Q: Dr. M. You recently mentioned in your e-mail newsletter to create a patient e-mail address book and begin sending monthly patient e-mail newsletters .. simple at first with just text and never as an attachment. Send these out as a bcc and you'll be surprised on the feedback . Why do you recommend doing it this way? I'm a rookie at computers, so I don't know what I'm doing. Have a great day! A: Thanks for your e-mail. Just write an interesting article with some information about the office and health issues and send it out monthly. Begin asking patients for their e-mail addresses and also find a place within your new patient case history form for e-mail addresses. Create an address book with AOL .. look under the Mail Center area of the AOL menu bar and scroll down to address book .. create a new one called Patients. Just add address (not the patient name) as you collect them and when you are ready to send a newsletter .. write it in this section of the e-mail and in the send to are on the top click to the right where it says Address Book and choose the patient address book by highlighting it and choose the bcc as the send button. BCC means it is sent blind to everyone just their e- mail address is visible. Below is my last e-mail .. I collect these stories .. such as the carpal tunnel one .. from stuff sent to me. Visit my webpage: www.chirosmart.net and look under General Newsletters for tons of material .. especial the Today's Chiropractic issues they are frequent and easy to cut and paste stories Have a Great Day Dr. M Family Chiropractic Center 4910 LaVista Road Tucker, Georgia 30084 Dr. Joel E. Margolies 770-491-3639 http://www.chirosmart.net/~fcc Chiropractic and Office News April 6, 2001 In this issue: Meet Julie Lyons .. Outdoor Free Concerts .. CPR classes .. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Free Outdoor Saturday Picnic Pops Concerts: .. May 5 and 12 Hear Dr. Margolies with the DeKalb Symphony Orchestra during their Spring Picnic Concert Series. May 5 at the Decatur Courthouse Square .. 7:30 and May 12 at Stone Mountain Village (next to the library). These are picnic concerts so bring a blanket .. especially during the Stone Mountain concert .. and enjoy an hour or so of fun music. The price is right .. it¼s free. Meet Julie Lyons: Our new Chiropractic Front Desk Assistant As many of you know, we have been without a full day Chiropractic Front Desk Assistant for a few weeks. When Jennifer left, we decided to take our time looking for a person that had some experience either working in a doctor¼s office or within the health enhancing field. We interviewed many people, each with a uniqueness, but lacking one or two areas that would assist us and our patients. As you know, the front desk position is much more than answering phone and the hours are long and drawn out. Therefore, the person we had to hire also had to have a desire to help people with a nurturing and caring personality as well. We think Julie Lyons fits the bill perfectly. Julie is a transplant from Los Angeles, California. She has a bachelors degree in Psychology with extensive post graduate work in behavioral science. She also has a background as a Health, Fitness and Relaxation instructor, and served in the army as a Dietary and Physical Fitness trainer. She is married and in the process of moving closer to our office. She completes her family with two loving Golden Retrievers. CPR classes: Do you want one? We are fortunate to have as a patient a woman who teaches CPR. She is willing to provide a class for our patients for a nominal fee of $25 per person. If interested in this class .. probably a Saturday morning .. please e-mail your reply with the number of people or call us with your interest .. 770-491-3639 Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), is the most common of repetitive stress injuries (RSI), which annually cost in excess of $7 billion in workers' compensation, and $20 million in medical benefits and lost wages. We commonly take for granted that our bodies can operate a computer mouse, type on a keyboard, or simply knit an afghan for prolonged periods of time until we experience pain. Previously, one of the common treatments for CTS was surgery, which proved beneficial in approximately half the cases. Chiropractors understand that the underlying problem must be found and corrected before surgery is attempted. If the cause is not found and treated unsuccessful treatment will result. I have been working with CTS for over 22 years with great success. This disorder occurs most often between the ages of 30 and 60 and is two to five times more common in women than men. The dominant hand is affected frequently; however, 32 to 50% of cases occur bilaterally (both hands). There are so many cases estimated that 1 of 10 people who do repetitive tasks, meat cutters, carpenters, beauticians, computer workers, typists have symptoms of CTS which can be resolved with safe, non-invasive chiropractic care. It seems obvious to try chiropractic first before resorting to steroid injections or surgery, but many patients and their fellow employees have no idea. It is very important to get the problem early even before the diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome is made. ANATOMY OF THE WRIST AND HAND: Carpal tunnel syndrome consists of several small bones called carpal bones in the wrist which form a groove, covered by a fibrous ligamentous structure call flexor retinaculum/ transverse carpal ligament. The median nerve, tendons and others pass through this groove. When the nerve is irritated, the hand may become symptomatic with weakness, numbness, and pain. The condition can also cause symptoms in the upper arm, elbow, shoulder, or neck. Many CTS have an association with neck problems which weaken the tissue in the arm and wrist. A condition called a double crush syndrome is a commonly missed diagnosis for tendonitis. Treatment: Chiropractic care for CTS is the most effective, least invasive and least costly of all treatments. When the condition is caught in time conservative care should always be tried first. Chiropractic gets to the cause of the problem and not just treating the effect. We know that if you don't correct the misalignment of the carpal bones through chiropractic adjustments the cause is still there and the symptoms may return as unresolved. Surgery may cause the wrist to be structurally weakened when the ligaments are cut and may cause the joint to develop arthritis. Also, anti-inflammatory drugs and pain pills may help to relieve the pain and swelling but do not reposition the carpal tunnel back to place. If the tunnel is not realigned the cause of the pressure on the median nerve is still there. Have a Great Day Dr. M