Source: Calgary Herald
More than 85 per cent of the working population will experience back-related injuries or conditions, and Health Canada estimates that musculoskeletal disorders, including back pain, cost Canadian society $16.4 billion annually in treatment, rehabilitation and lost time. In Alberta, back injuries in the workplace account for more than 25 per cent of all Workers' Compensation Board lost-time claims. Workplace injuries can strike any industry. While traditionally associated with physical labourers such as construction workers or warehouse employees, back pain, strain or injury also affects office workers, retail and sales employees, professional drivers and health-care providers. Back pain, strain or injury can happen when you least expect it--bending, lifting, twisting the wrong way, sitting hunched over at the computer, or even stepping out of a vehicle after a day of driving. "People who perform any kind of physical activity as part of their jobs find that a significant portion of their day-to-day tasks involve their back muscles," says Dr. Clark Mills, president of the Alberta College and Association of Chiropractors. "Improper lifting or moving can easily lead to back strain or injury, and if not managed and treated quickly, can result in serious pain and the inability to perform regular everyday activities." If an employee suffers a back strain or injury, consider chiropractic, Mills says. It is accessible, clinically effective, cost-efficient and yields very high patient satisfaction. Sustainable on-the-job recovery and rapid return-to-work statistics strongly support chiropractic as the treatment of choice for backrelated workplace injuries. Statistics show that patients receiving chiropractic care return to work faster and at less cost than with other forms of treatment. For employers, this means that increased use of chiropractic care can reduce premium costs for benefits and contribute to improved productivity. Cumulative performance statistics over the past decade from WCB Alberta indicate chiropractic is the most consistent and costeffective treatment per claim. Providing employees with regular chiropractic benefits through extended health care plans also plays a vital role in managing costs. It not only enhances the integration and delivery of self-referred health care, but can improve organizational health and productivity and play a greater role in improving bottom line results by reducing absenteeism and disability. Since there are many ways for workers to strain or injure their backs at work, both employers and employees need to examine the work environment and activities to assess the risk for job-related injury. "Sometimes it is simply a matter of modifying tasks--changing the way you bend or lift or taking more frequent breaks from sitting," Mills says.
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You walk into your chiropractor's office, hop on a table and point to where it hurts... expecting to get adjusted right in that very spot. But the chiropractor starts working on a totally different part of your spine, not even close to where you feel the pain. Why is that? There's an old saying that goes when you step on a dog's tail, it barks out the other end. In chiropractic that means where you hurt (the bark) isn't necessarily where the problem is (the tail). Many times the pain you feel in one area is actually a referred symptom from somewhere else. For example, someone with sciatica may feel pain down their leg, but the source of their problem is a subluxation (vertebral misalignment) in their spine. Chiropractors recognize that if you remove the cause of someone's symptom, the body will no longer have a need to produce it. That's why the main focus of a chiropractic visit is to locate and correct the underlying problem, and not the superficial effect. Chasing after symptoms is like a dog chasing after its own tail. You only end up spinning around and around until you get dizzy, confused and frustrated. It's much smarter to address the underlying cause. Content provided by Principle33. Source: WhiteHouseDrugPolicy.gov BackgroundPrescription drug abuse is the Nation’s fastest-growing drug problem. While there has been a marked decrease in the use of some illegal drugs like cocaine, data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) show that nearly one-third of people aged 12 and over who used drugs for the first time in 2009 began by using a prescription drug non-medically. The same survey found that over 70 percent of people who abused prescription pain relievers got them from friends or relatives, while approximately 5 percent got them from a drug dealer or from the Internet. Additionally, the latest Monitoring the Future study—the Nation’s largest survey of drug use among young people—showed that prescription drugs are the second most-abused category of drugs after marijuana. Although a number of classes of prescription drugs are currently being abused, this action plan primarily focuses on the growing and often deadly problem of prescription opioid abuse. The number of prescriptions filled for opioid pain relievers—some of the most powerful medications available—has increased dramatically in recent years. From 1997 to 2007, the milligram per person use of prescription opioids in the U.S. increased from 74 milligrams to 369 milligrams, an increase of 402 percent. Further, opiate overdoses, once almost always due to heroin use, are now increasingly due to abuse of prescription painkillers. EducationA crucial first step in tackling the problem of prescription drug abuse is to raise awareness through the education of parents, youth, patients, and healthcare providers. Although there have been great strides in raising awareness about the dangers of using illegal drugs, many people are still not aware that the misuse or abuse of prescription drugs can be as dangerous as the use of illegal drugs, leading to addiction and even death. There is a common misperception among many parents and youth that prescription drugs are less dangerous when abused than illegal drugs because they are FDA-approved. Many well-meaning parents do not understand the risks associated with giving prescribed medication to a teenager or another family member for whom the medication was not prescribed. Many parents are also not aware that youth are abusing prescription drugs; thus, they frequently leave unused prescription drugs in open medicine cabinets while making sure to lock their liquor cabinets. In addition, prescribers and dispensers, including physicians, physicians assistants, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, nurses, prescribing psychologists, and dentists, all have a role to play in reducing prescription drug misuse and abuse. Most receive little training on the importance of appropriate prescribing and dispensing of opioids to prevent adverse effects, diversion, and addiction. Proper Medication DisposalIn