Even after graduating from chiro. school, and seeing hundreds of patients over ten years, frozen shoulder still mystifies me as far as the best treatment options. It seems to be an inflammation of the entire capsule of the shoulder joint complex, rather than a specific muscle/tendon/joint/ligament.
The usual approach, stretching, anti-inflammation procedures, exercise, and trigger point therapy, are often totally ineffective.
Relevant links:
Orthopedic Connection
Mayo Clinic
About.com
Happy New Year.
Kurt Anderson, DC
Monday, December 31, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
On Migraines
There has been encouraging news lately on the migraine headache front, which holds a special interest for me because of my life long migraine affliction. It can be a perfect day, and "Bang!", here comes a migraine. Kiss your perfect day goodbye.
You migraine sufferers know exactly what I'm talking about. A lot of people think they have migraines, but more often than not, they just have headaches, but call them migraines. The migraines I'm referring to start with a visual disturbance known as an "aura". This can best be described as seeing "spots" in your vision, like after having a camera flash bulb go off in your face in a dark room.
Usually, the visual problems last for 10 to 20 minutes, followed by a deep, often throbbing headache in one part of your head, many times lasting for longer than a day or two, or three. No fun.
Amazingly little has been known about the cause of migraines, but a study is going on right now at Rush University in Chicago that is trying to show a correlation between Patent Foramen Ovale - an opening between the upper chambers of the heart that is supposed to close in our infant stage of development - and migraine headaches. This theory proposes that the de-oxygenated blood that gets mixed in with the oxygenated blood on the left side of the heart, from the right side through this opening, subsequently gets pumped into the brain, causing the migraine headache reaction.
These doctors have a new type of very effective but simple surgical procedure, which closes the opening in the heart, curing, or mostly curing the migraines. Exciting huh? At least I know it is for me, after suffering these bad boys for years. I will be the first in line if the study proves positive. Read more about that here.
See ya!
Dr. A.
You migraine sufferers know exactly what I'm talking about. A lot of people think they have migraines, but more often than not, they just have headaches, but call them migraines. The migraines I'm referring to start with a visual disturbance known as an "aura". This can best be described as seeing "spots" in your vision, like after having a camera flash bulb go off in your face in a dark room.
Usually, the visual problems last for 10 to 20 minutes, followed by a deep, often throbbing headache in one part of your head, many times lasting for longer than a day or two, or three. No fun.
Amazingly little has been known about the cause of migraines, but a study is going on right now at Rush University in Chicago that is trying to show a correlation between Patent Foramen Ovale - an opening between the upper chambers of the heart that is supposed to close in our infant stage of development - and migraine headaches. This theory proposes that the de-oxygenated blood that gets mixed in with the oxygenated blood on the left side of the heart, from the right side through this opening, subsequently gets pumped into the brain, causing the migraine headache reaction.
These doctors have a new type of very effective but simple surgical procedure, which closes the opening in the heart, curing, or mostly curing the migraines. Exciting huh? At least I know it is for me, after suffering these bad boys for years. I will be the first in line if the study proves positive. Read more about that here.
See ya!
Dr. A.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
End of the PIP
October 1 marks the end, supposedly, of the personal injury program in Florida, which guaranteed at least $10,000 in medical expenses available to all those involved in auto accidents in Florida.
While I never really capitalized on the program, I do have my fair share of personal injury practice coverage clients in Central Florida. I am not sure how this will affect my business, but I have made some backup plans if things slow down. I will keep you posted.
I covered some really nice offices last week, first in Sanford, then Cocoa Beach. High volume was a challenge, but the offices were very well run by the staff, which makes all the difference. My hotel stay was not bad either, and very reasonable financially.
This week finds me in Haines City.
See you.
Kurt A.
While I never really capitalized on the program, I do have my fair share of personal injury practice coverage clients in Central Florida. I am not sure how this will affect my business, but I have made some backup plans if things slow down. I will keep you posted.
