People are increasingly asking How Can a Chiropractor Help You? The answer may surprise you: In many more ways than you may think! That’s why Cross-up Chiro shares the possibilities with you.
The development of the Chiropractic profession has come such a long way of the past 10 years. We have seen this massive expansion of practice scope essentially meaning there are more ways we are “allowed” to help people. The Chiropractic and many other Health Care Professions are full of brilliant minds who continue to push the overton window with regards to giving patients’ all they need to live a healthy and enjoyable life.
Cross-Up Chiropractors embody exactly what so many hard working Doctors wished we would as they paved the way forward with new research, better tools, and a holistic mindset.
That is why we strive to be, for the most part, a one stop shop for family care and sports medicine. This form of Chiropractic provides more time for patient interaction and treatment that ultimately leads to quicker results too.
For many years Chiropractic has been seen as the spine people, and although the adjustment (spinal manipulation therapy) is still a tenant of our practice, we are experts in anatomy and physiology and the treatment of muscular, ligamentous, nerve, vessel, and lymphatic conditions. Quite frankly, these systems are almost always co-involved in the case of injury.
Chiropractic methods
HERE, our method can be simply said with the following:
First, by releasing tension and promoting circulation through muscular therapies, we eliminate the barriers of movement and ensure full range of motion.
It is then through specific rehab that we balance supporting muscles to counter poor posture.
Finally, we challenge the original area of complaint with previously painful activities to guarantee an improvement that will get you back to doing what you want, need, love, or desireto do without hesitation.
What kinds of tools do we use in this process:
Active Release Therapy
Acupuncture
Adjustments
Cupping
Exercise/Biomechanics Training
Gua Sha
Fascial Flossing
Compression and Vibratory Therapy
The answer to the question: How Can a Chiropractor Help You? is now much clearer. Let us help you get to the next level of your health. The road to feeling strong and resilient isn’t quick, but I bet it’s a heck of a lot faster with us at your side.
To set up your session with either of our Chiropractic Physicians, check out the link below.
This is a frequent flyer at our office. Patients come in with a reasonable fear that an operation for their shoulder pain is imminent. News Flash! It’s not.
I hear rotator cuff tear thrown around quite a bit, as if it’s a looming structure that just fails one day. In actuality, it’s a combination of muscles that must cooperate to effectively create a “force couple” or balancing act on the shoulder joint.
Why is shoulder injury becoming more common?
Our long days of physical and desk work are often comprised of arm movements that all occur directly in front of us.
Picture this: as you fatigue throughout the day, what usually happens? Your back and neck slouch, your shoulders roll down and in, and you begin to develop the physique of a crouching gorilla. Simply said, all of our activity is dominated by muscles that pull the body down and inward.
As a result, certain muscles are more frequently engaged than others and structures of the shoulder begin to over-crowd the limited space for movement and passage of important tendons, vessels, and nerves. Shoulder pain starts to come.
Raising and pulling tend to amplify this by narrowing that space even more. Try this: use your left hand to feel your collarbone (clavicle) of the right shoulder. With your fingers, follow the collarbone all the way over to where it attaches right above your arm. Along the way you may notice a groove in the collarbone, that’s normal. From here, slide your fingers down about one inch, where you’ll feel the bony bump on the arm (humerus). Okay, great work. Keeping your fingers in that location, raise your hand all the way up. You’ll notice how that bone starts to move back towards the collarbone.
Additionally, when you pull the arm back like starting a lawn mower, you’ll notice how the arm rolls forward and down. Both of these mechanisms are closing down on the area where tendons of the rotator cuff and deep shoulder must glide past one another.
This brings us to shoulder impingement, or the trapping of structures under bony surfaces around the joint. In cases of overuse or chronically poor posture, the repeated narrowing of that space creates fraying of the tendons, pinching of the lubricating fluid sacs, and subsequent inflammation that triggers pain.
Common Associated Symptoms with Impingement
– Neck tightness
– Numbness/tingling into the arm
– Arm tenderness and soreness
– Mid-back soreness
– Weakness
Additional Thoughts
Your posture, range of motion, and aggravating movements will provide far more detail than any orthopedic test ever could. Even MR imaging can be misleading because you might see some abnormality, but this doesn’t necessarily point to the source of pain or the reason it developed in the first place. Also, partial tears are present is a large portion of the population over 40 years old, and don’t always present with pain.
With that said, we have successfully treated various cases where a tear is present; though, I have recommended surgical repair to the occasional patient that presents with a complete rupture. How would I know that? Well, those people usually have ruptures as a result of significant trauma and they likely received imaging prior to our consult. Otherwise like every other treatment at chiropractic clinic Cross-Up, you will feel significant results in just 2 visits. Although very rare at our practice, if a patient doesn’t respond well to care in that time then we know that a deeper issue must be explored. At which point, an appropriate referral is made.
