I Have a Military Neck, Now What? My doctor told me that I have a military neck and that it was causing my neck pain… My last chiropractor said that I have a military neck and I needed a year to fix it Over the past 10 years, the general public is becoming increasingly aware about certain facets of spinal alignment. For years, parents of small children are showing more concern about their child having scoliosis and other postural problems. Today, more and more patients have voiced their concerns about having a military neck in our office. While it’s refreshing from a chirorpactor's stand point to see a greater awareness about spinal health, there are still a number of misconceptions that need to be addressed. What’s a Military Neck? The images on the below show x-rays for 2 people. The top image is a smooth C-shaped Arc representing a normal curve, while the image on the bottom shows a straightened appearance from a loss of the normal curvature. When people talk about having a military neck, people are talking about the straightened appearance that the neck takes when it loses it’s normal curvature. Military neck has less to do with being injured in the line of duty, and more to do with the straight and stiff appearance of a soldier’s posture. Normal Curve The straightened and weak structure of a military neck How Bad is it Really? When patients come to our office for a consultation they will mention if they had x-rays in the past. I’ve had several people who had a previous chiropractor promise the world by putting the curve back in their neck. I’ve also had a few medical doctors tell people that the cause of their pain is from the loss of curvature in their neck as well. The presence of a curve in your neck allows for smoother motion of each of your neck vertebra. It also plays a key role in distributing force throughout the discs of the cervical spine. In essence, a C-shaped curve in the neck can and will prevent early breakdown and degeneration of your spinal joints. As the discs and joints begin to breakdown, it can create the environment for inflammation to build up around the nerves, or even lead to disc protrusions and disc bulges. You may not feel the effects of a military neck immediately, but just like you don’t feel plaque building up in your arteries, it is something than can and will eventually become problematic as you go. Can It Be Fixed? This part is a bit of a loaded question. The answer really comes down to this fact: Why is the neck straight to begin with? Many cases are induced by compromising neck positions from texting/computer/screen time and has lead to weakness of the intrinsic muscles of the head and neck. Some cases involve malformed vertebra that force the neck into a straight or reversed position. Then of course are the neck’s that are a result of traumatic injury like whiplash. Many of the postural and some of the minor traumatic injuries can see their curves restored nicely under structural chiropractic care. However, the cases of misshaped vertebra and some of the traumatic cases may not see a return back to normal, no matter how skilled or how well the intention of that chiropractor is. I Tried to Get it Fixed, but my Neck is Still Straight. Now What? Here’s the good news: You don’t necessarily need the curve in your neck fixed in order to get great results! We often see Military Necks as Structural Problem.  Although it’s really fun to see a straight neck get it’s curve back, it’s not a requirement for the patient to get improved biomechanical function of their spine again. Take Home Message Military necks are associated with problems in the neck, but it’s not a death sentence. While we all want to be perfect, it’s important to understand that your body will always do what it can to adapt to any situation. Curve or no curve. Some structural distortions like may not have the popular awareness of military neck, but carry far wider implications for spine problems, and brain problems. The most important thing to remember is that the care you choose to receive makes an impact on the quality of your life.

