About Chiropractic

What Do Chiropractors Treat?

Do you have any of the symptoms listed below? If you answer yes, a Chiropractic Doctor should probably check you out!

• Low Back Pain
• Neck Pain
• Headaches
• Pain or Numbness in the Arms or Legs
• Tingling in the Arms or Legs
• Shoulder, Elbow or Hand Pain
• Hip, Knee or Foot Pain
• Sciatica
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
• Bursitis
• Whiplash Neck Injuries

Dr. Lundin recommends that persons involved in automobile or work related injuries should be checked out as soon as possible following the accident. Do not delay! We have found that the longer a problem has been around, the longer it takes to correct it.

Time is of the essence!

What to Expect in Our Office

Your First Few Visits

Our office is a very comfortable and relaxed place to visit. Once you enter the door for your first time, our friendly front desk staff will greet you.

They will ask you to fill out a questionnaire that will be very helpful for the doctor in assessing your health condition.

Once this is filled out you will be greeted by one of our doctors assistants, who will escort you to the examining room. Our doctors assistants are very well trained in examination and radiographic (x-ray) procedures. Our registered technologists, or RTs, will briefly talk to you about your health care problem and perform specific orthopedic and neurological tests.

You are then ready for your consultation with the doctor. Dr. Lundin will review your preliminary test findings and enter the room. The doctor will evaluate and record your health history and explore your current health care concerns. Once your history is recorded the doctor will examine you in order to completely understand your condition. Based on these findings the doctor may order more tests and or radiographs (x-rays). In addition he may prescribe therapies or home care instructions for your particular case. The proper use of ice and heat can often times reduce inflammation and pain.

Lundin Chiropractic offers an in-house radiology department. This means if the doctor needs to take x-rays of you, they can be take here at our clinic at your convenience. No need to travel to another location!

Your Report of Findings will be a time for your and your chiropractic doctor to discuss your problem and what can be done to solve that problem. If the doctor is able to accept your case he will let you know what is causing your problem and outline a plan to remove the cause of your problem.

Recommendations for care are always mutually agreed upon in the Report of Findings.

We think that feeling great means everything! We are committed to providing you the highest quality health care available. Make an appointment for an evaluation today!

Therapies

At Lundin Chiropractic, we offer a full host of therapeutic modalities to ease your pain and help you get back on the track of great health. After determining the cause of your health care problem, the doctor will prescribe a personalized treatment program that may include the use of these modalities. Most of the therapies available in our office and their uses are described below. We frequently add new therapies as they become available. It is our commitment to our patients to have the most modern equipment available.

Intersegmental Traction

Intersegmental Traction is used to induce motion into the spine. This therapy comes in the form of a table that you lay on. Inside of the table are three rollers that rotate and move from head to toe. The rollers gently roll up and down your spine. In addition to the incredible relaxation that you feel, this therapy is very beneficial to the health of your spine. Research shows that by putting your spine through this type of motion, you not only increase the range of motion of your spine but you pump the discs that are between the vertebrae of the spine. This is very helpful in preventing disc degeneration and "slipped discs". This traction also improves the circulation of the spinal fluid that bathes the spinal cord and gives it it's nutrition. How would our patients describe this therapy? Let's suffice it to say that after their first intersegmental traction treatment, most of them want to buy one for their home!

Ultrasound

Ultrasound is used to help in the healing of soft-tissue injuries such as sprains, strains, bursitis, and tendonitis. Ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves to produce an increase in temperature in the affected area. It comes in the form of a hand-held wand that is covered in a warm gel and placed on the skin over the area of injury. Ultrasound is effective in speeding up healing, decreasing calcium deposits, increasing blood flow, and reducing nerve irritation or pain. Our patient's describe this therapy as "warm and soothing."

Meridian Therapy

Meridian therapy, or trigger point therapy, uses cold-beam laser technology. Based on acupunture, a laser beam is used to stimulate the acupuncture points without the invasiveness of needles. It is used most commonly for treating headaches and sinusitus, but is also highly beneficial for numerous other symptoms.

Rehabilitation

Decompression Traction System (DTS)

Lundin Chiropractic now offers a new treatment option. DTS therapy stretches the spine in a safe, controlled and very specific way to open the disc spaces. The decreased compression on the discs allows the increase of blood flow to help reduce inflammation and improve healing.

Interferential Stimulation

Our Dynatron 5000 units are used for muscle stimulation and interferential therapy. These units put tiny amounts of electrical current into and around the injured and sore tissue. The result is a very soothing therapy that aids in the healing of those tissues. Our patients most commonly tell us that this therapy feels "very relaxing" or like a "massage". The effects on your body will be to decrease pain, decrease swelling, promote healing by increasing blood flow into the area, and to increase muscle tone. It has the added benefit of helping the body to release its natural painkillers called endorphins.

Diathermy

Diathermy is used for speeding up the healing process by using very deep heat. Diathermy units use short-wave electro-magnetic energy to heat tissues deep below the surface of the skin. Unlike home heating pads, Diathermy penetrates the skin to get the heat where it is most useful. Our patients describe diathermy as a warm sensation when used without ice. Dr. Lundin commonly prescribes diathermy to be used in conjunction with ice in very acute (recent onset) cases. This, of course, depends upon your specific problem. The effects on your body will be to speed up the healing process by increasing circulation in the affected areas. This increased circulation brings the nutrients that your body needs to heal and it has the added benefit of taking out and removing the "trash and debris" from the injury. It also increases range of motion and relaxes muscles, ligaments, and tendons.

