• It is estimated that 15-40% of those who are injured in a motor vehicle collision will suffer from ongoing chronic pain.(Journal of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, 2007)
• Whiplash injuries not only increase the incidence of chronic neck and shoulder pain, it also significantly increases the incidence of other systemic ill health effects. In other words, whiplash injuries cause more than neck pain and headache, it hurts the health of the entire body.(Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 2001)
• That essentially 100% of those who are suffering from chronic pain caused by a whiplash injury will have an abnormal psychological profile with standard assessments, and the only way to resolve the abnormal psychological profile was to successfully treat the chronic spinal pain. Psychotherapy was not able to improve the abnormal psychological profile, nor was it able to improve the patient’s chronic pain complaint.(Pain, 1997)
• In the longest study ever performed on whiplash-injured patients (a study looking at the health status 17 years after injury), 55% of the patients still suffered from pain caused by the original trauma.(Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2002)
• 90% of those who are initially given a cervical collar for their whiplash injuries will be suffering from chronic neck pain 6 months later.(Spine, 2000)
• 2% of whiplash-injured patients will have severe pain and problems that require ongoing medical investigations and drugs 7.5 years after being injured.(Injury, 2005)
• 1 in every 100 (1%) people on our planet suffer from chronic neck pain caused by whiplash injury.(Pain, 1994)

If you, a family member, or friend is suffering from pain, please contact us:

www.drjeff.net

Dr. Jeff Muneses- Muneses Chiropractic Center, PC

10342A Baltimore Nat’l Pike, Ellicott City, MD 21042

(410) 418-4007

Whiplash injuries have been extensively studied and researched. There are literally thousands of medical and scientific studies describing every aspect of whiplash injury.

It has been firmly established for nearly two decades that the primary whiplash injury is an inertial injury to the soft tissues (ligaments and muscles) of the facet joints and disc joint of the neck.
(Pain, 1993)

With rare exception, when we need a cavity filled in a tooth, the nerve to the tooth is rendered pain free with an injection of an anesthetic. Anesthesia stops the pain signal from reaching the brain.

For decades, whiplash researchers have been determining the tissue sources of whiplash injury pain, especially for chronic whiplash injury pain. The researchers inject anesthesia into various tissues of the neck to see where the pain is coming from. They can precisely position the anesthetic needle into the exact tissue for assessment by using a motion x-ray machine, called a fluoroscope. When the injection stops the patient’s pain, they know that tissue was responsible for the pain. This protocol has been used to anesthetize the disc joint, the facet joints, the spinal muscles, the spinal nerves, and more, using conscious live patients suffering from chronic whiplash injury pain.

The results have been remarkably consistent. The primary tissue source for chronic whiplash injury pain is the ligaments of the facet joints of the lower neck. The second most common source for chronic whiplash injury pain is the disc joints of the lower neck.

Interestingly, the primary tissue source for chronic whiplash injury headache was the ligaments of the facet joints of the upper part of the neck.

If you or a loved one are suffering from whiplash, please call our office today…410-418-4007

Muneses Chiropractic Center, PC

10324A Baltimore National Pike

Ellicott City, MD 21042

• 1,000 capsules of Tylenol in a lifetime doubles the risk of end stage renal disease.
  (New England Journal of Medicine, 1994)
• Regular use of Tylenol is a top cause of liver disease.
  (New England Journal of Medicine, 1997)
• Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) for the pain of rheumatoid and/or osteoarthritis conservatively causes 16,500 Americans to bleed to death each year, making that the 15th most common cause of death in the US.
  (New England Journal of Medicine, 1999)
• The intestinal toxicity induced by NSAID pain medicines is one of the most common serious adverse drug events in the industrialized world.
  (Spine, 2003)
  (Surgical Neurology, 2006)
• Tylenol doubles the risk of high blood pressure.
  (Hypertension, 2005)

• The prescription pain medicine Celebrex increases intestinal bleeding by 398%. The prescription pain medicine Vioxx increases the risk of intestinal bleeding by 328%. Traditional pain medicines increase the risk of intestinal bleeding by 138%.
  (Drug Safety, 2009)
• All nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs) pain medicine increases the risk of a heart attack by about 40%, and that pain risk starts with the very first day the drug is taken.
  (European Heart Journal, 2006)
• The prescription pain medicine Vioxx was pulled off the market in 2004 because it increased the risk of heart attack by 230%. The prescription pain medicine Celebrex increased the risk of heart attack by 44%, while traditional pain medicines increased the risk of heart attack by 47%, and consequently they were allowed to remain on the market.
  (Drug Safety, 2009)
• Those who consumed the highest amounts of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory pain medicines (NSAIDs) increased their risk of dementia, including Alzheimer’s dementia, by 66%.
  (Neurology, 2009)

