Back Clinic Mobility & Flexibility: The human body retains a natural level to ensure all its structures are functioning properly. The bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons, and other tissues work together to allow a range of movement and maintaining proper fitness and balanced nutrition can help keep the body functioning properly. Great mobility means executing functional movements with no restrictions in the range of motion (ROM).
Remember that flexibility is a mobility component, but extreme flexibility really is not required to perform functional movements. A flexible person can have core strength, balance, or coordination but cannot perform the same functional movements as a person with great mobility. According to Dr. Alex Jimenez’s compilation of articles on mobility and flexibility, individuals who don’t stretch their body often can experience shortened or stiffened muscles, decreasing their ability to move effectively.
Metabolic syndrome is a collection of risk factors that can ultimately increase the risk of developing a variety of health issues, including heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, among other problems. Central obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglycerides, and low HDL are the 5 risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome. Having at least three of the five risk factors may suggest the presence of metabolic syndrome. Dr. Alex Jimenez and Dr. Mario Ruja explain the 5 risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome, in further detail, as they recommend diet and lifestyle modification advice and guidelines to help people with metabolic syndrome improve their overall health and wellness. From eating fiber and staying hydrated to exercise and better sleep, Dr. Alex Jimenez and Dr. Mario Ruja discuss how diet and lifestyle modifications can help improve the 5 risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome to ultimately prevent the risk of developing a variety of other health issues, including heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. � Podcast Insight
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Dr. Alex Jimenez RN, DC, MSACP, CCST
In the following podcast video article, Dr. Alex Jimenez, a chiropractor in El Paso, TX, and Dr. Mario Ruja, another chiropractor in El Paso, TX, discuss chiropractic care and why it works. Chiropractic care is a safe and effective, alternative treatment option that focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, of injuries and underlying conditions associated with the musculoskeletal and nervous system. Chiropractic care is a healthcare profession that has existed for many years throughout many civilizations and it focuses on the use of spinal adjustments and manual manipulations to carefully restore the original alignment of the spine and the human body as a whole. Dr. Alex Jimenez and Dr. Mario Ruja describe how they were first interested in becoming chiropractors, or doctors of chiropractic, as they also describe how they feel when they are able to provide pain relief to their patients. Dr. Jimenez and Dr. Ruja will focus on discussing why chiropractic care works and how it is different from other healthcare professions in the way it helps treat a variety of health issues associated with the spine, from neck pain to low back pain and sciatica. Chiropractic care can help promote overall health and wellness. � Podcast Insight
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Dr. Alex Jimenez RN, DC, MSACP, CCST
Dr. Alex Jimenez and Dr. Mario Ruja discuss basal metabolic rate, BMI, and BIA. Body mass and body fat can be measured in a variety of ways, however, several measurement tools may ultimately be inaccurate for many athletes. According to Dr. Alex Jimenez and Dr. Mario Ruja, calculating an individual�s body mass and body fat utilizing various tools is essential to determine overall health and wellness. BMI uses a person�s height divided by twice their weight. The results may be inaccurate for athletes because their body mass and body fat is different, in terms of weight, compared to the average person. Dr. Alex Jimenez and Dr. Mario Ruja demonstrate that BIA, or bioelectrical impedance analysis, and various other tools, such as the DEXA test, the Tanita scale, and the InBody, among others, can help more accurately determine an athlete�s body mass and body fat. Basal metabolic rate, BMI, and BIA is essential for parents that have young athletes as well as for the general population. Healthcare professionals that have these tools available can ultimately help provide individuals with the results they may need to maintain overall health and wellness. – Podcast Insight
If you have enjoyed this video and/or we have helped you in any way
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Thank You & God Bless.
