Whiplash Injuries and Chronic Pain

The Cause of Whiplash

Injury to the body is caused when one part of the body moves too quickly in relation to another part of the body. In whiplash, the head and torso are moving in different directions, resulting in damage to the tissues of the neck.

When you think of the term "whiplash" picture a whip being snapped. The end of the whip follows the body of the whip backward and forward. It is the end of the whip that is the last to move. The same applies to your head and neck. Picture your body as the body of the whip and your neck and head as the end. When the weight of your head snaps backward and forward in a rear end auto collision, your neck takes the brunt of the force. There is a normal range of motion for your neck. In a whiplash injury, due to the rapid movement with the head following the body backward and then rebounding forward, the motion exceeds what is a normal range of movement for your neck muscles, bones and ligaments causing injury to these structures.


Symptoms of Whiplash

Because the neck is a very complex structure, and there are many important nerves and blood vessels travelling through the neck to other parts of the body, damage to these tissues can cause a complex set of symptoms that can be difficult to diagnose. Whiplash symptoms include:

• Neck Pain



• Headache



• Low Back Pain



• TMJ or Jaw Pain



• Arm or Shoulder Pain



• Dizziness or Vertigo



• Visual Symptoms
  

Neck injuries are a common problem seen in a chiropractor's office. Most of the time, a patient will have some temporary discomfort that will resolve within a few weeks after the injury. A significant percentage of patients – around 20 to 30% – will develop some kind of chronic pain or disability from their injury.

In my practice I often see patients who present with chronic pain in the neck, shoulders or with headaches and migraines. After taking a history, I will often find out that these patients suffered some sort of whiplash injury years before they presented in my office with their symptoms of chronic pain. Usually a patient may not realize that they had an injury significant enough to affect the structures of their neck. But the force of an accident or trauma does not need to be very hard to cause injury. Studies show that even slow speed rear end collisions can cause damage to the ligaments and muscles of the neck. Years later this damage may show up on xray as osteoarthritis of the cervical spine (joints in the neck) and may be the cause of chronic neck pain, shoulder pain, headaches and migraine headaches.

How Chiropractic Helps

Chiropractic adjustments can help patients who have suffered from a recent whiplash injury or even injuries from years earlier. The way a chiropractic adjustment helps repair the tissues of the neck is by: 1. Stretching ligaments which helps to break up scar tissue and grow new, healthier tissue; 2. Chiropractic care also helps to break up pain signals. It does this because pain signals come from the nervous system and a chiropractic adjustment to the neck area can reduce overstimulation of the nerves occuring in chronic pain. 3. The use of intersegmental traction, commonly referred to as non-surgical spinal decompression, futher helps heal the discs between the vertebrae of the neck which are often damaged as a result of trauma.

Chiropractic care is the only natural way to get lasting relief from the pain that occurs with neck trauma and whiplash injuries because it not only helps to relieve the pain, but it helps to correct the damaged spinal structures causing the pain.


If you would like to find out more about whiplash injuries and chiropractic care, please visit http://www.bretonchiropractic.com/. Chiropractor, Grand Rapids, MI.
　
　
　
　
　

Fibromyalgia: What is Causing Your Pain?

Have you heard these words?: "You have Fibromyalgia". Or perhaps you know of some one who has been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. So, exactly what is Fibromyalgia? The word Fibro means fiber, Myo means muscle and Algia means pain. So the shortest definition of Fibromyalgia is muscle fiber pain. The pain is further described as pain that covers one of the four quadrants of the body, that migrates from area to area, and the intensity varies and changes. Often the pain is described as "dull, achy, throbbing, stiffness, sharp and stabbing". Just as people vary who have this condition, the pain varies in its description, depending on the individual.

Literature states that there is pain and stiffness in the morning and it gets progressively better throughout the day. What I have encountered in my practice is that almost 100% of patients with Fibromyalgia say that they experience pain, stiffness and fatigue which gets progressively WORSE throughout the day. Also, the pain is usually affected by changes in the weather and temperature.

Other symptoms of Fibromyalgia may include IBS or Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Many of my Fibro patients have this symptom where they either cannot have a bowel movement or sometimes they have diarrhea for no obvious reason. Often patients tell me they cannot sleep or have difficulty going to sleep and or staying asleep. Then there is the accompanying depression and anxiety that Fibro patients often experience. Another symptom I hear about is something that has been coined "Fibromyalgia Fog". This is when, for instance, you are in the middle of doing something and all of a sudden you stop and think "What was I just doing?" Perhaps you just have difficulty concentrating or enjoying activities you used to love. People often chalk these episodes up to "senior moments" when, in fact, it can be a symptom of Fibromyalgia.

