Pregnancy and Chiropractic Care

Learn more about Pregnancy and Chiropractic Care. A recent article written in the June 2016 edition of the NC Health and Wellness Magazine where Dr. LaTanya Bowman discusses the benefits of chiropractic care, and how it helps throughout pregnancy.

Learn More About How Chiropractic Care Can Help With Pregnancy 

Discover What Chiropractic Can Do For You

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How Can Chiropractors Help With Shoulder Pain?

Shoulder pain is a very common problem in today's work force and everyday living. Sometime within our life span, everyone will experience some kind of shoulder problems. Like with any other conditions or injuries, the sooner you get it evaluated and treated, the faster the problem can resolve and heal, and the less likely you will have reoccurring problems.

Here are a few signs and symptoms in which seeking care by a chiropractic physician can help with shoulder pain or injuries:

* Auto Accident injury (Car accident injury)

* Recurring shoulder pain, even if the pain goes away and then returns

* Unable to carry heavy objects or lift objects

* Shoulder pain that only occurs at night or at rest

* Swelling around the joint, sings of infection

* Pain that lasted longer than a few days

* Chronic pain

Chiropractic physicians can help treat and diagnosis these  shoulder problems to insure proper steps are taking to receive the correct form of care. Before taking matters into your on hands, and self diagnosing yourself for any type of injury or problems, make sure that you are receiving the correct form of treatment for your condition.

What Can You Do At Home For Shoulder Pain Injuries

Always remember, taking painkillers by themselves, can only hide the problem, but is not truly correcting the primary issue. One thing that is highly recommended for a self home remedy is the use of "RICE", Rest-Ice-Compression-Elevate (and some cases exercise).

Rest- First step with any injury is that you want to rest the joint No strenuous activities that may cause increase in swelling and aggravate the area even more.

Ice- As the saying goes, when you are unsure if to use heat or Ice, Go for Ice first! You want to Ice the injury for 20 minutes at least 3 to 4 times a day. Don't go over 20 minutes on the ice during the ice treatment, for you don't want the swelling to become worse.

Compression-Due to the location of the shoulder, it's hard to compress this area with an ace bandage, without some assistance from someone else helping you to wrap it. In this case, Anti-inflammatory medication can be useful to help decease the swelling of the area

Elevate (Exercise)- Elevation of the area, allows the swelling to move back into the heart. For any injury, this is highly recommended. Most importantly once the area has decreased in pain and swelling, mobility (movement) is important to get the joint moving properly.

Causes Of Shoulder Pain

There are several causes of shoulder pain, such has Rotator Cuff Injury, Neck Pain (which can cause the shoulder to become immobilize due to soft tissue injuries of the neck), Biceps Tendon Rupture, Arthritis, Ligament Injuries (such as AC Joint Tear).

Here at Discovery Chiropractic and Wellness Center, we commit to the care of our patients to receive the proper care in receiving correct diagnosis of these injuries. We evaluate and treat, sports injuries, auto accident injuries, personal injuries with chiropractic care.

Come and Discover What Chiropractic Can Do For You 

Call Us Today! 704-946-2054

Backpack Safety | Charlotte Today Show

One of the school age kids rite of passages is selecting a new backpack to start off the school year. While using a backpack makes carrying books easier, it can also be damaging to your child's spine. Parents needs to be aware that overly stressing the back with a heavy backpack could cause back pain in their child. Let's hear what Dr. LaTanya Bowman, has to say about backpack safety and why it's so important.

Neck Pain due to Torticollis "Wry Neck"

Did you wake up with your head extremely stiff, and you can not seem to turn your head to the lift or right? It just feels stuck!

Well, here's an in home remedy to help with that "crick in the neck", also know in medical terminology Torticollis "Wry Neck".

First lets describe the definition of Torticollis. Torticollis is known as the twisting of muscles in the neck that  goes beyond th neck's normal position. This condition can either develop slowly throughout time, or due to trauma, or even adverse reactions to medication. In a very few cases Torticollis can cause permanent damage if not treated effectively and promptly. 

Here are a few in home remedies that can help with Torticollis:

* First you want to bring the swelling dowing, so use ICE not Heat! Ice your neck 3 to 4 times a day for 15 to 20 mins.