That’s a fair question to ask as a patient. In some branches of health care, such as dentistry or orthopedics, x-rays are routine and are performed without any doubts or questions. Patients understand that without x-rays, the dentist or orthopedic surgeon would be flying blind, and the quality and safety of the procedure would be compromised. However, in other branches of health care such as chiropractic, the use of x-rays is debatable. In fact, the majority of chiropractors do not take x-rays as a standard practice. So when a patient enters Premier Chiropractic and discovers that x-rays are a standard practice for all cases, naturally they have a few questions. For most patients, the questions arise from the fear of receiving too much radiation and increasing their risk of cancer. Although that fear is valid – excessive exposure to ionizing radiation (like x-rays) can increase the risk of cancer – once our patients understand the clinical need for x-rays, and the actual dosage they receive, their fears are quickly put to rest. Let’s quickly address the fear of increased cancer risk first. X-rays are form of radiant energy, like light or radio waves, but x-rays have the ability to penetrate body. X-rays occur in nature (called “background” radiation) and most commonly come from cosmic radiation (space) and radioactive materials (most commonly from radon gas). Therefore we are always exposed to them at some level. The dosage is most commonly measured in millisieverts (mSv). The damage caused by x-rays is like a wound in the sense that, with time, the body can fully heal and recover. So a large dose of radiation from x-rays can be tolerated as long as it’s not too frequent. And a small dose of x-rays can be tolerated on a more frequent basis. To put things in perspective, one chest x-ray exposes a person to 0.1 mSv, which is equivalent to the amount of radiation exposure they would experience from their natural surroundings in 10 days. The x-rays we take at Premier Chiropractic amount to roughly 0.5 mSv, which is equivalent to the amount of radiation exposure you would get from your natural surroundings in about 2 months., Lastly, let’s address why we need to take take x-rays. The bones in your spine are highly variable from one person to the next. Just like no two people look exactly alike (except maybe identical twins), no two spines look exactly alike. Furthermore, the uniqueness of the individual, how they are shaped, how they move, makes it nearly impossible analyze accurately with palpation (touch) alone. In summary, just as an orthopedic surgeon or dentist needs x-rays in order to perform his or her job and provide the highest quality of care to the patient, so do structural chiropractors at Premier Chiropractic need to take x-rays. When your health is on the line, you don’t want us to be guessing do you? 

“80% of the country will have back pain during their life, why would turn away all of that potential business?” “If you don’t take care of the back, then what DO you take care of?” In my practice, I focus on Structural Correction and I deal exclusively with the alignment and mechanics of the spine. I’ve seen hundreds, if not thousands of patients with low back pain looking for someone to help them. So, how can a gentle approach to the neck help with back problems? I can probably cite a complicated study, or explain this long and complex pathway like the infographic shown below: But really, I’m sure you just want me to make sense of it all. So here it goes: 1. No matter where pain may be felt, it is always processed by the brain. That’s why there are many Secondary Conditions occur where there is nothing physically wrong to diagnose, but the pain is very real to that person. A person with Fibromyalgia deeply understands this concept. Proper structural alignment of the head and neck allow the brain stem to transmit the messages from the spinal cord properly. It ensures that there is no hypersensitivity to pain occurring at the level of the central nervous system. 2. Anterior head syndrome is a condition in which the head and neck has shifted forward in front of the shoulders. While this may not seem like much, but the weight of a 12 lb head reaching beyond the shoulders forces the muscles of the neck and back to pull harder than normal. This is because for every inch forward the head moves, gravity pulls 10 extra lbs onto the neck and back muscles. So a person with a 10 lb head can suddenly have the mechanics of a 30 lb head with just 2 inches of Anterior Head Syndrome. An interesting thing to note is that people with both neck pain and back pain will see their back pain go away before their neck pain. 3. According to a recent study in the Journal of Neurosurgery, deformities in the neck affect the alignment of the hips and pelvis. The two structures are linked together through a complex muscular sling. In other words, where the head goes, the neck goes and vice versa. Whether you’ve been told your SI joint or a herniated disc is the problem, Structural Correction may still provide an answer. Though not all cases of back pain are related to a Structural Shift in the spine, it’s an important factor that is not usually looked at by most doctors or Traditional Chiropractors. Rather than getting pigeon-holed into a symptom-treatment model, it may benefit you to have someone take a global look at the body, and how a structural shift can impact the spine and the central nervous system.

