Importance of Blending Chiropractic Care with Back-Strengthening Exercise

Back problems often are a result of a bad posture that could cause severe pains. Restoring the back to its original and natural condition takes time, and a combination of chiropractic care with the recommended exercise can dramatically enhance recovery.

A combination of the two provides numerous benefits. Exercise keeps muscles in their proper tone, increases blood circulation around the body, improves digestion and develops a better lifestyle all together.

The following back-strengthening exercises complement the healing process greatly:

Hip Bridge

The Hip Bridge exercise strengthens those muscles near the lower back that play an important role in stabilizing the spine.

It can be carried out by lying on the back with the feet flat and about hip width apart; the knees should be bent. The arms should be relaxed. The person then squeezes their buttocks as they lift their hips in a straight line towards the shoulders. After around 3 seconds, return to the starting position, slowly.

Around 12 repetitions are recommended.

Bird Dog

The bird dog exercise aims at strengthening the lower back, hip, butt and thigh muscles.

The person kneels on the floor with both hands spaced out about a shoulder-width apart. Tuck in the belly towards the spine and raise one leg straight backwards while raising the other hand in opposite direction.

Hold in this position for 15 seconds and then return to starting point, carrying out the same procedure on the opposite side hand and leg.

Side Plank

The side plank exercise strengthens the lower back. It is done by the following method:

The person is to lie on their right side, straight from head to the feet while resting on their forearms. The elbow should be directly under their shoulder. The abdominals are to be gently contracted and the hips slowly lifted off the floor – in the same straight position.

This position should be held for at least about 30 seconds before lowering the hip.

Lunge

Lunge exercises enhance a person’s overall control of their body. This tends to protect the spine in daily activities, such as walking and running or even stair-climbing.

Starting off with the abs gently contracted. The hands are placed on the hips; the person then takes a big step-forward using the right foot while sinking the right knee at a right-angle.

The person should then slowly return to the starting position, switch the legs and repeat – 10 repetitions are recommended.

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Achilles Tendon Sport Injuries And Chiropractic Treatment

Professional athletes and individuals with a specific sport hobby suffer from a multitude of different injuries, contracted during the course of their activities. Some popular sports like football, soccer, baseball, golf, hiking, basketball, etc., while highly enjoyable, involve extensive exertions which result in various sports injuries in players. Chiropractic has become a popular mode of treatment for the different sports injuries and medical conditions, like Achilles Tendon injury, dislocated shoulder and spinal alignment.

What Is Achilles Tendon Injury?

The achilles tendon is one of the longest tendons in the body, which is stretched from the heel to the calf muscles of the human body. It assists in the engagement of different activities which require movement and flexible physical activity.

The Achilles tendon is used by sports athletes and enthusiasts for practicing and playing the different strenuous sports, like football, basketball, baseball, gymnastics, running, etc. Over-exertion on the Achilles tendon results in swelling and pain in the tendon which hampers an athlete from engaging in different sports activities. If too much pressure and exertion is put on the tendon, it causes it to tear partially or completely rupture.

Symptoms

An injured Achilles tendon becomes swollen and causes acute pain whenever the leg is stretched. The patient feels stiffness and tenderness in the affected area, which makes it difficult to engage in different everyday activities. If the tendon completely ruptures, then the patient experiences excruciating pain, and is unable to move around.

If an athlete experiences difficulty in flexing his legs or pointing his toes, he might have a partial or complete rupture in the Achilles tendon. Prompt medical attention is required for the diagnosis and treatment of the Achilles tendon injury, before the patient suffers more acute damage due to movement or strain.

Treatment

Achilles tendon injury requires prompt treatment from medical professionals to ensure that the affected area does not suffer further damage. A patient with a ruptured or injured tendon is required to rest his leg and apply ice to ease the swelling. Patients are also advised to use an elastic bandage on the leg to keep the swelling down.

Anti-inflammatory pills can be prescribed which tend to bring down the swelling of the tendon, and different exercises are advised for keeping the tendon in shape. But chiropractic treatment is quickly becoming the preferred mode to heal sports injuries, especially Achilles tendon injury.

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Ergonomic Essentials – Tips on Improving and Maintaining Good Posture

As the years pile on, poor posture can be brought about due to a number of reasons – sitting in office chairs and looking at computer screens, driving, or standing for extended periods at a time. Even sleeping in a mattress that’s too hard, too soft, or uneven can lead to postural problems.

Luckily, these prime suspects that affect posture as a result of poor ergonomics are indeed within your control and you can turn things around. It’s never too late. Let’s take a brief look at how we can accomplish this. You might even come across some of these tips at chiropractic clinics.

Poor Ergonomics and Back Discomfort

In most cases, poor ergonomics and posture can be the cause of chronic back pain. Over the course of the day, your muscles tend to tire as you slouch and slump over your desk, pushing the limits to keep up with your respective deadlines. If this goes on for too long, you’re most likely going to experience undue stress in your neck and back. Change positions from time to time to maintain a relaxed but proper posture. Take a break from your desk every hour or so. Stretch a little, stand up and walk around. 2 to 3 minutes is all you need.

Make Use of Posture-friendly Props and Ergonomic Chairs

Ergonomic-friendly “props” can really help take the load off your spine. In case ergonomic office chairs are in short supply, use footrests, portable lumbar back rests, or even a small pillow that supports the natural lumbar curve of your spine a bit better. Wearing the right spectacles that support your vision and keeping them clean in addition to positioning your computer screen properly, will prevent you from leaning or straining the neck just to view the contents properly. Avoid tilting your head forward.

