What is that Popping or Cracking Sound?

The popping or cracking sounds that happens during an adjustment is a very misunderstood component of chiropractic. Often patients will ask “can you crack me?”. Even though I know exactly what they are referring to, this choice of words is incredibly misleading. The physical mechanism that causes the audible sound during an adjustment include nitrogen and carbon dioxide gas being released from the synovial fluid in the joint, along with a rapid stretching of ligaments and muscles and an increase in range of motion of the spine. 

 

Furthermore, the audible sound during a spinal adjustment happens in response to a sudden change in pressure in the spinal joint. It’s similar to opening a champagne bottle or a pop can, where the sudden pressure change causes the gas to release and a noise to occur. So when people share their previous experience with chiropractic, we often hear that their back and neck have been “popped or cracked”, followed by a reduction in pain.

Although the pain relief is clearly one of the goals of care, it is not the focus of what we do. A chiropractor adjusts the spine. The chiropractic adjustment returns spinal mobility, decreases stiffness and pain, and realigns spinal structure to restore optimal function. This can lead to an overall healthy spine, healthy body and healthy person.

Finally, it is important to recognize that the adjustment (or the cracking noise) does not actually involve anything cracking. There is no cracking of bones, or any actual bone rubbing on bone friction. The mechanism of the adjustment allows movement of the spine, which is incredibly safe, gentle and comfortable. 

There are some chiropractic techniques that adjust the spine without an audible sound. If you dislike the sound of the adjustment, these techniques can be used to get your spine moving. If you have any questions or wish to learn more, please contact me at dr.marleelameris@gmail.com

Repetitive Strain Injury

A repetitive strain injury (RSI) is most commonly known as damage to nerves, tendons, tendon sheaths, muscles and joints caused by repetitive movement and overuse. Repetitive strain injuries can be confusing in that patients don’t understand how the symptoms are related, what the causes are or how can it be treated.

Causes of RSI

Repetitive strain injuries occur through overuse, poor posture and/or poor technique particularly while using the hands. Repeated awkward or forceful tasks for sustained periods of time are major factors causing RSI. Workers do not make the connection between their aches and pains developing in the work place or in the field. Repeated vibrations, forceful impact or compression for periods of time can cause microscopic tears in the tendons and muscles. Over time the sheaths around the tendons start to chafe causing tendons to become inflamed. Inflammation of the sheath compresses against adjacent nerves, which compromises the nerves nearby.  

Symptoms of RSI

Symptoms of RSI can range from discomfort to excruciating pain. Symptoms can occur in the fingers, palm, wrist, forearm, shoulders, and neck. Pain in one area of the body may radiate to other connecting parts. General symptoms include:

-Aching or shooting pain
-Tingling and burning sensations
-Clumsiness of hands (loss of ability to grasp items, impaired thumb and finger dexterity)
-Swelling of hand and wrist
-Wasting of muscles at the base of the thumb
- Stiffness or restricted movement

Common Types of Repetitive Strain Injuries

Tenosynovitis
Rapid, repetitive, and repeated twisting movement of the forearms and hands. Patients that do a lot of keyboard work or work using tools can suffer from tenosynovitis. Tenosynovitis and tendonitis sound similar. The difference is that tendonitis is inflammation of the tendons. While tenosynovitis is inflammation of the tendon sheaths usually in the hand or wrist.

DeQuarvain’s Syndrome
This is a type of tenosynovitis that is known as “trigger thumb” or “Washerwoman’s Sprain”. It also affects the sheath common to the two tendons of the thumb just above the wrist. This repetitive strain injury is caused by repeated trigger-like movement involving the wrist.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Carpal tunnel is tingling, numbness and or weakness in your hand due to pressure on the median nerve in your wrist. The carpal tunnel is the small space in your wrist that the median nerve and several tendons run through. The median nerve controls movement and feeling in your thumb and first three fingers. This area becomes compromised when there is swelling, repetitive finger movement, pinching and squeezing of fingertips, excessive use of the index finger, hand exertions with bending and twisting of the wrist, and overly tight grip for long periods of time.