Often, the Fibromyalgia patients I see have been through the medical route and come into my office as a last resort, with a laundry list of medications prescribed to them by their M.D. Pain meds, muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatory drugs, steroids, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety drugs, and on and on. You see the problem is: number one, there is no definitive test to diagnose you by medical standards and number two, they don't really know what is CAUSING your condition so they just chase your symptoms and prescribe medicine to make you feel better. But what about the side effects of these medications?

Take muscle relaxants for instance. Do you think they can make those pills just work to relax ONLY the specific muscles that are hurting you? Or do you think those muscle relaxants are going to relax ALL of the muscles in your body. Umm...let's see, the answer is ALL the muscles and the problem here is that your HEART is a MUSCLE! Just watch any given drug commercial on television and listen to the list of side effects they are required to tell you about. It is scarey! Now imagine mixing a bunch of those drugs together--what danger are you dealing with then?

Research shows that in Fibromyalgia, there is an imbalance between the hormonal system and the Autonomic Nervous System. The Autonomic Nervous System is "automatic" meaning it controls all of the systems in our bodies that we don't have control over such as heart beat, breathing, our reproductive system, and urinary system...you get the picture.

So what can you do if you or some one you love suffers from Fibromyalgia to help fix the CAUSE of this problem instead of chasing the pain? Research has adequately proven that chiropractic care, specifically upper cervical care (neck) can greatly reduce or completely get rid of the pain, depression, anxiety, IBS, etc. Why? The reason is obvious when you understand that chiropractors work with the nervous system. We are not "back pain" doctors, even though we are thought of in that way 90% of the time. We are, in fact, nervous system doctors which brings us back to Fibromyalgia being caused by an imbalance between the Autonomic Nervous System and the hormonal systems in the body. It is really common sense.

When a Doctor of Chiropractic adjusts your spine, they are in fact removing nerve interference caused by spinal misalignments. Now, you may not think you have any misalignments in your spine, but most of us do. Usually, our first one occurs during the birthing process (you've seen it when the doctor pulls on the baby's head and neck to get it out). Car accidents, falls, and any physical traumas dating as far back as childhood can also cause misalignments in your spine which can have a negative effect on your nervous system. Research has shown that most Fibromyalgia patients have had some sort of spinal trauma, such as whiplash from a car accident, triggering the onset of this condition, sometimes years later. Spinal trauma usually causes misalignments in the bones (vertebrae) of the spine and if left untreated, may cause problems for you later in life.

In my practice I have seen patients get tremendous relief from Fibromyalgia symptoms by receiving gentle chiropractic care combined with a healthy diet and exercise. I have seen patients throw away their drugs because their Fibromyalgia pain gets better after they have been under care for a while. I have seen them begin activities they enjoy--ones they haven't been able to do for a long time. I have seen them literally get their lives back. Fibromyalgia can be a debilitating condition which stops you from experiencing life like you used to, but there is hope if you are willing to try the natural approach of chiropractic care. If you would like more information about chiropractic and Fibromyalgia, please visit http://www.bretonchiropractic.com/

Headaches and What You Can Do About Them

Causes of Headaches

Headaches are a common complaint heard by doctors every day. People of all ages get headaches and there are many different types of headaches as well as many causes. Headache pain can range from mild to excruciating and may occur once a year or as often as once a day for some people. Often, pain sufferers attribute their headaches to stress and while stress is a common cause of tension headaches, there are other factors you may not have considered. Let's look at stress for a moment. Work stress, family stress and even physical stress from over exertion such as shoveling snow when you haven't done it for a while, can cause a headache. But did you know that chemical stress from artificial sweeteners, food additives, polluted air and water can also cause headaches? Whenever your body has to deal with any type of pollution, be it from something you've ingested or something you've breathed into your lungs, it puts stress on your immune system and nervous system and may cause you pain.

Migraine headache pain is one of the most intense types of pain a person can experience. Migraines may have multiple causes as well. Food allergies -- such as allergies to wheat and or gluten, hormonal fluctuations and even bright light can trigger a migraine headache for some. If you suffer from chronic migraines, you might want to keep a food diary to track what you're eating on a daily basis. Then record the days you experience migraine headaches and compare it to your diet for the last 24 hours. After a couple of weeks, or a month, you should be able to see if there is a pattern to what you are eating and when the headaches occur. If there is a pattern, say every time you eat too much wheat you get a migraine, then you know that you are probably allergic to it and it would be best for you to eliminate that food from your diet to see if your migraines stop. If you are a female, of any age, and you experience migraines, you may want to have your hormone levels checked by a physician to see if you need to have your levels of estrogen and progesterone balanced.