I covered some really nice offices last week, first in Sanford, then Cocoa Beach. High volume was a challenge, but the offices were very well run by the staff, which makes all the difference. My hotel stay was not bad either, and very reasonable financially.
This week finds me in Haines City.
See you.
Kurt A.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
9-11, Where Were You?
9-11-2001, where was I?
I was in a little one-room, second floor apartment in Bel Air, Maryland, getting ready to go work at Chiro Plus, a major work comp. practice in downtown Baltimore. I remember being depressed about working there, as it was a major high volume practice (50-80 per day), and I had stupidly settled for a one year contract that did not tie my pay to patient volume. In other words, the salary was the same, regardless of when I crawled out of there at the end of the day. I always made sure to tie my paycheck to patient volume after that experience.
My first and last attempt at starting a practice, in beautiful Valley Forge, PA, ended after 6 months of futility. I should have lived in Valley Forge, but practiced in a more blue-collar area. That was my mistake I am convinced.
I had always planned to open another practice, but I never did get around to it to this day. I ended up advertising office coverage services for other doctors, which was better than just dropping out of the profession at that point. Then I landed this Baltimore position less than a month after closing the office in "corporate central".
I remember I was watching the news on my little white television, trying not to think about the day ahead of me, when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. I sat down and watched. At first I thought it was a drunk pilot. Then the second plane hit. I turned on the VCR too, and taped the next two hours. I still have that tape. I should convert it to dvd soon, before it fades into eternity.
I was really late to work, like 1:30, and they were so pissed..............but they still hit me with about 45 patients that day. They weren't affected, business as usual. I thought that was strange. I lasted a year.
9-11 tribute video
Dr. A
I was in a little one-room, second floor apartment in Bel Air, Maryland, getting ready to go work at Chiro Plus, a major work comp. practice in downtown Baltimore. I remember being depressed about working there, as it was a major high volume practice (50-80 per day), and I had stupidly settled for a one year contract that did not tie my pay to patient volume. In other words, the salary was the same, regardless of when I crawled out of there at the end of the day. I always made sure to tie my paycheck to patient volume after that experience.
My first and last attempt at starting a practice, in beautiful Valley Forge, PA, ended after 6 months of futility. I should have lived in Valley Forge, but practiced in a more blue-collar area. That was my mistake I am convinced.
I had always planned to open another practice, but I never did get around to it to this day. I ended up advertising office coverage services for other doctors, which was better than just dropping out of the profession at that point. Then I landed this Baltimore position less than a month after closing the office in "corporate central".
I remember I was watching the news on my little white television, trying not to think about the day ahead of me, when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. I sat down and watched. At first I thought it was a drunk pilot. Then the second plane hit. I turned on the VCR too, and taped the next two hours. I still have that tape. I should convert it to dvd soon, before it fades into eternity.
I was really late to work, like 1:30, and they were so pissed..............but they still hit me with about 45 patients that day. They weren't affected, business as usual. I thought that was strange. I lasted a year.
9-11 tribute video
Dr. A
Kids Health
I saw on the news yesterday where U.S. children are now often diagnosed with high blood pressure. I find it interesting that as health care costs keep rising, seemingly without limits, our health, overall, continues to deteriorate.
Wake up America! The pharmaceutical drug cartel, along with the medico-legal complex, wants to keep you sick, uninformed, and under their control! Can you say, "Sheep"?
It's time to take control of your health, by going to the gym, eating whole foods, cutting sugar and salt intake, and sticking with natural health solutions!
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Dr. A.
Wake up America! The pharmaceutical drug cartel, along with the medico-legal complex, wants to keep you sick, uninformed, and under their control! Can you say, "Sheep"?
It's time to take control of your health, by going to the gym, eating whole foods, cutting sugar and salt intake, and sticking with natural health solutions!
