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Why Is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome So Common?

August 11th, 2010

          Carpal tunnel syndrome, is a condition where a nerve (called the median nerve) is compressed in a relatively tight or restricted space (called the carpal tunnel), resulting in altered nerve function that includes numbness and weakness. In order to fully understand what  carpal tunnel syndrome is, let’s devote this Health Update to better understanding the anatomy of the carpal tunnel.

          The carpal tunnel is made up from 8 bones (2 rows of 4 carpal bones that are stacked on top of each other) that are arranged in the shape of a horse shoe. The “roof” of the tunnel is a ligament (transverse carpal ligament) that stretches tightly across the two ends of the horseshoe completing the formation of a tunnel – actually, an upside down tunnel when looking at the palm side of the wrist). The contents of the tunnel include 9 tendons and their covering (sheath), blood vessels and on top of all that just under the roof is the median nerve – the culprit that creates most of the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. The cause of carpal tunnel syndrome  is simply anything that causes the contents inside the tunnel to swell, which then compresses the median nerve up into the roof or ligament, pinching the nerve. This can create numbness, tingling, the falling asleep sensation and weakness. It’s important to point out that the median nerve starts out from the neck, passes through the shoulder, past the elbow, through the wrist’s carpal tunnel and ends in the hand – specifically fingers 2,3, and 4. Therefore, the ENTIRE nerve must be looked at for all carpal tunnel syndrome cases as pinching can occur anywhere along its course from the neck to the hand.

It’s said that pictures say a thousand words, so let’s take a look!

new-picture-4                   new-picture-5

 

           Using the pictures here, familiarize yourself with the words and re-read the 2nd paragraph above, periodically looking at these pictures until you feel you understand where everything goes. Once you’ve accomplished that, you’ll be able to better appreciate carpal tunnel syndrome , how the anatomy relates to the condition, and appreciate the need to reduce the swelling inside the tunnel when symptoms occur. The treatment is simple: “PRICE” – P protect R rest I ice C compress E elevate – accomplished by bracing (especially at night), ice cup massage (5 min. until numb 5x/day), rest (light duty work), and therapy (see your chiropractor!).

          We realize that you have a choice in who you are considering for your chiropractor, and we sincerely appreciate your trust in choosing our service for those needs. If you, a friend or family member requires care from a chiropractor for carpal tunnel syndrome , we would be honored to render our services.  We would love to be your chiropractor!

YOU MAY BE A CANDIDATE FOR CHIROPRACTIC CARE FOR CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME! FOR A FREE NO-OBLIGATION CONSULTATION CALL 512-263-0040

What is Good Head Posture?

August 10th, 2010

          Have you ever noticed how many people have terrible posture? One of the most common faulty postures is called forward head carriage or anterior based occiput. Other terms are hump back or slouching. There are several reasons for this common postural fault. One is the weight of the head is, on average, approximately 10-13 pounds and if it’s positioned too far forwards, the muscles in the upper back and neck tighten up much more than normal, fatigue and become painful. Also, the muscles that attach to the skull have different degrees of strength. They also attach and pull at different angles, contributing to the common forward head carriage posture. The muscle of the chest are much stronger than those in the mid and upper back and tend to pull our shoulders forward. The following pictures offer a good view of both a faulty posture as well as a good posture. Notice the forward shift in the line in the pictures of poor posture and backwards shift in the good posture pictures.

 

  new-picture-1     new-picture-11      new-picture-3   new-picture-21

 Forward Head    Good Head Posture     Forward Shoulders    Good Shoulders Posture

          As you can see, the weight of the head  is back over the shoulders and the shoulder posture is appropriately positioned back in the image titled “Good Head Posture.”

          It is important to understand correcting Forward Head Carriage takes time – in fact, it takes a minimum of 3 month before this becomes an automatic new habit.  Of course, it could take longer or, completely fail IF you are not VERY conscientious about CONSTANTLY reminding yourself to position your posture as shown above in the “Good Head Posture” image.  An exercise based on this posture correction technique is performed by retracting your chin/head as far back as you can and holding that position for 5-10 seconds. Doing this multiple times a day, between the time you maintain a partial chin tuck (“Good Head Posture”) position will further facilitate the posture retraining process.

