Chiropractic Care for Fibromyalgia

Twenty years ago when I first started practicing chiropractic in San Diego, fibromyalgia was a catch-all diagnosis - basically, if you were experiencing whole body muscle or joint pain that was not associated with some other diagnosed condition you were given a diagnosis of fibromyalgia.  As I write this post, things have not changed that much.  Researchers still don't know if fibromyalgia is caused by hormones, chemical imbalances, physical stress, emotional stress, trauma or some other illness.  The good news is that chiropractic treatment can help decrease the pain you feel with fibromyalgia.


Chiropractic care is a very common alternative or complementary treatment for fibromyalgia pain. People use it to treat pain of pressure points, back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, headaches, and pain from musculoskeletal injuries. Chiropractic treatment may be effective for fibromyalgia because it helps improve pain levels and increase cervical and lumbar ranges of motion. Chiropractic treatment is based on the principle that the body is a self-healing organism. To reduce pain and increase healing, the doctor of chiropractic uses spinal adjustments. The goal is to increase the mobility between spinal vertebrae, which have become restricted, locked, or slightly out of proper position.
Chiropractors do this by using hand adjustments. With gentle pressure or stretching, multiple gentle movements of one area, or specific high-velocity thrusts, the adjustments are said to help return the bones to a more normal position or motion. This return is said to relieve pain and reduce ill health.

Posture and Back Pain

I have said and written many times that most of the patients of my San Diego Chiropractic clinic ended becoming patients because of aches and pains related to bad posture.  Think about how many times that your parents told you to "sit up straight" when you were a kid.  Although they probably didn't have any medical reasons behind this command, the potentially negative health consequences that accompany bad posture make this sitting up straight a reasonable request.

Bad posture can cause neck pain, headaches, back pain, digestive stress, carpal tunnel syndrome type symptoms, irritability and fatigue.  Surveys also indicate that bad posture gives others the opinion that you are not intelligent, lazy and unattractive. Egads!    

Correcting bad posture requires awareness, specific types of exercise, specific kinds of stretches and chiropractic treatment to help improve alignment and balance of the spine. 

Strong Glutes and Chiropractic

One of the common problems that I see in the patients of my San Diego chiropractic practice is weak gluteal muscles.  The gluteal muscles should be the strongest muscles in the body.  In addition to being powerful hip extensors that drive the body forward and upward in activities such as in running and climbing they also help hold our spine in proper alignment.

The problem with us in general is that instead of using our glutes to move our body weight we use them to sit on.  With increase time sitting and less activity time the glutes begin to weaken causing loss of posture, instability of the lower back and increased chance of injury.  When the glutes are weak the body recruits other muscles such as the hamstrings and the larger muscles of the lower back to perform the tasks that are usually handled by the glutes.  This kind of compensation leads to muscular imbalances, poor spinal alignment and back pain or injuries.

For most of us, avoiding hours of sitting each day would require a monumental effort as well as being in control of your work station.  Since this isn't possible in most cases, maintaining healthy spinal alignment requires specific exercises for the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, taking as many breaks from sitting during the day as possible, a structured stretching program and maintenance chiropractic treatment.

Chiropractic and Exercise: Insanity

I always try to express the importance of complete fitness to the patients of my San Diego Chiropractic clinic.  Lets face it, chiropractic care can help you recover from car accident injuries, work injuries and sports injuries and it can be of tremendous benefit in keeping balance and alignment in people who sit at a desk all day but if you don't stretch, don't exercise and don't eat healthy you will not be a healthy person.

The reason that I am writing this post is because I recently began doing the Insanity workout.  I believe that this is my third or maybe fourth time that I have done the Insanity program.  This is also the first time that I will finish it (knock on wood) without injury.  Apparently injury isn't uncommon with the Insanity workout  - you can find this out yourself with a quick Google search that will give nearly one million results for the search phrase "Insanity Injuries".

Each time I have gone through this program I have relied heavily on my chiropractor and acupuncturist to give me the extra supportive care that I need to make it through without significant injury.  Of course, listening to your body is important as well - you have to make sure to make adjustments and avoid or modify exercises that cause pain.  "Working through the pain" is a common mistake that people who exercise make - in reality, there is no such thing as working through the pain.  Pain is always an indication that you have irritation and inflammation in a joint or a muscle.  Some muscle soreness following a workout is a good thing but pain during exercise is not.

