Headaches

Few of the millions who get occasional headaches have it as bad as the migraine sufferer. Far from being a minor annoyance these headaches can ruin lives.

Migraine Headaches

The migraine is a special type of headache, it is also known as a vascular headache (as opposed to the more common tension headache). A migraine includes a collection of symptoms (a syndrome) that appear before the headache pain itself hits. Examples of these are: spots, lines or colored lights before the eyes, redness, swelling, tearing, muscle contraction, hallucinations, irritability, depression, numbness, constipation or diarrhea, and sometimes even a feeling of well- being!

As the warning symptoms leave the headache itself hits. It may range in severity from minor discomfort to immobilizing agony and may last from minutes to days. A few of the most com-mon expressions of it are:
- The pain most likely occurs on only one side of the head.- Nausea and vomiting are usually associated with it.- The throbbing eventually evolves into a dull steady pain. The migraine is different from tension headaches because tension headaches usually involve the whole head, start suddenly and only include nausea and vomiting if it becomes very severe.Most, migraines affect more women than men, and usually begin after puberty. The cause of migraines is not known.

Because other members of the family may also have headache problems, some researchers believe migraines may have a hereditary component. But there are many things you inherit from your parents that have no genetic component which may be related to headache formation: how you deal with stress, anger
and tension and how you hold your body posture. Genes usually give us tendencies, not the condition itself.

Muscle Tension Headaches

Many things can cause a headache: strong smells; intense lights; sinus trouble; high blood pressure; dental problems; eat; eye or vision conditions; fevers; infections; tumors; seizures; lumbar punctures; alcoholic drinks; drugs; accidents and other causes. You can get a headache just worrying about all the things that cause them. And that leads us to the most common headache of all: the muscle tension, worry or "stress"
headache that makes up 90% of all headaches.

The Cluster Headache

Cluster headache attacks seem to mostly affect men between 20 and 40. They come on abruptly, with intense throbbing pain arising high in one nostril and spreading behind the eye on that side of the face. The attacks tend to occur from once to several times daily in clusters lasting weeks or even months.
Without apparent reason the cluster subsides as quickly as it began.

Headache Treatment

The treatment for a headache depends, of course, on what has presumably caused it. A headache arising from visual problems can often be cured by eyeglasses. An infection headache of the
sinuses or ears is relieved when the infection subsides. But the most common headaches are usually treated with painkillers. The hundreds of millions of dollars spent each year on everything from aspirin and aspirin substitutes to codeine and prescription drugs may provide relief from headache, but does
it correct the cause?

The Chiropractic Approach

Millions of headache sufferers are turning to the natural, drugless, chiropractic approach to health. Chiropractors are the only healing professionals who are trained to analyze and correct the vertebral subluxation complex, a spinal distortion that damages the nerves. It is a very common, often painless condition that weakens the body, causes fatigue, lowers vitality and sets the stage for sickness and diseases.

Chiropractic is a method of removing spinal damage so your body may work better and heal itself. Chiropractors do not treat headaches and yet millions of headache sufferers have benefited from the safe, natural, drugless, chiropractic approach to health care. By correcting your vertebral subluxation complex, your body, with its magnificent natural healing ability, is better able to address your overall needs.

The Chiropractic Checkup

Using his/her hands, X-ray and other instruments to analyze your spine, the chiropractor will determine if you have any vertebral subluxations in your body Then, using special techniques, your chiropractor will perform a chiropractic spinal adjustment to correct the vertebral subluxation complex, removing the nerve pressure and spinal distortions.Please keep in mind that the purpose of the chiropractic
spinal adjustment is not to cure your headache but to remove the nerve and spinal stress caused by the vertebral subluxation complex. This permits your body to restore itself to a greater level of health and wholeness to better heal itself.

The Spine/Headache Relationship

It was once believed that the structures of the neck were not related to headaches, however that is no longer the case. Now there is even a special term for those headaches that originate in the neck: the cervicogenic headache. As Dr Howard Vernon, D.C. concluded in reviewing the literature on the
spinal headache relationship, "The body of literature supporting a spinal origin of headache... is substantial." It appears that there are many pain-sensitive structures in the neck, the joints, discs and even ligaments that maybe related to problems that whiplash and accident victims often report: headache, dizziness and other problems.36 In fact, a study of 6,000 people who suffered from recurring headaches for 2 to 25 years showed that spine injury was the most important factor in the cause of the headache and should be suspected in every nonspecific case if teen ache.

Can Chiropractic Help You?

Chiropractors have, for over a century; observed that after chiropractic spinal care, children and adult migraine sufferers report improvement or alleviation of their condition.

POSTSCRIPT

No matter what disease or condition you have, you can benefit from a healthy spine. Spinal health can be as important for your overall healing as proper nutrition. Are you and your family carrying the vertebral subluxation complex in your spines? Only a chiropractic spinal checkup can tell. Among the many things contributing to your health: the quality of the air; food and water you take in; how you handle emotional stress; your inherited weaknesses and strengths; your use of drugs; exercise; and relaxation a healthy spine is absolutely essential. In some people it is a major factor and can make the difference between a life of health, strength and vitality or a life of disease, weakness and disability.A healthy spine can improve, if you see your chiropractor for periodic spinal checkups.


