How to Treat Whiplash with Chiropractic Care

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The answer to this question is not a simple one as many people tend to associate any type of neck pain with having whiplash.  The first thing is to find out is whether or not you have whiplash.

Is it Whiplash or a Pain in the Neck?

Whiplash is defined as an injury to the neck, by moving the head forward and then backward in a rapid fashion that places strain on the neck muscles and ligaments.  Whiplash is most common when the victim has been rear-ended, or hit from behind by another vehicle but can result from physical abuse (such as shaken baby syndrome) or contact sports. The symptoms of whiplash vary and are not limited to –

  • Restricted joint movement in spine or limbs
  • Displacement of spinal discs, also known as a herniation, which causes sharp pain down one or both arms; It also can create small tears in spinal tissue and damage the nervous system, which is followed by numbness, tingling and muscle weakness
  • Chronic pain in the neck area
  • Cognitive dysfunction that may include difficulty concentrating

When to See a Physician

If you have unrelated neck pain that persists for a period of time or you experience the following:

  • A shooting pain through one or both arms
  • Tingling or numb feeling in one or both arms or hands
  • Inability to touch chin to your chest

You may want to see a chiropractor or other medical professional as they can diagnose an underlying problem.  If you are not having any of the symptoms or find it goes away after changing positions, it may just be the result of poor posture.

The Severity of Whiplash

For some, neck pain resulting from an accident can be treated with ice and a light brace.  Other times, it may disappear on its own or a person may find themselves feeling:

  • Pain in their jaw
  • Significant damage to ligaments, discs, nerves or joints
  • Difficulty swallowing
  • Nausea
  • Irritability or unable to concentrate

If any of these symptoms persist, they should see a chiropractor so that x-ray as well as other tests may be performed to determine if there is an underlying problem.

Seeing the Chiropractor

The primary objective of the chiropractor is to use gentle manipulations that treat the spine and discs so that they are aligned properly.  These manipulations are also designed to reduce muscle spasms and rebuild muscle strength with the aid of physical therapy.

The chiropractor will first focus on reducing inflammation and check the neck, mid and low back. From there, the range of motion, disc injuries and muscle spasms will be examined. Other factors that will be noted are walking, posture and spinal alignment.  A comprehensive exam provides an understanding of the individuals’ body mechanics. X-rays and /or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be taken along with the patient medical history to determine whether they can be treated.

Some cases of whiplash may only require ice and heat therapy to reduce inflammation and relax the muscles, respectively.  Non-medicinal treatment may include acupuncture, massage or Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS).

If you or someone you know may have experienced any or all of symptom described, then you may want to share this information with them or give our office a call to make an appointment.

 

 

References

Mayo Clinic Diseases and Conditions homepage (2011) Retrieved August 30, 2011; from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/whiplash/DS01037

Mayo Clinic Diseases and Conditions homepage (2011) Retrieved August 30, 2011; from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/neck-pain/DS00542

American Chiropractic Association Patient Health and Wellness Tips (2011) Retrieved August 30, 2011; from http://www.acatoday.org/content_css.cfm?CID=3131

 

 

The Glycemic Index, Explained

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Do you know the difference between high glycemic  foods and low glycemic foods? If you’ve ever felt light-headed or shaky (and very hungry) a few hours after eating certain foods, then you’ve experienced the “roller-coaster ride” of high glycemic foods.   You’ve probably noticed that all foods don’t have this effect on you, and those that don’t are most likely low glycemic foods.

The Glycemic Index or GI is a scale that ranks high-carbohydrate foods according to how much they raise your blood glucose levels after eating. The GI ranges from 0 to 100. Foods with a high GI are digested quickly and cause a significant spike in our blood sugar levels. This increase in blood sugar causes a corresponding increase in insulin to bring those sugar levels back down. Low glycemic foods have less of an impact on your body because they are digested and absorbed more slowly, so you need less insulin to control your blood sugar levels. When sugar and insulin aren’t spiking, you won’t get that light-headed or weak feeling. You just feel normal.

There are many more advantages to choosing a low glycemic diet. Low glycemic foods are beneficial to our health because controlling blood sugar and insulin levels is one of the keys to reducing our risk of heart disease and diabetes. Low GI diets are also useful for controlling our appetite and aiding in weight loss.

