Back pain can be debilitating. When discomfort begins to interfere with your quality of life, it’s time to consider your treatment options. Spinal injections are one of the most common solutions for chronic back pain. Unfortunately, they only mask the problem, and do not address the root cause of discomfort. Here, Dr. Cody Doyle – your chiropractor in Roanoke, TX – explains why we recommend trying chiropractic care before receiving spinal injections.Read More >
Spotting the Signs of Degenerative Disc Disease
The human spine contains 23 spinal discs. These ligaments provide cushioning for the spine’s boney vertebrae and keep the back aligned and flexible. Often, when patients complain of a painful, sore, or aching back, issues with spinal discs are to blame. Degenerative disc disease refers to the condition when damaged or aging spinal discs cause pain or discomfort.
If you are experiencing back, neck or shoulder pain, schedule a consultation with Dr. Doyle. At Doyle Chiropractic and Acupuncture, we offer a range of treatments that can help alleviate painful symptoms naturally. Call our Roanoke office at 817-767-5430 and take the first step in reducing back pain today!
Causes of Degenerative Disc Disease
As you age, it’s normal for cushiony, water-filled spinal discs to begin drying out and flattening. This means less shock absorption between each of your vertebrae. Sometimes, the outer wall of a spinal disc can crack, causing a herniated disc. Other times, a spinal disc will shift out of place. All these problems can cause degenerative disc disease symptoms. While age is usually the top cause for degenerative disc disease, other causes can include obesity, lack of exercise, injury, or repetitive physical activity.
Several symptoms can alert you to whether your back pain could be associated with degenerative disc disease:
Pain Intensifies When Sitting
When seated, spinal discs in the lower back have up to three times more pressure on them than when standing. With degenerative disc disease, back pain is usually alleviated or reduced when walking or moving positions, because of the immediate pressure release that happens when a patient stands.
Greater Discomfort When Twisting the Back, Bending Over or Lifting Heavy Objects
Your spinal discs are layered between bony vertebrae, so when you twist or bend, damaged discs cannot absorb the shock or pressure from vertebrae as effectively. Lifting heavy objects puts additional strain on your back muscles and spine, and can pinch vertebrae closer together.
Dull to Debilitating Pain that Comes and Goes
Degenerative disc disease is characterized by waves of pain. The pain period may last days or weeks, and can vary in intensity throughout.
Pain Concentrated in the Lower Back, Upper Thighs or Buttocks
The lower spine becomes compacted with long periods of sitting, and usually endures the most amount of pressure during day-to-day activities. However, pain can be located in the neck, depending where the problem disc is located. In that case, pain or numbness will radiate to shoulders and arms.
Numbness, Tingling or Weakness in Back or Extremities.
Sensations of tingling or numb arms or legs, or a feeling of weakness in the area around the spine are symptoms of a pinched nerve. Pinched nerves can occur when herniated or out of place discs put pressure on surrounding nerves.
Relief with Chiropractic Care
Dr. Doyle can help relieve many of the symptoms associated with degenerative disc disease. He can determine whether your symptoms are coming from aging, herniated, or shifted discs that are blocking the spine’s natural mechanics or pressing on spinal nerves. Dr. Doyle will examine your range of motion, noting when movements are uncomfortable, and examine for evidence of inflammation or injury. If degenerative disc disease is causing your pain, Dr. Doyle could use a combination of treatments, including chiropractic adjustments or myofascial release therapy to align your spine and increase circulation to help reduce painful symptoms.
Schedule a Consultation
Don’t settle for back pain becoming a normal part of your life. Call Doyle Chiropractic and Acupuncture in Roanoke, TX and let us help you start feeling better in just one office visit! Call us at 817-767-5430.
5 Symptoms of a Herniated Disc That Might Surprise You
A slipped disc is usually a painful condition, but a mildly herniated disc may not cause severe pain. Some symptoms may seem so unrelated you could easily dismiss them as something else. (“I slept on it wrong” or “I need better walking shoes” or “I sat down too long” come to mind.) Oftentimes, patients sustain an injury to the back, think everything is fine again shortly afterward, but then experience other symptoms that don’t seem connected. Being able to identify secondary signs of a disc problem can help you better understand your body and determine whether a back issue is healing properly or needs further treatment.
Do you have back pain or disc problems? Keller chiropractor Dr. Cody Doyle routinely treats patients for spinal disc issues, and may be able to help your condition. Contact our office at 817-767-5430 to learn about chiropractic and complementary therapies at Doyle Chiropractic and Acupuncture.
What is a Slipped/Herniated Disc?
