Have you lost strength in your hands? Numbness? Tingling?

Have you lost strength in your hands? Numbness? Tingling? These are common some symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Once symptoms of pain and tingling appear, the condition frequently worsens and permanent nerve damage can easily occur if not treated properly.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, or CTS, is a common and troublesome condition that interferes with the use of the hand.  It is caused when too much pressure is put on a nerve that runs through your wrist.

In order to better understand CTS, you need to understand the basic anatomy of the carpal, meaning wrist, tunnel and its relations to the spine.  The major nerves controlling the arms, hands and fingers are the Radial, Ulnar and Median nerves.  These nerves travel from your spinal cord, out of your neck, down the arm, through the wrist bones and into the fingers.  If these nerves get pinched, the result is numbness, tingling, pins and needles, burning and pain.  These symptoms can reach from the middle and index fingers, often extending into all five fingers, and in extreme cases continuing up the arm.

The nerves exit the spinal cord through openings between several bones in the lower neck.  These spinal bones can lose their normal motion and position creating pressure or stress on the nerves, which in turn causes these symptoms in the neck, arm and hands.

Dr. Florendo’s approach to the detection and care of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome begins with locating the underlying cause, which is often located in the neck or wrist.  This is accomplished with a complete consultation, x-rays where necessary and a thorough chiropractic, orthopedic, physical and neurological examination.

After the underlying problem is determined and a diagnosis is made, your treatment options are discussed and a personal care plan will be prescribed.

Although Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can be extremely painful, it is highly treatable with early diagnosis and proper treatment.

If you, or someone you know, exhibit any symptoms of CTS, they should be seen by a professional before the problem becomes serious.

Prevention Tips

Please review the following CTS prevention tips.  They could save someone from years of pain and debilitation.

Keep Your Wrists in Neutral.  Avoid using your wrist in a bent [flexed], extended or twisted position for long periods of time.  Instead, try to maintain a neutral [straight] wrist position.

Watch Your Grip.  Gripping, grasping or lifting with the thumb and index finger can put unnecessary stress on your wrist.  When practical, use the whole hand and all the fingers to grasp an object.

Minimize Repetition.  Even simple, light tasks may cause injury over time.   Avoid repetitive movements or holding an object in the same way fro too long.

Rest Your Hands.  Periodically give your hands a break.  You may be able to alternate easy and hard tasks, switch hands or rotate work activities.

Reduce Speed and Force.  Reducing the speed with which you do a force full, repetitive movement gives your wrist time to recover from the effort.  Using power tools helps reduce the force.

Conditioning Exercises.  Certain exercises strengthen the hand and arm muscles.  They may help by reducing the need to compensate for these weak muscles with poor wrist position.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can be serious.  Before you get to the point of regular pain, or worse, schedule a consultation with Dr. Florendo by calling 702-920-6556 or visiting www.DrFlorendo.com

Aug 9th Morning Blend

The Effects of Stress

The Effects of Stress

Stress is a serious condition that can affect any part of the body at any time.  In fact, stress-related conditions are not mutually exclusive.  In other words, just because you have an ulcer doesn’t mean that you can’t suffer from headaches or muscle pain as well.

What is more, you can also experience rotating symptoms.  One week you might have a stiff neck that disappears on Tuesday morning only to be replaced by stomach cramps in the afternoon.  On Thursday, your stomach feels fine, but you develop a headache, and so on.

What parts of my body can stress effect?

            Research does show that stress seems to have a preference for Gastrointestinal system, Masticatory, Musculature of the back, cardiovascular system and skin.

Gastrointestinal – If your emotions collect in this area, you’ll probably suffer from chronic indigestion, nervous stomach, spastic colon, peptic, ulcers, or duodenal ulcers, to name a few of the common disorders.

