Dr. Miya Bazley, DC

Do you know what's causing it? Is it from looking down at a laptop or phone for long hours? Or from a medical condition like scoliosis? Or from a muscle spasm from whiplash? That would be helpful to know in it's correction. In very general terms, stretching, neck distraction, a neck
pillow (looks like a rolled up towel), chiropractic adjustments and exercises that help restore the normal lordosis (the opposite of kyphosis) can be helpful. However too much stretching isn't recommended for someone if he has a lot of ligament laxity or strong muscle spasms. I hope this is helpful.

Most chiropractors have an undergraduate degree where they work on the prerequisites to get into chiropractic school and then go to chiropractic school where they earn a Doctor of Chiropractic and that title is recognized by the accrediting institution and institutions of authority like the Department of Education. If that defines a real doctor to you, then you have you answer. If a real doctor is a person who graduated from medical school or a doctor of osteopathic medicine, then you have your answer.

Short answer: yes. Long answer: As long as their is a biomechanical source of the discomfort there is a very good chance chiropractic care can relieve your hip pain.. the chiropractor will be able to determine that by doing an exam and assessing the region by looking at how your hip moves, how hip moved in relation to the pelvis and how your pelvis moves in relation to your lumbar spine. I treat hip pain often.

Without citing a bunch of studies I can assure you that you are more likely to be hit by lightning than to be paralyzed from a chiropractic adjustment. A classmate of mine made a good point that in school we practice adjustments on each other all of the time, multiple times a day for at least a couple of years yet you never see or hear of a serious injury in the classroom setting. As practitioners, chiropractors have the lowest malpractice rates of all doctors, so that speaks to how often a severe occurrence happens. Nevertheless, your chiropractor will do an exam and take a history to make sure whatever care is needed is warranted and all known risks are mitigated. Also and probably most important part, it is your body and if you don’t want to be moved in one direction or another regardless of the benefits (or risks) then let your chiropractor know as there are probably other modalities that can be used. Maybe not as effective but there is usually more than one road to healing. Hope this helps.

Why are you considering getting adjusted after playing? If it's because playing leaves you stiff for days afterwards, then you might want to consider it. Or if you are getting over an injury it might be part of your post-game recovery. Or you might want to get adjusted before you play. It depends on your goals and if you have current injuries you are recovering from. When I played rugby I tried to get adjusted before the match so that I could move more efficiently on the pitch.
I hope that helps.

You are correct, scoliosis develops and is usually found in the skeletal growing phases of life (childhood and adolescence). You might have a mild case that was never noticed before. You could have a muscle spasm that is pulling you in a direction that mimics scoliosis. I’m not sure if an injury has put your spine in a “crooked” position.

I was taught in chiropractic school that an adjustment can make you sleepy and I have seen that in my clinical practice. I have not heard that restless sleeping is a side effect. Hope this information helps.

Twenty-four to forty-eight hours after an adjustment a patient might feel sore after treatment. In my clinical practice, I had a patient who would get very sore if he was rotated too much during an adjustment so I had to use a different technique to adjust him and he didn't get the post treatment soreness. With that being said, let your chiropractor know and they can make changes or even give you advice on how to help with the discomfort after adjusting. If you're having blurry vision, intense headaches or an increase in numbness and tingling into the legs or arms after treatment, call your chiropractor sooner than later to make sure you don't need to see someone else for care.

I am a chiropractor so I have my biases. With that noted, research and clinical observations have shown there more than one path to managing chronic back pain. Acupuncture does seem to help "calm" the body down. If you do not have a needle phobia, can lie still on your back or stomach for 30-45 minutes, acupuncture may help. For example, if you cannot bend
forward because of pain and stiffness. Your range of motion will probably still be limited with acupuncture but hopefully it won't cause you as much grief to bend forward. Hopefully with chiropractic care we would address the decrease in function and pain. However, you have to be comfortable with being touched, having your joints manipulated (which can happen in a
variety ways), doing repetitive movements that seem to help and so forth. You might even need a combination of care. I have a few patients who see me and an acupuncturist depending on the quality of their pain and functional needs. Usually with chronic pain it takes a multi-angled approach.
I hope this helps.

If you are tender to the touch cold therapy like an ice pack for 10-15 minutes wrapped in a towel might work better than heat. If you have bruises, numbness or tingling in your names or pain with coughing, sneezing or using the bathroom I would seek professional care. Also, you should let your supervisor know as they might want you to be checked out by a doctor because of workman’s compensation insurance guidelines.

I’m not sure. Because the adjustment (the main treatment a chiropractor uses) can influence the receptors around the joint, there is a possibility that the adjustment could “calm down” the central nervous system so that he can sleep at night. Since he naps during the day he needs to break that habit or his sleep/wake cycle will be altered. A chiropractor will also look at his diet and overall daily routine to see if there is anything overstimulate good his mind and body late at night. Acupuncture might be helpful as well if he is not afraid of needles.

