Advanced Wellness Solutions offers personalized holistic healthcare, including primary care, medical weight loss, gentle chiropractic, acupuncture and medical massage therapy. Discover the difference patient-centric care makes. Advanced Wellness Solutions is offering primary care in our Stuart location in Martin County. Offering primary care is not just a service; it’s a commitment to the health and […]
Chiropractic Care
Preventing Running Injuries
If you choose to run to stay fit, your top priority should be preventing running injuries. Regular gentle chiropractic care can help prevent running injuries.
Running is a great way to stay in shape both physically and mentally. Physical activity in general offers huge mental and psychological benefits. Exercise causes the body to release feel-good chemicals known as endorphins. A 2017 study found that adults who engaged in an hour of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) experienced a significant increase in endorphin release compared with those who engaged in an hour of less demanding physical activity.1
Accepting new patients. Call 855-509-5400 to schedule your appointment.
We accept all major medical health insurance and Medicare.
When the article Tiger Woods on career regret: Running ‘destroyed my body and my knees appeared in my news feed, I was intrigued.
“Tiger Woods was asked by a fan what he would tell his younger self The five-time Masters winner responded, ‘Not to run so much.’ Woods would run 30 miles a week for the first six years of his Tour. He believes that it ultimately caused him injuries resulting in four back and five knee surgeries “
Of course, other factors played a role in Tiger’s knee and back injuries. I believe the biomechanics of the golf swing played a significant role in Tiger’s injuries. The modern golf swing encourages maximum rotation of the spine relative to the hips. This increased twisting of the lumbar spine, combined with a more powerful downswing, puts increased force on spinal discs and facet joints and tremendous pressure on the trailing side of the spine. It’s why 72 % of pro golfers receive regular chiropractic care provided by PGA chiropractic staff.2

Running can be hard on your body.
From what I have seen in my practice, I would agree with Tiger. Running can be extremely hard on your body. If you choose to run to stay fit, your top priority should be to prevent running injuries. Many runners credit regular chiropractic care as a key element in preventing running injuries.
In my practice, I see a fair number of injuries related to running. I often see these injuries in new runners. Most of my patients who have started running are trying to get in shape and/or lose weight. Some are following Tiger’s lead and are running to improve their golf game.
Running injuries vary in severity. Fortunately, they are straightforward to treat.
I often recommend cross-training to my patients who enjoy running. Sadly, patients do not always follow my advice. When they don’t, they end up back in my office with the same or new injury due to their new workout routine. This can be very frustrating for the patient. They want to get in shape or improve their golf game, but injuries set them back and leave them feeling discouraged.
Are you setting yourself up for injury by running?
This brings me back to the Tiger Woods article. Are golfers and other athletes setting themselves up for failure by running? In my opinion, many are. It may be an unpopular opinion, but as a practicing chiropractor, I believe now more than ever, “Not everyone should be a runner.” There I said it, out loud. Here’s why.
Running is a high-impact, repetitive activity that puts a lot of stress on your body. This can lead to both acute and chronic injuries, especially if proper protocol is not followed. If you’re going to run, it’s important to focus on preventing running injuries.
Cross-training to prevent running injuries.
Cross-training is one way to prevent running injuries. There are several exercises that can be just as effective in weight loss and conditioning without the risk of injury or high-impact running. These activities include bike riding, walking, and swimming.
Running isn’t for everyone, and that is okay. There are alternative forms of exercise that are effective and may be better suited for your body type. Do not be ashamed if running is not for you.
Preventing Running Injuries
Sixty percent of runners experience an injury severe enough to sideline them from activity.
There are many running injuries:
- broken bones
- lacerations and sprains
- overuse or chronic injuries
Broken bones, lacerations and sprains require immediate medical attention.
Most running injuries are from low-grade, abnormal force applied repeatedly over a prolonged period of time. These are classified as overuse injuries.
Overuse injuries from running include:
- stress fractures,
- shin splints,
- iliotibial band (ITB) syndrome,
- runners’ knee,
- Achilles tendonitis,
- plantar fasciitis
The thing about overuse injuries is that they happen slowly over time. If your hip or knee starts to hurt for no apparent reason, it’s probably an overuse injury.
How to Prevent Running Injuries
If you’re going to run for exercise, you must address four key factors:
- proper shoes
- flexibility
- strengthening
- training schedules.
