Are you currently pregnant, or newly postpartum and experiencing back pain? Well, you are not alone. Lower back pain and pelvic pain are common in pregnancy, affecting an estimated 2/3 of pregnant women. Not only is this pain annoying and, well, painful, it can interfere with sleep, your ability to work, and your normal daily activities. To top it off, this pain often carries on after delivery with an estimated 25-40% of women experiencing musculoskeletal pain in the first 18 months postpartum. Fortunately relief can be found. Manual therapies such as chiropractic care, osteopathic manipulation, acupuncture, massage, and exercise have been found to help reduce the intensity of lower back and pelvic pain in pregnancy, as well as improve the woman’s ability to function normally in her daily activities.
Lower back pain in pregnancy is thought to occur for a few different reasons. The first theory is that back pain develops due to changes in posture to accommodate the growing fetus and womb. As more weight is added to the front of the body, the lower back compensates by increasing its curvature (aka lordosis). This change in spinal curvature alters the load and stress handled by the muscles and joints of the lower back/pelvis and can lead to pain. The second theory is that hormonal changes can alter the neuromuscular control of the lower back and pelvis. These hormonal changes start to occur in the first trimester and alter the body’s ability to stabilize your joints and muscles.
The pain resulting from pregnancy-related posture and joint stability can be addressed through conservative treatments such as chiropractic, osteopathy, massage, and acupuncture. In chiropractic care, a combination of treatments including joint mobilizations, gentle chiropractic manipulative therapy, exercise, and education has been shown to lead to a significant reduction in pregnancy-related lower back/pelvic pain and disability, and reduce trouble sleeping.
For more information or to arrange an appointment with one of our practitioners, please contact Energize Health.
By Dr. Caitlyn Cameron,
Chiropractor
Resources:
George, J.W., Skaggs, C.D., et al. A randomized controlled trial comparing a multimodal intervention and standard obstetrics care for low back and pelvic pain in pregnancy. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2013;21; 295.31-295.e7
Liddle, S.D., Pennick, V. Interventions for preventing and treating low-back and pelvic pain during pregnancy. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2015.
A motor vehicle accident (MVA) is a stressful, scary and often painful experience.
In addition, trying to navigate the processes with the insurance and legal world while recovering from injuries can be confusing and tiresome. In Alberta, the Insurance Act is a piece of legislation outlining the medical treatment and compensation you may be entitled to when you are involved in a motor vehicle accident. In the interest of making this complicated legislation easier, we have outlined the basic steps for dealing with an MVA injury insurance claim.
What You Need to Know:
- When involved in an MVA, it is important to contact your insurer as soon as possible. It does not matter if you think you are at fault or if another party is at fault. If you are injured, you are entitled to treatment for your injuries.
- Within 10 days of the accident, you will need to fill out an AB-1 (Proof of Loss) insurance form. This form is your official statement to your insurance company regarding what happened and where you are feeling pain/ injured, and any other health concerns you have as a result of the accident. This form can be found online, from your insurance company, or we have them available at the clinics. We are able and happy to submit this form to your insurance company on your behalf.
- As soon as possible, book an appointment with one of our chiropractors or physiotherapists. They will also complete a form for your insurance company, called the AB-2 Assessment Form. This is the official diagnosis of your injuries from the car accident. Our chiropractor or physiotherapist will be your Primary Care Provider for your insurance claim and injury recovery. If you are booking your first appointment after an MVA online with one of our chiropractors or physiotherapists, please select a "MVA (Motor Vehicle Accident) - Initial Assessment" appointment. You may also contact us and we will be happy to book your appointment for you.
You do not need to live in pain due to an accident, and you do not need to go through this stressful experience alone. We can help.
- Depending on your diagnosis and degree of injury, you will initially be entitled to either 10 or 21 rehabilitation treatments to be used within 90 days of the accident. These treatments can be any combination of chiropractic, massage therapy, acupuncture or physiotherapy. You will work with your Primary Care Provider to determine the best treatment plan for you but ultimately you choose what type(s) of treatment you receive and which practitioner(s) you choose to see. Our clinic can directly bill your car insurance company for your treatment.
- Acessing treatments will not cause any increase in your premiums, even if you are deemed to be at fault in the accident, as premium increases are determined by the number of at fault accidents you have, not the cost of the accidents.
- If you are not feeling back to your pre-accident health status at the completion of the 90 days or your allotted number of treatments, our physiotherapist or chiropractor will request coverage for more treatment from your car insurance company. These benefits are called Section B benefits and are often a specific dollar amount or treatment visit amount for different practitioner types (chiropractic, physiotherapy, massage therapy, acupuncture, psychology etc.)
