Good afternoon,

I was going to continue with the GERD info and will later but, I was talking to a client at the office yesterday about blogging. I was saying how I did like it because I had always wanted to have a way of sharing more information with more people. One on one is satisfying but can be repetitious for me and has a limited reach. Her response was ” you should blog about me”!  And then she explained why it made sense. She said, in the past she would get chiropractic adjustments for her neck but only when it was really hurting. She said, that this time she had gotten to the point where she was nauseous too and knew it was her neck. And said ” that is what brought me here.” That and a referral by a good friend of her’s. Chiropractic adjustments had not really worked well for her because the adjustments never lasted very long, though they did relieve the pain for a time. As I worked with her I found this very active women was also having her life and activity limited due chronic lower back pain. She initially didn’t even mention it because she was resigned to the pain. I explained to her that sometimes adjustments “don’t hold” because there may be a past injury to a lower extremity or have a gait deficiency due to foot issues. I went on to tell her that the chronic neck pain leading to nausea could also be due to this process traveling up her spine. The body tries to adapt and find the most balanced posture it can. If the foundation is off then the whole body has to shift to accommodate. It will not stay realigned if the strain from the out of balance foundation is not corrected.

My patient was living on pain medication just to function at work. She loved to play tennis and work in her yard but had been having to refrain or limit these activities for a long time. She never thought she could really improve, to heal her chronic pain. But when we talked yesterday, she said this explanation of how the extremities can influence the success of the treatment process, made her keep coming back once the neck pain was better.

Well I have been working with her for a few months and she is markedly improved. She still has some pain but usually after playing tennis for a few hours or sitting, in her awful work chair for many hours. But she can play and enjoy tennis and yard work more and more with less and less discomfort. And yes, she did have issues with both her knees and one of her ankles. This is why it is sooooo important to have the extremities thoroughly evaluated when you begin a chiropractic regime, especially if the adjustments are not “holding” well. When the body is able to stay in balance it is able to heal. Though pain is often a great motivator, as with any health issue, it is better to correct the imbalance before it progresses to pain. Just as the measure of health is not just the absence of disease, the measure of what I call biomechanical balance is not the absence of pain. Pain arises often after the body has done it’s best to adapt to the stresses and strains of imbalance and is now failing .

It is very satisfying to help someone recover their pleasures in life.

thanks for your time!! Hope it has been a great day!

Dr. B.