Motor Vehicle Accident

Have you been in a Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) as a driver, passenger, cyclist or pedestrian? You are automatically approved under the minor injury guideline for 12 weeks of chiropractic care. Don’t stress out about the process as I will assist you with documents. After you have spoken to your insurance company, let them know you will be seeking an assessment. They will issue you a claim number. You do not need to see one of the insurance companies turn-style high volume/busy clinic affiliates for physical treatment. Don’t wait to book your appointment with me, a trusted practitioner who offers comprehensive assessments and quality hands-on chiropractic care, soft tissues/muscle treatments, electro-therapy when warranted, rehabilitation and taping techniques. I offer a boutique style zen clinic space that is therapeutic and goal oriented to get you back up and running. Come to a trusted, safe space to assist you in your recovery.

Please email dr.mdavidovic@gmail.com or call 416-906-0767

Conveniently located at Yonge and Summerhill near transit and street parking all around.

Custom Orthotics

Having arch pain? Heel pain? Get your feet assessed to see how orthotics can help give you the support you need. Along with your chiropractic care, custom orthotics are effective devices to help with ankle proprioception and provides support for all three arches of the feet! Email or call to arrange your custom orthotics appointment. New patients are required to first book an initial assessment. The orthotics appointment includes the biomechanical assessment, gait analysis, and 3D foot scan by Footlevelers scanner. All documents are provided upon dispensing the orthotics for insurance purposes.

email: dr.mdavidovic@gmail.com

416-906-0767

Have you been in a car accident? Compassionate care is available here!

Have you been hurt in a car as a driver, passenger or as a cyclist or pedestrian? You are automatically eligible for 12 weeks of care under the Minor Injury Guideline. As a licensed provider, I can directly bill on your behalf to make the process smoother.

If you have a minor to major injury and are looking for an assessment to begin your claim, look no further. As a primary care provider, you may come to a chiropractor to start your treatment under the Minor Injury Guideline. After a car accident, please notify your insurance company so they can provide you with a claim number/file. If you have waited a while and are now noticing pain and require care, I can assist you with any forms you have received from your car insurance company. I am here to assist you in your healing and to make this process less stressful for you as the bundle of forms can seem overwhelming. Come to a trusted provider who will provide a safe and caring environment.

Benefits to coming to an independent chiropractor vs. rehab chain:

I offer quality care with ample treatment time in a beautiful, zen clinic space

I explain all diagnoses, treatment plans and recovery times with you

I offer a closed concept office space (compared to open concept health care settings seen in bigger chain rehab clinics where everyone is exercising together or overhearing each others conditions or treatments. I value your privacy and will do my best to ensure you are comfortable and feel secure

Dr. Maria Davidovic Chiropractic

1246 Yonge St. Suite 303

Toronto, ON M4T 1W5

dr.mdavidovic@gmail.com

416-906-0767

Been in a motor vehicle accident? Have Whiplash?

Have you been in a motor vehicle accident as a driver, passenger, cyclist or pedestrian?

Even if you haven’t felt immediate pain after a car accident, you may start to feel pain 24hours or even weeks post collision. Whiplash can present itself with minor, moderate or severe symptoms. It is very important to report the accident and seek appropriate care. If you have been in a car accident, you are automatically eligible for coverage under the Ministry of Injury Guidelines. Book your initial examination to ensure you recover and continue to lead your pre-accident life in a healthy state. I offer a caring environment with evidence based care and rehabilitation to assist in recovery.

Involved in a motor vehicle collision? call or email today to get the help you need and deserve.

call 416-906-0767 or email dr.mdavidovic@gmail.com to book your assessment now. Visit www.drmdchiropractic.com

Dr. Maria Davidovic Chiropractic

1246 Yonge St. Suite 303

Toronto, ON M4T 1W5

416-906-0767

dr.mdavidovic@gmail.com

Do you have neck pain? Here’s a simple neck core exercise to the rescue!

Neck pain is quite common, especially with postural strain due to prolonged computer use, “text-neck“, injury or trauma to the neck etc. The postural strain sets us up for a weaker neck core. You’ve seen this rounded shoulders “slumped posture”. This posture involves tight pectoral muscles, tight suboccipitals (muscles at the base of the skull), upper traps and levators, stretched weak lower-trapezium/rhomboids, and right in the middle, a weak neck core.

Why is this bad? Well, this isn’t your ideal posture because your head and vertebrae shift forward and this imbalance places greater stress on your spine, ligaments, tendons, and muscles, predisposing you to pain and degenerative changes (arthritis).

How can chin tucks help?

