Orthotics, or "custom foot orthoses" are footbeds placed in the shoes to correct biomechanical imbalances that lead to chronic back pain, knee pain, and foot or ankle pain. If your recurrent or chronic back pain occurs mostly with standing and walking, it may be a sign that orthotics can help.
Orthotics correct excessive "pronation" -- the joints in the midfoot are too lax, allowing the foot to rotate inward. As a result, the knee rotates inward, the pelvic rocks forward and there's too much arch in the back ... and it works upwards from there.
CSP & W have designed orthotics for all kinds of people from all walks of life. Here's what one of our patients, an Olympic Athlete who competed in Beijing, recently had to say:
“I had knee pain for six years... After using my orthotics for two days, my knee pain was completely gone.”
Natalie Woolfolk, 3-time National Champion in Weightlifting (2005, 2006, 2007)
Through October 10th, we're offering our patients a *Complimentary orthotics screening as a way to get the fall season "off on the right foot."
:-)
Dr. C
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Pills, pills, pills...
Apologies for the irreverence (and PG rating -- parents be warned!), but Bill Maher is making an essential point here that CANNOT be missed. It's the same point that Jack LaLanne made this past weekend in Long Beach (at the age of 94): You wouldn't feed your dog a doughnut, coffee and a cigarette for breakfast... and exercise IS good for you!
P.S. Elaine, Jack's wife, at 88, agrees with her husband. Both are living proof that eating whole fruits and vegetables in their natural state and exercise are VITAL KEYS to healthy life and longevity!
P.S. Elaine, Jack's wife, at 88, agrees with her husband. Both are living proof that eating whole fruits and vegetables in their natural state and exercise are VITAL KEYS to healthy life and longevity!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
It's official -- the DRX 9000 gets an early thumbs up from Mayo
The findings of the first IRB-approved multicenter pilot study on the DRX 9000 for back pain was release by the study's principle author, Dr. John Leslie, of the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale. The study evaluated the effectiveness and safety of the DRX 9000 for chronic lower back pain.
A greater than 50% reduction of pain was observed after 2 weeks of treatment, and on completion of the 6 week treatment an 88.9% success rate was documented.
A second study, to be presented by Dr. Christian Apfel, an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of California, San Francisco, found that the DRX 9000 produces an increase in intervertebral disc height in addition to a significant reduction in chronic low back pain.
The DRX 9000, the true non-surgical spinal decompression we use at The Center for Spine Pain & Wellness, is gaining momentum in the scientific community. It's proven effective, and for many wish to do all they can to avoid surgery, this is a treatment of choice. There are other places to go for DRX 9000 care ... and then there is THE PLACE to go for DRX 9000 care...
A greater than 50% reduction of pain was observed after 2 weeks of treatment, and on completion of the 6 week treatment an 88.9% success rate was documented.
A second study, to be presented by Dr. Christian Apfel, an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of California, San Francisco, found that the DRX 9000 produces an increase in intervertebral disc height in addition to a significant reduction in chronic low back pain.
The DRX 9000, the true non-surgical spinal decompression we use at The Center for Spine Pain & Wellness, is gaining momentum in the scientific community. It's proven effective, and for many wish to do all they can to avoid surgery, this is a treatment of choice. There are other places to go for DRX 9000 care ... and then there is THE PLACE to go for DRX 9000 care...
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Your future health ... benefits
My Dad told me Medicare is no longer paying for a yearly routine physical examination. He just turned 79 in June. They don't pay for EKG's either. He needs one annually -- he had a quadruple by-pass 2 years ago.
How is this possible? What will the future hold?
Because of the number of people drawing on the system for things like by-passes and knee replacements, hip replacements, and spine surgeries, I'm pretty sure Medicare won't be there when/if I'm old enough qualify.
So the message is loud and clear: stay healthy. Exercise. Choose food wisely. Guard your GOOD health -- don't be flippant about it. You'll spend less in the long run, live longer, and be able to afford what you do need. And start a "war-chest" or a contingency plan for your latter years.