At Energize Health, our clinicians have been helping people recover from car accidents and navigate the world of insurance claims for over 10 years. If you have been involved in a car accident and have any questions, please give us a call and we will be happy to help you navigate the system. You do not need to live in pain due to an accident, and you do not need to go through this stressful experience alone. We are here to help you with your insurance claim and get you back to living life pain free.
What is Vertigo?
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (or BPPV) is the most common cause of vertigo, which is a false sensation of spinning.
Benign – it is not life-threatening
Paroxysmal – it comes in sudden, brief spells
Positional – it gets triggered by certain head positions or movements
Vertigo – a false sense of rotational movement
Most often, people feel like things around spinning around them while they are staying still. This spinning sensation is triggered with head movements. This false sense of movement can be quite scary, especially if you do not know what is happening. Typically, this movement is worse when turning to one side over the other.
What is actually happening?
BPPV is a mechanical problem in the inner ear. It occurs when some of the crystals (otoconia) that are normally embedded in part of the inner ear become dislodged and move into one or more of the 3 fluid-filled semicircular canals, where they are not supposed to be. These crystals then interfere with the normal movement of fluid through the semicircular canals which sense head motion. This causes the inner ear to send false signals to the brain which causes the sensation of spinning. Vertigo symptoms typically last less than one minute, however, they can last longer. Between the vertigo spells, some people feel symptom free while others feel a sense of imbalance or feeling off.
Assessment and Treatment
Vertigo can be assessed and treated by a Phyiotherapist trained in Vestibular therapy. We conduct a thorough vestibular assessment to determine if it is indeed vertigo or another vestibular dysfunction. Vertigo treatment requires a series of head and body movements done on a treatment table. Most people that experience Vertigo require 2-3 treatments.
It is also important to note that Vertigo can come on spontaneously or it can be caused from a virus or head injury. Vertigo can also re-occur. However, it can be treated and with vestibular therapy you will be provided with information and resources so you will be prepared if it does reoccur down the road.
If you are experiencing vertigo symptoms, such as feeling the room spinning with head movements, or other dizziness. Book in for a full vestibular assessment so we can get you back on track.
Lauren Romeril, PT.
Image credit: Biology. Authored by: OpenStax. Provided by: OpenStax College. Located at: http://cnx.org/contents/185cbf87-c72e-48f5-b51e-f14f21b5eabd@9.44:1/Biology. License: CC BY: Attribution
I have frequently been told after getting a massage that I should “drink lots of water to help flush the toxins.” This statement is based on the belief that massage therapy will somehow draw toxins out of your cells and deposit them into your bloodstream. The people who promote this theory believe that by drinking more water, you would increase the filtration rate of your blood, thus flushing the toxins. This is not correct. Massage DOES NOT increase the amount of “toxins” in the blood stream, and drinking more water does not significantly increase the filtration rate of your blood.
Massage Therapy has many positive benefits for the body. It has been shown to decrease anxiety (1), to decrease the perception of pain (2), and to increase local circulation (3). I was unable to find any credible research that suggests massage has any effect on cellular metabolism. As part of cellular metabolism, waste products are created and eliminated from the cell. In order for a massage to increase the transportation of these waste products into the blood stream, a massage would have to increase the rate at which a cell functions. Massage being a passive, generally comfortable pressure on the skin is unlikely to alter the metabolic rate of your cells.
The actual “flushing” of metabolites from the bloodstream is accomplished by the kidneys and liver. It has been shown in many studies that increasing water intake does not increase the filtration rate of the kidneys (4). Both the kidneys and the liver are controlled by complex processes that involve various hormones, and increasing the amount of water consumed will not significantly affect their rate of filtration.
Although science has disproven the need to drink more water after a massage, water is good for you. If you are thirsty after a massage, drink water, just don’t expect it to flush your imaginary toxins away.
(1) Esther Mok, Chin Pang Woo, The effects of slow-stroke back massage on anxiety and shoulder pain in elderly stroke patients, Complementary Therapies in Nursing and Midwifery,
Volume 10, Issue 4, 2004, Pages 209-216,
(2) Lee, S.-H., Kim, J.-Y., Yeo, S., Kim, S.-H., & Lim, S. (2015). Meta-Analysis of Massage Therapy on Cancer Pain. Integrative Cancer Therapies, 297–304. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534735415572885
(3) Wiltshire, E. V., Poitras, V., Pak, M., Hong, T., Rayner, J., & Tschakovsky, M. E. (2009). Massage Impairs Post Exercise Muscle Blood Flow and "Lactic Acid" Removal. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 1. doi: 10.1249/mss.0b013e3181c9214f
(4) Anastasio P, Cirillo M, Spitali L, Frangiosa A, Pollastro RM, De Santo NG: Level of hydration and renal function in healthy humans. Kidney Int 60 : 748 –756, 2001
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