If you have ever been to a doctor’s office and had an x-ray performed, you have likely heard about something called spinal degeneration. Spinal degeneration is a condition in which the discs and joints of the spine begin to narrow and often form bone spurs. If you’ve ever been to a chiropractor’s office and seen your x-rays, you’ve probably seen a chart that looks like this: You compared yourself to one of these images, and identified yourself within one of the various phases of spinal degeneration. Maybe you felt confused. Maybe you felt alarmed, perhaps even a little scared. Either way, you knew that your spine probably didn’t look like the “normal” and that you had work to do. How Bad is it Really? No one likes to be told that their spine is developing arthritic degeneration. It’s a sign that the days of our youth are fading, and a reminder that our bodies are not going to last forever. Everyone will develop some level of spinal degeneration as we get older. Regardless of whether someone has a lifetime of chiropractic, supplements, positive mental attitude, etc, we cannot stop discs from breaking down or bone spurs from forming. Once people get into their 40’s and 50’s, we expect to see some degree of degeneration in the spine to occur. Are there those in their 70’s without it? Sure. But those are OUTLIERS, and we don’t make predictions based on a handful of outliers. With that being said, here are some quick facts to know about spinal degeneration. 1. Degeneration ≠ Pain – One of the things that frustrates me is when someone tells a patient that they are going to live with chronic pain because they have spinal degeneration. While many people with degeneration do have spinal pain, an OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of people with degeneration have no pain what so ever. While a lot of people with pain have some level of spinal degeneration, that doesn’t mean that spinal degeneration is the CAUSE of their pain. I’ve seen many patients with massive spinal degeneration, and many of them will get better despite the fact that their degeneration has NOT CHANGED. We have to resist being trapped within a diagnosis, especially if that diagnosis has a high degree of inaccuracy.  2. Your Spine Isn’t Going to Fuse (Probably) – some patients have concerns that a doctor told them that their spine is fusing. This is always something that raises my eyebrows because there are less than a handful of situations where you would expect the segments of the spine to fuse together. Vertebra don’t fuse as they degenerate. Discs will get closer together to where there’s minimal space, but regular degeneration WILL NOT turn into a fused vertebra. They are completely different things.    We have NO idea what the time table is on degeneration. Except in cases of certain disease processes (i.e. – ankylosing spondylitis), this is nothing but fear mongering. Degeneration, not Death Sentence Degeneration can be a problem for some patients. Loss of hydration in the disc, and lack of movement in the spine can create problems for the brain and nervous system. Time and again, I’ve seen patients who have been told that their problem is related to arthritic knees, hips, and spines respond really nicely to Structural Correction. Even without seeing any change to the degenerated joint. If the arthritis were the sole problem, then no one with spinal degeneration would ever get better. Degeneration is a sign of a breakdown process, but it’s not usually the cause. We need to be freed from these self-defeating labels that hold us back from living the active and healthy lifestyle we all deserve. If you’ve been told that your pain or problem is because of arthritis or degeneration, it may be time to get another opinion. Call our office today and book your appointment to get back on the right track. 248-287-8700

Every year, hundreds of THOUSANDS of people will under go some form of spinal surgery. These surgeries range from spinal fusions, discectomies, disc replacements, and more.I would like to discuss a popular misconception. Many people think that if they’ve had surgery on their spine, then there’s no way that they can see a chiropractor. Now, based on what many people perceive of chiropractic, I can’t say that I blame them at all. If you’ve had rods, plates, and screws placed into your spine, then the thought of someone wrenching or twisting the spine, causing damage in the surgical attachments…it sounds downright terrifying.Not All Chiropractic Techniques Are the Same Most people associate chiropractic with a move you’d see out of a martial arts movie. The truth is, there are many ways to bring about a correction of the spine, and some are very gentle and non-invasive. Some are so safe that they can be used on elderly folks with osteoporosis, new born babies, people with herniated discs, and even people who have had surgery. In our office, we use only the most precise and gentle chiropractic approaches so that we can take care of people of any population. Needless to say, safety isn’t the main issue when you’re armed with the correct chiropractic tools. The big question that remains is: Can chiropractic help me even if surgery didn’t? I was taking care of a patient who had had surgery on her neck for neck pain and arm pain. Since the surgery, her pain persisted. She was tired of trying to fix the problem and had basically given up on herself. Very unlikely that she would ever walk into my office of her own. She was referred to the office to give Structural Correction care a try. After a consultation and an explanation of my adjusting techniques, she felt safe enough to give it a go. In a few short weeks, many of the symptoms she had before the surgery started to go away. Now here is a VERY VERY VERY important point: The adjustments did NOT NOT NOT make her pain go away Now this might sound crazy, but it’s not the adjustment that did the healing. Adjustments in of themselves have NO capacity to heal someone. The problem was that her neck had shifted so far out of place, that the nerves in her neck were being compressed and irritated. When you add the surgery on top of it, it had locked the neck in a shifted position even further. The adjustments simply help to restore the NORMAL alignment of the head and neck. When the spine goes back to normal, then the nerves can work again. It’s that simple. This is not an unusual situation. In fact, because of the focus on structural correction and the gentle adjustment techniques, I have been referred dozens of patients after surgery in the past, and almost all of them respond great to our care. When you, or someone you know has had surgery, there are very real limitations to how much the structure of the spine can be corrected. As much as I love and enjoy helping patients post-surgery, the best thing anyone can do is to have their structure corrected BEFORE surgery becomes part of the picture. That way you can achieve a maximum correction, and have less dependency on chiropractic to stay well.

