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NJ Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Info

Chiropractic Care Promises Carpal Tunnel Relief

“The happiness of most people is not ruined by great catastrophes or fatal errors, but by the repetition of slowly destructive little things.”— Ernest Dimnet, French writer and philosopher

 

Injuries don’t always happen from a singular event, even if the symptoms sometimes indicate otherwise. The pain and other symptoms may take years to accumulate into something that requires attention from a healthcare professional. Such is almost always the case with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS), which evolves through “the repetition of slowly destructive little things.”

It is true that the author of the introductory quotation was not referring to illness or injury but to thinking and reasoning. It is an uncanny definition of CTS, nevertheless. That’s because this often painful and numbing malady is caused by repetitive motion on a regular basis over a sustained span of time. It was once regarded as a disorder of factory assembly line workers who repeated the same hand and arm motions day after day, as well as typesetters at newspapers and magazines.

Cases of CTS have also been verified as a result of sudden trauma, such as injuries from a car accident, but the majority of cases, by far, are the result of repetitive use of the hands, wrists, arms and fingers.

In the age of information technology, with its widespread use of computers for word processing and even gaming, CTS is affecting more people than ever. The surgery to correct the pain and side effects derived from this syndrome have become increasingly common, as is follow-up plastic surgery.

Compressing “Tunnel” Pinches, Inflames Nerve

Some people have smaller carpal tunnels than others, and that is a factor contributing to a person’s vulnerability. The carpal tunnel, situated in the wrist and just below the palm, is a tunnel-like enclosure around the median nerve and a composition of ligament, tendons and eight small bones. It is the median nerve that is damaged by repetitive motion and the “tunnel” compresses around it. Inflammation leads to pain and numbness.

The median nerve runs the length of a person’s forearm and to the juncture of the hand itself, but it is when the tunnel in the wrist constricts and squeezes that nerve when the symptoms eventually emerge. This usually develops over time, perhaps initially with a numbness in the wrist and in the second and fourth fingers.

CTS is one of the most common work-related injuries of the 21st Century. There have been a number of studies confirming the effectiveness of chiropractic medicine in easing the pain and other symptoms of this condition. Most notable was a 2007 study in which two different chiropractic protocols proved to be equally effective in the following improvements:  nerve conduction or functionality, wrist motion and strength and “daily activity function.” Perhaps most importantly, patient satisfaction of those tested was rated high.

As is the case with any condition influenced by stressors and damage to nerves, tendons and bones, chiropractic care is an option for relieving CTS symptoms. The approach at Oakland Spine & Physical Therapy, with its “nervous system experts” implementing the Butler Spine Program through holistic healing and non-invasive treatments, is to help restore normal use of the wrist and hand.

Diverse Techniques With Unique Results

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Diverse Techniques with Simple Priorities

One of the most common misconceptions about chiropractors is that we all do the same thing. Dr. Brad Butler, Chief of Staff at Oakland Spine & Physical Therapy in Oakland and Wayne, NJ, offers a two-word response to that:

“We don’t.”

“Much like the medical profession, there are many different styles of practice.,” explains Dr. Butler.

A traditional chiropractor typically uses just spinal manipulation or some basic modalities. Then there are chiropractors who follow more of a model of “spinal correction,” which is to use additional techniques to bring the patient’s spine back to a normal structural state.

Finally, there are chiropractic rehabilitation offices where multiple techniques, modalities, and even other disciplines such as physical therapy, massage therapy, acupuncture, and advanced technologies can be used.

“This is the model we utilize,” Dr. Butler adds, “because I feel we are giving the patient the overall best opportunity to heal and recover from more chronic and advanced spinal conditions.”

Women with Back PainModern medicine continues to improve and refine what it does best, and that is early detection and treatment. That’s where most of the research money and health insurance billing is going, with prevention continuing to get the short end of the proverbial stick. Chiropractors, as well as physical therapists to some extent, set the their priorities on prevention, utilizing the body to heal itself and immediate relief from an ongoing condition.

Robert Hayden, a spokesman for the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), has estimated there are as many as 150 techniques being practiced by chiropractors and promoted in chiropractic literature.

