Shephard Chiropractic

Spine Research Institute of San Diego seminar series…

Travis Gerhart DC — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:48:37 +0000

Each year there are 3 million new whiplash injuries in the United States. The majority of those go untreated for a variety of reasons. One of the major reasons is because the victim thought that ‘the crash wasn’t that bad.’ Associated pain and symptoms can start anywhere from 3 months to many years later and can lead to debilitating pain and suffering. Treatment to those injuries promotes proper healing to the injured tissues, improve mechanics, and would prevent chronic pain and dysfunction from developing. The Spine Research Institute of San Diego was started by Dr. Arthur Croft, Ph.D.(c), D.C., M.S., M.P.H., F.A.C.O. as a response to the growing incidence of whiplash related injuries in the United States. The research that his team has compiled over the last 32 years is at the forefront of the industry. He has helped improve safety standards for automobiles in the United States since 1980.

Dr. Croft has authored the first book on the topic entitled Whiplash Injuries: the Cervical Acceleration/Deceleration Syndrome. There are over 350 professional research papers that address injuries occurring in rear end, front end and side impact collisions. We are understanding more and more about the various ways people are injured during these events. This enhances our ability to offer better treatment and recovery options to the patient.

The seminar series, offered by Dr. Croft, helps to hone the already qualified tools that the chiropractor has to treat your whiplash related injuries. If you or anyone in your family has been involved in an automobile or pedestrian collision, then we encourage you to seek help for those injuries. Being proactive will prevent the pain from worsening over time. Not all pain from an auto or pedestrian collision is noticed right away. Sometimes the symptoms can be delayed for days, weeks and even months.

If you or anyone in your family has been in a collision, whether it be a minor low speed fender bender to a highway speed crash, we encourage you to schedule an examination with the qualified chiropractors at Shephard Clinic. They will work to find where the spine is injured and get you started on the path to recovery. Please call 503-223-3826 to talk with a qualified health professional, if you have any further questions.

Follow @TravisGerhartDC

5th International Whiplash Trauma Congress

Travis Gerhart DC — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:14:51 +0000

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Shephard will be attending the 5th International Whiplash Trauma Congress (IWTC) to be held in Lund, Sweden. He will be absent from the clinic from August 22nd and will return Monday, September 5, 2011.
This Congress will be a gathering place for presentation of the most advanced and enlightened concepts regarding whiplash trauma and injuries. The focus of the 5th IWTC will be the multidisciplinary approach to understanding whiplash trauma; clinical, epidemiologic, engineering and biomechanical, as well as legal and forensic perspectives. There will be pre- and postcongress courses and meetings, key-note lectures, poster-sessions and workshops. The proceedings of the Congress will be peer-reviewed, and published.

Follow @TravisGerhartDC

Subluxation

Travis Gerhart DC — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:39:11 +0000

You have more than 200 bones in your body. The point at which the bones come together creates a joint. Movement occurs at these joints through various planes of motion, some more and some less. Spinal nerves exit off of the spinal cord through spaces in-between these vertebrae and control every function of your body. Too much or too little motion, at these spinal joints, can have negative effects on your nerves and sometimes even the spinal cord.

Altered or inadequate spinal motion results in a condition called the vertebral subluxation complex, or more simply, a subluxation.

More than bones and nerves are involved. Muscles can become too tight or too weak. Discs, ligaments and other connective tissues can become inflamed. Fascial adhesions can form causing inflammation to increase. Bone spurs and arthritic degeneration can set in. Subluxations are serious.

However, the most important aspect of a subluxation is its effect on your nervous system. Compromising the way your nervous system controls and regulates your body can have consequences. Changes in the way your brain communicates with your body can cause all kinds of health problems beyond just headaches and backaches.

Your chiropractic doctor specializes in the detection, reduction and prevention of spinal subluxations.

Subluxations can exist in three different forms: physical, chemical and emotional. Physical causes include slips and falls, accidents, repetitive motions and improper lifting. Stress, anger and fear are examples of emotional causes of subluxations. Alcohol, drugs, pollution and poor diet can be chemical causes of subluxations.