Chiropractic for RSI

Chiropractic is an effective treatment option for RSI. Dr. Marlee will conduct an interview, review medical history, and perform a thorough examination. If diagnosed with RSI, she will set up a treatment plan specific to your situation, and needs. If you suffer from pain in your fingers, hand, wrist, forearm, shoulder, neck, or back seek a chiropractor. The sooner you do, the better you will feel.

Probiotics and Blood Pressure

The consumption of probiotics, which are the live bacteria found in yogurt, kefir, miso soup, and sauerkraut, among other foods—can lower blood pressure to a modest degree, according to the results of a new meta-analysis.

  
The reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure were approximately 3.5 and 2.4 mm Hg, respectively. There were larger reductions among individuals with elevated blood pressure at baseline and those who consumed multiple probiotic species.

"However, even a small reduction of blood pressure may have important public-health benefits and cardiovascular consequences," states Dr Saman Khalesi (Griffith University, Australia) in the article published July 21, 2014 in Hypertension.

Researchers point out that the Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation (HOPE) study showed a 22% relative reduction in risk of cardiovascular mortality, MI, or stroke.

"These findings, along with results from [another] meta-analysis on the beneficial effect of probiotics on the lipid profile, suggest that probiotics may be used as a potential supplement for future interventions to prevent hypertension or improve blood-pressure control," conclude Khalesi et al. Future studies are needed, however, to clarify the effects of different products with different probiotic species on blood pressure.                                                                                       

Probiotics have many benefits and it now appears that a reduction in blood pressure can be added to that list. Consider adding probiotics to your balanced diet. 

Great 8 Probiotic Foods

1.     Kefir

2.     Sauerkraut

3.     Kombucha

4.     Natto

5.     Yogurt

6.     Coconut kefir

7.     Kvass

8.     Raw cheese

Bursts of Exercise Can Make Kids Healthier

Exercise is one of the main pillars of good health. Your body was designed to move throughout the day, constantly and in many directions. With well over 200 joints, your body has the ability to do amazing things. This can include an impressive display of balance, power and flexibility with hardly any discernible effort. However, unfortunately with the improvement in efficiency of our every day life with digital technology, a sedentary lifestyle has been adopted. This lifestyle discourages movement and leads to more sitting behaviours.

Most people sit between seven to fifteen hours each day. Excessive sitting increases your risk of metabolic disease, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and obesity.

It’s not just adults that face these challenges. Children are becoming increasingly sedentary and the rising number of children suffering from obesity is sky-rocketing. About one third of all children and adolescents are either overweight or obese. This trickle down effect means that there are a staggering number of adults who are now at higher risk of multiple health concerns, ranging from obesity to degenerative arthritis.

Contributing factors to declining health include poor food choices, insufficient exercise and lack of quality sleep.

Getting kids to exercise has become increasingly difficult over the past 20 years. What used to be common daily activity for children playing with their friends has turned into a chore. The effect of this attitude shift is evident with the growing number of children suffering from obesity.

Recent studies have shown that children may benefit from very short periods of high intensity physical exercise. Researchers have modified the term “high-intensity interval training” (HIIT) to a more kid-friendly version of “Fun Fast Activity Blast” (FFAB).

The study evaluated 101 adolescents, measuring triglyceride levels in the blood, waist circumference, blood sugar, heart markers, blood pressure and aerobic activity. They monitored a group that continued their normal activity and a group that participated in three 20-minute high intensity exercise sessions per week for 10 weeks.

They found that the group that exercised had lower triglyceride levels and reduced waist circumference. They also found that this group increased the amount of overall physical activity (not including these sessions) by 16 minutes per day compared to the group that didn’t exercise at all.

This increased activity during non-exercise hours suggested to researchers that increasing structured exercise actually increases overall activity levels during unmonitored hours. This discovery is a step in the right direction to finding a program that works to make daily exercise both practical and sustainable.

Finding exercises that children enjoy may be the key to unlocking the desire to move throughout the whole day. Unfortunately, reduced time in physical education classes and recess, combined with spending the majority of the day sitting at desks, significantly adds to the problem of sedentary lifestyles.

