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How Emerald Coast Chiropractic Helps Those Suffering From Crohn’s Disease

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If you or someone you love is suffering from Crohn’s disease, you know how unpleasant it can be. A chronic inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s can make it difficult to lead a normal life. Even when you are able to work, play and relax the way you want, the disease can still cause painful, uncomfortable symptoms that you certainly can do without.

Fortunately, chiropractic care has been helpful for a number of patients with Crohn’s disease. You may be able to get some much-needed relief for your symptoms through regular chiropractic visits.

What are the Symptoms of Crohn’s Disease?

In most cases, Crohn’s disease causes parts of the small bowel and colon to become inflamed. The inflammation can result in several symptoms that are nothing you want to experience if you do not have to, including regular diarrhea, malnutrition, weight loss, abdominal pain and fatigue.

How is Crohn’s Disease Usually Treated?

It is an unfortunate reality that Crohn’s disease has no current cure. Standard treatments include using prescription medications and sometimes surgery to eliminate symptoms. Of course, these treatments may result in unwanted side effects which can sometimes be equal to or worse than the original symptoms. That is why chiropractors prefer to use treatments that are less invasive, like adjustments and complementary therapies.

In What Ways Can Chiropractic Help with Crohn’s Disease?

There have been a variety of small studies conducted to determine the effects of chiropractic on Crohn’s disease. The results of these studies have been promising. Many have shown that chiropractic adjustments have helped those with Crohn’s to feel better than they did before the adjustments. They experienced a reduction in their symptoms, with some experiencing a significant reduction.

Why Choose Chiropractic for Crohn’s?

The best thing about using chiropractic to treat Crohn’s symptoms is that it is so gentle and free of side effects. You can try chiropractic at very little risk to yourself or danger of experiencing an increase in your symptoms. When you consider how likely side effects are from prescription medications—you only have to watch a commercial for pharmaceuticals to see the long list of possible side effects—and the risks of surgery, it is easy to see why so many Crohn’s sufferers look to chiropractic for relief.

What is it Like to Visit a Chiropractor when You Have Crohn’s Disease?

Chiropractors are experienced in treating a wide variety of diseases and conditions. They also know how important it is to make you feel comfortable with your experience—from start to finish.

The first thing the chiropractor will do is conduct a thorough physical examination. He or she will also ask you a number of questions to find out exactly how you feel, and what your thoughts are on your condition.

After the examination the chiropractor will design a treatment plan that may include a variety of treatments:

  • Chiropractic adjustments. Adjustments focus on helping your spine and body achieve optimal alignment. The chiropractor will only apply enough pressure to achieve the desired result.
  • Massage therapy. Massage is an excellent complementary therapy that goes hand in hand with chiropractic care. By relaxing your muscles and releasing adhesions, massage can help your adjustments stay in place and lead to improved movement and less pain.
  • Spinal decompression. Using a specially designed machine, your chiropractor can increase the space between your vertebrae—space that leads to increased blood flow lowers pain levels and often results in faster healing.

If you would like more information about what chiropractic can do for your Crohn’s, please contact us. We are standing by to answer your questions and help you schedule an appointment.

How Emerald Coast Chiropractic Helps Patients Who Suffer From Kyphosis

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Kyphosis is a condition that is most typically identified by a humped mid to upper back. It can be frustrating to find yourself diagnosed with kyphosis, both due to the unusual appearance it causes and the physical discomfort that can come with the condition. Fortunately, chiropractic offers a variety of treatment options for kyphosis that are non-invasive, drug-free and quite effective. With the right approach, it should be possible to get significant relief for your symptoms through chiropractic care.

Causes of Kyphosis

Many times kyphosis is caused by poor posture. Years of hunching your back can cause the body to change the way the vertebrae sit atop one another—leading to stretching of soft tissues and a resting position that is hunched instead of upright.

Not all cases of kyphosis are the result of poor posture, however. There are some people who are born with kyphosis. There are also those that develop kyphosis following trauma or due to disease. One of the most common diseases that result in kyphosis is Scheuermann’s disease.

