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What causes scoliosis?

Essentially there are two types. One is due to a malformation of your spinal vertebrae which then leads to the abnormal curvature (congenital scoliosis). The other is most commonly due to an imbalance in the spinal muscles (idiopathic/functional scoliosis).

How can scoliosis be treated?

If the scoliosis is due to a malformation of the spinal vertebrae, bracing or surgery may be warranted, all dependent upon the severity. If scoliosis is due to an imbalance in spinal muscles, we first must determine what’s causing the imbalance. Functionally speaking, the imbalance is most commonly due to some altered function in the kidney’s or bladder. You’ll also see a functional weakness and tightness of the corresponding psoas muscle, which is on the front side (anterior) of the spine.

I commonly find that people with functional scoliosis have heavy metal toxicity and inability to utilize certain minerals. They are also dehydrated and stressed out to the max!

Here’s my recommendations:

• Find a chiropractor well trained in functional medicine who understands manual muscle testing (especially an Applied Kinesiologist). He or she will probably make nutritional recommendations as well as detoxification recommendations.
• Get your spine in alignment. By stimulating specific nerve pathways, your body can relax the spastic muscles and turn on the inhibited muscles.
• Get hydrated. Drink at least 1 liter of water for every 50 lbs of body weight.

Top 10 questions to ask when looking for a Chiropractor

1. Do you take X-rays based upon clinical findings and not just as part of a standard routine? There should be some clinical relevance as to why X-rays are taken.  Taking X-rays to just look for subluxations is not a good clinical reason.  Some good clinical reasons are to look for any spinal abnormalities such as fusion, tumors or degeneration.
2. Do you accurately measure all objective data? Postural analysis, Gait analysis, Surface Electromyograph, Muscle Response Testing, Active and Passive ranges of motion, Muscle length, Palpation tenderness, Reflex point analysis and Basic examination procedures.  Takes the time to do a thorough clinical examination and uses findings to produce an adequate treatment plan.
3. Do you manipulate the extremities as well as the spine?  You will not achieve balance by only manipulation of the spine.  If you walk on two feet, those need to be balanced as well as everything else along the chain!
4. Do you use other healing modalities in conjunction with spinal and extraspinal manipulation (such as Low Level Laser Therapy, Nutrition therapy, color therapy, sound therapy, brain balance techniques, ultrasound, ice, heat, soft tissue work and postural correction exercises)?
5. Do you use different adjustment methods such as manual and instrument adjusting? Sometimes, it may be a bad idea to give a forceful adjustment (let’s say severe osteoporosis).  Or a person just may not be comfortable with a high velocity manual adjustment.
6. Do you use some form of muscle testing? Muscle testing will tell you if the surrounding muscles of a joint actually stabilize the joint and allows proper joint movement.  Muscles move bones.  If the muscles are not balanced, your spine and other joints will not be balanced.
7. How do you determine my treatment plan? (If you are in acute pain – like it just happened cause you were in some sort of accident – then intensive treatment may be warranted.) But be weary when some Chiropractors jump the gun and tell you that you’ll need to come in every day or 3 times a week for like 6 months straight. It means that he’s really not doing his job effectively or he/she needs to pay off his/her Porsche.
8. Are you willing to refer me out to other practitioners if you cannot help me?
9. Are you adept at reading and interpreting laboratory results?
   
10. Is it mandatory that I keep my treatment schedule or do I have a say in my treatment plan? I’ve seen a lot of docs tell patients that they MUST attend a spinal care class or they MUST not miss their appointments. While this is great, no one should be forced into doing anything they don’t want to.  Remember you are in control of your health.

3 Big things to consider:

1. Do you feel comfortable with the doctor? This is probably the most important thing to look for and will determine if your treatment program will be successful. I have to admit that when a patient feels uncomfortable with me, my personality, or my treatment methods, they don’t get the results that we both desire. Make sure that you feel confident that the doctor can truly help you. If you’re unsure about these things, you probably won’t experience the full healing capacity of your body.
2. Is the doctor being real or just trying to get money out of you? There’s nothing worse than the “used car-salesman pitch.” I hear it all the time with all sorts of practitioners. You have to be certain that the doctor has YOUR best interests in mind rather than THEIRS. A good/honest doctor will give you recommendations that will maximize your healing capabilities rather than try to “sell” you on things you don’t need.
3. Ask the doctor if the only way he/she determines the area of subluxation is through X-ray. If the answer to this inquiry is YES, walk away. There’s nothing that disturbs me more than docs who say they determine spinal subluxations only from X-ray. You can see spinal distortions on X-ray, but to determine the area of subluxation requires more than just examining a radiograph. Subluxations should be determined through a thorough clinical examination which should include – at minimum – postural evaluation (both static and walking), palpation (feeling how the joints move), muscle testing and soft tissue evaluation.

All in all, I believe that everyone on this planet should be under the care of a Chiropractor.  My purpose for writing this guide is to help you separate the average ones from the better ones.  If you’re not under the care of a Chiropractor or have discontinued care, please stop reading right now and ask yourself “why am I not under care?”

