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Chi is the subtle energy that travels throughout your body trough the meridian system. "Protective chi" (wei chi) is your body's first line of defense against the "external  evils" that are a vital part of ancient acupuncture theory. These "evils" include wind, cold and dampness. When your"wei chi" is weak, these external factors can result in pathogens entering your body. Protective chi is controlled primarily by the lung meridian.

We know that if you dare to go outside in freezing whether with no shirt on, you will get sick. But what about those who bundle up and still get sick? Dressing accordingly for the weather is a great way to maintain and aid protective chi but it does not always prevent you from getting sick. You must consider other factors that weaken your body. These include poor sleep quality, lack of exercise and poor diet. So pay more attention to the things in your control to strengthen your chi, including acupuncture.

Shoulder discomfort is a problem experienced by many car wreck patients, and there are two common explanations.



The first is direct trauma to the shoulder during the crash. If your shoulder strikes something directly, it can injure the joint capsule. Also, if you are clenching the steering wheel tightly during a rear-end crash, your body can lag behind the car, putting tension on your wrists and shoulders.

The second cause of shoulder pain is less direct and can be more difficult to diagnose. Injuries to the neck or spine can create stress on the nerves that travel from the spine to your shoulder, arm, and hands. This can be baffling, as the painful sensation or numbness is experienced in one part of your body, while the problem is actually in your spine.

Chiropractic is a proven, reliable way to help men and women with shoulder problems, and we've been working with these types of injuries in Daphne, AL since 2003.

If you've been in a car wreck and have symptoms of shoulder injury, Dr. Smith is here to help. We can help establish the root source of your problem and formulate a plan of action to help you reclaim your health. We have helped many patients in Daphne, AL improve from these sorts of problems.

Call our office today at (251) 621-2224 for an appointment or for more information.

Headache pain is a very common condition that we see daily in our office in Daphne, AL. Experts estimate that more than two out of three people suffer from regular headache pain, so if you suffer also, you're not alone.



Headaches can have a variety of sources. It can originate from stress, injuries, poor posture, or just everyday activities. Dr. Smith has helped many patients in Daphne, AL recover from persistent headache pain, and we can likely help you too.

First, we'll do a detailed examination to understand the underlying reason of your headache pain. Next, using a variety of techniques, we'll help reestablish your spine's natural functioning to reduce strain on your body and nervous system. Many of our patients see a rapid improvement in their symptoms.

If you are near our clinic in Daphne, AL and you are suffering from chronic headaches, give our office a call at (251) 621-2224 today to make an appointment or get more information.

References

Racicki S, et al. Conservative physical therapy management for the treatment of cervicogenic headache: a systemic review. Journal of Manual and Manipulative Therapy 2013; 21(2): 113-124.

Jahangiri JN, Vatankhah N, and Baradaran HR. Reduction of Current Migraine Headache Pain Following Neck Massage and Spinal Manipulation. Journal of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. 2012; 5(1): 5–13.

Study shows that 90% of patients with herniated discs get better with chiropractic adjustments. If you live in Daphne, AL and have been diagnosed with a herniated disc or chronic back pain, call Dr. Smith today at (251) 621-2224 for a consultation.

Dr. Smith has helped many people in Daphne, AL recover from back pain, and a 2014 study reinforces what we've seen in our practice: researchers conducted a study of 148 people with MRI-confirmed lumbar disc herniation causing back pain, sciatica, and radiating leg symptoms. The majority of patients (79) suffered from chronic lumbar disc herniation lasting longer than three months. Thirty seven patients had disc herniations for less than a month at the start of the study.



Each of the test subjects received chiropractic care based upon the needs of each patient. After fourteen days, 70% of the participants had significant progress in pain and disability; and at three months, 90% had substantial improvement. Even more important, the improvement was retained by patients, with over 80% of patients reporting improvement after one year.

If you reside in Daphne, AL, you need to know that you do not have to suffer with disc herniations or any other type of low back pain. Dr. Smith is here for you. To see if we can help you, give our office a call at (251) 621-2224 today for an appointment or consultation.

References:

Lee, Serafin. Outcomes of acute and chronic patients with magnetic resonance imaging-confirmed symptomatic lumbar disc herniation receiving high-velocity, low-amplitude spinal manipulation therapy: a prospective observational cohort study with one year follow-up. Journal of Manipulative and Physiologic Therapeutics 2014.37(3):155-163.

We treat many athletes in our Daphne, AL clinic, because chiropractic is a great way to speed recovery times and enhance performance. Nearly every professional athlete uses chiropractic care to keep themselves working at maximum efficiency, and the US Olympic Team has an entire staff of chiropractors for their athletes.

