Everybody experiences pain. Most sources of pain are easy to identify and cure, and the symptoms typically go away in a short amount of time. Some types of pain, though, aren’t as easy to get rid of.

Chronic pain, or pain lasting more than six months, affects millions of people, sometimes for years on end. This type of pain is not always able to be cured, meaning that pain management is the only option for relief. People with chronic pain usually experience minor discomfort on their best days with occasional, intensely painful flare-ups that can be worsened by extra movement, stress and other triggers.

At Ideal Spine, we know that living in pain can take a toll on your life—constant feelings of discomfort limit your ability to do what you love and live a happy, healthy life. For our patients in Meridian, ID suffering from incurable chronic pain due to disc degeneration, arthritis and other back problems, we strive to provide solutions to keep you active and healthy through the pain.

In order to find some relief from chronic pain, you may need to be open to a wide number of strategies to find one, two or a combination of treatments that work for your body. Managing incurable chronic pain will take a treatment plan for both your body and your mind.

Treating the body

People with chronic pain may or may not know the source of their pain, which can make it difficult to cure or even treat. Fortunately, there are a wide variety of pain management treatments available.

Some techniques may be applicable at-home, including hot and cold therapy, exercise, and yoga. Others may require routine visits to doctors or specialists; for example, for steroid injections, physical therapy, acupuncture, massage therapy, and chiropractic.

Chiropractic care for chronic pain is a particularly useful treatment method because of its holistic approach to bodily wellness. Multiple techniques may be used, including spinal decompression and manipulation to re-align the spine, joints and tissues to promote better mobility and comfort. Chiropractors can also walk you through exercises and stretches that can improve mobility, aid in the decreasing of inflammation, and strengthen the muscles around the spine to help stabilize it and reduce pain symptoms.

Treating the mind

Beyond creating a treatment plan for physical pain management techniques, you will need to learn how to cope with pain mentally and emotionally. Incurable chronic pain is often made worse by stress and can cause depression. This can sometimes lead to a vicious cycle in chronic pain patients – the stress of living with pain each day makes pain worse, which causes more stress, and so on.

Mental focus and manipulation can help control chronic pain. Numerous theories of pain have suggested the mind plays a major role in the processing of pain. This is why, if you tend to focus on your pain, it usually ends up feeling worse. With practice, you can learn how to control and minimize the feelings of pain to get you through both the minor discomfort and some of the more intense pain days.

Techniques such as yoga, meditation and imagery control can help center your focus on things other than your source of pain, like your breathing, an external place or object, or another part of the body that is not painful.

Additionally, finding external support is a crucial component of managing pain, particularly for days when pain is intense. Find a network of supportive people, whether it is within your family, friend group, or other chronic pain patients.

Experience pain less

Ideal Spine uses the Chiropractic BioPhysics (CBP) method of care to help chiropractors serve patients to the fullest extent possible. If you suffer from incurable chronic pain and are seeking an effective method of relief, visit a CBP trained chiropractor and ask if spinal manipulations could help treat your pain.

Chiropractic BioPhysics® corrective care trained Chiropractors are located throughout the United States and in several international locations. CBP providers have helped thousands of people throughout the world realign their spine back to health, and eliminate a source of chronic back pain, chronic neck pain, chronic headaches and migraines, fibromyalgia, and a wide range of other health conditions. If you are serious about your health and the health of your loved ones, contact a CBP trained provider today to see if you qualify for care. The exam and consultation are often FREE. See www.CBPpatient.com for providers in your area.

As spinal conditions go, sciatica is generally considered to be one of the more uncomplicated ailments. It presents with generally the same symptoms across patients, can be treated effectively with the right approach, and has a high success rate for alleviated symptoms when a proper treatment schedule is administered.

Just because sciatica is relatively straightforward, however, doesn’t mean there’s a one-size-fits-all solution for dealing with it. In fact, despite its uniform presentation, sciatica requires a tailored approach to treatment – one that often requires a very specific exercise regimen and corresponding chiropractic adjustment schedule.

At Ideal Spine, we believe in the power of individualized treatment, especially when it comes to chronic pain conditions. Understanding how sciatica is being instigated within the body and what specific measures can be taken to alleviate it is the key to unlocking a treatment plan that truly works to minimize pain and inflammation.