Chiropractic is a team approach to better health. Schedule an appointment to get screened for subluxations today!

References:

Patient Media, Inc., 215 Sutton Lane, Colorado Springs, CO 80907.

Follow @TravisGerhartDC

Neck Pain

Travis Gerhart DC — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 21:41:59 +0000

Your neck is the most vulnerable part of your spine. Not only does it support your 10 – 12 pound head, maintain a gentle forward curve, and permit head rotation, but it must also allow the free flow of nerve impulses to the head, face, hands and the rest of your body. Besides discomfort and annoyance, chronic neck pain is a sign that something is wrong.

Many everyday things can cause neck pain, such as watching TV, using your computer, reading a book or falling asleep in a chair or on an airplane. The temporary pain that results can resolve on its own, especially when the offending activity is discontinued.

When it doesn’t, a more serious underlying problem may be indicated.

A thorough examination can determine if you’re a good candidate for chiropractic care. These tests may involve your ability to turn and bend. Muscle tone of the supporting muscles in the neck may be tested. Diagnostic imaging to reveal the underlying structure of the spine may be requested. These and other tests are designed to identify the cause and location of your neck pain.

The most common cause of neck pain is functional distortions in the spine resulting from vertebral subluxations. These subluxations are seen in cases of reverse cervical curve, whiplash and joint instability. The body responds by tightening muscles in the neck, “splinting” the joint to protect it from further insult. Chiropractic care can help.

Most of the pain-sensing nerves in the neck are located in the pairs of facet joint on the back side of each vertebra. These smooth, interlocking surfaces allow you to rotate your head and bend your head up and down. If these joints become locked or fixated, neck pain can result. Chiropractic care can help restore proper joint motion.

A more difficult problem to correct is the degenerative changes that result from neglect. Years of uncorrected spinal problems can cause bone spurs, disc thinning and other forms of spinal decay. These types of problems respond more slowly, and some type of on-going supportive chiropractic care may be necessary.

Some patients see quick improvement and then immediately discontinue their care. They often suffer a relapse since muscles and soft tissues have not had time to fully heal. Others discover that degenerative changes to their spines make periodic checkups a worthwhile investment. We’ll make recommendations, but how long you benefit from chiropractic care is up to you.

According to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine and funded by the National Institutes of Health, medication is not the best option for treating neck pain.

After following 272 neck-pain patients for 12 weeks, those who used a chiropractor or exercise were more than twice as likely to be pain free compared to those who took medication.

Specifically:

32 percent who received chiropractic care became pain free.
30 percent of those who exercised became pain free.
13 percent of those treated with medication became pain free.

Researchers concluded:

“For participants with acute and subacute neck pain, SMT [spinal manipulation therapy] was more effective than medication in both the short and long term. However, a few instructional sessions of HEA [home exercise with advice] resulted in similar outcomes at most time points.”

Chiropractic is a team approach to better health.

References:

Patient Media, Inc., 215 Sutton Lane, Colorado Springs, CO 80907.

J. Mercola, DO, Patient Media, Inc., Mercola.com Newsletter February 24, 2012.

Follow @TravisGerhartDC

Scoliosis

Travis Gerhart DC — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 17:38:41 +0000

Observations of posture and its relation to health dates back to the era of Hippocrates. He made the correlation that the presentation of the structure (posture) is very important to health and that abnormal spinal curvature can be detrimental to health. Hippocrates coined the terms scoliosis and kyphosis. He used manual and mechanical therapies to treat these conditions. Scoliosis is tragic. It causes both physical pain and emotional suffering. This sideways bending of the spine shows up as abnormal posture and then finally, deformity. If allowed to advance, it can interfere with the lungs, heart and many other vital organs.

There is hope.

Scoliosis affects boys and more frequently, girls between the ages of 8 to 18. The cause varies. Some are born with this spinal deviation (congenital). Others get it from assuming a distorted head or hip position (habitual). Sadly, in many cases the cause is still unknown.

In the beginning, when it is easiest to correct, there are rarely symptoms. However, an alert parent may notice that a high shoulder or low hip makes clothing fit poorly. Back and leg pains may develop but are often overlooked as merely “growing pains.” Neglect is the biggest danger.

