Our first goal is always to get our patients comfortable so relieving symptoms is the first part of therapy. The goal is to be sure we eliminate the pain and we get the patient comfortable. We educate our patients and make sure the symptoms do not come back. The way we go about this prevention of reoccurring symptoms is to see how the patient is actually moving. The majority of disc herniations and issues where we have to use spinal decompression are in the neck and the low back. These areas are overused and the reason why these areas are overused is because our bodies lack certain movement.
These movements are called primitive movement patterns that were ingrained in our brains as babies. When we were babies we couldn’t move at all. We were all dependent upon our parents. The first type of movement we had was with our eyes, then we could move our head, then we could finally move our arms and legs and we had to learn how to roll onto our stomach and start crawling. But due to society these days, we’re stuck behind a desk, we are on our iphones, we’re on our ipads… we are leading these sedentary lives. Even though we may exercise every day, we only exercise maybe an hour or two hours per day. The rest of the time, we’re not moving. So just by increasing these primitive movement patterns, we can improve the way our joints actually move.
Majority of the time with people with low back, especially a lumbar disc herniation, their issues occur because their hips don’t move properly and their thoracic spine doesn’t move properly. So then what happens is the lower back goes ahead and starts moving way too much and we get exposed to the potential of getting a disc herniation on the low back. The same thing with the neck… if our shoulders don’t move properly, if our neck doesn’t move properly, they’re moving too much or too little, we’re also going to be exposed to getting disc herniations.
So it’s not just working on a disc and getting the patient out of pain. It’s going ahead and teaching these primitive movement patterns along with strengthening up the core. That is going to give them the best results.
Dr. Kasprowicz holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Montclair State University and graduated from the New York Chiropractic College with his Doctor of Chiropractic degree in 2001. He is certified in the Graston Technique, Kinesio Tape certified, and fully certified by the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners as well as the New Jersey State Board of Chiropractic. Dr Jan Kasprowicz of New Jersey Chiropractic & Sports Recovery can be reached at (917) 748-2902 and is located at 611 U.S. 46 Hasbrouck Heights, NJ 07604.
