Being “pinched” hurts, but to pinch a nerve? Ugh! That must feel like a severe, sharp, intense pain – and it often does.  “Pinched” nerves could happen nearly anywhere and affect nerves that go to your arms, fingers, wrists, neck, head, back, shoulders, legs, muscles and internal organs. “Pinched” nerves can affect your health, posture, vitality, resistance to disease, even your emotional health. “Pinched” nerves can make your life miserable.

“Pinched?”

Do nerves really get “pinched”? Actual pinching is quite rare. What is much more common is what chiropractors call a subluxation – a distortion in your body structure that stresses your nerves and other tissues. Subluxations cause nerve impingement, nerve irritation, nerve lesions, spinal stress and meningeal tension.

Where Do Nerves Go and What Do They Do?

Individual nerve fibers are microscopic.  Although they may be many inches long they are so thin you need a powerful microscope to see them. Nerve fibers are also found in large bundles called nerves.  Billions of nerve fibers are bundled inside your spinal cord, an extension of your brain, which passes through your spinal column. Nerves branch off form your spinal cord through openings between vertebrae to connect to every nook and cranny in your body.

Without nerves you couldn’t see, hear, touch, taste or smell; without nerves you could not feel heat, cold, pleasure or pain; and also, without nerves no muscles could move. Nerves messages also help regulate your body activity such as breathing, heartbeat, digestion, hormone function and elimination.  Your immune system needs your nerves so that you can respond to germs, changes in temperature and all kinds of stress.  In addition to nerve impulses, nutrients flow over your nerves to nourish your muscles and tissues.

It’s not hard to understand that if your nerves are not functioning properly, if they are “pinched,” “impinged” or otherwise interfered with, the flow of messages and nutrients over them can be disrupted and your body can become “dis-eased” or weaken.

How Do Nerves Get “Impinged” or “Pinched”?

If your structural system is misaligned or distorted if may “pinch”, impinge, irritate, compress or stretch the nerves it is supposed to protect.  This in turn can affect other structures in the area including blood vessels, discs, ligaments, joints, muscles, fascia, and tendons. Remember this is referred to as a subluxation.

What Can Cause Subluxation?

Nearly any kind of stress can cause a subluxation: a fall or an accident, even a very mild one that happened years ago; a bad sleeping position; poor posture; fatigue; dental work; a difficult birth; emotional stress; poor nutrition or a combination of stresses.

A subluxation need not happen all at once. It could “set” in your body over time – coming on so gradually that you won’t be aware you have one.

Correct Your “Pinched” Nerves

“Pinched” nerves do not go away by themselves.  No amount of painkillers or muscle relaxants can fix them.

Dr. Ram Parikh, Doctor of Chiropractic, is able to analyze your body for “pinched” nerves and us chiropractic adjustment techniques to gently realign your body, release your internal stress and free you from your “pinched” nerves.

Only a chiropractic analysis and adjustment can relieve your body of subluxations – nothing else will do.

Dr. Parikh has personally developed many safe and gentle procedures for freeing “pinched” nerves.

To discuss your symptoms and how Dr. Ram can help, please call 724-284-1111.

Your digestive system is a long tube that begins at your mouth and ends at your anus. It has one overriding goal: to break down your food and extract energy and nutrients from it.  Your throat, esophagus, stomach, duodenum and intestines are modifications of this tube.

Your Esophagus & Stomach

After you chew and swallow your food it travels down the esophagus to your stomach where one of the most powerful acids found in nature – hydrochloric acid (HCL) – dissolves your food. HCL is so strong that if it were ever to escape from your stomach, it could dissolve your heart, lungs, liver, veins, arteries and every other organ in your body! You’d eat yourself alive! What keeps the acid from escaping? A thick layer of mucus that covers your stomach’s inner walls.

Dyspepsia & Ulcers

Chronic stomachache, also called nervous stomach or dyspepsia, is a common stomach condition.  Another is an ulcer, which occurs when the powerful acids and digestive juices start to eat through the stomach and intestines – a very painful condition.

Pyloric Stenosis/Heartburn/Gastritis

Pyloric stenosis is a tightening or shrinking of the pyloric valve that connects the esophagus and the stomach. Heartburn occurs when food reverses course and jumps from the stomach through the pyloric valve, up to the esophagus. Gastritis is a term used to describe inflammation of the stomach walls.

