Getting the best recovery results with any injury starts with the diagnostics. In order to form an effective treatment plan your doctor MUST know what was injured. Luckily, when it comes to spinal injuries, there are only 3 ways that the spine typically injures; you can fracture the vertebrae, you can injure the disc (herniations & bulges), or you can injure the spinal support ligaments that hold your both your spine and you spinal discs in proper alignment. 

When these support ligaments are damaged they cause what is called spinal instability.  Anyone that you know that has any form of chronic spine related pain, such as chronic lower back pain or chronic neck pain or even chronic headaches, probably has this condition undiagnosed and therefore untreated

Too few doctors are trained to identify this condition and then successfully treat it.

When searching for a doctor to treat your spinal injuries, be sure to qualify that they can diagnose and medically image all three spinal injuries. If they can’t? Time to take your treatment elsewhere.

You may be thinking to yourself, “How hard can it be to find a doctor to diagnose these injuries?” It can be more difficult than you think. In a study on lower back injuries done by William S. Marras, PhD of the Ohio State University Spinal Research Institute estimated that “… a precise diagnosis is unknown in 80-90% of all disabling LBDs (low back disorders)” All that means is that the majority of doctors are going to treat you without ever really knowing what’s happening in your spine, leaving you with less than desirable recovery outcomes.

All three of these injuries are “quality of life-threatening” injuries, and if left undiagnosed and untreated, can develop into life-long chronic pain, headaches, migraines, tinnitus, balance issues, etc. In order to ensure that you get the recovery results so that you can get back to work, back to being a husband, a wife, a father, a mother, a provider, or whatever else you love being, you must find the right doctor, and do it as quickly as possible.

This is the very reason why our clinic puts our undivided focus into making sure that your spinal injuries are diagnosed and treated to the very highest standards of care. We vow to get to the root cause of your condition. We also work with the best doctors in our community so that if you need any treatment that extends past our realm of care, we can refer you to the same doctors that we take our family members to, not just the nearest facility.

If you’ve injured your spine, or if you suffer from any form of chronic spinal pain we have a booklet that we can digitally send to you called “The Three Main Injuries Any Spine Can Have”.  Just give us a call at 651-925-5530.

 

 

Hydration Can Make or Break your Injury Recovery

 

When you have suffered a spinal injury the first, and most important thing that you must do is find a doctor who can image, diagnose, and effectively treat your spinal injuries. Likely, your injuries will not resolve entirely on their own without any sort of treatment. The more severe your injuries are, the more urgently you must seek out treatment. Please do not wait and try to self-manage these conditions, as you may be hurting your health and the permanency of your symptoms.

Once you’ve started treatment, you can start to improve your recovery and reduce your symptoms by staying hydrated! When your body is healing from any sort of derangement, it requires nutrients and oxygen to heal itself. For your body to effectively deliver nutrients and oxygen to your injury, you must be properly hydrated.

When your body is not receiving the amount of fluids it needs, several abnormalities can arise that take a toll on your injury recovery. These traits may include poor oxygen perfusion, essential nutrients not being delivered to the wound, draining inefficiency, poor joint lubrication, pain, and trouble removing waste from your system. 

At any given point, your body weight is about 60-70% water. To keep your body at healthy levels of hydration, we recommend that you drink half your body weight in ounces every day. If you’re wondering how to tell if your body is hydrated, a great test is to analyze your urine. A hydrated body will produce clear and odorless urine, a dehydrated body’s urine will be yellow or brown with a strong odor.

Your body is constantly losing water through a variety of factors (breathing, sweating, and urinating), so the most important thing to remember is to drink plenty of water to maximize successful injury care.

 

Here are some tips that you can use to increase your water intake!

 

1. Drink water first thing in the morning! Starting your day off with 16-24 ounces of water will help you feel awake and begin to “wake up” your organs & circulatory system. It also starts your digestive processes helping you digest your breakfast and remove waste.

 

2. Have some fun with your hydration! While I do not recommend drinking sugary beverages, you can find fun and healthy ways to “spice up” your hydration. I like adding cucumbers, citrus fruit, or sugar-free electrolyte powders to my water to encourage myself to drink more throughout the day!

 

3. Eat a produce-heavy diet. You can also get plenty of water from the foods that you eat! Foods like celery, watermelon, cucumbers, bell peppers, citrus fruits, and most fruits and vegetables are full of water among other vitamins and nutrients. Next time that you’re feeling snackish, try eating a cup of watermelon rather than a salty snack to fuel your hydration.

 

4. Use technology to track your hydration! There are so many apps nowadays for tracking hydration and counting calories. If you need help keeping yourself accountable, download a hydration app and start to monitor how much water you drink every day. These apps also come equipped with reminders and push notifications so that you’ll have no excuse to miss your water intake goals.

 

If you’ve been injured, and you’re looking for resources to enhance your recovery results, call our clinic and we will send you a copy of our Smart Injury Recommendations! This is a digital download with tons of tips on increasing your recovery results. Just call us at 651-925-5530 to get your digital copy!