Reported in the American Chiropractic Association Journal of Chiropractic, December 1988.

This article recounts the history of a five year old child who had had bronchial congestion, pneumonia, and bronchitis several times since she was 18 months old. After running or waking up in the morning she would be wheezy. The father and mother both reported having allergies.

Chiropractic examination of the child revealed subluxations at three locations on the spine. Two days after the second adjustment, coughing had been reduced, and after the third visit a week later the child was breathing normally. A total of twelve adjustments over a three month period were given, and the chief complaint did not recur. The child was still well four years later.

Case Study 2: History of Asthmatic Child.
Matthews, NC, et al. International Chiropractic Pediatric Association Newsletter. July 1996.

The four year old had respiratory problems since her birth, and was diagosed with asthma. Her breathing was very labored, and she had shortness of breath. She couldn't run with the other children because of the constant shortness of breath, and had become reliant on antibiotics for constant respiratory infections, and she had also taken steroidal drugs. This conventional drug therapy had not prevented her from spending every Christmas in the hospital on a breathing machine. A complete chiropractic examination revealed vertebral subluxation of the atlas right, sixth cervical posterior, and right posterior sacrum. Specific chiropractic adjustment were given, and the.patient responded to the care immediately and was able to suspend using the drugs within two weeks. Within two months, she was able to play with her friends with no further symptoms. Her fifth Christmas was the first at home in her life. "What would have happened to her if over the last two years she had been on steroids rather than chiropractic care?" her father wondered.

If the treatment you're currently receiving for your asthma is proving inadequate, maybe it's time for you to try chiropractic. To receive a free chiropractic examination and analysis, please call our office at 562-424-1165.

Dealing with Back Pain



If your back pain is relentless, and you're sick and tired of the suffering, reading this report may be the most important thing you've done to improve your health and well being, ever. What your doctor doesn't know about low back pain will surprise you. If your medical doctor tells you that your back has been sprained and that cutting back on your activities while taking medication will cure the problem, then you can be certain that he or she may not be the one you should be talking to. The reason for this is that most medical doctors are unable to diagnose and treat the real cause of low back pain. Their treatment is likely to be ineffective and will likely result in your never getting better.

Taking drugs just masks the pain; it will never cure your low back pain, and furthermore, even drugs such as aspirin, if taken over a long period of time, can cause damage to your liver, kidneys, and stomach lining. And, masking the pain just prevents you from curing the underlying source of the pain, which allows the problem to become progressively worse over time. Before you accept your medical doctor's recommendation to have back surgery, check the alternative. A group of university scientists performed a double blind study in which one group received the traditional treatment with drugs, while another group were treated by a different method--one without drugs or surgery. While both groups reported they felt better, there was a big difference in the outcome for one of the groups.

After the treatments were discontinued, the pain returned to the first group after about one month, while the second group--the group which received chiropractic care, reported that they were pain free.

Make an appointment now for a free consultation. You may make your appointment by calling our office at 562-424-1165.

DISCLAIMER: No individuals, including those under our active care, should use the information, resources or tools contained within to self-diagnose or self-treat any health-related condition. Diagnosis and treatment of all health conditions should only be performed by your doctor of chiropractic or other licensed health care professional.

How to Tell If You Have Arthritis

There are eight tests one may apply to determine whether one has arthritis:

1. Does exercise cause greater ache in your joints? This is one of first signs of the beginning of arthritis.
2. Do you have stiffness in your joints when you get up in the morning, and the stiffness goes away after about a half hour. This, too, is an early sign of arthritis.
3. Gently exercise the affected joint over its complete range of motion. Does the joint creak or cause pain when you bend it to its normal limits? This is another sign of arthritis.
4. Check the skin over the affected joint. Is it pulled tight? Is it shiny? These symptoms suggest the swelling that is caused either by osteoarthritis, or rheumatoid arthritis.
5. Are the joints hot, or are they cold? If hot, you may be suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. If cold, it may be osteoarthritis.
6. When you experience joint pain, is there swelling, or do you have a fever? If so, you may have either rheumatoid arthritis, or else a joint infection.
7. Do your joints crackle when they're moved, or feel "gritty"? This is a symptom of osteoarthritis. The crackling sound is caused by irritated cartilage and bones rubbing together, making a grating sound.
8. Are the affected joints symmetrically located? That is, if the joints in the first finger of each hand are in pain, you may have rheumatoid arthritis.

Visit our office for advice and possible treatment if you suspect that you have arthritis. You may make your appointment by calling our office at 562-424-1165.

DISCLAIMER: No individuals, including those under our active care, should use the information, resources or tools contained within to self-diagnose or self-treat any health-related condition. Diagnosis and treatment of all health conditions should only be performed by your doctor of chiropractic or other licensed health care professional.

