Firstly, an apology for not blogging in a while but the Clinic has been super-busy with lots happening. As a result there is so much to catch up on and I’ll let you know all about it in the coming weeks – but let’s start with my new connection with the Newport Gwent Dragons. For those who don’t know, the Dragons are one of the four professional regional rugby teams in Wales. Having been formed in 2003 they are now well-established and have a great following, covering a geographical catchment of around 600,000 people.

Over the Summer I was asked by their medical team to work with them, having earlier managed to get one of their players back on the road to recovery through private treatment here at the Clinic in Swansea. I was happy to do so provided it didn’t take me away from my patients for long periods and I agreed to spend some of my limited free time during the week with them.

I was honoured to be asked to do this work as the Club has shown enormous faith in me, entrusting me with the care of their main assets – the players. I now work up at their training ground every Tuesday afternoon with these elite athletes and it’s been a great experience so far as it’s a real change of pace. I’m learning so much more about sports injuries and how to manage them – particularly when your patient really doesn’t want to be lying on a treatment couch for any length of time and earns his living from playing sport. I know that each and every Tuesday I’m going to be busy and it’s a privilege to work with these guys.

Big thanks are due to the staff and players at the Club who have all said that they appreciate my contribution to the group.

As for the rest of the comings and goings at the Clinic, I’ll let you all know next month about the changes and what we have planned for 2019. Until then, stay safe, well and healthy.

Chris

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Patients often come to the Clinic saying that they feel (or have been told by another health care professional) they have ‘trapped nerves’ in their neck or back. This has often developed slowly over many years and can be due to the patient extending their neck for long periods of time or holding their back in an extended position for lengthy periods – that’s why cyclists often suffer with it. The condition can also sometimes be caused by the opposite position – a flexion of the spine. If it is the case that a nerve is being pinched there is something we can do to help. But first, let’s look at what a ‘trapped nerve’ actually is and how it happens.

Your discs act as spacers between the bones in your spine (the vertebrae) and that space allows nerves and blood vessels to travel through holes known as foraminal canals. If a disc has degenerated, or perhaps if there are other obstructions to the canal such as bone spurs, this can often cause nerves to be pinched as they pass through. It’s painful and debilitating, though pain killers seem to have limited effect and will not solve the problem at all.

So how can we help? Well firstly the bad news – there is never an ‘instant fix’ and it will almost certainly take a number of adjustments to solve the problem. But over a period of time as those adjustments take effect spinal movement is improved and the canals open up so that the nerves can pass through without impingement again.

If you are suffering with what you believe may be a trapped nerve give us a call on 01792 204484 and take the first steps to recovery.

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Why is ongoing chiropractic care important? We don’t bat an eyelid when the dentist wants to see us every six months or our optician reminds us to have an eye test every so often. It’s perfectly understandable that most of our patients want just one thing from us when they walk through the Clinic door – they want us to stop the pain that is in many cases making their lives a misery. The problem may be recent – perhaps due to an injury at the gym or gardening – or it may be long-standing. Our usual practice is to find out the cause of the pain and keep the patient informed about our diagnosis whilst going on to deal with it as quickly as we can. In the vast majority of cases we are able to help in achieving just what the patient wants – an end to pain

But what happens then? For many people, recovering from an injury and being pain free is the end goal and that’s no surprise. However, ongoing chiropractic care can bring real benefits to wellbeing, helping with spinal strength and posture whilst keeping any potential problems at bay. Many of our patients pop in to see us once a month or even once every two months just to have an adjustment and have a chat about any issues that may have resurfaced. All of the chiropractors at this Clinic are able to spot potential problems and employ treatment techniques to ensure those problems never manifest.

I’ve often said in this blog that improved research into chiropractic is showing us that treatment can have some surprising and often unexpected benefits giving credence to the many chiropractors that have anecdotally been saying the same thing for years.

But perhaps the most dramatic example is the well-documented case of a man in his 50s who suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He underwent regular chiropractic treatment and was given a program of therapeutic exercises as well as nutritional advice. The results were astonishing. His lung capacity improved dramatically – and bearing in mind that a person’s lung capacity almost always reduces over time this makes the results even more extraordinary. For that particular individual there is no doubt that regular chiropractic care was life changing. Even more so when one considers that larger lung capacity has been linked in studies to greater longevity.

I acknowledge that this is a very dramatic example and may even be unique, but as more research is being done into the benefits of chiropractic treatment we can only hope that more people acknowledge these positive findings and visit their chiropractor on a regular basis. Many of our regular patients do so and are reporting very real benefits.

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