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"This last May, one week before my team was to compete in the Annual Houston Dragon Boat Festival Race, I reinjured my back. This injury has plagued me for years and in the past I have treated it solely with medication. Within two days of your treatment I noticed a significant improvement in both the pain and flexibility of my back. I never used any drugs and with only two follow-up sessions I have been pain-free for almost 6 weeks."
Allen Richards
Airline Sales Manager
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Acupuncture
Acupuncture originated in China more than 2000 years ago. The acupuncture technique that has been most studied involves penetrating the skin with sterile, thin, solid, metallic needles that are manipulated by the hands or by electrical stimulation. In recent years, scientific inquiry has begun to shed more light on acupuncture’s possible mechanisms and potential benefits, especially in treating low back pain, headaches, arthritis, allergies, smoking cessation, and weight loss.
Arthritis
Arthritis used to be thought of as something that automatically happens when you age, but a growing number of young people are being diagnosed with arthritis. Likewise, many senior citizens are not content to let arthritis limit their active lifestyle and they want solutions for their pain. With chiropractic adjustments and acupuncture, we can help increase joint mobility and lower the amount of pain and swelling. We are also unique because we offer specialized adjustments for the hands, wrists, shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles – not all chiropractors are familiar with these procedures. At West U Wellness, we carry nothing but the highest quality vitamins and herbal analgesics on the market. These are products that can only be purchased by doctors and have shown tremendous benefit in those suffering from arthritis.
Asthma
Asthma happens when a person breathes in normally, but they have problems exhaling. We have found that people with lung problems typically have muscle spasms and subluxations right between the shoulder blades. That is where the nerves are found that innervate (supply the nerve signal) to the lungs. If there’s a pinch on those nerves, it stands to reason that the lungs will not receive the full nerve signal. If that happens, then the lungs cannot operate at 100% capacity. Many chiropractors report treating children for asthma and having that child test normal on subsequent tests for the lungs. It should be noted that the best results are seen in children who start chiropractic treatment before 10 years of age.
Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder
ADD/ADHD is one of the most common diagnoses amongst our school children. Thousands of prescriptions each day are written for drugs such as Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta, and Stratera, but did you know that kids who take such drugs experience shorter stature, are not allowed in the military, and report insomnia? We have found that many times kids with ADD/ADHD have undetected food allergies and nutritional imbalances. Many of them also have severe subluxations (nerve, joint, and muscle tension causing misalignment) in the upper cervical spine. We have had many pediatric patients experience greater focus and higher grades after receiving regular chiropractic care to correct these subluxations. And, there are no adverse side effects from these adjustments!
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
What if you couldn’t pick up a cup because your hands hurt too much? Millions of people suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome and other hand problems. When the wrist area or “carpal tunnel” becomes inflamed, it can cause burning pain, numbness, or weakness in the hands and fingers. We’ve found that pinched nerves in the wrist, elbow, shoulder, and even neck can mimic carpal tunnel syndrome. By removing the pinching, hand problems can be eliminated. We have also added “Cold Laser Therapy” to our treatments which help 70% of those who have tried it. As one of our patients remarked, “After having the cold laser therapy 5 times, I now wake up with much less swelling and stiffness in both hands!”
Childhood Illnesses
Children can be rambunctious, willful, inquisitive, and that’s why we love them at West U Wellness! Chiropractic can help such conditions as colic, unexplained crying, poor appetite, breathing problems, and reflux. It can also assist in childhood problems such as ADD/ADHD, asthma, allergies, ear infections, diarrhea, and constipation. At West U Wellness we are trained to look for subluxations on the pediatric spine that may develop into more serious problems down the road. If your child is experiencing any of the above problems, let us take a look and evaluate their spine. Also have your child checked when they first start crawling, walking, falling down, or having “growing pains”. By doing so, you are paving the way for a healthy adult.
