Have you ever heard the saying, no pain, no gain?  This saying can be a good thing or a really bad thing.  For example, if a triathlete starts swimming after a long break, it is probably going to be a painful experience for the first few workouts.  It’s hard to get oxygen, your arms are sore, and you are trying your hardest not to let your legs become a 60 pound anchor.  At first you have to push through the pain, and eventually it becomes easier and your body adapts. Pain in this case is a part of becoming better, stronger, and faster.  If that same triathlete has shoulder pain on their right side during swimming, then that’s a different story.  Joint pain is bad pain and indicates that the joint is not working correctly. Adhesion in the rotator cuff muscles will result in shoulder pain and if not corrected will lead to degeneration, tearing, and damage. Bad pain is your body’s way of saying STOP.  If you try to work though the pain and take anti-inflammatory medicine, it will only get worse because you will continue to beat the joint up until something tears.  If you are unsure if your pain is good or bad, contact us today (716-629-3100).

*Please note that every patient is different. The content and tips displayed on this page are for educational purposes only, and do not substitute for medical advice. Please consult with a medical or healthcare provider, such as Dr. Phipps, for specific diagnosis and treatment advice. Williamsville, NY 14221 Chiropractor

The goal of spinal decompression is to take the load off of the discs in your low back or neck. This can help take away neck pain, low back pain, and numbness/tingling in your hands and feet.  At Phipps Soft Tissue and Spine, we treat the adhesion to naturally decompress the spine.  Muscles that crosses a joint will stabilize and compress it.  In the neck and low back there are many muscles that cross these joints.  If you have adhesion in these muscles, they will increased load and pressure on your discs because the joints are not moving correctly.  Breaking down adhesion with special techniques will naturally decompress the spine and provide a healing environment and pain relief.

Dr. Phipps is an expert and diagnosing and treating muscle adhesion and has the skills and knowledge to accurately assess, diagnose and treat your pain.

*Please note that every patient is different. The content and tips displayed on this page are for educational purposes only, and do not substitute for medical advice. Please consult with a medical or healthcare provider, such as Dr. Phipps, for specific diagnosis and treatment advice. Williamsville, NY 14221 Chiropractor

The short answer is maybe, but eventually it will catch up with you.  I have many patients that come in and say they can usually work through the pain but this time it will not go away.  This response indicates to me that they never actually worked through the pain.  Their body compensated by loading up another area.  Eventually there will be no other areas to compensate to and pain will result.  Most of my patients are between the ages of 30-55.  This is the common age range when the body runs out of areas to compensate to.  One of the most common under diagnosed sources of pain is muscle adhesion.  If you have a nagging injury that will not go away or you have been “working through” the pain, call our office today.

*Please note that every patient is different. The content and tips displayed on this page are for educational purposes only, and do not substitute for medical advice. Please consult with a medical or healthcare provider, such as Dr. Phipps, for specific diagnosis and treatment advice. Williamsville, NY 14221 Chiropractor

Foam rolling is a great way to warm up before exercise, but it will never remove adhesion.

I am a big fan of foam rolling as a warm up.  It will warm up your muscles and prepare them for exercise.  However, you should never use foam rolling as a method of relieving pain or improving range of motion. The most common cause of pain and stiffness in the body is muscle adhesion and this is not treated or reduced with foam rolling.  Ignoring adhesion will lead to pain, degeneration, and joint damage. When you have musculoskeletal pain (joints, muscles, ligaments, and tendons), then you need to be evaluated by a soft tissue specialist.

Dr. Phipps is a soft tissue specialist and an expert and diagnosing and treating muscle adhesion. Relying on foam rolling to get through your training sessions is dangerous and will eventually catch up to you. Dr Phipps will restore your function so you can be active your entire life.

*Please note that every patient is different. The content and tips displayed on this page are for educational purposes only, and do not substitute for medical advice. Please consult with a medical or healthcare provider, such as Dr. Phipps, for specific diagnosis and treatment advice. Williamsville, NY 14221 Chiropractor

If you have already been involved in a car accident, it’s important to be evaluated as soon as possible. Once more serious injuries like fracture, dislocation, or disc herniations are ruled out, it’s important to have your neck and back evaluated by a chiropractor. Early treatment can reduce your chances of experiencing pain later down the road.

