Mulcahy Family Chiropractic Blog

You walk into the office, hop on a table and point to where it hurts… expecting to get adjusted right in that very spot. But your chiropractor starts working on a totally different part of your spine, not even close to where you feel the pain. Why is that?

There’s an old saying that goes when you step on a dog’s tail, it barks out the other end.

In Chiropractic that means, where you hurt (the bark) isn’t necessarily where the problem is (the tail). Many times the pain you feel in one area is actually a referred symptom from somewhere else. For example, someone with sciatica may feel pain down their leg, but the source of their problem is a Subluxation (vertebral misalignment) in their spine.

Chiropractors recognize that if you remove the cause of someone’s symptom the body will no longer have a need to produce it. That’s why the main focus of chiropractic is to locate and correct the underlying problem and not the superficial effect. Chasing after symptoms is like a dog chasing after its own tail. You only end up spinning around and around until you get dizzy, confused and
frustrated. It’s much smarter to address the underlying cause.

Have you ever seen an entire family who wears glasses? How about a family in which all of the children have braces on their teeth?…or have the same color eyes, or hair? Of course, we all have. This is because of a genetic predisposition toward certain physical characteristics.

Spines are no different! Subluxations tend to run in families This is why it is not unusual for x-rays to show an entire family exhibiting the same low hip, short leg, reversed neck curve or scoliosis. In essence, the same subluxation pattern!

It is for this reason the we recommend all family members to have a spinal checkup, regardless if they have symptoms or not and especially if they already have health problems.

In the event that a child is lucky enough not to inherit a parents’ maladies, other similarities in lifestyle can cause subluxations. For example; kids mimic how a parent stands, sits, slouches, etc… Again, creating patterns of subluxations that will cause damage that may not be seen or felt for years to come.

My mission is to serve you and your family. It would be my privilege to check every member of your family. So, if your child is not, or your children are not, yet getting adjusted please let us know what we can do to help make that happen.

I know that all of my patients who have been getting adjusted for years all say they wish they started earlier. So, let’s learn from that and help more and more people, including children, get started on their way to good health!

Spring time is outdoor project time and that means more trips to the local home building center. The largest of them all, Home Depot, attributes its success and growth (nearly 2,000 stores in the US, Canada and Mexico) to one simple concept, INDEPENDENCE.

Their motto, “You can build it, we can help” celebrates that spirit. They’ve discovered when given the choice to pay someone to do a project or to just ‘do it yourself’ many people choose the latter because of the sense of accomplishment, satisfaction, and pride they feel from completing the job themselves. Not to mention, saving some money in the process!

Our principled, chiropractic philosophy shares the same concept. When given the choice to have a ‘doctor’ use drugs or surgery by attacking the health problem from the outside or to ‘heal it yourself’ from the inside, most people would rather choose INDEPENDENCE and heal the problem on their own.

When we tell our patients, ‘you can heal it, we can help’ we profess an innate truth that healing is a do it yourself job, and all we do as chiropractors is open the lines of communication to help allow the natural laws of life and healing to manifest in the majestic way it occurs. Life heals…as long as there’s NO INTERFERENCE!

What would happen if your garbage didn’t get picked up for a few months? Eventually it would pile up and your house would get pretty stinky. The same can be said for your spine and nerve system. Like garbage, subluxations can pile up and overwhelm your nerve system if not ‘dumped’ regularly.

As you go through your day…physical, chemical and emotional stresses accumulate. The result? Subluxations! Left uncorrected, subluxations eventually lead to problems like poor sleep, fatigue, weak immunity, chronic pains, headaches, anxiety and poor digestion just to name a few.

So what’s the solution?

Dump your subluxations regularly with Chiropractic care!

Patients who get the greatest benefits from Chiropractic care don’t use it as a temporary patch for aches and pains. They’ve discovered the lasting benefits of living with a clean, subluxation free spine…more energy, better recovery from injuries, better immune function, and abundant health. If you’re feeling sluggish, weak and bogged down, maybe it’s time to take out your subluxations. Clean up those subluxations with regular Chiropractic care and you’ll feel like new again.

More and more people are texting, playing on their mobile phones, surfing the internet, checking emails, and playing video games on a regular basis.  This is truly the age of technology.   However, with these technologies comes the repetitive behaviors and body positioning that can have dramatic health consequences.

These days, more people than ever are constantly “connected” to their hand held devices and computers.  Just think about it the amount of hours you, and people you know, spend with your head down, neck scrunched, staring at a mobile phone or laptop. And this is not just happening with adults.  It’s actually WORSE with teens. 

A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that young people 8-18 years old spend in excess of 7 ½ hours a day using some form of mobile media. As a result, people are starting to experience health problems such as; neck pain, headaches, shoulder pain, and/or numbness and tingling into the arms and hands.  The reason problems are developing is the constant use of phones and computers are changing your posture and creating subluxations.  There is a common condition called forward head posture (FHP), which can cause the symptoms I just mentioned plus a whole lot more.

It’s important to understand that where the head goes, the body will follow.  If you are constantly looking down at your phone or computer and develop forward head posture, your shoulders will roll forward causing a slouching/hunched posture, and the pelvis compensates.