WHAT PUTS THE ACHE IN HEADACHE?

The ache in headache does not come from the brain. It's true! Your brain can feel no sensation. Even during brain surgery the patient is often wide awake feeling no pain, even talking to the doctors while his/her brain is being tampered with (a local anesthetic numbs the scalp).What puts the "ache" in your headache? Veins and arteries inside the brain and skull, blood vessels of the head, and brain membranes that wrap around the brain and certain nerves in the head called the cranial nerves. When these are pulled,
stretched, compressed, irritated, inflamed or infected, headaches often result.

Treatment

Headache treatment depends on what caused it. A headache arising from visual problems can often be cured by eyeglasses. An infection headache of the sinuses or ears is relieved when the infection subsides. But the most common headaches are usually treated with painkillers. The hundreds of millions of dollars spent each year on everything from aspirin and Tylenol to prescription drugs may provide blessed
relief, but please remember-the pain may be gone but the cause of the headache is not corrected. That's why we may see millions of people swallowing pills for years, possibly suffering from the side effects of long-term medication-and not getting any better; only temporarily doing better. Surely, that's not a healthy way to live.

The Chiropractic Approach

Millions of headache sufferers are turning to the natural, drugless chiropractic approach to health. Chiropractors are the only healing professionals who are trained to analyze and correct the vertebral subluxation complex. A spinal distortion that can damage your nerves, inflame your tissues, cause muscles to tighten and knot, weaken your body cause fatigue and set the stage for sickness and disease. It is
truly a hidden epidemic.

The Chiropractic Checkup

Just as you may have a cavity in your teeth and can be unaware of the damage it's causing, so the VSC may be causing serious harm to your body-sometimes for years-without your knowledge. Using his/her hands, x-ray and other instruments to analyze your spine, the chiropractor will determine if you have VSC. Then, using special techniques, your chiropractor will perform a chiropractic spinal adjustment to correct the vertebral subluxation complex, removing the nerve pressure and spinal distortions.

To Restore Itself

Remember, the purpose of the chiropractic spinal adjustment is to remove the nerve and spinal stress caused by the vertebral subluxation complex. This permits your body to restore itself to a greater level of health and wholeness-in effect, to better heal itself,

The Spine/Headaches

Researchers have often noted the relationship between the spine and many types of headaches. For example, one study of 6,000 long-term (two to 25 years) headache sufferers revealed that neck injury (whiplash, falls) was the most important factor in the cause of the headache and should he subjected in
every nonspecific case.For over one hundred years, doctors of chiropractic have observed an intimate relationship between the spine and headaches. Many migraine patients (both adult and child)
have claimed relief under chiropractic care. In other words, if you suffer front headaches, make sure
your spine is healthy-see your chiropractor. The chiropractic spinal adjustment permits your body to restore itself to a greater level of health and wholeness.

Postscript

No matter what disease or condition you have, you can benefit from a healthy spine. Spinal health can be as important for your overall healing as proper nutrition. Are you and your family carrying the vertebral subluxation complex in your spines? Only a chiropractic spinal checkup can tell. Among the many things contributing to your health; the quality of the air; food and water you take in; how you handle
emotional stress; your inherited weaknesses and strengths; your use of drugs; exercise; and relaxation a healthy spine is absolutely essential. In some people it is a major factor and can make the difference between a life of health, strength and vitality or a life of disease, weakness and disability. A healthy spine can improve your life-see your chiropractor for periodic spinal checkups. Chiropractic's safe, gentle, drugless methods have helped millions of headache suffers over the years.

1. Seletz, F. whiplash modes. JAMA, Nov. 29,1958, pp. 1750-1755.
2. Bogduk, N. Cervical causes of headache and dizziness. In 0. Grieve (Ed.), Modern manual therapy of the vertebral column. Churchill livingstone, 1986, pp.289-299.
3. Bogduk, N. The anatomical basis for cervicogenir headache. IMPT, Jan.1992, pp. 67-70.
4. Kreeft, J. Headache following whiplash. In Spine: State of the art reviews: Cervical flexio-extension/whiplash iniuries, Sept.1993, p.395.
5. Hraaf, M. M. & Rosner Sj. Trauma of the cervical spine as cause of chronic headache. Trauma, 1975,15, pp.441-446.
6. Whittiogham, W., Ellis, WO. & Molyneux, J.B. The effect of manipulation (toggle recoil technique) for headaches with upper cervical joint dysfunction: A pilot study IMYT, 1994,11(6), pp. 369-375.
7. Thrk, Z. & Ratkolb, 0. Mobilization of the cervical spine in chronic headaches. Manuel Medizin, 1987, pp.15-17.

