Raleigh, North Carolina

As a Raleigh chiropractor, I’m often asked on a regular basis…

“What is the popping and cracking sound that I hear during my chiropractic treatments?”

I would like to take a little time today to answer some of the questions that I get regarding the cracking and popping sounds that the spine can make during a chiropractic adjustment.

In between the vertebrae, we have the facet joints. These are the joints that bring the vertebrae together and allow the vertebral joints and the vertebrae to move together, as your body is turning in space, looking up and down, bending. What happens, and very frequently, and what should be understood is that these are joints.

They are no different than any other joints in your body, like your knee, like your ankle, or your shoulder. They are designed to move in different planes of motion. It’s a little harder for people to understand this because you don’t see your spine. It’s inside of your body as opposed to your wrists, knees, hands that is a little more easy to understand for most people.

Around the facet joints, there are capsules. When these vertebrae misalign and get stuck out of their normal position, it may build up a pressure inside the joint capsules. This pressure can cause an underlying pain, stiffness, pressure, and discomfort in the spine.

It can cause pressure, stiffness, tightness. What we specialize in as chiropractic physicians in Raleigh NC is to evaluate these vertebrae, specifically locate, where those joints are not moving properly or misaligned, and restore the mobility.

Cracking and Popping Sounds During a Chiropractic Adjustment

When the chiropractic adjustment takes place, it releases the pressure of gases inside the joint capsules and you hear an audible pop. The Popping is a combimnation of the facet joints realigning into their normal position and gass being released from the joints in the spine.

It is very important as well, to address the muscles and ligaments in the spine as well. Here in our Raliegh, NC chiropractic office, we do recommend exercises and stretches for our patients. It is improtant patients maintaine the postural corrections that we make in our treatments. Stretching and strengthening in combination with the chiropractic spinal adjustments to the spine provides optimal outcomes.

In Health,

Dr. Jeffrey Gerdes

I am often asked at my Raleigh chiropractic office how many visits will it take to fix someone’s condition and make them feel better. So, this is an important question to address with your chiropracor when you begin treatment. 

How Many Visits to Your Raleigh Chiropractor Before You Feel Better? 

The best answer to the question of how many visits to the Chiropractor you will need to feel better is a little complicated because everybody’s body and conditions are different. As a top Raleigh Chiropractor, I can provide a general overview answering this popular question.

Good Chiropractors do everything they can to help their patients improve and respond as quickly as possible with the fewest amount of treatments while empowering their patients to keep up with things at home on their own that can make the chiropractic treatments longer lasting and more affective.

First and foremost, my job as a top Raleigh Chiropractor is to treat and manage my patients conditions in the shortest amount of time with the greatest amount of benefit. The goal of any chiropractic treatment should be an improvement in function and decrease in pain levels.

Based on my vast experience as a top Raleigh Chiropractor, the general rule with chiropractic treatment is to go through 1 to 4 weeks of treatment at 2-3 visits a week and then determine how the condition is responding. It is recommended that once improvements start to be seen in patients, the treatment frequency tapers back.

Now, there are exceptions to this (such as conditions like herniated discs , sprains and strains, ligament tears, chronic conditions like degenerative disc disease, chronic headaches and migraines, advanced age, or having a history of prior surgeries). There are also exceptions where a patient only requires 1 to 4 visits because they have shown a resolution of their symptoms in a very short amount of time.

It may be viewed as unethical for a Chiropractor to recommend continuing treatment to a patient that no longer has the original symptoms that they started treatment with. The Chiropractor should also utilize referrals with other medical professionals when treatment is slow, not progressing, or ineffective at all.

 Initial Questions to Ask Your New Raleigh Chiropractor:

1. What chiropractic services does the Raleigh Chiropractor offer? Does he/she offer physical therapies, like exercises and muscle work (which have been shown when combined with chiropractic care to improve medical conditions much faster)?

2. Does the Raleigh Chiropractor require pre-payments for treatment? This may be a sign that the chiropractor is willing to hold you into a certain amount of treatments regardless of how quickly or slowly you’re showing improvements.

3. Does the Raleigh Chiropractor work with other doctors on a frequent basis like pain management physicians, orthopedic surgeons, Neurosurgeons, physical therapists, massage therapists, acupuncturist, primary care physicians.

4. Asking your Raleigh Chiropractor if treatments are necessary once the symptoms have resolved. If the Chiropractor begins discussing ongoing continued treatment when symptoms have resolved, this is a potential red flag that the Chiropractor has potentially the wrong motives.

5. Lastly, make sure to ask your Raleigh Chiropractor, what will we do if I’m not improving with the treatment in 2-6 weeks?

