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Sacroiliac Joint Disorder

Do you feel an ache on one side of your lower back? Does your hip feel stiff, or like it can’t support your weight? Lower back pain is unfortunately common and has a variety of causes. But at ChiroCareLA in Glendale, Dr. Jack Alajajian and his staff are equipped to not only diagnose patients’ problems and treat them noninvasively, but also to help them prevent relapses. Today we’re going to take a closer look at one of the most common causes of lower back pain: sacroiliac joint dysfunction.   Although the name sacroiliac joint dysfunction might sound complicated, it’s really just a description of the joint that is being affected. The sacrum is a structure made up of fused vertebrae that dangles beneath our lumbar spines and connects to the pelvis. The connecting part of the pelvis is called the ilium, of which there is one on each side, and it includes the bony crests at the top of the pelvis. The sacroiliac joint is a shock absorber, but it doesn’t normally have very much mobility. Th...
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Sunlight and Vitamin D

As the days get longer, we have more opportunities to get out in the sun. And in addition to boosting our moods and encouraging us to exercise, more sunlight is especially good for our bones. At ChiroCareLA in Glendale, we don’t just treat symptoms. We help our patients maintain holistic wellness, and that means educating the public about the connection between sunlight, Vitamin D, and preventing hair fractures in the vertebrae.   Our bones require calcium as their basic building material, and our muscles need calcium to function properly. However, an excessive amount of calcium can be harmful, so our bodies are only able to absorb it when they receive a chemical signal from Vitamin D. This vitamin is produced in our skin when it is exposed to sunlight, so we need sunlight in order to build our bones and muscles. Bones are constantly breaking down and rebuilding, but without enough calcium, they can’t rebuild fast enough to keep up with their rate of resorption, and become brittle. Whe...
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Importance of Strong Cores

Of all the things we can do to maintain total body wellness, one of the most important is keeping our cores strong. This isn’t just a matter of liking the way we look or being in competitive athletic shape; our core muscles provide critical support to our spines and hip bones. At ChiroCareLA in Glendale, Dr. Jack Alajajian and his team are committed to helping our patients sustain wellness over the course of their lives, and for that, it’s necessary to understand some basic aspects of the core and how to care for it.   The muscles of our abdomen are made up of several layers that are all shaped differently. The deepest core muscle is the transverse abdominis, which wraps around our visceral organs in horizontal bands. The internal and external oblique muscles are on the sides of the trunk and are involved with rotating it and bending the spine. The rectus abdominis muscle is the one on the front that forms the “abs” and connects to the sternum. It helps to stabilize the trunk, but keep...
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Rotator Cuff Tears

When you hear the phrase “rotator cuff tear,” you might feel frightened. And it’s true that fraying the connective tissues in the shoulder is never a good thing, and can result in permanent debilitation without intervention. But rotator cuff tears are not always sudden, and a person may spend a long time pushing through their discomfort, unaware that their situation is becoming more urgent. At ChiroCareLA in Glendale, we provide non-invasive, non-addictive treatments for shoulder pain and other musculoskeletal problems, but since gentle interventions are most effective when done early, we want our patients to understand why they should seek help for shoulder pain as soon as possible.   The shoulder is where the ball of the upper arm bone (the humerus), fits into a socket formed by the collarbone (clavicle) and shoulder blade (scapula). A group of tendons formed by four muscles strap the humerus in place, along with a seal of cartilage surrounding the socket joint. This joint is loose e...
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Back Injuries in Teen Athletes

As teenagers test their new strength, they have an opportunity to develop a life-long habit of healthy exercise. But they also need to learn where their limits are and how to build up their strength sustainably. Dr. Alajajian and his staff in Glendale, CA, run a wellness-oriented clinic and are happy to help all patients avoid overuse injuries, as well as recover as quickly and completely as possible. For teenage athletes, there are a few specific concerns that need to be addressed.   Most back injuries in teen athletes are soft tissue strains. They tend to happen when the athlete didn’t warm up properly, which could happen if they weren’t planning on activity or only exercise intermittently. They’ll usually heal well if the athlete refrains from activity for a few days while icing them, and then gradually builds up the intensity of their work-outs. But if they want safe pain relief and to guard against scarring, we can provide electric muscle stimulation such as Acoustic Wave Therapy...
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Upper Crossed Syndrome

Are you careful to keep good posture while you drive or sit at your desk? If you aren’t, you risk developing a type of deformity chiropractors refer to as Upper Crossed Syndrome. The good news is that Upper Crossed Syndrome is almost always reversible, but the bad news is that it’s often a source of pain in the jaw, neck, shoulders, and upper back. Dr Alajajian and his staff in Glendale, CA, utilize a variety of complementary treatments to help patients recover from the effects of bad posture. Let’s take a close look at Upper Crossed Syndrome and how non-invasive treatments can help.   In a person with Upper Crossed Syndrome, some of the muscles in their upper body have become overactive and tight, while others that are underused have become weak. If you were to imagine a person with Upper Crossed Syndrome as seen from their side, their overactive shoulder and chest muscles would form one diagonal line, and their underactive neck and upper back muscles would form an intersecting diago...
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Hip Labral Tears

Do you suffer from pain, weakness, or stiffness in one of your hips? If so, don’t think that’s just a natural consequence of aging or healthy activity. Dr. Alajajian and his staff in Glendale, CA, believe everyone is entitled to a life free from pain. We practice holistic, non-invasive therapies to help our patients maintain wellness. As experts in the musculoskeletal system, we’re particularly concerned with hip pain and the possibility that a patient may be suffering from a hip labral tear.   A labrum is a ring of cartilage around a ball-and-socket joint. The ones on the hips keep the femurs and pelvis aligned and allow the legs to rotate completely and smoothly. But when a labrum tears, the leg may catch or make clicking sounds when it moves, and a patient may feel a deep, constant ache that is especially bad when they attempt to stand up or walk on stairs. Hip labral tears can develop because of an acute injury, or they may be caused by repeated stress over a long period of time. ...
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