Lynn came in as a new patient with mid-back pain; however, she spoke about her episodes of fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS).  Fibromyalgia has no definitive known cause.  Having witnessed a family member with this disorder, I know it to be real.   However, fibromyalgia has been a trash-can diagnosis and is often entirely misunderstood.  I guess before FMS had a name, people were told by their doctors, “It’s all in you head.” 

For the estimated 50 million Americans with chronic low back pain from osteoarthritis, it is usually diagnosed by radiographic (x-ray) films. 

Fact: there is not a definitive correlation between pain and radiographic findings.  Why do so many of us have low back pain but have no signs of degeneration while other people have horrific radiographs yet have no pain?  The answer is multifaceted because pain sources vary greatly between people. 
 

My true confession is to expose a disturbing but growing influence in my profession.  Some chiropractors are choosing, based upon their personal values, to reject or to enroll in the strategies of Practice Management.  Practice Management companies are business consultants to the healing arts.  Chiropractors are being taught how to dramatize patient symptoms and use scripted report of findings.  By manifesting patients’ fears they are able to hard-sell expensive treatment plans.  Practice Management companies typically gain their revenues as a percentage on the chiropractor’s increased sales.

It makes my day when patients walk in and ask for a tune-up.  They get it!  So what is there to a tune-up and what does it really mean?  Major Dejarnette spent his life seeking to understand how our bodies adapt to gravity.  He was an engineer, chiropractor and osteopath who created a triad system called Sacro-Occipital Technique.  His teachings discussed body types as shades of one type with potential mixture of two body types.  Imagine a triad system like in Ayurvedic medicine with it pitta, kapha and vada body types.  If you know Ayurveda, one of the world’s oldest medical systems, it would be like saying “I am a pitta/kapha.”

Have you ever stood in a line of people and noticed how some people’s shoulders, left and right are not equal in their heights?  When you have a moment, look in the mirror and look at the distance between your neck and where the shoulders drop off to the arms.  Are they equal in length?  

A visual examination with a simple mirror and grid can tell so many thing about you.  One correlation I often see in my practice is that significant shoulder rotation leads to numbness and/or tingling in the fingertips.  Numb fingers can be caused by other conditions as well, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, degenerative disc and joint decay in the neck, or diabetes.
 

A professional asked me, “How can chiropractic help me if I am not in pain?”  My rhetorical response to him was to ask, “Why do have to feel bad to feel better?”  In fact, that response has been my slogan!  You don’t have to feel bad to feel better! 

Caregiving comes in many forms, such as caregiving to an ailing parent.  Perhaps caregiving is you occupation, as a nurse or midwife.  Caregivers all know that providing healing or palliative care takes its toll on our own bodies.  But caregiving also can be a joyous thing.  As a new dad, I am in awe by the caregiving experience to nurture a newborn.

Summertime means it is cycling season.  You can bet if I have a couple hours between appointments, I am cranking away on a local road or trail.  To avoid taking for granted another warm sunny day, I really wanted to get a ride in, but I also had to get this article completed.  What was the article to be on this month?

So I took a ride to think about it.  Twenty miles into a 38-mile ride I noticed my left buttock ached.  When I put my attention to this area I noticed it was my left sacral iliac joint and noticed that with each pedal stroke, I could feel the ache weaken my push on the pedal.  It was not the first time I had felt the ache, so I knew it was a sacral iliac subluxation. 
 

This time of year we know to expect snow here in the foothills.  For me that means great snow at Loveland Ski Area but in my practice it means it is shoulder season.  For instance, a wellness patient I see monthly, Steve.  Steve is a fit 73 year young man; he is an avid cyclist who still rides the Triple Bypass every July.  Since Steve shoveled for two-plus hours the other day, both of his shoulders have ached and is preventing him from enjoying a good night’s sleep.  Steve also has a concerning hunch in his mid back called a hyperkyphosis.

Headaches come in many flavors, yet they are similar in how they get our attention.  Annually, Americans spend over a billion dollars, on over-the-counter headache relief.  Most of us know that these medications give some relief but are not a solution.

Helen’s headache was described as being one of her top three all-time migraines.  This was Helen’s first chiropractic visit; it was obvious she was nervous and apparently nauseous.   Helen is a fit 49-year-old mom and financial advisor, and she likes to swing the golf club on the weekends.  She has had frequent, annoying headaches every week for years and occasional migraines that debilitate her to a dark, quiet room.