Exercise, stretching and a healthy diet will always help you get the most out of your chiropractic care.  You don't have to commit to a program as challenging as Insanity to make improvements in you whole health picture but if you do - exercise safely, we don't want your exercise to be the reason that you need treatment.  For more information regarding the beneficial relationship between chiropractic treatment, exercise, stretching and proper nutrition call us at our San Diego Chiropractic clinic - we would be happy to help.

Chiropractor San Diego

Are you looking for quality chiropractic care?

At my San Diego Chiropractic Clinic we believe in helping you restore and maintain your health – not just with chiropractic care but by teaching you to balance and strengthen your body with stretches, exercises and proper nutrition.

Chiropractic care is natural health care that improves the relationship between your nervous system and your spinal joints.  Misalignments of the vertebral joints cause pinched nerves which result in pain, headaches, back spasms and other symptoms.  Spinal misalignments are called subluxations and are treated with chiropractic adjustments. 


We are a San Diego chiropractic practice and we use this blog and our website to explain to the residents and visitors of San Diego what chiropractors do and what chiropractors don’t do.  We also use these sites to relay information regarding general maintenance of your body in order to promote general health and wellness.

If you are searching for natural treatment methods that will help you get well and stay well while avoiding drugs or surgery, you’ve found the right place!

Whiplash Treatment in San Diego

Rain almost always means that the phone of my San Diego Chiropractic clinic will be ringing with new Whiplash patients.  Today it looks like rain outside even though it is the second week of July - normally a dry time of year in this part of the country.  No doubt there will be people on the road who are in hurry and won't slow down for the wet conditions - this always leads to auto accidents and injuries.

Whiplash is a broad term that is mostly associated with sprain / strain injuries of the muscles and ligaments of the neck.  The whiplash injuries occur when your car either accelerates rapidly such as when your vehicle is hit from behind or when your vehicle slows rapidly which happens if you run into another vehicle or some other object.  Your neck is the most likely injured part of your spine because the muscles in that part of your body are weaker than they are in the rest of your back and because your head and neck are not supported as well by your seat and seat belt like the rest of your back is.

Whiplash can cause neck pain, headaches, ringing in the ears, dizziness, difficulty swallowing and upper back pain.  There are more serious - potentially life threatening injuries associated with whiplash as well.  If you were involved in a whiplash injury we would be happy to consult with you about your injuries. 

Low Back Pain Treatment

As a San Diego Chiropractor I see my share of patients with Low Back Pain. The majority of these patients come to my office to see what it is that I can do for them without really thinking of what they can do for themselves. Chiropractors are the unofficial "back doctors" of the medical community and we can often relieve back pain with very little additional help from the patient so long as they keep their appointments.

That being said, patients that play an active role in the treatment of their back pain tend to heal quicker and get longer lasting results. At my San Diego chiropractic clinic in addition to chiropractic adjustments and therapy my patients are always encouraged - but not pressured - to ice at home, stretch, exercise and take nutritional support.

Poor Posture and Chiropractic Care

Poor posture is the root cause behind most of the cases of neck pain and headaches that I see patients for in my San Diego Chiropractic Clinic. Slumping over your computer for hours on end stresses all of the joints in your spine, therefore middle back pain and lower back pain are also common results of poor posture. Good posture is just as important to your overall health picture as proper diet, sufficient exercise, regular stretching routines and 7 hours of sleep per night. From a superficial aspect, poor posture is one of the negatives that we often first notice about the way others look, the head forward posture and crumpled mid-waist region are never attractive.

Posture is a key component of good health. Bad posture presents with typical features, head forward position, slumped shoulders / upper back, flattened out lower back and inwardly rotated shoulders. Good posture saves our muscular energy reducing stress and fatigue. The ill effects of poor posture are numerous as are the causes of poor posture. Trauma, depression, failed physical education, poor ergonomic set-ups and a multitude of other scenarios set the stage for postural stress. In my office, most of my patients that I treat for posture related issues sit at a desk hunching over a computer on a daily basis. While a few isolated exposures to posturally stressful positions probably won't hurt you, repeated daily exposures can and usually do cause problems. Below is a more comprehensive list of the known causes of poor posture.

