Relief from migraines, vertigo, trigeminal neuralgia, backpain and more in Luboock.

Actual Patients tell their stories of improvement from migraines, vertigo, nerve pain, and back pain after starting Blair Upper Cervical Care in Lubbock.

I’ve been having migraine headaches for thirty-something years now. 

I have had back problems my entire life. The nerve pain got so severe that I couldn’t sleep at night. 

The one and only adjustment I’ve had, I’ve only had mild headaches, my vertigo had gone away. 

I’m able to climb roofs, do everything I need to, physically, and play with my kids. 

With no jerking, popping, or twisting, we seek to find the problem, restoring the body’s ability to heal itself since 1949. 

to find out if BlAIR upper cervical may help you or to schedule a screening, call: 806-747-2735

Why Is The Atlas Bone So Important? | Dr. Jordan Jensen

Image depicting the Atlas Bone, highlighted in red.

The Atlas Bone is the topmost (or highest) vertebra in the neck. It is the vertebra that is in contact with the Occipital bone– a flat bone located at the back of the head.  It’s named after the Greek Titan, Atlas.  The story of Atlas is based in Greek Mythology.  The short version of the story is this:  Zeus, who was considered to be the ruler of the Greek gods, was known for mistreating and abusing those around him.  He continually humiliated the other gods and cheated on his wife with many lovers, among other things.  Zeus’ treatment of the Titans led to an uprising in the heavens, which included the mightiest Titan; Atlas.  The rebellion was unsuccessful, and as punishment for participating in the rebellion, Zeus sentenced Atlas to forever bear the weight of the heavens on his shoulders, lest they fall and destroy the earth.

The image of Atlas holding up the heavens is one that is recognizable by many people even today. That image is why Atlas the Titan is the namesake for the Atlas bone in your C-1 vertebrae.  The Atlas bone stands on the top of your spine and body, like Atlas standing on the earth. The head and brain sit atop the Atlas bone, just like Atlas balancing the heavens. The function of the Atlas bone is the same as well; as Atlas was responsible for holding up the heavens, the Atlas bone is responsible for holding your head and brain in place at the top of your body.

If you notice the position of Atlas, he holds the heavens in a way that keeps the weight of the ball balanced on his body.  This is important because it’s this ability to balance the heavens that kept them from falling and destroying the Earth.  There’s a similarity here with the Atlas bone, as well. The weight of the human head and brain is roughly the same as the weight of a bowling ball.  If the balance is off-center, it creates stress, forcing the body to reposition.  The conclusion is, if your Atlas bone is not properly positioned or balanced, it can create stress that gets carried to the rest of the body, and up into the brain. 

Being on our phones as much as we are and working long hours at a desk make us more susceptible to this imbalance and unfortunately, it’s linked to a number of unwanted symptoms and conditions including headaches, neck pain, back pain, migraines, nausea, seizures, colic, trigeminal neuralgia, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, fibromyalgia, and ADHD.  It’s amazing to think about, but every area of your body that has nerves (which is pretty much your whole body) can be negatively affected if the Atlas bone is out of alignment with Occipital bone above or the Axis bone (C2 vertebra) below. 

Thankfully, upper cervical chiropractors primarily study the Atlas bone and seek to restore the bone to its best position; and you don’t need to crack or twist your neck to do it.  Since the Atlas bone connects the head to the spine, the position of the bone can have a significant impact on the body’s nervous system.  Every nerve in the human body leads back to the spine, so there are many things that can be impacted by improper alignment of the Atlas bone.

If you or someone you know is experiencing severe pain or any of the other symptoms and conditions listed above, we would love to see how we can help. Upper Cervical Chiropractic care has shown tremendous success in helping patients get back to normal, without being burdened by chronic pain and debilitating ailments.  At Blair Chiropractic Clinic, we want to fix the problem you’re having.  Our motto is “Find it, fix it, then leave it alone”.  Visit www.blairclinic.com or call (806) 747-2735 today to speak with a member of our staff about scheduling a screening or ask any questions you might have.

Your Body is Your Best Doctor!

Everything in the body is controlled by the brain, including things like the immune system and hormones.  The brain talks with the rest of the body through nerve fibers. The brain and nerves together make up the nervous system.

Most nerves travel from the brain down through the spine, or back bone.  The weakest part of the spine is the neck (also known as the cervical spine), especially at the very top where it joins the head.

