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Dr. Kruse...Teaching with Dr. James Cox

Dr. Ralph Kruse is honored to be instructing side-by-side with Dr. James Cox at the National University of Health Sciences, in Lombard, Illinois on November 15-17, 2013. Dr. Cox, developer of Cox® Technic Flexion-Distraction & Decompression Spinal Manipulation and Dr. Kruse will be teaching Part II which is an 18 hour course on how Cox® Technic is applied and integrated into a clinical practice. There is a written and practical examination for those seeking certification.

This weekend builds upon the knowledge learned from Part I and includes the discussion of spine pain conditions with a focus on disc-related conditions and spinal stenosis. Everyone will have the opportunity to use a pressure transducer which is an objective tool that really fine tunes the application of the protocols while teaching the pressure to apply to the spine during the adjustment. This weekend highlights the evidence-based protocols based on research-documented biomechanical effects and clinical outcomes. For nearly 50 years, Dr. James Cox, documented the effects and clinical outcomes from a clinician's perspective, but starting 1991 when the US government started funding chiropractic research and Dr. Ram Gudavalli joined Dr. Cox, the research abilities really started to be interdisciplinary and more complex. This weekend course is a mix of this research and clinical application for attendee implementation.

The treatment of back and leg pain caused by spinal stenosis and disc herniation of the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spines as well as treatment of patients having undergone spinal surgery will also be presented. Attendees will learn the mechanism, diagnosis and treatment by Cox® Technic Flexion Distraction and Decompression Spinal Manipulation for back and neck pain caused by many of the most difficult to treat spinal conditions. The most recent scientific and evidence-based research will be discussed including Dr. Kruse's participation in a ground-breaking study performed at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine. Dr. Kruse helps with hands-on demonstration of technique and will be one of the examiners to certify a new group of Chiropractors in Cox Flexion Distraction Manipulation, one of the most researched and outcome driven spinal adjusting in chiropractic today.

For more information, please contact our office or visit our website.

                                                           

Chiropractic Care Millennium Park - 30 N. Michigan Avenue - Suite 605 

Chicago, IL 60602 - Phone: 312-269-5556 

Chiropractic Care, Ltd. - 2417 W. 183rd Street - Homewood, IL 60430 

Phone: 708-798-5556

We are excited to announce our new fully responsive, mobile device compatible website.

We are excited to announce our new fully responsive, mobile device compatible website. We strove to develop an improved and expanded website with new graphics, videos, and updated information. Whether you are looking for Chiropractic Care’s mission statement, information about Dr. Ralph Kruse, our staff, or the services we offer, take a look. We have even embedded our blog, added video pages and a section on identifying your pain.

As always, our goal at Chiropractic Care, Ltd. is to increase the overall health and well-being of our patients through the use of non-invasive natural, chiropractic therapies. We determine the cause of your symptoms and relieve your pain with gentle, personalized, effective, non-surgical treatments.

Dr. Ralph Kruse, the owner of Chiropractic Care, Ltd., is a Board Certified Chiropractic Physician, Chiropractic Orthopedist, acupuncturist, and Cox Flexion-Distraction practitioner and instructor. Dr. Kruse strives to maintain the highest standards of care based on the most current research and clinical information. His work as an instructor, lecturer, and author keeps him current and connected with the Chiropractic and scientific community and helps him deliver the best care possible for his patients.

Please visit our website and feel free to give me feedback on its contents, ease of use, and any information you might like to see added.

                                                            

 

Chiropractic Care Millennium Park - 30 N. Michigan Avenue - Suite 605 

Chicago, IL 60602 - Phone: 312-269-5556 

Chiropractic Care, Ltd. - 2417 W. 183rd Street - Homewood, IL 60430 

Phone: 708-798-5556

Congratulations to Aidas Buzelis for bringing home the silver medal

 

Not only is he an official massage therapist for the team, he helps provides condition training and Kinesio Taping 

Congratulations to Aidas Buzelis for bringing home the silver medal from the 2013 European Basketball Championship for his work with the Lithuanian Men's team! Not only is he an official massage therapist for the team, he helps provides condition training and Kinesio Taping. 

Licensed Massage Therapist Aidas Buzelis was born in Lithuania and while living in Europe, he played professional basketball, representing several Lithuanian and European teams. Aidas earned a Bachelor degree in Sport Coaching in1996 from the Lithuanian Institute of Physical Culture and his certification in Massage Therapy from Onnuri Institute in 1998.

Since moving to the USA in 2000, Aidas has been a member of the Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals as well as being certified by the National Certification Board of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. He is licensed as an Illinois state massage therapist. Due to his sports background, he specializes in deep tissue and sports massage. He has additional certifications in both Primal Reflex Release Technique (PRRT) and Total Motion Release (TMR). Aidas is one of a select few massage therapists in the country who are certified to perform these rehabilitation techniques.