order to protect human health and the environment, it is vital that collected prescription drugs be appropriately disposed of in an environmentally safe manner. Thus, prescription drugs collected from individuals are to be disposed of in accordance with Federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Until prescription drug disposal programs are available to all communities, an important environmental safety message in the fight against improper medication disposal is to recommend against flushing prescription drugs with the few exceptions noted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Instead of flushing, prescription drugs should be disposed of in sealed plastic bags with filler such as coffee grounds or kitty litter. However, due to public health concerns, the FDA does recommend disposal via flushing for certain opioid pain relievers that can pose life-threatening risks from accidental ingestion. EnforcementAlong with the increased legitimate use of prescription opioid medications in healthcare settings, there is also a small group of practitioners who abuse their prescribing privileges by prescribing these medications outside the usual course of professional practice or for illegitimate purposes. This has, in some areas, resulted in practitioners illegally prescribing and/or dispensing prescription controlled substances and other prescription drugs under the banner of medical care. These providers and clinics not only endanger the individuals receiving these medications, but also pose serious threats to the communities where they are located. In addition, a number of “patient”-centered abuses have evolved, most notably “doctor shopping.” Doctor shoppers visit multiple prescribers, in different locations within and outside of their states of residence, in order to receive controlled substances and other prescription drugs for diversion and/or abuse. These community-based problems require community-based solutions. Summary and Call to ActionResearch and medicine have provided a vast array of medications to cure disease, ease suffering and pain, improve the quality of life, and save lives. This is no more evident than in the field of pain management. However, as with many new scientific discoveries and new uses for existing compounds, the potential for diversion, abuse, morbidity, and mortality are significant. Prescription drug misuse and abuse is a major public health and public safety crisis. As a Nation, we must take urgent action to ensure the appropriate balance between the benefits these medications offer in improving lives and the risks they pose. No one agency, system, or profession is solely responsible for this undertaking. We must address this issue as partners in public health and public safety. Therefore, ONDCP will convene a Federal Council on Prescription Drug Abuse, comprised of Federal agencies, to coordinate implementation of this prescription drug abuse prevention plan and will engage private parties as necessary to reach the goals established by the plan.
SOURCE: The American Chiropractic Association
The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) applauds federal efforts to curb prescription drug abuse following the U.S. government’s announcement in late April that the problem has reached crisis level. ACA encourages patients and health care providers to explore drug-free, conservative approaches to pain management as a first-line defense against painkiller abuse. The government’s report, “Epidemic: Responding to America’s Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis,” notes that while the use of some illegal drugs has diminished, the abuse of prescription medications has sharply increased, particularly prescription opioid pain relievers such as Oxycontin and Vicodin. It points out unintentional opioid overdoses—once almost exclusively the fate of heroin abusers—are today increasingly caused by prescription painkiller abuse. “This new report shows that while sometimes the use of these powerful drugs may be necessary, their overuse and abuse can lead to deadly consequences. The chiropractic profession offers non-drug interventions for pain relief,” said ACA President Dr. Rick McMichael. “We urge health care providers, whenever possible, to recommend drug-free conservative care interventions for their patients before prescribing medications that may be associated with harmful side effects. It’s critical that patients know their options.” The government report outlines a four-part strategy to reduce the incidence of overdose caused by painkiller abuse, including increased education; monitoring of “doctor-shoppers” who obtain multiple prescriptions; the safe disposal of prescription medications; and cracking down on “pill mill” clinics that dispense hundreds of pills per patient. ACA believes prevention is also key and that increased use of conservative approaches for pain management may curb the need for painkillers and thereby reduce the likelihood of patient dependency, overuse and possible overdose. Chiropractic care is best known for its effectiveness in treating painful conditions such as back pain, neck pain, and headaches—which are serious causes of disability in the United States. According to the U.S. Bone and Joint Decade, the number of prescription medications has increased in the past 10 years. Chiropractic care may lessen or eliminate the need for medications in some cases and help patients avoid unnecessary surgery. Chiropractic physicians treat the whole person, promote wellness and strive to address the underlying cause of patients’ ailments, not just their symptoms. Current evidence-based guidelines support the use of conservative care such as chiropractic for conditions such as chronic lower back pain. In 2007, the Annals of Internal Medicine published low back pain guidelines developed by the American Pain Society and the American College of Physicians recommending that, for patients who do not improve with self-care, doctors should consider non-pharmacologic therapies such as chiropractic care, massage therapy and acupuncture. Short answer: Yes, but it won't do a lot of good. Long answer: Any joint can produce a noise if moved quickly enough. We've discussed why joints make a cracking or popping sound, why people tend to associate the chiropractic adjustment with "the noise", and why the Activator instrument does not cause joints to crack. There is no doubt that some people find relief from minor aches and pains by cracking their own joints. Unfortunately, this relief is temporary and does not fix the underlying cause of the pain. This means that most self-crackers have to continually crack their own necks or backs many times a day, every day. In this video, a young man cracks his own joints in a rather violent way. This young man does feel relief after whipping his head around and hearing a crack. But I think he'd be the first one to tell you that the relief is short-lived. Why is that?