Chiropractic can often help resolve kyphosis that is caused by poor posture. If your kyphosis is due to trauma or other issues, chiropractic can still provide much-needed relief from many of your symptoms—including pain and stiffness.

How Chiropractic Can Help Kyphosis

Diagnose the Cause

Your first visit to the chiropractor will begin with a comprehensive examination to determine the cause of your condition. An accurate diagnosis is a key to developing an effective treatment plan. The examination will most likely include imaging tests like an x-ray or MRI. It may also include a physical examination to figure out how your body currently moves, where you are tender and/or in pain, etc.

Offer a Treatment Plan

Your chiropractor will never move forward with treatment until he or she has explained your options and gotten your permission to begin. The treatment plan you are offered may include:

  • Chiropractic adjustments
  • Massage therapy
  • Spinal decompression
  • Targeted physical therapy exercises
  • Electrical stimulation
  • Ultrasound

Improve Alignment

The joint in the human body, particularly the spinal joints, have an ideal alignment where everything fits together best. The more you can achieve and maintain this alignment, the less pain, stiffness and other disruptions you can expect to experience. Chiropractic adjustments aim to bring your body back into alignment.

Regular adjustments should help to improve your spinal alignment and straighten your back. In the case of poor posture, adjustments can aid you in learning how to improve your posture and keep those improvements over the long term.

Increase Mobility

The curving of the back typical of kyphosis can lead to a lot of stiffness in the spine and surrounding soft tissues. Lack of mobility makes everything you do more difficult, so it makes sense to try and increase your mobility when possible.

Chiropractic adjustments and complementary therapies are ideal for relaxing the soft tissues that may have become stiff as the kyphosis developed. One of the great things about improving the mobility of the spine is that it allows you to improve your posture. Over time, it should become easier to keep your back in a more healthy alignment.

Lessen Pain

Pain is common with kyphosis. The spine is not meant to hump as it does with kyphosis, which explains why pain is so typical with the condition. Chiropractic is very useful for decreasing pain related to spinal issues. Many patients get relief immediately following their first adjustment.

Schedule an Appointment

If you are suffering from kyphosis, please contact us to schedule an appointment. Our chiropractic team is standing by to answer your questions and help you get treatment for your condition.

6 Spinal Disorders That Respond Well to Chiropractic

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Emerald Coast Chiropractic can help with a wide variety of health conditions, particularly those involving the spine. Your chiropractor’s ability to adjust your spine makes it possible to correct many issues with the back and neck. Chiropractic also offers the advantage of being drug-free and non-invasive, so the side effects you need to worry about are minimal.

6 Disorders of the Spine that Chiropractic Can Help With

1. Degenerative Disc Disease

Most often, degenerative disc disease is a condition that strikes people as they get older. The discs that sit between your vertebrae are supposed to be relatively soft to provide cushion and flexibility to the spine. Unfortunately, years of use and various injuries can cause the discs to wear down. When they wear down it can lead to pressure on nerves and bone on bone contact.

2. Herniated Disc

Sometimes a disc can rupture, allowing the interior matter to protrude from the outer shell and press against nerves in the spine. The most common areas of the body to have a herniated disc are the lower back and the neck.

3. Sciatica

The sciatic nerve travels from the lower back and down the legs. The nerve can become irritated if there are issues with the lower back, such as degenerative disc disease, herniated disc or misalignment. Pressure on the nerve can cause symptoms like shooting pains, numbness, lack of sensation during sex, tingling, dull aching and other discomforts. In some cases this can be resolved through surgery of the affected area, while in other situations the solution can be therapy.

4. Whiplash

Whiplash is most common in rear-end car accidents, where a car hits you from behind and causes your head to whip forward and backward. The force generated by the whipping motion can cause significant damage to your neck. Stiffness and pain are common symptoms. Whiplash should be treated as soon as possible following an accident. If you get involved in a bus accident, an accident lawyer can investigate the incident, determine the cause, and find who is liable for bus accidents.

5. Myofascial Pain

The fascia is the sheath-like material that surrounds your muscles. Adhesions can occur in the fascia due to overuse or injury. Sometimes the painful points can feel like hard knots under the skin, and can emaciate the skin, giving it a dull glow, which should be the least of the problems, because that can be rectified with products from AcneFoundation.org. Myofascial pain often causes discomfort in other areas of the body that you would not assume are related to the problem area.

