Paulk Chiropractic in Stockbridge GA

About 85 percent of the population will experience disabling, low back pain at least once during their lives!  That’s almost all of us.  The problem is so bad that, at any one time, 6.8 percent of the U.S. adult population is suffering from an episode of back pain lasting more than two weeks.  That’s a lot of bad backs.  The estimated cost of this problem in the U.S. is over $50 billion a year.

The standard medical approach to back pain varies depending on the severity of the condition. Muscle relaxers, painkillers, rest, and physical therapy such as traction, diathermy, ultrasound, hot packs, and cold packs are sometimes used.  However, this approach has not been found very helpful.  If the problem doesn’t improve or worsens, then surgery may be performed.

The medical approach is sometimes necessary – even back surgery has a place.  But, according to some studies, most spinal surgery for acute lower back problems should be rarely performed.  Many people who have had back surgery report a recurrence of their symptoms within a year or two of the operation and may return to the operating table.  In some cases, the surgery makes no difference whatsoever.  In other cases, it does bring long-term relief.

I take a different approach to the treatment and prevention of low back pain.  After a thorough neurological examination I determine which part of the nervous system is not functioning properly.  In many low back pain patients I may find a high mesencephalic output.

There are three parts to the brain stem: top, middle, and lower.  The mesencephalon is the top part of the brain stem.  A high output of the mesencephalon will cause an increased pulse and heart rate, inability to sleep or waking up from fitful sleep, urinary tract infection, increase warmth or sweating, and sensitivity to light.

Along with a high mesenphalic output, the low back pain patient may have a decreased output of the cerebellum.  The cerebellum is in the back part of the brain, and it controls all of the involuntary spinal musculature. No matter what the condition, it is imperative that the doctor performs a thorough and comprehensive exam to determine the exact nature of the patient’s condition.

The migraine headache is perhaps the best known special type of headache. It is really called the migraine syndrome. By syndrome we mean that a lot of things accompany the headache – all of them bad. Symptoms include dizziness, visual problems, spots before the eyes, redness, swelling, tearing of the eyes, muscle contraction, irritability, nausea, vomiting, constipation, or diarrhea. These symptoms often arise before the headache hits. The headache itself may last for a few minutes to a few days, and the severity may range from minor discomfort to immobilizing agony.

The migraine pain is most common in the temple, but it may be experienced anywhere in the head, face and neck. A variety of headache, closely related to the migraine, is the cluster headache. Attacks come on abruptly with intense, throbbing pain arising high in the nostril and spreading to behind the eye on the same side. Sometimes, the forehead is also affected. The attacks tend to occur from once to several times daily in clusters lasting weeks, or even months. Without apparent reason, the cluster subsides as quickly as it began.

So what puts the ache in headache? The pain-sensitive structures of the head are the culprits. These are the arteries of the brain and skull, the tissues surrounding the head veins, the dura mata covering over the brain, and certain nerves called cranial nerves. When these parts are inflamed, stretched, pulled, or under pressure, any type of headache may be caused.

Migraine headaches can be classified into two types: classical and common. The classical migraine is a headache that follows an aura or some type of spontaneous event such as numbness or tingling. The aura may be flashes of light, squiggly lines, or a halo effect. The common migraine does not have an aura associated with it. Most people who suffer from migraines suffer from common migraines – usually at a 3:1 ratio.

Approximately 28 million Americans suffer from migraines, and millions go without treatment. Scientists once thought migraines were caused by abnormally dilated or enlarged blood vessels. Now, new imaging devices have allowed them to watch brains during migraine attacks, and scientists are discovering that sufferers have abnormally excitable neurons or brain nerve cells. The latest migraine research has yielded a mechanism called cortical spreading depression, or CSD. Prior to the onset of pain in a migraine, researchers have observed a sudden burst of cortical activity that occurs most commonly in the occipital lobes (back part of the brain). The occipital lobe will increase in frequency of firing, or have a burst of activity, and then there will be an episode of silence or depressed activity. The actual activity of the brain becomes depressed when compared to normal. The resulting pain comes from either the brain stem activation or from blood vessels inflamed by rapidly exchanging blood flow – or both.

I take a different approach to the treatment and prevention of headaches and migraines. After a thorough neurological examination I determine which part of the nervous system is not functioning properly. In many headache and migraine patients I may find a high mesencephalic output.

There are three parts to the brain stem: top, middle, and lower. The mesencephalon is the top part of the brain stem. A high output of the mesencephalon will cause an increased pulse and heart rate, inability to sleep or waking up from fitful sleep, urinary tract infection, increase warmth or sweating, and sensitivity to light.

Along with a high mesenphalic output, the patient may have a decreased output of the cerebellum. The cerebellum is in the back part of the brain, and it controls all of the involuntary spinal musculature.

No matter what the condition, it is imperative that the doctor performs a thorough and comprehensive exam to determine the exact nature of the patient’s condition.

Peripheral Neuropathy (PN) is the term used to describe disorders of the peripheral nerves. Even though 10 to 20 million people in the US suffer with PN information is hard to come by. Approximately 50% of diabetics will develop the condition. Many people using statin pills: ‘cholesterol drugs’ will be affected by this mysterious and under-recognized malady.

Neuropathy means “disease or abnormality of the nervous system” which is not a very helpful definition. We need to think of neuropathy as any DAMAGE to the nervous system. Carpal Tunnel syndrome, Herniated Discs and Strokes are all insults to different areas of the nervous system, all with different symptoms. Diabetes is a systemic disease that affects all nerves of the body from the brain, eyes and small nerves of the heart and digestive system, to the nerves in the hands, feet, and legs.

The peripheral nervous system is made up of the nerves that branch out of the spinal cord to all parts of the body.

