Recent Article in JAMA Highlights Spinal Manipulation for Low Back Pain
“Patients should stay active as tolerated and begin with nondrug treatments, including superficial heat, massage…and spinal manipulation.”
This JAMA patient page provides some great information for both acute and chronic sufferers of low back pain. It reiterates some things chiropractors have been saying for decades. However, it is always nice to see recommendations from the broader medical community. Such as highlighting the importance of conservative care before drugs or surgery. Spinal manipulation, also known as the chiropractic adjustment, is again touted. A great first line treatment option for both acute and chronic cases of low back pain. Combined with exercise and other non-drug treatment options, spinal manipulation is safe and effective.
There are many options to choose from when picking a treatment for your lower back pain. You can easily take a supermarket approach. But, you don’t need to waste your time and money down the aisle trying the latest fads, creams, lotions, potions, and miracle cures. The tried and true combination of time, early return to activity, exercise therapy, and chiropractic spinal manipulation remain at the forefront of first line intervention for lower back pain.
Dr. Erik Reich, Meriden chiropractor, and his son.
Dr. Erik Reich is a chiropractor in Meriden, CT. He practices at Omni Physical & Aquatic Therapy Center, Inc. located at 303 South Broad Street. Where he treats all types of patients from high school athletes, seniors, victims of trauma such as auto accidents, and desk jockeys. Dr. Reich enjoys staying active through a variety of sports, time at the gym, and finding new vegetarian food spots. Spending time with his wife and son, and their Boston terrier, is something Dr. Reich also enjoys.
Have you been diagnosed with frozen shoulder / adhesive capsulitis? What are your frozen shoulder treatment options?
Pain with any shoulder movement?
Pain gets worse at night?
Very limited shoulder movement?
Moving your shoulder has become more difficult over time?
Trouble getting through your daily activities?
Three Stages of a Frozen Shoulder
Freezing Stage – Your shoulder has become painful and your pain is getting worse as your ability to move and use your shoulder decreases. This can happen slowly over several weeks or months, or rapidly, even overnight.
Frozen Stage – You can hardly move your shoulder at all. Your pain may have gotten better in this stage but movement causes the pain to roar back into your restricted shoulder. Daily activities may be excruciating. This can last for weeks or years, or may spontaneously resolve.
Thawing Stage – Your range of motion starts to come back. This may take years if left untreated. Pain is diminishing as your shoulder regains normal motion.
Frozen shoulder can be debilitating and may not resolve without skilled treatment. Dr. Erik Reich has been successfully treating people with frozen shoulder for years.
What Causes Frozen Shoulder?
Frozen shoulder can be caused by trauma or repetitive stress injury. However, many times what causes the shoulder to lock is unknown. People between the ages of 40-60 are prone to this condition. Also, women and patients previously diagnosed with diabetes tend to experience more cases of frozen shoulder than the rest of the population. Therefore, it is important for you to see a health care provider such as a chiropractor who can take a history and perform a detailed examination of the shoulder to determine if the diagnosis of frozen shoulder is warranted. Furthermore, other tests such as x-rays, MRI, or ultrasound may be ordered. This is to rule out other causes of a painful and restricted shoulder. Conditions such as tendonitis, rotator cuff injury, or shoulder bursitis can be causing your pain and mimic frozen shoulder.
Treatment Without Surgery
People suffering with frozen shoulder respond incredibly well to gentle chiropractic care, which includes interventions such as stretching, guided exercises, and of course the chiropractic adjustment!
Typically, following a detailed history taking and physical examination, including review of any past imaging or special tests, a treatment plan is detailed between the doctor and yourself. To address frozen shoulder this typically begins with passive care such as heat and adjustments to relax the tissues, and progresses to active care including exercise, active stretching, lifestyle modification (ergonomic changes at work and home, smoking cessation, stress management, etc.) and education.
These treatments are very well tolerated by most people. There are a few side effects (most common is local soreness following exercise, stretching, or the adjustment) and typically frozen shoulder improves or is eliminated in one to six visits depending on the severity.
If you are suffering from frozen shoulder and searching for a chiropractor, you can see our Google reviews, and call or text the number below:
Call or Text (203) 443-1901 to schedule!
About the Author
Dr. Erik Reich, Meriden chiropractor, and his son.
