Top Chiropractor in San Leandro, CA

San Leandro Chiropractor

Wellness Chiropractic Care or Symptom Based Care

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Wellness or PainThis month I have seen my three old patients who have not received chiropractic care for a very long time. The treatment gap varies for each of them. For one patient it was a year and a half, for another nine months, and for the third one it was six months gap. All three patients made an appointment to see me because their pain symptoms got so bad that none of them could function properly on day to day bases. Their quality of life has gone down to the point that it was basically a painful existence.

I have asked all of these patients the same question.  “Why would you wait for so long that your pain level has gone to the point that you can not enjoy your activities of daily living?” The first patient told me that He felt good for a long time since he saw me last time and gradually his symptoms reappeared and got worse. This gentleman has to seat in his office chair for 10 hours a day six days a week. When he walked in to my office his posture looked like a question mark.  Pretty scare stuff. He was crying like a baby when my massage therapist was working on his soft tissue. The second person was a patient who had a sport injury while skiing. Her neck and mid back were in pretty bad shape. The worse symptom was her eye site. She was loosing it very rapidly. Prescription glasses had to be replaced every other month. About twelve sessions of therapy brought her eye site back to normal, to the point where she did not need to wear any glasses. Neck and mid back pain has disappeared. Good results in a relatively short period of time. Third person had a bad case of TMJ. After several sessions utilizing SOT technique and some other tools his problem was resolved and he was very pleased with the results.

My advice to all of these three patients was to come back once a month for maintenance cares. I like to compare our bodies to a vehicle.  Everyone changes oil in their vehicle every 3000-5000 miles depending on the oil they use. After certain mileage we change tires, rotate them and balance the wheels. Tune up is a must for every car and changing brake pads is an inevitable process. Human body needs the same thing.

Every day stress creates micro injuries in our bodies. These micro injuries turn into more serious problem over time. For some it takes longer for some it takes much faster. Maintenance or Wellness care is the same thing as the tune up for your vehicle, oil change, and brake pad replacement. Without these basic things the vehicle will not run properly, and eventually will brake down. The same thing will happen to our bodies in a form of pain and eventually disease. My question is:  “Is it better to have a healthy quality of life or to live in a miserable existence.” Choice is always yours.

Chronic Headaches and Natural Healing Remedies

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headache

The definition of chronic headache – occurs about 15 times a month during 3 months period.  There are primary and secondary cephalgias. The primary one includes – migraine, tension type and cluster headaches. Very frequent or prolonged ones are know as the chronic cephalgias. Medical conditions such as infections or intracranial pressure will be classified as secondary headaches. The percentage of the secondary headaches is very small.

There are varieties of treatments available for different types of headaches. Prescription medications such as, beta blockers, Analgesics, antidepressant and injection of anesthetics are used for headaches treatment. These medications are only providing temporary relief and are not treating the cause of the problem. Frequent use of these medications will loose the therapeutic effect. Many have serious side effects. There are varieties of alternative therapies for pain relief which are quite as effective and without any side effects.

  1. Meditation, Hypnosis, Biofeedback, and Yoga – these are stress management and relaxation techniques therapy.
  2. Dehydration could be another cause of headaches: Drinking up to eight glasses of water a day can help you lessen the onset of headaches and be in optimal health.
  3. Massage therapy is a great way to relieve stress. Massaging scalp, forehead, sub occipital muscles and neck could help relieve the headaches
  4. Acupuncture can help relief the muscle tension.
  5. Ice pack can be used in a dry towel. Apply it to your forehead for 10-15 minutes every waking hour. Cold reduces the inflammation and relaxes tense muscles.
  6. Watch what you eat. Many of us are allergic to certain food and often times do not even aware of that.
  7. Avoid Caffeine at all times. Products such as tea, chocolate, certain medications, and some drinks contain caffeine. If used on regular bases, dependency is inevitable and can develop withdrawing of the substance which may lead to severe headaches.
  8. Foods such as: Aged Cheese , Vinegar (relish, salad, sauces, catsup), organ meat (kidney, liver), alcoholic beverages ( red wine in particular), Sour cream, Yogurt, some processed meat, yeast extracts pickles, onions, olives, fava beans, raisins, nuts, avocados and canned soups all contain Tramline. Tramline is a substance that has been found in certain foods after a breakdown of protein
  9. Food preservative and additives: MSG (Monosodium Glutamate), aspartame, saccharine, nuts, hot dogs, ham, sausage, bacon, luncheon meats, Chinese foods, caned soups, dressing, mayonnaises, frozen foods and potato chips. Many of these additives in food could be the cause of nasty headaches.
  10. Salt intake reduction will help to eliminate headaches, excessive amount of salt can and will cause headaches.
  11. Aromatherapy: Olfactory nerve or cranial nerve #1 will be stimulated by this therapy. This method of healing has been around for centuries.
  12. Reflexology:  This type of therapy seems to help some but not all headache sufferers. It is worth a try as there is no side effect from this procedure.
  13. Avoid triggers. Many things such as particular foods, stress, and direct sun light can trigger headaches. Try to avoid these triggers in the future and save yourself form needless suffering.
  14. This list would not be complete without mentioning Chiropractic Care. Your local chiropractor can help with tension, long lasting and severe headaches.