If allowed to run its course, scoliosis can steadily worsen. Early detection is critical. Severe cases can involve surgery. This procedure attaches steel rods to the spine to force it to straighten.

Chiropractic care has helped many young women avoid the unhappy effects of scoliosis. The procedure is simple.

First, a thorough examination helps detect scoliosis in its early stage. Then, corrective action can begin at once. The primary course of care is a program of specific chiropractic adjustments. These help improve the function and structure of the spine. Muscles strengthen. Posture can improve.

Chiropractic care has helped countless young women reclaim their health, posture and their self-esteem.

Lateral curvature, of the spine, is abnormal. The spine should appear straight, when looking from the back. Two curves are present, most commonly, in scoliosis: a primary curve and a compensatory curve in the opposite direction.

As with the case of many health problems, early detection can improve the likelihood of correction. Wise parents consult our office soon after the birth of their child. Then they follow up with periodic chiropractic checkups throughout their child’s developing years. Chiropractic is a team approach to better health.

References:

Vasiliadis, E.S., Grivas, T.B., Kaspiris, A, Historical Overview of Spinal Deformities in Ancient Greece, Scoliosis 2009, 4:6. doi:10.1186/1748-7161-4-6.

Smith, Dr. Jacqueline; Scoliosis, Is Early Intervention the Answer? Published on 01-15-2010, fixscoliosis.com.

Woggon, BSc, D.C., D. Adult Scoliosis, clear-institute.org.

Follow @TravisGerhartDC

Fit Right NW Urban Adventure Run

Travis Gerhart DC — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:45:52 +0000

The First Thursday Urban Adventure Run has become a growing spectacle in NW Portland. Starting in April and continuing until October, this relatively new ‘Adventure Run’ has grown to roughly 600 participants, on a sunny day! Fit Right NW, the store that sponsors the event, has a long standing presence in the area as one of the premier running and walking shoe vendors. They take it a step further and offer complimentary videotaped gait analysis. Try on a shoe and give the in-store treadmill a whirl to receive feedback on your gait and any improvement needed to make you a more efficient runner or walker.

Here’s how it works:

The run is similar to an urban adventure scavenger hunt, and the rules are simple:

At 6pm 2 large maps are shown that have a dozen or so checkpoints on them. These maps entail downtown Portland and some parts of the immediate east side of town. Participants will be given an hour to hit as many checkpoints as possible by using their notes taken when the maps are revealed.

When you arrive at each checkpoint you will be given a raffle ticket good for prizes from the sponsors at the end of the race. How you get there is up to you, but the more raffle tickets you collect the more chances you have of winning prizes at the raffle drawing!

Cost: Free!

Try to hit as many checkpoints as you can, but remember that the raffle drawing starts at 7pm whether you are there or not! Be sure to bring a watch, good navigational skills, and great attitude!

Shephard Clinic has been given the opportunity to be part of the festivities for the month of June. Supporting local businesses and events are paramount for us. Our on-site booth offers a variety of services, from postural screening to wellness education.

We lend the opportunity for you to ask our on-site doctor questions regarding your health. Postural screening is another popular service.

In 2-3 minutes your posture can be analyzed and the results discussed. If asked, we offer advice on how to improve your posture, promote pain-free running and exercise, and how to boost your overall health with nutrition. Even Skippy joins in on the fun!

Most importantly, we can let you know if chiropractic is the right choice for you. In future months we are adding massage therapy to our booth. Look for us at the Urban Adventure Run in August to get a free five minute massage and posture check.

Follow @TravisGerhartDC

Whiplash

Travis Gerhart DC — Mon, 30 May 2011 04:30:29 +0000

You’re in your car, relaxed, waiting at a stoplight. Suddenly you hear the screeching of tires behind you and the harsh sound of metal hitting metal. In the split second before you can brace yourself, you feel your car moving forward from some unseen force? You’ve been rear-ended.

What happens in these few seconds can have tragic consequences. And what you do about it in the next hours, days and weeks can forever affect your health.

