Author: Staff Writer

Meta The VA continues to expand chiropractic care for veterans. Read this article to learn why chiropractic care is vital for veterans and how to get started.

If you’re a veteran who lives in Northwest Florida including Gulf Breeze, Navarre, Midway, Mary Esther you may qualify for free chiropractic care as part of your Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits. 

Read on to learn about:

How A Chiropractor Can Help Veterans

How Veterans Are Eligible for Free Chiropractic Care

The Growing Demand for Chiropractic Care for Veterans

Common Conditions Veterans Suffer From That Can Be Treated With Chiropractic Care

How A Chiropractor Can Help Veterans

Dr. Llaird Likens works with the VA to provide veterans with chronic pain and reduced mobility with chiropractic adjustments, pain management, acupuncture and other treatments as part of his work as a VA Community Care Network Provider. 

Dr. Likens provides chiropractic adjustments to veterans suffering from common service-connected conditions like back and neck pain coupled with spinal issues as well as headaches, migraines, knee pain and PTSD.  

He is dedicated to ensuring our Northwest Florida veterans receive quality and timely care in order to avoid surgery and pain medication, reduce pain and get their pain-free life back.

How Veterans Are Eligible for Free Chiropractic Care

As a veteran, you may qualify to receive chiropractic adjustments and other alternative treatments through the Community Care program. Chiropractic care is covered under the standard medical benefits package which is generally available to all enrolled veterans. 

The Growing Demand for Chiropractic Care for Veterans

The VA began authorizing chiropractic care in 1999 in response to demand from veterans and their health care providers. The demand was in large part due to the high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among veterans, particularly documented in their service-connected disabilities. 

Common Conditions Veterans Suffer From That Can Be Treated With Chiropractic Care

In fact, according to the VA, Musculoskeletal conditions are the number one reason veterans seek treatment at VA. These conditions affect the body’s movement and mobility while often causing chronic pain. 

For veterans, these conditions may have been caused by an accident, overuse, repetitive motions and carrying heavy gear. The VA knows it is important to get treatment for Musculoskeletal conditions because they can cause long-term chronic pain if not treated. 

Conditions and disorders that affect the musculoskeletal system and our veteran community include back pain, muscle spasms, tendinitis. Fortunately, Dr. Llaird Likens is highly experienced with treating these conditions. 

The best way to get started is to reach out to your VA Primary Care Physician (PCP) and ask for a consult. If you have questions, you can call our office and we will assist you. Dr. Liken has been treating veterans Gulf Breeze, Navarre, Midway and Mary Esther for 18 years. 

Traditional medicine isn’t always available or optimal depending on your condition. So what do you do? Acupuncture is an alternative healing method used to treat chronic pain. Learn how it might work for you in this article.

If you’re in pain and pregnant, trying to avoid surgeries or pain medications, you’re in the right place

In this article, you’ll learn what you need to know in order to decide if acupuncture is the right treatment method for you. We will cover three different times you should consider acupuncture as a treatment instead of traditional medicine:

• Acupuncture For Pain Relief While Pregnant
• Acupuncture to Avoid Addictive Medications
• Acupuncture as an Alternative to Surgery

Choose Acupuncture For Pain Relief While Pregnant

Christine Warren came in to see Dr. Laird Likens when she was pregnant.

Christine suffered from several conditions including foot pain, lower back pain, PTSD, tension and migraine headaches. She had been suffering for a while but when she became pregnant she could no longer take the medications she’d been prescribed.

Enter acupuncture. One of the biggest benefits of acupuncture is that it is non-invasive meaning that you can avoid surgery and medications. 

In Christine’s case, it allowed Dr. Likens the opportunity to get to the root of her pain and help her body heal naturally. That was particularly important since she was expecting a new child.

It’s important to note that Dr. Likens is extremely experienced in the field of acupuncture and how to apply treatment when serving pregnant patients. After studying acupuncture at the Logan College of Chiropractic, he went on to receive his certification from the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners and his Fellowship from the International Academy of Medical Acupuncture. 

Dr. Likens has 18 years of experience which allows him to help patients like Christine.

After acupuncture and chiropractic treatment from Dr. Likens, Christine was able to lower her feet and lower-back pain from a 10 to a level 2. That was all without medication.

Even more exciting was when they were able to eliminate Christine’s migraines using adjustments and acupuncture. Christine was able to end her painful migraines without any medication.

