CARMICHAEL, Calif. – March 15, 2011 – From his son’s first “stingers” to various neck, back and other injuries resulting from playing football, Dr. Ed Rodgers – Dad of championship Green Bay Packers’ winning quarterback Aaron Rodgers — was always there to make an adjustment. It was the care he received following a college football injury that led the Super Bowl MVP’s father to pursue a chiropractic career.

“The structure of the human body, especially the spine, and its relationship to function can be impacted by the physical nature of accidents, falls, poor posture and injuries,” says Dr. Rodgers. “That’s why chiropractic care is so valuable for many acute and chronic health problems.”

While providing chiropractic care for his three sons who played multiple sports during their school years, as well as his patients in Chico, California, Dr. Ed finds the natural hands-on methods of chiropractic care to be of great value. He points out that every NFL football team and the majority of college and high school athletic programs have a doctor of chiropractic available to treat their players. Athletes from all sports credit chiropractic care for their ability to recover from neck, back and other joint injuries, and play the game at a high level. Reflecting this expertise, 2010 marked the first time that chiropractors occupied the two top positions for the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) medical team.

Jack Dolbin DC, of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, was the starting wide receiver for the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII. His father and grandfather were chiropractors, as is his daughter.

“Patients of all ages are learning to appreciate the clinical skills of a chiropractor for conditions including headaches, neck and back pain and other health issues that are related to the spine and influenced by injuries and posture,” says Dr. Dolbin.

Jerry Rice was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 2010 and was recently chosen as the “greatest” pro football player of all time by a blue ribbon panel at the NFL Network. As a spokesperson for the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress, Rice says this about his legendary 20-year pro career: “I did a lot of things to stay in the game but regular visits to my chiropractor were among the most important.”

About Foundation for Chiropractic Progress
A not-for-profit organization, the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress aims to inform and educate the general public about the many benefits associated with chiropractic care. To learn more about the Foundation, please visit us on the web at www.yes2chiropractic.com.

Fatigue has many faces and there are many answers online and in books.  Most with one aspect covered.  Believe me I’ve read them.

• One book says:
• Thyroid,
• another sugar,
• another genetics,
• another serotonin/and dopamine,
• blocked chi flow,
• another toxins,
• chiropractic subluxations
• breathing,
• sleep,
• childhood trauma,
• caffeine,
• muscle spasm,
• candida,
• food allergy
• lyme,
• pyschological,
• viral, parasite,
• cancer,
• blood sugar,
• obesity,
• mitochondria,
• anemia…….my ultimate favorite is……wait for it……IT’S IN THEIR HEAD!

Several of the pictures below outline the main culprits in these disorders, along with Chronic Fatigue: Fibromyalgia, and Migraine also fall into this category.  What most of these involve are a Limbic/Hippocampus Hypothalalmic-pituitary adrenal axis imbalance.  A gut, brain imbalance.  And possiblu a Hypo pituitary ovarian/testes imbalance.  So we now have faulty digestion, blood sugar, nerve signalling, hormone signalling, and poor detoxification pathways.

You get the picture…it will drive a fatigued person to there knees, or to bed!

Doctors always love to claim they are 100% healed form whatever ails them, but I’ll come out and say, I’m only 90% healed of my chronic fatigue.

It was a long, and hard fought battle from 2002 until 2009-10 with different stages and seasons, and I feel it’s my mission in practice to guide others through a better, clearer path to healing.   After I finally did the proper testing I was able to implement the proper programs in order to heal.

If we were to imagine a battery pack on the computer, mine wears down just a tad quicker (ex I can’t surf two hours in 60 degree water, treat 15 patients and still hope to run around the yard with my son that night)  so I’m normal for a guy my age, but for the foods I eat, and the chiropractic I get,  I should have that “next level” energy.  But I thank God every day for being “normal” again!

