What You Can Do
Learn how to position your wrist to reduce pressure on the median nerve. As much as possible, keep the wrist straight. Avoid bending and twisting motions. Also, avoid frequent repeated movements, and rest your hand often. Ask your chiropractor for exercises to help strengthen your wrist.
Care for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
With carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), a nerve that runs from the arm into the fingers is irritated. This problem occurs at the wrist, but related problems may occur in the shoulder or neck. CTS causes wrist or hand pain. Other symptoms include numbness, tingling, and a weak grip. Common causes of CTS include wrist injury and overuse. Chiropractic care can help ease pressure on the irritated nerve and relieve your pain.

Your Chiropractic Evaluation

You’re asked about your symptoms, past injuries or treatments, and overall health. You’re also asked about your daily life, this includes the following:

• Work habits
• Hobbies
• Sports /Fitness / Exercise

Health History
You’re asked about your pain and symptoms. You’re also asked about what triggers your headaches. This can include emotional stress, certain foods and drinks, or poor sleeping habits. Mention past injuries or treatments, and whether you have other health problems. Also, tell your chiropractor about your daily activities such as work or exercise.
Physical Exam
Your chiropractor examines you to locate the nerve problem. He or she may check points along nerves running from your fingers to your neck. You may be asked to move your hand and wrist into certain positions.

Your Treatment Plan

Your chiropractor creates a plan to care for your CTS. This likely includes a hands-on technique called manipulation. Other treatment methods also help. In addition, you’re taught ways to help relieve CTS pain and keep it from coming back.
Manipulation
Manipulation (also called adjustment) improves joint flexibility and spinal alignment. During manipulation, your chiropractor carefully applies pressure to affected areas of the spine.Manipulation for headaches can help relieve nerve pressure, improve blood flow, and reduce headache pain.
Other Treatments
Other treatments may be suggested. These can help reduce pain by relaxing muscles and reducing swelling. They include:

• Trigger point therapy to ease muscle tension.
• Ice to reduce swelling and heat to relax muscles.
• Ultrasound and muscle stimulation to relax muscles, reduce muscle spasm, and improve blood flow.
• TENS (transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation) to reduce pain.

What You Can Do
Practice good posture whether you are sitting, standing, or lying down. This means keeping your ears, shoulders, and hips in line. Talk with your chiropractor about simple exercises you can do to relax your neck. Also, learn techniques to manage stress. This can reduce muscle tension and help prevent neck problems.

Caring for Neck
A healthy neck is strong, flexible, and pain-free. It helps support the head and protect the spinal cord. But injury, aging, or repeated stress from poor posture or overuse can damage the neck. Pain often results. Neck muscles can become tight or overstretched. Nearby joints, bones, and nerves can also be affected. Chiropractic can treat stiffness and strain, and joint and nerve problems by aligning the spine. This helps relieve pain and restore movement in your neck.

Your Chiropractic Evaluation
Your chiropractor evaluates you to learn more about your neck problem. Imaging tests, such as an x-ray or MRI, may be done.

Health History
You’re asked about your pain and symptoms. You’re also asked about what triggers your headaches. This can include emotional stress, certain foods and drinks, or poor sleeping habits. Mention past injuries or treatments, and whether you have other health problems. Also, tell your chiropractor about your daily activities such as work or exercise.

Physical Exam
Your chiropractor examines your neck and checks the alignment of your spine. This helps locate areas of pain, stiffness, muscle spasm, and limited movement. Your posture, muscle strength, flexibility, and reflexes are also checked.

Your Treatment Plan
Your chiropractor works with you to create a treatment program that meets your needs. This likely includes a hands-on technique called manipulation. Other treatment methods also help. In addition, you’re taught ways to protect and care for your neck.

Manipulation
Manipulation (also called adjustment) improves joint flexibility and spinal alignment. During manipulation, your chiropractor carefully applies pressure to affected areas of the spine. Manipulation for neck pain can free up neck movement and help you hold your neck up better..

Other Treatments
The following treatments may also be used to manage your neck problem:

• Heat to relax muscles and ice to reduce swelling.
• Trigger point therapy to reduce tension and pain in tight muscles.
• Massage, ultrasound, and muscle stimulation to relax muscles, reduce muscle spasm, and improve blood flow.
• Stretching and strengthening exercises to improve muscle strength, flexibility, and range of motion.
• Traction for joint flexibility and disc health.

