The Midtown East Chiropractor to see - Chiropractor Midtown East

Dr. Merrill Asks some important questions of interest to Midtown East residents - Chiropractor Midtown East Dr. Merrill Asks...

Can someone who has had back surgery receive chiropractic care?
Yes. Rest assured that we will avoid the surgically modified areas of your spine. However, what we find is that surgical interventions will often produce spinal instability above or below the involved level. This is will be the focus of your chiropractic care.
What's the difference between a "good" drug and a "bad" drug?
As a chiropractor, I see the use of many drugs (legal or illegal) as merely symptom treating. Worse, virtually every drug produces unwanted effects. The effects of chiropractic are largely positive effects. If you're a Midtown East parent, consider carefully before giving your child a cough medication, cold remedy or pain reliever so this sort of question doesn't arise in the first place.

How Bones Grow

Backaches and sciatica image.

What makes your bones grow and how do they contribute to how tall you will be? In the womb, the skeleton starts to grow shortly after conception and human bone development continues into early adulthood.

Growth plates are the actual parts of the bone that regulate its length and shape. Located near both ends of long bones, they contain cartilage cells that divide and multiply. As the new cartilage cells increase in number, they push older cartilage cells to the middle of the bone, where they eventually die, and the space they occupied becomes bone.

So bones actually grow from both ends and not from the middle! After puberty, when the cartilage stops multiplying and the bone has reached its maximum size, the growth plates are converted into bone.

Because the growth plate is the weakest area of the bone, it is prone to injury, particularly in growing children and adolescents. This often occurs as a result of a fall or a sports accident.

No matter how mild a sports-related injury or a fall may appear on the surface, children should be checked thoroughly to ensure that a fracture has not resulted.

Most growth plate fractures heal completely with no apparent long-term damage. Sometimes, however, the bone stops growing and a leg fracture, for example, could produce one leg that is shorter than the other. These types of problems are rare and occur most often in knee injuries.

Whenever your child is injured in a fall or sports activity, it is imperative that they be checked to assess whether any damage to a bone has occurred. Give our practice a call immediately.