Be Aware of Ergonomics in Every Setting Not Just Work

One ought to be aware of ergonomics in every environmental setting, not just work. Instilling good posture in everyday activities is paramount. Try to establish a connection between episodes of pain and fatigue and certain situations where bad posture or ergonomics have been largely to blame. Make changes accordingly.

Exercising Promotes Good Posture

Regular strength or cardio training really strengthens the core muscles – the abdominal and lower back region. Keep these running like a well-oiled machine, and you’re quite likely to never experience postural problems. A lot of therapeutic and chiropractic methods revolve around strengthening the core, while improving flexibility. This protects your entire spine, as that’s your “postural hub”.

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The Ugly Truth About Diet Plans and Programs

Diet Plans & Programs

Their commercials are so enticing. They hit all your trigger points, your pain points, you suddenly believe that they understand you in a way no one else possibly can. Certainly they will help you to finally lose all the weight you’ve been carrying around for so long.

This is it.

Or not.
I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you’ve fallen prey to some very excellent marketing ploys. In fact, if you’re in marketing, you could learn a thing or two listening to weight loss commercials. The spend a lot of money interviewing experts on the art of persuasion.

Don’t believe me? Read Kim Brittingham’s Read My Hips. In her revealing memoir on being fat, Kim tells of her true-life experience as a weight loss counselor for one of the top weight loss companies in the world. Her job wasn’t to help her clients lose weight. It was to make the company more money. If the client’s didn’t make adequate progress, they didn’t fire them, the told them it wasn’t their fault. All they had to do was sign up for a longer stint with the program. Perhaps those poor people just needed someone to talk to, and if they had sought counseling perhaps they would not only weigh less, but would have a healthier bank account.

Those companies are not designed to help you lose weight. They use your desire to lose weight to pad their pockets.

To make matters worse, those weight loss plans don’t do a thing to help you lose weight and keep it off. There is nothing sustainable about their products.

An additional problem with most weight loss approaches is that the methods typically slow your metabolism. By restricting calories, we put our bodies into a state of hibernation or the belief that we are experiencing a famine. The human body is absolutely amazing, it will reduce the number of calories it consumes on a daily basis during times of want. Exactly the opposite you want to have happen when you’re looking to lose weight!

How about the crazy eating plans that have you eat all the carbs you want, but no fat or protein? Or all the fat and protein you want but no carbs? None of these are a good way to lose weight and keep it off. In addition, your body begins to suffer from lack of certain nutrients and you cause more problems than you’re fixing.

The next time you see a headline on a women’s magazine that promises you will lose ten pounds in ten days . . . Run! Far in the opposite direction. Sure, they have a few people who have before and after pictures that seem to give credence to their claims. But no one is vetting those people and their photos. They could have done it any number of ways.

Take a look at the celebrities who used to be spokespeople for various diet plans. After a couple of years, they gained weight again, and they are no longer featured by that company. If a celebrity can’t sustain their weight loss, why do you think you can? Oh, but that’s what they want! You as a repeat customer.

The worst news of all is that most foods on pre-packaged diet plans is that they are merely chemicals masquerading as food. They are all heavily processed to the point that you need an advanced chemistry degree to decode the ingredients on the side of every package.

You will have much more success if you return to making your own nutritious meals out of ingredients that you purchase yourself at the market. Feature as many whole foods at all of your meals as possible and you’ll be much healthier for it.

No, those protein bars won’t cut it. Please, look at the ingredients. They are “fortified” with this and that vitamin which means somewhere in the processing stages, those vitamins were stripped away.

Tape Measure by Marina Shemesh

Kids and Chiropractic Care: How It Can Benefit Them

Chiropractic care deals with the spinal column’s important relationship in creating harmony throughout the body. It works on the principle that even a slight maladjustment in the spinal column can create problems for the individual. The backbone is home to the nervous system and fine tuning of vertebrae can have enormous effects in reducing pain and help in healing.

Kids and chiropractic care have a very important relation – as kids grow, their body experiences a lot of physical stresses. Any slight problems in the spine can restrict their growth and even cause severe problems.

Due to the curved position which the baby adopts when growing in the womb, many complications can arise at or after birth. For this reason, a lot of parents get their newborn’s spine checked by a chiropractor.

Other health-related complaints in newborns include difficulty in breast-feeding, sleep problems, reflux and infections that can be linked to the nervous system of the baby. These problems are the result of misaligned spine which may have resulted either due to the pre-birth curved position of the fetus, or due to the stresses incurred during delivery.

A chiropractor starts off by examining kids and their spines. A lot of parents are worried about the baby’s delicate body being subjected to the forces required during the adjustments. What they don’t realize that many chiropractors are specialists in treating kids. They have the right skills and the touch of delicacy required in handling babies.

Nevertheless, spinal adjustments for kids – especially newborns – require very gentle pressures using only fingers.

Chiropractic care for kids is absolutely painless. The kid may be sensitive to the touch at points where there is an injury – apart from that, there is no need to worry about pain.

A kid’s spine is far more responsive than that of an adult. Only a few minor adjustments are required to get rid of any abnormality. The complete time required for all chiropractic care sessions would depend on how long the problem has persisted for.

Kids have far less chances of suffering any injuries during the spinal adjustment procedure. A study by the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA) revealed that only a few children from a figure of more than ten thousand experienced some sort of minor discomfort.

Therefore, it is extremely safe to have kids go through chiropractic care to ensure they do not have any kind of spinal issues while they grow up to become healthy adults.

Image used under Creative Commons Licensing: Newborn Baby Cute Child Portrait Face Little

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