Dr. Erik Reich is a chiropractor in Meriden, CT. He practices at Omni Physical & Aquatic Therapy Center, Inc. located at 303 South Broad Street. Where he treats all types of patients from high school athletes, seniors, victims of trauma such as auto accidents, and desk jockeys. Spending time with his wife and son, and their Boston terrier, is something Dr. Reich also enjoys.
If you have aches and pains or an injury, you have a lot of options. The marketplace for treatment of injuries and insult to the human frame is large. If you think of this marketplace like a real supermarket you might look at the aisles and see shelves stocked with medication, patches, doctors visits, massage therapy, homeopathic remedies, acupuncture, chiropractic treatment, physical therapy, vitamins and supplements, yoga, and the list goes on.
But let us take two items off of the shelf and unpack them a bit. Narrowing the choice down between massage and chiropractic care for your problem, which do you choose?
Which type of practice is better suited to help relieve pain or other symptoms?
Similarities
Massage and chiropractic care are both interventions where the practitioner uses their hands to affect positive changes to irritated or injured tissue. Also, both treatments are conservative in that they do not rely on drugs or surgery to make these changes. Furthermore, massage and chiropractic are both considered very safe and non-invasive, with the most common side effect typically reported being temporary soreness following treatment.
Differences
Chiropractic care is performed by a doctor of chiropractic and often entails a full history, physical examination, diagnoses, and treatment planning before any adjustment or treatment is started. The doctor may order special tests such as x-rays or blood panels as well, depending on the history and exam findings.
Treatment in a chiropractor’s office typically involves an adjustment (spinal manipulation) or a series of adjustments. This is what chiropractors are chiefly known for prescribing as the therapeutic intervention. However, many chiropractors are also knowledgeable about and prescribe physiotherapy, nutrition, heat, cold, or electric therapies, exercises, and other modalities which can fall within a chiropractor’s scope of practice.
The Adjustment
The adjustment is the most well known aspect of chiropractic care though. So what is the adjustment, and how is it different from massage therapy? An adjustment is a fast impulse delivered to a joint, typically in the spine but also useful in the extremities at times, which stretches the joint past it’s normal end range of motion and results in a cavitation (the popping sound you may be familiar with hearing when you crack your knuckles). This fast release of joint tension often improves feelings of stiffness in a joint, pain surrounding the joint or adjacent soft tissues, and may relax tight muscles or reduce muscular spasm.
So an adjustment is most often delivered to joints in the spine or extremities, whereas massage therapy typically involves the soft tissues of muscle and fascia.
Massage therapists are licensed professionals trained to manipulate soft tissue. There are many benefits to massage therapy including increased circulation, lymphatic drainage, stress reduction, and more. However, massage therapists are not doctors and cannot diagnose or order special tests. You should still make sure to inform your massage therapist of any medical conditions you are experiencing before receiving a massage.
Massage and Chiropractic – Chocolate and Peanut Butter
As a chiropractor I have referred many patients to massage therapists for treatment. I have also personally utilized massage services for my own health. I do not believe that chiropractic is intrinsically better than massage (despite myself being a chiropractor) and will admit that for certain people and conditions massage is clearly a better tool to address some injuries and patient concerns. In fact, many chiropractors employ massage therapists in their offices and it is one of the chief adjuncts to chiropractic treatment in the United States. This is because massage and chiropractic care are so complementary.
For example, a patient may present with a bad ankle sprain with decreased range of motion and pain at the ankle. A chiropractic adjustment to the ankle resolves much of the pain and improves the available motion, but there is still much swelling and some discomfort about the joint.
The doctor prescribes some stretching and exercises for the patient to perform at home, and gives a referral to a massage therapist to address the soft tissue component of her injury. A referral for massage helps reduce the swelling and eliminates the remaining pain, and the patient is able to perform her home exercise with more ease, and is happy with her outcome and the collaboration because she knows a team is working together to resolve her presenting complaint.
I hope this post helps illustrate how massage and chiropractic are similar but different, and how they can often complement each other. Thanks you reading!
About the Author
Dr. Erik Reich, Meriden chiropractor, and his son.
Dr. Erik Reich is a chiropractor in Meriden, CT. He practices at Omni Physical & Aquatic Therapy Center, Inc. located at 303 South Broad Street. Where he treats all types of patients from high school athletes, seniors, victims of trauma such as auto accidents, laborers, and desk jockeys. Spending time with his wife and son, and their Boston terrier, is something Dr. Reich also enjoys.