Cold Laser Therapy

Cold Laser Therapy is a treatment whereby a cold laser is utilized to treat chronic and acute pain. Cold laser therapy is used for persons suffering from back and neck pain, musculoskeletal pain, joint pain associated with arthritis, fibromyalgia, tendonitis, busiitis, neuropathy, achilles tendon pain, migraine headaces, sprains and strains, carpal tunnel and other associated pains. Cold laser therapy also treats conditions such as TMJ, reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) and other inflammatory and scarring conditions.

Cold laser therapy increases serotonin levels which allow the body to heal itself. Cold laser therapy is non-thermal and noninvasive. A combination of cold laser and electrc stimulation, cold laser therapy is one of the most effective healing therapies in the medical community today. Completed in one to three sessions, cold laser therapy is not only significant in reducing treatment times, it is cost effective as well.

Spinal Decompression

Have you tried chiropractic, pain medications, muscle relaxers, anti-inflammatory drugs, steroid injections, physical therapy or even surgery with little or no improvement? Relief may finally be in sight with a new treatment called Spine Decompression Therapy.

This treatment has recevied FDA clearance and it has helped thousands of patients suffering from back and neck conditions to become pain-free. Studies have shown Spine Decompression Therepy to be effective 80% of the time or more, even when surgery and other types of treatment have failed.

When a disc herniates, bulges or ruptures and presses on spinal nerves, it causes great back and/or neck, arm, leg pain, sometimes so intense it disbales the victim. Patients commonly call the condition slipped disc or blown disc, although the correct term is Herniated Nucleus Pulposus.

Non surgical spinal decompression is a gentle and painless procedure that creates negative pressure inside the involved disc(s), allowing them to imbibe (absorb) fluid and nutrients, which can reverse the degenerative and/or desiccation process in these structures, while significantly reducing the disc bulge(s) or herniation(s). In so doing, stress is reduced in the adjacent posterior joints, making them less painful. Most patients even fall asleep during these sessions.

Recent Research on Chiropractic

Research on Chiropractic is constantly growing and evolving. We have chosen some of the interesting and informative research to share with you. If you would like to know more about this research please e-mail or call us and we will be glad to get that information out to you.

RAND Study on Low-Back Pain

A four-phase study conducted in the early 1990s by RAND, one of America's most prestigious centers for research in public policy, science and technology, explored many indications of low-back pain.

The RAND reports marked the first time that representatives of the medical community went on record stating that spinal manipulation is an appropriate treatment for certain low-back pain conditions.

The Manga Report

A major study to assess the most appropriate use of available health care resources was reported in 1993. This was an outcomes study funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and conducted in hopes of sharing information about ways to reduce the incidence of work related injuries and to address cost-effective ways to rehabilitate disabled and injured workers. Three health economists led by University of Ottawa Professor Pran Manga, Ph.D, conducted the study. The 216-page report of the study is commonly called the Manga Report. The Manga Report overwhelmingly supported the efficacy, safety, scientific validity, and cost-effectiveness of chiropractic for low-back pain. Additionally, it found that higher patient satisfaction levels were associated with chiropractic care than with medical treatment alternatives.

"Evidence from Canada and other countries suggests potential savings of hundreds of millions annually," the Manga Report states. "The literature clearly and consistently shows that the major savings from chiropractic management come from fewer and lower costs of auxiliary services, fewer hospitalizations, and a highly significant reduction in chronic problems, as well as in levels and duration of disability."

The New Zealand Commission Report

The New Zealand Commission of Inquiry conducted a particularly significant study of chiropractic between 1978-1980. In its 377-page report to the House of Representatives, the Commission called its study "probably the most comprehensive and detailed independent examination of chiropractic ever undertaken in any country."

The Commission entered the inquiry with "the general impression... shared by many in the community: that chiropractic was an unscientific cult, not to be compared with orthodox medical or paramedical services."

Patient Disability Comparison

A 1992 article in the Journal of Family Practice reported a study by D.C. Cherkin, Ph.D., which compared patients of family physicians and of chiropractors. The article stated "the number of days of disability for patients seen by family physicians was significantly higher (mean 39.7) than for patients managed by chiropractors (mean 10.8)."

A related editorial in the same issue referred to risks of complications from lumbar manipulation as being "very low."

Stano Cost Comparison Study

A study by Miron Stano, Ph.D., reported in the June 1993 Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics involved 395,641 patients with neuro-musculos-keletal conditions. Results over a two-year period showed that patients who received chiropractic care incurred significantly lower health care costs than did patients treated solely by medical or osteopathic physicians.

1990 British Medical Journal Report

A study conducted by T.W. Meade, a medical doctor, and reported in the June 2, 1990, British Medical Journal concluded after two years of patient monitoring, "for patients with low-back pain, in whom manipulation is not contraindicated, chiropractic almost certainly confers worthwhile, long-term benefit in comparison with hospital outpatient management."

Chiropractic Education

Qualifications for Practicing Chiropractic