6. Back Sprains and Strains

There are many ways that the back can become sprained or strained. A sprain involves the ligaments that are attached to your bones, while a strain involves your muscles and/or tendons. Either condition can cause significant pain and a loss of mobility.

How Chiropractic Can Help

Your chiropractor will offer you different options for healing your spinal condition. These may include:

Adjustments

Many times the problems with your spine can be improved by realigning the vertebrae. Injuries and spinal conditions are often associated with misalignment—where the vertebrae are not sitting on top of one another as they should be. A chiropractic adjustment gently returns your vertebrae to alignment.

Massage Therapy

Massage is a great complementary therapy to chiropractic adjustments. It can help to relax muscles, eliminate adhesions and improve mobility for which the patient can also use an afflovest to improve results. It can also help your spinal adjustments to stay in place as you go about your day to day life.

Ultrasound

Ultrasound treatments are an effective way to encourage your body’s own healing mechanisms without causing any unwanted side effects. The sound waves penetrate deep into the tissues to create heat energy, which encourages circulation and aids in healing.

Get Help with Your Spinal Disorder

If you are struggling with a spinal disorder like those mentioned above, we would love the opportunity to help. Our chiropractic team understands how to administer safe, effective treatments that are non-invasive and work together to improve healing outcomes.

Please contact us today to discuss your spinal condition and schedule an appointment.

How Emerald Coast Chiropractic Helps Those That Suffer From Anxiety

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When you struggle with anxiety, it can make living your day-to-day life more difficult. Anxiety comes in a variety of forms and varies by individual. The forms of anxiety therapy that are most effective for one person may not be as effective for another, but there is some general guideline for dealing with anxiety that most sufferers can benefit from. Regular chiropractic care, including a focus on improving overall health, can serve as a foundation for navigating the difficulties of anxiety.

Ways Chiropractic Can Help with Anxiety

1. Keeping track of what triggers anxiety.

Chiropractors are big fans of keeping diaries surrounding any type of health issue you are dealing with—and anxiety is no exception. Just like keeping a food diary can help you identify a food allergy, keeping an anxiety diary can help you see what things in your life are triggering your anxiety. Triggers for anxiety can include a wide range of things, not all of them related to human interactions. Some of these triggers can include:

  • Allergies to certain foods
  • Consumption of alcohol
  • Consumption of caffeine
  • Vitamin deficiencies, particularly B vitamins, calcium and magnesium
  • Consumption of sugar

Your chiropractor can tell you how to keep a diary that will help you see what you do in your day-to-day life, and now those actions relate to your anxiety. You can also use products from CBD Colors to keep your anxiety levels low, if you plan on purchasing cbd check these codes. 

Clinical research on CBD as a treatment for anxiety disorders has proliferated in recent years with accumulating evidence pointing to its therapeutic potential. Although according to Discover Magazine most studies on CBD are preclinical and use animal models, clinical studies using human participants are now emerging.

2. Keeping your body healthy.

The relationship between the body and the mind is still far from being fully understood. However, there is no denying the significant connection between our physical health and our mental health. When your body is healthier, your mood is more level and positive.

Chiropractic care is focused on treatments that improve your health. These can include chiropractic adjustments, massage therapy, spinal decompression, ultrasound and more. Which treatments are right for you will depend on the results of your physical examination with the chiropractor. What you can be sure of is that your chiropractor will do everything possible to ensure your body is healthy and functioning at an optimal level.

3. Maintaining spinal alignment.

There are many ways that the nervous system affects the body and the brain—and the full effects are not totally clear as of yet. What we do know is that many chiropractic patients report improvements in their health seemingly unrelated to the pain in their back or neck. A few adjustments into a treatment plan and patients discover that some other health issue gets resolved.

Adjustments are designed to put your vertebrae back into proper alignment. With proper alignment, your nervous system can function optimally. The results may or may not improve your anxiety directly, but they will make you feel better and keep your body running the way it was intended to.

