Chiropractic Care for Degenerative Disc Disease

"Chiropractic care is a treatment option you may want to try for degenerative disc disease (DDD). The first step the chiropractor will take with DDD is to carefully determine if you have a true disc-related problem.

The goal of chiropractic care for DDD is to improve joint mechanics by improving spinal motion and reducing inflammation. The chiropractor may also work on improving the function of the intervertebral discs—but that’s only if you do not have advanced disc degeneration.

To help treat your DDD symptoms, your chiropractor may use spinal manipulation (also called spinal adjustment). 

Your chiropractor may also recommend therapeutic exercises, which can help reinforce your other treatments. With chiropractic care, prevention is key, and therapeutic exercises can prevent your symptoms of degenerative disc disease from getting worse."

For more informaton, visit https://www.spineuniverse.com/conditions/degenerative-disc/chiropractic-care-degenerative-disc-disease

How to boost your immune system

"How can you improve your immune system? On the whole, your immune system does a remarkable job of defending you against disease-causing microorganisms. But sometimes it fails: A germ invades successfully and makes you sick. Is it possible to intervene in this process and boost your immune system? What if you improve your diet? Take certain vitamins or herbal preparations? Make other lifestyle changes in the hope of producing a near-perfect immune response?

The idea of boosting your immunity is enticing, but the ability to do so has proved elusive for several reasons. The immune system is precisely that — a system, not a single entity. To function well, it requires balance and harmony. "

Want to learn more about how to boost you immune system the healthy way? Click HERE

3 Tips to Prevent Neck Pain

"Without knowing it, you may be encouraging neck pain by the way you perform everyday activities. How you carry yourself can invite neck pain or help keep it at bay. In general, try to keep your head balanced directly over your spine, so it is not leaning forward or cocked to one side. That's because your neck's principal job is to support your head, and your head weighs a lot—about 10 to 12 pounds."

For some hints for achieving a healthy neck posture in common activities such as being at your computer/desk, using the telophone, and reading at home, visit 3 tips to prevent neck pain - Harvard Health.

Good and Bad Exercises for Low Back Pain

Walking: Trim your waistline, improve your health

"Can you really walk your way to fitness? You bet! Get started today.

Know the benefits. Physical activity doesn't need to be complicated. Something as simple as a daily brisk walk can help you live a healthier life. For example, regular brisk walking can help you:

Maintain a healthy weight and lose body fat

Prevent or manage various conditions, including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, cancer and type 2 diabetes

Improve cardiovascular fitness

Strengthen your bones and muscles

Improve muscle endurance

Increase energy levels

Improve your mood, cognition, memory and sleep

Improve your balance and coordination

Strengthen immune system

Reduce stress and tension"

To learn more about improving your technique and setting realistic goals, visit https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/walking/art-20046261

How to Set Up an Ergonomic Home Office

If you spend several hours each day working at a desk, you’ve probably experienced the ache and pain that comes with poor posture. Luckily, there are tips and tricks to setting up your office (or makeshift home office) to achieve good posture and ergonomics.

To continue reading about how to achieve good posture in your home office, visit:

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/heres-how-to-set-up-your-office-to-avoid-aches-pain/

Spinal Decompression Therapy

"If you have lasting back pain and other related symptoms, you know how disruptive to your life it can be. You may be unable to think of little else except finding relief. Some people turn to spinal decompression therapy -- either surgical or nonsurgical. Here's what you need to know to help decide whether it might be right for you.

Nonsurgical spinal decompression is a type of motorized traction that may help relieve back pain. Spinal decompression works by gently stretching the spine. That changes the force and position of the spine. This change takes pressure off the spinal disks, which are gel-like cushions between the bones in your spine, by creating negative pressure in the disc. As a result, bulging or herniated disks may retract, taking pressure off nerves and other structures in your spine. This in turn, helps promote movement of water, oxygen, and nutrient-rich fluids into the disks so they can heal."

To learn more about ways doctors have used nonsurgical spinal decompression in an attempt to treat lasting back pain and other related symptoms, read more at https://www.webmd.com/back-pain/guide/spinal-decompression-therapy-surgical-nonsurgical

The Pandemic of Work-From-Home Injuries

"Elizabeth Cuthrell, a Manhattan-based film producer, used to work in an ergonomic office space: comfortable desk chair, monitor at eye level, external keyboard. Then came Covid-19. During stay-at-home she worked on a laptop from a wicker chair, or sometimes on a couch with “cushions like marshmallows.” A month later she felt pain in her neck, wrist and shoulders that sent her to a chiropractor.

“It’s hard to quantify, but this has been a really, really big issue for a lot of my patients,” said Karen Erickson, the chiropractor who treated Ms. Cuthrell. Chiropractors report a surge of injuries and discomfort stemming from the nationwide push to work from home, as millions of workers have spent months clacking away on sofas and beds and awkward kitchen counters. Out with ergonomics, in with hunching over laptops."

To learn more, visit https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/well/live/ergonomics-work-from-home-injuries.html 

Headaches and Chiropractic

"If you have a headache, you’re not alone. Nine out of 10 Americans suffer from headaches. Some are occasional, some frequent, some are dull and throbbing, and some cause debilitating pain and nausea. What do you do when you suffer from a pounding headache? Do you grit your teeth and carry on? Lie down? Pop a pill and hope the pain goes away? There is a better alternative.

Research shows that spinal manipulation – one of the primary treatments provided by doctors of chiropractic – may be an effective treatment option for tension headaches and headaches that originate in the neck. A 2014 report in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT) found that interventions commonly used in chiropractic care improved outcomes for the treatment of acute and chronic neck pain and increased benefit was shown in several instances where a multimodal approach to neck pain had been used. Also, a 2011 JMPT study found that chiropractic care, including spinal manipulation, improves migraine and cervicogenic headaches. "

For more information, please visit: https://www.acatoday.org/Patients/Health-Wellness-Information/Headaches-and-Chiropractic

Mobility and Health

"Flexibility and mobility are two factors of healthy living that are frequently overlooked. Most people tend to focus on other important pieces of healthy living (such as diet and exercise) and allow flexibility and mobility to fall to the wayside. These two factors of healthy living actually have a much larger role than commonly realized. Being flexible and having full joint mobility can have several beneficial implications on quality of life, including: reducing day-to-day pain and increasing vascular health."

For more information, please visit: https://sites.psu.edu/kinescfw/health-education/exercise-articles/the-importance-of-flexibility-and-mobility/