As previously discussed, the crack comes from a joint that is hypermobile (the joint moves too much). However, when a joint is subluxated and interfering with the nervous system, it is usually hypomobile (the joint doesn't move enough). The specific chiropractic adjustment targets the hypomobile joint and reintroduces motion into the fixed joint. The restored motion is what causes the pain to subside as proper nervous system communication resumes and local inflammation decreases. There is a very definite relationship between hypermobile and hypomobile joints. Each human body knows its own capabilities, limitations, and normal ranges of motion in all directions. When one vertebral joint in the multijointed neck becomes fixed, the body attempts to compensate for that loss of motion by causing the two neighboring joints (the one above and the one below) to move more than they should. This keeps the same amount of motion in the neck as a whole, but in reality three joints are now in early states of injury. This young man was experiencing minor pain because of one or more hypomobile joints in his neck. Without stopping to analyze the problem, he instinctively knew that some joints were "stuck" and needed healthy motion. In attempting to self-correct those fixed joints, he whipped his head around. But since his motion was global (involving all of the neck vertebrae), the cracking sound he produced were from the nearby hypermobile joints, not the hypomobile joints he was attempting to correct. But he still feels relief because of an interesting phenomenon called "pain-gating." This is a simple process whereby the brain is fooled into focusing on something other than the annoying ache or pain from the hypomobile joint. In this case, the brain suddenly receives a flood of information from the proprioceptive nerves* surrounding the hypermobile joints, and temporarily "forgets" about the pain in the hypomobile joint. But this relief is shortlived, because those nerve messages will eventually disppear, and the brain is once again free to concentrate on the pain messages from the hypomobile joint. Chiropractic is effective because of the specificity of the high-velocity, low-amplitude adjustment. Only the hypomobile joint is targeted, not all the vertebrae of the neck. Only the tense muscles are stretched, not all the muscles of the neck. The healthy joints and hypermobile joints are protected from further injury in the chiropractic adjustment (whereas in the video above, the young man might easily cause himself further injury in his haste to find temporary relief). There is an old wives' tale that said that if you crack your own knuckles, you'll end up with arthritis. This concept was naturally extended to neck arthritis, back arthritis, and so on. A famous study from 1990 was intended to debunk this myth, since the mechanism behind the various types of arthritis have little to do with joint cracking, though the hand-crackers of the study tended to develop hand swelling and weakened hand muscles. And of course, the neck is a much more complicated structure than a single finger knuckle, so the jury may still be out on the issue of long-term injury. When you feel tempted to crack your own neck or back, remember that you'll probably be "cracking" the wrong vertebrae. Instead, let your body tell you what it needs: the "I need to crack my neck" feeling is a perfect opportunity to contact your friendly local Peoria chiropractor and get the problem analyzed by a professional and fixed the right way right away. *Proprioceptive nerves tell your body where each joint is located in space at any given time. When a joint is moved, these special nerves immediately bombard the brain with important information. These proprioceptive nerves allow you to ascend or descend a staircase without looking at your feet, run on uneven ground, or pick up a water glass with your eyes closed. Proprioceptive nerves are especially concentrated in the neck. |
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DisclaimerUnless otherwise attributed, all content is written by Kyle Johnson, DC, of Johnson Family Chiropractic of Peoria.
All images used are under Creative Commons license. Although every effort has been made to provide an accurate description of our chiropractic care and its benefits, the information given on this website and blog is not intended to be, nor should it be interpreted as, medical advice for any condition. If you have any questions regarding your condition, you should seek the help of Dr. Johnson in person, so that he may properly assess your condition. This blog is provided by Johnson Family Chiropractic of Peoria, S.C., proudly located in Peoria, IL. |