Carpal tunnel syndrome, or CTS, is a condition where the nerve that runs from the forearm into the hand gets compressed. Carpal tunnel can cause significant pain and result in numbness that makes using your hand practically impossible.
Carpal tunnel affects�approximately 3% of the population. Carpal tunnel sufferers, fortunately, there are effective treatments that do not require surgery. Chiropractic care can help relieve the pain of carpal tunnel, and can often improve mobility and range of motion in the process.
What is it?
The term �carpal tunnel� refers to an actual tunnel created by ligaments and bones in the wrist. Tendons and median nerves travel from the forearm through the carpal tunnel in the wrist and into the hand. When the median nerve becomes compressed inside the carpal tunnel�usually due to injury or inflammation�it can lead to the symptoms associated with CTS.
The Causes
The exact cause of CTS is not always easy to identify, but there are many factors that can play a role. A family history of CTS makes it more likely that you will develop the condition. Repetitive work, such as a job on an assembly line, is known to increase the risk of CTS. Wrist injuries can also cause carpal tunnel. There are other contributing factors that are not as obvious, such as pregnancy, menopause, and dialysis.
Symptoms
The first signs of carpal tunnel often include a feeling of pins and needles in the wrist, hands, and fingers. You may notice some numbness from time to time, especially after using the wrist in a way that causes compression�like performing a task over and over at work.
Over time, the symptoms can become more severe. Eventually, carpal tunnel can lead to a loss of coordination with the thumb, then other digits. Pain may not be significant at first, but tends to get worse and the condition progresses.
Chiropractic Can Help
Standard medical treatments for carpal tunnel include using anti-inflammatory drugs, refraining from using the wrist/hand, wearing a splint and eventually surgery. While these treatments can sometimes be effective, the risks associated with surgery are significant. Carpal tunnel surgery may or may not fix the problem, and as with any surgery, can sometimes cause more issues than it helps.
Learning to Protect Yourself
Chiropractic care offers a safe alternative to standard medical care, one that is non-invasive and minimizes the need for medications and their potential side effects. Chiropractic treatments for carpal tunnel can help to reduce inflammation and minimize pain. But chiropractic goes further than just treating the symptoms�it can also help you avoid aggravating the condition so that it can heal.
Chiropractors are trained in proper movement and ergonomics. Your chiropractor can help you understand what you are doing that is causing the carpal tunnel to begin with. He or she can also advise you on ways to adjust your movements to protect your wrists moving forward. You may be able to learn new ways of doing things that will allow you to achieve your goals without risking injury.
Getting Stronger
One of the fundamentals of chiropractic care is improving strength and mobility to aid in healing and protect from further injury. Your chiropractor can guide you through exercises to make you stronger. Once you know how to do the exercises, you can do them at home to continue to gain strength.
Schedule An Appointment
Carpal tunnel sufferers, don’t wait any longer and contact us to schedule an appointment. We will get you the relief you need!
Individuals dealing with chronic pain talk about their symptoms and how they have affected their overall health. After getting chiropractic treatment, patients describe how local chiropractor Dr. Alex Jimenez helped them get back to their normal lives.
As El Paso�s Chiropractic Rehabilitation Clinic & Integrated Medicine Center,�we passionately are focused on treating patients after frustrating injuries and chronic pain syndromes. We focus on improving your ability through flexibility, mobility and agility programs tailored for all age groups and disabilities. �
We want you to live a life filled with more energy, positive attitude, better sleep, less pain, proper body weight and educated on how to maintain this way of life.
We Can Get You Back On Track!
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As you move into your senior years, you may expect some discomfort and loss of mobility. Aging is hard on the body. But it is important to understand that there are things you can do to feel better. Regular exercise, a healthy diet, and chiropractic care can all make your senior years active and thriving.
How Chiropractic Can Make Your Senior Years Fantastic
The benefits of chiropractic for seniors can be considerable, including:
1. Takes away the pain.
If you are experiencing pain due to spinal or joint issues, chiropractic can help. Chiropractic care focuses on providing pain relief without the need for prescription medications or surgery.
Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of chiropractic for pain relief. In fact, one study showed that chiropractic was considerably more effective than prescribed medications. Unfortunately, many seniors assume that their pain is here to stay when it may be reduced or eliminated through regular chiropractic care.
2. Improves balance.
Seniors who are suffering from balance and coordination issues often have problems with the cervical spine, the technical term for the neck. When degenerative disc disease or other injuries disrupt the function of the mechanoreceptors located in the neck responsible for sending to the brain important information related to balance, then problems with balance can result.
Chiropractic adjustments and other related therapies are quite effective in treating neck injuries and degenerative disc disease. Regular adjustments from your chiropractor may be enough to help you get your balance back.
