Blog

We can make starting an exercise plan less painful

So when was the last time you hit that 150 minutes per-week goal for exercise? Does the thought of getting up and starting give you the slightest pang of anxiety? If the thought of getting in shape seems like an insurmountable task, we want to help you get motivated and start moving. We start with what is at stake: the health of your body in the here and now, and its longevity for the future. As the foundation for your upper body, this is the only spine you get. Keeping it in a state of balance, with a strong set of surrounding muscles, is the best possible thing you can do to preserve it for the future. 

How we help you start exercising

We begin by evaluating your musculoskeletal health and providing adjustments to restore spinal alignment and balance. The spinal adjustment has been shown to exhibit a domino effect on our musculoskeletal health including:

• Relieving painful nerve impingement
• Improving range of motion
• Improving circulation

This sets you off on the right foot to start exercising. From here, we can show you simple but effective body-weight exercises for improving the core stabilizers, a set of muscles that provide support for the lower spine. These muscles are the best ally your spine has in its fight against pain and degeneration. One last area of focus is balancing muscles that become over and underworked due to poor biomechanics and posture. We help you affect a wholesale improvement of your biomechanical awareness and postural habits. 

Getting in shape to exercise starts with chiropractic

At our Chiropractic office, we are not short on incentives when it comes to exercise. We want to help you get motivated- give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

Mapping your circulation

Think of your brain and how every millisecond of the day it is controlling and coordinating the function of the human body. If you starved this vital organ of its input, how could you expect it to work well? Well, the main input for the brain is oxygen! In fact, while it only accounts for 2% of body mass, the brain consumes up to 20% of the oxygen that enters the bloodstream. Part of the reason for this is that even when you are completely idle or sleeping, the brain is still completely active. Lack of sufficient oxygen to the brain is associated with poor memory, dizziness, fatigue, headache, and other more serious conditions. 

Chiropractic for enhancing circulation

Circulation and chiropractic go hand in hand. Because we utilize hands-on modalities to improve health, a boost in circulation is a natural outcome. Chiropractic adjustment frees up nerve pathways and attention to muscles through massage and trigger-point therapy stimulates the body to let the blood flow, increasing circulation to areas that are in need. If you are interested in finding out more about how chiropractic can help improve circulation, give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

It’s time to stop seeking the magic bullet.

While it would be harsh to say that traditional methods have failed outright, it is worth challenging the commonly held knowledge that these treatments will work when there is clear evidence against them. What is clear is that the medical community is ill-equipped to deal with nonspecific back pain because traditional treatments, including opioid painkillers, spinal surgery, and injections, are often ineffective, and can even make your condition worse. The “magic bullet,” the idea that a single treatment like surgery can fix all your problems is no longer a viable or ethical option and it should not be sold as such by the health industry. 

Alternative therapies on the rise

In response to this falling of the curtain, alternative schools of thought and therapies have stepped into the void. Active and passive therapies now offer pain relief and improvement of symptoms that is comparable and in excess of what can be gained through traditional methods. What this means for you is that a holistic approach to healing your back is worth exploring. The upside is that most things you can do are cheaper, if not completely free, and can start improving your symptoms today. 

Chiropractic as part of a holistic approach to healing your back 

Chiropractic, when combined with exercise, diet, massage, and other natural modalities. More and more studies are showing that back pain can be as much a mental condition as an ailment of the body. Choosing a multidisciplinary, and therefore dynamic, approach to treating your back pain can affect vast improvements in your back pain, without the laundry list of side effects. If you are interested in changing your angle of approach to treating back pain, give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

Sarcopenia from a chiropractor’s perspective

Sarcopenia is doubly scary from a chiropractor’s perspective; you have to remember that your spine is also weakening with age. Most people can’t afford to lose muscle mass in the core stabilizing muscles that support the lower back. With a weakened support system, embattled intervertebral discs will often give in to herniation; vertebral bodies will impinge on spinal nerves; the end result can leave you hunched over with back pain in your old age. Let’s all take a moment to agree that this is not how we want to end up.

Chiropractic helps you keep the upper hand on sarcopenia

While the condition may be inevitable, you don’t have to accept the symptoms lying down. Our natural modalities ensure that your spine remains in alignment despite the weakening that is occurring all around it. Chiropractic adjustment has the double-positive effect of improving both circulation and range of motion, allowing you to pursue exercise without fear of injury. This is the single most important way to fight back against sarcopenia: keep yourself moving. We can also show you how to strengthen and stretch the muscles that matter for maintaining core stability, allowing you to remain upright as you approach old age. If you are interested in using our services to fight back against sarcopenia, give our office in Houston a call to schedule an appointment today. 

Addressing arthrogenic muscle inhibition

This is a neuromuscular condition in which the joint provides the brain with information by way of sensory nerves and the spinal cord. As the inputs from the joint are changed because of injury, the change in activity of signalling between joint and brain cause inhibition in the muscles. Therefore, the main problem with arthrogenic muscle inhibition is its subsequent effect on range of movement. Because the muscles cannot activate fully, a common result is muscle wasting and inequality in strength between the two joints.

At Barton Chiropractic Clinic, we focus on mitigating the symptoms of arthrogenic muscle inhibition by improving joint mobility through targeted adjustments. We focus on improving neurological function between muscle and brain to allow for the proper activation and sustained contraction of muscles surround the joint, allowing strength to be retained and rehabilitation to go faster. If you are interested in finding out more about how we can contribute to the rehabilitation of your joint injury, give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

Get a few more steps in your life and it helps your health

Many of us have heard the goal: 10,000 steps a day. But this is a huge number that turns many people off. Instead start with 1,000 and work your way up. And always remember that the quality of those steps is important too! 

• Walk and talk: make pacing nervously while on the phone work to your benefit. Walk from room to room, or take your phone call outside!
• Walk to talk: to the next desk, the next floor or next door. Whoever you need to talk to, we are guessing a face-to-face meeting will be more productive for both parties. Plus it helps you get your steps. 
• Walk at lunch: get outside, smell the fresh air and take a brisk 15 minute walk. Then choose a bench and sit down to have your meal outside.
• Take the stairs: stairs instead of elevator. Stairs tone your butt and help you get those few extra steps that matter.
• Park far away: give up looking for the closest-possible parking space- there are plenty a few rows further back that will give you an extra 20-50 steps.  
• Choose hills: the steeper the grade, the better.

How we help you walk more

Chances are you won’t choose to walk if you are in the grips of back pain. At our office in Homewood, we help people manage chronic back pain with natural methods so that they can focus on reaping the health benefits of exercise including walking. Spinal adjustment boosts circulation and improves range of motion so that you can walk with less pain. Let’s make 2021 the year that you make your health a priority- give our office in Homewood, IL a call to schedule an appointment today. 

Other forms of cardio that are better for your back

Here is a list of cardio workouts that limit the amount of stress to your back: 

• Swimming 
• Elliptical
• Cycling
• Rowing
• Walking
• Body weight training

All of these activities give you a full range of cardio benefits while minimizing the trauma that your back incurs along the way. But variety is important: each of these activities will condition a specific set of muscles and exclude others. However, if you are suffering from back pain, it is important to make your sport account for your condition. Do not continue with a sport that is causing you pain. 

Back pain in Homewood

At our office in Houston, we are committed to helping people find solutions for their particular health concerns. Don’t let back pain stop you from reaping the full benefits of cardiovascular exercise. Let us help you reduce pain and improve function so that you can continue enjoying activities that help you feel better.