The spinal discs are the rubbery tissues that cushion the vertebrae. They are composed of layers of fibrocartilage, which (1) allow the spine to be flexible, (2) serve as shock absorbers, and (3) hold the vertebrae together. When an injury is sustained, the discs can be damaged or pushed out of place. They can also be pushed out of alignment or leak fluid due to improper lifting, aging, and/or a combination of the two. A disc that bulges out of place or slips out of place entirely is a serious health concern, since it limits your mobility and can impair your spinal function.
If you’ve had chronic back pain or a recent injury that may have affected your back, be on the lookout for these “unrelated” signs that a disc may be misaligned:
Pain in Arm or Leg
All of our body’s nerves travel through the superhighway of the spinal column. If a bulging disc is compressing a nerve, you might feel pain in locations other than the back. Depending on the location of the affected disc, you might have unexplained pain that manifests in the arm, leg, or trunk of your body.
Coldness on One Side of the Body
When nerves are compressed, the sensations you feel may not always be painful. You might feel a burning, tingling, numbness, or even unexplained coldness that only affects a localized area.
Foot Pain or Numbness
If a bulging disc is affecting the sciatic nerve, it can send shooting pains down one side of the leg and into the tailbone. However, sciatic nerve pain can also cause you to feel pain or lose sensation only in the foot. You might feel it in the ankle, toe, or bottom of the foot, depending on the location of the nerve compression.
Pain When You Laugh or Cough
A hearty round of laughter can certainly make your abdominal muscles sore, but that’s not the type of pain that a herniated disc can cause. If you feel sudden pain when you laugh, cough, or sneeze, it may be from the pressure in your abdomen reverberating into your back and jostling the bulging disc.
Unexplained Weakness
In addition to tingling and numbness, nerve compression can also cause one leg or arm to feel significantly weakened or more heavy than the other. For example, compression of the sciatic nerve can cause muscle weakness in the calf and hamstring muscles. If a bulging disc is pinching a nerve in the upper back, the muscles of the arm may be affected.
Visit Keller Chiropractor Cody Doyle to Learn More
Visit Doyle Chiropractic and Acupuncture if you have pain or other symptoms that may be connected to a spinal issue. Keller chiropractor Dr. Cody Doyle will listen to your symptoms and take scans to determine the cause of your pain. Contact us online or by calling 817-767-5430 to find out whether a chiropractic and complementary therapies may offer relief for your condition.
Back Pain During Pregnancy
When a woman’s body is nurturing the development of a new person, it understandably goes through a number of structural and chemical changes. Just about every part of the body may be affected—from the hair on the top of your head to the swelling in your ankles! The spine is no exception. As a pregnancy progresses, the extra weight that a woman carries in her belly can put stress on the vertebrae and lead to muscular and nervous system dysfunction, all of which may come with painful symptoms. Understanding what’s happening in the body can help you stay comfortable and find ways to relieve pain during your pregnancy.
To learn more about the effects of pregnancy on the spine and your musculoskeletal functioning, contact Keller TX chiropractor Dr. Cody Doyle. Call us at 817-767-5430 to make an appointment.
Lower Back Pain During Pregnancy
Most women gain about 20 pounds or more when pregnant, and most of it is concentrated in the belly. This increases lumbar lordosis (the arch of the lower back), which strains the vertebrae. This can cause constant lower back pain and muscle soreness. Another factor is the fact that pregnancy hormones relax the ligaments and joints to prepare the pelvis for delivery. This happens most significantly in the third trimester and can worsen any lower back pain a woman may be feeling.
If the pregnancy is not her first, an expectant mother might also be looking after an infant or toddler at the same time. This can mean carrying a child in her arms for several hours a day, bending over to pick up the child constantly, and all the other related activities that come with small children (e.g., picking up toys). These factors make back pain a real challenge for many expectant mothers.
Compressed Nerves
Sciatica is another common back problem during pregnancy, though it may be felt primarily in the buttocks. This condition can feel like a shooting pain in the lowest part of the spine (tailbone), that radiates down one or both legs. Sciatica is an example of pain resulting from a compressed nerve, as the sciatic nerve is located in the lower back. It may become compressed by weight gain, stress on the lower back from your shifting center of gravity, or even the position of the baby in the womb. Luckily this type of nerve pain usually goes away after delivery and recovery, but that doesn’t make it any easier to endure.
Keeping Your Spine Happy in the Third Trimester
There are several ways that expectant mothers can try to prevent these painful symptoms.
- Go swimming when possible. The lower gravity environment in the water can take the pressure of your lower back and give your spine and ligaments a break. There’s no need to make it an intense lap-swimming workout; just walk around or let yourself float, and you’ll be doing your back a favor.
- Make sure you sleep in a position that supports proper spinal alignment. Doctors recommend that pregnant women sleep on the left side, but it’s perfectly fine to sleep on the right if you are experiencing sciatic nerve pain on the left.
- Use a body pillow or pregnancy pillow to support your back when sleeping.