If you are tired of covering up your pain with medications call us today…410-418-4007

Muneses Chiropractic Center, PC

10324A Baltimore National Pike

Ellicott City, MD 21042

Fibromyalgia Syndrome is the third most commonly diagnosed rheumatologic disorder, following osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Fibromyalgia is characterized by widespread pain and tenderness, fatigue, morning stiffness, and sleep disturbance. Fibromyalgia is often disabling. Fibromyalgia is often treatment resistant. Fibromyalgia can be triggered by trauma (Greenfield, Waylonis, Buskila, Neumann). Studies report that between 25% and 50% of subjects with fibromyalgia recall physical trauma immediately prior to the onset of their symptoms (Al-Allaf).

Fibromyalgia Syndrome is diagnosed by identifying widespread pain and tenderness upon palpation at multiple anatomically defined soft tissue body sites. Fibromyalgia Syndrome overwhelmingly affects women more than men. “FM is nine times more common in middle-aged women (between the ages of 30 and 50 years) than in men (Abraham).”

THE GATE THEORY OF PAIN

In 1965, Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall introduced the GATE THEORY OF PAIN. In 1985, orthopedic surgeon Kirkaldy-Willis published a pilot study of chiropractic spinal adjusting in the management of 283 patients suffering from chronic, treatment-resistant, low back pain. The results were excellent, essentially fixing 81% of the referred pain syndrome patients. Dr. Kirkaldy-Willis’ explanation for the positive clinical outcomes was based upon the fact that the improved motion would close the PAIN GATE.

Chiropractic management of patients with fibromyalgia syndrome traditionally involves the practical application of Melzack’s and Wall’s GATE THEORY OF PAIN. Chiropractic management of these patients involves improvement of the quality of mechanical neurological afferentation into the central nervous system in an effort to “close” the Pain Gate. Improving the sagittal and horizontal planes of spinal posture and motion through chiropractic is a proven method to “close” the pain gate, and has been so recognized at least since 1985 (Kirkalady-Willis). However, these mechanical efforts on those suffering from fibromyalgia syndrome may themselves worsen patient symptoms, at least temporarily, discouraging both patient and practitioner.

Consequently, chiropractors often utilize a number of adjunct approaches in the management of patients with fibromyalgia syndrome.

If you or a loved one is suffering from fibromyalgia, please call:

Muneses Chiropractic Center, PC                                                                                         410-418-4007 10324A Baltimore Nat’l Pike                                                                                                     Ellicott City, MD

Chiropractic education instills that personal injury cases have two components:

–>An injury component. This component requires healthcare, treatment to the injured patient.

–>A legal component. This component involves the protection of the injured patient’s legal rights.

Chiropractors who treat personal injury patients understand that their clinical protocols can influence the legal component of a personal injury case. Specifically, there is no substitute for:

• Taking a good case history
• Doing a thorough orthopedic and neurological examination
• Taking good quality and adequate radiographs
• Creating an accurate diagnosis that can be supported by history, complaints and examination findings
• Doing standard and thorough daily charting
• Using standard measurement outcomes, such as pain drawings, Oswestry, Roland Morris, Neck Disability Index, SF-36, algometer, visual analogue scale, etc.
• Doing periodic (monthly) thorough subjective and objective re-evaluations with a follow-up written report of findings
• Having referred the patient out for needed diagnostic procedures that are not done in the chiropractic office (MRI, EMG, SEP, SPECT, etc.)
• Having referred to other health care providers and/or colleagues for verifying or additional opinions
• Being able to determine when the patient has reached a point of maximum improvement, and consequently ending regularly scheduled treatment so that the case can proceed towards settlement of claim
• Being knowledgeable and conversant in the academic concepts of soft tissue injury, such as the phases of injured tissue healing, the relationship of vehicle damage to patient injury, the influence of pre-accident degenerative joint disease, and the influence of variables such as pre-accident awareness or head rotation

If you or a loved one has been in an auto accident, please do not wait–get checked out today!

For more information visit: www.drjeff.net

Muneses Chiropractic Center, PC

Dr. Jeff Muneses, D.C.

West Ellicott City, MD

410-418-4007

If you were in a car accident, even a minor one, it is important that you get checked today.

Call 410-418-4007 for a free consultation

Muneses Chiropractic Center, PC

10324A Baltimore National Pike

Ellicott City, MD 21042

It can take as long as 12 months for the healing process of injured soft tissues to become complete.
(Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 1986)

• The average time for an appropriately treated whiplash-injured patient to achieve maximum improvement is 7 months 1 week. (Spine, 1994)
• Some whiplash-injured patients take 2 years to stabilize and to reach their maximum improvement.

