Back pain ranks as the leading cause of disability in the world. As many as 4 out of 5 people will suffer from back pain in one way or another. Back pain can be chronic and debilitating, making every day a struggle. What used to be ordinary tasks become challenging to perform and often result in more pain. Let’s discuss some of the things you can easily do to ease your back pain, and how a chiropractic doctor for back pain based in Redwood City, CA can help you achieve it.
Here are some simple things to help you alleviate your back pain:
Keeping your back in its best shape is the number one way to maintain your overall healthy body. Here at Advanced Spinal Care in Redwood City, California, we work on maintaining the proper alignment of the uppermost bones of the neck. Misalignment in this area is often the reason for back pain in many people. We adjust the bones to return to their correct positions, resulting in a decrease or elimination of back pain.
To schedule a complimentary consultation call our Redwood City office at 650-595-0500 You can also click the button below.
if you are outside of the local area you can find an Upper Cervical Doctor near you at www.uppercervicalawareness.com.
Sciatica flare-ups can give so much discomfort to people suffering from them. It happens when the sciatic nerve becomes compressed or irritated, leading to burning or pins and needles pain from the lower back down through the back of the leg. Performing the simplest tasks can be challenging.
One way to reduce the severity of the pain or decrease the frequency of episodes is through light exercises. Five exercises can help sciatica sufferers:
Having strong spinal and core muscles helps in preventing sciatica pain. These exercises accompanied with a treatment that addresses the root cause of sciatica can get rid of your pain completely.
Your spinal cord relays signals to and from your brain. Your nerves connect to your spinal cord and brain. When the uppermost bone in your spine (also known as atlas) gets out of its position, it creates a variety of compensations in the rest of the spine. These compensations can lead to muscle spasms, postural imbalance, and pain.
Advanced Spinal Care in Redwood City, California is highly skilled in NUCCA – a gentle chiropractic approach that focuses on correcting atlas misalignments. Our method does not involve any cracking or twisting of the neck. By realigning the atlas, pressure is reduced on the spinal cord and proper signals are sent to and from the brain, eventually creating a pain-free and balanced posture. Less muscle tension also results in even hips and a reduction or complete alleviation of sciatica symptoms.
In a case study, a 45-year-old woman who had sciatica down both legs had reported improvements after only one month of atlas chiropractic care. Her left leg sciatica was resolved, and her right leg sciatica had improved by 60%. After six months of care, her right leg sciatica had recovered by 98%.
Looking for a chiropractic doctor for back pain in Redwood City? Call us to schedule a consultation and get on the road to relief from your sciatica.
References:
1. Sciatica: Of all the nerve - Harvard Health [Internet]. Harvard Health. 2016 [cited 21 March 2016]. Available from: http://www.health.harvard.edu/pain/sciatica-of-all-the-nerve
2. Alibhoy N. Resolution of Fibromyalgia Following Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care: A Case Study. J Upper Cerv Chiro Res [Internet]. 2011 [cited 21 March 2016];2011(June):39-44. Available from: http://www.mccoypress.net/juccr/docs/2011-1059_fibromyalgia.pdf
To schedule a complimentary consultation call our Redwood City office at 650-595-0500 You can also click the button below.
if you are outside of the local area you can find an Upper Cervical Doctor near you at www.uppercervicalawareness.com.
Pain along the sciatic nerve can range from being constant or acutely related to certain movements. The general experience is radiating pain from the low back to the gluteus muscles, hamstrings and even to the calves, due to pressure placed on the sciatic nerve. Unfortunately, this is a common enough predicament that as many as 4 out of 10 people will deal with sciatic nerve pain in their lifetime.
Here are number of relief options commonly provided for sciatic nerve issues:
While these are popular ways to manage the pain, they do not necessarily provide lasting results. Similarly, prescription pain killers wear off and do not deal with the source of the issue. Since the relief options normally used are only temporary, many people have begun to look elsewhere. Natural solutions have become more and more popular among sciatic nerve sufferers, not only to discover what is at the bottom of their pain but to resolve it permanently.