4. Improving your diet.

What you eat plays a huge role in your overall health. Improving your diet could lead to an improvement in your anxiety symptoms, which is why your chiropractor will try to help you make healthy changes to what you eat. Chiropractors are trained in the latest research in nutrition and are well-versed in the benefits of various approaches to a healthy diet. You can work with your chiropractor to shift your diet from its current state to one that includes more healthy options.

Working with Your Other Healthcare Providers

If you are seeing a mental healthcare professional for your anxiety, your chiropractor will strive to work with your provider to ensure the best possible outcomes. Sometimes the best way to improve your health is it take a multi-pronged approach—which your chiropractor can help you with!

Please contact us today to schedule an appointment with our chiropractic team. We look forward to seeing you.

Emerald Coast Chiropractic Patients Want to Know About TMJ Disorders

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Asking questions is the best way to learn, of course, and chiropractic patients often ask questions about some of the health issues they face. Some chiropractic patients are curious about back problems, for example, because chiropractors are well known for being extremely knowledgeable when it comes to spine health and the musculoskeletal system. A few chiropractic patients want to know about TMJ disorders.

Here are a few of the most common things chiropractic patients want to know about TMJ disorders.

Chiropractic Patients Most Frequently Asked Questions about TMJ Disorders

What is a TMJ disorder?

A TMJ disorder affects the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), which is the joint where the jawbone connects to the head, just in front of the ear. The bones and muscles of the TMJ allow the jaw to move up and down, and side to side, enabling a person to talk, chew and yawn.

TMJ disorders (TMDs) can cause pain in the jaw joint and in the muscles that control the movement of the jaw.

How common are TMJ problems?

About 12 percent of the population experiences symptoms of TMJ at any given time, according to the TMJ Association.

What causes TMJ disorders?

There are several known causes of TMJ disorders, including:

  • Trauma to the jaw or temporomandibular joint
  • Infections
  • Dental procedures, especially those that require the mouth be open for a long time
  • Insertion of a breathing tube prior to surgery
  • Arthritis
  • Misalignments of the jaw

Grinding teeth, known as bruxism, may cause TMJ disorders but not everyone who grinds their teeth develops a TMD. You can read Goals for Great Oral Health if you feel that your grinding teeth habit is harming your oral health to find out the best ways of taking care of your teeth. Cosmetic dentist near me offers porcelain dental veneers, cosmetic bonding, teeth whitening, and more. Improve your quality of life by achieving the smile of your dreams. 

Medical professionals may not be able to determine the underlying cause of TMJ disorders in many cases but chiropractors can treat TMJ disorders even if the cause cannot be determined.

What are the symptoms of TMJ disorder?

Many people with TMD describe their symptoms as a dull, aching pain that comes and goes in their jaw joint and in nearby areas. Some people with TMJ disorders do not experience pain, but have trouble moving their jaws.

Other common symptoms of TMJ disorders include:

  • Pain or stiffness in the jaw muscles
  • Chronic headaches
  • Neck, shoulder pain
  • Clicking, popping or grating of the jaw joint when the individual opens or closes his or her mouth
  • Limited movement of the jaw
  • “Locking” of the jaw
  • Tinnitus, which includes ear pain, fullness, pressure and ringing in the ears
  • Dizziness, vision problems
  • A bite that feels “off” when the person closes his or her mouth

What is the treatment for TMJ disorders?

The best way to treat TMJ disorders as per this orthodontist near me is to eat soft foods, ice the affected area with ice packs to ease pain and try to avoid extreme jaw movements, such as chewing gum or yawning.

Can a chiropractor treat TMJ disorders?

Yes, chiropractic safely and effective treats TMJ disorders. A chiropractor will perform a full evaluation of the patient’s temporomandibular joint and surrounding bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments to assess the full scope of the TMJ problem and determine its underlying causes. The chiropractor can then suggest a range of treatment that can include stretches and exercises that alleviate pain and melt stiffness in the jaw joint. The chiropractor can also detect and address any misalignments that may be contributing to TMJ pain.

For more information about the temporomandibular joint, TMJ disorders and chiropractic for TMJ problems, contact a chiropractor with experience in diagnosing and treating TMJ problems.