How exercise can help

Because sciatica is an inflammatory condition, wherein the sciatic nerve specifically is being affected, exercise is a first recommendation of many chiropractors. Exercise helps to improve the outlook for sciatic pain in a variety of different ways, including:

• Alleviating pressure on the sciatic nerve;
• Icing after exercise reduces inflammation;
• Increases in cortisol levels produced during exercise can reduce inflammation;
• Improved range of motion, reducing stress on the spine;
• Higher activity levels lead to adrenaline and endorphins, combatting pain.

Here again, simply getting on a treadmill or picking up weights isn’t the solution. Instead, it’s important to work with a chiropractor to understand specifically how the body should be worked, to what intensity, and where focus should be placed.

For example, if the sciatic nerve is being irritated due to pelvic tilt and lumbar compression, a chiropractor may recommend a light cardio workout with corresponding strengthening exercises for the hamstrings, glutes and lower body. This strengthening and conditioning routine may serve to increase stability in the lower body, preventing pelvic tilt and helping to reinforce chiropractic adjustments.

Chiropractic’s benefits

Exercise alone isn’t the answer to dealing with chronic sciatic pain. Chiropractic adjustment plays a vital role in restoring the stability and integrity of the spine. When used in conjunction with exercise, these corrections have the potential to take effect sooner and stay true.

For example, a chiropractor may use a drop table to adjust pelvic tilt back to an acceptable degree. When a patient strengthens their lower body, they reinforce musculature that supports the spine, reducing the chances of reoccurring tilt as the result of adapted biomechanics. In this way, the long-term effects of both exercise and spinal manipulation work together for a better outcome.

A holistic approach to sciatic relief

Because it’s a painful condition, many immediately turn to painkillers to cope with their sciatica. This has unfortunate long-term side effects and masks the problem instead of resolving it. For truly long-term prospects for relief, a Chiropractic BioPhysics (CBP) adjustment schedule is recommended by Ideal Spine. Targeted adjustments with exercise regiments that reinforce them offer a winning combination for coping with sciatica and its affiliated pain.

Chiropractic BioPhysics® corrective care trained Chiropractors are located throughout the United States and in several international locations. CBP providers have helped thousands of people throughout the world realign their spine back to health, and eliminate a source of chronic back pain, chronic neck pain, chronic headaches and migraines, fibromyalgia, and a wide range of other health conditions. If you are serious about your health and the health of your loved ones, contact a CBP trained provider today to see if you qualify for care. The exam and consultation are often FREE. See www.CBPpatient.com for providers in your area.

Back pain is an increasingly-common ailment in individuals of all ages. While many cases of back pain fade and heal on their own, others may cause long-term pain that makes everyday life difficult to manage. This type of pain is often caused by problems with the spinal discs.

Spinal discs are somewhat-elastic-feeling sections of the spine that sit between the vertebrae. They are composed of materials called annulus fibrosus on the outside and a soft, gel-like material called nucleus pulposus on the inside. These discs are pliable, allowing a range of motion to the spine and absorbing shock to increase comfort while moving.

Unfortunately, spinal discs are prone to injury due to the severe amount of stress placed on the lower back and neck, in particular. When a patient visits a doctor or chiropractor, they likely do not know the exact cause of their pain, but merely that it hurts in a specific area.

At Ideal Spine, we encourage our spinal experts to help patients understand the different ailments that may be affecting their spine and prescribe the best course of treatment for coping with them.

Disc problems come in two varieties

Despite the many names doctors may use to describe spinal disc pain, there are really only two major sources of pain related to spinal discs: disc degeneration and nerve root pain. These problems are most common in the cervical spine (neck) or lumbar spine (low back). It’s important for patients to be informed of the difference so they understand what is happening to their spine and what treatments may help fix it.

1. Degenerative disc disease: Degenerative disc disease is categorized by the drying out and deterioration of spinal discs between the vertebrae. The discs begin to shrink in size and can tear on the outside, leaving less cushioning between the vertebrae. This can cause pain in the back or neck, as well as inflammation in the surrounding muscles and joints. Disc degeneration typically results in low levels of constant pain with occasional severe flare-ups.

Once diagnosed, a chiropractor may use spinal manipulations to help restore function and mobility in the affected joint. Massages, stretches and exercises can also help relieve tension in the surrounding muscles and strengthen them to better support the spine.

