Beaver Falls Chiropractor | Beaver Falls chiropractic care | |

  While chiropractic care can help with any number of symptoms and problems, we have listed some of the more common conditions that you may recognize in yourself or others. If you are experiencing any of these problems, please contact us for an appointment today.

Disc problems

The disc is a small cartilage pad that is situated between vertebra. The soft jellylike center is contained by layers of fibrous tissues. Each disc serves as a connector, spacer, and shock absorber for the spine. When healthy, discs allow normal bending and turning.

Since spinal discs have a very poor blood supply, they depend upon the circulation of joint fluids to bring nutrients and expel waste. If a spinal joint loses its normal motion and this pumping action is impaired, the health of the disc deteriorates. Like a wet sponge, a healthy disc is flexible. A dry sponge is hard, stiff, and can crack easily. This is how many disc problems begin. Our office has a Chattanooga DTS traction table that helps to decompress injured cervical or lumbar discs that may be degenerated, bulging, or herniated which can significantly improve the healing process. Call Sue for details!

Because of the way each disc is attached to the vertebra above and below it, a disc cannot slip as commonly thought. However, trauma or injury to the spine can cause discs to bulge, herniate, or worse, rupture. This can be quite painful, putting pressure on the spinal cord and nerve roots, interfering with their function.
While results cannot be guaranteed, many patients have avoided needless surgery or a dependency on pain pills, by choosing conservative chiropractic care.

Whiplash

Whiplash is most commonly received from riding in a car that is struck from behind or that collides with another object. When the head is suddenly jerked back and forth beyond its normal limits, the muscles and ligaments that support the spine and head can be overstretched or torn. The soft, pulpy discs between spinal bones can bulge, tear or rupture. Vertebrae can be forced out of their normal position, reducing range of motion. The spinal cord and nerve roots in the neck can get stretched and irritated. While occupants can suffer considerable soft tissue injury, the car may only be slightly damaged.

The resulting instability of the spine and soft tissues can cause headaches, dizziness, blurred vision, pain in the shoulder, arms and hands, reduced ability to turn and bend, and even low back problems. As the body attempts to adapt, symptoms may not appear for weeks or even months later.

The chiropractic approach to these types of injuries is to use specific chiropractic adjustment to help return spinal function. After a thorough examination and case history, the doctor will recommend a series of visits to help restore proper motion and position of the spinal bones. If caught early enough, inflammation can be reduced and scar tissue can often be minimized. Most times rehabilitative exercises will be prescribed to help restore ranges of motion, stabalize the spine, and further promote proper healing.

Consult Dr. Lou before enduring constant headaches, depending upon addictive pain medication, or submitting to surgery.

Osteoarthritis

 If you have seen a Medical Doctor for this condition you were probably told to take an anti-inflammatory drug like Vioxx®, Bextra®, Celebrex®, Motrin®, Naprosyn®, Etc. These drugs do help to decrease the pain and stiffness associated with arthritis but do nothing to prevent the continued progression of the disease. When you don't feel the pain, you may do things that promote the continued wearing away of the cartilage that lines the joint. Also, we all have been reading in the press about the possible dangerous side effects associated with these drugs. "Anti-inflammatory drugs (prescription and over-the-counter, which include Advil®, Motrin®, Aleve®, Orudis®, Aspirin, and over 20 others) alone cause over 16,500 deaths and over 103,000 hospitalizations per year in the U.S.", according to a review article published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Clearly you can see that for long term care, simply controlling your pain with NSAIDS is not the solution, particulary in light of how toxic they can potentially be. Vioxx® was voluntarily taken off the market by Merck. Celebrex® works in the same manner. The main concern about COX-2 specific drugs is their potential for blood clotting - which can increase the risk of strokes and /or heart attacks.

 Can Chiropractic help Arthritis? YES!! Chiropractic manipulation of the joints improves function, relaxes tight muscles, improves joint coordination, and decreases pain. When a joint moves more freely it better nourishes itself in its own fluids. We may also show you safe and effective ways to stretch and strengthen the joints to help improve range of motion and function while decreasing the pain. The following information describes our nutritional supplement that helps repair the damage caused by arthritis and can reduce pain and stiffness. The product is called Glucosamine Sulfate. It is a nutritional supplement and not a drug. It has none of the dangerous side effects associated with other arthritis drugs. Unless you are allergic to shellfish like oysters, clams, crabs and shrimp, it is usually very well tolerated.

Many of you have heard of this nutritional building block of cartilage which is what wears out in degenerative arthritis. Doctors in Europe and Veterinarians in this country have been using it for over 40 years.

