Cleary Family Chiropractic: Blog

Cleary Family Chiropractic, located in Woodstock, GA., is dedicated to helping any and all patients find relief and assistance by providing natural, noninvasive alternatives. One of these alternatives, administered by Dr. Matthew Cleary and Dr. Dave Sikanowicz, is called Active Release Technique (ART). ART is a patented soft tissue system/movement based massage technique that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, and nerves.   ART is primarily used to treat conditions stemming from overused muscles, like back pain, carpal tunnel, sciatica, tennis elbow, and shin splints. These overused muscles can be caused by pulls, tears, and collisions. Not getting enough oxygen is another common cause. The results are a build-up of scar tissue in the affected area. This scar tissue locks up muscles that need to move freely. If left untreated muscles weaken and nerves become trapped. Patients will experience a reduced range of motion, loss of strength, and pain.   At your ART app...

Sciatica, also known as a pinched nerve, is a nerve that has pressure applied to it, causing pain and discomfort. When a pinched nerve occurs on the spine, this is usually caused by a herniated disc. At Cleary Family Chiropractic, located in Woodstock, GA., Dr. Matthew Cleary and Dr. Dave Sikanowicz can help alleviate your symptoms and correct the cause through non-surgical measures.     Symptoms of a pinched nerve are weakness, tenderness, prickly sensation, stabbing sensation, and a burning sensation. Most pinched nerves in the spine happen in the neck and lower back because these are the areas that are constantly moving. This causes radiated pain down the arms or legs. Sciatica is the name for this radiating leg or arm pain, named for the largest nerve in the body, the sciatic nerve, which is the cause of the problem.   Sciatica itself is characterized by the signature leg pain, accompanied by possible tingling, numbness, or weakness. These symptoms will travel down the low back thr...

Spinal Stenosis is a narrowing of the open spaces within your spine, putting pressure on your spinal cord. This irritates the nerves that run up and down the spine to your arms and legs. At Cleary Family Chiropractic, located in Woodstock, GA., Dr. Matthew Cleary and Dr. Dave Sikanowicz commonly treat spinal stenosis. This condition is becoming more popular due to it occurring from spinal degeneration, which affects older populations.   When bordering structures of the spinal canal begin to shift from their normal structure, space becomes limited on the spine. As we age, the discs located between each vertebra begin to shrink. Ligaments begin to thicken and vertebra can develop spurs which protrude into the spinal canal. While younger patients can develop spinal stenosis, the primary factor is age. Arthritis is a major cause of stenosis, along with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and spondylolisthesis.   The most common symptoms are back pain and pain traveling into the legs. Pai...

Therapeutic ultrasounds is used to treat joint pain, muscle spasms and soft tissue injuries. Therapeutic ultrasounds aren’t the same as traditional ultrasounds that are used to screen the inside of your body. At Cleary Family Chiropractic, we offer therapeutic ultrasounds to patients to treat inflammation and increase blood flow. This device emits small sound waves at a high frequency and is applied to soft tissues and joints. The heat from the ultrasound helps to reduce inflammation and increase blood flow. Therapeutic ultrasounds are believed to help with the healing of injuries as well as decreasing pain and stiffness. We encourage our patients who are dealing with joint pain, muscle spasms, and soft tissue injuries, to give therapeutic ultrasounds a try. After applying ultrasound gel to your skin, our doctors will use the ‘wand’ on your injured area to relieve pain and reduce inflammation. Remember to make an appointment with us if you are dealing with any pain, your health is our ...