What You Can Do
Exercise can help ease shoulder pain and increase range of motion (how far you can move your arm). To start, try the pendulum exercise. Lean on a table or sturdy chair. Bend your knees slightly, and let the injured arm hang limp and relaxed. Slowly swing the arm in small circles. Continue for 30 seconds, then change the direction of the circles.

Caring for Shoulder Pain
The shoulder is the body’s most flexible joint. It allows a wide range of movements, such as reaching and throwing. Because it is used often, the shoulder is prone to injury. Muscles, tendons, or other parts of the shoulder can be torn, swollen, or irritated. This can cause shoulder pain and movement problems. Shoulder pain can also be caused by the strain of repeated movements, such as reaching overhead. Other causes include certain sports activities, arthritis, and neck problems. Chiropractic care can help reduce inflammation, relieve pain, and restore movement.

Your Chiropractic Evaluation
You’re asked about your symptoms, past injuries or treatments, and overall health. You’re also asked about your daily life. This includes work habits, hobbies, and exercise.

Physical Exam
Your chiropractor examines you. He or she may check the range of motion of your shoulders and how far you can raise your arms.

Other Tests
You may have x-rays or an MRI scan. These tests help show the condition of your shoulder joint.

Your Treatment Plan
Your chiropractor creates a plan to care for your shoulder pain. This likely includes a hands-on technique called manipulation. Other treatment methods also help. In addition, you’re taught ways to help relieve pain and protect your shoulder.shoulder-4-thumb

Manipulation
Manipulation (also called adjustment) improves Manipulation (also called adjustment) helps improve alignment and flexibility in the spine and joints. During manipulation, your chiropractor carefully applies pressure to affected areas. Shoulder pain may be treated with manipulation of the shoulder, neck, or upper back.

Other Treatments
Your chiropractor may suggest other treatments. These can help reduce pain by relaxing muscles and reducing swelling. They include:

• Trigger point therapy to ease muscle tension.
• Ultrasound to reduce muscle spasm, relax muscles, and improve blood flow.
• Stretching and strengthening exercises to improve muscle strength, flexibility, and range of motion.
• Ice to reduce swelling and heat to relax muscles.

What You Can Do
Ask your chiropractor about simple exercises to relax your neck muscles. And practice good posture whether you are sitting or standing. This means keeping your ears, shoulders, and hips in line. You can also prevent some headaches by managing stress and avoiding headache triggers, such as alcohol and smoking.

Caring for Headaches
Headaches are often triggered by problems in the neck or shoulders. For instance, neck or shoulder muscles can tighten or overstretch. Joints and bones can move out of alignment. And nearby nerves and blood vessels can become irritated. These problems can be caused by injury. They can also result from poor posture or stress from repeated actions, such as looking down to read. With chiropractic care, you can get relief from headaches. You can also learn ways to help prevent future headaches.

Your Chiropractic Evaluation
Your chiropractor evaluates you to learn more about your back problem. Imaging tests, such as an x-ray or MRI, may be done.

Health History
You’re asked about your pain and symptoms. You’re also asked about what triggers your headaches. This can include emotional stress, certain foods and drinks, or poor sleeping habits. Mention past injuries or treatments, and whether you have other health problems. Also, tell your chiropractor about your daily activities such as work or exercise.

Physical Exam
Your chiropractor examines your neck and checks the alignment of your spine. This helps locate areas of pain, stiffness, muscle spasm, and limited movement. Your posture, muscle strength, and reflexes are also checked.

Your Treatment Plan
Your chiropractor works with you to create a treatment program that meets your needs. This likely includes a hands-on technique called manipulation. Other treatment methods also help.

Manipulation
Manipulation (also called adjustment) improves joint flexibility and spinal alignment. During manipulation, your chiropractor carefully applies pressure to affected areas of the spine.Manipulation for headaches can help relieve nerve pressure, improve blood flow, and reduce headache pain.

Other Treatments
The following treatments may also be used to manage your headaches:

Heat to relax muscles and ice to reduce swelling.

• Trigger point therapy to reduce tension and pain in tight muscles.
• Massage, ultrasound, and muscle stimulation to relax muscles, reduce muscle spasm, and improve blood flow.
• Stretching and strengthening exercises to improve muscle strength, flexibility, and range of motion.
• Traction for joint flexibility and disc health.

Through training, many and most injuries can be avoided. Even avid exercisers know that the occasional strain is going to happen with a simple wrong twist. With that said, the occasional injury is bound to happen. Where does Chiropractic come into this? Right at the beginning.

