Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and Upper Cervical Chiropractic [Video]

Dr Gordon D. Elder of The Blair Chiropractic Clinic in Lubbock Texas explains how Upper Cervical Chiropractic can help Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue
syndrome often go together.

Fibromyalgia is an interesting diagnosis, often in the past is called the trash can diagnosis. In other words, we’ve ruled out everything else and you’ve got muscle pain. So we’re going to give you a diagnosis that in another language means muscle pain. Chronic fatigue syndrome often goes with it.  The people who have muscle pain in eleven of these eighteen particular points and we can’t find any other reason for it are often chronically tired as well. A scientific study recently in the last few years found that the hole in the bottom of the skull where the brain stem the brain sends all the messages through or most of them through. In many and a high percentage of the population it is smaller than average. What they do is they would surgically bore that hole out larger and would it immediately give them some results but it caused more problems later.

So my feeling on that is your body is made with its own intelligence and that intelligence tells it how to make different things. So usually it’s not going to make things wrong but if you have a small hole for a lack of better word in the bottom of your skull where all the nerves are going through and the bone right directly underneath is not lined up properly, well now that small hole is even smaller. That can cause some severe problems one of which is fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. I have had several patients over the years come in with one or both of those diagnoses. We’ve adjusted them and they’ve gotten better. Sometimes, it’s just that they can manage the muscle pain and the fatigue better. Sometimes it’s cleared up and it seems to go away entirely.

Posted in Chiropractic Clinic and tagged chiropractic adjustment, Chiropractor, chronic fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Lubbock Texas, muscle pain, pain symptoms

Migraines, Tension, Headaches, and Upper Cervical Chiropractic [Video]

In this video, Dr Gordon D. Elder of The Blair Chiropractic Clinic in Lubbock Texas explains how Upper Cervical Chiropractic can improve migraines, tension, and headaches.

Headaches are interesting.

There’s so many different causes. A lot of them actually come back to the neck when you read the research migraine headachestends to be a circulation problem inside the skull.  I believe the latest research says that it’s in the the covering around the brain that there is some issues with the circulation there. My mother started upper cervical chiropractic as a

patient because of 24-hour seven-day-a-week migraines. I mean the worst I’ve ever heard of before. Obviously then I was a child before I was a doctor. It greatly helped her so a strong part of my practice has been people coming in with migraine headaches and them getting relief from that. There is a big obvious connection to the neck. The same thing with the tension headaches. It’s muscle tension and when the neck is out of alignment the muscles are imbalanced. As they get more tense from stress, whether it be a physical stress or a mental stress, the muscles in the neck tighten up and as they tighten up then they can affect the muscles that are going up and around the skull or at the base of the skull. This can very easily cause headaches.

Cluster headaches are severe.

I think when they’re very severe they’re the people who almost want to commit suicide. I’ve had a few patients and it’s not a very common thing that I’ve seen, but the few patients that have come into my office with cluster headaches have also improved.  In fact every time they got a cluster headache they knew that they needed another adjustment. They were out of alignment and they would come in and most the time they were correct. I needed to adjust them when their headache would go away fairly quickly.

Posted in Conditions and tagged Chiropractic, chiropractic adjustment, Chiropractor, Cluster headaches, headaches, Lubbock Texas, migraines, tension, Upper Cervical Chiropractic

Atlas: Carrying the Weight of the World

Atlas is a character from Greek mythology who supported the world on his shoulders.

In anatomy, the name “atlas” is given to the first bone in the spinal column because it supports the skull, your personal world, on its shoulders.

The atlas is shaped like no other bone in the spinal column.  Looking from above it appears as a giant ring, through which the bottom part of the brain stem runs as it morphs into the spinal cord.  Over ten billion nerve tracks pass through the brainstem at this level on their way to or from the brain to the rest of the body.

The head, normally weighing between eight and ten pounds, must have a strong base as it balances on the slender cervical (neck) portion of the spinal column.  The atlas has broad, cup shaped pads (superior facets) in which the skull rests via short protrusions (occipital condyles).  On these joints the skull can only rock back and forth very slightly in the “yes” motion.  The skull and atlas rotate as a unit around an axle (dens) which protrudes upwards from the neck bone immediately below (the “no” motion).  This bone is aptly named the axis.  By nature the superior facets of the atlas and the occipital condyles of the skull fit together like mirror images.  It is when these mirror images are no longer aligned exactly that the nervous system is affected.  This interference can affect any tissue that receives input from the nervous system causing it to malfunction and be prone to disease.

Because of its position under the skull and on top of a slender column of bone and muscle, the atlas is extremely vulnerable to trauma.

A difficult delivery, a fall on the playground, an auto accident, even a bump on the head at the right time in the right (wrong?) direction can disturb its position.

Many diseases and disorders are related to a misalignment of the atlas, either primarily or secondarily.  Without proper innervation a tissue is less capable of carrying out its tasks, predisposing it to injury and less capable of protecting itself from germs and toxins.

The chiropractic adjustment starts the atlas moving back into its proper position, relieving nerve interference and allowing the body to heal itself.  The atlas connects your brain to your body and your body to health.

Posted in Chiropractic Clinic and tagged atlas, brain stem, chiropractic adjustment, spinal column

Multiple Sclerosis and Upper Cervical Chiropractic [Video]

In this video Dr Gordon D. Elder of The Blair Chiropractic Clinic, Lubbock Texas explains how Upper Cervical Chiropractic can be used to help those with Multiple Sclerosis.

Let’s look at Multiple Sclerosis

When I was at school I did a research paper on Multiple Sclerosis. A lot of research in the medical literature and in Chiropractic literature realize that part of the problem in Multiple Sclerosis is related to a neck injury. Almost in all cases. So the few I’ve seen in my office have recovered to a certain degree, it helps them function better. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone improve 100%. There are a couple of different kinds of Multiple Sclerosis and for some people it comes and goes and maybe it just goes for longer periods of time and when it comes it’s not as not as bad or did they need an adjustment and they pull out of it quicker. It’s an interesting disease that we don’t have all the answers to but I know that an upper cervical injury and the neck is part of the key.

Posted in Conditions and tagged chiropractic adjustment, Chiropractor, Lubbock Chiropractor, Lubbock Texas, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Upper Cervical Chiropractic