Fatigue is often several of the things I listed above, or all of them!  That is why functional testing is so crucial.  There is no use guessing if you have adrenal fatigue, or mitochondrial stress, it’s better to know for sure.

It can be a tad costly in the beginning, but if we were to add up all the supplements that you may have bought that had no effect they would easily pay for the tests!

At my office I will test your blood, saliva, and stool for imbalances.

With systematic testing, we then have markers to monitor if the healing is going in the right direction.  The other reality is healing takes time.  I like to think of it as a rising mountain, with plateaus and valleys, that takes several seasons to fully climb.

There is also some trial and error.  Exercising again, and changing our life and foods can often cause “healing crises” but if we can push through the pain and learn from it, we can go to the next level of the mountain.

In summary fatigue is a multi system dysfunction.  And needs to be treated as such.  It will take sacrifice to heal, but the end result will be worth it!

As the tendons and muscles tighten….they become more and more inflamed, even beginning to impinge on nearby nerves, blood vessels or ligaments.  Especially in the case of Carpal tunnel, entrapment is the key word.  Looking at the anatomy, the nerves of the wrist literally run through a “tunnel” like opening made up of the flexor tendons, the carpal bones of the wrist, and the median nerve.

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Carpal Tunnel is often accompanied by tingling or paraesthesia, and hand pain.  What’s often overlooked in Carpal Tunnel is the BIG PICTURE!

Local surgery to the carpal tunnel often needs to be repeated soon after, and the pain often does not cease.  Exercises alone, often do nothing to deal with tissue inflammation and scar tissue.  Icing alone, or anti-inflammatories never fix the movement, muscle and joint dysfunction.

Carpal Tunnel often begins in the neck.  The phenomenon of triple crush syndrome means that the median nerve is entrapped

intially as a nerve root at the neck (C5-T1), meaning if the neck has vertebral subluxations or misalignments the impingement can actually begin here.

Thoracic outlet Impingement:  The muscles of the front of the neck and shoulder can impinge on the brachial plexus as it exits the shoulder, inflaming the nerve as it transits down to the carpal tunnel and hand.

Pronator teres Entrapment:  A muscle deep in the forearm can actually be the hidden cause of hand pain and tingling sensations (paraesthesia)

some more nasty and serious causes….that are more rare:  Diabetic Neuropathy, Cervical disc syndrome, cervical rib syndrome(true TOS)

The number one key is to see someone who specializes in this subject.

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I’ve been practicing chiropractic in Long Beach, Ca for almost 4 years now, and before that clinical residency.  One thing I have seen a lot of is knee pain.

The interesting thing is many patients and folks in the community don’t realize chiropractors treat knees.

Knee pain relies extremely on the function of the core, hip and foot.  Most of the problems arise from one of the three.  So initially we do a Movement Screen to see how the body moves.

If a patient has pronation of the foot, or loss of dorsiflexion of the foot, or numerous other functional imbalances:  we know, the knee pain will never get better without fixing these first.

If the patient has inhibited hip muscles, a spasmed it band, or femoral anteversion, again we must address these conditions along with addressing the knee.

Soft tissue work is crucial to knee pain.  Probably the most useful tool, scar tissue and fibrous adhesion account for 70-80 % of all knee pain and I have kept quite a few patients from more invasive knee procedures such as cortisone injections or surgery.  Some great soft tissue techniques are Active Release Technique, Trigenics, Muscle Activation Technique, Myofascial Release Technique, Graston Technique or Tool assisted soft tissue mobilization.

I am certified in several, and have trained with several “gurus” who have no name to there special treatment techniques, but are known the country over for treating the top pros in sports ranging from cycling to surfing.  By mixing and melding these techniques, patients get

-muscle activation

-scar tissue release

-neurologic inhibition of tight muscles

Schedule myofascial release consult

Treatment systems that only focus on one aspect are always limited as they only address one component of the musculoskeletal system.

