Talking Backs

Chiropractic for Common Ailments

Lanie James — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:03:05 +0000

The Brains Responds to a Pathology

I’ve received many questions regarding chiropractic and how it can help with common ailments. The answer can be very complex. It involves describing how a pathology is triggered.

pa⋅thol⋅o⋅gy: any deviation from a healthy, normal, or efficient condition

Your brain develops an initial interpretation to a threat (or ailment), then your body performs intricate responses to counter the threat followed by a secondary interpretation of how the body responds to the threat’s counter, and so on. Basically, your brain first learns of the pathology and subsequently responds to it via the nervous system.

So the simplest explanation of how chiropractic can help common ailments is this:

The nervous system, your information relay system, connects to EVERY tissue in the body. It tells your hand to reach for the doorknob, grip, turn, and pull to open a door. It tells your body what muscles to contract and what joints to move to do any major or minor activity you think about doing. It is essentially the network that tells every system in the body how to function. Your heart beats, you breath, your stomach digests, your immune system fights infection, and every other “activity” your body does to function day in and day out.

Now let’s get back to chiropractic. Chiropractic’s main focus is the detection and treatment of nerve interference. Basically, what and where is the malfunction in your network. Chiropractors do this by examining and adjusting misalignments, especially in the spine where the nerves exist and can be irritated. Any misalignments or irritations travel to the tissues.

Snags in Your “Network” Can Cause….

Nerves exiting from the cervical spine (neck region) can go to the ears, sinuses, head, arms, and other tissues near that area. Symptoms of nerve irritation in this region include headaches, earaches, sinus pain, pain and numbness into the arms, just to name a few.

Nerves exiting from the thoracic spine (mid back region) can go to the heart, lungs, liver, stomach kidneys and many other tissues near that area. Symptoms of nerve irritation in this region include asthma, congestion, heart conditions, liver problems, stomach troubles, kidney issues, just to name a few.

Nerves exiting from the lumbar spine (lower back region) can go to the intestines, bladder, sex organs, legs and feet, and other tissues near that area. Symptoms of nerve irritation in this region include constipation, cramps, bladder problems, leg pain and numbness, and poor circulation amongst others.

Nerves exiting from and near the sacrum and coccyx region (base of the spine) travel to the hip bones, buttocks, and rectum. Nerve irritation in this region is, well, just not fun.

Of course there are many other aspects of health and wellness that chiropractors address. I often discuss lifestyle changes with my patients, such as diet, exercise, stress reduction, and postural improvements. It all comes back to this, take care of your body and it will take care of you.

If I can be of any assistance to you or anyone you care about, do not hesitate to contact me at (405)728-3138.

Sincerely,

Tracy L. Calamaio, D.C.

TLC Chiropractic

Children and Chiropractic

Lanie James — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:21:58 +0000

Early Chiropractic for Prevention & Wellness

One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is that I get to help people feel better. During that process, I get to educate people about the benefits of chiropractic care to improve their overall health, not only for pain relief. Preventative and wellness care is far superior to crisis care, in my opinion, and what better place to start is with our children. A lot of people are surprised that chiropractors treat children. I can’t imagine NOT treating them. If you imagine all the trauma their little spines and joints go through beginning with birth through the falls with learning to sit and walk, sports, and growing in general. Our bodies have an amazing ability to heal themselves given all the proper input. The biggest factor that chiropractic can help with is nerve flow.

All of the information our joints, muscles, organs, skin, and other tissue starts with the brain, down the spinal cord, out the spinal nerves, to the smaller nerves, to those tissues. If we want to wave, the impulse starts in the brain and needs to flow to the hand. When we eat there are numerous nerve impulses necessary to digest our food and get the nutrients our body needs. Every system in the body initially gets started in the nervous system. Even the things that happen “automatically” does so by first getting the impulse through nerves.

Correct Minor Problems Before They Become Major Problems

So back to why chiropractic can help your children be healthier. Remember when I talked about trauma to the spine beginning at birth. If you have ever watched a child being born, they usually come out face up but have to have their head turned far to the side until they rotate to get their shoulders out. That causes a lot of rotation on the vertebrae at the top of the spine. Sometimes the vertebra shift and don’t return to their normal resting position causing pressure on the very delicate nerves exiting between them. This can also happen if babies sleep on their stomach or the typical “head bobbling” that occurs before babies have good muscular control and strength in their neck. Then as they start crawling, which helps develop proper curves in the neck and low back, and standing and walking, they have numerous falls and jolts to the spine. Continue on with their growth and activities and it should seem obvious the strain their bodies go through.