Are you suffering because of age, or might it be something deeper?  “Don’t get old, you end up like this” “That’s just because of old age” “See, this is why you shouldn’t get older” These are some of the most common phrases that I hear when people talk about the pain they’re having. Most of the time, they’re being said by someone in their early 40’s; which is just more than half of an American’s lifespan (78 years of age: 2012). It’s spoken as if Father Time had a magic shot that make a person start experiencing pain and arthritis completely out of the blue when they hit nature’s halfway point. Let’s take a look at it for a second. When most people talk about the pain of getting old, they’re usually referring to a cascade of problems that’s lumped into the name Arthritis. We’re talking about the joint shrinking version known as osteoarthritis, and not the hot and burning inflammatory arthritis. Osteoarthritis is usually used to describe any one of these problems: degenerative joint disease, degenerative disc disease, spondylosis, bone spurs, and spinal canal stenosis. Let’s take a look at one example:   This is the x-ray of a spine from a side view. This is a person in their late 50’s or early 60’s with neck pain and arm pain for the past year. The yellow arrows are pointing to areas that have severe degenerative disc disease, estimated 40-50 years of breakdown. When these badly degenerated discs were pointed out to them, guess what was said? “Oh, those are just due to old age” Now, of course there will be wear and tear on the spine of a 60 year old person. There’s no question about that. But the extent of damage to the area of the spine is substantial. Now the interesting thing is this, how old is the healthy disc of the spine? That’s a trick question of course, because all of the discs are the same age. If this problem was strictly a matter of aging, wouldn’t you expect every single disc to have similar levels of degeneration? “Here’s the truth, this person did not have a problem of age; they had an aging problem.” There are definitive problems with the structure of this person’s spine. When a structural problem happens into the spine, 2 things can happen: The biomechanics of the spine become distorted and accelerate the wear and tear of the joints. Think about what happens to your car when the tires are improperly aligned. Would you expect the steering wheel to pull to one side? Would you expect one tire to wear out on one side faster than the other? Would you expect the ability for the tire to hold air to be different from side to side? The same thing happens to the joints of the spine too! The structural shift will distort the signals going in and out of the brain. As the spine shifts, the spinal cord and spinal nerves will misfire into the brain. This misfiring causes the muscles of the spine to tighten and spasm, and create dysfunction to anywhere where those nerves travel. Those are the facts. Here’s where things get tricky. This person had a problem in their spine for upwards of 50+ years. However, they did not show any signs of pain until the past year. What gives? Problems in the spine can be left undiagnosed and unidentified for several years. Research shows that many of us have herniated discs in the spine, and out of those people 60% of you will feel no symptoms.  Thus, a problem that should be of primary concern can be wreaking havoc on the body without us knowing it. With that said, these problems are almost always preventable. With proper exercise and proper postural awareness, you can save years of wear and tear on the spine, and maintain full function of the delicate nervous system. As with anything else, it’s always important that you protect the parts of your body that you hold most dear through routine checkups. We always find time to check our blood pressure, cholesterol, eyes, and of course your teeth.  When was the last time the structure of your spine was checked?

