What Causes Dizziness?

Dizziness or vertigo can be caused by many different problems.  This is a very difficult condition to treat, because so many things cause it, and not many of these things show up clearly on tests.

Inner ear infections can cause many problems with balance.  However, I find that this is often a misdiagnosis.  How do you know if you’ve been misdiagnosed?  Well, if you have taken a round of antibiotics, you show no other signs of infection and you are still dizzy, you probably don’t have an inner ear infection.  In my opinion, you need to look elsewhere for the cause.

Dehydration is a very common cause of dizziness.  Many people are dehydrated and don’t know it.  This is caused by the massive consumption of soft drinks, orange juice, coffee and alcohol that make your body lose water.  Dizziness can be a sign that your body has lost too much water and you need to address the issue.

Nerve interference in the cervical spine is by far the most overlooked cause of dizziness and vertigo.  It is very common to have balance disorders after injury to the cervical spine.  When the spine is injured, vertebra can misalign and nerves in the upper cervical area can be stretched or pinched. The nerves in this area carry signals to the brain that help it determine where you are in space. If the nerves are irritated, it can cause signals to be sent to the brain telling it you are somewhere you aren’t.  You then get balance disorders.

Chiropractic adjusting can correct many cases of dizziness and vertigo by removing nerve interference in the upper cervical spine.  When proper nerve function is restored, the positional sense is restored.  And the crazy, out of control feelings stop.

To find out more about how we treat dizziness log onto www.stopvertigonow.com and order our free report.

Or, if you would like to sit down and talk to me about how I treat vertigo call 262-251-8306 and talk to Jennifer or Leah.  They can set up a Free no-obligation consultation with me, we can talk about your situation and see if I can help.

Fibromyalgia and Cord Compression?

Fibromyalgia is a difficult problem to diagnose or determine its cause. Since exercises, diet, and weight loss can be so helpful to fibromyalgia patients, we may think they can completely solve the problem.  But often they don’t.

Chiropractors recognize the importance of good spinal posture in affecting a variety of health problems, including fibromyalgia. It’s important to not think of the disease as having a single solution, but rather as a more complex entity, needing a comprehensive approach. But is there any research on the spine being involved in patients with fibromyalgia?

Recent research (Holman AJ. Positional cervical spinal cord compression and fibromyalgia: a novel comorbidity with important diagnostic and treatment implications. J Pain 2008; May 20 epub.) has looked into a specific  problem seen in fibromyalgia patients: spinal cord compression. The scientist took MRIs of fibromyalgia patients with the neck in different positions such as max forward and backward bend. These positions can show the spinal cord is compressed/pinched where a neutrally positioned MRI or CT scan may not. In the study, 71% of patients with fibromyalgia had positional cervical spinal cord compression.

So what does this mean? It means if you have fibromyalgia there may be an undetected cervical compression problem that may also be affecting you.

Good neck posture and mobility are keys to good health. We can diagnose your condition and see if there is a spinal component to your problem that may have been overlooked. Sometimes it’s the low back pain that keeps us from exercising and ultimately getting rid of the fibromyalgia-inactivity-pain cycle. And, as the research above suggests, maybe the problem is in the neck and this needs to be addressed in a specific and comprehensive manner. Sometimes immobility in one area of the spine is compensated for in another, which can make your ability to heal somewhat lessened. Maybe the neck has been a concern of yours for a long time since the fibromyalgia symptoms came on following a neck trauma such as a whiplash. If you also suffer from headaches and have spinal pain, these are important clues that some of your symptoms may be spinally related.

It’s important to view your fibromyalgia symptoms from a global perspective, and not just think of one isolated issue as the root cause, and the only place where treatment needs to be directed.

To get more FREE information on how fibromyalgia can be treated without drugs or surgery log on to www.stopyourfibronow.com.

If you would like a complimentary consultation to begin to address your health concerns, just give Leah or Jennifer a call at 262-251-8306 to make an appointment.

Nutrition Information…Who Can You Trust?

The internet is full of information on nutrition.  Some is good.  Some not so good.  When you add in all the info. on TV, radio and newspaper, it can get overwhelming.  Its hard to know who to trust.

My favorite resource is the Price/Pottenger Nutritional Institute.  Found at www.ppnf.org.

I like them because they have been around a long time, their approach is fairly simple and the research done today is confirming what Dr. Price and Dr. Pottenger were advocating over 50 years ago.

