A systematic review (which is an analysis of all relevant research articles when it’s at home) across the Scandinavian chiropractic profession reported the following: Patients using chiropractic in a maintenance/preventive way reported fewer days with low back pain compared to those who only sought chiropractic care “when needed”.

Conclusive comments on the main study quoted:

“Knowledge of chiropractic Maintenance Care has advanced. There is reasonable consensus among chiropractors on what Maintenance Care is, how it should be used, and its indications. Presently, Maintenance Care can be considered an evidence-based method to perform secondary or tertiary prevention (that means keeping you pain free, well and moving) in patients who have suffered previous low back pain and who have responded well to the initial treatments used to help resolve the pain.”

What does this mean for you?

Between Annika and Graham at Spectrum Chiropractic we have 55 years of experience in practice. The results of this study are no surprise to us. We witness that when patients visit regularly to keep things in shape they fare better in many ways. How often would work best for you depends on your individual circumstances. For some, it is 4 times a year, and for some, it’s once a month. We usually find the ideal time span by extending the time between visits to the point where we find all those things that will hurt if left much longer while you are still pain free.

Keep in mind that pain is the last and most insistent way your body communicates distress to you. It usually starts with stiffness, less range of motion, altered gait, tightness or tension, disturbed sleep, more fatigue, poorer mood etc. We are more than happy to listen to your ideas on how Maintenance Care may work best for you.

Reference:

Axen, I. Hestbeck, L. and Le Beouf-Yde, C. 2019. “Chiropractic maintenance care – What’s new? A systematic review of the literature. November, 2019. Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 27(1):63

Check out these related articles:

Image by Yan Krukau on pexels

by Dr. Annika

You may have heard people talk about having a curvature of the spine.

If you look at a person side-on, there should be curves, which are desirable and normal. They add springiness of the spine. If those curves are lost, there is more impact travelling through the spine, and is often associated with and/or caused by wear and tear.

But if you look at a person from behind, the top of their pelvic bones should be level, and the spine should look straight. If a person has a scoliosis, often the tops of the pelvic bones are not level, and there is a noticeable deviation from the midline to the left and/or right.

If you look at the feature image, you will notice that the vertical strap is just off center – this lady most likely has a small scoliosis.

For the worst cases, it is necessary to put metal rods into the spine to stop the curve progressing and to avoid the organs being “squished”. If the lungs and the heart don’t have room for expansion, you can imagine that they can’t work all that well. Sometimes, the abdominal organs can be affected too, but because there is space in the front of the belly, it’s not usually quite as much of a problem.

Most of us have a subtle curve. In 31 years of chiropractic practice, I am yet to meet a perfectly straight spine. I think this is because we live in inherently asymmetrical bodies; most of us have the heart on the left, and 2/3 of the liver is on the right etc.

The more subtle curves are often to a large extent functional, meaning that with a bit of treatment, things do get a lot closer to ideal. My observation is that when someone aggravates their spine, their usual curves are much more pronounced than when that person’s spine is in good balance.

But there can also be a structural component, meaning that the bones become asymmetrical. If you look at the image, you will notice that the spinous process (the “tail” pointing downward) points to the left of the picture; it ideally should be straight.

Where this becomes really important is in children. They often have small distortions, acquired through the birthing process or the numerous bumps to the head and falls that go with growing up, or from walking on flat surfaces all the time. As they grow, they can become large distortions, and if they aren’t picked up and treated early, the bones will start adapting and you may have a problem for life.

Growing bones that have force put through them slow down the growth, whereas bones that have little force going through them keep going. I have seen people with actual leg length differences just because they got in the habit of always standing on the same leg! Within a vertebra, if there is more pressure on one side of the bone than on the other, one side will gain height less than the other and then you end up with a structural scoliosis.

Read more about feet https://spectrumchiropractic.com.au/just-how-important-are-your-feet/

Image by Scott Webb from Pixabay

By Dr. Annika

Graham has been using a laser for a while with most excellent results, so Annika decided she needed to go to the most recent seminar too.

