New Space Age Diagnostic Technology
At
Campbell Chiropractic

Campbell Chiropractic Wellness Center strives to provide the best health care for anyone who grants us the privilege of treating them. We do this is by making sure that our treatment protocols are patient specific because generic treatment plans lead to longer care than is necessary and often have questionable results.

We are now utilizing MyoVision’s surface EMG and Thermography as a diagnostic tool for our patients. The MyoVision system was designed by David Marcarian, M.A., a NASA trained researcher, who has revolutionized the way practitioners diagnose and treat spinal injury. With this system, Campbell Chiropractic will be able to precisely diagnose the true origin of a patient’s pain, therefore allowing us to offer the most effective and appropriate treatment plan. After this treatment plan, the doctors at Campbell Chiropractic will be able to rescan you, thus documenting you your progress.

What is surface EMG?

Surface EMG, short for Electromyography, is a device which measures the amount of electrical activity your muscles release when they are contracting, more commonly known as muscle tension. It is similar in function to an EKG, which medical professionals use to measure heart muscle activity.

With spinal injuries, back muscles have a tendency to “brace” or spasm. A surface EMG will not only show these spasms, but it will show their severity and the muscle imbalances that often occur as a result. The EMG readings will also allow us to correlate these spasms to the spine, giving us a precise idea of where a patient’s joint dysfunction and nerve irritation, which causes these spasms, are located. By treating those affected areas, research has shown superior treatment results. Not only do patients get better faster, but their results are longer lasting. Furthermore, once we know where your muscle imbalances lie, we can prescribe you the ideal exercise program that will be tailored specifically for you.

Below is a surface EMG readout which shows normal and abnormal finding.

What is Thermography?

Thermography detects the difference in temperature from one side of the spine to the other. This is important because when tissue is damaged, the blood flow to that damaged tissue is disrupted. As a result, the temperature to that tissue will be different than that of the non-damaged tissues of surrounding areas. The greater the damage, the greater the temperature difference will be.

Utilizing thermography will allow Campbell Chiropractic to detect areas of muscle damage along with the extent and severity of that damage. Detection of sprain/strains, tendonitis, and muscle tears will be done with ease. Differentiating these types of injuries from joint and nerve injuries is essential for proper treatment.

Often times, a patient’s symptoms mimic multiple diagnoses. When coupled with surface EMG, thermography allows the user to correctly find the true cause of your pain.

Below is a thermography scan readout which shows normal and abnormal findings.

Conclusion

Why allow for there to be any question about the true cause of your pain. Using this new technology, the true cause of you pain will be shown to you in an easy to understand color image. With proper diagnosis comes proper treatment which is shorter and more effective. More important, through rescans, your results can be documented to you, ensuring you that your injury has been handled properly and not just temporarily relieved of its symptoms.


Do you suffer from headaches?
Campbell Chiropractic can help!

What do you do when you have a headache? If you are like many, you take an anti-inflammatory medication such as Motrin or Ibuprofen or a pain killer such as Tylenol. While that works well for the occasional headache, those drugs can have long term side effects when taken on a regular basis. So what should you do when your headaches are chronic? If you suffer from more than one headache a week, you should give Campbell Chiropractic a try.

Often times, headaches are caused by tension in the neck and upper back which places great stress upon the base of the skull. Headaches are often the result because this stress causes a domino-like effect from the neck throughout the skull, even to the sinuses. Working long hours behind computers, taking care of our children, commuting all over Houston, and all the other stresses of life only compounds the problem. If we do not handle these stressors, they become chronic because they negatively affect the spine. When this happens, joints will be irritated and nerves will be pinched. Left to their own devices, these symptoms will only worsen with time.

Chiropractic care can help to reverse this process by improving motion and overall function in the neck and mid-back. Improving motion and function reduces the stress to the joints, nerves, and muscles. In turn, stress to the base of the skull reduces and the headaches will go away. If you mix this with proper ergonomics and light exercise, you can realize a life without chronic headaches. It’s safe and effective, it’s non-invasive, it doesn’t require lengthy treatment plans, and, most importantly, it does not require long term use of medication.

Don’t allow headaches to rule your life anymore. See one of the chiropractors at Campbell Chiropractic Wellness Center today and get control of your life. When you do, you will see how easy it is to be pain free.


Osteoarthritis of the Spine

Osteoarthritis if the spine affects nearly 30 million Americans, wearing down the cartilage that protects their joints. Its symptoms range from nothing to agonizing neck and back pain. When most think of arthritis, they don’t think of the spine. Instead, they think of the hands, knees, hips and shoulders. Yet most people over the age of 40 have some signs of degeneration in their spines, even if they do not have any symptoms. If left to its own volition, this degeneration will progress, ultimately affecting more that just the joints of the spine. Disc degeneration, bone spurs, and nerve irritation can occur which magnify the problem, making treatment much more difficult. There is no cure for osteoarthritis, only treatments aimed at controlling its symptoms in order to ensure that quality of life is maintained. For this to happen, a proactive approach must be taken.

Knowing the Risks Factors

Osteoarthritis of the spine has several key risk factors that need to be understood.

· Age and Gender: most common in women over the age of 45.
· Lifestyle: athletes or people with jobs that require repetitive motions, especially heavy lifting.
· Excessive Weight: causes more stress to be placed on the joints of the spine.
· Poor Postures: Long hours sitting behind a desk creates increased stress to the joints of the spine.
· Genetics: a family history of spinal osteoarthritis makes you more vulnerable.

Usually, multiple factors contribute to degeneration of the spine. The more factors you have, the greater your risk. The difficult part is that some factors, like age and gender, are not in your control. Thankfully, others are.

Treatment: Be Proactive!