Back Pain? Visit Orem Chiropractor & Save Money!

As we enter a brave new world of government sponsored health care with politicians and insurers trying to find a way to lower health care expenditures, take a look at what this research says about chiropractors and cost savings.

The Mercer Health and Benefits group did a cost analysis of chiropractic care for low back pain and this is what they found.

When Orem chiropractic care is added to a health benefit plan, the total cost increase of the plan per patient per year increases by only $75.  This is highly cost effective care because it represents a good value in comparison to medical care and to widely accepted cost-effectiveness thresholds.

Low back pain is a common condition and chiropractic care is well established as the treatment of choice for people suffering from low back pain.

When you add chiropractic care to a health insurance plan, the total cost per patient every year only increases by $75.  For neck pain, it actually costs less by $302, incidentally.

Orem chiropractic care is shown to produce better pain and disability outcomes for low back pain, and is shown to be more satisfying to patients when surveyed by satisfaction rates.  This small increase doesn’t even take into account that the researchers didn’t add the costs of pharmaceutical drugs to the health care bill, so their numbers may be conservative.

Chiropractic care is a drug free approach to Orem back pain relief.  Chiropractic care consists mainly of spinal adjustments, but also includes strengthening exercises, massage, stretches, nutritional therapy, oxygen therapy and a variety of joint, muscle and nerve therapies.

Because chiropractic is drug free, there are no side effects either.

When chiropractic was included in health plans, the amount in-patient hospitalizations, imaging studies, hospitalization, surgical procedures were all reduced.  This is significant because these are the very things that drive health care costs up so high.  

Here is another, very interesting, fact that researchers discovered.  Paying the chiropractor more didn’t really affect cost savings.  In fact, during the research it was found that paying the chiropractor $40 an office visit produced a $300 annual savings.  Now the cool part (I’ll admit I’m biased) is that when they paid the chiropractor $100 an office visit there was a $294 annual savings.

So, if policy makers want to reduce costs they should be very interested in adding Orem chiropractors to the system and paying them well.

Orem Chiropractor Ending Fibromyalgia and Other Chronic Diseases

As your Orem Chiropractor, I have made it my mission to end pain, particularly those with on going back pain, neck pain, dizziness, fibromyalgia, headaches, insomnia, numbness, restless leg syndrome and sciatica.

As I research these and other conditions one thing I’ve discovered is the genetic predisposition that some people have towards these conditions.  Meaning that some people are more likely to develop headaches than others, just because of the way they are wired.

The other thing I’ve learned about genetics is that a lot of our genetics are NOT hard wired.  Meaning just because I have a genetic make up that makes me more likely to have fibromyalgia doesn’t mean I’ll have fibromyalgia.

 We’re all predisposed to chronic disease.  The chronic disease that we have a weakness towards is likely to be the cause of our demise, if we pursue it with poor lifestyle choices.

Think of it like this, imagine you’re wearing a wristwatch and a long sleeve shirt and that shirt covers the watch.  Our genes are the watch and it remains covered by our shirt until we lift our sleeve up.  Poor lifestyle choices lift our shirtsleeve up, exposing our genetic weakness, allowing it to go into action.

Through our lifestyle we can either “pursue” or “prevent” the expression of our genetic weakness. 

What this means is that you may have a genetic predisposition to heart disease.  Does that mean you’ll have a heart attack?  The great thing is you get to decide by your choices.

Diet and exercise seem to be the most important factors to preventing disease expression.  When we eat an inflammatory diet and live a sedentary lifestyle, we are choosing to activate our personal chronic condition, and over time we will discover what our genetic weakness is when we develop that disease.

What lifestyle choices can help us “prevent” disease expression?  Chiropractic care.  You can read more on that subject here.

That's not the part I want to focus on though.  I want to focus on the things you should be doing on your own to "prevent" disease expression.

