Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Great article
Spine-Health
November 16, 2011
By: Stephanie Burke
To help you manage your back or neck condition, here are several straightforward things you can do to help keep your back and neck healthy and minimize painful episodes.
Sit with Support
Sitting is stressful for your spine, but the right setup can help - make sure your knees are slightly higher than your hips, push your office chair right up to the desk, support your arms with armrests to avoid neck strain, make sure there is support for the inward curve in your lower back…these and other adjustments can help your back feel much better after long periods of sitting. See Office Chair: How to Reduce Back Pain? and Ten Tips for Improving Posture and Ergonomics.
Lift Carefully
One of the most important things for your back is to learn is how to lift properly. This takes more than just bending your knees - you need to keep your chest forward, keep the weight close to your body, lead with your hips (not your shoulders), pivot instead of twist, and more. Some specific techniques, such as a golfer’s lift, can also help in certain situations. See Avoid Back Injury with the Right Lifting Techniques.
Exercise, Exercise!
We say this often, but it bears repeating - the natural stimulus for the healing process is active exercise. Movement keeps the discs, muscles, ligaments and joints in the spine healthy by distributing nutrients into the disc space and soft tissues. For many back conditions, strengthening exercises for the back and abdominal muscles are important to alleviate pain and prevent future painful flare-ups. There are a number of very specific strengthening programs (such as the McKenzie Method and dynamic lumbar stabilization exercises), which are usually best learned with a trained health professional.
Apply Heat Therapy
Using heat therapy on your back can provide both pain relief and healing benefits for many types of lower back pain. In addition, applying a heating pad, heat wrap, warm gel pack, or taking a hot bath feel good and are easy to do on a daily basis. Some people find more pain relief with heat (either moist heat or dry heat) and others with ice. The two therapies may also be alternated. See also Benefits of Heat Therapy for Lower Back Pain.
Engage in Activity
Inactivity can aggravate your back condition by leading to stiffness, weakness, and de-conditioning. If you have a disc problem, significant inactivity deprives the injured disc of essential nutrition and this can lead to further degeneration and pain. Additionally, movement maintains the exchange of fluids in spinal structures, which in turn reduces the swelling that occurs in the tissues surrounding an injured disc. This is important because swelling can further irritate nerves that are already affected by the highly inflammatory herniated disc material and make the pain worse. See also Rehabilitation and Exercise for a Healthy Back.
Stop Smoking
A long-term study has shown that smoking actually leads to lower back pain. The theory is that smoking causes damage to the vascular structures of the discs and joints in the spine, resulting in degenerative spinal disorders and lower back pain. See also Does Smoking Cause Low Back Pain?
The Least You Should Do
If you do nothing else for your back, at the very least stretch your hamstrings twice each day and get about 30 minutes of low-impact aerobic exercise every other day. Avoiding activity because of a painful back can lead to a downward spiral of physical de-conditioning, loss of participating in daily activities, depression, more pain, etc, so it is very important to try to take care of yourself and stay active.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Research on MS
We are looking into funding, grants, etc to start some exciting research on chiropractic with fatigue in MS patients. If you know anyone with MS, have them contact Dr. Short for more information.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Chiropractic Adjustment of the Cervical Spine (Neck) Video
Chiropractic Adjustment of the Cervical Spine (Neck) Video
Do you have neck pain but this type of adjustment make you apprehensive? THERE ARE MORE GENTLE ALTERNATIVES including Activator and Atlas Orthogonal. Contact Dr. Short, DC for more information.
Do you have neck pain but this type of adjustment make you apprehensive? THERE ARE MORE GENTLE ALTERNATIVES including Activator and Atlas Orthogonal. Contact Dr. Short, DC for more information.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
What is Activator?
Nearly every chiropractor has an Activator adjusting tool in their clinic that they use from time to time, but there is a full certification program governed by Activator Methods. Certified Activator chiropractors are highly trained in the use of the Activator. Activator is a research-based instrument that provides a safe, gentle approach to chiropractic adjusting. It is a great alternative to the traditional hand adjusting & proven highly effective as a manual adjustment. "Proficiency Rated" chiropractors attend yearly seminars to keep up with the latest research and stay current with their adjusting skills. Activator is a highly effective tool, although the best results are subject to proper use of the tool. Activator.com provides a list of certified Activator proficiency rated chiropractic physicians by name or region along with a large research database. Despite a large number of chiropractors in Northeast Florida, there are only three local Activator certified chiropractors. Dr. Nancy Short, DC, has been rated in Activator Methods since 2007. Dr. Short's office number is 904.469.2432.
If you are fearful of traditional chiropractic adjusting, give Activator a try.
If you are fearful of traditional chiropractic adjusting, give Activator a try.
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