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Free Prize Inside

Free Prize Inside

How many times over the years have you or one of your kids opened a box of Cracker Jacks or cereal and wolfed it down just to get to the free prize inside?

It’s a pretty clever sales device - Hide something of low cost but high perceived value in the box and Mom will want to buy it because it gets the kids to eat their cereal to find the free prize inside.

There are different kinds of "free prizes inside" 

We often buy things to achieve or acquire one thing but get something else as a secondary gain

One can sign up for a cruise - for a "vacation" but meet Mr. Right.

One can go to an expensive restaurant for dinner when a less expensive one will give just as nutritional a meal but with a fraction of the ambiance.

You can fly first class or coach and both seats will land at the same destination but in first class the seats are not only bigger and more comfy, the food is better, the service is better, you get off the plane first and if you’re into it - you have much better chance of running into a celebrity.

When a person hurts his or her back and chooses to go to a chiropractor there’s typically a free prize inside.

I have heard it countless times from people over the years:

- A woman came in for a back injury and when her injury was resolved she reported no longer having PMS. Her husband came into personally thank me

- A man came in for sciatica (leg pain), and as his back problem got better so did his asthma.

- Another came in for carpal tunnel pain and he reported that he actually stopped snoring- (his wife thanked me)

- A woman came in for headaches and her golf game improved.

- A woman came in after a car accident and as a result of her care program she lost 45 lbs.

- A man came in following a work-related injury to his lower back and following his care- he was in the best shape and condition in his entire life

Another woman came in for upper back pain and in the process of helping her she started sleeping better, felt less stress, had fewer headaches (which she didn’t report at the onset of care), lost weight and had a happier life in general

This list is really endless - I hear stories like this often - People coming for care for one problem and getting rid of another problem that they never even thought of treating or simply and unexpectedly improving another aspect of their life

That’s the Free Prize in Chiropractic Care that one will rarely find in more conventional medicine with all of it’s side effects and warnings about what you have to look out for with every pill you take.

If You Step On A Dog's Tail - Which End Bites You?

           It shouldn’t be at all surprising that in a chiropractic office setting that we often see patients with neck and back pain. After being in practice for 25 years I’ve noticed patterns and common traits as to where people will feel their pain.

Very often, where the patient reports she is hurting is Not where the problem is.

A good example is someone will say she has neck pain and her upper back hurts just between the shoulder blade and the spine. She will say she has pain on the right upper Traps and her right forearm or maybe even the hand feels a little tingly or numb.

I will test her by palpating her spine, checking for joint movement between individual vertebrae and checking her ranges of motion in different areas of her back and neck. I’ll typically find that the C1 (top vertebra in the neck), is stuck or "fixed" with the right side turned to the back. Even though she reports no lower back pain, when I check her lower back I’ll find that her sacrum is fixed and turned to the back on the right side also. When I start to push on and palpate her left hip area I’ll find that the left pelvis is fixed and tipped back...but no noticeable lower back pain.

On x-ray I’ll see that C1 and the sacrum is in fact turned back on the right side and the left pelvis is tipped back.

What is the connection between her upper back pain and her lower back?

The pelvis is the foundation of the spine. If it is twisted or rotated, the spine which is attached to and standing on the sacrum will also rotate. One of the attributes or characteristics of being alive is that living beings adapt to their environment. A non-living structure such as a chair does not adapt. If you push on a chair enough it will fall over. If I push on you (at least initially), you will subconsciously push back - your muscles will automatically tighten on the same side to prevent me from pushing you over...That’s you adapting to the force of my hand on your shoulder. Were I to push hard enough I might over-come your ability to adapt and you will fall over.

When the pelvis tips back on one side, the other side adapts - it counter-rotates and tips forward. This causes the sacrum ( in between the two pelvis bones), to twist. One side rotates forward and upward and the other side goes back and downward. The lumbar spine (L5 specifically), which is attached to the sacrum must also twist and tip with the sacrum (they’re attached - just as if I twist your hand your wrist must twist with it...), as all of the vertebrae are similarly attached in line, the entire spine must become twisted to some degree all the way up to your head.

All this twisting of the spine is also making your spine bend because bending and twisting are coupled and always go together - you can’t bend the spine without twisting it and vice versa.

Try this: throw a quarter on the table so that it turns / wobbles around it’s edge. Now watch it as it continuously turns and lifts its edge. What is happening is that as it leans to one side it turns to that side and as long as it continues to turn and lean...it will continue to lean and turn.

This is a physical phenomenon seen with any circular object. The weight-bearing portion of your vertebrae are essentially round just like the quarter - but much thicker. Same laws apply.

So, as our patient’s back is twisting (and leaning), it is also attempting to "adapt" to this changing shape. The end result is muscles that are not ordinarily all that tight - get tight. A lot tighter... And this explains why she is hurting in between her shoulder blade and her spine.

