Tag Archive for: Denver Active Release

How to get rid of elbow pain

This Week’s 1-Page Health News from the chiropractors at Denver Chiropractic Center

We hope you all had a great weekend and enjoyed the great weather. For those of you race, the season is really heating up. Just remember, the sooner you get those nagging aches and pains treated, the better. Don’t let a little twinge grow into something that ruins your season. Call us!

Dr. Stripling’s popular video series is back once again (link below). This week, he shows you how to keep your Achilles tendon happy. We see lots of calf injuries and Achilles problems at our clinic. Active Release and adjusting to restore proper mechanics get great results.

“The best doctor gives the least medicines.”
~ Benjamin Franklin

.
Mental Attitude: Decreasing Depression Symptoms in Adolescents.
Teenage students who received mindfulness training (a form of meditation therapy focused on exercising ‘attentiveness’) in school were almost half as likely to report depression related symptoms than their peers who received no such training. At a six month follow-up, these results held up.
Mindfullness, March 2013

Health Alert: Type 2 Diabetes Costs.
Diabetes cost the United States $245 billion in 2012. The new figure represents a 41% rise in just five years. The $245 billion includes $176 in direct medical costs (such as hospital and emergency care, visits to the doctor, and medications), and $69 billion resulting from indirect costs (such as absenteeism, reduced productivity, diabetes-related job loss, and productivity loss due to premature deaths). 26 million adults and children have type 2 diabetes, and another 79 million have pre-diabetes. Medical expenditure for people with diabetes is about 2.3 times higher than for people who don’t have the disease.
American Diabetes Association, March 2013

Diet: Phytonutrients?
“Phyto” nutrients are substances of plant origin that appears to provide added natural protection against cardiovascular disease, cancers, and degeneration. They have anti-oxidant properties, which help with immunity, inflammation, growth, repair, and overall health. Fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and nuts are rich in phytonutrients.
Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, 2009

Exercise: Short Bouts.
Short bouts of moderately intense exercise seem to boost self-control, possibly due to increased blood and oxygen flow to pre-frontal area of brain. This is particularly important for children and teens, because well-developed higher brain functions are important for academic achievement.
British Journal of Sports Medicine, March 2013

Chiropractic: Standard Medical Care and Chiropractic.
Compared to those who received standard medical care (SMC) alone, military personnel (ages 18-35) with back pain who received chiropractic care in addition to SMC showed significantly more improvement in both decreased pain and increased physical function.
Spine, October 2012

Wellness/Prevention: Omega-3s Reduce Cancer Risk.
According to researchers at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, a lifelong diet containing omega-3 fatty acids may reduce cancer risk by as much as 30%.
The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, February 2013

Video Link. Click here to go to Dr. Stripling’s video on how to keep your Achilles tendon happy.

If there’s someone that you know with back pain, neck pain or headaches- we can help. Call us at 303.300.0424.

Dr. Glenn Hyman, Dr. Jeff Stripling, Office Manager Natalie, & Erin Young LMT

Denver Chiropractic Center

Denver Chiropractic Center Weekly Health Update

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion”
~ Unknown

.
Mental Attitude: The Elderly and Facebook.
Elderly adults who learned to use Facebook on a daily basis scored 25% better on tests measuring their cognitive abilities than their peers who did not.
University of Arizona, February 2013

Health Alert: Baby Boomers Vs. Preceding Generation!
As each generation grows older, they believe they are healthier than the previous generation. However, the baby boomers are unable to make this claim. Compared to the preceding generation at the same stage of their lives, fewer have “excellent” health (13% vs. 32%), more have high blood pressure (75% vs. 35%), and more are obese (36% vs. 25%).
JAMA Internal Medicine, February 2013

Diet: The Southern Diet and Stroke.
People from the American South are 20% more likely to have a stroke than those from other parts of the country, and the Southern diet may be to blame. People who eat Southern style food high in fat, sugar, and salt at least 6 times a week were at 41% higher risk for a stoke. People whose diets consisted of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains at least 5 times a week were 29% less likely to have a stroke.
American Stroke Association, February 2013

Exercise: Tai Chi?

Tai Chi may reduce falls among adult stroke survivors. Tai Chi is a martial art dating back to ancient China that includes physical movements, mental concentration, and relaxed breathing.
American Stroke Association, February 2013

Chiropractic: Recommended For Back Pain.
The Royal College of General Practitoners’ 2009 recommendation for treating non-specific low back pain advises doctors to advocate exercise and manipulation (such as chiropractic care) before pharmacological (drug) therapies and more invasive treatments (like surgery).
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellences, 2009

Wellness/Prevention: Sunshine and Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Routine exposure to the sun, especially ultraviolet B (UVB) rays, may decrease the risk of rheumatoid arthritis. Those with the most elevated rates of exposure were 21% less likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than who had less exposure.
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, February 2013

Who replaced Miss Keri, Denver Chiropractic Center shows you how to help your own ankle sprain, and the one-page health news.

