Blog

Strategies for overcoming back pain

To create more effective strategies for overcoming back pain and dysfunction, we need to meticulously record your pain. To this end, we recommend that our clients maintain a daily journal of their spinal health. You can start this even before visiting your chiropractor for the first time. Record the location, type of pain, severity, and time of day when it occurs. If possible, also keep track of your levels of movement, your diet, and your exercise regime; these things may seem unrelated, but they play a central role in chronic back pain. 

Working together to overcome your back pain

Sometimes all it takes us is a conversation to effect powerful changes in the way your spine feels. This conversation can be made all the more effective if we have a first-hand, in-the-moment account of your pain. When combined with diagnostic imaging, postural analysis, and a full physical examination, we will paint a comprehensive picture of your spine and what is causing your pain. From here, we can design effective strategies to overcome that pain and its underlying conditions. Give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

Our goals for treating frozen shoulder: 

• Use conservative manipulative therapy to diminish the severity of pain
• Improve mobility in the shoulder and cervicothoracic spine
• Reduce associated recovery time 

Chiropractic care for frozen shoulder

Chiropractic care can be effective augment for treating your frozen shoulder. Through the use of manual adjustments to the affected joint and the cervicothoracic spine, we can help to reduce pain and restore mobility. Low-force adjustments are found to be the most effective for treating frozen shoulder, as well as those delivered by the Activator Method. If you are interested in recovering the lost range of motion, relieving pain, and rehabilitating your frozen shoulder, give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

What is the normal range of motion in the neck?

There are four primary movements: 

• Flexion: head to chest
• Extension: looking up toward the sky
• Lateral Bending: ear to shoulder
• Rotation: turning your head so that your chin is over the shoulder (or thereabouts)

What limits the range of motion in the neck? 

Injuries to soft tissue in the neck, degeneration or injury to cervical vertebrae and spinal joints all make it difficult to move your neck without experiencing pain. Once you stop moving your neck, the muscles normally activated for movement cease to be used and start to atrophy, and range of motion is limited further. Injuries can be the direct result of trauma, from a car accident for example, or from a slow wearing down over time, for example from chronic poor posture. 

What can we do about maintaining the range of motion in the neck? 

At our office, we help you preserve a range of motion in the neck. A primary malefactor is poor posture- in particular forward head posture which sees the head positioned forward of its balanced point atop the spine. By resetting your posture, restoring spinal alignment through the cervical vertebrae, and adding strength and tone to the muscles of the neck and upper back, we achieve positive effects in your neck’s range of motion. If you are interested in leaving neck pain behind, give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

Preventative Healthcare

We believe that spinal health is the foundation for overall wellness. Many of our patients have been living for years without the proper amount of awareness and knowledge necessary to make improvements in their spinal health. This has left them in the throes of back pain and spinal degeneration which then affects all other parts of their life. We respond by providing every new partient with a comprehensive physical examination that includes the patient’s medical history, a musculoskeletal evaluation and static postural analysis. This allows us to identify shortcomings in musculoskeletal health including spinal misalignment, nerve dysfunction and postural weakness. From here we tailor an individual plan that will help you reduce pain, improve function and prevent future illness and injury. 

Making your health a priority this new year

Don’t wait for your health problems to catch up to you! It’s time to stop ignoring the factors in your life which are holding you down. Let’s work together to design a solution that will help you feel like your best You this new year.

Pain is no one’s idea of a good time

We are in the business of helping you face down your back pain. The first step of any solution is to identify your particular risk factors. Are you prone to overeating? Do you overindulge in the punch, then find yourself sprawled on the couch? Do you feel extra sluggish during the holiday period? All of these things are hard on your spine. Weight gain causes extra pressure on the spine; alcohol contributes to inflammation; and inactivity allows for tension to accumulate in your muscles, pulling your spine out of alignment. If you struggle with chronic back pain, you need to be proactive about the health of your spine this holiday season. 

Doing something about back pain this holiday season

You have the power! Watch what you eat and drink, and take every opportunity to get up and move. Give our office a call to schedule an appointment before, during, or after the holiday season. Let’s make this the last holiday where your back pain has a prominent seat at the table with the rest of your family.