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Chiropractic Care and Correction of a Bad Posture

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chiropractic careChiropractic Care and Correction of a Bad Posture.

Having good posture has always been considered important and chiropractic care plays an important role by keeping your spine aligned.

So, what is good posture and why should we bother with our posture?Posture means ‘the position you hold your body during certain activities, not just standing and sitting’.

It relates to all activities.Good posture helps your body function better. If you have correct posture for the activity you are doing, your body will need less effort doing it and be less likely to get injured. Good posture will give you better mechanical advantage and reduce strain on certain parts of your body that are prone to injury.This is particularly important in physical activities, such as manual labor, gardening and sports, and that applies to athletes of all abilities.If you make better use of the natural lever systems in the body you will get better mechanical advantage, which will get the job done with less effort and with less risk of injury.

 

Posture of the Spine and the Nervous System

Common interferences to the nervous system occur between some of the 24 moving bones of the spinal column. A loss of normal motion or position of these bones can irritate or impair the function of the nervous system.

This can disrupt the transmission of controlling nerve impulses. With improved spinal function people often report improved organ and system function. Your Chiropractor can help remove any interference that may be impairing normal health.

When under proper control of your nervous system, all the cells, tissue, and organs of your body are designed to resist disease and ill health. The Chiropractic approach to better health is to locate and help reduce interferences to your natural state of being healthy.

Causes of poor posture

The causes of faulty posture can be divided into two categories: positional and structural.

Structural causes are basically permanent anatomical deformities that may not amenable to correction by conservative treatments. However, some leg length inequalities and some ankle and foot issues can be corrected conservatively.

Positional causes of poor posture include

  • poor postural habit—for whatever reason, the individual does not maintain a correct posture
  • psychological factors, especially self-esteem
  • normal developmental and degenerative processes
  • pain leading to muscle guarding and avoidance postures
  • muscle imbalance, spasm, or contracture
  • joint hypermobility or hypomobility
  • respiratory conditions
  • general weakness
  • excess weight
  • loss of proprioception—the ability to perceive the position of your body
  • over reliance on passive support from a non-ergonomic chair

Physiology of posture

Posture control involves static and phasic reflex activities:

  • Static reflexes involve sustained contraction of the musculature.
  • Dynamic short-term phasic reflexes involve transient movements.

Both types of reflex are integrated at various levels in the central nervous system (CNS) from the spinal cord to the cerebral cortex and are largely effected through extrapyramidal motor pathways.

Postural reflex patterns from reflexes, such as the stretch and flexion (withdrawal) reflex pathways, result in a coordination of many joint movements and combinations of muscle actions:

  • These involve the contraction of prime movers, synergists, and stabilizers, along with the necessary relaxation of antagonists.
  • These muscles are regulated for contraction intensity, speed, duration, and sequential changes in activity.

The integrative pattern of posture is predominantly automatic and unconscious, resulting from the incessant shifting of weight (postural sway).

Postural corrections are continuously mediated by spinal reflexes. Posture is further mediated by the visual, labyrinthine, neck-righting reflexes, and by the interplay of joint reflexes.

While the control of posture is primarily controlled by various reflex mechanisms, there is also extensive input from the higher centers of the nervous system. Therefore, posture to some extent can be relearned (corrected) just as it was learned in the first place.

Correcting postural faults

Postural faults must be accurately analyzed before they can be effectively corrected.

Examination should include the following:

  • observation of the patient as they sit and move about
  • spinal alignment
  • if appropriate: measurement or estimation of the deviation from ideally erect postures using plumb lines, inclinometry, and posture guides —done in three or all four views
  • limb length and girth measurements
  • flexibility tests and joint mobility tests
  • muscle length and strength tests

The importance of muscle testing to postural analysis cannot be  over-emphasized. Much of the specific therapy in posture correction relies  directly on muscle tightness and weakness found during examination.

