Wichita Chiropractor

I understand from over twenty years experience as a Chiropractor in Wichita assisting patients suffering from the pain of sciatica that the problem can be extremely disabling. Sciatica sufferers are regrettably all too familiar with the deep radiating pain that accompanies their waking hours each day and restricts almost all of their daily activities.

Could your low back pain be caused by sciatica? If your pain radiates from your low back, through your buttock(s), down the large sciatic nerve in the back of one or both legs, and possibly radiates into one or both knees, it is likely that you have sciatica. Moreover, sitting, as well as activity, can be painful. Frequently lying down will decrease, or perhaps even temporarily eliminate the pain. However, you should be aware that sciatica cannot be corrected without proper management.

Radiculopathy

One of the clinical diagnoses of sciatica is referred to as a “radiculopathy”, a medical term that means simply that a disc has protruded from its natural position in the vertebral column and is pressing on the radicular nerve (nerve root) in the lower back, which forms part of the sciatic nerve. This type of pressure is extremely painful.

Increased pressure on the intervertebral discs, as well as imbalances in the muscles surrounding the spine, can happen during and after prolonged sitting, especially in an improper position. A particular event or injury isn’t generally the cause of sciatica, instead sciatica has a tendency to evolve over time as a result of ordinary wear and tear on the structures of the lower spine. Eventually the lower spine can lose its normal functioning capabilities during ordinary stresses.

Ultimately, the intervertebral disc incurs small fissures or cracks that then permit the soft nucleus to protrude the disc outward. Pain is generated as the disc pushes on sensitive tissues. This condition is often referred to as a ruptured, or slipped, disc. If the disc presses on the spinal nerve, a person can develop sciatica. Fortunately, most disc conditions, including sciatica, can be significantly decreased with chiropractic treatment and management that frequently includes postural exercises.

Periformis Syndrome

Another condition that creates sciatic pain is periformis syndrome. Periformis syndrome occurs when the periformis muscle, for any reason, goes into spasm and irritates the sciatic nerve, is superficial to the nerve Along with chiropractic adjustments, this kind of sciatica can be significantly relieved by sciatica stretches that your chiropractor will advise you on.

If you are experiencing sciatic pain, it is crucial for you to see your chiropractor for treatment. If you are in the Wichita area, as your Chiropractor in Wichita, I look forward to helping you to get out of pain and get your life back!

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Are you sidelined by tension headaches? Do they cause you to be absent from work or ineffective while you’re there? Do they interfere with your family and social life? Most people have experienced more than one tension headache in their life. If you are someone who’s had a tension headache, then you know that the pain usually feels like an intense, but dull ache in your head. Such pain is commonly accompanied by a sensation of tightness or pressure along the forehead or on the sides and back of the head. Sometimes, you might feel a tenderness of your scalp, neck and shoulder muscles, and periodically you may experience a loss of appetite or even nausea.

Most tension headaches are defined as mild to moderately intense, but the severity of the pain varies from one person to another, and can vary from one headache to another in the same person. Would you describe your tension headaches as occurring frequently? Did you know that if your headaches take place fifteen or more days a month for a minimum of three months, they’re viewed by healthcare professionals as chronic?

The good news is that if tension headaches are interfering with your life, once in a while or chronically, chiropractic treatment can help. For over twenty years Dr. Helwig has been helping the Oak Lawn Community to get out of pain, whether an individual is suffering from back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, hip pain, knee pain, foot pain, and headaches. That right! Chiropractors don’t just treat back pain. They address the entire musculoskeletal system!

So, if you are suffering from tension headaches that have kept you from living your life fully, call your Chiropractor in Oak Lawn today. Get your life back!

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Chiropractic Marketing

Social Media is the “hottest” buzz word on the Internet today. For those of you who would like to consider Social Media marketing as an adjunct to your overall chiropractic internet marketing strategy, but aren’t really sure what all the buzz is about, let’s take a minute to talk about the “Who, What, When, Where, and How” of social media and you, that’s “Who.”

Social media marketing may seem familiar in some aspects to other chiropractic marketing strategies you’ve engaged in in the past, and yet unfamiliar at the same time. In the “familiar” category, you wouldn’t consider any type of marketing plan without making an effort to understand what you’re doing and what you want to get from it. What are your goals? Once you’re clear about what you want, you’ll be able to use social media to your best advantage.

When you are ready to begin your social media effort, but before you start, you will need to make certain that you “own your name” on all the social media outlets, i.e., make sure that your name or your clinic’s name is available so that you can use the exact same name on all of the social channels you desire to use. When you’re ready, there’s a service, which is totally free, that can assist you with your search. Knowem.com is the who to go to. This service will research where your name is and/or if it’s available or not on a large number of social media sites.