A close second in usefulness is chiropractic adjustments to the hip, foot and fibular head.  Without proper joint translation of the entire motor chain then soft tissue will be damaged from lack of full range of motion.

Kinesiotaping done properly is also crucial.  I see some hilarious taping renditions at local marathons!  Make sure you get taped by a specialist that really knows anatomy.

Finally, don’t put knee pain off.  That does lead to more drastic measures, always….

www.daywellness.com

The problem is, the information out there, generally is so poor, or so weighted with someone trying to make a sale, people:

1.) End up diagnosing themselves with something far worse than they have.

2.) Make their pain worse by obsessing for hours on the computer.

So where does back pain come from.  Why do we have millions of dollars in healthcare spent every year on back surgeries and pain medications.

Because we’ve failed to take a functional look at the pain, and most practitioners limit themselves to several modalities only for treating numerous causes of the same pain.

Here’s a quick list of common causes of back pain.

1.) Decreased hallux dorsiflexion (aka your big toe doesn’t bend.)  Limiting hip extension on walking.

2.) Tight calves

2.) Weak Tibialis Anterior

3.)Tight Quads/Psoas Major

4.)Hip Rotation(usually from one tight and one weak hip) Usually involves other muscles up and down the bodies muscular chains.

5.) Pelvic rotation(aka your hips always turn one way) Can be caused by seated posture, or any of thee above.

6.) Birth Trauma, Falls during childhood.

7.) Previous Accidents, causing scar tissue accumulation.

8.) Hip hiking(usually from one quadratus lumborum, or latissimus)

You get the picture!

All of these cause Spinal Subluxations, or Joint Pathology to occur.  But the  BIG IDEA HERE IS NERVOUS SYSTEM DYSFUNCTION!!!!

If you don’t take anything else away from this it’s that most injuries are LARGELY DUE TO NERVOUS SYSTEM DYSFUNCTION.  Mainly once movment stops, it’s literally like a switch gets turned off to some very important nerves in your joints called:

Mechanoreceptors:

Proprioceptors: Position, balance nerves.

While more switches get turned on to

Nociceptors: pain Nerves

Your brain is not firing out to your nerves properly.  Causing

Histopatholical-scar tissue, fibrosis

Inflammatory-proliferation of inflammatory mediators: nFKB, substance P

All this gets registered in the brain, and your experience Pain!

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i first got this idea for myself after playing the wii fit.  The computer kept me accountable to my exercises.  Without it I had no idea with my busy schedule, when the last time was that I’d taken time for myself.

You calendar is the KEY to your compliance.

Without it you

1.) won’t keep up with regular well visits to your Chiropractor

2.) Won’t exercise

3.) Will lose track of what you’re eating

4.) Will get very busy, very fast, with no quiet time for emotional and spiritual health.

I like to keep my daily calendar in categories.  Each day is split into:

Physical:

Emotional:

Social:

Spiritual:

Nutritional:

I then write out from each category for each day, what I did towards wellness or healing.

Physical:  Chiropractic visits, massage, Yoga, Sleep hours, Foam Rolling, Acupuncture visits,

Emotional: Microbreaks, Biofeedback,

Social:  Dinner with Family, Surfing with friends

Spiritual:  Prayer, Devotion, Gratitude Exercise

Use your imagination!  You can write whatever you want.  The key is set new weekly goals.  I even write sets and reps to exercises I did, length of runs, and lots of little things that just enriched my life that day.

The Theory being, I am slowly conditioning myself to do the things that are good for me, and not put them off.  As I see progress, and I see what great days I had when I took time for my health, I’m more prone to continue in the future.

1.)Get a calendar and keep track of every “enriching” thing you do for yourself each day (time with family/friends, prayer, walk in nature, long dinner with no t.v. etc.)

2.) Set a phone alarm for every 1/2 hour and think of five things you are thankful for, and then spend one minute praying for your healing.  When you comply write this down in your calendar or logbook as well. Article on prayer and Physician Rx of prayer  http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/491362

3.)Assist in other healing.  Get outside yourself and problems and volunteer once a month to those in need.  Compassion has amazing healing benefits.