* Stretching exercises is the best way to treat Torticollis

Before doing stretching exercises, its okay to use heat on the neck to help loosen the muscles, (this is the only time heat would be recommended). Moist heat works the best, for it can penetrate the muscles deeper. Placing a damp hand towel in the microwave, and warming the towel up (do not make it hot, just a comfortable warming temperature) to place around your neck. Leave the towel on for about 10 to 15 mins., before beginning stretches.

Side Bending Stretches

1. Sit in a chair with your back straight. Tuck your chin slightly and tilt your head to the left, with your chin down and toward the right.

2. Place your left hand on the upper right side of your head. Gently push your head to the left. Do not over stretch, and stop if you feel pain or tingling.

Hold stretch for 8 seconds, relax then repeat. Do this 5 to 6 times, then repeat on the opposite side.

Neck Rotation

1. Sit in a chair with your back straight and feet flat on the floor.

2. Slowly turn your head to your right, keeping your chin level. Then turn your head all the way to the left. 

Do this 5 to 6 times to each side, bringing your head back to the center between each time. Do not force the motion. Turn your head until you feel a slight resistance.

Head Roll

1. Sit in a chair with your back straight and feet flat on the floor.

2. Place chin on your chest and slightly roll your head in a circular motion. Clockwise and then counter clockwise. Do 5 to 6 times one direction and repeat going the opposite direction

Most importantly it's highly recommended that you see a Chiropractic Physician to help improve the range of motion in the neck and allow the muscles to restore full body function. Adjustments to the cervical region of the neck will allow the joints to mobilize, and can possibly help prevent any further cases of Torticollis from wanting to reoccur in the future.

Chiropractic and Sports Injury | Charlotte Today Show

We all had those workout sessions where we some how injured ourselves. Proper warmup techniques are so important in making sure we prevent those injuries. Watch Dr. LaTanya Bowman of Discovery Chiropractic and Wellness Center and Mr. Jeremy Martin of Ultimate Athlete on the Charlotte Today Morning Show discuss the importance of proper warmup, and how chiropractic care can help you prevent those nasty injuries.

How Posture Can Be A "Trend Setter" For Fashion

We as humans never realize how posture itself is looked upon as a fashion statement. As undergarments and silhouettes change, so does our posture. It's hard to think of posture as a "trend setter", but it truly is. 

When we think of the 1920s we think of "The flappers", known as the "new breed" of western women who wore the short skirts, bobbed hair, and whom you often would see in pictures associated with a fashionable slump. Which before this "Flapper era" you had the Edwardian era that encouraged the "s-curve" silhouette for women, which promoted the pigeon chest, tiny waist, and sway back, with the tightest corset you can find.

1920's-"Flapper era"

The 60s showed off and encouraged slouchy poses, that you can visually see in fashionistas like Audrey Hepburn. With today's fashion icons and celebrities, like Drew Barrymore, Kerry Washington and many others, fashion magazines shows us in today's society hunched-shoulder poses to be very couture. 

Looking at these different fashion magazines, these fashion experts tells us that we are not fashionable enough because of our "posture".

A passage from the book, The Guide Of Elegance, explain this perfectly:

When a woman is trying on clothes, she almost always holds herself beautifully erect in front of the dressing room mirrors. If afterward she hollows her chest and lets her entire body slump, she should not be surprised to find that her new dress does not look at all as chic as it did when she tried it on in the shop.

When you look into the mirror what do you see? Do you see your shoulders rounding forward, due to hours spent on a computer. The slumping position is the most comfortable position there is, but it wrecks havoc on your back.

As chiropractors we can evaluate and treat posture problems and help correct these problems so you can maintain a healthy lifestyle. With proper exercises that we can demonstrate and give you, as well as chiropractic adjustments, you will be on your way to become a true fashion icon promoting healthy lifestyles.

What Causes Knee Pain?

Knee pain can be contributed by numerous of factors, for example biomechanics (built of the body), soft tissue injuries, arthritic changes in the knee, and many other issues. With proper diagnosing of the injury, the correct treatment of that injury can be performed to help with the healing process, as well as keep further injuries from occurring.  