The next step, once you have all your social media accounts “locked up”, is to make a decision as to where you want to be active. Starting with only a small number of social media sites is preferable because, let’s face it, you have a clinic to run and patients to see. You won’t want to get involved in too many social media sites. How do decide which sites are best for you? The big ones (where most of the action is) are facebook, twitter, linkedin, and Youtube.

What your social media activity goal should be is to build a real presence in your community. What is definitely a no-no is for you to try to “sell” on your social media sites, which is to say don’t sell your clinic, don’t sell services or products, don’t sell anything! The benefit of social media is for you to go out and network with the community. Of course, inform them about what you do, but do it by becoming a participant. There is truly no difference between the way social networking works and the way you normally network offline. There is no getting around it, people on social media do not want to be sold to! Social media sites are very much like a neighborhood backyard barbecue. People are standing around talking about who they are and what they do, and then a person asks you what you do. Or, perhaps you begin the conversation by (just) stating, “Hello, I’m Dr. ____. The same kind of interaction applies with social media. Social media sites should be handled the same way you’d “work” offline networking opportunities to promote yourself, i.e., answer the questions and concerns that let people know who you are and gets them interested in the who that’s you!

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As a chiropractor and healthcare provider, I cannot say enough about the crucial issue of excess weight and how it adversely affects every system of the human body. I “preach” to my overweight patients and hammer away on the subject in my blogs because in addition to the cardio-vascular diseases caused by obesity, much of the back pain, hip pain, and knee pain that people experience is influenced by the undue stress excess weight puts on the joints of the body. And, though it may not surprise you, an expert panel in a report out just today said that people in this country must slash their calories and increase physical activity because the obesity epidemic is “the single greatest threat to public health in this century.” 

We all know that dieting isn’t easy, but the advisory committee for the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans gave this clear-cut advice: “People in this country need to cut the calories they consume from added sugars and solid fats (butter, marbled meats) and start eating a more nutrient-rich, plant-based diet.”

The report called for many changes in the food environment. To read more, go to: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2010-06-15-

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Okay, as a chiropractor I continue to advise my patients, young and old alike, that routine exercise is a vital component to good health. And, since one in three children in the US is either overweight or obese, it’s apparent that getting enough exercise is becoming a national crisis. That said, exercise, especially when it involves sports activities, should be engaged in with the utmost caution. And, not just for the middle-aged “weekend warrior,” but for children as well. In fact, here’s a shocking statistic regarding kids and the “great American pastime”: According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, in 2008, nearly 200,000 children aged 14 and younger, were treated in hospitals, doctor’s offices and emergency rooms for baseball-related injuries.

Why do so many injuries occur? Well, for thing, young athletes today are taking on the kind of intense fitness regimen that can lead to overworked limbs, and overworked limbs, particularly arms overworked from repetitive throwing, can result in injury. In this case, it the old saying “it isn’t whether you win or lose but how you play the game,” couldn’t be more true and truer still is how you practice “pre-game.” Coaches and parents need to advise their young baseball players to not only practice proper form, but to avoid over-exertion. And, kids need to step up and let the coach or a parent know when they’ve had “enough” practice for one day.

The  American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons recommends the following tips, which we, chiropractors, fully support:

• Always take time to warm up and stretch before and after play. Research studies have shown that cold muscles are more prone to injury, specifically:

• If a child is pitching, he should concentrate on stretching his arm, shoulder and back muscles.

• If a child is catching, the focus should be on the legs and back.

• Children should not be encouraged to play through pain. It is important that they take breaks.

• Limit the number of teams on which your child is playing in one season. Kids who play on more than one team are especially at risk for overuse injuries.

• Wear a batting helmet at the plate, in the “on deck” circle waiting for your turn at bat, and during base running.

• Coaches must teach and allow practice of proper sliding techniques before using a bag, including breakaway bases. Players younger than 10 should not be taught to slide.

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Advantages of in-house chiropractic internet marketing

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“Motion is Life.” That is my mission statement as a chiropractor, and my goal is to get as many of my patients as possible moving into pain-free daily exercise routines. There’s just no getting around it, our bodies are meant to move, and when we don’t let them (or in some cases “make them”), every system in our body suffers. Exercising is crucial to our overall well-being, and not just for physical health and strength, but mental “power” as well. In fact, a new study, led by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, has found evidence that regular exercise speeds learning and improves blood flow to the brain.