There was no problem there before but because her low back was twisted out of alignment and not even hurting (yet), the end result is that her upper back is taking the heat for this.

This explains why when your low back "goes out" you can feel it elsewhere - in your upper back, your neck or maybe even get headaches, carpal tunnel pain, TMJ, PMS, reflux, feel stressed, have insomnia. It also explains why it pays to check and examine the entire spine instead of only the part that hurts. Treating the point of pain...you might just miss what is causing the whole entire problem.

When you step on the dog’s tail the other end might just bite you ...

Frank's Carpal Tunnel Problems

This week we had an interesting new case with a man named Frank.

Frank had an interesting career as a butcher and then later in life had gone to work for IBM. He’s 68 now and he’s had carpal tunnel problems for almost 8 years. His MD wants him to have his wrist cut open to "relieve the pressure" in his carpal tunnel. That might possibly work for Frank if his problem were actually located in his wrist. It isn’t and I say this because none of the standard carpal tunnel tests say it is. Phalen’s test and reverse Phalen’s test are both normal. Phalens test is performed holding the hands palms-together as in praying, forearms level, holding the wrists at a sharp 90 degree angle. Reverse Phalen’s test is the reverse of this position held sharply for 20- 30 seconds. If his problem actually originated in his wrist, where the surgeon wanted to operate, this test would elicit carpal tunnel symptoms - at least a little bit - but they don’t. Percussion of his carpal tunnel with the reflex hammer does not elicit carpal tunnel symptoms nor does forced extension of his index finger does not elicit carpal tunnel symptoms either, both of which you should see if the problem was in his wrist.

Although he’s never been in an accident, his neck x-rays tell a different story. I know the medical people will say he has arthritis in his neck but a better way to state it is he has advanced degeneration in his neck. Though the end result looks pretty much the same, arthritis results more from unequal weight-bearing within the joint and degeneration results from abnormal joint motion - usually loss of joint motion.

In chiropractic circles we refer to loss of joint motion as hypomobility. It is a subluxation if there is hypomobility with irritation to and change of nerve function.

There is advanced degeneration of Frank’s neck at precisely the area or level of his neck where the spinal nerves that form the median nerve (the one involved in carpal tunnel syndrome), exit the neck to go down the arm and to the hand.

Palpation of his neck reveals that several of the vertebrae of his neck are literally stuck - they don’t move individually (one to another) the way they should (hypo-mobility). When Frank and I both try to turn his neck - he cannot turn to the right more than 20 degrees. (Normal is about 85 - 90 degrees). When trying to turn his head to the left it turns to almost 45 degrees.

Hypomobilty causes irritation of the joint structures and this irritation causes cells to rupture and spill their contents outside the cells. This in turn sets off a chemical chain reaction that ends up irritating nerves which in turn send signals to the brain which we interpret as pain, tingling or numbness. Branches of those same nerves also carry signals to other areas within the brain which in turn initiates a cascade of altered functions, and unpleasant sensations and reactions.

Arthritis doesn’t do this and cutting his wrists will not stop the problem- because it’s not in his wrist at all. The origin of his carpal tunnel pain is entirely in the joints of his neck which are hypomobile. Surgery doesn’t seem like the right answer here at all. At the very best he will be unchanged but more likely it will leave him considerably worse. You can’t go in there cutting tissue and not create trouble, destroying healthy tissue, causing spacing occupying scarring, etc.

That said - I discussed with Frank my plan to "adjust" his neck to restore mobility in his neck. The x-ray reveals that C1 (top-most vertebra in the neck), is rotated posteriorly on the left and C5 is rotated posteriorly on the right. When looking at him you can easily see that. His neck is inclined to the right and his head is compensating by leaning to the left. His left shoulder is elevated and this all explains why he cannot turn his head to the right more than 20 degrees. The way the vertebrae are essentially "jammed" together or stuck so they lose their individual movement - they prevent normal movement of the entire neck.

Well, this case began on Monday this week. He came in for an adjustment Wednesday and Friday also. On Friday he reported being able to turn his head better. And he could - I measured it. Without help he turned his head to the right 45 degrees and 60 degrees to the left. Palpation revealed considerable improvement in joint mobility as well. That’s Not the best part of this story though. It’s a no-brainer - when you adjust a hypomobile joint ...it moves better. The best part was that the sensation in his left hand has improved already and it wasn’t hurting when he woke up this morning.

What is really astonishing is that he has suffered with this problem for 8 years and in one week with the proper care he is already starting to feel better.

Aren't We just a Product of the Life-choices We've Made?

Like that little reminder printed on your rear-view mirror -

The Results of Some of the Life-Choices We Make May Be Closer Than They Appear...