The Chiropractic Approach

Dr Ram Parikh, D.C. analyzes your spinal column for vertebral subluxations, a condition that damages your nerves and can interfere with proper communication between your brain the your internal organs, including those of the digestive system. The vertebral subluxation complex can interfere with your body function and lower your resistance to disease.

Every organ in your digestive system – mouth, tongue, throat, esophagus, pyloric valve, stomach, intestines, glands, pancreas and others – needs a healthy nerve supply from your spine.

Correction of the Subluxation

With a spinal adjustment, Dr. Ram Parikh, Doctor of Chiropractic, will correct or relieve your vertebral subluxation; you’ll be more balanced and function more efficiently.

Water

Along with spinal health it has been discovered that drinking water can correct many digestive problems, including ulcers, constipation, colitis and dyspepsia. Many people are dehydrated and don’t know it.

With aging, the sense of thirst may diminish so many people do not drink as much water as they should. Coffee, tea and juices my assuage thirst but they do not hydrate the body as water does.

Research

As early as 1921, it was discovered that spinal abnormalities could cause stomach, esophagus, duodenum and intestinal disorders.  In a later study, 87% of a group of adolescents suffering from duodenal and/or gastric ulcer were found to have “pelvic distortion” and “blockage” in the spine.

Spinal care helps those with dysphagia (difficult swallowing) and “abdominal nausea.”  The famous researcher R. Maigne has written that relief of the nervous system helps digestive pains and “pseudo-ulcers;” others find spinal adjustments help “dyspepsia and epigastric distress.”

Of 100 people with stomach and duodenal ulcers, 86 had spinal abnormalities of the area that supplied the stomach with nerve fibers. Spinal misalignments have been found to produce disease by irritating the nerves that supply various organs. Correction of the spinal problem relieved stomach ulcers, gastritis, colitis and spastic constipation.

In Conclusion

The digestive system can weaken, work improperly and fall prey to a multitude of diseases. The job of Dr. Parikh, D.C., is to ensure that the stomach and the rest of the digestive system (as well as other organs of the body) are receiving an unobstructed nerve supply.  This promotes body harmony, enhanced ability to cope with stress and improved resistance to disease.

Remember, if your nerves are impinged upon by vertebral subluxation, no amount of drugs will relieve the pressure. A chiropractic spinal adjustment is what your body needs.

 To discuss digestion, heartburn and/or ulcers and other symptoms and how Dr. Ram can help, please call 724-284-1111.

            Do your joints “click” when you walk?

            Do your feet flare out or in?

            Does one leg appear shorter than the other?

            Do you have leg, knee, buttock, hip or low back weakness or pain?

If YOU answered YES, it’s time to get a chiropractic checkup.

Subluxations are a distortion, jamming or locking of your body structure that irritates, pulls or compresses (pinches) your nerves; unbalances your posture, weakens your discs; stretches your ligaments, tendons and muscles and can upset your general health.

Subluxations are the number one cause to some of the problems listed above and many more additional symptoms.  It is also the number one reason why many patients see Dr. Ram Parikh for chiropractic adjustments and exercise recommendations.

SYMPTOMS

When your hips are uneven, your legs become uneven; one appears longer than the other. More pressure is placed on the long leg when you walk the knees, hips, ankle and feet on that side of your body may show pain and pressure.  This is most noticeable when you lie down and is often used as a chiropractic test along with other orthopedic tests.

Pregnant women make hormones to relax their joints for easier delivery of the baby. However, if their spines are not healthy, instability of the hip (and other) joints may be revealed and may make what should be a joyous time one of pain. Chiropractic care is particularly helpful during and after pregnancy.  Chiropractors have noticed that a properly aligned sacroiliac (SI) joint, hip and spine helps ensure a more comfortable pregnancy and a safer and easier delivery and post-partum recovery.

Since childhood is a very physical time full of falls, accidents and occasional serious injuries, children should have their spines check regularly, including their hips and their leg lengths by a doctor of chiropractic to ensure they are free of subluxations.  Even a stressful birth of a child can damage a child’s spine and body structure and can cause problems in adult life if not corrected.

