Reducing Blood Pressure: Chiropractic treatment has a significant effect on blood pressure and anxiety levels, according to a study reported in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. The study examined systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels and patients’ anxiety levels before and after an adjustment. In all cases, those subjects who received active treatment experienced a distinct drop in blood pressure and a decrease of their anxiety levels. Results of this study provide evidence that chiropractic treatment offers support to the cardiovascular system.
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Improve Your Posture
Identify good posture. Good posture is nothing more than keeping your body in alignment. What it looks like when standing is a straight back, squared shoulders, chin up, chest out, stomach in. If you can draw a straight line from your earlobe through your shoulder, hip, knee, to the middle of your ankle—you’ve got it.
- Using a mirror, align your ears, shoulders, and hips. Proper alignment places your ears loosely above your shoulders, above your hips. Again, these points make a straight line, but the spine itself curves in a slight ‘S’. You’ll find that this doesn’t hurt at all. If you do experience pain, look at your side view in a mirror to see if you’re forcing your back into an unnatural position.
- The spine has two natural curves that you need to maintain called the ‘double C’ or ‘S’ curves, these are the curves found from the base of your head to your shoulders and the curve from the upper back to the base of the spine. When standing straight up, make sure that your weight is evenly distributed on your feet. You might feel like you are leaning forward, and look stupid, but you don’t.
Neck Stretches
There are six ranges of motion of the neck. For best results, you should stretch your neck in all six ranges for 10-15 seconds, but if you are in a hurry, just stretch the ranges that are painful or tight! To begin, sit with good posture in your chair. Reach and hold the seat of the chair with your hands.
Neck Flexion (Chin to Chest) – Slowly begin to lower you neck down by lower your chin down to your check and hold for 10-15 seconds.
Neck Extension (Lean your head back) – Lower your head back as far as you can.
Right Lateral Flexion (Ear to Shoulder) – Lower your right ear towards your right shoulder.
Left Lateral Flexion (Ear to Shoulder)– Lower your left ear towards your left shoulder.
Right Rotation (Chin to Shoulder) – Slowly turn your head to the right. Your chin with be close to your right shoulder.
Left Rotation (Chin to Shoulder) – Slowly turn your head to the left. Your chin with be close to your left shoulder.
Take Breaks!
The body is not designed to sit still, even in correct position, for long periods of time. Some individuals find that using a computer extensively can cause discomfort, so regular pauses are not a waste of time. Change your seated position occasionally, stand up or stretch whenever you start to feel tired. Depending upon your work and environment, you may want to take breaks.
Basic stretching exercises can help keep limber the joints and muscles you use when you sit at a computer. Some examples:
- General: Stand up and stretch your arms over your head.
- Neck: Tilt your head to one side (ear to shoulder); hold; relax; repeat on other side.
- Shoulders: Slowly bring shoulders up to the ears and hold briefly.
- Wrist: Hold arm straight out in front of you; pull hand backwards with other hand, then pull downward; hold; relax; repeat with other hand.
Avoid Neck/Back Injury at Computer
When you use a properly set-up workstation, you can sit at the computer in a natural (neutral), relaxed position that may help reduce your risk of developing musculoskeletal injuries:
- Spine: Ears are in line with tops of shoulders, and shoulders in line with hips.
- Shoulders: Upper arms hang relaxed and close to the body.
- Wrists: Hands are in straight lines with lower arms.
Keyboarding and pointing techniques:
- Keep your fingers relaxed while typing and using a mouse.
- Use a soft touch on the keyboard instead of pounding keys with unnecessary force.
- Grasp the mouse gently.
- Avoid holding a pen or anything else in your hands while you type or use the mouse.
- Relax your fingers and hands between bursts of typing or mousing using a flat, straight wrist posture.
Additional tips:
- Don’t rest your elbows on hard surfaces.
- Rest your eyes occasionally by focusing on distant objects (i.e., look out a window).
Runners, Prevent Lower Back Pain
Running puts a high level of repetitive stress on the back, and for those with lower back problems it is particularly important to take measures to reduce the strain on your lower back.
In general, the following tips are advisable for runners, especially for those who are susceptible to low back pain or leg pain/sciatica:
- Do a thorough warm-up prior to beginning a run
- Stretch the hamstrings (the large muscles in the back of the thigh) twice daily to minimize stress across the low back
- Muscle toning and strength training are also important, particularly with the core muscles of the back
- Cross training is useful, so as not to get into an overuse syndrome
- Wear comfortable, supportive shoes
- Try to run on a forgiving surface if possible, such as a rubber track, and try to avoid running on cement
It is important that back pain patients take note of any back symptoms that perhaps are being exacerbated by a particular activity. If running consistently brings on back pain or leg pain symptoms, an evaluation with a spine specialist, including X-rays and perhaps an MRI, can be useful to determine the source of that pain.