Good running form means efficiency and speed but it also means injury prevention!

If you are trying to improve your running form, it behooves you to focus on minimizing the impact of each step on the joints of your knees and lower back. Yes, this starts with good running shoes, but the degree to which the impact will affect your joints is determined when you strike the ground.

You will be snacking a lot this holiday season 

From the myriad sweet treats to decadent family dinners, the options are endless when it comes to indulgence during the holiday season. For those looking to manage their weight, or keep back pain at bay, this can be a treacherous time. It behooves any back pain sufferer to be proactive about the health of their spine during the holiday season. To this end, we want to talk about a different kind of snacking: exercise snacking.

Nursing is the profession most affected by back pain

Yes, more than office workers who sit with poor posture all day; more than construction workers who manage heavy equipment; more than any other profession, nurses are the ones stuck with back pain. Reports and statistics consistently show that, among the different varieties of nurses, they collectively miss the most days of work due to back-pain related complaints. As an office of chiropractic, this concerns us and we want to know why nurses are so at risk. 

Understanding muscle tension 

Muscle tension means: a condition in which your muscles are semi-contracted for an extended period of time. It is most often caused by mental stress, which constricts blood vessels, reducing circulation and therefore oxygenation to the muscles. When circulation is hampered, oxygen has a hard time and waste products have a hard time getting out, leaving you with muscles that feel tighter and opening the door to muscle spasm and pain. What parts of your lifestyle are contributing to muscle tension? 

Factors that contribute to muscle tension

• Exercise: boosts oxygen supply to the muscles and stretching helps to prevent muscles from becoming overly tight or shortened. 
• Sleep: As you sleep, the body supplies muscles with more oxygen to help breakdown lactic acid; if this doesn’t happen, excess lactic acid contributes to the formation of trigger points.
• Diet: Certain ingredients affect muscle tension. Among the best things you can do are: reduce caffeine intake, and make sure you are getting enough vitamin B12 and calcium. 
• Keeping stress down: mental stress translates directly to muscle tension. Pain in the muscles can then cause mental stress and the cycle will perpetuate itself. 

Dispelling muscle tension

Chiropractic adjustment helps to alleviate painful pressure on nerves and boosts circulation. We release muscle knots with trigger point therapy and treat myofascial pain with instrument-assisted release. All of these modalities are intended to open up areas of tension to an influx of blood which carries fresh oxygen and nutrients that help dispel tension and allow you to move freely. If you are interested in living a life with less muscle tension, call us to schedule an appointment today. 

Shoulder Pain Is A Common Complaint

Encompassing four joints and a host of supportive muscles, tissues, and ligaments, the shoulder joint is among the most complex in the human body. Arguably the most used joint in the human body, 1 in 2 people will experience pain in the shoulder at some point in their life, and most shoulder pain will resolve itself within a matter of days. If not, it could be time to seek treatment. 

When should you seek treatment for shoulder pain?

• If the shoulder pain does not resolve itself in less than a week. 

• If the same pain recurs in the same location

• Loss of range of motion

• Loss of strength

• Swelling or bruising around the joint

As is the case with any condition involving the human body, the sooner you get a proper diagnosis, the sooner you can get appropriate treatment, and the sooner the issue will resolve itself. 

Tailoring a treatment to your specific back pain

Your back pain is completely unique and your treatment should be too! This should not be such a radical statement to read but it is at odds with the idea of allopathic treatment, where the same drugs and the same surgery is used to treat every case. The truth is, every diagnosis is different, so we take a different approach that detects the underlying cause of your condition and follow it up with a multi-dimensional plan for treatment that seeks to improve your body’s ability to heal itself without the necessity for surgery or pharmaceutical aid. 

Because of their shock-absorbing role in the human body, one of the structures most vulnerable to injury during an automobile accident is the intervertebral disc. The net force generated by a car collision is often enough to create a bulge or tear in the annulus fibrosus, resulting in a herniated disc. The discs most likely to suffer injury are the bottom two discs in the spinal column. We have a wealth of experience rehabilitating herniated discs sustained from auto accidents. The most common symptoms that point us toward investigating a herniated disc are stiffness and pain in the local area and a reduced range of motion.