One of the most common problems I hear about with patients with chronic pain is that rainy weather seems to make things worse. Is there a real biological reason for this or is this just an old wives tale that has been passed on through time? Don’t Stop Believing: The Uncontrollable Factor People have been talking about how they can sense weather patterns in their joints for thousands of years. You’ve probably heard of this phenomenon from your grandmother or another relative whose arthritis pain flared up when it rains. They might say that they feel the rain in their bones. Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, was the first to note changes in a person’s illness status due to weather way back in 400 BC. Yet, as long as this idea has been around, studies about this phenomenon have been inconclusive. Some studies show that pain patients can feel a difference, while others say that the weather makes no difference. It’s hard to study this effect because of the impact that belief systems have on pain. When human beings have a strong enough belief in something, it can drastically affect their perception of the world. This is seen in pain science all the time, and it makes studying pain very challenging and difficult. Short of locking people in a box and hiding them from weather reports, it’s hard to know how this affects humans with any degree of certainty. Animal Studies Leaving Clues While belief systems can impact humans, some of our furry friends have helped leave some clues. Scientists believe that the pressure in the air (barometric pressure) is what allows people to feel pain when the weather changes. When storms come, the pressure in the atmosphere begins to drop. The theory is that as air pressure drops, it decreases the amount of pressure on your joints leading to the joints and soft tissues to expand and irritate nerve endings causing pain. In Michigan, we get experience weather changes quickly so pain patients have the unfortunate opportunity to experience this regularly. Scientists tested this idea on guinea pigs and rats. They placed animals bred with with a pain predisposition into two environments. One group had normal air pressure while the other group had the air pressure lowered artificially. They found that the low pressure animals showed increased pain behavior compared to the controls. This is important because you can’t sway or convince an animal that lower pressure is going to make them hurt more. It’s a much closer relationship to cause and effect than can be currently studied in human beings.  So What? Is This Treatable? So we know that feeling weather changes when you have pain syndromes is at least plausible based on animal models, but why does it happen and is it treatable? The truth is, we still don’t really know what mechanisms cause this type of pain so we have no idea if it’s treatable or preventable. Based on my experience, I believe that when pain tends to be triggered or aggravated by weather, there’s likely a pain processing problem in the body. Tissue Damage vs Pain Perception The most common conditions associated with weather-related pain are osteoarthritis (wear and tear arthritis, not joints on fire arthritis), headaches, and fibromyalgia. The important thing to note about these 3 conditions is that the pain related to these conditions is NOT dependent on tissue damage. What does that mean? It means that the level of pain associated with these conditions is not tied to the amount of damage that’s in the body. When you have a sprained ankle, broken bone, torn muscle, or a cut, there is damage done to the tissues that sets off a series of chemical signals meant to trigger a pain response. It’s a very linear relationship. With joint degeneration, you might feel pain, you might not. With headaches and fibromyalgia, there’s not necessarily any physical damage that’s related to the the pain being felt. It’s not to say that the pain isn’t real, it just means that there’s no obvious source of damage that’s causing the pain. The problem is related to the way your brain processes pain. Your brain has a built in volume control for pain perception. It can turn these signals up in certain situations, and it can turn it down in others. Chronic pain patients have their volume dial on high all the time. It’s not just a matter of belief. Although that’s an important piece of the puzzle, there are other factors like: Brain oxygenation Hormones in the blood Global inflammation Joint movement, especially in the spine That’s why pain isn’t just a physical phenomenon. I’m sure you’ve been in a situation where you you suffered an injury, but you didn’t feel it until much later. This happens frequently after the shock of car accident, the thril of playing in a championship game, or the necessity of escaping a dangerous situation. You get stunned, your heart races, adrenaline is surging through the veins, and you don’t notice any pain until hours later when those hormones leave the blood stream. Pain Perception is Malleable This brings some good news and bad news. Bad News: It means that for lots of cases, there might not be a treatable lesion that is generating some of the chronic pain problems you’re feeling. Good News: This also means that your pain levels are malleable and there are different things you can do to turn down the volume of the pain you experience. Things like meditation, exercise, and cognitive therapy can all allow us to change our experience with pain, and get a little bit more control over how we feel. It gives us control over the volume dial. This is actually one of the primary mechanisms that Structural Corrections can help people with headaches, fibromyalgia, and arthritis related pain syndromes. We are not fixing or repairing damaged tissue, we are creating an environment for healthy neurological function. When the structure of the spine are disrupted, it decreases 2 things: Blood supply in and out of the brain Mechanical input into the brain Both of these factors cause the brain to be more sensitive to pain signals. When the spine moves better and normal blood supply is restored, you can see not only an improvement to someone’s weather related pain, but also an improved resiliency and control over chronic pain syndromes.

