Tips to Protect Your Spine This Holiday - Dr. Langmaid featured on Studio10 Live

Just last week, I was able to be featured on Studio10 Live morning show giving holiday travel tips to the people of Tampa Bay.

We focused on the items below-
Check your posture. Remember all of those times your mother told you to sit up straight with your feet on the ground? Well, believe it or not, she was actually teaching you a very valuable lesson in posture, one that could mean the difference between bliss and pain for your back. When traveling make sure that you are sitting upright with your knees at no greater than a 90-degree angle.
Embrace heat. Whether you are traveling, visiting a friend, shopping or just roaming around the house, heat therapy can help reduce your chronic back pain. Consider getting the heating pads that adhere to your body to help with inflammation. You can remove or reposition them at any time.
Stretch it out. Take some time to walk around and stretch your legs and arms once every hour. Getting up to walk around and stretch can do wonders when you’re trying to avoid a flare-up of your chronic pain on a cross-country flight. That’s because stretching increases blood flow, elongates muscles to promote flexibility and can keep your back and leg muscles limber, all of which can help prevent your chronic back pain from turning your flight into a nightmare.
Make sure you pack smart. Though not having to wait in the baggage claim line may seem like a good idea before you are trucking your luggage from one end of the airport to the other, carrying around heavy bags will do more damage than good to your back. Make sure any luggage you have to carry for a prolonged amount of time is a manageable weight, or on wheels.
Wear the right shoes. Traveling is not high fashion, and the runways at the airport are for planes — not heels. Choose shoes that provide good arch support and comfort this season, and your back will thank you.
Just rest. If your baggage allows, bring along a pillow for extra neck support while you dream away your stress.

View fullsize

Dr. Langmaid Live on Studio10

Video Block

Double-click here to add a video by URL or embed code. Learn more

---

-The Evidence Based Chiropractor has assisted hundreds of chiropractors around the globe build interdisciplinary referral relationships.

Have you viewed our FREE Guides?  Download The MD Meeting and the 5 Secrets to MD Referrals today

Chiropractic Featured in Prevention Magazine

    PREVENTION magazine is a "sensation" in the health care world.  It garners 2-3 million unique visitors each and every month and creates a lot of influence with its readers for healthcare decision making.
 

     I was fortunate to be included in a fantastic piece titled, "6 Things Chiropractors Can Help with- and What They Can't".

     This piece touches on back pain, headaches, pregnancy care, as well as blood pressure and digestive issues.

   This article, in a leading publication, is a huge "win" for Chiropractic and shines an extremely favorable light on what we are doing each and every day in practice. Enjoy, share, and let me know what you think!

---

-The Evidence Based Chiropractor has assisted hundreds of chiropractors around the globe build interdisciplinary referral relationships.

Have you viewed our FREE Guides?  Download The MD Meeting and the 5 Secrets to MD Referrals today

Is My Pain Coming from My Neck or Arm?

Is My Pain Coming from My Neck or Arm? 

Millions of people each day suffer from pain, numbness, and/or weakness in their arms and hands. This type of pain can range from mild to unbearable. Often, the people suffering report muscle spasms and headaches as well.

Does those sound like you?

View fullsize

It may surprise you to learn that these symptoms (the arm and hand pain, numbness, weakness) can stem from a problem in your neck. The nerves that exit between each bone, or vertebrae, in the neck extend out and down the shoulders, arms, and hands. If these nerves come irritated or compressed than it can lead to symptoms in the upper extremities. The irritation or compression commonly results from a challenge such as a herniated disc or bone spur. Both the disc or spur can take up space in the delicate canal which the nerve exits. This can lead to small amounts compression. This compression will irritate the nerve and result in symptoms. 

Researchers have found that nearly 90% of us will have neck or back pain at some point in our life. 

