headaches Archives - Family Tree Chiropractic OKC

Apr 30 2024

Introduction to Chiropractic

What is Chiropractic?

Being a type of manual therapy, the practitioner utilizes techniques, forces and manipulations that are administered chiefly by hands. The spinal cord is the center of all therapies for a chiropractic doctor. Their belief is that the spine is the central structure as it allows messages from different parts of the body to reach the brain and vice versa. Under the state of paralysis in any part of the body, it is the spinal cord that can make any limb completely nonfunctional.

Spine Manipulation

Keeping the vitality of the spine in mind, D. D. Palmer brought to life the concept of spine manipulation to deal with vertebral subluxation. It is the practice of applying varying amounts of force to the area of concern in the spine to restore normal functioning. Palmer is popular for applying this technique to a deaf individual (deafness not present at birth) and being successful at restoring his hearing capabilities.

Subluxation

Primarily a chiropractic practitioner deals with a vertebral subluxation. A subluxation is when the spine loses its normal positioning and the neural pathway dysfunction causes a compromise in the functioning of several different parts of the body including the visceral system. A subluxation occurs as a result of a trauma, injury or even a chemical imbalance in the body.

Chiropractic’s Forte

A thorough examination is undertaken before your doctor performs any chiropractic techniques to relieve your pain. Several conditions are beyond the realm of this care. If you have a neurological condition, then you will be recommended to a neurologist and will not be administered any care procedures under a chiropractic practitioner. Other such conditions that cannot be dealt with manual therapies include tumors, broken bones, osteoporosis and arthritis. Areas that can be called its forte are pain in the upper and lower back, neck pain, and headaches, minor injuries related to sports, asthma, tennis elbow, frozen shoulder, menstrual pains and the like.

Neck pain

This is said to be the second most valid reason for paying a visit to a chiropractic practitioner. However, neck pain can be caused by a variety of reasons. Several of which can be dealt with utilizing chiropractics. With cervical disc degenerative diseases, pinched cervical nerve, minor injuries to ligaments, herniated disc disease and the like, chiropractic can be very effective.

When the neck becomes an area of concern, several other parts of the body can suffer the impact. Weakness in the arms, shoulders and hands, the tingling sensation in parts of the body supplied by the neck suffer along with the pain in neck. Therefore, dealing with neck pain with the help of a chiropractic practitioner is a wise decision.

Image used under Creative Commons Licensing: Spine and Disc Herniation by Michael Dorausch

Apr 30 2024

5 Steps to Relieving Holiday Neck Pain, Headaches, and Stress

12-22-2011

As I was driving through the parking lot today I noticed people racing through to get to the next store and get the best parking place. People were running in front of cars, cars were driving 30 mph in the parking lot, it was crazy! Traffic was backed up for a half-mile in all directions. What a pain in the neck! Everyone I saw looked terribly stressed!

You might be asking what this has to do with headaches and neck pain. We have had more than the normal amount of patients complaining of neck pain, shoulder pain, and headaches over the past few weeks. These were problems they did not have just a month or so ago. What is causing this and what should they do about it?

First of all, this is a very stressful time of year. Our schedules are packed and our margins are full. Secondly, this is the time of year that people’s sugar, fat, and overall caloric intake go up, which increases inflammation. To make things worse, exercise gets pushed off until tomorrow. And you know what they say about tomorrow… People also tend to miss their chiropractic and massage appointments which adds to the problem.

So, how do people reverse this holiday stress cycle? It’s simple to explain, harder to do, but still very doable! Let’s go through it step by step:

1) Limit the mad foods to one/day. Instead of eating a whole plate of fudge, peanut brittle, etc., eat one piece and then just walk away. You won’t even think about it after five minutes. This beats the sick feeling you have after eating a whole plate.

2) Get up! Regardless of how late the Christmas party was, or how much you ate and/or drank, get up at your normal time. Make sure you get at least 20 min. of exercise each day. Sure, it’s hard and you won’t feel like it, but it will make the rest of your day much better. It’s ONLY 20 minutes!

3) Breath… Doing #1 and #2 will already decrease the holiday stress effects on your body tremendously, but it’s still the season and you still have to deal with everyone else who didn’t get up early to exercise, ate tons of junk, and are flat out mad at the world. These are the people cutting you off, hollering obscenities, and giving you the not so friendly gestures. No matter how much exercise you did this morning and how well you’ve eaten all day, this can still raise your blood pressure and give you a headache. Best thing to do now is breath! Take a really deep breath in and hold for about ten seconds, then exhale slowly. Do this 5-10 times and you’ll feel a lot better. Trust me, I’ve done this myself today already.

