Chiropractic - A Safer Strategy than Opioids

"As a nation, we simply cannot afford to proceed in a mode that promulgates 'business as usual'. Americans, constituting only 4.6 percent of the world's population, have been consuming 80 percent of the global opioid supply, and 99 percent of the global hydrocodone supply. At stake is the health and welfare of millions of Americans, with many lives literally hanging in the balance". - American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, May 2016

The following is a compilation of excerpts from the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress.

"Opioids are a class of drugs that include the illicit drug heroin as well as the licit (legal) prescription pain-relievers oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, fentanyl and others. Opioids are chemically related and interact with opioid receptors on nerve cells in the brain and nervous system to produce pleasurable effects and relieve pain. Addiction is a primary, chronic and relapsing brain disease characterized by an individual pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors". - American Society of Addiction Medicine

Opiate overdoses in the U.S. are now deemed a public health catastrophe; President Obama has even stated that the opiate epidemic is as great as a threat to the American people as terrorism. The newest estimates on the cost of opioid abuse in our country to employers is $18 billion in sick days, lost productivity and medical expenses of employees. The amount of national overdose deaths from prescription drugs has increased dramatically, from less than 10,000 per year in 2001 to a staggering 25,000 in 2014 (National Center for Health Statistics, CDC)!

Dr. Andrew McLachlan, a professor at the University of Sydney stated in May 2016, "We do not yet understand the effects of the long term use of opioid analgesics, as no trials have followed patients beyond 3 months. Importantly, we do know that these medicines can have significant harmful effects when used inappropriately or for longer periods of time. The recent CDC guideline for prescribing opioids for chronic pain provides some excellent advice for clinicians considering use of opioid analgesics for their patients".

Over 100 million people are living with some sort of chronic pain. Chronic pain is defined as pain lasting more than 12 weeks and is linked to "numerous psychological, social, and physical conditions such as depression, anxiety, stress, socio-economic status, physical conditioning, gender, and a host of other issues" (National Institutes of Health NIH Medicine Plus).

But where do we go from here?  How can we prevent this epidemic from continuing? Bonnie Sakallaris, RN PhD, VP, Optimal Healing Environments sums it up this way, "...when you look at the IOM report, the FDA guidelines, and the CDC guidelines, all of them recommend that non-opioid and non-pharmacologic approaches be the first approaches in dealing with chronic pain...with recommendations that we provide the treatment of greatest benefit--and that opioids are not the first line therapy for chronic pain".

The National Center for Health Statistics states that 54% of chronic pain is musculoskeletal-derived. It is estimated that "126.6 million Americans (1 of 2 adults) are affected by a musculoskeletal condition".  These are people who could "potentially find relief with chiropractic care and benefit from improved overall health.  According to a report published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), spinal manipulative therapy effectively and significantly reduced pain and improved function for patients with nonspecific low back pain". Chiropractors are the highest-trained healthcare professionals in musculoskeletal diagnosis and treatment.  Neck pain, back pain, and headaches, are just a few of the musculoskeletal conditions that chiropractors treat.

"For neck pain and headaches, cervical spine manipulation was associated with significant improvement in headache outcomes in trials involving patients with neck pain and/or neck dysfunction and headache." - Duke University

Schedule an appointment with us and find out how affordable, safe, and, effective chiropractic care can help you relieve pain and achieve optimum health! (317) 482-7780

Every Headache Sufferer Needs Chiropractic Care

What Puts The Ache In Headache?

The "ache" in headache does not come from your brain; your brain cannot feel pain. During brain surgery, a patient is often wide awake feeling nothing, even talking to the surgeons and nurses while his/her brain is being operated on. So what puts the "ache" in headache? It's the non-brain structures: blood vessels, membranes and cranial nerves in the brain and skull. When these structures are stretched, compressed, irritated, inflamed or infected, headaches often result. 