Peripheral nerve cells have three main parts: Cell body, axons, and dendrites (nerve/muscle junction). And part of the nerve can be affected, but damage to axons is most common. The axon transmits signals from nerve cell or nerve cell to muscle. Most axons are surrounded by a substance call myelin, which facilitates signal transmission.

There are two types of symptoms with PN; negative and positive. Negative signs, which come first, are when damage to the nervous system, obviously,brings about a LOSS of a particular function. For example; loss of reflexes, loss of strength, loss of sensation like numbness. But these are rarely detectable to the patient, because the brain makes up the different in the losses. Only after some time do the sick and damaged nerves develop the positive signs of neuropathy; tingling , burning, biting, stabbing, shooting pains. This too is a reaction of the brain and the nervous system, unfortunately this over reaction tears apart the fiber of the patients’ lives.

Each patient will describe their pain in their own individual language of ‘pain’. This can easily confuse a doctor not trained in the recognition and treatment of these patients. So the patient usually continues at suffer, going from doctor to doctor, to stronger and stronger doses of pills until they are either completely drugged up and ‘out of it’, or lost in their own world of suffering.

Some neuropathies come on suddenly, others over many years. Some people are affected only by a weakness in the arms and legs which legs which leads to difficulty standing, walking, or getting out of a chair. The loss of sensation from the feet, ankles and toes contributes to patients not having a ‘good sense’ of where there feet are in space, touching the ground, and this causes them to fall very easily. These under-recognized sensory losses CAN ONLY be detected with proper clinical exam. This office has the necessary tools to uncover the underlying cause of this ‘silent’ nerve damage.

Some patients will eventually become unable to walk at all. Others start with a tingling, pin pricking feeling that turns into deep sharp stabbing pains and burning electric shocks. These debilitating problems can also be at their worst at night while trying to get to sleep, because the PAIN never goes away. In fact, once started IT ONLY GETS WORSE!!

Currently, ordinary medicine has NO cure for PN. The extremely powerful drugs dispensed to patients do NOT TREAT the NERVE DAMAGE! They numb the brain to numb the pain. Most patients can not tolerate a drugged existence but feel the have NO OTHER OPTION against this horrifying pain.

Functional thyroid disorders are very common and generally overlooked in today’s healthcare model. Most patients that have functional thyroid imbalances do not have primary thyroid imbalances. Thyroid metabolism is very sensitive to slight alterations in metabolism. Thyroid hormone synthesis is altered by luteal phase function, progesterone, and autoimmunity, etc. Thyroid hormone binding is influenced by essential fatty acid metabolism, testosterone, estrogen, etc. Thyroid hormone peripheral conversion is dependent on proper 5’diodinase activity and can be altered by cortisol, estrogen, hepatic dysfunction, dysbiosis, etc. Thyroid hormone receptor binding and response may be altered by inflammation, vitamin A status, and essential fatty acid levels, etc. In this section of the notes we will briefly review thyroid hormone physiology, laboratory markers for thyroid evaluation, nutrients to support the thyroid, exogenous thyroid hormone replacement, and drugs that alter thyroid metabolism.

Low Thyroid Symptoms

•  Fatigue
• Increase in weight gain even with low-calorie diet & morning headaches that wear off as the day progresses
• Depression
  
• Constipation
• Hypersensitivity to cold weather
• Poor circulation and numbness in hands and feet
• Muscle cramps while at rest
  
• Catches colds and other viral/bacterial problems easily and has difficulty recovering
• Wounds heal slowly
• Excessive amount of sleep required to function properly
• Chronic digestive problems (hypochlorhydria)
• Itchy dry skin
  

Low Thyroid Signs

• Hair falls out easily
• Dry or brittle hair
  
• Dry skin
• Low axillary temperature (this may also be caused by any endocrine imbalance)
• Edema, especially facial (myxedema)
• Loss of outside portion of eyebrows
  

Vertigo

Vertigo, or dizziness, affects millions of people around the world each year. In a majority of the cases, vertigo is nothing than a temporary inconvenience. In some cases, vertigo is a debilitating condition. Day-to-day activities is kept to a minimum due to the severe dizziness.

In many cases, the area of dysfunction in the nervous system is the cerebellum. The cerebellum is in the posterior aspect (back part) of the brain and controls our coordinated movements.

There are specific neurological tests that the we utilize to determine cerebellar function. Standing with your feet together and eyes closed, the test is positive if the patient sways back and forth. Other tests include, touching the index finger to the nose with the eyes closed, walking heel to toe, moving the fingers rapidly as if playing the piano, or touching all of your fingers to your thumb as fast as possible. These tests and others are used to determine the function of the cerebellum.

Treatment of the cerebellar dysfunction may include:

• Unilateral (one-sided) Adjustments: Extremities (arms and legs), lumbar (low back) and cervical (neck) spine will be manipulated on one side only to fire muscle spindle cells (muscle receptors) and joint mechanoreceptors (joint receptors) into the same cerebellum and opposite cerebra cortex (brain). The thoracic (mid-back) spine will be globally manipulated to fire the dorsal columns (back part of the spinal cord) and reduce rib fixations.
• Caloric: A warm water caloric of 180 milliliters may be administered in the ear to stimulate the ipsilateral (same side) cerebellum.
• Eye Exercises: Eye exercises may be used to increase the frequency of firing to the cerebellum and frontal lobe of the brain.
• Heat Therapy: Heat therapy is used to promote an increased metabolic and healing rate to the involved tissue. Increased heat helps increase activation to the brain. Heat has immediate soothing and palliative effects as decreased joint stiffness, decreased muscle spasms and releases histamine and bradykinin causing vasodilation of the tissues.