Here are some other facts about forward head posture:

* Long term forward neck posture leads to “long term muscle strain, disc herniations, and pinched nerves.”  (Mayo Clinic Health Letter, March 2000)

* For every inch of forward head posture, it can increase the weight of the head on the spine by an additional 10 pounds.  (Kapandji, Physiology of the Joints, Volume 3)

* Loss of the cervical curve stretches the spinal cord 5-7 cm and causes disease.  (Dr. Alf Breig, neurosurgeon and Nobel Prize recipient)

* Forward Head Postures has been shown to flatten the normal neck curve, resulting in disc compression, damage, and early arthritis.  (Spine, 1986)

* 90% of the stimulation and nutrition to the brain is generated by the movement of the spine.  When you have forward head posture, your brain will rob energy from your thinking, metabolism, and immune function to deal with abnormal gravity/posture issues.  (Dr. Roger Sperry, Nobel Prize recipient for brain research)

So as you can see, when your posture changes, it can have very dramatic effects to your health.  Because of this, it’s very important that you minimize how many hours you and your family members are spending in a forward head posture position. And, if you have FHP or spend a lot of time with forward head posture, it’s another reason to make sure you are getting regular adjustments and doing corrective exercises.

How long does it take to correct subluxations and why you can’t afford to miss an appointment…

Whether you just started getting adjusted or have been adjusted for years you probably already figured out that subluxations are bad – and especially in children! Now, let’s tackle the issue of getting rid of subluxations and why it is so important to maintain
a regular maintenance schedule – especially when you feel wonderful!

First thing you need to understand is that once formed, a subluxation can be compared to a dental cavity – it really doesn’t clear up on its own. It progresses over time picking up momentum and worsens faster and faster as time goes by, until it becomes a nightmare and wreaks havoc on your health. Are subluxations painful? Most often not! We typically feel about 15% of the subluxations we ever get. And that is the problem.

Most of the time, subluxations are not painful unless they have been caused by some sort of acute trauma – a fall, a strain, an accident, etc… The fact that most subluxations are not painful makes it difficult for some to even realize the priority in correcting their subluxations before it wreaks havoc. The truth is, only a Chiropractor can tell you if you have subluxation, just the same as a dentist can tell you if you have a cavity that is starting.

Why do subluxations return and why is maintenance care so important? Once created, your body slowly begins to adapt to having a subluxation and the subluxation itself becomes a habit to your body…a bad one that your body is unable to get rid of. Your muscles adapt, posture changes, gait changes etc.. and your body overtime adapts to this stress creating bad habits.

Subluxations interfere with how your nervous system transmits information and therefore your nervous system begins to be affected – it has difficulty controlling your body and, as a result, all your body functions slowly begin to deteriorate. Not a god thing! What I am saying is that your body develops a really bad habit – without even being aware of it.

Now knowing this, let me ask you: Have you ever had a habit you tried to get rid of? A bad habit or even the simplest habit can be extremely hard to break. However, if you substitute the negative/bad habit with a god habit it’s easier to break, isn’t it? That is the very reason, I, as your chiropractor, recommend a schedule of care to correct subluxations and then recommend maintenance care.

The goal is to change the habit your body has adapted to and to correct the subluxation pattern. To wipe it out. To annihilate it. To show no mercy. To take no prisoners! And to restore normal function to your nervous system so that it can, once again, control your body as it was meant to. That is my goal and my mission! And it is for this very reason that maintenance care is so important and why a missed appointment should be made up.

Together, we are building a foundation. Think of this: If you were to start removing the bricks from the foundation, what do you think would happen? The building would weaken and eventually crumble, right? You bet! Your nerve supply is the foundation of your health. Subluxations left uncorrected will slowly remove the foundation of health and eventually will lead to destruction. We don’t want your foundation to weaken…so please do not ever be annoyed that we call you or seem concerned when you’re off-schedule. We simply care about your health!

Chiropractic philosophy drives us to always ask, “what’s the root cause of a health problem”, rather than just treat the symptoms. The purpose of a chiropractic adjustment is to help restore the normal function of the nervous system so the body can heal itself without the use of drugs or surgery.

Ear Infections and Chiropractic…

Subluxations of the spine can occur during childbirth, from tumbles or falls, or from any other normal activity. Subluxations left uncorrected will eventually wreak havoc in the body’s ability to function properly. Ear pain is the probably the number one symptom/reason a child starts chiropractic care. During the birth process, cervical (neck) vertebrae can become subluxated, disrupting nerve function, which can cause malfunction of the middle ear. This malfunction affects the drainage of the eustachian and fluid builds up.

Ear infection or otitis media accounts for over 35% of all pediatrician visits in the United States. Antibiotics, the usual medical treatment, are not effective and may even lead to a recurrence of ear infections. Many children are dealing with a continuing cycle of repeat ear infections, which lands them back at the pediatrician for more antibiotics.

A study published in the Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics indicates the correlation between chiropractic adjustments and the resolution of ear infections. Not the cure of ear infections, the resolution. Correcting the malfunction, by correcting subluxations, allows the body to cure the problem. In this study, 332 children with chronic ear infections participated in the study. Each child, ranging in age from 27 days to 5 years, was given a series of chiropractic adjustments. The results show that close to 80% of the children did not experience another ear infection within the six-month period following their first adjustment.

There’s a simple solution to ear infections…correct the root cause of the problem. If you know of a child suffering with chronic recurring ear infections have them checked for subluxation.

Fallon JM. The Role of the Chiropractic Adjustment in the Care and Treatment of 332 Children with Otitis Media. Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics. 1997; Volume 2, No. 2:167-183.