- Avoid sciatic pain when sitting by using a special pillow that keeps weight of the tailbone.
- Avoid carrying heavy loads or bending over to pick things up in the third trimester.
How a Keller TX Chiropractor Can Help
Many women are unaware that chiropractic care is not only possible during pregnancy, but can be incredibly helpful at relieving pain. All chiropractors are trained in caring for expectant mothers, and adjustments may even help you achieve an easier birth through proper pelvic alignment. Depending on your symptoms, Dr. Cody Doyle may recommend a combination of chiropractic, acupuncture, and or myofascial release therapy.
If you need a Keller TX chiropractor to help you cope with pregnancy-related back pain, contact our office to make an appointment. We are located on Byron Nelson Boulevard, directly across the street from Hawaiian Falls Water Park. Call us at 817-767-5430 to make an appointment.
Sleep Tips for Reducing Back and Neck Pain
It’s been long known that pain can affect your sleep, but did you know that your sleep ergonomics can make your pain worse, too? This may seem obvious to anyone who’s ever tried to sleep on an airplane or a too-soft guest bed, but it may not be readily apparent if you’re used to your own cozy bed.
Most people with back and neck pain understand that the type of mattress you sleep on (and the age of the mattress) can have an impact on how much pain you wake up with. Fewer people are aware that the position you sleep in can make a difference, as well.
Are you looking for Argyle TX chiropractic care? If your back or body pain is not responding to traditional medical interventions, Dr. Cody Doyle may be able to help you. Call our office at 817-767-5430 to make an appointment.
If you have back pain, there are few things you can do to help make sure you are keeping your spine properly aligned when you sleep.
Do not tuck your chin. It may seem natural to “go fetal” when you are feeling cold in bed, but tucking your chin downward elongates the back of the neck. A more ideal placement is to keep your chin up, at the same angle as you use when standing and looking into a mirror. If your pillow is too high, this can also cause you to tuck your chin, so pay attention to how you wake in the morning. You may need a lower pillow if you frequently wake up with your chin tucked.
Side sleeper? Use a pillow between the knees. When you lie on your side, the upper knee has a tendency to want to make contact with the bed. This shifts the hip and pulls the lumbar spine out of proper alignment. If you sleep with your knees separated this way, and you are more likely to wake up with lower back pain. It’s always better to sleep with the knees stacked one on top of the other. If this is not comfortable, use a pillow or blanket between the knees to keep your spine straight.
Sleep on your back to reduce pain. The most common recommendation for back pain is to sleep flat on your back. It’s simply easier to keep the spine straight when lying flat this way. If back sleeping is not comfortable, you may need to find a small pillow to put either (1) under the knees, or (2) under the small of your back. Try those two suggestions before you give up and give in to the desire to switch back to stomach- or side-sleeping.
Pick your pillow with care. A nice thing about buying new pillows these days is that rather than indicating “soft, medium, or firm,” the packaging suggests that the pillow is best for side sleepers, back sleepers, or stomach sleepers. If you’ve had the same pillow for many years, it’s definitely time to pick out a new one! Pillows should be replaced every six months, except for some gel or foam pillows that can last up to two years. Having a “fresh” pillow that is made for your sleep position can help make sure you hold your head and neck in an ideal placement when you sleep.
Avoid stomach-sleeping, if possible. Stomach sleeping tends to be the worst position for spinal alignment. Depending on the type of pillow and mattress you use, it may make you more at risk of compressing the lower back or elongating the neck. At the very least, stomach sleeping causes you to have the head turned to either the right or the left for hours at a time, which isn’t good.
Many people are able to change their preferred sleep position with a little bit of effort. If back and neck pain are something you struggle with, training yourself to sleep on your back may make a big difference.
If you need Argyle TX chiropractic care, Dr. Cody Doyle can help! Call our Roanoke-based office at 817-767-5430 to make an appointment.
What Chiropractic Really Is…and Isn’t
Is someone else’s negative view of chiropractic care keeping you from learning more about it? While chiropractic care has been around for decades and is a proven systemic method for improving health, it is not always viewed with an open mind as a viable treatment solution.
Your spine houses your central nervous system and is responsible for sending messages back and forth from your brain to other organs in your body to instruct how to function. If signals are interrupted, it could lead to pain, dysfunctional organs, and the development of certain medical conditions. With chiropractic care, a licensed chiropractor can adjust the vertebrae in your spine to help keep it properly aligned. Although chiropractic care is not considered a cure for a specific malady or disease, scientific and medical evidence have indicated that spinal adjustments can reduce pain and improve quality of life.
To learn more about Justin chiropractic care, please schedule a consultation with Dr. Cody Doyle. You can reach us by filling out our online form or calling 817-767-5430. We proudly serve clients living in the Roanoke, Keller, Argyle, and Southlake area. In this blog, we will discuss the common myths and realities about what chiropractic care is and isn’t.
