Freehold NJ Chiropractor Reviews The Full Benefits of Chiropractic Care

September 18, 2012 by 1 Comment

Freehold NJ Chiropractor, Dr. Russell Brokstein of Hometown Family Wellness Center, reviews the full benefits of chiropractic care.

While reading posts on facebook, I saw a great picture that summed up how chiropractic can help you and anybody else who is searching to be healthy without drugs or surgery.

Most people seek chiropractic care when they are in pain, whether it be neck pain, lower back pain, shoulder pain, sciatica, numbness and tingling, headaches and migraines, post accident injuries, fibromyalgia and other conditions.  This is just is just a small percentage of people that could be helped.

Chiropractors remove pressure from the nervous system.  It is this system that controls all functions of the body.  Through daily stresses, the vertebra in the spine can misalign and put pressure on the nerves.  When this happens we get dysfunction, disease and symptoms.  By adjusting the vertebra chiropractor freehold Freehold NJ Chiropractor Reviews The Full Benefits of Chiropractic Careto remove the pressure, chiropractors correct the underlying cause of symptoms therefore improving health and function.

View the picture to the right and see different conditions that chiropractic can help you reduce and other areas that chiropractic improves.  By being under chiropractic care, you improve your overall health and wellness all without the use of drugs and surgery.  Think how this can improve your relationships with your family and friends as well as improve your activities of daily living.  You can live once again!

Dr. Russell Brokstein has been providing patients chiropractic care for over 14 years.  He opened Hometown Family Wellness Center in Freehold, NJ in May of 2005 to provide natural health and wellness to the community he grew up in.  For more information on Dr. Russell and his practice go to his website: www.chiropractorfreehold.com and call his office at 732-780-0044 to experience the full benefits of chiropractic care!

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Chiropractor in Freehold NJ Shares Research Showing Smoking Increases Risk of Back Pain

May 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment

There are many risks to smoking cigarettes and new research is showing it can also increase your risk of back pain.

chiropractor freehold Chiropractor in Freehold NJ Shares Research Showing Smoking Increases Risk of Back Pain95,000 nurses in one study showed those women that smoked were three times more likely to develop Psoriatic arthritis.  This form of arthritis is inflammatory in nature and can cause lower back pain and sacral pain.  Even those smokers that quit were 1.5 times more likely to develop psoriatic arthritis, and the highest risk were women that smokes for over 25 years.  It is believed smoking increases the risk of psoriatic arthritis because smoking can induce oxidative stress which causes inflammation and also damages the immune system.

Another new study shows smokers had a higher incidence of inflammatory back pain at a younger age.  Patients who smoke overall have more disease and illness, worse body function, and a much lower quality of life.  Research of smokers shows MRI scans revealed more structural lesions on their spines and sacroiliac joints than non smokers.  Since smokers have more severe symptoms, they tend to have more absenteeism from work than non smokers.  This is another reason to add for smokers to quit immediately, especially if you are experiencing back pain with inflammation.

Other research on smoking has shown correlation to increase in sciatica and other chronic pain conditions.

Our chiropractic office, Hometown Family Wellness Center, located in Freehold, NJ has been highly successful in helping patients with back pain, sciatica and many forms of arthritis.  While addressing the cause of the back pain, we also help support our patients in making healthy lifestyle changes to reduce the risks of  pain and improving your overall health without the use of drugs or surgery.  Smoking is a difficult, addictive habit to quit and we have including biofeedback stress reduction therapy in our office to help patients end their addictive habits.  To find out more about our office click here:  www.ChiropractorFreehold.com

 References

Chung HY, Machado P, Heijde D, et al. Smokers in early axial spondyloarthritis have earlier disease onset, more disease activity, inflammation and damage, and poorer function and health-related quality of life: results from the DESIR cohort. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 2012;71:809-816. doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2011-200180.

Li W, Han J, Qureshi A. Smoking and risk of incident psoriatic arthritis in US women. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 2012;71:804-808. doi 10.1136/annrheumdis-2011-200416.

Walsh, Nancy. Smoking Tied to Back Pain, Arthritis. Medpage Today. May 18,2012. Accessed May 24, 2012. http://www.medpagetoday.com/Rheumatology/Arthritis/32763.

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Freehold NJ Chiropractor Explains the Best way to Prevent Back Pain

May 11, 2012 by 2 Comments

Our office, Hometown Family Wellness Center located in Freehold, NJ sees many patients that suffer with lower back pain.  Over 80% of the population experiences back pain and many wonder how to prevent their pain from worsening or reoccurring.  A recent literature review revealed that exercise may be the most effective way to prevent pain.