• It is estimated that 15-40% of those who are injured in a motor vehicle collision will suffer from ongoing chronic pain.(Journal of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, 2007)
• Whiplash injuries not only increase the incidence of chronic neck and shoulder pain, it also significantly increases the incidence of other systemic ill health effects. In other words, whiplash injuries cause more than neck pain and headache, it hurts the health of the entire body.(Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 2001)
• That essentially 100% of those who are suffering from chronic pain caused by a whiplash injury will have an abnormal psychological profile with standard assessments, and the only way to resolve the abnormal psychological profile was to successfully treat the chronic spinal pain. Psychotherapy was not able to improve the abnormal psychological profile, nor was it able to improve the patient’s chronic pain complaint.(Pain, 1997)
• In the longest study ever performed on whiplash-injured patients (a study looking at the health status 17 years after injury), 55% of the patients still suffered from pain caused by the original trauma.(Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2002)
• 90% of those who are initially given a cervical collar for their whiplash injuries will be suffering from chronic neck pain 6 months later.(Spine, 2000)
• 2% of whiplash-injured patients will have severe pain and problems that require ongoing medical investigations and drugs 7.5 years after being injured.(Injury, 2005)
• 1 in every 100 (1%) people on our planet suffer from chronic neck pain caused by whiplash injury.(Pain, 1994)

There are many different reasons why injuries sustained in car crashes result in chronic or long term pain. First, there are several types of tissues in the neck that can give rise to pain.  The most intense pain comes from the tissues with the greatest density of nerve fibers, such as the joint capsules and the ligaments holding the bones of the neck together.  There are many ligaments in the neck that are vulnerable to being over-stretched and injured in a motor vehicle collision.  The mechanism of a “whiplash” injury in a rear-end collision is unique.  Upon impact, the vehicle rapidly accelerates forward while the head momentarily remains in its original position, resulting in an initial straightening of the neck followed by extension. At the extreme end-range of backward extension motion, the ligaments in the front of the neck are over stretched and can tear.  Within milliseconds, the head is then propelled forwards into flexion which can then injure the ligaments in the back of the neck placing a significant amount of force on the joint capsules and ligaments holding the bones in close proximity.  Another reason the neck is injured is the speed at which the head and neck “whip” in the backwards and forwards directions after the impact. This occurs faster than what we can voluntarily contract our neck muscles to resist–within 600 milliseconds!  Therefore, even if we brace ourselves in preparation for an impact, we can’t avoid injury to the ligaments and joint capsules. Damage to the ligaments is difficult to “prove” by conventional x-ray, which is why bending views or, flexion/extension x-ray methods are needed.  When there is damage to the ligaments, the vertebra will shift forwards or backwards excessively compared to neighboring vertebra.  This can be measured to determine the extent of ligament laxity or damage and can help explain why neck pain can be so intense and/or chronic.  Not all car accidents occur from behind. In fact, only about 1/3 occur from this direction.  One study investigating which direction created greater degrees of injury reported 57% of chronic pain patient group occurred from rear-end collisions.  It also found that woman sustained more ligamentous injury compared to men and that frontal and rear end collisions resulting in significantly higher levels of ligament injury compared to side impacts

Another well published reason why neck pain can “hurt so much” after a car crash is that the sensory input from the injured area to the brain can be so extreme that it leaves an “imprint” in the sensory portion of the nervous system and it becomes hypersensitive or sensitized, resulting in a lower pain threshold or being more sensitive to pain. This is similar to the “phantom limb” phenomenon that often occurs after a leg is amputated where the brain still “feels” leg pain after the limb has been removed.  This has also been reported to be a reason for the significant constellation of symptoms often accompanying “whiplash” injuries.  A partial list of associated symptoms with whiplash injuries includes neck pain, headache, TMJ / jaw pain, dizziness, coordination loss, memory loss, cognitive difficulty in formulating thought, communicating, losing your place during conversation, and more.

Understanding whiplash and all of its nuances regarding signs and symptoms, x-ray requirements and measurement techniques, and treatment / management strategies are well understood at this office.  Chiropractors have a unique advantage over other health care providers as manual therapies, including spinal manipulation, have been shown to yield higher levels of satisfaction and faster recovery rates compared to other forms of health care. We pride ourselves in performing thorough history and physical examinations, offering high quality evidence-based therapeutic approaches and teaching necessary home-based, self-management procedures.  If you, a loved one, or a friend are struggling with whiplash residuals from a motor vehicle collision, you can depend on receiving a multi-dimensional assessment and therapeutic approach at this office.

Do you like this information?

If so, please visit: www.drjeff.net