#1 Proper shoes:
I can’t overstate the importance of proper footwear if you’re going to run. Shoes are the only equipment you need to run. The wrong shoe or an ill-fitted shoe can wreak havoc on your body if it is not appropriate for your foot and running style.
The best way to avoid injury is to prevent it. Running shoes are the only protective equipment runners have to safeguard themselves from injury. That’s why choosing the right running shoe is important. Be sure to find a specialty running store to ensure you have the right shoes and fit.
#2 Flexibility:
Lack of flexibility can make one prone to overuse injuries listed above. This is why cross-training is important. Yoga and Pilates can directly improve your flexibility.
#3 Strengthening:
Appropriate strength of the core and other major muscle groups are crucial for high-impact exercise. Such cross-training options include Yoga, Pilates, and Strength training with weights. These can offer reduced risk of injury, activation of other muscle groups and aid in injury recovery without sacrificing fitness level.
#4 Training Schedules:
Many researchers acknowledge that “training error” is the main source of injury. These training errors include rapidly changing the volume ran and/or rapidly changing the running pace. Both changes can lead to their own set of injuries.
A study published in the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy 3 showed that rapid change in running volume may lead to the development of patellofemoral pain syndrome, iliotibial band syndrome, and patellar tendinopathy, while change in running pace may be associated with the development of Achilles tendinopathy, gastrocnemius injuries, and plantar fasciitis.
In plain English, runners need to stick to a training schedule and plan the distance and pace according to individual fitness levels. There are many couch-to-5k programs for the novice runner.
The importance of stretching and warming up.
Stretching and warming up are important and can help to avoid injury. If you do not have time to warm-up and stretch, you do not have time to run.
Even with the best preparation and strict adherence to your training schedule, running injuries can still happen.
If an injury occurs, it is important to react appropriately. A 2017 survey 4 asked athletes and coaches, “Which factors do you believe influence the risk of running injuries?” An overwhelming majority of the athletes and coaches reported “Ignoring pain” as a risk factor for running injury.
If you have acute pain, you should seek medical attention ASAP.
First Aid for Running Injuries
If you have an overuse injury:
- Reduce training, using pain as a guide
- Apply ice to injured area 15 to 20 minutes, three to four times per day
- Use compression to decrease swelling
- Elevate injured area if possible
- Take an over-the-counter pain medication (OTC) as directed on package instructions.
Using Over the Counter Pain Relievers
OTC pain relievers are easily available, aren’t habit-forming, and won’t leave you groggy, dizzy, or even constipated. However, OTC painkillers can:
- increase the risk of heart attack or stroke
- cause stomach ulcers,
- bleeding,
- liver and kidney problems.
These risks increase with sustained use. OTC pain relievers are not considered safe for long-term use. If you need to use pain relievers for more than 7 days in a row, see your primary care physician.
Determine the cause of the injury
It’s important to determine the cause of the injury to prevent future injuries. Common causes of running injuries are tight muscles or weak hip muscles. A knowledgeable chiropractor or physical therapist can help you determine the cause of your injury.
You should seek treatment for your running injuries if:
- pain continues with decreased training
- the pain persists beyond 10-14 days
- you need pain medications to train
- the pain stops if you rest but resumes when you begin training
Did running play a part in Tiger Woods’ myriad of injuries? I suspect it did. Combining long-distance running with the physically demanding sport of golf was brutal on his body. Could he avoid his injuries and surgeries? Hindsight is always 20/20.
Wisdom is learning from other people’s mistakes, which is why I’m sharing this information with you now.
Accepting new patients. Call 855-509-5400 to schedule your appointment.
We accept all major medical health insurance and Medicare.
The best advice is to listen to your body. Pain is a signal that something is wrong. Don’t ignore it.
Effective Gentle Chiropractic Care
Dr. Danielle Hurd, DC, is a Stuart, FL, chiropractor who offers effective gentle chiropractic care and a unique style of chiropractic spinal and joint adjustments.
Accepting new patients. Call 855-509-5400 to schedule your appointment.
We Accept All Major Medical Health Insurance and Medicare.
Gentle chiropractic care allows patients to get the maximum benefit from a minimal number of visits.

WHAT IS GENTLE CHIROPRACTIC?
In Florida, a chiropractor is a primary care physician who treats spinal and musculoskeletal problems using manual manipulation to restore joint function and support the nervous system. Chiropractic care can reduce pain, increase movement and improve performance, which may mean avoiding unnecessary drugs or surgery.