1. Accidents, injuries and falls
2. Poor sleep support (mattress)
3. Excessive weight
4. Visual or emotional difficulties
5. Foot problems or improper shoes
6. Weak muscles, muscle imbalance
7. Careless sitting, standing, sleeping habits
8. Negative self image
9. Occupational stress
10. Poorly designed work space

Bad posture can start a progression of symptoms. To begin with, slumped over postures allow one muscle group to rest while overworking the opposing muscle group. For instance, when poor posture causes our head is translated forward, the muscles in the front of the neck relax while the muscles that run down your neck and into the upper back are overly contracted. This imbalance creates a stretch weakness of the neck muscles causes tightness, spasms, neck pain, upper back pain and headaches. The end result for your muscles is over-worked, weak, painful muscles.

As time progresses, joint stiffness and pain begin putting you at risk for arthritis. Joints subjected to stress follow a predictable course. Postural stress causes irritation of the joints, Irritated joints become inflamed, inflammation causes pain, stiffness and scar tissue formation leading to arthritis. Chiropractic care will release the stiff joints breaking down scar tissue and eliminating pain.

While bad posture and the postural stress that accompanies it often causes discomfort, poor posture remains one of those conditions that most people identify quickly in others but not so easily in themselves. Those who are aware of their poor posture often consider correcting it impossible.

Correcting bad posture is possible but requires a multifaceted approach. Simply becoming aware of poor posture and correcting yourself when you have drifted into a posturally stressful position is not enough, although it is necessary to help break bad habits. Poor posture creates muscular imbalances throughout the body that require targeted stretches and exercises in order to reverse the structural changes that have occurred secondary to prolonged postural stress. This is yet another condition that is treated much easier in younger people or those who have not been subjected to poor posture for prolonged periods of time. That being said, almost everyone that I know spent at least 16 years looking down at their books for several hours each day while in school!

The bottom line is that most everyone can avoid the problems caused by bad posture and you can make improvements at any age.  Do you need help correcting the effects of poor posture?  We would be happy to help you at my San Diego Chiropractic clinic. 

Nutrition and Chiropractic

I have always considered myself a fairly healthy person and one of my goals has been to present myself to the patients of my San Diego Chiropractic Clinic as such. That being said, I do have some health concerns.

To begin with, since I am a chiropractor I will declare that I have my bouts with neck pain, back pain and the occasional headache but for the most part I am pain free. Since college I have suffered from a mild case of office hypertension - meaning that my blood pressure was borderline high but I attribute that to the anxiety I get from taking my blood pressure. Another thing worth mentioning is that some days I would get a little spacey from mild hypoglycemia, but this would only happen on days where my diet suffered from poor planning. Overall, for my age (44) my health compared favorably to most of those in my age group.

One day here about two months ago my assistant Linda told me that she had a representative from Standard Process coming to the office to discuss nutritional products. At the time of this appointment, I really had no expectations of where this would go. I figured that since I exercised and ate right (for the most part) that we would be discussing products for my patients.

By the time the appointment with the Standard Process representative ended both Linda and I had committed to doing a 21 day purification program. It was at this point where I really started looking at my diet. What I found was that vegetables and fruits were a good part of my diet but so were bean rice and cheese burritos, occasional cheeseburgers, potato chips, an occasional soda pop and lots of coffee. All of this stuff would have to go under the guidelines of the purification program.

Basically, the purification program involves taking whole food supplements to stimulate the kidneys, liver and intestines to eliminate toxins, supplementing whey protein for animal protein sources and eliminating all caffeine, dairy and processed foods.

Today is the thirteenth day of our purification program. I am embarrassed to say that even as a doctor with extensive schooling in nutrition that I have been taken back by the dramatic positive changes in my health as a result of this purification program. To begin with, what I thought was office hypertension is gone. Since the third day of this program my blood pressure reading has ranged from a low of 115/74 to a high of 121/80. This reading is accompanied by a calmness that I have rarely if ever felt as an adult. In addition to lower blood pressure, my digestion is significantly better - no more bloating, my blood sugar has been stable and my sleep is much improved.

I attribute these improvements in my health to three simple changes that seem so elementary. Stop putting junk in, eat a clean healthy diet and get the toxins stored in my body out.

I have been asked what I plan to do after the 21 day program is over. At this point, I can't imagine not continuing with a healthy diet and taking whole food supplements. The taste of that BRC burrito or that morning cup of coffee will not be missed in the least.

