Sitting at a desk all day, poor posture, repeated motions, and heavy lifting can all lead to back pain. Back pain is one of the most common reasons for missing work, and experts estimate that nearly 80 percent of the population will experience a back problem at some point in their lifetime.

Not good odds for those of us who stare at a computer, perform manual labor, or work on an assembly line for a living. Luckily, there are ways to relieve your back pain or even help prevent it in the first place.

Chiropractic adjustments are a proven way to get rid of pain naturally, without the side effects of medication. If you’re already one of the 80 percent suffering from back pain, we can help identify what’s causing your pain and create a plan to try and correct your problem.

There are also things you can do in the comfort of your home to help improve your back health, like pilates. Basic pilates spine stretches are a great solution because they work to relieve pressure of the spine and elongate the back—and they’re all easy to do. If you’re not familiar with the art of pilates, don’t worry. You don’t have to be in shape, flexible, or a woman to do these simple moves.

Remember, your spine is your lifeline. Keep it healthy.

Some people associate a visit to the chiropractor with accident-related injuries or back pain from manual labor. But chiropractic care isn’t only reserved for those who have been in an accident or suffering from a sports injury. People with desk jobs, who develop pain over time, are also good candidates.

If you stare at computer screen all day, chances are you’re suffering some kind of consequence from it. Neck pain is a common symptom associated with having a desk job, but there are some things you can do to lessen its effects—and seeing a chiropractor is just one of them.

Through chiropractic adjustments and stretching exercises, I can help relieve pain and tension that’s causing your stiff or painful neck. There are also some preventative steps you can take now:

• Adjust the height of your monitor so you’re not constantly looking down.
• Turn the brightness level on your monitor down so it’s not glaring.
• Put a pillow behind your lower back and rest your head against the back of the chair.
• If you’re otherwise in good shape, try using a stability ball as your desk chair. Stability balls force proper alignment of the spine and cause you to change positions frequently so you’re not in the same position over an extended period of time.

Lowe Chiropractic and Wellness is joining the Arthritis Foundation walk this Saturday, September 18, 2010. Promoting the event has sparked a lot of questions from our patients and friends.  Questions like:  “Isn’t arthritis just part of getting old?”,  “Doesn’t everyone have arthritis?”, “Once you have it, you just have to live with it, right? “ or  “The only thing I can do for my arthritis is take the medicine right?”

Let’s start with the basics of what arthritis is and what it isn’t.  Arthritis is a general category for any joint degeneration.  There are several types of arthritis, the most common is osteo-arthritis (OA).   Other categories include the auto-immune types of rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis among others.   Over all, when a joint degenerates, the cartilage becomes thinner, the bones develop rough spots or spurs and the joint doesn’t function the way it should.  Inflammation of the dysfunctional joint leads to pain.  Arthritic pain is usually described as an achy pain or stiffness that gets better with movement.

Here’s the key, movement relieves the pain and properly functioning joints are not painful.

I had a patient look at me and say, “Yes, my right leg hurts. It’s just old age.”  My response “How old is your left leg?”  He looked at me and said, “ I guess it’s the same age… so what can you do about it?”

Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis respond very well to chiropractic care since we help restore proper motion to the joint. The joint starts to loosen up and then swells less.  Less swelling equals less inflammation which means less pain.

Don’t just listen to me, here’s what some of the top medical researchers have to say about it.

“Chiropractors manipulation of the spine was more helpful than any of the following: traction, massage, biofeedback, acupuncture, injection of steroids into the spine and back corsets, and ultrasound.”  Stanley Bigos, MD Professor of Orthopedic Surgery

True or False:  Everyone has arthritis right?  Arthritis is part of normal aging, right? False
There are 360 joints in the human body. Arthritis only sets up in the ones that are injured and don’t heal properly.  While it is common for people to develop arthritis, it’s not normal.

The only thing I can do for my arthritis is take medicine, right? Wrong
Medicine is not recommended by either the arthritis foundation or the British Medical Journal.
The arthritis foundation recommends movement and exercise to prevent and reduce arthritis pain.  The British Medical Journal reports, “Manipulation (chiropractic adjustments), with or without exercise, improve symptoms more than medical care did after both 3 and 12 months.”

I want help with my arthritis, where do I start? or I know someone who suffers with arthritis what can they do?
Call our office, we’ll find a time to sit down with you and talk about your individual pain. We will answer any questions you may have and decide if chiropractic care can help you.  If we think we can help, we will tell you that.  If we think you need to be seen by another specialist, we will tell you that as well.  Our goal is to help YOU get the help YOU need.

Want to hear from some of our patients …

Patrick Lowe, D.C.

Louisville Chiropractor Patrick Lowe is passionate about helping the community.  Lowe Chiropractic supports Wayside Christian Mission, The Arthritis Foundation, Hannah’s Hope, Boy Scouts of America, Mom’s Closet and many others.  Dr. Lowe was recently commissioned a Kentucky Colonel.

AT LAST! A DOCTOR WHO ASKS:

“Why Haven’t Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Sufferers Been Told These Facts?”

Discover this often overlooked, SECOND problem area that may actually be the link to finally

killing your carpal tunnel syndrome pain forever!

You’ve tried everything.  You sleep with a wrist splint…tried punishing therapy…you are half conscious from taking pain pills all day…you’ve tried painful injections that gave you only temporary relief at best…and your doctors are now telling you that you may need surgery because nothing else has worked.