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A photo posted by Eduard Burt, D.C., MUAC (@burtchiropractic) on

This patient was in a severe #car #accident Her car was totaled. She sustained #whiplash #injury and complained of #severe #neckpain #midbackpain and #lowback #pain. Image is showing pre and post #chiropractic #adjustment #posture results just after the first visit #chiropracticcare #chiropractor #subluxation #rehabilitation #rearendcollision #injury #sanlorenzoca #sanleandroca #sanleandro #haywardca #hayward #castrovalley #castrovalleyca #livermore #alameda #alamedaca #Fremont #fremontca #unioncityca

A photo posted by Eduard Burt, D.C., MUAC (@burtchiropractic) on

This patient has never had #chiropractic care #patient complained of persistent left #shoulder #pain and #backpain which radiates down right #lowerextremity. She has difficulties to sit at her desk at #work for prolonged periods of time. She ised #physicaltherapy and #painmedicine without long lasting effect. These are the results we were able to achieve after one session. #chiropracticcare #chiropractor #subluxation #adjustment #painmanagement #sanleandro #sanleandroca #haywardca #hayward #sanlorenzoca #Fremont #unioncityca #newarkca #oaklandca #oakland ##alameda #castrovalley #castrovalleyca #pleasanton #dublinca #sanramon

A photo posted by Eduard Burt, D.C., MUAC (@burtchiropractic) on

Conventional corrective therapies

Six main modalities are employed in the conventional treatment of faulty body mechanics and hence postural faults: chiropractic; heat; massage; stretching; strengthening exercises; and supportive measures to treat ligaments, bones, and nerves.

These days, more and more people find themselves sitting in front of computer screens or television sets for long periods of time. Only a small percentage of people exhibit good posture when they are sitting. That’s because it is
hard to sit up straight for eight hours at a time. Eventually, you will find yourself slouching or leaning forward to get a better look at the computer screen. Over time, the bad posture can really start to add up and take a physical toll on your body. You may start to feel tight or stiff in your shoulders and neck, or you could experience lower back pain.

If you have ever felt like there’s a knot of muscle tension in your neck or back, it may be a sign that you are exhibiting poor posture. This tension will only get worse over time, and can begin to seriously impact your quality of life. With quality chiropractic care, you can fix the problem before it gets out of hand.

 

#severe #neckpain #chiropracticcare #chiropractor #chiropractic #subluxation #adjustment #rehabilitation #pain #video #instapain #instachiro #backpain #nerves #spine #sanleandroca #haywardca #hayward #sanleandro #oakland #oaklandca #castrovalleyca #castrovalley #pain #alameda #pleasanton #dublinca #unioncityca #newarkca #fremontca

A photo posted by Eduard Burt, D.C., MUAC (@burtchiropractic) on

Chiropractic Care, Rib Pain and Proper Breathing

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Chiropractic Care, Rib Pain and Proper Breathing

Chiropractic Care, Rib Pain and Proper Breathing

Don’t forget to breathe people!
I know you probably like “what is he on about? I breathe, I’m walking and I’m alive” that’s not the point. The point is that everyone forgets to actively breathe more oxygen into their lungs. This is because in this day and age everyone is busier and our sedative lifestyles are becoming more prominent so we forget to breathe or we hold our breaths without noticing. So how can we achieve greater vitality?
Simple just breathe more, breathe deeply and focus on where it is going in your body.
Oxygen is vital for all the nutrients in our bodies. It is essential for the functioning and alertness of our brains, ever wonder why you’re yawning or tired? Not enough OXYGEN!
It’s also important for our nerves, glands and internal organs- these are all connected. If one fails the other will too and then a domino effect arises.
So it’s simple “BREATHE” and let it the oxygen consume you !

Anatomy of a rib cage

Care of the thorax in the chiropractic setting is adapted to the beautiful design of the chest. We are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made.

It was designed to give protection to the vital organs, in particular the heart and lungs. However, compromise was needed to enable us to breathe.

So these organs are surrounded by a cage of bone, interspaced with small gaps filled with muscles, and some other structures, nerves and an artery. They have to rise, increasing the space in the chest, drawing fresh air into the lungs, and then drop again as we exhale.

The ribs have a bucket handle configuration, with one joint in the front, with the breastbone, and three joints at the back, with the spine, allowing the ribs to rise and fall rhythmically with breathing.