Neck-core

Chin tucks are a way to re-activate the deep neck core flexors (longus capitis/colli muscles) that support your spine. When the neck core has endurance, it lasts longer to support the structures that help support your head, creating less muscle strain of the more superficial muscles like the upper traps.

Like with any exercise, there are progressions. You need to start out with the basics and then increase the level of difficulty/resistance. In this blog, we will start with a basic chin tuck. If you experience pain while attempting this, please email Dr. Maria Davidovic to arrange your initial chiropractic visit or follow-up to ensure you aren’t re-aggravating any underlying issue.

Chin tucks: Pull your head straight back keepings eyes and jaw leveled and hold for 5 seconds, then release. Do 10-15 repetitions slowly and you can do 2-3 sets per day.

If you would like to learn more about how to improve your posture, feel free to email dr.mdavidovic@gmail.com or call 416-906-0767 to arrange an appointment with Dr. Maria.

Spine friendly tools that help prevent pain

Want to learn how to offset muscular, neck and back pain whether you’re at home, in the office or sitting on a bus/plane? Here are a list of simple, inexpensive devices to have with you, at home, or even in your luggage:

A lacrosse ball or tennis ball
A foam roller (small for convenience)
A backvitalizer*
A posture medic shoulder strap*
A mat (yoga or regular)
A good supportive pillow
Good supportive shoes/orthotics*

The * denotes that these would require an assessment to ensure proper use.

If you’d like to learn how these can all provide you pain relief and help prevent future spine/muscle related pain, feel free to contact Dr. Maria Davidovic, a Toronto Chiropractor, to book your initial visit or follow-up appointment.

Contemporary Medical Acupuncture treatment

Medical Acupuncture

Are you experiencing weakness or muscle atrophy? Feel like you’ve tried just about everything and anything and still don’t have the desired results? If you haven’t tried medical acupuncture, book your appointment today with Dr. Maria Davidovic. You will undergo an initial assessment to determine what the source of your ailment is and a customized treatment will be presented to you.

Contemporary medical acupuncture is a precise peripheral nerve stimulation technique, whereby fine solid needles are inserted into neuro-reactive sites and stimulated manually or with electricity for the therapeutic purpose of modulating abnormal activity of the nervous system and/or of its associated effectors, i.e. the endocrine, exocrine and immune system. It is used for the treatment of acute and chronic musculoskeletal pain and visceral pain.

The acupuncture needles used are very thin, and often hardly felt or a little sharp pinch may be felt. Treatment is always performed within your comfort level. The electro-acupuncture part is performed to stimulate the nerves that innervate the weak muscles to help bridge that connection again. Acupuncture along with instrument assisted-soft- tissue-mobilization (IASTM) may help, especially if the source of nerve impingement is due to some scar tissue in muscle that is preventing you from healing. Check out my Graston blog to learn more about IASTM aka. Graston Technique.

If you’d like to arrange your acupuncture visit with Dr. Maria Davidovic, please email dr.mdavidovic@gmail.com or call 416-906-0767.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS): what is it and how effective are non-surgical treatments?

What is CTS? CTS is a repetitive strain disorder caused by compression of the median nerve as it travels through the carpal tunnel. It is the most commonly compressed nerve in the upper limb. Office workers, manual works are predisposed to repetitive strain wrist injuries due to the nature of computer work and repetitive wrist movements. Symptoms of CTS are pain, paraesthesia, and numbness in the fingers and hand, specifically the palmar aspect of the thumb, index and middle fingers, and radial half of the ring finger (aka the part of the ring finger closest to the middle finger.) Often, symptoms of CTS worsen at night. People often hear about cortisone injections providing instant relief and don’t hear much about all the other treatment interventions available under the conservative treatment section. In a research review, there is strong and moderate evidence for the effectiveness of corticosteroids (oral and injected) providing the most benefit, however, it’s still unclear in research as to how, but there appears to be an anti-inflammatory/neovascular role at play.

There weren’t any positive long term results with steroid use, only short term. Some serious and common side effects for steroid injections are osteonecrosis (the spontaneous break down of bone) and tendon rupture! A safe and effective intervention found in the research review was splinting, particularly night time splinting was found to be more beneficial than wearing a splint on a continuous basis. There is supporting evidence that targeted massage therapy is more effective than general massage for CTS. There isn’t any conclusive long term evidence for any treatment approach so far. Ergonomic keyboards were found to be moderately beneficial in reducing pain and improving hand function (for short term results only) when compared to a standard keyboard.