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Dr. A.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Laura Bush Pinched Nerve
I heard where First Lady Laura Bush had been advised to have surgery for a pinched nerve in her neck. I was just curious as to what, exactly were they going to cut on? I mean, a pinched nerve? I wonder if they tried a conservative approach first, like maybe chiropractic? Did I tell you, I am a chiropractor? I can't imagine that spinal adjustments or cervical traction would not be a better route to go with this.
Oh well. There's nothing I can do, but watch as they do the-probably unnecessary surgery.
Just my thoughts.........
Dr. A
Oh well. There's nothing I can do, but watch as they do the-probably unnecessary surgery.
Just my thoughts.........
Dr. A
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Spinal Traction
It's funny to see all the hype directed towards "non-surgical spinal decompression" and the like, because I had a Saunders portable lumbar traction unit in my office in the Philly suburbs back in 2000. I would place nearly all my patients (about 12 total, I starved!) on lumbar spinal traction as part of their treatment regimen.
This unit had two pieces on a rail that slid apart under hydraulic pressure created from hand pumping the device to patient comfort level. It was rated at about 200 lbs of traction, but for some of my chronic low back pain patients, I could have used an extra 50 lbs or so.
Regardless, I had great results from that unit, and am not surprised that it has taken off again recently. I am sure it has a lot to do with shrinking insurance reimbursements for chiropractic care, and the mass aging of the baby-boom generation. Doctors often collect cash for the treatments, although it's dropping of course, due to more and more clinics offering the treatment. Modern technology and manufacturing methods has produced some excellent, although expensive, decompression/traction machines that are far ahead of my little portable unit from those earlier days.
I believe that decompression, or traction (I am not sure what the actual difference is, please someone tell me!) is even better for the neck and upper back, as compared to the low back.
The low back, with its wide vertebrae, and ligamentous support system, is well suited to compression under body weight, all day if need be. Power-lifters routinely squat with three times their body weight, with no ill effects on this region of the body. The neck and upper back on the other hand, are much more sensitive to compression and trauma, and have a real balancing act to perform on a daily basis.
Regular neck traction, with about 2/3 to 1 x body weight, under 225 lbs, can have a dramatic effect on spinal health and well-being, especially if you have previous damage or impingement from a car accident or other spinal trauma. I know it helped me immensely, as I had almost constant "tightness" in my mid-back of varying degrees since a car accident in 1974, when , at the age of 14, I was the rear-seat passenger in a car that was rear-ended by a couple of drunk Navy guys in Virginia Beach, VA.
I had severe neck pain for several weeks, but I don't even think my parents brought me to a doctor, for whatever reason. Regardless, I noticed a "kink" in my mid-back ever since, between the shoulder blades, and often the long spinal muscles on the right side of my mid back would be tight as guitar strings.
At first I assumed the discomfort stemmed from my low back, even though it did not hurt, and I proceeded to invent various exercises and stretches for my low back through the years. I gained temporary relief from the pain and tightness sometimes, but it always returned, resulting in a lot of frustration for me. The condition lasted well into adulthood. I would hear a little voice in my head sometimes, "My back shouldn't hurt. I am a bodybuilder and athlete."
It wasn't until I worked in Ben Lerner's office in 2006, he of the "Body By God" books, that I discovered the Pettibon Cervical Traction device, and I (finally!) found lasting relief from my almost life-long mid-back pain.
I was afraid of the device at first, putting only a bit of weight on my neck to begin. It felt so good, that I purchased the device and placed one on the door to my office at home. Every time I felt the old tightness in my back, I would traction my neck using only a portion of my body weight, doing about 5 repetitions, and the muscles would relax, for a while.
Eventually I got so confident and so used to cervical traction that one day I hung completely in the air by my head for a few seconds, causing a vertebra in my mid back to move and separate with a "pop!" Alarmed, I put my feet immediately back on the floor and stood up.
The pain in my back, there since the accident in 1974, was completely gone! I was without discomfort in my back for the first time in years. I could hardly believe it. The relief has lasted ever since, although I stretch my neck on a regular basis, just to be sure.