It was a particularly happy story because the chiropractic treatment allowed Christine’s pregnancy to be much more comfortable. 

Choose acupuncture when you don’t want to use addictive pain medications

In 2012, Bryan Tena was in a car accident and suffered injuries that his doctor prescribed highly addictive pain medications for. 

Bryan found that those medications were hindering his day-to-day life. That’s when he came to see Dr. Llaird Likens. Using a treatment plan of acupuncture and chiropractic adjustments, Bryan was able to manage his pain and has now been medication free since 2014.

Many people have an aversion to these highly addictive pain medications because they do not want to become dependent or addicted. In fact, in America, 9.3 million people were using prescription painkillers illicitly in 2022.  They also know that these medications can cause their quality of life to decrease. 

This is precisely why acupuncture is a great alternative. It’s non-invasive but can truly help you manage your pain and feel better.

Choose acupuncture as an alternative to surgery

Joseph Kalbaka had been suffering since 1967 with pain and stress on his shoulders, neck and lower back. Traditional medicine told him he needed to completely fuse his back through highly invasive surgery.

Instead, Joseph sought alternative treatment. Dr. Likens was able to prescribe a treatment plan with pain modalities and acupuncture and Joseph is now managing his pain with continual treatments without surgery.

If you are experiencing pain and considering alternative, non-invasive treatment, and you live in Gulf Breeze, Navarre, Midway or Mary Esther, please call us. Dr. Llaird Likens is ready and available to schedule an appointment for you. Heis highly trained and experienced with acupuncture and looks forward to the opportunity to help you feel better.

Find Out How Chiropractic Care Can Improve Your Sleep, Posture, Flexibility, Mobility, Energy Levels, Sports Performance And Blood Circulation

Your health is one of your greatest assets. In this article, we’re going to share with you seven benefits you can expect from chiropractic care. They include: 

• Better Sleep
• Improved Posture
• Greater Flexibility
• Increased Mobility
• Boosted Energy Levels
• Improved Athletic Performance 
• Better Blood Circulation

If you’re seeking any of those health benefits, let’s dive in to see how chiropractic care can help you! 

Does chiropractic help you sleep better?

If you’re like most people, you have some sort of neck misalignment that stems from poor posture, staring at screens and devices and sleeping in bad positions.

Regular chiropractic adjustments to the neck can help you decrease your chance of developing sleep apnea. Chiropractic adjustments can also alleviate any ways that your breathing is restricted, improving your quality of sleep. 

You will also help you feel less tense. You’ll sleep better because you have less discomfort. 

Can a chiropractor help correct posture?

The initial adjustments your chiropractor will make will put your spine into alignment, reduce tension and increase mobility so that you can naturally slip into good posture. 

Sometimes poor posture is simply a result of decreased mobility from misalignment. It might be too painful to be in the correct posture. Chiropractic care can help with that.

Dr. Llaird Likens will examine your specific posture imbalance, such as a forward head, a high right shoulder or hips pushed forward. Then you’ll receive immediate relief from adjustments along with a longer-term care plan to correct imbalances.

Can chiropractors increase flexibility?

Flexibility is typically limited due to a loss of range of motion due to the spine or joints being out of alignment. With manual adjustments, Dr. Llaird Likens can help you to recover normal range of motion in the spine, the neck and other joints.

Can chiropractors help with range of motion?

Chiropractic care is your best bet to improve your range of motion. Loss of mobility comes with age and wear and tear of the body. Even the slightest misalignment in the spine can cause other parts of the body to work overtime to compensate. Once your body is moving unnaturally to compensate, you’ll feel the pain and inflammation resulting in your body. That will show up as a reduced range of motion for everything from your neck to your shoulders to your knees. 

Dr. Likens will find the source of your reduced mobility and perform adjustments to make you feel better and increase your range of motion. 

Do your energy levels improve after seeing a chiropractor?

Do you feel pain somewhere in your muscles, spine or joints right now? Imagine going to the chiropractor, getting an adjustment and feeling that tension loosen. Your mood level will instantly improve because your pain level has decreased.

That’s not where it ends though. 

The adjustments Dr. Llaird Likens will make adjustments that put your body back into its natural state, allow the central nervous system to function properly and boost your energy levels.

Can Chiropractic Care Improve My Athletic Performance?

Dr. Llaird Likens is the team chiropractor for the Pensacola Pelicans and the Pensacola Ice Pilots so he can tell you first hand that chiropractic care can help improve your sports performance. 

