Neck and shoulder pains are frequent reasons for people to come to see Dr. Walsdorf. For some patients, it is stiffness in their neck, and for others it may be pain down their arms. He has a system to analyze and address the causes of most neck and shoulder problems. He will tailor what he does to fit the particular reasons behind your problem.
Often it is a matter of determining which nerves are being pinched in the neck. He does his extensive orthopedic/chiropractic exam and possibly afterwards, he may take x-rays of your neck. Dr. Walsdorf will then decide which therapies he will use to treat your pain, stiffness, or other neck or shoulder issues.
The following are the four groups of therapies that a patient with neck and shoulder problems might receive.
Spinal Adjustments
Spinal adjustments are the safest and most effective way to remove nerve pinching, and have a higher patient satisfaction than drug care, physical therapy, acupuncture and surgery. Dr. Walsdorf does spinal adjustments on patients with neck, shoulder, arm or hand problems, because a misalignment of the neck often presses upon, or pinches important nerves that go into the shoulders, arms and hands.
There are three types of misalignments: Subluxations, Fixations, and Curve Loss. Each can play a role in irritating nerves that go into one’s shoulders, arms and hands.
Acupressure Therapies
Dr. Walsdorf finds that invigorating the acupuncture channels of a patient can be the missing key to helping a patient’s neck and shoulder to heal strong and quickly. Dr. Walsdorf uses acupressure massage and a variety of Asian Therapies that include infrasonic therapy (the “chi” machine”), electro-acupuncture, breathing techniques, and a powerful set of health rebuilding exercises called 4 Element Yoga. In fact, he is the originator of 4 Element Yoga, which works to strengthen your weaker body areas by way of special exercising movements.
The 4 Element Yoga stimulates the various physiological, anatomical, and psychological principles, which acupuncture works upon. These movements work to pump more chi, or life force, into your painful or stiff, neck and shoulder areas.
Postural Therapy
Posture is a crucial factor in keeping your neck and shoulders in good working order. Unfortunately, it is not very easy to quickly change one’s posture. It takes effort by both the doctor and the patient to effectively change one’s posture. Stress also can lead to bad neck posture problems by the way you tighten your muscles when emotionally stressed. There are exercises Dr. Walsdorf uses to help his patients improve their posture, and remove the nerve and skeletal strain in the neck and shoulders that often come from bad posture.
Nutritional Therapies
Your neck is affected by your nutritional state, more than you might think. This is mostly due to how the ligaments, and other connective tissue fibers that hold your neck together, are dependent upon important nutrients. These go beyond vitamins and include minerals, like sulfur and manganese, which keep these fibers strong and resilient. A variety of nutritional elements are needed for the neck’s bones, nerves, and muscles to be strong and resilient.
Improving your RQ, or “resiliency quotient,” is the important goal in nutritional health. Resiliency determines how well you will heal after an injury. In other words, the lower your RQ, the more your body will suffer the consequences of injuries, or day-to-day physical activities. Therefore, the difference between patients who heal quickly and those who do not is often due to the differences in their nutritional states.
Consider two people with very similar spinal alignment and ergonomic stress patterns. One eats well, the other lives on soda, pizza and other “counterfeit foods”. Both get injured in similar car accidents. Can you see how the one with the lower RQ is going to have a harder time healing?
My traditional medical doctors could not help me for my back and neck pain. So I went to see if Dr. Walsdorf could, and he did! He helped me a lot! I feel so much better.
Nancy Capparelli