Chiropractor In Raleigh

Welcome to to Health News. Here you will find articles that focus on different areas of your health and wellbeing.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health estimated the incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome among laborers as 23,000 cases annually, although the prevalence may range as high as 230,000 cases. In 1990 it cost U.S. employers alone 20 billion dollars and accounts for 61% of all job injuries in 1991.

It's hard to think of one job that doesn't entail overuse of our wrists. Carpal Tunnel is only one of many wrist and elbow overuse disorders. It must be ruled out from at least nine other musculoskeletal disorders in that same area.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is characterized by numbness, tingling, or burning sensation, weakness of grip strength. It's hard sleeping due to these symptoms. It is caused by pressure on the median nerve just above the wrist. This nerve travels through the carpal tunnel which is bordered by the carpal (wrist) bones and the transverse carpal ligament.

Chiropractic manipulation of the carpal bones and spinal manipulation can be extremely effective for this problem.

Other forms of treatment are steroid injections which do not treat the actual problem and symptoms return. Some recommend surgery which can lead to scarring of the transverse ligament, therefore later causing the symptoms to reoccur. Also surgery may weaken the ligament. As I always say, surgery must be the last resort if conservative treatment fails to correct the problem.

Acupuncture Proven to Relieve Knee Osteoarthritis

A study conducted by the National Institute of Health has revealed that acupuncture provides pain relief and improves function for people suffering from osteoarthritis of the knee. The largest and longest controlled and randomized phase III clinical trial of acupuncture ever conducted, their study followed the progress of 570 patients age 50 or older, with osteoarthritis of the knee. Prior to the study, every participant had significant pain in their knee the month before the study, had never experienced acupuncture, had not had knee surgery in the past six months and had never used steroid injections.

During the study, patients continued to see their primary care physicians and continued to take their routine medications such as anti-inflammatory drugs and COX-2 selective inhibitors. Divided into three groups, one group received "sham" acupuncture, one group received real acupuncture, and the control group followed the Arthritis Foundation's Arthritis Self-Help course

By eight weeks, the group receiving acupuncture was showing a significant increase in function and by week 14 a significant decrease in pain, compared to the sham and control groups. Overall, those receiving true acupuncture had a 40 percent decrease in pain and nearly 40 percent improvement in function.

Nearly 20 million Americans suffer from osteoarthritis, while only an estimated 2.1 million adults in the U.S. use acupuncture. The practice of acupuncture, inserting needles into specific body points to improve health and well-being, originated in China more than 2,000 years ago.

In addition, the combination of Chiropractic treatment with acupuncture is even more beneficial. Chiropractors check all body biomechanics to make sure that a problem in another area of the body, for example low back, or feet, could not be contributing to further degeneration of the knees. We look at the big picture, not to mention Nutrition to the joints to assist the patient in lowering inflammation which causes pain.

And one important thing, NO SIDE AFFECTS.

Are Backpacks Creating Pain For Our Children?

The answer is yes! Back pain is already common among American adults, but the trend seems to be getting younger and younger. Children today are suffering from more back pain than any previous generations. Why the change? A major contributing factor seems to be the giant backpacks students lug to and from class on a daily basis.

According to a recent study conducted in Italy, the average child carries around the equivalent of a 39-pound burden for a 176-pound man or a 29-pound load for a 132-pound woman. Of those children carrying heavy back-packs, 60 percent had experienced back pain as a result. Another study in France concluded that the longer a child wears a heavy backpack, the longer it takes for a curvature or deformity of the spine to correct itself.

Among solutions suggested for the problem, children should carry no more than five to 10 percent of their own body weight on their back, and wear ergonomically designed packs with double padded shoulder straps fitted to hang no more than four inches below a child's waistline.

In 2001 alone, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that backpack related injuries sent more than 7,000 people to the emergency room.