He practiced with United States physical therapists and Chiropractors in Chicago and San Diego in 2008. In 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, 2012 and 2013 he worked in Lithuanian with the national basketball team as the official member of massage therapists' core. He received a bronze medal for his work with the team and a medal for his community service from Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of the Republic of Lithuania. In 2012, he worked with the team in Europe as they won their way to the London Olympics. He helped the team again in 2013 when they won the silver medal.

We are pleased to have him as a valuable member of our healthcare team. Appointments with Aidas are available at both the Michigan Avenue office in Chicago and our Homewood location. or more information, please visit our website.


                                                    

Chiropractic Care Millennium Park - 30 N. Michigan Avenue - Suite 605 

Chicago, IL 60602 - Phone: 312-269-5556 

Chiropractic Care, Ltd. - 2417 W. 183rd Street - Homewood, IL 60430 

Phone: 708-798-5556

Dr. Kruse...A Teaching Weekend in Saskatchewan, Canada

Dr. Ralph Kruse is honored to be instructing a seminar written for Dr. James Cox, developer of Cox® Technic Flexion-Distraction & Decompression Spinal Manipulation at the Chiropractors' Association of Saskatchewan, Canada on September 21-22, 2013 . This lecture is written to share information in a fashion to excite the Chiropractic attendees about being the back pain specialist in their community. Dr. Kruse will present details about the treatment of back and radicular pain caused by spinal stenosis and disc herniation of the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spines. Treatment of Failed Back Surgical Syndrome (FBSS) - patients having undergone one or more surgical decompressions and/or fusions who have continued or a recurrence of pain, will also be presented. FBSS is one of the most complex conditions seen in chiropractic practice and one which chiropractors will be seeing with greater frequency in the future. An increased competency in adjusting treatment is necessary for these challenging patients.      Attendees will learn the mechanism, diagnosis and treatment by Cox® Technic Flexion Distraction and Decompression Spinal Manipulation for non-radicular back pain caused by spondylolisthesis, transitional segment, facet syndrome, scoliosis, degenerative disc disease, Klippel Feil syndrome, block vertebrae, T4 syndrome, retrolisthesis, degenerative spondylolisthesis, neuropathic pain, and ligament hypertrophy. These cases require a different spinal manipulation approach than spinal stenosis and herniated disc. He will detail the outcomes of the federally funded biomechanical and clinical comparison studies (flexion-distraction vs medical care) and highlight the outcomes for radiculopathy for which flexion-distraction shone. Federally funded and privately funded basic science and clinical outcome results of Cox® Flexion Distraction and Decompression Adjusting for back and radicular pain will be given. Looking to the future place of chiropractic in healthcare, he will also share challenges and opportunities chiropractic faces based on the evidence-based research available today.        Having been involved in one of the earliest federally funded studies on the biomechanical effects of Cox Flexion Distraction to the lumbar spine, Dr. Kruse will share these findings. Dr. Kruse was also involved in the most recent study performed at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine which documented the biomechanical effect of Cox Decompression Manipulation when performed to the cervical spine. The published initial findings and the ongoing research will be presented. The latest findings in the published studies that impact a chiropractor's practice and the patient's clinical outcome will also be presented. Hands-on demonstration of technique will prepare you for an exciting Monday morning as the back pain specialist in your community utilizing the most researched and outcome driven spinal adjusting in chiropractic today. For more information, please contact our office or visit our website.                                              Chiropractic Care Millennium Park - 30 N. Michigan Avenue - Suite 605  Chicago, IL 60602 - Phone: 312-269-5556  Chiropractic Care, Ltd. - 2417 W. 183rd Street - Homewood, IL 60430  Phone: 708-798-5556

Stressed??? Have Back Pain?

 Highly stressed people are 65% more likely to suffer from back pain and muscle tensions than those with low stress.

51% of people with high levels of stress over debt report muscle pain and back pain compared with 31% of those who have lower stress over debt.



Stress is part of all of our lives and some of us handle it better than others. How is this? Why does one individual grow ulcers, skin irritation, heart disease, high blood pressure, irritable bowel syndrome, and back pain? Chiropractic Care stays on top of the research that supplies us with clues as to how stress affects our patients' bodies and offers gentle chiropractic care to relieve the stress on our nervous system.

Be confident that your chiropractor knows the workings of the nervous system and how it affects the visible signs of stress. Primarily there are two types of involuntary nerves in us humans: sympathetic and parasympathetic. Each system's nerves respond a bit differently.

