Village Family Clinic Blog

While chiropractic care can fix headaches by correcting subluxations in the spine, there are other temporary treatments that help reduce aches. With help from chiroone.net, we have listed 7 holistic, natural ways to relieve headaches.

1. Chamomile tea, a mild sedative, acts as an anti-inflammatory and relaxes muscles and depresses the nervous system, providing a calming effect.
2. Heat can be applied to the neck, a common source of headaches when tightness or tension is present. Cold can be used on the temples or the forehead for headaches that are pulsing and hot.
3. Peppermint oil mixed with coconut oil and applied to the shoulders, temples, forehead, back, or neck is a soothing topical treatment that can reduce the pain of a headache, improve blood circulation, and relieve tension.
4. Water is the most important remedy. Most headaches are the result of dehydration. Whether you replenish your water supply with celery or watermelon, you should be drinking water throughout the day!
5. Massages can improve blood flow and relieve tension when massages focus on the temples and the neck area. Gentle pressure is very effective for headache pain and massages in 30-minute increments can reduce and eliminate headache symptoms
6. Feverfew is an herbal tea that has been widely-used for centuries to treat headache pain. Its active ingredient parthenolide is an anti-inflammatory and widens vessels, preventing vessel constriction in the head and relieving muscle spasms.
7. Black coffee, although it can be addictive and in turn make headaches worse, is a treatment that should be used sparsely to constrict blood the blood vessels in your head and relieve pain.

Did you recently go to the gym and bruise, sprain, or strain something? What do you do when you are faced with a painful injury, bruise, or swelling? Do you go for the heat compress or the ice pack to reduce pain? In this blog post, we will set the record straight for what heat and ice are useful for and which one you should go for depending on your condition.

Heat

Heat is associated with relaxation: hot yoga and hot stones used in massages are two examples of this. Heat opens the blood vessels and increases blood flow to an affected area. Heat is not only soothing for aches and pains such, but it is also good for repairing damaged tissue because blood flow stimulates healing. Stiffness and tension are two conditions that benefit from heat application. When choosing to use the heat method, apply an even amount of heat for 15-20 minutes.

You should not use heat near bruises, open wounds, or swelling, as heat will worsen these conditions. If you have heart disease or hypertension, you should also be weary of using heat therapy and contact your doctor with questions or before serious use.

Ice

Generally, ice is the best treatment for injuries and inflammation because coldness restricts blood flow and therefore reduces swelling and inflammation. Bruises, strains, and sprains, and any other condition where there are underlying bleeding issues, should all be treated with ice because it will slow blood flow and slow bleeding. Ice therapy is used in the immediate aftermath of an injury as well as during rehabilitation.

In the immediate aftermath of an injury, ice is beneficial because it prevents stiffness in affected area. Long-term rehabilitation with ice treatment prevents pain and spasms and restores normal functioning.

Chiropractic

While these two treatments can be affective, the ultimate treatment is chiropractic. A healthy musculoskeletal system is critical to healing and affects how the whole body functions. Chiropractic may be the answer to unrelenting pain and the best way to completely rehabilitate in a natural, drug-free way.

A healthy, balanced diet is essential for overall health, especially long-term. The devastating effects that a poor diet has on the body can lead to the breakdown of fundamental bodily processes. No matter where you are, it is important to establish healthy eating and exercise practices whether that be cutting out meat once a week, sugar once a week, or dairy once a week, little steps can make a big difference. In this blog post, we are going to focus specifically on the Paleo Diet and design a one-week meal plan to encourage you to give this diet a try.

The goal of the Paleo Diet is to eat that which is found naturally on the Earth. Sometimes, this diet is called the “caveman diet” because researchers believed that cavemen ate exclusively whole foods, which is what someone on the paleo diet is allowed to eat. Many find that this diet contributes to weight loss without calorie counting and to a clear mind.

The following are allowed on the Paleo diet: fruits, vegetables, eggs, meats, fish, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, healthy fats and oils.

