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Advice for headache sufferers….

~ Dr. Robert Speirs DC ~ Leave a comment

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Get Moving.

A new study of 573 office workers found that “one hour weekly of strength training reduced headache frequency and intensity.” Timing and spacing of session times did not affect the positive outcome, but participants whose training was supervised used fewer medications.

So, if you or someone you know suffers from headaches, call us today. Our doctors have powerful natural tools for treating headaches and can help design an exercise plan to stay healthy. Learn more about headaches here:

Headache Info Video

Source:

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Andersen, CH et al. Effect of resistance training on headache symptoms in adults: Secondary analysis of a RCT. Musculoskeletal Science and Practice, Volume 32, 2017, Pages 38-43 ”

I’m getting old Doc… Getting old….

~ Dr. Robert Speirs DC ~ Leave a comment

Your lumbar spine (low back) is made up of 5 individual vertebrae stacked on top of a bone called the “sacrum”. To allow for flexibility and movement, there is a cushion or “disc” in between each level. As we age, these discs can wear and become thinner over time. This leads to additional changes, including bone spurs and narrowing of the opening where your nerves exit your spine.

This process is called “lumbar spondylosis”, or simply, “arthritis”. This problem most commonly involves the vertebra at the very base of your spine, which bear the highest loads.

Lumbar arthritis is exceptionally common, affecting people as young as 20 and becoming extremely likely by age 70. How quickly you develop low back arthritis is largely a trait you inherited from your parents. Other factors may play a role, including a history of trauma, smoking, operating motorized vehicles, being overweight and/ or performing repetitive movements (i.e. lifting, twisting, bending or sitting). Men seem to be affected slightly more often than women.

Symptoms often begin as back and buttock pain that gradually worsens over time. Stiffness may be present upon arising in the morning. Pain is relieved by rest or light activity and aggravated by strenuous work. Sometimes your nerves can become “pinched” in narrowed openings where they exit your spine. This can cause “sciatica” which results in pain, numbness, or tingling radiating into your leg along the path of the irritated nerve. Be sure to tell your doctor if you notice any weakness or if you have fever, abdominal pain, change in bowel or bladder function, or pain in your groin crease.

Arthritic changes can be seen on x-rays, but interestingly, the amount of wearing does not seem to correlate directly with the severity of your symptoms. People with the same degree of arthritis may have symptoms ranging from none to severe. Most researchers believe that the symptoms of osteoarthritis are not the direct result of the disease, but rather, from the conditions that preceded the disease and those that develop subsequent to it, like joint restrictions and muscle tightness. Fortunately, those conditions are treatable and our office has a variety of tools to help relieve your pain.

In general, you should avoid repeated lifting and twisting and take frequent breaks from prolonged sitting, especially in motorized vehicles. Avoid any position that causes an increase in radiating pain. Low-impact activities, like walking, stationary cycling, water aerobics, and yoga may be helpful.

Radial Tunnel Syndrome

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Your radial nerve begins in your neck and travels past your elbow en route to its final destination in your hand. Just beyond your elbow, this nerve passes through a 2-inch area on the back of your forearm called the “Radial tunnel”. “Radial tunnel syndrome” means that your radial nerve has been compressed or irritated within this space-leading to forearm pain or hand weakness.

Radial tunnel syndrome is thought to result from muscular overuse, especially prolonged or excessive wrist extension or rotation. The most common cause of compression comes from excessive tightness in a muscle called the “Supinator”. Workers whose jobs require heavy or repetitive wrist movements are at an increased risk for this disorder. Occasionally, the radial nerve can become irritated from direct compression by a tight band or brace. The condition may be more common in those who have diabetes or thyroid problems.

Symptoms from irritation of the radial nerve depend upon which specific nerve fibers are irritated. The most common symptoms include pain, numbness, tingling or decreased sensitivity along the top of your forearm radiating toward your hand and thumb. The symptoms often mimic those of “tennis elbow.” When the nerve fibers that control muscle function become compressed, you may experience weakness when trying to extend your fingers, hand or wrist. Seventy percent of radial tunnel patients also have problems in their neck or upper back.