2. Nerve root pain: Nerve root pain does not originate in the disc itself, but is often caused by a bulging or herniated disc. These conditions, which also may be called a slipped disc or pinched nerve, affect the nerves that sit close to the vertebrae and exit the spine. Often, pain will lead to numbness, tingling, or weakness along the path of the nerve, radiating out to the arms and legs.

A bulging disc occurs when the spinal disc slowly begins to protrude through a crevice in the spine, outside of where it typically should sit in between vertebrae. This “bulge” can irritate nearby nerve roots and cause inflammation and pain.

If a disc herniates, the firm outer material of the disc tears, allowing the gelatinous inner material from the disc to leak out and touch the nerve root, pinching it or causing inflammation.

Treatment for a bulging or herniated disc may include spinal manipulations as well as corrective exercises and manual therapy to lessen pain symptoms. These treatments may help move the disc away from the nerve and treat present inflammation.

Correct identification allows for total-body wellness

Disc problems are similar in their pain and symptoms. In fact, degenerative disc disease can weaken the spinal discs, leading to nerve root pain due to herniation. However, the conditions have different approaches and treatment methods that require a proper diagnosis.

Ideal Spine encourages Chiropractic BioPhysics (CBP), a specialized approach to patient wellness that treats the entire body. This ensures the source of disc pain is properly identified and dealt with. Call us today to learn more.

Chiropractic BioPhysics® corrective care trained Chiropractors are located throughout the United States and in several international locations. CBP providers have helped thousands of people throughout the world realign their spine back to health, and eliminate a source of chronic back pain, chronic neck pain, chronic headaches and migraines, fibromyalgia, and a wide range of other health conditions. If you are serious about your health and the health of your loved ones, contact a CBP trained provider today to see if you qualify for care. The exam and consultation are often FREE. See www.CBPpatient.com for providers in your area.

If you’ve ever gone for a run or a workout without stretching first, you can probably remember the feeling of your leg muscles tightening and being sore the next day. Hamstring tightness, in particular, is a common problem for many people. Consistent tightness in the back of the legs is not only uncomfortable but can also make exercising extremely difficult.

However, many people stretch every day to relieve hamstring tension, only to see no results. While this can be frustrating, it likely indicates that the problem does not lie in your muscle’s length. Instead, there may be another underlying problem that needs to be identified and addressed.

Ideal Spine works with chiropractors to learn about Chiropractic BioPhysics (CBP), a chiropractic approach that diagnoses and treats the root of your pain, not just the symptom, with chiropractic adjustment. If you are frustrated by hamstring tension, make an appointment with a chiropractor to get help identifying the true issue.

Potential causes of hamstring tightness

There are a few different problems that may be occurring in your hamstrings. Although stretching won’t do much to solve these problems, chiropractic adjustment may be able to help.

Muscle compensation

One possible cause of your hamstring tightness has less to do with your hamstrings and more to do with other related muscles in your body. Muscles that typically stabilize and facilitate movement for more active muscles like hamstrings may be too weak and are not functioning properly. Thus, the active muscles may be working harder to compensate for the others’ weakness.

In order to alleviate the tension in your hamstrings, you’ll want to do exercises to activate those stabilizing muscles, so they grow strong and take some pressure off your hamstrings. Sometimes these weaknesses are caused by misalignments in your spine, which pull at the body unnaturally. A chiropractic adjustment on your spine may help restore balance and stability to your entire body.

Pelvic tilt

An anterior pelvic tilt might also be the cause of your tight hamstrings. Poor posture and a lack of exercise can allow the pelvis to shift forward slightly, and, because your muscles are complexly connected, the tilting of the pelvis might be pulling on your hamstrings.

In order to rectify the tilt in your pelvis, exercise is highly recommended, as well as a chiropractic manipulation to fix any spinal shifting the tilt may have caused.

Sciatic nerve irritation

Another problem is actually not due to tightness in the muscle at all – just the feeling of it! Nerve irritation sometimes feels a lot like tightness in the muscles, but it has a drastically different cause. Your sciatic nerve runs down the back of the leg and can make your hamstring appear to be tight. If this is the issue, stretching your hamstring may actually make this problem worse by irritating the sciatic nerve even more, causing inflammation.

