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Acupuncture for Neck and Shoulder pain

acupuncture neck shoulderNeck and shoulder tension is one of the banes of modern life – when severe, the pain often extends down the arms and also can lead to headaches and jaw stiffness. It can really limit your life. But you don’t have to be stuck with it!

Acupuncture is great for melting those knots. Within 4-6 treatments we usually see substantial relief, with the hard areas becoming much looser. The time taken for this to happen depends on how long the tension has been there for, and how severe it is.

The treatments are very gentle – Acupuncture use extremely fine needles that you barely notice, plus moxibustion, a form of herbal heat treatment. The combination works really well in relaxing muscles, especially in the shoulders and neck

During a treatment, our Acupunctuirists uses a combination of Acupuncture points specifically targeted at any imbalance underlying the muscle stiffness, as well as local points to bring fast relief. We also look at lifestyle measures to help prevent the problem recurring.

Tara is a Registered Acupuncturist with many years’ experience in treating neck and shoulder issues. Health-fund rebates are available for Acupuncture treatments.

 

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.