And his patients can attest to being able to stay active thanks to chiropractic care.

“Dr. Llaird is the best Chiropractor. He is incredibly knowledgeable and he really addressed the source  of pain that all of the other Doctors’ overlooked. He was a life saver for my active lifestyle!” said Ashley S.

How Chiropractic Care Helps Blood Flow 

Do you have poor blood circulation? One way to tell if you’ve got poor blood circulation is if your hands and feet are always cold. 

One reason you could be suffering from reduced blood circulation is called subluxation. A subluxation is a slight misalignment of the vertebrae. Subluxations can impede the circulatory system, blocking proper blood flow. 

Dr. Llaird Likens will provide chiropractic treatments that allow your body to reestablish proper alignment and allow your blood circulation to improve. 

If you are seeking to improve your health and you live in Gulf Breeze, Navarre, Midway or Mary Esther Dr. Llaird Likens is ready and available to schedule an appointment for you. He’s been treating patients for 18 years and looks forward to the opportunity to help you feel better.

How Kids Benefit From Chiropractic Care

Chiropractic Care Offers a Pain-Free, Non-Invasive Treatment Option for your Child. Learn About the Benefits of Family Chiropractic Care.

Chiropractic care is beneficial from the time you’re in the womb (for your mother as part of prenatal care) until you’re in your golden years. Since chiropractic care is non-invasive and treated without medication, it’s particularly popular with parents of healthy kids. But why?

Dr. Llaird Likens is a family chiropractor that has been treating children for 18 years in the Northwest Florida area. In this article we cover:

• Chiropractic care for common baby symptoms
• Childhood injuries healed with chiropractic care
• Gentle, medication-free medical solutions for kids
• Correcting posture while you’re young

If you’re interested in a holistic approach to your child’s health, read on.

Chiropractic care for common baby symptoms

Babies are lovely but they come with their fair share of issues such as ear infections, colic, acid reflux, and breastfeeding/latching issues. Studies have shown that in the absence of conventional medicine, chiropractic care alone can decrease symptoms in conditions like ear infections. Add to that the many case studies Dr. Llaird Likens has seen over the last 18 years in Northwest Florida, and you can see that chiropractic care is definitely an option for your child’s healthcare.

Chiropractic care helps with conditions like ear infections, colic and acid reflux because many times these issues stem from spinal misalignment. This trauma can happen during birth as the trip down the birth canal can cause stress and jamming of the baby’s spine. Left untreated, these misalignments can manifest in symptoms like the ones listed. The way a baby sleeps can also cause trauma and misalignment. 

It’s worth noting that spinal adjustments are modified and are very gentle for children, using very light pressure.

Childhood injuries healed with chiropractic care

Kids will be kids. They fall off bikes, run into things, twist their ankles and make great but painful tackles on the ball field. And, of course, they break bones. 

That’s where Dr. Llaird Likens comes in. An injury untreated can have long-term, compounding effects. He can treat the affected area, reducing pain, inflammation, scar tissue and other underlying issues so that one injury doesn’t stick around for months and years to come.

Gentle, medication-free medical solutions for kids

Kids don’t like taking medicine and we don’t blame them. The good news is that chiropractic care offers a holistic health option so parents can avoid surgery and medication. Chiropractic care is pain free which is particularly important for children! 

“Llaird is an amazing Chiropractor. I trust my body and the bodies of my entire family to him, including our infant. He truly listens to your needs and addresses them appropriately,” said patient Matt C.  

Chiropractic care looks at the whole person and seeks to find root causes of pain and conditions so that they can be treated properly. 

Correcting posture while you’re young

Have you heard of tech neck? Sometimes referred to as text neck, it’s a name derived from the common posture seen while hovering over a phone or electronic device with a bent neck and spine.

Even simply reading with the head forward takes the amount of pressure put on the neck from 10 to 12 pounds to around 50 to 60 pounds.

That poor posture can create imbalances, strain and pain for your child. Ouch!

Dr. Llaird Likens will work to improve your child’s posture with different treatments including gentle adjustments in the neck, spine and shoulders, specific stretches and exercises and even braces or other devices as needed.
Chiropractic care offers a pain free, non-invasive medical solution to many of your child’s conditions. If you have any questions about chiropractic care for your child, call us today so we can help. Dr. Llaird Likens accepts insurance and offers self-pay options and has been serving Gulf Breeze, Navarre, Midway and Mary Esther communities for 18 years..