If you’re like most carpal tunnel sufferers, your worst fear is that the pain will continue to get worse, leaving you unable to work at your job, or even do simple things that you used to take for granted, like picking up a glass without dropping it…folding laundry…sleeping soundly for an entire eight hours… playing with your children…or just being able to be self-sufficient and take care of yourself every day.

Even worse, you know that the more time goes by, the more permanent the nerve damage becomes.

Here Is What You May Not Know

If anything I just said describes you, there’s a good chance your carpal tunnel syndrome has involved more than just your wrist area.

If you are STILL suffering with the torturous pain of carpal tunnel syndrome,  you’ve exhausted every option, and nothing has worked for you…then this may be the most important report you EVER read about your carpal tunnel syndrome.

And, if I’m guessing right, what I’m about to tell you will actually shock and delight you, and maybe even get you a little angry…all at the same time.

Here’s what it’s all about:  My name is Dr. Patrick Lowe,D.C., and I’ve made carpal tunnel syndrome a study.  Over the 11 years that I’ve been in practice, I’ve relentlessly pursued new methods to treat and help my patients finally kill the pain of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Here is what I discovered that may actually be the key to “unlock” your pain and suffering forever…

Believe it or not, top researchers and medical experts are now pointing to a SECOND area of involvement (besides the wrist) that is often overlooked and more important, once corrected, may be the “link” to finally ending your pain and suffering.

Carpal Tunnel Secrets

The condition is called “Double Crush Syndrome” and it involves a second area (the lower neck) that causes carpal tunnel syndrome pain to worsen.  When treatment is directed to the wrist only, this second area of involvement ultimately leaves the carpal tunnel syndrome uncorrected (and you still in unrelenting pain).

This May Be The Exact Reason Why You Haven’t Been Able To Be Free Of Your Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Pain

The “Double Crush Syndrome” is described as a compression of the nerve in two different areas, usually a distance from each other.  A growing number of researchers are demonstrating a connection between the nerve being compressed at carpal tunnel area and compressed at a SECOND area in the lower part of the neck.

“The nerve is “crushed” or irritated in the spine, “priming” more distant areas of the nerve for dysfunction when that part is stressed (second “crush”)”.

Here’s a simple explanation…

Picture a garden hose for a minute.  It can be kinked right at the source of where the water starts…or…

anywhere along the hose up to the handle.

It’s really the same way with the nerves that cross through your carpal tunnel.  You can develop pinching or kinks anywhere along the way to the carpal tunnel (started at the neck).  That’s why it’s often missed, under-diagnosed and often not completely treated.

Just listen to some of the research on this condition…

°        Researchers Upton and McComas, Lancet,  believe that “67%-75% of patients studied who had carpal tunnel syndrome…also showed some degree of nerve root irritation in the lower neck area.”

°        According to Lee Ostrman, MD, Ortho, Clinics of North America vol. 19, Jan 98 reveals that… “Carpal tunnel syndrome is often the result of a combination of factors that increase pressure on the median nerve and tendons in the carpal tunnel, rather than a problem with the nerve itself.

°        From the Journal of Hand Surgery…”A significant correlation was found between carpal tunnel syndrome and neck arthritis.”

°        The following comes from the medical textbook “Surgery of the Peripheral Nerve”… “Nerve compression near the cervical spine (neck) is found in people with carpal tunnel syndrome.”

°        This study from Nemoto et al from the Second International Congress, describes why a neck problem makes carpal tunnel syndrome worse… “Nerve compression in the neck will block the flow of necessary cellular material to the end of the nerve in the wrist, making it more susceptible to injury”.

And, this is only a fraction of the research that describes this condition.

The array and amount of research is impossible for anyone with carpal tunnel syndrome to ignore.

Here’s Why It’s Often

Overlooked Or Under Treated…

Most of the time, the problem often goes undiagnosed.  Chasing the symptoms results in treating the wrist only and, as a result, missing other areas like the neck that may be involved in the problem.

For complete healing to take place, each of these areas has to be properly diagnosed and then properly treated.

In most cases, only one area gets treated, leaving you with undiagnosed, untreated problems that still need to be fixed…and are often still causing your original symptoms of pain and numbness in your hand and wrist.

It’s frustrating and emotionally exhausting.

What Makes Our Approach

So Successful?

It all starts with diagnosing the problem correctly.  Believe it or not, with a few simple, painless tests, we can determine immediately and EXACTLY where your problem is coming from.

The results of these tests let us know if you will be a good candidate for our program.

More important, we address EVERY component of your problem, including…posture…lifestyle adjustments…joint alignment in the wrist and neck (if necessary)…stretching and lengthening and stretching of muscles and tendons back to normal…and gently releasing entrapments that may be compressing your nerves.

That’s why we’ve developed a systematic and comprehensive approach to first diagnosing and then treating each layer of your problem with a variety of painless techniques,  including leading edge new techniques, and  advanced, state-of-the art technologies like cold laser and gentle Chiropractic care.

And, all of these therapies are totally natural, so you don’t have to worry about horrible side-effects as with many medications or dangerous surgeries.

The really good news is… this isn’t something you have to continue to do for the rest of your life.  So it is not a big commitment.

And, the really amazing part is… that it works with most hand and wrist numbness and pain in most cases…

regardless of what you’ve tried in the past…and regardless of your age.

If you’ve been praying for an answer to your hand and wrist pain…

This May Be It!