One of the most important joints in the body is the temporomandibular joint or TMJ. This joint is located where your jawbone joins your skull just in front of your ear. While it is small in size, the symptoms that can be created by imbalances in its function can be wide reaching and sometimes debilitating.

How common are problems with this joint?

About 4% of the general population suffers from TMJ disorder. However, if you consider that a person has a TMJ imbalance if it causes symptoms like headache, dizziness, muscle pain, etc., then the estimates start at 20% of the population and go up.

What causes TMJ problems?

• Stress
• Bruxism or clenching of the teeth,
• Malocclusion due to your teeth not meeting properly when you bite
• Trauma. Trauma can be from an accident or from repetitive disuse of the joint. An example would be chewing only on one side of your mouth.

What symptoms associated to imbalances in TMJ?

• Almost any symptom of head and neck pain could have as at least part of its cause an imbalance in this joint.
• These include pain and ache in the jaw, teeth, sinuses, behind the eye, in the ear, on the side and back of the head.
• Pain and restriction in your shoulder and even changes in how you walk. A study published in the late 1970’s showed that there was a correlation between many causes of scoliosis and TMJ problems. The author’s summary, a dentist, was that a chiropractor and a dentist should examine every scoliosis patient.

• The major signs and symptoms of TMJ dysfunction consist of pain, tenderness, joint noise and limitation in opening your mouth. It is usually one sided, and may be localized or wide spread and may be referred to any area of the head.
• The pain is often worse after eating or upon awakening if you clench or grind your teeth at night. Tenderness, in the muscles of chewing or at the back of the head, is found in the vast majority of patients

How is TMJ treated?

To understand how we treat the TMJ, you need some basic background knowledge on how the joint functions and is formed. First, a muscular sling on each side supports your jaw. This sling consists of a muscle on the outside and inside of your jawbone. There is a large flat muscle on your skull that lies above your ears on each side over your temple. This is one of the major clenching muscles and is used in chewing your food. Inside you mouth, there is a muscle that controls a disc, just like in your back, that is a spacer between the top of your jawbone and your skull. Your jaw is kept closed by the continuous contraction of these major muscles. As you can imagine, you should have light equal contraction and not severe over contraction of the muscles. In order for these muscles to be evenly contracting, your head must be level with the ground. If you have a tipped head, you will have over contraction of the muscles on one side of your skull causing an uneven tracking of your jaw when you open and close.

To feel the action of the jaw when it opens, place your index finger under the bony ridge that is in front of your ears. Keep light pressure pushing inwards and slowly open your mouth. You should feel the top of the jaw, the condyle, moving forward evenly on both sides. The jaw doesn’t just pivot it also moves forward as you open your mouth. While the condyle is moving forward that small muscle inside your mouth is pulling the disc forward. If the muscle is functioning properly, you will not have any popping or clicking. Balancing of the muscles corrects many of the TMJ problems that have not progressed to the point where severe damage to the joint has occurred. When this happens, a dentist, specially trained in TMJ disorders, has to make a device to control the positioning of the jaw. This is similar to casting a broken bone so that it will heal properly.

One of the best ways that I’ve found to help with the treatment process is to get a bite guard made by a dentist specifically the NTI.

How is the joint examined?

The examination of a person with potential TMJ problems begins with watching how you talk and open your mouth. You can spot this in others by seeing if their jaw moves to one side when they open their mouth, or if they talk out of one side of their mouth. Then the muscles of the jaw are palpated or felt for areas of tenderness or over contraction. The overall postural balance must be examined. Testing helps to reveal which muscles are over contracting or under contracting. We also need to find out why the muscles are reacting the way that they do. Over contraction can be caused by your teeth hitting improperly, spinal imbalances especially in the upper neck, food sensitivities, stress and even falling arches.

The treatment of a TMJ imbalance may be simple or complex. A complex case involves joint degeneration due to abnormal chewing patterns that has gone on for years. The longer a person has a TMJ imbalance, the more severe the symptoms can become. In some cases, we will need to work with a dentist trained in the treatment of TMJ imbalances to stabilize the joint and allow it to heal.

What can you do to help yourself?

To help reduce muscle tenderness, rub ice over the jaw muscles for 20 – 30 seconds and then put a wet warm face cloth over the muscles for 2 minutes.

What should I avoid doing?

• First, try and not break things with your teeth. This sounds funny, but breaking an ice cube or a nut can create tremendous stress on the jaw joint.
• Gum chewing is another activity that may make you temporarily feel better but aggravates the joint.
• Biting on objects like pencils also stresses the joint.

Now lets dig deeper on how to choose a Chiropractor aside from the services and techniques they provide.

3 Big things to consider:

1. Do you feel comfortable with the doctor? This is probably the most important thing to look for and will determine if your treatment program will be successful. I have to admit that when a patient feels uncomfortable with me, my personality, or my treatment methods, they don’t get the results that we both desire. Make sure that you feel confident that the doctor can truly help you. If you’re unsure about these things, you probably won’t experience the full healing capacity of your body.
2. Is the doctor being real or just trying to get money out of you? There’s nothing worse than the “used car-salesman pitch.” I hear it all the time with all sorts of practitioners. You have to be certain that the doctor has YOUR best interests in mind rather than THEIRS. A good/honest doctor will give you recommendations that will maximize your healing capabilities rather than try to “sell” you on things you don’t need.
3. Make sure to ask if the doctor looks for subluxations on X-ray. (addendum) Ask the doctor if the only way he/she determines the area of subluxation is through X-ray. If the answer to this inquiry is YES, walk away. There’s nothing that disturbs me more than docs who say they determine spinal subluxations only from X-ray. You can see spinal distortions on X-ray, but to determine the area of subluxation requires more than just examining a radiograph. Subluxations should be determined through a thorough clinical examination which should include – at minimum – postural evaluation (both static and walking), palpation (feeling how the joints move), muscle testing and soft tissue evaluation.

(As a side note: when I mention the word Subluxation it really sets off the Chiropractic community. Some may see that as a negative response, but I love it. I love to see the passion of Docs all around the world send me their responses about how they determine subluxations and I have to publicly send a huge thank you to all the dedicated Doctors out there.)

I hope these tips help you in finding a great Chiropractor who can help you achieve optimal health. If you want a direct referral to a great Chiropractor in your area send an email request to me

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Do I need Chiropractic care?

Some of the basic symptoms that point to the need for chiropractic care are:

• Headaches.
• Backpain.
• Sharp pains that shoot around your ribs (usually from the back to the front).
• Any joint pain (for that matter).
• Allergies.
• Indigestion.
• Insomnia.
• Let’s stop the list here and just say…anything that isn’t emergent life threatening.

Even if you don’t display any “symptoms” using Chiropractic as a preventative tool may add years to your life and increase your quality of life as well. It’s easier to prevent disease than it is to come back from it.

Top 10 List on what to look for in a Chiropractor:

Here are my recommendations on what I consider key qualities and characteristics of a good chiropractor…

1. Takes X-rays based upon clinical findings, not just as part of a standard routine
2. Measures everything! Postural analysis, Gait analysis, Surface Electromyograph, Muscle Response Testing, Active and Passive ranges of motion, Muscle length, Palpation tenderness, Reflex point analysis and Basic examination procedures.  Takes the time to do a thorough clinical examination and uses findings to produce an adequate treatment plan.
3. Manipulates the extremities as well as the spine.
4. Uses other healing modalities in conjunction with spinal and extraspinal manipulation (such as Low Level Laser Therapy, Nutrition therapy, color therapy, sound therapy, brain balance techniques, ultrasound, ice, heat, soft tissue work and postural correction exercises).
5. Uses different adjustment methods (manual and instrument).
6. Uses some form of muscle testing. Muscle testing will tell you if the surrounding muscles of a joint actually stabilize the joint and allows proper joint movement.
7. Doesn’t automatically put you on a “3-times-a-week-for-the-rest-of-your-life” schedule. (If you are in acute pain – like it just happened cause you were in some sort of accident – then intensive treatment may be warranted. But be weary when some Chiropractors jump the gun and tell you that you’ll need to come in every day or 3 times a week for like 6 months straight. It means that he’s really not doing his job effectively or he needs to pay off his Porsche.
8. Is willing to refer out to other practitioners if he/she cannot help you.
9. Is adept at reading and interpreting laboratory results.
10. Is not demanding and gives you choices. I’ve seen a lot of docs tell patients that they MUST attend a spinal care class. While this is great, no one should be forced into doing anything they don’t want to. It just means that the doc hasn’t learned how to use the leverage of other forms of media or just wants to hear him or herself talk.

These are just the basics…in Part 2 I’ll dive deeper into what to look for in a Chiropractor and why I believe that everyone should receive good Chiropractic care.

What constitutes good posture?

If you drop a line down from your head to your feet it should pass directly through the following:

Ear canal

Shoulder joint

Hip joint

Knee joint

Ankle joint

Effects of poor posture

The immediate effect of having poor posture is that you’ll start to develop abnormal pains in your body.  These are pains that you have no idea why they’re there.  You’ll begin to notice that you’ll have upper neck, back and low back pain.  You may even develop foot, knee and hip pain.

How do you correct poor posture?

Step 1: Make sure that you are analyzed by a competent Chiropractic physician (preferably one who focuses on postural alignment and is also very familiar with Applied Kinesiology or Muscle Response Testing.  When you call in to an office, ask the receptionist if the doctor uses Applied Kinesiology or Muscle Testing).

Step 2: Remove structural interferences in all affected joints.  As Chiropractors, we term these interferences “subluxations.”  These subluxations interfere with your joint’s normal motion and restricted motion is the first step toward postural distortions.

Step 3: Focus on retraining the surrounding stabilizing muscles.  This is most important to a lasting postural correction.  Along with making sure the surrounding muscles are “firing at optimal” your chiropractor should then make sure all the surrounding muscles move together in a synchronous pattern.  When the muscles move synchronously you decrease the wear and tear on the joint.

Step 4: Focus on general postural enhancing exercises. There are specific exercises that will help you to regain proper posture.  Some include: chin-tuck, abdominal bracing and pelvic rocking.