Masticatory – As we all know, real men and brave women grit their teeth and go through with whatever unpleasant task is assigned to them.  It’s too bad that teeth weren’t made to be gritted-or clenched or gnashed.  Nonetheless, many people use their teeth to work off daily frustrations.  If you’re one of them, you’ve probably managed to force the jaws out of balance.  Unbalanced jaws are a primary cause of chronic muscle pain in the head, neck, and shoulders, as well as in the rest of the body.  If you were place to this imbalance on the stress scale, it would be worth about 100 points.  But unlike life events that cause stress for a certain, defined period of time, a jaw imbalance is not temporary.  The strain it places on the body is a 24-hour-a-day load, which can last a lifetime.  Unbalanced jaws are a fairly recent discovery as a major cause of muscle-contraction pain.

Musculature of the back – Back muscles are often stiff and weak from too little exercise-a prime target for tension build-up.  Make one wrong move with a tense back and you could be in for a lifetime of low-back discomfort.

Cardiovascular – This category includes the heart and other muscles connected with the vascular system.  Hypertension is the most common expression of stress in this system.  Chest pains come in for a close second.

Skin – Psoriasis, eczema, and hives are debilitating skin problems that can be precipitated by stress.  Less severe skin reactions include flushing and blotching.   These symptoms are the total body’s reaction to stress and tension.  They act as an offshoot of the body’s adaptive capacity to withstand stress.

This is especially true of muscle-contraction pain.  Muscular discomforts are not just a result of tension.  An underlying skeletal imbalance often exists that causes the muscle to remain tense regardless of the emotional climate.  Many of us have skeletal structure that is a little to long or too short, but the muscle strain the structural imbalance causes doesn’t affect many for years.  Often, these tissues will become sore and painful only when they are further insulted by stress and tension.  Stress will always attack the weakest part of your body.  Muscles that are already strained because of a skeletal imbalance are a perfect target for further injury.

Because the effects of poor adaptive capacity are cumulative, it is important to call Unlimited Wellness Institute at 702-920-6556 to care for them as soon as they appear.

Aug 23rd Luncheon

Stretching before exercise actually increases the risk of injury…

According to numerous studies, the type of stretching that the average person does, called static stretching, is bad for your muscles unless they are already warmed up.  A 1999 study (Johnasson etc al.) found that before exercising static stretching “has no preventive effect on the muscular soreness, tenderness and force loss that follows heavy eccentric exercises.”  Another study determined that static stretching in it self causes injuries. 

A warm up exercise is recommended prior to stretching.  Warm up can be done with simple calisthenics.  A 15-minute warm up, consisting of range of motion exercises that involve rotating the hips, bending the knees, ankles and shoulders, is recommended. 

A warm up is effective in minimizing the risk of injury to the muscles, tendons, joints, and ligaments. Is there any safe type of stretching?  If you absolutely need to stretch after your warm up, then try dynamic stretching.  Dynamic stretching is stretching with a constant movement and motion.  For example, lifting your leg in the air, and touching your toes as you lift.  Dynamic stretching does not include any bouncing movements.  A good dynamic stretch will only work one muscle group at a time.  For example, it is better to stretch one hamstring at a time, not two.  By isolating the muscle, you have better focus and less resistance from other muscle groups.

It should be noted that breathing is important for a successful stretch.  Breathing increases blood flow throughout the body and relaxes the body.  You should inhale through the nose and expand the abdomen, not the lungs.  Then, exhale slowly through the mouth.  Inhaling through the nose ensures the proper temperature for oxygen transfer in the lungs.

Chiropractors are the experts in range of motion, physiology, and the musculoskeletal system.  Consulting with a chiropractor to develop an exercise program is a proactive approach to wellness, which makes more sense than seeing one after you are injured.

Call the Unlimited Wellness Institute (702) 920-6556 for a free consultation to determine which stretches or warm-up exercises will be beneficial for you..

What Drinking Water can do for you

Drinking Water

At the Correct Time Maximizes 

its Effectiveness On The Human Body

*2 Glasses Of Water After Waking Up

-Helps Activate Internal Organs

*1 Glass of Water 30 Minutes Before a Meal

- Helps Digestion

*1 Glass of Water Before Going to Bed

-  Helps Avoid Stroke or Heart Attack

Happy Drinking (H20)!!

Morning Blend July 9th @ 9am with Dr. Florendo