roanoke chiropractor

Back Pain

COVID-19 Have You Stuck at Home? It’s a Great Opportunity to Start Taking Care of Your Back!

Posted on 03.31.20 |

While we know this is a difficult time for many, being stuck at home can be a great opportunity to practice self-care. If you’re someone who suffers from back pain, take this time to learn some simple and effective ways to relieve it.

In this blog, Dr. Cody Doyle discusses the best back and shoulder stretches, how to sit and sleep properly, and exercises to improve your back health.

Back and Shoulder Stretches

The proper stretches can relieve pain by helping you maintain flexibility, promote range of motion, and improve blood flow. Choose a few of the following stretches to complete daily and spend 30 seconds on each stretch.

In this list, we’ll tell you the name of the stretch, what type of pain it helps with, and the steps to complete it.

1. Neck side bend and rotation: neck and upper back

Sit or stand facing forward
Tilt your head to the right
Hold for 10 seconds
Roll your head to the left slowly
When you reach your left shoulder, hold for ten seconds
Roll back to the right shoulder

Repeat this stretch two to three times.

2. Shoulder roll: shoulders and upper back

Stand up straight
Place your arms at your sides
Roll your shoulders from the back to the front in a circular motion five times

Repeat two to three times.

3. Overhead arm reach: shoulders and upper back

Sit up straight on a chair
Face forward
Place your feet flat on the ground
Put your right arm straight up
Reach to the left
Bend at the torso—you should feel a stretch in your shoulder and middle of your back
Return to the original position

Repeat five times then switch to your opposite arm.

4. Chair rotation: upper, mid, and lower back

Sit sideways in a chair
Place your feet directly in front of you on the ground
Rotate your torso to the right and reach for the back of the chair
For ten seconds, hold yourself in that position
Use your arms to rotate your torso further

Repeat three times for each side.

5. Cat cow: mid and lower back

Get down on your hands and knees
Place your palms right under your shoulders
Place your knees directly under your hips
Inhale and pull your pelvis in while rounding out your mid back
Pull your navel into your spine
Drop your head
Hold for three to five seconds
Breathe out and return to the original position
Tilt your face upward
Allow your back to sink towards the floor
Hold for three to five seconds

Repeat this stretch five times.

Other Helpful Stretches

The Cleveland Clinic offers short videos that show what each of these stretches looks like. They also include several other stretches, including:

Pec stretch
Child’s pose
Knee to chest
Butterfly
Thoracic extension

Best Sitting and Sleeping Practices

Lower back pain makes everything in life more difficult—even sitting and sleeping! It may take between 10 and 20 days for your back to heal, but learning how to sit and sleep properly will certainly help ease the pain.

Sitting

To reduce the pain in your lower back, follow these guidelines:

Sit as little as possible and only for 10 to 15 minutes at a time
Use a pillow or rolled-up towel for back support while sitting
Place your feet directly on the floor in front of you (use a stool if necessary)
Sit in a firm chair with armrests
Adjust your chair height
When turning, turn your entire body

Sleeping

Good, restful sleep is essential to living a healthy life. It’s also a great time to let your back muscles rest and reset. These five tips will help support your back and give you better sleep.

Find the right position.

There are ways to support your back without having to completely change your sleeping position. If you’re a side-sleeper, slightly bend your legs at the knees and pull them towards your chest, then place a pillow between your legs.

Those who sleep on their backs should put a pillow under their knees and head. For additional support, roll up a small towel and place it under the back.

Sleeping on your stomach is one of the worst positions for your back. However, you can lessen the pressure on your lower back by placing a pillow under your lower abdomen and pelvis. Sleep with a pillow under your head as long as it doesn’t cause more strain on your back.

Get a new mattress.

Mattresses today come in all levels of comfort. It can be difficult to decide whether a firm mattress or soft mattress is better for your back, but the best thing to do it try them out. Pay attention to how your back feels after you’ve slept in a hotel bed or at someone else’s house.