We added "Wellness" to our name: "The Center for Spine Pain & Wellness" because we see this on the horizon. Not only do we want to help you get out of pain and recover from injury quickly, want to partner with you as a Guardian of your GOOD HEALTH too!
~Dr. Joel Carmichael
How is this possible? What will the future hold?
Because of the number of people drawing on the system for things like by-passes and knee replacements, hip replacements, and spine surgeries, I'm pretty sure Medicare won't be there when/if I'm old enough qualify.
So the message is loud and clear: stay healthy. Exercise. Choose food wisely. Guard your GOOD health -- don't be flippant about it. You'll spend less in the long run, live longer, and be able to afford what you do need. And start a "war-chest" or a contingency plan for your latter years.
We added "Wellness" to our name: "The Center for Spine Pain & Wellness" because we see this on the horizon. Not only do we want to help you get out of pain and recover from injury quickly, want to partner with you as a Guardian of your GOOD HEALTH too!
~Dr. Joel Carmichael
Monday, July 28, 2008
Highlands Ranch Open House a Hit!
Wow! Over 200 people helped us celebrate our "Grand Opening, Open House and Health Fair" at our Highlands Ranch clinic in the Town Center off Highlands Ranch Parkway and Lucent. Those in attendance were treated to complementary chair massage, pulsed magnetic field therapy treatments, pH screening exams, orthotics screenings, acupuncture tongue and pulse diagnosis, and consultations with our Naturopath, Dr. Jason Barker. It was a GREAT event, and our CSP & Wellness staff did a great job. We ran out of food -- and the pics say is all!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
We (still) do pain...
Here's a sad epidemic in Denver and surrounding areas: it often takes MONTHS (or longer) for people in pain to get to the bottom of their pain, and get past it. Or worse, you're told you have to LIVE WITH IT without ever being given the suggestion or advice -- or "permission" -- to try something alternative.
Here's our appraisal of the current (and we believe COSTLY and usually UNWARRANTED) cascade of spine pain management:
1. Medications: Can be rapidly effective for intractable pain (especially heavy-hitting narcotics or oral steroids) but they are rarely effective over the long term for mechanical back pain or disc herniations.
2. Physical therapy: Good option for many patients if you're fortunate enough to get a truly skilled therapist. Some therapists begin exercise therapy too aggressively and the pain gets worse. Generally speaking, exercise can improve strength, endurance, flexibility, coordination, power, and similar attributes of the locomotor system. In most cases it does not have a direct on pain; or alternatively, the patient in pain is unable to exercise sufficiently to reach a threshold where such an attenuation of pain can be achieved (e.g., through beta-endorphin release).
3. When medications and physical therapy fail, the next step is crucially erroneous, and it is important for the reader to understand the HUGE LOSS in therapeutic opportunity represented by this step. This next over-reaching step is REFERRAL TO A SURGEON. The motive is honorable, of course, and by-and-large, the referring doctor does not know what else to do. In the face of spine pain that is unresponsive to drugs and P.T., the next stop is to the surgeon's clinic where a definitive diagnosis can be sought, and surgery must be considered. You the patient, still in pain, now in a considerable amount of FEAR because the pain is not going away, succumb to the suggestion without blinking, and without wondering why some more conservative, intermediary step is not suggested.
Here is the list of things you didn't get to discuss, consider, have recommended or advised (unless your doctor is most exceptional): referral to see a chiropractor, acupuncturist, interventional pain specialist, massage therapist (although you probably tried this on your own, but didn't know the specific kind of massage therapist to look for), naturopath, reflex therapist, or energy medicine specialist.
Again, the motive for the surgical referral is pure and good and right. "Let's get a definitive diagnosis, and let's get it now," is the sentence running through your doctor's mind. But then specialty doctors -- in this case the spine surgeon -- pretty much does what they know how to do. They look to see if you have an operable condition. If so, they suggest an operation. If not, it's off to a myriad maze, depending on who's in the surgeon's circle of friends at the moment.
HERE'S A THOUGHT: Why not START with a definitive diagnosis in the first place? Why not START knowing exactly what's wrong, and exactly what to do next, in which sequence? THAT'S THE MODEL we propose and practice each day at The Center for Spine Pain & Wellness! Before the drugs, the well-intentioned PT -- before everything -- see a NON-SURGICAL SPECIALIST: one of the Doctors of Chiropractic at our Clinics.