Dr. Alex Jimenez RN, DC, MSACP, CCST
Dr. Alex Jimenez, a chiropractor in El Paso, TX, and his staff, health coach Kenna Vaughn, and chief editor Astrid Ornelas, discuss the role of inflammation in metabolic syndrome. The following podcast offers a deeper look at understanding how inflammation can ultimately cause metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a collection of risk factors that can increase the risk of developing a variety of health issues, including diabetes, stroke, and heart disease. The risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome can also include, waist fat, high blood pressure, high blood sugar or glucose, high triglycerides, and low HDL or good cholesterol levels. Inflammation is the immune system’s natural response against injury, infection, and environmental toxins. Although inflammation is necessary, too much of it can ultimately cause a variety of health issues, including metabolic syndrome. Dr. Alex Jimenez, Kenna Vaughn, and Astrid Ornelas discuss how nutrition, diet, and fitness, as well as getting good sleep, can help regulate inflammation to prevent further health issues. Smoothies are also a good way to add extra nutrients. Dr. Alex Jimenez, Kenna Vaughn, Astrid Ornelas, discuss what type of foods, nutraceuticals, and supplements, you can eat, drink, and take to regulate inflammation and promote overall health and wellness to prevent health issues like metabolic syndrome, among others. – Podcast Insight
If you have enjoyed this video and/or we have helped you in any way
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Thank You & God Bless.
Dr. Alex Jimenez RN, DC, MSACP, CCST
Yoga has gained popularity because of its ability to reduce back pain, relax tight muscles, relieve stress and exercise in a safe calm environment. Developed thousands of years ago, the practice of breathing, posing and stretching offers a variety of important health benefits. As a chiropractor, I�m often asked about the practice of yoga. Those with back pain or have undergone spine surgery want to know if yoga can help them improve their physical and psychological health.
Reduced stress
Improved blood pressure
Increased flexibility
Increased stamina
Greater balance
Improved breathing techniques
In addition to the normal exercise benefits yoga offers, the practice serves as therapy for a variety of injuries and health conditions. Yoga embodies the physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness, and touches upon other forms of traditional exercise. The concept that yoga heals the body in its entirety mirrors chiropractic care. These foundations offer enormous benefits to those dealing with a variety of injuries and conditions. By incorporating yoga, individuals are able to reap amazing rewards.
A regular exercise plan needs to include a little cardio as there are huge benefits from pumping the heart rate up. Minimal loading exercises, like biking, and swimming are great. Pain can be managed by participating in cardiovascular exercises, however, yoga�s gentleness can complement the healing process.
Here are a few reasons:
Prepares the body for healing
Practicing yoga stretches and elongates the body’s muscles, releasing tension and stress. It can serve to warm up the body and clear the mind, so a chiropractor can get to the root problem. Yoga complements chiropractic treatment by preparing the body to heal itself.
Strengthens joints and ligaments
Dealing with a health condition or injury is frustrating and can seem like it takes forever to heal. Implementing yoga into a recovery plan helps strengthen joints and ligaments, which aids in promoting healing and cutting down the time it takes to get better. Yoga works on the body as a whole and promotes greater well-being from head to toe. A stronger body offers more productivity than one that is stiff, sore, and unhealthy.
Increases range of motion
Depending on the individual’s specific condition, individuals may need a few visits to prepare their bodies before the main issue can be addressed. Yoga sessions increase a body’s flexibility and help with the range of motion in the neck, back, hips, and other joints.
Prevents injury/s
Yoga provides a continual way for individuals dealing with chronic conditions to manage and reduce pain, inflammation, and other symptoms. Yoga combined with chiropractic keeps the body aligned, balanced, muscles stretched, de-stressed, and the joints working properly.
Both also serve to keep posture correct, and ligaments strong. All of this creates a body that is less susceptible to future injury, illness, and stress. Individuals enjoy increased mobility for a lot longer without changing lifestyle.
The Best Way to Start
There are many different types of yoga. Most sessions usually last an hour and include breathing exercises, meditation and holding poses/postures that stretch and tone muscle groups.
To help visualize how yoga can help the spine, here’s an analogy:
Think of the spine like a cookie ice cream sandwich with the ice cream in-between and a gummy band wrapped around. The cookies represent the vertebrae, the ice cream is the disc cushion in between and the gummy band represents the ligament and muscles surrounding the area.
The tighter the gummy band is, the more it compresses the cookies and applies pressure to the ice cream.When stretching the gummy band, it loosens the pressure on the cookies and reduces the load/compression of the ice cream.
Exercise is crucial for recovery and rehabilitation. Yoga is a gentle way to get you back on your feet. It promotes circulation, relaxation, strength, and flexibility. Pure plane movements meaning moving forward then backward in basic movements are essential until the body becomes more flexible. Move carefully forward, sideways and cautiously backward.