Placing your mattress on the floor will give it more support than when it is sitting on a box spring. Try this for a couple of nights to see how the extra support affects your pain. You can make your mattress softer by adding a mattress topper. As a bonus, you’ll avoid the expenses of buying a brand-new mattress!

Talk to a chiropractor to help you determine whether a firm or soft mattress is best for you.

Be careful when getting in and out of bed.

So many people throw their backs out while getting in and out of bed. To avoid further pain in your back, make slow movements and avoid bending at the waist.

When getting into bed, sit on the edge of the bed, then as you lie down on your side, bring your legs into the bed. Once your settled, adjust to the proper sleeping position.

Exercise your core.

Strengthening the muscles in your abdomen, hips, pelvis, and lower back eases back pain and lowers the risk of muscle spasms. We’ll discuss some of the best exercises to relieve back pain in the next section.

Do yoga before bed

Yoga doesn’t just reduce your back pain, it also lowers stress levels and encourages better sleep. Your chiropractor can help you decide which yoga stretches and poses are best for your back pain.

Back, Shoulder, and Neck Exercises

Exercising the muscles in your back, shoulders, and neck is essential to reducing and preventing further pain. Complete these seven exercises at least three times a week and always after stretching.

Row for upper back
Face pull for upper back and shoulder
Scapular squeeze for upper back and shoulder
Wall angles for neck, shoulders, and upper back
Reverse dumbbell fly for shoulders and upper back
Lat pulldown for shoulders and upper back
Superman for mid and lower back

Click here for instructions and short videos on how to complete these exercises.

Talk to a Chiropractor

When it’s possible to visit with a chiropractor, schedule an initial consultation. Chiropractors like Dr. Doyle are passionate about helping their patients achieve total wellness through natural and conservative treatments.

To meet with our Roanoke, TX chiropractor, call (817) 767-5430 today.

Did You Know: Conditions a Chiropractor Can Treat

Posted on 03.4.20 |

Most people realize a chiropractor can help with conditions of the spine, such as neck pain, backaches, and damaged discs. What many patients don’t know, however, is that they can help with many issues not generally thought of as connected to the spine.

Chiropractic care can influences the body’s nervous system, helping to desensitize painful tissues and decrease the overall pain burden on the body. This alternative medicine treatment option can treat many health conditions that may surprise you.

Dr. Cody Doyle has over two decades of experience in successfully treating patients with a multitude of health care issues. Today, he is going to share about five of the most surprising issues chiropractic can treat:

Headaches
Stress and Anxiety
Fibromyalgia
Tight Muscles
Weak Immune System

If you suffer from any of these, consider seeking chiropractic treatment for evidence-based, natural, and holistic relief.

A chiropractor can help with headaches.

Most people get occasional headaches that t described as nagging or dull, but some suffer from frequent, severe headaches. While medications and hiding in a quiet, dark room may bring some relief, there are also additional options.

Research shows us that spinal manipulation effectively treats headaches caused by tension or those that begin in the neck. One study showed that over 70 percent of patients who suffer from migraines experienced “noticeable” or “substantial” relief after treatment with chiropractic care.

The truth is, some headaches are the result of neck dysfunction and neck muscle tension. The majority of headache sufferers spend hours in the same position, such as in front of a TV or computer. Moreover, their job often involves poor posture. This leads to irritation of the joints and tension in the scalp, neck, and upper back.

How can a chiropractor help bring relief?

Perform spinal manipulations or manual adjustments to restore normal function to your spine, which alleviates mechanical stress and improves spinal function.
Perform acupuncture, which keeps your body balanced and reduces stress and anxiety.
Educate you regarding ergonomics and proper posture.
Teach you relaxation techniques and exercises that reduce stress and help your body heal.
Create a nutritional plan to improve your overall health, which may include adding vitamins or herbs or a change in diet.

Chiropractors can help you reduce stress and anxiety.

Stress, especially when it is prolonged, can wreak havoc on your body. When we experience stress, our brain activates the “fight or flight” reaction by releasing adrenalin and cortisol into the body. This systemic reaction is nature’s way of preparing us to either flee a dangerous situation or stay and fight.