What does gentle chiropractic mean? Gentle chiropractic care is the subtle, gentle manipulation of the neck, back and joints.
Gentle chiropractic care is performed with a gentle touch, targeting a specific area. Pain in your neck, back, wrists, shoulders, hips and knees can all be treated with gentle chiropractic manipulations. Dr. Danielle uses different techniques and patient positioning to deliver gentle chiropractic care. Gentle chiropractic care provides the same benefits seen from traditional spinal adjustments.
This approach allows patients to get the maximum benefit from a minimal number of visits.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRADITIONAL CHIROPRACTIC CARE AND GENTLE CHIROPRACTIC CARE?
Gentle chiropractic adjustments can be performed on the neck, back and every joint in the body. To show the difference between a “traditional” chiropractic adjustment and a gentle chiropractic one, let’s look at how the neck is adjusted.
A traditional chiropractic neck adjustment begins with the patient lying face up on a table. The chiropractor cradles your head and performs a quick, thrusting movement. Being put into this position combined with the quick snapping motion causes some people to be afraid of seeing a chiropractor.
A gentle chiropractic neck adjustment is different. The first difference you’ll notice is in how you are set up for the adjustment. A gentle chiropractic neck adjustment begins with the patient lying face down on the table. Next, Dr. Danielle will carefully position your head, followed by a gentle, downward pulse. There’s no twisting or snapping involved. Many of Advanced Wellness Solutions patients prefer the gentle face-down-prone approach to chiropractic neck adjustments.
Chiropractic neck adjustment helps to
- improve the mobility of the spine
- restore range of motion
- increase movement of the adjoining muscles.
GENTLE CHIROPRACTIC FOR EFFECTIVE DRUG-FREE PAIN RELIEF
If you are in pain, you probably don’t need to be sold on the benefits of gentle chiropractic care. Many people who’ve been seriously injured in an auto accident or are suffering from chronic pain are anxious during their first visit, especially if they’re not aware of the difference between traditional chiropractic adjustments and gentle chiropractic care.
The activator method is one of the effective, gentle chiropractic care techniques used at Advanced Wellness Solutions. Dr. Danielle uses a small, hand-held instrument to deliver a gentle impulse force to the spine with the goal of restoring motion to the targeted spinal vertebra or joint. There’s no twisting or popping with this gentle modality, which makes it ideal for anyone suffering from severe acute or chronic pain.

About Dr. Danielle Hurd, DC, chiropractor in Stuart, Fl.
Dr. Danielle provides gentle chiropractic care because she knows what it’s like to be injured in a serious car crash. She suffered serious injuries, causing her to have severe headaches and trigeminal neuralgia. Known as “the suicide disease,” some consider trigeminal nerve pain to be the worst pain known to medicine.1
Dr. Danielle found a chiropractor who used effective, gentle chiropractic care to treat her injuries. Her chiropractor was able to relieve her trigeminal neuralgia by effectively treating the injuries she suffered in her automobile accident.
Dr. Danielle’s injuries helped her choose her career as a chiropractor. After graduating from Palmer College of Chiropractic, she worked in two high-volume personal injury clinics. After treating thousands of patients who had suffered traumatic injuries, she opened Advanced Wellness Solutions. Her goal has always been to provide gentle, effective pain relief to people who have been seriously injured like she was..
Accepting new patients. Call (772) 403-7640 to schedule your appointment.
We Accept All Major Medical Health Insurance and Medicare.
IT Band Syndrome Causes Hip or Knee Pain
IT Band syndrome causes hip or knee pain. When the IT band along the outside of the leg becomes inflamed, it can cause pain at either the top (the hip) or the bottom (at the knee). This is called IT band syndrome, which may also be called hip bursitis or greater trochanteric bursitis.
Accepting new patients. Call 855-509-5400 to schedule your appointment.
We accept all major medical health insurance and Medicare.
IT band syndrome 1 (ITBS) is not a hot new musical group but rather a medical term. IT band is short for iliotibial band. Try saying “iliotibial band” five times fast and you’ll understand why your chiropractor will refer to it as your IT band.
The IT band is a group of fibers that run from your hip to your knee along the outside of your upper leg. These fibers help the muscles in your thigh provide stability to the outside of the knee joint. If your IT band becomes too tight, it causes inflammation. Inflammation causes pain. You may feel this pain at the top of the IT band (at your hip) or at the bottom (near your knee). The location of your pain will reveal the location of the inflamed fibers.