3. Improves mobility.
Injuries and aging can lead to a loss of range of motion, both in the spine and in the extremities. Fortunately, chiropractic care is designed to help you regain range of motion.
Your chiropractor has a variety of treatment methods to heal existing injuries while also improving range of motion. It may take several treatments to achieve the results you want, but a few visits to the chiropractor are well worth the increased range of motion you will enjoy.
4. Wear and tear on the joints are reduced.
The spine and joints need to be aligned to minimize wear on discs, bones, and other tissues. When you go for an extended period of time with a misaligned spine, it will increase the rate that your joints wear down.
One of the major benefits of chiropractic care is the way it keeps your whole body in alignment. As long as alignment is maintained, wear is minimized. Of course, alignment is lost in day-to-day life, but you can get it back by revisiting the chiropractor.
When you visit your chiropractor, he or she will ask you several questions and listen to your story to better understand the challenges you are dealing with. Once the chiropractor understands your situation, he or she will design an overall treatment plan designed to help you be as healthy as possible. Seniors that get regular chiropractic care often say they feel much better than they did before, which allows them to do more of the things they love to do.
The information herein is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified healthcare professional or licensed physician and is not medical advice. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions based on your research and partnership with a qualified health care professional. Our information scope is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, sensitive health issues, functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We provide and present clinical collaboration with specialists from a wide array of disciplines. Each specialist is governed by their professional scope of practice and their jurisdiction of licensure. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for the injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our videos, posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate to and support, directly or indirectly, our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We provide copies of supporting research studies available to regulatory boards and the public upon request.
We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation of how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900.
Approximately 8 out of 10 people will experience sciatica or a sharp electrical surge that painfully runs through the back down to the foot. It can then lead to having numbness in different areas of the back, leg, and foot. Here are two such cases that describe their back pain and their inability to engage in activities. �
Truide discusses how her pregnancy caused her back pain.
Dionicio discusses how truck driving triggered his back pain.
These patients utilized chiropractic care with Dr. Alex Jimenez, DC and are now back on their feet, pain-free and ready to get on with their lives. The El Paso Back Clinic is the place to go for sciatica back pain relief.
El Paso Back Clinic
We are blessed to present to you�El Paso�s Premier Wellness & Injury Care Clinic.
As El Paso�s Chiropractic Rehabilitation Clinic & Integrated Medicine Center,�we passionately are focused on treating patients after frustrating injuries and chronic pain syndromes. We focus on improving your ability through flexibility, mobility and agility programs tailored for all age groups and disabilities. �
We want you to live a life filled with more energy, positive attitude, better sleep, less pain, proper body weight and educated on how to maintain this way of life. �
Only the best for you�
If you have enjoyed this video and we have helped you in any way, please feel free to subscribe and recommend�us. �
Weighing an average of 10 pounds, the human head is heavier than most people think. The head can put a great deal of pressure on the neck when it is placed in different positions for prolonged periods � especially regularly looking down at your phone.
The damage caused to the neck from time spent staring at mobile screens has been given the name �Text Neck�, and it is a growing problem among not only teens but for everyone.
Regularly Looking Down at Your Phone Is Cause For Neck Injury
Your body is well-designed to bear the weight of your head when you maintain good posture � but tilting your head down to look at your phone is not good posture. In fact, for every inch you move angle your head downward, you double the pressure on your spine.
Looking at your phone can put an extra ten or twenty pounds of pressure on your neck. That would be worth noting even if you only did it occasionally, but most people spend hours looking at their phones throughout the day. That amounts to hours of excessive pressure on the soft tissues that make up your neck � pressure that will inevitably lead to inflammation and discomfort if left unchecked.
According to this article featured in the Washington Post, the pressure you put on your neck by bending and staring at your phone is much like bending your finger back as far as it will go, and then keeping it in that position for approximately an hour. Day after day, such stress is bound to lead to complications.
Resulting Injuries from Text Neck
The strain put on the neck by text neck is enough to cause mild to severe injuries, including:
Sore muscles
Inflamed Tissues
Pinched nerves
Herniated discs
Elimination of the natural curve of the neck
These injuries can cause considerable pain and discomfort and may lead to further health complications. They can lead to neck and back pain that can last for years.
Tips to Avoid Text Neck
Smartphones offer numerous benefits and opportunities for enjoyment, so it is unlikely that most people will stop using them. Luckily, there are things you can do to protect yourself, including:
Work Your Eyes, Not Your Neck
One of the simplest ways to avoid text neck is to look down with your eyes instead of tilting your head down. While it may not be practical to always use this technique, it is certainly useful in many circumstances. Your eyes can tilt down with little effort and can allow you to lessen the tilt of your neck as you use your phone.
