Back to Basics: Your Guide to Local Chiropractic Care

Most people suffer from pain at some point in their lifetime. Whether it is chronic pain you’ve been dealing with for years or acute pain from a recent accident, relief is achievable. Chiropractors are in the business of assisting people overcome pain and illness through a wide range of techniques and therapy modalities. When one thinks of chiropractic, they often think of the spinal adjustments chiropractors are trained to do; but chiropractic today is so much more than “getting your back cracked.” Most chiropractors take a holistic approach to health maintenance and offer services such as rehabilitation; massage therapy; laser, ultrasound, and electro therapies; innovative techniques such as dry needling; nutritional and fitness counseling; in addition to adjusting spinal misalignments. In this special section, SWLA chiropractors share their passion for helping their clients live their best lives with as little pain and suffering as possible.

Rehabilitation: Helps Patients Return to Normal Activity

by Angie Kay Dilmore

Rehabilitation after an injury or due to limitations from chronic pain helps a patient return to activities of daily living. It generally involves strength, flexibility, and agility training, as well as balance. The focus is on coordination of body parts and motion.

Dr. Sarah Decareaux with Ward Chiropractic uses rehabilitative exercises to help her patients who have been limited due to pain or decreased range of motion to regain their daily activities. “Strengthening the body makes our joints more stable when we are usually unstable due to inactivity in our daily life. The majority of my patients are recovering from accidents (slips/falls or motor vehicle accidents) and chronic diseases such as postural syndromes from sitting or standing 40+ hours a week at their jobs.”

Dr. Decareaux treats all types of patients – women and men, children and adults, prenatal/postnatal women. “I like to think of my practice as a family practice. At Ward Chiropractic, we treat each patient as an individual. Every treatment plan is determined by each patient’s lifestyle and how their specific injury occured. We offer a variety of equipment and techniques to fit most lifestyles.”

Success of a rehabilitation program is determined by three primary objectives, says Dr. Decareaux. “Key components for a positive rehab outcome are proper technique, patient education, and patient dedication to their at-home exercise routine. It’s like in sports, practice makes perfect. Proper technique will have exponential change compared to substandard technique. And educating the patient on why and how the movements will impact their daily life will create better dedication to their home exercises.”

To enhance the rehabilitation process, Ward Chiropractic also offers a long list of other treatment modalities that can complement rehab, such as Kinesio Taping which stabilizes an injured area by lightly adhering to the skin and applying pressure to the tissues the tape is wrapped around. Physical therapy, ultrasound, and electrical stimulation can also be used in conjunction with rehabilitation to achieve desired results. Dr. Decareaux adds, “We will work hard with our patients to help them return to an active, pain-free life.”

Ward Chiropractic is located at 4211 Lake St., Lake Charles. For more info or to make an appointment, see their website at www.ward-chiro.com or call 337-990-5497.

Easing the Pain of Pregnancy

Some women may think that pain and discomfort are a natural part of pregnancy, but Dr. Laurie Baynard at Lake Charles Chiropractic disagrees. “Many of my patients are more comfortable during pregnancy and report better deliveries with chiropractic care. Even my patients who have c-sections have easier recoveries due to the core exercises we do throughout their pregnancy. I have been doing prenatal and pediatric chiropractic care for over ten years and have developed a program that helps target many of the aches and pains associated with pregnancy.”

During pregnancy, a lot is going on, Dr. Laurie says. “Your body is constantly adapting to a growing baby, hormonal changes, and the shifts in your center of gravity. As your baby grows inside your uterus, you start to lean back so you don’t fall forward, the arch in your lumbar spine increases, and your pelvis tilts forward to allow growth. This creates a lot of pressure in your low back and pelvis. If it’s your second pregnancy, many of these symptoms begin even sooner than with your first. I do the Webster Technique on my prenatal patients, which is a chiropractic adjusting technique made to analyze and balance the pelvis so that it moves properly when you walk, change positions, and engage in life. This also helps prepare your pelvis for labor because your pelvis is a HUGE part of the birth process. Pregnancy really is special and miraculous, and it shouldn’t be riddled with pain.”

Dr. Laurie’s prenatal program includes exercises that strengthen the core and help with pelvic imbalances, hydromassage, and adjustments via the Webster Technique. “You need a strong core during pregnancy, but it is difficult to strengthen your core during pregnancy. My program engages the core in different and safe ways,” she says.

“Hydromassage allows patients a bit of relaxation while improving circulation, relieving muscle soreness, and reducing the level of stress and anxiety. Prenatal chiropractic care is one of the best things you can do for yourself during your pregnancy.”

Postpartum care can also be beneficial and aide in the recovery from childbirth. “After delivery is one of my favorite times to care for women,” Dr. Laurie says. “A lot of changes have happened over the last year and your body is in somewhat of a healing mode as it adapts to this new chapter. Your pelvis and body are recovering, and everything is starting to come back together. I am passionate about taking care of moms who are busy taking care of everyone else.”

Dr. Laurie says the benefits of chiropractic for expecting moms include less pain, more mobility, improved sleep, and great deliveries. She also treats infants, who may experience improved sleep and relaxation from chiropractic care. Dr. Laurie has taken over 300 hours of continuing education in prenatal and pediatric chiropractic to be able to care for this population and recently moved to a new state of the art spa-like facility at 5656 Nelson Rd Suite A2, Lake Charles.

For more information or to make an appointment, call 337-240-6619 or see Dr. Laurie’s website, http://drlauriebaynard.com.