Here's the advantages: You'll save time. If we can help, we'll help fast. If we can't help, we'll refer to sooner than later. Using our approach you won't spend weeks or months in the back pain maze. We're competent, confident, decisive, and correct. Bypass the slow road. Get to the right place now, so you can get back to your life!
A final note: This is not a bash-the-surgeon blog. If you need a surgeon right away, we'll tell you, AND we'll tell you who we've observed in Denver (over 23 years now) doing consistently the best job at it in our neighborhood. If you need a spinal injection, same thing. And if not, you'll be offered whatever treatment or combination of treatments we believe will produce the fastest results at the lowest cost to you.
A new, better, common-sense approach. Visit our website to learn more (see the link above and to the right!)
Here's our appraisal of the current (and we believe COSTLY and usually UNWARRANTED) cascade of spine pain management:
1. Medications: Can be rapidly effective for intractable pain (especially heavy-hitting narcotics or oral steroids) but they are rarely effective over the long term for mechanical back pain or disc herniations.
2. Physical therapy: Good option for many patients if you're fortunate enough to get a truly skilled therapist. Some therapists begin exercise therapy too aggressively and the pain gets worse. Generally speaking, exercise can improve strength, endurance, flexibility, coordination, power, and similar attributes of the locomotor system. In most cases it does not have a direct on pain; or alternatively, the patient in pain is unable to exercise sufficiently to reach a threshold where such an attenuation of pain can be achieved (e.g., through beta-endorphin release).
3. When medications and physical therapy fail, the next step is crucially erroneous, and it is important for the reader to understand the HUGE LOSS in therapeutic opportunity represented by this step. This next over-reaching step is REFERRAL TO A SURGEON. The motive is honorable, of course, and by-and-large, the referring doctor does not know what else to do. In the face of spine pain that is unresponsive to drugs and P.T., the next stop is to the surgeon's clinic where a definitive diagnosis can be sought, and surgery must be considered. You the patient, still in pain, now in a considerable amount of FEAR because the pain is not going away, succumb to the suggestion without blinking, and without wondering why some more conservative, intermediary step is not suggested.
Here is the list of things you didn't get to discuss, consider, have recommended or advised (unless your doctor is most exceptional): referral to see a chiropractor, acupuncturist, interventional pain specialist, massage therapist (although you probably tried this on your own, but didn't know the specific kind of massage therapist to look for), naturopath, reflex therapist, or energy medicine specialist.
Again, the motive for the surgical referral is pure and good and right. "Let's get a definitive diagnosis, and let's get it now," is the sentence running through your doctor's mind. But then specialty doctors -- in this case the spine surgeon -- pretty much does what they know how to do. They look to see if you have an operable condition. If so, they suggest an operation. If not, it's off to a myriad maze, depending on who's in the surgeon's circle of friends at the moment.
HERE'S A THOUGHT: Why not START with a definitive diagnosis in the first place? Why not START knowing exactly what's wrong, and exactly what to do next, in which sequence? THAT'S THE MODEL we propose and practice each day at The Center for Spine Pain & Wellness! Before the drugs, the well-intentioned PT -- before everything -- see a NON-SURGICAL SPECIALIST: one of the Doctors of Chiropractic at our Clinics.
Here's the advantages: You'll save time. If we can help, we'll help fast. If we can't help, we'll refer to sooner than later. Using our approach you won't spend weeks or months in the back pain maze. We're competent, confident, decisive, and correct. Bypass the slow road. Get to the right place now, so you can get back to your life!
A final note: This is not a bash-the-surgeon blog. If you need a surgeon right away, we'll tell you, AND we'll tell you who we've observed in Denver (over 23 years now) doing consistently the best job at it in our neighborhood. If you need a spinal injection, same thing. And if not, you'll be offered whatever treatment or combination of treatments we believe will produce the fastest results at the lowest cost to you.
A new, better, common-sense approach. Visit our website to learn more (see the link above and to the right!)
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