The Chiropractic Approach

Why do headache sufferers turn to the natural, drug-free chiropractic approach to health? That's because chiropractic has a unique healing approach; chiropractors are the only health profession trained to analyze your body for a serious and often ignored condition that can damage your nerves, cause tissue inflammation, cause muscles to tighten and knot, weaken your body, cause fatigue and set the stage for sickness and disease. This condition is called the subluxation. Just as you may have a cavity in your tooth and be unaware of the damage it's causing, so the subluxation may be causing serious harm to your body, sometimes for years, without your knowledge. What exactly is a subluxation? It is a tiny distortion or misalignment in your spine and structural system that stresses your nervous system. What causes subluxations? Any physical or emotional stress that your body cannot withstand can cause your spine and structural system to develop a subluxation.

Why Does Chiropractic Work So Well?

Why has chiropractic been a blessing to millions of headache sufferers? The reason may be that most headache sufferers appear to be carrying around subluxations in their bodies. According to Dr. Sam Chong, Consultant Neurologist at Kings College Hospital: "It is well recognised that post traumatic headache (PTH) is a common symptom after injuries to the head or neck... Trauma can exacerbate a pre-existing headache condition or it can bring on a headache in someone who has never experienced this before". In a British study of 1,090 consecutive new patients from the office of 83 chiropractors, the benefits of chiropractic were observed for headaches and neck pain. Chiropractic patients reported "a high level of patient satisfaction" with their care.

How Long Will It Take?

It depends. Some patients report dramatic relief after just one adjustment. Others may take months of care to finally resolve them. Everyone is different in how they respond to care. An analysis of 47 studies  of chiropractic for headaches, neck pain and upper back pain revealed that it took (on average) 7.7 visits to see a 46.5% improvement in these conditions and 17 visits to completely resolve them. Many studies and clinical reports repeatedly reveal that anyone suffering from headaches should seek out chiropractic care.

How Does Chiropractic Affect Headaches?

For many years it has been said that DC after a Doctor of Chiropractic's name also stands for "Doctor of Cause", chiropractors correct the cause of a patients health problems, rather than given painkillers and other drugs which only treat the symptoms or suppress the disease symptoms and drive them deeper. A team of surgeons may have found one of the answers as to why chiropractic works so well. They discovered a small neck muscle that connects to brain membranes. When the neck is out of alignment, this muscle can actually pull on the brain! As the lead surgeon writes: "An increasing body of literature relates headaches to pathology affecting the cervical spine and a number of clinical trials have demonstrated that chiropractic is...valuable for managing headache".

Not A Headache Therapy

Anyone suffering from headaches (or any other condition) should make sure they are free from subluxations, for the health of their whole body, not just certain parts. If you have suffered from or are currently suffering from headaches, please come see one of our doctors at Alliance Chiropractic. Call us Today at (317) 482-7780!

What Can Chiropractic Do For Me?

"To take the path of healing is to directly participate in life" - Stephen Levine

If you have never been to a chiropractor before or are asking yourself why seeing a chiropractor could benefit you, this blog was written for you! You are joining many of your neighbors and friends who have chosen a natural, drugless approach to overall good health. Chiropractic is the healthcare choice of the 21st century; it is an exciting new world of healing and health optimization!

People see their chiropractor for many different reasons. To some, chiropractic is a system of healing musculoskeletal problems; back, neck, disc, arm, shoulder, leg, hip, joint, nerve and muscle pain or discomfort. Others use chiropractic as a natural system of healing from many conditions including headaches, arthritis, asthma, PMS, menstrual cramps, digestive problems, nervous stress, etc. without drugs and surgery.  Others use chiropractic as a method of keeping their health at its peak: for better sports performance, higher resistance to disease, clearer thinking, a more comfortable pregnancy, and more energy.

What if my structural system is unhealthy? A body with subluxations may be characterized by bad posture, tight and tense muscles, "pinched" nerves, bone and disc degeneration (arthritis), lowered resistance to disease, fatigue and overall body malfunction. Subluxations may be painless; you may have many accumulated in your body for years before you begin to feel their destructive effects.

What makes chiropractic unique is its vitalist approach to health. By that, we mean that we don't want you to wait for a "condition" or problem to arise before you address your health. We want you to correct subtle body malfunction (dis-ease) caused by subluxations now, while you still feel relatively good and have the energy to self-heal. If you wait until your body has massive structural degeneration, it may be too late for complete recovery.

Chiropractic care has proven to be a safe, natural and drugless way to good health for millions of people around the world. Please pass on this message to family and friends so they may come in for a checkup. It could make the difference between a life of health, energy and balance or a life of sickness and disease.