Previous 20 scientific studies were reviewed that tested various interventions for preventing back pain including exercise, patient education, training in safe lifting methods, stress management, and more.

The only intervention which tested consistently producing substantial relief was exercise.  In one study, active patients had 127 fewer sick days than inactive patients.  Most exercises focused on strengthening back and abdominal muscles.

It’s important that before starting any exercise program to be evaluated by a chiropractor that specializes in sports and exercise therapy.  Many people exercise, but they don’t realize they have joint and muscle imbalances.  When you exercise with these imbalances, your joints and muscles aren’t functioning optimally and you are further enhancing the misalignments or at best splinting the unstable areas.

Exercise is a critical component of chiropractic care.  A combination of chiropractic adjustments and exercise not only significantly relieves back pain for many patients but also helps preventing future problems from occurring.  The adjustments bring the joints to improved alignment and allow for optimal range of motion and more equal contraction of the muscles for best stabilization.

Dr. Russell Brokstein, Chiropractor and owner of Hometown Family Wellness Center helps his patients develop a safe, effective exercise program to prevent and reduce pain.  We start off with chiropractic adjustments and therapeutic stretching to provide for full range of motion before beginning strengthening exercises.  Here is a video of the basics in our home stretching routine for the low back:

This is just the starting point to preventing low back pain and helping those already suffering.  To learn more about natural back pain relief, go to our website www.chiropractorfreehold.com or contact our office at 732-780-0044 to get a full evaluation for spinal problems.

Bigos S, Holland J, Holland C, Webster J, Battie, Malmgren J. High-quality controlled trials on preventing episodes of back problems: systematic literature review in working-age adults. The Spine Journal 2009; 9: 147-168.

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Freehold Chiropractor Shares Research that Shows Back Surgery Fails 74% of the Time

March 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Over 80% of the population suffers from back pain at one time or another.  It is becoming common practice for medical doctors to suggest back surgery and the patients are led to believe it is a quick fix.  But boy are you in for a rude chiropractor freehold Freehold Chiropractor Shares Research that Shows Back Surgery Fails 74% of the Timeawakening if you choose this as your option.  A new study reveals that back surgery fails 74% of the time!

The study reviewed the records of 1450 patient records in the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation database.  These patients were suffering with conditions from disc degeneration, disc herniation or radiculopathy, a nerve condition that causes numbness or tingling and weakness of the limbs.  The patients were split equally into 2 groups:  those that had fusion surgery vs those that had no surgery at all.

In the 2 year follow up with these patients, only 26% returned to work in the surgery group, yet 67% in the NON surgical group returned to work.  What is more alarming is that the surgical group had a 41% increase in the use of dangerous pain killers, putting them at risk of further side effects and addictions.

“The study [1] provides clear evidence that for many patients, fusion surgeries designed to alleviate pain from degenerating discs don’t work”, Dr. Trang Nguyen, lead author and a researcher at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. [2]

Many patients report increase in excruciating pain post surgery and the increase prescription of medications rarely helps.  One patient, Nancy Scatena, reported “I was suicidal” due to the excruciating pain.  She went for another opinion from another surgery that was described as a “miracle worker”.  The doctor assured her he would fix everything and after a brief period of relief, the pain came back with vengeance.

Many pain management doctors and some surgeons state surgery is an empty promise, yet due to the suggestion of the medical doctors around 600,000 people opt for surgery which has such a low rate of success.  Many times the surgeries back fire, resulting in more pain and prescribed medications.

These surgeries aren’t simple procedures either.  There are many risks that come along with them, including paralysis and even death.  There is a huge concern because in just the last 15 years, there was an 8 time increase in these complicated surgeries.  In 2007 alone, there were a 27 million reported back problems with over $30 billion spent on relieving the pain.. the biggest portion of which was spent on these dangerous spine surgeries that have a low success rate.

Two other studies further confirm findings:

1) Surgery should not be recommended until a patient has 2 years of all other conservative approaches have failed.

2) Adjustments (chiropractic treatments) with or without exercise therapy have a higher success rate than medical care alone over 3 and 12 month periods.  To top if off, the more successful chiropractic approach shows better value over not only the medical care but also better than manipulation along with exericse.

