Medicine

Jul 9 2014

Off the Top of My Head: Simple Q & A.

Why are chiropractors against pharmaceutical drugs?

They aren’t! They are against the misuse/overuse of drugs. Chiropractors are concerned with the side effects of drugs and know that there is often a non-drug approach to the patient’s problem. If pharmaceutical drug intervention is necessary then the proper referral will be made.

Why are chiropractors against surgery?

Again, they aren’t. Often chiropractors can help avoid expensive, unnecessary surgeries. Chiropractic care is safer and more cost effective than surgery. Chiropractors think patients should explore all alternatives to surgery first. Certainly if surgery is required and is the only option, the DC will make the proper referral.

Chiropractors often want to improve the patient’s posture. How come?

Your posture is directly related to your health. Don’t believe me? Take a look. Just spend the next few days observing people 50 years and over. Notice their posture and then notice how healthy they look. You likely will see people with good posture almost always look healthier than those with bad posture. Poor posture causes problems with the spinal cord (nervous system), respiratory system and cardiovascular system.

Here are a couple quotes to support these concepts:

“Head in forward posture can add up to 30 lbs of abnormal leverage on the cervical spine. This can pull the entire spine out of alignment. Forward head posture may result in the loss of 30% of vital lung capacity. These breath-related effects are primarily due to the loss of the cervical lordosis, which blocks the action of the hyoid muscles (muscles in the front of your neck), especially the inferior hyoid responsible for helping lift the first rib during inhalation.” – Rene Cailliet MD, famous medical author and former director of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at USC

“All measures of health showed significantly poorer scores with poor posture. Even minor forward head/body balance is detrimental. The severity of symptoms increases in a linear fashion with progressive increase of forward head/body imbalance. There is clear evidence of increased pain and decreased function as the magnitude of forward head/body balance increases.” – Spine Volume 30(18), September 15, 2005 pp. 2024-2029

If you have more questions about these topics (pharmaceutical drugs, surgery or posture) and how chiropractic care can keep you healthy, talk to Dr. Lance Casazza.

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Oct 15 2013

Chiropractic Even Without Pain?

Collage of several of Gray's muscle pictures

So a few weekends ago I was attending a seminar for chiropractors and the speaker asked all the attendees if they would want to get adjusted if they were pain free. Every chiropractor immediately responded YES!

I was not surprised by this one bit. The speaker went on to say that most people in the general population would be shocked and confused on why chiropractors would want care in the absence of pain. So I thought I would explain why I want an adjustment even if I am not in pain.

What’s going on here?

First we need to understand why any joint should be adjusted if it is pain free.

With routine daily activities, (driving, sitting at a computer, house chores, etc) in time the soft tissues (muscles, ligaments, discs, tendons, fascia) slowly begin to fatigue and fail.

What happens?

  1. Muscles go into a contractile state with acute or chronic overuse, pain or not.
  2. Acute and/or chronic inflammatory chemicals flow into your muscles and other soft tissues, and they do not always cause pain but they begin to build-up.
  3. Acute and/or chronic inflammatory chemicals get trapped in your muscles and other soft tissues, and they do not always cause pain but they begin to build-up.
  4. Soft tissue adhesions begin to form (starting in 4 days of lack of proper motion) and tighten the tissues.
  5. All of these led to a decrease in proper joint motion, whether it is you low back, neck, shoulder, ankle etc. the same mechanism is occurring.

Then the adjustment!! 

The benefits of the adjustment

  1. Restores motion – both symmetry and range of motion
  2. Normalize biomechanics and load distribution of the joints
  3. Pumps out waste products and edematous fluid that had been trapped
  4. Improves blood flow, thus nutrition to the discs and articular cartilage
  5. Relaxes tight muscles
  6. Normalizes proprioception – position sense and kinesthesia
  7. Stimulates sensory-motor reflexes which improve dynamic muscular stabilization of joints
  8. Accelerates healing – as movement:
    1. increases metabolic rate of injured tissues
    2. increases collagen and protein production as the damaged tissue repairs
  9. Improves the alignment of new connective tissue to strengthen the soft tissue.
  10. Thoracic spine adjustments aid in improving your ability to breath.
  11. Oh yeah, and you feel amazing!!

Note: This is just the beginning of all the reasons I want to get adjusted as every part of your body functions at a higher level after a chiropractic adjustment.

See you soon…

If you have more questions about the benefits of chiropractic just ask: Dr. Lance Casazza.

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Oct 15 2013

Pain Theory vs Functional Theory?

Technique and Practice of Chiropractic

Pain theory is the idea that the only goal is to decrease or stop pain. Functional theory is the idea that we want the body region, soft tissue and joint to return to a maximum level of functionality.

A new patient wants or at least thinks they want just pain relief when they first come into a chiropractic office. There can be a huge disconnect between the chiropractor (who wants to restore function) and the patient (who wants pain relief) and why many patients are skeptical about chiropractic when they first come in. It is paramount that the patient understands the difference between the two ideals. And then if they still want just pain relief well then…

Pain Theory:

The quickest way to stop pain is to immobilize and ice the injured area. The good news is this will ease your pain. Just because you have no pain does NOT mean the joint is functioning properly!

The bad news is that with lack of motion and ice there are many negative physiological effects:

muscles atrophy and become weaker, muscles tighten reducing blood flow and function, soft tissue adhesions develop rapidly, proprioception of the joint is diminished and fluid flow (needed to bring nutrients into the injury site and remove toxic build-up) is slowed.

In other words besides decreasing pain everything to make the injury heal is being done backwards!

A Study Please:

Professor Lan Zhou and colleagues at the Neuroinflammation Research Centre at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio discovered inflamed cells produce a high level of a hormone called insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) which significantly increases the rate of muscle regeneration. This suggests muscle inflammation after acute injury is essential to repair. Icing slows down the healing as it prevents the release of this hormone. This changes the idea that swelling must be controlled in order to encourage healing and prevent pain.

Additionally this could change how much patient monitoring is required when potent anti-inflammatory drugs are prescribed over a long period. It’s been known for a long time that excess anti-inflammatory medication, such as cortisone, slows wound healing. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Oct 2010.

Functional Theory: The idea here is let’s do everything we can to allow the injury to heal the best it can.

The goal is fast healing and maximal function. This is achieved by mobilization and heating of the injured site.

(Note: never determine this on your own, always check with your chiropractor as torn tissue or broken bones will both not respond well to this theory.)

The physiological effects of functional theory as compared to pain theory: muscles stay stronger and looser, adhesion formation is less, proprioception is maintained, and fluid flow is far better.

Chiropractic Adjustment: Functional theory is exactly what the adjustment is all about. Putting a joint into motion allows for optimal physiological function. A body/joint that moves well will always be healthier than one that does not.

If you have more questions about pain theory vs functional theory or chiropractic just ask: Dr. Lance Casazza.

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Casazza Chiropractic
2716 V Street, Sacramento CA 95818
Office: (916) 447-2200 – Fax (916) 447-7930
Email Dr. Casazza: [email protected]

Hours
Mon. 8-1 and 3-5;
Tues.-Thurs. 8-1  and 3-6;
Fri. 8-1 and 3-5; Sat. 8-12

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