Conservative treatment of radial tunnel syndrome is generally successful. Fixing the problem means limiting excessive or repetitive wrist movements, especially extension and rotation. In severe cases, a splint may be necessary to limit your motion. Try to avoid compression of your forearm, particularly from tight bands or braces. Use of a tennis elbow brace will likely aggravate your symptoms. You may find relief by applying ice or ice massage to the area for 10-15 minutes at a time.

Mobility Myth #3

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Meralgia Parasthetica

Myth: You can stretch and/or foam roll your iliotibial (IT) band.

Truth: First things first: your IT band is a thick ligament that stretches from your pelvis and runs along the very outside of your thigh and knee all the way down to your shin. (You may have heard runners complaining about IT band issues.)

“Stretching and rolling the IT band isn’t helpful, because it’s a thick band of fascia and can’t be broken up or elongated,” says Ardoin. (See earlier point about it taking 200 tons of force to mechanically affect tissue.) And, really, you shouldn’t want to break it up, says Esquer.

However, if you’re rolling near your IT band (to release tight quads, for example), that’s different, says Esquer. “Your IT band canbecome adhered to the adjacent quad and hamstring muscles,” says Ardoin. “Rolling between the IT band and these muscles can help the tissues slide and glide more easily.”

Mobility Myth #2

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what-is-mobility-mobility-myths-foam-rolling

Myth: You can get rid of knots or scar tissue with foam rolling or massage.

Truth: “You probably hear of ‘breaking up fascia’ and ‘breaking up scar tissue,’ but the reality is that it literally takes 200 tons to deform scar tissue or cause mechanic changes to the fascia,” says Los Angeles–based physical therapist Jen Esquer, D.P.T., creator of the Mobility Method program. So whenever you’ve been told that someone is “massaging out a knot” in your back, or that foam rolling is “realigning your muscle fibers,” it’s a load of B.S. (You’ve probably also heard that foam rolling can get rid of cellulite.)

“Think: If you bump into something super hard, yeah, you might bruise, but you’re not actually breaking something in your body or tearing tissue,” says Esquer. “So why would we think that lying or rolling around on a foam roller for a while would have that extreme effect?”

You might be thinking, “But it totally helps!” You’re not wrong—it does. It just helps for a different reason: “Really, foam rolling and massage work by bombarding the brain with safe, feel-good information, convincing the muscle to relax and let go,” says Ardoin. That calming of the nervous system results in the release of tension and tightness that you feel.

And since it’s all about relaxation, you should never be trying to create pain in the body, says Esquer: “You don’t want to fire anything back up and make it potentially worse. It always comes back to relaxation.”

TMJ dysfunction

~ bryancobb ~ Leave a comment

Temporomandibular joint dysfunction is a blanket term that refers to pain and dysfunction of the jaw muscles and the tempomandibular joints which connect the mandible to the skull. The most common symptoms are pain and restricted mandibular movement as well as grinding noises coming from the joint. This condition is more common in women then in men, and affects a large portion of patients suffering from fibromyalgia. Trigger points in the muscles of mastication are frequently involved in TMJ dysfunction. Trigger points in the pterygoid and masseter muscles for example will not only refer pain into the tempomandibular joints, but will also cause a dysfunctional movement pattern that can restrict range of motion. Trigger point therapy can be an effective modality to treat TMJ dysfunction.