Chiropractic and Nutrition - The Calorie Cost of Fast Food

As a chiropractor who cares for people who typically have a more holistic approach to their health and diet, I see my patients sabotage their efforts to become healthy on a regular basis. I believe that since I practice chiropractic in San Diego I probably tend to see people who exercise enough because of the nice weather but tend to fail themselves on the diet side getting healthier.  I have long contended that treating people for neck pain, back pain and headaches is much easier than trying to instill a dietary change or an exercise plan. Some of my chiropractic patients indicate poor planning leading to drops in blood sugar resulting in poor food choices while others just like the taste of their favorite fast food.

Eating habits are "funny strange" not so much "funny ha ha". They are very hard for most of to control. I have always been a thin 6 foot 190 pound guy. I can’ tell you how many people think that I am just one of those “blessed” people who can eat anything they want to without gaining weight. Unfortunately for me, they would be wrong. Watching my diet is a daily chore. One thing that has helped me is the fact that I exercise and that I am keenly aware of how long I will have to exercise in order to work off any sweets that I eat or Mexican foods that I indulge in.

With this in mind, I came across a neat little article that covered what some of our chain-food favorites will cost us in time spent doing common exercises. These excerpts are from the Diet Detective who has authored several books on the topic.

Note: Calorie content of foods are based on official website information at the time of publication. Minutes of exercise are averages based on a 155-pound person. The greater the weight of the person the more calories burned per minute.

DONUT
Dunkin Donuts Chocolate Frosted Donut (230 calories)
59 minutes of walking (3 mph).

BREAKFAST SANDWICH
McDonald's Egg McMuffin (300 calories)
32 minutes of running (5 mph).

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE
Panera Chocolate Chipper (440 calories)
62 minutes of biking (10-11.9 mph).

PIZZA
Pizza Hut Large Hand-Tossed Style Cheese Pizza (1 slice; 320 calories)
39 minutes of swimming (slow to moderate laps).

CINNAMON ROLL
Starbucks Cinnamon Roll (500 calories, varies by location)
85 minutes of dancing.

HAMBURGER
Burger King Original Whopper With Cheese (770 calories)
94 minutes of swimming (slow to moderate laps).

BROWNIE
Au Bon Pain Chocolate Chip Brownie (380 calories).
129 minutes of yoga (Hatha style).

FRIES
Wendy's Large French Fries (540 calories)
77 minutes of biking (10-11.9 mph).

ICE CREAM
Häagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream (0.5 cup; 270 calories)
29 minutes of running (5 mph).

BURRITO
Taco Bell Burrito Supreme, Beef (410 calories)
70 minutes of dancing.

The next time you think that eating these foods once in a while won’t hinder your efforts to see your abs again or fit into the bikini, think again. Not only will indulging in these treats hamper your quest for a lean physique, but they will also lead to weight gain which is known to cause heart disease, back pain, sciatica and many other disorders – some of which can be treated with chiropractic and some that can’t. I hope that you found this information entertaining and helpful.

Chiropractic and Nutrition: Soy – Good or Bad

Being a Chiropractor in San Diego, I am surrounded by patients who try to make improvements in their health on a number of fronts. Sure, they often come to my office complaining of neck pain, back pain or headaches that require chiropractic care, but usually at some point the topic of nutrition comes up. At that point I usually ask the question - Do you consume soy?

Soy is everywhere now days. It can be found in bread, cakes, baby formula, milk, meat substitutes, cereal, snack foods and even pet foods. As most of you know you can even get soy-based drinks at Starbucks. In fact, almost every time that I have been in Starbucks I overhear customers ordering a “Soy Chai Latte” something or other - intentionally.

In many cases, soy seems to be the answer to many peoples diet concerns. Those who are lactose intolerant use soy milk and soy burgers are seen as an ideal protein substitute for those who are vegetarians.

Soy, however, has some very real health complications for its consumers. Soy is an estrogen precursor and can cause a host of side effects in both women and men. Like most hormones, elevated levels of estrogen come with dangers. Soy can trigger the growth of estrogen based fibrotic tumors in women and result in the formation of breast tissue in men (gynecomastia).