All I can determine, from how it felt, and taking from my education in spinal health, is that a vertebra was "jammed" and rotated somehow from the accident. Maybe even the growth plate was damaged at my young age, and that it was not noticeable on x-ray, nor did any one of the many chiropractors I had seen through the years ever manage to find and fix the problem. Fixing it was almost an accident, but thank you God, "Body by God", and Burl Pettibon. I am cured!
This unit had two pieces on a rail that slid apart under hydraulic pressure created from hand pumping the device to patient comfort level. It was rated at about 200 lbs of traction, but for some of my chronic low back pain patients, I could have used an extra 50 lbs or so.
Regardless, I had great results from that unit, and am not surprised that it has taken off again recently. I am sure it has a lot to do with shrinking insurance reimbursements for chiropractic care, and the mass aging of the baby-boom generation. Doctors often collect cash for the treatments, although it's dropping of course, due to more and more clinics offering the treatment. Modern technology and manufacturing methods has produced some excellent, although expensive, decompression/traction machines that are far ahead of my little portable unit from those earlier days.
I believe that decompression, or traction (I am not sure what the actual difference is, please someone tell me!) is even better for the neck and upper back, as compared to the low back.
The low back, with its wide vertebrae, and ligamentous support system, is well suited to compression under body weight, all day if need be. Power-lifters routinely squat with three times their body weight, with no ill effects on this region of the body. The neck and upper back on the other hand, are much more sensitive to compression and trauma, and have a real balancing act to perform on a daily basis.
Regular neck traction, with about 2/3 to 1 x body weight, under 225 lbs, can have a dramatic effect on spinal health and well-being, especially if you have previous damage or impingement from a car accident or other spinal trauma. I know it helped me immensely, as I had almost constant "tightness" in my mid-back of varying degrees since a car accident in 1974, when , at the age of 14, I was the rear-seat passenger in a car that was rear-ended by a couple of drunk Navy guys in Virginia Beach, VA.
I had severe neck pain for several weeks, but I don't even think my parents brought me to a doctor, for whatever reason. Regardless, I noticed a "kink" in my mid-back ever since, between the shoulder blades, and often the long spinal muscles on the right side of my mid back would be tight as guitar strings.
At first I assumed the discomfort stemmed from my low back, even though it did not hurt, and I proceeded to invent various exercises and stretches for my low back through the years. I gained temporary relief from the pain and tightness sometimes, but it always returned, resulting in a lot of frustration for me. The condition lasted well into adulthood. I would hear a little voice in my head sometimes, "My back shouldn't hurt. I am a bodybuilder and athlete."
It wasn't until I worked in Ben Lerner's office in 2006, he of the "Body By God" books, that I discovered the Pettibon Cervical Traction device, and I (finally!) found lasting relief from my almost life-long mid-back pain.
I was afraid of the device at first, putting only a bit of weight on my neck to begin. It felt so good, that I purchased the device and placed one on the door to my office at home. Every time I felt the old tightness in my back, I would traction my neck using only a portion of my body weight, doing about 5 repetitions, and the muscles would relax, for a while.
Eventually I got so confident and so used to cervical traction that one day I hung completely in the air by my head for a few seconds, causing a vertebra in my mid back to move and separate with a "pop!" Alarmed, I put my feet immediately back on the floor and stood up.
The pain in my back, there since the accident in 1974, was completely gone! I was without discomfort in my back for the first time in years. I could hardly believe it. The relief has lasted ever since, although I stretch my neck on a regular basis, just to be sure.
All I can determine, from how it felt, and taking from my education in spinal health, is that a vertebra was "jammed" and rotated somehow from the accident. Maybe even the growth plate was damaged at my young age, and that it was not noticeable on x-ray, nor did any one of the many chiropractors I had seen through the years ever manage to find and fix the problem. Fixing it was almost an accident, but thank you God, "Body by God", and Burl Pettibon. I am cured!
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