Pain has many components. Physical injury may be immediately obvious, but there are also social (being bullied or rejected at school or work) and psychological (depression, guilt) causes of pain. Therefore, to help understand how various contributors to pain can affect a person, the analogy of a cup may be useful. Then, using this analogy, we can begin to implement lifestyle changes designed to grow your cup. Also, please read this article by Dr. Lehman.
Pain results when the system cannot contain all the stressors affecting it. In other words, when the cup overflows, you feel pain. So to reduce or eliminate pain you can either reduce the harmful inputs causing your cup to overflow, or you can build a bigger cup.
So we recognize that pain is more complex than tissue damage. There are many people walking around today with damaged tissues and no pain. Think of the paper cut that doesn’t hurt until you notice it. Likewise, there are many people in great physical pain with no apparent tissue damage or history of physical trauma. If you need a health care professional to help guide you to feeling better or getting out of pain, hopefully they recognize pain is multifaceted.
Which Road to Travel? Probably Both
Armed with this information, there are two routes to travel if you are looking to reduce pain. First, you can limit the amount of negative input causing your cup to overflow. These negative stimuli can take the form of:
Stress
Tissue damage
Poor sleep
Anxiety
Bad habits
Secondly, you can build yourself a bigger cup. This is accomplished in several ways, such as:
Having fun / play
Fulfilling activities
Positive social interactions
Exercise
Better nutrition
Better sleep quality
In my opinion, both reducing negative inputs into the system AND building a bigger cup are important. Each person’s experience will dictate how much energy they should apply to each side of this model. But, if I had to choose one versus the other, I’d take building a bigger cup every time. Here’s why.
You will never be able to completely eliminate stress, toxicity in all environments or relationships, sleep disturbances, physical harm, eating an inflammatory diet, etc. Reducing and moderating all of these are important, but there is also no growth without stress. Arguing with your relatives may be stressful, but would cutting that stress out of your life also eliminate beneficial aspects of your relationship? It’s probably a better solution to keep the relationship intact but build strategies to deal with the stress of those topics of conversation that you anticipate will set you off.
Build Yourself a Bigger Cup
So, in my opinion, humans are adaptable, robust, highly resilient beings. We should be able to function and adapt to our surroundings and overcome challenges. It seems to me a more winning path forward is to adopt strategies to deal with stress effectively than to try and avoid stress at every turn. To get stronger, instead of avoid any task that requires strength. Exercise enough that a few days of poor eating doesn’t completely derail you. Because, at some point life is going to challenge you, and a bigger cup can hold more without spilling over.
Dr. Reich, Meriden chiropractor, and his son.
About the Author:
Dr. Erik Reich is a chiropractor in Meriden, CT. He practices at Omni Physical & Aquatic Therapy Center, Inc. located at 303 South Broad Street. He treats all types of patients including weekend warriors, seniors, high school athletes, victims of trauma such as auto accidents, physical laborers and desk workers. Dr. Reich treats patients Monday through Friday and can be found spending time with his wife and son, and their Boston terrier when not in the office.
In situations where social distancing is difficult or impossible, the CDC recommends wearing a cloth face mask. However, wearing a mask is not something we are all accustomed to, so this post will mention some tips to make sure you are getting the most protection and limiting the potential spread of any airborne pathogens such as the virus responsible for COVID-19.
The CDC recommends the wearing of cloth face masks in public areas where social distancing cannot be maintained, such as the grocery store or a pharmacy. Dr. Erik Reich, a chiropractor in Meriden, CT, offers some advice on how to wear a cloth mask properly.
Wash Your Mask Regularly
The CDC recommends you wash your mask routinely. Either hot, soapy water, or a washing machine will suffice. Dry thoroughly. Also, be careful and try not to touch your face or eyes as you remove your mask. Next, masks should not be worn for more than four hours due to the chance that virus particles may accumulate on the cloth’s surface.
Make Sure the Mask Covers Your Mouth and Nose
Your cloth face covering mask should cover both your mouth and your nose. Leaving your nose uncovered could potentially spread virus particles if you were to exhale or sneeze while your nose is not covered.