When adrenalin and cortisol flood your body, the result is an increase in blood pressure and heart rate. Moreover, they redirect blood away from the extremities and digestive system, effectively increasing blood volume.

Our bodies are unable to process the cortisol and adrenalin naturally. If we don’t put them to use to actually fight or run, it creates a tremendous strain on your muscles, organs, and nerves.

Frequent or prolonged activation of adrenalin and cortisol surges can be disastrous to your overall health and well-being. It puts you at an increased risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, muscle damage, and delayed healing from injury and disease. In addition, it can lead to panic attacks, anxiety, headaches, fatigue, insomnia, weight fluctuations, loss of sex drive, and digestive issues.

But what is stress?

There three main sources of stress are our body, our environment, and our emotions.

Stress originating in our body can come from poor nutrition, illness or disease, or injury. It can also come from not getting proper sleep or an improperly functioning organ.

Environmental stresses include weather, noise, pressure regarding performance standards or time constraints, and physical threats.

Emotional stress involves how we react to physical or environmental stress in our thoughts and emotions.

Chiropractic Treatment for Stress Includes:

Chronic stress can lead to neuromusculoskeletal irritation that creates adverse pressure/tension on your neuromusculoskeletal structures, i.e., spinal joints and nerves.

When you have adverse neural tension (ANT), it impedes the nerve signals traveling to the brain from the body and to the body from the brain.

One of the main goals of chiropractic care is to keep the spine and nervous system functioning optimally. This helps desensitize overly sensitive tissues and nerves, decreasing the pain burden, and leading to more normal function. This also helps the body process and manage stress in a healthier way.

Chiropractic treatment can also improve blood flow and reduce nerve irritation and muscle tension. This helps your body to return to a more relaxed, balanced state, which allows your brain to turn off the adrenalin so your body can heal.

A doctor of chiropractic can also create and suggest a nutritional plan. For instance, the addition of B vitamins helps your body cope with stress.

Moreover, a chiropractor can teach you relaxation techniques and exercises to help your body heal faster.

Chiropractic Treatment for Fibromyalgia

While many people don’t understand what fibromyalgia (FM) is, patients who suffer from it know it is no joke. This chronic disorder involves widespread sensitivity and pain throughout the entire body. This condition also causes disturbances in sleep, which leads to chronic fatigue. Many patients also experience TMJ pain, irritable bowel syndrome, and psychological conditions.

It can be difficult to make an FM diagnosis, but estimates put the number of Americans suffering from this often disabling disorder at around two percent.

Patients with FM are overly sensitive to even slight stimuli and report a pain response to things not normally painful. Since our nervous system communicates information from the outside world, many believe the root cause is a central nervous system disorder.

How does chiropractic care help?

Few FM patients are able to find relief for all their symptoms. Several studies have shown, however, that many report improvement with chiropractic treatment. One study revealed that up to 60 percent of patients reported “significant improvement” with reduced pain, decreased fatigue, and improved sleep.

One of the main focuses of chiropractic training involves the positive impact chiropractic care has on the nervous system.

Moreover, Dr. Doyle is a Board-Certified Chiropractic Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine Specialist. This means he has received an education far above chiropractic school and has passed rigorous board examinations. This designation puts him in the top two percent of all doctors of chiropractic.

Dr. Doyle is highly trained in both the nervous system and the musculoskeletal system. When you choose treatment with him, you can trust that he knows how to help. Chiropractic care can treat pressure points, neck and back pain, shoulder pain, and headaches. It also improves the nervous system, allowing FM patients an improved chance for recovery.

Moreover, spinal adjustments increase mobility between the joints of the spine. This helps loosen restrictions and improves the overall range of motion.

Chiropractic care loosens tight muscles.

As we age, we tend to lose the flexibility and range of motion we once enjoyed. Each year, this repetitive trauma accumulates in the wear and tear of your body.