Evidence suggests we need to eat more fruit, vegetables, and omega-3 animal products (i.e., eggs, meat, fish, poultry, and wild game). We also can add raw nuts, and if you want a starch, potatoes are the best choice.

 Refined sugar, grains, soy, beans, and dairy are not recommended as primary sources of energy, and they are not comparable to fruits, vegetables, and nuts when it comes to nutritional density and phytonutrient content. And we know that lectins and other components of grains and beans make them a pro-inflammatory food.

Diet cannot get any simpler than this.  It's just a matter of whether we are going to do it.

It is important to accept the fact that chronic, subclinical inflammation is the driver of most, if not all, chronic diseases. It is a fact that the same basic inflammatory state underlies heart disease, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and most other conditions.

In the next post we'll discuss how using the right dietary supplements can help you to "prevent" chronic disease.           

Orem Chiropractor - Forward Head Posture = Headaches, Neck & Back Pain

As your Orem Chiropractor, here’s a fun little experiment to try.  Get something that weighs about 10 pounds and you can easily hold in your hand – like a 10-pound weight. 

We’re using a 10-pound weight because that’s the average weight of the adult head.  Now hold that weight with your fist towards the ceiling.  Now bend your wrist backwards.  (Don’t do this experiment if you have hand or wrist problems)  With your wrist bent back you are mimicking the natural curve of your neck.  Get a sense for what the feels like. 

Now take the curve away by holding your arm and wrist perfectly vertical.  Get a sense of how that feels.  Now slowly move your hand forward and elbow backwards.  How does that feel compared to when you were holding the weight with your wrist bent backwards?  Not very good, I’m sure. 

According to Dr. Kapandji in his book Physiology of the Joint, Volume III, for every inch your head moves forwards, it add 10 pounds of stress and tension to the muscle of your neck and upper back. 

Now back to our experiment.  The weight represents your head and your forearm represents your spine.  After doing our little experiment with the weight I’m sure you can understand how much harder the muscles in your neck and upper back have to work when your head is in this abnormal posture. 

This condition is called “Forward Head Posture.”  People with this condition lose the normal curve of their neck and the head moves out in front of the neck and shoulders.

Another consequence is the suboccipital muscles (muscles just below your skull in the back of your head) become extremely tight, which puts pressure on the three suboccipital nerves.  This can result in headaches felt in the base of the skull and in the sinus area in the front of your head.

Rene Cailliet M.D., famous medical author and former director of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Southern California states:

“Head in forward posture can add up to thirty pounds of abnormal leverage on the cervical spine. This can pull the entire spine out of alignment. Forward head posture (FHP) may result in the loss of 30% of vital lung capacity. These breath-related effects are primarily due to the loss of the cervical lordosis, which blocks the action of the hyoid muscles, especially the inferior hyoid responsible for helping lift the first rib during inhalation.”

As an Orem Chiropractor, it's not uncommon to observe 2" of anterior head placement.  Would you be surprised that your neck and shoulders hurt if you had a 20-pound watermelon hanging around your neck?  

Forward head posture is also known as hyperkyphotic posture and can also lead to an upper thoracic hump.  Those with forward head posture (FHP) have also been shown to have a 1.44 greater rate of mortality.

After visiting with Dr McArthur I soon discovered that these headaches I was having, from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed, could be solved with chiropractic care.  I really enjoyed how the doctor sat and listened to me and really wanted to help me. He told the truth.  I had been having these headaches for months and was always taking pills.  Since beginning my care I am so much more alert, I have more energy, I’m not taking a lot of pills and I don’t snap at anyone anymore either because I am not in the constant pain that I use to be in.  I would recommend Dr McArthur to others because he has helped me so much and I really feel better.  Others deserve that.  I also enjoy all of the energy that Dr McArthur and the office staff has.  They are always happy and eager to help you, definitely great customer service.  Karyn H., Orem

Orem Chiropractor – R. Ned McArthur, D.C. has proven track record in bringing relief and correction to those who experience forward head posture.