San Jose Chiropractor, A Chiropractic Blog

www.chirohealthy.com Recently, there have been headlines such as "Sitting For 9 Hours A Day Is Nearly A Lethal Activity," "Sitting Is the Smoking of Our Generation," "The 'Sitting Disease' Is Killing The American Workforce," "More Evidence That Sitting Leads To Cancer." October is not only Breast Cancer Awareness Month but also National Chiropractic Month. This year has the slogan, "Get Vertical" which seems appropriate with the growing evidence that the sedentary lifestyle is more damaging to your health than getting weaker and heavier. There is evidence linking with other health problems such as coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and breast and colon cancers, brain shrinkage, decreased sperm count, and shortened life expectancy. In future posts, I will summarize of the key points to the articles in the links below and talk about exercises and stretches that help prevent back pain. Feel free to explore ChiroHealthy.co...

    In this September's issue of ACAnews, Caitlin Lukacs discusses the rise of Instrument-Assisted Soft-Tissue Mobilization. Soft-tissue can be defined as any muscle, tendon, ligament, fascia and even fibrosis or scar tissue. Injuries or trauma can be defined with a single event sprained ankle to the repetitive stress injury or overuse injury such as tennis elbow.   “Tere’s almost always a soft-tissue component associated with any injury or condition,” says Travis McCathie, DC, ATC, director of the Northwestern Health Sciences University’s Center for Sports and Rehabilitation. It’s important to note that what gives IASTM the ability to reinitiate first-stage healing is that it is essentially reinjuring the body, although to a lesser degree, which may cause discomfort during the procedure and bruising afterward. “Patients may experience soreness in the treatment area for a day or two following IASTM,” explains Dr. Heller.   Soft-tissue mobili...

Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome    Chronic exertional compartment syndrome is a condition where exercise such as running causes numbness and tingling to the feet. It can be so severe and painful that the athlete cannot continue their exercises. Acute exertional compartment syndrome can be serious causing muscle necrosis (tissue death). This involves symptoms such as severe pain with lower leg swelling and muscle weakness that does not go away with a few minutes of rest. Go to the ER immediately, if you experience something similar to this. This patient is not an acute case but a stable chronic exertional compartment syndrome of the posterior compartment. It is a shame that I did not think to take pictures of the first week in which the feet were very pale or the skin was very white in color. Seeing such a big improvement in the second week, I had to make the patient stand and do 1 minute of calf raises to induce paleness in the skin. The nor...

 I tend to stay away from issues that claim chiropractic has any benefit besides simple musculoskeletal issues outside what is commonly accepted by the medical community. I am fascinated by intellectual issues, because I am always trying to learn new things and go beyond what is understood out there. There would be no progress made if no one questioned the mainstream ideology or thought outside the box. One has to choose carefully with so many health fads and myths out there. Here is a case that looks at chiropractic adjustments and exercise which is musculoskeletally related. It contradicts some "questionable" chiropractic research which I could not find. The research is not anti-chiropractic but it seems unbiased. Abstract: This was a single-blinded, randomized, controlled trial of the immediate impact mid-lumbar spine CMT had on exercise science measures during a Bruce treadmill test at Texas Chiropractic College. Translated, it means that the subject did not know whet...

Bell's Palsy A facial nerve paralysis with symptoms from eye dryness, altered taste to muscle weakness and slurred speech. The cause is unknown and this patient had already tried a full course of anti-viral medication treatment with no change. The current theory in the medical community is that it is related to the chickenpox virus or shingles causing nerve inflammation. Many cases resolve by themselves but I have seen cases that persist for many years and cases with no shingles related outbreaks.       Before Treatment:  Photo shows obvious assymetry of facial muscles. The patient also had eye dryness, altered taste and numbness of lips. This photo was after a full course of anti-viral medication.     After 3 months: Besides, the dramatic muscle tone increase, eye dryness, taste, numbness and pain mostly resolved. Note: The patient also had nutritional supplements & cold laser therapy.*** ***The c...

The " latest findings indicate that high concentrations of EPA, DPA and DHA – the three anti-inflammatory and metabolically related fatty acids derived from fatty fish and fish-oil supplements – are associated with a 71 percent increased risk of high-grade prostate cancer. The study also found a 44 percent increase in the risk of low-grade prostate cancer and an overall 43 percent increase in risk for all prostate cancers. " This was a followup study to confirm a 2011 study made by the same research group. In the 2011 study, they found that trans-fatty acids were associated with "had a 50 percent reduction in the risk of high-grade prostate cancer." Trans fatty acids are in general thought of as harmful for your heart as seen in this Mayo Clinic article . The FHCRC's findings are completely opposite of what is commonly thought of inflammation and cancer. In general, omega 3 is associated as a natural anti-inflammatory food and omega 6  & trans fats are ass...

  Before Chiropractic Treatments: Small S-Shaped Curves. 9° Cobb Angle = Mild Scoliosis After Chiropractic Treatments: On & Off over 4 yrs, Dramatic Reduction**   Before Chiropractic Treatments: Excessive Low Back Curve (Swayback or Anterior Pelvic Tilt) After Chiropractic Treatments: On & Off over 4 yrs, Normal Low Back Curvature   Before Chiropractic Treatments: Abnormal Neck Curve (Reverse Cervical Lordosis) After Chiropractic Treatments: Reduction in Abnormal Cervical Curve. Neck pain was not regularly treated like the low back. Can chiropractic adjustments fix scoliosis? That is the topic that I would like to put in the open. I would also like to show how chiropractic adjustments can be made without the cracking noises and still be effective. Here is another old blog post with low force chiropractic on scoliosis without after treatment x-rays. Officially, the American Chiropractic A...