Tag: pain

pressure wave therapy
Blog Featured Articles Therapy • • By lifecare-admin 0 Comments

Pressure Wave Therapy – How It Could Help You

Honestly…this is one of the most exciting new treatment offerings we’ve had in the many years I’ve been in practice. Only a handful of practioners in the state of Maryland are offering pressure wave therapy, despite the success of this non-invasive treatment. So here’s how I learned about pressure wave therapy and more details about this exciting new service available at Life Care Chiropractic and Wellness.

 

Why I’m Offering Pressure Wave Therapy

I came across this treatment technology at a national chiropractor meeting. I was very intrigued, as I had never heard of it before. At the meeting, I spoke to the representative from the company showcasing the technology, and learned that pressure wave is the same approach used to break up kidney stones.

As well, the representative shared the success they’d had in treating patients with plantar fasciitis – a condition impacting many of my patients. I saw that pressure wave could potentially break up the calcification and improve the blood flow, stimulating stem cells. That struck a chord with me…and I knew almost instantly that I wanted us to offer this treatment.

I went back to Maryland and did a bit of research, finding that first, only a few practices offered pressure wave in our state. After getting the equipment and receiving training on how to use it, I used pressure wave therapy on several people – including myself (I had a horrible foot pain). For the majority, the pain was completely resolved with just one treatment! It typically takes three to five treatments for resolution.

 

How it Pressure Waves Work

Radial pressure waves offer a treatment solution to long term/chronic tendon and soft tissue injuries that is completely non-invasive. No surgery, no injections, no pills. This treatment of the affected area will support and reset the healing pattern (even regenerating damaged tissue!). The process has been shown to improve chronic pain – even if the initial injury or pain condition began many, many years ago. Most patients feel a major reduction or a complete removal of pain.

Our therapist will apply shock waves through a specially designed hand piece that produces strong energy pulses for short periods of time. These high energy acoustic waves are transmitted through the surface of the skin directly to the affected tissue areas in a controlled procedure. Pressure waves have a mechanical effect on the tissue which stimulates the cells in the body which are responsible for healing. The micro trauma of the repeated pressure waves creates new blood flow to the area. It is the new blood flow that promotes tissue healing.

Pressure wave therapy produces an acute inflammatory process in the treated tissues. Your body responds by increasing the metabolic activity around the impacted area which in turn stimulates and accelerated the body’s own healing mechanisms.

RELATED: What You Can Do to Make Injuries Heal Faster

 

Success Stories with Pressure Wave Therapy

Many well-known clinics are using pressure wave therapy to treat a whole host of conditions – the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins University and Duke University are a few.

The data from research shows that the vast majority of patients with many pain conditions experienced improvement or even complete healing for their pain conditions. Some of the research results include:

  • 91% improvement for shoulder pain
  • 90% success rate for heal pain
  • 77% improvement for elbow pain
  • 76% success rate for achilles pain
  • 8 times more effective for hamstring pain than regular physiotherapy and chiropractic treatment

Other conditions where pressure wave therapy has been successful are: plantar fasciitis, rotator cuff pain, knee pain, foot pain, ankle pain, back pain, neck pain, hand pain and wrist pain. This therapy is continually being expanded to treatment for more areas of the body and more pain conditions.

 

The Cost-Effectiveness of This Treatment

Compared to many other treatment options, pressure wave therapy can not only be more effective, but less expensive in the long run.

First, there are no medication or surgical expenses. As well, for many other types of treatments, patients pay a $25-40 co-pay and could need as many as 20+ visits to complete their regimen. To compare, a typical plantar fasciitis patient would require physical therapy (PT) three times per week at a $25+ co-pay over months. This can add up to a lot of money quickly…and may still not yield pain relief.

With pressure wave therapy, less treatments are needed. We are packaging our treatment plans to make it easy and inexpensive for you to take advantage of this treatment:

$300 for three sessions

Fourth and fifth session for $50 each

It typically takes three to five sessions (10-15 minutes/session), and this will be our pricing starting in January.

As an introduction for my patients, I’m offering  discounted pricing from now through the end of the year:

$200 for three sessions

Fourth and fifth sessions for $25 each

Again, most patients will require three to five sessions.

So I’m hoping that many of you will consider this treatment option – and spread the word to your friends of family member suffering from one of the pain conditions we believe can improve with pressure wave therapy. For me, it’s one of the most optimistic treatment options I’ve come across in a long time. I am thrilled to offer it – and excited to start helping folks live with less pain or become completely pain-free!