In a 2011 study, researchers evaluated the results of chiropractic treatments on 18 professional judo athletes in Brazil. Half of the athletes received chiropractic adjustments of their cervical spine. The other fifty percent received a fake treatment. Since judo relies considerably on the arms and hands, researchers evaluated athletes' grip strength with a device that calculates muscle strength.

After 3 treatments, the athletes in the chiropractic group had significantly enhanced grip strength. While the chiropractic group boosted their grip intensity by about 15%, the athletes in the fake treatment group had only improved by about 5%. The study came to the conclusion that chiropractic enhanced grip strength in these athletes.

While more investigation is needed to know the full advantages of chiropractic on athletic performance, this study is encouraging. A 2010 study revealed that chiropractic care reduced the danger of lower-limb injury in football players. Regardless of whether you’re needing to heal from an injury or you’re just looking to better your performance, Dr. Smith can help you be your best.

Give our Daphne, AL office a call today at (251) 621-2224 for an appointment.

Botelho MB, Andrade BB. Effect of Cervical Spine Manipulative Therapy on Judo Athletes' Grip Strength. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapies. 2011; 35(11):38-44.

Hoskins W, Pollard H. The effect of a sports chiropractic manual therapy intervention on the prevention of back pain, hamstring and lower limb injuries in semi-elite Australian Rules footballers: a randomized control trial. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 2010;11:64.

Laser is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. The light is in the visible or infrared range of the light spectrum. The photo-chemical effects of light therapy in medicine have been long established  For example the color blue is used to absorb bilirubin, hence its application in the treatment of neonatal jaundice.Laser has one primary characteristics that differentiate it from normal light. Laser is coherent and monochromatic which means that the photons travel in a parallel fashion, one after the other in a predictable spacing depending on the wavelength of the device.

This factor is important as it explains how LASER is able to penetrate the deeper tissues. Once absorbed, LASER has been shown to increase ATP which is associated with improved cellular metabolism. LASER is also believed to result in enhanced nerve regeneration

Acupuncture is effective treatment for various psychoemotional and physical symptoms experienced by oncology patients (ie, pain, dry mouth, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, fatigue, anxiety). The mechanisms of action involved in acupuncture have been rigorously studied since the 1970s, and numer- ous neurohormonal processes have been demonstrated.

Read more about acupuncture (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine)

There are multiple methods that can be used to stimulate acupuncture points (i.e. needles, acupressure, massage, heat, cupping, electrical stimulation, lasers, etc.) Because I am a ‘tech-geek’, I chose to focus of this blog entry on the use of lasers in acupuncture.

CONDITIONS TREATED WITH LASER ACUPUNCTURE:

Recently published studies have demonstrated that certain low-energy lasers (also called “cold” or “low-level light therapy” lasers or “LLLT”) appear to be an effective, noninvasive, painless alternative (to needles) for stimulating acupuncture points.

• Reduce fatigue


• Enhance relaxation


• Reduce insomnia


• Reduce asthma symptoms


• Reduce pain


• Reduce inflammation


• Improve mild–moderate depression


• Reduce postoperative nausea and vomiting


• Improve allergic rhinitis


• Reduce postmastectomy limb lymphedema


• Reduce chronic prostatitis symptoms


• Smoking cessation


 

Cold laser acupuncture is an appealing therapeutic option in situations of immunocompromised states, bleeding abnormalities, and needle phobia. For these reasons, many acupuncturists and physical therapists have incorporated laser acupuncture and cold laser therapy in their practices.

Links for laser therapy research:

Research articles on laser therapy (MEDLINE)

Research articles organized by topic

Fantastic blog on low level light/cold laser therapy (THOR Photomedicine, Ltd)…great website too!

CAN YOU FEEL THE ACUPUNCTURE LASER LIGHT?

No. These are low-energy lasers that do not transfer sufficiently high energy to cause a perceptible change in temperature within the tissues.

IS LASER ACUPUNCTURE SAFE?

Laser acupuncture is safe, but eye protection is recommended. The majority of the lasers used for laser acupuncture are infrared, as this wavelength has the deepest penetration within the tissues (up to 2-3 inches or 60 mm deep) and can easily reach the depths of most acupuncture points.  Infrared light is mainly outside of the visible spectrum, so it can not be seen. The normal neurologic response to strong light is to blink or squint as a built-in protective mechanism to prevent retinal injury. Since infrared light can not be seen, there is a greater risk of retinal injury. It is therefore recommended that eye protection (filtered goggles) should be used during laser acupuncture treatments to prevent unintended eye injury.

