Chiropractic Care - Dangers And Risks

Living a healthy lifestyle has quickly gained popularity. People are realizing that everything they do to their body has immediate and long lasting consequences. This includes the type of medical care they receive. Alternative medical care is replacing traditional medical treatment(s) due to the fact that there are fewer side effects. The majority of the medical community is now agreeing that chiropractic care if one of the safest forms of medical treatment. It is a drug-free alternative to treating diseases, conditions, and injuries.

Although chiropractic care is one of the safest methods of medical care to date, every medical treatment has some form of side effect. Chiropractic care is no exception. Although there are very few side effects compared to traditional treatment methods, chiropractic care does have side effects that patients should be made aware of before they choose this type of treatment.

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The most common side effects are muscle spasms, fatigue, headaches/migraines, and soreness at the site of the adjustment. These typically gos away in 24 to 48 hours for people who have had adjustments in the past. For those who have never had chiropractic adjustments and, depending on the person's sensitivity to pain, the soreness may last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. This is especially true for Fibromyalgia patients or anyone with a condition that makes them extremely sensitive to the touch. Patients with FMS (or anyone in general) can experience soreness and pain for about 2 to 4 weeks, and with severe FMS up to 6 weeks or longer. It also depends on whether or not they are experiencing a Fibro flare-up at the time of the adjustment. Then again, some people no matter what disorder/condition or injury they have, experience no pain or soreness at all and feel immediate relief.

Although quite rare, there are a few severe side effects that come with chiropractic adjustments. Blood clots/strokes, spinal cord injuries, and death are the most rare and are not scientifically proven. In the US and Canada, studies show that there is no concrete evidence that directly links these to chiropractic adjustments (or SM aka Spinal Manipulation), but it is still being constantly researched and there is still so much that can be learned about chiropractic care. Even though the side effects are either minimal or highly rare, people still need to know the possible risks. Without all the facts, patients can not make an informed and educated decision about which avenue of care they feel is best for them.

Some other rare side effects are: damage to the vertebrae and nerves, herniated disk(s), stroke-like symptoms due to nerve damage, and paralysis. Again, these are extremely rare if the adjustments are done by a licensed (in your own state), highly educated, and skilled chiropractor.

Other battles that chiropractic care has had to fight are the myths being told by the media. They have put the spotlight on chiropractic treatment and labeled it as a dangerous and extremely risky form of medical treatment, which is far from the truth. If this is not the case, then how does the public get this information? There are some physicians that write letters to medical journals which is published as their "opinion". The press gets a hold of these "opinions" and releases them, along with their own thoughts, to the masses. This is where the myths and rumors begin.

Is this to say that there are no risks involved in a spinal adjustment? Absolutely not! There are people out there who have suffered from some of the rare and more severe side effects; but, when you look into their current and past medical history, you will find that they had medical issues at the adjustments performed.

These health issues resulted in stroke(s), severe damage, and even death. When you compare the risks of chiropractic adjustments with traditional medical treatments, you will find that there are only a few side effects (most very rare and not supported with scientific evidence) compared to the hundreds of side effects from surgery and medications.

The best way to find out if chiropractic care is right for you and will not interfere with or cause further damage to your body is to talk with your primary physician. Ask questions and discuss any fear(s) you may have about this method of treatment. S/he will evaluate you and should be in constant contact with your physician. Working as a team will result in reaching your maximum mobility and optimal health goal(s).

Chiropractic Care - Dangers And Risks

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Headache Remedies - Gentle Exercises For Pain Relief

When life gets stressful, do you tend to get headaches? If you usually head straight to the medicine cabinet to look for a remedy, you may want to try something different.

When headaches are caused by muscle tension and stress, you can often get relief through gentle, relaxing exercises for the face, head, neck, and breath. Read on to learn these simple techniques for taming headaches and tension.

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Exercises to Relieve Headaches

Headaches can be caused by tight muscles at the base of the skull, which compress both the blood vessels and the nerves. You can release the tightness by tucking your chin, interlacing your fingers behind your head, and gently pressing your head back into your hands (which provide resistance). Hold for about a count of eight and repeat several times. Often when we have a headache, it feels as if our scalp is too tight. Loosen your scalp by placing your palms at the top of your forehead with your fingers facing back. Slide the flesh of your scalp back and forth over your skull with your hands. Repeat ten or more times, moving your fingers to different places as desired. Habitually holding your head in a forward position (with your ears lined up in front of your shoulders, rather than directly over them) can contribute to chronic headaches. Many of us have this tendency. To counteract it, try this pleasant exercise: Sit upright and bring your shoulders comfortably down and back. Imagine that your head is a balloon, and slowly let it rise up and back, until your ears are directly over your shoulders and your head is level. Do this throughout the day, whenever you think about it, to help retrain yourself to hold your head in a neutral position. Try the facial part of a yoga pose called "The Lion" to help relieve overall facial tension, especially in the jaw. Take a deep breath through the nose. Then open your mouth wide and stretch your tongue out, curling its tip down toward your chin. At the same time, open your eyes wide and look slightly upward; slightly contract the muscles on the front of your throat. Hold this expression while you exhale your breath slowly out through your mouth with a "ha" sound. Repeat several times. Gently tugging on your earlobes can help to relieve facial and jaw tension. To do it, grasp your earlobe, placing your index finger inside the rounded bottom portion of your outer ear and your thumb opposite, at the back of your ear. Gently pull your ear downward and outward, with a smooth motion, rather than a jerk. Hold for about a count of ten. This should feel good, so only pull as far as is comfortable.