This week we welcome our new office manager Natalie who is taking the reins from Keri. We look forward to working with Natalie for a long time. This week, as we’re all digging out from the snow, we have another video from Dr. Stripling. He’s covering ankle sprains. We treat lots of ankle sprains at Denver Chiropractic Center. As scar tissue affects the injured ankle, it’s left stiff and painful. By using Active Release Techniques to break up the scar tissue, and using some appropriate re-training techniques, we can usually dramatically shorten the time it takes for sprained ankles to heal.

 

Mental Attitude: No Interruptions Please. Short interruptions (such as the few seconds it takes to silence that buzzing smart phone) have a surprisingly large effect on one’s ability to accurately complete a task. Interruptions of just three seconds can double your chances for making errors. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, January 2013

Health Alert: American Health. Americans have shorter life expectancy and higher rates of injury and disease than citizens of other industrialized countries. A 2011 report showed that the US ranked 50th in life expectancy. In most health issues (infant mortality, teenage pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, heart disease, chronic lung disease, disability, obesity, diabetes, drug-related deaths, homicides, injuries, and HIV/AIDS), the US is either at the bottom or near the bottom of the list of industrialized nations. Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council, January 2013

Exercise: Not At School! In the 1920s, 97% of US college students were required to take Physical Education (PE); today, that number is at an all-time low of 39%. 34% of adolescents and teens ages 12-19 are overweight and 17% are obese. These rates have roughly doubled since 1980. The median PE budget for schools in the US is $764 per school year in K-12 and 61% of PE teachers report an annual budget of less than $1,000. Obesity will cost the US $344 billion in medical- related expenses by 2018, about 21% of the nation’s total health-care spending. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, January 2013

Chiropractic: Inflammation! Inflammation is your body’s natural response to injury and is part of the healing process. However, if proper care is not received, inflammation can hinder the healing process and may lead to scarring, improper motion, and additional pain. Signs of inflammation include: pain, heat, redness, swelling, and loss of function. Chiropractic adjustments and care can reduce inflammation and pain naturally!

Quote: “A healthy attitude is contagious but don’t wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier.” ~ Tom Stoppard

Video: Dr. Stripling’s Ankle sprain video can be found on our blog by clicking here.

This week’s 1-Page health News from Denver Chiropractic Center

Health Alert: High Fructose Corn Syrup and Type-2 Diabetes. Researchers found a 20% higher proportion of the population has diabetes in countries with high use of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), like the United States, compared to countries that do not, like the United Kingdom. The United States has the highest consumption of HFCS at 55 lbs (~25 kg) per year per person. The United Kingdom consumes 1.1 lbs (~.5 kg) per year per person.

Global Public Health, November 2012

Diet: Food Advertising. Childhood obesity has tripled in the past 30 years. Food companies spend $10 billion a year marketing in the United States, and 98% of that is on foods high in fat, sugar, or sodium.

Journal of Pediatrics, November 2012

Exercise: Walk Much? The more moderate physical activity (like brisk walking) you do, the better. Compared to doing nothing at all, seventy five minutes of vigorous walking per week was linked to living an extra 1.8 years. Walking briskly for 450 minutes or more per week was found to provide most people with a 4.5-year longer lifespan. The longer people spent each week being moderately active, the greater their longevity. Heart, November 2012

Chiropractic: Keep Your Disks Healthy. In normal healthy disks, the nerves (sinuvertebral) only sense pain on the periphery or outer regions of the disk. In grossly degenerated disks, nerves may penetrate into the center (nucleus) of the disk and be more vulnerable to degeneration and/or inflammation. Lancet, 1997

Wellness/Prevention: Cell Phone Addiction. Cell phone and instant messaging addictions are driven by materialism and impulsiveness and can be compared to consumption pathologies like compulsive buying and credit card misuse. Cell phones may be used as part of the conspicuous consumption ritual and may also act as a pacifier for the impulsive tendencies of the user. Impulsiveness plays an important role in both behavioral and substance addictions.

Journal of Behavioral Addictions, November 2012

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome – Are There Other Tunnels?, by the Active Release certified doctors at Denver Chiropractic Center

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome – Are There Other Tunnels?

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) refers to the median nerve being pinched in a tunnel at the wrist. As the name implies, “carpal” refers to the 8 small bones in the wrist that make up the “U” shaped part of the tunnel and “syndrome” means symptoms that are specific and unique to this condition. As we learned last month, CTS can be affected by nerve pinches more proximal to the wrist, such as at the forearm, elbow, mid-upper arm, shoulder or neck.

To make matters more complex, there are two other nerves in the arm that can also be pinched in different tunnels, and the symptoms of numbing and tingling in the arm and hand occur with those conditions as well. This is why a careful clinical history, examination, and sometimes special tests like an EMG/NCV (electromyogram/nerve conduction velocity) offer the information that allows for an accurate diagnosis of one or more of these “tunnel syndromes” in the “CTS” patient. Let’s look at these different tunnels and their associated symptoms, as this will help you understand the ways we can differentiate between these various syndromes or conditions.

