There are many spinal stenosis treatment options you should consider before resorting to surgery. Most patients with spinal stenosis respond well to non-surgical treatments such as medication, physical therapy, and gentle chiropractic care. Spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the spinal canal, typically caused by age, injury, or congenital disorder. The condition can cause difficulty […]
auto accident injuries
Gentle Chiropractic for Car Accident Injuries
Florida car accidents are happening more frequently these days. Stressed drivers are causing injury and fatality rates to climb.1 If you’ve been in a car accident, you should choose gentle chiropractic care for those injuries.
Accepting new patients. Call 855-509-5400 to schedule your appointment.
We Accept All Major Medical Health Insurance and Medicare.
Gentle Chiropractic Care for Car Accident Injuries
There are 3 Compelling Reasons to Choose Chiropractic Care after a Car Accident, When choosing a chiropractor, you’ll want to choose one that practices effective gentle chiropractic care.
Injured in a Florida car accident?
The chiropractor you choose can make a difference!
What is Gentle Chiropractic?
Many patients in pain are afraid of the traditional spinal manipulation methods. They don’t want to be twisted, snapped or “crunched.” Different chiropractic techniques and patient positioning are used to deliver effective, gentle chiropractic care. This will allows for optimal recovery after a car accident.
One gentle chiropractic modality is the Activator Method. This provides a gentle spinal manipulation for patients in severe pain. This chiropractic technique uses a small, hand-held Activator Adjusting Instrument to deliver a gentle impulse force to the spine. This gentle modality is beneficial for patients who have suffered a traumatic injury. It avoids the twisting and contortion frequently involved in traditional manual adjustment modalities.
Gentle chiropractic adjustments can to help you get back to living the life you love.
Gentle Chiropractic replaces high-velocity adjustments with low-velocity, low amplitude manipulations. There’s no twisting you into a pretzel or snapping movements.
Gentle chiropractic can treat pain in your neck, back, wrists, shoulders, hips and knees.
Gentle chiropractic care is more comfortable and provides maximum benefit from minimal visits.
Car accidents are often violent. The force of the accident places a lot of pressure on the neck and back. The neck and back are easily injured by the force. It’s no surprise that the 4 most common car accident injuries are all forms of soft tissue injuries.
- Headaches
- Neck Pain and Whiplash
- Shoulder Pain
- Back Pain
Gentle chiropractic care can prevent long-term, chronic pain conditions from developing.
If you or someone you know has been in a car accident, you need gentle chiropractic treatment. Call Advanced Wellness Solutions at 855-509-5400 to schedule an appointment.
3 Reasons to Choose Chiropractic Care after a Car Accident
If you live in Stuart, Palm City or Hobe Sound Florida, and are injured in a car accident here are 3 reasons to choose chiropractic care after a car accident.
Car accidents can not only cause injury but anxiety as well. Even if your car accident was minor, your injuries could be serious, even life altering. According to a study published in the Society of Automotive Engineers, 1 vehicle crash damage does not directly correlate to the degree of occupant injury.
Unfortunately, it’s common for people to develop chronic issues as a result of a seemingly minor accident. What’s worse, you may not be aware that you’ve been injured immediately following the accident.
Accepting new patients. Call 855-509-5400 to schedule your appointment.
We Accept All Major Medical Health Insurance and Medicare.
Chiropractic care is the best option for musculoskeletal injuries, including those suffered in car accidents. Many of these injuries can be effectively treated without drugs or surgery. Fortunately, the injuries suffered in most minor auto accidents don’t require surgery and drugs.
Here are the top three reasons to choose chiropractic care after a car accident in Martin County, FL
#1: Imaging can’t catch micro-tears that are caused by a car accident.
Unfortunately, medical imaging such as X-rays or MRIs can’t detect the micro-tears in ligaments and muscles after a traumatic injury like those resulting from an auto accident. These microscopic tears in the muscle are why you may wake up with severe pain the day after an accident. Whiplash is a soft tissue neck injury that occurs when the neck snaps back and forth in a rapid motion. That rapid snapping back and forth causes microscopic tears in the neck muscles.