If you suffer from headaches, a chiropractic spinal checkup is one of the best things you can do. Chiropraciic's safe, gentle, drugless methods have helped millions of headache sufferers over the years. Yet chiropractic does not claim to be a headache treatment and cure-it has a different approach to
health care. Doctors of chiropractic free your body from the vertebral subluxation complex, or VSC, that has the power to destroy your health. It affects millions of us, and it is a hidden epidemic. When freed of subluxations your body works more efficiently to use its natural energies to heal itself.

Your chiropractor will relieve you of a silent killer lurking in your body, the vertebral subluxation complex, which is a severe abnormality that interferes with your body's proper function. Once your chiropractor relieves you of the vertebral subluxation complex your body will function better

LOW BACK PAIN

About 85 percent of the population will experience disabling low back pain at least once during their lives! That's almost all of us. The problem is so bad that at any one time, according to one researcher, 6.8% of the U.S. adult population is suffering from an episode of back pain lasting more than two weeks.' That's a lot of bad backs. The estimated cost of this problem in the U.S. is over $50 billion a year. Spinal health is important for proper internal organ function.

DO MEDICAL TREATMENTS AND SURGERY HELP?

The standard medical approach to back pain varies depending on the severity of the condition.

Muscle relaxers, painkillers, rest and physical therapy such as traction, diathermy, ultrasound, hot packs and cold packs are sometimes used. This approach has not been found very helpful alone however. If the problem doesn't improve or worsens then surgery may be performed.

The medical approach is at times necessary. Even back surgery has a place. But according to some studies, most spinal surgery for acute lower back problems should be rarely performed.4 Many people who have had back surgery report a recurrence of their symptoms within a year or two of the operation and may return to the operating table. In some cases the surgery makes no difference whatsoever and in some cases it does give long-term relief.

THE CHIROPRACTIC APPROACH

Chiropractors have helped millions of people with low back problems, often saving them from pain, disability, drugs and surgery. The chiropractor's purpose is to make your spine and its nerves, discs and muscles healthier, stronger and more stable by correcting your vertebral subluxations.

Anyone suffering from a back problem should see a chiropractor to make sure there is no spinal nerve stress and to have it removed or corrected if it is found. This may make the difference between a life of ease, health and comfort or a life of pain, disease and disability.

WHAT DO MAJOR GOVERNMENT STUDIES REVEAL?

Low back pain sufferers have received very good news lately. Major government studies from the U.S. and Canada have reaffirmed what chiropractic patients have been telling their friends with back pain for years: "Why don't you see my chiropractor? You'll probably get better much faster than from drugs or surgery-and it's safer too."

WHAT DID THE U.S, GOVERNMENT DISCOVER?

In 1994, the federal government sent shockwaves throughout the health care system when a definitive public pronouncement established chiropractic as one of the preferred and most effective methods of care for acute adult low back pain.

A panel of medical experts spent 2 1/2 years reviewing nearly 4,000 studies and reported that expensive tests (MRI, CAT scans) and therapies typically used to diagnose and treat acute lower back pain (ice, heat, massage, diathermy) are largely useless when used alone. Instead the experts recommended the non-drug chiropractic approach: "The therapeutic objectives of manipulation include symptomatic relief and functional improvement."

Dr. Gerard W. Clum, president of Life Chiropractic College-West, said: "The Guideline...clearly establishes spinal manipulation as the only recommended intervention whose benefit includes symptomatic relief as well as functional improvement."

The panel revealed that extended bed rest (more than four days) was harmful, and that muscle relaxants and surgery can be unnecessary and, in some cases, harmful. For example, surgery was found helpful in 1 in 100 eases of low back problems and in some people it caused more problems.

WHAT CANADIAN RESEARCHERS FOUND

The Manga Report was commissioned by the government of Ontario in Canada. Leading economists found that chiropractic care for patients with low back pain is superior to medical care in terms of safety, scientific evidence of effectiveness, cost and patient satisfaction.

"The higher satisfaction levels expressed by patients of chiropractors.. offers an overwhelming case in favor of much greater use of chiropractic services in the management of low-back pain.

"There should be a shift in policy to encourage and prefer chiropractic services for most patients with low-back pain.. a very good case can be made for making chiropractors the gate keepers for management of low-back pain in the workers' compensation system."

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES...

"Scientific studies that have been done by medical physicians comparing chiropractic care with medical care and physical therapy non-surgical care of the back and neck show that doctors of chiropractic relieve chronic and severe pain, both immediate and long term, in one half the time it takes medical physicians not trained in chiropractic procedures. Controlled empirical studies can and have been conducted. There are now in excess of 60 scientific studies which demonstrate the value of manipulation. ..manipulation is a most effective and cost-effective form of treatment for dysfunctional problems in the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spines."

"For patients with acute low back symptoms without radiculopathy, the scientific evidence suggests spinal manipulation is effective in reducing pain and perhaps speeding recovery within the first month of symptoms."

CHIROPRACTIC IS BETTER FOR YOU...

