Dr.Nicole
The Top 3 Reasons You Are Suffering with Swollen Fingers, Ankles and Feet
There is nothing more devastating than trying to get dressed up nicely in the morning and feeling like you look heavier than usual because of your body retaining too much water. Your clothes are tighter and you feel bloated and sluggish.
Water retention can be embarrassing!
Often you’ll also notice that you can’t wear your rings or your ankles have swollen twice their normal size.
Water retention, also known as fluid retention, is the culprit and it isn’t uncommon. In fact, a large majority of women suffer from it. If you are suffering from water retention, it is likely because of one of these three common reasons. And, the good news is you have options for stopping it.
Water Retention Is Normal
Your body naturally leaks fluids from the blood into the tissue. In fact, you need it for your body to thrive. Once the cells in your tissues have enough fluid, the water is supposed to be reabsorbed into your blood, but when it’s not, you suffer from water retention. Most likely, you’ll notice the retention in your lower legs, fingers and ankles — especially if you sit for long periods of time.
The Three Common Causes of Water Retention
- Improper Lymphatic System Function – Your lymphatic system comprises of small tubes that help drain fluids from your tissues. When the system isn’t working properly or is overwhelmed, fluid backs up — similar to the pipes in your house.
- Too Much Salt or Hormones – Salt naturally attracts water, which means the more salt in your diet, the more water your body retains. Also, hormone levels — such as being pregnant or taking birth control pills — can cause you to retain more water than normal.
- Underlying Medical Condition – Conditions like kidney disease, lung disease or even heart failure can lead to water retention. That is why it is important to always consult a professional for water retention to rule out serious medical conditions.
There is Hope for Water Retention Sufferers so the bloating and swelling stops!
Obviously feeling sluggish and bloated and can significantly affect your quality of life, especially if it is a chronic condition. Luckily, there is hope if you’re suffering from it. By controlling your fluid retention you can feel better, more fit and relaxed.
Some things you can try at home to reduce fluid retention include:
- Drink more water to help flush out the salt.
- Reduce the number of salty foods you eat every day.
- Wear supportive shoes and stockings.
- Take vitamin B5 and B6 to help reduce fluids in your tissues.
- Stay hydrated — a dehydrated body retains fluid.
- Consult a professional.
Significant water retention can actually cause other issues, like pain in the feet, ankles and knees. If you think you may be suffering from water retention or wonder if it’s due to something else, we (your Bethlehem, PA chiropractor) can help. Meet with Dr. Nicole M. or download her free report “10 Questions to Determine if You Are Heading Towards a Foot, Ankle, or Knee Injury…and How to Prevent it”.
4 Causes of Heel Pain and How a Bethlehem, PA Chiropractor Can Help
If you have chronic pain in your heel, you are likely to suffer from Achilles tendonitis or inflammation of the Achilles tendon. It can be a very painful, uncomfortable condition that makes it hard to function in everyday life—let alone allowing you to stay active.
There are some common causes of this condition; luckily, many of them can be avoided so that you can become and remain pain-free much quicker.
Check out these four common causes for Achilles tendonitis and see if your cure just requires one of these quick lifestyle changes.
What is the Achilles tendon?
The Achilles is the largest tendon in your body and it is prone to injury more than any other tendon. This is because it is also one of the most used tendons. It has to manage a great deal of force from your own weight and many of your daily body motions.
If you have tendonitis of your Achilles, it usually starts with a twinge or stiff feeling in the area — the back area of your calf where it connects to the heel. You might notice more pain in the morning or when you walk after prolonged sitting. Even though the pain subsides after using the tendon for a little bit, it is only because you have stretched it — it doesn’t mean it is healed.
If you ignore the signs of tendonitis, it can become worse and start exhibiting burning, sharp pains or shooting pains up and down the leg. Once this occurs, you might find it difficult to perform day-to-day tasks and doing the things you love.
The Four Common Causes of Achilles Tendonitis (heel pain)
- Overuse – When you use the Achilles too much, it can become strained. If that strain doesn’t heal properly, it leads to painful tendonitis.