Other symptoms:

            * Low Back Pain                      * Numbness, Tingling and Cramping down Legs

            * Pelvic Bones Tilted                * Restless Leg Syndrome

            * Frequent Urination                 * Constipation or Diarrhea

Conclusion

Chiropractic checkups should be part of your family’s healthcare regime.  This is especially important for children since sacroiliac and lower back problems may have their origins in childhood.

To discuss your Hip, Sacroiliac and Leg Problems and how Dr. Ram can help, please call 724-284-1111.

Neuritis, bursitis, neuralgia, rheumatism, frozen shoulder, fibrositis, sprains, strains, “poor circulation” and rotator cuff problems are some of the terms used to describe neck, shoulder and arm conditions.

Brain Control

What controls your shoulders, arms and hands? The brain “talks” with the rest of your body through a vast communications system made up of nerves called the nervous system.  Billions of nerves extend from your brain as a large bundle called the spinal cord, travel down your back inside your spinal column and exit between your spinal bones to go to nearly every part of your body.

Symptoms & Other Conditions

People sometimes blame their joint or organ problems on “old age” even though they have many other joints and organs that are just as old that have no problems. Irritation to the nerves would be a more accurate analysis.

The nerves may be irritated as they exit the spinal column. The may occur when the spinal bones in the neck or upper back are misaligned and damage the very nerves they are suppose to protect. This is also called a subluxation.

What causes the spinal bones to misalign? Nearly any injury or “trauma” could do it. Old injuries such as childhood falls, sports mishaps, car accidents and sleeping in an awkward position could damage the spine. Even birth stress could cause spinal nerve damage that can affect the arms, shoulders and hands.

Depending on where the subluxation is located there can be different symptoms you may be experiencing. There may be muscle weakness, neck pain or stiffness with or without pain that “radiates” to the shoulder, arm, wrist, hand or fingers.  Sometimes there is no neck pain but pain, numbness and tingling.

Because of the complicated way nerves interrelate, headache; migraine; facial pain; dizziness; limited, painful or stiff motion of the head and neck; throat conditions; nasal problems and even low back pain have been reported as a result of a subluxation to the neck area. Even Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is now common and associated with subluxation to the neck or cervical area.

The Chiropractic Approach

Dr Ram Parikh, Doctor of Chiropractic, approaches the shoulders, arms and hands problems by a complete and thorough examination, x-rays and other instruments. Dr. Parikh will analyze your body structure to locate and correct a serious nerve-damaging structural condition called the subluxation.

Dr. Parikh is specially trained to locate and correct the subluxations. Unless corrected, subluxations in your body can cause or contribute to many health conditions and prevent or interfere with the normal healing process.

After your subluxations have been located, he will “adjust” or correct them.  This will release structural and nerve pressure and help restore the healthy flow of nerve impulses between your brain and your body parts and help rebalance your system.

Prevention

Many of the problems caused by an unhealthy body structure can be corrected and more serious problems prevented by having your and your family’s bodies checked on a periodic basis.

An ancient Chinese health saying is: “If people paid attention to their little health problems, they wouldn’t have big health problems.”

To discuss your shoulder, arm or hand problems and how      Dr. Ram can help, please call 724-284-1111.

People of all ages can experience various symptoms such as: low back pain, sciatica, hip pain, cramps and numbness down legs and into the feet. The longer you wait to resolve the symptom, the condition can become worse, more symptoms may appear and take longer to repair. 

THE CHIROPRACTIC APPROACH 

Chiropractors have helped millions of people with low back problems, often saving them from pain, disability, drugs and surgery. The chiropractor’s purpose is to gently and painlessly rebalance and realign you spine and structural system to relieve pressure on your nerves, discs and muscles. 

Research studies repeatedly reveal that chiropractic helps those with lower back pain to recover faster and at less cost.  In one study of 700,000 people whose health insurance plan covered chiropractic care, it was estimated that $16 million was saved as a result of using chiropractic. 

Major government studies from the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand have reaffirmed what chiropractic patients have been telling their friends with back pain for years: Why don’t you see my chiropractor? You’ll get better much faster than from drugs or surgery – and it’s safer too!”  Studies repeatedly reveal that chiropractic care is more effective than other approaches for low back pain. 

