Chiropractor West Palm Beach: Dr. Gregg Moses

Well a belated Happy New Year to all.  A beautiful day here in S. Florida (specifically West Palm Beach)…about 50 degrees this morning.  A little cold for some, but sure is better than the 20 inches or so they had this weekend across the mid-Atlantic states.  Over the past few weeks I watched my NY Jets over-achieve and make it to the AFC Championship game.  This season concluded yesterday as the NO Saints beat the Colts in a great game.  I was away in Naples, FL two weeks ago.  Dr. James Cox was there speaking on the latest regarding the treatment of neck and back pain with the Cox Technique.  He focused on FBSS, Failed Back Surgical Syndrome.  I want to share a recently published article from Clinical Rehabilitation 24  (1). Jan 2010 p.26-36.  The authors are Cecchi, F; Molina-Lova, R; Chiti, M; Pasquini, G; Conti, AA; Macchi, C.  The title is “Spinal Manipulation compared with back school and with individually delivered physiotherapy for the treatment of chronic lower back pain: a randomized trial with one-year follow-up”.

I only have the abstract for this study and I will give some details. 

Objective:  To compare spinal manipulation, back school and individual physiotherapy in the treatment of chronic low back pain.

Design:  Randomized trial with 12-month follow-up.

Setting:  Outpatient rehabilitation department.

Participants:  210 patients with chronic, non-specific low back pain, 140/210 women, age 59 +/- 14 years.

Conclusions:  Spinal manipulation provided better short and long-term functional improvement, and more pain relief in the follow-up than either back school or individual physiotherapy.

As a chiropractor I am certainly not surprised that spinal manipulation gave more pain relief, but overall back school and physiotherapy are wonderful adjuncts to chiropractic in the treatment of our patients.  I have read many medical journal since my last blog and have a lot of articles to share.  I hope to do an entry about once a week.  Should anyone have a specific topic they would like more information on, just send me an e-mail and ask.

Gregg F Moses, DC

Once again, welcome to my blog.  I had a great weekend here in South Florida….windy and less hot.  My football team, The New York Jets didn’t lose.  That’s because they didn’t play.  Family time…taking Jake to his tennis lesson.  We also saw a great show at PBCC….theatrical version of the children’s book, Stellaluna.  It was amazing. 

I wanted to share a research article that is very important to me.  I have been a practicing chiropractor since 1989 and in 1999 I became certified in the Cox Decompression Technique.  The Cox Decompression technique was founded by Dr. James Cox.  The technique involves a specialized table, but is also ”hands-on” by the doctor to implement the decompression.  It is a gentle, painless, spinal manipulation performed with the spine under distraction- a traction force that separates the vertebrae to increase the size of the nerve and spinal canal openings, drop pressure inside the disc to reduce herniation. 

This case study was published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, June 2008 and authored by Sharina Gudavalli, DC and Ralph Kruse, DC.

Foraminal Stenosis With Radiculopathy From a Cervical Disc Herniation in a 33-Year-Old Man Treated With Flexion Distraction Decompression Manipulation 

A 33-year-old man complained of severe neck and upper pain and spasm, pain radiating down into his left arm with numbness into his fingers.  Cervical spine radiographs showed mild C6/C7 degenerative changes.  MRI revealed a moderate left posterolateral disc herniation at C6/C7.

This patient underwent Cox Flexion Distraction Decompression Manipualtion and adjunctive physiotherapy modalities.  Total treatment was 15 visits over a 10 week period.  This patient had a good clinical outcome utilizing post examination findings and a pain scale.  At 2-year follow up, subjective and objective findings remained stable. 

Although I have not had the time to submit a case study to be published, these are the kind of results we see in the office with the Cox Technique. All cases are different.  Some respond quickly and some not so quick, but I always implement this rule.  If a patient does not have 50% relief of pain within 30 days of care, they will be referred for further testing or consultation.  Dr. Cox has numerous case studies on his website www.coxtechnic.com.  Our website is www.moseschiropractic.com.  I hope to post about once a week.  I welcome comments and questions.

Gregg F. Moses, D.C.

Thanks again for viewing this blog.  I had a great week in the office.  In addition to chiropractic care, we also have full physical therapy and massage therapy.  Pregnant patients with lower back pain are always interesting and sometimes difficult to treat.  Certainly if the patient has leg pain, more caution should be given with the treatment.  We are somewhat limited as to what treatment can be done.  Although many chiropractors do traditional / diversified manipulation for pregnant patients with lower back pain, I choose to do the Cox Decompression Technique.

Abstract

Objective

The purpose of this report is to describe chiropractic treatment of lower back and unilateral leg pain in a pregnant patient.

Clinical Features

A 26-year-old woman in her second trimester of pregnancy had severe pain in her lower back that radiated to her hips bilaterally and to her right leg. She reported tingling down her right lower leg to the dorsum of her foot. Although no diagnostic imaging was performed, her differential diagnoses included lumbalgia with associated radiculopathy.

Intervention and Outcome

Treatment consisted of manual traction in the side-lying position using a specialized chiropractic table and treatment technique (Cox flexion-distraction decompression) modified for pregnancy. Relief was noted after the first treatment, and complete resolution of her subjective and objective findings occurred after 8 visits.

Conclusion

When modified, this chiropractic technique appears to be an effective method for treating lower back pain with radiation to the leg in a pregnant patient who cannot lie prone.

I hope this article / case study was helpful.  Feel free to contact me by clicking the following link: chiropractor west palm beach.  You can also find a certified Cox Technique practitioner on Dr. Cox’s website www.coxtechnic.com.

Respectfully submitted,

Gregg F Moses DC

I recently read an interesting article published in a medical journal, Virology Journal, February 25, 2008, Volume 5. The authors are John J. Cannell, Michael Zasloff, Cedric F. Garland, Robert Scragg and Edward Giovannucci.  The title of the article is “On the Epidemiology of Influenza”.

I thought this was pertinent because of the concern over the H1N1 virus as well as this being onset of the time of year for season influenza.  I will list some of the highlights of this article:

• A 2006 study concluded that there has been no evidence of a reduction in influenza related mortality in the last 15 years despite the increase of influenza vaccination coverage from 10% to 60%.
• In a  2007 study, 104 women given vitamin D were 3 times less likely to report cold and flu symptoms than placebo.  800 IU/day of vitamin not only reduced reported incidence, it abolished the seasonality of reported colds and flu.  A higher dose (2000 IU/day) virtually eradicated all reports of colds or flu.
• Compelling epidemiologal evidence indicates vitamin D deficiency is the ‘seasonal stimulus’, responsible for flu outbreaks.
• Lower respiratory tract infections are more frequent in those with low vitamin D3 levels.

Of course this is just 1 article, but certainly it makes us look at our vitamin D3 levels.  As always I suggest people speak with their primary physicians, chiropractors and/or do their own research before taking levels of supplements/vitamins higher than the RDA.  That being said the “National Academy of Sciences – Institute of Medicine” recommends the adequate intake of vitamin D3 should be revised upward to at least 2,000 to 4,000 IU/day.

I will keep my eyes open for other published articles that may be of interest.  I know I just started this blog, but I will be discussing many different topics over the upcoming weeks.  If there are specific questions and/or comments, don’t hesitate to contact me at chiromoe26@yahoo.com or through my website: chiropractor west palm beach