Putting Health Into Motion

Every single bone forms some type of joint with another bone
because joints allow us to have motion. When motion is normal at
a joint, life is good. But daily activities or injuries can
cause improper position of the bones, resulting in abnormal
movement at the joint. This can lead to problems like swelling,
pain, muscle spasms and arthritis later in life. The point is,
from head to toe, your joints occasionally need a tune-up. Let's
take a look at some of the more common trouble spots and what a
chiropractor will do to get the healing process started.

Head and Neck:
When patients have headaches, they almost always have a lack of
normal movement of their skull and the first two cervical
vertebrae (bones). By restoring alignment to these bones, muscle
tension is released. This allows blood circulation and nerve
information to flow better.

From Shoulders to Hands:
You probably know a lot of people who have shoulder injuries.
Well, our shoulder is made up of more joints than just the ball-
and-socket joint. Anyone with shoulder pain likely has one or
more of these joints that need to be realigned. Moving down the
arm, we can find elbow tendonitis (golfer's elbow, tennis elbow),
carpal tunnel syndrome and other repetitive-use injuries that can
cause considerable pain, swelling and muscle spasms. In general,
pain in any of these joints can be treated quite effectively with
chiropractic care.

Hips and Knees:
Hip joint arthritis is very common these days, and you might even
know someone who has had their hip replaced. When a hip is not
in good alignment, the same pattern we have talked about exists.
It can lead to lack of normal movement, arthritis and pain. And
ligament injuries in the knee and knee cap pain often arise due
to the leg bones being malpositioned.

Feet and Ankles:
Did you know we actually have three arches of the feet that are
supported mostly by a large ligament and secondarily by the bones
and muscles? When we have a collapse of these arches, which
happens in eight out of 10 people in the world, we can have a
variety of painful conditions.

The moral of this story is this:
No injury or pain is ever just muscular. You know now that
muscles attach to bones and bones make up joints everywhere in
the body. It may be the muscles giving you pain, but unless you
have the joints examined, you could be setting yourself up to
have a relapse or a flare-up down the road. Ask your
chiropractor for more information or contact me directly at
Anza Pain Treatment Center