Los Angeles Chiropractor on Low Back Pain

Low back pain is the most common ailment walking, er...limping into my Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood chiropractic office. Of all the spinal regions of the body, the lumbar spine, or low back is the most complicated when having to determine the source of pain.

Low back pain can be musculoskeletal, meaning from the joints, muscles or tendons (other tissues, too, but mainly these); or it can be from organic causes. Organic causes of low back pain include, but are not limited to cardiovascular disease, cancer, digestive disorders, kidney stones, and sexually transmitted diseases. Every one of these requires medical attention.

If your issue is caused by a musculoskeletal problem, then nobody better than a chiropractor to help relieve your low back pain. Chiropractors address more structures and tissues than any other bodywork specialist. We adjust the joints, work out muscle tension, strengthen weak muscles, lengthen short/tight muscles, and correct foot dysfunction. Furthermore, chiropractors are doctors, which means you'll get an accurate diagnosis AND treatment that goes beyond a drug quick-fix (I'm not knocking it, just clarifying the difference in solutions) in the same office (no out-referral).

When it comes to assessing and treating low back pain, nobody does it better than a chiropractor. Watch the video below to see a chiropractic adjustment for low back pain in action. If you are having low back pain, especially if it's been around for awhile, do not hesitate, go see a chiropractor for a real solution.

Los Angeles Chiropractor on Leg Pain/Shin Splints

Are you a runner suffering from shin splints? Are shin splints keeping you from hitting the road or the track? Here's your solution:

Check out this video showing how I treat leg pain and shin splints in my Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood chiropractic office.

Shin splints are a painful condition causing pain in the front of the leg, usually in runners or jumpers. If left untreated, chronic shin splints can eventually lead to a stress fracture.

If you are experiencing pain in the front leg or calf, watch this video, and see your local chiropractor today. If you are looking for a Los Angeles, Beverly Hills or West Hollywood chiropractor, this video will show you how to find me.

Beverly Hills Low Back Pain Solution

I sometimes get a sideways look when I mention to a new client that their low back pain might be originating from their feet. That happened this weekend when a mixed martial arts instructor limped into my Beverly Hills chiropractic office with excruciating lower back pain.

When I mentioned that I wanted to look at his feet, he quickly asserted that he wasn't worried about them--he just wanted his back treated, okay? OK.

I looked anyway as I was treating him and saw that he had severely loose ankles. Casually, I asked if he had ever sprained them. He replied, "Yeah, lots of times." Bingo! Chronically sprained ankles are a classic sign of foot dysfunction, which requires orthotic foot support.

Orthotics provide an arch and control foot motion during the gait cycle--that is, when we walk. When there is lack of foot control and overpronation (a foot movement), the low back takes a massive hit. I know; I'm an overpronator (and former chronic low back pain sufferer).

So I'm sure my MMA instructor will be back again with the same problem sometime soon. Doesn't have to be you, though. If you have low back pain (or chronically sprained ankles), come see a sports chiropractor in Beverly Hills to have your feet evaluated. Your back will be happy you did. Watch the video above to learn more about the foot's role in low back pain, and orthotics.

I Adjust My Girls

Yup, I adjust my children. Children need chiropractic, too. Keeps them healthy and functioning properly. Subluxations cause nerve dysfunction and dysregulation, so adjusted children function at their highest capacity and potential.

Delilah fell down the stairs Wednesday--did her best Chevy Chase tumbling impression. Three year olds are pliable and rubbery, so she's okay. Don't get me wrong, I don't recommend it, but...well, it happens. Thursday my wife brought her by the office for an adjustment. Check out the pics and you be the judge. Violet got her's too!

If you've got kids, the best thing you can do is get them started on chiropractic care early. Just saw a beautiful 16-week-old boy, Conner, in my office today. He wasn't all too pleased with my hands on him, but it's important to get him used to it now. Once he begins doing his own stair stunts, he'll be primed and ready for his after-tumble adjustments.

So visit your local chiropractic office today (if you are in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills or West Hollywood, I'm your chiropractor) and get yourself and your children adjusted. It's great for you and incredible for them. Believe me--my family's living it!

Shoulder Injuries

Most of my Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood chiropractic clients know that I am a sports chiropractor. One of the injuries I see most often in my practice is a rotator cuff syndrome. Rotator cuff syndrome is a condition in which the small external rotator muscles of the cuff get weak. This weakness can lead to shoulder pain or a full-blown injury.

A recent study presented today at the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine at Keystone, Colorado has found that Major League baseball pitchers who show weak shoulder strength during the preseason are at a greater risk of developing throwing injuries and tears. The same rotator cuff muscles involved in pitching mechanisms are involved in our own everyday movements. We can therefore extrapolate these findings to non-athletes, primarily that weakened rotator cuff muscles lead to shoulder pain and injury.