4.)Take an information fast.  Limit computer, newspaper, and t.v time to only the bare necessity or none at all.  Do only things that enrich or “fill your cup”.  Keep track in your calendar how many hours were spent in each category.

5.)Make short term goals for your healing.  Focus on small steps and milestones, to keep from getting discouraged and giving up.

You won’t have to do this forever!  Once habits are formed it will feel natural to do these steps.  How can this possibly heal back pain or hormone problems?  That might be too much for this article alone, but think of it this way.

Spending time enriching the mind—————–feeds the spirit——————–feeding the spirit changes the way we feel emotionally or our “mind”—————the mind causes our nervous system to fire——————–the nervous system directs hormone function and cell function————–which effects how we feel.

From a more scientific perspective, we are working on the Limbic-Hypo-Pituitary-Adrenal axis.  When we change our stress response and stress perception, the stress hormones no longer fire excess.  This has profound effects on inflammation, which drives almost all disease (look for future articles on this topic)

The key is to START NOW.  Don’t put it off, grab a notebook/calendar and start.

Healing takes place in the mind, body and spirit.

1.) Mind:  Fear is inevitable during a healing process.  Will I ever feel better?  What if something’s seriously wrong?  I have had patients initiate care at the same time and almost identical injury, one with faster outcomes.  Why? One patient trusted in their healing process, the other feared the worst constantly.  It is a battle to stay uplifted, but it helps when we manage our mind through journaling, goal setting, and visualization.  Prayer, Meditation, and Giving thanks our integral to healing as well.

As well, I have found heart rate variability a priceless biofeedback tool for managing the mind.

The last problem is compliance…..I teach a patient a new breathing exercise and they do not do it for a whole week.  This often requires some deeper thought…..is the patient self sabotaging their healing? Do they feel they don’t deserve to feel well?  Are they outputting all their energy to others?  Addicted to “busyness”

Commit Baby!

Lastly don’t try to heal on your own.  Believe me I have tried.  Get outside of yourself.  Staying on the internet scouring for answers is a dead-end.  You need a mentor, a guide, and someone trained to “assist” in your healing.  Whether a Holistic Chiropractor, Osteopath, Naturopath, or even Medical Doctor in your area.

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Oh and one last thing to get your pumped….cause healing takes guts….”Rise Up

“Rise Up
don’t falling down again
Rise Up
long time I broke Its chains.
I try to fly a while so high
direction sky
I try to fly a while so high
direction sky

My dream is to fly
Over the rainbow so high”

stay tuned for part 2

Why?  Because we are taking a holistic approach to their pain.  Pain is a neural signal when their is imbalance in the body that has been there for excessive amount of time.  Excessive can be defined in length of time, or intensity of load.  A back injury (motor vehicle accident, falls, sports injury) would be categorized as intensity of load.  But chronic back pain is even trickier.  This is imbalance over length of time.  This means the neural firing pattern is now hardwired into the brain and spinal cord as memory.

There is never a single cause for chronic back pain,  I repeat there is never a single cause for chronic back pain.  It’s usually an interconnecting web of:

Poor Posture

Muscle Imbalance

Central Sensitization (the brain remembering pain)

Scar tissue proliferation

Fascial adhesions

Joint misalignment/Chiropractic Subluxation

Stress

Dietary Inflammation

Sleep Deprivation

What do we know from the research?  That Chiropractic helps back and neck pain hands down, across the board.  It helps it even more when mixed with muscle balancing.  It helps it most with the previous and exercise.

We have gotten into a diagnostic rut in this society today that we want to label our injuries and have them fixed fast.  But solutions for back and neck pain, rarely come with a diagnosis.  Instead they come by interconnecting the web of causality and then fixing each imbalance to gain a synergistic healing.

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