Ventura Chiropractor

Introduction

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is the most common nerve entrapment disorder. As the name implies, these conditions come about when a nerve is trapped or constricted between other tissues of the body causing irritation and dysfunction of the nerve.

Anatomy

The carpal tunnel is embedded within the underside of the wrist. It is a tunnel, or passage, through which the Median nerve journeys on its way to energize and animate the hand and fingers. In addition to the median nerve, the carpal tunnel contains the nine tendons of the forearm muscles that are responsible for bending and flexing of the fingers and thumb. Also within the tunnel are arteries and lymphatic vessels that deliver circulation to the hand. The bottom and sides of this tunnel are formed by wrist bones and the top of the tunnel is covered by a heavy band of connective tissue called the transverse carpal ligament. The carpal tunnel is a thickly-packed space about the size of an index finger. The flexor tendons, arteries and median nerve are intended to glide without friction past each other during wrist and finger movement.

If the size of the tendon enlarges due to irritation or overuse, or if the carpal tunnel size shrinks because of  an improper use of the carpal bones, the median nerve can become squeezed or entrapped by the carpal tunnel. The early symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome as a general rule include pain, numbness, paraesthesia (pins and needles) and tingling in the fingers and hands especially the thumb and adjacent two fingers.  These symptoms are especially noticeable in the night and often wake people from their sleep as the individual has to sit up in bed and shake-out and/or rub the hands in order decrease these unpleasant feelings.  In addition, activity can cause the hands to feel clumsy or weak, and fatigue easily. Over time, the ability to grasp small objects using the thumb and fingers can be affected dramatically and if left untreated, can lead to total dysfunction of the hand.

The following are general causes and corresponding conditions:

• repetitive and forceful grasping with the hands

• prolonged computer usage especially with poor wrist position

• activities that require repetitive bending of the wrist

• broken or dislocated bones in the wrist which produce swelling

• arthritis, especially the rheumatoid type

• thyroid gland imbalance

• sugar diabetes

• hormonal changes associated with menopause or pregnancy

Though any of the causes and conditions listed can be partly responsible for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, often the actual root cannot be found. However, people who perform jobs that require use of vibration tools and machinery, and/or work in extreme temperatures are often subjected to this condition.  In addition, repetitive housework as seemingly inconsequential as wringing clothes by hand, can bring on carpal tunnel symptoms. However, the continuing increase in computer use is the most compelling explanation for the number of individuals who are suffering with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome today. This is becoming a major concern in the developed world where people of all ages are spending much of their time typing on a keyboard & clicking on a mouse.

Treatment

Competent diagnosis and treatment is vital to relieving the painful and debilitating symptoms of CTS. Your Ventura Chiropractor is highly skilled in the diagnosis and managment of CTS. Chiropractors are equipped to deal with this problem and can offer many sufferers with relief.  Treatment by chiropractor can include ultrasound or low level laser to help reduce inflammation, electro therapy to strengthen weak muscles of the forearm, soft tissue massage to stretch contracted tissues and, of course, adjustments of the dysfunctional joints of the wrist. You might be advised to wear a splint or support, especially at night, to help retain the wrist in a neutral position to decompress the carpal tunnel. Your Ventura Chiropractor will also give you specific exercises to stretch and/or strengthen muscles of the forearm and hand.

Of course, some ascribe way too much ability to these professionals as well, and many a chiropractor will be quick to point out to you that working in concert with other medical professionals will bring about great results, while relying on only one aspect of medicine will severely limit the outcome.

A chiropractor – just like any other health professional – will listen intently to the complaints of the patient and will seek to build a picture of the individual’s health, past as well as present. Yet unlike a medical professional who will order a series of blood tests to determine if there are any abnormalities in the white cell count that could hint toward infection or perhaps any other problems such as hormonal imbalances, the chiropractor will seek to ascertain if there dysfunctions of the soft tissues, the skeleton, or perhaps any nerves running along the spinal area.

Once a diagnosis is arrived at, the chiropractor will not put you on a drug regimen or give you a number of injections. In addition to the foregoing, your chiropractor will most likely not encourage you to change your environment to such an extent as to not aggravate your condition any further. On the contrary, she or he will work hard to help your body to once again regain its former abilities – obviously within the limitations of you current age and overall state of health.

