Back Clinic Posture Team. Posture is the position in which an individual holds their body upright against gravity while standing, sitting, or lying down. A proper posture visually reflects an individual’s health, ensuring the joints and muscles, as well as other structures of the body, are working properly. Throughout a collection of articles, Dr. Alex Jimenez identifies the most common effects of improper posture as he specifies the recommended actions an individual should take to improve their stance as well as enhance their overall health and wellness. Sitting or standing incorrectly can happen unconsciously, but recognizing the issue and correcting it can ultimately help many individuals develop healthier lifestyles. For more information, please feel free to contact us at (915) 850-0900 or text to call Dr. Jimenez personally at (915) 850-0900.
As one of the most common reasons for doctors visits, frequency of back pain is sky rocketing. Both active and inactive people will experience back pain at some point within the year and it�s estimated that 5/10 Canadians suffer back pain within a six month period.
I originally wrote this post for The Mommy Confessionals, if you haven�t been over there check it out!
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As moms, it�s not uncommon for us to grumble about our backs. We pick up, lift, twist and bend all day every day. And aside, from serious medical conditions (slipped and herniated discs, osteoarthritis etc) most back pain is caused by two things:
Poor Posture and Improper Movement Mechanics
Cause #1: Poor Posture
This is one of the most overlooked causes of chronic back pain especially in moms and pregnant ladies (I�ve actually touched on this posture here). Beginning during pregnancy, our center of gravity shifts to accommodate a growing baby. This shift makes our posture (which was probably not great to begin with) even worse. It causes our shoulders to round and low back to sway.
Outside of pregnancy, even those of us who are active lead fairly sedentary lifestyles and daily tasks like involving sitting (to eat, to drive, to relax) affects the way our muscles function. Throughout our day we lean forward frequently which causes our chest muscles to become chronically tight and out upper backs unable to do their job. Our posterior chain becomes under developed and all of it adds up and leads to back pain.
Cause #2: Poor Mechanics
As I mentioned, as moms we lift, twist, bend and pick up all day long. Unfortunately, all of those movements require a sound technique and a strong musculature. Picking up kids, moving furniture and playing can easily leave you with some low back tenderness when you fail to use proper movement patters and the necessary muscles (I�ve written before about why we need to learn to pick things up properly!)
If you�re feeling a bit overwhelmed- it�s okay! With the exception of medical conditions, back pain is pretty preventable if you put in the time and effort.
In fact, the number one thing you can do to prevent your back hurting is strengthen your posterior chain (back of the body).
Creating a strong back of body allows your muscles to pull your body back into alignment and spread some of the force more evenly.
Learning to pick things up properly (using a hip hinge or squat) is crucial to preventing any injury to your low back. Meaning, strengthening the muscles of the back of the body is crucial. My two favorite things to focus on when preventing back pain are: contracting the glutes and learning to hip hinge
The Glutes
Learning how to make your glutes strong and contract them has a host of benefits but one of the biggest is their help in posture. Glutes are part of the posterior chain but also the pelvic floor. They help keep your pelvis in proper alignment, keep you upright and move correctly (and yes they can look pretty!). Glutes are beyond important and one of my all time favorite body parts to train.
Check out six of my favorite glute exercises here.
Hip Hinging
Learning to hip hinge is crucial as a mom and as a person. It�s a basic movement that we seemed to have forgotten and evolved out of.
When you hinge from the hips you strengthen the back of the body and shift the weight back there also. Allowing your muscles to lift the object instead of the ligaments in your low back helps prevent lifting injuries.
I�ll be chatting about my favorite drills to teach and train the hip hinge in a couple weeks so peek back- but in the meantime check out the video below!
As moms, we�re moving all day long. But rarely are we moving correctly. Instead of using our muscles and proper mechanics we rely on our joints, tendons and ligaments. This is a recipe for disaster and, as you know all too well, back pain. Instead work on building strength, improving posture and becoming proficient in basic movements and your back pain will be far less.
I�m Shelby � strength coach, nutrition coach, chronic foodie & mama bear. I�ve been a coach for the better part of the past decade and I truly love helping people.
Through fitness, food, mommyhood or making natural changes in your home, I�ve done it all � and I want to help you too!
There are more benefits to gardening than blossoming flowers and fresh produce. It’s also an opportunity to stay active while enjoying the outdoors.
With thousands of people getting treated in emergency rooms for gardening-related injuries, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) wants to ensure that outdoor gardeners are practicing safety first.
