San Jose Chiropractor, A Chiropractic Blog

On April 4, 2017, the journal, Annals of Internal Medicine, a group of medical doctors, Amir Qaseem, MD, PhD, MHA; Timothy J. Wilt, MD, MPH; Robert M. McLean, MD; Mary Ann Forciea, MD, made a recommendation for the Clinical Guidelines Committee of the American College of Physicians regarding the treatment of low back pain which affects one quarter of the US.  The committee gave three recommendations as guidelines for typical low back pain. Two of the strongest recommendations involved therapies including chiropractic. This is based on systematic review of the evidence in an established peer-review journal based on a community of medical doctors who specialize in internal medicine for the American College of Physicians. Target Audience and Patient Population: The target audience for this guideline includes all clinicians, and the target patient population includes adults with acute, subacute, or chronic low back pain. Recommendation 1: Given that most patients with acute or...

    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...

 Michael Phelps on the cover of Aug 2012 Credits: Details Magazine Michael Phelps, the 14 time olympic gold medalist, briefly mentions using Graston Technique instruments as part of his training recovery in his interview with Details magazine by Selene Yeager. DETAILS: So what do you do for recovery? Michael Phelps: My trainer, Keenan [Robinson], uses Graston tools, these little metal crowbars. He carves them into my shoulder blades, my back, my knee, my hamstrings—wherever I'm really tight—to loosen things up. It's pretty intense. Obscenities fly out of my mouth the whole time, and I'm usually bruised for two days after it. Read More http://www.details.com/celebrities-entertainment/cover-stars/201208/gold-medalist-olympian-swimmer-michael-phelps-training-secrets-interview#ixzz21Ic6Klc8 Here is also a tweet from Michael Phelp's official Twitter account: Graston Technique , ice tub and sleep is my day off today....weeeee @kkrirsh Read More...

Image: healingdream / FreeDigitalPhotos.net The New York Times reports on new research from The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine regarding the "Preliminary Study of the Effects of a Single Session of Swedish Massage on Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal and Immune Function in Normal Individuals." The report says that there is an increase in oxytocin which affects the Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal axis which in the end reduces ACTH and cortisol, a stress hormone. Oxytocin is used for breast feeding, giving birth with uterine contractions and other functions. Cortisol affects many biological functions like inhibiting insulin (reduced blood sugar metabolism), reducing collagen (increased skin wrinkles), reduced stomach & kidney functions, inhibiting sodium secretion (inhibiting normal blood ion levels), increasing blood pressure, reduces immunity by inhibiting copper function and T cells, lowers bone formation (increased osteoporosis), increases "fl...

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net In June, a peer reviewed medical journal, Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, statistically analyzed and interpreted an older National Health Interview Survey. The study revealed that 60% reported "a great deal" of benefit. Chiropractic had the highest success rate among the 6 most popular CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) with 66% reporting significant benefit followed by massage, yoga and qi gong tied for second place. (Sorry for the following style this editor has a bug with making html tables) Perceived Benefit of the 6 Most Frequently Used Complementary and Alternative Medicine Modalities for Back Pain Modalities* Those with Great Benefit from CAM (Weighted %) Chiropractic (n _ 1,163) 66% Massage (n _ 196) 56% Yoga, Tai chi, Qi Gong (n _ 45) 56% Acupuncture (n _ 89) 42% Herbal therapies (n _ 78) 32% Relaxation techniques (n _ 76) 28% *The modalities listed are not mutually exclusi...