Chiropractic Singapore

Mild Scoliosis and how to Treat it.

Dr Will Kalla — Wed, 09 May 2012 11:33:52 +0000

Those with spines that have a curve between 10 and 25 degrees are categorized as mild scoliosis cases. The standard medical practice for growing teens with mild scoliosis is to watch, and wait to see if the curve gets worse. For adults, no specific course of treatment is recommended and very often ignored. Research however, strongly indicates that even mild cases of scoliosis tend to slowly progress over time right through adulthood, escalating in most cases when one reaches menopause.

Mild thoracic scoliosis before and after treatment.

With the recent years advances into the understanding of idiopathic scoliosis being primarily a neurological condition that directly correlates to, and affects the spine, a new breed of scoliosis treatments have emerged. These treatments come in the form of rehabilitation based programs, and focus on the neurological aspect to stimulate and reprogram the brain in order to allow for correction of the curved spine over time. It is based on these principals of accurate and persistent conditioning of the spine via neurological stimulus, that we at Precision Spine model our treatment programmes for mild scoliosis treatments.

Functional movement screen – What is it good for?

Dr Will Kalla — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 07:57:44 +0000

I had the opportunity yesterday to perform a functional movement screen on a few youngsters that are a part of the Youth Golf Programme that is conducted at the Laguna National Golf & Country Club. They all scored very well as one would expect from group of youngsters, but what could others benefit from performing such a movement screening?

The Functional Movement Screen

There are 7 separate movements that are tested with this screen that I prefer to test in the following order.

Deep Squat
Shoulder Mobility
In-Line Lunge
Rotary Stability
Trunk Stability Push-Up
Active Straight Leg raise
Hurdle step

Each test is then scored from 3 down to 0 if the test provokes pain. 21 is then the maximal score that one can obtain and if one scores either a 1 or a 0 on any of the tests then further evaluation is warranted. What is interesting that this test has been used in professional athletes in US and NFL players that scored 14 or below ended up on the surgery table within two seasons due to injury. The test is then believed to be able to predict future problems arising.

If we have poor movement patterns in our body, we don’t move efficiently and strain muscles and joints unnecessarily. Over time this strain begins to give us pain and can eventually cause and injury.

As a chiropractor I find the test valuable when you wish to evaluate the function and movement capability of clients and its extremely valuable tool in screening athletes to prevent them from having common problems like, lower back pain, shoulder or hip pains.

Get yourself tested and find out if you are in danger of developing problems in the near future. You can contact us at 6737 0515 for a consultation and screening.

Lower Back Pain – Disc bulge model

Dr Will Kalla — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 06:55:54 +0000

This video illustrates a model of the spine that can realistically demonstrate what happens when a injured disc is loaded. I bought this model to my clinic a year ago to help my lower back pain patients understand how the lumbar discs behave when they are compressed. This makes it very easy for them to understand what is happening in their back and what our treatment is trying to help them with increasing their compliance with rehabilitative exercises.

Scoliosis treatment – CLEAR consultation video

Dr Will Kalla — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 04:43:15 +0000

Here, two great friends of mine and fellow CLEAR Institute certified chiropractors presents a great consultation video about non surgical scoliosis treatment. In the video you’ll see how we view idiopathic scoliosis and how we treat this spinal deformity.

Information is also presented for the lack of effective treatment results for scoliosis brace and that there is no medical evidence to surgically correct scoliosis, it is to be considered a cosmetic procedure for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

Disc Herniation – What can Plasma Disc Nucleoplasty do for you?

Dr Will Kalla — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 00:08:52 +0000

I had a patient yesterday undergoing a MRI. It shows a large part of his disc has bulged out and is irritating his nerve. The medical doctor in explained about a new procedure to remove the bulge called plasma nucleoplasty. This is successfully used in cases with lower back pain and sciatica caused by disc herniations. After this medical procedure is done patient can safely return back to chiropractic care to help complete the rehabilitation that is needed for the lower back and spine. Since I was not familiar with the procedure, I wanted to learn more about it and found the video I shared with you above. I hope that you leaned something new too. Having spoken to the doctor performing the procedure he is willing to show me how the plasma nucleoplasty is performed in the operating room.

Scoliosis Treatment in Wisconsin

Dr Will Kalla — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 05:13:32 +0000

Just came back to Singapore on Monday form a trip to Green Bay, Wisconsin. Went so visit a friend of mine and learn how he treats his clients. He is brilliant in the treatment of scoliosis and has totally different approach than normal chiropractors in dealing with this spinal condition. It was a very productive trip and I recommend anybody in the region to contact Dr Dovorany and ask what he can do for them. I have implemented what I learned during the trip in my own clinic and anticipate to see even greater results with my clients.

Apparently I was very fortunate with the weather there as the day temperature ranged around 80-85 f during my stay there.

Are you Standing in Correct Posture?

Dr Will Kalla — Thu, 20 May 2010 21:40:30 +0000

There is a correct way to stand; having a correct posture you may say. The purpose of this is that the human body can be erect with the minimal amount of muscle effort. Viewed from the front the body should of course be symmetrical. And there is hardly anyone that would not know that. How about when we view it from the side?

