Dwight Freeney’s ankle injury was a major story in the run-up to the Superbowl. The Colts kept their cards close to the chest on the whole matter though some details have leaked as to what they did to treat the issue.

They are very active with their treatments and Freeney is using some methods that have helped him in the past. The main one is Dr. Leon Mellman, Freeney’s Chiropractor, who was making sure not only his ankle is getting the proper care, but is also monitoring how his newly guarded walk is effecting the rest of his body. Most notably how his lower back could be adversely affected due to his newly acquired limp.

Freeney’s injury was being treated as any other low ankle sprain would be in the NFL with some minor tweaks. Although he was seen in a supporting boot very recently, he spoke openly about keeping the motion in the ankle joint to promote healing. This became common place in joint surgeries; where immediately following the surgery, the joint are put into passive motion to prevent adhesion build-up and promote a quicker recovery. Freeney was spotted walking the beach without his boot on, most likely advised by team doctors for the same reason: a quicker recovery.

F8.

In our view, the constellation of the evidence of:
1. the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of chiropractic management of low-back pain.

2. the untested, questionable or harmful nature of many current medical therapies .

3. the economic efficiency of chiropractic care for low-back pain compared with medical care.

4. the safety of chiropractic care.

5. the higher satisfaction levels expressed by patients of chiropractors, together

offers an overwhelming case in favor of much greater use of chiropractic services in the management of low-back pain.

And isn’t this really what it is all about – are patients satisfied with the treatment we offer – the answer is an overwhelming yes.

Now let’s see what the response is from the butter board or whatever it’s called.

An interesting study was carried out by G.Cramer, J.Fournier, et al. in October last year titled:

Degenerative Changes Following Spinal Fixation in a Small Animal Model.

It was then published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, Vol. 27 No. 3, Pgs. 141-154

The study evaluated changes in the small joints, the facet joints, of the lumbar spine after they were artificially fixed together and therefore prevented from moving.

The study used an established small animal (rat) model of spinal fixation (hypomobility) where 3 contiguous lumbar segments (L4, L5, L6) were fixed with a specially engineered vertebral fixation device. Spinal segments of control rats were compared with those of animals whose spines had been fixed for 1, 4, or 8 weeks. Subgroups of these fixation animals subsequently had the fixation device removed for 1, 2, 4, 8, or 12 weeks to evaluate the effects of attempting to re-establish normal forces to the vertebral segments following hypomobility. The joints that were fixated were examined microscopically to determine how the lack of motion affected the health of the joints. By using small animals such as mice or rats, the changes they go through in a study can be very closely observed in a way that, clearly, they can’t be in human studies.

The conclusion: These findings indicate that fixation (hypomobility) results in time-dependent degenerative changes of the Z joints (the small facet joints in the spine).

The study was a high quality study which produced some highly meaningful information.

So, what did they find? The joints that were immobilized began to break down and degenerate, while the joints that moved remained healthy. The type of breakdown that the researchers found in the fixated joints was the same as in osteoarthritis; which is the most common type of arthritis and while there are many types of arthritis, this is the type people are generally referring to when they say ‘arthritis’. They also found that the longer the joint did not move the more degenerative arthritic changes it showed. The point is that this reflects the same processes that occur in you and I and that is why it is so valuable.

So who do I pass this on to? Anyone who mentions suffering from, or wanting to avoid, arthritis. Or better yet, pass it on to the person you know who is already very health conscious, wants to stay active, and wants to learn how chiropractic care can help keep them moving and healthy!

At this time of year, resolutions, best intentions and goals for the year ahead are not far from anyone’s awareness. But how do we set and more importantly stick to the goals that we set? We can all understand that logically it doesn’t make sense to smoke, drink to excess or eat an entire selection box, yet many of us persist! So it easy to see that the logical part of our brain is not the only part of us that we need to recruit to help us achieve goals.

What many people don’t understand is that our brain can be split into distinct parts and one of those parts is the primitive area of the brain. This is the area that doesn’t necessarily see the harm in smoking and other unhealthy habits (it is not an intellect). Unless we recruit the assistance of this area of the brain too, giving up a habit or sticking to a new regime can be incredibly difficult. A little bit like trying to drive your car forward when it is in reverse gear!

Many of my clients have said to me that they lack willpower and it is a common misconception that willpower is what is required to overcome challenges. In fact, willpower is what we require when we are working without the agreement of our primitive brain; we can achieve things this way but it is often difficult and a constant challenge, leading in most cases to failure!

We have loads of patients asking about the right number and size of pillow to use, and rightly so.  If you spend 8 hours every day with your head at a strange angle then you’re going to know about it – how many of you have woken up with a ‘cricked neck’ as a result of this? 

Now, your neck can bend forward and backwards further that it can bend side to side and it is this side bending that compresses the delicate joints at the back of the neck and can cause them to really hurt.  So, the key thing is to make sure that your spine is not bent sideways when you are sleeping.  To prevent this you need to adequately fill the gap between the side of your head and the mattress.  The best way to work this out how large a pillow you’ll need is to lean against a wall with your shoulder rolled forward, as you do whilst sleeping in your bed, and feel how large the gap between your head and the wall you need to fill – usually about a hand’s width.  Or, better yet, get someone else to check whilst you are lying in bed.

So, the answer is we don’t know how many pillows you should have as it all depends on you but we know how to find that number out.

Finally, if you are a front sleeper you are in a world of hurt.  If you get a decent pillow then front sleeping does become difficult and you may break the habit – give it a go and good luck.

Correcting any anterior head carriage is never going to be accomplished overnight.  It takes a long time for the body to adapt to a new posture (I think it’s thousands of repetitions to learn a new motion pattern) and correcting your own posture is next to impossible as it involves conscious thought which is really difficult to maintain for any length of time and do some work at the same time. 

 But how is it mended?

Firstly get in and see your chiropractor to get your neck working well as there is no point of learning new posture with a rotated neck – why? as this will then become the default posture for your neck and you’ll try to revert to it.  A visit will also reduce some symptoms (if you have any) but this will only be temporary because without a change in posture, the body will go right back to its previous position creating the problem again.  So we must tackle the ‘why’ bit of the problem.

Anterior head carriage affects those that sit all day, usually in front of a computer or at a desk.  Most people in these cases find themselves leaning over a desk to read or are hunched at a computer typing all day.  Take a look around you; you’ll see them out there, like this cracking example of it in Drew barrymore – no less. 

If your posture is correct then the red Centre of Gravity (CoG) line should pass through your ear hole.  What happens in AHC is that the head comes forward of the CoG and starts to slow-fall to the keyboard.  The only thing stopping this fall are the muscles of the neck and shoulders, such as the traps and the lev scaps.  

However, once the neck is working well and the shoulder and neck muscles are functioning again it is time to start the anterior head carriage stretches to combat the damage done by peering into the computer for years.

I’ll add this on the blog once I get some decent photos of the stretch so hold your horses,  get it working right by seeing your chiro and by the time it is I’ll have the stretch ready.

RMSC