Patient Testimonials
Dr. Galzarano has treated a wide variety of conditions for almost three decades. A few general categories are listed below:
- LOWER BACK PAIN
- NECK PAIN
- MID-BACK PAIN
- DISC PROBLEMS
- HEADACHES
- SCIATICA
- CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME
- AUTO INJURIES
- WORK RELATED INJURIES
- SPORTS INJURIES
CAUSES OF PAIN:
Painful symptoms can come on suddenly, often without any apparent cause. Obviously, there is always a cause. Unless you have had a major trauma such as an automobile accident, there was trouble brewing for months or even years.
Why do you hurt? Pain nerve endings have a threshold. In other words, there has to be enough pressure or a high enough concentration of inflammatory chemicals to trigger a signal to travel up this specialized nerve pathway where your brain interprets it as pain. If there were no threshold, every touch would hurt.
So, you can have a situation that is 99.999% of what it takes to trigger the pain nerves, but you feel no pain at all. Then,you bend over to pick up a piece of paper, or just get up out a chair and WHAMMO! you feel like you were just kicked by a horse.
Symptoms of a Lower Back Problem Include:
- Back Pain
- Spasm
- Stiffness
- Antalgia (upper body shifted to one side)
- Limping
- Sciatica (pain shooting down the back or side of the leg - a type of radiculopathy)
- Radiculopathy (pain, numbness, and/or tingling down the front, side or back of the thigh, leg, or foot)
- Weakness in the Lower Limbs
- Impotence
- Menstrual Problems
- Bowel and Bladder Problems
- Infertility
Symptoms of a Neck Problem Include:
- Neck Pain
- Headaches
- Numbness and Tingling Down the Arm
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
- Breathing Problems
- Sinus Pain
- Vertigo
Symptoms of a Mid-Back Problem Include:
- Pain Between the Shoulder Blades
- Rib Pain
- Numbness Radiating Around to the Chest
- Chest Pain
- Numbness Down Arms
Dr. Anthony P. Galzarano
27 Years in Practice
Member: PA Chiropractic
Association
WISSAHICKON CHIROPRACTIC
ON THIS PAGE:
- Conditions Treated
- Causes Of Pain
- Symptoms of Lower Problems
- Symptoms of Neck Problems
- Symptoms of Mid-Back Problems
- Causes of Symptoms
- Vertebral Subluxations
- Disc, Joint, and Nerve Effects
- Dr.Galzarano's Approach
Our Mission: To provide inexpensive, high quality health care, so that every person can be pain free and reach his or her full potential for vibrant health at any age.
THE CAUSE OF YOUR SYMPTOMS:
Ultimately, all symptoms are a function of the nervous system. Although anatomists divide the nervous system into several parts, it is really only one thing. So, we could say that the brain exists everywhere in our bodies. The tiniest nerve endings are really small tentacles of the brain. Whenever the are pressed hard enough or irritated enough by inflammation, they send the signal to special centers that make us say "OUCH!"
When a spinal vertebra (bone) loses its normal position and motion and affects the nervous system, chiropractors say that the vertebra is SUBLUXATED. Vertebral subluxation is the underlying spinal problem that chiropractors correct. Once the subluxation is corrected, the nervous system can function normally and pain is relieved. In addition, the body functions better and the major cause of degenerative osteoarthritis of the spine is eliminated.
Causes of Spinal (aka Vertebral) Subluxation:
There are as many causes of vertebral subluxation as there are human activities. A few are more common than the others. They are:
- Poor Posture - both standing and sitting
- Poor Physical Conditioning - aka "couchpotatoitis" - you really DO have to get exercise
- Overexertion - you really DID think you could move a piano on your own
- Trauma - falls and automobile accidents
- Repetitive Stress - for example, bending over again and again at your job
- Prolonged Sitting - a modern malady that has become epidemic with widespread use of the computer and the automobile.
Whether your pain is caused by a sudden incident like a car accident or years of poor posture, there are many factors involved which affect the spinal motion unit. A Spinal Motion Unit includes two vertebrae, the disc between them, the ligament that attach them to each other, the two joints at the of the vertebrae that allow movement to happen, the joint capsule that covers the joints and produces the slippery fluid the lubricates the joints, the muscles that move them, and the nerves and blood vessels that come out from between them.
The subluxation affects all parts of the spinal motion unit. In other words, if a spinal vertebra loses its normal motion and position, either suddenly by trauma or over time due to the factors listed above, any or all of the following may be going on:
- Bulging, Herniated, Protruding, or Ruptured Disc - These terms describe differing degrees of disc injury. The disc is the tough cartilage that attaches to the bones above and below it in the spine. It serves to absorb shock and has a hard nucleus at its center that acts as a pivot point for movement. The disc can wear and weaken or tear suddenly in the case of trauma. This can cause a lot of back pain. If the disc bulges back into the space wear the nerve root sits, you can get pain, tingling, numbness, and/or muscle weakness anywhere along the pathway of the nerve. In the neck, the symptoms travel down the arm into the fingers, in the middle back the symptoms come along the ribs to the front, in the lower back they go down the legs to the toes.
- Joint Inflammation - If you have ever twisted a finger, you know how painful and swollen your knuckle can get. The same thing can happen in the spine.
- Muscle Spasm - Spasms are super contractions of the muscle that can absolutely immobilize you. The pain can be intense. If nothing is done to relieve a spasm, it can go on for days (which feels like years!).
- Osteoarthritis - It sounds like a disease, but is actually wear and tear of the joint and disc cartilage. Although it is associated with aging, it is not caused by aging. If you look at the x-rays of a 50 year-old, for example, some joints might look like those of a 25 year-old while others might look like those of a 75 year-old. Osteoarthritis is often the cause of morning pain and stiffness that feels better as the day goes on. It can also cause pinched nerves.
Dr. Galzarano focuses on getting you out of pain as quickly as possible by correcting the subluxation and using other proven pain relief methods. Once you are out of pain, he can then stabilize and correct your spine so that it functions as it should. (CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW.)