          If you, a family member or a friend require chiropractic care, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our service. We are proud that chiropractic care has consistently scored the highest level of satisfaction when compared to other forms of health care provision, and we look forward in serving you and your family presently and in the future.

YOU MAY BE A CANDIDATE FOR CHIROPRACTIC CARE FOR NECK PAIN!  FOR A FREE NO-OBLIGATION CONSULTATION CALL 512-263-0040

How To Improve Your Odds Of Crash Survival

August 3rd, 2010

You might ask, what does this headline have to do with chiropractic? It’s often said case management or patient care is much more than just what we do to our patients (such as in chiropractic, applying a spinal adjustment). The patient education portion of our care plan can frequently make or break a successful outcome in a case. It is the goal of this Health Update to potentially save your life by empowering you with the knowledge needed when it’s time to purchase your next car. This is about what specific automobile features contribute to crash survival – hence, saving lives!

Did you know the car you choose can improve the odds of crash survival by 400%? In the popular magazine Consumer Reports, they wrote, “Ultimately, safety is active and passive, balancing the ability to avoid an accident and to survive one.” Typically, the first thing we do as consumers when we consider safety in a particular car is to look at the crash-test results. While this is important, we must first consider the size and weight so we compare crash-test results between cars in the same weight class since statistics show there are two times as many occupant deaths annually in small vs. large cars. Keeping size and weight in the foreground, when evaluating crash-test results, the front and rear end “crumple zone” of the car should be designed to absorb crash forces by buckling and bending in a serious collision. If you’ve ever watched race cars crash, you usually see car parts bend and break off as they bounce off the guard rail or other cars, sometimes to the point where all that is left is the cage surrounding the driver. Amazingly, the race car driver often climbs out of the cage and walks away, seemingly unharmed.

The next important car feature to consider is a car with a structurally superior passenger compartment. Look for a high quality “restraint system” made up of 3 components: seat belts, airbags, and head restraints. These work together to keep us safe and in place during a crash while the outside of the car crumples, absorbing the energy of the crash.

So where do you look to get this information? There are several resources available:

1. The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) tests front end impacts at 35 mph, and in 1997 added side impact tests at 38 mph. They also test for the rollover potential for SUVs and trucks and grade the results for each category from 1 to 5 stars representing the likelihood of suffering a life-threatening injury in a crash.

2. Since 1995, the IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) has used a method reviewed by Consumer Reports as being more realistic by crashing only half of the vehicle at similar speeds into fixed barriers, since most crashes are not direct, whole car strikes.

3. Consumer Reports is a 3rd option. They integrate the data from both NHTSA and IIHS and gives us their “CR Safety Assessment,” and run 40 new cars each year through numerous individual tests.

Other important “accident avoiding” features often overlooked include: Tires - greatly impact braking and emergency handling so REPLACE them as needed; Braking-check for the distance required to stop the car at different speeds- the shorter, the better; Emergency Handling-data about accident avoidance and choosing a vehicle with electronic stability control (ESC), especially in SUVs is wise; Acceleration-the quicker a car can get to highway speeds, the better; Driver position and visibility-a good view of the surroundings, especially the “blind spots” is important. We realize you have a choice in where you go for your health care needs and we truly appreciate your consideration in allowing us to help you.

YOU MAY BE A CANDIDATE FOR CHIROPRACTIC CARE FOR WHIPLASH!FOR A FREE NO-OBLIGATION CONSULTATION CALL 512.263.0040

Fibromyalgia: Dietary Guide

July 30th, 2010

Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition affecting multiple body systems is not limited to any one aspect of health. Because of this, there is no ONE diet that works the same for all fibromyalgia patients. Since most diets that address fibromyalgia  are based on general healthy eating principles utilized for many conditions such as hypoglycemia, diabetes, food allergies, headaches, digestive disorders, and fatigue, let’s review some of the most popular and successful dietary approaches that have been reported regarding fibromyalgia.

