Office ergonomics are made for form and function but rarely are they made for good health

Let’s subscribe to the conventional wisdom that working in an office has fewer risks than working construction, or directing traffic or being a lion trainer … … … The risks associated with office work are much less glaring and tend to fly under the radar as they build up over the years. Many people exit office life riddled with degeneration- carpal tunnel in the fingers, degeneration in the spine, pain in the lower body. These are insidious diseases and are caused by the sedentary nature of the office. If we are going to work hard all our lives in an office before retirement, we may as well set our bodies up for success to enjoy that hard-earned freedom. 

Here are some ways to combat pain on the job

• Scheduling breaks: once an hour at the top of the hour; it’s easy to remember and all you have to do is stand up and move for 60 seconds.
• Resetting posture regularly: whenever the thought strikes you, shake out the tension and reset to an upright position. 
• Supporting the lower back: this region needs the most support so lend it a hand with a cushion to maintain the curve throughout your lower back. 
• Using a headset: if you use your phone a lot, consider using a headset to encourage the upright position. 
• Massaging yourself: gently rub tender spots with your hands and release trigger points from tension.

If you have long-standing pain that is made worse in the office, it’s time to stop taking a painkiller, shrugging off the pain, and continuing to work. We want to help you get to the root of your pain and set a course for healing your condition that starts with the therapy we provide. Give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

We all know that stretching is good for us…

…but even so, it is probably the activity that is the largest victim of our lazy nature. There are very few people I know who cannot reasonably find 10 minutes to stretch in a day, but there are millions of excuses for why we don’t. Let’s stop ignoring an activity we know makes us feel good and start getting excited about stretching. 

Active Isolated Stretching is a method for stretching that makes a noticeable difference

If you are someone who struggles to see the value of stretching because it doesn’t make an instant impact, try active isolated stretching. This variety of stretching isolates a single muscle, stretches it for two seconds, releases and repeats up to ten times. It is a method of stretching that was developed by kinesiotherapist Aaron Mattes and is used by athletes to prevent injury and improve range of motion. 

What makes active isolated stretching effective? 

It works in threefold ways:

• Isolating the muscle means you contract the opposite muscle, creating a good environment for the targeted muscle to be stretched. 
• 2 second bursts repeating the stretch help to circulate blood, oxygen and nutrients to the targeted muscle and avoids the muscle from activating its stretch reflex which is a natural response of the body to prevent injury.
• By focusing on breathing in during the release and out during the stretch, you deliver the oxygen your muscles needed to recover.

Helping you stretch

Stretching is an integral part of any balanced health plan. Active isolated stretching offers an exciting way to create noticeable results, improving circulation and elasticity of the joints to help improve your range of motion. Give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

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.