Upon impact, your body pushes deeply into your seat. Your head, momentarily isolated by your neck, delays its reaction while your body quickly reaches the limits of your seat.

Then, your body instantly changes directions, moving forward to the limits of your seat belt. Now, your head starts moving backward in the opposite direction! Unrestrained by a seat belt, your head is jerked back and then forward beyond its normal limits. Everything seems to b happening in slow motion, yet you are unable to stop your head from whipping backward and then forward.

First surprise. Then anger. Then pain.

Don’t minimize your own injuries because your car has sustained little or no damage. An immediate chiropractic examination is essential. Pain pills won’t heal inflamed tendons and ligaments. Muscle relaxers won’t heal torn muscles. A cervical collar won’t restore a graceful forward spinal curve.

Specific chiropractic spinal adjustments, because they can help restore proper motion and position of individual spinal bones, can help assure proper healing. Chiropractic doctors can help you get well and stay well after the trauma of a whiplash injury.

Why do I have pain in my arms and hands?

Because the nerves to the arms and hands exit the spine through the injured area of the neck, numbness and tingling are common. Even lower back pain can result directly from the trauma or as a reaction to the loss of proper spinal curves.

Why did my headaches start more than a week after my accident?

Whether you’ve been in an accident, stressed at work or overexerted yourself in the garden, your body is constantly adapting to the environment. When your capacity to adapt is exhausted, symptoms can appear. This can take days, weeks, months or years to occur.

Will I ever be normal again?

Many chiropractic patients report improved spinal curves and an end to their symptoms. Those who delay seeking appropriate care often discover that scar tissue and spinal instability require periodic chiropractic checkups.

How can I prevent whiplash injuries?

Since car accidents are the major cause of acceleration/deceleration injuries, defensive driving skills can help. Be sure your taillights and turn signals are properly working. Allow enough stopping distance in front of you. When you slow down or stop, always check your rearview mirror to see if the driver behind you is paying attention. Chiropractic is a team approach to better health.

References:

Patient Media, Inc., 215 Sutton Lane, Colorado Springs, CO 80907.

Follow @TravisGerhartDC

Disc Injury

Travis Gerhart DC — Mon, 23 May 2011 17:17:01 +0000

A herniated disc refers to a problem with one of the rubbery cushions (discs) between the individual bones (vertebrae) that stack up to make your spine.

A spinal disc is a little like a jelly donut, with a softer center encased within a tougher exterior. Sometimes called a slipped disk or a ruptured disk, a herniated disc occurs when some of the softer “jelly” pushes out through a crack in the tougher exterior.

Many patients with back pain, leg pain, or weakness of the lower extremity muscles are diagnosed with a disc injury. When a disc injury occurs, the cushion that sits between the spinal vertebra is pushed outside its normal position. A herniated disc would not be a problem if it weren’t for the spinal nerves that are very close to the edge of these spinal discs.

A herniated disc can irritate nearby nerves and result in pain, numbness or weakness in an arm or leg. Healthy discs give you flexibility, allowing normal turning and bending. This movement produces a pumping action that supplies proper disc nutrition and waste removal.

Trauma produces the most common form of disc injury.

Spinal misalignments can cause disc tissue to adapt into a wedge-like shape. This is the earliest stage of disc damage. While this position can encroach upon adjacent nerve tissue, pain or other obvious symptoms may not be present. Even before symptoms appear, chiropractic care can be helpful.

Like a blister, disc tissue can bulge. As the soft nucleus of the disc is compressed, it pushes outward where the disc wall is weakest. This distortion can produce obvious symptoms (sciatica) as it affects nearby nerves. Muscles tighten to protect and splint the joint. Chiropractic care has been known to help.

The most extreme form of disc damage is when the disc ruptures, leaking its contents into surrounding tissues. With its cushioning and separating functions gone, movement is painful and surgical intervention is often involved.

Uncorrected, long-standing vertebral subluxations can make discs susceptible to damage. “I didn’t do a thing” or “I just bent over to tie my shoes” are comments we often hear.