Inside the spine all the nerves are grouped together to form the spinal cord.  The most important part of the spinal cord is also at the top where over ten billion nerves come together in an area the size of your thumb!

The Problem

The top bone in the neck can slightly dislocate from the head, creating a misalignment.  A misalignment that causes interference to the nerves is called a Vertebral Subluxation.

In order to reduce some of the interference to nerves the body will change its posture to protect the nerves in the neck. Many symptoms are related to this change in posture rather than the original problem: the Vertebral Subluxation.

Symptoms of the Vertebral Subluxation can be almost anything.  Low back pain, pain between the shoulders, neck pain, and headaches are among the most common, but any breakdown in health may be a result of the Vertebral Subluxation.

Treating symptoms or just loosening up the spine, does not fix the original problem and the symptoms will just come back or show up somewhere else.

The Solution

The solution is to find the original problem and fix it only!  Once the blockage at the top of the neck is removed there is no longer any reason for the body to compensate with bad posture and so it begins to grow back into its normal shape.  The combination of these two things permits your body to heal properly.

All chiropractors adjust the neck.  Only Blair Upper-Cervical chiropractors take into account the fact that no two bodies are the same, and the inside is as different as the outside.  Specialized x-rays allow for the design of a very light adjustment tailored especially for each individual body and condition that will slide the bone back into place without twisting or “popping” the neck.

Most people report that the first adjustment was so gentle they couldn’t tell that something had actually happened until their symptoms started to change and go away.

Because of the precision of the analysis and adjustment, most people require about 90 percent fewer adjustments than with most other chiropractic techniques.

The Results

Does this really work?  In Dr. Elder’s practice alone, he has seen the health of hundreds of patients improve after a Blair Upper-Cervical adjustment.  Although he does not specifically treat the following health conditions or symptoms, his patients report improvement or complete freedom from:

• High blood pressure

• Diabetes Mellitus

• Mutliple Sclerosis

• Scoliosis

• Migraine Headaches

• Tension Headaches

• Cluster Headaches

• TMJ Syndrome

• Neck pain

• Upper back pain

• Lower back pain

• Numbness and Tingling

• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

• Whiplash

• Heart Palpitations

• Chronic ear infections

• Colic

• Blurry vision

• Sciatica

• Muscle weakness

• Indigestion

• Stiffness

• Hip pain

• Ringing in the ears

• Dizziness

• Pinched nerves

• Arthritis

• Asthma

• Facial pain

• Sleeping disorders

• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

• Fibromyalgia

• Slipped discs

• …and more!

Your body has wonderful healing abilities.  Dr. Elder is committed to a chiropractic technique that gives your body the opportunity to restore itself naturally.

Posted in Chiropractic Clinic and tagged arthritis, fatigue, headaches, healing, health, high blood pressure, muscle weakness, pain, recovery, TMJ Syndrome, whiplash

My big pain in the neck

Warning: This is long, and yet this is my story extremely abbreviated.

If you have pain anywhere in your body and you don’t know what to do, you may relate, and it may be worth reading until the very end.

When I was 6 years old, I remember crying because the bottom of my back hurt so bad I had to stop what I was doing. Today I am 46. I can still remember the sharp pains where my hips attached to the spine radiating out from the middle.

In elementary school,

I almost always missed most of December and all the fun Christmas preparations and parties. Why? Pneumonia, Bronchitis, Sinus infections, high fevers, you name it. When other people got a cold, I would come down with severe, stubborn infections. I remember spending days and nights in my parents’ bed. My mom didn’t want me to be left unattended due to the high fevers.

In 4th grade, we had music right after lunch. Every week half way through class my head would start to pound so horrendously that I could not hold the tears back. I would be sent home.

February 5th grade: The left side of my upper back (all around my shoulder blade) locked up and swelled up. It felt like a knife stabbing me at every breath. Any movement was unbearable. Three weeks of school was lost while I mostly laid flat on my back between doctor’s appointments. My most vivid memory from this period wasgetting a shot directly into the center of the worst muscle spasm. The tears flew uncontrollably out of my eyes. This was done with the intention of pain relief, but the traumatic experience changed nothing. It seemed like this episode connected my headaches to my lower back pain. Everything between my face, forehead, across the top of my head, the back of my head, neck, shoulder blades and into my lower spine never stopped from that day.

People say they get headaches or backpain.

Not me. I had a headache. An 18-year headache.