Soft-tissue injuries (a.k.a. micro-tears in ligaments and muscles) like whiplash can take a long time to heal. One study found that more than 70 percent of people who visited the emergency room after a car accident were still in pain six weeks later. Other researchers have noted that nearly half of whiplash sufferers continue to experience symptoms three months later, while 25 percent remain symptomatic for six months.2
Traumatic injuries such as those suffered in a car accident often include micro-tears and micro lesions. These cause inflammation which in turn causes pain. 3 Studies show that chiropractic adjustments help the body release anti-inflammatory Interleukin 6 (IL-6)4. Interleukin 6 (IL-6) plays an integral role in the body’s healing ability, including trauma, burns, cancers and infections.5
#2: Chiropractic Care After a Car Accident Helps Heal Internal Scar Tissues
When you hear the word “scar tissue” you might think of the scar from a nasty fall off your bike when you were young. Your body also forms this special type of tissue inside your body when your ligaments and muscles are injured. Just as the scar tissue you see on your skin doesn’t look or act like your undamaged skin, the scar tissue inside your body doesn’t have the same elasticity or mobility of uninjured soft tissue.
When scar tissue forms in the ligaments, especially those in your neck or back, it can lead to long term pain and reduced mobility. Scar tissue continues to grow and change throughout the recovery process which may take from twelve to eighteen months.6 Prompt chiropractic care after a car accident is very effective at remodeling scar tissue. Chiropractic treatment and stretching of scar tissue helps align the collagen fibers, allowing it tolerate daily activities. 7
Studies show that car accident victims treated within one week of their accident saw the best overall improvement. 8 Many chiropractors refer to this time period as the “golden week” because the inflammatory reaction which occurs during this period, if left unchecked, will produce scars and adhesions that make future management more difficult.
#3: Chiropractic Care After a Car Accident Releases Pain Relieving Hormones
Studies also show that chiropractic care helps release pain reducing hormones.9 These hormones provide natural pain relief from both acute and chronic pain. They will help relieve the pain from the acute injuries suffered in a car accident. Fortunately, they don’t stop there! They will also help any other areas that were causing pain before the accident.
Unfortunately, turning to pain pills can actually make pain worse in the long run. Contrary to marketing messages that imply otherwise, pain medications do not speed up the healing process. Pain medications (both OTC and prescription) can be very beneficial for the first 7 – 10 days after a traumatic injury. Used in the short term, these can provide symptomatic relief while chiropractic care breaks up scar tissue and adhesions, relieving stiffness, pain and the discomfort it causes.
We’re learning that you won’t find the solution to pain – even chronic pain – in a pill. Not only are opioid medications dangerous and addictive, they can actually cause your pain to worsen. Studies show that when you use an opioid pain reliever, 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. 10
Prompt Chiropractic Care is Key
Gentle chiropractic care will help prevent long-term, chronic pain conditions and allow you to achieve optimal recovery after an auto accident. Gentle Chiropractic Care is a newer method of chiropractic care. It replaces high-velocity adjustments with low-velocity, low amplitude manipulations. It is performed with a gentle touch, targeting a specific area. Gentle chiropractic care is more comfortable and provides maximum benefit from minimal visits.
If you or someone you know has been in a car accident and you need gentle chiropractic treatment, call 855-509-5400 to schedule an appointment.
Effective Gentle Chiropractic Care
Dr. Danielle Hurd, DC is a Stuart, Fl chiropractor who offers effective gentle chiropractic care, 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 help 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 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 to 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.
Advanced Wellness Solutions has two gentle chiropractic locations in Stuart, Florida.
Accepting new patients. Call (772) 403-7640 to schedule your appointment.
We Accept All Major Medical Health Insurance and Medicare.