Our product, Glucosamine Sulfate, is a pharmaceutical grade of glucosamine. It is made by Designs for Health and is of the highest in product quality at a very reasonable price of $9.00 for a month's supply. Take one capsule twice a day for 2000 mg of glucosamine. As long as you are not allergic to shellfish there are almost no side effects. It takes 2 to 3 months for any symptom changes to be noticed. However, even if symptoms do not change, it is helping to slow down the continued degeneration of your joints.

For many patients the results have been dramatic and include decreased pain and stiffness and an increased ability to do activities that the arthritis was significantly limiting. Also, many patients have been able to greatly reduce the need for their arthritis medicines.

Give it a try, all you have to lose is your pain.

Joint Dysfunction

Joints of the body need to move. When this movement becomes restricted and normal motion is altered several problems arise. Most commonly joint dysfunction results in pain, stiffness, muscle tightness, cartilage breakdown/degeneration, and movement compensation leading to undue stress on other areas of the body. Joint dysfunctions are common in the spine and the extremities and can commonly occur with injury, poor posture, muscle tightness, scar tissue, or muscle imbalance.
The doctor will assess movement of the joints to feel for areas of altered or restricted movements. Once identified, the abnormal movement can be restored using a combination of chiropractic joint adjustments and muscle teqniques. Whenever possible simple home exercises are demonstrated to facilitate and maintain proper motion in key areas. Underlying factors such as poor posture and muscle imbalance often need to be addressed in cases of chronic or recurrent joint dysfunction.

Neck/Low Back Pain

Subluxations (misalignments of the spinal column) are one of the most common causes of neck and low back pain. When vertebrae are misaligned, they put pressure directly on spinal nerves, causing pain. Muscle spasms may set in, which can increase the pressure further. This extra pressure can cause even more inflammation and irritation, which leads to more pain. And the cycle continues.
Often times stretching and massage may only temporarily relieve the pain, because the cause (subluxation) has not been addressed. A chiropractic adjustment focuses on correcting the cause. In combination with stretching and massage, the chiropractic adjustment breaks the pain cycle.

Headaches

Many headaches originate from the neck. Usually an increased amount of stress and tension held in the shoulders causes contractions of all of the surrounding neck muscles. When these muscles contract, vertebrae can become misaligned causing pressure on spinal nerves and ultimately, pain. With a typical cervicogenic (neck origin) headache, a person usually feels pain starting at the base of the skull which radiates into the temples, eyeballs, and forehead.
There may be several other causes of headaches, so a proper examination is needed to determine the actual cause.

Sciatica

The sciatic nerve is a long nerve originating in the lower back and extending down the back of the leg. When this nerve is irritated, it can cause pain, numbness, weakness, or other symptoms in the lower back and down the leg. There are several possible causes of this condition. A misaligned vertebra can cause inflammation of the joints, putting pressure on the nerve. Bulging discs and muscle spasms can also cause pressure on the sciatic nerve.

Several other conditions may also cause this symptom, so a complete evaluation would be needed to correctly determine the exact cause.

Pinched Nerve

A pinched nerve is just that. It is a severely compressed nerve, usually caused by a misaligned vertebra. When nerves get pinched they become severely inflamed and muscles may spasm, causing even more discomfort. The pain is usually so severe that you can't move that part of the body and it can cause other symptoms as well.
There can be several causes of the pinched nerve. A proper examination is needed to determine the exact cause.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

These days millions of Americans have jobs which can have damaging effects on the hands and arms. Repetitive movements which are not performed with good ergonomics in mind can cause micro-trauma to the hands and wrists. This trauma combined with joint dysfunction and spinal problems may result in a condition known as carpal tunnel syndrome. The affected median nerve travels from the tips of the fingers through the wrist up the arm and into the neck connecting to the spinal cord. If one or more of these structures are affected, symptoms of wrist pain, numbness, weakness, burning and loss of muscle function can occur.
Chiropractic can assure that all of the joints and muscles along the path of the nerve are free of obstruction and functioning normally, thus reducing nerve irritation.

Maintenance/Wellness Care

What many people don't know is that you don't have to be injured to benefit from chiropractic care. By staying well adjusted with maintenance chiropractic care you can help prevent injury. Some other possible benefits of maintenance care are: optimal nerve output for optimal physical performance, improved posture, decreased stiffness, increased mobility, energy, strength, circulation, and immune function just to name a few.

Everybody benefits from chiropractic a little differently, but one thing everybody has in common is that they just feel better.

Foot Problems

Believe it or not, foot imbalances such as fallen arches and pronation can not only cause foot pain and plantar fascitis but also knee, hip, and back problems as well. We can evaluate your feet and fit you with custom orthotics to correct these types of problems