Dear Patients and Friends,

Our office along with other Matthews chiropractic offices, have founded an organization called “Chiropractors Hearts and Hands for Matthews Children.”  The purpose of this organization is to support the Matthews Help Center by annually collecting non-perishable food items for needy children and their families in the Matthews region during the week of Valentine’s Day.  This year, our food drive will run from Monday, February 13th through Friday, February 17th.  Donations will be collected in our office.

Any non-perishable food items that you would like to donate to our cause would be greatly appreciated by our office and the children of Matthews that we care for and serve.

Thank you for your thoughts and donations as we strive to improve our community one child and family at a time.

Dr. Leibman

Back Pain & Sciatica

Irritation of the sciatic nerve can cause pain, tingling, or numbness along the course of the nerve and its branches, from the backside to the toes.  Many people who have history of lumbar disc injury, even following surgery, experience pain which travels into the buttock and/or legs.  This type of radiating pain is usually the result of chemical or mechanical irritation to the nerve roots that exit the spine and contribute to the sciatic nerve.  For many sufferers, it is possible to manage their pain with the help of stretches and exercises.

Stretching Basics

• Relax your neck and shoulders, you’re not doing sit-ups
• Maintain slow, even breathing while holding 30 second stretches
• Don’t bounce, hold steady and try to gently increase the stretch with time
• If any stretch or maneuver causes pain, stop the activity and discuss with your Doctor

Knee-to-Chest Stretch

Aside from ice and rest, this stretch is generally the first line of defense against lower back pain with radiculopathy (radiating nerve pain).  I recommend that patients with sciatic pain do the knee-to-chest stretch on a daily basis.  The stretch can be especially effective when performed after waking, but before getting out of bed and putting weight on the back for the first time in the morning.  To stretch, lie on your back and bring the knees towards your torso.  Pull with your arms around your knees or legs to increase the intensity.  Hold the position for 30 seconds while slowly breathing and gently trying to bring the legs closer to the body.  Repeat 2 to 3 times.  If stretching both legs at the same time is too intense, then start by bringing one leg towards the body, stretching then switching to the opposite side (lower illustration).  Alternatives to stretching on the back include deep squatting and pulling the knees to your body or bending to touch your toes while sitting in a chair.  These moves can be repeated multiple times a day.

Piriformis Muscle Stretch

The first stretch that I recommend is for the piriformis muscle.  The sciatic nerve usually runs under and sometimes through the piriformis muscle as the nerve travels between the sacrum and hip, then towards the leg.  Stretching of the piriformis muscle can be achieved in a seated position.  While sitting in a chair, cross the affected ankle over the opposite knee.  With one hand, stabilize your ankle on your knee and with the other hand or forearm apply gentle pressure downward on the involved knee.  If you have strong pain to push down on the knee, than simply stabilize the crossed leg and avoid the added pressure.  *If this movement significantly increase your pain, than stop immediately.  You should start to feel the stretch in your buttock.  From the crossed leg position, with the knee being held down, you can further increase the intensity of the stretch by slowly leaning forward, bringing your chest closer to your knees.  Always maintain the lumbar lordosis or curvature of the back – think “arching the back” while bending forward.  Be sure to maintain slow breathing while performing this and any other stretches.  Try to hold the stretch for 30 seconds, repeat 2 to 3 times and don’t hold your breath.

The next installment of this series, Home Care for Sciatica II, will include nerve glide and sciatic tensioning maneuvers to add gear to the self-treatment toolbox.

Osteoarthrits or OA is the most common form of arthritis.  Characterized by the degeneration of articular cartilage and underlying bone, as well as, overgrowth of bone at the margins of joints, it is also known as degenerative joint disease.  27 million American adults (age 25 and older) and more than 33% of Americans 65 or older are estimated to be afflicted with OA.  Knees, hands, and hips are most commonly the site of pain, swelling, and stiffness caused by Osteoarthritis.

While restoring and maintaining movement in the spine is the central goal of chiropractic treatments, keeping the body moving is also a great way to control OA.  Arthritis Today reports, “activity of all kinds is the best non-drug treatment for improving pain and function,” while “the Arthritis Foundation believes “Moving is the Best Medicine” when it comes to Fighting OA.”  Either of these resources is a great place to learn about how to safely get yourself moving.

The Four Mile Creek Greenway, Matthews recently opened in April 2011.  This pavement and boardwalk greenway now makes areas of downtown Matthews, NC easily accessible to surrounding neighborhoods for walking, biking, and more.  As cooler weather make the outdoors more inviting, get out and get your body moving.  For additional strategies to reduce your risk of Osteoarthritis, visit FIGHTARTHRITSPAIN.ORG.

If you already suffer from OA symptoms, home remedies include the use of Flax seed oil, Epsom salt, Cinnamon, Turmeric, and Ginger, among others.  For dosing and additional remedies jump to Arthritis Home Remedies.  Keeping joints or the spine and the rest of the body moving well with Chiropractic care is another drug-free, conservative approach to controlling the pain, swelling, stiffness, and lost range-of-motion typical of Osteoarthritis.