Research from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) shows the following results for individuals treated in hospital emergency rooms in 2015:
Approximately 64,595 were treated for injuries related to hand garden tools
More than 92,000 for lawn and gardening equipment
More than 20,000 for trimmers and small power garden tools
Although equipment contributes to a significant number of injuries, they aren’t the sole cause of gardening injuries. Poor posture and body positions while gardening can lead to muscle and tendon injuries.
Expert Advice to Avoid Injury
“While gardening helps to relieve mental stress, many people underestimate the physical stress your body can endure during this activity,” said orthopaedic spine surgeon Raj Rao, MD. The constant bending, reaching and squatting involved could result in injuries to the lower back and knees, therefore it’s important to be mindful of your body’s position while gardening to avoid aches and strains.”
The AAOS recommends the following gardening safety tips, and urges gardeners to share them with family and friends.
Loosen your joints and muscles before gardening with simple stretches.
Take breaks. Do not stay in one position for too long. Switch positions often to avoid overworking one part of the body.
To avoid injuring your back when lifting heavy objects, position yourself close to the object you want to lift. Separate your feet shoulder-width apart to give yourself a solid base of support. Then bend at the knees, tighten your stomach muscles and lift with your leg muscles as you stand up. If an object is too heavy or is an awkward shape, do not try to lift it by yourself. Get help.
Protect your back and knees from strain by sitting on a garden stool when possible to help relieve pressure on your spine and knees.
Consider having a vertical garden, wall planters or hanging plant baskets to avoid the repetitive back bending and kneeling positions that’s involved in traditional gardening.
Stay hydrated with fluids, especially if you’re working up a sweat.
Children should not be allowed to play in or near where sharp tools, chemicals or gardening equipment are being used or stored.
Remove stones, toys and other objects from the yard before you start gardening.
Wear protective gloves, sturdy shoes and long pants when working in the garden to protect against insect bites and injuries from stepping on sharp objects, or cuts from handling sharp tools.
Familiarize yourself with the plants that are in your garden. If you identify poisonous plants or trees, ensure you keep young children away and educate them about the potential risks. If you cannot identify a plant or tree, take a sample to your local garden center for identification.
Keep gardening equipment in good working order. For example, when using a hedge trimmer for the first time in a season, have it serviced to ensure that it is working correctly.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
Additional Topics: Preventing Spinal Degeneration
As we age, it’s natural for the spine, as well as the other complex structures of the spine, to begin degenerating. Without the proper care, however, the overall health and wellness of the spine can develop complications, such as degenerative disc disease, among others, which could potentially lead to back pain and other painful symptoms. Chiropractic care is a common alternative treatment option utilized to maintain and improve spine health.
If getting through life without stress is a goal, it�s possible that expectations have been set a little too high.
While it�s an excellent idea to limit stress as much as possible, it�s next to impossible to eliminate it completely. But is stress really that harmful? Or is it more like poor posture or back pain � an inevitable part of life that is uncomfortable but relatively harmless in most cases?
Actually, these three common ailments can bring about a bit of pain and ill health to life. And it�s also possible that they feed off of each other. If you live in an environment, where stress, bad posture, and back pain are rampant, take a look at how they are connected and what you can do to feel some relief.
Improper Posture Complications
First, it�s important to understand where bad posture originates. Most people have great posture as kids, but it suffers greatly with age. This could be from poor habits, such as excessive TV time or inactivity, or it could be from long commutes and hours spent in desk chairs. Once poor posture is a habit, it pulls on the shoulders, rounds the upper back, and can cause restrictions in the vertebrae of the spine. All of these contribute to pain and discomfort that are hard to correct without assistance.
Posture and Stress
Stress may come about from various places in life including work, family situations, and finances. Once the body is stressed, it tenses. The tighter and more inflexible the body becomes, the more difficult it is to regain a relaxed, proper posture. When combined with a posture that is already suffering, the symptoms that come with either, such as body pain, headaches, and insomnia, can intensify.
The Connection Between Back Pain, Stress and Posture
Tension in the vertebrae, tense joints and muscles, and inflexibility in the body are linked to back pain, naturally. Both poor posture as well as stress can enhance back pain and make it feel stronger and occur more frequently. And without help in the causes of the pain, the three work in a frustrating cycle. Poor posture and stress lead to back pain, and then back pain forces poor posture and more stress.
