio in the clinic was tuned to a station that seemed to play the same easy listening music. Every day the same songs would come on and I would swear they lasted about an hour each! In the beginning I would always be checking the clock every few seconds for the twenty minutes I was subjected to the traction. In the end I used to force myself to wait two songs between each look at the clock. Sometimes two songs would go past and I would be very annoyed to see only five minutes had elapsed when I felt sure it would be more like twenty!

This went on three days a week for about 8 weeks. People did start to say that my posture looked a lot better and I looked at different photographs taken before and during the traction and you could clearly see a big difference in my posture. I actually grew half an inch over the course of the treatment.

After I had gone the prescribed time, the chiropractor asked that I get another set of X-Rays done so we could check my progress, so back I went to the X-Ray place. In the car when I was driving back I kept looking at the X-Rays, holding them up to the car window to see if I could see any improvement. Let's just say it was hard to tell!

However when I got back to the chiro's office and he put the before and after pictures up for me to see side by side, the difference was amazing. In the most recent picture you could clearly see a much healthier looking curve in my neck bones compared to the dreadful-looking slouched image from before the treatment.

So now that I had a properly re-aligned neck, was my bad back cured? The short answer is no. While I did get short-term relief from the adjustments that the chiropractor made to my back, I could not honestly say that my back pain was much better. When I brought this up, he said that there was still further work to do on the neck. At this point I decided to forego any more treatment - the traction was really too intense to face another round of 3 days a week agony. I felt that after three months of this I should try some other things and perhaps re-visit the chiropractic in the future. The chiropractor indicated that without regular maintenance traction, the neck would slowly go back to where it was originally. For a few weeks I did go back for a light stretch once a week but in the end I decided to discontinue the treatment.

So my feelings about chiropractic are definitely a bit mixed. That my posture was improved by the traction, there can be no doubt; however no real benefits to my original problem were realised unfortunately. However perhaps it was a very worthwhile exercise and I have fended off a problem I did not know I had. Time will tell I suppose.

What is an ART Specialist Chiropractor?

Some of you may wonder what differentiates a chiropractor who specializes in Active Release Techniques from other types of chiropractors. You may be surprised to hear that at the very core, our philosophies are very similar. Regardless of whether a chiropractor is an ART specialist or not, all chiropractors are physicians who help the nervous system.

The nervous system is comprised of the brain, spinal cord, spinal nerve roots, and peripheral nerves. The human nervous system is the most miraculous and complex structure that we know of. It is a powerful antenna that allows you to transmit and receive energy and information with the world; it allows you to create, interact with the environment, and experience life. Its sensory branches allow you to see, hear, taste, smell, and feel. Its motor branches power your heart and lungs, allow you to speak, walk, use tools, play sports, and create technologies. Every single cell of your body is affected by the nervous system, including all your internal organs, your muscles, and your joints.

Studies have shown that the weight of a single dime on a nerve can compromise its function by 40 to 60 percent. Sometimes, this diminished functional ability presents itself as pain. But surprisingly, pain is usually the last symptom of nervous symptom compromise. Most often it can present as a myriad of symptoms, from numbness, tingling, and electrical sensations, to weakness, fatigue, and even high blood pressure. The commonality that these different symptoms share is that with any of them, your body is not functioning at its peak optimal performance.

Chiropractors remove nerve interference to allow your nervous system to function optimally. They do this with chiropractic adjustments which help align your spine and create motion between the various joints of your bodies. This removes pressure on nerves that are pinched between vertebrae and other joints in your body.

So what makes a chiropractor who specializes in Active Release Techniques different? ART is a patented system of techniques that break up the scar tissue that forms slowly over time or after a traumatic injury occurs. Scar tissue is like sticky spider's web that prevents nerves from gliding freely throughout the body, prevents muscles from stretching and contracting normally, and stops muscles from sliding over each other smoothly the way they optimally should. Scar tissue is formed when the body heals soft tissue structures that are damaged from trauma, repetitive stress, or even poor posture. Sometimes this scar tissue formation results in pain. Most often it doesn't.