 

Basic Guidelines:

1. Carbohydrates: AVOID all refined carbs (white flour products). Eat whole grain bread, oatmeal, granola, nuts. Avoid artificial sweeteners and limit sugar intake to a max. of 40g/2000 calories. Eat roughly 14 grams / 1000 calories consumed of soluble dietary fiber such as apples, oats, and legumes vs. insoluble fiber such as bran. Your total carb intake from all sources should be between 30-55% of your total calories.

2. Fats: AVOID saturated fats (these clog up circulation, lead to inflammation and pain). That means <10% of total calories consumed, so limit or eliminate foods such as cheese, beef, milk, oils, ice cream, cakes, cookies, mayonnaise, margarine, chips and chicken skin. Eat mono- and poly-unsaturated fats and include regular amounts of omega 3-fats. Eat < 300mg/day of cholesterol; Try to avoid ALL trans fats such as cakes, cookies, crackers, pies, bread, margarine, fried potatoes, chips, shortening. Take omega 3 fatty acids like alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) as these help make other omega 3 fats like EPA and DHA, and are very helpful for the brain. ALA is found in flaxseed, linseed oil, or cod liver oil. Limit total fat intake to 20-35% of calories consumed.

3. Protein: Go easy on red meat as they are high in saturated fat. Instead, eat more fish and vegetable protein (legumes and soybeans are great). When eating meat or poultry, remove all visible fat and skin before eating. Maintain protein at 20-40% of total caloric intake. AVOID: processed meats, especially salt-cured, smoked or nitrate-cured.

4. Fruits & Vegetables: Whole fruits are superior to juices. Include blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, kiwis, peaches, mango, cantaloupe melon and apples. Some fibromyalgia sufferers cannot tolerate citrus fruits but if you can, fruits like oranges and grapefruits are great. Vegetables are crucial. Good choices include carrots, squash, sweet potato, spinach, kale, collard greens, broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts. These foods reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases (diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancers).

5. Dairy Products: Choose reduced or fat-free varieties of cow or soy milk. This also applies to yogurt and cheese.

6. Healthy drinks: Drink 8 glasses of water a day or diluted fruit juices, or herbal teas. Drinking water helps flush out toxins. Avoid coffee, tea, and alcohol as these increase fatigue, increase muscle pain and interfere with normal sleeping patterns. Limit or eliminate alcohol.

7. Healthy Snacks: Chopped vegetables, unsalted nuts and/or seeds; AVOID ALL commercial snack foods (except salt-free air-popped popcorn) as these are high in trans fats & salt. Avoid chocolate and candy.

8. Junk Food: Regular consumption of this is BAD for fibromyalgia patients due to the high levels of fat, sodium, calories and general lack of nutrition. 

9. Artificial Sweeteners: AVOID them! Examples: aspartame, NutraSweet, & saccharine.

10. MSG: (monosodium glutamate (MSG) and Sodium (Salt) can aggravate fibromyalgia. 

11. QUANTITY: Eat smaller light meals, especially in the evenings.

We recognize the importance of including chiropractic in your treatment planning and realize you have a choice of providers. If you, a friend or family member requires care forfibromyalgia , we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services and look forward in serving you and your family presently and, in the future.

YOU MAY BE A CANDIDATE FOR CHIROPRACTIC CARE FOR FIBROMYALGIA! FOR A FREE NO-OBLIGATION CONSULTATION CALL 512-263-0040

Simple Low Back Exercise

July 28th, 2010

“Doc, I try to do my exercises but I have to hit the ground running in the morning….to get the kids ready for the school bus….I have morning meetings….I’m not a morning person….I’m pulled in 100 directions during the day….I forget about them until I’m in bed….I exercise on my job and that’s enough….”

I’m sure we’ve all rationalized our inability to keep up with exercises, especially after our episode of low back pain subsides. In fact, only about 4% of low back pain patients continue doing their exercises after their pain subsides. That means 96% of us with chronic, recurring low back pain DO NOT exercise even though we know we should. We feel bad, even guilty for not exercising. So, what can we do to “trick” ourselves into being more compliant with our low back exercises?