4) Take care of your Master Control System. Now is the time to make sure you are getting your spine adjusted. Chiropractic adjustments are very effective at reducing headaches, neck pain, and stress. Besides that, adjustments can suppress the negative effects of stress. So many patients have sighed in relief after their adjustment the past few weeks and said, “Man I needed that today.” By by neck pain and headache!

5) Take some time to relax with a massage. Not only does massage therapy feel good, but it also reduces muscle spasms, pain, and inflammation. Let your body take a break and have some time to heal from the daily stresses.

So there you have it. Holiday stress can cause neck pain and headaches, but now you know how to reduce, or even beat, that nagging pain.

Apr 30 2024

Say Goodbye to Headaches in 2012!

Living with neck pain and headaches is tough. Day after day of being miserable, irritable, and looking a lot older than you really are. The frustration of knowing that your friends and family just don’t understand what you’re going through. Add this to doctors’ visits, MRI’s and CT scans — which only come back with “normal” results. And that’s not all… trying one medication after another, feeling like you’re on a merry-go-round of drugs. All this is enough to make anyone want to scream!

My name is Dr. Micah Carter, and I’ve been helping patients with neck tension, headaches and migraines live pain free for nine years now. Every week I hear how people suffer from severe headaches – statements like…,“I feel like my head is in a vice,” “My eyes hurt and I feel so drowsy,” “I have to lie down,” “I’ve had migraines since a child,” “Muscle tension in the neck and pain into the shoulders,” and more. They tell me they’re sick and tired of jumping from one headache medication to the next. Here’s what I hear… “I am tired of being looked upon as someone who is only out there to get medicine. I only want RELIEF. I don’t know why that is so hard for people to understand. I don’t want to be treated badly anymore. I want to get help, and I want to get rid of the headaches.”

This was my life before I met Dr. Case. You see, I had headaches at least three days every week, and at least one of them a migraine! My medicine cabinet was always stocked with the largest bottle of acetaminophen and ibuprophen. I would take one until it quit working and then I would switch to the other. Back and forth, headache after headache. I was a high school science teacher at the time and found it hard to even get up for work some days because of recurring headaches. Then I met Dr. Case. Dr. Case is a chiropractor in a small town in northwest Kansas. He shared with me the cause of my headaches and it made sense! I would get off work and drive 35 miles to see Dr. Case. (There were seven chiropractors in the town I lived in, but I drove to see Dr. Case because he knew how to correct my headaches.) My headaches rapidly reduced to one a month, then down to a couple times a year. What a Blessing! I loved teaching, but chiropractic fascinated me so I enrolled in chiropractic school. Now I get to help people get rid of their headaches for good!

Imagine being able to live life like a normal person again, pain free and without headaches — being able to play with your kids, enjoy time with friends, and not have to worry that your headache will hit you at just the wrong time. That’s my goal for you, to live virtually headache free, like I do now. Don’t just trust me though, numerous studies have shown the benefits of spinal adjustments with headache patients, here are a couple:

The Boline Study

This study compared two groups of headache patients, half went for chiropractic adjustments, and the other half took amitriptyline, a medication often prescribed for the treatment of severe tension headache pain. After six weeks, researchers found that chiropractic patients experienced almost no side effects. And only the chiropractic patients continued to report fewer headaches when treatment ended.

The Duke Study

Medical experts concluded that spinal manipulations resulted in almost immediate improvement for headaches. Patients also had significantly fewer side effects and longer-lasting relief of headaches than a commonly prescribed medication.

If you have a headache more than once a month, your body is trying to tell you something is wrong. Recurring Headaches Are Not Normal. No question… if you are having headaches then something is wrong. Pain is your body’s way of telling you something is wrong. Finding the problem and fixing it has got to be top priority! Call today… Phone 405-340-4400. Our office is called Family Tree Chiropractic and you can find us at 12325 N. May Ave., Suite 111. (We are on the NW corner of 122^nd and May, by Backwoods)

Sincerely,

Micah D. Carter, DC, CCST

P.S. Why Suffer With Years Of Misery?

How many years can your body handle taking one pill after another? That’s no way to live, not when there could be an easy solution to your problem. Many of the pain medications available are quite addicting and can have drastic side effects. Call today. I may be able to help you live a normal, pain-free life again.

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