San Leandro Chiropractor

Major Don’ts During Low Back Pain

July 14, 2011 by drburt

Everyone is experiencing lower back pain sooner or later in their lifetime. However, when that time come many sufferers are ready to do anything for the pain to go away. Over the past ten years I have seen people doing all kind of things by an advice of a friend, neighbor or a close relative. My mind was always wondering: “How is that supposed to help a soft tissue injury or misaligned vertebrae?” Some of these recommendations will do more harm to lower back than help. Dr. Orly Avlzur advises to avid the major none professional recommendations.

Bed Rest is not a good idea at all. During prolonged bed rest lower back muscles loose their tone and can lead to a greater pain. Also prolonged supine position can cause loss of lumbar lordosis. One must move around and stretch. That is correct, physical activity is in favor against resting state. Do you remember those days when you get up from a bed and everything is sore in your body. As a day progresses thing seems to get better and the pain level goes significantly down.

People need to learn how to listen to their bodies. It is not recommended to sit up straight during pain with certain lumbar spine conditions. This position can cause an excessive pressure on already pinched lumbar nerve root. Short periods of fetal positioning may help alleviate this pain. Posture has a direct relationship to the health condition of your spine. Read this post – “Why is Posture so Important” and “Stabilizer Muscles’on Role on Role in Injury Prevention.”

People must watch how much they eat. Pendulous Abdominus will cause alteration in a lumbar lordosis and will eventually cause lower back pain. If you are already over weight please consider changing your diet. Getting rid of refined products, white bread and sodas will do good to not only your back but an overall well being. Weight gain can expedite lumbar disc degeneration.

Some buy shoe orthotics with the hope that it will help the pain. These orthotics only work for rare conditions when one leg is shorter than the other. But for most part they will not resolve lower back pain. I always emphasize to my female patients to avoid frequent use of high hill shoes. They will also increase lumbar lordosis.

Several studies suggest that people who suffer from low back pain actually benefit more from a medium-firm mattress. Why? If a mattress is too firm, it won’t support the body evenly and may cause discomfort at the heaviest points like hips and shoulders. If the mattress is too soft, a sleeper could sink into the bed and have a harder time moving, which could cause stiffness and pain come morning. Having a slightly softer mattress places less compression on your body and may grant you a better night’s sleep. Take a look at this post on how to chose a mattress.

Do not use surgery as the first choice of therapy. Surgery is recommended when a patient is experiencing serious motor or nerve deficit. Many common back problems can be fixed by your local chiropractor. If you are a local Bay Area resident try our facility at San Leandro Chiropractic Clinic. And not everyone that undergoes surgery is happy with the end result. A 2009 survey of almost 1000 consumerreports.org subscribers who had undergone surgery for low back pain found only 60 percent said they were completely or very satisfied with the results of their operation.

While the advice is sound and it’s better to: bend at your knees, not at your waist; lift using your leg muscles; tighten your abdominal muscles; and hold the object close to your body – if you have a known back problem, like a herniated disc, it’s best to avoid strenuous lifting entirely. It’s fairly common for me to see return patients who get into trouble because they continued to lift heavy weights at the gym, moved furniture, or shoveled snow.

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Teenager, High Blood Pressure and Lack of Sleep

July 11, 2011 by drburt

Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, has conducted a research which concluded that sleep depravation could be the cause of high blood pressure in healthy adolescents. These associations couldn’t be explained by being overweight, socioeconomic status, sleep apnea, or known co morbidities. About 238 teenagers ages 13 to 16 were participating in this study which provided an important data about relationship between lack of sleep and high blood pressure. All of the participants of this study were without any known health issues.

This study was published in a Journal of the American Heart Organization. Young adults were observed 3 to 7 nights about the sleep duration at their homes. Special digital wrist recorder was designed in order to record a motion, sleep and wake up patterns. Special laboratory was used for one night and the blood pressure was measured nine times during that night over two days period. In the research facility, an overnight polysomnography was also made; according to Wikipedia, a polysomnography “is a multi-parametric test used in the study of sleep”, and the test outcome is termed a polysomnogram.

Those young adults who had less than 6.5 hours of sleep a night were 2.8 times to have elevated blood pressure levels, compared to those teenagers who had more hours of sleep. Those with low sleep efficiency, on the other hand, were 4.5 times more likely to have prehypertension. Sleep efficiency might be broadly defined as sleep quality. It took into account factors such as having difficulty dropping off to sleep or staying asleep.

Scientific data was adjusted for gender, body mass index and socioeconomic status. Pre hypertension risks were 2.5 times higher for lack of sleep and 3.5 times higher for low sleep efficiency. Youngster with sleep deficiency had 4mm Hg higher systolic blood pressure than those who had good night sleep.

According to the NHLBI’s Your Guide to Healthy Sleep, children of school-going age and adolescents need at least 9 hours of sleep every night. According to the guide, hormonal influences during puberty tend to affect the biological clocks of adolescents. They are thus more likely to go to bed later at night, and want to sleep in longer in the morning.

