Tale of a Wayward Sacrum

  Persistent pain in the low back may be due to a tilted sacrum. When this happens, it puts stress on the ligaments of the sacroiliac joints, which are broad, weight-bearing joints in the pelvis on either side of the triangular-shaped sacrum. 

The resulting stress on these ligaments causes pain.

When attending to this problem, careful balancing of the pelvic region is critical, and the sacrum must not be overlooked.

Precise, directional adjustments with the Activator instrument solve the problem and relieve the pain.

An Untrustworthy Knee

Patients often come in describing their knee as “feeling like it’s going to give way,” or “fees like I might fall.” 

This is often noticed most when going down stairs or steps.

The problem is likely a posterior proximal tibia----a backward misalignment of the large bone in the lower leg at its articulation at the knee. When this occurs, it causes a pulling on the achilles tendon in the back of the ankle, stressing the heel bone upward.

The adjustment is made to the proximal tibia, and also to the calcaneus, or heel bone. Both must be addressed to alleviate the problem.

Farmer's Footprint

Exposing the human & environmental impacts of chemical farming is the mission of “Farmer’s Footprint,” an organization encouraging and educating about better, healthier ways of food production.

                https://farmersfootprint.us

The guiding premise is that“a century of monocrop farming and reliance on pesticides has damaged our nation’s once-fertile soils and the health of every American. The rapid increase in pesticide use over the past few decades has coincided with this explosion of chronic disease.”

Awareness is growing that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, is implicated in many chronic diseases.

Watch a 20-min. film about one farming family who are abandoning chemical farming, nurturing their soil back to health, and working in concert with Nature:

https://farmersfootprint.us/watch/  

Iliotibial Band Syndrome

Pain in the outer side of the knee or hip can be caused by friction against the knee / leg / hip by a thick band of connective tissue alongside the thigh called the Iliotibial Band (ITB).

This is common in runners, weight lifters, and activities at the gym, etc., that involve repetitive bending of the knee with resistance. The ITB becomes excessively tight with repetitive use, which exacerbates the friction.

I address this by adjusting the hip, the knee, and releasing tension in the ITB with the Activator instrument. It is important for the patient to stretch before and after workouts, if running to stay on level surfaces, and to wear supportive shoes.

A distorted pelvis can contribute to this condition, so it is important for the patient to check in with me periodically for pelvic balancing.

Groin Pain

Patients presenting with pain in their groin have a particular kind of pelvic distortion involving the joint in the front of the pelvic girdle, called the pubic symphysis.

It is a movable joint which has a disc, like the discs in our spine. 

In most people, this joint is stable unless complex, usually severe, pelvic distortion occurs, or  if a mother who has carried a baby and given birth. In these instances, the pubic symphysis often becomes misaligned, and 99% of the time, a consequence is groin pain. 

As an Advanced Proficiency Activator Chiropractor, my job is to determine the nature of this misalignment, and correct it gently & precisely with the Activator instrument. The adjustment brings immediate relief. 

Protection From Blue Light

The blue light from computer screens, TVs, & cell phones causes eye fatigue, and is often a source of headaches and sleep disturbances.

The best solution I have found for this is BPA-free plastic glasses from Northland Outpost whose orange lenses block 95% of blue light. These are comfortable worn alone, and they also fit easily over my corrective lenses for watching TV.

These glasses, available on Amazon,

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Light-Blocking-Glasses-Insomnia/dp/B076GTTQLJ/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=northland+outpost+blue+light+blocking+glasses&qid=1612016903&sr=8-5

are very lightweight and reasonably priced. Since I’ve been using them my eye fatigue, especially from computer use, is significantly reduced.

Ouch! At The Elbow

You’re chopping vegetables, making a salad, brushing your hair, stacking kindling for the fireplace, hammering a nail---any of a multitude of actions that involve bending your hand backwards at your wrist---and you notice pain at your elbow.

What’s going on?

The muscles that bend your band backward at your wrist connect to the bone in your elbow. The tendon that attaches these muscles, called the “wrist extensors,” at the elbow can become irritated & inflammed, often due to overuse.

The result is that every time you activate your wrist extensor muscles when using your hand, there is a pull on the inflammed tendon at your elbow, and it hurts. 

What’s the solution? 

This situation can be very persistent of not treated. My protocol includes precise, gentle adjustments of the forearm and wrist with the Activator instrument, protection of the irritated tendon by use of a compressing band, anti-inflammatories including ice and topical arnica, and soft tissue therapy to the involved muscles.