Strength Train your Neck & Shoulder Muscles
You will inevitably do some head tilting as you use your phone throughout the day. Strengthening the muscles that support your head is one way to protect your delicate neck tissues and maintain mobility. Simple exercises like turning your head each way repeatedly and using your hands to provide resistance can make your neck much stronger. Your shoulders also provide a lot of support for your neck. Shoulder exercises can increase the stability of your neck as well.
Have an Awareness of Your Head Position
Just maintaining awareness of how your head is tilted as you use your phone can help you avoid excessive tilting. Practice looking at your smartphone with your head upright to remind yourself of what good posture feels like, and pay attention during the times you deviate from good posture.
Chiropractic Treatment
If you are experiencing neck pain from text neck, or from any other type of injury, chiropractic can help. Please contact us now to schedule your appointment and get some relief!
Ms. Hermosillo participates in fitness classes and follows healthy lifestyle habits. She participates in a variety of physical activities to achieve tip-top health. As a result, however, Ms. Hermosillo began to experience neck pain and back pain.
The symptoms were beginning to affect her life both professionally and personally. Ms. Hermosillo heard about local 20+ year El Paso, Texas chiropractor, Dr. Alex Jimenez that brought unbelievable relief of her symptoms! El Paso Back Clinic follows a safe and effective treatment focusing on a variety of health issues associated with the musculoskeletal and nervous systems. Ms. Hermosillo recommends Dr. Jimenez for personalized spine therapy for neck pain, back pain, and other conditions.
El Paso Back Clinic
We are blessed to present to you�El Paso�s Premier Wellness & Injury Care Clinic.
As El Paso�s Chiropractic Rehabilitation Clinic & Integrated Medicine Center,�we passionately are focused on treating patients after frustrating injuries and chronic pain syndromes. We focus on improving your ability through flexibility, mobility and agility programs tailored for all age groups and disabilities.
We want you to live a life filled with more energy, positive attitude, better sleep, less pain, proper body weight and educated on how to maintain this way of life.
Only the best for you!
If you have enjoyed this video and we have helped you in any way, please feel free to subscribe and recommend�us.
Sitting for long periods is associated with early death � upsetting news for the millions of Americans who spend extensive time sitting as they work and as they relax after work. A recent study conducted at Columbia� University has found that prolonged sitting destroys your health. Regular exercise, although great for you, failed to significantly reduce the risks associated with prolonged sitting.
Fortunately, there are things you can do to minimize the time you spend sitting. Experts recommend taking a movement break every 30 minutes to protect your health.
The Sitting Study
The study used hip-mounted accelerometers to measure how much time study participants � nearly 8,000 individuals � spent in sedentary positions. Over four years researchers tracked participants and recorded the number of deaths among participants. The study found that increased sedentary time leads to an increased risk of death from any cause. The risk of death went up regardless of how old the participants were or how often they exercised.
The study found that participants who sat less than 30 minutes had a 55% lower risk of death in comparison to participants who sat for longer periods of time.
Why Does Sitting Ruin Your Health?
Finding out that sitting for extended periods so greatly increases your risk of death is startling for many people. The next question is, �Why?� Unfortunately, the exact reasons are far from clear. The study was not meant to uncover the reasons why, so there is limited information to explain what occurs in the body to increase the risk of death. It will take further studies to provide an answer.
Methods to Protect Your Health
Although the exact reasons why sitting increases the risk of mortality are not yet clear, the recommendation to take a break from sitting every 30 minutes does offer an actionable step to protect your health. There are several other ways you can limit your sitting, including:
Sit & Standing Desks
There are a number of different desks designed to be used from a standing position, including stationary standing desks and sit to stand desks � both manually operated and motorized. Standing desks allow you to work exactly as you would at a sitting desk, only while standing. They take some getting used to, but most people who try them out find that they are an easy way to minimize time spent sitting.
When you purchase a standing or sit to stand desk, it may take some time to build up your stamina to use the desk for extended periods of time. Try standing for short periods, then sitting, then standing again to avoid excessive fatigue.
Apps
A number of apps are available to help you track your activity and make gradual lifestyle adjustments to increase your activity levels. Apple�s Health app includes an Activity monitor and coach that collects data from your iPhone, Apple Watch and third-party apps to let you know how much you are moving and to remind you to move more. You can set reminders on your app to tell you to move � such as every 30 minutes � as a way to ensure you avoid sitting for prolonged periods of time.
Timers
The simplest way to avoid sitting for more than 30 minutes is to set a timer on your phone or use a separate timer, to go off after 30 minutes of sitting. Once the timer goes off, engage in brisk walking or some other activity to get your heart rate up for five minutes. Then you can go back to sitting � after you set your timer again.
Helping You Stay as Healthy as Possible
Our chiropractic team is dedicated to helping you enjoy a long and healthy life. Please contact us to schedule an appointment for a comprehensive exam and targeted health advice from an experienced chiropractor.
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