Studies have shown chiropractic works better, is safer and less costly than standard medicine for lower hack complaints.

Why are the results so overwhelmingly in favor of chiropractic? Because painkillers, muscle relaxers, Valium, braces, physical therapy and surgery are not designed to correct vertebral subluxations. Chiropractic is!

Pinched Nerves

Is A "Pinched" Nerve Making Your Life Miserable?

Being pinched hurts, but to pinch a nerve? Ugh! That must feel like a severe, intense pain, and it often does. "Pinched" nerves could happen anywhere in your Spine; can affect nerves that go to your arms, fingers, wrist, neck, back, shoulders, head, legs,muscles and internal organs; and can affect your general health, posture, energy level, resistance to disease, even your emotionalhealth. "Pinched" nerves can make your life miserable.

Pinched?

Are the nerves really pinched? "Pinched" is an inaccurate term. Many chiropractors feel that "vertebral subluxation complex," nerve impingement," "nerve irritation," "foramina compression," "chronic proprioceptive sensory-bed disturbance, "nerve-meningeal tension" and "spinal stress" are more accurate and should be used instead. But people like the word pinched because it's so descriptive.It can really feel like something is being pinched in there. Some health professionals use it. People sometimes enter a chiropractor's office saying their M.D. told them they had a "pinched" nerve and they need a chiropractor.

Nerves: Where Do They Go?

There are billions of nerve fibers in your body often in bundles called nerves. Many billions of them travel inside the spinal column as part of the spinal cord and exit through openings between the vertebrae. After leaving the spinal column the nerves separate into smaller and smaller bundles and travel to every nook and cranny in your body

Life Without Nerves

Without nerves you couldn't see, hear; touch, taste, smell or feel hot, cold, pain and pleasure. Your body would be the ultimate sensory deprivation tank; you'd be completely cut off from existence. Without nerves you would be completely paralyzed, no muscles could move; your body couldn't respond to any of your commands~you'd be a prisoner within yourself.

Nerve Regulation

Nerves regulate your breathing, sweating, shivering, internal organ function, heartbeat, digestion, excretion, regulation of blood supply to different organs and control of blood pressure. Without nerves
your body would be quite useless.

We Need Healthy Nerves

Without healthy nerves the body is weakened, not able to adapt to environmental stresses and becomes a candidate for physical and mental diseases. The most common form of nerve damage is the
so-called "pinched" nerve. It can affect the health of the nerves and the entire body

How Do Nerves Get Impinged Or "Pinched"?

When the nerves come down from the brain they travel through a bony canal formed by vertebrae. If the vertebrae misaligo slightly they may cause the nerves to be irritated, compressed or stretched 2,3 along with blood vessels, discs, ligaments, joints, muscles, fascia, tendons, meninges, lymphatics and fat tissue.4 Nerves also send more than "electrical" impulses; it is now known that chemical nutrients, necessary for muscle health, travel over the nerves. What can cause nerve "pinching" or impingement? A fall or an accident, even a very mild one that happened years ago, may be enough to misalign your spine. Some common causes are unnatural sleeping positions, bad posture, fatigue, dental work, a difficult birth, emotional stress, poor nutrition or a combination Of stresses (falling or tripping when fatigued, etc).

"Pinched" Nerves Cause Disease

When the nerves are compressed, their impulses may be altered and this affects the entire body Dis-ease, a general weakening of your body may result. Dis-ease sets the stage for diseases of all kinds. Chiropractors have observed that physical arid emotional conditions of many kinds have been related to the improper functioning of the nervous system, among them ulcers, constipation, diarrhea, luiig coiiditioi is such as astlinia, fevers, headaches, seizures, allergies, bed-wetting, colds, hearing, vision and a host of other problems. If the spinal column is misaligned the entire skeletal system is thrown off balance which can cause fatigue and exhaustion

Most "Pinched" Nerves Don't Hurt

Most people with "pinched" nerves are not in pain. People with painful "pinched" nerves might be considered the lucky ones they know they have a problem in their spine and they hopefully will get themselves checked by a chiropractor But what of the ones without pain? This is the big job of chiropractors today educating the public and telling them about vertebral subluxations and the need for periodic spinal checkups.

Correct Your "Pinched" Nerves

Only doctors of chiropractic are able to analyze the spinal column for "pinched" nerves or vertebral subluxations. Using the art of the chiropractic spinal adjustment, the doctor of chiropractic then begins a process of correcting the spinal damage. No painkillers, muscle relaxants, other drugs or medical procedures can do it. No surgery cair do it. "Pinched" nerves (vertebral subluxations) will not go away by themselves. Anyone suffering from "pinched" nerves needs a proper chiropractic spinal analysis and spinal adjustment to relieve their body of vertebral subluxations riothing else will do.