Many people have allergies to soy that can cause everything from mal-absorption to full blown allergic reactions that include upset stomachs, excessive mucus production, vomiting and hives.  Allergies to soy is relevant for my patients because it can cause or contribute to joint pain and stiffness as well.

In addition to elevated estrogen levels, soy milk contains nearly 100 times the aluminum that is found in cow’s milk. In a report issued in 1997 by the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition, aluminum levels in breast milk ranged from 4 to 65 ng/mL while soy-based formulas contained 600 to 1300 ng/mL. As many of you may know, research is leaning heavily toward aluminum as a contributor to Alzheimer’s disease.

Soy is neither safe nor natural. It is heavily processed with a variety of toxic chemicals.

Soy is often offered as a healthier and natural alternative to our normal foods. However, there are many problems with soy, and I see my chiropractic patients struggle with physical symptoms secondary to soy consumption on a regular basis. This article touches on just a few of the problems with soy consumption. If you would like more information on soy, try going to the food and drug administrations’ website and search for “soy” to find in depth material on the possible dangers of soy in your diet.

Diet, exercise and chiropractic care can all contribute toward making you a much healthier and happier person. 

Controlling Dietary Cravings

In my San Diego chiropractic clinic, for the most part, I treat people that are more oriented toward taking proactive steps in maintaining their health. In addition to helping my patients with the typical neck pain, back pain and headaches that are common complaints for chiropractors, I also give advice regarding nutrition and exercise that help them become healthier people.

Dietary cravings are the downfall for many of us regarding our health. I can’t recall what the disorders or deficiencies were, but I remember studying conditions that made some people crave dirt – that is right, people crave to eat dirt, and other deficiencies that made people crave aspirin. Obviously, none of us would think that a nice plate of dirt for dinner would sound good without some underlying nutritional deficiency that would drive us to such a craving.

It is interesting how mineral deficiencies can result in cravings of more typical types of foods. Naturopath Colleen Huber says that all food cravings are a signal that our bodies are telling us that we need more of certain types of foods. For example; when we crave sweets our bodies really need chromium, carbon, phosphorus, sulfur or tryptophan. A craving for chocolate can be an indicator that you are deficient in magnesium while a craving for salty foods is an indication that we are chloride deficient. If you crave soda or other carbonated drinks what you really need is calcium.

This is incredibly valuable information. Once again, as a chiropractor I am not only concerned with relieving my patients back pain or neck pain but I am concerned about their health as a whole. Poor diets are fueled by cravings that we often don’t understand and by poor planning of our daily diets. A poor nutrition diet can cause low energy, weight gain, low self image and a feeling of being out of control among a host of other much more serious disorders.

Treatment For Neck Pain And Arm Pain

A few months ago I had a young lady come to my San Diego Chiropractic office with these complaints. In addition to numbness and tingling, she had neck pain, shoulder pain, arm pain, wrist pain and hand pain. She also complained of weakness in her left hand, which was resulting in clumsiness and was affecting her work as an executive secretary.

Complaints of neck pain and arm pain are seen with regular frequency in my office. The process is a familiar one and common with many musculoskeletal conditions that involve the nervous system. Usually, postural stresses such as leaning over a desk or computer will eventually irritate a specific joint in the spine. The irritation of the joint causes inflammation of the muscles and ligaments that surround that joint. This inflammation will cause compression of the local nerves resulting in pain and muscle spasm. If the nerve compression persists, numbness, tingling and weakness of the related muscles will follow.

This patient was displaying signs and symptoms of long-term nerve root compression that involved her left arm and hand.

We treated her with chiropractic manipulations that were delivered with the specific goal of eliminating the nerve root compression. She was also treated with ice packs, hot packs, electrical muscle stimulation and ultrasound in order to address the soft tissue inflammation. In addition to in office care she was given a set of stretches and exercises for at home therapy and advised to use ice packs daily for twenty minutes per session.

It took approximately eight weeks of active care, which is three treatment visits per week, to relieve 90% of her pain and 90% of her left arm weakness. The rest of her symptoms will resolve with at home therapy and chiropractic care delivered on an as needed basis for flair-ups that will occur in the future.

Feel free to call me at my San Diego Chiropractic office if you are experiencing symptoms similar to the ones discussed in this post - I would be happy to help you work through your problem.  

Back Pain Relief in San Diego

Many patients are looking for back pain relief when they schedule appointments at my San Diego Chiropractic clinic.