Remember to listen to your body.  If exercise causes sharp or very strong pain during or within a couple hours of exercising, then your activity may be too strenuous.  Reduce the intensity of your workout or plan to see your physician.

It seems that Osteoarthritis is a natural part of aging, especially after age 45.  Exercise benefits extend beyond the joints to our heart, lung, brain and beyond.  If you are not yet affected by OA, don’t wait until you have pain or stiffness to become active.  With many easy ways to start moving your body, why not get started today?!

Stop sickness at the front door with this simple protocol when you have the first hint that a cold is approaching.  Our resident Acupuncturist/Herbalist/Master Healer, Mika Ichihara, M.S., L.Ac., B.Phar., offers her tips for how to remain healthy during the cold season.  The key she says is to “stop virus invasion into the body at the earliest stage.”

Preventing a cold from taking hold is not difficult if you act early.  This means taking actions as soon as you start feeling any symptoms – sore throat, sneezing, runny nose, coughing, slight headache, chills, warmth/feverish, stiffness of the neck, etc. – coming on.  When you start to experience these symptoms, the virus is knocking on the door, trying to penetrate deeper into the body, while the body is recruiting its defenses.  If your body misses this earliest opportunity to expel, then the virus will start to invade deeper into the system, causing more severe and persistent symptoms.  Once you reach this stage of more intense symptoms, it becomes more difficult to ease the symptoms and the cold might have to run its course (usually about 10 days).

Remember that the initial invasion stage happens very fast, often within a day.  So, you have to take care of yourself as soon as you start feeling symptoms.

Here are some simple natural recommendations to turn away common cold and flu at the earliest stage. These measures help to boost the body’s natural defenses and close the door on cold bugs.  Please try these as soon as you start feeling any of the symptoms listed above.

Tips to Keep a Cold at Bay:

• Take Vitamin C 1,000 – 1,500 mg/day (when healthy 500 mg/day). Food-based (natural or whole food) vitamin C is more potent than synthetic ones.
• Take 4 drops of Oil of Oregano 4-6 times a day (available from Mika).
• Drink ginger tea (Boil 3 cups of water and add peeled and sliced ginger root (a thumb size piece).  Cook for 30-40 minutes until the tea turns to dark yellow.  Add honey to 1 cup of tea to help sooth the throat, if you like.)
• Drink Echinacea tea (Alvita), Echinacea Immune Boosting Tea (Yogi Tea) and/or tincture (Nature’s answer)
• Take Chinese herbs for cold & flu (available at Mika).
• Gargle with salt water if you have sore throat.
• Drink plenty of water.
• Eat warm food, especially vegetable soups, to sweat out.

For more information:

Mika Ichihara, M.S., L.Ac.

Licensed Acupuncturist

704-981-1461

www.loveandcompassion.com

‘Twas the night before a big meeting, preparations were made,

Would we sleep a few hours before the screaming invades?

Outfits laundered, feedings complete, Mommy and Daddy were prepared to retreat,

First there was whining and then full bore, we knew we’d be up a few hours more…

If you are a parent who has experienced a colicky infant, then this story is all too familiar.  Excessive, unexplained crying/fussing for hours a day, multiple days a week, for an extended period, in an otherwise healthy infant is not music to my ears either, but unlike many parents, I was able to adjust my children regularly when they were infants.  Certainly, I am biased concerning the benefits of chiropractic care for most everyone, but in the case of colicky babies, there is good research to support the benefits of spinal alignments.

It has been posited that colic is caused by birth trauma and/or spinal misalignments in infants^[1]  and if you’ve witnessed a natural delivery, you can imagine how this could impact a newborn’s spine.  Whether the treatments are referred to as chiropractic adjustments, manipulation, or spinal alignments, the goal is the same – to restore normal spinal motion.  Treatments for infants are not the usual adjustments to which parents might be accustomed.  The correction for a baby appears more as maintaining gentle pressure to areas of the spine with the fingertips.

A May 2009 analysis reviewed 16 cases of infants receiving chiropractic care.  In all the cases, upper cervical misalignments were found in all subjects and chiropractic intervention helped to resolve symptoms of acid reflux and colic^[2].  More recently, a Danish study^[3] determined that a decline in excessive crying in infants receiving chiropractic treatment for colic was not a function of children simply outgrowing their excessive crying behavior and therefore lends support for the implementation of chiropractic care in these cases.

The benefits of early chiropractic interventions don’t just allow parents to sleep better while their infants are a few months old.  An October 1999 study found that colicky infants treated with chiropractic care experienced fewer instances of  “temper tantrums, fell asleep more quickly, and stayed asleep longer than the untreated control subjects” at least up to 2 to 3 years of age^[4].

I certainly understand that parents have concerns about any new treatments that their children receive.  New responsibilities and sleep deprivation make all your decisions about a newborn challenging.  If you have any questions, please email me at info@matthewschiro.com or call Matthews Chiropractic Center at 704.841.3833.

1. Clinical Chiropractic 2004 (Dec); 7(4): 180-186 [↩]
2. J Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health – Chiropractic May 2009: 1-7 [↩]
3. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2010(Sep); 33(7): 536-541 [↩]
4. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2009 (Oct); 32(8): 635-638 [↩]