Postscript

No matter what disease or condition you have, you can benefit from a healthy spine. Spinal health can be as important for your overall healing as proper nutrition. Are you and your family carrying the vertebral subluxation complex in your spines? Only a chiropractic spinal checkup can tell. Among the many things contributing to your health; the quality of the air; food and water you take in; how you handle emotional stress; your inherited weaknesses and strengths; your use of drugs; exercise; and relaxation a healthy spine is absolutely essential. In some people it is a major factor and can make the difference between a life of health, strength and vitality or a life of disease, weakness and disability.

SCIATICA, Leg Pain & Chiropractic

Chiropractic care appears to have the most effect on sciatica when used first. Unfortunately, many people first submit to medical care. Even in this group excellent results may be obtained with subsequent chiropractic care. in one study 3,136 people with lumbo-sciatalgia (lower back and sciatica pain) with disc disease (protrusion) who had previously had medical treatments such as physiotherapy and drugs with no positive results were given chiropractic care. A follow-up two years later showed that 50.4% had excellent results with no painful relapses, 34.4% had relapses but then responded favorably after funher chiropractic care while 15.2% showed no significant improvement.

Those suffering from sciatica and leg pains would do well to visit a doctor of chiropractic. To millions of sciatica sufferers chiropractic's unique approach to wellness has been a blessing. If the spine becomes misaligned or distorted it could damage (impinge) the nerves it is designed to protect. The impinged nerves can upset the delicate workings of the nervous system, weaken the body and set the stage for disease, pain and body malfunction.

SCIATIC NERVE

Your sciatic nerve is your longest and largest nerve. It is made up of five roots that leave your low back, join in your pelvis and then travel to the muscles and joints of your thigh, knee, calf, ankle, foot and toes.

WHAT IS SCIATICA?

If your sciatic nerve becomes inflammed the condition is called sciatica (pronounced si'ad-a'ka). The pain can be intense! It often follows the path of your nerve~down the back of the legs and thighs, ankle, foot and toes but it can also radiate to your back! Along with burning, sharp pains, you may also feel nerve sensations such as pins and needles, tingling, prickling, crawling sensations or tenderness. Ironically, your leg may also feel numb!

To complicate matters, although sciatica pain is usually in the back of the legs or thighs, in some people it can be in the front or side of the legs or even in the hips. For some, the pain is in both legs: bilateral sciatica!

LIKE A KNIFE

The quality of the pain may vary. There may be constant throbbing but then it may let up for hours -or even days; it may ache or be knife-like. Sometimes postural changes, like lying down or changing positions, affect the pain and sometimes they don't. In severe cases, sciatica can cause a loss of reflexes or even a wasting of your calf muscles.

THE CHIROPRACTIC APPROACH

Throughout your life, you have your teeth, blood pressure and eyes checked - how about your spine?

Chiropractors correct the vertebral subluxation complex, which causes poor spinal alignment and
nerve pressure. Doing this, chiropractors relieve stress on the spinal nerves, joints and discs. Just as you get your car's alignment checked and corrected, so you should periodically get your spine's alignment checked out and corrected. Is chiropractic spinal care a treatment for sciatica? No, it is a procedure for the analysis and correction of spinal nerve stress. And yet, if you do have sciatica, a chiropractic spinal adjustment is very badly needed. Every sciatica sufferer needs a healthy spine.

NEUROGENIC CLAUDICATION

Neurogenic claudication is muscle pain brought on by walking due to diminished blood circulation. In addition to pain the sufferer may feel cramping, numbness, aching and/or fatigue usually in the calf but also in the foot, thigh, hip or buttocks after walking for long periods of time. After a little rest the symptoms disappear Spinal care should be tried first before medical and surgical techniques are resorted to. Newer studies show that exercise can help individuals with this condition.

RESEARCH

Research shows that the relationship between chiropractic spinal adjustment and sciatica and leg pain is a close one. For example, one study of sixty patients showed that spinal care should be the care of choice for sciatica sufferers. And still other studies praised chiropractic spinal adjustments for sufferers of sciatica and leg pain. In one controlled study four different approaches (spinal care, traction, two types of injections) were used to deal with low back pain and sciatica sufferers. The group that had spinal care experienced the greatest degrees of recovery. Interestingly, a large number in the traction group eventually required surgery.

For sciatica sufferers, a good night's sleep may be a thing of the past. Simple things like walking, bending, turning, sitting or standing up can be difflcult or impossible.

CAUSES OF SCIATICA

Like most other conditions, sciatica has a wide variety of causes but an unhealthy spine with a protruded or ruptured disc can irritate the sciatic nerve causing sciatica. Sciatica has been reported following accidents, injuries and even childbirth, usually due to spinal misalignment.' However, advanced diabetes can also cause sciatic nerve irritation, as can arthritis,constipation, tumors and even vitamin deficiencies.

THE MEDICAL APPROACH

The medical approach to sciatica is symptom Sciaric treatment with nerve painkillers, muscle relaxers and orthopedic devices such as traction and physical therapy.