The purpose of chiropractic care is to locate and correct areas of the spine that interfere with the proper nervous system control of your body. Because the intervertebral discs are so close to the spinal cord and nerve roots, disc involvement is quite common in chiropractic cases. Chiropractic adjustments help restore proper motion and position of malfunctioning spinal bones, reducing nervous system involvement. If caught before permanent damage occurs, disc tissue often returns to a more normal size and shape.

References:

Patient Media, Inc., 215 Sutton Lane, Colorado Springs, CO 80907.

Herniated Disc, Mayo Clinic Staff.

Follow @TravisGerhartDC

Sciatica

Travis Gerhart DC — Wed, 18 May 2011 22:59:32 +0000

Sciatica refers to pain, weakness, numbness, or tingling in the leg, caused by general compression and/or irritation of one of five spinal nerve roots that give rise to each sciatic nerve. This nerve starts in the lower spine and runs down the back of each leg. This nerve controls the muscles of the back of the knee and lower leg and provides sensation to the back of the thigh, part of the lower leg, and the sole of the foot.

Sciatica pain can vary widely. The pain is felt in the lower back, buttock, and/or various parts of the leg and foot. In addition to pain, which is sometimes severe, there may be numbness, muscular weakness, pins and needles or tingling and difficulty in moving or controlling the leg.

Pain can be severe in prolonged exposure to cold weather. In some cases, the pain is severe enough to make a person unable to move. It most often occurs on one side. The pain or numbness may also be felt on the back of the calf or on the sole of the foot. The affected leg may feel weak. It often starts slowly. Sciatica pain may get worse after standing or sitting, at night, when sneezing, coughing, or laughing.

Like a large river created by smaller streams, five pairs of nerves exit the spine in the lower back to form the two sciatic nerves. The soft, pulpy disc between each spinal bone is often involved. While a disc can’t “slip,” it can bulge, herniate or rupture. Disc injury can put direct pressure on the nearby nerves. The result? Swelling, inflammation, and pain when coughing, sneezing or with other kinds of movement.

Sciatica often worsens with extended bed rest. Pain pills or muscle relaxers are unable to correct the nerve compression caused by a bulging disc.

Surgery often involves cutting away disc tissue or removing bone to make room for the nerve. Sciatica is rarely the result of weak muscles, however weak muscles can predispose the spine to injury. The resultant inflammation irritates nerve roots that cause the pain of sciatica.

Fortunately, sciatica often responds to safe, natural chiropractic care.

Improving joint motion with a series of chiropractic adjustments has produced results for millions. “Before” and “after” images of the lower back often show improved disc height and spacing. Many patients report that they can resume their lives and that their symptoms disappear without drugs or surgery.

Due to our comprehensive training in musculoskeletal management, numerous sources of evidence have shown that chiropractic management is much safer, and less expensive, than allopathic medical treatments, particularly for low-back pain.

One such study, published in 1993, found that chiropractic management of low-back pain is superior to allopathic medical management in terms of safety, effectiveness, and cost, concluding:

“There would be highly significant cost savings if more management of LBP (low-back pain) was transferred from medical physicians to chiropractors.”

In addition, researchers have also found that chiropractic adjustments affect the chemistry of biological processes on a cellular level!

What that means is that chiropractic care can affect the basic physiological processes that influence oxidative stress and DNA repair, so in addition to addressing any immediate spinal misalignment that might cause pain, it can also address deeper dysfunction in your body.

Chiropractors are uniquely skilled to evaluate and reduce the most common cause of sciatic nerve pain. It’s the natural approach to relief and better health. Chiropractic is a team approach to better health.

References:

Patient Media, Inc., 215 Sutton Lane, Colorado Springs, CO 80907.

Sciatica, PubMed Health, June 4, 2011.

Sciatica, Wikipedia November, 2011.

J. Mercola, D.O., How to Prevent Lower Back Pain. Mercola.com Newsletter: March 30, 2010.

Follow @TravisGerhartDC

Chiropractic for Your Family

Travis Gerhart DC — Mon, 09 May 2011 01:45:01 +0000

Chiropractic care was the first choice for my family when I was growing up. I am from a rural farming community in Iowa. My first experience with a chiropractor was in the first grade after an accident, where I fell from a combine.