New Medicare Deductible

We have cycled into a new “year” with Medicare, and there is a new annual deductible that must be met before reimbursement will kick in.

The 2020 deductible, $198, has increased to $203 for 2021. 

Compared to typical private health insurance deductibles, Medicare continues to be fair and reasonable, in my opinion, and Medicare continues to cover Chiropractic care for the spine. 

Regenerative Agriculture

 

“Just transitioning 10 percent of agricultural production to best practice regenerative systems will sequester enough CO₂ to reverse climate change 

and restore the global climate.” 

 Reversing Climate Change through Regenerative Agriculture - Regeneration International

Regenerative Agriculture uses farming and grazing methods that rebuild the soil’s organic matter, restore soil biodiversity (organisms and microorganisms), sequester more carbon in soil, and increase the amount of water the soil can hold.

It’s done by:

---disturbing the soil as little as possible; aka “no-till” farming. No plowing, which disturbs healthy soil fungi & microorganisms & increases erosion,

---cover crops, composting, & crop rotations to feed nutrients into soil,

---managed grazing to stimulate plant growth & increase soil fertility. 

Learn more here:   www.regenerationinternational.org/why-regenerative-agriculture/

Neurovascular Compromise

 A common example of neuromuscular compromise is Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS), when the nerves and / or blood vessels (brachial plexus) coming from the neck and going down the arm are subjected to pressure or abrasion (impingement) that compromises their normal function. 

Symptoms include numbness & tingling, reduced or altered sensation, or pain in the arm or hand.

Causes can be impingement between the scalenes (vertical muscles on the sides of the neck), between the clavicle & 1st rib, or a posterior distal clavicle (result of a direct frontal blow). Sometimes this is a sequela of whiplash injury; or chronic stress & tension affecting the neck, including postural stress; or from repetitive motion / overuse syndrome.  

I have precise, gentle adjustments to relieve the impingement, and give the patient stretches, exercises, and ergonomic counseling.

5 Secrets of the Right Pillow

IT PROVIDES CONSISTENT, RESISTIVE SUPPORT

to maintain the normal curve of the neck,

IT KEEPS THE HEAD IN LINE WITH THE SPINE

not bent up, or bent down,

IT DOES NOT SQUASH FLAT OR DEFORM

with movement during the night,

IT IS ORTHOPEDICALLY DESIGNED

to normalize posture during sleep,

IT WORKS FOR BOTH SIDE OR BACK SLEEPING

so you can change position.

Rotator Cuff

  Sometimes mistakenly thought to mean bones in the shoulder, the Rotator Cuff actually consists of 4 muscles which help maintain shoulder mobility, stability, & function.

These muscles are called the “S.I.T.S.” muscles, an acronym for the 4 components---the Supraspinatous, Infraspinatous, Teres minor, and Subscapularis muscles.

Of these 4, the Supraspinatous is most commonly injured. It attaches across the top of the scapula to the top of the humerus, the upper bone of the arm. “Swimmer’s shoulder” is an injury to the Supraspinatous tendon, caused by repetitive forceful adduction of the arm against the resistance of the water.   

How To Get A Headache

Some very common postures can give you a headache!

        Here's what to watch out for:

Leaning your head back to look upward toward a TV or computer monitor, or tilting the head backward to see a monitor through the near-focus part of bifocals, are common postural producers of headache. 

These postures causes the occiput (the bone across the back of the head)  to be stressed inferiorly. This inferiority may be more on one side or the other (unilateral) or global (bilateral). 

When patients present with this in my office, it may be in combination with a superiority of the posterior part of the second cervical vertebra, an additional complication which makes the headache even worse.

I make gentle, focused, precise adjustments that correct the problems without discomfort to the patient, and I provide ergonomic counseling to help keep this from happening again.  

A Piriformis Predicament

When there is pain, or numbness / tingling going down the leg, a patient’s first thought is often, “Uh-Oh. It must be a disc.”

Impingement of nerve(s) by a bulging disc can be the cause of these symptoms, but in the absence of any history of injury, such as a lifting strain or a fall or accident, or of disc problems, it is not necessarily the first thing suspected.

A common cause of such symptoms is impingement of the sciatic nerve underneath the piriformis muscle in the buttock. The piriformis may be in spasm, or the patient may have been sitting for prolonged times, or on hard surfaces, causing pressure on the sciatic nerve.

I release a piriformis spasm with the Activator instrument, and give the patient home care instructions and stretches to alleviate the problem.