Looking at the 10 post-graduate programs being offered in the field for board diplomate clinical certification by the ACA, we can see where both manual (hands-on) and mechanical (instrument-applied) techniques would add up in those specialties alone:

—Chiropractic Pediatrics

—Chiropractic Physical and Therapeutic Rehabilitation

—Chiropractic Acupuncture

—Diagnosis and Internal Disorders

—Diagnostic Imaging

—Neurology

—Nutrition

—Occupational Health

—Sports Physician

—Orthopedics

There is so much diversity in chiropractic care, but the goals and priorities remain the same as exemplified in the following definition by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH):

Chiropractic is a health care profession that focuses on the relationship between the body’s structure—mainly the spine—and its functioning. Although practitioners may use a variety of treatment approaches, they primarily perform adjustments (manipulations) to the spine or other parts of the body with the goal of correcting alignment problems, alleviating pain, improving function, and supporting the body’s natural ability to heal itself.

—Call us today at (201) 651-9100 for an appointment at Oakland Spine & Physical Therapy.

 

 

 

Including PT in Integrated Care

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Counting Physical Therapy In

Like chiropractic care, a primary goal of physical therapy is to heal and treat without relying on drugs and therapy. One of the chief differences is that physical therapy is more closely associated with mainstream medicine and is even prescribed by medical practices before and after surgery.

PT (and chiropractic care, for that matter) goes back to ancient times when massage and the relief that comes from water that we now call hydrotherapy are believed to be used by Greek physician Hippocrates, known as the father of medicine. In a sense, you could say he is also the father of physical therapy. However, it took centuries before PT was regarded as accepted health care, although one element, fitness training, pre-dates it by centuries. PT went mainstream with the polio epidemic in the 1940’s and 1950’s when manual therapy techniques were used to help restore muscle function.

The modern physical therapist is also trained in massage, but specialties now include post-operative care, orthopedic, cardiovascular and neurologic and pulmonary rehabilitation. Those specialties are usually just that, and few physical therapy practices provide treatment in all of these areas.

TorticollisIntegrating Multiple Therapies

Physical therapists and chiropractors can work together under the same roof, so to speak, to provide integrated care.

Dr. Brad Butler, Chief of Staff at Oakland Spine & Physical Therapy believes that “physical therapy is probably the best thing out there for treating the muscular components of the spine.” It is also critical for functional improvements, postural improvements, flexibility and strength.

“However, the big difference between hospital-based physical therapy, a stand alone physical therapy center, and an integrated center like ours, is the applied philosophy of what works best,” Dr. Butler reports. “We believe that integrated physical therapy with other therapies lead to a faster and more comprehensive patient response.”

The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) explains that PTs examine each care recipient (“patient” is generally not used because it applies to medical care) and “develop a plan using treatment techniques to promote the ability to move, reduce pain, restore function, and prevent disability.” In addition, PTs develop fitness programs for individuals as a means to maintain or improve mobility, as well as ensuring more active and healthier lifestyles with programs they can follow on their own. In post-operative therapy, for instance, care continues after leaving PT via programs the individual can use on his or her own.

There are obviously many similarities between PT and chiropractic care, and the integration of the two healing disciplines is a natural transition under the all-encompassing umbrella of health care.

 

Why Website Words Seem Familiar

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The Common Denominator of Chiropractic Searching

If you do much online research on chiropractic care, you are bound to see an amazing amount of repetition on practitioners’ websites. We’re talking word-for-word by the hundreds, and though this might be technically defined as plagiarism, nobody seems to complain too much.

That is because much of the purloined parlance is within the industry, so to speak. Quoting information that educates the public on the advantages of chiropractic care and mainstream studies that cite its many advantages, seems to be shared material for chiropractic practices all over the country. Plus it is proven and factual.

Aside from informational pages on these websites, you’ll also see this wholesale misappropriation of wordage in blogs on sites promoting everything from nutrition to acupuncture. Bloggers should know better, since they are usually professional writers and copywriters, but, then again, why not repeat someone else’s writing if you can’t state it any better?

Look at it this way. If it was your writing showing up on websites all over the country, you might actually feel complimented because so many people in the field preferred your words over their own.

WhiplashChiropractors are not alone. This seems to be particularly pervasive in the healing arts, including medical doctors, dentists and even healthcare financial advisors. Their websites are replete with hundreds of words lifted from elsewhere, and it is almost impossible to trace their origin.  

We’ve found numerous websites that are sharing writing without attribution, but we doubt anyone is going to mind all that much, because what’s good for one is apparently good for all— as long as the author doesn’t complain.