Sciatica is particularly frustrating to treat with drugs because, in manycases, even strong painkillers bring little or no relief. However, relief may be obtained by injecting painkillers directly into the nerve roots! As with all painkillers, there is always a risk

Chronic Fatigue

One day you might begin to notice a lack of energy - you might, for example, become fatigued earlier in the day than usual. You might become aware of stress and tension in your neck, shoulders, or lower back or you might not. Sometimes the first symptoms of spinal nerve stress are subtle alterations in personality like moodiness, short attention span, sleeping problems, loss of temper, or depression.

Why Wait?

Why wait until you have a health problem to see a chiropractor? Why not practice preventive health maintenance, having your spinal column checked for spinal nerve stress before you get sick? Overt illness is often the last stage in a disease process. In any case, the true goal of the chiropractor is to keep people so healthy that they don't get sick in the first place! Chiropractic is ideally a health-maintenance health care system. Usually the chiropractor is able to check the spinal column for health-destroying spinal nerve stress long before symptoms occur.

What Is Health?

True health does not mean merely being symptom-free - it's having your body working right; having good spinal alignment, restful sleep, strength, and energy. If simply being free of symptoms were the only sign of good health, then aspirin, drugs, and other medicines would make you healthy, and the people taking the most drugs would be the healthiest. But - are they? Drugs don't make you healthy. They may reduce or alter your symptoms, but that does not make you healthy. What makes you healthy? Life makes you healthy. Having 100% life flowing through you, having a body free of spinal nerve stress so the energies from the brain can travel freely to every part of your body is what health is all about. And that's the goal of the Doctor of Chiropractic.

O God, thou hast formed the body of man with infinite goodness. Thou hast united in him innumerable forces Thcessantly at work like so many instruments, so as to preserve in its entirety this beautiful house containing his immortal soul, and these forces act with all the order, concord and harmony imaginable. But if weakness or violent passion disturb this harmony, these forces set against one another and the body returns to the dust whence it came. Thou sendest then to man Thy messengers, the diseases which announce the approach of danger, and bid him prepare to overcome them. Code of Maimonides

Your Grandchildren

A chiropractor often sees people for the first time after they've been living in unhealthy bodies for many years.How often we wish that we could turn back the clock for patients who needed chiropractic care years or even decades ago but who first began care only today. The admonition you should have come here twenty years ago might hold truth but it doesn't really help the latecomer to our offices. Hopefully this person will bring his/her children and grandchildren in for chiropractic spinal checkups so that in another 30 or 40 years they won't be hobbling in to see the next generation of chiropractors and hear the same sad words of wisdom Why don't more people come in for spinal health maintenance? Why do they live with uncorrected spinal nerve stress for years on end?

Spinal Nerve Stress

Uncorrected vertebral subluxations (spinal nerve stress) weaken the spinal muscles; and stretch and deform the spinal ligaments, cartilage, spinal discs, and vertebrae. This unbalances and weakens the body structure, causing lack of energy and vitality, chronic fatigue, and premature aging. But the most severe consequences of spinal nerve stress are stress and irritation of the nervous system, especially the brain stem, spinal cord, and spinal nerves. An irritated nervous system causes disease, or lack of health and wholeness, that results in a weakening of body harmony and a weakened immune system. A person with spinal nerve stress is physically and mentally functioning at less than his/her peak. This sets the stage for disease.

Chiropractic Spinal Care

Chiropractic spinal care helps balance the body structure; relieve stress upon the spinal column and nervous system; and give the body greater harmony, resistance to disease, and improved function. Irrespective of the disease or condition from which the patient is suffering, the chiropractor concentrates on the disease caused by spinal nerve stress. Whether or not the patient has skin problems; allergies; asthma; neck or back pain; headaches or insomnia; or other health problems - he/she needs a healthy spine.


Often Unnoticed For Years

You may suffer from spinal nerve stress for years before symptoms appear. You may feel no overt symptoms while nerves are damaged, life energies are unbalanced, and the very bones surrounding the nerves may be degenerating. By the time the first symptoms of dis-ease appear, your health may have been severely damaged. That is why chiropractors emphasize periodic spinal checkups even if you feel no symptoms. Why wait until your health is lost before you try to regain it?

Like Dental Care

A good analog to chiropractic care is dental care. We should see our dentist regularly to make sure there aren't any conditions lurking beneath the surface like cavities or gum problems. If there are problems, we should get them corrected as early as possible so they won't develop into something more serious. You shouldn't wait until you're in pain to see a dentist because dental cavities and other conditions develop slowly and silently, and it can be a long time before you have any symptoms like pain. It's the same with the care of the spine.

Early Signs of Spinal Stress

There is an old Chinese saying: There wouldn't be any major health problems if we paid attention to minor ones. Perhaps if we knew some of the early signs of spinal nerve stress we wouldn't wait so long to visit our neighborhood chiropractor. If we knew what to look for we could bring our families in for care earlier, before serious health problems arose, so that they might be saved unnecessary suffering, pill taking, and even surgical intervention.