Most people consider chiropractors as back pain specialists. That being said, chiropractors provide treatment for patients with a variety of ailments including neck pain, headaches, sciatic pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc. While all of these conditions sound very different, they are actually very similar in the way they develop.

Most patients that suffer with headaches also complain of pain in the neck or neck stiffness. In fact, many headaches are related to muscle tension that originates in the neck. In these cases it is in fact the muscle tension or spasm in the neck that triggers the headache. Therefore, by treating the neck with a combination of chiropractic adjustments, hot packs, ice packs, muscle stimulation and ultrasound; the muscle tension in the neck can be resolved preventing the headache.

This is just an example of how one problem in a specific region of the body can be responsible for symptoms in a separate area. Likewise, sciatica is most often related to irritation of joints and muscle spasms in the lower back. Similarly, carpal tunnel syndrome results from a process involving joints in the wrist and the surrounding muscles and ligaments.

Almost all conditions follow the same path to becoming symptomatic - either through some specific injury or ongoing trauma (such as keyboarding or mousing), the joint(s) becomes irritated and inflamed causing pain and muscle spasm. If the pain and spasm affects a specific nerve, you may experience additional symptoms such as sciatica or arm / hand pain.

Pinched Nerves

You are on my last nerve! When I was a kid my mom probably said that to me a hundred times. Now my patients in my San Diego chiropractic office complain of other types of nerve issues. Sometimes, pinched nerves accompany neck pain, back pain and headaches.

Pinched nerves always result in pain traveling down either an arm or a leg resulting in what is called radiating pain. Many patients come to my San Diego chiropractic office complaining of a pinched nerve but my exam reveals simple neck pain or back pain.

There are many causes of pinched nerves. One of the worst scenarios involves a herniated disc in the spine that is putting pressure on the nerve. Herniated discs don't always mean that surgery is required but it usually results in stretched out, more intensive treatment plans.

One of the more common causes of pinched nerves results from irritated and inflamed joints in the spine. Poor lifting habits, awkward sleeping positions, poor posture and many other aggravating activities can inflame the ligamentous capsule that surrounds the joint. As the capsule swells, it cause local muscle spasm and can cause compression or pinching of the nerve.

Like I wrote earlier in the article, pinching of the nerve causes radiating pain that travels down the leg, into an arm, down the back or sometimes up to the back of the head. Either way, pinched nerves can make you absolutely miserable.

There are several things that you can do for a pinched nerve at home. To begin with, pinched nerves almost always involve inflammation and swelling. By applying ice packs to painful areas you can reduce the inflammation and relieve some of the pain. In addition to ice pack use, you have to acknowledge and respect your pain. That means rest as much as you can - working through pain rarely works out well for the patient. Try your best to stay out of painful positions and don't "test" it.

Chiropractic treatment is very effective at relieving the symptoms of a pinched nerve. Instead of masking the pain with drugs, chiropractic care improves the mechanics of the joint which helps relieve the pain and improve your range of motion.

Headaches and Chiropractic Treatment

I don't know about you, but I am a headache wimp - and I freely admit it to the patients of my San Diego Chiropractic clinic. I hardly ever get headaches, when I do I don't handle them very well. I get moody and I tend to "snap" at people that really mean me no harm.

In addition to my San Diego chiropractic office treating patients with neck pain and low back pain, we see many people with headaches. Headaches have many causes and there are many different types of headaches as well.

The most common types of headache that we provide treatment for are migraine and muscle tension headaches.

Muscle tension headaches typically begin in the muscles of the neck and upper back. When these muscle become tense, they pull on the muscles that cover your head. This tension results in a headache.

Muscle tension headaches can result from postural stresses such as long hours of computer work, they can develop as a result of car accident injuries, or just plain old work and home stresses.

One common reason for chronic, on going tension in the muscle is miss-aligned vertebra. When the vertebra become miss-aligned due to postural stress, awkward sleeping positions, accidents, etc., the muscles around that vertebra tighten up as a protective mechanism. The tight muscles are commonly the root cause of the muscle tension headache.

Chiropractic care re-aligns the joints of the spine causing a relaxation of the surrounding muscles. When the joints in the neck are re-aligned, the muscles that move and support that particular vertebra relax and return to their normal functions.