Chiropractic
More and more patients, insurance companies, and doctors are accepting chiropractic as a viable alternative to medication and surgery. By applying a specific force to an affected joint, chiropractic adjustments (or manipulations) help to free up any joint restrictions, inflammation, or bulging discs. If a joint is not moving correctly, then the bones, muscles, and nerves surrounding that area can subluxate or move out of position. When this happens, the nerve to that area will either fire too quickly and send a sharp pain signal, or fire too slowly and a patient may feel a dull pain. Either way, it causes the nearby muscles to spasm which results in the joint being “locked up”.
We specialize in multiple chiropractic techniques to help with joint restrictions for patients of every age and body type. We focus on what has caused this joint to “lock up” so that we can not only return normal motion to the area, but prevent it from coming back again. Because we are not just dealing with the symptoms, but actually conquering the root of the problem, it may entail multiple visits and several types of treatments and exercises for us to achieve our goal. Oftentimes these adjustments are painless and patients are able to avoid being dependent on medication or surgery.
Although we concentrate on the spine because it protects the vital nerves of the central nervous system, chiropractic manipulation is safe for all joints throughout the body.
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Disc Herniations
Have you ever heard of a bulging disc or slipped disc? The technical term is a disc herniation, and chiropractic and acupuncture can help heal mild to moderate forms of disc herniations. Think of an ice cream sandwich. If the top and bottom of the sandwich were compressed, it would cause the ice cream to squeeze out a little bit. The greater the pressure on both ends, the more the ice cream seeps out. The same can be said of your vertebrae and the discs. The discs are like little sponges that function as shock absorbers and cushions. But if the discs are injured, it can “squeeze” out, pressing on a nerve, and causing a lot of problems. Chiropractic adjustments help to move the vertebrae apart ever so slightly, thereby taking pressure off the inflamed disc and nerve. Exercises and therapies further help speed this process along
Ear Infections
It is heartbreaking for parents to watch their children suffer from ear infections. It is even more anguishing to put in ear tubes and having the surgery not work. For many years chiropractors have found that upper cervical adjustments can help not only relieve the pain and pressure of ear infections, but also help in stimulating the immune system to fight off the infection without medication. In fact, the first chiropractic patient was a man who had an ear problem – he was deaf and regained his hearing after a chiropractic adjustment!
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is a poorly understood disorder characterized by fatigue and gnawing, burning, constant pain in the muscles, tendons, and joints. Other symptoms include insomnia, irritable bowel syndrome, headaches, depression, and/or anxiety. Although there is no cure for fibromyalgia, we have several patients who have found that our holistic approaches to their health help decrease the pain of fibromyalgia. We do this by freeing the body of subluxation (interference with the nervous system) so that the body’s self-healing mechanisms can take over. We also use a nutritional approach to make sure that the patient’s body is getting the proper ratio of vitamins and minerals for their specific body type and condition.
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Headaches
Have you ever experienced the throbbing, pulsing, pounding, sometimes debilitating pain of a headache or a migraine? We have successfully treated many types of headaches! This could be due to forward head posture (see Neck Pain below) or neck misalignments caused by previous injuries and/or stress. Other causes include energy imbalance or sensitivites to food ingredients such as tyramine. We take the time to question and thoroughly examine each patient to find out why they have headaches and what types of treatment will best help them. We have also found that there are certain vitamins migraine sufferers seem to be deficient in, and we make sure they are getting the proper nutrients (see our
Newsletter on Headaches). If you suffer from headaches, wait no more – call West U Wellness to take care of it today.
Low Back Pain
80% of all Americans will experience low back pain sometime in their lives, and $2 billion is spent each year on this condition. In fact, more people miss work due to back pain than due to illnesses such as colds and flu’s. The standard medical approach of painkillers, muscle relaxers, and physical therapy deals only with the symptoms and not the cause of the problem. Chiropractors use gentle alignments, physical therapy modalities, focused exercises, and specific muscle work to restore the natural alignment of the low back and strengthen the surrounding support structure. Imagine that you have a water hose running from your low back all the way down to your toes. If you pinch that water hose at the top, the water flow will be significantly impaired down at the bottom. This is essentially what happens when the bones shift in the low back causing a “pinched nerve”. Only chiropractic can gently shift those bones back into position without surgery. In some patients we have found acupuncture to be an excellent adjunct to more difficult cases.