The sciatic nerve is a compilation of many small nerves composing one large nerve that runs from the low back. At the lower end of the spine, the nerves extend out to the legs, hence the radiating pain people experience all the way down the body. The only way to become free from pain for the long term is to find out what is irritating the nerve. More often, the issue is not in the lower spine. Considering the great capacity the lower spine has to help with extra pressure, it often ends up compensating for problems along other areas of the spine.
One of the more likely areas is the atlas, an extremely mobile vertebra at the uppermost part of the spine. This vertebra actually cradles the skull and allows it to move side to side. This is important to know because this wide range predisposes it to misalign and cause issues that affect the rest of the back. One of the side effects can be extra weight bearing for the sciatic nerve in the lower back.
To help with this condition, the people who are most skilled in caring for this specific vertebra are upper cervical chiropractors. They are trained to assess and locate any misalignments and administer gentle, non-invasive adjustments for lasting relief for their patients. An adjustment to the atlas could be the very answer to becoming pain free from sciatic nerve pain.
References:
http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/guide/sciatica-pain-relief-options
To schedule a complimentary consultation call our Redwood City office at 650-595-0500 You can also click the button below.
if you are outside of the local area you can find an Upper Cervical Doctor near you at www.uppercervicalawareness.com.
Back pain. Almost everyone has had some type of experience with it. It can be excruciating and chronic for some sufferers, while others only have back pain occasionally and are able to carry on their normal daily routines. Back pain may come about after lifting something heavy or after a simple trip and fall. In some cases, it begins with no obvious cause and gradually gets worse over time.
Back pain does not discriminate. Anyone at any age can find themselves suffering from back pain. There are some things that may put you at greater risk for having back pain:
It may sound odd, but back pain can often be related to a problem of the upper cervical spine, particularly the top two bones of the neck, the C1 and C2 vertebrae. If these bones are misaligned, they can cause the rest of the body to compensate for the problem. Your head may tilt forward, along with your hips and shoulders. This leads to abnormal muscle spasms and tension in your lower and middle back. Signals going to the brain about what is happening in the body can be compromised as well.
Correcting the misalignment by using a gentle method, instead of popping or cracking the neck or spine, can lead to healing and restoration of normal alignment. This often alleviates the stress being put on the muscles of the back, leading to relief of back pain.
To schedule a complimentary consultation call our Redwood City office at 650-595-0500 You can also click the button below.
if you are outside of the local area you can find an Upper Cervical Doctor near you at www.uppercervicalawareness.com.
Did you realize as many as 80 percent of people experience some type of back pain at some point in their lives? Back pain is a common reason for missed days of work due to injury on the job. Back pain affects people of all walks of life. Men, women, and children suffer from back pain. It affects the young and old. It doesn’t matter what your nationality or work environment is. Anyone and everyone can get back pain.
A variety of things can be to blame for low back pain. Some injuries can heal up quickly and others are more chronic and degenerative conditions. Here are just a few reasons for back pain.
Interestingly, the top ones of the spine are as important or maybe even more important than the lower back area when it comes to coping with low back pain. When you think of the spine, imagine it as a whole unit, not a top and a bottom. It all works together. Oftentimes, if a misalignment is present in the top of the neck, the lower back will begin to hurt because it is twisting and compensating for the problem up above. Abnormal spinal cord tension is created, in addition to a disturbance of the signals going to and coming from the brain. Muscle tension on one side of the body may be tighter than the other side. The head becomes tilted, causing the shoulders and hips to become unlevel and triggering low back pain.
Upper cervical chiropractors use a gentle method to realign the top bones of the neck, often leading to a reprieve from low back pain. This is done without the need to crack or pop the neck. It is a mild, yet effective method.
To schedule a complimentary consultation call our Redwood City office at 650-595-0500 You can also click the button below.
if you are outside of the local area you can find an Upper Cervical Doctor near you at www.uppercervicalawareness.com.
Almost everyone has had some sort of back pain in their life. From dull and achy constant pain to sharp and stabbing pain making it hard to move, back pain can really impact your life. Is there anything you can do to help alleviate or even avoid it?