When the muscles are relaxed, the muscle tension subsides and the headache goes away. Treatment for muscle tension headaches usually requires a series of treatments but you should notice a decrease in the frequency and the severity of your headache with subsequent treatment.

Chiropractic Treatment for Low Back Pain

Why do I have back pain? Being a chiropractor in San Diego, I hear this question all the time. Back pain and neck pain are the two most common complaints that my patients have. The fact that my practice is in San Diego probably decreases the frequency of these complaints.  People in San Diego tend to be more active than those who live in other parts of the country which actually lowers the incidence of low back and neck pain.

Over fifteen years ago when I first started practicing chiropractic care in San Diego, most of my low back pain patients and neck pain patients for that matter were not related to office work. Most of the cases that I had when I first started practicing were do to injuries like car accidents and falls or heavy work.

In the mid to late nineteen nineties, I started to see a trend in injury mechanisms among my patients. They were starting to attribute their pain to long hours of sitting at the computer.

Sitting all day at the computer not only causes back pain but it also causes neck pain, headaches, carpal tunnel syndrome and various arm problems.

Lower back pain is primarily due to poor sitting posture. When we are standing up with good posture, our lower backs have a sweeping forward bowing curve that resembles a stretched out letter "c". This shape distributes our bodies weight evenly throughout the spine. When we sit, this curve reverses, greatly increasing the stress on the joints and discs in the spine.

With time, postural stress causes irritation and inflammation resulting in pain and muscle spasms.

Once the low back has reached a point of pain and spasms, chiropractic care is necessary to relieve the pain, improve the biomechanics of the spine and relax the muscles.

In addition to chiropractic care for back pain, the patient must seek out an ergonomic chair and have it adjusted properly for their body. In many cases, I suggest a complete workstation analysis to help prevent future problems related to postural stress. 

Chiropractic Care is Much Safer Than You Think

As a Doctor of Chiropractic, I often deal with new patients who carry an unreasonable fear concerning chiropractic treatment.  New patients that I see in my San Diego Chiropractic practice often have some fears associated with chiropractic treatment, in my opinion, a lifetime of neck pain, back pain or headaches should inspire much more fear than chiropractic treatment.

I have been practicing chiropractic in San Diego full time since I moved here in 1993. During that time I have kept in close contact with 8 friends that I made while in Chiropractic College. There are another 10 or so that I speak with 2 or 3 times per year. All but one of these doctors has been in full time practice for at least 15 years. Out of all of these doctors, not one of them has had a patient sue them for treatment related injuries. One of these doctors knows a doctor who was sued by a patient that tripped over his welcome mat and suffered a broken arm.

At a risk prevention seminar that I attended several years ago, the instructor stated that in a group of 25 chiropractors that practice for 20 years seeing an average of 100 patients per week, that one of these doctors would have a patient suffer from a serious injury related to treatment.  That is equal to 1 serious injury in every 2.6 million chiropractic adjustments. When these numbers are compared to the dangers of Tylenol use for example, one can see how comparatively safe chiropractic care actually is. Just in the United States and the United Kingdom, each year there are 300 deaths and 130,000 emergency room visits as a direct result of Tylenol use.

The rest of this post is a compilation of facts regarding the safety of chiropractic treatment.

Chiropractic is Safe.
Records form insurance and court cases have constantly shown that chiropractic is the safest portal of entry health care available to the public today. Although no healthcare procedures are 100% safe, chiropractic stands on its record of safety and effectiveness unmatched in healthcare. To learn more about the safety record of chiropractic please visit the website
Chiropractic Is Safe at www.chiropracticissafe.org.

Chiropractic is the fastest-growing and second-largest primary health care profession.
There are approximately 60,000 doctors of chiropractic (DCs) in active practice in the United States spread from rural areas to inner cities. More than 10,000 students are currently enrolled in chiropractic educational programs accredited by a federally-recognized body (CCE).

Chiropractic services are in high demand.
Tens of millions of Americans routinely opt for chiropractic services and this number is rapidly growing. In 1993, more than 30 million patients made chiropractic a regular part of their health care program.

Doctors of Chiropractic receive extensive, demanding professional education that is on par with medical doctors (MDs) and osteopaths (DOs).
To receive the doctor of chiropractic degree, candidates must complete extensive undergraduate prerequisites and four years of graduate-level instruction and internship at an accredited chiropractic institution. Comprehensive knowledge of all systems of the body and diagnostic procedures enable the DC to thoroughly evaluate a patient, address disorders relating to the spine and determine the need for referral to another health care provider.