In regular medicine, often what is prescribed is rest. This is well and good in some cases, but will often prolong recovery. Many people run for the heating pad as well. While this may offer temporary comfort, it is usually accompanied by more and more pain, as they are inflaming an injury that is already inflamed.

At Ciarrocca Chiropractic Center we use a balance of many different techniques including the chiropractic specific adjustment, and physical therapy on the affected region. Dr. Ciarrocca is certified in Kinesio taping to strengthen damaged muscles to improve movement during athletic competition. The taping also speeds recovery to the affected muscle group. Many may recall the black tape worn by Olympic Gold Medalists Misty May-Trainor and Kerri Walsh during the 2012 Beach Volleyball competitions.

Today many professional athletes and entire sporting teams use Chiropractic care as part of their regular wellness programs as well as when an injury is present. Aaron Rodgers, Quarterback for The Green Bay Packers was raised in a chiropractic family, as his father is a Chiropractor. Chiropractors are present as part of the medical staff at all Olympic Training and competition venues.

Overall Chiropractic is a holistic approach to overall wellness and strength. It just makes sense to use Chiropractic for your sports wellness and the occasional sports injury needs.

What is Sciatica?
Sciatica is pain that travels along the sciatic nerve. This nerve runs from your lower back, down your hips, past your buttocks and down each one of your legs. As such, you may experience pain that radiates or travels from your lower back all the way down your legs, though not everyone has the same experience. Some people have pain that stops at their hips or buttocks, rather than going all the way down the leg.

What Are the Causes of Sciatica?
Sciatic nerve pain is caused when the sciatic nerve is damaged or pressure is placed on the nerve. One of the most common causes of sciatica is a herniated disc. When a disc is herniated, it bulges and presses on the nerve, causing sciatic pain. You can herniate a disc in a number of ways, including a car accident, slip, and fall accident or improperly lifting a heavy object. Narrowing of the spinal canal, called lumbar spinal stenosis, causes sciatic nerve pain. Pregnancy and muscle spasms can also cause sciatic nerve pain.

How Can We Help You Treat Your Sciatica?
Here at Ciarrocca Chiropractic Center, we can help you to reduce the symptoms you are experiencing or eliminate them altogether. Spinal adjustments and manipulations have been shown to take the pressure off of the sciatic nerve. This can help to reduce the inflammation around the nerve, which may help to reduce symptoms. We can also teach you stretches and exercises that can help to reduce pain and help you with advice for home remedies that can reduce inflammation and pain. All of these techniques can help you overcome the pain you are experiencing because of sciatica.

What You Can Do
Moving in proper ways can help prevent future back pain from disc problems. For instance, always keep your body facing the task you’re doing. Avoid twisting or bending. Also, exercise regularly to help strengthen your back and stomach muscles.

Caring for Disc Problems
Your spine is made up of bones (vertebrae) that stack together. These bones are cushioned by pads (discs). When discs are damaged, nearby nerves can be irritated. Pain can result. Common types of disc damage include degenerated discs and bulging discs. These conditions can be caused by injury and aging. Repeated strain over time can also be a cause. Chiropractic care can improve the alignment and movement of the spine. This can decrease pressure on nerves and help relieve symptoms.

Your Chiropractic Evaluation
You’re asked about your symptoms, past injuries or treatments, and overall health. You’re also asked about your daily life. This includes work habits, hobbies, and exercise.

Physical Exam
Your chiropractor may check your reflexes. He or she may also ask you to walk on your heels or toes. Tests such as these can help the chiropractor detect nerve problems in your spine.

Other Tests
You may have x-rays or an MRI scan. These tests provide information about structures in the spine.

Your Treatment Plan
Your chiropractor creates a plan to care for your disc problems. This likely includes a hands-on technique called manipulation. Other treatment methods also help. In addition, you’re taught ways to help relieve pain and protect your discs.

Manipulation
Manipulation (also called adjustment) helps improve alignment and flexibility in the spine and joints. During manipulation, your chiropractor carefully applies pressure to affected areas. To treat disc problems, manipulation may be done to any part of the spine. This can help decrease pressure on spinal nerves.

Other Treatments
Other treatments may be suggested. These can help reduce pain by relaxing muscles and reducing swelling. They include:

• Trigger point therapy to ease muscle tension.
• Massage, ultrasound, and muscle stimulation to relax muscles, reduce muscle spasm, and improve blood flow.
• Traction to realign the spine and reduce pressure on nerves.
• Ice to reduce swelling and heat to relax muscles.