Causes of IT Band Syndrome
One of the most common causes of IT band syndrome is a sudden increase in your activity level. If you’re on your feet at work all day and begin working longer hours, you might be feeling the effects of IT band syndrome. If you’re a runner who has increased your distance, duration or speed, hip or knee pain could be signaling IT band syndrome. Even golfers can experience IT band syndrome. If you’re a golfer who is experiencing knee pain in the leading leg, it could be IT band syndrome.
IT Band Syndrome Causes Hip or Knee Pain
ITBS is not limited to athletes. Anyone can experience ITBS. If you’re having hip pain and/or knee pain on the outside of your knee, mechanical problems in your gait could cause IT band syndrome.
Since the IT band runs along the outside of your upper leg, ITBS can present itself in a variety of ways.
- Pain on the outside of your knee when you’re walking or running.
- A clicking sensation where the band rubs against the knee
- Your hip or knee feels hot and red.
- The outside of your knee or hip may be tender to the touch.
- You feel a rubbing feeling on the side of your knee.
- You feel pain/tenderness in your buttocks.
IT band syndrome pain usually continues hurting even after you stop the activity.
IT band syndrome responds well with gentle chiropractic treatment. Treatment can take up to six weeks. You may need to avoid activities like running, cycling, golfing or taking long flights of stairs.
If you live in or near Stuart, Florida and need treatment for IT band syndrome, call 855-509-5400 to schedule an appointment.
After a Car Accident
After a car accident, it’s natural to focus on your physical injuries. After all, even in a minor fender bender, your body is exposed to powerful and violent forces. Even if you were lucky enough to escape the accident without serious or life threatening physical injuries, you might be surprised by the flood of emotions that can come after a Florida car accident.
Accepting new patients. Call 855-509-5400 to schedule your appointment.
We Accept All Major Medical Health Insurance and Medicare.
Emotional Turmoil After a Car Accident
It’s natural to experience strong emotions such as shock, guilt, grief, helplessness, confusion, and fear after a car accident.
Some patients report continuing to feel afraid even though they know the danger has passed. Others report experiencing mood swings or having periods of crying uncontrollably. The feelings of sadness or depression after a car accident are very common, and can be intense. Be sure to tell your chiropractor if these feelings are stopping you from doing your normal daily activities.
Increased anxiety is another natural and common reaction to your car accident. You may also feel anger, irritability, and agitation. These feelings may be directed at the other driver (even if you were at fault) or you may take your anger out on your loved ones, friends and co-workers.
On the other end of the spectrum are feelings of guilt, shame, and self-blame (even if you weren’t at fault). You may find yourself ruminating on what you could have done or not done to prevent the accident.
Immediately after your car accident, it is normal to feel a flood of emotions, like those listed above. However, if you are still battling these post-accident emotional symptoms more than 3 months after your accident, you may be suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). This is a condition that can develop after any type of traumatizing event.
Car accidents can trigger PTSD symptoms including experiencing flashbacks of the accident. In fact, research 1 has shown that an estimated 39.2% of motor vehicle accident survivors develop PTSD as a result.
Many suffering with PTSD also simultaneously have an intense fear of driving and/or a related anxiety disorder.
Returning to driving after a car accident
If your injuries won’t prevent you from driving for the rest of your life, at some point you’ll have to get back behind the wheel of a car. You’ll probably feel some anxiety the first time behind the wheel. You may even feel anxiety riding as a passenger in the car. Rest assured that this is natural.
Once back behind the wheel, you’ll probably find that you drive more cautiously than before. If your accident was at night, you may experience extra high anxiety around night driving.
If you’ve been in a car accident, you probably have questions. Fortunately, Dr. Danielle Hurd, DC of Advanced Wellness Solutions has many of the answers you need including:
- Is what I’m experiencing normal?
- How long will it be until I feel better?
The Chiropractor You Choose Makes a Difference
Dr. Danielle Hurd, DC knows first hand the emotional aftermath of surviving a car crash. While attending USF to obtain her BS in biomedical science, she was injured in a car accident– a near head on collision on part of SR 60 that is only 2 lanes. The other driver had tried to pass a semi-truck on his way to work. It was early morning, so when she saw the other driver’s headlights emerge from behind the semi-truck, she veered off the road quickly. Had she not reacted as quickly as she did, the other driver would have hit her head on. Instead, his pick-up truck struck her just behind the driver’s door, tearing a hole in the rear door of the mini-van she was driving.
