Temporal Arteritis

When a patient comes in with headache and / or jaw pain, especially if the pain is on just one side of the head, it is important to rule out inflammation in the blood vessels, also called “vasculitis.”

Vasculitis in the temporal arteries, which are in the areas of the temples on each side of the head, is known as temporal arteritis, and it should be recognized, because it is serious. A Chiropractor who suspects this should immediately refer the patient to an M.D.

This condition can have serious consequences, such as inflammation spreading to blood vessels of the eyes, possibly causing blindness.

The inflamed vessels are swollen, painful, and may be constricted, or narrowed. The temple area(s) may be tender to touch, the patient may say their jaw hurts after chewing, and there may be diffuse muscle aches and fatigue. These symptoms, as well as fever and a throbbing headache, are “red flags” for temporal arteritis.

Patient Feedback--Essential to Medicare

    As a doctor serving Medicare patients, it is incumbent upon me to make sure I have careful, complete documentation for every patient visit. This includes detailing the patient’s response to the treatment plan.

Medicare wants to know whether the treatment plan is working, or not, and they want the patient to report whether they feel better, whether their pain is less or worse or unchanged, and what daily activities of their life they can do better, or still can’t do, as treatment progresses.

At every office visit, my Medicare patients fill out a brief form reporting all this.

What is 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/

Nerve Impingement

Something that “impinges” a nerve is something that---usually negatively---affects the nerve. Common results of nerve impingement are numbness, tingling, pain, hyperesthesia (excessive, or pronounced, sensation), or hypesthesia (diminished sensation). 

Often nerve impingement is conceptualized as pressure on a nerve, but there are also other kinds of mechanical impingement. Abrasion, stretching, twisting are some examples. Temperature changes or chemical impingement are also possible.

In my practice, the goal of relieving pain usually involves relieving mechanical nerve impingement, accomplished by careful, gentle, precise adjustments with the Activator instrument.

Managing Scoliosis

  For scoliosis (a lateral spinal curvature), one of the best self-care techniques is a special yoga designed by Elise Miller, a Palo Alto, CA yoga teacher who herself has a severe scoliotic curve in her spine  https://yogaforscoliosis.com. Elise developed this yoga as a way to manage her own discomfort, and now teaches it, as well as training other yoga instructors how to do this work. 

Santa Cruz is fortunate to have a local teacher who is certified in Yoga for Scoliosis, Karyn Bristol at Yoga Within  www.yogawithkaryn.net 

On March 30, 2019, Elise will be at Karyn’s Aptos studio www.yogawithin.com/events  and there will be an afternoon session of Yoga for Scoliosis.

In my practice, with scoliosis patients, balancing their pelvis and spine is an important first step, and then regular, intermittent full-body balancing to encourage stabilization.  As an adjunct to my chiropractic care, I then refer these patients for Yoga for Scoliosis.