If you have pins and needles in the outside of your hand, your little and ring fingers, then there is a good chance it is coming from your shoulders and your neck. One common cause of this is Thoracic Outlet Syndrome which is compression of the nerve and blood vessels in the space above your ribcage, between your neck and your shoulder. This condition is very effectively treated with gentle Chiropractic and massage. Head posture and lifestyle habits contribute significantly to this condition so you will probably need to do some exercises and make some work station adjustments to help it along.
Part 2 - Thorasic outlet Syndrome
If you have pins and needles in the outside of your hand, your little and ring fingers, then there is a good chance it is coming from your shoulders and your neck. One common cause of this is Thoracic Outlet Syndrome which is compression of the nerve and blood vessels in the space above your ribcage, between your neck and your shoulder. This condition is very effectively treated with gentle Chiropractic and massage. Head posture and lifestyle habits contribute significantly to this condition so you will probably need to do some exercises and make some work station adjustments to help it along.
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This is a common question I get asked. First you need to determine where the pins and needles/tingling is. Is it in your thumb, first finger and middle finger, or is it in the little finger and ring finger? Or is it the entire hand, or just one finger?
Part one – Carpel Tunnel Syndrome Carpal tunnel syndrome gives tingling in the thumb, first finger, middle finger and the palm of the effected hand. Never in the little finger. So if you have tingling in these three fingers with minimal pain then there is a good chance it is carpal tunnel. Carpal tunnel syndrome is compression of the nerve that runs through your wrist. This compression can be from the wrist bones, the fascia, swelling such as fluid retention (common in pregnancy) or a thickening of the tendons. Often it can be relieved by non-invasive stretching and mobilization such as performed by Chiropractors and Physio, so try this before surgery. My next blog will be about tingling on the outside of the hand. This is a common presentation and if there are no pins and needles accompanying the pain, it is usually coming from the hip.
Possibilities: 1 – Pain from the hip bursa. The bursa is a fluid filled sack on the outside of hip. Its purpose is to provide friction free movement of the TFL tendon over the bone beneath. It can become inflamed due to muscle tension in the area and other simple causes. If this is the problem, it will be tender to touch/poke the outside of the hip. It will also be painful to sleep on but it should be checked as inflammation in the bursa can be due to other hip joint pathology. 2 – Hip joint pain due to arthritis. This pain will be accompanied by restricted range of movement of the hip joint, a tendency to lean forward when walking and sometimes a limp. It is also difficult to cross the painful leg over the other leg. 3 – Hip joint irritation due to a problem with the joint labrum, ligaments, or the bone. This is often the case after injury. 4 – Pain referral from the spine. This can also cause pins and needles or numbness in the region but not always. 5 – A more sinister cause such as cancer – but this is much rarer. As you can see there are several possibilities most of which are easily treatable with non-invasive treatments such as Chiropractic and massage, and with the right testing it is easy to determine the cause, so if you have pain of this nature, be sure to check it out with your local Chiropractor. Please note that this is a guide to explain the most common causes of pain in this region and if in doubt you should always have your pain assessed. One of the most common form of headaches suffered are tension headaches. These feel like a pressure band around the head, or pain under the base of the skull, or pain in either temple or both, or a combination of these symptoms. Some people experience these headaches daily or several times a week. I personally can’t imagine anything worse!
These headaches are routinely passed off as tension caused by stress. What is actually happening is stress is acting on your posture to cause the headache. Get rid of the abnormal posture and you will get rid of the headaches. Heads are heavy. When it your head is shifted out of position relative to your shoulders for a long period of time, muscle and joint tension builds up and this causes tension headaches. The most common posture to cause this is forward head carriage or when you head is forward of your shoulders but any displacement will cause this. I have copied some of the most common postures below. And the more dramatic the posture, usually the more frequent or intense the tension headaches. These postures occur mostly because of lifestyle and work. Many of the activities of our lives promote or require these postures but they can often be easily corrected with chiropractic and simple exercises so if you suffer from tension headaches, do yourself a favour and call us! Computer posture. As a result of jobs, emails, skype and all the many benefits computers provide we are necessarily spending more and more time on them so here are some ergonomic pointers for all you desktop computer workers.