She didn’t realize she was seriously injured until the next day when the adrenaline rush wore off.
Dr. Danielle’s car accident caused serious injuries and headaches. The pain forced her to leave school for a semester. The silver lining is that it helped her to choose her career. Thanks to the care she received from her chiropractor (who encouraged her to attend Palmer College of Chiropractic), she was able to return to USF the next semester and complete her bachelor’s degree. She went on to graduate in 2014 from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Port Orange Florida.

The chiropractor you choose makes a difference!
Dr. Danielle makes it a point to create a soothing, nurturing office environment at Advanced Wellness Solutions. She survived a serious car accident and has experienced the intense feelings that follow. It’s why her office has an “office dog.” William seems to know when patients need emotional support, even though he stays behind the glass door in the front desk area.
The doctor you choose makes a difference. If you or someone you know has been in a car accident, call 855-509-5400 to make an appointment with Advanced Wellness Solutions.
What To Do After an Accident in Stuart, Fl
Florida has a reputation for “bad” and “aggressive” drivers. For those who live or work in Stuart, Florida, if you haven’t been in a car accident recently, you probably know someone who has. Just because we live in paradise doesn’t mean life here is perfect—or predictable. Being an accident is scary and confusing. That’s why we’ve created this checklist to help you know what to do after an accident in Stuart, Florida.
Being in a car accident, even a minor one, can be traumatic and frightening. The moments during a car crash are often violent. Your body is subjected to extreme forces that can affect your body in unexpected ways. Even a seemingly minor fender bender can result in injuries that need treatment for the driver and/or passengers.1
If you’re able to escape your vehicle after the accident, you may think you weren’t seriously injured. It’s important to know that it could be weeks—or even months—before the full extent of your injuries are known. Even if you go to the hospital immediately following your car accident, some injuries like whiplash, traumatic brain injury and even spinal cord injury may not be immediately evident, even with appropriate imaging!
Following a car accident, it may take time for you to begin thinking clearly enough to make sound judgments and important decisions. That’s why we’ve created this checklist to help.
Here are 7 things you need to do if you’ve been in a car accident in Stuart or Martin County, Florida:
#1: DO NOT LEAVE THE SCENE OF A ACCIDENT.
Even if it’s a minor fender bender, stay at the scene. If it’s your fault, stay at the scene. Even if your car is the only one involved in the accident, stay at the scene. If you leave, you could face felony charges.
#2: CALL THE POLICE.
Even if there are no apparent injuries, you should still call the police. You’ll need a police report to file a claim with your insurance company.
#3: TAKE PICTURES.
Use your phone to take pictures of the vehicles and the scene while you wait for the police to arrive. If you have visible injuries, you should document them with photographs as well. The worst-case scenario is you won’t need these images. It’s better to have these images and not need them rather than need these images and not have them.
#4: WHEN THE POLICE ARRIVE.
Tell the investigating officer(s) exactly what happened. If someone asks if you’re injured, you should reply that you’re not sure. This is the truth. There’s no way you can know immediately after your accident if you were injured.
As your accident was happening, your body released a burst of the hormone adrenaline. This hormone decreases your ability to feel pain, increases your strength, and sharpens your mental focus. (If you watched the accident happen in slow motion, you can thank adrenaline for that.) Because of this adrenaline rush, it may be days before you realize the extent of your injuries.
#5: GET WITNESS INFORMATION.
If there are witnesses, you should get their contact information.
#6: SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION.
Within 14 days of your car accident, you should see a doctor, ER doctor, or chiropractor. You should do this even if you don’t feel any pain or soreness. Many injuries, especially whiplash and head trauma, are not immediately apparent. You can sustain serious, life-altering injuries in seemingly minor accidents. If you lost consciousness or were dazed—even for a short period of time—you may have suffered a concussion or traumatic brain injury (TBI). Even if you just “bumped your head” in the accident, that minor injury can be deadly if it causes bleeding in the brain. The symptoms of TBI may not appear for weeks—or even months. That’s just one reason why it is so important to see a physician or chiropractor within 14 days of a car accident.