An ART specialist chiropractor who is full body certified with a further certification in nerve entrapment releases has undergone intensive training in freeing these trapped soft tissue structures, and has learned over 500 protocols to remove these scar tissue adhesions from your body. ART doctors are rigorously tested in these protocols, their touch and sensitivity, and their knowledge of anatomy and biomechanics. Each of these 500 protocols is extremely specific. Procedures such as "myofascial release technique," "stripping," or using a metal, jade, or plastic tool to rub vigorously on your skin may free superficial scar tissue adhesions, but do little for deep scar tissue adhesions between deep-seated muscles or adhesions gluing peripheral nerves to their surrounding structures.

Some common nerve entrapments you may be familiar with are carpal tunnel syndrome and sciatica. Carpal tunnel syndrome is an entrapment of the "median nerve" and sciatica is an entrapment of the "sciatic nerve." A chiropractic adjustment may oftentimes release these entrapments if they are pinched between spinal vertebrae that are misaligned. However, more commonly they are trapped inside other soft tissue structures including muscles, muscle groups, and the fascia surrounding them. To free these nerve entrapments, ART chiropractors "floss" these nerves back and forth at their various entrapment points, breaking the scar tissue formations that trap them.

Some chiropractors claim to do Active Release Techniques but have simply watched an ART DVD or learned a few muscle-related ART moves from their colleagues. To see if your chiropractor is really certified to remove peripheral nerve entrapments visit www.activerelease.com and see if he or she is certified in "nerve entrapments." If they have this certification, you can be sure that your chiropractor has undergone extensive training in ART and knows the 500+ protocols involved in removing scar tissue adhesions that compromise nervous system function.

Regardless of whether or not you see an ART specialist, make an appointment with a good chiropractor. You may be astounded at the improvement in your quality of life a chiropractor can help you achieve.

Healing Sciatica With Chiropractic Care

Many people suffer from Sciatic pain. What is Sciatica? Sciatica is pressure on the Sciatic nerve which is actually two nerves, the tibial and common peroneal nerve, bound together by common sheath of connective tissue. Both of these nerves form the Sciatic nerve, and they originate from L4-S3. Pressure or injury to the sciatic nerve results in sciatica. Sciatic pain can start in the buttock, and go all the way down the back and sides of the leg in to the sides of the foot.

Many cases of sciatica can be helped by chiropractic care. When a person has sciatica, the first step is identifying the cause of the sciatic pain pattern. Orthopedic exams, neurological testing, and other diagnostic testing such as MRI's can help determine if the Sciatica is cause by herniated disks, or other reasons. Many times, Sciatica is caused by what has been coined Piriformis Syndrome. The Piriformis muscle is a small triangular muscle deep in the buttocks. The Sciatic nerve passes either through the Piriformis muscle, or underneath it depending on how a person is born. When the Piriformis muscle is irritated, it can contract in to a chronic state of spasm. This often times will press on the Sciatic nerve.

Through chiropractic care, we can diagnose the cause of the sciatic pain, and properly correct the Sciatica. If the Sciatic pain is caused by Piriformis syndrome, certain chiropractic treatments are utilized to relax the Piriformis muscle and lessen the nerve root irritation. In my experience as a NYC chiropractor since 1998, I've had many cases of chronic sciatica heal over a relatively short period of time once the piriformis muscle spasm had been addressed and corrected.

If the Piriformis muscle is not involved, and the cause is L4-S3, it is possible that a malposition of the vertebrae in the lower spine is causing impingement and nerve root irritation on the nerves that form the Sciatic Nerve. We call this a subluxation. A subluxation is the malposition of a vertebrae causing the nerve to be irritated. After determining through a chiropractic exam, and using diagnostics such as x-rays, we can find the possible subluxation that is contributing to the Sciatica, and restore proper alignment and biomechanics to that vertebrae and the adjacent one causing the irritation. Freeing up the subluxation many times helps the sciatica in relieving the pressure on the nerve, and healing the pain. Finally, a herniated disk may be involved in the sciatic pain. Incorporating chiropractic, physical therapy, and disk decompression is often very effective in restoring integrity to the disk, and allowing the body to heal.

Chiropractor Treatment Costs

Many people consider chiropractors as being "quack" doctors. However, many swear by the relief that visiting a chiropractor has brought to them. For those who do not know, a chiropractor is someone who attempts to fix various conditions of the body by placing bones and joints in their "proper" alignment. Chiropractor treatment costs can vary due to several factors:

1) Distance - most chiropractors prefer to practice in their clinics although quite a few do make house calls. Chiropractor treatment costs often increase with the distance that a chiropractor has to travel in case of a house call. Of course, this is because of the fact that chiropractors do have to spend money in order to get to a house.

