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 Watson Chiropractic, P.C.
July/August 2006 Newsletter
503-MY SPINE (697-7463)
  • Torticollis (acute neck spasm)
  • Intercostal Neuritis (acute rib pain)
  • TMJ pain (jaw pain)
  • Cranial Adjusting
  • Animal Adjusting
  • Office Update
 
Torticollis (acute neck spasm)
This time of year I often see several cases of torticollis, also known as wry neck.  This is a condition where the muscles of the neck, and or upper back, become spasmed during the night and one wakes up with a very stiff neck.  Often times a person wants to lift their head off the pillow, as they are in quite a painful state, and feel like any motion at all causes acute pain and spasm in the neck and/or upper back.  The problem occours at night, during sleep, when a temperature change causes the muscles to spasm.  The temperature change is often times caused by a fan or air conditioning blowing directly onto the neck.  I also see this in the fall, when someone falls asleep with a window open that blows a cool draft onto the neck.
 
Treatment for this painful, although not very serious condition, involves spinal adjusting, diathermy, calcium and magnesium (to aid in muscle spasm reduction), and ice therapy (to reduce inflammation).  Generally, one will feel some relief within a few hours of an adjustment.  However, full recovery usually takes two or three visits over a period of a week to ten days.
 
Intercostal Neuritis (acute rib pain)
I also see quite a few cases of intercostal neuritis in the summertime with all the increased activity.  This is where the nerves between the ribs become inflamed and irritated from a spinal subluxation (vertebral misalignment).  This causes sharp pain that radiates around the rib cage.  The pain is aggravated by a deep inhalation, or twisting, or rotation of the rib cage.  The best way to reduce pain quickly is to apply ice to the spine adjacent to the radiating pain and come in for a spinal adjustment as soon as possible.   If one is vigilant about applying ice, the pain will often times completely subside within a day of a spinal adjustment.  However, if this condition is left untreated, the pain can continue on for weeks and may lead to a case of shingles.
 
TMJ pain (jaw pain)
The temporal mandibular joint (TMJ) is the jaw joint.  It is a complex joint and can become irritated from many factors.  Dentists are often helping their patients with pain in this joint by using splints that one can wear at night.  This is helpful for those who grind their teeth at night.  However,  not all TMJ pain is caused from grinding the teeth at night.  Often times one can have a disturbance in the TMJ joint from a misalignment in the upper two neck vertebra that can cause tension in the base or sides of the skull.  This misalignment can adversely affect the TMJ.  Common symptoms are pain, clicking, or locking in the jaw joint.  I will inspect the TMJ joint to see how the right and left joint track as well as have a patient bite down onto a tongue depressor at the molars on each side to see if each side is equally strong.  Then I will evaluate the upper neck vertebra.   Treatment is different for every case of TMJ dysfunction.  However, I often adjust the TMJ joint, upper neck vertebra, and use percussion at the TMJ joint.  Other remedies include intra oral (inside the mouth) trigger point therapy (deep pressure massage) at the muscles of the TMJ joint and cranial adjusting.  On occasion, this joint becomes irritated from pent up emotional tension and I will recommend counseling for those individuals.
 
Most every case of TMJ dysfunction I treat gets much better right here in this office.  In fact, once I had a patient come into the office with a completely locked jaw.  She was scheduled for surgery the next day.  She walked out of my office that day with a completely un-locked jaw.  I saved her from surgery.  That's the absolute best case scenario.  Those are the situations that make my job great.  However, sometimes I need to refer someone out to a dentist or a counselor.  Seldom, I have a TMJ case that does not respond to treatment, or will only be better for a very limited time before becoming dysfunctional again.  That part I do not care for very much.  That's just the way it is though, as this is a complex joint that can have a multitude of factors that can cause dysfunction.
 
Cranial Adjusting
Many lay people, as well as some doctors, are unaware that the cranial bones have a slight movement between them.  There are eight bones of the cranium that articulate with each other.  These bones are interlocked to each other with joints called sutures.  They are like interlocking fingers or like a zipper.  Most texts site the suture joint as being immovable, and therefore there is confusion about weather or not the cranial bones actually move.  They do move....  albeit very slightly, they are moveable.  Imagine a very slight rocking between interlocked fingers and that's what the motion is like. 
 
When the cranial bones become fixated or immovable it can cause a myriad of symptoms.  Headaches, TMJ pain, achyness along the spinal column, tension in the shoulders, and eye strain are some of the many symptoms that can occur as a result of a fixated cranial suture.
 
The most significant problem with a fixated cranium is the effect it has on the health of the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) pump.  The CSF pump is a special mechanism that allows the CSF to travel in a current up and down the inside of your spinal cord.  Continual movement of the skull bones, coupled with sacral bone movement at the base of the spine, pump the CSF from the bottom of the spinal cord all the way up to the brain in a circular current.  The CSF needs to continually flow through the ventricles of the brain to receive nourishment, and expel waste, at the blood brain barrier.
 
If the CSF looses it's ability to flow smoothly up and down the spinal cord to and from the brain it can become laden with neural toxic waste that can cause dysfunction of the nervous system due to changes in ionic gradients.  This is why one can suffer from many different symptoms as a result of cranial fixation.
 
I know this is getting a bit technical and I hope I have not lost you.  Hang in there.  Here's an analogy to help you out.
 
The basic idea is... the CSF is like a river that flows in a circle.  Along the path of the river, people are throwing their garbage onto barges and getting their food from other barges.  The only place the barges can load and unload, is at the blood brain barrier.  The barges have no motor and rely completely on the current.  All along the river there are people that are hungry, and have garbage to throw out.  Fixated cranial bones can cause the river current to move slower than normal, allowing waste to pile up, and restrict food from hungry people.  In this analogy, if you think of the people as neural cells you'll get the idea why it could be problematic.
 
Animal Adjusting
Over the many years I have been a chiropractor some people have put two and two together, and figured out that their pet may need chiropractic care.   I have adjusted many cats and dogs, and have had some really good results. However, I do not prefer to treat animals, and don't go looking for this kind of work.  Although, when called upon, I have not turned anyone down.  I have pets and know how much one can love their pet.  I do not allow the animals into my office, and treat them at the end of the day in the entry hall.
 
I am not a veterinary doctor and am not qualified to make an animal diagnosis.  I can only use my skills of palpation to locate fixated vertebra and use my adjusting skills to adjust the pet's spine.  I am highly skilled to do that.  If you are interested in this, you will need a referral from your veterinary, to my office, for spinal adjustments only.  I will not treat anyone's pet without a veterinary referral.
 
There are many seminars available to chiropractors and veterinaries to learn the skill of animal adjusting.  There was a animal chiropractic club in the college I attended.  I went to several meetings during college and learned the basic skills necessary to adjust cats and dogs.  I do not adjust large animals (horses, cattle. etc.)  There is a chiropractor in the area who specializes in animal adjusting.  When I was a chiropractic student in Iowa, I took my dog to a animal chiropractor who saw around a hundred pets a day.  That was quite amazing.
 
Office Update
I did not get a newsletter out on July 1st, as I was more busy than usual.  June was the busiest month on record thanks to all the new and returning patients we had.  It was quite a surprise, as generally it's one of our slowest months, with many people taking vacations.  We did manage to get away for a few days and had a nice visit.  I will be traveling again in August, and the office will be closed from August 18th, to the 22nd.
 
Thank you again for your readership.
 
Dr. Watson