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Fractures, Sprains and Chiropractic

chiropractic sprains fracturesCan Chiropractic help with a fracture (the medical term for any broken bone)? No, of course not! But Chiropractic can help if you’ve had a fracture, it has healed, but it still just doesn’t feel right.

Obviously the first thing you need to do if you suspect a fracture is go to the hospital and have it treated. Once it has healed and you are able to use it again, you may notice that it is can be painful or uncomfortable at times, or it just doesn’t feel right. If it doesn’t improve then thats when seeing a Chiropractor can be helpful.

When you have a fractured bone it is usually due to a fall. So when you fall and land with enough force to break your bone, it is obviously quite a large force. It is not only the bone that will be injured by this degree of force, there would be a number of surrounding joints and ligaments, tendons and muscles affected by the impact.

These muscles and tendons will very likely be strained, while the joints can be jarred, inflamed and possibly in slight misalignment. This will result in the joints in the area not moving freely, so when moving that part of your body, it will feel tight and restricted, and even painful. The muscles would also feel sore and possibly spasmed.

Similarly, spraining a joint can impact on surrounding joints, muscles and ligaments. Seeing a Chiropractor soon after having such an injury is important as it can improve the rate of healing, as well as reduce the level of pain. A sprain is essentially due to overstretching of a joint and hence the ligament crossing that joint will be strained, sprained or in extreme cases, torn. This overstretching of the joint will impact the alignment of that joint, and then this misalignment will continue to put some strain on the ligament. This ongoing strain can reduce the ability of the ligament to heal.

The misalignment of the joint can also produce pain, so treating the misalignment will reduce the pain, and improve the overall function. This is particularly the case when its an ankle that has been sprained (which is very common) as there are so many bones around the ankle there is potential for many joints to become affected. Then as a secondary problem, if there is some changes in the alignment of the foot joints, then the body will be compensating because of pain and also poor biomechanics, which can result in pain and inflammation in the knees or back.

Chiropractic care can be very effective in correcting these joint misalignments and so it makes sense to have some Chiropractic care at some stage after an injury such as a fracture or sprain to improve healing, decrease pain and improve overall function.

Chiropractic and Pregnancy

Pregnancy-chiropracticYour body goes through many changes during pregnancy, and it is amazing at how well it adapts and accommodates for the increasing size of the baby, and then in preparation for the birthing process. Chiropractic can be helpful in several ways as your body goes through these changes.

As the baby grows your body is having to carry more weight which will put some strain on your body especially the lower back. With the increased size of the baby naturally your stomach enlarges which causes your centre of gravity to a more forward position. Then as the baby gets even larger it will often push on different structures of your body, this will commonly affect your ribs, particularly at the front, as they try to accommodate the baby. Then, close to the end of the pregnancy ligaments begin to loosen in preparation for the birth, and this can make the pelvis feel loose and unstable.

All these factors can and often do create some aches and pains, particularly if you have a history of back pain, but they are all things that can be gently treated with Chiropractic. Chiropractic helps by allowing the pelvis, back and ribs to remain mobile, which assists it in smoothly adapting through the process of those changes. as stable as possible. This helps to minimise any aches and pains that occur in this time, and keeps the muscles relaxed and loose. By keeping these joints moving well during pregnancy will make it easier for you to keep active and exercising which can help lead to having an easier labor.

Chiropractic can also help post pregnancy. After giving birth some women can feel very unstable in the pelvis, or they may have a separation and inflammation of the pubic bones. Then breastfeeding and even carrying a baby can often result in upper back and shoulder pain and stiffness. Chiropractic care is very effective in helping your body cope with these new postures and tasks, and generally getting your body back to its healthy and balanced state.

 

Can Chiropractic help a sprained ankle

ankle

Can Chiropractic help a sprained ankle?