It was so worthwhile!

One of the ways cells communicate with each other is through light! And that is where the laser comes in, speaking to the cells in their own language. Amazing! The current theory is that the laser improves blood flow, increasing oxygen to tissues, and helping the body clear out waste products linked to inflammation. This means that it can deal with old (and new) injuries to the body and the brain.

One of the structures that the laser works on in the approach that we learned is the fascia.

Fascia is fascinating! Think of it as a three dimensional web that holds everything in place. On a micro level, it goes through and around cells to hold them in place, and on a macro level it can become a massive structure like the fascia lata down the outside of your thigh or the tendon underneath your kneecap.

What that means is that if the fascia crinkles, like for example if a scar is not aligned really well before healing, you get lines of tension running from that area through the whole body. Imagine you have a sheet of glad wrap on a table in front of you, and then pull on one corner. Notice how the rest of the sheet crinkles and is no longer flat. Now imagine that in three dimensions. And now imagine that that is the rio that holds everything in place inside the body. It’s going to be hard to get good function when everything is scrunched up that way, right?

One of the places where this therapy is particularly useful is if you are really tight at the base of your skull. This is called the suboccipital space, and you have nerves and blood vessels traversing through there, and there is a direct connection between the pain sensitive dura (the outer membrane that wraps around the brain and spinal cord) and the suboccipital muscles that live here. If you are thinking that that sounds like a prime reason for all kinds of headaches, you are absolutely right!

It’s very easy for that space to tighten up. Habitual slouching will do it. If you have advanced degenerative changes in your spine, that will do it too. Observe yourself in a mirror or plate glass window and notice if your ear hole is directly above your shoulder. The lady in the image above is displaying good posture (it’s remarkably hard to find a picture of this!).

If your head is forward of the shouldertip, the suboccipital space is narrowed, and your head is a lot heavier for the neck to hold up than it should be because of leverage.  Look at the image of the young man below. I am sure you know someone who spends a lot of time in that position. Tight shoulders anyone?

Sitting like this puts a lot of strain on the shoulders and upper back.
Image by Silviu on the street from Pixabay

What we have found is that if we apply the laser to the suboccipital space, it softens those structures beautifully, our adjustments are easy and they hold once you leave! That will make it a big difference to those headaches as well as make it easier for you to stand and sit straight.

The other really exciting aspect is that we can reach tight fascia that is deep within the body, such as the ribcage. Once we free up the internal ribcage fascia, breathing feels so light and easy, and your posture is no longer locked in from the inside!

Needless to say, the laser is getting a bit of a workout! Let us know if you think this might be relevant next time we see you.

Here is another article on fascia:

Here is another article on why good posture is important

By Dr. Annika

We get asked about this a lot. And it is important, considering how important sleep is for wellbeing, how much time we spend on our mattresses and pillows and how many people experience waking up worse for wear.

Obviously “best” is different for everyone, but here are some guidelines.

Mattresses:

In case of doubt, go for firmer rather than softer. If you get into a bed and think, “yum, this is so comfy”, you are likely on a bed that’s too soft. It is also much easier to soften a hard bed with mattress toppers than it is to firm up a soft bed.

I wouldn’t recommend something that has “pillow top”, because that’s what you end up sleeping on, and the mattress structure underneath is almost irrelevant. Commercial mattresses (used by the hotel industry) are generally the most durable, and usually also a lot cheaper.

When you put a mattress with metal springs next to electrical wires a process called induction takes place, which means that you are sleeping in an electromagnetic field, which can affect your electromagnetic field. It’s possible that a grounding sheet might help, but I don’t have any experience with them. We have gone for natural fiber mattresses, such as latex, wool or coir to avoid induction. The disadvantage of them is that they are heavy and need to be turned regularly, so only get a king size if you’re up for that!

