Dr Marc Ellis and his team at the Georgia Chiropractic Neurology Center specializes in helping patients to relieve pain, by understanding and treating it’s source, and without drugs, allowing them to return to leading a rich and full life.
Pain is the most common health concern that faces us today in the United States. Traditional approaches typically include treating the symptoms of pain through the use of drugs and even surgeries. We believe that to truly help patients, we must treat the CAUSES of pain and our goal is to assess and treat those root causes through programs that correct imbalances in our neurological and immune systems with innovative and thorough diagnostic practices. To better understand this approach, we have designed this page to explain some of the basics that we evaluate when meeting with patients who are suffering from chronic pain.
Pain comes in many forms and can have one, or several different sources. A patient can experience peripheral pain such as sprains, strains or tendinitis or you can have central pain syndromes such as migraines, phantom limb pain, fibromyalgia, back pain and many more. Sources of pain come from areas in our body such as ligaments, tendons, fascia, muscles, joints and nerves. Nutrition can even be a source of pain for some people, as well as a useful tool in the treatment of pain.
Ligaments and tendons are similar in that they are soft tissues but they perform different functions in the body. Ligaments connect bone to bone and help to stabilize joints. Composed mostly of long, collagen fibers that create short bands of tough connective tissues, ligaments are slightly elastic and can be stretched to gradually lengthen and increase flexibility. (A double-jointed person is someone who has more elastic ligaments… kind of cool, huh?) When a patient experiences pain due to ligaments, the traditional treatments have included ultrasound, exercise and surgery. However, using a much more specific approach, and one that is rarely used today, Dr. Ellis is able to massage the ligament, resulting in measured relief.
Tendons, like ligaments, are tough yet flexible but tendons connect muscle to bone. Tendons essentially allow us movement, since they act as the intermediary between the muscles, creating the motion of the bones. Due to the obvious similarities, tendons are usually treated like ligaments, therefore typically not specific enough to accurately help the patients. Tendons make up the fascia that wraps around your muscles and fascia wraps around every tissue in your body.
Fascia, densely packed collagen fibers that encase every part of the body is incredible stuff. Fascia creates a full body system of sheets, chords and bags that wrap, divide and permeate every muscle, bone, nerve, blood vessel and organ. It is your body’s protector, connector and keeps your shape. Fascia has largely been misunderstood by much of the medical community until recently and the past school of thought was to remove it to see what was underneath. That is changing and holistic treatments focusing on the fascia and how to work with it are incredibly important in the treatment of pain. Because muscles are intricately protected by the fascia, many times muscle pain and the fascia go hand in hand.
There are many joints in the body and they are mainly classified as structural or functional but basically, joints are where two or more bones make contact. Chiropractors fix joints. But while many chiropractors only do one type of adjustment, Dr. Ellis takes the unique approach of using very gentle mobilizations to adjust and repair the joints. If “fast cracking” adjustments are necessary for the patient, Dr. Ellis will assess that and can perform those types of adjustments as well.
When it comes to nerves, there are MANY different terms that relate to nerve pain. For example, allodynia, central sensitization and central sensitivity all mean that the patient is feeling pain from the central nervous system. Or a patient may be experiencing pain due to a condition such as arthritis, a sprain or a strain and because they are unaware, are at risk of re-injuring the area because the brain is not properly controlling the muscle function in that area. Understanding that the brain is not properly doing it’s job when it comes to these types of pain sources is widely overlooked in traditional medical practices. However, this is an area that Dr Ellis truly understands as an integral part of pain therapy. By discovering which part of the brain is not responding correctly and then implementing the therapies that improve that brain function, the pain goes away. Once the brain is “reset”, the work on the fascia, ligaments, tendons, muscles and joints can begin, preventing the patient from injuring the area again. The results of this type of treatment are both fast and long-term. And although each patient is unique, many patients start feeling relief in as little as one or two treatments.
We don’t normally connect nutrition to pain but understanding nutrition is a key factor in our overall health and well-being, Improper nutrition can not only lead to things we often hear about such as obesity and diabetes, but also fatigue and inflammation, leading causes of pain.
Dr. Ellis’ combined approach of assessing each individual patients’ needs and providing them with personalized treatment options is an effective and VERY RARE approach leading to optimal results in the shortest time, free of drugs and surgeries. Do you, or someone you know, suffer from chronic pain or another ailment that has not been effectively treated with traditional medical therapies or drugs? You can find more information throughout our website on safe, effective and non-invasive treatment options. Please contact us today to schedule an appointment to review your case.