Archive for August, 2009

You are trying to figure out just how much you can do after your injury. Right? Follow this guideline for safe return to activity. This is for sprains and strains, not bone injury, OK? You are icing and wrapping, resting and elevating you injury until it is mostly pain free at rest. Then you are ready to put it through some motion. Try it without weight on it first. As soon as it is able to move most of the range, try gentle stretching. When you can stretch without pain, it is time to try mild exertion. You may need to strengthen for awhile to get back to full activity. Baby steps are key.

These are the key checkpoints you must hit:

1. Pain free at rest

2.   90% the range of motion can be achieved without pain.

3. Stretching of the area completes the missing range of motion.

4. Mild exertion is achieved without pain or instability.

Now you can try some activity with it! Build your strength now. You may still need to brace it during your activity, so talk to Dr. Bowers about your goals and schedule @ 630-322-9522.

You wake up and can hardly put your heels down. To walk, you have to tip-toe or the pain is severe. Right? This can last a very long time. It may occur without an obvious reason. It may fade during the day but it comes back every morning. Some of you do not have the daytime relief.

 The only consolation here is that it is very popular to have heel pain. Lets understand one thing here. There are many causes of heel pain. Not everyone has the same thing. Swelling that dissipates during the day is often a smaller amount of swelling that is draining into the heel from somewhere else. For example, knee or hip injuries above that heel may “drip” down to the foot. Another example is when someone has high blood pressure. Their swelling seeps down through the body ending up around the ankles and heels. It is often first seen in as socks leaving an impression.  Swelling (inflammation) control is your answer. Find the leak and fix it.

Still others of you may have a bone spur in the foot under the calcaneus bone. Pain here is right on a single point and the harder you press the worse it is. The point of pain is on the bottom of the foot, slightly forward of the heel bone – almost where the arch starts. Cushion your foot with an orthotic and/or  ultrasound may help(we do this all in the office). If not, get thee to a Podiatrist.

OK, plantar- fascitis people, thanks for waiting….It’s your turn! Pain for you is linear, burning and starts at the heel radiating forward toward the toes. Even pressing on the ball of the foot can hurt.  Your arch is falling. You need arch support and repair of the fascia ( the fibers that connect the muscle to bone).  Chiropractic adjusting the foot is wonderfully helpful here. Your arch is restored to it proper position and supported to retain and re-train. Exercises will be given to help strengthen intrinsic foot muscles after that.  Anti-Swelling techniques are still part of your first steps(no pun intended).

Figure out what you have and treat it properly. If you want to do something at home, make it anti-inflammatory techniques: elevate your foot, ice your foot, wrap your foot, rub the foot(like you are squee-gee-ing out the swelling). Arnica, enzymes, bromelain, or niacinamide are helpful to reduce swelling. Call us to help in dosage and frequency of these products: 630-322-9522

Hypertension means that there is more pressure in your arteries than is normal. It increases your risk for stroke, heart trouble and anurysms. Blood pressure is recorded as two numbers. One number is recorded over the other. Normal blood pressure needs to be under 140 in the top number and under 85 in the bottom number. The top number represents how much pressure is in your arterial vessels during a heart- muscle contraction. The bottom number represents the pressure in between heart contractions. Lower numbers generally mean your heart is more efficient and the vessels are not stiff (giving resistance to blood movement). Blood pressure can also be elevated due to an organ (liver, kidney, spleen ,lung) being in some distress. Knowing why you have blood pressure trouble should determine how to treat it. There is no cure-all. However, we believe there are some healthy alternatives:

There are numerous things causing pain about the elbow but one dominates all  the others. A nagging, tenacious elbow pain when gripping or lifting an object. It can last for months. It is easily aggravated. Over the counter meds can’t eliminate it. It often shifts higher or lower on different days. It is near the elbow on that outside edge where it can get bumped so easily. If this sounds way too familiar, I suggest that you might have lateral epicondylitis aka tennis elbow. I call it “the pit bull” of tendonitis because of its tenacity: once it gets hold of your elbow, it is hard to get rid of it. You might discover a reason for it , however many patients don’t recall the day it started or cause. It often lasts for months before they seek help.

I grade its severity on a functional testing: If it hurts to stretch it(elbow is straight and then bend the wrist down), and it hurts when you grip something, it is a grade two (out of three). If it only hurts when you grip something(often more sensitive with your elbow straight), it is a grade one.  Grade three is reserved for the rare full tear of the tendon -which is strangely non-painful but terribly weak.

“How do you get rid of it?” you ask… The best way is a combonation of icing, cross-friction massage and ultasound. You will need my help on the last two therapies, however you can reduce its severity by bracing it right below the elbow, with a tennis elbow brace. Icing is crucial. You put ice right on the pain,in 10 minute episodes, three to four times each day(especially after exercise). I know it hurts. Do it.

 Call soon to get your elbow function back: 630-322-9522