Cervicogenic headaches are headaches caused by a problem with your neck and may cause migraine type pain. More specifically, it is a problem with the bones in your neck or "cervical spine". People who suffer from these types of headaches will often complain of having a stiff neck and/or neck pain with a decreased range of motion when turning their head from side to side. They describe the pain as starting in the back of their neck and travelling up into their head. Causes of cervicogenic headaches include: previous injury to the neck, prolonged flexion of the neck muscles (looking down for too long), and even sleeping on a pillow that is not the right size for your neck. Often people will get their necks massaged to relieve the stiffness and pain, but only a chiropractor can determine if the bones in your neck need to be realigned to correct the underlying cause of your pain and stiffness. Once the bones of the spine are realigned, the neck pain usually goes away because the cause of the pain has been corrected.


Headaches, in general, respond very well to chiropractic care. Studies were conducted by the International Headache Society consisting of 123 participants who suffered from at least one migraine headache per month. The placebo group received treatment with electrodes while the experimental group received chiropractic adjustments. The results of this study showed that the group who received chiropractic treatment for their migraines had significant improvement in the frequency, disability and duration of their headache pain. In addition, the chiropractic recipients used less medication to alleviate their headaches.

Conclusion

If you are having headache pain, especially pain that is chronic or is getting worse, you need to find out the cause of your pain so that you can alleviate it. Gentle chiropractic care is available. There are chiropractors who do not ever twist the neck or push forcefully on the spine to make corrections. These chiropractors use gentle techniques such as Network Spinal Analysis and Activator and these techniques work just as well, if not better than more traditional chiropractic care. For more information visit http://www.bretonchiropractic.com/ - Grand Rapids Chiropractor.

Causes of Low Back Pain and Best Treatment

Millions of Americans suffer from low back pain each year. It is estimated that nearly 1 in every 3 people suffers from some form of low back pain. There are multiple causes of low back pain, some of which are easily treatable and some more serious causes that require immediate medical attention.

The type of back pain suffered by most of us is usually caused by overuse of muscles from activities such as exercising too long, too hard or perhaps by lifting something heavy which causes muscle strain. Other causes of common back pain include falls, auto accidents and disc herniations. All of these, including muscle strains, affect the bones of the spine in some manner. It is a common misunderstanding that a muscle strain is isolated to the muscles and soft tissue of the back. The important point to remember here is that those back muscles are connected to the bones in your spine, and therefore, may cause misalignments in the bones. If that happens, the muscle strain may become a structural problem and your back pain may become chronic pain.


Disc herniations can occur suddenly from trauma such as a car accident, or may happen by just turning or bending in a certain direction. What happens in a disc herniation or "slipped disc" is the soft center of one of the discs between the vertebrae in your spine becomes displaced, causing a bulge. This bulge may affect the nerve which exits between the vertebrae at that level. Usually, this type of back pain burns and travels from your back down into your buttocks and even into your legs. It may even ache like a toothache. Disc herniations can happen in your neck as well. When you have a disc bulge, which can only be accurately diagnosed by a doctor, you will need intervention to heal. Disc herniations may get worse as time passes, eventually causing more problems with the bones of your spine, resulting in physical disability and surgery if left untreated.


Other more serious causes of back pain may include diseases such as Osteoporosis and cancer. These types of problems warrant testing and medical intervention. Osteoporosis, which causes bones to become weak and brittle, may be hereditary but can be improved through exercise and proper diet and supplementation. Osteoporosis is a topic that I will discuss further in a future blog.


Chiropractic care has proven to be one of the best treatments for back pain. It has proven to be far more effective than muscle relaxants or pain medications, which only dull the pain and may cause serious side effects. The goal of chiropractic care is to correct what is "causing" your pain and to help you return to your daily activities without pain. A good Doctor of Chiropractic will examine your spine to determine where the problems are and will prescribe a course of treatment to correct the underlying problem that is causing your pain and disability.


A recent study conducted on 30 patients having back pain for at least 6 months showed that all of the participants had reduced pain levels after receiving 12 chiropractic treatments for a period of one month. In addition, half of the participants received follow-up chiropractic treatment every three weeks for nine months. The other half received no care after the one month of intensive chiropractic treatment. The results further demonstrated that the disability levels were improved and continued to improve for the patients who received the follow-up chiropractic care, while those who received only 12 chiropractic adjustments with no follow-up care returned to their pretreatment levels of disability.


As you can see, back pain has many causes but while there are many treatment options available, the best one, according to studies is chiropractic care. There are many types of gentle chiropractic techniques available that you may not know about. If you are interested in learning more about gentle chiropractic care and how it can help you, please visit http://www.bretonchiropractic.com/.