As one study concluded: ” Chiropractic was particularly effective in those with fairly intractable pain – that is, those with a history of severe pain … The percentage of chiropractic patients who were ‘very satisfied’ with the care they received for low back pain was triple that for patients of family physicians.” 

Why are the results so overwhelmingly in favor of chiropractic? Because painkillers, muscle relaxants, Valium™, braces, physical therapy and surgery are not designed to correct subluxations. Chiropractic is! 

A subluxation describes what happens when spinal bones lose their normal motion or position from stress, trauma, or chemical imbalance. Subluxations in one part of the spine can affect other spinal areas.  There can be many reasons why you are experiencing a subluxation creating your low back pain, Dr. Ram Parikh performs a thorough evaluation and examination on each patient along with x-rays to determine your diagnosis and effective treatment plan. 

In Conclusion 

For over a hundred years people with all kinds of health conditions have visited their doctors of chiropractic. Many have initially come for back pain, but then discovered so many other ways chiropractic care can help them and their family.

The goal of Dr. Ram Parikh, Doctor of Chiropractic, is to free your body from subluxations, permitting realignment of your entire structural system and releasing pressure on your nerves so your entire body may function at it optimum.

To discuss your low back pain and other symptoms and how Dr. Ram can help, please call 724-284-1111.

Put your and alongside your chest and sides and you can easily feel your boney ribs. They wrap around your body from your front to the back.  In the front they attach to your breastbone or sternum and in the back they attach to your spinal bones or vertebrae. 

Ancient anatomists thought our ribs looked like the bars of a cage so they called them, with their attachments, your  “rib cage.”  What is in the cage? Some very important organs are protected there: your heart, lungs, major blood vessels, diaphragm and other structures. 

It’s important to keep this “cage” in alignment and balanced.  A misaligned rib cage can put unnatural pressure on its vital inhabitants affecting their proper function.

Thoracic or Mid-back Subluxations

Thoracic subluxations can affect your heart, lungs and other organs in you chest cavity, preventing the proper draining of lymphatic fluids from your head, brain, throat, chest, abdomen and legs.  Subluxations can also restrict your breathing, and can also restrict your sympathetic nerves which influence the function of your internal organs, senses and brain itself!

Are You Subluxated?

When a thoracic vertebra becomes subluxated, the ribs and the sternum (breastbone) are affected.  Dr. Ram Parikh adjusts the ribs and sternum directly and also adjusts the vertebrae so the connecting structures will then realign.

In addition to the ribs and sternum a thoracic (mid-back) subluxation can affect other parts of your spine.  Your lower back and neck all are connected to the thoracic spine and depend on it for stability, balance and strength.

When Dr. Parikh releases subluxations or spinal nerve pressure in this area the benefits can be both physically and psychologically profound.  Everyone should see a chiropractor for a checkup to ensure their mid-back; ribs and the rest of their body are in proper alignment and balance.

To discuss your mid-back or ribs symptoms and how Dr. Ram can help, please call  724-284-1111.

Then the pain hits! It can range from minor discomfort to immobilizing agony and can last from minutes to days.  The pain most likely occurs on only one side of the head along with nausea and vomiting.

This is the classic migraine that millions of people, including children, live with.  The majority of sufferers are women.

Not A Tension Headache

The migraine is different from more common tension headaches that usually involve the whole head, come on suddenly and only include nausea and vomiting if they are very severe.

The Cluster & Migraine Headache

Cluster headache attacks come on abruptly, with intense throbbing pain arising high in one nostril and spreading behind the eye on the side of the face.  The attacks tend to occur from once to several times daily in clusters lasting weeks or even months.  Without apparent reason the cluster subsides as quickly as it began.

Research reveals migraine suffers have abnormal nerve firings in the brain and spinal cord. This may be why chiropractic helps so many migraine sufferers and it dovetails with prior findings that headaches can be caused by structural distortions.

Treatment

The treatment for a headache depends, of course, on what has presumably caused it.  A headache arising from visual problems can often be cured by eyeglasses.  An infection headache of the sinuses or ears is relieved when the infection subsides.  But the most common headaches are usually treated with painkillers.  This does not get to the cause of the problem but addresses only the symptoms.  Of course, to someone experiencing intense pain, symptom relief is no small thing.  However, the hundreds of millions of dollars spent each year on everything from aspirin and aspirin substitutes to codeine and prescription drugs may provide relief from headache but don’t correct the cause.