Pillows:

Pillows are possibly even more fraught. I recently bought a pillow, and made sure that I tried them out while in the shop. Clearly 5 minutes on a pillow is not going to give you an accurate impression on what a whole night is going to feel like, but I bought the pillow that made my head feel light, like it does after an adjustment; my neck muscles could relax with this pillow. It has worked out (mostly).

If you sleep on your side, you pillow needs to be higher than if you sleep mostly on your back, to avoid scrunching your neck.  I prefer a contoured pillow, so there is neck and head support.

And while on the topic, avoid sleeping on your front or in recovery position. This twists your neck and your back and is a habit where it’s just a matter of time before it causes problems. Your shoulder should be forward, not backwards. You can also side sleep with a pillow between your knees to avoid twisting your lower back.

I hope that helps! Have a good sleep.

Here are some other articles on sleep

https://spectrumchiropractic.com.au/how-to-get-a-good-nights-sleep/

https://spectrumchiropractic.com.au/pain-relief-thats-natural-and-free-and-has-no-side-effects/

https://spectrumchiropractic.com.au/the-123-of-a-good-nights-sleep/

By Dr. Graham

Do you suffer hip pain? If so, the very first step is to get the correct diagnosis. Only then can the most effective treatment be offered to you. Bursitis is very different from
arthritis – but the two can also be happening together.

Hip arthritis is when the hip joint itself has degenerative changes.

A bursa is a fluid filled space that is designed to stop different structures rubbing together painfully. This is why you can move the skin on the back of your elbow as freely as you can.

Hip bursitis is a condition where the cushioning tissue (bursa) on the side of your thigh becomes inflamed. The pain from that site usually travels to the front and back of your
thigh and down your leg (as can the pain from hip arthritis).

Symptoms may involve the following;
 Pain over the groin, front of thigh, buttock and down the leg
 Pain with movement and at rest
 Cannot sleep on the affected (or often opposite) side without pain
 Cannot enjoy normal activities of work or fun.

What we have found is that hip bursitis does not resolve easily without treatment and the longer it goes untreated the more intense and widespread it becomes. The pain
level goes up and a bigger area of the leg becomes involved in the pain pattern. By the time people see us for this problem their sleep has typically become very broken
and they are feeling exhausted and stressed.

Our hip bursitis treatment program aims to identify whether your pelvis has twisted and where the inflamed tissue is. From there we aim to re-align your pelvis and use
laser and other techniques to promote healing of the affected tissues. This will help get you back to sleeping well, being active and feeling great.

Image by sobima from Pixabay

By Dr. Annika

Did you know that when we walk, 3 times our bodyweight goes through our big toe joint?

Our feet are an incredible piece of anatomy, with intricate spring loading and 4 curve arrangements to allow you to glide along on Earth.

But what happens if things aren’t quite right?

Most people understand that if your feet don’t work, such as if they are flat, the twist gets transferred up to the knees, and then to the hips and up into the back. It is obvious that this then leads to the muscles not working in their best positions and capacity.

But there is much more to that than meets the eye.

What are some of the possible symptoms of foot problems?

• Foot, knee, hip and back pain
• Feeling tired in the afternoon after you have been on your feet all day.
• Your head feels heavy and leans forward (you often don’t notice until it’s been addressed)
• Scoliosis
• You walk heavily
• Your feet turn out
• You have calluses on your feet
• Your big toe knuckle
• Your feet look flat on the instep or outside, or under the ball of your foot
• Your toe tips rather than the undersurface touch the ground when you stand and your toes look more like claws than toes.
• Poor balance

How do you know if you have a foot problem?

A quick check is to have a look at your footprints in the sand. Both of your feet should be pointing forward, and the biggest grooves should be under your heel and the big toe. The outside part of the print should be quite narrow. Have a look at the picture above to see what a non-ideal print looks like

How do you end up with foot problems?

