Seeing is believing? | Bellevue Chiropractor

Back pain? chiropractic might be able to help!

Seeing is believing?

      The other day I fell to the ground and scraped my left elbow and left knee while rollerblading around where I live. I also landed on my right hip and right hand. I immediately saw some blood over my left knee and elbow. It was not a good experience. I then went home and cleaned up the injury site. Later on the day my wrists, hips, and arms started to hurt. Even though there were not open wounds and bruises around those area, I knew something was not right. There are certainly sprain/strain, and soft tissue injuries over my body due to the fall. I started icing my shoulder, neck, upper back, arm, and hip at 15 minutes increment for 2 to 3 hours. I felt better the next day. But my body still not feeling good, especially when I am working on patients, my wrist and ankle still bothers me.

      What is going on? I am not seeing the injury but still hurting! There is some soft tissue injury still over my body for sure. I then got a chiropractic adjustment from my colleague. Later on I slowly feeling better. But I am not completely heal yet, even though I am back to the gym working out. I still need to follow up for some chiropractic treatments. It is quite common for people to think that when you do not see the injury and you are fine. But as far as soft tissue injuries, or musculoskeletal injuries are concerned, it is not true. Not seeing the injury does not mean you are okay. It is better to live your life at it fullest than just getting by without pain. It is better to stay active than relying on medication to keep you pain free. It is imperative to see a chiropractor for musculoskeletal injuries whenever after car accident, sports injury, work injury, or any other kind of injury to make sure you are 100% okay, not just no pain. Don't wait until it is too late.

Active Spines Chiropractic in Bellevue WA Keeps Your Spine Active and Pain Free! You can contact Dr. Shao-Hao Cheng at 425-818-0086 or info@activespines.com

Bellevue Massage Therapist | Janene Hampton LMP

Janene Bellevue Massage Therapist

Bellevue WA Massage Therapist
Janene Hampton

Please welcome Janene, our new massage therapist on board at Active Spines Chiropractic in Bellevue WA. She has been a massage therapist since 2011. She is passionate about helping people with a variety of techniques unique to their situation such as Deep Tissue, Sports injury, Swedish, Reflexology and Pregnancy. She also specialize in injury treatments, Swedish massage and deep tissue massage. She can keep you fit, active and healthy beyond traditional massage treatments. Her goals for patients are not only relieving the symptoms but also improving their quality of life. She is also a provider with many health insurances which includes Premera, Aetna, FirstChoice, United Health Care, Work Injury Claim, Auto Insurance and more!

Janene is inspired by her daughters Aushanae, Monae, and Kiona. She loves to paint, likenesses of the people who have influenced her through music, poetry and those she look to for advice. She also loves to read and continues her knowledge through any kind of books from business, texts, literature, and her daughters' poetry.

Do you have neck pain or back pain? She can definitely help you! Please call us and we can verify your insurance benefit for you. Most likely with one hour of massage you will only responsible for your co-pay which is a great saving! Please call 425-818-0086 to schedule your next massage appointment with her! For more information please go to our website :)


Active Spines Chiropractic Keeps Your Spine Active and Pain Free! You can contact Dr. Shao-Hao Cheng at 425-818-0086 or info@activespines.com

Auto Collision Related Spine Injuries 2012 Part I

Hi everyone~ I went to a seminar about Auto Collision Related Spine Injuries 2012 by Dr. Dan Dock, DC on Thursday, Feb 9, 2012. Here I will share some of the information that I learned from the seminar. As far as record keeping is concerned. Dr. Dock recommends hand writing notes. It has to be readable by other people as well. He also focused on incorporating an exercise program for patients to do in the office for their neck and/or back injuries.

There are ways to show the treatment is reasonable and necessary. Such as how patients activity of daily living have improved since getting care. Please be specific such as on the right or left, and which body part. And if their pain level have changed. You can use none, minimal, mild, moderate or severe to rate pain level besides using 0 to 10 scale. Mechanism of injury is the key to find out injury and to see clinical correlation. Where was the car hit? Where was the head turn? Was the foot on the break? Were arm on the steering wheel? If hit from behind, patient's body go backwards then forwards. If patient could not recall his position mostly he has light concussion, or short term amnesia. If the amnesia last for more than 2 to 4 hours, patient needs a CT scan. There might be intercranial bleeding.

If patient has gradual onset of pain following the accident. Most likely because the endorphin is slowly wearing out after the accident. If patient did not come for treatment, ask why. Is it because work, job, family or no health insurance? Look for muscle spasm and rate the level. Check for Active range of motion and passive range of motion once a month. Decreased cervical extension could be pedicle or facet fracture. Asymmetrical loss of motion could mean injury to the facet and disc. Look for sharp angulation, sharp reverse curve in cervical flexion and extension x-ray. This could mean damage to the capsule ligament, facet joint, interspinous ligament, and supraspinous ligament. If there is breakage in George's line there might be torn disc or fracture.

