Spinal Curves, What Do They Mean?

When you think of your spine, do you think of a straight row of bones that go from the bottom of your brain to the bottom of your back? In reality, the spine is made up of four different curves that provide balance and flexibility to your body and help prevent injury. These curves also allow the spine to support 10 times more weight than it could if the curves were missing! You can more easily see these curves when you view a model of the spine from a side view.
The four types of spinal curves are:

• Cervical Lordosis – A backward “C”-shaped curve located in the upper part of the spine. This curve helps to keep your head from moving too far forward. Neck pain usually results when there is any type of significant loss to this curve.
• Thoracic Kyphosis – The “C”-shaped curve of the upper and mid back, comprised of 12 vertebrae
• Lumbar Lordosis – The five vertebrae of the lower back that are also in the shape of a backward “C.” This area of the spine faces backward when seen from the side.
• Sacral Kyphosis – The sacrum is a triangular-shaped bone at the base of the spine, between both hip bones. It is also a “C”-shaped curve.

As a pre-born baby develops, it has only one type of spinal curve, the kyphotic “C”- shaped curve. As an infant’s motor skills begin to develop, the baby learns to hold its head up, sit, crawl, stand up and walk – all causing significant muscle development and allowing more weight to be shifted to the spine. This also begins the development of the additional spinal curves.

It is important that these curves be properly maintained to balance your body and to avoid pain and injury. Proper lifting requires that you bend at the knees, instead of at the waist, to keep your spine from straightening.

Of course, regular chiropractic check ups and adjustments help to maintain your proper spinal curves. In addition, there are specific products, such as cervical pillows, that also help to keep spinal curves in place and keep you out of pain! Call our office for an appointment today!  (386) 492-4881 or www.atlanticchirofl.com

The Problem With Stress!

We live in stressful times. The economy is tough, global conflicts rage, severe weather events are affecting people in every corner of the globe, and our numerous technological devices don't seem to be making things any easier. Of course, this is nothing new. Every generation thinks theirs is the best of times and the worst of times. But the result is that people everywhere have high levels of stress.






Sometimes stress is a good thing. Mechanical stress, such as exercise, causes your muscles and bones to become stronger and your nerve system to become smarter. Taking on a new assignment at work or taking a challenging class in school may be stressful, but the effort involved in achieving a successful result will cause you to grow and develop in ways that you might not have imagined. After all, the great philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche famously said "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

But chronic, ongoing physical and mental stress, the kind that affects us every day, is not good for us. Chronic stress causes real psychological and physical problems. People undergoing chronic stress may develop anxiety, which if not managed effectively may lead to depression. Chronic stress may lead to a variety of disorders and diseases, including arthritis, inflammatory conditions such as Crohn's disease, gastrointestinal problems such as peptic ulcer, diabetes,¹ high blood pressure,² and even heart attacks and stroke.³ As we are all subject to numerous stresses every day, both personal and work-related, it's very important for us to develop strategies that will be successful in helping us manage ongoing stresses.

The most important method for managing stress is to attempt to focus your point-of-view, your frame of reference, on the present moment. Our minds are constantly in motion, constantly at work creating new thoughts and new scenarios regarding some potentially stressful situation, or rehashing old conversations, old conflicts, and old problems. The result is that we're almost never at peace. When we try to sit down and relax for a bit, it's never too long before our minds start bringing up the exact things we'd like to be able to forget or ignore, at least for a little while. Most of us can't flip a metaphorical switch and shut off our incessant stream of mostly negative self-talk. But we can learn to remind ourselves to return to the present, to come back to this moment, the one that's happening now.

The best way to do this is to ask yourself, "is this [what I'm thinking about] happening right now?" If you can see that what's happening now is that you're sitting in a chair reading the newspaper, you have a good chance of being able to let go of what your mind is talking to you about. Say to yourself, "I'm right here, right now, and none of that other stuff is actually happening right now." This will help you create some distance from your self-talk, and the self-talk may even recede into the background for a while. The feeling of calm you might then experience is one you can build on. The more you practice returning to the moment, the more power you gain in being able to manage the stress in your life.

 

 Our office uses various techniques and methods to restore proper spinal alignment. The direct result is improved functioning of your nerve system, which directly improves the functioning of all your other body systems.

One of the structural problems addressed by chiropractic care is a "facilitated segment." This is a section of your spinal cord that is being bombarded by too many nerve signals. These nerve signals arrive at the wrong times and in too great a quantity. Physical pain and other diseases and disorders can develop as a result of a facilitated segment.

Stress makes facilitated segments (and their effects) worse. By aligning your spine, we can help reduce and resolve these irritated segments of your spinal cord. As a result, the stresses in your life have less physiological impact. You become better able to interact with people and situations, and become better able to manage stress.

Look for our upcoming Wellness Workshop on Stress Management to learn strategies for better dealing with stress.

www.atlanticchirofl.com

¹Bener A, et al: Association between psychological distress and gastrointestinal symptoms in diabetes mellitus. World J Diabetes 3(6):123-129, 2012

²van Dijk, AE, et al: The association between prenatal psychosocial stress and blood pressure in the child at age 5-7 years. PLoS One 7(8):e43548, 2012

³Pereira VH, et al: Stressed brain, diseased heart: A review on the pathophysiologic mechanisms of neurocardiology. Int J Cardiol 2012 Apr 20 [Epub ahead of print]

 

chiropractic, health, wellness, nutrition, stress, pain, alignment, problems, stress management, nerve, spinal cord, spine

What's Wrong With My Back?

