5 factors of health

It's November and flu/ebola/crud season is upon us!  What a great time to talk about our health! If you want to know how to get your health back and keep it, then you are in the right place.

So, let's get started by briefly discussing 5 health promoting lifestyle habits. I will go into more detail about each one in the coming weeks.

1. Mindset
Our mindset is basically how we view the world.  Everything gets processed through your perspective on life. That perspective can change based upon how stressed you are, how much sleep you get, or your relationship with others.  A negative perspective will leave you feeling out of sync with yourself and others. 

2. Nerve flow
 Life flows through your nervous system.  Without proper nerve flow, your body will not be able to function at 100%.  Chiropractors are nerve flow specialists. 

3. Nutrition
What we eat is the only fuel our bodies get.  Dietary imbalances such as high carb diets or nutrient deficient diets can cause many health problems, from psychological to physical.

4. Exercise
We all know that exercise is important but do we understand why? Movement is life.  Without movement, we age and die more rapidly. Find an exercise program that both challenges and encourages you.

5. Toxins
In our modern world, it is difficult to avoid exposure to toxins.  They are in the water we drink, the air we breathe, the food we eat.  This daily exposure makes our bodies have to work hard to clean the gunk out and can make us feel run down and tired without even doing anything!  Finding ways to eliminate exposure will great decrease the toxic burden of your body and mind.

How do you maintain a heathy lifestyle? 

Can you help my Plantar Fasciitis?

First, let's start out with what planter fasciitis is...

Plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the thick tissue on the bottom of the foot. This tissue is called the plantar fascia. It connects the heel bone to the toes and creates the arch of the foot.

 

 Causes, incidence, and risk factors:
Plantar...

fasciitis occurs when the thick band of tissue on the bottom of the foot is overstretched or overused. This can be painful and make walking more difficult.

You are more likely to get plantar fasciitis if you have:
• Foot arch problems (both flat feet and high arches)
• Long-distance running, especially running downhill or on uneven surfaces
• Sudden weight gain or obesity
• Tight Achilles tendon (the tendon connecting the calf muscles to the heel)
• Shoes with poor arch support or soft soles

Plantar fasciitis is seen in both men and women. However, it most often affects active men ages 40 - 70. It is one of the most common orthopedic complaints relating to the foot.

Plantar fasciitis is commonly thought of as being caused by a heel spur, but research has found that this is not the case. On x-ray, heel spurs are seen in people with and without plantar fasciitis.
Symptoms

The most common complaint is pain and stiffness in the bottom of the heel. The heel pain may be dull or sharp. The bottom of the foot may also ache or burn.

The pain is usually worse:
• In the morning when you take your first steps
• After standing or sitting for a while
• When climbing stairs
• After intense activity
The pain may develop slowly over time, or suddenly after intense activity.
(original article found here)
1. Wapner KL, Parekh SG. Heel pain. In: DeLee JC, Drez D Jr, Miller MD, eds. DeLee and Drez’s Orthopaedic Sports Medicine. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2009:section F.
2. Abu-Laban RV, Ho K. Ankle and foot. In: Marx JA, Hockberger RS, Walls RM, et al, eds. Rosen’s Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Mosby Elsevier; 2009:chap 55.
3. Silverstein JA, Moeller JL, Hutchinson MR.Common issues in orthopedics. In: Rakel RE, ed. Textbook of Family Medicine. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier;2011:chap 30.

I think everyone has experienced this at some point whether they realized it or not.  I went through it once and didn't realize that my foot pain was actually planter fasciitis. 

So now that we have an idea about what it is and what it feels like, what can a chiropractor do to help?

Obviously the first thing I'm going to do is examine your spine and your foot.  Even though you feel the pain in the foot, the true culprit could be found in your spine.  If I only looked at your foot, we may miss a bigger problem somewhere else.  Many times, the ankle joint is misplaced contributing to the foot pain.

There are also exercises that can help with a fallen arch and reduce foot pain.  Also, look at my post on heel spurs.  Call and make you appointment today!!

Can Chiropractic help with Heel Spurs/Bone Spurs?

 

 Basic Bone Spur Facts 

 

• A bone spur is a tiny pointed outgrowth of bone.