When our blood sugar levels are maintained relatively stable, our bodies perform better. A study from the Harvard School of Public Health demonstrated that high GI diets are strongly linked to an increase in the risk of Type II diabetes and heart disease. The World Health Organization recommends that people in developed countries eat as many low-GI foods as possible, to prevent heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.

A hundred years ago, our foods simply took longer to digest. They came straight from the farm to our table, in its natural state, containing the original fiber and other natural components they were grown with. Modern food processing practices have stripped our food of many of its natural properties, making it easy to package and store, and extremely quick to digest. And the faster we digest the food, the quicker we get hungry again.

This is the “roller coaster” that happens when we consume too many high GI foods. High glycemic index foods may give you a burst of energy, but this is followed by a “crash” as the insulin takes the blood sugar back down and you feel hungry again. To make things worse, these insulin spikes turn all that excess blood sugar into fat, which is usually stored right around the abdomen.

On the other hand, when we consume low glycemic foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains, the rise in blood sugar is slower and more sustained over time. That means you feel fuller longer and are less tempted to eat again so soon. Our energy levels are maintained throughout the day, which not only provides health benefits but also makes us feel better, because we’re not on that up and down cycle from morning to night.

If you would like to increase your consumption of low glycemic foods, here are some suggestions.

Eat less of the following:

•     Avoid sugary snacks, especially those made with refined sugar. Not only are they high GI foods, they are mostly empty calories.

•     Many salad dressings are very high GI foods.

•     While potatoes are nutritious, especially with their skins intact, they are also very high GI foods.

Eat more of the following:

•     Fruits and vegetables in their natural state, preferably organic. Many commercially grown fruits and vegetables have a higher sugar content than organic. Commercially grown foods also have added chemicals and pesticides.

•     Eat foods with lots of fiber, which tends to lower the glycemic index of everything you eat.

•     Choose breakfast cereals with whole grain barley, bran, and oats.

Interestingly, the cooking method can affect the GI rating of a food. For example, boiled potatoes are rated an 81 on the glycemic index, while baked potatoes rate as 119 and mashed potatoes 104.

 

What is Functional Medicine?

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Functional medicine is an individualized, holistic approach to healthcare based on prevention and identification of the underlying causes of disease, rather than on symptoms.  Functional medicine is based on the following principles:

•     Every patient has a unique biochemical profile. While we all share certain biochemical processes, there are significant individual variations in our metabolic functioning due to genetics and environment.

•     The focus is on patient care rather than disease care.

•     There is a web of interconnections between physiological factors. Our biological systems function more like a network than like individual, autonomous processes. We now know that every organ and system can affect every other organ and system in the network, so the whole person needs to be treated rather than only the diseased part.

•     Good health is more than the absence of disease.

Conventional medicine compartmentalizes the body into specialties, such as cardiology, rheumatology, dermatology, and digestive disorders. Functional medicine sees the body as an integrated system rather than a collection of independent organs. The approach uses principles of systems biology, which involve analyzing how all components of human biology interact with each other and with the environment. Imbalances in environmental inputs and physiological processes can cause the signs and symptoms of disease. Environmental inputs include diet, exercise, air quality, water quality, and trauma. Physiological processes include cell-cell communication, transformation of food into energy; cell, organ and system replication, repair and maintenance; elimination of waste; defenses, transport and circulation. Malfunctions in these systems can affect all other systems in the body, and may cause imbalances in hormonal function, cell replication, immune response, inflammatory response, digestion, and structural integrity.

Practitioners of functional medicine focus on the core imbalances that underlie medical conditions. Their goal is to intervene at multiple levels in order to restore balance, manage complex chronic disease, and return patients to good health. Most medical conditions are complex and don’t necessarily fall into simple, easy-to-treat categories. For example, digestive disorders often involve inflammation, immune response, digestive system function, psychological issues, and energy transformation issues. Each practitioner uses the patient’s unique physiological, mental, and emotional story as the basis for diagnosing illness. A comprehensive and individualized treatment approach is then devised to improve the patient’s physiological function and environmental inputs, rather than focusing simply on symptom relief. Treatment may include typical medical approaches such as genetics, endocrinology, gastroenterology, psychology and immunology, as well as non-mainstream treatments and drugs such as homeopathy, orthomolecular medicine and detoxification. Rather than simply diagnose a condition and prescribe a pill for symptom relief, a functional medicine specialist will search for the root cause of disease and provide a multi-pronged approach to restoring balance and, ultimately, good patient health.

