Ducat » December 2009

Stressed out this Holiday season?

admin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:44:29 +0000

Patients often show up in bad shape late in December. Low back pain increases after spending the weekend at the mall shopping with heavy bags. Headaches show up after getting together with the in-laws. Sometimes things just get out of hand and everything hurts from the craziness of the season.

Instead of reaching for another glass of egg nog, perhaps it’s time to rev up your natural resistance to damage done to your body by stress. Eat something other than cookies. Get outside and take the kids sledding. Have a chiropractic adjustment. Instead of worrying about bills, keep it homemade this year. Treat yourself with a massage. Take a walk. These are all little things that make a BIG impact in your health and how you feel under stress.

Remember, there is a mind-body connection that none of us can ignore. If you have a weak link, it will become obvious when you’re under stress. Pain will get worse, you’ll feel tight and want to blame someone else. Health never comes from outside of our bodies, instead look within for answers.

Flexibility, Stability and Control

admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:43:20 +0000

Most aches and pains that I treat in my office can be traced back to a lack of one of the following: Flexibility, Stability or Control. Notice that I didn’t mention strength. The strength of your muscles is a very small factor in most common injuries such as back pain, knee pain or shoulder problems. The painful area becomes injured from moving without proper flexibility or control that causes either a sudden jerk or a repetitive “wear and tear” pattern that slowly degenerates the surrounding structures.

Helping the patient heal requires that we trace back how the injury occurred and teach them how to restore movement and control to the region to prevent re-injury. Don’t mistake the absence of pain as being back to 100% function. The injured area is only healed when the flexibility, stability and control resume during all of your daily activities and sports.

Arthritis is a symptom, not a diagnosis.

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:09:43 +0000

Patients frequently come to me with chronic pain in their back, hips or knees and state, “Oh that’s just my arthrits — it flares up when the weather changes or I do too much — there’s nothing anyone can do.” As a doctor who pinpoints the “cause” of pain, using the “catch all diagnosis” is not enough for me. There’s a reason why you have arthritis in that joint.

Arthritis (specifically osteoarthritis) is a degnerative process that only occurs when there is too much wear and tear on a particular joint surface. As the wearing process continues over the years, the body forms protective bone spurs to make the area more stable, which in turn causes pain. If arthritis only occurs when there is too much wear and tear, shouldn’t we look to see why there is too much pressure on that joint? After identifying the cause of this pressure, if we remove it, wouldn’t that stop arthritis in it’s tracks?

Join me for a free seminar on the prevention and treatment of arthritis by calling 224-653-8094 to RSVP.