From Engadget:

There are some great hands-on shots and video demonstration of Microsoft’s Courier. As you can see, it is pen-based. 

If the pen-based inputs on the courier is as sensitive, responsive and precise as they are on a Tablet PC, then I can see this device being a great tool for EMR (electronic medical records). 

I’m loving the pen inputs on this device, and I like how there are two screens to sequester two different applications.  In my practice, I rely on typing in letters and numbers that aren’t real words, and drawings.  I see this as a great interface for this.  If this interacts with Microsoft’s OneNote, and it probably will, it will be a note-taking winner. Sometimes you need to have your stuff on a desktop to work with, and sometimes you need to have your stuff in your hand, on the go.

Caution, though.   Sometimes the romantic notion of having a slate in your hand, taking notes while talking to patients doesn’t always pan out.  I’ve tried this with a slate style Tablet PC in my chiropractic office, and I rarely picked it up. That’s one of my arguments against using an Apple iPad, and that same argument goes for this too.  However, this fold up to the size of a 5X7 photo, and is just under an inch thick.  I’m no engineer, but that sounds like it would fit in a large pocket.

I’m getting one.  I don’t know how much it will cost, but they’re probably going to shoot for the iPad’s excellent price.  It’s due out at the end of this year.

Todd Lloyd, DC
Chiropractor in Sonoma

Thanks Engadget

Here are the basics for getting better balance and why.

Balance Benefits at a Glance:

Reduced joint pain

Better posture

Reduced back pain

Higher confidence for sports or daily activities

Faster balance reaction time

Reduced risk of sudden trauma due to improved body awareness

Reduced risk of future injuries

With Better Balance You Can:

1. Develop a killer golf swing
2. Avoid a broken hip
3. Look taller and slimmer
4. Reduce incontinence
5. Walk straighter and more gracefully
6. Ski the blue and black diamonds instead of the green
7. Improve your sex life
8. Have the guts to try something new
9. Greatly improve performance in ALL sports
10. Prevent sports injuries, especially sprains and strains
11. Hold that yoga pose as long as you need to
12. Stay on the mountain when you’re hiking
13. Avoid accidents because you’ll react faster
14. Stop wobbling
15. Pick up your kids without straining your back
16. Look cool when you’re carving on your skateboard, snowboard, long board, surfboard
17. Increase the benefit of and response to your chiropractic visits.

18. Be agile
19. Enhance your quality of life
20. Increase your independence
21. Raise your overall level of health

Read more about how to improve your balance here.

From allegromedical.com

Todd Lloyd, DC
Chiropractor in Sonoma

Back pain is a major expense and cause of disability to the private sector.  Back pain is the largest cause of disability in workers, and is a vexing problem for insurance companies, employees, and for the workers themselves. Back pain is also a big problem at home, where quality of life really suffers when back pain holds you back from your family.

They are seeing these problems in war too.  It’s known that injured soldiers at Army medical bases get discharged often because of psychological problems from being exposed to the stresses of war.  Now studies show that back pain is one of the great problems holding soldiers away from duty.

Fortunately, they have placed chiropractors in the Army Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.  While most of the soldiers with back pain are treated conservatively, it will be interesting to see how the chiropractors there can change things for the patients there.

For the veterans here in Sonoma, the Veteran’s Administration pays for chiropractic care if approved by the VA.  Usually, they will give you a handful of starter visits.  If the care in our office shows continual benefit, they will approve more. If you are in the VA system, and you have back pain, you give our office a call to set up an appointment. We’ll help you out.

Todd Lloyd, DC
Chiropractor in Sonoma

A new study in the journal Spine shows us that while osteophytes (bone spurs that you see on x-rays) cause stiffness in people, it’s the narrowing of the cushioning discs in between the spine bones that can cause back pain.

They use to say that you can’t tell from an x-ray if a person has back pain or not.  While it’s true that you can’t tell with certainty that a person’s X-ray findings will tell you if a person has back pain, you can make a good guess about it.  If a person has thin disc spaces because they have abused their spine through their lifetime, then that extra compression on the joints of the spine will cause more back pain.  It makes perfect sense.

Below is the abstract to the study (after the break.)

Todd Lloyd, DC
Chiropractor in Sonoma

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are some links to some of the latest news stories coming from the 21% Medicare pay cot to doctors.  Currently, there is a 10-day hold on Medicare’s payments to doctors offices. 

There are fewer and fewer primary care doctors in practice.  I remember there being a big story a few years ago form the Press Democrat talking about the crisis in Petaluma of the shrinking numbers of primary care, general physicians. 

Now, there is a lot of talk that more doctors are starting to retire prematurely because it just doesn’t make business sense to stay in practice. There is too much overhead in a doctor’s office.   Costs are rising, while income is shrinking.  Doctors in private practice wear two hats; they are business people at the same time that they are healers.  Without one, you can’t have the other.  The only choices that they have now are to retire or to go work for a hospital.  This all depends on their age and financial standing.

We are still accepting Medicare patients for chiropractic care. Even though Medicare only pays for the adjustment, and does not pay for examinations or other adjunctive procedures, we still accept it. There are some things that you have to pay out of pocket for, including the examination and extremity manipulation.  Fortunately, both of these remain affordable in my office. 