Correct minor joint problems early to help prevent major problems in the future. I have tre ated children with allergies, asthma, digestive problems, headaches, frequent illnesses, ear infe ctions, sports injuries, and many other conditions with tremendous success. Remember, the body has an amazing ability to heal itself if it doesn’t have any interference and is given the proper nutrients and exercise.

If I can help you or anyone you care about, do not hesitate to contact me at (405)728-3138.

Sincerely,

Tracy L. Calamaio, D.C.

TLC Chiropractic Clinic

Stand Up Straight! How Your Posture Can Save Your Spine

Lanie James — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:04:42 +0000

How Your Posture Can Save Your Spine

The effects of poor posture can be serious in terms of health, comfort, and efficiency – causing fatigue. Simply, poor posture can affect your health and well-being. Additionally, posture affects your appearance but also how you feel. Poor posture can cause muscle and joint pain as it puts uneven weight-bearing on the tissues. It also contributes to shallow breathing, a cramped chest cavity, faulty digestion, poor elimination, and poor venous return; each of which affects not only functions of the individuals’ organs, but also the system.

I use a great demonstration to show my patients how a slumped head forward posture can affect their function:

Example 1:

First, stand or sit with an exaggerated head forward posture and look to the right and left. It feels uncomfortable but also like you hit a “brick wall” and can’t turn your head very far.

Next, stand straight and push your head back where your ears are over your shoulders and your shoulders are straight across, not rounded forward. Now turn your head left and right. Your motion will be significantly better and not feel “restricted” at the end of the motion. This shows just a slight shift in your posture can improve your neck range of motion.

Example 2:

Second, stand or sit with that slumped head forward posture and move your arms straight to your sides while trying to bring them over your head. You’ll again feel like you “hit a brick wall” and can probably only raise your arms to just above the shoulders. Again, correct your posture with your head over your shoulders and your shoulders straight across and raise your arms again. You can now raise your arms over your head.

Now you know how posture can affect your shoulder range of motion. Be patient! Now you’re going to learn something very important about posture.

Example 3:

Again get in that slumped head forward posture and take a deep breath. When you breathe in that position, you feel your chest constrict and you can’t fill your lungs. Now, shift to proper posture and take a deep breath. You can feel your lungs fill and your chest can expand fully.

Imagine what it does to your body and overall health when you’re getting less oxygen. Fatigue and weight gain from a slowed metabolism are some of the most common overall wellness issues that can be associated with poor posture. When you have the opportunity look at the posture of anyone that is significantly overweight and you’ll notice a head forward, rounded shoulder posture.

What to look for

When I evaluate a patient, I look for structural problems: joint motion abnormalities, muscle imbalances, posture problems, and numerous other system and history review. Not only do we try to correct the current condition, but also determine the cause(s) of the condition. I look at lifestyle and activities to see if changes could be made to reduce the chances of the condition returning. Sometimes it turns out to be changing your workstation so your monitor is directly in front of you and your arms and shoulders are relaxed when on your keyboard. Other times it’s a simple change in your position while you drive.

There are numerous lifestyle behaviors that can have major impact on the body, especially the spine. Remember though, not all of them lead to sudden pain that you know should be investigated. This goes back to my first blog. Only a small percentage of nerve fibers are sensory, meaning those that cause pain and numbness. Many carry impulses to the other tissues, such as organs, muscles, eyes, and EVERY cell in your body.

When our posture is straight, shoulders straight across, head directly over our shoulders, hips, and ankles, there is significantly less stress on our joints and discs. Take care of your spine, especially with something as controllable as posture, and it will take care of you. If I can help you or anyone you care about, do not hesitate to contact me at (405) 728-3138.

Sincerely,

Tracy L. Calamaio, D.C.

TLC Chiropractic Clinic

Itchy Eyes? Stuffy Nose? Chiropractic Can Help Allergies

Lanie James — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:03:19 +0000

Allergies and Your Immune System

“How can chiropractic care help with allergies?” I hear that question all the time. The simplest explanation I can give is that allergies are an exaggerated response of your immune system. So if we can get your immune system functioning more normally, your response to dust, pollen, mold, etc. won’t be so drastic that you have itchy eyes, runny nose, sneezing, difficulty breathing, and numerous other symptoms of an allergic response. Chiropractic gets the systems of the body functioning more normally by removing irritation to the nerves that come from the brain, down the spinal cord, out the spinal nerves and to the tissues.

