Bypass Back and Neck Pain Avoid Carpal Tunnel Surgery

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Bypass Back and Neck PainAvoid Carpal Tunnel
Surgery

• Dr. Dirk Keenan BA, DC
• 303 Harmer Avenue
• Ottawa, Ontario

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Education of Chiropractors

• 3 years university
• 4 years professional program
• Provincial and national licensing exams
• Post-graduate education annually

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Research

• Annals of Internal Medicine
• Beam Study (UK)
• Local Research

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Safety

• Media Reporting
• Chiropractic versus Drugs
• Chiropractic is the safe choice!

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Who Sees Chiropractors?

• 90 of our patients have back pain, neck pain,
  headaches, carpal tunnel, shoulder, or leg pain
• lt5 have asthma, allergies, nutritional
  challenges, bedwetting, chronic ear infections
  and constipation

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Celebrity Chiropractic Patients

• Donovan Bailey
• Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods
• Ronald Regan and Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Mel Gibson and Demi Moore
• San Francisco 49ers and Ottawa Renegades
• Bon Jovi, Sting and Alanis Morisette

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Advanced Chiropractic Techniques
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Bypassing Back and Neck Pain

• Prevention is the best treatment
• Treatment of back pain includes education about
  causes (bad habits, good habits)
• Stretching exercises
• Core strengthening exercises
• Lifestyle changes

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Your Worst Habit

• Sitting or lying on the couch
• Responsible for an estimated 50 of all low back
  pain in our office
• Solution Move couch away from the television and
  replace with a supportive, comfortable chair

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Bad Habit 2

• Sloppy and Floppy shoes
• Solution shoes should be stiff and provide
  lateral support
• Shoes should be worn indoors instead of slippers
  or bare feet

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Bad Habit 3

• Sleeping on a soft or older mattress
• Mattresses older than 8-10 years are done
• Solution
• CCA recommends the Springwall mattress

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Bad Habit 4

• Prolonged sitting without a break
• Solutions get up and walk every 30 minutes
• Hip flexion exercise (100 per day)

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Bad Habit 5

• Inactivity for more than one week at a time
• Solution
• Daily walking
• Daily stretching in bed
• Twice weekly strength training of the core
  muscles

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Avoid Carpal Tunnel Surgery

• Prevention will surpass treatment every time
• Strategies include regularly timed stretching,
  muscle strengthening
• Ergonomic assessments are key
• Identify true cause of upper body pain, weakness
  and tingling

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Bad Habit 6

• Staying at the workstation for over 45 minutes
  without any rest
• Solution
• Get up frequently (timer)
• Drink lots of water

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Bad Habit 7

• Poor Workstation ergonomics
• Solution
• Workstation analysis (Human resources)
• Review Health Canadas guidelines

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Bad Habit 8

• Forgetting to stretch every 30 minutes
• Solution
• Timer
• Neck stretches
• Shoulder stretches
• Arm and wrist stretches

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Bad Habit 9

• Omitting eye examinations
• Solutions
• Regular eye examinations are important to allow
  you to reduce eye strain and prevent headaches
• Forward head carriage is a leading cause of
  carpal tunnel and shoulder pain and headaches

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10 Ignoring the seven danger signals

• Numbness, tingling
• Weakness
• Pain in the neck, head, shoulder, arm or hand
• Restriction of neck motion
• Stiffness or aching
• Fatigue or difficulty sleeping
• Loss of co-ordination of fine movements

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Solution

• A functional evaluation to identify the source of
  the nerve compression or irritation
• Functional evaluations are not pain based
• Functional evaluations are specialized
  examinations which identify the cause of
  numbness, weakness, stiffness, and restriction

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Functional evaluations

• Include range of motion testing
• Grip strength testing
• Deep tendon reflex testing
• Pinwheel sensitivity testing
• Coordination testing
• Orthopedic (joint testing)
• Spinal testing

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