The word scoliosis is a word we have all heard before; it is the lateral bending of the spine mostly observed to the left and right and back again to form the letter ‘S’. Two other terms that you may have heard somewhere are Lordosis and Kyphosis, and these are forward bending of the spine and backward bending of the spine, respectively. At the time of birth we all have a spine shaped in a ‘C’ or in the fetal…
Does cracking your joints hurt your joints? The answer is YES, inappropriate repetitive cracking of the joins hurts them… not because of the “crack” but because of ligament and cartilage damage. If you repeatedly crack your joints they become somewhat unstable by producing laxity in the ligaments that hold the joint together so the joint loses its stability. Stressful micro-movements of the joint make it arthritic with the cartilage deteriorating. What is that sound in the first place you ask?…
Mary is approaching her mid 40’s and is concerned about early menopause and its related osteoporosis so she fully expects that her MD will put her on hormone replacement therapy. That’s what conventional thinking tells us right? When a woman gets above 45 she will suffer osteoporosis from menopause. What if that is not true? What if osteoporosis has mostly nothing to do with the lowered estrogen levels that causes menopause? Long-term studies show that women who were athletic as teenage girls…
When there is difficult or laborious breathing and it is not caused by an advanced lung disease such as TB or lung cancer, the most common diagnosis is Asthma, where the bronchial tubes (air pipes) close down and make normal breathing difficult. This is commonly seen in children but it can persist long into adult lives. Why do the air pipes close down? The family or ENT doctor will usually prescribe an inhaler that sends a steroid mist into the…
Did you know that people have the same number of neck bones as a Giraffe? Yes it’s true. There are seven bones. In a previous blog I mentioned how the upper part of the neck is known as the “headache zone” and today we will discuss the other common problems related to misalignments of the seven bones in the neck. Pain in the neck comes from actual damage being reported to the brain in any of the tissues or structures of the…
Christopher has been missing more school days because of his regular Migraines. There is concern over taking strong medications so the family looked into Chiropractic for an alternative solution. Migraine Headaches afflicts 8% of the population and women suffer this type of headache much more than men. Truth is a Migraine is not just a bad headache as many people think! It is a series of physiological events that occur in the body that concludes as a severe headache. Migraines…
Almost every Filipino is well aware of prioritizing dental health. Getting their teeth cleaned, managed and sometimes restored. But when it comes to spinal health, the average Pinoy is often left in the dark. “Chiropractic in the Philippines? What is that?” Sad to say, many people no longer have their teeth or the need for a Dentist any more; but, last time we looked, people always have their spine. IMAGINE… what if there were NO DENTISTS in the Philippines? What…
The Welling family is having a fit, they just were told by the doctor that their daughter Anna has scoliosis! What is the cause and what is the cure? There are visions of the Hunch back of Notre Dame from in the movies and yet there doesn’t seem to be much of an explanation of why and what can be done. The typical are general stretches or exercises if mild and wearing a back brace in more advanced cases; then…
There are well understood benefits of getting a massage on a regular or irregular basis. However, we also hear of times when people experience pain and disability following a massage. What happened? As a chiropractor I see this often enough to be disturbed even though I can mostly fix the damages. Rarely do we hear of an adverse reaction to a massage when the therapist sticks to muscle manipulation only. Swedish massage uses effleurage (light touch), medium pressure motions over the muscles and…
Paul suffers from lower back pain and the doctors said he had a slipped disc. The lower back, the lumbar region of the spine, is the most common area where intervertebral discs will “slip” or more accurately bulge, herniate or rupture. Symptoms of lower back pain are present, with or without leg pain or numbness. Sounds serious? When the topic of spinal surgery is mentioned it becomes serious indeed. Complicated? Well it could be but fortunately there are spinal experts available to evaluate and…