Wednesday, May 28, 2014

One thing you need to know about your discs



Over the past 15 years, I have worked with many folks with disc problems, some mild, some severe.  One of the things I have learned is that very few people understand how their discs work and how to keep them healthy.  Even those who have been through the wringer with physical therapy, orthopedists, surgery, and even chiropractic care still have very little understanding of how the source of all their agony actually works.

So, what's the one thing you need to know about discs?  Except for at the very edges, it has no blood supply!  The only other part of the body that has no blood supply that I know of is the cornea of the eye.

With no blood supply, how does it get it's nutrition and stay hydrated?  It literally draws fluid in from the vertebra above it and the vertebra below it.  Your vertebrae, by the way, have a great blood supply.

I know I said you needed to know one thing about discs, but there's actually two things you need to know.  The second is this:  for nutrients and water to flow into the disc from the bone, there has to be motion in the joint.  If the joint is stuck, even a little, the disc can't get rid of waste, can't draw in enough nutrients, and can't draw in enough water.  In other words, without motion in the spinal joint, the disc becomes a weak, malnourished, dehydrated mess.

Then one day you bend over to pick up a paper clip and BAM! ...your back "goes out."  Keeping your spine moving keeps your discs healthy.  If you haven't been in to get adjusted in more than a month, it's time; no matter how good or bad you feel!  Give us a call and come on in for a tune up, and we'll keep those discs healthy together.

Ken Hicks, D.C.
www.lookoutvalleychiro.com



Wednesday, May 7, 2014

How to make your chiropractic results last longer!

OK, so for the vast majority of the folks we take care of chiropractic works. It works really well.

So, what's next?  How do we keep feeling good and maybe even keep getting better?  It really boils down to two things:  Spinal exercises (which I will cover in another post) and maintenance adjustments.

You've put your time, energy, and money into getting your spine in better shape.  Let's keep it in good shape.

I believe that each and every one of us should be getting our spine checked at least once a month, preferably twice a month.  And, it's not just me, the research backs this up.

The prestigious medical journal Spine published research showing the benefits of maintenance care.  In it they took patients with low back pain and split them into three groups.  One group got  12 sham or fake adjustments, The second group got 12 real adjustments for the first month, but no maintenance afterwards, and the third group got 12 adjustments the first month and then two adjustments per month for the next nine months.

I'm putting two charts from this study below:






If you look at the chart above you can see that both groups that received 12 adjustments in the first month reported improvements in pain.  The pink line is the group that did not have maintenance adjustments and you can see that over the next nine months much of their pain came back.  Now look at the yellow line. That's the group that received maintenance adjustments two times a month for nine months following their initial month of care.  As you can see, not only did their pain not return, their pain continued to drop even further over the next nine months.





Now, this second chart looks almost just like the first one.  The only difference is that this chart is measuring disability, not pain.  In other words, it's looking at how you function, not just how you feel.  What we see is the same thing as we saw on the first chart.  Disability drops in both groups that received 12 adjustments in their first month of care.  But, the disability slowly returns in the group without maintenance care. In contrast, the group that received maintenance care for the next nine months not only maintained their improvement, the continued to get better!

So regardless of whether you just want to feel better or you actually want to function better, maintenance care is essential.

The authors of the research stated "As patients did benefit from the maintenance treatment, we believe that periodic patient visits permit proper evaluation, detection, and early treatment of any emerging problems, thus preventing future episodes of low back pain."  Or, as I tell my patients, getting your spine checked once or twice a month keeps the little problems from becoming big problems!

Ken Hicks, D.C.
Lookout Valley Chiropractic