I’m sure that if you already exercise you are aware that your thinking tends to become more clear and sharp after a good workout and cool down, even though you may have been unaware that by exercising you were actually increasing the volume of blood flowing to your motor cortex. The point is, exercise is clearly a “smart” thing to do. So, keep it up if already exercise, and if you don’t, GET MOVING. But, see your chiropractor first to be sure you’re well-adjusted!

The findings are available in the journal Neuroscience.

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I just read an interesting article in the health section of newyorktimes.com about the “financial” benefits of protecting your joints. As a chiropractor, when it comes to the health of the joints of the musculoskeletal system, protecting the joints from injury and unnecessary wear and tear are key to preventing painful and often debilitating problems as our body ages. As I mentioned in past articles, degenerative arthritis can be appreciably decreased and even avoided with proper education, exercise, and treatment. However, I have found that, unfortunately, it’s hard for people to “get motivated” now to do something about potential problems. But, adding a financial incentive may just do the trick!

Did you know that more than 400,000 people a year have one or more hips or knees replaced? And, did you know that the cost for a new hip or knee is $30,000 to $40,000? Even if you have insurance, your out-of-pocket expenses can still be quite substantial, especially when you include the cost of days off from work.

The article offered several “preventative measures” that might help your joints to stay healthy longer. And, with the exception of its suggestion that glucosamine and chondroitin “probably are of limited benefit,” I am in agreement with the article’s joint protection suggestions.

• control your weight
• stay active in “low impact” exercise and sports
• try to avoid injury
• get fit
• be skeptical*

The article in its entirety is well worth the read (and implementation), even if your current motivation is a only financial one. Click on the link for more information.

* I have witnessed the highly beneficial results of glucosamine ahd chondroitin supplementation.

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Corona Chiropractor

Your Corona Chiropractor offers a highly successful non-surgical, drug-free approach to decreasing hip pain and often eliminating it altogether. As most of us know, surgery should be a last resort whenever possible. So, before you decide on hip surgery, ask yourself the following questions: Does hip pain wake you up in the night and make it impossible for you to get a good night’s sleep? When you arise in the morning, and/or when you get out of your car, are you stiff and do you find it difficult at first to get your legs moving sufficiently? Do you feel pain whenever you rotate or twist them or when you cross your legs? If you’ve answered “yes” to any or all of these questions you probably have asymmetries and misalignments in your lower extremities that are not only causing your hip pain, but can lead to degenerative joint disease in your hips in the future if not treated. The good news is that chiropractic treatment can help whether or not degenerative changes have already taken place!

You may be getting older and it may be true that your hip joints aren’t what they used to be. Nonetheless, are you aware that your hip pain (and related problems), which generally point to age-related degenerative conditions, may not actually be created by osteoarthritis? That’s right. In the majority of cases, as opposed to being the original source of your problem, osteoarthritis of the hip joint is often the outcome of a earlier injury (or injuries) to your hips.

Hip problems commonly have to do with asymmetry or imbalance when you are in motion, like walking for example. If you “pronate” when you walk, like a duck, with your toes pointing away from your body, it is inevitable that you will develop pain in your hips as a result of the asymmetrical stress on your hip joints as your body attempts to compensate. However, you can make changes in your gait pattern at any age, and your chiropractor in Corona can help you to do it.

Moreover, you may have developed gait changes because of an ankle sprain or knee strain, and since “the knee bone’s connected to the hip bone,” these biomechanical alterations generate pain in the hip(s). Of course, if not corrected, your hip joints will suffer further consequences, which is the wear and tear that creates degenerative changes.

Other activities that can occasionally impact the hip joints are starting a new job or beginning a new sport that requires you to move your body in unfamiliar ways. Also, carrying a child (or grandchild) on one hip can create hip pain. Even the way you sit or driving for extended periods of time on a routine basis can cause hip injury and pain.

So you can see that not every pain is caused by “old age,” even though we may experience more pain as the result of the progressive activity of untreated injuries.

In addition to your adjustments, as an integral part of your chiropractic management, your Corona Chiropractor will offer individualized rehabilitative exercises that include gentle muscle stretching and strengthening, and will also evaluate your gait and may offer simple pattern changes.

Your hip pain won’t vanish by itself. Hip pain means that something needs correcting. If neglected, more than likely that at some point you will require that hip replacement surgery. So, don’t put off until tomorrow, what truly needs to be done today. Your Corona Chiropractor can eliminate your hip pain, get your body back into balance, and help you get to back to enjoying your life again!

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