The good news is that 50-60% will recover within one week.  An additional 30-40% will recover within 90 days. But that still leaves 10% of us which will have chronic neck or back pain. Fortunately, there are alternatives aside from surgery or living on higher and higher doses of medication. Chiropractic care care has been shown to greatly improve the symptoms associated with neck pain. Additionally, chiropractic care has been shown to actually DECREASE intra-discal pressure- which can improve the radiating symptoms which appear in the arms and hands. Some people with neck pain may be fearful of going to a chiropractor and having an adjustment on their neck when it hurts. It feels as though any motion would cause more pain, and if you have never had an adjustment before, it can be stressful. What many people don’t know is that chiropractors have a variety of techniques to help with neck pain. Not every patient needs a “traditional” chiropractic adjustment which we often see on TV.  There are many LOW impact techniques which can be used to help reduce neck and arm pain. 

The most important when diagnosing neck pain is always a thorough case history, examination and evaluation. Sometimes additional diagnostics such as an X-ray or MRI are ordered. After a diagnosis has been made then your chiropractor will be able to choose the best technique for your challenges. 

---

-The Evidence Based Chiropractor has assisted hundreds of chiropractors around the globe build interdisciplinary referral relationships.

Have you viewed our FREE Guides?  Download The MD Meeting and the 5 Secrets to MD Referrals today.

The Essentials of MRI for the Practicing Chiropractor- CE Course November 7th in Tampa

View fullsize

I am thrilled to announce the chiropractic continuing education event above.  It will take place in Tampa, Fl on November 7th.  More details are to follow. However, there has already been huge interest in this program- so please reach out soon if you would like to attend.  I can guarantee you will receive a dynamic event filled with truly actionable content you will be able to use in your office on Monday. 

---

-The Evidence Based Chiropractor has assisted hundreds of chiropractors around the globe build interdisciplinary referral relationships.

Have you viewed our FREE Guides?  Download The MD Meeting and the 5 Secrets to MD Referrals today.

Safety of the Chiropractic Adjustment Evaluated by Tissue Damage Markers- by The Evidence Based Chiropractor

Just last year, Disease Markers released a study which examined tissue damage markers after patients received a chiropractic adjustment.  As we know, the safety of the chiropractic adjustment is a primary concern to both patients' and their primary care physicians.

Safety is a huge concern for both consumers and other physicians.

Most other doctors have NO CLUE what we do as chiropractors! Showcasing research that highlights the safety of our care is critical when you are building referral relationships.

This study looked at tissue damage markers pre-treatment, post-treatment, and post-treatment +2 hours. The treatment groups included a control group, a group receiving a cervical spine adjustment, and a group receiving a thoracic spine adjustment. 

“Our data show no changes in any of the studied damage markers.” 

As you can see below, the researchers found no indication of tissue damage after patients received a chiropractic adjustment. This is a great study to present to your local referral partners. Pro-actively addressing concerns regarding safety is key when developing referral relationships with other local health care providers. 

I was also super impressed that the paper cited the benefits of chiropractic- such as reduced inflammation, pain relief, and the well-documented reduction in drug consumption for those receiving care.

Keep in mind- highlighting benefits is often more effective than features.

Here are some other cool finding from the authors of the study:

“The aim of this preliminary study is to determine the possible noxious effects of spinal manipulation.”

“Spine manipulation is a manual therapy technique commonly applied, which presents benefits for patients such as an anti-inflammatory effect, pain relief, and reduction of drug consumption.”

“…lower cervical and thoracic manipulation techniques seem to be safe manual therapy techniques which cause no harm to the health of a subject.”

See the study on PubMed- Tissue damage markers after a spinal manipulation in healthy subjects: a preliminary report of a randomized controlled trial.

---

View fullsize

Do you like this research brief?  Would you like to increase your incoming referrals?  Learn how you can receive a fully white labeled MD Research Brief every month, delivered straight to your inbox by clicking here.

Disease Markers, vol. 2014

---

-The Evidence Based Chiropractor has assisted hundreds of chiropractors around the globe build interdisciplinary referral relationships.

Have you viewed our FREE Guides?  Download The MD Meeting and the 5 Secrets to MD Referrals today.