Massage
We have two licensed and experienced massage therapists to provide top-quality therapy services such as Deep Tissue, Sports, Pregnancy, and Swedish massage that often times is covered by health insurance. With Deep Tissue massage, this uses strong and deep kneading compression of the muscles, coupled with trigger point therapy and myofascial release. It is excellent for stress and muscle tension relief. Sports Massage focuses more on a specific area of injury and the therapist would also use a lot of stretching and techniques to restore circulation to the muscle. Pregnancy Massage is safe for those who have just conceived all the way up to delivery and post-partum. We use special pillows and other equipment to make our mommies comfortable, especially when neck, back and hip pain can affect them during this incredible stage of life. Finally, Swedish massage incorporates low strokes along with finger pressure applied both following and across the grain of muscles and tendons to promote relaxation and help improve circulation. And massage therapy works wonderfully with other alternative medicine treatments like chiropractic and acupuncture.
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Neck Pain
Oftentimes people who work at computers or who keep their eyes focused on one spot for a long time (such as those who have long commutes to work) will develop neck pain. This is most often a result of FHP (forward head posture). In our necks there should be a normal cervical (neck) lordosis, sometimes called a “C” curve. We develop this curve when we are crawling as babies and start lifting our head off the floor. If that curve starts to reverse and the head moves forward, tremendous tension and strain can happen on any of the eight cervical nerves. Doctors of chiropractic not only check your posture and alignment, but they also examine the strain on the muscles and nerves on the neck to see how severe it is and what can be done to correct it. At our clinic, we not only use gentle cervical manipulations to correct the alignment, but we also use techniques to reduce the tension on the muscles and nerves. Our patients are given exercises to do at home, at work, and/or in the car to help speed up their recovery time.
Nutritional Counseling
Most Americans are not getting the minimum daily requirements their body needs. Moreover, they are not eating the proper ratio of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. This is resulting in more obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, irritable bowel syndrome, and fibromyalgia than ever before. At West U Wellness, we conduct in-depth, extensive nutritional counseling sessions for our patients who seek this type of advice. We work together to develop a plan for achieving your health goals. And as insurance companies recognize that prevention and education are the key to avoiding many of these health issues, they are more willing to pay for this type of service.
Pregnancy
If you are pregnant, one of the best things you can do for yourself and your baby is see a Doctor of Chiropractic. Chiropractic care provides so many things a pregnant body needs: a flexible and balanced spine, hips, and pelvis; internal organs without postural stress and freedom from nerve stress – all essential for a healthy pregnancy and delivery. If the body structure is causing the slightest nerve interference to these systems it could adversely affect the mother and the developing fetus.
Chiropractic care has demonstrated success with back pain, premature contractions, breech turning, headaches, and back labor in pregnant women. Chiropractic is very safe for both the pregnant mother and child. Dr. Long has her fellowship through the
International Chiropractic Pediatric Association
and is certified in adjustments for pregnant women, newborns, and a chiropractic adjustment that helps breech babies turn in the upright position before birth. She also works closely with the Motherhood Center in Houston, Texas.
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Sciatica and Lower Extremity Pain
Imagine that you have a water hose running from your low back all the way down to your toes. If you pinch that water hose at the top, the water flow will be significantly impaired down at the bottom. This is essentially what happens when the bones shift in the low back causing a “pinched nerve”. If that nerve happens to be the sciatic nerve, which runs down the back of your thigh and leg, it is called “sciatica”. Only chiropractic can gently shift those bones back into position without surgery.
The same can be said for hip, knee, and ankle problems. We treat the body as a whole and establish if there is any nerve pinching at the ankle, knee, hip, or low back level that can be inhibiting healing. For these patients we have found great results when using deep myofascial release techniques for the low back and leg muscles. In some patients we have found acupuncture to be an excellent adjunct to more difficult cases.