Treatment will generally involve gentle and sometimes stronger manipulations of the spine. What is colloquially referred to as “bone cracking” is really a much more refined technique of realigning vertebrae that are no longer properly stacked. The goal of this kind of treatment is taking the musculoskeletal system back to the shape in which it is supposed to be, and then allowing nerves and tissues to follow along and once again retake their natural position. For those who have lived with a disjointed spine for a while, this may take a few visits, especially if the tissues and tendons have worked hard to compensate for the misaligned vertebrae for a long period of time.

It is true that sometimes these adjustments are painful. This is not always the case, of course, but when a body has to relearn a proper gait, a way to throw a ball or simply the act of setting one foot in front of the other, the learning curve may be prolonged and at times rather uncomfortable. Yet these moments pale when compared to the many instances where pain is reduced simply because the body is retrained to function normally.

Furthermore, because of the advanced health care system, you will most likely live much longer than even the generation before you. Who will keep you healthy? Whose advice can you rely on to keep you active even as your body ages? The answer might surprise you: your chiropractor is ready to help you with treatment and advice to ensure that you will be enjoying the golden age in good health.

Chiropractors know that it is tempting for seniors to become content with simply sitting out exercise and thus gradually allow their physical health to go by the wayside. Instead, they seek to actively encourage seniors to continue exercising, and if they have never been big on exercise in the first place, the chiropractor will want you to know that it is never too early to start. Granted, exercises need to be modified to suit the age of the senior as well as the level of capabilities. Yet advanced age is absolutely no reason to stop your fitness regimen. Here is some chiropractic advice for seniors:

* Understand why exercise is so healthy for you. It is not enough to have someone tell you that you need to exercise if you do not in your heart of hearts agree.

* Do not fall into the trap of believing that you have to join a gym in order to get started, instead, you will be able to enjoy healthy exercises by doing simple stretches. These stretches will prevent your ligaments from growing shorter and they are quite easy to do. Sit on the floor and bend your legs to the side on at a time. Do not worry if you cannot stretch as far as perhaps your neighbor or best friend; if you stay with the regimen, you will find that with time you will be able to stretch further and further.

* Did you know that you can even stretch while you are watching television? Simply sit on a pillow in front of the television in a criss-cross seat. That is all!

* Walk to your heart’s content! Chiropractors point out time and again that walking is the best kind of exercise as long as you follow a few simple guidelines, such as purchasing a good walking shoe and replacing it whenever it becomes too worn to effectively cradle your foot and keep it and your ankle safe. As you begin a walking regimen, do not overdo it! Instead, start out slow and with short distances and gradually work up to longer time periods and also greater distances.

Make certain that you keep in good contact with your chiropractor. If you find that your exercise is causing you to experience pain – whether back pain or neck pain – it is imperative that you document the time and causation of the occurrence so that your chiropractor will be able to not only help your aching back to feel better, but to also help you find ways of ensuring that you will no longer do things in such a manner as to experience such pain.

The art of balancing alternative medicine with the breakthroughs of medical science has become the new mission of chiropractics, and while some individual practitioners appear to be more adept at it than others, it is safe to say that this facet of chiropractic care is not due to change any time soon.

What made the need for this adaptation painfully obvious was the day that chiropractors were one day pushed into the role of being primary care physicians, and as such had to realize the limitations that were part and parcel of their profession – not only self imposed, but also imposed by insurance companies who would want to see results with a minimum of office visits and tests. As such, many a chiropractor felt the pressure to work with other health care professionals and while in many cases this might mean that their patients are still subjected to drug regimens, shots and even surgeries, the chiropractic professional has realized that there is actually a lot benefit to be reaped by the average patient who is able to have the best of both worlds.

Granted, there are still some purists who deny the idea that medicine of the conventional kind can be balanced with the pure holistic approach, but generally speaking those are in the minority. It is noteworthy that many chiropractors actually rely on the findings of their conventional counterparts to arrive at proper assessments of their patients themselves. Add to this the fact that the way that bodily structures and also the body’s neurological aspects can now be treated with advanced methodology brought about conventional medicine’s advancement, and it is not surprising that chiropractors no longer see established medicine as the enemy but instead as a spring board from which they can leap just a bit further in the pursuit of the perfect mode of patient treatment.