I’m a chiropractor in Freehold, NJ and at my office, Hometown Family Wellness Center, I have seen patients for over 13 years with many sources of back pain.  I take a conservative approach with your condition, and upon a full evaluation, I show you what is the cause of the problem.  If you are one of the rare instances that you won’t benefit from chiropractic, I refer you to a local specialist who can further help you with your lower back pain.  With over 80% success rate, chiropractic is the best option.  Before any thought of looking into back surgery, I always suggest you look into any alternative options first.  I have seen many patients over the years who have suffered through the surgery with little to no results.  Some have had spinal fusions where they are so restricted in their daily activities now and can’t enjoy life, others had temporary relief then the pain gradually returned to beyond levels prior to the surgery, and one of my mother’s friends was even paralyzed from her waist down to her feet.  I have seen many scenarios and most of these patients were told there was no other option.  Just remember, this is your body and there are always better and more safe alternatives before trying surgery.  Yes, you might have heard or nobody who had a successful spinal surgery, but those are the rare cases.  Is it worth the risk?

If you or somebody you know suffers with low back pain and have considered surgery, please share this blog and research as much as you can before taking the leap to surgery.  If you are in Freehold or the surrounding towns of Marlboro, Manalapan, Howell, Colts Neck, Jackson, Morganville or other areas of Monmouth County, NJ, give our office a call at 732-780-0044 and go to our website:  www.chiropractorfreehold.com

REFERENCES:

1.   Long-term Outcomes of Lumbar Fusion Among Workers’ Compensation Subjects: An Historical Cohort Study
SPINE (Phila Pa 1976) 2011 (Feb 15);   36 (4):   320–331

2.   Study Says Back Surgery Often Makes Things Worse
The Daily Hit ~ Oct 14, 2010

3.   Back Surgery May Backfire On Patients In Pain
MSNBC.com ~ Oct 14, 2010

4.   Why Do Spinal Surgery Rates Continue To Rise?
Chiro.Org Blog Editorial ~ April 10th, 2010

5.   Findings from the: “United Kingdom Back Pain Exercise and Manipulation (UK BEAM) Randomised Trial”
British Medical Journal 2004 (Dec 11); 329 (7479)

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Chiropractor in Freehold NJ Helps SacroIliac Pain

March 11, 2012 by 1 Comment

So many people suffer needlessly with lower back pain.  There are many sources of the pain (from misaligned joints, pressure on nerves, muscle spams, sprains or strains, disc problems, to even more serious conditions including cancer) and most of the time patients go to their primary doctor who doesn’t know how to properly and thoroughly examine to determine the cause, then just prescribe a muscle relaxer, anti-inflammatory, or pain reliever.  Not one of these medications correct the problem, they all just cover up the symptoms giving a false sense of security to the patient that they are “better.”  On top of that, all patients should worry about the consequences and side effects of these pills and possibly doing further damage to the back by doing more activities and exercise because they think the back is fine.

Just imagine if you went to the dentist and had a painful cavity.  The dentist says to you, “Oh, it’s just a cavity, we’ll shoot it with novacaine and you won’t feel the pain anymore.”  Would this be fine with you?  You will not feel the pain, but the cavity will still be there.  Do you think that just because there is no more pain that the cavity is better?  Do you think that a non painful cavity due to a drug covering up the symptom is going to get better or worse over time?  I think you know the answer is that the cavity will further decay and be more of a problem down the road.

As a practicing chiropractor in Freehold, NJ, I see many patients who are experiencing low back pain.  One of the most missed causes of the back pain are dysfunctions of the Sacroiliac joints or SI joints.  These joints are at the base of the spine chiropractor freehold Chiropractor in Freehold NJ Helps SacroIliac Painwhere the sacrum sits on he foundation of the pelvic bones.  The pain at the SI joints can be caused by difference in leg length, pain or dysfunction of the ankles, feet, knees, hips and dropped arches.  Pregnancy can be another cause of SI joint pain because the body is producing hormones that cause ligament laxity, therefore allowing excessive SI joint movement which strains the supporting muscles, tendons and ligaments.

According to a current study, chiropractic care is a safe and effective way to correct sacroiliac pain.  32 women who were experiencing SI joint pain were adjusted one time by a chiropractor.  All of the patients reported significant reduction of pain at 48 hours and one month follow ups. This is due to the corrective nature of the chiropractic adjustment…all without medications and their harmful side effects.

This is just one of many studies that further prove chiropractic’s powerful, drug-free way to correct musculoskeletal conditions.