Finally, it’s important to note that frequent or severe headaches may be symptoms of another illness or disorder. If you experience frequent or severe headaches, or headaches that are accompanied by other symptoms, such as nausea, vision problems, or dizziness, you might want to make an appointment with your doctor to get an accurate diagnosis and effective treatments.  Headaches can be a sign of many different things, always consult your health care provider for any health care concerns you may have.

Question: Do you know any additional information about natural headache relief? Please leave your answer in a comment section.

Understanding Chiropractic Care

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Chiropractic profession promotes holistic care with main focus on maintaining proper physical vertebral alignment in order to maintain a good health. It is a scientific fact that structural imbalances could lead to nervous system dysfunction and lead to a variety of symptoms such as pain, aches, discomforts and other conditions. The goal of care is to restore the body to its maximum potential without drugs or surgery. Doctors of Chiropractic check the physiological function of neuromusculoskeletal system by utilizing orthopedic and neurological exams. Besides specific chiropractic adjustment, therapies such as massage, moist heat, electric stimulation, ultrasound, and Erchonia PL 5000 Laser can be utilized in order to restore a balance to the system.   Diet and exercise advise can be given to a patient by a Doctor of Chiropractic.

CHIROPRACTIC ADJUSTMENT:

Chiropractic use controlled forces, called adjustments, when there are restrictions around joints that the body is unable to overcome itself. Such barriers include scar tissue and pain, swelling (edema), and muscle spasm.

Chiropractic examination helps to discover joints with limited range of motion weather they are painful or not. Specific chiropractic adjustment applied to a subluxated (restricted) joint can restore range of motion when the body’s own musculature cannot.

Adjustments help to relieve pain, as well as, restore and maintain normal movement, biomechanics and function.

The controlled force of chiropractic adjustments safely generates the energy required to overcome such limitations or restrictions and bring the joint back to its normal and full range of motion.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         CHIROPRACTIC PROMOTES HEALTH NATURALLY:

The goal of chiropractic care is to bring back and retain the health of the whole person and not just treat separate symptoms or diseases.

Chiropractic care is not focusing on illness, instead it personalizes the care and helps to achieve maximum potential for a patient’s well being and improves the quality of human life.

 Chiropractic care is focused at restoring and maintaining normal structure, nervous system function, joint and muscle.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        RESTORING FUNCTION AND CHIROPRACTIC CARE:

Function means the ability to perform everyday activities of daily living as well as work activities. It includes range of motion, coordination, strength and flexibility.

Improving function is the key to long term pain relief. When function is not restored completely, any pain relief is temporary and accelerates the risk factor of chronic pain return. Good functioning joints do not have any pain, perform better and are not likely to get injured or degenerate. Bottom line – Chiropractic helps to minimize the pain and maximize the function.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         BENEFITS AND GOALS OF CARE:

The benefits of Chiropractic care include good function, tissue healing and pain relief.

Each patient will require different frequency and different amount of time to achieve each of these goal

When pain is gone it does not mean that soft tissue  has healed completely nor that the function has been restored.

It takes much longer time for soft tissue restoration vs. pain relief. It takes much longer time to restore the function vs. for tissue to heal.

Chiropractors carefully monitor pain, tissue healing and function using specific outcome measures to know when a patient has achieved maximum benefit and it is time to end care or shift to a prevention/wellness program. 

CHIROPRACTIC, MOTION AND NUTRITION OF DISCS AND JOINTS: 

Maintaining good motion is critical to the survival of discs and joints. A vertebral joint that can not move is not able to nourish itself. A healthy exchange of nutrients and wastes only occurs by physically pumping fluids into and out of the disc via spinal motion because discs and cartilage have no blood supply – process called imbibition. Movement stirs fluid through joints, washing nutrients in and waste products  out. Lack of motion may lead to poor nutrition and disc degeneration.

The discs in the spine live because of the movement. Doctor of Chiropractic locates joints that have restricted range of motion, whether they are painful or not, and specific adjustments and exercises help restore and maintain normal motion and nutrition.

This post was based on Dr. Malik Slosbergs’s research.

Question:  Did this article help you to understand what is the goal of chiropractic care?