Carrolltown Back Pain, Spine Issues, and Hip Pain: Simple Tests & 3D Imaging
Back pain and hip pain and spine issues all come together at once for many chiropractic patients, prompting a visit to Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation. We are ready to help! Getting older presents some unique challenges for those who experience back, hip and spine pain but also some unique benefits today thanks to new approaches to keeping stability and coping with and reducing pain. Your Carrolltown chiropractor keeps abreast of these novel approaches and is ready to help you!
SIMPLE TESTS FOR OLDER ADULTS AND THEIR SPINES
Older folks know that with age comes ‘wisdom’…and its own set of distinctive oddities. Different aches and pains rear their heads one morning or mid-afternoon or evening, requiring attention. For those Carrolltown back pain sufferers who are a bit older, hip range of motion and strength may predict how 12 months down the road a chronic low back pain patient may be functioning. Researchers put this to the test! Decreased hip strength and range of motion predicted a decline in function a year later. Hip osteoarthritis did not affect these outcomes. (1) Your chiropractor will perform a thorough examination and has some easy-to-do tests of hip strength and range of motion – gait speed, 6-minute walk test, subjective questionnaires, even imaging as necessary - to rule out osteoarthritis.
3D IMAGING BENEFITS
Imaging has come a long way! Today, MRI images of the spine in 3D are now clinically possible. Their advantage is higher spatial resolution, reformation in any plane so the MRI process is faster, and interpretation is more accurate. Neat! Another benefit, especially for back pain sufferers who have had previous back surgery with metal implants, etc., and now have continued pain is that 3D imaging permits seeing around the metal. (2) Such views can help doctors see problems at adjacent spine levels.
A SPECIFIC SPINE ISSUE: PISA SYNDROME
Pain issues in one area of the spine can surely impact other areas and even prompt more pain. A postural disorder some older back pain sufferers may experience is called Pisa Syndrome which is characterized by lateral flexion of the spine greater than 10 degrees which sets them up to falls, a lower quality of life, and greater risk of mortality in neurological diseases. Postural stability exercises are important for such patients, essential enough that they should do these forever to decrease fall risk. (3) Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation is all about stability!
CONTACT Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Gary Stefanick on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he discusses his use of Cox® Technic Flexion Distraction to ease back pain after back surgery. Back pain specialists like your Carrolltown chiropractor are equipped to examine, diagnose, and treat post-surgical continued pain.
Set up your Carrolltown chiropractic appointment soon. Carrolltown chiropractic patients find camaraderie with each other when back pain, hip pain, and spine stability are involved as well as help from their chiropractic care. We look forward to seeing you soon!