Your sleeping position. There are certain ways of sleeping that can either contribute to back pain or help relieve it. The absolute worst way to sleep is on your stomach. This results in your neck and spine being in an awkward position because the head is forced to be turned to one side for a long time.
The best way to sleep is to lie flat on your back with a proper pillow supporting the curve of your neck. This reduces the pressure from the top of your spine to the lower back.
Side sleeping comes somewhere in the middle of really bad and really good. If you sleep best on your side, it is important for you to put a pillow between your knees. This helps relieve stress on your lower back and keeps the spine in proper alignment.
Exercise. Exercise is very important to alleviate back pain. If you must sit for long periods of time for work, the back is under constant stress, and back pain may occur. Doing something you enjoy will help you keep with it. Some suggestions are Pilates, swimming, bike riding, or walking. It doesn’t really matter what you do as long as you do something. Just be sure not to overdo it. Take things slowly, especially when you are beginning.
Another good suggestion to keep the spine healthy is to have appointments regularly at your local upper cervical chiropractic office. The pain you are experiencing may be due to a misalignment in the bones of the upper cervical spine, particularly the top two bones. If a misalignment occurs here, the entire back compensates by twisting and moving, affecting and irritating the tissue and muscles of the back. By correcting these issues, back pain may improve or go away completely.
To schedule a complimentary consultation call our Redwood City office at 650-595-0500 You can also click the button below.
if you are outside of the local area you can find an Upper Cervical Doctor near you at www.uppercervicalawareness.com.
Low back pain can be distressing and uncomfortable, even intruding on your everyday life. If the pain radiates through the hips, buttocks, and down the back of your leg, you probably are suffering from sciatica. The sciatic nerve is about the size of the small finger, making it the largest nerve in the entire body. It is made up of nerve roots that come from the spinal cord in the low back.
Low back pain due to sciatica can be blamed on a problem with the discs of the low back, putting stress on the sciatic nerve. It can also be attributed to arthritis in the low back and bone spurs. For sciatica, the focus is usually on relieving the symptoms and doing particular exercises to relieve the pain. Some people resort to anti-inflammatories or use ice on the sore spots. This is good to provide temporary relief; however, for a lasting solution, the root cause must be addressed.
You may not even realize it, but if your upper neck is out of alignment, you may begin to notice more problems with low back pain and sciatica. This is because the alignment of these bones determines the posture for the rest of the spine. The atlas (C1) is located at the top of the neck and supports your head. If it moves out of place, even slightly, the entire spine compensates by twisting and shifting. This leads to spasms and unequal muscle tension and will eventually cause issues with the muscles and bones of the lower back.
Here at Advanced Spinal Care in Redwood City, California, we use a method that is precise and gentle to realign the upper neck bones. We are not required to pop or crack the neck or spine to get positive results. Rather, the bones realign more naturally, allowing the muscles to heal and the pressure on the vertebrae of the low back to be relieved. This often leads to a reduction in the symptoms of low back pain and sciatica.
To schedule a complimentary consultation call our Redwood City office at 650-595-0500 You can also click the button below.
if you are outside of the local area you can find an Upper Cervical Doctor near you at www.uppercervicalawareness.com.
When you think of whiplash, you usually imagine someone in a car accident being hit from behind. It only takes a hit of 5 mph to cause whiplash to occur. Some people can run faster than that. This shows that whiplash can occur more often than most people realize. When the head moves in a motion like a whip moving back and forth, it can cause muscles to tear, ligaments to become damaged, and other tissues of the neck to be negatively affected. When you endure whiplash, you often miss work days to recover, leading to a loss of productivity, emotional repercussions, and, if not cared for properly, long-term disability.
There is no way to test for whiplash. It is diagnosed based on symptoms. This can make care difficult as most of the time the diagnosis is just an educated guess. Once you have endured whiplash, you may notice symptoms that were not present before the accident, including:
Typical care for whiplash starts with icing the injury and using NSAIDs to reduce inflammation and pain. While this helps at first, it is not a long-term fix. In order to find that, a good place to start is by visiting us here in our Redwood City, California office. We will examine your neck to find the extent of the damage. Usually, it involves the top two bones of the neck, the C1 and C2 vertebrae. If they misalign, the structure of the neck is compromised and the ability of the brain to communicate with the body can be hindered. This impacts the nervous system and can cause a number of serious health problems down the road.