Take, for example, the following 65 words (part of several hundred but we don’t need to devote that many words to make the point):

In the United States, chiropractic is often considered a complementary health approach. According to the 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which included a comprehensive survey of the use of complementary health approaches by Americans, about 8 percent of adults (more than 18 million) and nearly 3 percent of children (more than 2 million) had received chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation in the past 12 months…

Even though this survey is pretty much outdated more than a decade later, we found the above passage unchanged on 54 different sites all over the country and once in the UK. Most were chiropractic sites, but it was also on sites promoting pain therapy, yoga, cancer treatment, Chinese martial arts, holistic nursing, massage therapy, a suburban newspaper and even Wikipedia (the subject was therapeutic touch).

 

Diversity Among Chiropractors

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Not All Chiropractors Are the Same

There have been some simple stereotypes associated with chiropractors over a history of almost 125 years, but there are now as many as 150 techniques recognized by the American Chiropractic Association (ACA).

“Much like the medical profession, there are many different styles of practice,” says Dr. Brad Butler, Chief of Staff at the Oakland Spine & Rehabilitation Centers in Oakland and Wayne, NJ. “A traditional chiropractor typically uses just spinal manipulation or some basic modalities. Then there are chiropractors who follow more of a model of spinal ‘correction,’ which is to use additional techniques to bring the patient’s spine back to a normal structural state.”

Finally, there are chiropractic rehabilitation offices like Oakland Spine with multiple techniques and disciplines. These may include advanced technologies and modalities such as physical therapy, massage therapy and acupuncture.

“This is the model we utilize because I feel it’s giving the patient the overall best opportunity to heal and recover from more chronic and advanced spinal conditions,” Dr. Butler adds.

TorticollisWithin the realm of chiropractic medicine itself, there are five basic or common techniques. They might be generally defined thusly:

  1. The simplest hands-on technique is typically confined to adjusting the low back or pelvis. It is a fundamental phase of chiropractic education and students learn it early in schooling and training. Targeted are stiffness and pain, as well as increasing mobility.
  2. Another technique involves using a hand-held instrument that transmits a gentle impulse into sections of the spine. There is very little discomfort in this process, known as the activator technique, and it is used to alleviate lower back pain and even for headaches and migraines.
  3. Decompression manipulation is a technique commonly used in chiropractic clinics and preferred for treating herniated discs, sprains to the facet joints between discs, and scoliosis. The treatment is described as a gentle stretching motion on an adjustable table.
  4. Speaking of adjustable tables, the drop-table technique relies on a padded table with platforms that drop slightly in sequence with thrusts of the chiropractor making adjustments to both the spine and extremities.
  5. Finally there is the diversified technique that, like the drop-table technique, is used on both the spine and extremities. These are very precise manual applications,  that are effective at restoring normal alignment and movement of the spine.

There is great diversity in training and schooling. For example, there are 10 post-graduate programs or specialties endorsed by the ACA and offering diplomate certification for chiropractors:

  • Chiropractic Pediatrics
  • Chiropractic Physical and Therapeutic Rehabilitation
  • Chiropractic Acupuncture
  • Diagnostic Imaging
  • Diagnosis and Internal Disorders
  • Nutrition
  • Neurology
  • Orthopedics
  • Occupational Health
  • Sports Physician

 

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Exercises

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Exercises

There are nine tendons that pass through the carpal tunnel at the wrist that connect the forearm muscles to the palm-side of the fingers. These tendons are encased in sheaths, and friction and heat can build-up inside these sheaths, leading to swelling, pressure, and pain (especially during fast, repetitive tasks). As the swelling increases and pressure builds up inside the tight space of the tunnel, the median nerve is pushed into the transverse carpal ligament, which serves as the floor of the tunnel, resulting in the symptoms we commonly associate with CTS. Stretching helps reduce this tightness and friction.

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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Inflammation, & Treatment Options

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Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) belongs to a group of disorders called “entrapment neuropathies” and as the name implies, it is caused by the trapping of the median nerve in the carpal tunnel of the wrist. There are MANY ways to treat CTS, with some of the most effective focused on reducing inflammation.

Inflammation (from the Latin inflammatio) is commonly referred to as “swelling” and is a sequence of biological responses to harmful stimuli that include pathogens such as bacteria and viruses, damaged cells, and other irritants. It is a protective response to something abnormal that has occurred and involves our immune cells, blood supply, and more. Inflammation helps to eliminate the cause of cell injury, clean up necrotic or dead cells from area, and initiate the tissue repair process.

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