It would vary in intensity but never go away. The best it ever got was always annoying and exhausting. At worst I could not get out of bed or sit or be in the light. I could not finish speaking sentences because of the intense pain. During this time and onward I would have recurring nightmares at night that there was a tumor inside my upper spine that was killing me. During the day I just felt like there was pressure on the nerves in my upper neck. Whenever I would express this to doctors they would just say “that can’t happen.”

I could continue sharing these vivid memories and all the details. For weeks my neck locked up so I could not turn my head at all. You could not see where my neck stopped and shoulders started because it was so inflamed. For a couple of years I could not hold a pen or sign my name with my dominant hand due to severe tennis elbow. (If only I could have played tennis.) I could describe in detail the discouragement during the six months I could not taste any of my food.  It was a sinus infection that the doctors and antibiotics were not able to tame. Or all the terrible memories of 10 months straight with severe hives. Swollen itchy bumps covered my body from the bottoms of my feet to the inside of my mouth and even my eyelids. On several occasions, I had to go to the emergency room. I carried medication in my purse in case the swelling would be in a place that would keep me from breathing.

Do I need to say I was desperate? Depressed?

My parents, myself and later my husband all were trying everything.

I have been through tests, specialists and treatment methods both traditional and alternative. I even went to a Chiropractor and decided never to do that again as I had never been worse than right after my chiropractic manipulation.

After all those years of trying everything, it would be easy to give up.
I am glad I didn’t give up.

At age 22 I moved with my husband from Norway to California. My husband had been seeing Dr. Muncy, a Blair upper cervical chiropractor since he was 10 years old. He wanted me to see him and thought he could probably help me.
He knew about my terrible previous experience with a Chiropractor, but I trusted him. Besides I had heard how much help my mother- in- law had been helped with her severe headaches. After trying everything for so long the decision to go to another expert was tricky. I desperately wanted help. I also didn’t want to waste my money, time and get my hopes up once again for something that didn’t help.

Here’s what happened when I went in for my upper cervical appointment:

The Dr. wanted to run some tests before I told him what was going on because he wanted to keep it objective. The tests didn’t hurt. After 5 minutes he gently touched the place in my upper neck that I was having nightmares about. He said: “You have a bone out of alignment right here and it is putting pressure on the nerves that lead to the rest of the body”

Finally a Doctor who saw the origin of the pain problem.

He took some X-Rays and made a precision adjustment based on what he saw. Then he adjusted 3 bones in my neck and explained how extremely rare it would be to have 3 misalignments. I was told I must have had a trauma to my neck when I was little. This is consistent with what I know. It also explains why my health problems started when I was just a little girl. The adjustments didn’t hurt at all, unlike my previous experience. Inside me, I felt like something relaxed a little. I slept through the whole night for the first time in my life.

A healing process had begun.

My symptoms didn’t go away overnight, but clearly, I was getting gradually better instead of gradually worse.

I was actually improving, not just managing my pain. A few years after this first adjustment I had an A-Ha moment in the car driving home from the gym and grocery store: “I have no pain! My muscles don’t ache. MY HEAD DOESN’T HURT.” This day was the end of my 18year headache. I wish I could say I have never had them since. Unfortunately, I still get headaches when my neck slips back out of alignment, but they go away or get a lot better when I get put back in alignment.

Moving Forward:

It turned out that the injuries in my neck were substantial enough and had been going on long enough that I have some permanent damage.  I will require lifetime maintenance Chiropractic care. The good news about this is that because of this husband, Gordon decided to devote his life to taking care of me and others like me. He continues after almost 20 years as an Upper Cervical Chiropractor to study hard so he can always improve and help even the most stubborn health problems. It is our purpose in life to help as many people as possible have as much healing as possible, first in California and now in Lubbock, TX. We moved to Lubbock because this is where Dr. Blair made the discoveries that led to my health. This is where we feel we can make the most impact to do the same. I feel deeply on my own body the difference between pain and desperation that chokes off all hope versus life flowing healing powers that live in my own body.

If you have been reading all this, there is a good chance you have questions. Maybe questions about me or possibly you have questions about the Blair Upper Cervical technique that got me started on the way to health. Do you have questions about your own situation? It will make me happy to discuss this with you. Feel free to call me or E-mail from anywhere, or make an appointment if you live in Lubbock. If you do not live in Lubbock, I will be happy to help you find the closes upper cervical doctor to where you live. I was able to find help and you can too!