Which of these life choices would make more sense to you?

1) Wait until your car starts making a knocking sound before changing the oil or Change the oil every 3000 mile like the garage tells you to?

2) See your dentist a couple of times each year and get checked for possible problems while they’re small and minor ones, or...wait until the decay has gotten to the point that only a root canal will solve the problem?

3) Have an eye exam regularly or wait until you're having headaches from poor vision?

4) Check your child’s back pack to see if it’s loaded properly and / or doesn’t weigh too much for her to carry...or wait until it causes enough stress on her back to damage the muscles and alignment of her spine?

5) Get a colonoscopy to look for potential problems as recommended or wait until you are sick and diagnosed with colon cancer

6) See a chiropractor regularly to check for misalignments in the spine that have been shown to adversely affect one’s health and typically lead to neck and back pain...or wait until illness or back pain strikes and then just take loads of pills and other medicines to try to cover up the pain and illness?

7) Go the gym and / or work out regularly to stay in good shape and condition or wait until you reach your 60's and wonder where all your life & energy has gone?

8) Maintain your weight through healthy eating choices and habits or wait until your hip or knee fails from being over weight or you’re diagnosed with diabetes or you have a heart attack?

9) Brush and floss your teeth regularly or wait until you have gum disease or your teeth are falling out of your mouth?

10) Stop smoking as soon as possible or wait until the doctor informs you that you have emphysema or your hands and feet are going numb from poor circulation or worse - you have lung cancer?

These really are just "choices" Some choices are more costly then others. Some choices have dire consequences. The result of some choices may be delayed and some are "closer than they appear in your mirror..."

How Old Are You ?

Seems like an ordinary kind of question - All one needs to do is look at your driver's license and we can tell how old you are...in years - but that doesn't really give as much information as it might used to.

You know, you can buy a brand new '65 Mustang with zero miles on it. It's exactly like a the '65 Mustang I had when I was in college and it was totally worn out, run down, not maintained and simply beat. It was a bomb and It barely got me to class. But you can buy one just like it now - same year, everything the same only brand new & never driven. Kinda contradiction of sorts - a brand new 1965 Mustang built in 2008

People are a lot like that - I see very old people who are 42 years old and I see very young people who are going on 87 (according to their driver's license).  You could say that some people just age faster than others. Some just show their age more. There are reasons for this. There are obviously many better ways to tell how old a person is than checking their driver's license - that just tells us when you were born.

If you really want to know how old you are - check the following:

1) Your pulse - people who have a low resting pulse (60 beats per minute or less) are physiologically young. Also - How fast does it return to resting level after you climb the stairs or work out? In people who are physiologically young the pulse returns to normal resting levels at a rate of 20-30 beats per minute (BPM) per minute. In other words after the first minute of resting after working out your pulse should be 20-30 bpm slower and 20 -30 BPM slower still after the second minute.

2) Check your blood pressure. In physiologically young people it will be in the range of 70-80 systolic over 60-70 diastolic -  The first number measures how hard your heart is beating to push the blood thru the system. The second number measures how elastic, (think youthfull) the blood vessels are and how much the system relaxes between beats.

3) Your flexibility - physiologically young people are more flexible. They'e not stiff in the morning. They can turn and bend without feeling like they're going to rip their arm or leg off doing so. They can turn their head to look over their shoulder to back the car out of the driveway without causing pain. 

4) Check your range of motion - You should be able to turn your head equally both ways, raise your arms over your head and be able to walk with a stride such that you have a definite heel strike with both feet. You should be able to bend at the waist to reach something on the floor and bend equally to both sides approximately 25 - 30 degrees 

5) Your skin tone should be such that if someone presses on you with a finger and then removes their finger - it doesn't leave a dent that lingers more than a fraction of a second.

6) How fast do you get up out of a chair on cue. This is probably one of the best tests of how old you are. A person who is physiologically young will get up immediately when told to do so on cue. Old people linger and struggle to get up regardless of their weight.

         There are probably a dozen other equally good ways to measure your age but this can get you started...

Now you know how to tell how old you ARE...Would you like to get younger?

If you're wondering how you can do that, The chiropractic lifestyle is a great place to start

The chiropractic lifestyle obviously includes getting adjusted often / regularly but it's much more than that: It also includes giving up tobacco, excess alchohol, getting regular exercise 5-6 days per week - includng aerobics and resistance / weight training exercise, eating less...  eating less carbohydrates, less fat, eating less junk food, taking in less or NO environmental toxins, handling stress better, get plenty of rest , Play more, study new subjects, getting involved in new activities and participating in helping others more and... making plans to...

All this is what young people do

It is interesting to note that approximately 70% of the people who are over over 100 years old in this country right now ...are under regular chiropractic care and live the chiropractic lifestyle.