No Touching Your Cloth Face Mask
Once your mask is on, don’t touch it. Try to avoid adjusting your mask once it is on your face, as this can contaminate your mask. Furthermore, don’t take your mask on and off. Once it is on, leave it on until you are ready to remove it and wash your hands.
Continue to Practice Social Distancing
Even while wearing a mask you should continue to maintain social distancing of at least 6 feet, and some studies even support staying up to 13 feet apart. Cloth masks function best as a supplement to social distancing guidelines. They are not supposed to replace social distancing as one of the best tools for limiting the spread of the virus.
Should Children be Wearing Masks?
The CDC has advised against the wearing of cloth face covering for kids under the age of two years old. Older children are recommended to wear cloth masks, but special care should be taken to ensure that the mask is fitted correctly, and proper hygiene is followed.
Dr. Reich, Meriden chiropractor, and his son.
Dr. Erik Reich is a chiropractor in Meriden, CT. He practices at Omni Physical & Aquatic Therapy Center, Inc. located at 303 South Broad Street. Where he treats all types of patients from high school athletes, seniors, victims of trauma such as auto accidents, and desk workers. Spending time with his wife and son, and their Boston terrier, is something Dr. Reich also enjoys.
Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is spreading throughout the world. The United States, and especially the New York Metro Area, is currently a hotbed of infection. People are urged to stay home. Physical distancing from others, and avoid going out except for essential activities, is the rule.
Health professionals know that the most effective measures in combating the spread of the virus are robust hygiene practices. Hand washing, limiting physical contact with others, refraining from touching your face, and other health promoting activities are key. Then, one must consider the role of exercise. Physical activity is important in the overall picture of protecting yourself from infection.
Exercise during the coronavirus pandemic can be challenging. Dr. Erik Reich, Meriden chiropractor, offers some advice on staying active in these difficult times.
Exercise has been shown to help regulate the immune system. Regular physical activity can therefore improve your body’s defense to infection. Exercising during the coronavirus pandemic presents unique obstacles. Gyms are closed. Physical distancing guidelines take certain sporting activities off the table. So, in this blog I will offer three suggestions to maintain a physical activity program while adhering to physical distancing and other hygienic protocols.
Something is Better than Nothing
First, don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Just because you can’t go to the gym or play basketball with your friends right now doesn’t mean you can’t exercise. If you like to lift heavy weights, now is a great time to focus on your form. Also, attention to intensity at home with lighter reps and more intention yields benefits. You won’t lose strength as quickly as you may be fearing. Maintaining muscle mass doesn’t require the progressive overload that gaining muscle requires. So as long as you’re lifting, pushing, pulling, squatting, hinging, etc. some weight, don’t lose sleep that you may not have access to the loads you are used to moving.
Likewise, while you may not be able to enjoy the team aspect of certain sports, skills can be sharpened and drills can be performed at home for many sports. Take this time to improve or hone your dribbling, feinting, shooting at a target, or other skills. Video yourself and watch it back and look for areas to improve, or share with teammates and ask for feedback on technique. Exercise during coronavirus can have a social aspect if you use the apps and social media that is now available to many of us.
Time for Fresh Air
Studies show, spending time outdoors improves markers for good health. Fewer strokes, less respiratory disease, hypertension, and other conditions are all improved with greater exposure to nature. Furthermore, it is a great way to get some exercise during coronavirus threat, while maintaining physical distance from others.
So despite playgrounds, swimming pools, and gyms being closed, green spaces are accessible and largely remain open to the public. So take a walk on a trail, go for a hike in the woods, walk on the beach, ride your bike, and aim for 150 minutes a week of physical activity as recommended by the CDC and in the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition. We are all taking advice from the CDC seriously right now, so we might as well adhere to their advice on exercise.
Get Creative with Exercise During Coronavirus
Now is a great time to get creative with your exercise during coronavirus. While being untethered from your usual routine may be stressful, it can also be fun to experiment. If you like lifting weights now is a good time to find some unusual items around the house to push, pull, carry, and squat. Not everything in life is barbell shaped, and in fact most of what life throws at you is not gym equipment.
Therefore, find the benefits in using unconventional loads in your lifts. You will work accessory muscles, balance, coordination, and sometimes it’s just fun to lift weird heavy objects. Think of how popular tire flipping has become at some gyms. Water jugs, a 50 pound bag of sand in the garage, pull ups off the kid’s swing set…use your imagination and lots of everyday items can become gym equipment.