#7: CONTACT YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY
Car owners in Florida are covered under PIP, or No-Fault insurance. This means that you can receive treatments for your injuries even if you were at fault for the accident. In order to activate your PIP insurance benefits, you have to file a claim with the insurance company and you must schedule an appointment with a doctor or chiropractor within 14 days of the accident.
If your injuries are severe, you might require more medical care than what your PIP benefits cover. If this is the case, Dr. Danielle Hurd, DC, will give you the names of attorneys who expertly handle personal injury cases.
If your primary care physician refuses to treat you for injuries suffered in a car accident, don’t be upset. Would you be upset if if your dentist didn’t want to perform open heart surgery? Chiropractors are trained to treat the musculoskeletal injuries common in car accidents. Dr. Danielle is experienced in treating the trauma that can result from car crashes.
If you or someone you know has been involved in a car accident, call us today at 855-509-5400.
Text neck: Is Your Smartphone Use Causing Your Neck Pain?
You should know that “text neck” is not an official medical diagnosis. Instead, it’s a description of a repetitive stress injury from the way you hold your head while using a mobile device.
Text Neck Causes
Text neck, a.k.a. postural syndrome, 1 is a result of rounded shoulders and a forward head posture. When you’re in this position, muscles in the neck, chest, and upper back can become imbalanced due to prolonged forward head posture. Over time, this imbalance can make it difficult to maintain good posture.
A healthy cervical spine has curves that begin by gently curving forward from the base of the skull. A healthy spine then curves backward into the top of the chest/upper back. When the head drifts forward in poor posture, it causes an unnatural, forward positioning of the head and cervical spine. This creates additional stress on the inter-vertebral discs, vertebrae, and facet joints, which may accelerate spinal degeneration.
Text Neck Pain
Text neck isn’t limited to pain in your neck. Instead, you may feel pain in your upper back and/or your shoulders. You may feel like you’ve been stabbed or have intense pain in one spot, or you may feel sore over a broader region. For example, you might have pain spanning from the bottom of the neck and into the shoulder(s). In addition to upper back pain, shoulder pain and neck pain, you may also be experiencing headaches.
If you notice that your pain increases when your neck is flexed forward into the position that originally caused the problem, then that’s a sign that you may have text neck.
The stiffness resulting from text neck can reduce your mobility. Your neck, upper back, and shoulders may all experience tightness and reduced mobility. This reduced mobility can make driving dangerous.
Text neck can also cause headaches. These headaches are a result of muscle spasms in the neck and shoulders. This pain can then be referred from the neck and shoulders up into the head. Excessive amounts of time looking at screens, regardless of posture, may also increase the risk for eyestrain and headache.
Text Neck Treatment
Chiropractic care is ideally suited to treating neck pain, no matter what the cause. A careful patient history and physical exam can help to determine whether the pain and/or stiffness in your neck is caused by a repetitive stress injury.
If a more serious cause of your neck pain is suspected, such as nerve root compression, fracture, or a serious underlying medical condition, Dr. Danielle will order imaging, nerve conduction studies and other tests to confirm her diagnosis.
Schedule your appointment today by calling 855-509-5400.
Pain Medications for Pain Management
Pain medications often play a prominent role in pain management. Unfortunately, long-term painkiller abuse can lead to serious cardiovascular issues, liver and/or kidney disease or failure, decrease in immunity, gastrointestinal problems and even death resulting from toxicity or overdose.
Gentle chiropractic care can be a powerful tool in providing drug free pain relief.
Advanced Wellness Solutions is accepting new patients.
We Accept All Major Medical Health Insurance and Medicare.
Call 855-509-5400 to schedule your appointment.
In pain? Inflammation is to blame.
Pain is one of the body’s vital defense mechanisms. Injuries often cause micro-tears and micro lesions. These cause inflammation which in turn causes pain.
Pain lets the brain know that damage or death has occurred to the cells in the affected area. It’s also the way our body tells us not to use the affected area. Pain can also guide us in what to do and not do after an injury. Persisting in activities that cause sharp pain can cause even more damage and slow healing.
If you’ve ever been in a car accident, you may have refused treatment at the scene only to wake up the next morning feeling intense pain. The reason behind this cue to your body’s incredible ability to keep you alive. During your Florida car accident, your body released an adrenaline rush. An adrenaline rush, like pain, is another of the body’s vital defense mechanisms. This hormonal rush triggers specific processes in the body to help you survive. It decreases your ability to feel pain, increases your strength temporarily and sharpens your mental focus.