 

Shortening the Road to Recovery After an Automobile Injury: Your Chiropractor Can Help.

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It’s a great success story that most of us probably haven’t heard very much about.  America’s roads have become far safer across the past 20 years.  By just about any measure, travelers are much less likely to be injured or killed in a motor vehicle accident than they were in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Fast Facts:  Motor Vehicle Accidents by the Numbers

Vehicle Miles Driven.  Americans traveled 2,172 billion miles in 1991 and 2,979 billion miles in 2009.  That’s a 37% increase.

Motor Vehicle Accidents.  During the same 1991-2009 period, the number of accidents on U.S. roads actually decreased by 10%, dropping from 6,117,000 to 5,505,000.  So even though we’re traveling more miles, we’re having fewer accidents.

Occupant Fatalities.  The number of motor vehicle occupants killed in accidents during 1991 was 31,934. That number declined by 23% to 24,474 in 2009.  The fatality rate per 1,000 accidents dropped from 5.2 to 4.4 persons.  That means that when we do have an accident, it’s become less likely that someone traveling in the vehicle will be killed.

Occupant Injuries.  The statistics show an even more positive trend with respect to injuries.  The number of occupants injured in accidents fell 29% from 2,850,000 in 1991 to 2,011,000 in 2009.  The injury rate per 1,000 accidents declined from 465.9 persons to 365.3.  Simply put, our motor vehicle accidents seem to be injuring fewer drivers and passengers when they do occur.

It’s likely that this general trend toward safer roads is being driven by a combination of factors.  It could be the way we’re driving that’s producing fewer, less serious crashes.  It could be the way our roads are designed, maintained or policed.  It could also be the active and passive safety features now included in many of our vehicles.  But whatever the reasons, we can all agree that this is good (if under-reported) news for our nation’s travelers.

But What if I’m One of the Two Million Unlucky Ones this Year?

As encouraging as this trend is, it obviously means little to you if you or someone you care about is actually injured in a car accident.  Even in cases where drivers and passengers walk away from a wreck believing they’re “uninjured”, accidents can have profound, long-lasting health consequences for those involved.  It’s not uncommon for some types of symptoms to appear only gradually days or weeks after the event itself, delaying effective diagnosis and treatment.  Symptoms may also come and go intermittently, making it more difficult to associate them with the accident.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to safeguard your health and improve your chances of a more rapid, complete recovery following an auto accident.  Clinical studies have demonstrated that chiropractic care can shorten recovery time and decrease the amount of permanent physical damage sustained in a collision.

Take Care of First Things First.

Always address any life-threatening injuries first.  If you experience (or have reason to suspect) significant bleeding or bruising, broken bones, internal pain, difficulty breathing, loss of consciousness, or shock, you should seek immediate help from healthcare professionals who specialize in treating trauma injuries.

Recognize Signs that You May Be at Increased Risk of Developing Chronic Problems.

Be sure to tell your doctor if any of the following warning signs apply:

  • A prior history of back, neck or shoulder problems (including previous injury).
  • Distinct numbness, tingling or pain immediately following an accident.
  • Increased muscle tension or reduced range of motion after the crash.
  • You were involved in a rear-end collision.
  • Your head was turned at the moment of impact.
  • You have symptoms that don’t resolve or that become generalized.

Visit your Chiropractor as Soon as Possible After an Accident.

Do this even if you don’t think you’ve been hurt very badly.  Research has shown that early intervention in the form of chiropractic adjustment, massage and supervised exercise and stretching programs can make a big difference in longer-term function.

Stay Active.

Activity encourages blood flow to the injured area and promotes healing.  It also helps prevent or reduce scar tissue formation and maintain range of motion.

Strengthen the Affected Area(s) as Directed by your Chiropractor.

Exercise and stretching programs are designed to help prevent future injuries and are an important part of a balanced treatment plan.

An auto accident can affect your health (and your lifestyle) for years if you don’t receive the proper treatment.  So if you or someone you care about has been injured in a collision, please call our office and make an appointment today.  Chiropractic care can help put your recovery in the fast lane!

