So many patients come to us, even from overseas, desperate for an answer to their back or neck pain.  Many have seen other Chiropractors, and been told they need to be seen three times per week for months on end.  (There is simply no research to support this!)  Others have been to the orthopedist or neurosurgeon, and some have had surgery that has not helped, or even made it worse.  Some have even been told that adding certain therapies to decompression therapy for the spine is what makes their treatment "special". 

It has been a real privilege for me to work with some of the best athletes in the world. Olympic medalists, professional football, soccer, baseball players, and teams from around the globe. I actually learn a lot from this work. A world class athlete has a very dynamic body and motion, so it is actually easier to see what is going right, and what is going wrong. Then it is fascinating for me to figure out the solutions to problems and injuries that come up. For example, Melissa Hoar is an Australian Olympic skeleton athlete. She has had a hamstring problem for over a year now, and has been unable to train. Using ART and APL light therapy, we have been getting her back to running full speed, and training for the next Olympics again. This is rewarding stuff!

If you have been looking for a solution to your back pain, sciatica, disc problems, then it can be a bit confusing. There are websites and advertisements aplenty, and all of them saying their treatment is the best. And the real problem is that many of the statements I have seen on those are actually false. Vax-D for instance was the first of the spinal decompression units, but is an older technology. There is actually more research showing the DRX 9000 is effective than on the VAX-D, even though those adds say the opposite.

A female patient presented with severe back and leg pain, and could no longer work as a chef, which she dearly loves. An MRI revealed a 15 mm disc herniation, with extrusion. It was not so long ago that nearly everyone agreed that a case of extrusion was a surgical case. But now, with the advent of the DRX 9000 spinal decompression, coupled with APL light therapy and Medx exercise rehabilitation, we can handle many of these cases. This patient has nearly no pain now, exercises regularly, and is getting ready to get back to the kitchen.

Concussions are a hot topic in the world of sports right now, and rightfully so. To date there has been improvement in diagnosis, but no generally accepted treatment. I think this should change right now. We have been the first using A Perfect Light on traumatic brain injury, with remarkable results. Studies have now shown this to work as well. We have even seen this regenerate spinal nerves after injury. Hopefully we can get the NFL and the NFLPA to start a program using this for the pro football players because it can help right now, and there is now risk or downside. I have just made a proposal to those groups to see about a league wide program. Stay tuned.

A typical case of shoulder pain came in this morning. She is an accomplished competitive swimmer with shoulder pain, especially when she raises the arm up to about 90 degrees. She had this problem 2 years ago, and it lasted 7 months. Therapy, rehab exercises and medications did little to help. After an exam we determined that the subscapularis muscle (one of the rotator cuff muscles) was tight and weak, causing the other muscles to pull the upper arm up and jam the supraspinatus against the bone. This causes pain, inflammation and can cause tearing eventually.

Curcumin, extracted from turmeric, has been shown to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and to reduce beta-amyloid and plaque burden in lab studies. Beta-amyloid is a component of the amyloid plaques that accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.

Omega-3 fatty acids and inflammation: What the experts say

The ability of omega-3 fatty acids to significantly reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death by 45 percent was demonstrated in the GISSI Prevention study, in which more than eleven thousand patients participated. A recent review of the use of omega-3 fatty acids in the treatment of hypertension found that omega-3s protect against stroke and reaffirmed that the cardioprotective benefits of omega-3 fatty acids are related to their ability to improve blood pressure, vascular function, lipid metabolism, inflammation, and cardiac function.

Dr. Leahy was honored to teach a class for 100 medical students, faculty, and directors at Zhongshan medical school in China.  Dr. Leahy's wife Qiuping is from Beijing, so China is somewhat familiar to him.  

The class was very well received, and there were loud oohs, and aahs when the ART was demonstrated.  He even did a little spinal adjusting as well.  The president of the school was impressed enough to say that whatever we needed, he would try to provide so that we can teach classes at several medical schools in China.  The goal here is to do what we can to help with physical medicine there.  It was very nice to be appreciated, and to open the door to this endeavor in China.

Dr. Leahy has been invited to work with the Olympic teams of China. This October, during the off week with the 49ers, he will travel to Beijing and Shanghai to treat the athletes, and share the latest techniques for working with world class athletes from around the world. He will be spending much of the time with the swim teams. He will also be teaching at medicals schools again.