Dr David Bohn - Accent on Health

June 7, 2010

Is Pain Affecting Your Family Relationships?

Pain and family relationships never get along well. Have you ever had a conversation with someone who is in chronic pain? It never ends well, you try to offer help but it seems as if there is no hope. Generally, the very first treatment to relieve pain is drugs or surgery. Sadly, it usually does not solve the core problem and can come with side effects. Patients still have to bear the pain for a long time having much deeper implications than anticipated.

After an accident, physical wounds are healed, but often the mental wounds are still left untouched. These remain active in a person’s cognitive memory and can be observed in their daily behavior. The constant nagging, anxiety, and impatience can be easily noticed in a person who has had a recent accident or injury. These symptoms are also present in those suffering from long term and ongoing neck pain, back pain, and migraines etc. The prime concern here is that this consistent pain, either physical or mental, can have a devastating effect on family relationships.

Have you ever had it where no matter how hard you try, you can’t escape your pain. It is there all day long: in the morning, while driving your car, while sitting in the office chair, walking/jogging and during your sleep. This pain slowly aggravates which leads to constant mental tension. This tension builds and builds, to the point of explosion. The danger is who you explode on. Is it your 6-year-old daughter, your husband, an employee? We never know who it will be.

Conversational and thinking processes are also adversely affected by pain. Even a minor pain in the neck can deviate you from your conversation. An interesting conversation can slowly turn into an uninteresting one or even into a heated argument.

Family bonding is essential for maintaining a healthy ambiance in your home. When a person is suffering from constant pain, he/she no longer concentrates on spending time with family. Even if one does give it a try, they end up unsuccessful. The anxiety and impatience ensued by the pain, is well noticed in the conversation. These cherished moments are now lost.

Unfortunately, modern medical science deals with such mental problems in an uncanny way. Classified under depression, these pains, too, are treated with drug medication. But the truth is pain requires a holistic approach in order to be cured. It is not a physical entity and is linked to various body parts including physical and psychological realms of the human body.

Especially in case of back and neck pain, people prefer to visit a chiropractor for treatment. Chiropractic is a non drug and non surgical holistic medical practice that treats disorders of the nervous system and musculoskeletal system through gentle spinal manipulations. It is extremely effective and safe for people suffering from chronic issues and or looking to stay proactive against them. In fact, many researches show that spinal manipulations performed by a chiropractor are one of the very few means to effectively and safely decrease and eliminate pain.

Chiropractors offer a myriad of holistic alternative medicine to treat neck and back pain without any side effects. A chiropractic doctor starts his treatment by doing a full case history and exam to give him an insight into your medical history. This helps them decide exactly what you need. Some common problems come from carelessness, improper posture, inflammatory diets, or lack of motion. These usually lead to moderate back and neck trouble, while severe pain is due to born defects like scoliosis or large traumas.

The spinal manipulations or adjustments help decrease injuries in soft tissue and facilitate the stimulation of the nervous system of the body. Besides this, a chiropractor may also work on your diet, exercise, or lifestyle to help strengthening the nervous system. If your nervous system is healthy, your body’s innate ability to heal itself improves drastically. If nerve interference is present, there is decreased activation of the brain causing devastating effects to vital body organs and tissues.

If you were inspired by this post and think that your family trouble is related to pain please give us a call at 301-777-3710. Its time you did something proactive about your health.

Sincerely,

Dr David Bohn

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February 25, 2010

Study Demonstrates Chiropractic Superior to Muscle Relaxants for Low Back Pain

For More Information: www.accentonhealth.org

A report published in the July / August 2004 peer-reviewed medical journal, “Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics”, compared the effects of chiropractic care adjustments to muscle relaxants in a group of individuals who have subacute low back pain.

This investigation classified subacute low back pain as being lower back pain (LBP) which has a length of 2 to 12 weeks. This particular investigation noted that in the united states the number of cases of low back pain is considered as high as 75% to 85% of the population to be suffering at some time in his or her’s lives. On a annual time frame, the study observed that around 15% to 20% of the adult population can count on to suffer from LBP in any given 365 days.

During the study, 192 individuals suffering from LBP from 2 to 6 weeks ended up being divided into three groups. One group received Chiropractic manipulations together with placebo medicines. The next group received muscle relaxants with sham (fake) manipulations. The last group was a control group and received both placebo medicine plus the sham (fake) adjustments. Therapy was rendered on the group for a 4 week timeframe with assessments being performed at the 2 week and 4 week marks.

Effects ended up being measured relating to patient reported pain, severity, impairment and depression, as well as measured flexibility along with the patients personal utilization of over-the-counter acetaminophen (Tylenol). The results of this short study showed that for the two major signs of pain and severity, the chiropractic group did better than the other two groups. No significant differences were found with regard to disability, depression, flexibility, or even acetaminophen usage across groups in a study of this short a time frame. All 3 groups exhibited improvement in the areas of depression, disability as well as pharmaceutical usage.

The authors of the study did observe that a longer study could have yielded more variations in recuperation. Even so, in the realm of pain, a principal patient point of interest in subacute LBP conditions, the group that received the chiropractic manipulations faired the best. Their comments were: “Statistically, the chiropractic group responded significantly better than the control group with respect to a decrease in pain scores.”

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Filed under: medication chiropractic adjustment pain

February 19, 2010

Backpacks and Elementary Kids, Should You be Concerned?