- Overpronation – This occurs when your foot rolls into the arch of the foot — making your Achilles stretch more than it normally does. This is very common in people with flat feet. If you wear high heels a lot during the day, it can actually shorten your Achilles tendon, so when you wear flat shoes or running shoes you will overstretch your Achilles.
- Short Calf Muscles – Even if you don’t wear heels, short calf muscles can cause your Achilles to tighten and when stretched, small tears form, which reduces your flexibility and increases your risk for tendonitis.
- Inadequate Footwear – Sometimes Achilles tendonitis is caused by wearing the wrong type of footwear. When you do, you can cause supination, which is when the foot rolls out instead of in.
If you are overweight or suffer from chronic conditions such as diabetes, arthritis or gout you might also have Achilles tendonitis without any additional reason.
How our Chiropractic Care helps (in Bethlehem, PA)
When Achilles tendonitis does occur, you can quickly become overwhelmed. Your life is limited, your mobility is non-existent and you’re in pain when you try to go about your normal day to day activities.
Luckily, there is relief. We always assess your tendonitis issue and not only create a proven plan to treat it, but we locate the cause of your specific pain.
We don’t just prescribe medications and send you on your way. Instead, we take a holistic approach and get to the root of the problem — rather than covering it up which could result in your body sustaining an injury indefinitely.
Meet with Dr. Nicole Muschett today for a foot, ankle and knee pain consultation and see how she can help you treat and relieve your Achilles tendonitis for good.
The Chiropractor’s 6 Secrets to Avoid Back Injuries at the Gym!
A large-scale University of Arkansas study found that after injuries to the hand, back injuries from the neck to the lower back were the most common type of gym-related injuries.
Back injuries at the gym are more common today due to the large amounts of time we spend sitting at a desk or hunched over a computer. Even when you’re inside dreaming of the outdoors or enjoying your time at the gym, you can set yourself up for injury if you’re not preparing correctly.
According to personal trainer Justin Price, a specialist in functional fitness and corrective exercise, “If someone is rounded throughout the day in their upper back, and then they go to the gym…their lower back has a nervous breakdown because it gets all the stress.”
Whether you are like one of my athletes training for competition or just someone who visits the gym regularly to keep fit, protecting your back and spine from injuries during workouts is important.
Here are 6 of my best secrets for gym-goers, to prevent injury when exercising or lifting weights:
1. Start with focusing on a strong core muscles– Price suggests that in order to avoid injury you should consider getting a personal trainer who can show you the proper way of performing exercises and using equipment. The most important way to maintain good spinal health is to strengthen your core muscles. These are the muscles that lend strength and support to the spine and they are also the muscles that tend to become weak from long periods of sitting.
2. Infuse your back muscles with energy – When muscles are left in a stretched-out state (like the outer part of an hunched-over back), they have to work harder than usual to tighten up when you need them. This can exhaust your muscles and drain your energy. When muscles are left in a state where they are constantly tightened (like the inside curve of a back with scoliosis – often present if your shoulder heights are not equal), they also get fatigued because they are constantly contracting. Either way you and your body will be tired without really doing anything.
To avoid fast fatigue by over-stretched or over-tightened muscles, have your back curvature checked by your chiropractor. He or she will be able to diagnose the subtleties of your back posture – whether it’s becoming over-rounded in some areas, over-straightened in others, or if you’re developing levels of scoliosis. If any of these is present in your back, you can exercise all you want but your muscles will not be working at their strongest (or highest performance) and you will be setting yourself up for pain and injury to your back, legs, arms, and shoulders.
3. Protect your back from bending stress– Tighten your gluteus (buttocks) muscles. When performing a squat, deadlift, or pushup, be sure to squeeze your glutes. This ensures that the muscles connecting your lumbar and sacral areas are locked so your hips and lower back move as a single unit. Otherwise there is a tendency for the lower back to curve or bend, with the vertebral discs being exposed to more stress than they are designed to handle.
