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Spinal Manipulation Reduces Chronic Spinal Pain
The Journal of Pain has released a new study that describes how the effects of spinal manipulation (adjustments) can reduce the progression of acute back pain to chronic back pain by reducing the way pain signals are being processed in the brain. Chronic back pain is thought to arise from severe or repeated episodes of acute pain or injury and the research shows that roughly 10% of acute spinal pain will become chronic. This repeated trauma to the spine can alter the processing of pain from the spine to the brain making subsequent episodes more intense and frequent. From this study, released in February this year, it appears that spinal manipulation can interrupt these pain signals before they reach the brain and are processed as pain. Interestingly, several separate studies have also shown that spinal manipulation is also the most effective relief from spinal pain within the first 6 weeks of an injury and also holds the highest patient satisfaction rates. Although we perform a variety of other therapies for patients in pain spinal manipulation remains one of our most powerful tools in the fight against chronic back pain.
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The Best Core Exercise You've Never Heard Of
This month's video was developed by one of the best manual therapists in history, Dr. Karel Lewit. Dr. Lewit is currently 98 years old and is still in practice in Prague, Czech Republic. This abdominal exercise incorporates breathing, is spine safe, and activates the entire core. Try this at home and if you need advice we can check your technique at the next visit.
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Does Stretching Help?
Stretching has long been a part of physical fitness but recently the benefits of static stretching have come under fire by new research. Once thought of as a requirement for all athletes it's been recently demonstrated that stretching is not always helpful and in some cases it actually may be harmful to performance. In our clinic we have long recognized that muscles can get tight for many reasons including overuse, joint restriction, protection from pain, an injury, or compensation. Finding and treating the root cause of this muscle tightness will often allow the muscles involved to relax and lengthen naturally, without spending hours on the floor twisting like a pretzel. All the details of what to stretch, when, how long, and why continues to be studied. Read the link below for a great article about stretching.
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