Dr. Krieger's Health Tip of the Month
If it's good for my business it is bad for your health. The word doctor means teacher and it is a part of my job as your doctor to educate you about good health. Does your head throb? Does it feel like some one pounded a nail into your head? Does it feel like your head is being squeezed in a vice? Do loud sounds make your head hurt worse? Does your head feel like a balloon ready to burst? Do brite lites make you suffer? Is the pain in your whole head? Is the pain behind your eyes? Is the pain in your temples? Is the pain on top of your head? Is the pain at the base of your skull? These are just some of the questions I would ask if you suffer from
headaches. I will share with you one my favorite headache cases. The patient was a 16 year old female who had headaches. Her headaches began just after puberty and became worse. She felt pain thru out her entire head but especially behind the eyes. Her father was a dentist and he had checked her for any causes related to the TemperoMandibular Joint. Her pediatrician had referred her to a neurologist. The patient's symptoms became worse and worse to the point she did not attend high school. She was an honors student prior to the headaches.
The headaches had now changed her quality of life. During the case history I asked her the standard questions about headaches as described above. Her physical exam findings were notable for tight muscles in the neck, the range of motion was normal, the orthopedic and neurological tests were normal. She did demonstrate aberrant motion in the C2 and C6 vertabrae. X-rays demonstrated a flattening of the normal cervical curve. After about 2 weeks of treatment she demonstrated less pain but she could not return to school. Something was telling me to add another treatment. A picture kept coming to my head of a trigger point chart showing referred pain to the eye area. This turned out to be the key to the resolution of this patient's condition. The chart had different colors for different muscles. The muscle in question was the SternoCleidoMastoid Muscle (SCM). I chose to add trigger point therapy to the spinal adjustments she was receiving and in a few short weeks she returned to school. Her mom and dad were very happy to see their daughter return to school and not have to stay around the house. Two years later she graduated and went on to College to study chemistry and she graduated on the Dean's List.
Headaches can cause each patient to suffer differently. Some
headaches cause dull pain, others are sharp, some are throbbing, some it feels like pressure squeezing your head or others feel like your head will explode. The location of your headache and the nature of the pain tell us what kind of
headache someone is suffering from. Other causes of headaches include trauma to the neck or spine such as a car accident, food allergies such as chocolate or wine which can set off migraines, repetitive motion injuries to the neck, Jaw problems, exposure to toxins including alcohol, poor posture and emotional stress. The International Headache Society has classified 129 different types of headache!!!
The following was quoted from the American Chiropractic Association Website from a letter to the
Oprah Magazine,
"A 2003 study published in the medical journal
Spine that found that manual manipulation provides better short-term relief of chronic spinal pain than does a variety of medications. A 2001 study by Duke University that found chiropractic manipulation appropriate for both tension-type headache and cervicogenic headache."
If you note a headache starting try lying down on your back with a rolled up towel supporting your neck for 20 minutes, try drinking some water ( 2 big glasses) try stretching your neck side to side,
get a chiropractic adjustment or try a massage. I have not recommended medication because the cox inhibitors like ibuprofen (they inhibit inflammation) can cause gastric bleeding or heart problems and the analgesics like Tylenol can cause liver damage and it is outside of a Chiropractor's scope of practice to recommend any medication.
How often should you try to exercise aerobically such as walking? A. once per year B. once per month C. every 60 minutes D. 3 times per week for 45 minutes see further down for answer
This is excerpted from an Article by Brian Sutton DCprinted in the April 22, 2008 edition of
Dynamic Chiropractic.
BMI Is Out; Tape Measure Is In
A report in the
Journal of the American College of Cardiology12 suggests if you're looking for an outward physical indication of atherosclerosis, you should forget the BMI index and use the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) instead. Whereas the BMI only shows a correlation at the upper extreme of the scale, the WHR exhibits a very linear correlation across the board. In contrast to other studies that suggest a target waist size, this research simply says the smaller waist you have, the less clogged your arteries are. "Even a small pot belly puts us at higher risk when compared to a flat tummy," according to the study leader. 13 The 2,744 subjects involved in this study (median age of 45) were relatively healthy and had not yet experienced a heart attack or stroke.
- J Am Coll Cardiol, 2007;50:752-9 (published online Aug. 6, 2007).
- Reuters, Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2007.
If you are injured at work your care is covered 100% by worker's compensation. Inform your employer and they will have you file an accident report, the faster the better. Make sure you inform your health care provider that you will be treated under worker's compensation. Chiropractors can only treat injuries related to the spine. Make sure you indicate an area of the spine if you are seeking care thru a chiropractor. Some people do not realize that the lower neck is covered by the trap muscle, this area can be referred to the posterior shoulder but in actuality it is the neck. Insurance companies are sticklers and will make the case harder. Sometimes patients have numbness in the arm and they think they have an arm injury when in actuality it is a nerve in the neck which is pinged causing the numbness not an injury to the arm or sometimes it's both, this is called double crush syndrome.
IN PAIN CALL Dr. Krieger at 633-6044 or docbillchiro@juno.com
Website: Kriegerchiropracticofwny.topchiro
William L. Krieger DC
5225 Sheridan Dr.
Williamsville, NY 14221
IN PAIN CALL Dr. Krieger at 633-6044
The answer is D. 3 times per week for 45 minutes