My Bag is Killing Me

The above headline comes from an article in the December 7, 2006 New York Times and describes a growing concern that women's bags are growing bigger and creating more spinal problems. The article interviews several experts who seem to agree that women's bags are getting heavier and therefore putting more pressure on their spines.

Dr. Karen Erickson, a chiropractor who has a private practice in New York City and also serves as a spokeswoman for the American Chiropractic Association, stated, "In the last year or so, I've been seeing the same kinds of issues with adult women that I'm used to seeing with kids who carry heavy backpacks on one shoulder. They're experiencing neck pain, not just while they're carrying their purses, but all the time. A lot of women even get bad headaches.” She also reported, "Lately, when a patient comes in complaining of these symptoms, I walk over and pick up her purse. Without fail, it weighs a ton."

Dr. Marta Callotta, a chiropractor in Long Beach, California, who was also interviewed for the article, said that she advises patients to clean out their purses once a week. She added, "At the end of the day, handbags are one of the biggest culprits for back pain right now. For a year patients have been coming in to me with these giant purses and complaints of soreness. This will keep happening until the trend dies down.”

Dr. Erickson, the chiropractor in Manhattan recommends that women who insist on carrying oversized or overweight bags should alternate the shoulders they carry the bag on. She also suggested that women may want to consider carrying the bag in the middle. However, she noted this suggestion may not be so popular. "It's not exactly glamorous, but if at the end of a long day you find your shoulders aching, slip the bag off and carry it in front of your body with both arms like it's an infant,"

Chiropractic Care and TMJ Problems a Case Study

In the January 2002 edition of the peer reviewed scientific journal, the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, (JMPT) appeared a case study on a 41-year-old woman who sought chiropractic care with complaints of pain at the TMJ on both sides, ear pain, ringing in the ears, vertigo, decreased hearing ability, and a sensation of pressure or fullness in both ears. She also reported that movements of her jaw while talking or chewing provoked pain at the TMJ.

Before seeking chiropractic care she was treated for her TMJ by two medical doctors. She was also referred to an eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist, who diagnosed her with TMJ syndrome. Additionally, she was referred to a dentist for the problem. Medical recommendations were to apply heat to the area, reduce talking and yelling, and change her diet to a soft diet. Even with all this medical and dental care her symptoms steadily continued to get worse.

Eventually she sought the care of a chiropractor. After an examination it was determined by the chiropractor that the patient had an Atlas subluxation, (first bone in the neck). Care was begun by a series of adjustments. After only a few visits the patient reported significant improvement in her symptoms. After two and a half months she reported complete relief from the TMJ symptoms. She also reported a decrease in the frequency and severity of her headaches. Prior to starting chiropractic care, she was experiencing 1 to 2 migraine headache attacks per month. The effects of the chiropractic care were long term as shown at her 1-year follow-up where she had not experienced any headache symptoms for a period of 9 months and her TMJ complaints had completely resolved.

Chiropractic and Infertility

A study published in the May 2003 issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, showed a strong link between the resolution of infertility and the initiation of chiropractic care. The study consisted of a retrospective review of 14 separate articles of 15 women suffering with infertility. In each of these cases chiropractic care was introduced and the results were documented and published.

The studies followed 15 female subjects ranging in age from 22 to 65. The prior pregnancy history of these women revealed 11 of them had never gotten pregnant. Two of the women had prior successful unassisted pregnancies. One woman had an assisted pregnancy, while 1 had a history of a miscarriage. In this group 9 women had previous treatment for infertility before starting chiropractic and 4 were actually undergoing infertility treatment when they started chiropractic care.

The study noted the huge expense of infertility treatment options currently used by many couples noting the range of expenses can easily go into the thousands. The article also noted that in vitro fertilization has shown evidence of long term risks. A study published in November 2002 in the online version of the American Journal of Human Genetics reported that “babies conceived by in vitro fertilization may be at increased risk for a rare genetic disorder that predisposes them to cancer”.

The chiropractic care rendered to the women listed in this study was from a variety of chiropractors using a variety of techniques. The focus of the care in these cases was correction of vertebral subluxations. The research article defined Subluxation by using the agreed definition of the Association of Chiropractic Colleges. Subluxation, as defined by the Association of Chiropractic Colleges, is a “complex of functional and / or structural and / or pathological articular changes that compromise neural integrity and may influence organ system function and general health". The study noted that all of the women in these studies, who were struggling with infertility, had evidence of nerve system interference, as detected by the presence of subluxations.

The results of these individual case studies showed that even though many of these women had tried unsuccessfully for some time to become pregnant, all of the women in this study eventually became pregnant somewhere between 2 months and 20 months of the onset of chiropractic care. One of the case studies was summed up by the author, Elizabeth Anderson-Peacock, DC, DICCP, "Although chiropractic care is not a treatment for infertility, it is postulated that improvement of spinal neural integrity through specific chiropractic adjustments may have contributed to improved homeostasis and physiological adaptation thus allowing the body to express a greater level of health as an outcome."

Chiropractic and Migraines

From the February 2004 issue of the Journal of Chiropractic Pediatrics, comes a documented case study of a 28 year old women who suffered with migraine headaches for over a decade before being helped with chiropractic care. In her case there was no history of previous trauma. Her migraines would last for several days and would cause nausea and dizziness.

In addition to her headaches, she also revealed a history of an irregular menstrual cycle, she would normally menstruate no more than twice per year. This problem resulted in infertility. After years of not becoming pregnant, she sought help from a reproductive endocrinologist. She was placed on medication which created additional side effects but did allow her to become pregnant. Unfortunately, after 9 weeks she suffered a miscarriage.

After years of these problems the woman started chiropractic care. She was initially given an examination and it was determined that she did have spinal problems. A series of specific chiropractic adjustments were then initiated. A re-examination was performed one month after care began. The patient reported a reduction in her headaches. After the second month of care another examination was performed and the patient reported that she had no incidence of migraine headache for the entire previous month. Additionally, the patient noticed that she had started a regular menstrual cycle. Within six months of the initiation of chiropractic care, she became pregnant.

Vacation relief !!

I saw this guy downtown earlier, and I think i'm going to have him come in when I go on vacation.....so don't worry guys, if you need to get cracked, someone will be at the office....

Chiropractor Evansville | Andrew Lobacz D.C.

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