Nerve Flow

If you read my first blog, you can tell I love analogies. A good one that definitely oversimplifies nerve flow, but helps you understand it, is to think of a water hose. If you turn it on and it doesn’t have any kinks the water flows out of it in a nice smooth stream. But if you completely bend and kink it up, the flow stops. Most times we don’t get a complete block in it though, let’s say you just barely step on it. Now the water gets a little more sporadic, it squirts out a little faster and uneven. Nerve irritation is similar in that if you completely severe the nerve or block it completely, there is no function. But if you just put some pressure on a nerve, the flow of the nerve becomes sporadic or exaggerated and the body responds in a “not so normal” way.

Pay Attention to Your Body

Don’t you ever wonder why some people in the same family with the same lifestyles and eating habits have allergies while the others don’t? They’re exposed to the same allergens yet some people are sensitive to them and others aren’t. This is just another example of your body giving you warning signs that it’s not functioning normally. Hopefully, this will serve as a reminder to pay attention to your body. I’m amazed at really major changes in quality of life with minor movements of the vertebra and minor changes in lifestyle.

For Example

I recently had an excellent example of how much nerve irritation can cause the body’s immune system to function abnormally. I had a patient in my office with complaints of severe allergies that began very suddenly after a weekend trip to another state. He had slept uncomfortably that weekend and upon returning home, he began having itchy, watery eyes, and a runny nose. This got progressively worse over the next few years and began to severely restrict his abilities to work in his yard. After his first week of chiropractic adjustments, he was able to do yard work without ANY allergic symptoms. Most people think you’re either born with allergies or you’re not. This is not the case at all. We develop our immune system. The better we can develop and maintain it, the better it will work for us.

If I can be of any assistance to you or anyone you care about, please do not hesitate to contact me at (405) 728-3138.

Sincerely,

Tracy L. Calamaio, D.C.

TLC Chiropractic Clinic

Lifetime Chiropractic Care

Lanie James — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:48:10 +0000

Why Chiropractic Is Important

I know I’ve heard all the jokes. How many chiropractors does it take to help ______ (you fill in the blank)? One, but it will take 25 visits. There are plenty of variations but you get the point. I’d like to try to explain that chiropractic care like other forms of health care is a lifetime commitment. Here are a few analogies.

Chiropractic Parallels Dentistry

Imagine your teeth are very crooked and you decide to see an orthodontist. If you could tolerate the pain, and it would be excruciating, your orthodontist could put the braces on and start cranking and cranking until your teeth were straight. You would be in a lot of pain, probably bleeding, passed out, but your teeth would be straight. Now the orthodontist removes the braces that very day. Guess what? Your teeth would move back to their crooked state. Why? Well your gums have been holding them that way for a very long time. They haven’t had a chance to slowly heal around the newly straightened position.

Now I know this is another tooth- related analogy… but what can I say? Dentists have done a lot better job educating the population about preventative care than most health care practitioners. If you brush your teeth a few times a day, floss, don’t eat a lot of sugary foods, etc., you have a significantly lower chance of developing cavities than someone that doesn’t. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise to most people because we have been educated better to take of our teeth than to take care of our body.

Chiropractic & Overall Wellness

Chiropractic is much more a wellness-oriented health care discipline than crisis care. However, most people initially visit a chiropractor due to pain. Pain is a good motivator because it is your body’s “alarm” stating something is not right. But oftentimes we have many other problems that aren’t necessarily causing neck or back pain.

Hippocrates, Father of Medicine, stated “look first to the spine for it is the root of many diseases.” He stated that after discovering many diseased organs had an interruption of normal nerve flow as the nerves exited from the spine.

The TLC Approach

My philosophy in my clinic is to investigate the cause of the patient’s condition and treat that cause. I’ve been in practice for almost 15 years and in that time I have treated a wide variety of conditions which I will cover in future blog posts. I determine if there is any joint dysfunction, especially in the spinal regions, that could cause interference in nerve function. Then the goal is to restore normal function of the joints and nerves.

But I think a very important part of long term health and stability of the spine is to determine the activities that initiated those joint problems in the first place. Do you need to work on postural muscles, muscle imbalances/weaknesses, changing your computer desk, proper lifting techniques, etc? These are some examples of lifestyle or behavioral modifications we address daily in our clinic.

I also evaluate if a patient needs to be referred to another health care practitioner. If I had a heart attack or sliced open my leg, you can bet that I would be going to the emergency room. In a perfect world, everyone in any health field would be working together for one purpose, to improve the health and quality of lives of every person they treat.

If I can be of any assistance to you or anyone you care about, please do not hesitate to contact me at (405) 728-3138.

Sincerely,
Tracy L. Calamaio, D.C.
TLC Chiropractic Clinic