Losses in range of motion and flexibility can interfere with our ability to do things we once did with ease. Over time, even simple tasks, such as tying your shoes or picking something up off the ground, can become difficult.

As tasks and chores become more difficult and painful, we tend to avoid these activities. Maybe you have heard the saying, “Use it or lose it.” When we don’t exercise regularly, our joints and muscles stiffen. If we don’t work at correcting this, it can lead to adhesions, scar tissue, and the loss of alternative movement strategies.

Regular chiropractic care, however, improves range of motion and flexibility. Joint manipulations, including those to the spine as well as other parts of the body, provide a novel sensory stimulus that acts to improve otherwise limited movements. This helpt to breaks adhesions, reduces pain, improves coordination and balance, and allows your body to function more normally.

In addition, he can teach you specific exercises to perform at home. This will help you build upon and maintain the benefits of treatment.

Chiropractic care can boost your immune system.

The immune system, endocrine system, and nervous system are all interlinked and rely on each other for proper function. When one system is not working effectively, it negatively affects the other systems.

When spinal joints are dysfunctional, they can cause sensitization to nerve pathways. This can result in “central sensitization” and ultimately cause increased susceptibility to all types of stressors. It also causes the endocrine system to release the stress hormone cortisol, which further reduces the effectiveness of the immune system.

Chiropractic treatments can help to desensitize the nervous system and reduce neuromusculoskeletal compression and irritation. This, in turn, boosts the responses of the immune system.

Get on the Road to Recovery

If you are in the Roanoke, Southlake, Trophy Club, or Justin area, you can trust Dr. Cody Doyle to bring you relief and help you heal.

Call (817) 767-5430 today to schedule your consultation appointment.

Should I visit a chiropractor?

Posted on 02.7.20 |

Do you suffer from back or neck pain? Do frequent headaches interfere with your life?

If so, you may wonder what the best treatment option is.

Did you know your local chiropractor offers effective treatment solutions that are noninvasive and drug-free? That could be why approximately 22 million Americans visit a chiropractor each year. With those visits, 35 percent, or around 7.7 million, seek care for relief from back pain caused by sports injuries, accidents, and muscle sprains and strains.

If you are in the Roanoke, TX area, Dr. Cody Doyle offers safe, effective treatment options for your pain. With over two decades of experience, he has successfully brought relief to thousands of suffering patients.

But Dr. Doyle goes above and beyond chiropractic care. He also offers acupuncture and myofascial release therapy, as well as other alternative therapies, such as nutrition counseling, ultrasound therapy, muscle stimulation, and education regarding home exercise.

And he treats a lot more than just neck and back pain. Keep reading to learn the surprising conditions chiropractic care can help.

What is a chiropractor?

A chiropractor is someone licensed as a Doctor of Chiropractic, with the initials DC after their name. When you see these initials, you know your provider has received extensive training in disorders of bones, joints, muscles, and ligaments.

Training and education to be a chiropractor include a four-year undergraduate degree (usually a “pre-med” type of degree) and four years of chiropractic school (approximately 4,200 instructional hours). In addition, they have taken and passed a National Board Exam.

A chiropractic program typically looks something like this:

First year: Courses in biochemistry, spinal anatomy, general anatomy, and chiropractic principles.
Second year: Courses in pathology, imaging interpretation, clinical orthopedics, chiropractic procedures, and research methods.
Third year: Courses in integrated chiropractic, dermatology, pediatrics, practice management, clinical internships, and ethics and jurisprudence.
Fourth year: Clinical internship, when the student completes rotations in a clinic or hospital and studies chiropractic care under a licensed chiropractor.

In addition, many chiropractors, such as Dr. Doyle, spend a tremendous amount of time learning about various other specialties, such as sports medicine, nutrition, rehabilitation, and acupuncture.

What is chiropractic care

The main treatments chiropractors perform involve hands-on spinal and joint manipulations to achieve proper alignment of the spine and the body’s musculoskeletal structure. When joints are out of proper alignment, it can cause pain in the neck, back, head, hands, arms, feet, and legs.