Leg Pain and Sciatica

Sciatica is a severe pain in the leg caused by compression, irritation, or inflammation of the sciatic nerves, which are thick nerves extending down the back of each leg. Each sciatic nerve consists of five smaller nerves extend from the lower spinal column, and then join together and travel down the legs. The sciatic nerves divide into tiny smaller nerves travel to the knew, foot, toes, calf, and thigh. The inflammation of any of these nerves is called sciatica.

Symptoms

People with sciatica can sometimes experience shooting pains down the leg and into the foot and toes, and other times a dull ache or numbness. Sciatica is caused by many things. Sitting at a desk for long periods of time in one position can exacerbate the pain. Exercise can make the pain worse. Tennis or golf and other twisting activities can cause sciatica pain to flare up. Sometimes, the pain may be in both legs, and other times it may alternate from one leg to the other.

Causes Of Sciatica

The sciatic nerve is very long, so there are many places along its length at which the irritation may occur. One place is the lower back. Often, a misaligned lumbar vertebra puts pressure on the nerve, causing the pain. This misalignment is called a subluxation.

Disc herniation can also cause sciatica. Discs are the "shock absorbers" between the vertebrae of the spine. They are cartilage-like cushions that occupy the spaces between the vertebrae which allow the back to turn and bend normally. If you've been injured in a car accident, or from a fall, one or more of your discs may now be bulging out one side of the spine. This is what is called a "slipped disk," or disc herniation.

Sciatica usually begins as an sharp pain in the lower back. Eventually, the pain stretches down the back of the leg, and gets worse when you sit or stand in one position for a long period of time.

Treatment For Sciatica

Medical doctors normally treat this condition by loading patient up on pain killers, telling the patient that the condition may go away naturally. This seldom happens, and the net result is that the patient's liver, kidney, or stomach lining, are damaged by the long-term use of drugs. The better approach is the chiropractic one.

The doctor will treat your sciatica by finding the location of nerve irritation, and can relieve the pressure on the nerve, allowing the body to heal itself naturally.

DISCLAIMER: No individuals, including those under our active care, should use the information, resources or tools contained within to self-diagnose or self-treat any health-related condition. Diagnosis and treatment of all health conditions should only be performed by your doctor of chiropractic or other licensed health care professional.

Chiropractic Advice for Moms-to-Be



As many new mothers can attest, the muscle strains of pregnancy are very real and can be more than just a nuisance. The average weight gain of 25 to 35 pounds, combined with the increased stress placed on the body by the baby, may result in severe discomfort. Studies have found that about half of all expectant mothers will develop low-back pain at some point during their pregnancies.1-3 This is especially true during late pregnancy, when the baby's head presses down on a woman's back, legs, and buttocks, irritating her sciatic nerve. And for those who already suffer from low-back pain, the problem can become even worse.

During pregnancy, a woman's center of gravity almost immediately begins to shift forward to the front of her pelvis. Although a woman's sacrum-or posterior section of the pelvis-has enough depth to enable her to carry a baby, the displaced weight still increases the stress on her joints. As the baby grows in size, the woman's weight is projected even farther forward, and the curvature of her lower back is increased, placing extra stress on the spinal disks. In compensation, the normal curvature of the upper spine increases, as well.

While these changes sound dramatic, pregnancy hormones help loosen the ligaments attached to the pelvic bones. But even these natural changes designed to accommodate the growing baby can result in postural imbalances, making pregnant women prone to having awkward trips and falls.

How Can Your Doctor of Chiropractic Help?

Before you become pregnant, your doctor of chiropractic can detect any imbalances in the pelvis or elsewhere in your body that could contribute to pregnancy discomfort or possible neuromusculoskeletal problems after childbirth.

Many pregnant women have found that chiropractic adjustments provide relief from the increased low-back pain brought on by pregnancy. Chiropractic manipulation is safe for the pregnant woman and her baby and can be especially attractive to those who are trying to avoid medications in treating their back pain. Doctors of chiropractic can also offer nutrition, ergonomic, and exercise advice to help a woman enjoy a healthy pregnancy.

Chiropractic care can also help after childbirth. In the eight weeks following labor and delivery, the ligaments that loosened during pregnancy begin to tighten up again. Ideally, joint problems brought on during pregnancy from improper lifting or reaching should be treated before the ligaments return to their pre-pregnancy state-to prevent muscle tension, headaches, rib discomfort, and shoulder problems.(c) 2004 American Chiropractic Association

DISCLAIMER: No individuals, including those under our active care, should use the information, resources or tools contained within to self-diagnose or self-treat any health-related condition. Diagnosis and treatment of all health conditions should only be performed by your doctor of chiropractic or other licensed health care professional.

Sports Injuries



Many athletes are sidelined with injuries that could have been avoided, or because their injuries do not respond to traditional medical care. In the first case, chiropractic care in prior to the sports activity might have prevented the injury, and in the second, chiropractic care can solve problems that traditional medical care often cannot.

