Chiropractic Elk Grove

We not have all experienced knee problems but to those of us who have know how excruciating that type of pain can be.  When asked to give a number on a pain scale out of ten, ten being the worst pain I have ever felt, my ten is the knee pain I felt after a skiiing accident where I fell and tore the medial collateral ligament on my right knee.  I was already not taking pain medication as a choice in my life so I never filled my perscription for codeine or whatever it was for.  I went to bed and elevated it on a pillow.  Somehow I did fall asleep but woke up in the middle of the night to tremendous pain that made me curl into a ball holding my knee, crying and rocking to make it feel better.  This happened ten years ago.  I still remember.  Now, women, give me a break, I haven’t had the priviledge to have given birth to children yet, so I am assuming if I do ever get the chance at such an endevor, I will change the definition of my “ten.” 

I am writing this to those who understand what I am talking about and to the rest of you that I care about and wouldn’t want you to feel this kind of pain. 

First,  I want women to take note that one reason women might be prone to knee issues is because of the muscle weakness in their hamstrings.  So we can pick special exercises at the gym to address those muscles.  Ask the personal trainer which ones and how best to do them.  Make sure you stretch them afterwards.  Remember the muscle is the primary stabilizer and ligaments are secondary.  So it should make sense that the muscle loses its tone to a point that it can no longer stabilize the joint efficiently - joint goes. 

Children are prone to knee injuries because of sports they play or how they play them.  Sports that require quick starting, stopping, changing directions, pivoting, twisting or decelerating movements all can result in torn ligaments or be a contributing factor to a knee injury.  Injury can also be a result of direct impact. 

Knee pain can also come from subluxations or rotated hips that displace more weight on one leg, therefore knee, than the other.  Before you look to surgery to “fix” the knee problem try chiropractic first!  Get a chiropractic opinion.  The chiropractor should be able to check for hip rotation, subluxations or even excessive foot pronation (this is walking on the inside portion of the foot, where the arch should be).  The arch is very important to the support of the body.  They are part of the feet, the foundational structure to us, while standing up right. 

Take a proactive approach to keeping your knees from getting injured.  Go see a chiropractor.  Remember knee injuries might not just show up with an single incident but may be due to repeated microtrauma over time. 

Hoping you don’t ever feel my “ten out of ten,”

Dr. Munoz

A lot of people come in to the office thinking they have “sciatica.”  Either they heard from their friends what it is supposed to feel like or their medical doctor has diagnoses them with it.  I wanted to bring some light to the subject.  Medical doctors will want to perform massively invasive, open back surgeries. 

Description of Sciatica

Sciatica is a layman’s term for a pinched nerve that can cause pain that runs from the buttocks down the back of the leg.

The sciatic nerve is about an inch or so long in the buttocks made of multiple spinal nerves. When people commonly refer to sciatica it is not necessarily a problem of the sciatic nerve, it’s a problem of the nerve when it is being pinched as it exits from the spine from a herniated disc or a bone spur. 

As chiropractors we have seen sciatica also be caused by subluxations, a misalignment of the spine that creates a
radiculopathy, pressure on the radicular nerve (nerve root) and rotation of the hips.  You might just have Piriformis syndrome that presents itself in our bodies and is very similar to sciatica but should be treated differently.

The causes of subluxations are sometime unknown to the patient or are caused by direct trauma.  Subluxations in terms of sciatica are a result of prolonged external pressure on the nerve, and pressure on the nerve from nearby body structures. It can also be caused by entrapment — pressure on the nerve where it passes through a narrow structure. The damage slows or prevents conduction of impulses through the nerve.

Signs & Symptoms of Sciatica (How you might feel when you show up to the office):

The sciatic nerve can also be injured by fractures of the pelvis or other trauma to the buttocks or thigh. Prolonged sitting or lying with pressure on the buttocks may also injure it. Systemic diseases, such as diabetes, can typically damage many different nerves, including the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve may also be harmed by pressure from masses such as a tumor or abcess, or by bleeding in the pelvis.

Symptoms of sciatica include sensation changes, numbness, decreased sensation, tingling, burning and pain in the buttocks, down the back of the legs, the back of the calf or the sole of the foot. Sciatica can also cause weakness in the legs, knees and feet and in severe cases can cause loss of mobility.

