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How to Have the Best Sleep: Chiropractic and Sleep

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sleepHow to Have the Best Sleep: Chiropractic and Sleep

The Field of Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine which is getting more attention nowadays. As with most alternative forms of medicine, chiropractic always get reactions full of skepticism and doubt. A lot of people considered chiropractic as a western form of acupuncture and oriental massage. A lot of individuals even find the field as a gimmick or a way for people to make a quick buck out of someone gullible enough to believe in some outlandish practice. Chiropractic, by definition, is the diagnosis and treatment of disorders that concern the musculoskeletal system.

Most practitioners of Chiropractic believe that these problems affect how the body functions via the nervous system. The basics of chiropractic heavily involve physical manipulation of the spine and neck. Chiropractors, those who practice chiropractic, are split into two different groups: The “Straights” which are more keen on unfounded beliefs and practices regarding chiropractic. The other group is otherwise known as “Mixers” are the more preferred group which believes in modern and conventional medicine such as massage therapy, exercise, and diet.

People who seek treatment for lower back pain, often go to chiropractors to relieve them of their chronic pain. Chiropractors also believe that spinal manipulation can alleviate a multitude of conditions such as bad posture, problems with appetite, headaches, and sleeping problems.It is a well-known fact that sleep affects people in a lot of ways. Getting enough sleep is healthy and good for the body while getting more or less sleeping hours is dangerous. With chiropractic, here are some good ways to improve sleeping habits.

 

Position

Most people sleep on their backs. What a lot of them don’t know is that sleeping on one’s back can increase the risk of having sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a dangerous condition where the body pauses to breathe which usually lasts for a minute to an hour in most extreme cases. Sleep apnea if left untreated, can cause high blood pressure, aneurysms, diabetes, heart disease, etc. Contrary to some beliefs, sleeping on your left side is an excellent way to prevent neck and back pain when waking up. Research believes that sleeping on the left can relieve heartburn. For pregnant mothers, the left side is also good because it significantly improves circulation, good for both the mom and baby inside the womb. Sleeping on the stomach is the worst possible position for a person to sleep. Although sleeping on one’s stomach can prevent sleep apnea and aid in digestion, the weight created by the body puts a lot of pressure on the spine. The lower back also gets a lot of that pressure and will eventually cause the neck to turn at such an unnatural angle. With the neck being in such a strange position for prolonged hours, the risk of spinal and neck injury significantly increase.

 

Exercise

Part of a healthy lifestyle is getting enough exercise. Training enables the body to have a healthy circulation needed to help better itself. Exercise also helps build up the muscles of the body so that it can better contribute to supporting the body’s weight. Exercise should be during the day, where the body is still alert and active. Exercising before going to bed is bad because heat is retained in the body making you sweat. A fast heartbeat resulting from rigorous movement can also interfere with normal sleeping patterns.

 

Mattresses

Choose a bed that will adequately support the spine and the body. Make sure that the bed isn’t too soft, as it will bring the body down, forcing another strange position. Sleeping in these positions can cause a lot of problems such as neck and back pain. Another weird thing an improper bed does to a person is that it may cause them to snore. Snoring is done when the lungs make the tissues of the airway vibrate. These often result in a snort-like sleep during sleep. Snoring can affect a person’s breathing while he or she sleeps. Snoring is also a sign of impending diseases such as heart problems and diabetes.  

 

Regular Chiropractic Sessions

Due to some decompression by spinal manipulation during chiropractic adjustments, people often find relief in their sleeping problems. A lot of them report that their sleeping habits are better after a session with their chiropractor.

 

Takeaway

Chiropractic and sleeping patterns come hand in hand when it comes to overall health. When a person has healthy habits coupled with regular sleeping hours, a healthy lifestyle is insured. A lot of benefits such as relief from heartburn and better circulation is just a few of what people can expect from sleeping in the right position and the right bed.

 

Author Bio

Rachel Minahan is a writer and a blogger. Although she is an interior designer by heart, her passion falls within writing. She particularly loves writing about health, lifestyle, food, and sleep. She often cites Beds Online as her reference when writing. In her free time, Rachel enjoys playing with her pet cat named Cookie.

