6 Spinal Disorders That Respond Well to Chiropractic

Chiropractic can help with a wide variety of health conditions, particularly those involving the spine. Your chiropractor’s ability to adjust your spine makes it possible to correct many issues with the back and neck. Chiropractic also offers the advantage of being drug-free and non-invasive, so the side effects you need to worry about are minimal.

6 Disorders of the Spine that Chiropractic Can Help With

1. Degenerative Disc Disease

Most often, degenerative disc disease is a condition that strikes people as they get older. The discs that sit between your vertebrae are supposed to be relatively soft to provide cushion and flexibility to the spine. Unfortunately, years of use and various injuries can cause the discs to wear down. When they wear down it can lead to pressure on nerves and bone on bone contact.

2. Herniated Disc

Sometimes a disc can rupture, allowing the interior matter to protrude from the outer shell and press against nerves in the spine. The most common areas of the body to have a herniated disc are the lower back and the neck.

3. Sciatica

The sciatic nerve travels from the lower back and down the legs. The nerve can become irritated if there are issues with the lower back, such as degenerative disc disease, herniated disc or misalignment. Pressure on the nerve can cause symptoms like shooting pains, numbness, tingling, dull aching, and other discomforts.

4. Whiplash

Whiplash is most common in rear-end car accidents, where a car hits you from behind and causes your head to whip forward and backward. The force generated by the whipping motion can cause significant damage to your neck. Stiffness and pain are common symptoms. Whiplash should be treated as soon as possible following an accident.

5. Myofascial Pain

The fascia is the sheath-like material that surrounds your muscles. Adhesions can occur in the fascia due to overuse or injury. Sometimes the painful points can feel like hard knots under the skin. Myofascial pain often causes discomfort in other areas of the body that you would not assume are related to the problem area.

6. Back Sprains and Strains

There are many ways that the back can become sprained or strained. A sprain involves the ligaments that are attached to your bones, while a strain involves your muscles and/or tendons. Either condition can cause significant pain and a loss of mobility.

 

How Chiropractic Can Help

Your chiropractor will offer you different options for healing your spinal condition. These may include:

Adjustments

Many times the problems with your spine can be improved by realigning the vertebrae. Injuries and spinal conditions are often associated with misalignment—where the vertebrae are not sitting on top of one another as they should be. A chiropractic adjustment gently returns your vertebrae to alignment.

Massage Therapy

Massage is a great complementary therapy to chiropractic adjustments. It can help to relax muscles, eliminate adhesions and improve mobility. It can also help your spinal adjustments to stay in place as you go about your day to day life.

Ultrasound

Ultrasound treatments are an effective way to encourage your body’s own healing mechanisms without causing any unwanted side effects. The sound waves penetrate deep into the tissues to create heat energy, which encourages circulation and aids in healing.

Get Help with Your Spinal Disorder

If you are struggling with a spinal disorder like those mentioned above, we would love the opportunity to help. Our chiropractic team understands how to administer safe, effective treatments that are non-invasive and work together to improve healing outcomes.

Please contact us today to discuss your spinal condition and schedule an appointment.

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Heel Spurs

 

Do you have a sharp pain in your heel? When you take a step, does it feel like a knife is stabbing your heel? If the answer is yes, then you might have a heel spur.

A heel spur is a degenerative outgrowth of bone on the calcaneus. While the heel spur itself is sometimes painless, the condition is commonly associated with Plantar Fasciitis.

• Heel spurs themselves are not what cause pain
• Spurs occur in 50-75% of heels afflicted with plantar fasciitis
• Heel spurs sufferers usually tell of sharp pain in the heel, that radiates to the bottom of the foot.
• Symptoms can impede walking, and movement in general.

Treatment

Surgery can be costly, risky, but is usually unnecessary.

Recovery time:

• Between 3 to 6 months or more to return to weight-bearing functions
• Conservative treatment, on the other hand, is shown to be quite effective.
• The pain and irritation experienced by about 90% of people respond quite well to conservative treatment.

Home Care:

1. Stretch foot and calf consistently
2. Ice the heel to bring down swelling
3. Wear custom orthotics
4. Focused exercises on strengthening muscles in the feet and ankles
5. Weight loss, and better shoes if necessary

At Injury Medical & Chiropractic Clinic:

Foot adjustments:

• Inferior navicular
• Fixated cuboid
• Posterior calcaneus and/or “dropped” metatarsal heads.
• Though adjustments may help reduce symptoms, they do not restore plantar aponeurosis laxity or the resultant excessive pronation.

Custom orthotics support all 3 arches, which help control pronation and protect against heel shock.

Your healthcare provider and custom orthotic’s center can offer a special cut out at the site of the insertion of the plantar fascia to reduce pressure.

Conclusion

Heel spur pain can be reduced by seeing your movement patterns of the foot and ankle. While there is no cure for heel spurs, chiropractic foot adjustments, orthotics and home stretching can help.

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Heel Spur Treatment El Paso, TX

 

 

Blanca, born and raised in El Paso, TX, has been suffering from heel spurs for about two years. As a registered nurse, her symptoms significantly affected her ability to work and her overall quality of life. Determined to improve her health, Blanca considered chiropractic care. Once she started treatment with Dr. Alex Jimenez, however, Blanca experienced tremendous relief from her heel spurs, almost instantly. Blanca highly recommends chiropractic care with Dr. Alex Jimenez as the non-surgical choice for the treatment of heel spurs.

A heel spur is a calcium residue resulting in a bony protrusion on the bottom of the heel bone. Although heel spurs are often painless, they can lead to heel pain. They are often associated with plantar fasciitis, a painful inflammation of the fibrous band of connective tissue (plantar fascia) that runs across the bottom of the foot and also connects the heel bone to the ball of the foot. Heel spurs are usually caused by strains on foot muscles and ligaments, stretching of the plantar fascia, and repeated tearing of the membrane which covers the heel bone. Heel spurs are particularly common among athletes.

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Orthotics

Foot Dysfunction can very easily cause a domino effect that extends all the way to the back. The feet are the foundation of the body and when there is a problem with the way they function it can cause the entire body to shift out of alignment. Overpronation and oversupination can cause a variety of injuries and conditions that affect not only the feet and ankles, but also the knees, hips, and back as well.

 

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Functional Hallux Limitus

Functional hallux limitus is unfortunately still considered to be a rare health issue which often goes unaddressed. Outcomes for many different foot disorders will be jeopardized if treatment doesn’t address functional hallux limitus. Foot and postural abnormalities have a basis in poor function of stabilization and the windlass mechanism of the foot structure through the plantar fascia.

 

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NCBI Resources

Although many people try to treat their low back pain on their own first, one of the fastest and best ways to treat it is through custom orthotics, which actually optimize the performance of your entire body, not just your feet and lower back. For instance, overpronation of the foot causes a series of internal changes that extend up through the leg. The femur may rotate causing hip pain and inflammation of the sacroiliac joint which leads to back pain. Other misalignments in the body that are caused by foot problems can also lead to chronic lower back pain as well.