Wrist Pain VS. Wrist Problem

When Is a Wrist Pain Not a Wrist Problem?

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is often helped with chiropractic care.

Sometimes what seems painfully obvious is not actually correct. Take a pain in your wrist. The problem must be in your wrist, right?

Not always. There can be nerve interference elsewhere that is causing or adding to that pain.

Carpal Tunnel

Let’s look at carpal tunnel syndrome. Feel along the back of your wrist for the carpals, those eight small bones grouped in two rows. Held together with ligaments, they form a “tunnel” or passageway for your median nerve. When swelling narrows the tunnel, the nerve gets compressed and causes pain, tingling and more.

But pain, numbness or tingling in the wrist also can be caused by nerve interference elsewhere, a phenomenon called the “double crush.” In this scenario, the median and other nerves running through the wrist are being compressed but the compression sites might also be in the spine, shoulder, neck or elbow.

Can Chiropractic Help?

Resolving carpal tunnel problems requires looking beyond the wrist. A thorough chiropractic examination of the upper spine, shoulder and elbow can help determine the origins of your problems.

Try these self tests to check if your wrist pain has neurological involvement. If your findings suggest further evaluation, give us a call to schedule a more thorough examination:

Carpal Tunnel Test

The Carpal Tunnel pain that many experience in their hand and wrist can actually be a combination of nerve problems in the wrist, elbow and spinal nerves in the lower neck and shoulder.

Click on the images and complete these 2 simple tests:

• Phalen’s Maneuver
• Tinel’s Sign

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Test 1 – Phalen’s Maneuver

The most helpful test for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is Phalen’s Maneuver.

Firmly hold the backs of your hands together with your fingers pointing down, while keeping your arms parallel to the floor. If within a minute, you experience numbness, tingling, pain or a combination, you likely have nerve involvement.

Call the Neck and Back clinic to schedule a more thorough examination with Dr. Ted

SCHEDULE TO SEE DR. TED FOR A FREE SPINAL CONSULTATION

THE NECK AND BACK CLINIC 
825 S. 7th STREET
LAS VEGAS, NV 89101
(702)-256-8080

RACE TO THE ZUMBA WORLD RECORD EVENT February 8, 2014!

Stretching Your Health

Stretch your muscles instead of stretching to reach the sugary snacks!

It’s 3 o’clock in the afternoon and you’ve been sitting at your desk all day. You debate running to get yet another cup of coffee to stay alert, because what you really want to do is curl up in the corner of your cubicle and take a nap! This is the time to do some “desk stretches” to revive your energy. Without the caffeine!

We often find ourselves sitting tense at our desks in front of a computer monitor for hours. Our wrists start to hurt, our necks get sore, we slump over in our chairs and our shoulders and upper backs feel tight.

Here are some stretches to do at your desk to reduce tension. Try them now:

• Shoulder Stretch
  Lift your shoulders up to your ears until you feel a slight tension in your neck and shoulders. Hold for 3-5 seconds and relax shoulders. Do this 2-3 times at first sign of shoulder or neck tension.
• Neck Stretch
  Tilt your head to one side, trying to touch your ear to your shoulder. Hold the stretch for 10-20 seconds and then return to normal. Repeat the stretch on the other side.
• Spine Stretch
  Raise arms over head. Stretch your right hand to the ceiling and hold for 3-5 seconds, while you exhale. Relax. Repeat with the left hand.
• Lower Back Stretch
  Place your hands on the edge of your desk and roll your chair back. Lower your head between your outstretched arms and arch your back while you exhale. Inhale, raise your head and arch your back in the other direction.

Do these exercises whenever you first notice the tension or stress from impending deadlines or long periods of sitting. While they’ll never take the place of your chiropractic adjustments, they’ll help keep you alert without resorting to caffeine or a sugar fix.

SCHEDULE TO SEE DR. TED FOR A FREE SPINAL CONSULTATION

THE NECK AND BACK CLINIC 
825 S. 7th STREET
LAS VEGAS, NV 89101
(702)-256-8080

Hypertension Hope

A new study shows chiropractic care can have a significant influence among those with high blood pressure.

Have you been diagnosed with hypertension, more commonly known as high blood pressure? If not, would you even know you had it? Do you know what the symptoms are? Usually there aren’t any – that’s why it’s called the “silent killer.” Many people discover they have it through some catastrophic, life threatening, and often fatal event, such as a stroke or heart attack.

Those who do have symptoms generally experience headaches, blurred vision, and dizziness – and these symptoms may lead them to their medical doctor where hypertension is diagnosed after a blood pressure check.

Since one in four adults are diagnosed with high blood pressure, this is a condition that requires careful and frequent monitoring, especially if there is a family history of the disease.

Causes of hypertension? The list is extensive – and emotional stress, obesity, genetics and kidney failure rank high on that list. However, other conditions such as substance abuse, smoking, heavy alcohol consumption, pregnancy, high cholesterol, thyroid disorders and certain prescription medications may also contribute to its onset.

Treatment for high blood pressure usually includes one or more of the following – medication, exercise, diet therapy, smoking cessation, reducing alcohol consumption and weight loss.

However, the results of a promising new study recently appeared in the Journal of Human Hypertension, WebMD, Science Daily and on a number of television news shows. The study was conducted by George Bakris, MD, director of the Hypertension Center at the University of Chicago Medical Center, and Marshall Dickholtz, Sr., DC, of the Chiropractic Health Center in Chicago.

Fifty participants with diagnosed high blood pressure participated in the study; 25 received specific adjustments to the first vertebra of the spine, known as the atlas. The other 25 received “sham” adjustments (placebo). Immediately after, the 25 who received the “real” adjustments experienced a significant decrease in blood pressure, while those who received the sham adjustments showed no change. The results remained the same eight weeks later.

It is also notable that although participants took no blood pressure medication during the eight-week study, the “real” atlas correction had the effect of two blood pressure medications taken in combination.

Finally, chiropractic is getting some notable press from the medical community and with good reason. When you address causes of illnesses, rather than just alleviate symptoms, through spinal corrections that “free” up the nervous system to work as it is intended, real miracles occur.

SCHEDULE TO SEE DR. TED FOR A FREE SPINAL CONSULTATION

THE NECK AND BACK CLINIC 
825 S. 7th STREET
LAS VEGAS, NV 89101
(702)-256-8080