Congenital Heart Walk

Drs. Ben and Lauren Johnson will be participating at the Congenital Heart Walk in Nashville, June 4th. They will be joining the “Hudson’s Heart Warriors” team in memory of Hudson, a family friend who was lost to CHD complications at 2 years old. 

The walk is designed to help raise funds and awareness for the Adult Congenital Heart Association (ACHA) and the Children’s Heart Foundation (CHF).  Drs. Ben and Lauren will also be representing the stories of their nephew, Connor, and another family friend, Paul, as both of them continue to manage their conditions involving congenital heart defects.

It is our hope to raise funds and awareness for the ADHA and CHF through providing opportunities for our community to donate and share their stories related with CHD. 

AWARENESS: Stay tuned to our website blog and social media pages to learn more about the stories of Hudson, Connor, and Paul. If you have a personal story to share about your connection with Congenital Heart Defects through family or friends, please let us know! We would be happy to post about these moments to raise more awareness of the conditions!

You can also learn about Congenital Heart Defects and other personal stories through these links!

The Children’s Heart Foundation: http://www.childrensheartfoundation.org

The Adult Congenital Heart Association: http://www.achaheart.org

Choosing Triumph Over Tragedy, Hudson’s and Friend’s Stories: 

http://choosingtriumphovertragedy.blogspot.com

FUNDRAISING: There are two ways you can donate to the foundations!

1. IN PERSON: Donations can be made at the Nashville Chiropractic office any time during business hours!
2. ONLINE: Follow this link and you can donate electronically.

After donating, your name will be entered to a raffle drawing to win a set of tickets for a

Nashville Sounds Baseball Game!

We appreciate your support for Congenital Heart Foundations and thoughts for the individuals and families affected!

Anniversary Referral Promotion

In celebration of our upcoming 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY we will be running a promotion for new patient referrals for the months of April and May.  

For every new patient you refer to our office you will receive a COMPLIMENTARY VISIT!

Just have them mention your name when they come in.  Thank you for making this a great first year for Nashville Chiropractic!

3 Exercises to Prevent Back Pain

Take a moment to think about the day of an average American.  We wake up and get ready for the day, sit in the car on the way to work, sit at work all day, sit in the car on the way home, and then spend the rest of the night sitting on the couch.  This day of sitting can lead to a lot of extra force applied to the back, specifically it increases the pressure within the discs of the low back.  In fact, sitting causes an intradiscal pressure increase of 40% compared to standing.  Sitting slouched increases the pressure by 90%. 

Unnecessary pressure and wear on the discs can cause a myriad of issues.  Most commonly it can lead to weakening of the disc causing an increased risk of disc injury.  Prolonged wear and tear can lead to earlier onsets of disc and joint degeneration or arthritis.

So how do you limit your risk for these conditions?  Try to limit your sitting throughout the day.  Having the option to switch your workstation from sitting to standing can help with prevention.  Also, work on strengthening, stretching, and stabilizing the back. 

Here are 3 exercises that can help prevent back pain:

1.  Cat and Camel:  This exercise allows the spine to be fully flexed and then fully extended.  This can cause a pumping action that can help to rehydrate the disc while providing a nice stretch to the muscles that tighten up with prolonged sitting.  

2.  Bird Dog:  This exercise is meant for core stability.  The core is built more to provide sustained contractions and stabilization and less for force production movements like sit-ups and crunches.  Your core consists of your abs, glutes, and back.  

To do this exercise, start with your hands and knees on the ground.  Extend one of your arms out in front of you as far as you can while extending the opposite leg behind you.  Hold that position for 3 seconds and then slowly return to the starting position.  Repeat this for 3 sets of 10 repetitions on each side.  

3. Dead Bug:  Much like the Bird Dog, this exercise is meant to provide stabilization of the core.  

To do this exercise, start with both arms and bent legs in the air.  Slowly lower one arm and the opposite leg to just above the floor.  Hold that position for 3 seconds and return slowly to the starting position.  Repeat this for 3 sets of 10 repetitions.  