Dr. Weston Price was a dentist.  He traveled the world studying different groups of people in order to find out what the healthiest people ate.  He found that people that had no cavities, no arthritis, good bone structures and good longevity ate pretty much the same things.  They ate meat (some of it raw), vegetables, fruit, nuts, sprouted whole grains and raw dairy products.  As soon as a culture started eating refined grains, sugar, cooked dairy and overcooked meat, they began to fall apart.  Literally.  He observed cavities, birth defects, arthritis and weak immune systems as a result of bad diet.

He predicted that due to the way we eat, America as a nation would not only become very sick physically, but also mentally and morally.  Well… all you have to do is look at what has happened to America over the last 50 years and you will see that he was correct.

Dr. Pottenger was a neurological researcher who did a lot of work with cats.  He found that he could induce many types of diseases by feeding the cats diets that were missing key nutrients. Without key nutrients, the cats DNA would become damaged.  So, the cats would pass these diseases along to their off-spring.

He believed that humans did the same thing when they ate bad diets.  But, the good news was that he found that if he switched the cats back to healthy diets, the DNA would repair itself.  These findings were confirmed by studies done at the University of Wisconsin some 50 years later.

The principles these two doctors believed in are what guides the Price-Pottenger Nutritional Foundation today.  On their web-site you can find all kinds of different information and books to help guide you on your way to eating healthy.  I use their principles and they work very well.  Trust me.

If you are interested in any more information or any of the services we offer, you can check out some of our other blog posts, or  you can call Jennifer or Leah at 262-251-8306 and set up a FREE consultation and posture evaluation to see if I can help you get pain free-great posture.

Article by Dr. Paul Kramer, DC of Menomonee Falls WI

What Causes Poor Posture?

Poor posture is commonly caused by misaligned bones in the spine.  When spinal bones misalign in certain ways, they cause the spine to tip forward.  The shoulders then droop down and forward, and you can start to get what is called forward head posture.  (See the picture).

Forward head posture not only causes neck and back pain, but can cause a whole smorgasbord of conditions like shoulder pain, carpal tunnel symptoms, headaches, dizziness and fibrositis/fibromyalgia.

The bones of the spine misalign because of trauma like car accidents, falls, lifting or sports injuries.  Also, people who are depressed often carry themselves in a droopy forward head posture that eventually warps the spine and causes pain.  Sometimes the toxic effects of drugs or a bad diet can affect the muscles in such a way that the spine is effected.

Many spinal mis-alignments are self-correcting.  Meaning the muscles of the body can re-align the spine all by itself.  Unfortunately, the body has a hard time correcting mis-alignments in the forward direction, because the muscles don’t have enough of an angle to pull a bone straight back.  There is nothing behind the spine to pull it backwards.

So, when a bone misaligns forward, it tends to get stuck.  As time goes on, more and more bones get misaligned forward until the spine starts to lean forward and droop.  All you have to do is look at a group of elderly people and you will usually see a lifetime of forward misalignment.

Many posture correction treatments focus on making the muscles of the spine stronger in order to pull itself upright.  The problem is, that the angle just isn’t there to get it accomplished.  With these methods, even the slightest correction takes heroic effort.

New advances in chiropractic technique make it possible to correct posture without muscular effort.  Once the spine is re-aligned, the body weight is supported by the spinal bones.  The muscles then relax and give the person greater ease of movement.  To find out more about this method log on to www.new-chiropractic-solutions.com.

Or, you can call Jennifer or Leah at 262-251-8306 and set up a FREE consultation and posture evaluation to see if I can help you get pain free-great posture.

Five Steps To Make Sure You Get Back Surgery…What?

Spinal surgery has a very high failure rate.  In fact the problem is so bad, Charles Burton MD, a leading researcher in spinal surgery; wrote an article called “Spinal Surgery, The Alarm Bells Are Ringing”.   In it, he talks about the high rate of spinal surgery failure and states “Ill-advised spine surgery which creates more problems for patients than it solves, can no longer be tolerated.”  -Surgical Neurology 65 (2006) 5-6. A copy of this article is available from my office.

I purposely wrote the following five steps with a little sarcastic bite.  I wrote it that way to get your attention and point out the shocking stupidity of spine treatment in the USA.

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So here goes…If you like taking risks with your spine and really would like to make sure you get surgery at some time in the future, here’s what you do:

Step 1:  Never go to a chiropractor.  Numerous scientific studies show chiropractic is the safest, most effective form of therapy for low back related conditions. If you want to make sure you have back pain that’s bad enough to see a surgeon, take your surgeon’s advice and don’t see a chiropractor.

Step 2:  If you do decide to go to one of these quasi-doctors don’t follow his or her advice concerning mattresses, pillows and exercises.  Chiropractors know proper home care is critical in the treatment of back pain.  If you want to assure that you will have a lifetime of back pain, you must sleep on a soft mattress.

Step 3:  Get lots of cortisone shots in your back.  Cortisone is a good short term anti-inflammatory and may be helpful in some cases.  But, if you want to have surgery on your back, get lots of cortisone shots, so that your discs will deteriorate faster.

Step 4:  Smoke cigarettes and drink a lot of alcohol.  These two dehydrate your discs and cause a lot of inflammation.  Smoking and drinking are a quick way to cause back problems and make sure that your surgery fails.

Step 5:  Whatever you do, don’t eat healthy.  If you want surgery, you are going to have to eat the way most of America does.  Eat lots of fast food, glutamate, aspartame and processed carbohydrates that inflame tissues and lead to chronic pain.

On the serious side…

If you want to avoid surgery, do the opposite of the above. See a chiropractor, get a good firm mattress, exercise, avoid over-use of anti-inflammatory meds, avoid cigarettes and alcohol and eat healthy.

If you would like to find out more about how we treat low back related conditions like degenerative discs, sciatica, spinal stenosis and spondylolisthesis without drugs or surgery, log on to www.NewBackPainReliefInfo.com.

Or, if you’d like to set up a FREE no obligation consultation with me, you can call Jennifer or Leah at 262-251-8306 and set up a time when we can meet and discuss your situation.

Does Poor Posture Cause Back Pain?

Yes, absolutely.  Poor posture is by far the leading cause of back pain.

The main problem people have is that the spine misaligns in such a way that the shoulders and head droop down and forward.  When this happens, more pressure is placed on your discs and they begin to get swollen and deteriorate.

This leads to arthritis, degenerative discs, sciatica and spinal stenosis.  Many medical treatments are available that treat the damaged discs.  These include medications, steroid injections and even surgery.

However, these treatments do not address the root cause of the problem.  Which is poor posture. This is why medical treatment of back pain has such a high failure rate.

A treatment that simply addresses the damaged disc without addressing what caused the damaged disc, is doomed to failure.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes a patient may need to have some medication to reduce the swelling in a disc.  But, if the postural problem that caused the swollen disc is not addressed, the disc will continue to deteriorate and get worse.

Doctors of chiropractic concentrate on alignment and posture.  This is why chiropractic treatment of back pain has such a high success rate.  It treats the underlying cause of back pain and disc problems.

Thanks to new advancements in chiropractic technique, posture can be corrected very effectively.  Improvements can be seen on a treatment by treatment basis.

To learn more about what I do to treat back pain, sciatica, degenerative discs and spinal stenosis, log on to www.NewBackPainReliefInfo.com and order our FREE report.

If you would like to set up a FREE no obligation consultation to see if I can help, call Jennifer or Leah at 262-251-8306 and they can set it up for you.

Is Fibromyalgia Real?

Is fibromyalgia real?  I am often asked this and the answer is yes… and no.  Yes, the pain is absolutely real and it can’t be explained away as something that’s “all in your head.” And no, in 99% of the cases it is not the result of some poorly understood disorder, but from a condition medical doctors likely do not find or treat.

In treating fibro. successfully for the last seven years, I have come to the conclusion that fibromyalgia is really a collection of problems that don’t get solved by medical doctors very well.

Fibromyalgia patients feel pain all over their body.  Lots of tests are usually done and nothing definitive comes up.  The diagnosis is often made by applying pressure to 18 different points on the body.  If 11 of the 18 are sore, you are diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

From there it is usually treated with a lot of drugs, some physical therapy and instructions on how to better cope with the pain. Patients usually go from doctor to doctor looking for answers.  By the time the average fibromyalgia patient gets to my office, they have seen six other doctors.