A Silent Killer

Spinal nerve stress is often insidious - building up very slowly and gradually. We're often unaware
of our small health problems some of us are so busy worrying about work or school or home life, or
our friends and relatives, that we may forget about or simply ignore our problems, hoping they'll go
away.

Arthritis

THE CHIROPRACTIC APPROACH

Chiropractic is not a treatment for arthritis, but if you have arthritis you must have your spine checked for spinal nerve stress by a chiropracton Spinal nerve stress damages the nervous system, stresses the immune system, puts the body in a weakened state and can set the stage for sicknesses and diseases of all kinds - arthritis included. Chiropractors are specially trained to locate and free the body from spinal nerve stress. Research has shown that most patients with rheumatoid arthritis have severe spinal rnisalignments, especially in the upper neck area.

Another study showed that nearly 90% of osteoartritis sufferers improved under chiropractic care. Many other studies have shown the benefit of spinal adjustments for arthritis sufferers.

CONCLUSION

Chiropractic teaches us to respect and work with the natural wisdom of the body and to improve our health by removing interferences to normal body function. Along with removing spinal nerve stress, you may need to change your eating habits, lose weight, quit smoking, exercise and deal with emotional stress differently. Search out the most natural, conservative methods before submitting to more dangerous (drug and medical) care. The body has a wisdom that far exceeds our own. It can cure diseases that have no known cure. It has done so in arthritis eases where thc disease simply disappears.


ARTHRITIS,"RHEUMATISM,"& CHIROPRACTIC

A SYSTEMIC DISEASE

Arthritis is a disease of the whole body (a systematic disease) that is most dramatically seen in the joints. The word "arthritis" may include more than 100 conditions, many that were formerly known as "rheumatism." Very few people with arthritis are crippled. In fact, arthritis may have the condition for many years, even decades, and never know it! You may have some arthritis right now.

.OSTEOARTHRITIS (OA)

Osteoarthritis or OA, also called degenerative joint disease, is the most common arthritis of all; almost everyone over the age of 50 has a touch of it. As one text says: "Arthritis is almost as inevitable...as graying of the hair." In many people it causes pain and in some it causes partial or even total incapacitation. OA is considered the result of too much spinal stress that creates wear and tear on the joints. It is often a sign that the spinal column is unbalanced. Bone growths called "lipping" and "spurring; which are the signs that the body's defense body is trying to strengthen the area by building up more bone. Sometimes the bony growth may compress nerves, cause pain and affect the health of internal organs. Recent research has shown that chiropractic care can reverse some of the effects of osteoarthritis - something previously considered impossible.



RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS (RA)

This is the crippler that can destroy joints, affect the heart, blood vessels, eyes, skin, muscles and other organs. It's accompanied by fatigue, weight loss and acute pain. It often appears suddenly in someone in their 30s or 40s - it may disappear just as suddenly!

VERY FEW PEOPLE WITH ARTHRITIS ARE CRIPPLED. IN FACT, ARTHRITICS MAY HAVE THE CONDITION FOR MANY YEARS, EVEN DECADES AND NEVER KNOW IT! YOU MAY HAVE ARTHRITIS NOW!

No one seems to know what causes it or why some recover and others do not. The best medical care can provide is physical therapy such as hot water baths and drugs for the pain and inflammation.
Growing evidence has led many researchers to believe that RA is an immune system (autoimmune) disease; the body is attacking itself because the immune system is malfuctioning.

JUVENILE RHEUMATOID (JRA)

This is similar to adult RA except it occurs in children. In over half the cases the disease simply disappears. In less than one-sixth of the cases is there severe disability. Other organs can be affected, plus high fever, rash and pain in the joints. Again, no one knows its cause, cure, treatment, how it comes about or why it disappears in so many cases. It's cause is being linked by some to childhood immunizations. There now exists a growing theoretical concern which Iink immunizations to the huge increase in recent decades this includes auto-immune diseases, e.g. rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, lymphoma, and even leukemia.

SOME OTHER TYPES OF ARTHRITIS

Ankylosing spondylitis or Maric-Strumpell disease is a form of rheumatoid arthritis that can fuse the spine! A chiropractor/researcher analyzed the skeleton of a victim of this disease and showed severe is alignments that were preserved in death in the fused joints!

Gout is an arthritis characterized by chemical crystals deposited in the large toe but it can spread to other joints. We should not get too hung up on the names of different forms of arthritis, as one researcher cautions us: "Too many doctors... spend wasted time naming the patient's rheumatic diseases.... More time should be spent on conducting chiropractic analysis to identity subluxations...and carefully research a patient's history to uncover personal habits that may have contributed to the development of the condition."

THE MEDICAL APPPROACH: TO ARTHRITIS

The medical profession offers no cure for arthritis; the underlying cause is unknown. Therefore treatment of symptoms - a lifetime of taking drugs, heat, hot packs or exercises in warm water and similar treatments - are suggested. If a joint becomes severely deteriorated then surgery may be considered. Such as an Artificial knee replacement.

