Your body’s hips take a lot of wear and tear in their job of providing support, stability, and balance. So it isn’t too surprising that hip problems are very common, especially in older adults. Fortunately, many people find relief for their pain through chiropractic care, negating the need for painful and expensive hip replacement surgery.

The hip is a joint in your body; an area where two bones meet is referred to as a joint. Bones are held together at the joints by ligaments, which act like very strong elastic bands. Some joints, such as the hips, move freely when compared to the spine’s limited movement. The hip is a ball and socket joint, which can provide full 360-degree movement. This type of joint works by having the round end of one bone fitting into a cup-like area of another bone. To keep the joints lubricated and moving freely, the body produces synovial fluid, which acts as a kind of oil.

In many cases, cartilage protects the joint, which allows for a smooth movement and acts as a kind of shock absorber whenever pressure, or weight, is put on the joint. If your body failed to create a proper amount of cartilage, your bones can rub against one another resulting in uncomfortable stiffness or pain.

How Chiropractic Care Can Help

Hip pain has many different causes, different symptoms and different methods of treatment. While a chiropractor cannot magically mend a broken or damaged hip, one can certainly help the joint with regaining, and eventually maintaining more flexibility and ease of movement, not to mention alleviate inflammation, piercing pain, and overall discomfort. Conditions such as osteoporosis, tendinitis, and bursitis are known to respond quite well to chiropractic procedures, as do strains and sprains caused by injuries sustained playing sports, falling, or as the result of being in a car accident.

Your Chiropractor will do a full screening to find the route cause of your symptoms and can then recommend the best form of treatment.

The Temporomandibular Joint

If you place your fingers in front of either ear and open your jaw, you’ll feel changing shapes beneath your fingers. You are feeling the joint where the temporal bone of your skull attaches to your mandible (jaw)-the joint that is called the temporomandibular joint or TMJ. This fascinating joint connects your jaw to your head. Ligaments, cartilage, fascia, an articular disc, muscles, nerves and blood vessels run in, around and through the TMJ.

Symptoms of TMJ Syndrome

TMJ dysfunction or syndrome occurs when the joint is misaligned or malfunctioning in some way that subjects it to excess pressure. Among the most common symptoms of TMJ dysfunction are the inability to open the mouth wide and a clicking or popping sound when the mouth opens or closes. In some cases, the jaw can even temporarily lock up.

Other TMJ symptoms can be severe headaches; loss of hearing; tinnitus (ringing in the ears); the sensation of an object in the throat; facial swelling; shoulder, cheek or jaw joint pain; neck ache; tic douloureux (facial nerve pain); pain in or under the ear, the eye or upon swallowing; tooth pain; migraine: nausea; blurred vision and dizziness.

Some researchers have even linked TMJ dysfunction to throat infections, sinus congestion, ear infections and asthma. Others have linked the syndrome to heart, stomach, intestinal, respiratory and emotional disorders.

Who Gets TMJ?

According to John D. Laughlin 111, president of the Holistic Dental Association:

Up to seventy-eight percent of the general public (over 175 million) have some amount of TMJ dysfunction. This condition can begin during the birth process. One of the primary causes can be poor nutrition. TMJ affects more women than men, with high stress “superwomen” being very prone to it.

Causes of TMJ

TMJ may be caused by trauma: a child may fall on its sacrum and in time, through the adaptive body mechanisms, the pelvic imbalance can affect the TMJ, head and neck. According to Dr. Gerald Smith, a specialist in the field of structural dentistry, dental work, especially improperly fitting braces or orthodontia is the cause of many TMJ problems:

Chronic headaches, scalp tenderness, pains behind the eyes, muffled ear sounds, ringing, hissing or other ear distortions, balance problems, nausea, facial tightness, cervical or lower back pain or restriction of neck motion should all be thoroughly investigated for possible implication in cranial distortions, especially if they appear within days after braces are placed. These same symptoms may surface within a period of six months to several years. Sometimes the head pains caused by ill-fitting dental work can be quite intense. TMJ may also be caused by trauma of many kinds, not only those directly affecting the head and jaw and not only those of recent origin.

The Chiropractic Approach

Spinal and TMJ problems are often found together. Chiropractic care, especially in the area of the upper cervical spine and skull, often relieves pressure on the spine and the cranial bones. Often a chiropractic spinal adjustment can greatly benefit someone suffering from what had been thought to be only a TMJ problem. Conversely, an unhealthy skull/jaw alignment can put great stress upon the spinal column. There are documented cases of dental problems that, once corrected, have helped chiropractic patients to better hold their spinal adjustments.

In one study, 30 chronic TMJ sufferers were randomised into 3 groups (two had chiropractic and one was a control). The groups receiving chiropractic care had the most significant relief from pain. In another study, sixty patients with chronic cervical pain were divided into chiropractic and control groups. There was a dramatic improvement in TMJ pain in the chiropractic group compared to the control group. Eleven patients with chronic TMJ revealed a shift from high-intensity to low-intensity pain between the beginning and end of care (63.6% to 18.2%). A significant change of mouth opening range was also observed.