Some injured athletes continue to play, but at less than peak efficiency, simply because their structural system is not balance. More and more, coaches and athletes are turning away from pain-killing drugs, because they recognize that such drugs just mask the pain, and do not address the cause of the pain. Such a strategy often worsens the injury, possibly making full recovery impossible.

Therapeutic exercise, massage, and nutritional support are part of patient care for injuries such as ankle sprains, muscles strains, tendinitis (tennis elbow, for example). Bursitis of the shoulder, and joint problems involving the shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand, hip, knee, ankle and foot can also be treated very effectively with chiropractic care.

However, the best thing about Chiropractic is not only that it is drug-free and surgery-free care, but also that it is also preventative and performance enhancing care. Maintaining proper spinal alignment puts athletes in a state of peak efficiency, and adjustment after competition speeds the recuperative process after the stress of their particular event.

To learn more about how our office will handle your particular sports injury, please call 562-424-1165.

DISCLAIMER: No individuals, including those under our active care, should use the information, resources or tools contained within to self-diagnose or self-treat any health-related condition. Diagnosis and treatment of all health conditions should only be performed by your doctor of chiropractic or other licensed health care professional.

What is Fibromyalgia?



The figures display the location of the tender points that comprise the 1990 American College of Rheumatology criteria for fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia is similar to rheumatism, which is a chronic condition in which the joints, and soft tissue, experience pain. Like rheumatism, fibromyalgia cause significant pain and fatigue. Fibromyalgia sufferers experience pain and tenderness at multiple, and specific places on the body (see diagram), and pain in response to even very slight pressure. In addition to pain and fatigue, people who have fibromyalgia may experience

• sleep disturbances
• morning stiffness
• headaches
• irritable bowel syndrome
• painful menstual periods
• numbness or tingling of the extremities
• restless legs syndrome
• temperature sensitivity
• cognitive and memory problems

What Causes Fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is believed by many to be caused by stressful or traumatic events, such as automobile accidents. Others connect it to repetitive injuries, or think it's related to lupus, or other auto-immune diseases. The actual cause is not known, and there is no cure. For a fibromyalgia diagnosis, a person must have 11 or more tender points. One of these predesignated sites is considered a true tender point only if the person feels pain upon the application of 4 kilograms of pressure to the site. People who have fibromyalgia certainly may feel pain at other sites, too, but those 18 standard possible sites on the body are the criteria used for classification.

While there is no cure for fibromyalgia, chiropractic may be able to relieve some of the symptoms, in some cases. To find out if you can be helped, contact our office today to make an appointment for a free consultation and analysis. You may make your appointment by calling our office at 562-424-1165.

DISCLAIMER: No individuals, including those under our active care, should use the information, resources or tools contained within to self-diagnose or self-treat any health-related condition. Diagnosis and treatment of all health conditions should only be performed by your doctor of chiropractic or other licensed health care professional.

Whiplash



Whiplash most commonly occurs when the automobile is struck from behind, or else the car comes to a sudden stop.

This causes the head to snap back and the forth, and this in turn cause the spine to travel beyond its normal limits. The muscles and ligaments supporting the spine and may then become torn, and the spinal discs may bulge, tear, or rupture. The nerve roots in the neck can get stretched and irritated. There may have been left on the car only slight damage, but the occupant may nevertheless have suffered extensive damage. Left untreated, the formation of scar tissue can leave the victim with impaired bodily function for life.

The consequence of this damage, besides the pain, are: low back pain, dizziness, blurred vision, shoulder, arm, and hands pain, as well as headaches. The victim will have reduced ability to turn and bend.

The chiropractic approach is to use specific chiropractic adjustments to help return spinal function. After a thorough case history and examination, the doctor will recommend a series of visits to help restore proper motion and position of spinal bones. If caught early enough, inflammation can be reduced and scar tissue can often be minimized.

If you think you may have suffered whiplash, call our office to make an appointment at 562-424-1165.

DISCLAIMER: No individuals, including those under our active care, should use the information, resources or tools contained within to self-diagnose or self-treat any health-related condition. Diagnosis and treatment of all health conditions should only be performed by your doctor of chiropractic or other licensed health care professional.

Work Injury



Back injury is the most common work injury. Other common work injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, low back pain, headaches, and neck and shoulder pain, are caused by repetitive stress. These are work injuries even if work activity is only partially responsible.

The doctor has been treating work injuries for several years, handling many cases of worker's compensation. If you have questions about whether you are eligible for treatment, please call the number above, or use our online "Email the Doctor" form to send your question.

Fraudulent filing of Worker's Compensation claims is a felony, subject to up to 5 years in prison or fines up to $50,000 or double the value of fraud, whichever is greater, or by both imprisonment and fine.

DISCLAIMER: No individuals, including those under our active care, should use the information, resources or tools contained within to self-diagnose or self-treat any health-related condition. Diagnosis and treatment of all health conditions should only be performed by your doctor of chiropractic or other licensed health care professional.