The following are not allowed on the Paleo diet: processed foods, sugar, soft drinks, grains, legumes, dairy products, vegetable oils, artificial sweeteners, margarine, trans fats.

Below is a sample of a one-week Paleo meal plan by healthline.com:

Monday

• Breakfast: Eggs and vegetables fried in coconut oil. One piece of fruit.
• Lunch: Chicken salad with olive oil. Handful of nuts.
• Dinner: Burgers (no bun) fried in butter, with vegetables and some salsa.

Tuesday

• Breakfast: Bacon and eggs, with a piece of fruit.
• Lunch: Leftover burgers from the night before.
• Dinner: Salmon fried in butter, with vegetables.

Wednesday

• Breakfast: Meat with vegetables (leftovers from night before).
• Lunch: Sandwich in a lettuce leaf, with meat and fresh vegetables.
• Dinner: Ground beef stir-fry with vegetables. Some berries.

Thursday

• Breakfast: Eggs and a piece of fruit.
• Lunch: Leftover stir-fry from the night before. A handful of nuts.
• Dinner: Fried pork with vegetables.

Friday

• Breakfast: Eggs and vegetables fried in coconut oil.
• Lunch: Chicken salad with olive oil. Handful of nuts.
• Dinner: Steak with vegetables and sweet potatoes.

Saturday

• Breakfast: Bacon and eggs with a piece of fruit.
• Lunch: Leftover steak and vegetables from the night before.
• Dinner: Baked salmon with vegetables and avocado.

Sunday

• Breakfast: Meat with vegetables (leftovers from night before).
• Lunch: Sandwich in a lettuce leaf, with meat and fresh vegetables.
• Dinner: Grilled chicken wings with vegetables and salsa.

For more information on healthy living and healthy lifestyles, contact Village Family Clinic.

Hey everybody! Here’s a simple video about what to do when you're having neck pain. So we have a lot of patients in the clinic with neck pain so we’re here to give you a little explanation about neck pain, tell you some things that to do that might help out with neck pain.

So you got a spine here, we got a bunch of bones, vertebrae in the spine, and there's three distinct reasons for this being part of the spine. We've got the neck which we call that cervical, the middle back, and lower back we call lumbar. So in our example here the purple bones are the neck bones are there are seven of them, the cervical vertebrae c1 through c7. That's not really important for you to know that's our job to know but most neck pain comes out of the bones in the neck. So we get tight muscles but most of the studies showed most neck problems are coming out of the bones in the back of the neck.

So what can happen is you can get tight muscles, get stressed, working on our computer all that stuff adds up. It puts some stress on the bones or vertebrae. Well it causes a lot of real bad neck problems or headaches due to pulling the muscles back here. A lot of the reason for that is these nerves in the neck may be getting pinched so they got the bones or vertebra here can come out of alignment. The muscles are pulling it really tight and pinching the nerve in there.

So the most common causes of neck pain, the good news is for patients, you don't need an MRI or an x-ray. Usually we can diagnose that right in the office. We have advanced technology called “surface electromyography by mile vision”. It's NASA develop technology. We can take readings of the nerves to see if there might be a pinched nerve. In this non-invasive test we can find out if you have a pinched nerve.

If that's what you're having trouble with, we've been doing this for over 15 years to resolve pinched nerves. We treat patients every day who come into the clinic with neck pain, so if you have any pain in the back of the neck, any shooting pain, numbness, burning, or tingling you may have a pinched nerve in the neck. It is something you should have checked out right away because they can get worse over time. Give us a call.

How's it going everyone, this is dr. Carlock over at Village Family Clinic here today to talk about how Advil is not as great as you think.

So a lot of people coming in here with backpain, neck pain, and other aches and their first response is usually to pop some Advil. While Advil may take the edge off a little bit, what it's doing is temporarily decreasing the inflammation there on your nerves. It’s only temporary relief.

Chiropractors are trained to find those exact spots in your spine where pressure is being put on the nerves and we correct that permanently. So it's better than taking Advil which has bad side effects. Extended use is not good for your stomach among other things. So if you're having aches and pains come on in and let us check you out now.