References and Resources

A Compilation of Motor Vehicle Crash Data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the General Estimates System.  Traffic Safety Facts 2009 Early Edition.  U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safey Administration.  Accessed August 2011.
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811402EE.pdf

Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Guide to Diseases and Conditions: Whiplash and Alternative Medicine.  Accessed August 2011.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/whiplash/DS01037/DSECTION=alternative-medicine

Berglund A, et. al., The influence of prognostic factors on neck pain intensity, disability, anxiety and depression over a 2-year period in subjects with acute whiplash injury.  Pain.  December 2006.

Jull G, et. al.,  Does the Presence of Sensory Hypersensitivity Influence Outcomes of Physical Rehabilitation for Chronic Pain?  A preliminary RCT.  Pain.  May 2007.

Karnezis IA, et. al., Factors Affecting the Timing of Recovery from Whiplash Neck Injuries:  Study of a Cohort of 134 Patients Pursuing Litigation.  Archives of Orthopeadic and Trauma Surgery.  October 2007.

Peolsson M, et. al., Generalized Pain is Associated with More Negative Consequences than Local or Regional Pain:  A Study of Chronic Whiplash-Associated Disorder.  Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine.  April 2007.

Rosenfeld M., et. al., Active Intervention in Patients with Whiplash-Associated Disorders Improves Long-Term Prognosis.  Spine.  November 2003.

Sterling M., et. al., Physical and Psychological Factors Maintain Long-Term Predictive Capacity Post-Whiplash Injury.  Pain.  May 2006.

 

 

Common Causes of Back Pain

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Understanding the cause of your back pain is the key to proper treatment.  There are many different underlying conditions that cause back pain. The more common causes of back pain are described below. Don’t try to make your own diagnosis. A trained chiropractor that deals with back pain complaints on a daily basis will know what to look for and what questions to ask you to determine the underlying cause.

  • Muscle strains and muscle spasms are the most common cause of low back pain.  Patients may or may not remember the initial event that triggered their muscle spasm. Back pain from muscle spasms can be incredibly painful and feel like nerve pain when the muscle tighten and twitch around a key nerve such as the sciatic nerve.
  • A ruptured intervertebral disc, also called a herniated disc, is another common cause of back pain. The terms ruptured, herniated, slipped and bulging disc don’t really have precise definitions to distinguish one from another and are often used somewhat interchangeably to describe protruding disc material. It is important to note that a large percent of the population is walking around with bulging discs that cause no symptoms, so not every herniated disc warrants treatment or intervention.
  • Discogenic back pain is the result of damage to the intervertebral disc, but without disc herniation.  Diagnosis of discogenic back pain may require the use of a discogram.

 

  • Spinal stenosis causes a lot of back pain in the elderly.  As we age, the spinal canal can become constricted from arthritis and other conditions.  If the spinal canal becomes too tight, back pain can be the result.

 

  • Arthritis most commonly affects joints such as the knees and fingers.  However, arthritis can affect any joint in the body, including the small joints of the spine.  Arthritis of the spine can cause back pain with movement.

 

  • Spondylolisthesis causes back pain because adjacent vertebra become unstable and begin to “slip.”  The most common cause of spondylolisthesis is degenerative changes causing loss of the normal stabilizing structures of the spinal column.

As stated earlier, backaches are hard to self-diagnose.  The causes listed above are just a few of more common possibilities.  If you suffer from acute or chronic backaches, consult a qualified chiropractor for a complete exam.

Are You Sitting Properly?

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If you are an office worker you probably spend at least six or seven hours a day sitting on the job. Add more time sitting in the car, at dinner and lounging with some late night TV and the total hours of sitting rockets up to somewhere around ten hours.

When is the last time you thought about how you sit?

Probably never or a long, long time ago.

Promise yourself that you’ll take a critical look at how you sit after you read this article. If you are sitting and reading this online, go ahead and freeze right now and really think about how you are sitting. Compare your sitting position to this checklist:

Proper Sitting Posture Checklist

  • Sit with your legs uncrossed with ankles in front of the knees.
  • Place both feet firmly on the floor. Get yourself a footrest if your feet don’t reach.
  • Your knees should be lower than your hips and the back of your knees should not touch the seat.
  • If your chair has an adjustable backrest, move it to support the arch in your low back. If you don’t have a backrest, ask your employer about getting one or invest in it yourself.
  • Get up and move around every hour. Take a break from sitting even if you cannot stop working. Make a phone call standing up or close your office door and lie down for a few minutes on your stomach. At the very least, shift your sitting position occasionally.