At the beginning no movements combining bending and twisting.
The muscles need to adapt and become comfortable with these movements at first. Therefore, hold poses for at least 30 seconds without bouncing minimizing potential injury.
Certified instructor
Ask your doctor or chiropractor if they can recommend a certified yoga instructor; preferably with 500 hours of instruction. Search for small class sizes and a teacher that closely monitors movements and poses closely. It is important that the instructor be aware and make gentle adjustments or offer modifications to participants as needed.
Restorative Flow
Start off with a type known as Restorative Flow. It restores the flow from one part of the body to another with slow controlled movements/poses that emphasize stretching and correct breathing.
Listen to Your Body
When healing from injury/s, take it slow. Listen to your body and let it guide your movements so that it feels safe and comfortable. Do not push beyond. For most, a beginner or restorative Yoga class is best. Ask about modifying the poses so that the bending and twisting combinations/advanced postures are taken out so as not to overload the joints.
If you are on a budget consider purchasing an instructional DVD. DVD’s offer program variations of 20 to 60 minutes and are highly educational and easy to follow. Stretching pain/soreness is okay, but sharp pain is not.
Yoga could be an answer to many of the body’s issues, whether dealing with current conditions or just want to stay healthy in a new way check out the basics of yoga. Chiropractic coupled with yoga offers great benefits to those dealing with medical conditions or injury. Ask your chiropractor for an evaluation, and if adding yoga to your health program will help.
Two types of muscles exist in the body, and they are voluntary or the ones that we can move and involuntary or those that move on their own like the digestive and heart muscles. Both can be made stronger and more resilient through exercise and physical activity. We’re shall focus on the voluntary muscles that move and support the spine.
When there is a lack of muscle strength and flexibility it can create an environment for back pain. The muscles connect to the bones through the tendons. When contracted the signal concentrates through the tendon, and moves the bone/s. The tendons are attached to the bones. When the tendons get inflamed, tendonitis can occur even in the spine.
Muscle layers
Some go deeper while others are more superficial and at the surface. The deeper muscles are the ones that stabilize and secure the bones. The abdominal muscles along with the hips and legs can play a part in back pain/problems.
A doctor might have told you that to have a healthy spine. That is great news, however, we all need to build a strong core, which includes the abdominal muscles, to help stabilize the entire torso. There are four types of abdominal muscles.
The Corset
The deepest is the transversus abdominis, which wraps around your body just like a corset. These muscles contract if you place your hands on your waist and cough. On the sides of your body, there are two sets of oblique muscles. The internal obliques go deeper, while the external obliques are closer to the surface. The obliques enable us to twist and bend from side to side.
The Six-Pack
And of course, there is the rectus abdominis which we all know as the six-pack. These can be sculpted into the washboard abs but they do not help in stabilizing the spine/back. The job of the abs is to pull you forward like when doing sit-ups and crunches.
They do help compress the deeper ab muscles, but to stabilize the spine, you want to strengthen the deepest ab muscles. The corset, internal obliques, and back muscles are the ones you want to work. One of the most effective ab and back workouts is Pilates. It targets all abdominal and spine muscles in a gentle way.
Flexors
Within the body are two muscles on either side of the body, called the iliopsoas muscles, or the psoas (so-as). These are the hip and thigh flexors which lift the thighs like when�walking, going upstairs.
When in a stationary position, the psoas enables you to bend forward or flex the hips. When sitting, the psoas stabilizes the spine into an upright position. It is one of the largest and thickest muscles, and it extends from your lumbar vertebrae, crosses in front of each hip, and attaches on the inside top of the thigh bone. When we sit for long periods it constricts or shortens the psoas, which causes soreness/pain when you stand.
Layers
Spinal muscles are made up of layers. The deepest are small and are attached one vertebra to another. The deepest level are the interspinalis muscles, which connect the spinous processes; thank them for helping you stretch backward.
The transversospinalis group forms a chevron pattern along the back and helps with side bending, twisting, and assists in back bending. The next layer up is the erector spinae. The main job of this group is bending, but also assist with�bending to the side . When muscle spasms occur, it’s often the erector spinae muscles.
