How Can Chiropractic Treat Headaches

Headaches are one of the most common ways which your body allows you to know that “there’s something not right”. There are so many reasons and causes of headaches, some headaches can be very mild and others can cause severe pain (ex: migraines). Chiropractic Physicians recognize that a headache is the body's warning alarm system, which the cause of pain may also be attributed to muscle tension and irritation of the nerves and blood vessels in the neck, which in turn can cause neck pain.

The neck consists of seven cervical vertebrae which can be easily misaligned due to physical or emotional stress, TMJ syndrome, and arthritis.  This misalignment (also known as a subluxation), can cause irritation of the never root, which can cause constriction of the blood vessels around the nerves and muscular area. These blood vessels supplies the blood to the brain and surrounding areas, and if constricted can cause headaches. If not treated, these headaches can reoccur and can become ongoing throughout a person’s life time, and can cause other sever symptoms or problems.

The most two severe headaches that are known are migraines and tension headaches. These two kinds of headaches can occur frequently and cause intense pain, causing symptoms of nausea, dizziness, vision, and can affect a person’s bodily functions and mood. Tension headaches are mostly known to occur due to whiplash injuries caused by car accident injuries or auto accident injuries. Due to this, pharmaceutical companies pour out millions of dollars each year to the average consumer for treatments of headaches.

A Chiropractic Physician can help with headaches by finding the source cause of the headache, and not just trying to treat the symptom. As a Chiropractic Physician, our primary concern is to treat and correct the neuromusculoskeletal system, to help find the source of the headache. With our chiropractic services, we will perform an examination, and find the corrective treatment of care for your particular problem. Each patient is treated as an individual case, for no one person’s symptoms or injuries are the same. Due to this, it is understood to the patient every one’s healing process is different, and some experience results fairly quickly, where others it maybe a slow, gradual process.

All too often, as individuals we come accustom to self-medication and treatment. Remember headaches are common, but they are not normal. There is always a cause for a headache, and getting the correct treatment is vital for your body and total wellbeing for a healthy life. Early diagnosis and treatment is important in allowing any proper care to be admitted. 

Come see us here at Discovery Chiropractic and Wellness Center, today for an evaluation. 

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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 

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Call Us Today at 704-946-2054

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.