The ribcage

Rib pain treatment by chiropractors was designed around this beautiful structure. Like anything mechanical, the ribcage too needs maintenance. Both the joints at the front, the costo sternal joints, and the joints at the back, the costo spinal joints, can be injured by freak movements.

An unexpected sneeze, a bout of bronchitis and trauma such as the injury from a seatbelt in an motor vehicle accidents, or a fall on the fist as in skating; all of these can and do injure the ribcage.

Rib subluxations can be exquisitely painful. Every breath may be a nightmare. However, the treatment, correctly done is not usually particularly painful.

Breathing is an automatic bodily function. Every day we do it up to 20,000 times without a thought, but most of us don’t use the full potential of our breathing to feel energised and to keep in good health.

Poor Breathing – Poor Posture

Poor breathing is usually connected with poor posture, physical stiffness, tense shoulders, a curved spine and a rigid pelvis, all of which disturb the natural balance of the body.

Therefore, when your breathing is out of balance the diaphragm, abdomen and pelvis are also out of balance.

Poor Posture – Poor Breathing

With so many of us becoming more and more sedentary in our lifestyles, a common bad posture seen during sitting is the head forward, with rounded shoulders and a slightly caved in chest. This posture stops the rib cage opening up and makes the mid back area tight and often painful.

Important points to remember to help your breathing

• Limit the amount of time that you spend sitting
• Watch the posture of your upper back at all times
• Make sure that your abdominal muscles are fairly strong and have good tone.
• The most efficient way to breathe is by pushing through the abdomen, or the diaphragm, as gravity dictates, to encourage the air to go to the bottom of the lungs where the best blood supply is and oxygen exchange will occur most efficiently.
• Only through abdominal breathing can we access this deep breathing.

If you follow these points and breathe in this way, the diaphragm can move up and down efficiently, hence massaging the internal organs below and ensuring that there is good blood circulation.

Rib pain treatment

Rib pain treatment is usually straightforward unless associated with trauma or costochondritis.

Your chiropractor will likely use one of a number of loosening up techniques prior to manipulation. This could be massage, or a vibrator, or stretching, or a mobilising technique. D not mistake radiating rib pain for a heart attack – read more here

 

Nervous System, Chiropractic and Innate Intelligence

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nervous system

Nervous System, Chiropractic and Innate Intelligence

This is a picture of a person’s entire nervous system (with the exception of the nerve endings in the skin). As far as I am concerned, this is what ‘someone’ looks like in their distilled essence. This mass of neurons was once sentient. It produced the mind and housed the intellect of the person it belonged to. It processed the information coming in through the senses and painted of a picture of the world the person found themselves in. It controlled various bodily processes. I steered the body through the obstacles of life. It once had dreams and ambitious. It learned how to interact with other nervous systems. It encoded the information it found relevant into long term memory. It enjoyed the pleasures of life and it had original ideas. It mourned the loss of others and experienced the sensation of physical pain. At times it became depressed/stressed/anxious/content/relaxed/afraid/empathetic/concerned. It fell in love and procreated with others. It had invested interest in the pursuit for knowledge. It knew that it would not last forever so it at one point in its life it decided to donate itself, once expired, for scientific research. This photo wouldn’t exist if the mind this nervous system once generated didn’t have a sense of intellectual altruism for everyone else it left behind. Whomever this nervous system once belonged to, you are appreciated.

Functions of the Nervous System
The nervous system has 3 main functions: sensory, integration, and motor.

  • Sensory. The sensory function of the nervous system involves collecting information from sensory receptors that monitor the body’s internal and external conditions. These signals are then passed on to the central nervous system (CNS) for further processing by afferent neurons (and nerves).
  • Integration. The process of integration is the processing of the many sensory signals that are passed into the CNS at any given time. These signals are evaluated, compared, used for decision making, discarded or committed to memory as deemed appropriate. Integration takes place in the gray matter of the brain and spinal cord and is performed by interneurons. Many interneurons work together to form complex networks that provide this processing power.
  • Motor. Once the networks of interneurons in the CNS evaluate sensory information and decide on an action, they stimulate efferent neurons. Efferent neurons (also called motor neurons) carry signals from the gray matter of the CNS through the nerves of the peripheral nervous system to effector cells. The effector may be smooth, cardiac, or skeletal muscle tissue or glandular tissue. The effector then releases a hormone or moves a part of the body to respond to the stimulus.