There isn’t time to wait for the schools to change their physical activity requirement. Therefore, it’s important to encourage them to be active in the hours they are outside of school and on weekends. Competitive sports, interval walking, biking, basketball, dance or any number of 20-minute high intensity interval training workouts can be beneficial. Joining the kids for these workouts would be beneficial not just for their health but for yours as well. Kids are more likely to do what you do and not just what you say.

A healthy lifestyle involves many factors such as nutrition, sleep, exposure to toxins, low stress levels and exercise. Essentially, you become what you do each day. The more you move, the easier it becomes to move and vice versa.

The more physically active your child is, the better they do in school, the better their mood and the better the family functions as a whole.

Chiropractic care is another great way to ensure both you and your kids can get moving and keep them moving. Bring in the kids for an assessment and treatment to get their spine moving optimally and keep them playing the activities they love. This ensures proper function and keeps everyone feeling great!

How to Combat Text Neck aka “Tech” Neck

How many times in a day do you find yourself staring down at a screen? How many times do you look across the room and see every member of your family looking down at a screen? Whether this is cell phone use, watching a movie on your laptop or playing a game on your iPad, the act of holding your head flexed down and forwards while looking at your device, places your neck in a stressed position. Our neck normally has a slight curve in it that gives it the strength and power to keep our head on our shoulders. However, when this curve is straightened with prolonged forward posture, it places a lot of strain on the structures in the neck.

Maintaining this head-forward posture can lead to muscle strain, disc injury, nerve impingement, and arthritic changes in the neck. This increases the potential for ongoing neck and shoulder pain, headaches, and pain that goes down the arms. Thus, “text neck” or now more appropriately “tech neck” because it’s not just texting, was born. All this screen time has the potential to damage the neck.

For every one inch of forward head posture, the weight of your head increases by 10lbs. The more your neck drifts forward, the more weight it has to carry and support. This disorder is associated with chronic headaches, upper back pain and neck pain. Medical research has also uncovered evidence that this forward posture can be related to early onset arthritis and can even decrease lung capacity. Try this experiment: Have your head tucked back over your shoulders and take a deep breath. Now push your head forward and try to take that same deep breath. Was it more difficult to take the second breath?

So what can we do to fight “tech neck”? These devices are going to be a part of our life for a long time, so we need to find a way to modify our behaviours to prevent serious health issues from occurring. Here are seven simple ways to incorporate change in your everyday life to prevent the negative effects of this condition:

1. Exercises and Stretches- Postural exercises can help improve your posture, strengthen your neck and create better habits for everyday life. To aovid developing degenerative neck changes due to posture, incorporate these exercises and stretches into your daily routine.

2. Set Time Limits- Limit the amount of time and frequency that you use your device. If you have to use it for an extended period of time, take plenty of breaks. Develop a habit of taking a three minute break for every 20 minutes that you use your device. Make sure that you change your posture during these breaks and ideally move around to get your blood flowing.

3. Set Automatic Reminders- Utilize an automatic alarm with your device to remind you to take a break. These reminders will ensure that you don’t get too focused on your task to take a break and the automation ensures that you don’t forget to stop. Make sure you don’t ignore these reminders, or you may pay for it later on.

4. Use a tablet holder- Purchase a holder to elevate your device to significantly reduce the amount of neck flexion and forward posture. Try to keep the device as close to eye level as possible to prevent the strain in the neck when looking down for long periods of time. A tablet holder, cell phone holder, and propping your laptop up to eve level are all easy options that can reduce the amount of strain on the neck.

**For students out there, propping up your textbooks in the same manner will prevent the same issues from happening when studying for prolonged periods of time.

5. Sit in a Proper Chair: Switch to a chair with a headrest, proper lumbar support and one that prevents you from slouching forward. By making sure that the back of your head is always in contact with the headrest while using your devices, you can ensure that you’re not looking down with your head flexed forward. No matter the quality of the chair though, it’s important to still take breaks!

6. Use Pain as a Warning: If you’re experiencing headaches, pain in your neck, pain between the shoulder blades, or numbness and tingling going down into your arms, there may be a serious issue going on. Pay attention to these warning signs and act quickly to make changes to reduce or eliminate the head-forward posture that is straining your neck.