Distance also refers to the accessibility of the chiropractor. The chiropractor treatment costs increase if the chiropractor is easily accessible. Some who have out-of-the way clinics may charge lower rates for the simple reason that their inaccessibility lowers the number of their clients.

2) Medicine - the cost of the medicine that the chiropractor uses also affects the cost of the treatment. It is often the case that a chiropractor will not prescribe a conventional medicine but rather use herbal or supplementary medicine. What you should know is the fact that there is often no fixed price on this type of medicine. Some medicines are seasonal and therefore change prices. Chiropractor treatment costs often vary with the medicine.

3) Nature of treatment - different chiropractors take different approaches to heal a patient's ailments. The nature of the recommended remedy also affects the chiropractor treatment cost. Some chiropractors may attempt to remedy a problem using massage.

Some chiropractors use heat therapy in order to fix whatever is wrong with a patient. Others make use of water therapy in order to relax the stress felt by a patient that is causing the illness. Still other chiropractors make use of acupuncture in order to heal an ailment.

Depending on the nature and difficulty of the treatment, the chiropractor cost can either be very cheap or very expensive. Some chiropractor treatments make use of x-rays and ultrasound in order to determine what's wrong. These procedures can add a bit more to the chiropractor treatment cost.

Equine Chiropractic - The One Thing You Must Know Before You Call

There are good reasons to utilize the services of an equine chiropractor, just as there are for humans. However, there is one thing you must know before calling an equine chiropractor to get the most benefit for your horse and to keep from wasting hundreds and maybe thousands of dollars on treatment.

Chiropractic adjustment will not solve all problems, and even when used properly your horse is not cured when the practitioner drives away from your barn. There can be immediate and astonishing changes in your horse both physically and visually from chiropractic treatment; what few owners understand is the difficulty of maintaining these changes. The one thing horse owners need to know before calling the chiropractor is that treatment is only the first step in the horse's recovery.

Once your horse has been adjusted, you must decide if you are willing to make the investment in time and effort that is necessary to make the correction permanent. The horses of owners who are unaware of the need for rehabilitation experience little benefit from adjustment. These owners often end up relying on repetitive chiropractic care to keep their horse in work, racking up big bills weekly or monthly.

Other owners decide it is a worthwhile investment to have their horse treated regularly by a chiropractor. Many training barns have horses adjusted monthly. The economics of keeping a performance horse in competition sometimes make this a sound financial decision. For most owners, however, failure to properly rehabilitate their horse results in hundreds and thousands of dollars of unnecessary expense, which few of us can easily afford.

Unless the problem your horse is experiencing is a recent trauma, its joints and muscles have become used to their improper alignment. The chiropractor may put the joint back into proper adjustment, but the memory of the muscles and the habits your horse has developed to compensate will probably result in the joint returning to what it considers a 'normal' state. An effective program of rehabilitation will help your horse to maintain the new and proper alignment through a progressive exercise program that allows the changed muscle positions and correct movements to become habit.

Rehabilitation exercises should begin slowly using mostly straight work with only minor bending and broad changes in direction. Ask your chiropractor or veterinarian how to properly plan these exercises. The longer your horse has been out of correct adjustment the longer the rehab period will be.

Muscles need time to develop strength, mass and flexibility. If you have ever had a broken leg or arm, you know that the muscles of that limb atrophied and didn't return to normal as soon as the cast was removed, but only after an extended period of carefully planned physical therapy. Remember this when you plan the recovery of your horse after chiropractic treatment.

Once your horse is rehabilitated, you may need to make changes in training methods, equipment used or lesson routine to help keep your horse comfortable and able to perform. Buy the best saddle pad possible. It will easily pay for itself over time by keeping your horse from soreness or injury.

Whenever your horse begins to show new signs of irritation, stiffness or unwillingness, the first thing you need to rule out is physical discomfort. Practice balanced riding, working your horse equally in both directions. Perform warm up exercises before every lesson. Attentive owners know when their horse seems to be 'off.' You need to listen to your horse every bit as much as they need to listen to you.

Now that you are an informed horse owner, if you have a need to call an equine chiropractor, be ready to ask them for a rehabilitation program. Get the most out their service for both your horse and your budget.

Low Back Pain and Sciatica: Chiropractic or Surgery?