Breathing Exercises for Headache Relief

Because stress and tension often contribute to headaches, relaxation techniques can also help relieve the pain. Breath-work is one of the best overall relaxation techniques. Below is a breathing exercise that will allow you to turn off your stress response, relax, and reduce pain.

Breath in through your nose, out through your mouth. Breath deeply--all the way down into the lower third of your lungs. Your belly should expand when you breathe in and return to normal when you breathe out. Place your hands flat on your belly so you can check and make sure that it does that. Begin to breathe more evenly, in a nice, smooth rhythm. Smoothing out your breathing helps you relax and feel grounded. You can count the duration of each breath to help you keep the rhythm even, if it helps. After you've gotten the rhythm of your breath nice and even, slow down the exhale in comparison to the inhale. Breathe in for a certain number of counts, say 6 (or whatever is comfortable for you), then breathe out for up to twice as many counts. Do this for at least a minute and up to five minutes. (If it makes you tense to count, then just estimate.) If at any time you start to feel dizzy or faint, return to normal breathing for a while. Caution: Because breathing exercises can make you feel light-headed, do not do them while driving or operating heavy machinery.

Two More Ridiculously Easy Headache Remedies

Before you move on to more involved remedies, you might also try the following:

Dehydration is a leading headache cause--so drink a glass of water. Abrupt caffeine withdrawal is another common cause of headache pain. Make sure you didn't skip your morning cup of java.

Red Flag Headaches: See Your Doctor Immediately

Some headache symptoms are signs of potentially serious, even life-threatening health problems. Please call your medical doctor immediately if:

you experience extremely intense head pain the headache comes on very suddenly and severely your headache is accompanied by mental confusion your headache is accompanied by unusual symptoms, such as passing out, loss of vision, or difficulty walking or speaking your headache is accompanied by a high fever and/or a stiff neck you are over 50 and the headache is a new kind for you your headache was preceded by head trauma you have a family history of brain aneurysms.

I hope you're feeling better soon!

(c) 2009 -- Nancy Hausauer.

Headache Remedies - Gentle Exercises For Pain Relief

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Why Do I Keep Getting Headaches Everyday?

Why do I seemingly get headaches everyday? Many people suffer from frequent headaches and ask this question. Unfortunately, there isn't a simple answer to this question, since the causes vary greatly. Here are some ideas on how to remedy the symptoms of most common everyday headaches.

Although the root causes of headaches are numerous, ranging from muscular tension to medical situation that are much more serious, there are two primary causes of headaches. These are inflammation and pressure. Additionally, inflammation and pressure can lead to tension, which can compound the problem.

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All pain is typically related to these two things. By and large, when you have a minor injury, such as a cut on your finger, it's not the wound itself that causes the pain as much as the inflammation and perhaps the resulting tension. How is this?

If you have cut or burned yourself when you're not looking, have you noticed that quite often, you don't notice any pain until you actually see the wound? What is happening is that the inflammation from the wound hasn't set in until after you saw the wound. In some cases, the inflammation doesn't kick in until a few seconds after the wound has been spotted.

With headaches, either inflammation or tension, typically cause the pressure that you're feeling. Most forms of treatment for headaches operate on this principle. Whether you use massage therapy, ice and heat packs or drugs as your remedy, the goal is to treat inflammation, tension or both. Knowing this can help you choose an appropriate mode of treatment for your headaches, and it answers the question of why some remedies work in some cases and not others.

For instance, if you pop a couple Tylenol or Ibuprofen tablets as your remedy when you're having a tension headache such as caused by mental stress, it's not going to work. However, a massage on the neck and at various points on the head, as well as heat packs will help immensely.

Now, flip the coin and let's say you're having an inflammation related headache. It could be a migraine, a hangover, or as a result of mild trauma. In this case, unless the inflammation has caused enough pain to create tension, chemical methods and ice packs are the methods of choice.

If the inflammation has caused enough pain to call tension in as well, then a two-pronged attack is necessary. Alternating heat and cold packs, or mixing cold packs with massage have proven useful remedies for these kinds of headaches.

In fact, certain mixes of every day chemicals, such as mixing Tylenol and caffeine have proven to be among the most effective and convenient treatments for hangovers and minor migraines. Caffeine is a vasodilator, and because of this, it relieves the tension in the blood vessels in the head and brain. However, it should be taken in moderation, as it can cause muscular tension, which can have an inverse effect on pain relief. You must first understand the cause of your pain in order to choose the best remedy.

While this information is useful for normal headaches and mild migraines, it should not be considered a substitute for proper medical care when it's needed. In fact, in such cases, it would not be effective. In cases of extreme migraines, serious head trauma and brain tumors, you should seek outside professional medical treatment.

Why Do I Keep Getting Headaches Everyday?

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