Why Sitting Posture is Important

Good posture is important for long term health and disease prevention just like daily tooth brushing. And, similar to tooth brushing, habits are formed early and can be hard to break later in life.

Good sitting posture reduces the stress and strain on ligaments. Ligaments are responsible for holding the joints together, so ligament stresses can make you prone to joint injuries. Proper posture also reduces muscle fatigue. When muscles are able to work efficiently they use less energy and don’t get tired as easily. Abnormal motions or positions that are repeated over and over again on a daily basis are contributors to degenerative arthritis and joint pain.

Most adults would readily agree that posture is important. Most of that group would also admit that they don’t actively think about posture…it just happens. For the next 30 days, make an effort to really think about your posture and pause a couple times per day to compare your current position to the checklist provided above. It takes about 30 days of focus to break an old habit or develop a new one, so if you concentrate on your sitting posture for 30 days, you’ll be well on your way to a lifetime of better musculoskeletal health.

As always, if you need a recommendation for a good chair or back rest, ask any member of our team.

What is Sciatica?

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Many people use the term sciatica incorrectly. Sciatica is pain along the path of the sciatic nerve which extends from the lower back down each leg. Sciatica is a symptom (like itching), it is not a diagnosis (like Parkinson’s disease). Sciatica can range from an occasional nuisance to excruciating pain that makes walking near impossible. There can be multiple underlying reasons for your sciatic nerve pain. A chiropractor can help find the root cause of the problem with an exam and may also order some diagnostic imaging such as an x-ray, MRI or CT scan to examine the underlying structures.

To answer the question, ‘what is sciatica’ it is helpful to explain some of the relevant anatomical structures. The sciatic nerve is both the longest and the widest nerve in your body. It begins in the lower back as five separate nerves that extend from five different vertebrae – L4, L5, S1, S2, and S3. These nerves meet up to form one large bundle which runs through the buttocks and down the entire length of the leg. The sciatica nerve is responsible (directly or indirectly) for nearly all the sensation in your leg including the skin of the thigh and gluts.

Sciatica occurs when there is compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve. The pain is felt in the low back and leg, but the site of the pain isn’t always the site of the underlying issue. Since the sciatica nerve is so long and travels around or through the large muscles of the buttocks, it takes an expert to determine if the pain is coming from disc compression, from muscle spasms or from something else. Again, sciatica is a symptom, not a diagnosis.
While sciatica is most often associated with pain, other symptoms may be present such as tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. The pain can be nearly constant or intermittent. If you think you are experiencing sciatic nerve pain, keep a record of the location, duration and intensity of the pain. Your specific history plays an important role in determining the cause of the pain.

Treatment for sciatica depend on the underlying cause, so there is no one recommended course of treatment for all sciatic pain sufferers. Chiropractors use a variety of non-invasive approaches that include spinal manipulation, physical therapy, targeted stretching and active muscle release. They’ll also discuss the role that nutrition and hydration play in reducing tissue inflammation and keeping discs healthy. The spine, discs, muscles and soft tissue all have a role to play in sciatica and should be evaluated and treated as a connected system.

The most important thing to take away from this article is that sciatica (sciatic nerve pain) is a symptom of an underlying condition. You’ll only start to get better once the underlying condition is identified and this is done through a combination of an exam, history and recommended diagnostic imaging.

Take Flexibility Training Seriously

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When it comes to the Big Three of exercise – cardiovascular, strength training and flexibility – it’s pretty clear which one can get overlooked. After all, while we prize cardiovascular and strength training for their role in helping us lose weight, build muscle and get fit, the benefits of flexibility training are less immediately alluring.

However, as the population ages, more of us are learning to appreciate the rewards of stretching. Staying limber can offset age-related stiffness, improve athletic performance, and optimize functional movement in daily life. Research shows that flexibility training can develop and maintain range of motion and may help prevent and treat injury. In fact, the American College of Sports Medicine has added flexibility training to its general exercise recommendations, advising that stretching exercises for the major muscle groups be performed two to three days per week.