Click below to sign up for a consultation with Dr. Phipps.

Now that you understand 5 quick tips to reduce injury during a car accident, what do you do if you look in your rearview mirror and you see another vehicle clearly not planning on stopping? Should you brace for impact, tensing all of your muscles, or should you try to be as relaxed as possible?

Research shows that people who are aware of an impending collision and have time to brace for impact have better long-term outcomes and less injury. So you should always brace for impact. You have a lot of muscles in your neck that can protect the ligaments, discs, and nerves in your neck. If you relax your muscles the ligaments, discs, and nerves will have to take a much larger percentage of the force and can become damaged. It’s much easier for muscles to heal than nerves, discs, or ligaments.

To prepare for a rear-end collision:

1. Brace your head against the headrest. This reduces the distance between your head and the front of your headrest. The closer your head is to the headrest, the better.
2. Always look forward, and NEVER lean forward. If you have your head turned at impact, then this increases your chance of injury.
3. Push your foot on the brake pedal and push your back squarely against the seat back.
4. Tense up like someone is going to punch you in the back with a 4,000-pound car.

If you’ve been in a car accident and need to have your back and neck checked out, schedule a free consultation with Dr. Phipps today.

*Please note that every patient is different. The content and tips displayed on this page are for educational purposes only, and do not substitute for medical advice. Please consult with a medical or healthcare provider, such as Dr. Phipps, for specific diagnosis and treatment advice. Williamsville, NY 14221 Chiropractor

This article will provide you with simple tips to reduce your chances of being injured during a car accident (especially rear end collisions).

1.  Always have your headrest properly adjusted. Ideally the top of your headrest should be level with the top of your head.

If your headrest is too low, your head will extend above and over the restraint, which then acts as fulcrum and increases your injury risk. When you are struck from behind, a 1-3 inch vertical rise in your head will occur. This can further bring your head up and over the headrest aggravating your neck.  Make sure the adjustable headrest is locked into position. When the head snaps back, it could make contact with the top of the headrest and may drive it down like a hammer drives a nail.  Unfortunately, headrests are designed for the 50% male (5’10”) population. Taller individuals should still adjust the headrest into the highest position.

2.  Keep the back of your head as close to the headrest as possible.

“Backset” is the distance from the back of your head to the front of the headrest. A starting backset greater than 2 inches decreases the ability of the head restraint to protect against neck injury. Studies have found that neck symptoms increased when the backset distance was more that 4 inches.

3. Don’t sit too close to the steering wheel.

Sitting too close to the steering wheel can result in the airbag hitting you at full deployment speed (around 200 mph).  In an ideal situation you want to contact the airbag after if fully deploys. You should sit at least 10 inches from the steering wheel (measured from the center of the steering wheel to your sternum/breast bone).

4. Buckle up even if you are in the backseat.

I think by now everyone knows to buckle up. Most cars have airbags and without being buckled up the airbags become a deadly weapon.  I think its pretty common to be lazy when you are in the back seat, especially when you don’t have to worry about being struck by a 200 mph airbag. If you don’t want to buckle up for yourself, you should at least do it for the front seat passengers. When the rear seat passengers are unrestrained, the fatality risk to front seat occupants is increased by up to 75%.

5. Don’t allow passengers to put their feet on the dashboard.  If they are in this position during an accident, it could result in serious injury.  Generally you always want to keep your arms and legs away from where the airbag deploys.

The above recommendations are some of things you can do to reduce your chances of being injured in automobile accidents.  The next article, “To brace or not to brace for impact”, will cover what to do if you look in your review mirror and see that someone is clearly going to ram into the back of your vehicle.

*Please note that every patient is different. The content and tips displayed on this page are for educational purposes only, and do not substitute for medical advice. Please consult with a medical or healthcare provider, such as Dr. Phipps, for specific diagnosis and treatment advice. Williamsville, NY 14221 Chiropractor

Part 3 of 3: Click here for part 1 and part 2

After understanding how adhesion forms and what it can lead to, we can now focus on how to treat and reduce adhesion.  Adhesions are diagnosed and treated by a skilled certified provider.  Adhesions can’t be broken down by foam rolling or massage. There are two main methods of achieving this goal:

1. Manually (Dr. uses hands) – MAR (Manual Adhesion Release)
2. Instruments – The newest instrument/technique on the market today is Instrument Adhesion Release (IAR).