Solving the Issues
One of the best things to do to alleviate stress and back pain, as well as regain good posture, is to change lifestyle habits. Exercise, strength training, and support devices all work wonders. Another great option is to get regular chiropractic care. Since residents of Houston are unlikely to escape work or long commutes anytime soon, it can feel as though back pain is here to stay, but it doesn�t have to be. Chiropractors can use spinal manipulation to release the tension in the spine and enhance overall health. Need a great place to go? Try The Joint Chiropractic. With walk-in visits and affordable pricing, getting care is easier than ever. There really can be an end to the cycle mentioned above, and it may begin with a quick trip to The Joint today.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
Additional Topics: Preventing Spinal Degeneration
As we age, it’s natural for the spine, as well as the other complex structures of the spine, to begin degenerating. Without the proper care, however, the overall health and wellness of the spine can develop complications, such as degenerative disc disease, among others, which could potentially lead to back pain and other painful symptoms. Chiropractic care is a common alternative treatment option utilized to maintain and improve spine health.
Upper back pain is a common spinal disorder, which causes pain and discomfort. Joint dysfunction and muscle irritation can be the common cause of this problem. Sometimes injuries can cause upper back pain.
A fracture of vertebrae, poor posture, and pressure on spinal nerves can be the causes of upper back pain. Many people suffer from the back ache especially upper back pain or thoracic spine. It can be chronic and very uncomfortable as it is associated with multiple ligaments, tendons and nerves in upper back.
When any of these associated ligaments or tendons becomes inflamed or irritated, it may result upper back pain. This can disrupts the life of many people but relief can be found through exercise and natural remedies. Some common symptoms of upper back pain include anxiety, depression, fatigue, headache, morning stiffness, neck pain, shoulder pain, redness, warmth or swelling of the back, stress, insomnia and much more. There are many ways to relieve upper back pain and promote spinal health:
Steps to Relieve Back Pain & Other Symptoms
Take rest: You should take a break if your back hurt a lot. You can return to your activities after taking break for few minutes. You should also avoid the things like carrying heavy weight and many more that make your pain worse.
Use ice pack or a heating pad: Heat can be helpful in reducing muscle stiffness and back ache. Ice is also equally effective in reducing swelling and pain. You can switch back or forth between cold or heat unit you find what makes you feel better.
Exercise: There are so many exercises that help strengthen your muscles in stomach, shoulder and back. These muscles mainly help support your spine and improve your spinal health. Strong muscles of back help reduce pain, improve body posture, keep your body in balance and decrease chances of injuries.
Practice good posture: Sometimes stress on your back muscles may be the main cause of upper back ache and poor posture may be the reason of stress on back.
Eat nutritious food: Healthy eating habits, plenty of calcium and vitamin D in your diet may help prevent backache. Calcium is an essential nutrient that strengthens your bones and muscles.
Stay hydrated: Staying hydrated is very significant in maintaining elasticity of soft tissues and fluidity in joints.
Take Orthoxil Plus capsules and oil: Orthoxil Plus capsule is highly beneficial and effective remedy for upper back pain. It possesses herbal and natural ingredients which helps repair damages. These pills work effectively promote healthy spine. The pure and natural ingredients check osteoporosis, progression of arthritis, and disc degeneration and many more issues. These capsules improve overall health and reverse ill effects of bone disorders, nutritional deficiencies, medical conditions that deplete muscles, ligaments, discs and bones. You can also use Orthoxil Plus oil to massage the affected area. You can take few drops of this oil to massage the painful area. It helps get rid of pain and improve your spinal health.
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
Additional Topics: Preventing Spinal Degeneration
As we age, it’s natural for the spine, as well as the other complex structures of the spine, to begin degenerating. Without the proper care, however, the overall health and wellness of the spine can develop complications, such as degenerative disc disease, among others, which could potentially lead to back pain and other painful symptoms. Chiropractic care is a common alternative treatment option utilized to maintain and improve spine health.
Correcting your posture does feel difficult and challenging at first because your body has become habitual of sitting or standing in that wrong posture. Here we tell you 5 exercises to help
Postural problems are the common cause of concern these days and the culprits here are desk jobs and our addiction to smartphones. Experts say that correcting your posture does feel difficult and challenging at first because your body has become habitual of sitting or standing in that wrong posture. However, a bit of practice, consistency and determination can facilitate the task and later your body will definitely thank you for this correction. Desk hunch (when you feel pain in your upper back after sitting at a computer all day) and text neck (the neck pain and damage sustained from looking down at your smartphone) are the two most prevalent postural problems these days.
Over time, both these problems contribute to you developing a rounded upper back, which can cause shoulder and upper back stiffness. However, practicing the below-mentioned stretches and workouts can turn your saviour here. The list includes upper back, neck and rear shoulder strengthening exercises, chest stretches and neck posture drills.
Seated rows: This workout emphasises muscles around the back including the lats, the erector spine, rear delts, biceps, and forearm flexors.