Surgical intervention outcomes:

According to surgical intervention, patients with severe carpal tunnel syndrome or whose symptoms have not improved after four to six months of conservative treatment (like after seeing a chiropractor) should be offered surgical decompression. Endoscopic and open techniques are equally effective, but patients return to work an average of one week earlier with endoscopic repair (the less invasive surgery). Surgery may provide improvements in some but doesn’t guarantee full recovery and CTS may reoccur. A good diagnosis and ultrasound/nerve conduction tests to rule out anything else is important.

In my clinical practice, I’ve had positive long-term patient outcomes thus far with the following combined treatment interventions for the upper limb: targeted Graston technique®, targeted active and passive muscle release technique, not just for the wrist, but along the median nerve path in the upper limb and neck, electro-acupuncture, mobilizing/adjusting the cervicothoracic spine, kinesiotaping and nerve glides/specific stretches and active at home exercises. There may be neck or upper limb involvement like a “double-crush” of the median nerve so examining these areas are integral. I found the combination of treatment to be highly effective in my practice, granted as the research review states, it’s important to have a good diagnosis and if the pain persists, I always recommend patients to speak to their general practitioners about ordering blood work to rule out any diseases that may be causing inflammation; to request an ultrasound and to be referred to a neurologist for nerve conduction tests to rule out anything else that may be contributing to the condition. Wearing a wrist brace may keep CTS from worsening and help decrease symptoms by keeping your wrist in a neutral position, but it won’t help much to decrease tension and any restriction in the wrist and arm area. The tension and restriction in the wrist joints and other areas may be contributing to the pain, numbness and weakness. A course of treatment along with patient education would be my first recommendation.

If you’d like to arrange a chiropractic appointment, email dr.mdavidovic@gmail.com or call

416-906-0767

_{Reference: Huisstede BM et al. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Part I Effectiveness of Nonsurgical Treatments – A Systematic Review. Department of General Practice and Rehabilitation Medicine, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation 2010; 91: 981-1004.}

What to expect after a chiropractic adjustment

Do you have chronic pain or stiff joints? Sit in front of the computer all day? Or sit behind the wheel for hours on end? Chiropractors are highly trained in spinal and extremity manipulation, otherwise known as the adjustment. An adjustment involves applying a specific force in a precise direction to a joint that is not moving properly or is “locked-up”. The adjustment loosens the joint to restore proper movement to the spine, joints and supporting structures of the body to assist in faster recovery. When a joint is adjusted, a gas bubble is released causing a “popping” or “cracking” sound or sometimes no sound. The sound is a natural change in the internal pressure of the joint. Your chiropractor will review minor and major risk factors regarding treatment in the informed consent part after your assessment. Treatment is always within the patients comfort.

So you have an adjustment. What happens next, you’re wondering?

After an adjustment, you may feel less pain and more mobile and sometimes within the first 24 hours or so, you may feel sore or achy, similarly, to when you work out and feel great but later may feel sore, especially after doing a new workout or if you worked out harder than usual. Your body will feel better after a few treatments just like how you get used to a regular exercise routine. You don’t really feel the same level of soreness you first did, right? So, if you do ever go for a chiropractic treatment and have an adjustment, and feel sore and achy after, make sure to do some gentle stretching and apply ice using the 10-10-10 principle (10 mins on, 10 mins off, 10 mins on) and always follow-up with your chiropractor who’s aim is to keep your spine healthy by keeping it aligned.

If you’d like to arrange an appointment, email dr.mdavidovic@gmail.com or call 416-906-0767

Do I need to see the chiropractor FOREVER?

When someone asks me that question, I usually ask them this: “Do you NEED to go see the massage therapist forever? Or how about your optometrist or dentist? Or your GP?” Just like how it would be wise to get a physical as prescribed, get your teeth and eyes checked, it’s important to seek treatment for tension and pain because our bodies often exhibit early warning signs of illness, that if not addressed, may lead to serious complications down the road. We often think we don’t need to see anyone on an ongoing basis unless we’re sick or have had an injury, but it’s very likely the injury you are seeking treatment for is a repetitive strain injury that could have been offset with less treatments earlier on if addressed once the tension first formed.

Wellness or Maintenance Care

Sure, most people return for treatment because they like how they feel after and can tell when they feel sore and achy and need chiropractic care. That’s a good state of awareness to be in, unlike the counterpart of being unaware and forming more tension and stiffness to the point of chronic pain. Chronic pain puts a damper on your activities of daily living as you age. I make recommendations for patients to come in for check-ups in a reasonable fashion, to help education, and offset the reoccurrence of pain. If we can offset joint stiffness and arthritis via chiropractic care, exercise, dietary changes and stress management, then we attempt to be in our optimal state. Degenerative changes may still occur, but the idea is prevention of conditions that can increase the frequency and duration of pain.

The choice is yours!