In summary, there are a variety of factors and conditions that may require more extensive chiropractic treatment to bring to a resolution such as car accident injuries, sports injuries, advanced age and chronic conditions. On the other hand, there are many conditions that should resolve within a short amount of time usually between two and four weeks with chiropractic treatment that should be brought to a conclusion or tapered back once symptoms are resolving or improving.

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to get in touch here.

To book to appointment at our Raleigh, NC Chiropractic location, click here.

 In health,

 

Dr. Jeffrey Gerdes,D.C.

Raleigh, NC

One of the most common conditions treated at our Raleigh chiropractic office, Carolina ChiroCare and Rehab, is pinched nerves in the neck and lower back.

When a nerve is pinched in the mid back, pain radiates out to the sides along the ribs and can even go into the chest. It is much less common than injuries in the nerves in your neck and lower back. 

The medical term for this condition is radiculopathy. When it’s present in the neck it is referred to as cervical radiculopathy in the low back lumbar radiculopathy.

What are the signs and symptoms of a pinched nerve?

 Symptoms that indicate a pinched nerve in your spine include: 

• Radiating pain down your arms or legs into the hands or feet
• Tingling into the shoulders or legs
• Burning pain that shoots down from the back into the shoulders and hands from the lower back into the hips, thighs, and legs
• An electric shock-like sensation that radiates
• Feeling like your feet, hands, or arms are asleep
• Muscle weakness in the legs, arms, hands, or feet

What causes pinched or compressed nerves?

There are a variety of conditions of pinched nerves.  Some include:

• A bulging or herniated disc in the neck or back
• Spinal stenosis 
• A bone spur or arthritis in the spine pressing on the nerves
• Injuries
• Certain types of arthritis  
• Compression from tight muscles
• Obesity
• Pregnancy

How does chiropractic care at Carolina ChiroCare and Rehab treat pinched nerves?

Chiropractic care treats pinched nerve through a variety of methods.

If the pinched nerve is in the spine, spinal adjustments will help restore the mobility and flexibility in the vertebrae, attempting to increase the spacing where the intervertebral nerves are being pinched in the spine.

If the nerves are pinched more peripherally in the arms or legs by tight muscles, chiropractors are trained in flexibility increasing physical therapies to balance out tight muscles and tissues which may be compressing the nerves.

Chiropractors also incorporate physical therapy modalities such as ultrasound therapy,  electrical muscle stimulation   and traction therapy. These therapies are designed to dull nerve pain and decrease inflammation and swelling around a pinched nerve.

 Spinal decompression is a therapy used by chiropractors to relieve and heal pinched nerves in the spine.

This treatment focuses on decompression of the vertebrae and spinal discs where compression is occurring, causing nerve compression in the spine. Spinal decompression uses computerized mechanical decompressive forces and is a treatment to consider if someone is seeking to avoid surgery. 

If you are suffering from pain due to a pinched nerve, there is hope. Chiropractic care can treat pinched nerves in the spine and decrease nerve pain and stiffness while relaxing sore, tight, tense, and inflamed muscles.

Click here to book an appointment today.  

In health,

Dr. Jeffrey Gerdes, D.C.

 

Raleigh, NC 

Can Chiropractors Help with Sleep?

It’s recommended that each of us get between seven to nine hours of sleep a night. Sadly, for many getting the adequate amount of sleep each night is a significant problem.

Chronic sleep deprivation causes inflammation systemically in the entire body, raises insulin and cortisol levels,Increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity.

A recent Harvard University study links sleep deprivation to several health related problems including:

Weight gain: Those who had less than six hours of sleep at night gained weight and ended up having a higher BMI.  There is now a link between type two diabetes, obesity, weight gain and lack of sleep.

Heart disease: Poor sleep habits or insomnia affects blood pressure and there are now several studies linking sleep apnea and heart disease to lack of proper sleep.

Mental disorders and high stress levels: Insomnia and sleep deprivation can lead to depression, anxiety, elevated cortisol levels(the bodies stress hormone)and chronic stress.

Shortened life expectancy: recent epidemiology studies showed that sleep deprivation and getting less than five hours of sleep per night increase the risk of death by around 15 percentage.

Sleep deprivation has also been linked to increased risk of causing a car accident, increase of accidents on the job, and a decrease in quality of life.

So, can chiropractors help with sleep?

Sometimes, spine pain is the cause of a patient’s lack of sleep because the pains keeps them awake.

Whether it’s back pain , neck pain ,arm pain, headaches , or shoulder pain , chiropractic care can be the solution that allows you to sleep better through the night and wake up with less joint pain and stiffness.

