tingling Archives - Page 6 of 6 - Hometown Family Wellness Center

May 11 2020

Freehold Chiropractor Explains Shoulder Pain can be Associated to Neck Pain or Whiplash

Auto injuries are shown to cause more than just neck pain. In a new study researchers find that patients with whiplash or other causes of neck pain were more likely to have problems with shoulder function than healthy patients. Misalignments of the shoulder can create or irritate neck pain. The shoulder imbalances can also cause other problems including headaches or migraines.

Patients in the research had neck pain of different causes. It was found they had more difficulty performing routine shoulder movements, and their head and neck postures were altered. The research also showed that depending on the cause of the neck problem influenced the type of shoulder problems the patient had: those patient that couldn’t elevate their shoulders as much as normal patients had insidious onset neck disorders while those patients that had shoulders that were rotated forward slightly had neck problems resulting from whiplash.

Like many other studies, it is found that whiplash patients have a higher risk of developing shoulder pain and experiencing a number of other conditions including pain, headaches, numbness and tingling just to name a few. This shows that neck injuries alter the function of other areas of the body and that it’s so important that a patient finds a practitioner that addresses the entire spine and other surrounding regions, not just the location of the pain itself.

Our chiropractic office, Hometown Family Wellness Center located in Freehold, NJ, addresses the cause of the problems that you are experiencing. We have been helping patients for over 14 years in the Freehold area and surrounding towns of Marlboro, Manalapan, Howell, Colts Neck, Jackson, Morganville, and other communities of Monmouth and Ocean Counties in New Jersey. Relying on medications might just cover up your pain at best, but increases the chances of disability because you are not addressing the cause of the pain and you become overconfident that just because the pain is decreased that you can perform normal activities without causing further harm. Many studies show that chiropractic not only reduces your pain naturally without drugs or surgery, but improves your quality of life so you can enjoy your normal daily activities once again. Seeking early treatment may help you avoid developing shoulder and back pain, arthritis, degeneration and other problems later on. If you are ready to correct the cause of your neck pain and whiplash, contact our office at 732-780-0044 and also check out our website at www.chiropractorfreehold.com
Helgadottir, Harpa, and Eythor Kristjansson, Sarah Mottram, Andrew Karduna, and Halldor Jonsson, Jr. Altered Alignment of the Shoulder Girdle and Cervical Spine in Patients With Insidious Onset Neck Pain and Whiplash-Associated Disorder. Journal of Applied Biomechanics. 2011; 27:181-191.

Berglund A, Nygren A, Jensen I, et al. The association between exposure to a rear-end collision and future neck or shoulder pain: a cohort study. World Congress on Whiplash-Associated Disorders. 1999;p. 99.

Kosek E, Januszewska A. Mechanisms of pain referral in patients with whiplash associated disorder. European Journal of Pain 2008;12:650-660.

Miller J, Gross A, D’Sylva J, Burnie SJ, Goldsmith CH, Graham N, Haines T, Bronfort G, Hoving JL. Manual therapy and exercise for neck pain: A systematic review. Manual Therapy 15(2010) 334-354.

May 11 2020

Freehold Chiropractor Educates Your Posture is Important to Maintain Your Health!

My name is Dr. Russell Brokstein, chiropractor and owner of Hometown Family Wellness Center in Freehold, NJ and today I am continuing the blog on Be Health Naturally without Drugs or Surgery.

The previous posts talked about sleep, stress reduction and dietary recommendations. You can read the other blogs by clicking: Chiropractor Freehold Blog

Today we are going to discuss your posture. Your spine is the central support structure of your body. Your spine carries the neurological lifeline from your brain to all the other parts of your body. Your health really depends on the flow of energy through an unrestricted nervous system. When your spine suffers, your overall health can suffer too. When you respect your spine by taking good care of it, your spine will serve you well by offering its strength and flexibility for a long time to come.

When your posture and spinal alignment are off, it can also lead to pain, back pain, neck pain, headaches and migraines, numbness and tingling, stress, fibromyalgia, sciatica, arthritis, herniations and disc degeneration.

Here are my two top recommendations for taking care of your spine:

Be ergonomically correct when you sit at a desk, stand, bend or reach. “Ergonomically correct” is a fancy term for body posture that doesn’t cause stress to your body.

For example, which three of these postures do you think would be ergonomically correct:

Sitting with your legs crossed at the knees.
Sitting with your legs crossed at the ankles.
Bending straight over to pick up a box with knees locked for support.
Bending over to pick up a box with knees bent.
Standing in a crowd with your weight centered on one leg for a long time.
Standing in a crowd with your weight centered over both feet with your shoulder, back and head centered over your spine.