Trigger points and fibromyalgia

~ bryancobb ~ Leave a comment

Myofascial pain syndrome (trigger points) and fibromyalgia are often confused to be the same condition and while there is a lot of interrelatedness between the two they are not quite identical. The clinical definition of a trigger point is “a hyper irritable spot associated within a taut band of skeletal muscle that is painful on compression or muscle contraction, and usually responds with a referred pain pattern distant from the spot”. Trigger points form from an overload trauma to the muscle tissue. This is contrasted with fibromyalgia which is defined as “a medical condition characterized by chronic widespread pain and a heightened pain response to pressure. Other symptoms include tiredness to a degree that normal activities are affected, sleep problems and troubles with memory. Some people also report restless leg syndrome, bowel and bladder problems, numbness and tingling and sensitivity to noise, lights and temperature. It is also associated with depression, anxiety, and post traumatic stress disorder”. Fibromyalgia will also present with localized tender points which are often mistaken for trigger points. Where these two conditions become somewhat interrelated is via the nervous system. Fibromyalgia patients suffer from a super-sensitization of the nervous system causing hyperirritability and pain. Myofascial trigger points can be caused by,or be the cause of, super sensitization. An active trigger point will irritate the sensory nerves around it eventually leading to super-sensitization. Trigger points have also been showed to form of become active due to super-sensitization. Both of these conditions can perpetuate the other, leading to layers of pain and symptoms. This being the case, trigger point therapy can have a very positive effect on decreasing the severity of pain and symptoms in patients suffering from fibromyalgia.

Trigger points in the adductor longus and brevis.

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These muscles are located in the groin. The longus originates on the pubic body just below the pubic crest and inserts on the middle third of the linea aspera.The brevis muscle originates on the inferior ramus and body of the pubis and has its attachment to the lesser trochanter and linea aspera of the femur. Trigger points in these muscles are the most common muscular cause of groin pain. Distal trigger points refer pain to the upper medial knee and down the tibia. Proximal trigger points refer into the anterior hip area.

A weak lateral chain will stop you in your tracks.

~ Dr. Robert Speirs DC ~ Leave a comment

One very important job of your hip muscles is to maintain the alignment of your leg when you move. One of the primary hip muscles, the gluteus medius, plays an especially important stabilizing role when you walk, run, or squat. The gluteus medius attaches your thigh bone to the crest of your hip. When you lift your left leg, your right gluteus medius must contract in order to keep your body from tipping toward the left. And when you are standing on a bent leg, your gluteus medius prevents that knee from diving into a “knock knee” or “valgus” position.
Weakness of the gluteus medius allows your pelvis to drop and your knee to dive inward when you walk or run. This places tremendous strain on your hip and knee and may cause other problems too. When your knee dives inward, your kneecap is forced outward, causing it to rub harder against your thigh bone- creating a painful irritation and eventually arthritis. Walking and running with a relative “knock knee” position places tremendous stress on the ligaments around your knee and is a known cause of “sprains”. Downstream, a “knock knee” position puts additional stress on the arch of your foot, leading to other painful problems, like plantar fasciitis. Upstream, weak hips allow your pelvis to roll forward which forces your spine into a “sway back” posture. This is a known cause of lower back pain. Hip muscle weakness seems to be more common in females, especially athletes.

You should avoid activities that cause prolonged stretching of the hip abductors, like “hanging on one hip” while standing, sitting crossed legged, and sleeping in a side-lying position with your top knee flexed and touching the bed. Patients with fallen arches may benefit from arch supports or orthotics. Obesity causes more stress to the hip muscles, so overweight patients may benefit from a diet and exercise program. The most important treatment for hip abductor weakness is strength training. Hip strengthening is directly linked to symptom improvement. Moreover, people with stronger hip muscles are less likely to become injured in the first place. The exercises listed below are critical for your recovery.

Trigger points in the Quadratus Lumborum muscle.

~ bryancobb ~ 1 Comment

The quadratus lumborum muscle is a commonly overlooked source of low back pain and is often responsible for “pseudo disc syndrome”. This muscle originates on the inferior border of the 12th rib and lumbar transverse processes. It inserts on the iliac crest and iliolumbar ligament. The q.l.’s main actions are extension and lateral flexion of the spine. It also acts as a stabilizer of the lumbar spine. Trigger points in this muscle refer pain into the sacroiliac joint and the lower buttock. Pain can also spread anteriorly along the crest of the ilium into the lower abdomen and groin and to the greater trochanter.