A sprain is an injury to a ligament that involves that ligament being stretched beyond its normal range, often resulting in some degree of tearing. Chiropractic care can not directly help the ligament, but  Chiropractic can improve the environment of the ligament and so assist in its healing indirectly. The force required to cause this type of injury will no doubt have jarred and impacted on the other structures at the ankle, namely the many bones and joints that make up the ankle and foot. The jarring to these joints will commonly affect the relationship of the bones to each other and so the integrity of the joints. This would upset the mechanics of the ankle and foot as a whole resulting in changes in mobility,  impaired circulation and drainage and often pain. By improving the biomechanics of the foot and ankle using chiropractic techniques, these factors normalise which allows the the area to heal better and much faster.

 

Chiropractic for Arthritis

Health In The Bay Tomato in HandsDo you experience pain, swelling or stiffness in your joints? Do you find it difficult to walk up stairs or open jars?
If so, you may be one of 3.85 million Australians affected by arthritis, one of the major causes of disability and chronic pain in Australia.

Arthritis comes in many different forms, all of which can have a major impact on your quality of life. It is a condition of the joints that causes the cartilage lining the joint surfaces to slowly wear out. This may then result in stiffness, swelling and pain. The decreases in mobility of the joints also have a high tendency to affect the biomechanics of the spine as well as other joints of the body. For example, if you have arthritis in the knee, it can also affect the mechanics of your hip joints which will ultimately have a big impact on the biomechanics of the spine.

How can we help?

Many studies have shown Chiropractic to be remarkably effective in managing arthritis and its symptoms. With regular chiropractic care, the body will be able to do better what it has always been designed to do, to move! The joints will move more freely with lesser restrictions and less pain. Furthermore, we also detect and correct misalignments in the spine that is directly or indirectly affected by the arthritis. Having a properly aligned and functioning spine means increasing life energy in the nerves supplying every organ, cell and tissue of the body. This promotes your body’s natural ability to heal itself as well as increasing the immune system to limit further stress caused by the arthritis.

Chiropractic is a non-invasive method of care, which means we do not utilize medication or anti-inflammatory drugs for pain relief, therefore reducing any harmful side effects that can be associated with these drugs.

Combined with a positive focus and nutritious diet and exercise, Chiropractic provides a healthy lifestyle change that will get you going again!

 

Why do we get Back Pain?

Pain is very important to us. It is the body’s warning signal to us that something is not right. It is a signal that usually makes us stop and take notice and then hopefully take action to change it.
Health In The Bay spoonBack pain can come from several structures. The spine is made of 24 moving bones which are interconnected at joints, called Facet Joints, along the back of the spine. Between the ends of the bones in the spine there is a disc which is soft to allow mobility as well as shock absorption.
If the Facet Joints are not moving freely then there will be irritation at these nerve-rich joints, resulting in pain.
The same change in movement in the joints, or acute trauma, can result in the dics becoming inflamed and swollen, or even ruptured. The disc can then push on the nerve exiting the spine, again resulting in pain.
Together with these issues the muscles along the spine will spasm which is again a common source of back pain and stiffness.
Chiropractic care has helped many people with these problems by utilising appropriate techniques which improve the movement of the facet joints and the relationship between the vertebrae of the spine, hence reduce any of these sources of pain. If you don’t already have a Chiropractor, or would like to try a different approach schedule an appointment today.

How does chiropractic work?

Health In The Bay rainbowOur Musculoskeletal system (ie our muscles and skeleton) is what allows us to stand, be upright and move. Musculoskeletal symptoms are what we often feel as pain in muscles and joints, and as stiffness. Through everyday stress on our bodies, such as poor posture, sustained work postures, minor bumps and falls and strains, our musculoskeletal system can become unbalanced.
This means that the relationship between the muscle and skeleton is not ideal, and this system then does not work efficiently or ergonomically, resulting in these symptoms of pain and mucsle spasms.

Chiropractic is the art and science of determining where these imbalances lie, where they have originated and why they have occurred. Then with the use of simple techniques applied to the muscles or joints, the body is able to rebalance and so function more normally and therefore function without any pain or muscle tightness.