Hi Jamie.

Your right! Muscle relaxers create more problems than they solve. Here’s why: if you have an unstable position of the spine and the nervous system instructs muscle to tighten up to compensate and that other areas of the spine now must handle the load for the unstable area, the muscle relaxers screw that all up. So the areas that need to be tighter to stabilize are stopped, and the areas that need to be stronger to handle the added load are stopped…that’s right, trouble. Secondly, you will have a sense that you can do more during the time of instability and make your condition worse. Research clearly shows this and has for over 15 to 20 years. Proper adjustments and stability rehabilitation is the key. That’s why my patients get better faster and stay better longer. I perform the necessary rehabilitation to stabilize the spine and evaluate and adjust properly so that stability occurs sooner. In fact, you can ask any one of my patients about their stability care. It works very well is necessary to achieve the best outcomes. I have many years experience in biomechanics of the neuromusculoskeletal system. I have very specific protocols to address the problems my patients have successfully. So if you are taking a muscle relaxer, you are making more problems in the long run and you are definitely not increasing stability. In fact, while taking muscle relaxers, you will not be able to strengthen the area because of the relaxing affect. This is just a very bad idea.

Jamie, pain is not simply a reason to take a pill or get an improper adjustment. You need an expert. You can call for a consult at no charge.

Remember that relaxing is what you do after work not after pain.

Thanks,
 
Dr Bob
Expert Health and Rehabilitation
Goaskdrbob.com

Brian, thanks for asking this question.

Basically the very short answer is that it depends. Since that would not really answer your question, I will give you the answer I give my patients.

You should feel a noticeable improvement in a few days of proper treatment.
However, if the exam, treatment and overall health is not properly addressed, you will miss stuff and improvement will either be slow or non existent.

As a functional medical doctor, I will perform functional analysis measuring range of joint movement (active and passive), strength, balance, orthopedic testing, neurologic testing, muscle contracting patterns, X-rays, sensory testing, general inspection for swelling, joint crepitus and joint free play. A plan can be developed specifically designed to eliminate your problem and/or make you more stable.
At that point, I re-exam the above at predetermined intervals to quantify progress on all levels. Secondly, the re-exam gives me the opportunity to change the treatment plan to best suit my patient and to make sure that nothing is missed. Lastly, I can verify improvements in strength, balance and all of the parameters measured above. This is how science based health care is performed.
If you have heard about this for the first time, you may not be getting proper care.

Remember, a physician of functional medicine will have you feeling a noticeable difference of improvement in a short time. And you will continue to notice that difference for a long time after.

Thanks for the good question.

Dr Bob.

Scott, this is a great question.

Chiropractic is a health care field that has been met with some struggles since it has been an organized profession. Chiropractic as we know it has been around for 113 years but there are origins of spinal and joint manipulation that date back for 1000’s of years. Moreover, Chiropractic is the largest nationally recognized board certified medical field that focuses on the use of alternative medicine to treat and more importantly, prevent disease and has been accepted by insurance all over the nation. This is important to understand. Basically Chiropractic seeks to help people through natural means as opposed to drugs or surgery. This method of health care better known as wellness care is the juggernaut that has given the struggles to the profession of Chiropractic.

Basically, traditional medicine uses drugs and surgery to create a change in the human body whereas Chiropractic uses the bodies own healing system to create a positive change. Although you and I may think that this is a complement to the health of humanity, it is the primary reason that traditional medicine has fought to abolish Chiropractic. In fact, the “bad rap” was instituted by the AMA and other supportive organizations who made it an offence to work with Chiropractors. This is an illegal tactic and the AMA and the supporting organizations were forced to cease and desist these activities by the Supreme Court. The “bad rap” was not started or maintained by any citizen and in fact, each state citizenry has voted to include Chiropractic.

Unfortunately, resentment still abounds in the medical profession towards the Chiropractic profession. Another tactic the medical profession has used to degrade Chiropractic is to say that adjustments cause strokes. This tactic has actually backfired as the research indicates that in the general public without Chiropractic care, there are about 1in 15,000 that suffer strokes and about 1 in 50,000 that suffer strokes while under medical care for stokes. The backfire comes in with the research showing that people under Chiropractic care have about 1 in 4,500,000 chance of a stroke.

Therefore, Chiropractic is extremely protective and may even prevent strokes and that’s not mentioning the side effects from drugs and surgery. As we all begin to realize that the use of drugs and surgery are not able to reduce the overall numbers of diseases and have themselves caused hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths each year, it is only the people who suffer for this refusal to work with the Chiropractic profession. Remember the Hippocratic oath “at least do no harm” is the basis of all medical professions and should serve to unite all who can promote health, reduce sickness, suffering and create wellness.

The good news is that more and more medical doctors are beginning to work with Chiropractors. As the research shows more and more how Chiropractic not only has significant impact on back pain but most other diseases, and at a cost lower than traditional medicine, the “bad rap” is melting away as people such as yourself want better health, more control of your health care needs and at a lower cost.

Thanks Scott for taking the time to “rap” with me.

Dr Bob.

Hi Warren.

Costs of Chiropractic care vary from doctor to doctor. This applies to the medical community as well. In fact, all health care providers charge differently as well as hospitals. There is no set standard. Although, I can say that as compared to traditional medical care, my patients spend much less money for their care. Unfortunately, many patients come to my office for care after spending a ton of money on traditional medical care that did not work. The research is clear in this regard as well: Chiropractic care for back pain alone saves over 28%, reduces surgeries by over 32% and reduces hospitalization by 41%. It is estimated that back pain alone costs the USA about 90 billion per year. So Chiropractic care could save over 22.4 billion every year on back pain alone! WOW! Just think of the savings if a functional medical solution was applied to all of health care problems.

Health care is a very complex integration of diseases and problems that revolve around human functioning. All human diseases can be defined and treated on a functional basis by optimizing the functional deficits causing the disease. This is precisely how humans have become the most successful species on the planet and not died off with health problems. Therefore, as Functional medical doctor, I not only treat the problem, I also promote wellness in each of my patients. If I prescribed medication and performed surgery, I would not be able to do that because we all know that drugs and surgery have all kinds of toxic reactions, side effects and even worse.

However, it is important to note that a chiropractor only offering adjustive care will only have a few options to help you. As for a Functional medical doctor such as myself, the only limit to my care is that I do not perform major surgery or prescribe drugs. In fact, I also perform laboratory work so that a problem can be defined, functional capacity exams, comprehensive joint exams, skeletal exams, neurologic exams, muscular exams, cardiovascular exams, endocrine exams, digestive exams, dermatology exams and of course cold and flue evaluation.

My office is a comprehensive clinic that treats issues of family health, female health, male health, child health and senior health. I perform my treatments without drugs or surgery so that you actually gain health without side effects or pain.

Therefore, treatment varies based on what you need to make you well. Our pricing however is kept very low compared to charges in traditional care. So you get a doctor with over 16 years of specialized experience, combining traditional medicine and alternative care at a rate of someone who does not.
My goal is to help people get well because sickness is very expensive.

Dr Bob.