Posted in Chiropractic Clinic, Conditions, Kids, Upper Cervical Doctor and tagged Blair Chiropractic Clinic, blair upper cervical, bronchitis, children, depressed, exhausted, headaches, healing process, hip pain, hives, inflammation, low back pain, Lubbock, misalignment, neck pain, nerve pressure, out of alignment, pneumonia, shoulder pain, sinus infections, tendinitis, tennis elbow

The Lubbock Legacy Continues

In the beginnning...

 

Dr.William G. Blair adjusted his first patient in Lubbock,Christmas 1949.

He decided to become a Chiropractor after suffering from severe asthma and getting near immediate relief after his first Upper Cervical adjustment.  A perfectionist, he worked tirelessly to improve imaging and adjusting techniques in order to help more people. They started flocking into his office in more numbers than he could imagine. The Blair Chiropractic Clinic was built in 1955 in its current location on Ave Q.  Dr. Blair  treated thousands of patients before his lungs forced him to retire in 1984. Dr. Blair also developed a curriculum to teach other DCs how to practice his specialized technique and handpicked Dr. R. Weldon Muncy in California to carry the torch as head instructor for the Blair technique. Today there are Blair Upper Cervical Chiropractors as far away as Australia and Europe with a concentration in California.

Continuing to carry the torch...

 

Dr. E.A. Addington considers himself Dr. Blair’s last student.

With his analytical mind and attention to detail he has continued to provide excellent quality care to the people of Lubbock and surrounding areas. He was awarded the distinction of Blair Chiropractor of the Year by the Blair Chiropractic Society in 2014. Due to a genetic condition and  several bad accidents, his health has been failing and he has been unable to accept new patients the last 6 years.However, Dr. Addington has sacrificed greatly  to continue the legacy of  caring for people despite severe pain and reliance on a walker.

This takes us up to present day: November 1st marks the date Dr. Gordon Elder moved into town from California as the third Director of the Blair Chiropractic Clinic.

To infinity and beyond...

 

Dr. Gordon D. Elder was introduced to Blair Upper Cervical Chiropractic as a child

His mother brought him to Dr. R. Weldon Muncy for chronic sinus infections that cleared up when he was in alignment. His mother had been suffering from debilitating headaches24-7 that improved under Dr. Muncy’s care.The Blair Technique once again changed Dr. Elder’s  life after he fell in love and married his Norwegian wife, Ruth. Ruth was almost crippled by pain and chronic illness growing up. She was unable to participate in many normal  activities. This all started to change after she trusted her husband’s advice and sought Blair Upper Cervical Chiropractic care. For the first time in her life she began to sleep through the night and started a long healing process. (Now 24 years later she is a personal trainer and exercise instructor! A bit of a transformation !?)

Gordon was unhappy with his college major and as soon as he decided to become a Chiropractor his calling was found. During his time at Cleveland Chiropractic College he excelled academically. Simultaneously he attended continuing education seminars in the Blair method as well as extensive one-on-one mentoring by Dr. Muncy who had been handpicked by Dr. Blair to continue as the head teacher for the Blair technique. Dr. Elder is Certified as an Advanced Instructor in the Blair Technique.

Dr. Elder has practiced the Blair Upper Cervical technique exclusively since he graduated in Dec.99. It is with great humility and dedication that Dr. Elder and Ruth decided to transfer their patients to other Doctors in California and relocate along with their children to Lubbock to continue providing specific Blair Upper Cervical care to West Texas.

What does this mean for you?

 We would love to meet you and hear your story.

First: Come in for a  screening!

This is a quick appointment designed to see if you have a bone out of alignement in the spine causing nerve impingement.  It is for you to decide if you want to give us a try .It would be an honor and privilege to partner with you in your quest for good health.

If you decide this type of treatment seems tight for you we will provide receipts with all the codes insurance companies need including Medicare.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Second: Tell a Friend!

We rely on people who understand the power of specific Chiropractic Care to spread the word that we once again accept new patients across all age groups here in Lubbock ,South Plains and all of West Texas.

For questions or to make an appointment, please  give our office a call. We’d love to talk to you.

Posted in Chiropractic Clinic, Upper Cervical Doctor and tagged asthma, blair upper cervical, Chiropractc adjustment, Chiropractic, Dr. Addington, free screening, headaches, healing process, health insurance, hisotry, legacy, Lubbock, medicare, pain, relief, sinus infections, West Texas