Feet are designed to be bare and on uneven ground, feeling things like grass and stones and boulders and tree bark and mud, and adapting to the ground. In our civilization, you are on flat surfaces almost always. This leaves the feet without much stimulation, which is what the brain needs to engage our core and use our muscles, joints and bones optimally.

To add insult to injury, you wear shoes, which often restrict the foot from moving properly (don’t get me started on high heels!) and, especially if very cushioned, essentially leads to sensory deprivation. The brain can’t really read what’s going on in the field of gravity and has to guess, based on information coming from your balance organs in our ears, your sight and joint position sense.

This is why you’re often are tired in the afternoon – the brain uses up a whole lot of energy just keeping you upright, let alone trying to do everything else you do.

The reason why you might have calluses is because the muscles in the feet wither, not holding the arches up properly, which means that the wrong parts of the foot are being used for weightbearing. The skin under the heels and big toes, that is designed to weight-bear, is reinforced.

In 30 years of practice, I have felt ONE person’s feet that felt like they were strong and functional – they felt a bit like hands. Everyone elses’, surprisingly including dancers’, feel rigid in comparison.

What can we do to improve this situation?

Walk with your bare feet touching the ground as much as you safely can. Trampolining and stand-up paddle boarding are also good. The problem is, though, that these activities don’t make up for the vast majority of the rest of the time when you’re on flat surfaces (in bare feet or otherwise).

We recommend better balance orthotics, which are a slimline orthotic that fit in any shoes, even sandal. They have soft cushions that stimulate the brain so it knows what’s going on. There’s no support, it’s like gym for feet, essentially.

We have worked with these orthotics for over 20 years, and the feedback we’ve had is so positive! For example, feeling less tired in the afternoon. Much better balance and fewer injuries. This is not just super relevant to older people! One comical incident was some young netball ladies who missed their hoops for a couple of weeks after fitting their orthotics, because their body was working so differently.

And yes, we use them ourselves.

if you are thinking that this sounds like something that would benefit you, let us know next time you’re in for a visit!

Here’s the link if you’d like to check out the website https://betterbalanceorthotics.com/

By chiropractor Dr. Annika Jende

When people mention that they are stressed, they usually refer to relationships, work or finances causing them distress.

There is more to stress than meets the eye, however. Stress is, by definition, anything the body has to adapt to.

Emotional stress is one of three possible sources of stress, that we are all familiar with.

The second type of stress is chemical: toxins that we come into contact with, such as pesticides on our food, cleaning products (both personal and home),  toxic metals such as aluminium from cooking implements or deodorants, alcohol, excess sugar, cigarette smoke to name just a few. These toxins require the body to use resources to detoxify that would otherwise have been used for other purposes in the body. The other type of chemical stress is nutritional deficiency, where we are lacking enough good nutrients to get all the jobs the body needs to do easily and effortlessly.

The third kind of stress is structural stress. If you have a postural challenge, an old injury, an unhelpful habit such as tech neck (check out this article https://spectrumchiropractic.com.au/why-is-good-posture-important/ ), the body has to find a way to work around all of these limitations and restrictions. Which is why incidentally “growing old” is such a poor excuse for pain and lack of function – these kind of problems can be improved upon at any time.  The sooner after the incident the better, obviously, but better late than never!

All of these aspects influence each other, as shown in the examples in the graphic above, in a complex dance of wellbeing – or not. In chiropractic, the influence that the chemical, emotional and structural aspects of health have on each other is called the triad of health.

The body only has one way it can react to stress, so if you are able to improve even just one of those three aspects, your body will start to recover, but the holistic approach, where all three aspects are addressed, is far superior. This is what we endeavour to do at Spectrum, so you can enjoy the best possible health outcomes.

Check out these articles on stress

https://spectrumchiropractic.com.au/stress-the-glands/

https://spectrumchiropractic.com.au/is-there-such-a-thing-as-not-enough-stress/

Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs) are potentially a stress on your body. Read more here https://spectrumchiropractic.com.au/what-are-emfs-and-why-are-they-important/