R Tyler Johnson Chiropractic

Peak Recovery - San Clemente, CA

85 Via Pico Plaza
San Clemente, CA 97672
Appointments: (949) 436-6440

Back Pain Article

by

The Chiropractic Center is pleased to provide education and information from a variety of trusted, professional resources.  Our goal is to increase the knowledge and comfort of our patients across a wide spectrum of interests affecting their health and well being.

If you have specific questions or concerns you’d like to discuss personally with us, please click here .  It would be our pleasure to ensure your complete understanding of the science of chiropractic treatments or other subjects covered in the article below.

The Nordic back pain subpopulation program: Can low back pain patterns be predicted from the first consultation with a chiropractor? A longitudinal pilot study.

Alice Kongsted email and Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde email

Chiropractic & Osteopathy 2010, 18:8doi:10.1186/1746-1340-18-8

Published: 29 April 2010

Abstract (provisional)

Background

It is widely believed that non-specific low back pain (LBP) consists of a number of subgroups which should be identified in order to improve treatment effects. In order to identify subgroups, patient characteristics that relate to different outcomes are searched for. However, LBP is often fluctuating or recurring rather than clearly limited in time. Therefore it would be relevant to consider outcome from a longitudinal perspective (describing ‘course patterns’) instead of defining it from an arbitrarily selected end-point after completed treatment.

Aims

The objectives of this pilot study were to investigate the interobserver reliability of a diagnostic classification system and to evaluate whether diagnostic classes or other baseline characteristics are associated with the LBP course pattern over a period of 18 weeks.

Methods

Patients visiting one of 7 chiropractors because of LBP were classified according to a diagnostic classification system, which includes end-range loading, SI-joint pain provocation tests, neurological examination and tests for muscle tenderness and abnormal nerve tension. In addition, age, gender, duration of pain and presence of leg pain were registered in the patient’s file. By weekly SMS-messages on their mobile phones, patients were asked how many days they had LBP the preceding week, and these answers were transformed into pain course patterns and the total number of LBP days.

Results

A total of 110 patients were included and 76 (69 %) completed follow-up. Thirty-five patients were examined by two chiropractors. The agreement regarding diagnostic classes was 83% (95 % CI: 70 – 96). The diagnostic classes were associated with the pain course patterns and number of LBP days. Patients with disc pain had the highest number of LBP days and patients with muscular pain reported the fewest (35 vs. 12 days, p<0.01). Men had better outcome than women (17 vs. 29 days, p < 0.01) and patients without leg pain tended to have fewer LBP days than those with leg pain (21 vs.31 days, p=0.06). Duration of LBP at the first visit was not associated with outcome.

Conclusions

The study indicated that there is a clinically meaningful relationship between diagnostic classes and the course of LBP. This should be evaluated in more depth.

Wellness and Chiropractic

by

Wellness

To visit the doctor when you’re feeling great is something new. Yet, a growing number of people who want to be and do their best are visiting chiropractors on just such a basis.

Fever.


The First Symptom

Remember staying home from school when we were sick and returning when we were feeling better? We learned to think of being sick as having obvious symptoms. This belief is now killing us. These days, most of us die from lifestyle-induced diseases whose first symptom is… death!

Healthy Response

The reverse is true as well. If you eat improperly prepared food and find yourself vomiting to expel it, you probably won’t feel good, but you’re having a healthy response.

Turns out that true health is how well our bodies work, not how we feel.

Central Control

How well our body functions is based upon the integrity of our nervous system. That’s why so many health-conscious people are seeing a chiropractor. They want to make sure that every organ and tissue has a 100% uninterrupted nerve supply. It just makes sense to detect little problems before they become serious problems.

The Key to Health

True health is optimum physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Drinking more water, eating nutritious foods, regular exercise and virtually every other healthy habit produces even bigger dividends when you have a properly working nervous system.

Although everyone wants to feel good, your chiropractic care should not be based on whether you have pain or other symptoms. Subluxations may exist without obvious symptoms. Just like dental cavities, high blood pressure or heart disease.

Whiplash and Chiropractic

by

Whiplash

You’re waiting at a stoplight. The sound of screeching tires is followed by the harsh sound of metal hitting metal. Your car is suddenly being pushed forward!

You’re being rear-ended!

In a split second, your body is pushed against your seat. Your head, isolated by your neck, delays its reaction.

Unhappy woman in cervical collar

Then, your body changes directions, moving forward to the limits of your seat belt. (You are wearing your seat belt aren’t you!?!) Then your head is snapped backwards. But you can’t stop it.

Even a minor fender bender can produce a whiplash injury. It may take a day or two, or sometimes months for symptoms to appear. Now what?

Get to a chiropractic office for a thorough examination! Pain pills won’t heal inflamed tendons and ligaments. Muscle relaxers won’t heal torn muscles. A cervical collar won’t restore a graceful forward spinal curve.

Specific chiropractic spinal adjustments, because they can help restore proper motion and position of individual spinal bones, can better assure proper healing.

The longer you wait the more unseen damage there is and the longer it may take to recover. Drugs may temporarily reduce the pain, but they simply delay more effective chiropractic care.

Stress and Chiropractic

by

Stress

Stress.Instead of fainting or going unconscious, think of a subluxation as your body’s attempt at managing stress.

Not all stress is bad. A 20-minute workout at the gym for a fit 25-year old is good stress. The same workout for your 75-year old grandmother would likely be bad stress!

Physical Stress

Repetitive motions (painting the ceiling), postural distortions (falling asleep with your neck twisted) and whiplash injuries from a car accident are physical stresses. So are slips and falls. Even being born!

Mental Stress

Ever faced an impossible deadline at work? Or grieved the loss of a loved one? Notice the posture of someone who is depressed. Frustration, or a sense of powerlessness at work are common forms of emotional stress.

Chemical Stress

Today’s environment constantly assaults us with chemicals. Drugs, preservatives, tobacco, alcohol, pollen and a host of other substances can affect our nervous system and muscle tone.

When your body reacts by “tripping a circuit breaker” and causing subluxation, chiropractic care can help.

Stress can’t be eliminated, but regular chiropractic care can help you better accommodate and adapt to it.

Slipped Discs and Chiropractic

by

Slipped Disc

Toothpaste tube with toothpaste squirted outA disc can’t slip. But it can wedge, bulge, protrude and herniate. Chiropractic care can help.


The most serious disc problem is a prolapsed disc in which the soft center ruptures and leaks.

Space for Nerves

The disc is a special cartilage between the bones of your spinal column. It attaches to the vertebra above and below it. This creates the separation between spinal bones so pairs of nerves can exit the spine.

Turning and Bending

Each spinal disc has a jelly-like “ball bearing” core that is contained by bands of fibrous tissue. Healthy discs give you flexibility for normal turning and bending. Improper lifting, slips, falls and car accidents can cause the core to shift:

Herniation – disc wedging narrows nerve openings. Obvious symptoms may not be present.

Protrusion – like a blister, the disc bulges where it is the weakest, causing nerve pressure.

Prolapse – with the cushioning and separating compromised by rupture, movement is painful.

Chiropractic First

Chiropractic has been a natural solution helping millions with a variety of disc problems.


Click here to contact us and schedule a consultation

Rotary

San Clemente Rotary