I was out with Dad and Grandma during harvest when we stopped to unload the corn from the hopper, a storage area for grain on a combine. This was my favorite part of the whole process. I liked to watch the corn as it disappeared into the bottom of the hopper on its way to the semi-trailer.

That day I took an unfortunate step backward and fell twelve feet, landing on my backside where my neck and upper back meet. As I was gasping for breath, Dad and Grandma rushed down to make sure I was ok. I had the wind knocked out of me and my back was sore. No fractures, thank goodness.

I rode a few more rounds with Dad and I noticed that it was getting harder to breathe deeply and the soreness was slowly getting worse. From there we headed to the chiropractor that my parents still go to.

In about two weeks I was back to normal. Dr. Mueller helped me and my siblings, four of us total, throughout our adolescence.

Our chiropractor was there to help us grow straight and strong through multiple sports injuries, injuries from working in the field and waterskiing. I attribute my family’s good health to three things: healthy thought, healthy food and a healthy dose of chiropractic.

There are many stories just like this one all over the world. Chiropractic has been helping families for years. The basic premise of chiropractic is that there is a Universal Intelligence in all matter giving to everything all its properties and actions, thus maintaining it in existence. In all living things, especially in humans there is a subset of this intelligence called your Innate Intelligence. This innate intelligence runs, regulates, coordinates, heals and controls all aspects of every function in your body.

Family care can start from the very beginning. Babies can benefit when their pregnant mothers receive chiropractic care. During this period of weight gain and hormonal changes, many mothers seek chiropractic care. They often report easier births.

Newborns, infants and children can benefit, too. The birth process may be the cause of our first subluxation! The birthing process has gone from one of the most natural human processes to an overly sterilized, spot lit event that emanates stress on the mother and baby. Vacuum or forceps anyone?

There are a variety of ‘common’ newborn issues that can arise from this process. Colic (a condition of a healthy baby in which it shows periods of intense, unexplained fussing/crying lasting more than 3 hours a day, more than 3 days a week for more than 3 weeks) as well as torticollis (muscle spasm causing the head to turn and tilt to one side, appearing ‘stuck’) can be helped with chiropractic care.

Learning to walk, ride a bike or play sports can produce so-called growing pains. Ignored, these problems may worsen until they can become more difficult to correct as an adult.

Chiropractors collaborating with researchers at the University of Lund, Sweden, found that chiropractic care could affect the basic physiological processes that influence oxidative stress and DNA repair. Comparing serum thiol (primary antioxidant; measure of human health status) levels in nearly 50 patients receiving short- or long-term chiropractic care with 30 patients who were treated with non-chiropractic methods, researchers found:

Independent of age, sex or taking nutritional supplements, long-term chiropractic care of two or more years re-established a normal physiological state in patients.

Patients receiving chiropractic care showed higher mean serum thiol levels, compared to patients with active disease, and produced some values that were higher than normal wellness values.

Moreover, chiropractors apply spinal adjustments to correct disturbances of nerve function; thus, chiropractic care appears to improve a patient’s ability to adapt to stress.

Would less stress be better for your family? Call us if you have questions as to how chiropractic can help you and your loved ones.

Families that stand up straight together, stand long and healthy together!

References:

Patient Media, Inc., Family Care. 215 Sutton Lane, Colorado Springs, CO 80907.

Wessel MA, et al. Paroxismal fussing in infancy, sometimes called “colic.” Pediatrics. 1954; 14:421-435

J. Mercola, D.O., Doctors Crack Code on Chiropractic Care. Mercola.com Newsletter: April 27, 2005.

L. Fielder, D.C., The Truth About Chiropractic, And How it is Widely Misunderstood. Mercola.com Newsletter: February 4, 2004.

L. Fielder, D.C., Why Chiropractic? Mercola.com Newsletter: February 12, 2005.

World Chiropractic Alliance.Chiropractic Influence on Oxidative Stress and DNA Repair. Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research: March 07, 2005.

Follow @TravisGerhartDC