There is the possibility that the sciatic nerve is being irritated by an issue in your spine. A vertebral disc may be bulging or has herniated, inflaming the nerve root. Or, perhaps a bone spur or inflamed joint is impinging on the space called the foramen that the nerve root exists, compressing it. A series of chiropractic adjustments may be able to relieve tension being placed on the sciatic nerve and allow it to transmit signals without interruptions once again.

If you’re perplexed by the consistent tightness in your hamstrings, you should visit a chiropractor and have them pinpoint the exact root of your discomfort. Contact Ideal Spine to find a CBP trained chiropractor near you today.

Chiropractic BioPhysics® corrective care trained Chiropractors are located throughout the United States and in several international locations. CBP providers have helped thousands of people throughout the world realign their spine back to health, and eliminate a source of chronic back pain, chronic neck pain, chronic headaches and migraines, fibromyalgia, and a wide range of other health conditions. If you are serious about your health and the health of your loved ones, contact a CBP trained provider today to see if you qualify for care. The exam and consultation are often FREE. See www.CBPpatient.com for providers in your area.

We all get a little dizzy sometimes, whether it’s because we stood up too fast or we looked at an optical illusion for too long. The feeling of unsteadiness can be troubling, but these feelings are very little compared to the feelings of vertigo.

Vertigo is characterized by dizziness combined with a feeling of movement or a spinning sensation, even when you are standing perfectly still. Vertigo can be absolutely debilitating in everyday life because it can cause you to feel sick, make it difficult to walk, and even interrupt your vision and hearing.

There are a few different ways vertigo can begin, most of them dealing with the way your inner ear and brain communicate. Because of the neurological connection, chiropractic care may be the ideal course of treatment to cure your dizziness. Ideal Spine helps chiropractors learn and implement the necessary techniques to help patients overcome their vertigo by focusing on the spine and its relation to the body.

Causes and symptoms of vertigo

It is pretty easy to know if you are suffering from vertigo by looking for the telltale signs: dizziness accompanied by a spinning sensation. Vertigo may also cause a number of other symptoms, such as:

• Headache;
• Tinnitus;
• Nausea;
• Vomiting;
• Sweating;
• Swaying;
• Inability to balance.

Vertigo is a common symptom in patients who have endured trauma to the neck or head; often, this is due to a disturbance in the nerve pathways exiting the spinal column.

More commonly, though, vertigo may be caused by damage or disruption in your vestibular system, or inner-ear. Ear infections, pressure changes, and the movement of particles within the inner-ear can all affect your level of dizziness.

The chiropractic approach to vertigo

Chiropractic care may be able to cure your symptoms of vertigo by doing different exercises or manipulations.

Chiropractic adjustments or manipulations may help alleviate a specific type of vertigo called cervical vertigo. This type of vertigo is caused by improperly-moving joints in the cervical spine following a neck injury, which results in incorrect information about movement and body position being sent to the brain. This misinformation may cause you to feel dizzy. Manipulations may be able to realign the joints and vertebrae in the cervical spine, correcting the nervous pathways and allowing for clearer communications.

A more common type of vertigo, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), is due to the movement of crystals around the inner-ear. These crystals are from your otolith organs and make you sensitive to gravity. They can shift out of the organ and into other parts of the vestibular labyrinth, altering your center of balance and briefly making you feel dizzy.

To help rectify BPPV, your chiropractor may use the Epley maneuver, which maneuvers your head into different positions to reposition the crystals inside the inner ear.

Your chiropractor may also teach you a few specific exercises to do at home that may be able to benefit the vestibular system and how it interacts with your brain.

Nobody should have to endure constant feelings of dizziness. At Ideal Spine, we train chiropractors to use Chiropractic BioPhysics (CBP), a holistic approach to patient wellness. Visit us to find a provider near you and see how they may be able to help alleviate your vertigo symptoms.

Chiropractic BioPhysics® corrective care trained Chiropractors are located throughout the United States and in several international locations. CBP providers have helped thousands of people throughout the world realign their spine back to health, and eliminate a source of chronic back pain, chronic neck pain, chronic headaches and migraines, fibromyalgia, and a wide range of other health conditions. If you are serious about your health and the health of your loved ones, contact a CBP trained provider today to see if you qualify for care. The exam and consultation are often FREE. See www.CBPpatient.com for providers in your area.