Chiropractic Treatment for Disc Herniation
Chiropractic treatment is a non-surgical option for disc herniation. Chiropractic treatment is often the first option for care because it is non-invasive and does not involve drugs or injections.
Your spine is made up of a series of bones (vertebrae). Between each bone is a rubbery disc that acts as a cushion. When the soft center of a rubbery disc is pushing through a crack in the tougher exterior casing it’s called a disc herniation.
Unfortunately a herniated disc can irritate nearby nerves, resulting in pain, numbness, or weakness in an arm or leg.
With proper treatment a herniated disc does not mean a lifetime of unbearable pain.
Is a herniated disc serious? Yes. Many herniated discs can be managed successfully with proper care and monitoring.
Gentle Chiropractic Treatment for Disc Herniation
Gentle chiropractic care has been demonstrated to effectively treat lumbar disc herniation. A gentle chiropractic care technique (activator method) has advantages over traditional chiropractic techniques when treating symptomatic lumbar disc herniation.1
We [the case study authors] speculate that the use of an AAI, combined with Activator methods, may provide definitive benefits over side-posture manipulation of the lumbar spine in treatment of resistive disc lesions, because of the lack of torsional stress imposed upon the disc during instrumental spinal adjustment.
In another case study, Activator-assisted spinal manipulative therapy had positive subjective and objective results for low back pain in a patient with degenerative disk disease.2
Yet another case study concluded:3
Conservative chiropractic treatment may provide an effective therapeutic intervention in selected cases of cervical disc protrusion.
This study specifically cited “instrument-delivered adjustments” (gentle chiropractic) as providing benefit in cases in which manual manipulation causes an exacerbation of the symptoms or is contraindicated altogether.
Two more gentle chiropractic techniques, Flexion-distraction technique and drop technique, have both been shown to be helpful treating disc herniations.3,4
Seek immediate medical attention if you have:
- Loss of balance, bladder control or consciousness
- Vomiting
- Loss of sensation
- Symptoms are rapidly getting worse
A disc herniation falls into a broader category of disc derangement.
Disc derangement is a general term for when a disc has been damaged. This damage can be minor or major depending on age and type of trauma. The disc is a made up of a gelatinous center called the nucleus pulposus surrounded by fibrocartilaginous material (annulus fibrosis). When the annulus fibrosus is torn due to stress, the gelatinous nucleus pulposus can ooze out.
How far that gelatinous nucleus pulposus oozes out is what determines what kind of disc derangement you have.
There are four stages of disc derangement:
- degeneration,
- prolapse,
- extrusion,
- and sequestration.
Degeneration
This stage is when the nucleus pulposus is no longer in a contained. Instead it is oozing into the layers of annulus fibrosis.
Prolapse
Prolapse is when the nucleus pulposus pushes all the way out to the last layers of the annulus fibrosis.
Extrusion
Extrusion is when nucleus pulposus has left the confinement of the annulus fibrosis. This is the state where nucleus pulposus can physically start interfering with surrounding structures.
Sequestration
Sequestration is the most severe. The nucleus pulposus has left the confinement of the annular fibrosis and has broken off into little pieces. These pieces can travel and cause interference with the surrounding structures.
Any stage of disc derangement can cause pain.
How much pain depends upon the individual and the location of the derangement. Extrusion and sequestration pose the most serious risk of the four. Anytime nucleus pulposus has left its confinement, it can cause impingement and pain.
In rare cases, disc derangement actually pinches a nerve causing pain. Usually, the pain associated with disc derangement comes from the inflammatory response of the body to the change in structure. Inflammation occurs around the deranged disc, causing the nerve to become irritated. This in turn causes pain.
An MRI can tell show the location and what type of disc derangement is present.
What are the symptoms of a herniated disc?
Disc derangement can present in many different ways. If you’ve been involved in a serious accident you should be seen by a doctor or chiropractor.
Some people have herniated discs and do not demonstrate any symptoms. Symptoms differ depending upon location of the herniated disc.