Hi everybody, Dr. Miller here at Village Family Clinic. Today I want to talk to you about how to sit at your desk all day for eight hours without having back pain.

A lot of people have jobs where we have to sit all day. It's a big source of back pain. We have a chair here, so I'm going to do some demonstrations. A lot of people work at a computer desk, so, the first thing you want to do is to make sure you're standing up nice and tall. Get a chair with nice support. If it's real flat in the back and you kind of feel like you're slouching, a little good lumbar support will help that out a lot.

Another thing to do is you want to stand up sit up nice and tall. Keep your knees at 90 degree angles. That's going to drive your back forward. It's going to cause a lot of pressure in here so you want to bring your knees up. Keep them at a good 90 degree angle. You want to keep your arms also at a 90 degree angle so you want to have a good nice posture here.

I tell people always get up and walk around the office. If you want to, go get some water. Go chat with somebody. It doesn't take much time, just take a five minute break. I know it's tough when you're working a desk and you got a lot to do, you got deadlines, you really get stuck into a rut. You're really working, working, working, so what we want to do is get up move around a little bit.

There's also some stretches you can do. Uou just kind of rotate your back every once a while. Just hold that Stretch. The big point here is to keep moving. Get yourself up every once in a while. Don't always sit. If you're there for more than an hour at a time it's gonna cause problems of your lower back.

So there's some good tips here. I’m Dr. Miller at Village Family Clinic with some tips on how to keep yourself from getting back pain when you have to work at a desk all day long.

Neck pain is a common ailment reported by men and women from different age groups and backgrounds. Recurrent causes of neck pain include muscle strains, nerve compressions, whiplash, disease, injury, and worn joints. People who lift excessive amounts of weight, carry heavy bags on their shoulders, or have bad posture are most susceptible to experience neck pain. Smoking and poor sleep posture are other contributors to neck pain. The pain severity caused by neck pain varies. If the neck pain is not critical, the following preventative steps may reduce or dissipate the pain:

1. Take breaks: Whether you have a physically demanding or motionless job, it is a good idea to either take breaks and relax if your job requires strength and movement, or walk around and get the juices flowing if you work at a desk or sit around often.
2. Sleep posture: You should be getting around 7-8 hours of sleep a night. With that being said, sleeping takes up approximately one third of your day. It is important that you exercise healthy posture while you sleep to avoid neck pain and discomfort. The most beneficial way to sleep is on your side (for pregnant women, the left side) and placing a rolled-up towel or pillow between your knees to alleviate pressure on the hips. This sleeping position supports the natural arc of the spine and does not foster neck pain.
3. Avoid Phone-Tucking: Avoid as best you can tucking a phone in between your ear and shoulder. It strains the neck muscles, one of the common causes of neck pain.
4. Quit Smoking: Habits are hard to break but if you are experiencing neck pain, here’s another reason to quit smoking: it leads to neck pain, among other spinal ailments.
5. Use Good Posture: This point goes along with good sleep posture. Good posture in general is not only good for digestion, joint movement, and balance, but it also diminishes the probability of experiencing back and neck pain. Correct posture maintains the natural curve of the spine: The head should rest over the shoulders and the top of the shoulders should be over the hips.
6. Avoid Carrying Heavy Things: Carrying heavy bags or weights contributes to muscle strain and worn joints. If you can, avoid carrying heavy items repeatedly and do not lift weights that are too far above your ability.
7. Adjust Chair, Desk, and Computer: If you have to bend forward or arch your neck downward, it is a good idea to adjust the desk chair, desk and computer.

While these are helpful preventative steps, neck pain may require the care of a doctor. According to EveryDayHealth, “Chiropractic is an approach that manipulates the spine and joints to relieve neck and back pain. It’s a popular therapy that does not involve medication”. If you visit a certified chiropractor with neck pain, they will evaluate your condition and most likely perform a chiropractic neck adjustment called a cervical neck manipulation. This procedure loosens up the joints of the cervical vertebrae in the neck and alleviates tension and pressure in the spine that stimulate neck pain. Chiropractic is a safe, drug-free form of treatment that resets the natural alignment of the spine and neck and is hailed as one of the most successful and secure ways to treat neck and back pain.