If you or somebody you know has been suffering with back pain, make sure you let a chiropractor do a thorough evaluation to determine the cause of the pain.  Once we determine the actual cause, we can start a chiropractic treatment plan that corrects the imbalances and allow you to not only be pain free but you can enjoy your normal daily activities once again and prevent further problems in the future.  I have been helping patients in Freehold and the surrounding communities of Marlboro, Manalapan, Howell, Colts Neck, Jackson, Morganville and other towns in Monmouth and Ocean County in New Jersey.

For more information, check out or website and blog by clicking:  www.chiropractorfreehold.com and see what other patients have to say by clicking here:  Patient Video Testimonials

Kamali, Fahimeh and Esmaeil Shokri. The effect of two manipulative therapy techniques and their outcome in patients with sacroiliac joint syndrome. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies. 2012; 16: 29-35.

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Chiropractor in Freehold NJ Shares a Key Component Missed by Many Doctors in Treating Low Back Pain

February 10, 2012 by 1 Comment

Over 80% of the population experiences back pain at one time or another.  Unfortunately many people wait, thinking it will go away, then wonder why it keeps coming back.  Many others seek care from their medical doctors that just put them on a series of pain medication and muscle relaxers.  The medications at best only give temporary relief, while the underlying cause actually gets worse.  Just imagine if you wentchiropractor freehold Chiropractor in Freehold NJ Shares a Key Component Missed by Many Doctors in Treating Low Back Pain to a dentist for a painful cavity, but the dentist only shot the cavity with Novocaine but didn’t treat the cavity itself:  You might feel better as you aren’t experiencing pain, but the cavity is actually decaying more.   The same thing happens when you just go to a medical doctor and they prescribe medications.  You feel better, but the underlying cause keeps getting worse.

Chiropractors and Physical Therapists take a different route and actually have the goal of correcting the cause, but only chiropractors find the actual cause of the pain and therefore have a highest success rate in correcting the back pain.  By finding the spinal vertebra that are misaligned which are putting pressure on the nerves and causing dysfunction of the discs, chiropractic utilizes specific adjusting techniques to realign the bones and joints to get the pressure off the discs and nerves.  It’s as simple as that!

My name is Dr. Russell Brokstein and as a chiropractor for the past 13 plus years, I have done a lot of work on chiropractor freehold Chiropractor in Freehold NJ Shares a Key Component Missed by Many Doctors in Treating Low Back Painpatients experiencing low back pain.  Most chiropractors just look at the spine, but some of us specialize in full body mechanics, including the ankle, foot, knees and hips.  Most times, patients have imbalances in their legs that can cause misalignments in the spine, all the way from the pelvis, lower back all the way up to the neck.  By examining the legs and correcting the involved joints, we are able to further stabilize the spine from repetitive misalignment.

If your feet are misaligned, it causes you to walk off balance and translates into stress into knees, hips and the entire spine.  This is similar to a car with misaligned wheels and you start to feel the car pulling to one side or the other.  If you leave it that way too long, the tires start to wear down and you can have more problems build up including brake problems, struts, etc.

In my treatment of patients, I check everybody for misalignments of the ankles, feet, knees and hips to further correct the imbalances occurring in the spine that are causing the pain.  A major part of the problems in the leg are due to collapsing arches that don’t get support from the shoes you wear.  By measuring the arches with state of the art equipment, we can have custom made orthotics built to put in your shoes to provide the proper support to help stabilize the adjustments we perform.

A study reported in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics evaluated the efficacy of custom-made shoe orthotics in managing low back pain.  50 subjects were split into 2 groups of 25:  one group received the orthotics, while the other group were put into a 6 week waiting period before being put into orthotics.  The group wearing orthotics showed a significant decrease in back pain, while the second group didn’t show any improvement until being allowed to wear the orthotics from the 6th thru 12th week of the study.  Foot pain also decreased in the orthotic group, while the non orthotic group showed no improvement in the first 6 weeks.  The study concluded that the use of foot orthotics appear to play a significant role in reducing the effects of both foot and back pain in patients.

If you have been experiencing lower back pain that won’t resolve with the other approaches you have taken, I recommend coming in to our Freehold, NJ office, Hometown Family Wellness Center, for a full body examination and consult for me to show you the cause of your back pain once and for all.  I will demonstrate for you how your feet and legs are a major contributor to your problem and then we will address the cause once and for all so you can once again be out of pain and on your way to enjoying your normal daily activities.