• The sympathetic nervous system acts in flight, flight, sex, and is highly stimulated by thought and actions.
• The parasympathetic nervous system is the calming part of the autonomic nervous system.

They regulate many body functions such as heart beat and rhythm, respiration, blood pressure, digestion, hormone production, emotion, memory, and muscle function. When these two parts of the involuntary nervous system are in synch we feel good, and we say we are in a state of homeostasis (good health). Chiropractic Care has homeostasis as a goal for all of our Chicago and Suburban patients!

When these two parts of the nervous system are out of synch, disease sets in to affect body functions. A huge instance of imbalance lies in the brain structures known as the hippocampus and the amygdala.

• The hippocampus is our memory of all things that have occurred or are occurring in our lives.
• The amygdala is the emotion center of the brain which regulates our feelings and attitudes.

At Chiropractic Care in Chicago's Loop and south suburban Homewood, your chiropractor understands the importance of spinal manipulation to relieve stress. Research suggests that the principles of chiropractic spinal manipulation are founded on science and have definite clinical benefit in relieving the body's reactions to stress. If you want to feel better by reducing your reactions to the normal or exaggerated stresses of daily living, consult Chiropractic Care as soon as possible. Your chiropractic physician studies and therefore knows the specific spine levels that stress exhibits its pain and loss of motion.  

At Chiropractic Care, your health and wellness professionals may also recommend massage therapy or even acupuncture to help relieve stress and stress related conditions.

                                                       

Chiropractic Care Millennium Park - 30 N. Michigan Avenue - Suite 605 

Chicago, IL 60602 - Phone: 312-269-5556 

Chiropractic Care, Ltd. - 2417 W. 183rd Street - Homewood, IL 60430 

Phone: 708-798-5556

Green Tea...So Good For You!

Green Tea, so many health benefits!

Green tea provides some positive nutrient support for your arthritis and its accompanying inflammation, your weight-loss effort, and your metabolism. It may help to reduce the breakdown of the cartilage in your knees and spinal discs, boost your immune system, lower your blood pressure, and protect against or slow the growth of certain cancers. Your chiropractor at Chiropractic Care brings this information about the benefits of green tea to you. 

Many of us enjoy black teas. Green tea is different from the run-of-the-mill black tea and oolong tea in that green tea is not as processed. It is created from unfermented leaves which allow it to keep the highest concentration of antioxidants called polyphenols. These antioxidants fight the free radicals, those compounds that alter and damage cells. They may even lead to health problems like cancer and heart disease and contribute to the aging process. Green tea is full of good antioxidant polyphenols, alkaloids (caffeine, theobromine, theophylline) and the amino acid, L-theanine, which calms the nervous system. Green tea is also available in decaffeinated form.

  

For adults, green tea is safe in moderation. Two to 3 cups of green tea a day gives about 240 to 320 mg polyphenols. Taking 100-750 mg a day of standardized green tea extract is also an option that works well. Check the brand of tea to confirm what you may get from their tea. Green tea is beneficial. Try it and see how you like it, just don’t go overboard.  Give ChiropracticCare in Chicago’s Loop or south suburban Homewood a call for an appointment.

Let us be a part of your health and wellness team.

              

                                                   

Chiropractic Care Millennium Park - 30 N. Michigan Avenue - Suite 605 

Chicago, IL 60602 - Phone: 312-269-5556 

Chiropractic Care, Ltd. - 2417 W. 183rd Street - Homewood, IL 60430 

Phone: 708-798-5556

Chicago Chiropractic Care May Relax Your Restless Legs

Restless legs making it impossible to sleep? 

Your Chicago chiropractor may be the person to turn to. Chiropractic Care presents new research that points to another possible etiology: cervical spinal cord ischemia. Chiropractic may help that!

What Is Restless Leg Syndrome? 

Restless leg syndrome is a neurological disorder that often causes its sufferers to move their legs due to extremely irritating sensations like pulling, creeping or throbbing. Restless leg sufferers get this irresistible urge to move and it is can be miserable!

Who Gets Restless Leg Syndrome? 

As many as 10% of Americans and 15% of Canadians experience restless leg syndrome at bedtime. A parent with restless legs syndrome is noted to have above a 70% chance of a child with it.

A New Potential Cause 

A new research case report shares that restless leg syndrome may be connected to the lack of blood supply, called ischemia, of the cervical spinal cord! This finding gives support to the thought that restless leg syndrome may be related to the interruption of the spinal cord pathways. Chiropractic care of the cervical spine can work on that! Our Doctors of Chiropractic utilize a gentle manipulation called Cox Flexion Distraction Decompression to mobilize the spine, relieve nerve pressure and increase circulation.

What to do 

See your Chicago chiropractor to see how chiropractic care may benefit you and RELAX your restless leg syndrome enough for you to sleep. Contact Chiropractic Care today.