For all but the most severe of herniated discs, the body will usually heal itself if given the proper time and attention. This is where we come in: our plan for your injury will be implemented in phases: our first priority is to reduce your pain. Chiropractic adjustment restores mobility to the joints and alleviates direct pressure to the nerve, allowing you to move without the usual limiting pain. We utilize hands-on techniques that boost blood flow in the region and help heal muscles that may have become strained. 

Our office will document all of your injuries and establish a treatment plan that gets you back to health as quickly as possible. Call our office in Houston (713) 520-9330 to schedule an appointment. The smallest comfort we have to offer is knowledge of what happened to your body during the accident.

Atherogenic muscle inhibition is common after a joint injury

As you move through the rehabilitation process after a joint injury, it is common to notice dysfunction in the muscles which surround the joint capsule. While there is no actual damage to these muscles, they are often unable to contract fully. This is a purposeful reaction by the body, which aims to prevent further damage to the joint by limiting the degree of movement and muscular contraction that can occur surrounding the injury. However, it is problematic because it further limits the range of motion, which is a crucial factor in the successful rehabilitation of any joint injury. 

The importance of protein

No matter who you are protein is important. To keep hair looking healthy and nails growing strong; to maintain, repair, and build muscle; to make important body chemicals; protein is an indispensable building block. For athletes, the importance is twofold: without protein, your muscle-building efforts will be seriously hampered. And with the foods highest in protein falling mostly into the carnivorous category, many vegetarians struggle to get enough protein in their diet. But no need to fear: with enough attention to your diet, you can get the protein you need depending on your level of activity.

How much protein should I be consuming? 

For the average male or female during a sedentary day, you want to consume about .36 grams for each pound of body weight. This looks something like 56g for the average male and 46 for the average female. When you are working out, you need to scale this equation up: active people should aim for between .4 and .6 grams per pound. 

How can vegetarians get their recommended daily amount of protein? 

Here are some good meat-free ideas for getting more protein in your diet: all values are given for a 100g serving. 

• Lentils: 9 grams
• Garbanzo beans: 19 grams
• 1 egg: 6 grams
• Quinoa: 13 grams
• Almonds: 21 grams
• Yogurt: 10 grams
• Peas: 9 grams

Protein from a chiropractor’s perspective

If you are putting in the work to build muscle through physical activity, you may as well not defeat yourself with your diet. Muscle building is important for just about every aspect of well-being; from supporting your spine to maintaining range of motion and preventing injury, protein is an integral part of a healthy lifestyle. Give our office a call to schedule an appointment today.

Why does tightness in the hip flexors matter?

A less thought of factor when it comes to back health, the hip flexors can play a crucial role in the presence of back pain. When we sit for long periods of time, or pursue activities such as cycling or even jogging, the muscle complex in our hip flexors can tighten and create a pull on the front side (anterior) of the pelvis. 

A microcosmic portrait of muscular imbalance with tight hip flexors and weak glutes

More commonly known as anterior pelvic tilt, this altered posture encourages your body to use the gluteus maximus less, creating a muscular imbalance that is a perfect recipe for back pain. Pain can often develop at a local level- that is, in the hip flexors themselves, because an overused muscle is prone to painful spasms, while weakness in the glutes will contribute to instability in the lower back.

What can I do about overly tight hip flexors? 

We have a plan for releasing tight hip flexors, thereby making good posture easier to achieve and reversing the muscular imbalance that has occurred. We begin by releasing the muscle spasms which have accumulated in painful trigger points. We then focus on static hip flexor stretches to increase range of motion and focus on negating the anterior pelvic tilt to establish good posture as your norm. We are movement specialists and you can begin the process of releasing tight hip flexors by calling our office to schedule an appointment today!