MRI for patient if there is distinct nerve root pattern, intense pain, something new and different, or patient is getting worse with treatment. Consider pre and post x-ray if the condition is unstable.

Care plan: update frequency of care, duration of care, exercise program, physical limitation and referrals for second opinion. Supportive care means patient's condition deteriorates without care. Maintenance care: no change in subjective and objective findings without care.

Active Spines Chiropractic Keeps Your Spine Active and Pain Free! You can contact Dr. Shao-Hao Cheng at 425-818-0086 or info@activespines.com

Gua Sha for neck or back sprain/strain, tendonitis, or soft tissue injuries!

Gua Sha is one of the soft tissue and manual therapy techniques that I use in our clinic to help patient recover from their injury. A detail exam is required before performing this treatment.

What is Gua Sha? Gua Sha is an ancient medical treatment in Asia. Gua means to rub or friction. Sha means congestion of blood at the surface of the body. I usually use a slice of water buffalo horn and massage lotion as treatment tools. First we need to find an area that needs treatment. This is usually a spot that is tender to touch, sore, tight, and has knots. Most of the time it has been there for a while and is chronic in nature. Sometimes acute edema responses well to treatment too, but careful examination and evaluation is required. By applying specific repetitive sweeping, brushing and scooping motion over a small injury site for 3 to 5 minutes, it breaks down adhesion, increase blood flow, help soft tissue to regenerate, and promote healing. I also incorporate some stretching, and joint movement while doing this to maximize treatment result!

Clinical indication: chronic neck pain, shoulder pain, back pain, rotator cuff injury, tendonitis or tendonosis of the biceps, Achilles, knee, or hip. Facet syndrome, carpal tunnel, ulnar nerve entrapment, thoracic outlet syndrome, post whiplash injuries or scar tissue conditions.

Treatment frequency is 1 to 2 times a week for 5 to 10 visits depending on the severity and complexity of your condition(s).

Potential treatment response: most of the time you will feel relieved, decreased pain or soreness, and increase range of motion right after treatment. You may also feels sore afterward, kinda like after a heavy workout, but it will decrease gradually. You will also notice some bruising, red spots or pettichia. This is an indication of chronic injury and the treatment is working! The bruising will disappear in 3 days. Ice the area 10 to 15 minutes as needed at home will help with recovery.

Active Spines Chiropractic in Bellevue WA Keeps Your Spine Active and Pain Free! You can contact Dr. Shao-Hao Cheng at 425-818-0086 or info@activespines.com

Kinesio Taping for Neck pain, back pain, tennis elbow, knee pain and more!

I was trained to use athletic tape to stabilize ankle sprain, wrist sprain, knee sprain and most sports injuries in college. While in chiropractic school I learned something new- Kinesio Taping! This type of taping is totally different from traditional athletic taping. It helps improve range of motion, mobility, flexibility, reduce inflammation and edema, and improve performance. It's amazing! Besides chiropractic adjustment, I use this therapy for patient with acute neck and back pain. Most people feel decrease in pain level with tape on their back.

Kinesio taping is a method used to help normalize the function of muscles and other connective tissues. Kinesio taping is used for both spinal and extremity conditions such as neck pain, back pain, tennis elbow, knee pain, shin splint and shoulder pain.

Kineso taping uses elastic tape rather than the rigid tape traditionally used in sports. The elastic properties of this tape help in many ways:

• Improve contraction of a weakened muscle
• Reduce muscle fatigue and spasm
• Reduce over-stretching and over-contraction of muscles
• Re-educate muscles through sensory feedback
• Lessen edema (swelling) through aiding the lymphatic system
• Minimize post-traumatic or post-surgical bruising through improved circulation
• Help mobilize scar tissue by enhancing glide between tissue layers
• Help correct joint mechanics through aiding muscle function around the joint
• Relieve pain by activating the natural analgesic system in our skin receptors

For more information please visit Kinesio Taping website!

Active Spines Chiropractic Keeps Your Spine Active and Pain Free! You can contact Dr. Shao-Hao Cheng at 425-818-0086 or info@activespines.com

Fallen Arch Symptom Patterns

Have you heard of pronation in your foot? Do your foot rotate inwards while you walk or stand? Without a proper arch support it can cause various foot, knee, hip, and back problems. Why? Because if your foot rotate inward or you have a decrease arch high, this can cause your knee twisting in and this causes tension on your hip joint. Your hip joint then effects your low back. You will have low back pain because your pelvis is shifting forward due to your hip, knee and foot. Your foot is the foundation of your body if you do not have a solid foundation you will pron to injuries.

How to avoid these problems? Chiropractic check up and foot exam can help you find out if you have fallen arch syndrome. Chiropractic adjustments, rehab exercises and custom made foot inserts have been proven to be very effective and creates long lasting results!

Active Spines Chiropractic Keeps Your Spine Active and Pain Free! You can contact Dr. Shao-Hao Cheng at activespines.com