For more information on our practice click here to go to our website:  www.ChiropractorFreehold.com

Reference:  Cambron JA, Duarte M, Dexheimer J, Solecki T.  Shoe Orthotics for the treatment of chronic low back pain:  A randomized controlled pilot study.  Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2011; 34(4): 254-260

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Car Accident in Freehold? Why Chiropractic Care is the Best Option!

December 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Car accidents happen every day and most people have been in one during their lifetime.  As a chiropractor in Freehold, NJ, I see patients from the area, including Marlboro, Manalapan, Howell, Colts Neck, Millstone, Morganville and Jackson, New Jersey in Monmouth County.

While reading some articles online today, I came upon Denver Chiropractor, Dr. Trent Artichoker’s blog post on auto accidents.  It reminded me how important it is to educate the community the importance of getting their spines checked after an accident, no matter how serious one things their accident is or is not.  Many times people walk away from an accident not feeling any pain, but even a 5 mile per hour little fender bender results in whiplash injuries, also called cervical acceleration deceleration syndrome.  It’s important to get checked to prevent future problems, not only with the body, but trying to get coverage by the auto insurance.  It’s possible that the symptoms from this type of injury don’t show for days, weeks, months or even years down the road.

I have patients that come into my office with neck pain, headaches, lower back pain, sciatica, numbness and tingling down the arms, or mid back pain not knowing where it came from, but upon proper questioning usually find out the patient had a car accident years before that they thought was harmless.  After an exam, it can usually be traced back to the car accident.  The difficult part is, if the problem has been laying without symptoms for months or years, scar tissue builds up and is more difficult to correct.

So, whether you do or do not have pain after an accident.  It is so important to get examined by a qualified health professional.  Many seek the help of a medical doctor, but in most cases they will just treat the symptoms with pain medication, ice and rest.  This makes the problem more chronic in the long run as the underlying cause of the pain is not corrected.  Dr. Artichoker mentions in his Denver Chiropractic blog there are many options in treatment of an auto accident, but I totally agree that chiropractors are are at the top of the list to get examined and treated by as we are one of the only health professionals trained to examine the joints, nerves, muscles, tendons, ligaments, discs and other soft tissues and the in treatment in these musculoskeletal conditions.

Documentation of these findings and treatment are so important, especially for insurance needs and in case attorneys and a court case is in the future.

Remember.. no accident is too small for problems to occur.  Call our office if you have been in a motor vehicle accident to make sure no underlying problems are present and to get treatment quickly to expedite recovery.

If you are in the Denver Colorado area, make sure you look up Dr. Trent Artichoker, MS, DC:

Denver Chiropractic LLC
3890 Federal Blvd Unit 1
Denver, CO 80211

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Back Pain Relief: The Best Treatment is?

December 30, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Did you know that the government actually recognizes that chiropractic is the best treatment choice for low back pain?

The famous RAND group did a study headed by Dr. Paul Shekelle, MD in 1992.  It found chiropractic care to be the most cost-effective treatment for low back pain?

The study marked the first time that representatives of this prestigious group had officially recognized spinal manipulation as an appropriate treatment for patients with lower back pain.

“For patients with acute low-back symptoms without radiculopathy, the scientific evidence suggests spinal manipulation is effective in reducing pain and perhaps speeding recovery within the first month of symptoms.” – Clinical Practice Guidelines, AHCPR (1994)

“There is strong evidence that manipulation is more effective than a placebo treatment for chronic low-back pain or than usual care by the general practitioner, bed rest, analgesics and massage.” - Spine, Van Tulder and Bouter et al. (1997)

“…improvement in all patients at three years was about 29% more in those treated by chiropractors than in those treated by the hospitals. The beneficial effect of chiropractic on pain was particularly clear.” - British Medical Journal, Meade et al. (1995)

“Manipulative therapy and physiotherapy are better than general practitioner and placebo treatment. Furthermore, manipulative therapy is slightly better than physiotherapy after 12 months.” – British Medical Journal, Koes et al. (1992)

Most people know chiropractors are good at correcting back pain problems but few people know why. It’s all about correcting the cause of the back pain – removing subluxations and nerve interference in your low back and spine. This allows your low back and everything attached to those nerves to function properly without pain. If only people knew that masking their problems with drugs does nothing to correct their problems and actually allows the problem to progressively get worst:  it would be similar to go to a dentist for a painful cavity, but just having the doctor shoot Novocain to get rid of the pain, but not treat the cavity.  Plus, all the side effects of those medications.
So, if you have back pain, doesn’t it makes sense to get checked by Chiropractors that find the cause of the problem and get the best results?

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