Not all back problems are created equal. One person may have been working on a home improvement project and injured her back while simultaneously bending and twisting. Another person may have developed back pain as a result of a vehicular collision. Another person may be experiencing back pain as a result of osteoporosis. Yet another person may have a serious illness which causes back pain as a related problem.

Back pain is a problem common to many types of injuries and illnesses. How can you tell the difference - in other words, how can you tell when back pain requires you to take action, such as seeing your chiropractor? A reasonable approach is to use a 48-hour guideline. Your body usually has a powerful ability to heal itself. If your back pain hasn't gone away on its own within 48 hours, then seeking professional assistance is a very good plan.

However, some situations require immediate attention. For example, if you've had an accident, seeing your chiropractor right away is probably the right thing to do. In another scenario, if you begin to experience severe pain without an obvious cause, then seeing your chiropractor right away makes a great deal of sense. Like many things in life, having physical pain requires us to use good judgment. The 48-hour rule-of-thumb applies to most situations, but if you've had an accident or are having an unusual problem, see your chiropractor as soon as possible, today if necessary.

When a person has back pain, it's very important to make sure there are no related problems. Most of the time there aren't, but no one wants to be the exception and it's always better to be safe than sorry. Making your own diagnosis is never a good idea. "Oh, that's been bothering me for months," some people will say. "It's just back pain." Of course, such an approach to one's health violates the 48-hour rule. If the problem really wasn't anything much, it would have gone away within a few days. Something else is going on, and usually the longer a physical problem is left untreated the more difficult it is to deal with. The old expression, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is as true today as it was 100 years ago.

Your chiropractor is an expert in back pain. They know that physical pain happens for a reason.^1,2 Their job is to discover that reason, using the tools of history taking, physical examination, biomechanical analysis, and special tests, if necessary, such as x-rays and other imaging methods. Most of the time, the underlying problem is mechanical in nature, involving the spinal joints and associated soft tissues, including the ligaments, muscles, and tendons. Such mechanical problems cause the vast majority of cases of back pain, and are directly addressed by chiropractic care.³ In unusual circumstances, your chiropractor will refer you to another specialist. The important approach in all situations is to seek appropriate care. Your chiropractor's office is the right place to start.

 
Most people now know the importance of exercise in daily life. The benefits of exercise range from improved strength, balance, and agility to deeper, more restful sleep, improved outlook on life, and heightened levels of creativity. Of course, there's also an additional direct benefit for persons with back pain.
Most cases of back pain are biomechanical in nature. In these circumstances, spinal joints have lost some mobility and spinal muscles have become tight. The long-term result is back pain, which may be mild, moderate, or severe, depending on the extent of the biomechanical dysfunction. Chiropractic care is the specific treatment for problems involving the spinal joints and muscles. Exercise is an important addition to chiropractic care. When you perform challenging activities throughout a full range of motion, as you do when you exercise, you're retraining the joints and muscles of your back. By engaging in such activities on a regular basis, you're helping to restore spinal strength and mobility, enhancing the benefits you're receiving from chiropractic care.

Your chiropractor is an expert in rehabilitative exercise and will be glad to design an exercise program that will work for you.

¹Bakker EW, et al: Spinal mechanical load as a risk factor for low back pain: a systematic review of prospective cohort studies. Spine 34(8):E281-E293, 2009

²Shambrook J, et al: Clinical presentation of low back pain and association with risk factors according to findings on magnetic resonance imaging. Pain 157(7):1659-1665, 2011

³Wilder DG, et al: Effect of spinal manipulation on sensorimotor functions in back pain patients: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials 12:161, 2011

Resolution of Infertility Followed by a Healthy Pregnancy and Delivery with Chiropractic

From the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health comes a case study published on March 12, 2012 documenting the  resolution of infertility in a woman previously diagnosed with a case of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is a condition in which there is an imbalance of a woman's female sex hormones. This imbalance can lead to infertility and affects approximately 6.6% of reproductive-aged women.
The authors of the study start by reporting that infertility is a wide-spread problem that affects one in five couples. Of these it is estimated that 60% are due to a female health problem. As a result 9.3 million women seek infertility treatment at some point during their lives. Most of the care sought is medical care.
In this case a 29 year old woman previously diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and infertility sought chiropractic care. The study reports that she had been unable to become pregnant for six months. She had been to a medical practitioner one week earlier but had heard that chiropractic care could be helpful and therefore sought chiropractic care.
A chiropractic examination was performed including a spinal and nerve system analysis. It was determined that subluxations were present in multiple areas of the woman's spine resulting in nerve system malfunction. A series of specific spinal adjustments were initiated to correct the subluxations.
The study reports that after two months of care the patient was told by her medical doctor that she was pregnant. It was estimated that the woman became pregnant between the second and fifth chiropractic visit. The study reports that the pregnancy was normal and that the woman delivered a healthy 6 pound 7 ounce baby girl after an all natural labor.
In their discussion and conclusion the authors discussed how spinal misalignments could cause infertility by stating, "A subluxation is characterized by a dysfunction of the nervous system that results in widespread physiological changes and altered health status." The authors continued to discuss the additional benefits in this case by noting, "Following initiation of chiropractic care, the patient not only became pregnant, but also reported improvement in many facets of her life, including improved sleep, better dietary choices, increased water consumption, and an improvement in her ability to exercise."