Dr. Erik Reich, Meriden chiropractor, and his son.
Dr. Erik Reich is a chiropractor in Meriden, CT. He practices at Omni Physical & Aquatic Therapy Center, Inc. located at 303 South Broad Street. Where he treats all types of patients from high school athletes, seniors, victims of trauma such as auto accidents, and desk workers. Spending time with his wife and son, and their Boston terrier, is something Dr. Reich also enjoys.
A lot more people are working at home lately thanks to the global pandemic Covid-19. This new situation can lead to challenges in setting up a work station which will be both comfortable and reduce the chances for strain and injury. So in this article I will outline several tips to improve ergonomics. Ergonomics means fitting the job to the person, which is important to consider while you work from home.
Working from home can be stressful. Your work space shouldn’t be.
1. Practice Good Posture
Many tasks you will likely be performing at home while working will be done with your arms and hands outstretched to the front of your body. For example, typing, checking your phone, writing, using a laptop, and reading are all activities which place your shoulders and arms in a forward position. This posture is chest and shoulder dominant. This means your chest and shoulder muscles are contracted more frequently to position your arms forward and closer to center. This can lead to shoulder irritation and poor breathing patterns.
In order to counteract this predominance of the chest muscles and forward rounding of the shoulders, you should be mindful of sitting and working with your chest forward. Think of someone tying a string to your breast bone and pulling you up. In this way your chest leads in front of your shoulders and places you in a more “open” posture.
Furthermore, if you are sitting at a desk, be sure to adjust your chair so that you are at a comfortable height and your thighs are parallel or slightly higher than parallel to the floor. Your keyboard and computer should be directly in front of you, not off to the side. Also, the computer screen should be at least 18″ from your face and the top 1/3 of the screen should be at eye level.
2. Don’t Forget to Move
Even while you are sitting or standing to work at home, movement is important. If your work requires you to spend long hours at a desk, small movements such as tapping your feet, rolling your neck and shoulders, and fidgeting with your hands and fingers, can help stimulate blood flow and decrease stiffness. Short breaks to stand, pace, performs some air squats, calf raises, or desk push-ups can also be very helpful.
3. Set a Timer
If you are like me, sitting to write or type, or finish computer work, you may be prone to stay put for long stretches of time to complete the task at hand. What can be helpful is to use your phone’s clock timer or another inexpensive timer to set micro-breaks for every 20 minutes. This way when the timer goes of you have an auditory cue to get up and move for a few minutes, without becoming overly distracted.
4. Your Breathing is Important
When working from home you may be sitting a lot. Sitting places the hips in flexion and can impede full expansion of the lungs while breathing. Naturally while sitting you will tend to take shallower breaths.
Take some time to focus on deep breathing and you may notice your posture improves, your back feels less tight, and you don’t fatigue as easily. Keeping your shoulders behind your chest as previously discussed can help.
Furthermore, placing one hand on your chest and one hand on your stomach and taking a deep breath, you should feel the hand over your belly move. Shallow chest breathing where your diaphragm doesn’t expand into your abdomen limits rib expansion and decreases circulation. So make sure both hands are moving well when you breath, get your diaphragm involved!
With improved rib expansion while breathing your blood will carry more oxygen, your joints will circulate their fluid to provide nutrition to the joint cartilage, and your stress levels will reduce. Good breathing has many health benefits.
5. Take Walking Meetings
Many meetings these days are being conducted remotely. There are many apps which make this possible, and when working from home it may seem convenient of comfy to sit on the couch at your chair for the duration. I would suggest if possible that you walk or pace comfortably around your house while on these calls. You may have already been sitting for some time before the meeting starts, and getting back to more work following the meeting. So if possible try and use this time to move around.
So there are 5 tips which I hope you will find helpful during these times when you are working from home, whether by choice or due to the recent coronavirus pandemic.
About the Author:
Dr. Reich, Meriden chiropractor, and his son.
Dr. Erik Reich is a chiropractor in Meriden, CT. He practices at Omni Physical & Aquatic Therapy Center, Inc. located at 303 South Broad Street. Where he treats all types of patients from high school athletes, seniors, victims of trauma such as auto accidents, laborers, and desk jockeys. Spending time with his wife and son, and their Boston terrier, is something Dr. Reich also enjoys.