4. Support your spine from a different angle– To provide stability to the spine as you bend and lift, you need to also consider supporting it from another angle. Like a tent needs all corners to be secure, your spine needs strength from all sides. Tighten your abs to keep your spine from arching too much in either direction and tighten your abdominal muscles like you are preparing to be punched in the stomach while you are bending and lifting.
5. Prevent one of the top causes of disc herniation– Pull your shoulders down and back – A rounded upper back is one of the leading causes of back injury. It increases pressure on the front side of the vertebral disks which is one of the leading causes of disc herniation.
6. Get your hips and shoulders working together– Keep your hips and shoulders aligned – Back injuries happen more often when twisting and bending. If you lead first with the shoulders, the hips tend to fall behind and react too late which results in excessive strain to your lower back muscles. Ensure that your hips and shoulders move as one unit. If you need to change direction, lead with the hips and the shoulders will follow.
Are you concerned about preventing injuries to your ankles, knees and hips? You’ll want to check out our free report right here on our website, “10 Questions to See if you are Heading Towards a Foot, Ankle or Knee Injury…and How to Prevent It”. You’ll learn how to identify issues ahead of time, even if you’re currently pain free.
6 Non-Surgical Treatment Options for Heel Spur Pain
Heel spurs can be very painful. Sometimes the pain is so bad that it prevents walking and disturbs sleep. Because of the severity, medical treatment can include steroid injections directly to the bottom of the foot or even surgery.
Before it gets this bad however, it’s best to check out the conservative treatment options you can turn to so you can stop the problem in its tracks.
A heel (or calcaneal) spur is a small buildup of calcium on the calcaneus (heel) bone of the foot. When the back of the foot is subjected to continuous pressure, calcium deposits can build up on the heel bone. This is not usually a problem, but over time more deposits may continue to develop on top of each other, forming a heel spur.
This may be your issue if you have persistent pain in your heel or on the bottom of your foot. It can be so bad that you may experience difficulty placing weight on the back of the foot.
Heel spurs can be inferior, occurring underneath the heel which causes pain when you step on something hard. They may also be located at the top of your heel at the back of the calcaneal bone, near the Achilles tendon. This is right above the backing of your shoe.
How do you know if it’s a heel spur or a different type of foot pain?
Heel spurs are diagnosed via x-rays that show the characteristic hook-shaped buildup on the heel. Heel spurs commonly occur in patients who have suffered from plantar fasciitis (inflammation of the plantar fascia, or foot arch), particularly over long periods of time. They can also occur, however, in patients with no history of this condition.
Plantar fasciitis is closely associated with heel spurs. They are often considered the same condition, but plantar fasciitis involves the tendon at the bottom of the heel, as opposed to a heel spur which relates to the heel bone itself. Tension and inflammation of the plantar fascia can lead to small calcium deposits on the heel bone which forms the bone spur. Often, the bone spur itself is not painful, but rather it’s an indicator that the person has had long-standing plantar fasciitis which is the real cause of the pain.
Other causes of heel spurs are linked to: obesity, a condition called childhood ankylosing spondylitis, and the persistent wearing of high-heeled shoes.
Chiropractic treatment is your effective and non-surgical option to stop heel spur pain. It usually consists of the following:
- Clear advice of how to avoid exacerbating the condition. Preventative and curative advice includes wearing supportive shoes (rather than high-heels) and avoiding walking around barefoot or running on hard surfaces.
- Treatment with ultrasound and ice may also be used. This can painlessly break up the tough tissue that is causing the heel spurs.
- Exercises to stretch the muscles of the calf and bottom portion of the foot may be recommended to help reduce tension and inflammation.
- Possible deep-tissue massage of the foot to release tension in the plantar fascia.
- In some cases, the leg may be splinted at night, which is similar to a temporary caste, holding it in a specific position in order to further stretch the calf.
- Specifically fitted orthotic arch supports may also be advised for use in your everyday shoes, especially when plantar fasciitis symptoms and pain are constant.