What is a Chiropractic Adjustment?

No matter if you have been to a chiropractor before or are a new chiropractic patient, it's important to understand how the chiropractic adjustment helps our body!  A chiropractic adjustment is a highly specialized procedure that your chiropractor utilizes to remove nerve interference caused by subluxations.  What is a subluxation? Taken from the roots of the word, subluxation literally means, "less than a dislocation".  It is a misalignment of joints that leads to nerve interference, especially in the spine.  How do you know if you have a subluxation?

Chiropractors have many years of post-graduate study and training devoted to understanding why subluxations occur, how to locate them, and how to treat them.  During your chiropractic exam, your chiropractor will assess your spine for subluxations and determine how to best treat you. 

At Alliance Chiropractic, our doctors are patient-focused; we focus not only on giving the best care, but also the best education about chiropractic and how chiropractic can help our patients.  

Let's say your car is stuck in the snow and the wheels are spinning, but the car is not moving.  Then along comes a friend who pushes the car - the wheels finally catch - and the car jumps out of its rut. Your friend supplied the right amount of force in the right direction that the car needed to dislodge itself.  This is an analogy to what a chiropractor does through adjustments to help realign the spine.

No matter their adjusting technique, all chiropractors have the same goal - to eliminate or reduce your subluxations to reduce stress on your nervous system, allowing you to optimize your health.

Your body is always trying to realign itself and return to a state of ease or relaxation.  It is unnatural to be under stress or tension - it is natural for it to be released.  Schedule an appointment with us to see how chiropractic can help your body relieve stress and lead you to a healthy life free from nerve interference! 

Keeping Your Child Healthy With Chiropractic

You do so many things to ensure your baby's health: During pregnancy, you eat right you avoid cigarettes, alcohol and all drugs. Even aspirin, cold, flu and other over-the-counter medications can damage your unborn child or cause problems in pregnancy. You educate yourself so you may have a natural, drug-free birth. In short, you do everything you can to make sure your baby is healthy.

Our children deserve to be treated naturally! Give your baby the best possible chance to have a healthy life. You have your baby's eyes and heart checked, so why not bring them in for a chiropractic spinal exam? A simple checkup now might make a big difference for your children for the rest of their lives. Call today to schedule an appointment with one of our doctors at Alliance Chiropractic!

How to Prevent Disc Problems

For many years, chiropractic has been able to save people from spinal surgery. There are reports of an MRI or other imaging device revealing a disc herniation or protrusion in the neck or low back which was reduced or completely reabsorbed under chiropractic care. Had they not sought out chiropractic, many of these individuals undoubtedly would have had surgery. In one study, 27 patients documented with disc herniation were given chiropractic care. Post-care MRI revealed that 63% of the patients had a reduced or completely reabsorbed disc herniation and 78% returned to work. 

According to one research study, most lumbar disc herniations improve over time with or without medical treatment. Disc herniations and annular tears may not be symptomatic and are shown to exist in patients without any symptoms. In another study of 517 Patients with a protruded lumbar disc, 76.8% had satisfactory results under chiropractic. 

Now you might be asking yourself, "Is surgery ever needed?". Surgery is sometimes necessary, but it is an extreme form of healthcare and it has many dangers. Many times, spinal surgery fails and must be repeated. It should only be considered after more natural, less invasive methods have been given a fair chance.  

Chiropractic has been a blessing to many sufferers of spine and disc problems, yet chiropractic is not limited to back and disc problems; it is for your entire body. Many times patients visiting their chiropractor for a back or neck problem have been pleasantly surprised at the holistic or whole-body effect of chiropractic. Why wait until a disc becomes “hot” before exploring chiropractic care? 

Chiropractic care can help prevent your spine from deterioration and herniation. Chiropractors have even helped people relieve the pain and frustration of failed back surgery and even prevent future operations. Please, before your problem gets worse, have a simple chiropractic spinal checkup. You get your eyes, teeth, and blood pressure checked, why not your spine? If you are currently suffering from back pain or any other condition, call today to schedule an appointment with one of our doctors at Alliance Chiropractic! Let us work with you to help restore your best health!