This is something I discuss with my shoulder pain clients often. Strengthening the rotator cuff is essential, especially for people who exercise. I see rotator cuff syndrome frequently in weight lifters (mind you, I'm not not speaking solely of body builders; I also mean everyday people who go to the gym for improved looks and health). When the average weight lifter strengthens what I call the "glamour muscles"--the pecs, biceps, triceps, and delts to name a few--and neglects the small stabilizer muscles (of which the rotator cuff makes up only one group), it's like having a puppy run alongside 15 full-grown huskies in the Iditarod--it'll get yanked and pulled all over the place. Ultimately, it will fail and break down.

If you are having shoulder problems--pain while sleeping, lifting, or doing overhead movements, it's imperative that you get checked out by a professional. If you are in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, or West Hollywood, come see a sports chiropractor who can properly evaluate you, treat you to remove the shoulder pain and develop and exercise program to effectively strengthen your rotator cuff muscles. You'll save yourself a world of hurt if you take prompt action.

Feel Good T-Shirts Are Here!

The official DrNickCampos.com t-shirts are now here. Light weight, form-fitting, 100% cotton American Apparel tees are available through my Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood chiropractic office. Tees come in various sizes and colors with a choice of two slogans--"Feel Good" and "I'm Perfect...My Chiropractor Says So."

Womens "I'm Perfect..." tees come in pink with white ink, and white with military green ink.

Womens "Feel Good" tees come in black with tan, and heather gray with fuchsia.

Mens "I'm Perfect..." tees come in navy with white, and white with military green.

Mens "Feel Good" tees come in black with tan, and asphalt gray with tan.

Thank you to all my thoughtful and creative regular readers who gave me lots of insight, and some great ideas. Keep on the lookout for baby tees and onesies, which will be available soon!

Thanks again, and don't forget to order your DrNickCampos.com t-shirts through our website, www.drnickcampos.com (e-mail or phone, on-line shopping cart coming soon).

Orthotics Repair

Do you wear orthotics? Do you have back pain, hip pain, knee pain; do your feet hurt? Has anybody checked your feet? If you wear orthotics, then you know how much they help your particular condition. But did you know they need to be repaired periodically?

Orthotics are devices inserted into the shoes that support the feet. They are customized to each individual, so they may provide an arch for one whose arches collapse; or they might provide cushion for people that come down hard on their feet. Each foot dysfunction and gait abnormality has its own particular correction in custom-made orthotics.

We take approximately ten million steps a week. By the shear volume of it all, orthotics wearers have to be aware of one thing--orthotics eventually break down. Once the device expires, symptoms slowly return. Hello sciatica--long time no burn. Shin splints--thought you'd never come back. Oh, and low back pain--fuggedaboutit--that'll come back with a vengeance. Sometimes symptoms return slowly; other times--BAM!--hello again.

The approximate time frame to repair or replace your orthotics is 1-2 years. For runners or heavy tennis players that only have one pair, your looking at closer to a year. But for the average weekend warrior, or for the person with two or more pairs, it'll be closer to a year and a half, two years. Once you get them repaired, your orthotics will be like brand new.

Just ask my Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and West Hollywood chiropractic client Eddie Pence. He's been running around in his pair for a couple of years--he's taken them up Runyon Canyon in Hollywood, trudged them through the Los Angeles flag football gridiron, and slugged mud in them with his dog at the most popular of West Hollywood dog parks. And although the Biomechanical orthotics we fit him for could take a serious licking, Ed knows that to keep them ticking, it's time for a repair.

If you need orthotics, or you would like to have your low back, hip, groin, knee, calf, shin or foot pain evaluated by a sports chiropractor, and you live in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, or West Hollywood, come see Dr. Nick Campos and get your foot problems squared away.

Chiropractic Left Off Health Reform

Well, well, well...never thought I'd see the day, but the first draft of The Affordable Health Choices Act has neglected to uphold one simple choice--chiropractic care! If adopted, this plan could wipe out the first choice in health and wellness of millions of Americans. Just think--a future of affordable health care...but no chiropractic. Sorry.

The bill sponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy's Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions ("HELP") does not include chiropractic coverage. No language in the bill guarantees chiropractic coverage in the future, nor does it guarantee that its national policy making board will include chiropractic in the "universal" health scheme. Now that's progress! I'm so proud to be an American. Just think, a future of guaranteed health care--because that's a right--but no chiropractic in the birthplace of chiropractic. God bless America...my home...sweeeet hoooooome!!!!

If this notions gets you as upset as it does me, please do your part in letting your Congress representatives know how you feel. Simply fill out the form provided by the American Chiropractic Association's Chiropractic Legislative Action Center, and tell Capitol Hill that

YOU WANT CHIROPRACTIC!!!*

If there is going to be socialized health care, there's no reason to push out chiropractic. This scenario would be the worst case of government and special interests manipulating the markets to form health care monopolies--very un-American. And more important, millions of citizens, people who rely on chiropractic care every day to be pain free and healthy, will be able to get their chiropractic care because private insurers will follow the government's lead. As Obama says, a government plan will create competition, which translates to: all private insurance plans will do as the government plan does. So no chiropractic coverage in federal plan, no chiropractic coverage, period.

Well I guess there's always cash. Cha-ching $

*Please all my Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood chiropractic clients, please log into the Chiropractic Legislative Action Center and fill out the quick and simple form. Help keep chiropractic accessible for Americans.