 

Dr. Sharman

chiropractic for headaches
Blog Chiropractic Featured Articles • • • By lifecare-admin 0 Comments

Can Headaches Be Helped With Chiropractic Care?

Do you ever get headaches? If so, you’re not alone.

Nine out of ten people get headaches of some variety….frequent, infrequent, chronic, migraine and sadly, some completely debilitating. It’s a very common ailment.

People try lots of things to rid themselves of headaches, including taking various medications, lying down and simply powering through them until they go away. I’ve had patients ask me if chiropractic care can help their headaches – thankfully, the answer is YES!

But before I explain how, let’s start by talking about the common triggers for headaches.

 

What’s Causing Your Headache

Headaches can be caused or triggered by the environment, stress…even the foods you eat.

Environmental triggers can vary. Noises, lights, smells can all create conditions ripe for headaches to develop. Be aware of these factors when you get headaches and see if you can pinpoint your triggers (it will help you avoid them in the future).

Stress is known to create many health ailments in the body – so minimizing your stress levels by using relaxation techniques can help. Yoga, meditation and exercise are all proven ways people successfully keep their stress at bay.

Muscle tension is a big contributor to headaches these days – especially with how sedentary people are these days. Spending hours in front of a computer screen, fixed in one position and having poor posture can increase joint irritation and muscle tension, causing head and neck aches.

Certain foods, insomnia, dehydration, teeth-clenching and blood sugar changes are also headache contributors. Even excessive exercise can cause a headache! 95 percent of headaches can be traced back to some kind of trigger. Only 5 percent are warning signs of some other physical problem. So knowing your triggers and avoiding them at all costs is the best preventative.

 

How Chiropractic Care Can Help

The research supports chiropractic care, in particular, for certain types of headaches. A 2011 JMPT study found that chiropractic care, including spinal manipulation, improves migraine and cervicogenic headaches.

Migraine headaches are now considered a neurological disease, which results in a severe throbbing recurring pain, usually on one side of the head. A headache can be accompanied by visual disturbances, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, extreme sensitivity to sound, light, touch and smell, and tingling or numbness in the extremities or face.

Cervicogenic headaches, for those unfamiliar with the term, result in “referred pain” or pain perceived as occurring in a part of the body other than its true source. A cervicogenic headache is a secondary headache caused by another illness or physical issue. Its cause is a disorder of the cervical spine and the bony structures or soft tissues of the neck.

Keep in mind that chiropractic care is beneficial for prevention of headache episodes rather than the alleviation of symptoms once a chronic episode has begun.

When I work with patients, I am concerned with helping to correct any neuromusculoskeletal sources of a headache. This includes nerves, muscles and bones of the body. I perform a spinal exam to assess whether chiropractic care could alleviate the pain. I look for whether or not the headache may be caused, or aggravated by any misaligned vertebrae in the spine (subluxation) as that could be creating undue nerve interference.

If I determine that chiropractic care will help, I’ll recommend it. The type of spinal manipulation, frequency of manipulations and duration of treatment can vary. Any reputable chiropractor will take into consideration guidelines, his/her clinical experience and evidence-based findings.

The evidence for using spinal manipulation to relieve pain for patients with a tension-type headache remains questionable. While chiropractic care may help, we don’t have enough evidence to say this definitively.

 

Other Things Your Chiropractor May Recommend

As I mentioned earlier, the causes of headaches are varied – and by taking proactive steps, you may avoid having them altogether! I often provide my patients with nutritional advice and recommend dietary changes and the addition of B complex vitamins. As I’ve written about before, posture is a big part of avoiding all kinds of pain in the body – and focusing on improvements to posture and utilizing ergonomic supports can help stave off certain types of headaches. I often recommend relaxation and/or exercise as a lifestyle change to reduce the frequency of headaches my patients’ experience. Exercise, in particular, can stimulate the circulation of blood to the head and help to maintain neuromusculoskeletal flexibility.

RELATED: What Vitamins Should I Take – Getting the Essentials

 

Final Thoughts

Non-drug treatments may be the first choice for many patients – especially if they have a poor tolerance to medications, have experienced side effects or simply aren’t getting any relief from pharmacology. As well, if a patient is pregnant, nursing or simply has an aversion to medication, spinal manipulations from a licensed chiropractor may be a good option.

If you think you might benefit from chiropractic care – let me know! My staff can schedule an appointment where we can do a thorough exam and decide if chiropractic care may help with your headaches.

Dr. Sharman