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Our Hands, Your Health: Spinal Adjustment After the Holiday Season
After the holidays, hit the reset button with spinal adjustment
As 2018 approaches, many of us are distracted by the myriad engagements of a busy holiday schedule. As a consequence, many of our normal routines are chucked out the window. The health our spines can be easy to lose sight of amidst the holidays, as discussed in our previous blogs. Just as many people will carry hangovers into the first day of 2018, so will many of us carry back pain from one year into the next. Spinal adjustment offers us a chance to write a fresh script for our spines in 2018.
This Holiday Season, Keep Pain Relief Natural
The holidays offer myriad ways to not focus on our health
Between christmas parties, family engagements, and shopping til you drop, it can be hard to keep your health in perspective. Many of us will reach the end of the holiday season at the end of our rope, both physically and mentally. Along the way, so many of us will make poor health decisions, foregoing what we know is right for what is simply easy.
Say you have chronic back pain which you manage through regular physical activity, stretching, and chiropractic. The holiday season can leave you too busy to get outside and run, too busy to stretch and certainly too busy to stop by the chiropractor for an adjustment. Instead, many of us will reach for the easy option: OTC painkillers which treat the symptoms but not the root cause of our pain.
Keeping your Spine Happy this Holiday Season
When it comes to holiday health objectives, focus on your spine
Spinal health is the gift that keeps on giving. Ask anyone with chronic back pain- if they could get back to a vantage point of having no pain, they would trade all the christmas gifts in the world for it. But Christmas offers a unique set of challenges to our spines: from increased food and alcohol intake, to decreased activity levels, it is not a time that is generally kind to the spine.
Preserving the Spinal Health of Young Athletes in Alameda
Our spines were all young once upon a time…
When it comes to spinal health, our youth don’t know how good they have it! Because the structures and muscles of our spines are naturally resilient at a young age, we rarely put thought into taking extra-special care of this pinnacle of health. One further advantage of being young is that you are more active across the board than all other age groups. In general, higher levels of activity bode well for the health of your spine. However, because young people are more active than other age demographics, they also face a unique set of risk factors for back pain. Back pain risk factors for young athletes include:
- Too much physical activity
- Poor training techniques
- Poor posture while performing physically demanding movements
- Traumatic injuries
- Overuse injuries
And these risks increase depending on the sport you play; football and other high-impact sports contribute to horrific spinal injuries; gymnastics incorporates physically demanding disciplines which can affect the spine negatively.
Remaining Active to Defeat Sarcopenia
Sarcopenia is age-related muscle loss
It is going to happen to all of us; at some point in our 30s we begin to slowly, but steadily lose muscle mass. As we approach seniority between the ages of 65-75, this muscle loss accelerates. Losing muscle mass is a leading contributor to frailty and loss of independence in old age. It makes us weaker and less able; it also increases our vulnerability to injury from even simple motions. From a chiropractor’s perspective, sarcopenia is doubly alarming because of its effect on the spine.
Sciatic Nerve Pain in Alameda
Sciatica in the Bay Area
Sciatica is a commonly-experienced condition that affects people in a variety ways. The pain can be mild to severe and frequency ranges from intermittent to chronic and constant. But there are several hallmarks of sciatica that leave a mark on your quality of life, including:
- Feelings of burning, tingling numbness
- Radiating pain into the extremities
- Limited range of motion
Your Back Pain Treatment Should Be as Unique as Your Spine
Your spine is completely unique- every motion and action in your life has made it that way
But many of our most common motions and actions lead our spines down the road toward nonspecific back pain. It is part of the reality of growing old- our bodies become less maleable and more stiff; our muscle mass begins to wither away and spinal instability sets in; posture becomes more difficult to maintain and the problems compound upon themselves. Back pain is one of the leading detriments to well-being; it simply makes life harder. At your Bay Area Spine Care Office, we are dedicated to providing people with the latest, multi-disciplinary approaches to treating back pain with the objectives of:
- Helping you live better in the here and now
- Protecting the longevity of your spine to make old age easier
- Preventing back pain through proactive measures
- Rehabilitating acute injuries and easing the pain of chronic injuries
Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression with the DRX9000
Spinal decompression is pressure relief for your spine
Our spines are always under pressure- you simply can’t escape the downward force of gravity. But as we grow older, our spines become less resistant to the omnipresence of compression and we start to feel its effects more acutely- generalized back pain, sciatica, herniated discs and degnerative spinal conditions are all linked to the effects of spinal compression. One of the best responses we have for addressing spinal compression is providing your back with the opposite sensation: decompression. At Basco Chiropractic, we utilize the DRX9000 to provide effective, non-invasive relief of pressure to the anatomical structures of your spine.
Knowledge is Spinal Health: Getting to Know the Spinal Motion Segment
Good spinal health begins with having all the facts in hand: have you heard of spinal motion segments?
Spinal motion segments have two main functions: facilitating movement of the upper body and stabilizing the spine in order to prevent injury from excessive movement. They consist of: 2 vertebrae, 2 facet joints, 1 intervertebral disc and a whole network of supportive soft tissue. The vertebrae, intervertebral disc and facet joints form the articular triad; these are the structures that allow for minute articulation between vertebrae and thus, when all the spinal motion segments are put together, for the overall articulation of the spine and upper body.
Is your Workplace Putting Your Spine at Risk?
Don’t let ergonomic injuries become your workplace reality
Bad ergonomics are a chiropractor’s worst nightmare. And unfortunately, they are for more common than good ergonomics in most workplace settings. The fact is, few employers care enough, or can invest enough, in the ergonomics of the office to truly benefit their employees. That means it is up to you, the worker, to take the onus upon yourself and ensure that your workplace is ergonomically supportive. There is a reason why back pain is the number one complaint that causes missed work in the blue-collar professions, and it’s because you are sitting for longer than you are designed too with poor ergonomics.