                                                        

Chiropractic Care Millennium Park - 30 N. Michigan Avenue - Suite 605 

Chicago, IL 60602 - Phone: 312-269-5556 

Chiropractic Care, Ltd. - 2417 W. 183rd Street - Homewood, IL 60430 

Phone: 708-798-5556

Life is Just a Bunch of Berries!!!

Chiropractic is all about health. And when healthy food is proven to be super-healthy, Chiropractic Care wants to share the news!

 In 1989, researchers began studying 93,600 young and middle-aged women nurses aged 26-42 years. They examined the dietary intake of anthocyanins and other flavonoids and the risk of heart attack (myocardial infarction) in these women. These researchers discovered that women who ate the most blueberries and strawberries had a 32% reduction in heart attack risk when matched to those who only ate them once a month or less. Eat more strawberries and blueberries!

Anthocyanins are types of dietary antioxidant flavonoids found in the food you eat, especially in the red, purple, or blue foods. Chocolate, grapes, red wine, blackberries, strawberries and blueberries teem with dietary flavonoids. Check out the blueberry-strawberry smoothie recipe Chiropractic Care found. It’s pretty and tasty!

These flavonoids help by dilating blood vessels and by offsetting the plaque build-up in coronary arteries that may cause blockages and eventually heart attacks. In this new study, mixed strawberry and blueberry consumption really stood out.  Not only is Chiropractic Care here for your spine but your heart, too!

Beginning early in life to lower the possibility of plaque build-up is key. So start eating your berries!
Contact Chiropractic Care for your healthy Chicago chiropractic appointment, too.

Strawberry Blueberry Smoothie

Nothing says summer like the season's best sun-ripened berries - slightly tart, juicy and sweet blueberries. This smoothie recipe is great for breakfast or a refreshing summer afternoon snack.

• Ingredients:
• 1 cup fresh or slightly thawed frozen strawberries
• 1 cup fresh or slightly thawed frozen blueberries
• 1 cup milk
• 6 oz. pineapple juice
• 3 Tbsp honey
• 1-1/2 cups ice cubes

Preparation: 

Combine everything except ice cubes in an electric blender and puree until smooth.

Slowly add ice cubes and blend until finely crush. Serve immediately or chill until serving.  

Makes about 4 portions.

                             

Chiropractic Care Millennium Park - 30 N. Michigan Avenue - Suite 605 

Chicago, IL 60602 - Phone: 312-269-5556 

Chiropractic Care, Ltd. - 2417 W. 183rd Street - Homewood, IL 60430 

Phone: 708-798-5556

Is Your Computer a PAIN in the NECK???

Do office employees get neck pain? You bet they do! Just like small business owners and apprentices and scholars and receptionists and executive assistants and content writers for websites! Even the family bookkeeper and chief bill payer experiences neck pain! Why? We all work over computers and at desks and in chairs that aren't very neck friendly. Chiropractic Care soothes neck pain and has tips for how to prevent it as well.

Now we don't want to badger just the desktop computers; the laptop computers are not so hot for our necks (and wrists!) either. A current study on notebook computer usage found that a 12 degree incline under a notebook placed on a desk improved neck and head postures while only slightly increasing wrist extension which seemed to be acceptable.

So what should we do about all this neck pain suffered by Chicagoland computer users?

A review study currently propose muscle strengthening or endurance exercise to treat neck pain and muscle endurance exercise for decreasing pain-related disability.

 Muscle strengthening includes improving the quantity of force you can exert against resistance. Push-ups and working with free weights are instances. For the neck muscles, working with a neck exerciser or against your own hand resistance produces results.

Muscle endurance exercise builds muscle over time with more repetitions and such to get the muscles to work longer.

While Chiropractic Care appreciates these recommendations, our Chicago chiropractor will likely combine chiropractic spinal manipulation with exercise (and maybe throw in a few hints for a more ergonomically friendly workspace!) for your neck pain relief, best clinical outcome, and future neck pain prevention. Our Cox Technic system tells us to look for relief of at least 50% in 30 days. So many of our neck pain patients report relief in just a visit or two while some take a little longer. But our 50% Rule sets your expectation and guides our chiropractic treatment plan for your relief.

Make your chiropractic appointment today. Contact Chiropractic Care for a full examination, diagnosis and gentle, safe neck pain treatment and relief.

For more information, please contact our office or visit our website. 

                       

Chiropractic Care Millennium Park - 30 N. Michigan Avenue - Suite 605  Chicago, IL 60602 - Phone: 312-269-5556  Chiropractic Care, Ltd. - 2417 W. 183rd Street - Homewood, IL 60430  Phone: 708-798-5556