If you were being mauled by a tiger, an adrenaline rush is a good thing. It allows you to ignore your injuries and escape becoming a meal for a hungry tiger. However, the rush of adrenaline only decreases pain temporarily. After the effects wear off, you may be desperate to get your hands on immediate pain relief.
When you’re in pain, you want fast effective pain relief. You want to get back to doing everything you were doing before your injury. The fastest easiest way to treat pain is by using pain medications for pain management. Unfortunately, we’re learning that pain relief medications – both prescription and OTC – have an unexpected dark side.
Painful Truth: Pain medications do not speed up the healing process.
Pain medications for pain management – used in the short term – can provide symptomatic relief. OTC and prescription pain relief medications can be very beneficial for the first 7 – 10 days after a traumatic injury. They are especially beneficial to use while gentle chiropractic care breaks up scar tissue and adhesions, providing long term relief from stiffness and pain.
Unfortunately, we’re learning that you can’t find chronic pain relief in a pill. Opioid analgesics also known as narcotic analgesics, modify pain messages in the brain. Often prescribed for chronic pain, these drugs can be dangerous and addictive. In a horrific catch-22, they can actually cause your pain to get worse,
Prescription painkillers cause the pain you feel to increase over time.
New studies on pain medications for pain management are painting an especially grim picture pointing to the long term effects of using opioids for chronic pain. It’s call Opioid-Induced Hyperalgesia or OIH. OIH is the increased perception of pain leads to needing higher doses to achieve the desired effect.
Studies show that when you use an opioid, it sets off a chain of immune signals in the spinal cord that amplify pain rather than dulling it, even after the drug leaves the body.1
Peter Grace, a neuroscientist at the University of Colorado Boulder is trying to trace hyperalgesia to the way opioids affect the immune system. His team injured rats to mimic the nerve pain humans feel. Ten days after the injury, half the rats received a 5-day treatment of morphine. Over the next 12 weeks, the researchers periodically measured the rodents’ threshold of pain. After 6 weeks, the injured rats that had received no morphine returned to the same sensitivity as uninjured control rats. Meanwhile, it took morphine-treated rats 12 weeks – twice as long – to return to the same pain sensitivity as the control rats. 2, 3
Using prescription painkillers to manage pain is a lot like blowing your nose with a tissue filled with sneezing powder!
The higher the dose, more risk of overdose all the while with the patient experiencing increasing pain levels. Some studies suggest that it makes the pain even worse than when the patient began treatment.
Based on what has been learned from animal and human studies, the following may be true:4,5
- The treatment of pain with high doses of opiates may increase the chance of greater levels of pain at later times.
- Taking high doses of opiates for chronic pain may increase levels of postoperative pain, even when their opiate doses are increased.
- People who use or who have used opiates in the past, may have increased pain responses to such procedures as having their blood drawn.
The key takeaway here is that your pain can keep increasing not because of an injury, but due to the action of the opioids themselves.
According to Dr. Al Clavel who specializes in pain medicine, there’s another reason opioids can make pain worse. He writes:
Our bodies have natural opioids called endorphins. If your body becomes used to opioid pain medication, its ability to create and use natural endorphins will decrease. This makes you lose the ability to reduce pain on your own.
Over the Counter Pain Relief
There are many safer, proven ways to help relieve chronic pain. One is by using over the counter (OTC) painkillers. OTC painkillers include NSAIDs (non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs) and acetaminophen relieve (brand name Tylenol). NSAIDS relieve pain by reducing the production of prostaglandins, which are hormone-like substances that cause pain. Acetaminophen works on the parts of the brain that receive the pain messages.
OTC painkillers are easily available, aren’t habit-forming, and won’t leave you constipated. However, even OTC painkillers can increase the risk of heart attack or stroke. OTC painkillers have also been known to cause stomach ulcers and bleeding as well as liver and kidney problems. These risks increase with sustained use.
If you’ve been using OTC pain relievers for more than 14 days straight, you should probably talk to your health care provider about the risks. Just because its sold without a prescription doesn’t mean that OTC pain relievers are “safe” for long term use.
Topical Pain Relief
Topical pain relievers or liniments are also available without a doctor’s prescription. These products include creams, lotions, or sprays that are applied to the skin in order to relieve pain from sore muscles and arthritis.
Chiropractic Care for Pain Relief
Chiropractors specialize in treating the musculoskeletal injuries that cause acute and chronic pain. Chiropractic care includes a variety of pill free/drug free treatment modalities that allow your body to heal naturally.