When heel spur pain is disturbing your sleep or preventing you from walking, an analgesic medication may aid in comfort, but will not solve the underlying problem. In extreme cases that have existed for a long time, steroid injections and surgery may be necessary. Heel spurs usually respond well to conservative chiropractic treatment and should be addressed as soon as possible to decrease the extraordinary measures of treatment needed.
Contact us for a specific “Foot, Knee and Leg evaluation” where we determine what is causing your foot pain and talk to you about how to eliminate your pain quickly and effectively.
The Winning Combination to Gain a Competitive Edge in Your Sport
If you are a professional athlete or working to be a more dedicated one, you subject your body to perhaps the most severe of punishments. You actively push your body to the limit during workouts, practices and the main events. You’re no stranger to back and knee pain, joint injuries, sprains, strains and other injuries. In severe cases, you or your comrades have even coped with frightening spinal injuries.
The combination of a professional athlete and chiropractor is quickly becoming the “winning combination” throughout sports. Well-known and respected athletes with long, accomplished careers—including Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Joe Montana and Lance Armstrong—all attest to the benefits we discuss in this article. How can a chiropractor benefit you? They can help you gain a competitive edge.
“I would estimate that in excess of 90% of all world-class athletes use chiropractic care to prevent injuries and to increase their performance potential.”1
– Sean Atkins, PhD Exercise Physiologist
How Chiropractic Care Gives You a Competitive Edge
A number of professional American sport teams—including the NBA, NFL, MPB, PBA, NASCAR and more—staff chiropractors. Almost every professional sport produces a great amount of stress throughout the body. This stress leads to and results in a variety of painful, even career ending, injuries. Studies indicate that athletes who seek regular chiropractic care reap the following three benefits:
- Improved performance. Numerous studies have shown an overall improvement in player performance for athletes under chiropractic care. Injuries tended to be less severe and recovery far less traumatic. It stands to reason that chiropractic care not only assists the recovery of injuries, but also helps prevent future catastrophic damage.
“If you align the skeletal system well, the articulation of the joint appears to perform more properly; the muscles appear more flexible, strong and free of scar tissues and restrictions. These improved findings help athletes perform any sport at a higher level. When the body is well taken care of, the skill level appears to be enhanced.”2
– Dr. Martin Camara, DC for the South East Asian Games
- An increase in capillary counts. A study of baseball players published in 1997 noted an increase in capillary counts for players who received upper cervical chiropractic adjustments for 14 weeks. The researchers noted measurable positive increases “in regard to physical strength [and] tests of athletic ability, such as the long jump and microcirculation.”
- Improved reaction time, range of motion and recovery time. High-impact sports—including football, wrestling and NASCAR—involve excessive g-force and exert a notable amount of strain on the spine. The result is often misaligned vertebrae. Nerve transmissions from the spinal cord can be disrupted, resulting in a limited range of motion, slower reaction time, headaches, painful inflammation and slowed recovery times. Athletes under regular chiropractic care have seen a noteworthy reduction in such unwanted deteriorations, reporting improvements in their reaction and recovery times and range of motion.
“We put a great deal of stress on our bodies, so chiropractic is very helpful.”
-Mindy Mylrea, National and World Champion in Aerobics
Promoting a Long, Accomplished Career
One of the most notable benefits and primary goals of chiropractic care is injury prevention. As a professional athlete, one of your major concerns is not allowing an injury to slow you down. Your sport depends on staying fit, remaining active and ensuring injuries don’t end your athletic lifestyle or career prematurely.
The benefits of chiropractic care are undeniable. Athletes staffing and following the instructions of a professional chiropractor gain a competitive edge through injury reduction, increased speed of healing and an improvement in overall performance.
Grab our free report entitled, “Are You Heading Towards a Foot, Ankle or Knee Injury that Will Slow You Down? Learn How to Prevent It.” You can take advantage of this free offer to learn more about how to improve yourself in your sport.