Proper alignment allows the body to heal itself naturally without drugs or invasive treatments, such as surgery.

These manipulations restore joint mobility caused by tissue injury from trauma, such as a car accident or fall, and repetitive stress, such as from performing the same stressful movements over and over.

What conditions can a chiropractor treat?

Typically, patients go to a chiropractor for pain relief from injury to joints, muscles, and connective tissue, such as ligaments, cartilage, and tendons. While some patients receive chiropractic care as an adjunct to other treatments, many patients find relief from their pain with chiropractic care alone.

Chiropractic care can relieve pain that is acute, chronic, or from repetitive stress in the back, neck, head, and upper and lower extremities.

Examples of chronic pain include diagnoses like arthritis, fibromyalgia, or degenerative disc disease.

Acute pain can be caused by things like moving heavy furniture, a fall or car accident, or being tackled too hard. Acute pain typically does not last longer than six weeks.

Repetitive stress can cause carpal tunnel syndrome, rotator cuff (shoulder) pain, and plantar fasciitis (foot pain).

However, many patients also seek chiropractic care for issues not involving pain.

Some surprising conditions chiropractors treat successfully include:

Migraine and tension headaches
Seasonal allergies
Neuropathies
Weight loss
Stress and anxiety
Gastrointestinal issues
Insomnia
Pregnancy-related pains
Preparation for labor and delivery to reduce the pain of childbirth
Infertility
Weak immune system

You may wonder how a chiropractor can help with these conditions. The fact is, nerve impulses travel between your entire body and your brain through the spine, which is the root of your nervous system. When your spine is out of alignment, it puts the body under tremendous stress and can cause a multitude of problems.

Many illnesses and issues are worsened or caused by this stress, with activates the “fight or flight” reaction in the body. This increases your heart rate and blood pressure and redirects your blood away from your digestive system, organs, and extremities.

Over time, this wreaks havoc on your body and increases your risk of diabetes, muscle tissue damage, infertility, slowed healing, and damage to your immune system.

When put back into proper alignment, your body can process and manage stress in a much healthier way, allowing your body to heal itself.

Also, spinal adjustments improve blood circulation and reduce spinal nerve irritation. This helps your brain to turn off the fight or flight response, which also assists the body in healing.

In addition, Dr. Doyle can recommend helpful vitamins and supplements, teach you home exercises and relaxation techniques, and help you improve your posture.

What does chiropractic care involve?

At the first visit, Dr. Doyle will perform a comprehensive examination, which includes any necessary x-rays and gathering information about your medical history, current medications, and lifestyle factors. Next, he will discuss your symptoms, concerns, goals, and desires, and answer any questions you have. Once he has an accurate diagnosis, he will work with you to come up with a treatment plan.

The goal of chiropractic care includes restoring the function of joints, muscles, and connective tissue to align your spine and musculoskeletal system. This will also improve your range of motion, which helps prevent additional injuries.

Chiropractic treatment involves manual adjustments, where Dr. Doyle will manipulate your joints into proper alignment using sudden but controlled force. While some patients fear the adjustments will cause pain, you do not need to worry. Occasionally there is a very quick moment of “pain,” as if you were pinched, but it abates instantly. Then, what you will notice is the relief of pain as the adjustment reduces the irritation of your muscles, joints, and nerves.

At the beginning of your chiropractic treatment, you are in an “urgent care” phase, and more frequent visits may be needed. This is important because the benefits of chiropractic care have a cumulative effect, and repeat treatments are needed to train the body, just like repeat exercise is needed for strength training.

After a few weeks, however, most patients can move to the rehabilitation phase, which requires less frequent visits. Once your pain is well controlled, you go into maintenance. At this point, treatment is pretty much “as needed.”

Are you ready to see how good a chiropractor can help you feel?

If you are in the Roanoke, Trophy Club, Keller, or Southlake area, call (817) 767-5430 to schedule your consultation with Dr. Doyle. He would love to help you get on the road to health and wellbeing.