HOW DOES LASER LIGHT STIMULATE ACUPUNCTURE POINTS?

Our understanding of exactly how laser light stimulates acupuncture points is not well understood. What we do know is that, like acupuncture needles, cold laser light can cause a host of direct and indirect physiological changes (also known as “photobiomodulation”) both in the tissues in which they are pointed and systemically. There is an extensive body of research reporting on the photobiomodulation effects with cold laser light (examples):

• Enhanced wound healing (ie, increased tensile strength,reduced wound healing time, reduced inflammatory cell migration, increased mitochondrial activity, increased fibroblast cell migration, increased angiogenesis, reduced edema)


• Enhanced nerve regeneration (ie, thicker nerve fibers, more regular myelin layers, clearer nodes of Ranvier with absence of short nodes)


• Increased osteoblast activity and increased osteochondral wound healing


• Increased cellular metabolism (ie, increased adenosine triphosphate production, increased mitochondrial activity)


• Increased blood perfusion (ie, increased nitric oxide synthase)


• Increased angiogenesis (ie, increased vascular endothelial growth factor, endothelial cell proliferation)


• Reduced inflammation (ie, reduced cyclooxygenase-2 messenger ribonucleic acid, reduced myeloperoxide activity, reduced nuclear factor k-B activation, reduced reactive oxygen species)


• Non–opioid-dependent mechanisms responsible for pain control (ie, pain control involves hyperalgesic mediators instead of peripheral opioid receptors)


 

IS LASER ACUPUNCTURE JUST ANOTHER PLACEBO TREATMENT?

Studies have been conducted to examine this question, and it appears that laser acupuncture causes real and measurable effects within the brain.

Among the most convincing studies are those that employ functional magnetic resonance imagine (“fMRI”) to identify and quantify actual changes in brain activity in response to stimuli.  To determine if the effects of cold laser stimulation on acupuncture points are detected and processed by the brain (real effect) or not detected by the brain (placebo response), investigators have conducted double-blinded randomized studies using fMRI to examine the brain activity differences in which inactive (fake/placebo lasers) and active lasers are tested on the same acupuncture point.

Since the cold laser light is neither visible to the study subjects (dark, black-out goggles are placed on the patient) nor able to be felt (no heat or energy is perceptible with low-energy lasers), they have no way of knowing (unlike with a needle) if they are receiving laser acupuncture.

The investigators reported that significant brain activity changes were only noted among the subjects who received the laser acupuncture treatments, not in those who received the placebo laser ‘treatments’. This data strongly suggests that laser acupuncture exerts true physiologic effects that cannot be accounted for by a “placebo” response.

CAN YOU TEACH YOURSELF LASER ACUPUNCTURE?

Absolutely (caveat: read my “final thoughts” below). Unlike with acupuncture needles, laser acupuncture requires no more technical skill than using a laser pointer. Most people can easily learn the point locations of some of the more commonly used acupressure or acupuncture points (located in the same positions).

My favorite treatment is called the “Four Gates.” This is a simple 4-point treatment that is very frequently used to help relieve stress, anxiousness and pain (particularly headaches). There are 4-points involved in this treatment:

• “Large Intestine 4″ on right and left hands (on the top of the hand in the web between the thumb and index finger- it is a pressure point, so it is simple to locate)


• “Liver 3″ on the right and left feet (on the top of the feet between the 1st and 2nd toe, slide your finger up into the depression just distal to the junction of the first and second metatarsal bones)


 

The following useful links make it easy to find some of these points:

Yin Yang House

PointFinder Acupressure Guide Online

AcuFinder

HOW LONG ARE EACH TREATMENTS?

That depends on the laser. Higher energy lasers more quickly deliver sufficient dose to the points than lower energy lasers. Typically, treatments take approximately 5-10 minutes to complete. Each acupuncture laser will come with instructions on how long the treatments should take per point.

WHERE CAN I BUY ACUPUNCTURE LASERS?

There are many devices available on the market. A quick search on the internet will point you in the right direction. These are not your everyday ‘red dot’ (Helium-Neon or He-Ne) laser pointers. The wavelengths of acupuncture and cold laser therapy devices enable much deeper light penetration (up to 60 mm penetration) into the tissues than the He-Ne lasers (minimal penetration beyond 2 mm).Personal acupuncture lasers cost between $100 to well-over $1000 (professional units are more costly).

