An Unsuspected Cause of Headaches

  

     Trying to identify the cause(s) of chronic, unrelenting headaches that plague some unfortunate patients is a challenge faced by Medical Doctors and Doctors of Chiropractic alike. There are many different types of headaches, and multiple causes.

     Food triggers may be involved, in which a person gets headaches when they ingest certain foods or food additives. Stress, both biomechanical and emotional / psychological, is often part of the picture.

     Now sleep apnea has emerged as a not-uncommon culprit. The mechanism is a disturbance in proportions of oxygen & carbon dioxide caused by interruptions or aberrance of breathing.

     For patients whose headaches seem insoluble, appropriate professional sleep assessment studies may yield a solution.  

An Unlevel Pelvis

     Our pelvis is the bio-mechanical foundation for our entire body. Its stability (or instability) affects everything above and everything below.

     Disturbances to the pelvis, aka the "pelvic girdle," can cause the pelvis to become unlevel.  

     An example is when your pelvis becomes distorted, or out of proper alignment. One or more of the component bones may become slightly twisted, or stressed abnormally in a superior or inferior direction. Pelvic ligaments may be affected by abnormal stresses due to joint misalignments. Any or all of these may cause pain. 

    A distorted, unlevel pelvis makes an unstable foundation for your spine. Uncomfortable, this may lead to problems above, in your neck or shoulders. An unlevel pelvis may also have consequences downward, into the lower extremities. 

     As an Activator Chiropractor, I correct and balance an unlevel pelvis as part of every gentle, comfortable full-body balancing.

Isn't Honey Better?

You may have heard that honey is healthier than table sugar. But is this true? 

     Perhaps it is, for these reasons: honey has ratios of glucose (30%) and fructose (40%) a bit lower than table sugar (50% glucose, 50% fructose). Table sugar breaks down quickly and causes a surge in blood sugar, whereas honey, which also contains other, different, and some more complex, sugars, breaks down slower. Dextrin, a starchy fiber in honey, also slightly slows the blood sugar surge. 

Table sugar is highly processed, and is devoid of minerals. Honey may have tiny amounts of minerals, picked up by the bees as they went from flower to flower, varying by the region(s) where the bees collected their nectar.

The “big picture” is that sugar is sugar, and is implicated in many health problems, so it’s better to minimize consumption of any sugar. But if occasionally you’re choosing, choose honey.

Co-Morbidities---Conditions for Which Medicare May Allow Extended Care

     Some things that often go along with aging are considered by Medicare to justify an extended, or longer term, of chiropractic care.

     These include degeneration of spinal discs, usually associated with spondylosis, which means bony spur formation around vertebral edges. Another term for this is DJD, or degenerative joint disease. Sciatica, or low back pain with sciatica, as well as spinal stenosis, are other conditions that may warrant extended care.

     Other co-morbidities, or health conditions which may complicate or impede healing, are diabetes, osteoporosis, and spinal curvatures such as scoliosis or kyphosis. 

Supraspinatous---An Essential Muscle of the Shoulder

     The supraspinatous is a small but powerful muscle located in our back, along the top part of our shoulderblade, or scapula. It connects the scapula with the top of the humerus, the bone in our upper arm, and is essential in our ability to raise our arm (abduction).  

     Technically, it is one of the muscles of the rotator cuff, and is commonly affected in rotator cuff injuries.

     A simple orthopedic test rules out an injury to this muscle. However, if the test is positive and involves a tear in the supraspinatous, treatment may require surgery.  

Over-The-Counter Orthotics

Patients who have fallen arches or who pronate need to support their feet with orthotics, not just for comfort, but also because these conditions in the feet reverberate up into the knees, hips, and pelvis and cause problems. Some may need prescription orthotics, but many people will find over-the-counter orthotics can do the job.

I commonly recommend a patient try one of two types that they can buy “off the rack.” One is softer, made of foam, with a mild arch support, that is easy to get used to. The other is a harder, molded orthotic appropriate for people who need more support. Either should be appropriately fitted by a staff person at the store who knows how to size them.

It’s not a bad idea to start with an over-the-counter orthotics and see if they will be sufficient. Certainly they are kinder on the patient’s wallet. If it turns out more fine-tuned or specialized support is needed, prescription orthotics are the next step.   

Polypharmacy

Literally, this means “the simultaneous use of multiple drugs by a single patient for one or more conditions.”

There are now patients coming into my office who are taking upward of eleven or twelve different medications. Often their meds are prescribed by different doctors, and there may be no one doctor who is overseeing or coordinating the mix. Potential harmful drug interactions are not being monitored, and the patient is subject to a myriad of side effects of the various drugs.

Sometimes the pharmacist who fills the patient’s prescriptions may be serving as overseer or monitor, but this is not always the case.

For patients on multiple medications, I advise them to talk with their primary care physician about making sure some caregiver is fulfilling this role.