The answer is 2. 4 and 6.

Ask me to check out your posture. I’ll be looking at you from the side to see if the center of your ear, the center of your neck, shoulder, hips, knees and ankle all form a straight line. If they don’t, then we need to work more on your posture.

Here’s how I remember how to stand correctly while lifting something heavy or just standing for long periods of time: I think to myself, “Brace yourself!” What I mean by this is that if I’m reaching down into the crib to pick up a baby, I must get ready for the act of lifting by bracing myself. I brace myself by bending at the knees and keeping the weight as close to my body as I can. The farther the baby is from my body, the more I’m at risk of injury.

Reaching for things far away from you is not a good habit if you want a strong spine. Instead of reaching out to push or pull something, get as close to the item as you can, then lift it after bracing yourself.

If you have to stand on your feet for a long period of time, don’t get in the habit of putting most of your weight over one foot or on one leg. Brace yourself by spreading your feet about shoulder distance apart, then stand solidly. You’ll feel better and look more confident as well.

Which of these are ergonomically correct?

a. Loading up grocery bags in your arms, then trying to open your door with a key while holding all those grocery bags

b. Sitting at a desk with the computer keyboard more than a foot away from the edge of the desk

c. Looking at your computer screen that is 2-1/2 feet away by moving your head forward

d. Sitting hunched in a chair or recliner

e. Looking down at your computer screen or TV

f. Doing dishes at the sink on top of a small rug or carpet strip

The answer here is f. Standing on a carpet decreases stress on the spine more than standing on a hard floor. That’s why a lot of the multimillion-dollar companies that set up booths at trade shows have carpeting in their booth on the floor. They want to make you feel more comfortable and reduce the stress on your body that you’ve been feeling by walking for long periods of time. It also helps their staff at the booth.

2. While I’m treating you, it’s important to NOT do any excessive lifting (over 15-20 lbs.) during the first 4-6 weeks of treatment. In some cases, vacuuming and other household chores like laundry may be limited as well. Ask me for specific instructions for your individual case.

So, now that we covered posture, next time we will be discussing your joints and nutritional support, so stay tuned.

Until then, have a chiropractor check your spine, as we are the ONLY health professionals properly trained to analyze, detect and correct subluxations which are misalignments of the vertebra that put pressure on the nerves and spinal cord and will decrease your over health and function. Give your body the chance to be healthy naturally without drugs and surgery!

May 11 2020

Freehold Chiropractor asks “Do You Smell Something Burning?”

As a chiropractor in Freehold, NJ a feel it’s so important to educate the local communities of Freehold, Marlboro, Manalapan, Howell, Jackson, and Colts Neck NJ the importance of health and wellness. Part of this is warning signals the body is sending each of you.

A family medical doctor of a patient told him there are 3 stages of pain. First the doctor explains the pain is bad enough to catch your attention. The next stage the pain is bad enough that it takes hold of you, and in the final stage the pain is so bad it compels you to do something about it.”

So my patient then asks his doctor, “when it gets to stage three what should I do?” Without a blink his doctor turns to him and says “take some Motrin…” (True and sad story)

The worst of all of this is that the patient actually thought his doctors advice was good and in many instances, the public follows what the medical doctor tells them as factual.

So, just as I asked this patient, I ask you: “if your smoke detector went off in your home, the 1st time it would probably catch your attention. If it went off a 2nd time it would most likely take hold of you. But if it went off a 3rd time and finally compelled you to do something, would you take the batteries out so you wouldn’t have to hear it anymore? “Of course not,” he replied “that would be stupid…” He got the point! Do you get the point?

The moral of the story… Symptoms are your body’s attempt to warn you to help save it. Masking your symptoms (whether it be pain, sciatica, headaches, fibromyalgia, acid reflux, stress, numbness or tingling, nausea, diarrhea or fever) with drugs doesn’t fix the problem, it actually makes the situation worse.

Think about this for a second: if you went to the dentist, would you want him to just inject a painful cavity with Novocaine and leave the cavity? You know the cavity might not hurt anymore, but the cavity would continue to get worse and you would want the dentist to fix the tooth.

It’s smarter to find the cause and deal with it the right way. That’s why they call Chiropractors DC’s because we are Doctors of finding the Cause! Chiropractors don’t just cover up your pain, we find the cause and correct it.

Until next time…

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