Check out the links to the articles after the break

Todd Lloyd, DC
Sonoma doctor of chiropractic

Read the rest of this entry »

I know a lot of patients who have back pain that is very persistent.  Chiropractic care, exercise, and proper nutrition do an excellent job at alleviating back pain, but there are a certain amount of people who continue to have back pain despite their best efforts at following our recommendations, and the teamwork between us.

Talk Therapy May Reduce Back Pain

Group cognitive behavioral therapy may help patients with chronic or acute low-back pain, British researchers say.
full story http://www.medpagetoday.com

The treatment consisted of an initial individual assessment, followed by six sessions of group therapy lasting 1.5 hours each. Therapy targeted behaviors and beliefs about physical activity and avoidance of activity.

While there isn’t a lot of research to back this up, it looks like some group therapy can help you out with your back pain.  If I had back pain, I would take a multi-professional approach at handling the pain.  I would get myself on an anti-inflammatory diet, a spinal stabilizing core exercise routine, I would join a support group, and I would make regular visits to a chiropractor. 

I’m thinking about making the benches in our courtyard into a meeting place for a support group.  What do you think?

Perhaps we’ll lay out some exercise mats to demonstrate some core stability techniques, and talk about our back pain. 

Todd Lloyd, DC
Sonoma Chiropractor

A new study came out recently in the journal Chiropractic and
Osteopathy.  This study examined the various disorders that people have when they come to a chiropractic clinic.  To study this, they examined  the body of evidence that exists in the scientific literature.  In this review of the literature they wanted to see how effective chiropractic care, manual therapy, and other manual techniques are with the relief or the cure of various musculoskeletal problems.  They found the chiropractic care does very well with the relief of low back pain mid back pain, and neck pain.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Perry shows you how to tone the core, stretch the hip flexors and tighten your butt all in one move. It’s all in how you move.

Using the neurological principle of “reciprocal inhibition”, Dr. Nickelston shows us how to relax the hip flexors to prepare for core exercise.

Have you ever had tight knots in your shoulder muscles?  Sensitive trigger points in your trapezious? Of course you have; everyone has.  But what causes it?  Do you think your muscles just ball up into rock hard knots because you’ve been sitting all day?  What about when they go away?

Believe me, I know what this feels like too.  I remember being a college student, before receiving regular chiropractic care.  I use to sit at my desk studying and using an antique computer to type papers. My muscles use to ball up too.  I use to rub them.  No help.  I use to stretch.  No help.  I had to let them calm down on their own.  I was 20 years old, and this was happening!

It wasn’t until I got into chiropractic college and I started getting regular chiropractic adjustments that these finally went away.  I got my neck adjusted, and I got my ribs adjusted.  I got them adjusted once a week.  And, I hit the books hard.  In my first two years of chiropractic college I got nothing less than A’s and B’s.  You would find me in the library in the evenings and at seminars on the weekends.

And I never had a problem with trigger points in my neck muscles ever again.

Among different manual therapies aimed at inactivating muscle TrPs, ischemic compression and spinal manipulation have shown moderately strong evidence for immediate pain relief.

New research shows that when you have parts of the spine not moving well, then you’ll have more knots in your muscles.  They go hand in hand.  Because my neck and ribs weren’t moving well, my muscles got trigger points.  This is the body’s innate way of telling you that things need to move better. 

Reduction of joint mobility appears related to local muscles innervated from the segment, which suggests that muscle and joint impairments may be indivisible and related disorders in pain patients.

When there’s poor movement in the neck, there’s a reflex that goes from the joints in the spine, to the spinal cord, and back out to the muscles that support the spine.  This reflex has the muscles tightening down and guarding the area so it can heal and stabilize itself against further injury.  the body perceives poor posture, locked up joints, and achy muscles as injury.

Two clinical studies have investigated the relationship between the presence of muscle TrPs and joint hypomobility in patients with neck pain. Both studies reported that all patients exhibited segmental hypo-mobility at C3-C4 zygapophyseal joint and TrPs in the upper trapezius, sternocleidomastoid, or levator scapulae muscles.

Because chiropractic care restores normal motion that flushes out inflammatory chemicals, and provides a reflex relaxation of the muscles and pain gate, it also helps to break the reflex causing trigger point knots in the shoulders.

There is scientific evidence showing change in muscle sensitivity in muscle TrP after spinal manipulation, which suggests that clinicians should include treatment of joint hypomobility in the management of TrPs.

Quotes taken from Interaction between Trigger Points and Joint Hypomobility: A Clinical Perspective.

Todd Lloyd, DC
Trigger point doctor in Sonoma, CA

This study published in late 2009 shows that when Medical or Osteopathic doctors refer their low back pain patients to chiropractors, they tend to do pretty well.

J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2009 Nov-Dec;32(9):765-71.

People feel better with chiropractic care, and they function better.  Those with newer injuries do a lot better, and recover more quickly from their injuries with chiropractic care than do those people with long-term low back pain. But, they both tend to do pretty well with chiropractic care.

In Sonoma, we’re always looking for your referrals for low back pain. You don’t even need to be a doctor to refer to us.  You don’t even need a referral to enjoy the benefits of autonomous chiropractic care.

Todd Lloyd, DC
http://lloydchiro.comChiropractic care for back pain in Sonoma, CA