CROSS-UP TREATMENT STRATEGY
Number 1 question: What are the greatest range deficits? As stated in the title, it’s likely that overhead reaching and pulling will be painful and incomplete movements; therefore, we need to understand which structures can be manipulated to improve motion.
I start with the scapula aka shoulder blade. It is supposed to rotate and glide atop of the rib cage, and it is this movement that opens up the shoulder joint at the upper ranges of reaching. With impingement, we know that to some degree the scapula is elevated and stuck in inward rotation; therefore, we release tension in the muscles that are holding that abnormal position. This often includes the pectoralis minor, subscapularis, teres major, latissimus dorsi, posterior joint capsule, etc. I’ll only name a few of the common muscles involved because no patient is identical to the next.
After active release of invovled structures, patients will already see a large jump in their freedom of motion. We are then allowed to fine tune and release any additional muscles or ligaments that contribute to pain in a smaller but still noticeable way.
As patients hear me say often, range and mobility improvements must then be stabilized to prevent reversal. Any time some muscles are tight and short, we will find antagonists that are weak. At Cross-Up Chiropractic, we guide your shoulder rehabilitation to effectively balance the tension around the joint. The exercises we use aren’t a secret, either. We love to provide you with the right combination that you can perform at home, not just here. My goal is not only to get you out of pain, but provide you with the blueprint to maintain the progress.
If you or someone you know is struggling with this type of condition, please feel free to call us or simply schedule an appointment online through the link below.
I’d like to share with you some wisdom I have learned from the great Stoic Philosopher, Marcus Aurelius. His “Meditations,” as they were posthumously named, can be very helpful at teaching how to control your perception & mental management in a way that will benefit your health, relationships, character, and pursuits.
Mental Management Through Perception Control
“The impediment to action advances action.” Whatever stands in the way becomes the way. This persuades rationality when contemplating perceived barriers. We cannot view roadblocks as the end of a path because it is often these roadblocks that fuel the passion and creativity to advance.
In the sense of pain, the answer is not to halt all activity and wait until it ceases. The solution comes from the process itself. Determining what caused it in the first place, making necessary changes to prevent further deterioration, and taking steps to physically improve and guarantee it doesn’t happen again. This is why we are constantly testing and retesting the effects of treatment during a session. This allows us to narrow down the most accurate diagnosis and beneficial therapies.
Mental Management of External Events and Emotions
“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” A major theme in the book is that we have the ability to control our own perceptions regardless of the situation. When something happens against our expectations, we can either complain and stir up disappointment, or we can turn our thoughts to more productive means. Which is called mental management. He emphasizes our risk of losing the present due to preoccupation and dwelling on the future or past.
Just applying this in my own life, I have benefited tremendously. I no longer find my self getting angry, envious, or disheartened because I know that reactive emotions serve no purpose. We must control the impulse to immediately assign value judgments. When we consider events as natural rather than good or bad, we no longer fall back on the inclination to start an emotional fire.
Mental Management of Harm and Resilience
“Choose not to be harmed — and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed — and you haven’t been.” He teaches that in any scenario we must judge the situation objectively, willing accept the outcome, and unselfishly act moving forward. I really like the last part because I have too often seen anger used as a therapeutic tool without any regard for the collateral damage it causes.
Can you remember the last time you lashed out in a moment of frustration? Did berating the other party or breaking another item resolve it? That brief rush of power never rectifies the situation and may even dig at your integrity. “Does what’s happened keep you from acting with justice, generosity, self-control, sanity, prudence, honesty, humility, straightforwardness, and all the other qualities that allow a person’s nature to fulfill itself?”
Mental Management of Pain and Endurance
“FOR TIMES WHEN YOU FEEL PAIN: SEE THAT IT DOESN’T DEGRACE YOU, OR DEGRADE YOUR INTELLIGENCE-DOESN’T KEEP YOU FROM ACTING RATIONALLY OR UNSELFISHLY”
And with that said, he also points out that to endure pain and prevail will deliver far better fortune than the path of surrendering to the pain. This discipline of character pays dividends for your own mind and in the perspective of those around you. Another great Stoic, Epicurus, noted that ‘pain is neither unbearable nor unending, as long as you keep in mind its limits and don’t magnify them in your imagination.
Conclusion
These are just a few bits of wisdom from the mind of a great philosopher. I can’t stress enough how beneficial this mindset and mental management can be when applied to all aspects of life. Harden your mind and soften your soul is my take away from most of it. We can achieve harmony by accepting God’s will and being disciplined in our perceptions and actions.
To explore more about how mental management and holistic care can enhance your well-being, I encourage you to visit our chiropractic clinic and schedule a consultation with our experts at Cross-Up Chiropractic.