More than half of the fibromyalgia patients I treat, are really suffering from chronic whiplash.  They’ve been in a car accident at some point and they’ve gone downhill ever since.  Once the neck injury is treated properly, the symptoms quickly subside.

Some fibromyalgia patients have undiagnosed thyroid conditions.  When the thyroid is not functioning properly, wide-spread aches and pains develop.  The current blood testing methods are not sensitive enough to pick up many thyroid problems.  And, many physicians will not diagnose a thyroid problem if the tests come back normal.

Nutritional disorders are present in most fibromyalgia patients.  The typical American diet is loaded with foods that cause inflammation in the body.  Inflammation causes pain.    Medical doctors are notorious for not giving dietary advice, and/or giving the wrong dietary advice.  There is no way a bad diet can be corrected with a pill.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not slamming the medical profession…OK, maybe a little.  But, you must realize that their training does not allow them to explore the types of treatments that fibromyalgia patients need.  For example, they wouldn’t know if you have a cavity in your mouth, but a dentist would.

If you have fibromyalgia, seeing a chiropractor could be the best decision you ever make.  We have training that allows us to detect and treat most of the problems fibromyalgia patients have.  Make sure the chiropractor you choose has experience treating fibromyalgia and uses techniques that you can tolerate.  I know from experience, you can’t adjust a sensitive fibromyalgia patient the same way you adjust a construction worker.

For more information on fibromyalgia, log on to www.stopyourfibronow.com and my office can send you a free copy of my report “Why Your Doctor May Be The Biggest Obstacle You Face In Getting Rid Of Your Fibromyalgia Pain”.

If you are interested in getting some help right away, call Jennifer or Leah at 262-251-8306 and they can set up a FREE no obligation consultation so we can talk about your situation and see if I can help.

Should I have Carpal Tunnel Surgery ?

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a painful condition that causes symptoms of pain, swelling, numbness, tingling, and loss of strength and coordination in the thumb, index, middle and sometimes one-half of the ring finger. Not all of the symptoms or fingers have to be involved at the same time, because symptoms often vary and can move around. (Symptoms occuring in the ring and little finger are not carpal tunnel syndrome and are related to a completely different problem.)

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is caused by swelling in the tendons of the wrist.  Tendons swell from over use and the swelling compresses a nerve (called the Median nerve) as it passes through a space in your wrist called the Carpal Tunnel.

Surgery is one option for treating this disabling condition; however, it remains a controversial choice and it is important to fully understand the risks and benefits involved.  Too often patients are rushed into surgery before other conservative options have been tried.  The reason for this misdirection is often due to the fact that a surgeon will make between $4-5,000 for each 30-minute surgical procedure.

Here are some things to consider before you go for surgery:

• 77% of all Carpal Tunnel Syndrome patients could not return to their previous professions following surgery, according to the Bureau of Labor & Statistics and the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (1997-2000 Statistics).
• Carpal Tunnel Surgery has about a 57% failure rate following patients from 1-day to 6-years. At least one of the following symptoms re-occurred during this time: Pain, Numbness, Tingling sensations. Source: Nancollas, et al, 1995. J. Hand Surgery.
• Up to 36% of all Carpal Tunnel Syndrome patients require unlimited ongoing medical treatment.
• It has been shown in multiple studies that carpal tunnel syndrome patients are often mis-diagnosed and are told to have the surgery, when they don’t even have it.

Surgery is by far the most invasive procedure and you need to think about it carefully because the majority of those undergoing the knife do not get long-term relief.  Also, scar tissue can develop from the surgery that can make the problem even worse.

In contrast, the vast majority of patients do better with conservative treatment. It is estimated that less than 1/3 of all carpal tunnel syndrome sufferers actually require surgical intervention. Surgery is only recommended when there is persistent, debilitating pain, badly deteriorated grip, muscle wasting and all other conservative methods have been tried.

One thing you need to know is, you don’t need to be in a hurry to get surgery.  As much as it is bothering you, you do have time to explore your options.

Chiropractic care and cold laser therapy have been found to be very effective in eliminating carpal tunnel syndrome without drugs or surgery.  To find out more about these options log on to www.ReliefFromCarpalTunnel.com and order a copy of my free report “What many doctors don’t know about Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.”

Or, you can call my office at 262-251-8306 and talk to Jennifer or Leah about scheduling a FREE no obligation consultation.  It will give both of us a chance to meet, talk about your problem and see if I can help.