You may have had one of these experiences. A family member or friend may have told you about their awful experience at the chiropractor’s office. Maybe they were told they need to be seen three times a week for a year. Perhaps a treatment plan was offered but they would need to pay for the care all in advance. Or maybe the doctor advised them that they had a terrible condition that would need multiple x-rays and only that chiropractor’s secret/special/unique/proprietary technique was able to fix what was wrong.
Unfortunately in chiropractic, as well as the other healthcare fields, there are some bad actors. Furthermore, these practitioners may not even be aware that their actions are harmful, or without evidence, and essentially scamming people. No one wants to be duped, or the recipient of unethical practices. Evidence based doctors also don’t want patients exposed to bad actors, who then come away with the impression that all of chiropractic is a scam. If you receive a bad haircut, you don’t swear off all barbers and stylists. But if you have a bad experience at the chiropractor’s office, you may say “I tried chiropractic, what a joke”. To be clear, most chiropractors are ethical and do take their responsibilities to their patients very seriously. But no profession is without some bad apples.
Below I will list five signs your chiropractor may not be acting in your best interest. This list is by no means exhaustive, and context is important as well. Because some practices listed below may be reasonable depending on individual circumstances.
Red flags that you may need a new chiropractor.
5 Signs You Need A New Chiropractor
No Diagnosis or Treatment Plan is Given
Excessive Number of Visits are Recommended
The Doctor Refuses to Work with Other Providers
The Doctor has Secret Treatment Knowledge Only They Possess
Payment Must be Made Before Care is Delivered
Treatment Plans and Diagnosis
First sign, no diagnosis is given and no treatment plan is prescribed. Be wary of any health care provider who does not explain what diagnosis or hypothesis they are thinking of with regards to your symptoms. Also, clinicians should be able to lay out a treatment plan to address your concerns. If no diagnosis is offered or no treatment plan is laid out, that could be a sign your chiropractor doesn’t actually know what is going on with your symptoms or concerns. Generic non-specific statements like “sciatica” or “neck pain” are not diagnoses, they are symptoms. Likewise, your chiropractor should have some idea of how long it will take to improve or relieve your presenting symptoms.
Second, and this goes along with the first sign, chiropractic care should be individualized to each patient. Blanket plans of care where everyone is told to come in three times a week for two months is not patient centered. You may indeed need two months of care at that frequency, but most people who respond to chiropractic treatment feel better much sooner than that, especially if your symptoms have not been caused by trauma. Treatment plans where the doctor prescribes six months of visits at a time, and may ask you to pay up front, are especially dubious.
Working as a Team
Beware of any health care provider in the 21st Century who refuses to collaborate with your other providers. There is a history of animosity between the medical and chiropractic professions dating back to the 20th Century. This mistrust is still prevalent to a lesser degree, with some chiropractors skeptical of medicine and surgery. Also, some medical doctors, physical therapists, and surgeons view chiropractors with distrust and skepticism. Neither of these outlooks serve you, the patient, very well. Inter-professional cooperation improves health outcomes. Doctors refusing to deal with one another leads to worse outcomes, confusion, and mistakes being made. Find a healthcare team willing to collaborate on your behalf and cut loose any member of that team who refuses to deal with other members of YOUR team.
Secret Knowledge
In the chiropractic profession there are many named techniques. Of course, this is also true with the other manual therapy practitioners, such as massage therapists and physical therapy. Diversified adjusting, ART, Cox, Gonstead, Graston, McKenzie, and the list goes on.
However, claims that one technique is superior to another or a cure-all are unfounded and not backed by science. Be cautious of any provider who tells you they have secret knowledge. All of these techniques can be learned, but an unscrupulous provider may twist or re-brand a common technique, slap a label or their name on it, and all of a sudden they are out practicing like a guru who possesses the secret wisdom to heal what ails you. They’re also probably marketing themselves to other providers with $999 courses to spread their new superior methods. Don’t be conned by these charlatans.
By and large, we know what works to get people out of pain. Patient education, therapeutic exercise, return to activity, lifestyle advice…mix in some first aid care such as heat, stretching, or adjustments to bring pain levels down, and reassurance. None of this is secret knowledge.