The Lowdown on Low Back Pain

by Kristy Como Armand

If you suffer from lower back pain, you’re not alone. Most men — and women — will experience back pain at one time or another. In fact, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke reports about four out of five adults will have low back pain at some point during their lifetimes and more than one in four report having experienced low back pain in the past three months. Low back pain is the second leading reason for both medical physician and hospital visits.

Causes for the pain vary — maybe you were in a car accident or you forgot to “lift with your legs” when moving that new couch into your house. Medical conditions such as arthritis and scoliosis can also result in back pain, as can degenerative changes in the spine that are a normal part of the aging process. If your job requires you to sit at a desk all day, that could be a cause of your back problems, as well.

Dr. Joey Kulaga, chiropractor and co-founder of Lake Charles Chiropractic and Functional Medicine, says one common misconception is that low back pain is just a normal part of aging. “Low back pain is common, but not normal, and certainly not something you should expect – nor accept – as part of getting older.”

He explains that bad posture and sitting in a chair incorrectly can put a lot of stress on the neck and back. “Many of my patients are surprised to discover this is the source of their low back pain.”

He also explains that over 85% of low back pain is considered “non-specific,” meaning there is no known serious underlying cause. “This means the pain is coming from the function of the spine and the supportive anatomy of the spine, such as muscles, joints and nerves. This is where chiropractors can be a huge help by working to restore proper alignment to the spine and relieving pressure on the nervous system. This typically results in very positive outcomes for acute and chronic low back pain. Once this is under control, we can help with preventive, effective lifestyle strategies to help reduce the risk of low back pain recurrence.

If you do experience low back pain, it’s important to have it checked out by a health care provider. “Even if you think your back pain is benign or trivial, we want to be able to rule out that something more serious is not going on,” he says. “Back pain is a lot easier to treat earlier on, before it becomes chronic.”

He says there are several things you can do to prevent lower back pain, or at least lessen its impact:

• Engage in low-impact aerobic activities, like walking or swimming, along with exercises specifically aimed at keeping your back and abdominal muscles strong and flexible.
• Use proper lifting technique. Use your legs, not your back, when lifting heavy items. Rather than bending over, keep your back straight and bend your knees.
• Maintain a healthy weight. Exercise and proper nutrition should help with this.
• Use proper posture. Keep your shoulders back and don’t slouch. Switch sitting positions often, and get up to walk around frequently. If possible, use a chair with good lumbar support (if needed, a pillow or rolled-up towel placed behind the small of your back can provide lumbar support). If you’ll be sitting for a long time, elevate your feet on a low stool or a stack of books.

In addition to chiropractic adjustment, which involves using the hands or a device to apply a controlled, rapid force to a joint, Dr. Kulaga offers a variety of treatment options for back pain. These include electrotherapy, spinal decompression, therapeutic exercises, hydrotherapy, and ultrasound.

For more information about treatment for low back pain, call Dr. Kulaga at Lake Charles Chiropractic and Functional Medicine at (337) 240-6619, ext. 2, or visit www.lakecharleschiro.com.

Mayfield Chiropractic Touts the “Resiliency Model” of Care

by Dr. Ryan Herold

“Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same;

the antifragile gets better.”  — Nicholas Taleb

When a stress is applied to a resilient body, it will bend and adapt to the stress but will not break. A non-resilient body will break in response to stress and injury can occur. The current mindset in medicine is one of being reactive. We wait until the body breaks down before we react. Chiropractic care is built on the idea of preventive care. Building the body up to prevent injury.

The Resiliency Model is the idea of building up your resilience – physically through strength/stability/balance, physiologically through nutrition/supplements, even psychologically through mindfulness, so when either a potential or actual injury, or sickness occurs, the body can adapt and tolerate it. It is best viewed along a continuum from Recovery to Sustainability to Growth. The Recovery stage follows an injury to the body, physically, physiologically, or psychologically. Sustainability is being injury free but not Resilient. Growth is the long-term stage of continuing to become more Resilient.

The Resiliency Model applies to more than rare occurrences like an accident or severe illness. This also applies to everyday ergonomic challenges. Much of what we don’t realize is the stress our ergonomics at our jobs place on our bodies. Does your back hurt after sitting at a computer all day? Do your shoulders hurt after stocking shelves at work? Do you regularly train for these activities? Resilience is being able to complete your day-to-day tasks without dysfunction or pain. The flip side to this coin is simply if your back hurts after sitting at a desk for eight hours but you can squat twice your body weight, are you training for the right thing? Are you building resilience for this task? If you look at the training schedules of different sports, there are some similarities but there are also some stark differences. In this clinic everyone is viewed as an athlete; we are all just at differing training levels. But are we training and building up the resilience we need to complete our day-to-day tasks in the best way possible?

The end result, the goal of care, the idea of self-sufficiency, is what the Resiliency Model is about. Using an approach of Resiliency care to focus on overall health from a preventive mindset even immediately following an injury.

We want to not only help our patients recover from injury but become more resilient and robust with their health and to help them become antifragile. Developing the habits which will continue through life to contribute to a healthier life.  It’s not enough to just survive till death, it’s more important to thrive.  To make the best of your life and feel the best through your life.

Becoming antifragile does not have to begin with an injury. Understanding there are stressors and events in life we can’t anticipate can drive people to want to become more resilient, more antifragile. This means instead of starting your journey at Recovery, start your journey at Sustainability with the knowledge you are preventing future health issues.

Thomas Edison stated in 1903, “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.”

To make an appointment with Dr. Ryan Herold at Mayfield Chiropractic, located at 1709 W. Prien Lake Rd, Suite B, call 337-656-4514.