Myth: Chiropractic must be harmful since popping your joints is bad for you.
Although it’s true that popping your knuckles is bad for you, when joints are correctly adjusted, it can increase range of motion and relieve pain and stiffness. Chiropractic adjustments are only performed on joints that are functioning improperly. You should never attempt to pop your back or neck on your own, this can lead to serious complications, such as hypermobility or looseness in the spine. If you have an urge to crack your knuckles or pop your neck, this is usually a sign that the spine is misaligned.
Myth: Chiropractic is unsafe.
Whether taking medication, undergoing surgery, or seeking chiropractic care, there is always the risk for adverse side effects or complications. However, the malpractice rates associated with chiropractic are low, which indicate it is a remarkably safe treatment. Before undergoing treatment, it is important that you seek treatment from a licensed and qualified chiropractor with a high level of experience.
Myth: Chiropractic care is only for those with back pain.
The benefits of Justin chiropractic go beyond relief of back pain. In fact, not everyone who sees a chiropractor has back pain. You can read more about that in the next section. Chiropractic care can improve overall body function. Patients who suffer from allergies, arthritis, migraines, and obesity have seen improvements by correcting back and neck misalignment.
Myth: I’d have to get my back cracked if I went to the chiropractor.
When meeting with the chiropractor for the first time, discuss your fears and concerns. Many who have a fear of their neck or back being manually adjusted can undergo alternative treatments in-office that will have the same effect. Chiropractors can use a wide variety of techniques, including light force and soft tissue manipulation that produce effective results with no popping sounds. Techniques are intended to meet the patient’s age, comfort level, and unique condition.
Learn More About Chiropractic Care
We encourage anyone interested in learning more about Justin chiropractic care to schedule a private consultation with Dr. Doyle. He will sit down and discuss the treatment in detail and answer any questions you may have to ensure you are comfortable. Please contact our office today online or call 817-767-5430.
Common Ways to Wreck Your Back
Back pain may seem inevitable, especially if you have a preexisting condition or family history of back problems. Many consider it a normal part of their daily life and have grown accustomed to adjusting their life and activities as needed. However, you may have more control than you think to eliminating back pain and improving your quality of life.
There are certain bad habits and techniques, such as a weak core and poor posture that could make your back vulnerable to injury. By making a few simple adjustments and visiting your local Keller pain management chiropractor, you could get back to enjoying life as you knew it before back pain.
Please read on to learn the common ways to wreck your back and the simple tips to implement to keep injury from occurring. If you are interested in scheduling a consultation with a Keller pain management professional, please contact Doyle Chiropractic & Acupuncture today online or by calling 817-767-5430.
Poor Posture
Sitting at your desk or in your car for long periods of time with shoulders hunched over, or your neck bent over a computer screen can do serious long-term damage to the natural curvature of your spine. Although your job may involve a lengthy commute and long days at the office, it’s important to practice good posture and proper ergonomics when sitting to help your spine stay healthy. Every 20 minutes, change your position, or get up and walk around and stretch your body.
The discs between your vertebrae are spongy and filled with fluid, specifically designed to cushion your spine during activity. However, when you are immobile for prolonged periods, the fluid in your disc drains and increases your risk for injury. Discs in your spine rely on motion to keep the fluid properly functioning.
Improper Exercise Techniques
Although exercise is good for your body and emotional health, if you are lifting weights or performing exercises incorrectly, it can wreck your back. If something hurts out of the ordinary while you are working out, stop and make the necessary adjustments. It may be beneficial to have a spotter at the gym to make sure you are lined up correctly so you don’t cause severe injury. Even low impact exercises, such as yoga can cause injury if you do not have your spine lined up correctly. While it may not hurt initially, if performed incorrectly, you will slowly cause problems. Working out in front of mirror will help you make the necessary adjustments to avoid injuring yourself. Focusing on building up your core strength and keeping it engaged during activity will also help alleviate the pressure on back.
Lifting Incorrectly
Many people lift objects or bend over incorrectly and unknowingly cause stress to their backs. If your job requires strenuous lifting or activity, there are a few tips to follow to keep your back healthy:
- Do not lift or move something that weighs 20 percent more than you.
- Keep your back straight and bend with your knees, not at your waist.
- Hold the heavy object close to you and not away from you.
- Do not hold the object lower than your knees or higher than your armpits.
- When lifting, do not twist or turn your back – keep the object and your feet always pointing in the same direction.
Don’t Ignore Back Pain
If you are currently experiencing back pain and need pain relievers to make it through the day, it may be time to consider meeting with a Keller pain management professional to find the root of the issue. Dr. Doyle provides chiropractic care, acupuncture, physical therapy, and other techniques to address back pain and improve the health of your spine.