Cervical disc herniation symptoms:
- Pain in the arm or hand, this pain often feels like it is traveling down the arm or radiating
- Numbness and tingling
- Weakness in the arms
- In severe cases reduced reflexes in the upper limbs with increased reflexes in the lower limbs
Lumbar disc herniation symptoms:
- Low back pain that travels down the buttocks, legs and feet
- Numbness and tingling
- Weakness in the legs
- Decreased reflexes
Risk factors for herniated disc:
- Overweight: excess weight puts extra stress and different weight loading on discs
- Physically demanding jobs
- Genetics: a family history of disc herniation
- Age: most likely to occur between 30-50
What causes a herniated disc?
Herniated discs can happen gradually with repeat stress. In other cases, trauma (like a car accident) can damage or displace one or more discs. Common car accident injuries include bulging discs (when a disc shifts out of place and bulges into the spinal canal), annular tears and herniated discs.
How do you treat a herniated disc?
Treatments for a herniated disc include:
- Gentle chiropractic treatment with adjustments
- Cervical traction
- Physical therapy
- At home exercises and stretches
- Postural correction
- Weight reduction
- OTC, muscle relaxers and other narcotics
- Surgery
An important thing to remember with a herniated disc is to avoid too much bed rest. Lying in bed waiting for the pain to go away is one of the worst things you can do. Taking it easy and not lifting heavy things is fine.
Chiropractic Treatment for Disc Herniation
Not every herniated disc needs gentle chiropractic. If you are experiencing symptoms of a herniated disc or have been in a Florida car accident and fear you have a herniated disc you should contact Advanced Wellness Solutions.
Neck Pain and Whiplash
Neck pain and whiplash are common complaints, especially if you’ve been injured in a Florida car accident.
Whiplash is a generic term used to describe a hyper extension and flexion injury to the neck. It is a soft tissue injury to the neck.
Accepting new patients. Call 855-509-5400 to schedule your appointment.
We Accept All Major Medical Health Insurance and Medicare.
Did you know that whiplash injuries aren’t limited to car accidents? A fall, a sports injury, or anytime there’s a sudden jolt of the head can cause whiplash.
What is whiplash?
Whiplash describes a soft tissue injury to the neck. Whiplash is cause by a forceful back and forth movement of the neck. The force of the back and forth movement causes injury to the ligaments and muscles of of the neck. Whiplash is technically a strain/sprain injury to the ligaments and the muscles of the neck.
What causes neck pain and whiplash?
Any large force that causes the head to “whip” back and forth can cause whiplash.
Such forces include:
- Car accidents: rear-end collisions.
- Physical abuse or violence
- Contact sports: football, soccer, and lacrosse to name a few.
What are the symptoms of whiplash?
Symptoms for whiplash usually develop within 24 hours of the accident. In rare cases, symptoms can take longer to appear. Symptoms of whiplash are:
- Neck pain
- Neck pain worse with movement
- Loss of range of motion or inability to move the neck
- Headaches
- Pain in the shoulders, arms and upper back
- Tingling and numbness in the arms
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
Other whiplash symptoms include:
- Blurred vision
- Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
- Irritability
- Inability to sleep
- Nausea
If you have been in any type of accident and experience any of the above symptoms, seek the advice of a qualified medical professional immediately.
Treating neck pain and whiplash?
It is important to remember to keep active after a whiplash injury.
After the first 24 hours, movement is vital.
Inactivity and foam cervical collars lead to the weakening of the cervical muscles. This can prolong your healing time.
It is highly recommended to seek professional medical care within 24 hours of your injury. Your doctor can make recommendations on bed rest and cervical collars based on your individual case.
Treatments for neck pain and whiplash include1:
- Chiropractic care
- Physical Therapy
- At home exercises
- Massage
- TENS unit therapy
- Ice or heat therapy
- Over-the-counter pain medication
- Prescription medication
If you are experiencing neck pain and live or work in the Stuart, Fl area, feel free to schedule a consultation with Dr. Danielle Hurd, DC. Call 855-509-5400.