Payment is Expected in Advance of Care
As a patient with a health concern you should expect your chiropractor to provide excellent care. A thorough history and exam, diagnosis, plan of care, and any treatments delivered should be appropriate and well explained. This is pretty standard stuff. What is also unfortunately encountered are excessive cookie cutter treatment plans that go on for months, with an expectation that you pay up front.
This is wrong for a couple of reasons. First, every patient should be treated as an individual. When an unscrupulous chiropractor hands you a piece of paper outlining the next six months of visits with a 20% discount if you pre-pay in one lump sum, they are more focused on their office’s cash flow than your health. Don’t believe for a second that you’re the only person in that office being given such a great “deal” on their care.
Second, pre-payment contracts can be illegal in some jurisdictions. They also often contain clauses which violate your rights to receive a refund if you don’t utilize all the visits. Furthermore, many of these arrangements are entered into under the rationale that such a long plan with so many visits is required to avoid catastrophic health conditions. Terms such as disc degeneration, arthritis, or spinal decay are used, and of course you had better pay all at once. This is called “scare care” and it’s a bunch of malarkey.
Don’t Get Scammed
There are many great chiropractors in the world. There are some shady ones out there too. Hopefully this article makes clear some of the actions a few chiropractors, and even some other healthcare providers, might take to inflate their bank account, or their egos. These doctors and practices rarely have the patient’s best interests in mind, as the patient is secondary to increasing revenue. The American healthcare system is a disaster which puts profits far ahead of people, and hopefully this post gives you some insight on practices to avoid when seeing a chiropractor or other health care provider.
About the Author:
Dr. Reich, Meriden chiropractor, and his son.
Dr. Erik Reich is a chiropractor in Meriden, CT. He practices at Omni Physical & Aquatic Therapy Center, Inc. located at 303 South Broad Street. Where he treats all types of patients from high school athletes, seniors, victims of trauma such as auto accidents, laborers, and desk jockeys. Spending time with his wife and son, and their Boston terrier, is something Dr. Reich also enjoys.
If you turn on the news this week you will no doubt be bombarded with talk of the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). This can be scary. You may be stressed and uncertain of what steps you can take immediately to avoid contracting this virus and to limit the spread of coronavirus and other viruses such as the flu. So let’s begin with some advice on how to fight coronavirus in Meriden, CT.
Wash your hands multiple times each day with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, and don’t touch your face without clean hands.
First, the basics. Wash your hands with soap frequently throughout the day, and spend at least 20 seconds doing so. Second, disinfect surfaces which you commonly come into contact, especially if these objects touch your hands or face, using a disinfecting spray or wipes. Third, avoid touching your face, eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
4 More Not So Obvious Tips
Don’t try to be a hero by going to work or school if you are sick. Your coworkers, commuters, and fellow students will not appreciate your dedication. Also, it is just a bad idea during a viral outbreak.
Also, if you have relatives or friends who are elderly, have weakened immune systems, or other serious health conditions, do not visit them if you are sick or have been around others who have been taken ill recently.
Furthermore, eat healthful meals. As we are still in the middle of flu season, and now with COVID-19 spreading at almost pandemic levels, take extra steps to boost your own immune system.
Begin with eating healthy sources of fats, protein, and increasing fruit and vegetable consumption. Much of the immune response begins in the gut, so keep those good bugs happy! Don’t smoke. Smokers have weaker immune systems in general and take longer to heal as well. You can’t control everything around you such as people coughing next to you, but you can control what you put into your body.
Next, and this is a harder one due to societal norms around greeting, but do not shake hands or hug people when meeting them. A simple wave or nod of the head is adequate and important to fight the spread of coronavirus in Meriden, and the flu virus as well.
Dr. Erik Reich, Meriden chiropractor, and his son.
About the Author:
Dr. Erik Reich is a chiropractor in Meriden, CT. He practices at Omni Physical & Aquatic Therapy Center, Inc. located at 303 South Broad Street. Where he treats all types of patients from high school athletes, seniors, victims of trauma such as auto accidents, laborers, and desk jockeys. Spending time with his wife and son, and their Boston terrier, is something Dr. Reich also enjoys.
Plantar fasciitis is foot pain which is typically located on the sole of the foot. Also, this pain is typically the worst with the first step out of bed in the morning. There is debate over whether plantar fasciitis is truly an inflammatory condition of the fascia under the foot. However, pain at the bottom of the foot or under the arch, worse in the morning, and worse with activity, is termed plantar fasciitis.