At the beginning, during the first steps of the initial visit, a thorough exam of the knee is performed, as well as x-rays are taking to give proper diagnosis of the injury. Chiropractic adjustments alone is likely not the only needed treatment for allowing the progression of healing of the knee, for physical therapeutic exercises and therapies are needed to help provide maximum potential for healing of the knee injury.  

It's very common to find the patella (kneecap) not being able to move in a smooth bending manor, causing abnormal stresses upon the tendons, cartilage and ligaments. Chiropractors are ideally trained to provide the proper diagnosis and management of this problem through re-establishing proper muscle balance, restoring movement to the patella, and working with a trained physical therapist if needed. Strains and sprains often occur during sports that involve running and jumping, chiropractic care can help in many ways in treating these conditions.

Poor body biomechanics (which can be due to gait function, or traumatic injuries) if not corrected in an early age, can cause early arthritic activities in the joints (which is known as degenerative joint disease, or osteoarthritis). That's why its so important, to get an early diagnosis of the injury so it can be treated effectively.

How Can Chiropractic Help Knee Pain

Many people do not realize the effectiveness of chiropractic care in helping with knee pain.  If you’ve been diagnosed with osteoarthritis, there’s still hope for pain relief. While this condition isn’t curable, it is treatable, chiropractic care can help reduce your symptoms and may even be able to slow the progression of osteoarthritis.

A lot of people don't realize that chiropractors  work on other areas of the body besides the neck and back, we are taught how to treat the spine, but any joint in your body can benefit from chiropractic care. If you’re suffering from pain in your knees, even if you’ve been told by your physician that there’s nothing that can be done for you, you may be able to find the relief you are looking for through chiropractic care. Chiropractic care is a natural and safe alternative for treatment of knee pain. Why suffer from knee pain when you don't have to?

4 Things That Can Cause Sciatica

Understanding what sciatica is and what can cause sciatica, can help tremendously on what would be the most effective way to treat and address the root cause of the underlying problem.

First lets understand what sciatica is. Sciatica is a term used to describe symptoms of leg pain. These symptoms includes, tingling, numbness and/or weakness-that originates from the lower back and travels down the buttocks, down to the sciatic nerve, which is located in the back of the leg.

Sciatica can have one or more of these following symptoms together:

* pain shooting down one or both legs, starting from the buttocks

* pain that occurs when sitting

* pain in the leg that is describe as burning, tingling

* weakness and/or numbness in the leg and/or foot

* sharp shooting pain down the leg that can cause difficulty in standing and walking

Four causes of sciatica are the following:

* Degenerative Disc Disease-disc degeneration is a natural age process, but can also cause nerve root irritation (for example in the low back) which can cause sciatic pain. Degenerative Disc Disease is diagnosed when a weakened disc causes inflammation to the exposed nerve roots, that causes symptoms such as sciatica.

* Piriformis Syndrome- this is where the sciatic nerve becomes irritated as it runs through a tiny muscle located on the buttocks (call the Piriformis). If this muscle is tight or irritated, it can pinch on the nerve root that comprises the sciatic nerve, resulting in sciatic pain.

* Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction- when sacroiliac joint is irritated, it can also irritate the L5 vertebra and this in turn can cause sciatic pain

* Lumbar Bulging Disc/Herniated Disc-A bulging disc or herniated disc is one of the most common causes of sciatic pain. Both are considerate disc disorders.

A bulging disc, is when the gel-like center (nucleus pulposus) remains contain within the anulus fibers of the disc. But, the disc bulges out like a balloon, and can irritate the nerve.

A herniated disc, is when the nucleus pulposus breaks through the anulus fibers, and the gel-like center presses against the nerve, which can also irritate the nerve. Out of the two, the herniated disc is the worst.

Both can cause sciatic pain disorder.

As chiropractors, we diagnose and treat the problem, and find the root cause of the symptoms.  We use several different therapies to help treat sciatic pain, such as ice/heat therapies, ultrasound, TENS units, and most importantly spinal adjustments.

Proper diagnosing is essential to get the corrective care that is needed.

If you're in the Charlotte NC area you can get a sciatica screening now!