Chiropractors to this day will avoid the usage of any drugs and instead seek to counsel patients to help the body heal itself with the help of alternative methods. Many chiropractors to this end have a working relationship with an acupuncturist, health food counselor, and also aroma therapist so that the mind as well as the body can be treated. Yet unlike the old days, chiropractors have come to respect medical science as an authority that not only delivers many worthy components for a patient’s care, but in many ways also makes the work of a chiropractor a lot easier.

Yet instead of doing so, those who perceive the call for chiropractics find that they might have a different mission in life; as a matter of fact, rather than simply viewing modern medicine as the panacea for all that ails people, chiropractors see themselves as members of a healing art, not a healing science.

To this end they focus on the patient as a whole, not simply on a limb or physiological system that appears to be adversely affected. Thus, aspiring chiropractors enjoy the study of other aspects of medicine – such as geriatrics and neurology – since they believe that all things that make up a patient as a human being will also factor into healing this individual. Chiropractic colleges therefore offer comprehensive curricula to their students which stress the relationship that exists between the way that the human body will function on a day to day basis and the structure of the body that helps it to function. In other words, a chiropractor is familiar with the skeleton as well as the nerves and the muscles and the way each element supports another, or, on the other hand, how they may detract functionality from one another. As such, chiropractic students time and again receive training that emphasizes the relationship and seeks out new avenues for students to help suffering patients.

Since chiropractics are becoming more and more a mainstream medical occupation, there are now a number of insurance companies who accept chiropractors as primary care physicians. As such, it falls to the chiropractor to ascertain when a patient will need to see an internist, or when simple chiropractic manipulation will not be enough to heal. It is thus not surprising that this put many of the old school chiropractors at odds with the established medical disciplines, simply because the animosity has existed for so long between the healing arts and healing sciences. Those who now undergo a course of study in chiropractics understand that both sides of the medical isle must work together and to do so takes not only an understanding of the healing sciences but also knowledge of the limitations that may be found within chiropractics. Thus, in many ways the students who are learning about their craft do not only pursue the course of study to successfully heal patients, but also to understand at which point in time they will need to work together with other health care professionals to truly afford their patients the healing they need as well as the healing that they can give them.

Those who seek chiropractors often suffer from musculoskeletal ailments that involve bones, connective tissue (cartilages), joints, ligaments, muscles and tendons. There is a risk of injury from having your neck adjusted and a lower risk from having your back adjusted. You should investigate these risks before agreeing to participate in this therapy. It is also important to let your entire healthcare team know about all treatments you are thinking about engaging in.

Chiropractics believe that the structure of the body and the corresponding function are connected. They also believe that the body has an amazing ability to heal itself. The primary goal of chiropractic therapy is to help the body to heal by assisting the relationship between structure and function.

The most common complaint of those using chiropractic services is chronic low back pain. Other reasons for seeing a chiropractic doctor are: headaches, neck pain, repetitive action pain, and sports injuries. Patients being treated may also receive the following treatments: acupuncture, counseling is available for diet issues including weight loss, electrical stimulation, heat or ice, homeopathy, and also supplements. This is a type of healthcare where the patients overall health and well-being is concentrated on and the emphasis is placed on providing natural, drug-free, non-surgical treatments that focus on the natural ability of the human body to heal itself. Therapy can include use of water, light, massage, ultrasound as well as different types of support materials like braces and tapes. The patient may be counseled on total life wellness regarding diet, lifestyle, and how to manage stress.

Patients should know that chiropractic is state regulated. Chiropractics are licensed and most states do require them to continue to maintain their licenses by attending continuing education classes. Each state determines what services a chiropractor operating in their state can provide. Not all states license chiropractics to perform all services, so patients should check with any chiropractic organizations in their state to find out what applies to their state. There are no states in the U.S.A. in which chiropractors can be licensed to perform major surgery or to prescribe drugs to their clients.

More than 50% of all HMO’s and 75% of all private health care plans cover chiropractic services. Patients need to check with their individual health plans to see if they are covered before they receive treatments. All states in the U.S.A. have worker’s compensation benefits for chiropractic services and chiropractic services can be billed to Medicare and most states allow chiropractic services to be billed to Medicaid. Depending on your plan of coverage your treatments may be required to be approved in advance may be limited as to the number of visits covered or there may be rules about using in network chiropractic practitioners. It is always wise to call your health care plan administrator or customer service number and ask questions before receiving treatment.