If you look at a person from the side, the most effective way to stand and having correct posture is when these landmarks of the body are aligned:

Ear
Collar bone
Hip joint
Knee joint
Ankle joint (front end)

This would define good correct posture and is easily maintained by minimal muscle effort provided by small postural adjustments, mainly by the extensors of the back and calf muscles of the ankle. This is because the ligaments of the hip and knee are being tightly stretched to provide passive support.

When you are standing upright in good symmetry your center of gravity should align between your feet as is illustrated in the image.

Leave a comment below and let us know; How many of your friends and relatives deviate away from proper posture?

What is your MRI not telling you about your Lower Back Pain?

Dr Will Kalla — Mon, 17 May 2010 21:13:10 +0000

People do MRI scans for all kind of different reasons and lower back pain a common one. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a great way to illustrate anatomical structure in the body. It works very well for the brain, arms, legs and the spine. My interest is of course with the imaging of the spine and it is why we must understand what normal MRIs can’t show us. You probably have heard of friends that have back pain and the lumbar MRI shows hardly anything leaving both the doctor and your friend clueless. One big short coming that MRI has is that it done when a person is lying down taking the load of the spine that is normally there while we sit or stand. This normal load of gravity can have a huge impact on the spine, making the spine behave in a manner that can’t be shown in normal MRI machines. This kind of behavior in the spine would be called a functional problem and symptoms can be provoked during daily living and functional tests. But the MRI leaves us empty handed.

Could standing MRI show different results?

What if the same person could have done an MRI where they were standing during the procedure, could the images have looked different? I would believe that they could do that in many cases. And if you compare the two MRI images presented on this post you can see a huge difference. The first one is of the person lying down in a regular MRI scanner and the second one is taken when the person is standing upright. What a huge difference, right? I bet, the conversation would be completely different with the doctor explaining the MRI findings to the patient.

Unfortunate there are no upright MRI scanners available in Singapore or in South East Asia for that matter. I am sure they will come here and we will then benefit from the valuable information that they can provide us with to better care for the clients with lower back pain.

Loss of Normal Cervical Lordosis – What Can Neck Exercise Do To Help?

Dr Will Kalla — Sun, 16 May 2010 21:10:08 +0000

Very often people who have neck pain and ask what kind of exercises they can do to help their condition. A normal neck should a nice cervical lordosis; it should have a nice C-shaped curve when an x-ray is viewed from the side. Unfortunately it is quite common that people walk around with a total loss of normal neck curve and many of them even have reversed their curve to bend the other way. This can happen from years of bad posture when you are studying as young, work in front of laptops or from car accidents.

If you view the first image you can see an x-ray from a teenage girls showing a reversed cervical lordosis and forward head posture. This kind of alignment in the neck causes a dramatic increase of load an the neck affecting muscles and discs alike. The stress in this cases can be easily 2 to 3 times as high as normal load. Compare that an average head weights 10 pounds, that’s the weight of a bowling ball. Now imagine that you are two more of then on top of your head. can you feel the strain on your neck?

What neck exercise can help to correct this?

It is important to correct forward head posture like this as soon as possible to prevent cervical spondylosis from developing. As a chiropractor specialised in spinal corrective care we have effective neck exercise that help use in restore normal spinal alignment. These exercises apply stress to the neck forcing it to react and hold the neck in a better alignment. They can be given after accurate measurements are made on x-rays showing us how it is aligned and moves. The second x-ray was taken during a weighted exercise less than an hour after the first x-ray was taken and confirmed to us that the given exercise was the right one for this client. This kind of evaluation is something that I do regularly with my clients having problems with their neck.

If you need any help with your neck, feel free to contact us.

Dr Will Kalla
Doctor of Chiropractic

Precision Spine Pte Ltd

Chiropractic: An Introduction

Dr Will Kalla — Sun, 16 May 2010 03:44:29 +0000

Chiropractic is a health care approach that focuses on the relationship between the body’s structure – mainly the spine – and its functioning. Chiropractors primarily perform spinal adjustments to the spine goal of correcting alignment and problems relating to it supporting the body’s natural ability to heal itself and deal with the daily stresses that it encounters. For effective corrective care spinal manipulation will not be enough; the spine must be made ready for changes by warming up and softening tissues around the spine. After this is done spinal manipulation will be far more effective in achieving their intended purpose that then has to be followed by reactive exercises creating a new pattern for the body to hold the spine in correct alignment.

People seek chiropractic care primarily for pain conditions such as backache, lower back pain, neck pain, and headache. Many also seek care for scoliosis with the aim of correcting the spine. Very few side effects have ever been reported and then mostly been temporary muscle soreness related to the treatment making chiropractic a very safe treatment option.

Ongoing research at different universities around the world is looking at effects of chiropractic treatment approaches and validating its claims and results for a wide variety of conditions.

If you are interested in what chiropractic can do for you, you should seek up a local clinic and talk to them. You can always contact me if you are seeking for a chiropractor in Singapore.