Drink an extra glass of water and wear clothes that you can move around in. It might seem silly but don’t show up intoxicated. You might need a second or third adjustment so don’t get discouraged if you are not a hundred percent better after one treatment. Enjoy!

If activity doesn’t make the pain decrease I would go get a professional evaluation from a chiropractor. I have seen too many patients who waited months and for some it complicated recovery. For some it was such an easy fix they kicked themselves for not coming in earlier. Most sprains and strains will start to resolve after six weeks without care. However, why deal with a higher level of discomfort if you don’t have to. Even if chiropractic care takes the pain down a few notches over the next few weeks while you heal. I hope it all works out.

There is a connection and it’s good that you know it so you can focus on calming down in a stressful situation and not only attacking the symptom (the back pain). If the stress triggers back pain and dizziness or chest pain you should contact a health care provider.

Electrical stimulation also known as electric muscle stimulation, EMS and stir is a passive modality used to decrease muscle tension, help the body produce its own pain relievers like enkephalins and in some instances build muscle do to atrophy. It’s a common supportive therapy used in chiropractic and physical therapy practice usually in the early stages of a care plan. It can’t be used over a pacemaker, over the low back or abdomen of a pregnant person or over an open wound. If you have very sensitive skin the pads that are used might be mildly irritating. It’s usually comfortable and some people do not like the tingling sensation it produces. Patients in my office have fallen asleep while receiving electric stimulation. I hope this information helps.

The main component of myofascial pain syndrome is that there are trigger points in the muscles that can refer pain to other areas. If you push on these points they are usually tender or you will feel a specific pain pattern that the doctor can identify when pressure is on that point. Usually, myofsacial pain syndrome can occur with overuse of a muscle group, poor movement patterns and possibly after an old injury that did not heal well. It is not the same as fibromyalgia. Depending on the health care provider a combination of stretches, relaxation technique, trigger point injections and possibly dry needling would be used. There are probably a few other techniques as well. In terms of how serious is it I will put it like this. Will it progress to something that can destroy the muscle? No, it's not that serious. Will your aunt need additional studies like a MRI or CT scan? No, she should not for this condition. Can it make being active really uncomfortable? Yes. If it were my aunt, I would encourage her to get treated so she can enjoy moving about and doing activities more comfortably. I hope that helps.

I personally don’t know of any research that states working on the neuromusculoskeletal system will influence the body in the way that ADHD symptoms will decrease. It would be experimental I think. A chiropractor as a health care provider might be able to help identify environmental or nutritional changes that might be necessary to help with symptoms of lack of concentration and hyperactiveness.

Spinal manipulation also known as a spinal adjustment is the purposeful movement of a spinal joint (you can manipulate extremity joints as well) in a specific plane of direction into the paraphysiological space. The goal is to to increase mobility of the joint, improve the relationship of movement of a joint wit the joint above or below it and to reset the neuromechanical receptors around the spinal joint. Hopefully by influencing the joint in that way there will be more efficient movement, at the joint level and in the region with more efficiency leading to better movement, less stiffness, less pain, better signaling of the nearby receptors and better movement of the muscles that cross that joint or attach nearby. I tell patients to think if the clothes they wore like a sweater became tighter and the material rougher because of wear n' tear or it shrunk in the dryer. You could still move around in your tight pants and uncomfortable sweater but you could become hot, irritable and tired more quickly. Then your lack of easy movement could influence how you act with others and limit what motions you are willing to perform. You would need to restore your clothes to a proper fit to be more efficient. In a general since spinal manipulation can help "stretch" your clothes back to a better shape and restore the softness. Thus leaving you in a better position to interact with the world around you. I hope that helps.

As a chiropractor, I am not the best person to suggest medicine usage, the pharmacist at your local drug store can or your primary care. A topical analgesic that you can buy over the counter may be helpful, but if you have to use it more than half the working days in a month, then I strongly recommend seeking care.
Take care.

It could be a few things, the actual weight could be compressing your spine irritating certain parts of the spine like the discs and the joints. Also, adipose (fat tissue) could be surrounding enough muscles making them inefficient in their movement. There is another possibility that the adipose tissue is also taking up nutrients as adipose is highly vascularized so more blood vessels feed into that tissue instead of the surrounding bones, disc, and ligaments. A chiropractor would look to see where you gain weight (are you apple or pear shaped), if your pain seems biomechanical in nature so pressure needs to be taken off a joint or body part or more organic, which means tissue healing needs to be restored to decrease your low back pain. An exam would include testing your movement in certain areas, measuring your BMI, and possibly ordering a blood test or X-ray if the doctor suspects osteopenia. I hope this information is useful.