Sitting at your desk for an extended period of time can eventually cause pain and discomfort. Studies show that back and neck discomfort that stem from poor sitting posture or substandard work environment can ultimately lead to unproductivity on the job. A chiropractic visit is beneficial in realigning the back, alleviating neck and back discomfort, and increase productivity; however, it may be necessary to adjust your work space and the way you interact with it in order to prevent future problems related to neck and/or back discomfort.

One of the biggest promoters of back pain comes from the lack of support in the low back. The following five steps are practical ways to better your work experience, support your low back, and mend back and neck pain.

1. Low Back: An adjustable and comfortable chair is a worthy investment. If you do not have an adjustable and comfortable chair, try placing a pillow between your back and the chair. If you are experiencing back pain often, try placing a heat pad or ice pack in between your back and the pillow.
2. Chair Position: If you are sitting at a desk writing or typing, your chair should be in a position that allows your wrists and forearms to rest straight and parallel to the ground. Your elbows should lay by your body and form an L-shape at the elbow joint.
3. Legs and Feet: Your feet should rest flat on the ground. This neutral position discounts the tendency to move around to find a comfortable position. In general, avoid crossing your legs as it may interfere with blood flow, put pressure on one of the hips, becomes uncomfortable after an extended period of time.
4. Computer: The computer should be at eye-level and an arms-length away. The keyboard is best positioned 4-6 inches away from you in order to keep with the aforementioned “L-shape.” If using a computer with a mouse, the mouse should be close to you and not demand any compromising position in order to reach for it.
5. Break Time: If you sit in a desk all day, it is vital that you get up every once in a while, (anywhere between 30-60 minutes of sitting) and walk around. Chiropractors suggest stretching during these breaks in order to get blood moving and to wake up muscles not used when sitting such as the glutes. Perform a few neck and shoulder rolls and check your posture before returning to your desk.

Unfortunately, neck and back discomfort may persist. Look into visiting a chiropractor who can perform a chiropractic adjustment and realign the spine, and offer helpful tips and advice specific to your condition and situation. Chiropractic focuses on the well-being of the whole body: chiropractors often recommend dietary modification and exercises that can promote rehabilitation in addition to an adjustment.

Hackettstown, NJ (August 8, 2018) Village Family Clinic invites old patients and new patients in for patient appreciation day on September 22nd from 10am to 1pm and is very excited to announce that we will also have a meet and greet with Doc Gooden the same day from 11am to 1pm.

Dr. James R. Fedich, clinic director at Village Family Clinic, has organized a meet and greet with Dwight “Doc” Gooden for Patient Appreciation Day to give thanks to the community for supporting his Clinic for over 14 years now. Dr. Fedich has Patient Appreciation Day annually and is really looking forward to everyone getting together and joining in on this fun event. Dr. Fedich explains, “This event really brings the community together and shows that our clinic really takes pride in ‘what we do’ and our patients. Without our patients and all the support that we get, we simply would not have this clinic today.” Patient Appreciation day recognizes our existing patients but also invites new patients as well. The more, the better! Village Family Clinic will have free food, free adjustments, free new patient exams and mini acupuncture exams too. Now let’s get to even more exciting news about this day, Saturday September 22nd!

We have a very special guest coming in for this wonderful event we are holding at our clinic, Dwight “Doc” Gooden. Dr. Fedich and his team brainstormed and thought, “What could really get people excited about stopping by our clinic besides all the wonderful free things we are having for Patient Appreciation Day? What could bring new patients into our clinic too?” After a lot of consideration and thought we got exciting news of someone who was interested in our event and wanted to have the Meet and Greet right here in our clinic, Doc Gooden! What you should know about Dwight “Doc” Gooden is that he is a former professional baseball pitcher who pitched for the New York Mets. Doc Gooden was one of the most sensational pitchers of his generation, gaining many of the highest accolades. The accolades that Gooden received are as followed, “NL Rookie of the Year (1984), 2x MLB Strikeout Leader (1984, 1985), 4x All Star (1984, 1985, 1986, 1988), MLB Wins Leader (1985), MLB ERA Leader (1985), NL Cy Young Award (1985), Triple Crown (1985), Pitched a no-hitter on May 14, (1996), 3x World Series Champion (1986, 1996, 2000), Silver Slugger Award (1992) and New York Mets Hall of Fame Member.” Through out Doc Gooden’s time he was able to achieve all the accolades that you see here so we couldn’t be any more excited about having him at our very own Village Family Clinic.