As the Winter Equestrian season comes to a close here in Michigan, and golf season begins. While it appears to be a low impact sport to the average observer, golf can be a really stressful sport! While some golfers say the biggest stress is on their pride and their mental state, from a Structural standpoint golf has the biggest impact on the lumbar spine aka, the lower back. If you're serious about golf, then you have to be serious about the mechanics of your swing because a bad swing will wear down the discs, ligaments, and joints of the spine. The biggest threat is the coupled movement of excess rotation and extension. One bad swing isn't going to hurt you, but thousands of swings over the course of years can wreck even the strongest spine. The commonly missed factor in the health of a golfer is the structure of the spine. A spine with a Structural Shift in the hip and pelvis will not only make a golfer more susceptible to injury, but you're leaving a lot of force on the table. To make a long story short, you will make your best swing less efficient, and your muscles will fatigue more easily because you are wasting so much kinetic energy. When the spine is in the distorted position that you see on the left, then the force of a highly rotational swing gets sent into the discs and ligaments of the spine, instead of smooth transfer into the hip muscles. The result is more chance for the discs to tear, and poor muscular output leading to poor performance. If you are serious about playing golf throughout your life, and you want to play not just pain-free, but to your fullest potential, then you need to play without Structural Shifts.

You try to be an educated consumer when you’re choosing a car, house, or TV, but what about when you’re choosing something else that is also very important… such as a chiropractor? There are some key questions to ask yourself before choosing a chiropractor to care for your spine and nervous system. After all, your nerve system is a very important part of your body that controls all of your functions; picking a care provider is not something to jump into without careful consideration. So, here are some questions to ask yourself when choosing a Doctor of Chiropractic: 1) Why Am I Looking For A Chiropractor? This is the first question that you want to ask yourself to help you choose the type of chiropractor you go to. If you have a surface-level ache, pain, or strain, and you simply want a quick fix so you can get back on the road again, you’ll want to look for a chiropractor who will take care of you for the immediate issue. When you see a chiropractor for this type of objective, he/she generally will not do a complete assessment of your spine or nervous system, but will rather work on relieving acute pain/muscle spasms and improving range of motion. However, just like any other area of your health, there’s a difference between a quick fix and sustainable change. If you are looking for sustainable results or improvement for your spine or nervous system, or to get to the root cause of a recurring health concern, you would want to find a chiropractor to perform a comprehensive assessment. 2) Do I Want Less Or More… Or Maybe Both? Very often people are motivated to go to a chiropractor because they want less of something that they don’t like: back pain, neck pain, arm pain, shoulder pain, knee pain, something that is disturbing how they are living. They just want to go back to the way they were before. If that’s you, make sure you have the right expectation when you go in to the chiropractor that you really just want to experience less of something that is disturbing you. Some people want more. In addition to eliminating something that they don’t like, they would like to have more of what they do want: more energy, more joy, better sleep, better mental state, more life enjoyment and improved quality of life. When you want more of something, you want to look for a chiropractor who is going to be able to help you improve your overall function, retrain and reorganize your nerve system and not just get you back to a prior minimal state. The state that led to you ending up where you are now. 3) Am I Looking For A Conventional Experience Or An Outstanding Experience? The majority of conventional chiropractic practitioners, physical therapists, and other healthcare providers related to the spine are focused on eliminating the condition the patient is presenting with on the surface. This is generally working on temporary range of motion improvement, bone re-alignment, or muscle spasm and pain relief. If you want to have an outstanding experience, then find a chiropractor who can identify and focus on the underlying Structural dysfunctions that may be at the root cause of the structural and behavioral shifts which are affecting your health and life experience. Go for outstanding in your chiropractic care and your health. If you would like to have your nerve system checked for its Structural integrity, a consultation to discuss your concerns may be a great place to start. Find out where to go from here by contacting our office at248-287-8700

Most people are familiar with the image on the top. An image of a lowly iceberg. It looks so simple to simply steer around and bypass it on the way to smoother seas. But if our past was a good teacher, then we know that by only paying attention to the surface, we can miss a dangerous obstacle in the depths. Our bodies are equipped with an incredible array of signals to let us know that something is wrong. Sometimes it comes in the form of a pain in the back, draining fatigue, or chest pain. The purpose of these signals is to tell us that something is wrong, but it’s up to us to look within to identify the cause. As long as we continue to exist in a healthcare system that only seeks to reduce symptoms, then we will continue to get the same results as those who only saw the tip of the iceberg. Unless we look towards the body’s healing capacity, and why it’s not operating at 100% full function, then we are missing the boat on the health challenges of millions of people. And there’s no amount of drugs, natural medicine, surgery, or insurance money that can save that ship from sinking.