Chiropractic care is proven effective. A study that compared the effectiveness of prescribed medications to spinal manipulation found that 94% of patients who underwent chiropractic treatment saw a 30% reduction in low back pain after 4 weeks. In comparison only 56% of patients who used regular medical care saw a 30% reduction in low back pain after 4 weeks.6
Acupuncture for Pain Relief
Acupuncture has been providing effective drug free pain relief for thousands of years.
Many studies have been performed to measure the effectiveness of acupuncture. Researchers with the Acupuncture Trialists’ Collaboration compiled the raw data from trials where the main outcome measures were pain and function. The results from these studies concluded that acupuncture is an effective method of treating chronic pain. They concluded that 7
- acupuncture is effective for the treatment of chronic pain
- that the effects of acupuncture persist for up to 12 months,
- and that the benefits of acupuncture cannot be explained away solely by the placebo effect.
The report itself 8 states:
Acupuncture is effective for the treatment of chronic musculoskeletal, headache, and osteoarthritis pain.
At Advanced Wellness Solutions, we would love to help you get back to living the life you love pain free! Call us at 855-509-5400 to schedule an appointment today.
Muscle Relaxing Drugs
If you’ve ever had a muscle spasm, you know how painful it can be. Muscle spasms can cause severe neck and back pain. These spasms can make your life miserable. Before you turn to muscle-relaxing drugs, here are some things you should know.

Modern chiropractic care provides many treatment modalities that offer drug-free pain relief from muscle spasms.
If you seek usual medical care (UMC) for back pain, the doctor may prescribe muscle relaxants.1
New treatment guidelines from the ACP strongly recommend that people with back pain first try non-drug measures such as yoga, physical therapy, chiropractic and massage before resorting to over-the-counter or prescription pain relievers and muscle relaxants.2
What are muscle-relaxing drugs?
The term “muscle relaxers” is definitely deceiving because this classification includes a wide range of drugs with different indications and mechanisms of action.3
Many muscle relaxers cause sedation throughout the central nervous system. In other words, they make all of your muscles relax, not just the tight ones. They also make you feel sleepy. If acute pain from an injury is making it difficult to sleep, this can be a good thing. Sleep helps you heal. However, this can make living your life during your waking hours difficult.
There is growing concern surrounding these drugs because it is not clear how effective muscle relaxers are when it comes to relieving pain. Concerns have also been raised about the adverse side effects involved with many of these drugs. In addition to sedation, potential adverse effects include drowsiness, headache, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting and the potential for addiction.3
Acute Pain vs Chronic Pain
Acute pain is immediate pain. You can often identify what you were doing to cause the pain. Sometimes the cause of acute pain can be a seemingly harmless movement, like lifting something heavy. On the other hand, chronic pain is pain that lasts beyond the typical expected healing period.
Jeffrey E. Keller is a Board-certified Certified Emergency Physician with 25 years of emergency medicine practice experience before moving full time into his “true calling” of Correctional Medicine. His recommendations to physicians regarding prescribing muscle relaxers in his post Skeletal Muscle Relaxers Do Not Relax Skeletal Muscles.
1. Never prescribe muscle relaxers long term for chronic conditions.
2. If you prescribe a “muscle relaxer” for acute low back pain, use them only for a short time. The number usually bandied about is no more than 7 days.
Ignore Pain at Your Peril
Pain is simply one way your body communicates with you. It’s your brain’s way of saying, “STOP!” BE CAREFUL! This part of your body needs your attention!”
Muscle relaxers mask the symptom of muscle spasm pain. A muscle spasm is not only a reaction to an injury; it’s also your body’s way of trying to protect itself from further injury.
Chiropractic is a health care profession dedicated to providing non-surgical treatment of disorders of the nervous system and musculoskeletal system. Chiropractics have a wide assortment of proven treatments and modalities that can provide drug-free pain relief for muscle spasms.4
Advanced Wellness Solutions focuses on creating individualized treatment plans incorporating treatment modalities combined with the use of patient-driven care such as exercise, activity modification, and ergonomic modifications. In addition to chiropractic care, Advanced Wellness Solutions offers medical massage therapy and acupuncture to provide drug-free relief from painful muscle spasms.
Contact Advanced Wellness Solutions at 855-509-5400 to schedule your appointment today.