An individual case involved a 41-year-old woman with bilateral TMJ pain, ear pain, tinnitus, vertigo, decreased hearing and a sensation of pressure or fullness in both ears. She also had a 22 year history of migraine headaches. Prescribed antibiotics caused gastric upset and vomiting. MDs told her to apply local heat, reduce talking and eat soft foods. Her symptoms worsened. Chiropractic care to the atlas vertebrae resulted in complete relief of TMJ symptoms after 9 visits and headache relief. At a one year follow-up she reported no TMJ symptoms and no headaches for the prior 9 months.

In Conclusion

Certain chiropractic and body alignment techniques have been developed that analyze skull/jaw/spinal structural relationships. These techniques have benefited patients suffering from the hidden distortions that sometimes arise within us.

All TMJ sufferers should have a chiropractic checkup, and anyone who has been to the dentist should follow up that visit with a quick stop at their chiropractor.

Approximately 25% of our patients come to us with a specific complaint of lower back pain running down the leg. Often referred to as SCIATICA, the discomfort can be described as a deep dull ache or a sharp and burning pain. The pain may be continuous from the back of the thigh all the way to the foot. It is not uncommon for patients to also complain of pins and needles or numbness in their limbs especially when sitting or driving.

There are two main causes of sciatica; the nerve may be trapped under or within the piriformis muscle, a muscle deep in the buttock, or there may be misalignments of the spine, causing irritation on the small nerves which form the sciatic nerve.

The symptoms can be brought on by old injuries, repetitive strains, poor posture, motor vehicle accidents or just everyday living.

In several studies conducted in the UK, Australia and North America to establish the efficacy of spinal manipulation as a treatment for lower back pain researchers reported that “the trend for spinal manipulation to produce better results than any other form of treatment to which it was compared was very consistent”. Patients have consistently reported to have had longer lasting results, fewer relapses and much faster recovery from back and leg pain.

If you suffer from
• Pins and Needles in the leg
• Sharp stabbing pain in the leg
• Difficulty sitting, standing or walking
• Lower back pain
• Muscle spasms and stiffness

– then it’s time to see your Chiropractor!

Do you have tingling, numbness or pain in the hand, fingers and wrist?

The Carpal Tunnel is in your wrist. Your carpal (wrist) bones form a tunnel-like structure—the carpal tunnel—through which pass nine tendons and one nerve— the median nerve. CTS occurs when the median nerve is irritated.

If the carpal (wrist) bones are moved out of their normal position they will compress the Carpal Tunnel where the median nerve and artery run through. If this is the case, a chiropractor can adjust the wrist bone back to its normal position and relieve the pressure on the nerve. If the pressure on the nerve is relieved, the symptoms improve, and the patient has a solution to their problem.

It is common for a chiropractor to examine the elbow, shoulder and neck joints as well as the wrist. These joints are all found on the distribution pathway of the median nerve as it exits the spinal cord and makes its way to the hand. Compression of the nerve along this path can also produce symptoms in the wrist and hand.

In many cases the wrist isn’t the cause of the problem but a neck problem is the root of the nerve irritation and requires a chiropractic adjustment. Surgery performed on the wrist will then be pointless and ineffective as the cause isn’t addressed properly.

One research study found that 57% of patients still have recurring numbness, tingling sensations and/or pain within 6-years following the surgery (Source: Nancollas, et al, 1995. J. Hand Surgery).

Surgery should always be a last resort! Try chiropractic first!

If you have a headache, you’re not alone. Nine out of ten people suffer from headaches. Some are occasional, some frequent, some are dull and throbbing, and some cause debilitating pain and nausea.

New research shows that spinal manipulation – the primary form of care provided by doctors of chiropractic – may be an effective treatment option for tension headaches and headaches that originate in the neck.

Chiropractic gives relief to many headache sufferers, not only in our practice but also in several studies. One study found that the majority of people who suffered from spinal misalignments had their headaches relieved or their condition improved through chiropractic care. And in follow-up studies of the same patients it was found that many were still without recurring headache pain two years later.

The greatest majority of primary headaches are associated with muscle tension in the neck.  Today, people engage in more sedentary activities than they used to, and hours are spent in one fixed position or posture, like sitting in front of the computer for hours. This can increase joint irritation and muscle tension in the neck, upper back and scalp, causing your head to ache. If you are suffering from headaches, please see a chiropractor. Chiropractic has been proven to help headaches, it’s what we do!

Please feel free to contact the clinic on 028 9186 2114 for advice or to arrange an appointment.

We are very pleased to present the launch of our new website for Cloverfield Chiropractic Care.  This blog will have a similar theme to our Carrick Chiropractic blog, which has been running for a number of years now.  It will include news about Chiropractic and spinal health, nutrition and lifestyle information as well as updates from the clinic.  We hope you find the content both enjoyable and informative.  If you have any topics that you would like to see covered, they can be sent to info@cloverfieldchiropractic.co.uk.