Aspirin, while it may reduce pain, stiffness and inflammation, often requires eight to 24 tablets a day and can cause stomach irritation, bleeding and ulcers. Drugs such as TylenolJM, IndocinTM, Advill and NaprosynTM can cause kidney damage and hemorrhage of the esophagus,stom- ach, duodenum and small intestine. Approximately 10,000 arthritic sufferers die every year from the gastrointestinal complications of various arthritis drugs.'

Steroids, with prolonged use, may cause thinning and weakening of the bones. Gold salts may cause skin rashes and mouth ulcers.

Robert Mendelsohn, M.D. cautioned people to be wary of new arthritis drugs, "If you rush to take it, do so with the full knowledge that you are being a guinea pig. The longer a drug is on the market, the more will be known about its side effects.

This occurred when Oraflex went on the market. It was removed from the market in the same year by its manufacturer, after 73 deaths from the drug were reported.

Arm, Shoulder, Hand Problems

Some people may blame their shoulder (or other joint) problems on "old age" even though their other shoulder, which doesn't have any problems, is just as old.

What controls your shoulders, arms and hands? How does a message from the brain tell the arm to move, regulate the heartbeat or control the functions of glands and internal organs which arc so far away from it? The brain "talks" with the rest of your body through a vast telecommunications system made up of nerves. Nerves reach out of your brain in a large bundle called the spinal cord and travel down your back inside the spinal column. As the nerves from your brain travel down your spinal cord they first have to pass through holes (foramina) between the spinal bones (vertebrae). Some nerves go straight to their point of destination but some first mix with other nerves to form complicated nerve networks that anatomists call a nerve plexus.You have a number of plex uses in your body: there's the cervical plexus along each side of your neck, the brachial plexus near your shoulders, the solar plexus near your stomach, the lumbar plexus in your lower back and many, many others. In this brochure we're going to discuss the brachial plexus.

The brachial plexus is made up of nerves which come out of the middle and lower neck and upper back. After they interconnect to form the brachial plexus they branch off to supply different areas. This is especially true in the shoulders, arms, elbows, wrists, hands and fingers.
The most common form of brachial plexus damage is to the nerves that make up the brachial plexus as they exit the spinal column through the foramina plexus. In the foramina the nerves are surrounded by a ring of bone and meninges (tough coverings) and if the ring becomes smaller the nerves may become compressed or "pinched:' What causes the nerves to get "pinched"? Many things: long-standing spinal stress; old injuries such as falls from childhood: new injuries such as sports mishaps or car accidents (especially whiplash - a situation where the head and neck are suddenly "snapped" forward
and backward); arthritis; being twisted, pulled or shaken; or even sleeping in an awkward position as well as many other stresses and strains of daily living.

RESULTS OF BRACHIAL PLEXUS

Depending on which brachial plexus nerves are damaged, different symptoms and problems may be experienced. Neck pain or neck stiffness may be one of the first signs of brachial plexus damage. In some people the pain may radiate to the shoulder and down to the arm, wrist, hand, or finger Sometimes there is extremity pain, but not neck pain. Sometimes there's no pain but numbness - a sure sign of nerve damage. Other times there's pain in one area, the brachial plexus goes to numbness in another. "Pins
and needles" of the fingers or other areas can be a sign of brachial plexus problems, while weakness of the involved parts may also occur.

OTHER CONDITIONS

Because of the complicated way nerves interrelate, conditions such as headache; migraine; facial pain; dizziness, throat conditions; thyroid and nasal problems, epilepsy, and limited, painful or stiff motion of the head and neck; have been reported as being caused by brachial plexus damage. Lower back pain has been reported to be caused by cervical or neck spinal damage as well.

CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or CTS is now so common it's been called the 'occupational disease of the 1990's." Symptoms include tingling and numbness in the hand, fingers and wrist; pain so intense that it awakens you at night and similar symptoms in the upper arm, elbow, shoulder or neck. Increasing numbers of people are seeking chiropractic care. As one researcher has written: "Faulty innervation caused by spinal joint lesions is one of the main factors in the productimi of wrist swelling,
carpal tunnel syndrome, [and] tennis elbow."

THE CHIROPRACTIC APPROACH

Although chiropractic's success with shoulder, arm and hand problems is well documented. The chiropractic approach to a person's health problems is very different from the medical approach. Rather than treat the condition a patient has, the chiropractor concentrates on the health of the patient.

VERTEBRAL SUBLUXATIONS

Chiropractic is devoted to correcting abnormal spinal structural conditions called vertebral subluxations. Spinal nerve stress which cause abnormal spine and joint motion and nervous system stress. Unless corrected, vertebral subluxations can cause or contribute to many health conditions and prevent or interfere with the normal healing process.

YOUR INNER HEALER

The chiropractor specializes in analyzing your spinal column for vertebral subluxations and correcting them when found. In this way the chiropractor helps restore the healthy flow of nerve impulses between the brain and the body parts.