Scoliosis
Having been diagnosed with scoliosis as a teenager, Dr. Long is very familiar with scoliosis (abnormal lateral curvature of the spine) and its effects on the body. In fact, if younger scoliosis patients are treated before their growth spurt, chiropractic can help diminish the abnormal curve and assist the spine in growing as straight as possible! Chiropractic treatments for your spine are like braces for your teeth. You cannot expect change to happen overnight, but gradual correction helps the bones to align as straight as possible.
Shoulder Injuries
Many patients have suffered from sprains and strains of the shoulder complex and rotator cuff. There are actually many more muscles and ligaments that can cause shoulder pain. We use physical therapy modalities such as ultrasound and electric muscle stimulation to help a sprain/strain injury recover faster. We also utilize acupuncture and chiropractic manipulations to reduce inflammation and restore normal joint alignment. Our patients are given a stretching and exercise program to strengthen the shoulder quickly and prevent a “frozen shoulder”.
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Sports Injuries
Chances are if you’ve ever participated in a sport, you’ve sustained a sprain/strain injury. Sprains are tears in the ligaments, whereas strains happen to the muscles. While most of these injuries heal with rest, ice, compression, and elevation (R.I.C.E.), some can linger for long periods of time. If conservative home treatments and massage are not sufficient, chiropractic may be the answer for you. If the muscles have tensed up considerably, they can actually pull the bone out of alignment. When this happens, the bone becomes “stuck” and can pinch on a nerve. The nerve then reacts by causing a muscle spasm and a subluxation occurs. Chiropractors not only help calm the muscles down with therapies and massage techniques such as myofascial release, but we use specific adjustments to move the bone back into place. Just like braces for your teeth, the corrections do not occur overnight. It may take several adjustments until the correction holds in place. And after that, our chiropractors will continue to treat you and strengthen the muscles to hold the bone in place so that the injury does not recur.
Stress Relief
Emotional stress can have devastating consequences on the nervous and immune system. It oftentimes causes even more vertebral subluxations than physical trauma. Chiropractic and acupuncture treatments help to calm down the nervous system. Most patients report sleeping as well as concentrating better after having been under chiropractic and acupuncture care. We also partner with the Root of You Day Spa & Salon to offer different types of massages that complement the alternative treatments we utilize here. Oftentimes, the massage is covered under your health insurance plan. But even for those whom insurance does not cover our services, we have an affordable “Stress Relief package” where patients receive a stress relief massage and adjustment once a month to help them put their best face forward.
TMJ Disorder
The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) or jaw can frequently move out of the correct position and cause tremendous jaw pain, headaches, and neck pain. We offer delicate chiropractic and acupuncture techniques to help with 90% of all TMJ problems.
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Weight Loss
It was recently announced that 2/3 of all Americans are overweight! The USDA recently developed a new food pyramid, but how many people really understand it? And how many people know how to apply it to their own dietary habits? At West U Wellness, we conduct in-depth, extensive nutritional counseling sessions for our patients who seek this type of advice. We work together to develop a plan for achieving your health goals. For some patients, we will also recommend the Isagenix system to help kick-start weight loss. Dr. Yeager has had success with his patients who use acupuncture to curb their appetite and lose weight in that manner.
Whiplash
Chiropractic has been a blessing to millions of people who have had whiplash injuries. Whiplash takes place when a person’s spine, usually their head and neck, is thrown very quickly in one direction and then rebounded in the opposite direction. It may also happen from side-to-side or when the neck is rotated. This sudden and unnatural movement can lead to nerve, joint, ligament, tendon, muscle, and disc stress, irritation, or damage. Chiropractors call this vertebral subluxation. What’s worse is that these vertebral subluxations can persist in the spine for many years before the patient even feels any pain. Chiropractors use tests such as x-rays, MRI, muscle and temperature scans, neurological, and orthopedic tests to determine if a patient is suffering from whiplash. Although it may take awhile to heal from this type of injury, chiropractic care has an excellent rate of success in treating this condition. Incidentally, low back sprain and jaw subluxations are also commonly associated with whiplash. That is why at West U Wellness each patient receives a thorough examination after any type of injury.
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