Stephen Becker, D.C.

A Review of the Largest Studies Published on the Topic Including the Years 2022 and 2023 INTRODUCTION Everyone will eventually die. Nearly everyone will have an ongoing relationship with a healthcare provider. Many will be actively under the care of a healthcare provider for their illness at the moment of their passing. As a rule, healthcare [..]

Not only is low back pain a musculoskeletal condition that will affect nearly everyone at least once in their lifetime, but it also accounts for a significant portion of all healthcare expenditures. When an individual experiences low back pain, they have a variety of treatment options, including chiropractic care. While there is an abundance of [..]

More Evidence that Chiropractic Care Significantly Reduces the Use of Opioid Drugs THE OPIATE/OPIOID PROBLEM The government of the state of Oregon notes (1): Opium is made from the poppy plant. Opiates are compounds that can be purified directly from opium without modification. This includes morphine, codeine, methadone, and heroine. Few people understand that dextromethorphan is an opiate. It is available in the [..]

Whiplash-associated disorder (WAD) is a condition characterized by a collection of symptoms that can arise after the sudden back-and-forth movement of the head and neck—most commonly from motor vehicle collisions. It’s estimated that 2-3 million Americans experience whiplash each year and the current data suggests as many as half may continue to experience ongoing, chronic [..]

As we age, the shock-absorbing disks that sit between the spinal vertebrae in the neck can become dehydrated, leading to a condition known as cervical spondylosis (CS). Due to the thinning and reduced flexibility of the disks in the neck, the patient will experience a limited range of motion which they may describe as stiffness. [..]

Shoulder injuries are common in athletes, especially those requiring overhead repetitive movements at high velocity and extreme range of motion. For example, shoulder injuries account for 19% of injuries to baseball players and nearly 40% of injuries to swimmers. Because a shoulder injury can sideline an athlete and even prematurely end their season, a current [..]

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a condition the occurs when mobility of the median nerve is restricted as it passes through the wrist, resulting in symptoms that extend into parts of the hand including pain, numbness, tingling, and weakness. Generally, symptoms come on gradually but worsen and become more frequent over time. While most often [..]

Peanut butter is the creamy and ground form of dry roasted peanuts that’s enjoyed by millions of people around the world. Because peanut butter is typically 90% peanuts—the rest is a combination of additives to improve flavor, shelf life, and consistency—and peanuts are considered a healthy food, do those benefits extend to peanut butter, and [..]

The sacroiliac joints (SIJ) sit between the sacrum (tailbone) and ilium (pelvis), which serve to connect the spine and pelvis and facilitate load transfer from the low back to the lower extremities. Generally, when we consider the cause of a patient’s low back pain, the first place investigated is the lumbar spine. But as it [..]

Patients with tension-type headaches (TTH) often experience neck pain and stiffness, which may be a contributing factor in their present headaches. Thus, it’s not uncommon for a doctor of chiropractic to use manual therapies and provide home exercise instruction focused on improving neck function in the effort to reduce headache frequency and intensity. It may [..]

The bulging disc and the protruded disc are the categories most often seen in chiropractic clinical practice. The category and magnitude of disc herniations can only be determined by advanced imaging, especially MRI and/or CT. Effectiveness There is a long and rich history showing the effectiveness of spinal manipulation for the management of low back [..]

Outside of an emergency situation, such as a wrist fracture, treatment guidelines for carpal tunnel syndrome generally recommend exhausting non-surgical options before consulting with a surgeon. But how well are guidelines followed? To find out, researchers surveyed 770 members of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand to better understand the current practice patterns [..]