Many people who suffer from low back pain also experience pain and numbness radiating into the leg. Some people even have muscle weakness in their leg or foot. This is called sciatica or sciatic nerve pain, and it is one of the most painful conditions one can experience. It can be debilitating, and causes many people to be disabled from their jobs and unable to enjoy spending time with family and friends.

If a person goes to their primary care physician they may first be given medication for the condition. If the medication is not effective they next may have an MRI of the lower back taken. If the MRI shows a lumbar disc herniation causing pressure on the sciatic nerve a referral to a surgeon may lead to a recommendation for back surgery called a "micro-diskectomy". But this is not the only treatment option to be considered.

Researchers have recently found that spinal manipulation of the lumbar spine is just as effective as micro-diskectomy for patients struggling with sciatica from a lumbar disc herniation. Overall patients who received spinal manipulation benefited to the same degree as those who underwent surgery. In United States, most spinal manipulation is performed by doctors of chiropractic. The research paper titled, "Manipulation or Micro-diskectomy for Sciatica? published October 2010, in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics noted that "after a year, no significant complications were seen in either treatment group, and the 60% of patients who benefited from spinal manipulation improved to the same degree as their surgical counterparts". The patient population, in the research study, included people experiencing chronic sciatica (symptoms greater than six months) that had failed traditional, medical management.

Another benefit from conservative treatment such as spinal manipulation is that it is less costly than surgery. One study noted that micro-diskectomy surgery in the United States averages $25,000 per procedure. The cost of chiropractic care for sciatica is usually much less than a 10th of the surgical amount. If chiropractic care for sciatic nerve pain was performed before surgery it could save the United States billions of health care dollars annually.

The research supports spinal manipulation performed by a doctor of chiropractic as a valuable and safe treatment option for those experiencing lumbar disc herniations and sciatic nerve pain. Those individuals experiencing sciatic nerve pain should consider spinal manipulation as the treatment to be tried first, only to be followed by surgery if unsuccessful.

Chiropractic and Contracts

Why should a chiropractor know about contracts? Chiropractors have gone through years of academic schooling and have never had the need to craft a contract.

The reality is through their career chiropractors will be confronted with the need to have a contract. The most common chiropractic contract is the Chiropractor and the Chiropractic Associate. The second most common contract is The Sale of Chiropractic Practice.

This article is not to instruct chiropractors on the contents of these contracts, but to give value to why, when, and how to create and use these documents. Good business judgment is presented in this article. Chiropractors can possibly eliminate costly mistakes by reading the following article.

CHIROPRACTOR AND THE CHIROPRACTIC ASSOCIATE

Many chiropractors hire associates with the highest level of good intention. The associate begins the relationship with equal intention. In theory, the practice will grow and the associate will cultivate a patient following and goodwill within that practice. This relationship may prosper for an extended period of time, without incident.

The associate's perspective of this relationship usually changes first. Human nature alters the associate's perspective. This change of perspective frequently occurs when the associate gains enough knowledge and experience to feel confident to successfully independent of their employer. A true sign of this is when the associate tallies their services for the week and compares this number with their pay. They feel exploited upon the evaluation. The vision of the associate is to look at their services billed and the imbalance in received compensation.

The risk is with the employing chiropractor. Without a pre-employment contract the employing chiropractor is in a very trying situation. The chiropractor has executed exactly what he stated from the beginning of this relationship. He has given the associate opportunity, instruction, and invaluable experience. And now, the associate has the ability to legally open a practice next door and take a percentage of the existing practice with them, without even compensating the employing chiropractor. The employing chiropractor is in a very poor negotiating position.

If a pre-employment agreement with an established non-compete clause was executed none of this would have occurred. This experience can teach a chiropractor the need for a pre-employment contract.

Additional areas of concern within this contract should relate to compensation, termination, conduct, insurance, liability, and responsibility.

This illustration can be the worst scenario of what can happen with the associate relationship. As the employer originating the agreement, it is considered good business protocol to protect oneself before the relationship develops. In my office, the new associate signs the agreement on the first day.

CONTRACT OF SALE FOR A CHIROPRACTIC PRACTICE

Selling a practice is different than selling anything else you own. It holds physical and emotional value. During this process discussing your practice as "assets, patient files, and accounts receivables" all depersonalize the practice you have created, sweat over, and nurtured. Realize, before the process begins, the other professionals have a business perspective of your practice, not emotional. The difficult job for the seller is to hold the emotional and the pure business perspective in check, during this process.

