First Last, D.C.

This article discusses how anger and emotional expression may affect your back pain. For years, many medical doctors thought back pain was more of an issue in the brain than the spine. Research has shown this to be the case in many who are disabled from work. But mechanical sprain injuries of the spine are [..]

Over the decades, we have come to expect that a pain or tingling in the hand and wrist means there is a local injury in the area. However, people can also develop wrist and hand symptoms that mimic carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) following a whiplash injury or sprain/strain of the neck. These patients may not [..]

The pain of fibromyalgia (FM) can be debilitating. What has perplexed researchers over the years is the source of this pain. Is it scarred muscle tissue? Nerve pain? Is it something in your head? Perhaps the adrenal glands are involved or maybe it’s the stress hormone called cortisol?It is well known that exercise eases the [..]

Back surgery is quite common in the United States with hundreds of thousands of operations performed each year. Sometimes these are laminectomies and diskectomies, and other times the spine is fused together so certain joints no longer move—a critical spinal function. The conservative medical approach/thinking to back pain is rest, medications, exercise, and physical therapy. [..]

Manual techniques refers to massage, deep tissue mobilization, and manipulation of the joints. These procedures are performed by chiropractors as a mainstay of their treatment. Several studies have shown that these techniques are helpful at reducing carpal tunnel symptoms. Sometimes scar tissue and tightness of the muscles of the forearms develop. Specific stretching exercises are [..]

The fibromyalgia diagnosis is based on widespread bodily AND spinal pain. Most patients think that fibromyalgia is more a problem related to how intensely the brain  perceives pain. While this is important, you have to also consider why the fibromyalgia patient is susceptible to such little pressure at various points. What makes their nerves so [..]

Torticollis is a condition where a joint or disk is injured and you can't move your neck. Sometimes the head is bent or turned a little to one side, and sometimes it's straight but can barely move in any direction. This type of problem is usually caused by a disk injury. Whiplash can cause this [..]

Getting your health back after a spinal injury can be problematic if you do not approach it holistically. What is meant by the term holistic? In general, it is caring for the person as a whole vs. individual parts, and using techniques that assist different bodily systems. When dealing with a mechanical spinal problem, the [..]

Carpal tunnel syndrome occurs when the median nerve, which starts at the neck and runs from the forearm into the hand, becomes compressed or squeezed at the wrist. In some cases, there may also be compression at other anatomical locations along the course of the nerve, like the neck.The median nerve controls sensations to the [..]

Syndrome X is called the lifestyle disease or metabolic syndrome. Patients with this disorder are overweight, have high "bad" cholesterol (i.e. LDLs) levels, and high blood pressure. They may also have insulin resistance or even be diabetic. This syndrome leads to heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and even certain types of cancer. Most of [..]