Patient Appreciation Day will be held at the Village Family Clinic in Hackettstown, NJ on September 22nd from 10am to 1pm as well at the Meet and Greet with Dwight “Doc” Gooden from 11am to 1pm. For more information, directions or an appointment, contact the Village Family Clinic at (908)813-8200, or visit them on the web at www.hackettstownfamilyclinic.com.

We get this question often from our patient’s, friends and relatives. Recently I read an excellent review article of a Danish Randomized Clinical Trial (RCT) by John Orchard, MD a sports physician from Australia. Here is a synopsis of his article.

100 patients eligible for TKR; randomized to 50 getting TKR, 50 to conservative care

The group was followed for 12 months, 26% (13) patients crossed over from conservative care to TKR

Both groups showed similar improvements in decreased pain and improved function at 1 year

The authors could not rule out an additional surgical placebo effect over and above the non-surgery group

TKR group had a higher complication rate do to the intervention of 16% (this was expected) vs 2% for the non-surgical group

However serious adverse medical events not directly associated to the surgery over the 12 months was 48% for the TKR group and only 12% for the conservative care group.

TKR seriously challenges a patient’s general health to warrant warning patients about the increased risk

These findings can make the decision to undergo TKR more difficult for some patients. “Does the more likely improvements in pain and function of TKR outweigh the increased serious adverse risk?”

You may want to take this aspect into account

Current fitness level: Pain is subjective but fitness and activity levels are objective.

Low levels of activity are hazardous to long term health.

If your knee pain is preventing you from walking less than 6000-7000 steps a day (can be tracked with a fitness tracker or smartphone) it may be time to consider TKR.

Medical history: Pre-existing cardiac or renal disease, history of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) that requires blood thinners for control, diabetes and a history of smoking increase the risk of serious medical complications following TKR.

Recent cortisone or arthroscopic surgery : Studies found that having either or both procedures within 3 months of TKR increased the complication rates.

Did conservative care fail or was never attempted: Person was never sent for physical therapy, education /exercise classes. Did not have a trail of Hyaluron gel injections or a trial of a joint off loading brace.

Do not make the decision based on the following:

X-ray or MRI severity of OA: X-ray can help establish the diagnosis of knee OA. However, several studies have found poor correlation between X-ray OA severity and actual levels of activity and walking tolerance. (again think physical activity level capabilities vs X-ray findings)

The patient’s age: There is a tendency for surgeons to state the best age for TKR is 60-65 years old. They are considered young enough to do well and old enough that they most likely will not a revision (second TKR), within their remaining lifetime. Although there is some fact to this statement it should not be used to encourage a patient of 60-65 to have a TKR that is not needed. Conversely allowing a 40-50 year old who is extremely debilitated an unable walk more than a several thousand steps a day not being considered for TKR.

Hopefully this synopsis helps if you are currently considering TKR. In closing TKR is a good and viable surgical procedure for the right person done at the right time. If you have medical issues you may want to consider addressing them with your doctors and medical providers to help reduce your risk levels and get the best results following TKR. Village Family Clinic offers proven conservative care such as Physical Therapy, fitting of knee Off Loading Braces, Chiropractic care, Nutritional counseling and Acupuncture . If you are having TKR we offer prehabilitation to prepare you for surgery and postoperative TKR care to help you get back to the activities and life you want to have!.

Should you have any questions regarding this information please feel free to contact us.

Bob Scanlon, PT, Cert MDT, NJ Lic # 40QA00283600