When chiropractors sell their practice the sellers are traditionally responsible for originating a contract of sale. Most chiropractors contact their attorney and accountant and ask them to start the process. My question, is what does your attorney or your accountant know about your chiropractic practice? What is their experience in selling a professional practice such as yours? Who will teach them the mechanics of your practice? How much time and money will you spend in teaching them this needed information?

It has been my experience that lawyers know the law, accountants know accounting but neither know chiropractic. They are not knowledgeable of the personality or the emotions of the chiropractor. Transferring ownership in a chiropractic practice is significantly different than other businesses. To ask your local accountant to appraise the dollar value of your practice is like asking them to tune up your car. There is no one equation to value your chiropractic practice. Each practice is unique with its own personality. An experienced person who has exposure to many "for sale" practices can give you the most accurate, objective, and useful perspective of value and marketability. Do not recruit your lawyer or accountant to do the job of a professional practice broker. Your loss will be greater than the cost of the broker.

When hiring an attorney to develop a contract you should be careful and critical. Invest your energy wisely and interview a few lawyers until you feel you can work with one effectively. You will spend approximately $150 per hour for advice. Explain your needs and absolutely request an approximation of time and cost. Do not expect the professional to do it all for you. Their job is to execute your wishes legally, not tailor a deal to their liking.

All contracts must contain the basic financial transaction; covenant not to compete, accounts receivable transfer, prepaid expenses, lease, creditors, employees, and transition agreement. The contract should be simply stated and easy to read. Each topic should be presented independently of one another for additional ease. Most importantly you, the chiropractor, should understand each issue completely. Your time with your council should be spent educating you, the chiropractor, on the legality of the sale and not the chiropractor educating the lawyer on the mechanics of your practice.

My experience shows me when two chiropractors negotiate they should negotiate face-to-face without the presence of any professionals. The professionals should work in the background educating the seller and buyer about each topic when needed. The reality is the chiropractors must work together and discuss all issues toward resolution. When this negotiation process is used compromise and conclusion is accomplished with less effort, stress, and professional cost. In contrast, when you walk into a negotiation with a lawyer on one side and an accountant on your other, you are looking for a long drawn out costly meeting that could be counter productive.

Never allow the attorneys to negotiate the contract without you being present. Once your council starts to speak directly with the buyer's council all good intentions are gone between the seller and the future buyer. The likelihood of the deal closing will decrease significantly. They may argue for hours on a minor issue you will end up paying for. By you being present you can keep the big things big and the small things small, while coxing the process towards completion.

The contract is basic; emotions and legal naivety could create friction. The ideal scenario is when an experienced mediator reads through a "boilerplate" contract of sale with the seller and buyer. The mediator explains each issue within the contract allowing both parties to vocalize their concerns and negotiate their point. Both parties understand and recognize the others concerns and a compromise will be eminent.

Using an outline "boilerplate" contract ensures all major issues are explained and understood, with only the unique additions being incorporated. At this stage the document can be delivered to your professional for review. An accountant can give you a strategy to limit the tax liability on the proceeds of the sale. Your attorney will make sure all of your intentions are legal and facilitate the transaction to closing. This process allows the buyer and seller to work together to accomplish the goal of transition, minimizing effort, stress, and expense.

The Chiropractor-Associate and the Sale of Chiropractic Practice contracts are basic documents. If both parties are knowledgeable of the contracts contents the negotiation process proceeds with little confusion.

It is my personal experience that has led to the opinions presented within this article. I currently consult, broker, appraise, and mediate contracts to the chiropractic profession. The Chiropractor and The Chiropractic Associate and Sale of Chiropractic Practice contracts are available for sale upon request.

Chiropractic - How Do I Choose A Chiropractor?

The question many people ask is: "How do I choose a chiropractor?" Visits to chiropractors may be for various reasons including neck pain, low back pain, headaches, sciatica, hip pain, shoulder pain and carpal tunnel syndrome. However, you may not know what to look for when deciding which chiropractor to see. This article reviews some important considerations when trying to find a chiropractor.

