4^th International Conference on
Chronic Diseases

Biography:

Abstract:

While examining a patient with complaints of musculoskeletal pain, a physician often fails to detect any objective pathological findings at the area of pain. Usually a doctor considers this complaint or as a result of inflammation, even if there is no clinical or laboratory confirmation of the inflammatory process, or makes a diagnosis of osteoarthritis. Based on our extensive medical (rheumatological), chiropractic experience, and literature data we found that in the majority of cases the musculoskeletal pain is not associated with inflammation, and is caused usually by slight misalignment of articular surfaces within joints. These misalignments are small and barely noticeable without special clinical or radiological analysis. We name them “microsubluxations” to distinguish them from the large subluxations typical for orthopedic or surgical cases.It was found that these microsubluxations could be responsible for a number of the clinical problems, where the medical treatment is limited, ineffective, or non-existent: 1. First of all, this is pain, sometimes strong enough to make the patient’s life very uncomfortable, and it usually brings a patient to   a medical office. 2. Impairment of the function of a microsubluxated joint, and a decrease of its range of motion. 3. Automatic, often significant, weakness, of the muscles around the microsubluxated area.  4. Loss of articular surface congruency; that is one of the most important factors for the development and progression of degenerative processes both in    the peripheral joints and the spine. 5. Impairment of the skeleton biomechanics leading to the uneven loading the musculoskeletal structures; that becomes an additional factor promoting the progression of osteoarthritis. Our clinical experience and review of literature show that this sort of microcirculations is responsible for development of         a number of the serious clinical painful syndromes and diseases:              a) moderate to severe chest pain which is often diagnosed as intercostal neuralgia, or spondylosis, or even myocardial infarction. Failure to identify the disease causing this pain is frequently considered as “unspecified chest pain”; b) neurological disorders in the hands and forearms, e.g. pain and numbness in so-called carpal tunnel syndrome, although in this pathology the similar clinical manifestations are often caused by the problems outside the carpal tunnel itself – in the elbow or cervical spine; c) pain in lower legs which health care providers may consider as venous pathology; d) “foot drop” which could be caused by microsubluxations;  e) arch or heel pain, often mistakenly considered as calcaneal spurs or achillobursitis; f) shoulder pain and restriction of its motion, which is usually considered as shoulder arthritis or rotator cuff tear, and the corresponding anti-inflammatory or surgical treatment follows; g) jaw pain, which in many cases is associated with temporomandibular joint microsubluxations;  h) various types and locations of back pain, often without obvious radiological confirmation of spinal pathology; i) certain types of headaches, part of which is associated with occipital microsubluxation, promoting formation of “trigger points” within the cervical or occipital muscles, and which can be relieved relatively fast and easy; j) lower abdominal pain, not associated with visceral pathology; k) hip and knee pain. In our presentation we will introduce the pathogenesis, anatomical changes, and simple procedures used for diagnosis and management of the afore mentioned diseases caused by microsubluxation. We also will show that they could be diagnosed and treated relatively quickly, safe, and cost effectively.