Let’s start at the neck. There are seven cervical vertebrae and eight cervical spinal nerves that exit the spine through a small hole called the IVF (intervertebral foramen). Each nerve, like a wire to a light, goes specifically to a known location which includes: the head (nerves C1, 2, 3), the neck and shoulders (C4, 5), the thumb side of the arm (C6), the middle hand and finger (C7) and the pinky side of the lower arm and hand (C8). If a nerve gets pinched at the spinal level (such as a herniated disk in the neck), usually there is numbness, tingling, and/or pain and sometimes, usually a little later, weakness in the affected part/s of the arm and hand (or numbness in the scalp if it’s a C1-3 nerve pinch).

So, we can test the patient’s sensation using light touch, pin prick, vibration, and/or 2-points brought progressively closer together until 1-point is perceived and then comparing it to the other arm/hand. Reflexes and muscle strength are also tested to see if the motor part of the nerve is involved in the pinch. The exam includes compression tests of the neck to see if the arm “lights up” with symptoms during the test.

Next is the shoulder. Here, the nerves and blood vessels travel through an opening between the collar bone, 1st rib and the chest muscles (Pectorals). As you might think, the nerves and blood vessels can be stretched and pinched as they travel through this opening and can cause “thoracic outlet syndrome.” Symptoms occur when we raise the arm overhead.

Hence, our tests include checking the pulse at the wrist to see if it reduces or lessens in intensity as we raise the arm over the head. At the shoulder, the ulnar nerve is the most commonly pinched nerve, which will make the pinky side of the arm and hand numb, tingly, and/or painful. A less common place to pinch the nerves is along humerus bone (upper arm) by a bony process and ligament that is usually not there or resulting from a fracture. Here, an x-ray will show the problem.

The elbow is the MOST common place to trap the ulnar nerve in the “cubital tunnel” located at the inner elbow near the “funny bone” which we have all bumped more than once. Cubital tunnel syndrome affects the pinky side of the hand from the elbow down. The median/carpal tunnel nerve can get trapped here by the pronator teres muscle, thus “pronator tunnel syndrome.” This COMMONLY accompanies CTS and MUST be treated to obtain good results with CTS patients. The radial nerve can be trapped at the radial tunnel located on the outside of the elbow and creates thumb side and back of the hand numbness/tingling.

Any or all of these nerve can get “trapped” by the muscles that run near them. This is where Active Release Techniques (ART) treatment separates itself for other modalities. ART is the only system that trains providers how to check these entrapment spots muscle by muscle. Once identified, the trained and certified ART provider knows how to release the muscles and remove the pressure. This goes way beyond standard chiropractic treatment or basic physical therapy.

So now you see the importance of evaluating and treating ALL the tunnels when CTS is present so a thorough job is done (which is what we do at Denver Chiropractic Center). Try the LEAST invasive approach first – non-surgical treatment – as it’s usually all that is needed!

Low Back Pain and Balance

Statistically, most people (estimated to be about 90%) will seek care for Low Back Pain (LBP) at some point in their lifetime. Last month, we discussed the role foot orthotics play in the management of LBP by improving balance, and it seems appropriate to discuss other ways we can improve our balance, hence the topic this month!

Balance is a skill that is learned as we develop. Initially, as infants, we have not developed the “neuromotor pathways” or, sequence of signals between the brain and our toes, feet, ankles, knees, hips, and so on. The constant flow of sensory information received and processed by the brain prompts motor messages to be sent back to our limbs and allows us to move in a progressively more coordinated manner as we develop.

This natural progression of developing motor control starts with crude, rather uncontrolled movement of the fingers, hands, arms, legs, and feet, and soon, we learn to hold up our head, scoot, roll over, crawl, stand, and eventually walk (usually during the first 12 months of life). The learning process of recognizing sounds, voice quality and inflections, and words occurs simultaneously.

This bombardment of sensory information to the brain leads to the ability to gradually perform highly integrated functions including walking, running, jumping, and dancing. As part of that learning process, falling frequently occurs. We all recall the challenges of learning how to ride a bike, swim, do a somersault, climb a tree, swing, dance, do gymnastics, ski, and on and on. As time passes and we enter middle age, we become more sedentary.

As a result, we start losing our “proprioceptive edge” and become less steady, leading to more frequent balance loss and falls. Eventually, we have to hold on to hand railings or the wall in order to keep our balance and falling occurs more frequently. Couple this gradual loss of balance with bone demineralization (osteoporosis) and the risk of a fracture, such as a hip or vertebra, increases as well.

So the question arises, what can we do to slow down this process and maybe even reverse it? The answer is, A LOT!!! Just like muscles shrink and atrophy if they are not used, so does our ability to maintain our balance. We have to keep challenging our balance in order to keep those neuromotor pathways open. That need doesn’t stop after childhood, and in fact, becomes more important as we age. Last month, we talked about the “normal” length of time people can stand on one foot with the eyes open verses closed.

If you tried the test, do you remember the steadiness difference? This “test” can be used at various time intervals, such as once a month, as you add balance challenging exercises to your daily routine. Frequently, people will find that within the first 2-4 weeks, they will feel more “sure” or secure on their feet, and even may not feel the need for a cane, or they’ll reach out less often for a hand rail. Start with simple exercises like standing with your feet together and hold that position for progressively longer times (eyes open and closed). We will continue this discussion next month with more balance stimulating exercises.