What is chiropractic and will it help me?
First, chiropractic is a health profession that understands that pain and poor health are the result of some underlying cause within the body which must first be found and corrected before pain can be relieved and health restored. Chiropractors especially look to possible misalignments and improper movements of the spine causing pinched or irritated nerves as the source of many complaints. Chiropractic has special techniques and treatment for locating and correcting abnormal nerve irritation safely and naturally without the use of drugs, medication or surgery.

Be specific about your condition.
Next, be specific as to why you want to go to the chiropractor. Are you suffering from neck pain, lower back pain, headaches, sciatica, hip pain, shoulder pain or carpal tunnel syndrome? If so, see if the chiropractor has written any articles on these topics that may be found on Internet article sites such as EzineArticles.com. Also many chiropractors produce videos discussing prevention and relief of many health-related conditions. These might be found on the chiropractor's Web site or YouTube.com channels.

Referrals and recommendations.
The highest compliment a chiropractor can have is the referral of a family member or friend. In an ideal world a recommendation from a family member or friend is a great starting place to find a good chiropractor. If this is not possible, search the doctor's Web site or other Internet sites like Google or Yahoo! for reviews and testimonials from his existing patients. If the reviews are positive and the patients have had good results it's likely you will also.

Respect for your time.
Have you ever had to wait days or weeks to schedule a visit to a doctor? Or if you are having treatment or therapy, do the sessions last forever? Let's face it, everyone's time is extremely valuable. The health care industry is notorious for not respecting people's time. The good news here is that chiropractors have high marks from their patients regarding convenience of scheduling appointments. Most chiropractors can see you the same day whether it's your first visit or a follow-up visit. Once at the chiropractor's office most visits are professional and thorough but don't take a long time. Many of us chiropractors pride ourselves on having "convenience" practices.

The chiropractor's qualifications.
Chiropractors have undergraduate and chiropractic college educations. For instance, the National College of Chiropractic, near Chicago, Illinois, has a five-year program leading to a degree as a Doctor of Chiropractic. These doctoral classes essentially are divided into two halves. The first half includes basic courses all doctors study such as anatomy, chemistry, pathology and physiology. The second half deals with clinical courses like diagnosis, x-ray, physical therapy and spinal correction called "manipulation." In addition, a one-year internship at various clinics and an in-patient hospital-like facility in the Chicago area is required. Many chiropractors choose to go further in their education and become board certified in areas such as neurology, orthopedics, nutrition and other specialties. Check your doctor's background to see if he has this helpful additional training.

Anyone having a health problem may be helped by visiting a chiropractor.

Cost of Chiropractic - How Much Would it Cost to Visit a Chiropractor?

We are experiencing the worst economic situation for many many years and making cut backs is inevitable but neglecting your health shouldn't be an option.

One of the misconceptions about chiropractic care is that it is expensive, many unbiased health studies have shown that is a cheap option when compared to other modalities. Further more if you start to factor in the amount of time and money lost at work due to absents then chiropractic really does look cheap.

The Manga study - A Study to Examine the Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of Chiropractic Management of Low-Back Pain 1993 concluded that "spinal manipulation applied by chiropractors is shown to be more effective than alternative treatments for LBP. Many medical therapies are of questionable validity or are clearly inadequate."

So why do people in the UK assume that chiropractic is expensive, probably because we have been brought up with the NHS and think health care should be free but times are changing the government is looking at ways to reduce the NHS budget. Chiropractic is slowly being utilized now by GPs as they realise that it is actually very cost effective.

So how much does it cost?

You would be surprised to know that in many acute cases IE the discomfort has only been there for a very short time then it is quite normal to only receive three treatments. In some parts of the UK, for example London you could pay 60 a visit but in other areas you are likely to pay less. Writing as a Derby Chiropractor (UK) the prices are quite reasonable and you could receive 3 treatments, 1 per week over 3 weeks for as little as 瞿100.

If you put this in perspective a back street car garage charges 瞿45 per hour and a simple oil change would probably cost you about 瞿150 a high end dealership charges 瞿85+ and hour. Chiropractic or YOUR health really is starting to look cheap now isn't it?

Obviously if you have had your condition for many years then it would take longer to resolve but many of these conditions resolve within 10 treatments.

Insurance

Most health insurance policies allow chiropractic care and many companies hold health plans for their employees so chiropractic really should be accessible for most of the public.

Cheap Visits

Most chiropractors run discounts at certain times of the year so have a look around for any promotions that could save you some money in these tough times.