Distortion of the Rib Cage

  Often when patients present with pain in the thoracic region, an underlying, global aberrance of the rib cage is involved. 

The patient may say, “I feel twisted,” or “Something feels pulled.”’ They may have been coughing, may have tripped on a curb, fallen, or lifted something while their upper body was turned to one side.

After adjusting misalignments in the thoracic spine, including relieving jammed ribs at their articulations with vertebrae, I always check the status of the rib cage.

Nine times out of ten, I find a torquing of the ribs, in which one side is stressed superiorward, while ribs on the opposite side are stressed downward.

Precise, vectored, subaxillary adjustments with the Activator instrument correct the global rib cage distortion, and put the “finishing touch” on relieving the patient’s discomfort. 

Got Toxic Oils??

If you have grapeseed oil or rice bran oil or canola oil in your kitchen cabinet, you have TOXIC OILS. 

     "Designer oils" such as rice bran and grapeseed oil, commonly promoted as "healthy," are, in fact, extremely toxic. Here's why: these oils are highly processed. Canola oil, which many people assume is healthy because, like olive oil, it is monounsaturated, is also in the HIGHLY PROCESSED category. 

     Processing is necessary to extract the oil from rapeseed (canola), rice bran, and grape seeds, and may include extraction with heat and solvents, as well as chemical bleaching, degumming, and deodorizing. 

     Because the raw oils have monounsaturated and polyunsatured components, when exposed to heat, they readily oxidize. Oxidized oils are toxic and very inflammatory to our bodies.

     Avoid these oils, and use cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil instead.

Headaches / A Myriad of Causes

  Identifying the cause(s) of headaches, ranging from chronic, unrelenting headaches to acute ones, is a challenge faced by M.D.s and Doctors of Chiropractic alike.

There are many different types of headaches, and multiple causes. Nutritional issues should be considered---food triggers may be involved, in which a person gets headaches when they ingest certain foods or food additives. 

Stress, both biomechanical (e.g. postural stress, repetitive motion, injuries) and emotional / psychological, is often part of the picture. Tension headaches are among the most common.

Aberrances of the cranial rhythms is another frequent occurrence closely related to headaches. When I balance a patient’s cranial rhythms, their headaches often disappear.

Sleep apnea is also now recognized as another source of headaches, in which abnormal proportions of oxygen & carbon dioxide result from interruptions in breathing.  

A Secret to Relieving Sciatica

 Sciatica, pain down the leg, is caused by nerve impingement. Location of the impingement is commonly thought to be in the lumbar spine, where the nerves exit between the vertebrae and travel down to the legs, forming the large nerve “trunk” called the sciatic nerve.

If there are degenerative changes in the lumbar spine, and / or if there is history of injury, the lumbar region may indeed be the site of impingement.

But another, often overlooked, site of impingement that causes sciatica is in the gluteal region, where the sciatic nerve passes between the muscles, specifically underneath a muscle called the piriformis. If the piriformis is in spasm, it can cause sciatica.

Episodes of pressure on the piriformis, such as from sitting on hard surfaces, can also impinge of the sciatic nerve where it passes under the muscle, resulting in sciatica.

Orthopedic tests and X-ray can help discern the origin of impingement, but often a trial treatment of precise Activator Chiropractic adjustments, specific stretches, and home care counseling can solve the problem, making X-ray unnecessary. 

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