Washington Park Chiropractic

By: Dr. Jake Simpson, DC

So this short article is a slightly outside of the norm, but I just wanted to raise awareness in an area people may have never thought about.  I was watching Channel  7 about a week ago and there was a great news segment on chiropractic and acupuncture for animals.  You may or may not have been to a chiropractor or acupuncturist to work out the “kinks” for yourself, but have you ever thought about getting chiropractic or acupuncture for you animals?  Yes, for your animals!!!  Read the rest of this entry →

By: Jenny Wetzel

Wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?
 
Having a case of the Mondays?
 

Feel like you have a gray cloud following you around everywhere you go?
 
With my psychology background, I decided to google “chiropractic and emotional well-being.”  Well, guess what??  Regular chiropractic care improved the emotional well-being of participants in several studies!!  We all know that seeing our lovely chiropractors’ faces makes our days much better, but now we have proof that the work they do may improve our moods.  Long story short, subluxations in your spine are not only related to physical health issues, but to psychological issues as well.
 
Moral of the story….schedule your next appointment soon!

By: Dr. Lisa Goodman, DC

I use the Graston® technique on nearly every patient and many times patients ask me “How can Graston® help everything?”  Unlike treatments for specific injuries, the Graston® Technique treats injured soft tissue and treats many injuries that cannot be named or put into a category.  So yes, in my opinion Graston can help every injury that walks into our office.

It is human nature to want to put a label on illness and injury.  It gives validation and credibility to our symptoms if we can label them.  In medicine, these labels are called diagnosis.  Typical soft tissue diagnoses include Plantar Fasciitis, Shin Splints, Rotator Cuff Tears, ankle sprains, Tennis Elbow and whiplash along with hundreds of others.  The Graston® Technique is used to treat all of the above named injuries. 

However, Graston® also treats injuries that are simply diagnosed as Myofasciitis.  Often caused by adhesions and scar tissue, Myofasciitis is a general term used to describe pain or dysfunction in the network of muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and other soft connective tissue that connect our bones and form joints.

Many patients are frustrated when they have pain and dysfunction in a muscle or joint and after exams, tests and even imaging their doctor told them that there is simply nothing ‘medically’ wrong.  This can be disconcerting, but remember that many times joint or muscle pain is a matter of fibrous scar tissue getting in the way of proper function and therefore causing pain (ie. Myofasciitis).  It isn’t a very glamorous diagnosis or label, but can be easily treated using the Graston® Technique.

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By: Dr. Jake Simpson, DC

Anatomy of Sports Injuries:

Sports injuries encompass a wide range of conditions with varying degree of severity.  Realistically, sports injuries are no different than other injuries; like car accidents they just happen to occur at higher speeds, forces, vectors, etc. often making their degree of severity higher.  The most common type of sports injuries are sprains (ligament) and strains (muscular).  Both ligaments and muscles have varying degrees of tensile and elastic properties specific to their relative function.  Muscles tend to be the powerhouse behind movement, with ligaments and tendons being the support and stabilization for the movement.  Further, all tissues are connected in a complex web of fascia, a big web of tissue that runs throughout the entire body.  This web when injured can affect tissue both near and far from the initial injury site.  In fact with fascia in mind, an injury of the lower extremity can result in an injury to the upper extremity through altered biomechanics.  If you feel like one injury was the start of ongoing problems and injuries, fascia is likely the culprit.  With respect to any aspect of health, prevention is always the key but sports injuries are often unavoidable.  For sports injuries, proper acute care and management is the key. I’ll go over a several things you can do for yourself to help heal quickly and properly. 

In treating sports injuries remember the acronym: PRICE

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By: Dr. Jake Simpson, DC

Purpose:

            The purpose of your adjustment(s) is to add mobility and energy back into your spine where it otherwise has been absent due to vertebral restriction and/or muscle tension and imbalances.  As spinal integrity improves, nerve tension is reduced, your body will begin to function better and performance is enhanced.     

Day One:

Day one, we take a comprehensive health history in effort to determine the cause of your pain and dysfunction. This often includes a case history, as well as orthopedic and neurological exams.  Based on the severity of your symptoms and/or mechanism is which you were injured X-Rays or possibly an MRI will be recommended and you will be referred out to get these tests.