Can Dr. Ram Parikh, Doctor of Chiropractic, Help Me? 

For over a century chiropractic’s natural, drug-free approach to health has been a blessing to migraine and cluster headache sufferers.  Chiropractors are the only healthcare professionals trained to analyze and correct subluxations, tiny distortions in your spine and body structure that affect your nerves, joints, discs and internal organs, including your brain. If there are subluxations in the body, no amount of drugs will correct it.

This common condition can weaken your body, cause fatigue and pain, lower vitality and set the stage for sickness and disease. By correcting subluxations your body can better restore itself to a greater level of health and wholeness – to better heal itself.

The Chiropractic Checkup

Using his hands, X-ray, and other instruments, Dr Ram Parikh, D.C. will determine if you have subluxations in your body. If you have them then he will give you a chiropractic adjustment or correction to remove them and improve your body function and promote your natural healing ability. Dr. Parikh is very thorough and examines your entire body for additional symptoms of subluxations causing other problems with your health.

In Conclusion

Anyone suffering from headache of any type would do well to see Dr Ram Parikh, D.C. to ensure that they are free of subluxations.  If there are subluxations in the body, no amount of drugs will correct them – a chiropractic adjustment is essential.

To discuss your migraine headaches and how Dr. Ram can help, please call 724-284-1111.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is the occupational disease of the 21st century.

Do you have it? You may have if you have one or more of the following:

            *  tingling and numbness in the hand, fingers and wrist

            *  swelling of the fingers

            *  dry palms

            *  blanching (whitening upon pressure) of the hand

            *  pain so intense that it awakens you at night

In some people CTS causes similar symptoms in the upper arm, elbow, shoulder or neck.

Where Is The Carpal Tunnel? 

It’s in your wrist. Your carpal wrist bones form a tunnel-like structure-the carpal tunnel-through which pass nine tendons and one nerve-the median nerve. CTS occurs when the median nerve is irritated.

Who Gets CTS?

Just about anyone can get CTS. Fractures, a fall on the hand or poorly designed and/or vibrating hand tools may damage the palm of the hand and also causes CTS.  Other causes are rheumatoid or osteo-arthritis, Paget’s disease, multiple myeloma, acromegaly and gout.  It is often found in pregnant women, women who use birth control pills or individuals with an under active thyroid.

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

Thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) is a similar condition caused by compression or irritation of the nerves that form the brachial plexus (in the upper back) as they exit the neck.  The symptoms include pain, weakness and numbness or tingling in the arm.

The Chiropractic Approach

Since most people who do repetitive tasks do not get CTS there appears to be a contributing factor to this condition. In many people it may be the health of the structural system and that is why anyone suffering from CTS should see a chiropractor to ensure that his/her spinal column and body structure are properly aligned and free from nerve pressure.  Dr Ram Parikh has developed and performs advance techniques, and has tremendous results with his patients who suffer from CTS and other related symptoms.

How Does Your Spine Affect Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

Subluxations (nerve irritation) have been observed in many patients who have carpal tunnel or related hand and wrist problems. In fact, nerve compression in the neck can block the flow of nutrients to the nerves in the arm, shoulder, wrist and related areas, and make them more susceptible to injury.

Not surprisingly, when 1,000 cases of carpal tunnel syndrome were investigated it was found that a large number of those suffering from CTS also had neck arthritis.

Conclusion

Anyone suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome should see a chiropractor to ensure that their spine is free of spinal nerve stress. It is a way of rebalancing the spine and removing structural stress from the nervous system.

A chiropractic spinal adjustment may make the difference. Chiropractic can help release spinal pressure on the nerves that go to the arms, wrists and hands.

To discuss carpal tunnel symptoms and how Dr. Ram can help, please call 724-284-1111.

Nervous System Function 

When there is not interference, your nervous system controls the healthy function of virtually every cell, tissue, organ and system in your body. 