• Bone spurs are usually caused by local inflammation, such as from degenerative arthritis or tendonitis.
• Bone spurs develop in areas of inflammation or injury of nearby cartilage or tendons.
• Bone spurs may or may not cause symptoms. When they do cause symptoms, the symptoms depend on their location.
• Bone spurs can be associated with pain, numbness, tenderness, and weakness if they are irritating adjacent tissues.
• Bone spurs are detected by radiologic testing, such as with plain X-rays, ultrasound imaging, MRI scan, CT scan, and myelograms.
• Bone spurs are treated only if they are causing symptoms. Initial treatment is directed toward decreasing inflammation and avoiding reinjury when possible.

What causes bone spurs?
Bone spurs are usually caused by local inflammation, such as from degenerative arthritis (osteoarthritis) or tendinitis. This inflammation stimulates the cells that form bone to deposit bone in this area, eventually leading to a bony prominence or spur. For example, inflammation of the ligament that surrounds a degenerating disc between the vertebrae (the bony building blocks of the spine) is a very common cause of bone spurs of the spine. Inflammation of the Achilles tendon can lead to the formation of a bone spur at the back of the heel bone (calcaneus bone). Inflammation of the tissue on the bottom of the foot, plantar fasciitis, can lead to a bone spur at the underside of the heel bone. These bone spurs are sometimes referred to as heel spurs. A bone spur is medically referred to as an osteophyte.
 

Where do bone spurs occur? Bone spurs develop in areas of inflammation or injury in nearby cartilage or tendons. Common locations for bone spurs are in the back, or sole, of the heel bone of the foot, around joints that have degenerated cartilage, and in the spine adjacent to degenerated discs.

What are symptoms of bone spurs? Bone spurs may or may not cause symptoms. When they do cause symptoms, the symptoms depend on their location. Bone spurs can be associated with pain, numbness, and tenderness if they are irritating adjacent tissues, such as skin, fat pads, nerves, or tendons.

Heel spurs cause local foot pain, tenderness, and sometimes swelling. This can lead to difficulty walking due to pain at the bottom of the foot with weight-bearing. Sometimes there is accompanying inflammation of the entire bottom of the foot (plantar fasciitis) when the heel spur occurs in the bottom of the heel bone. Occasionally, bone spurs in this location are a result of inflammatory arthritis, such as from reactive arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, or diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH or Forrestier's disease).

Spurs in the spine can pinch adjacent nerves to cause numbness, tingling, and pain as well as weakness in the area of the body supplied by the affected nerve.
Some bone spurs do not cause symptoms and are incidentally detected by X-ray tests that are performed for other reasons. These spurs may have formed because of past injury to nearby tissues, such as tendons, that caused local inflammation of the bone, leading to the development of the bone spur.

How are bone spurs diagnosed? Bone spurs are detected by radiologic testing, such as with plain X-rays, ultrasound imaging, MRI scan, CT scan, and myelograms.

REFERENCE:Fauci, Anthony S., et al. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 17th ed. United States: McGraw-Hill Professional, 2008

 

 

How can a Chiropractor help with Heel Spurs and Bone Spurs?

 

A chiropractor will assess your spine and other joints to see if there is misalignment and interference with nerve function (subluxation).  If a subluxation is present, the doctor will then remove the interference by adjusting the joint.  Once normal function and nerve flow are restored, the pain from the heel spur will reduce or go away completely.  This will most likely take more than one visit. 

At home, it is your job to take steps to reduce inflammation in your body to prevent future bone spur development.  This would include drinking plenty of water (at least 64 oz per day) and also eliminating any dietary causes of inflammation such as excess sugar intake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is it normal to feel lightheaded after an atlas adjustment?

Yes, it is within the range of normal "side effects" of getting an atlas adjustment.  It is a rare occurrence in low force adjusting techniques such as Atlas Orthogonal.

Take a look at the anatomy of the upper cervical spine.  Three muscles attach to the skull, atlas (C1) and axis (C2).  Through this triangle of muscles, known as the suboccipital triangle, passes the C1 nerve, vertebral artery, and venous plexus.

 

The muscles of the suboccipital triangle are responsible for fine movement of your head.  The big muscles like the trapezius, sternocleidomastoid and other large muscles move the head but there motion is refined by the smaller muscles of the suboccipital triangle.

You can see that 2 of the 3 muscles attach to the transverse process of the atlas.  If the atlas is out of alignment, the movement of these muscles will be affected along with the nerve and blood supply to the head.

When the misalignment is corrected through an adjustment, the rapid influx of blood and nerve impulses can cause the feeling of lightheadedness or dizziness.