The Implications

If the young ones are often having problems falling asleep, getting up several times or for long periods during the night, having sleepy spells during the day, or having difficulty concentrating, then it is possible that they are not having enough sleep, or are having poor sleep.

And, compared with twenty or even ten years ago, teenagers today have even more reasons to stay awake late into the night. Decades ago, there were no computers, no internet, and very small, if any, late night television. Add to that the stress and pressures of increased workloads in school, as well as the nutritional fiasco which is our modern diet of refined foods, and the issue gets a lot bigger.

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San Leandro Chiropractic Clinic, 10 Years of Practice

June 24, 2011 by drburt

San Leandro Chiropractic Clinic, 10 Years of Practice

This is a 10^th year since I opened my San Leandro Chiropractic Clinic. It seems like I have graduated yesterday and next thing I know ten years passed by like one day. Many laws have changed in chiropractic profession in a State of California. However, the only one thing that has not changed at all was the care for the patients that I have treated for different conditions throughout these years. Some would come for a simple headache or neck pain, some would come in because they have severe lower back, shoulder pain or traumatic injury. The list of the conditions can go on and on but it is not the point of the discussion in this blog post. What is interesting that the change was made for everyone who came through the doors of my San Leandro Chiropractic Clinic. At this point I am counting over 1000 digital record files that are stored in my system. In my opinion that is an army of people who were treated with my hands and got respond from a chiropractic care.

It never stopped to amaze me how simple the principle of chiropractic is and how two hands of a chiropractor can change the life of a person. I have adjusted patients who were just new born babies, including my son, and as old as ninety two years old. My current active patient is eighty seven years old. He is still playing badminton several times a week and travels all over the State. Fast growing body of a baby needs constant correction because muscles are not strong enough to support the skeletal stracture. Many times I have seen patients coming to my San Leandro Chiropractic Clinic as the last resort because many other medical care professional failed to find the CAUSE of the problem. Yes, the principle of the profession is to find the CAUSE and the symptoms will disappear. The body has an amazing ability to heal itself.

I still remember the time when I was at my student clinic at Life Chiropractic College West. The program at school gave us fifteen months to finish all student clinic prerequisites and I finished mine in nine month. I guess my passion to a profession was reflected in those patients who had seen in me at a student clinic. I could have waited for six months doing nothing, graduate and move back to New York State. Yes, I made a trip in 1997, across the country and have reached Los Angeles in four days. Instead, I have decided to take one step farther and began a preceptor ship with a licensed chiropractor in San Leandro. I have transferred my patients from my student clinic into what has become San Leandro Chiropractic Clinic or Burt Chiropractic. Spinal screening at Bay Fair Bart Station brought in quite few patients and allow me to build a small practice that was paying my bills when I have graduated in 2001. I guess my hard work paid off and that is why I currently enjoy my life with my family in San Francisco Bay Area with its unique climate that so many people adore. If you find this post on Google search engine and live in the area feel free to stop by my San Leandro Chiropractic Clinic and say Hi. I am always happy to see new faces and answer any health related questions. Oh, yes, there no charge for it 🙂

About Dr. Burt
Dr. Burt

Prescription Medication Overuse

June 23, 2011 by drburt

Prescription Medication Overuse.

Americans spend about $300 billion a year on legal drugs. Not millions but billions a year. Pharmaceutical companies probably love these numbers. I am wondering how much people are spending on illegal drugs in this country. Most likely it would easily support the economy of a small country or California State budget deficit which is now over $25 billion.

What is surprising that majority of the revenue does not come from research or scientific data but from advertising campaigns. Many patients come to see Medical Doctor and already know what kind of drug they want for their particular health problem. Why do we need Doctors then? Watch TV advertising of the particular drug and take it till you drop dead or may be fixing the health problem. Well pharmaceutical companies need Medical Doctors for one simple reason so they can prescribe medications to the masses. Only small percentage of general practitioners actually treats the body as a whole.

One of the studies from New England Journal of Medicine provides facts that doctors and hospitals spend a lot of money to treat patients who have Medicare. There is no correlation on how much or little they spend on a particular patient. The study has found that in areas with higher per-capita medical spending, patients were more likely to receive “riskier” (and presumably higher-priced) drugs.

Another study from the same journal found that low Medicare reimbursement for certain drugs change the doctor’s mind about prescribing those drugs. What is interesting when reimbursement rates were higher, doctors were more likely to prescribe – and they were doing inappropriately or unnecessary.

It is a known fact that pharmaceutical companies make billions every year on selling drugs to a public. As population of the world is increasing so is the revenues of these companies will increase in the coming years. These companies spend more on advertising than on research for finding more effective drugs. Health care costs and medication side effects skyrocket as we become a nation of pill-poppers. Certainly not how Thomas Edison envisioned it – “The doctor of the future will give no medicine….” Do not be shy to ask your Primary Care Physician intelligent questions about your treatment options and the kind medications he or she will prescribe to you.

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