For More Information: www.accentonhealth.org

Who says that kids never do homework anymore?! If not, why are elementary school children getting all bent over and walking around like they need canes?! Experts have found the source of the problem: That innocent, perhaps very ‘cute’ or ‘macho’ -looking, probably way too high-priced, and often ‘lost or forgotten’ some place else right after school, BACKPACK!

Yes, school children whose bones and muscles have not yet matured, may be carrying way too much weight in their backpacks every morning and after school. Have you seen or heard television or radio Public Service Announcements giving tips on weight limits and organizing book bags to avoid permanent injury to young musculo-skeletal systems?

School book bags and backpacks should be ergonomically designed, with instructions either sewn-in or on ‘hang-tags.’ They should offer a choice of straps or alternate attachments for the best height and angle, given the child’s height and weight. The one-strap ‘off the shoulder’ look may be COOL, but both straps are needed to spread the load across both shoulders.

The bag should be large enough to spread items out, but no wider than the child’s shoulders or longer than the distance from his or her shoulder to waist. One solution to overweight book bags is the backpack on wheels with pull-out handles like the carry-on bags that fit in airplane overhead bins. If the tow-able pack isn’t ‘right,’ using the tips below to load a pack may save the back of a child you know.

Most important, the total weight of the loaded bag should no be more than 15% of the child’s weight. Next, distribute the weight so that heavier books are at the bottom, no lower than the user’ s waist and close to their spine. Heavy, bulging bags are more likely to cause a child to fall, since extra, offset weight throws off their center of gravity.

Finally, place smaller and crushable items like gym shorts or a snack at the top of the load, easy to reach in a hurry. Two final checks: The user should be able to stand straight in a resting posture without effort while wearing the fully-loaded bag. If the shoulders and spine are obviously out of their natural positions, start unloading!

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Filed under: back packs pain school children chiropractic

February 19, 2010

Ligament Damage After Whiplash Injury

For More Information: www.accentonhealth.org

Our understanding of whiplash injuries has grown impressively over the last 10 years, when the first detailed analysis of spinal mechanics was done. From countless studies, we’ve seen that the human neck experiences an abnormal motion during a rear end collision, and that the facet joints of the spine can be sprained during such collisions.

Now a new study has looked more closely at what happens to the neck, but this time by studying the anterior ligaments of the spine. Previous studies have shown that some patients experience injuries to the anterior longitudinal ligament after whiplash. This new report by leading whiplash researchers used a sophisticated mathematical analysis (based upon experimental anatomical and crash data) to see what happens to the ALL during a crash.

The anterior longitudinal ligament runs along the front of the human neck, providing
stability for the vertebrae of the spine. During a rear end collision, this ligament can become sprained, resulting in pain and even chronic degeneration of the spine.

The human spine model was subjected to three different collision speeds: 5.3, 6.7, and 8 mph. The amount of distraction, or displacement at each vertebral segment was analyzed.

The researchers found that as the speed increased, the amount of strain increased and the time of the peak distraction also occurred earlier in the motion.

The authors report a number of findings that are relevant to those who work with whiplash cases:

The ALL reached stretches that were near the failure rate of the ligament, at collision speeds of just 8 mph.
Injuries that don’t result in failure may be even more difficult to diagnose, since they will be virtually undetectable on plain film radiographs.
The anterior ligaments of the spine have been shown to have pain receptors. Sprains or tears of the ALL can cause referred pain that can affect adjacent areas of the spine.

The authors summarize some of the potential serious, chronic problems that can result from these types of injury:

“A possible clinical implication associated with ALL injury is cervical instability. Catastrophic injury of the ALL can result in acute disability while sub-catastrophic injury may lead to chronic pathology. Injuries to the ALL had the highest correlation to extension instability. However, that study also indicated high correlation of ALL injury to axial rotation instability and anterior column injury to lateral bending instability. Injuries produced experimentally in that study were similar to clinically observed injuries. Anterior cervical injuries sustained in whiplash are typically distractive extension stage 1 injuries resulting in an absence of neurologic abnormalities. These injuries are not visible using conventional radiography and result in cervical instability. The ALL is intimately connected to the annular fibers of the intervertebral disc. Presuming all sub-components of the intervertebral motion segment are normal prior to injury, subcatastrophic failure of the ALL (stretch) will likely result in chronic changes within the disc as a result of decreased extension stability. The added hypermobility may lead to spinal disorders such as early degeneration of the connected intervertebral disc or vertebrae. In addition, segmental hypermobility leads to long-term instability. Catastrophic failure of the ALL in a whiplash injury will almost inevitably result in simultaneous injury to the intervertebral disc, and is likely to require surgical intervention.”

This study shows that the anterior ligaments of the spine undergo potentially injurious motion and that this motion may lead to long-term disability. For patients who have experienced a rear-end collision, it is advisable to get a thorough diagnosis to determine cervical instability and the potential for spinal degeneration years later.

Stemper BD, Yoganandan N, Pintar FA, Rao RD. Anterior longitudinal ligament injuries in whiplash may lead to cervical instability. Medical Engineering & Physics 2006;28:515-524.

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Filed under: Whiplash Injury Chiropractic neck pain

February 18, 2010

WSJ: Top Pain Scientist Fabricated Data in Studies, Hospital Says

A prominent Massachusetts anesthesiologist allegedly fabricated 21 medical studies that claimed to show benefits from painkillers like Vioxx and Celebrex, according to the hospital where he worked.