1 – Sit with both feet on the ground. If you cross your legs you create all of the many patterns discussed in that post, and if you sit on one leg it is just as bad. 2 - Have whatever you are working on be that your screen and keyboard, or notes you are writing, or your mouse if you are just reading and researching, directly in front of you and not to the side. As a rule we struggle sustaining constant head rotation – it causes headaches and neck pain. 3 – When typing, your elbows need to be level with your wrists and hands or slightly higher than your wrists and hands. If your elbows are bent more sharply or your wrists are on an angle it increases your chances of repetitive strain injuries and carpal tunnel. 4 – Ideally, your seat should be tilted forward about 20 to 30 degrees. In this position, your back will be better supported with less muscular effort and it promotes better neck posture and consequently better blood flow and concentration. 5 – The screen should be at eye level. 6 – Don’t sit for more than 45 minutes without getting up and moving around. It is simply too hard to sustain good posture for longer than this and movement is a great way to relieve muscle and joint aches and stimulate blood flow. 7 – Ergonomically it has not been comprehensively studied what the effect of having two computer screens is – and this appears to be an increasing requirement in most busy offices. At this stage it is my advice that you have one primary screen that you have directly in front of you and a second screen to one side, (or preferably a smaller screen below the primary screen so everything is in the same line). Whatever you are working on for any period of time should be on the primary screen. NB I would not advise having two screens both at angles that you constantly have to shift your attention between. There has been a lot of controversy over this topic in recent media. In an effort to diffuse misinformation that has been presented, this article was recently published in the Chiropractic Journal of Australia.
Full article - http://www.cjaonline.com.au/index.php/cja/article/view/105 CHIROPRACTIC CARE FOR INFANTS AND CHILDREN – A SELECTIVE REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE AND COMMENTARY Objective: Recent popular press commentary in Australia has raised concerns around the safety and evidence base for the chiropractic care of infants and children. This has led to statements such as “doctors speak out against chiropractors treating children” and “doctors at war with chiropractors over treatment of babies and children”. This selective review of the literature and commentary explores these issues. Methods: Problems in assessing clinical interactions that involve a hands on approach with an objectivist quantitative methodology designed for a traditional western medical approaches (such as medication) versus a pragmatic constructivist methodology are discussed. Both PubMed and the Central Queensland University (CQU) Library database were searched using the terms “pediatric AND chiropractic”. Results: The PubMed search returned 126 hits, and the CQU Library search returned 939 hits. A systematic review of the entire literature base is beyond the remit of this selective review and commentary, however, selected relevant literature is reviewed below. Conclusion: The literature reviewed does not support the claim that the chiropractic care of children and infants has no evidence to support the practice, or the claim that chiropractic care of children and infants is dangerous. (Chiropr J Australia 2016;44:222-233) One of the most frequent problems new mothers present to me with is neck pain and headaches, usually stemming from the base of the neck, and this is largely due to their new activity of breast feeding. During the feeding process there is a need to look down at your child to make sure everything is going fine. However, holding your neck craned as far forward as it will go, and then twisted to look at your child for a length of time will definitely cause neck pain and headaches.
When we look down we can do so from the base of the neck OR from the top of the neck. Try nodding your head just from the top. You will see that a good amount of flexion can be achieved. While there is a need to crane your neck to some degree in the early phase of feeding. I would suggest that once your baby has started feeding you pull your head back and try to just flex from the top of the neck instead. This way you will avoid the build-up of tension that occurs at the base of the neck. Additionally, chiropractors and physiotherapists both have many simple exercises that can help relieve this discomfort so if you are getting prolonged neck pain and headaches while feeding your child, consult your family chiropractor and they should be able to help. Another thing that happens in the final stage of pregnancy is a waking up of old issues. As a pregnant soon-to-be mother gets bigger in the final trimester, this increased load can often wake up old back problems that you may have had in the past and not fixed. Again, don’t worry if this happens, as due to the relaxin in the system loosening ligaments, pregnant patients tend to respond faster than ever to care and often these issues can be dealt with swiftly.
During the final trimester your body releases a hormone called relaxin that helps relax the ligaments of the pelvis ready for birth. Unfortunately this hormone tends to relax all the ligaments in the body so during this final part of pregnancy strain/sprains are common. While they are common and tend to occur from the simplest things, they are often also very easy to fix. Chiropractors know many gentle techniques to help relieve these episodes and doing a gentle exercise routine like yoga in the final stage of pregnancy can help prevent these episodes.
Many women suffer back pain during their pregnancy – particularly the last trimester. It might seem obvious that this is because of the weight gain during this last phase and this is part right. The interesting thing about weight gain during pregnancy is that is mostly all at the front, which is not dissimilar to carrying a heavy box out in front you. When you do this two things happen:
1 – Your muscles in your back have to work harder to carry the extra load. 2 – As your muscles get tired, you tend to lean backward to compensate. This backward compensatory lean compresses the joints in your lower back which tends to cause pain in a band across the lower back. There is not much you can do about this pain apart from gentle exercise such as yoga, aqua aerobics and walking. You’ll probably find that you need frequent rests. Sitting, or perching your backside on something creates flexion in your lower back and tends to relieve this ache Also, gently therapies like chiropractic and massage can help. |
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August 2019
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