 

via GIPHY

 

Correcting Hormone Imbalance with Chiropractic Care

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hormonal imbalanceCorrecting Hormone Imbalance with Chiropractic Care

Many people view chiropractic care as an obscure, ineffective branch of medicine. Even those who are supporters of the practice think chiropractors are just “back doctors.” Unfortunately, both of these perceptions are inaccurate.

The Chiropractic Mindset

Proponents of chiropractic care believe our overall health is dependent on proper spinal and nervous system health. When these vital elements of the body are out of balance, the rest of the systems suffer the consequences. Our bodies crave a state of homeostasis and balance. Fortunately, it doesn’t take much effort to create this ideal situation. By attending to the spine and nervous system health, chiropractors can influence positive change in other areas of the body. Therefore, these holistic healers offer numerous benefits—many we didn’t even know possible. One of the many benefits of alternative medicine is correcting hormone imbalances.

Understanding Hormones

Hormones are essential chemicals that regulate and facilitate many of the body’s most necessary functions. They serve as messengers, traveling through the bloodstream from one tissue to another. The most talked about hormones are estrogen and testosterone. Most people are familiar with the way estrogen wreaks havoc in the lives of menopausal women and how low testosterone affects the sex life of men. However, these two hormones only scratch the surface of what the body is capable of producing and regulating. There are hundreds of hormones flowing through the body at any given moment.

Hormones are responsible for various functions of the body, such as:

  • Growth
  • Circadian rhythm management (like sleep/wake patterns, appetite, etc.)
  • Moods and emotions
  • Healthy immunity
  • Metabolism regulation
  • Puberty, menopause, and andropause
  • Reproductive health
  • Sexual arousal 

Hormone levels are in a constant state of flux. However, there are definite “high” and “low” thresholds and a span that is considered normal. When hormones become imbalance, patients can expect to experience things like:

  • Excessive mood swings
  • Unexpected weight loss or weight gain
  • Depression
  • Disturbances in sleep patterns
  • Decrease libido
  • Unexplained hair loss or growth 

Since none of these situations are desirable, it is important to keep hormone levels in check.

Chiropractic Care to Balance Hormones

Many people find it surprising to learn chiropractors can help regulate hormones. Because of the widespread appeal of commercial products for hormone replacement therapy, many people are unaware of the natural healing techniques. Fortunately, chiropractors offer drug-free, non-surgical hormone restoration techniques. Usually, these alternative methods involve spinal subluxation, exercise and a healthy diet.

Spinal Subluxation

When the spine is misaligned, it puts pressure on the nearby nerves. This pressure hinders the nerves’ ability to communicate with the rest of the body. When this happens, the brain doesn’t receive the messages it needs to in order to regulate the body (it can also receive inaccurate messages). When the brain is receiving poor information from the rest of the body, it won’t properly communicate with the endocrine system—which is responsible for hormone regulation.  Once the spinal alignment has been restored, the nervous system will begin functioning properly again.

Exercise

Many hormone imbalances are caused by weight management issues. For example, there is a direct correlation between obesity and low testosterone. There is also a correlation between decreased muscle mass and low testosterone. For these reasons, it is essential to incorporate exercise into an all-natural hormone management system. Fortunately, there are many exercises that boost testosterone naturally. In addition to exercise, there are other lifestyle changes that can naturally increase testosterone and other hormones.

Nutrition

A healthy diet is also a key element in overall health. Since an alarming portion of the population is deficient in one or more nutrients, it is no surprise our health suffers. Therefore, proper nutrition should always be included in any alternative healing technique.

Balancing Your Hormones

If you suspect a hormone imbalance, talk with your chiropractor. The doctor can conduct a simple test to evaluate your hormone levels. Once hormones have been deemed inadequate, the chiropractor will work with you to bring a natural balance to your body.