To correct the problem in the neck, we use a gentle method based on scientific measurements and precise adjustments to specific areas of the neck. We do not have to pop or crack the neck to get the results we want. We encourage the bones of the neck to move back into place naturally, leading to a happier and healthier person overall.
To schedule a complimentary consultation call our Redwood City office at 650-595-0500 You can also click the button below.
if you are outside of the local area you can find an Upper Cervical Doctor near you at www.uppercervicalawareness.com.
Sciatica is an extremely painful health condition related to inflammation or irritation of a nerve close to the spine. It is estimated that about 5% of those experiencing back pain also suffer from sciatica. Some factors that could cause sciatica pain to increase include:
Most of the time, sciatica only affects one leg. However, symptoms are varied and can include feelings such as:
One way to help alleviate sciatica pain is by standing and stretching. Although this is only temporary relief, it does work. Doctors will often suggest corticosteroid injections, anti-inflammatory drugs, and maybe even surgery in more severe cases. While these things may aid in controlling the symptoms, they do not address the root cause. In some cases, even after these treatments, sciatica returns.
It may seem unlikely that pain in the lower back could be coming from the neck. Let’s see, though, how the body works in order to appreciate how this is true.
As you probably already know, the spinal cord is a vital component of the body's operations. It is responsible for transmitting signals to and from the body and brain. Several nerves branch off the spinal cord. The spinal cord is protected by the spinal column. If the C1 vertebra, also called the atlas, is misaligned, stress and tension on the spinal cord is often the result. When there is tension, improper signals are sent to the brain that leads to postural imbalance, pain, and muscle spasms.
Postural imbalance, or poor posture, irritates the nerves because the body has to compensate for the improper posture. This can cause inflammation in the nerves, leading to sciatica pain.
In one study, a 45-year-old woman suffered from sciatica in both legs. She explored upper cervical chiropractic care, and after one month of adjustments to her C1 vertebra, she reported that sciatica in her left leg diminished. Her right leg pain improved nearly 60%. After 6 months of upper cervical care, her pain decreased nearly 98%!
To schedule a complimentary consultation call our Redwood City office at 650-595-0500 You can also click the button below.
if you are outside of the local area you can find an Upper Cervical Doctor near you at www.uppercervicalawareness.com.
Nearly 2 million people every year experience whiplash related to car accidents. But it’s important to recognize that not all of these accidents happened in major collisions. More often than not, this type of neck injury occurs at speeds as low as 5 mph. In fact, most car accidents happen at 12 mph. This means that most of those 2 million people who suffer from whiplash every year are involved in low-speed car accidents.
If whiplash can occur at 5 mph, then this type of neck injury can also occur in other activities such as a sports-related injury, a fall, or a physical altercation. German researchers Dr. Kaeser and Dr. Ettlin found that whiplash can lead to a number of different problems including hearing loss, dizziness, speech problems, and throat problems. These researchers also reported that through gentle adjustments to the upper neck vertebrae the effects of whiplash can most likely be reversed.
Strength training, range-of-motion exercises, and physical therapy can help the muscles to regain their ability to adequately support the head and neck. However, if you or anyone you know was recently involved in a car accident or any other sort of accident that you could’ve possibly suffered a whiplash injury, we strongly encourage you to seek out an upper cervical chiropractor. Upper cervical chiropractors are trained to detect any type of misalignment that could be the underlying cause of your pain.
Here at Advanced Spinal Care, we use gentle techniques to readjust the upper two bones in your neck. If there is a misalignment with these two bones, the C1 or C2, it can have an adverse effect on the brainstem and the signals being sent to the body. A readjustment will aid in restoring your brain’s ability to communicate with your body, therefore allowing your body to begin to heal itself naturally.
To schedule a complimentary consultation call our Redwood City office at 650-595-0500 You can also click the button below.
if you are outside of the local area you can find an Upper Cervical Doctor near you at www.uppercervicalawareness.com.