Dr. Erik Reich in Meriden treats foot pain including plantar fasciitis.
Plantar Fasciitis Tips
Buy and Wear Excellent Shoes
Don’t Ignore the Calf Muscles
Begin Strength Training for Relief
Wear Excellent Shoes
There are many plantar fasciitis tips out there, most won’t matter if you wear bad shoes. Foot pain is easily exacerbated or made worse with poor footwear. Furthermore, if you are trying to reduce your symptoms and pain, paying close attention to the type of shoe you wear can have rapid benefits. A good quality running shoe that is well fitting is a must-have.
If you choose ill-fitting or non-supportive shoes such as flip-flops, flats, heels, slides, or dress shoes, it is highly likely your symptoms will be made worse, and the pain will not subside. A high quality sneaker which provides heel cushioning and improves your gait is your best option to combat plantar fasciitis pain.
Also, purchasing your shoes from a running store, even if you don’t run, can be a great choice as the staff can often evaluate your foot size, gait, and provide you with more and better information than a regular retailer.
Don’t Neglect the Calf Muscles
Secondly, although your symptoms may be local to your heel or underneath the foot, the calves often play an important role in plantar fasciitis pain. Two muscles primarily make up the calf. Gastrocnemius and soleus are their names, with “gastroc” being the larger of the two. These muscles combine into the Achilles’ tendon which inserts at the heel and is contiguous under the foot with the plantar fascia.
When the calf is tight and the muscles pull on the Achilles’ tendon, the extra tension can irritate and stretch the plantar fascia and tendon insertion at the heel, prolonged or repeated irritation can lead to pain and dysfunction at these sites. Often times stretching and soft tissue therapy is recommended for the calf muscles to reduce and eliminate this tension.
One popular method of relaxation to the calf muscles is to wear a night sock or splint while you sleep, putting the muscles and fascia on stretch through the whole evening. Many people get good results from wearing this type of support, but most people will still have some pain even with massage, foam rolling, icing, and splinting.
Passive interventions such as those previously discussed can all help. However, to have the biggest impact on your symptoms, a combination of treatments and interventions might work best. What I recommend to most patients is a multi-pronged attack plan. This includes a new pair of excellent shoes and some type of passive intervention. For example, calf massage or foam rolling. Also, joint mobilization or manipulation to any restricted joints of the foot or ankle. Then, and this is the most important aspect, gradual exposure to loaded exercise. Strength training of the affected leg.
Strength Training to Relieve Symptoms
Active interventions are those steps a patient undertakes to heal themselves. A great clinician will act as a guide to place the patient on the right path. When attempting relief from foot and plantar fascia pain, you can not ignore exercise. This tenet applies to many ills of the body, from headaches to lower back pain, sometimes the best medicine is to get moving.
In the case of plantar fasciitis, what needs to move is your lower leg, under load. Recent studies point to better outcomes with a simple progressive strength training routine of unilateral calf raises performed every other day.
This simple exercise may be the missing link to getting rid of your plantar fascia pain.
First, elevate yourself using a step or small platform. Then, roll a towel and place across the step where your toes will be located. This allows the toes to be in extension during the exercise. Lastly, with the rest of your foot hanging out in space, slowly raise and lower your heel for one repetition. Count to three on the way up, hold for a two count at the top, and then take another three seconds to lower your foot. That is one full rep.
Typically you would start a program by performing 3 sets of 12 repetitions every other day. As time goes on the exercise is progressed with added weight or increased reps and sets. Weight can be increased by wearing a backpack as you perform the exercise and gradually adding more items into the backpack each week.
Get Help for Your Symptoms
Hopefully these plantar fasciitis tips will provide you with real relief if you are a recent or long term sufferer. If you have tried these or other methods without relief, you may need a different approach. Don’t hesitate to reach out and get some help, because not every case responds the same.
About the Author:
Dr. Erik Reich, Meriden chiropractor, and his son.
Dr. Erik Reich is a chiropractor in Meriden, CT. He practices at Omni Physical & Aquatic Therapy Center, Inc. . Where he treats all types of patients from high school athletes, seniors, victims of trauma such as auto accidents, laborers, and desk jockeys. Spending time with his wife and son, and their Boston terrier, is something Dr. Reich also enjoys.