A SUBLUXATION, or the Vertebrae Subluxation Complex, is a serious condition identified by its five parts: 

1.  Abnormal motion or position of spinal bones: The bones of the spine have lost their normal motion and position. This can restrict your ability to turn and bend.  It sets in motion the other four components. 

2.  Abnormal nervous system function: Improper spinal function can choke, stretch, or irritate delicate nerve tissue. The resulting nervous system dysfunction can cause symptoms elsewhere in the body. 

3.  Abnormal muscle function: Muscles supporting the spine can weaken, atrophy, or become tight and go into spasm. The resulting scar tissue can change muscle tone, requiring repeated spinal adjustments. 

4.  Abnormal soft tissue function: A rise in temperature from an increase in blood or lymph supply can result in swelling and inflammation.  Discs can bulge, herniate, tear, or degenerate. Other soft tissues may suffer permanent damage. 

5.  Abnormal function of the spine and body:  Bone spurs and other abnormal bony growths attempt to fuse malfunctioning spinal joints.  This spinal decay, scar tissue, and long-term nerve dysfunction can cause other systems of the body to fail. 

What’s the Cause? 

A subluxation describes what happens when spinal bones lose their normal motion or position from stress, trauma, or chemical imbalance. 

Automobile collisions, improper lifting, drugs, alcohol, emotional stress, chemical imbalances, and long periods of sitting can all cause a subluxation. 

Instead of just treating your symptoms, your chiropractor is primarily interested in detecting, reducing, and correcting the subluxation. 

The Chiropractic Lifestyle 

Dr. Ram Parikh, Doctor of Chiropractic, is an expert in the care of the bones, nerves, muscles and connective tissues that make up about 60% of your body.  All of the joints in your body are part of this musculo-skeletal system and its optimal function is necessary for overall good health. Dr. Parikh carefully develops a care plan based on your health, symptoms and condition. 

 For more information about a care program that may include specific spinal adjustments, exercise recommendation, nutritional advice based on your health history, age, current condition and lifestyle and how Dr. Ram can help, please call      724-284-1111.

You have seven neck bones (also called cervical vertebrae) and they are numbered C-1 to C-7 from top to bottom. Your top cervical vertebrae, C-1, has a special name – the atlas.  The next one is C-2 and it also has a special name – the axis. 

All your vertebrae work together to balance your head and protect your spinal cord, and extension of your brain that lies in your neck.  This protection is extremely important because a spinal cord injury can result in paralysis or death. 

Nerve Problems 

Your cervical spinal nerves lie in small openings between your vertebrae. These nerves can become irritated, inflamed, compressed or “pinched” if your body structure is even slightly distorted or out of its proper position.  That can cause head, neck, face, shoulder, elbow, arm, wrist and finger pain; numbness; pins and needles; increased sensitivity or other symptoms.  The most common cause of nerve, blood vessel and spinal cord pressure is a condition chiropractors call a subluxation, where your vertebrae are slightly out of position and your nerves are irritated. 

Causes of Subluxation 

There are many ways we can get a subluxation: a difficult birth, a fall (even as far back as childhood), an accident, working in one position for a long period and emotional tension.  Whiplash injury is a common cause of neck subluxations. Whiplash and neck injury sufferers may complain of headaches; vision problems; dizziness; ringing in the ears; decreased attention span; learning and memory impairments; emotional changes; nasal, tongue and throat problems. 

If your spine is unhealthy, you may lose your normal neck curve and suffer from pain, nerve irritation and disc degeneration.  One of the most common causes of disc degeneration is years of uncorrected subluxations. Over time uncorrected subluxation degeneration causes arthritic changes in vertebrae such as spurring, disc thinning and deterioration. 

The Role of the Chiropractor 

Chiropractic care realigns the vertebrae and removes stress from nerves.  This restores proper movement to your spinal column, permitting greater energy, information and nutrients to flow over your nerves and tissues and throughout your body.  When corrected, your entire body begins to rebalance. 

Just as a periodic dental checkup is necessary to keep your teeth healthy, a chiropractic checkup is necessary to ensure a nervous system that is free from subluxations permitting you to experience greater healing and well-being.  No matter what disease or condition you have, you can benefit from a healthy spine and structural system.

To discuss your neck pain and other symptoms and how Dr. Ram can help, please call 724-284-1111.