No one is minimizing how you feel.  This is a serious issue and you may need surgery.  What I want you to do is think about the choices you have to “fix” it.  Before you go the traditional medical/surgical route what I would do if I were you is to see a chiropractor and see if they can get the pain to go away.  Try chiropractic first.  Although we don’t only go  pain in regards to how well you are doing, in this case you could determine if the chiropractic treatments are working/helping based upon your level of pain.  In other words, if the pain decreases in this case, I would think you would agree that something is being done to your body that is bettering the situation and may take you further away from the need for surgery.  My first recommendation is that you have a discussion about your progress with your current chiropractor if you are not seeing the results you were looking for.  I would even suggest that if one chiropractor/series of chiropractic adjustments are working for you to give chiropractic another chance through another chiropractor.  It may be the type of chiropractic adjustment or the individual chiropractor’s way of case management that didn’t work and not necessarily the whole chiropractic approach all together.  In other words, don’t throw away the baby with the bath water.  We are all very different.  I am suggesting you try another one and even explain to the new/second chiropractor what the situation is.  I guarantee you that the second chiropractor will give you great care and attention in hopes to get relief for you so that you don’t “leave” chiropractic all together.  After all, in the end you always have the medical, traditional, surgical route to go if both attempts get no results. 

Just trying to help you out with some choices - think about it,

Dr. Munoz

Source: Article ”Sciatica and Sciatic Nerve Pain,” Laser Spine Institute, LLC, www.laserspineinstitute.com

Hi Y’All,

Just wanted to say a few things about the little people in our lives.  Know that your children are always welcome at our office.  Here are some things I think you should know/think about:

The First Subluxation

The birth process may be the cause of our first subluxation.  Forceps and Vacuum type devices used in birthing can cause extreme trauma to an infant’s spine.  Even “natural” childbirth methods can affect an infant’s spine.  Studies suggest that colic, poor appetite, ear infections or erratic sleeping habits can all be signs of subluxation.  Relax.  Newborn adjustments are gentle.  As a rule, no more pressure than you’d use to test the ripeness of a tomato is involved.

“Growing Pains”

Learning to walk, ride a bike or play sports can produce subluxations not to mention the accidents that happen as they are just playing around with each other.  Many times these subluxations are written off as “growing pains.”  Ignored, these problems may worsen until they can become more difficult to correct as an adult, later in life.

Doctor’s Orders

1250 babies were examined five days after birth, 211 suffered from vomiting, hyperactivity and sleeplessness.  Of these 211, spinal abnormalities (subluxations) were found in 95%.  Chiropractic spinal adjustments frequently resulted in the immediate stoppage of crying, muscular relaxation and sleepiness.  The authors stated that an unhealthy spine “causes many clinical feature from central motor (brain or spinal cord) impairment to lower resistance to infections - especially ear, nose and throat infections.”  By the way, the authors were Medical Doctors. 

Get Your Child (or Children) Checked

How can you find out if your child has a subluxation?  The only way to know is to bring them in and get them checked.  Only Doctors of Chiropractic are trained to locate and correct subluxations.  If a subluxation were limiting your child’s health potential, wouldn’t you want to know about it?  If money is holding you back, we have affordable family care plans that can fit any budget.  But then again, our children should come first as far as health care goes, shouldn’t they?

You should consider chiropractic care for you children as preventative care to future problems.  They will have a higher immune system with chiropractic adjustments and will be less likely to get sick. When they do get injured, because we know it is inevitable, they will recover faster than their non-adjusted counterparts, just because their nervous system is intact and knows what to do. All four of us doctors of chiropractic that work in this office work with children.  Dr. Hansen, Dr. Ferguson, myself, Dr. Munoz and the most newly arrival to our team, Dr. Anderson.  Dr. Anderson would love to build a practice around children.  She has a lot of experience providing pediatric chiropractic care, she has two young boys of her own.  Even if you don’t bring your children in to see her, even if you don’t have any please make sure you meet her and welcome her to our family.  She works Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

Talk to you soon,

Dr. Munoz

We have been watching Dr. Pompa’s video (pompahealthsolutions.com)  on how to raise healthy children.  I have learned so much about what I need to do for my children and my family.  I have learned about how vaccinations can be harmful to our children.  Pyschotropic drugs given to young children and the shocking results of what happens. I also learned how subluxations start at birth and why every child needs to be checked out by a chiropractor.