By making these exercises a part of your routine, along with seeing us at Nashville Chiropractic, you can help strengthen the core and decrease your chances of back issues.  If you have any questions or would like a demonstration, feel free to call, email, or stop by the office.  

Importance of Compliance

At Nashville Chiropractic we make it our goal to provide exceptional chiropractic care to the Nashville area. Most chiropractors are owners of their practice, therefore, offices operate at the owner’s discretion. Many chiropractic offices have various philosophies and perspectives on how to interact with patients and how to reach health goals. This will influence what techniques are used most often, if imaging is done in or out of the office, what the new patient exam protocols are, if they are in network with insurance or accept cash only, and how they present a treatment plan. 

The focus of this post is on treatment plans. Goals of a treatment plan can be separated into short term goals and long term goals. In general, short term goals often include decreasing intensity and frequency of discomfort, increasing pain free ranges of motion, and decreasing positive exam findings. Long term goals focus on increased functional mobility and how to decrease the likelihood of reoccurrence or new injury onset. Re-evaluations and patient feedback are documented to see if these goals are being reached.

The stage of the condition; and if it is defined as acute (new, recent, actively painful) or chronic (old, reoccurring, latent periods) will also influence treatment plan formats. An acute condition is actively in the stages of the body’s inflammation process. A chronic case needs to account for compensatory changes from long term failed healing conditions. 

This chart illustrates the phases of treatment and healing.  The first stage is relief care.  After this stage most patients are starting to feel better and be less symptomatic.  At time, some patients opt out of their treatment at this time.  These are the patients that are most likely to see relapses and re-occurrence of symptoms.  The goal of treatment should be to improve and restore function in the present as well as the future.  

The tissue that is injured will also influence the timeline of a treatment plan. Different tissues heal at different rates due to biological make up and external and internal stressors. For example, a ligamentous injury may take longer than a muscle injury because it has less blood flow and less nutrients available to it, at the same time a muscle is harder to rest, while a ligament can be more easily stabilized to decrease stress while healing.

The recommended treatment plan goals and visit frequency are based on researched ethical expectations that take into account stages of the condition and biology of injured tissue. Researchers, such as Perry Nickelson, author of Stop Chasing Pain, Gray Cook, physiotherapist, and Craig Liebenson,DC, have effectively defined reasonable times of the body’s healing process with conservative treatment. It can confidently be stated you should expect 80-90% of acute symptoms to be gone within 2-4 weeks of treatment, about 5-6 visits, when utilizing chiropractic care. The last 10-20% of treatment takes a bit more time, active effort, and compliance. 

Research also supports that combination care is more effective than the individual treatments alone. Chiropractic adjustments, muscle work, exercises, diet, and rest are more effective together than simply choosing one route. Long term goals, chronic pain conditions, and injury prevention are dependent on this combination. 

Of course the only way this is useful information and an effective treatment path for patients is if they are compliant. At Nashville Chiropractic we try to support easy compliance. At our office patients have the option to schedule out their appointments as far into the recommended plan as they wish. This allows for patients to consider their schedules and progress. Payment is collected at time of service to ease financial comfort for the patient and to hold our doctors accountable to the visit at hand. 

To summarize:

• Treatment plans are designed to reach short and long term goals of being pain free and functional.
• Stage of the condition and the specific injured tissues are two aspects that determine goals and duration of a treatment plan.
• Research has shown what expectations a doctor and patient should have for the healing process and future injury prevention.
• It is always the patient’s choice to comply with recommended treatment plans. Successful recovery is not guaranteed if a patient does not follow through with a credible, researched treatment plan. 

At Nashville Chiropractic, we vow to never recommend more treatment that what is reasonably and ethically necessary.  We hope to provide as much flexibility in scheduling and payment options to ensure that time and financial management are on the patient’s side to ease compliance to treatment.

Chiropractic Care Grows, and Gains Acceptance

Here is a blog post from the NY Times about how chiropractic is growing and becoming more involved in mainstream medicine. Just last week a bill passed to include more chiropractors in the VA program throughout the country. Hopefully this trend will continue, and more people can experience the benefits of honest and effective chiropractic care. Please share you chiropractic experience with anyone you think may benefit from it!

Check out the link below: