Back Pain
Low back pain is something that most Americans experience at some point in their lives. Research shows the joints of our spine start to change and form arthritis after only four weeks of restricted movement, and experience permanent arthritic changes after eight weeks. Low back pain can have many causes, and chiropractic care can help with most. There has never been a research study that found chiropractic care had a negative effect on low back pain. Rather, all studies have shown chiropractic care lessened pain or kept it from getting worse. The sooner you begin seeing a chiropractor for low back pain, the sooner you can start improving and the sooner you can stop arthritis from becoming a permanent part of your life.
Health and Fitness
I think of health and wellness as a person’s state of being, or their ability to be in homeostasis. Homeostasis is the ability to adapt and change within your environment to keep everything running well. If people can adapt well to their stressors or have a large variability to stay in homeostasis, then they have a greater ability to stay healthy. What it takes for people to stay healthy depends on a lot of different things in the environment and within them. Health comes from the inside out, meaning your ability to cope with the environment (i.e. illness, injuries, stress) all comes from the inside. The healthier a person is in their life, the more apt they are to stay healthy. I know that seems redundant, but it’s true. Everyone has a different level of health, and as long as you are making good healthy decisions, you will be healthy. Eating well, getting enough sleep, exercising, minimizing chemicals, practicing stress management, and, of course, having a well-moving body, free of restrictions that limit full function all help a person stay healthy. A once or twice a month chiropractic adjustment can be an added tool that can help you continue to build optimal health.
http://www.jmptonline.org/article/S0161-4754(00)90107-6/fulltext
Auto Accidents
Have you or someone you know been involved in a motor vehicle collision? One of the most common injuries from a car crash is whiplash. Whiplash occurs when the head suffers a sudden, jarring movement backward, forward or even to the side. Whiplash destabilizes the spine and causes severe pain, as well as these other symptoms:
• Blurred vision
• Neck pain
• Headaches
• Dizziness
• Shoulder pain
• Reduced range of motion in the neck
• Arm pain
• Neck stiffness
• Low back pain
It is critical that chiropractic care is sought immediately after an automobile accident, since allowing the effects of whiplash to go untreated can lead to long-term chronic and permanent pain and arthritis. The seriousness of the physical effects of an accident is not always known or felt immediately. It can take days, weeks or even months for major symptoms to show up, which makes early care and treatment so important to means full healing and quick recovery.
I believe in a multi-disciplined approach to getting my patients back to 100%. While 100% might not always be achievable, it is my job to figure out your maximum potential is for healing. I believe there are three phases to recovery. My first job: pain relief. A lot of people want to go to physical therapy right after an accident, but if you are experiencing inhibited or altered movement due to pain, you will not rehab correctly. A person in less pain will have less natural inhibitions. The second phase is activating the aforementioned painful inhibited muscles, ligaments, and joints. The third phase consists of balancing the muscles and joints. And the last will be getting you back to work or work hardening.
Chiropractic and Pregnancy
I love treating pregnant women, as they respond incredibly well to chiropractic care. Being able to make a different in two people’s lives with one adjustment is twice as awesome. In my time as a chiropractor, I have always had a few pregnant patients and have seen hundreds since starting into to practice. I use the Webster technique, which is found to help with inner uterine constraints, as well as pelvic restrictions that do not allow the developing baby to toss and turn as it does during natural development. According to the International Chiropractic pediatric Association ( www.ICPA4kids.org ), “The goal of the adjustment is to reduce the effects of sacral subluxation/ SI joint dysfunction. In so doing neuro-biomechanical function in the pelvis is improved. “
As well as reducing pelvic dysfunction, chiropractic adjustment also helps expectant mothers manage back pain, pelvic pain, and sciatica (as my wife had). It also improves the overall wellbeing of the mother as her body goes through so many changes. After delivery, chiropractic can help a new mother adapt to the rapid changes back to her “old self,” which is very important to long-term health and wellness.
Here are some great research on pregnancy and chiropractic care.
http://chiromt.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/2045-709X-20-32
http://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378%2812%2901969-2/fulltext
http://www.jmptonline.org/article/S0161-4754%2809%2900238-3/fulltext
Commercial Services
I have had the privilege of traveling to businesses and sports teams to provide chiropractic care. Check out this testimonial of a business I treat.
I love providing chiropractic care in the workplace. Staff members feel better, are more productive and miss fewer days’ work, which means owners are happy, too.
According to a 2013 study conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) – which commonly include strains and sprains – account for 33 percent of all workplace injury cases. For this reason, more and more employers are considering the benefits of chiropractic care — both off and on the work site. Many companies are adding chiropractic to their list of approved treatments on insurance plans. But some companies are going even further, and testing the idea of offering chiropractic services on site.
Offering chiropractic care at the workplace makes achieving optimal health and wellness convenient and easy. For example, a recent study examined employees of a large company and the theory that on-site chiropractic might reduce hospital visits or other off-site medical care more than simply encouraging chiropractic clinic visits. Eight hundred and seventy-six employees of the company received chiropractic treatments at the work site, while 759 employees received off-site care. The research team found that overall, study participants who had on-site chiropractic services utilized hospital or other medical care at a far lower rate than participants who received off-site services.
DOT Evaluations
Dr. Harris is a nationally certified medical examiner (CME) for the department of transportation (DOT). This allows Dr. Harris to provide a quick but thorough evaluation for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities involving large trucks and buses. Dr. Harris is dedicated to improving the safety of commercial motor vehicles and saving lives.
$65 for a DOT evaluation MCSA form 5875
https://nationalregistry.fmcsa.dot.gov/search-medical-examiners
Nationally Certified Physiotherapist
Dry Needling
Dr. Harris has received his 100 hour certification to practice dry needling. This unique ability to incorporate dry needling into chiropractic therapy allows the patient options when dealing with ailments. Together they provide a synergistic approach accelerating healing which results in sustained relief, saving the patient time and money.
Typical patients’ ailments will resolve within 3-5 visits.