7. See a Chiropractor: Chiropractic treatment is the best option for any of these issues. Getting an assessment and adjustment can help not only with the symptoms but can also help prevent this issue from occurring in the future.

If you are having any of these symptoms, or simply just want a checkup for you or your children, book an appointment today. The sooner you seek treatment, the more likely it is that you’ll find success in treating the problem.

Eight Simple Ways to Prepare for Pregnancy with Chiropractic Care

 Many couples are planning for a family and preparing your body for the journey of conception, pregnancy and delivery is important for both the parents and the baby. There are many ways that people can prepare physically and emotionally for pregnancy, but the following are some tips that can help with the process.

 

1.     Vitamins/Supplements- Moms, start by taking a high quality prenatal vitamin, Omega 3’s and a B-complex to reduce stress. The father should be supplementing as well, focusing on a B-complex, Vitamin C and Zinc.

2.     Eat Real Food- Eat real, whole food. Stay in the outer perimeter of the grocery store. And remember, if your grandmother wouldn’t recognize what you are eating as food, you probably shouldn’t be eating it.  

3.     Cut Out Processed Food- Refined sugar, white flour, prepackaged food, and trans fats/hydrogenated oils should all be avoided in general. These foods have been proving to be extremely unhealthy and should be actively avoided.

4.     Increase Water Intake- People don’t drink enough water. Nowadays, everyone tends to be dehydrated without even realizing it. Water consumption has decreased, while caffeine, sugary drinks, energy drinks and alcohol use is increasing. These trends need to be reversed for expectant parents. Water consumption needs to be increased, while all of these other drinks should be eliminated.

5.     Analyze Medication Use- Look at your medication use and work with your healthcare provider to reduce if possible. If you are using over the counter pain medications, see if there is an alternative for pain management. Perhaps conservative management or manual therapies, such as chiropractic, massage therapy, physiotherapy, acupuncture, physical therapy, or osteopathy can help to reduce pain.

6.     Reduce stress for both future parents- It’s important to identify your stressors, whether it’s from work, home, relationships, or family and determine where you can make changes to reduce these stressors. It’s important to reduce stress for both mom AND dad, as this can affect fertility. 

7.     Chiropractic Care- Support a healthy nervous system through routine chiropractic care for both of the parents.

8.     Detoxify and support your body- Discuss this with your chiropractor, naturopath or healthcare provider. This can include digestion, elimination, hormonal and immune system support.

I woke up with a kink in my neck!

Many patients come into the office complaining they ‘slept’ wrong or have a ‘kink’ in their neck. This is often caused from sleeping in the wrong position in the wrong place. If you slept on the couch with your neck twisted to the side, the joints can become misaligned, which can cause the muscles in the neck to tighten up. This can then lead to pain and spasm, and you will need a chiropractic adjustment to alleviate the pain and realign the spine. It won’t just ‘go away’ over time. 

Another point to consider is the type of pillow that you sleep on. Flat pillows do not support your neck and spine when laying in your back or side. Pillows that are too thick tend to prop your head up at an equally awkward angle. It’s important to find a pillow that is the right size for you, and chances are it won’t be the same pillow that fits other people in your family. If you can’t share clothes with someone, chances are you can’t share a pillow either, purely based on size.

While you are sleeping, if your fingers or hands go numb, chances are you are not getting the support required for your spine while you are sleeping. Pillows that support the proper curvature of the spine are the best for back sleeping. Side sleepers need a pillow that is the depth of your ear to shoulder to keep the neck in a neutral position and to prevent the nerves that go to the arm from getting impinged and causing your hands to fall asleep.  

Stomach sleepers are notorious for waking up with neck and arm pain. Lying on your belly with your head rotated to one side all night is going to cause imbalances in your neck. One side of your neck will seize up and the other side will be over-stretched, which will cause discomfort. Retraining yourself to sleep on your back or side will enhance your sleep and reduce your pain and discomfort.

As always, if you have neck pain when you wake up, you need to have yourself evaluated by a chiropractor. Good pillows are helpful but they don’t correct the bad movement patterns, imbalances and poor alignment causing the problem in the first place.