After your examination and we have determined the cause of your problem, the treatment is performed.  The treatment often includes the chiropractic adjustment, soft-tissue treatments and possibly low-level laser therapy.  The key to your treatments will always be the chiropractic adjustment(s).  With malposition and loss of motion in one or more of your vertebrae a specific manual thrust is administered.  The direction, speed, depth and angle that we use are the result of experience, practice and thorough understanding of spinal mechanics.  Sometimes, the energy delivered during the thrust produces a “popping” sound.  This “pop” is simply shifting gas and fluids in and around the joint.  The sound is in no way an indicator of the quality of adjustment. 

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….Dr. G’s Pregnancy Update

By Dr. Lisa Goodman, DC

As most of my patients know, I am pregnant with number 2!  In fact, I have just 10 weeks to go until my due date of November 3.  I’ve been asked a lot of questions “how am I feeling?”, “how much longer will you work?”, “is there anything you can’t do at work?”, “where and how will you have your baby?”  I thought I’d take this opportunity to answer those questions and present a few of Dr. G’s tips for a comfortable and healthy pregnancy.

How Much Longer Will You Work?

During my last pregnancy I worked until I was 39 weeks (which was just one week prior to my due date).  I intend to do the same this time.  Looks like my last day to treat patients will likely be Monday, October 25.  That should give me ample time to nest.  This brings me to my first healthy pregnancy tip: Never think your baby will come early!  No matter what expert tells you that you might deliver early – It is probably healthiest to expect baby to come no sooner than your due date  Remember, babies don’t all develop at the same rate and your due date is really just the middle of a 4 week time frame in which a healthy baby is born.  Focusing on or after my due date helps keep me focused on my patients and staying healthy and active. 

Oh – and I plan to be back part time the first week of December (with baby in tow) and full time Mid-January!

Is There Anything You Can’t Do?

As you know, chiropractic is a very physical profession.  I have always made it a point to use good ergonomics and body position when working on patients.  Therefore, even while I am pregnant this doesn’t change much.  I work hard to protect my body and still have very effective treatments on my patients.  However, rest assured that if I ever feel that there is a treatment I cannot safely perform, I will happily refer specific patients to my partner, Dr. Jake Simpson.  Dr. Simpson will be your main treating doctor while I am on maternity leave so don’t be shy!

How Are You Feeling?

I feel terrific!  I really feel absolutely wonderful.  I attribute that to a few key things: Read the rest of this entry →

By Dr. Lisa Goodman, DC, CCSP

This is a tough question to answer.  If you ask 10 different chiropractors you will likely get 10 different answers.  There is a lot of research regarding chiropractic treatment plans and how they relate to car accidents, but there is not a lot out there on how often, how much and for how long a typical patient should be seen.  But that’s ok.  Each patient comes to a chiropractic office as a unique case and therefore deserves a unique treatment plan.  There really should not be a one-size-fits-all approach to chiropractic.  Here is my take on how to decide what you need and what is right for you:

1. How Often Should I be Treated?

This question should be answered based on a thorough history and physical exam.  Your treatment frequency will also depend on how long your have been injured and what caused your injury.  Many chiropractors have received a bad rap for prescribing too much treatment.  So what is too much?  Here is a great rule of thumb – When a patient begins receiving treatment I generally treat them every 2-4 days until their symptoms begin to improve.  This may last for 1-4 weeks.  At the first sign of significant improvement most treatments are reduced to 1x per week.  Again, once each patient can go a full week without symptoms recurring their treatment frequency is reduced again to 1x every 10-14 days.  This continues until the patient is pain-free for at least a month!  At that point we consider them to be a wellness or preventative care patient and recommend that they continue care every 4-6 weeks.  Of course every course of treatment is discussed with each patient and we always take into account scheduling, financial need and any other care the patient is receiving. 

In a nutshell, most physical medicine prescriptions – such a physical therapy or chiropractic – tend to be somewhere around 12-20 treatments for an acute injury.  But most patients will see significant relive in just 1-4 treatments and most injuries are not serious enough to require 20 treatments.

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This article was written back when Emmit Smith was still dancin, but I thought it was fun

There is no denying it, America loves ABC television’s “Dancing With The Stars.”

The ABC smash dance show continues to deliver the goods. Anyone who has watched the show can see that these dancers are under a great amount of physical as well as emotional stress.

Show coordinators for “Dancing With The Stars” were in urgent need of a chiropractor. They did what other local network studios are doing more frequently, they researched and called a good chiropractor. The doctor they found left his West Los Angeles office in midafternoon and headed over to Beverly Hills where the show was about to be broadcast live. The chiropractor arrived just in time to assist the dancers in need, and shared in everyone’s positive attitude that the show must go on.

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