Here is relatively inexpensive and decent quality portable laser acupuncture unit I recommend:

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Do not take away from this article that acupuncture is a simplistic cookbook of points. Acupuncture is only one aspect of an elegant and complex system of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), a field that incorporates many therapeutic and preventative modalities (i.e. needles, herbal therapy, moxibustion, cupping, massage, physical activity, dietary recommendations, etc.) and takes many years of training to master.

TCM practitioners select combinations of acupuncture points based on a sophisticated diagnostic process that leads them to an understanding of each individual’s particular diagnosis. For this reason, if treating yourself with acupressure or laser acupuncture does not yield the desired results…get a referral to see a licensed acupuncturist (i.e. L.Ac.). I assure you, the results will be more impressive than you can get on your own. If you own an acupuncture laser, I recommend that you ask your acupuncturist to help you use your laser more effectively. They can teach you to find the precise locations of some of the more accessible to reach acupuncture points (i.e. those on the front or sides of your extremities, abdomen or trunk) that are specific to your problems.

 

- See more at: http://www.integrativeoncology-essentials.com/2011/06/do-it-yourself-acupuncture-really-lasers-make-simple-treatments-possible/#sthash.M3R9u72T.dpufand wound healing.

Trigger points are painful nodules embedded in muscle fibers. They are common in almost every chronic pain case. These points, when active, elicit a "twitch response" along with referral into an expected region of the torso or an extremity. Besides pain, trigger points result in muscle weakness and range of motion impairments. The goal of dry needling is to elicit and sustain the twitch. This is believed to neurologically "reset" the muscle. In addition, the noxious, acidic chemicals contained in the nodule are liberated from the affected muscle.

The type of  rotator cuff case that would respond  with dry needling is that in which range of motion is not totally compromised. The most commonly affected rotator cuff muscle is the supraspinatus. The tendon of this muscle lies under the clavicle where it joins the shoulder (the acromioclavicular joint.) The needles are inserted into the musculotendinous junction and create a type of micro-trauma which sets up an optimal environment for tendon remodeling. In many instances, patients feel an immediate relief of tension in the muscle. We are very excited about the results our patients have realized with the dry needling approach. If you are unhappy with traditional approaches, then you should give this low cost, safe approach a try.

Myofascial pain syndrome is very common in our society. The most effective treatments in the past have included ultrasound, chiropractic adjustments, trigger point injections and analgesic medications. Dry needling is a more recent addition to the myofascial physician's  toolbox. While acupuncture is more concerned with increasing energy flow along the meridian system, dry needling focuses on reducing painful nodules or trigger points.

One characteristic of trigger points is their tendency to hold acidic chemicals. Muscles that harbor trigger points are usually found to be in a shortened, contracted state. When the needle is inserted correctly, it sparks a release of various noxious chemicals which are held within the painful nodule. Acetylcholine  is one of the chemicals that is found in excess amounts in active trigger points. When dissipated through dry needling, significant symptomatic relief typically results. In addition to this chemical effect, dry needling is also believed to bring about neurological and bio-mechanical changes. Most patients report a deep "cramping" sensation during the procedure as the muscle softens and returns to its normal resting length.

There are many effects of vibration therapy that help to explain how it may help allergy sufferers.  Postural muscles tense in response to standing on a vibration plate. This action massages the lymph system from head to toe, liberating toxins and improving circulation throughout the body.  Incorporating concentrated oxygen therapy (8-10 liters per minute) with whole body vibration has resulted in noticeable allergy relief in a number of patients at this office.

It is important to note that too much vibration can be detrimental and result in excessive muscle soreness. Sessions must be limited to no more than 10 minutes per day. Also, aside from the scientifically proven benefit of improvements in bone density and balance, the effect of whole body vibration on other issues such as allergy is still being researched.

Whole body vibration is a promising therapy that was initially used in the treatment of osteoporosis. Developed back in the 1970"s by scientists working with the Russian space program to counteract the effects of zero gravity, these units also became widely used by Olympic athletes for performance enhancement.

The basic procedure is simple; you alternate between a semi-squat and normal standing posture while standing on a vibration plate for ten minute sessions.While the plate oscillates, your body gently "shakes". This has been shown to be therapeutic for many clients as it presents very specific challenges to our postural muscle chain.  A recent study revealed that eight months of whole body vibration resulted in bone density improvements of 4.3% and a 29% improvement in balance.

Whole body vibration therapy is often used along with concentrated oxygen therapy. Exercise with oxygen therapy (EWOT) has become widely popular for its health enhancing effects. Brain based medical conditions such as migraines, tinnitus and vertigo have been helped by EWOT.