Neck Pain

I began treatment, reluctantly, about 4 months ago. I had been in a car accident about two months earlier. The pain in my neck (from a car accident two years earlier) had returned to the point that I was taking prescription pain medication daily just to get through the workday. On weekends and week-evenings at home, I wore a soft collar (which I had gotten several years ago after having a C5-C6 fusions) just to get some relief from having to "hold my head" on my shoulders. My lower back pain was also becoming more severe (this pain also began after having the prior car accident two years earlier).

Now, after about 15 visits, some visits resulting in an adjustment and some not, my neck pain has decreased 75%. The spinal adjustments are not difficult to accept and most of the time, I feel only a slight push. I had tried traditional chiropractic care twice in the past and was always so afraid for my neck to be "popped" that I was a difficult patient to treat because I could not relax sufficiently. I am not afraid of the adjustments done by Delta Spinal Care.

Although we are only beginning to work on my lower back pain, I am hopeful that I will get the same results on that pain. As one who has been through physical therapy, traditional chiropractic care, caudal spinal pain injections, and numerous oral pain medications, I can say with 100% assurance that had I not received the care, I would not be in the reduced pain state that I am in now.

-Brenda, 45

Neck Pain, shoulders and back

I have had trouble most of my life with my neck and shoulders. I could not turn my neck fully to the left. I could do it part way with pain but, after a point it would go no farther. Also, there was a hard lump in the middle of my shoulders. I had gone to chiropractors and sometimes felt some relief but never in my neck. Usually worse because it would hurt.

I have to admit although I had heard NUCCA practice was different, I still thought "this can't do anything it is too painless and no jerking around." Oh, I was wrong.

After a few weeks with Dr. Friedman using Upper Cervical Techniques I had such relief.. I could turn my neck all the way as far as I went to the right.. I was excited.. in the next couple weeks that I went, my shoulders dropped-totally unexpected by me.. I did not even realize that I had been forced to hold my shoulders up all this time. When I got home, my son said, "Mom, your neck looks longer", It was that my shoulders had dropped. It took me a while to get used to the feeling very relaxing. That has been over a year ago, and as time went on the lump got less and less and the tightening and stressed feeling has gone.

Truly Unbelievable.

-Teresa, 57
retired; GA/SC

Chronic Pain

It feels good to feel good again! On July 11, 2004, while riding as a passenger in a car, I fell asleep for about 30 minutes and woke up with a very sore, stiff neck. In the next few days, pain spread from my neck across my shoulder, down my right arm and into my right thumb. Along with the pain, I experienced a "pins and needles" sensation up and down the inside of my right arm that came and went all the time. Sleeping was most difficult.

My internist prescribed a muscle relaxer and 800 mg. of Motrin, taken 4 times a day "as needed". The Motrin took the edge off, but never completely relieved the pain. Sleep was only attainable by taking a whole "Unisom" tablet. (I�m currently continuing a 3 year habit of taking 1/2 Unisom at night. I hope to kick this habit in the near future).

By mid-August, I was still in pain. My prescription ran out, so I decided to just take 4 Motrins (equals 800 mg.) about every 4-6 hours, just to take the edge off the pain, while continuing a whole tablet of Unisom at night. Sometimes I�d take 2 extra strength Bayer aspirin a few hours after the Motrin. No medication made the pain cease; even large doses did not end the pain.

Since my husband teaches History at Life University, we can receive "free" Chiropractic care. I had last seen a chiropractor 30 years ago for a "stiff neck" from sleeping the wrong way. That was in Tennessee. I was trying to decide who I should see at Life, when an old friend of mine called me from Florida.

My friend, Barbara, called me to ask me to pray for her husband, who suffers from an enlarged heart. After we talked for while, she asked me how I was doing. She got an earful! After listening to me, Barbara said-most emphatically- "You need to see Dr. Russell Friedman. When my regular chiropractor couldn�t help me after a car accident, he sent me to Dr. Friedman. I felt relief from the pain after the very first adjustment!" When I mentioned I�s been thinking of seeing a chiropractor, Barbara interjected, "Not just ANY chiropractor, Michele; you NEED to see Dr. Friedman!"

