Archives April 2021

If your hip pain is stopping you from doing your daily activities, something needs to be done and now. People find the acetabulum an easy joint to ignore, but it shouldn’t be. It’s a big ball joint with a large socket in the pelvic bones that has a lot of joint motion. When a person ignores hip pain, the body forms a scar in the joint. Because there is so much motion, it takes a lot of scar tissue building up before the joint pain becomes oppressive. At that point, it is getting too late. The joint has already lost articular cartilage, and we start to see the bone on bone type of pain.

What causes these joints to stop working right?

Usually a new injury will change the way that the joint works. As the injury ages, micro tears of the joint capsule and the supporting muscles lead to scar tissue. When the scars form, there is a significant chance that the hip will take a long time to heal. The injury can heal, when the joint is released. Healthy ligaments replace the scar and tendons allow for full range of motion. The hip, left in the fixed state, will develop scar tissue that becomes permanent. Then no amount of work will change it. Frequently, hip replacement with mechanical fasteners are the only way to reduce pain and get full movement back.

The Chiropractic Approach

As chiropractors, we adjust joints of all types. The hip, while a really mobile joint, is a fairly easy joint to adjust. We will use several techniques to adjust the hip. A straight osseous adjustment involves a high velocity thrust with distraction of the joint allowing for an increase in motion. An activator adjustment involves a mechanical instrument that delivers a super fast thrust with low force, making the adjustment less painful. The Charette technique of extremity adjusting, that I have used for nearly 20 years is one of the more effective techniques that I have used. All restore the joint motion and can give back some degree of pain free movement.

Like I said before, the earlier we catch the injury, the easier it is to restored the joint to normal. So, athletes who are either competing or training hard should be having maintenance adjustments done occasionally to any joint that has suffered injury. This is one of the reasons to have kids adjusted, especially once they have entered competitive sports. Then keep getting maintenance adjustments 4-6 times per year as you go on. Your future, very likely, depends on it.

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I’ve had a lot of people ask about Inversion Therapy and what it does.

What it is and What it does

If you’ve been in my office in the past several months, you will have noticed the inversion table sitting prominently inside the door. Basically, on this table, you set your height, hook your feet into the bar at the bottom, raise your arms over your head and lean back. If it’s set properly, you should have a gentle tip backwards until the bar stops you from going any farther over.

This table I have is safe for people up to 300 lbs. but some of the others I have seen only go to 250 lbs. I usually recommend no more than 5 minutes like this because of the blood pressure that goes toward the head. You will feel it and not want to stay over too much more than that. When you are done, bring your arms back down to your waist and you should slowly tip back up to the upright position. At that point, take your time and let your body get used to being upright again.

Why use Inversion Therapy?

There are a couple of great benefits.

1. It reverses the forces of gravity so muscles can stretch out and the spine can decompress. This opens up the discs and allows new fluid into them through diffusion and blood vessels. As more of the spine loosens up, the fascia can stretch slightly and loosen some of the adhesions that develop.

2. There’s a structure in the lower back called Batson’s Venous Plexus. It is a larger area where several veins come together. These veins are the only area in the body where the veins don’t have valves to help push the blood up toward the heart. Thus, there is pooling of used blood in this grouping of veins and toxins build up there. These toxins cause a lot of lower back pain and need to be drained. Inversion allows this venous plexus to drain to the heart and exchange the blood.

Warning about Inversion…

Inversion is not for everyone. If you have a lot of extra weight, it can be hazardous to invert. Those who have hypertension can have problems with it. It can be hard on the ankles, so if you have weak ankles it’s not for you. If you have a really painful lower back, definitely don’t go there. Going over doesn’t hurt but coming back up is crazy painful.

Kind of a long article, but it gives you the basics about how I feel on the subject of inversion. Here’s to your health.

Dr. Roy

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This little office device the story.

One of the first big cases that I had involved a gentleman with a totally messed up shoulder.  I adjusted, worked the muscles, stretched the joint but nothing seemed to work.

I started talking with him about his office set-up and his work, because something else had to be causing all these shoulder problems.  Turns out he was an engineer for a major multinational corporation and supervised several departments of other engineers. I started talking with him about his office set-up and his work, because something else had to be causing all these shoulder problems. Turns out he was an engineer for a major multinational corporation and supervised several departments of other engineers. 

He was on the computer all day long responding to emails and otherwise on the computer.  The shoulder problem was his right shoulder, his mouse arm, so I suggested a track ball. Once he started using the trackball, his shoulder pain started to ease and the joint relaxed a bunch. We could then adjust the shoulder, remove the adhesions, and relax the muscles.  Given our current circumstance with everyone working from home and on the computer all the time, I thought this information might be interesting.  There’s also an article in the news letter for February 17, 2021, about ergonomics in the office place. If this sounds familiar or you have another problem that needs solving, make an appointment or stop by for a visit and we’ll see what we can do.

Google Review

If this little office device article helped you, please write a Google review for me. I have been rewriting my website, trying to get it up in SEO rankings. Just by visiting my website and clicking on a few pages, you can help my rankings tremendously.  If you are not so inclined, I completely understand.  Here’s my wish for you… find peace, family, and hope in your day today. 

Dr. Roy

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