Chiropractic care or not only helps relieve spine pain but also relaxes muscles which helps your body increase circulation and increase stress reducing hormone.

Chiropractic adjustment can help immediately reduce pain and induce muscle relaxation. If pain is the underlying cause of lack of sleep, this will allow the body to rest better at night.

In a recent paper published by Lennar Vernon, he suggested the chiropractic subluxation and insomnia could there be a connection. He reported that by removing subluxations from the spinal vertebrae through chiropractic adjustments that the endocrine system and nerve impulses were positively affected. This chemical and neurological dysfunction caused an in balance in brain chemistry causing insomnia in participants.

By removing the vertebral dysfunctions through chiropractic adjustments , participants in the study showed an increase in dopamine and serotonin levels and were able to get improvement from insomnia.

Most chiropractors will also offer advice on using the proper pillow and mattress. In my office, most patients are recommended proper stretching and strengthening exercises to address muscular and biomechanical dysfunctions that lead to spine pain. This overtime can help reduce spine and muscle pain at night which causes lack of sleep.

If you are suffering from insomnia due to pain at night there is hope. Chiropractic care decrease spinal pain and stiffness while relaxing sore, tight, tense, and inflamed muscles to help you sleep better and wake up with less stiffness.

Click here to book an appointment today.  

In health,

Dr. Jeffrey Gerdes, D.C. 

Raleigh, NC

What is spinal stenosis?

Spinal stenosis is simply narrowing of the canals in which the spinal cord runs through or in which the spinal nerve roots exit from the spinal cord.

These canals can narrow from several different conditions or a combination of multiple conditions at once leading to the narrowing of the canals in spine in which the spinal cord and nerves travel referred to as spinal stenosis.

What causes spinal stenosis?

Let’s go through some of the most common underlying conditions that cause spinal canal stenosis or stenosis in the canals that the spinal nerves roots exit. From my experience in the treatment of spinal stenosis in my Raleigh, NC clinic, this is what I have seen:

Bulging and herniated discs in the neck mid or lower back. A bulging or herniated disc often referred to as a slipped disc can be a very painful condition which causes spinal stenosis. Nearly all herniated or bulging spinal discs push back towards the nerve roots and spinal cord. This narrows the canals and is one cause of spinal stenosis.

Facet Arthrosis. Another condition which can lead to spinal stenosis is called facet Facet arthrosis.  This is a condition when the facet joints in the vertebrae degenerate and form arthritis.

Facet arhtrosis is usually a normal part of the aging process. Think of this as wear and tear on the joints in the spine over time. Trauma can also lead to facet arthrosis from a car accident, injury, a fall or a sports injury.

As the facet joints wear in tear and degenerate on each other new calcium deposits form causing a new bone formation in facet joints. This begins to narrow the canals in the spine causing spinal stenosis.

Thickening or hypertrophy of ligaments. Ligaments inside your spinal canal’s can thicken or grow too big leading to spinal stenosis. This is usually something that happens with age or to people who use their spine a lot either with their jobs or through their regular activities of daily living.

Tumors. Tumors in the spine can can press on  the spinal cord or nerve roots that exit the spinal cord feeding the arms and legs with nerve distribution.

Injuries to the spine. Tramas such as car accidents can cause small fractures or dislocations in the vertebrae in the spine. The displaced bones then narrows the canals of the spinal cord and exiting nerve roots causing spinal stenosis. This can be considered a medical emergency in some instances and may require immediate surgery.

What are the symptoms of spinal stenosis? 

Symptoms that I have seen while providing treatment for spinal stenosis in my Raliegh, NC clinic include pain in the neck, mid or lower back. There is usually radiating pain, numbness and tingling into the arms or legs.

Spinal stenosis can progress to a point that the spinal cord and nerves in the spine become compressed so much that they one can lose strength and sensation in the arms hands legs or feet.

In severe cases,  spinal stenosis can cause problems with balance, walking and even bowel and bladder dysfunction.

Can a chiropractor treat spinal stenosis?

Chiropractic care for the treatment of spinal stenosis helps improve flexibility, mobility, and ranges of motion of the vertebrae in the spine. Chiropractors like myself also perform physical therapy within the greater treatment plan for spinal stenosis to reduce swelling and inflammation in tissues which may be contributing to stenosis.

Some forms of stenosis respond very well to specific exercises which aim to increase the flexibility and mobility in a region of the spine where spinal stenosis is narrowing the canals. This combined with chiropractic adjustments aimed at increasing the flexibility and range of motion of specific vertebrae can be a very effective treatment for back and neck pain related to spinal stenosis.

If you are looking for spinal stenosis treatment options in Raleigh, NC, book an appointment today.