I took her advice, and I�m very glad I did. After my first adjustment, I was not pain-free, but the pain lessoned considerably. I felt hopeful that the pain would eventually cease. Within 24 hours of my first adjustment by Dr. Friedman, I began taking only 2 Motrin, about twice a day. By the time I saw Dr. Friedman for my second adjustment 4 days later I was taking Motrin only occasionally.

My first adjustment was 8/26/04. Now, after 4 adjustments, I am free of pain from the injury. I still have occasional "pins and needles" in my right arm, but they aren't painful - just annoying. I believe they will cease eventually.

My husband and I just took a deep breath and decided to pay "out-of-pocket" to see Dr. Friedman since his care is not covered under Life's current insurance carrier. We have two children (6 1/2 yrs & 4 yrs.) who really need a mother who feels her best. After more than 6 weeks of living with me in my pain-altered state (read: short-tempered), they are all relieved to have me back with my regular, even-tempered (usually) disposition. I expect to feel even better as I complete my treatment program and continue to heal. It makes sense to me that my twisted neck needed some hands-on manipulation to "untwist" it.

-Michele,
Kennesaw GA

Herniated Disc, Neck Pain and Breathing Difficulties

This is a good time to reflect on how far I have come since my first NUCCA adjustment in July of 2002. Almost 6 months elapsed between my adjustment in May and my adjustment last week, which is the longest I have ever been able to go between adjustments. To think that I started out at adjustments twice a week, during the first month, due to the extent of my neck injuries!

One of the most meaningful changes NUCCA has brought about for me is that I have more physical strength and endurance in my 50s, almost immediately following my first adjustment, than I did at age 18, after my first car accident. Even before my second car accident, in 1988, for years I could not work at a desk for extended periods, paint a room, or lift more than one thing over ten pounds without either my right arm becoming numb, or feeling stabbing pains near my shoulder blades, or both.

In later years, my neck would sometimes become so weak after activity, it felt more comfortable to walk around with my neck at a 45 degree angle. And how much can I do now? Well, looking to the latter half of this year for examples, I spread three tons of topsoil and over forty bags of mulch in my yard, painted over half of a four bedroom house, and have spent nearly every evening on my computer without even a twinge!

Another very meaningful change from NUCCA is the complete disappearance of some breathing spasms that had developed whenever I slept on my back or stomach, due to pressure on my upper spinal cord from herniated cervical discs. That is a huge relief not only physically, but also Psychologically. If I had ever needed surgery lying on my back or stomach, I would not have been a steady target under a surgeon's scalpel.

To top everything off, I have also noticed a consistent improvement in my posture, something no amount of prodding from my mother or ballet lessons were ever able to affect for the long term when I was growing up.

I can't say NUCCA has always been a smooth road, because in my case there was a lot to correct, and sometimes adjustments didn't feel like anything I had become used to.

I couidn't always move forward to a longer time interval between adjustments when I wanted to, and a few times even had to take a step back to a shorter time interval. However, this moment's reflection makes me realize how much healing you and NUCCA have channeled for me, something I didn't know would ever be possible, and that overall going through NUCCA treatment has been more than worth the extra time, efforts, patience, and expense. Even though necessarily ongoing, the NUCCA corrections to the herniations of three discs in my neck have been far more efficacious than the one-time surgical sacrifice of those discs would have been.

In addition, you are a caring and effective practitioner of the highest standards. If you ever don't feel appreciated, or when others don't seem to share your enthusiasm for NUCCA, there is a strong possibility it may only be because they don't want to any lose more time by reflecting on their conditions, and all they have missed out or suffered through prior to treatment.

-Cyndy, 55