The next level consists of the rhomboids. These are situated between the shoulder blades. Exercise or physical therapy can realign the vertebrae if there is upper back, shoulder and neck pain. The wings on either side of the back are called latissmius dorsi. These stabilize the back and help in doing all kinds of activities, like pull-ups.
Next are the trapezius (traps) muscles that extend from your neck and midback to the shoulders. These muscles help move your neck and lift the shoulder blades. When there is tension, there is a tendency to lift our shoulders, which is what makes these muscles tight and sore. It�s never too late to increase strength and flexibility. Look at activities that you and your friends/family can enjoy and turn them into a regular thing.
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NCBI Resources
A�chiropractor�is the ideal�medical professional to consult with for any unexplained pain in the musculoskeletal system. They are highly qualified professionals that their specialty is treating conditions like lower back pain and they are very affordable. If you or a loved one have pain give us a call. We�re here to help!
Physical Activity to Prevent Back Pain and Weight Gain
Osteoporosis
Regular physical activity will improve the body’s:
Balance
Reflexes
Coordination
This significantly reduces potential falls and injuries. Injuries from falling can be devastating for someone with osteoporosis.
Consult with your doctor before beginning any exercise program.
To help reverse bone loss, physical activity must fit the individual’s type and intensity. This will determine the appropriate exercises for your level of fitness as well as the risk of fracture.
As a way to begin walking is a great way to start a regular exercise therapy.
Walking improves bone strength because it distributes the body’s weight in a balanced manner over and over again. Bone responds best to the intensity of the walk and not the duration. Bones need to be consistently challenged as they respond by making more osteoblasts or the cellular material that fills the bone cavities. Adding these higher levels of resistance causes healthy stress to bones. This is what increases bone density.
Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are conditions that affect the flexibility of the spinal or facet joints. Flexibility, in this case, means the ability of joints to move through their normal range of motion. The amount of an individual’s range of motion is determined by how tight the muscles, tendons, and ligaments are. When muscles can stretch freely, this means the joint has better flexibility.
Low Back Pain & Possible Sciatica
To prevent low back and leg pain, the back, and hip muscles need to be flexible and strong. Individuals with poor flexibility and weak muscles in the back, pelvis, and thighs have a higher risk of increasing the curve of the lower back which can make the pelvis tilt too far forward.
Proper posture combined with flexible and strong muscles can help prevent nerve compression and pain.
Overall Health
Having healthy body composition means there needs to be more lean body mass i.e. muscle mass and less body fat. Strength training/CrossFit helps by raising the metabolic rate while lowering body fat. The increased muscle strength helps maintain correct posture and body mechanics in whatever you do.
Physical activity reduces the chance of injury while increasing physical performance like being able to climb stairs or carry groceries with much-added ease and confidence.
Exercise Suggestions
The benefits a regular exercise program offers are one of the keys to a healthier lifestyle. But take it in steps, see a health coach, physical therapist or chiropractor to help educate and guide you through an exercise treatment plan. Helpful tips:
It can take 6 to 8 weeks to see results so focus on short-term goals.
Work regular exercise into your schedule but keep important activities as a priority.
Friends and relatives can help give you support and join in the exercise.
You don’t have to do an entire workout. Instead, exercise for 10 minutes.
Consistency in physical activity is the goal. It’s not how long or hard the exercise is.
Keep a journal of your workouts and progress.
With the healthy changes made today, including diet choices and regular physical activity/exercise, your life will be one-hundred times better. This does not mean that you have to become an intense workout aficionado. Remember all that is needed is a reduction in weight of only 10%. This is what is needed to reduce the detrimental effects of being overweight.
Our clinical focus and personal goals are to help your body heal itself naturally quickly and effectively.� At times, it may seem like a long path; nevertheless, with our commitment to you, it�s sure to be an�exciting journey. The�commitment to you in health is to, never lose�our deep connection to each one of our patients on this journey.
When your body is truly healthy, you will arrive at your optimal fitness level proper physiological fitness state. �We want to help you live a new and improved lifestyle. Over the last two decades, while researching and testing methods with thousands of patients, we have learned what works effectively at decreasing pain while increasing human vitality.
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NCBI Resources
It can be tempting to not exercise with a spinal condition. But remember that if there is no movement at all, you could make the pain worse.�Knowing what your body can handle and sticking to a workable schedule, these healthy steps will relieve you and help with your low back pain.
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