Pull-ups: If you are new at this exercise, then using a chin assist machine is the way to practice it. These machines use weight to help you push your bodyweight.
T-Spine Mobility in Child’s Pose: This pose stretches the lower back, tones the abdominal organs, and stimulates digestion and elimination.
Lat Hang: It alleviates the tight lats, pecs, upper back, and opens up the shoulder girdle prior to upper-body pushing or pulling movements.
Prone Y extension: It rotates your shoulders outward, stretches your abdomen, chest, and strengthens your lower back extensor muscles, along with the upper back muscles.
El Paso TX. Chiropractor Dr. Alex Jimenez looks at the work environment to see if it is in fact spine friendly.
While work can be a pain, it doesn’t have to cause pain. Creating your office work room in order to avoid back and neck strain is easier than you may think. Plus, rethinking your work environment is a fantastic chance to brush up on other healthy work habits as well as your posture.
Here are five ways you are able to design your office together with your back in your mind.
#1. Perfect Your Sitting�Posture
If you’re not sitting right even with the top equipment, your back will suffer. Pay attention to the situation of legs, hands, and your head when sitting. To avoid back pain, make sure to do the following:
Sit erect with your back and shoulders against the trunk of your chair
Consider using a hands free headset to stop shoulder and neck pain
Don’t slouch
Arms should rest on the armrests of your chair to avoid nerve pressure or circulatory difficulties
Keep your feet flat on the flooring�don�t cross your legs
Rest your shoulders while typing
#2. Get A Good�Chair
A good-constructed ergonomic seat to help increase your blood flow, reduce fatigue, stress, and decrease the chance of injury to your own neck and back. Getting the chair that is best is important, which means this is one product which should be tried in the store as opposed to purchasing online so you know before purchasing it, the way that it feels. Make fully sure your office chair has got the following:
A good backrest that provides lumbar support
The capability to recline (Sitting erect at a 90� angle is not good for your spine; a 100-degrees to 110-degrees angle is much better.)
Flexible height (You don�t want the seat to be overly high�your feet must be flat on the floor)
The ability to rotate or swivel, so you can easily�change tasks
#3. Invest In A Desk That Offers More Than Just Storage
One of the biggest pitfalls of a spine-friendly work routine is staying in one position for a long time. Switching between sitting and standing is the best strategy, and some desks�known as sit-stand desks or sit-to-stand desks � encourage one to mix up your position through the entire workday.
Sit-to-stand desks offer you the choice to work comfortably in both sitting and standing poses�and they been discovered to simply help burn off calories. They come in various price points and styles, and a growing variety of companies are considering this investment to boost workplace wellness.
If you�re looking to boost the ergonomic quality of a traditional desk make sure the desk is:
Secure (not wobbly)
Suitably high (generally 28″ to 30″ above the floor)
Large enough for your computer, with surface space for writing along with other jobs.
Not�so large that you have to over reach to do your work, which could cause excessive stress on the back
#4. Look At Your Computer
Since so much office work is done on computers, wherever your equipment is put can really make a difference when you are at work, in how your back feels. Try the following hints:
Tilt the keyboard down and slightly away from you for better wrist posture
Be sure your mouse is close enough so you can use it with your arms relaxed, and let it be as close to your body as possible
Set the monitor right in front of you at eye level, not off to the side, in order to avoid eye and neck strain. Adjustable monitor stands are available to find an ideal height.
If using a notebook, consider getting an external monitor or keyboard (or both). This enables each of those parts individually to move to develop a comfortable arrangement.
#5.�Take A Break
Not just a coffee break but a spine break. Stretch, take a quick walk, get the blood flowing. It�s simple to get caught up in work jobs and forget that you�ve been sitting or typing for a straight hour. Whether it�s a 15-minute walk or two-minute stretch session, occasional breaks can help revive your muscles, and perhaps you can find feel more productive, too.
You spend lots of time at work�why not take a few extra steps to develop a space that does your back a number of favors in return?
El Paso TX. Chiropractor Dr. Alex Jimenez looks at some exercises that are help�posture.
Prone Shoudler Arcs Can Help Strengthen Upper Back Muscles Which Hold Your Shoulders In Better Posture
By lifting a dowl or light pole up off the floor and moving the shoulder can help strengthen the muscles between the spine and shoulder blade.
Shoulders and shoulder blades which are relaxed and sit back and down instead of hunched up and slouched forward are better for your posture. Good posture can prevent neck pain, shoulder pain and headaches in the future.
Prone Shoulder Arcs
Deep Neck Flexor Training
Call Today!
For further hints and tips on postural care and general healthy living go to ccbrighton.co.uk/videos
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