Our legislature is about to decide on some very important health care issues. Here is a video from the American Chiropractic Association taped in early February. We want our readers to be informed about the issues. There is a proposal to cut almost 30% of medicare reimbursement. We will continue to update you on this as time goes on. Please feel free to leave your comments below.

Treating the symptom vs treating the underlying problem

Symptoms are the last thing to show up and the first thing to disappear

For most patients, this statement is true. The symptoms are why we go to the doctor. We seek some sort of help when the symptoms get bad enough we cannot stand it any longer. The symptoms that cause us to seek the help of a chiropractor may be a nagging ache, a sharp pain, a burning sensation or numbness, among many other things.

We tend to think the symptom is the problem

We think if we make the symptom go away, the underlying problem will go away. Think about this, when you have a headache, do you think, “I need to take some of my favorite pain reliever” or do you think, “I wonder why I have a headache. Is it my sinuses, is it my neck, is it stress related?” As you can see, it is important for us to try to find the underlying cause of the symptom and not just treat the symptom hoping the problem will resolve itself. Education is very important.

For Chiropractors, this symptom-treating mindset is difficult to overcome when talking to the patient. Patients need to be willing to look at a different way to treat their symptoms. Seeking the help of a chiropractor is one way. Being open minded about treatments and not always thinking taking a pill is the answer.

Readjusting the neck can get rid of that nagging headache that keeps coming back day after day. Realigning the lower spine can get rid of that pain in your right hip that has been there for months. Any sudden jolt or collision with a relatively immovable object can have an effect on the joints of the body. Symptoms may not occur until much later though so you have to be aware of this.

For many chiropractors, the practice of treating the symptoms and not the problem is hard to overcome, but with the help of blogs like this and other chiropractic promoting organizations, we will overcome it and help others live a healthier, less painful life.

Balkman Chiropractic Clinic. http://www.balkmanclinic.com

Subluxation of the Spine - What is it?

Chiropractic is at its most basic level defined as the correction and detection of vertebral subluxation.  What is a vertebral subluxation?  That’s a pseudomedical term used to describe a misaligned and malfunctioning vertebral segment.  The segment must fit certain criteria to determine it being “subluxated”.  The misaligned segment must have abnormal motion, there should be evidence of swelling or inflammation, and nerve irritation.  Understanding the complexity of this criteria requires unique training to properly locate, let alone properly correct. The spine is certainly a unique organ in many ways; its anatomy and physiology allow for the strange phenomenon that is subluxation (intervertebral disc).  There are further mechanical stressors unique to the human spine that allow for this phenomenon.  Our posture and body habits are certainly unique. One is hard pressed to name another living creature that walks on two legs and has fully usable upper extremities and not wings.  Further compound our unique build with strange activities, like sitting for hours and hours daily for years and years, throw in bizarre activities such as roller skating and football, and one can begin to understand that there just might be something to the vertebral subluxation theory.  Today’s focus, however; is to be on how a joint acquires the initial subluxation status… ie joint injury.

Chiropractic, and joint injury:

Joint injury is different from muscle injury in one major way.  Muscles have ample blood supply.  In a muscle, this blood supply brings a steady supply of necessary nutrients, and can remove waste products as needed.  Nothing special is required of the body for this to happen, in fact; this may happen better if the muscle is used less so as not to stretch or broaden the margin of injury…

Joints have a very poor blood supply.  Joints receive the vast majority of their nutrients via synovial fluid.  This fluid comes in and out of the joint via motion.  In an injured joint, normal motion is often disturbed. Should this happen, it is difficult for the joint to receive the appropriate nutrients, and to do away with waste products.  Restoring motion to an injured joint is of the utmost importance for proper healing.  Medicine has most certainly caught on to this phenomenon in recent years.  Rehabilitation for joint surgeries involves movement and use of the joint, usually within 24 hours of the procedure.  This all comes back to the idea that the joint needs motion for proper healing to take place.  This principle has been important since the inception of chiropractic.  Spinal joints are, perhaps, the most complex of joints because of the mechanics of the intervertebral disc.  The intervertebral disc is quite hearty, contrary to archaic misnomers such as slipped disc.  It functions much like a pivotal ball-bearing between each vertebra.  The vertebral “motor unit” as it is sometimes called, also has another joint in it.  The zygapophyseal or, facet joints, as they are more commonly called, are responsible for a small amount of movement, and for restricting excessive rotation.  They are less commonly implicated as problem causers in the spine; as these joints are much simpler in mechanical function and makeup, and are more similar to many other joints in the body in their structure.  The reason these spinal joints are more a focus in chiropractic than other joints in the body is because of their close relationship with the nervous system.  The spine houses the spinal cord, with a pair of nerve roots between each and every vertebral level.  If there is abnormal joint movement at a disc, or a facet the sluggish synovial fluid within the joint can lead to the release of inflammatory drainage right around a nerve root.  These noxious chemicals can irritate the nerve root and result in a variety of symptoms, most usually pain.

Locating these fixated vertebral segments, and inducing motion is the mainstay in chiropractic.  The ideal way to do this is to isolate and move the offending vertebra to a neutral position atop the segment below it.  Chiropractic is a science, so long as it is specific.  Once an appropriate adjustment to the right segment is made, the body is then able to do what it was designed to do, healing can begin.

The principle of joints requiring normal motion is applied to other joints in the body by many chiropractors, myself included.  It follows the idea that motion is required for proper health of the joint, of course, the most appropriate way to do this would again involve analysis to move the bones of the joint into a more normal/neutral positioning, setting the stage for healing.  There is nothing miraculous about the process, the healing will take time, and longstanding misalignment often will require follow-up care to encourage proper joint positioning, and maintain good joint spacing that promotes healing. Written by Dr Alan Alexander, DO.

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