How can you include an effective flexibility workout in your fitness program? Here are some guidelines:

Think in Terms of Serious Flexibility Training, Not Just Brief Stretching.
Squeezing in one or two quick stretches before or after a workout is better that nothing, but this approach will yield limited results. What’s more, generic stretches may not be effective for your particular body. The more time and attention you give to your flexibility training, the more benefits you’ll experience. A qualified chiropractor, personal trainer, physical therapist or health professional can design a functional flexibility program specifically for you.

Consider Your Activities.
Are you a golfer? Do you ski, run or play tennis? Do your daily home or work routines include bending, lifting or sitting for long periods? Functional flexibility improves the stability and mobility of the whole person in his or her specific environment. An individualized stretching program is best to improve both stability (the ability to maintain ideal body alignment during all activities) and mobility (the ability to use full, normal range of motion).

Surgery or Chiropractic for Chronic Sciatica Sufferers?

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sciaticaPain coming from compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve is called sciatica. Sciatica – which can include pain, tingling, numbness and muscle weakness – is really a symptom indicating an underlying problem, not a diagnosis in and of itself. This article will explore in detail the findings of a recent controlled study comparing spinal manipulation (chiropractic) and surgery for people whose sciatica did not respond to traditional medical treatment approaches.

The study discussed here was conducted by the National Spine Center in Alberta Canada and published in October of 2010 in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics1. The 40 study participants all had sciatica lasting over 3 months which had not responded to treatment with pain medications, lifestyle modifications, physical therapy, massage therapy or acupuncture. They had all been referred by their primary care physicians to spinal surgeons who had deemed them appropriate surgery candidates.
Instead of having all the patient proceed with surgery, they were split into two groups – one group to undergo a surgical microdiscectomy and the other group to be treated with standardized chiropractic spinal manipulation by a single chiropractor. (If not satisfied with the results they obtained from their assigned method, the patients were allowed to switch to the other treatment plan after 3 months.)

So what happened? Both groups made significant improvements over baseline scores – meaning  that they saw noticeable improvements whereas previous approaches had failed. A full 60% of the study participants benefitted from chiropractic spinal manipulation to the SAME degree as if they underwent surgery. And, after 1 year there was no difference in outcome success based on the treatment method. That means that a full 60% of people referred for surgery by their primary care physicians and accepted as surgical candidates by the neurosurgeon could actually get similar results with chiropractic. That is a lot of potentially unnecessary cutting, anesthesia and ER time.

1 McMorland G, Suter E, Casha S, du Plessis SJ, Hurlbert RJ., Manipulation or microdiskectomy for sciatica? A prospective randomized clinical study. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2010; Oct;33(8):576-84.

Cold or Flu? Which is it?

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During the winter months, the phone rings constantly with people who have “the flu”. Except…they don’t. Do you know the difference between having a cold and having the flu?

The common cold (and boy is it common) develops gradually over several days and can start with a scratchy throat, sneezing and sniffles leading to congestion. Any fever present is mild (in adults). Coughing is generally hacking and can be moist due to congestion.
On the other hand, influenza often starts rather suddenly with fever (usually greater than 101 degrees F and lasting 3-4 days), headache and all over body aches (myalgia).  People with the flu are often exhausted or fatigued. Coughing is usually dry and hacking and can last days or weeks after all other flu symptoms have passed.

Influenza or “the flu” is more of a systemic illness, meaning it affects your entire body, whereas a cold generally just affects the upper body. You can sometimes get a stuffy nose, sneezing and sore throat with the flu, but it’s much more common with colds. The flu is more serious because it can lead to other problems, like pneumonia in susceptible adults and young children.

Influenza is caused by a virus. In general, viral illnesses will run their course without a trip to the doctor. Antibiotics don’t work against viruses, so all your doctor can recommend to help you are pain medications, cough suppressants or an anti-pyretic (fever reducers). All of these are available without a prescription from your local drug store to help you deal with flu symptoms.

If you are suffering from cold or flu symptoms, you should also schedule a visit to your chiropractor. Chiropractic care doesn’t treat the virus directly, but rather boosts your body’s ability to fight the invaders. That’s why regular chiropractic care can reduce the frequency with which you get sick. When your body’s immune system is in peak condition, it can fight off minor intruders with ease.