The key to breaking down adhesion in a muscle is finding it. This may seem very obvious but adhesion is very common and finding the relevant adhesion takes years of training. Once the proper diagnosis is made, treatment can begin.  MAR take advantage of the different attachment points of muscles to achieve maximum tension on the adhesion. These techniques are non-invasive and done exclusively through a skilled doctor’s hands.  Once the adhesions are broken down over a series of visits, the muscles can function normally again.  They can lengthen and contract with the appropriate force to allow for normal joint motion resulting in less pain for you.

If you have pain or stiffness, get the proper diagnosis first by clicking the button below.

*Please note that every patient is different. The content and tips displayed on this page are for educational purposes only, and do not substitute for medical advice. Please consult with a medical or healthcare provider, such as Dr. Phipps, for specific diagnosis and treatment advice. Williamsville, NY 14221 Chiropractor

Part 2 of 3: click here for part 1

In part one, we covered how adhesions form, but how can adhesion lead to all of the following problems?

• Neck pain
• Low back pain
• Disc injuries
• Carpal tunnel
• Tennis elbow
• Golfers elbow
• Headaches
• Plantar Fasciitis

Adhesions can create abnormal movement of a joint resulting in pain. The easiest way to visualize this is to look at the shoulder joint. To simplify things, we will discuss the rotator cuff muscles, as they play the largest role in maintaining proper positioning of the shoulder joint. The rotator cuff is a group of 4 muscles that surround your shoulder.

If you were to lift your arms overhead, with or without weight, the rotator cuff muscles keep the joint in proper position.

Muscles adhesions will act like glue and limit the strength and flexibility of the muscles. Adhesions will limit the muscles ability to maintain proper joint position resulting in shoulder impingement. This can set the stage for bursitis, rotator cuff tear, and shoulder pain, especially in the front and outside of your shoulder.

We could break down every joint in the body the same way and the root cause would likely be altered joint movement from muscle adhesions.

Next time, we will explain what to do if you have pain.

Part 3: How to diagnose and treat adhesion?

*Please note that every patient is different. The content and tips displayed on this page are for educational purposes only, and do not substitute for medical advice. Please consult with a medical or healthcare provider, such as Dr. Phipps, for specific diagnosis and treatment advice. Williamsville, NY 14221 Chiropractor

This will be a three part series that will explain everything you need to know about adhesion.

Part 1: How does adhesion form?

Part 2: How can adhesion lead to the pain that I have?

Part 3: How does Manual Adhesion Release break down adhesion?

So let’s start off with:

Part 1: How does adhesion form?

There are two main pathways for adhesion formation:

1. Acute conditions, such as pulls and tears.  This requires actual trauma and the body repairs the damaged tissue with adhesions. This is more commonly called scar tissue.
2. Hypoxia (low oxygen) pathway is the most common generator of adhesion in muscle.  This will occur without you knowing it and can occur from repetitive motions or from standing or sitting in sustained postures. If a muscle doesn’t get adequate oxygen it will trigger adhesion formation.

An example of the hypoxic pathway occurs while you work at your computer. Typing results in continuous contraction of the forearm muscles (controlling your fingers) and can cause a low oxygen environment in those muscles. This will trigger fibroblasts to form muscle adhesions.  Muscle adhesions can overload the the attachment point of the muscles on the outside of the elbow and causes elbow pain (this will make more sense after reading part 2).  This is commonly called lateral epicondylitis or tennis elbow.  Tennis players abuse the forearm muscles as well, especially during backhand movements and can trigger adhesion formation as well.

Who would have thought that these two activities could lead to the same problem?

Part 2: How can adhesion lead to pain?

Part 3: How to diagnose and treat adhesion?

*Please note that every patient is different. The content and tips displayed on this page are for educational purposes only, and do not substitute for medical advice. Please consult with a medical or healthcare provider, such as Dr. Phipps, for specific diagnosis and treatment advice. Williamsville, NY 14221 Chiropractor