Doctors of Chiropractic are primary health care providers.
According to the Center for Studies in Health Policy, "The DC can provide all three levels of primary care interventions and therefore is a primary care provider, as are MDs and DOs. The doctor of chiropractic is a gatekeeper to the health care system and an independent practitioner who provides primary care services. The DC's office is a direct access portal of entry to the full scope of service."

Doctors of Chiropractic are licensed in all 50 states. DCs have been licensed and recognized for many decades in all states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Chiropractic is recognized by governmental health care programs.

Chiropractic is included in Medicare, Medicaid, Federal Employees Health Care Benefits Programs, Federal Workers' Compensation and all state workers' compensation programs.

Chiropractic students are qualified to receive federal student loan assistance and DCs are authorized to be commissioned as health care officers in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Chiropractic care is very effective and very safe. We have been treating patients with neck pain, back pain, headaches and many other symptoms for years without incident. I hope that this article hits home with some of you who have delayed chiropractic care due to unfounded fears.

Why Does Chiropractic Care Work?

A new patient of my San Diego Chiropractic clinic asked me this question just the other day. The funny thing about this question was that he was a new patient for me but he had been going to different chiropractors for nearly 40 years. Over the years he had struggled with neck pain, back pain and headaches that occurred after various falls, work injuries and car accidents and had created his need for a life time of chiropractic treatment.  I thought it was odd that he asked me why chiropractic works after all the care he had been through.

Certain types of injuries cause chronic symptoms Various physical issues that never fully return to their pre-accident state cause chronic symptoms.

For instance, whiplash type injuries leave about 25% of the patients with chronic ongoing neck pain. In these cases, the muscles that move and support the neck have been stretched and sometimes torn. When muscles tear they heal with scar tissue. Scar tissue does not move, stretch or contract like healthy muscle tissue.

Because of the different properties of scar tissue that has formed within the healthy muscle, the joint that is moved by that muscle becomes dysfunctional. As the joints movement alters, it has the potential to become irritated and inflamed. These irritated and inflamed joints then become painful, restricted in their movements and the muscles that move that joint tighten and spasm as a protective mechanism.

Chiropractic care is the perfect solution for painful joints and spasmed muscles. Through manipulation or adjustments of the affected joints, the muscle spasms are calmed and the pain is relieved. For some patients, ongoing chiropractic care helps prevent the onset of pain and stiffness that is associated with chronic injuries.

This example above is just one of the reasons that some chiropractic patients come in for treatment on a regular basis.

As for the patient above, he said he has been coming in for chiropractic for neck pain and back pain for years. He receives treatment for both health maintenance reasons as well as for control of specific symptoms that come up from time to time.

Chiropractic and Nutrition Continued

Ever since I started practicing chiropractic in San Diego I have had trouble sleeping. I addressed this issue in several blog posts over the last few weeks.

As many of you know, lack of sleep makes days difficult and nights dreadful.

I had always assumed that my lack of sleep was secondary to stress from my business / practice. It seemed like a reasonable assumption. I spend my days treating patients who I truly care about for neck pain, back pain, headaches and other aches and pains. While I love my job, having patients depend on you for their well being is stressful and I do think of these things at night.

There was also a time when I decided that my lack of a good nights sleep was due to caffeine. As a result of this assumption I completely weaned myself off of coffee for about five years. This didn't really help me sleep any better but I was much calmer in fact until I eliminated caffeine from my diet I didn't realize how anxious it made me.

As you may have read in my prior posts, I ended up having a hair mineral analysis that had really interesting results.  The Mineral Analysis showed a deficiency in several nutrient minerals that can have an impact on sleep.

For the last six weeks or so I have been supplementing these minerals and have been experiencing some exciting results. As of last night, I have been sleeping for three or four hours per night longer than I used to.

What a huge difference!

Instead of feeling run down and tired I actually have energy. My anxiety has decreased and my paper work shuffle at work is much more efficient.

I still have great concerns about my patients' neck pain, back pain and headaches, but I think about them during the day now, not at night.

Last night I had a horrible sleep and today I feel wiped out. It made me wonder how I used to live with nights like that on a regular basis.