First, let’s accept the fact that most of us cannot consistently “fit in” exercise into our busy schedules. With that said, the timing of when to do the exercise may be more important than even doing them at the same time every day. In other words, do a few exercises when you need them the most. For example, if you’re working at a computer for more than 1 hour, and you start to feel low back pain from the prolonged sitting – especially if your work station set up is less than ideal – do one or two sitting exercises right at your work station, before your low back pain gets any worse. If you wait too long, the exercises may not be of much benefit. Setting a timer next to your screen that beeps every hour is a good reminder to do one or two simple exercises and only takes a minute or two.  Here are three sit down low back exercise options (try them all and decide which one(s) feel most productive/helpful):

1. “Crossed Knee Stretch”: Cross your legs; pull the crossed knee towards your opposite shoulder (feel the pull in your buttocks); arch your low back and at the same time, twist or rotate to the side of the crossed knee. Hold for 5-10 seconds and repeat up to 3 times. Repeat this on the opposite side.

2. “Sit Twists”: Reach across with your right hand and grasp your left leg at mid-thigh. Twist/rotate your back to the left and pull with your arm. Hold 5-10 seconds / repeat 3 times. Repeat this on the opposite side.

3. “Sit Floor Touches”: Bend over as if to touch the floor or tie a shoe. Hold 5-10 seconds.

If you do the math, it would take a minute for #1 and #2, 30 seconds for #3 (total 2.5 min.). If that’s too long, hold for 5 seconds. If that’s too long, do 1 rep, not 3. You get the idea…..MAKE IT WORK! Modify the dose to fit your schedule or ability to stretch. If you do this AT THE TIME you start to feel tight or sore, you can prevent a low back pain episode!

We realize you have a choice in where you choose yourchiropractic services. If you, a friend or family member requires care for low back pain, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services and look forward in serving you and your family presently and, in the future.

YOU MAY BE A CANDIDATE FOR CHIROPRACTIC CARE FOR LOW BACK PAIN! FOR A FREE NO-OBLIGATION CONSULTATION CALL 512-263-0040

Keep Breathing!

July 25th, 2010

How important is oxygen and lung capacity? The surface area of a human lung is equal to a tennis court. Unfortunately, without exercising your lungs (slow deep breathing — 5 to 10 deep breaths every hour and exercise), your lung capacity will shrink as you age.

Brain Energy Output

July 24th, 2010

90% of the energy output of the brain is used in relating the physical body to gravity. Only 10% has to do with thinking, metabolism and healing, so when you have forward head posture your brain will rob energy from your thinking, metabolism and immune function to deal with abnormal gravity/posture relationships and processing.
Dr. Roger Sperry (Nobel Prize, Brain Research, 1981)

Stretching Exercises At Your Desk For Your Back And Shoulders

July 23rd, 2010

Sit on the edge of your chair. Put your feet together, flat on the floor. Lean over, chest to knees, letting your arms dangle loosely to the floor. Release your neck. Now bring your hands behind your legs, right hand grasping left wrist, forearm, left hand grasping the right. Feel the stretch in your back, shoulders and neck. Hold. Release your hands to the floor again. Repeat three times or as often as it feels good.

Special Delivery

July 22nd, 2010

Eating high-fiber foods ensures timely digestion and elimination of wastes (whereas overconsumption of animal fats and low-fiber foods leads to colonic inactivity and constipation). Foods high in saturated fat also can contribute to plaque buildup in the arteries, reducing the ability of blood to move through the body and potentially causing a blockage - leading to a heart attack or stroke. Peter W. Crownfield, To Your Health

Are School Wellness Policies Implemented?

July 21st, 2010

The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 requires all school districts have a Wellness Policy if they participate in federally funded school meal programs. Part of the Wellness Policy should include nutrition education activities. 58% of the teachers thought they did not have adequate classroom time to include nutrition competencies. 64% thought they had the skills to incorporate the wellness policy, but only 30% are including nutrition competencies into their lesson plans. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, July/August 2010

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