 

5 Ways Chiropractic Care Can Help Postpartum Rehabilitation

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postpartum5 Ways Chiropractic Care Can Help postpartum Rehabilitation

Pregnancy is one of the best experiences a woman can have in her entire lifetime, and giving birth is one of the ultimate success a woman can boast about. However, the physical agony that comes with it can steal the joy of being a mom and woman at the same time. Pregnancy carries with it a lot of pain already, back pain, sciatica, swelling ankles and feet, hurtful sex, headaches and whatnot, but unfortunately not all of this pain goes away after giving birth. What’s worse is that most of this pain are far more elevated after giving birth, leaving the new found mom with sadness, or worst, even depression. Chiropractic care had been an all time recommendation for expectant and postpartum women. It helps pregnant women have a better experience by giving them care and by educating them about the proper posture and movement while waiting for their baby. Chiropractors help babies by helping them have their optimal growth position while waiting for their big day. Chiropractic care is all the more needed after giving birth, especially because this is the time a woman’s body is working for its rehabilitation. Below are 5 of the many beautiful reasons why you need a chiropractor after giving birth.

Quicken Recovery Time

After giving birth, whether, via CS or normal vaginal delivery, a woman’s body will go through a process of reconstruction to get back to its original structure and shape. Not all women believe that it is going to be the same again. Most women who experience pain after giving birth, seem to incorporate the pain that came with it as a part of their normal daily lives. Although it does take time for the body to recover from depression and stress during pregnancy and labor, it is not right to accept all the unnecessary pains as normal. The original “normal” that women used to have can come back; there’s hope for getting back to your pre-pregnancy body with the help of chiropractors. Chiropractors are there to help your body make the recovery process faster, and help normalizes pelvic and spinal movements- which are the most affected during prenatal and postnatal days. With chiropractors by your side, you are guided with proper posture and your postural issues, like the way you are carrying your baby, will be corrected right away before you develop another problem out of it.

Teach the best position and Overcome Postural Issues

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, chiropractor helps you correct your postural issues. Some women complain of having neck and back pains when breastfeeding when lifting in and out of car seats/ cribs, and in worse conditions, some even develop a misalignment in their hipbones, termed as Pelvic Girdle.Balancing your baby on one side of your hip can cause misalignment of the back, pelvis or tailbone. Most mothers also have the tendency to move in a sway back manner when holding their baby with their pelvis in a forward position. Unless this posture is corrected, your pelvic pain is not going to go away.Aside from this most new moms also hunch over when they are feeding, and this can lead to pulled or strained neck that can cause torn ligaments/ muscles limiting neck movement. New moms are expected to spend most of their time sitting down and leaning forward, which increases the chances of having neck and shoulder pain.Your chiropractor is going to help you find out your personal alignment that would identify the best position you will have while feeding. If you have a newborn baby, you are more likely to pick up the baby more often from its crib to feed or rock it to sleep. Picking up or carrying your child in the wrong position can cause strained back which is also one culprit of back and pelvic pain. Moms are also prone to carpal tunnel syndrome, which is a product of holding the baby with a bent wrist. In doing this often, most moms consider it as something usual, but chiropractors can help your body heal from repetitive strain injuries.

 

Pelvic Rehabilitation

This is probably the first thing that new moms care about- pelvic rehabilitation. Most new moms have trouble controlling leaks, standing and sitting for long, weak back and pelvic muscles, and hurtful sex. If not treated, this can result to not only months but years of unhappy motherhood and married life to a woman. These physical challenges add up to the woman’s inferiority towards her own body’s appearance. Gaining weight and not being able to go back to normal routines, can be tough for women to accept and thus lead to postpartum depression. There is a need to educate women on the importance of getting all these unnecessary pains treated as this can steal the joy of motherhood away from them. Chiropractors strive to help women get the best out of their motherhood days by freeing them from these stressors. They help restore your body’s pelvic balance with the support of some manipulation techniques, and that gives way for your ligaments to stretch back to where they originally were. By improving core and pelvic strength, a new mom’s body can get back its stability and control, especially with pelvic floor muscles. This also reduces the pain experienced in the upper back, lower back and in the pelvis, which helps women have better posture as well.

 

Treat Pregnancy-related Sciatica

Chiropractors also help treat pregnancy-related Sciatica. Sciatica is one of the many symptoms of an underlying issue in the lower spine; you can feel it as a leg pain, with a tingling or numbing sensation. The pain can be felt from the lower back down to the sciatic nerves at the back of each leg. It is pretty much caused by nerve compression from the lower spine. There are a lot of reasons why this nerve compression happens, so it is important to have a proper diagnosis of sciatica, as it is the first step needed in treating it. For pregnant women, it is a product of the expansion of the uterus and the weight of the baby. This expansion doesn’t automatically pop on its own after giving birth; that’s why sciatica still happens during postpartum. Chiropractic care has always been recommended for patients with sciatica, especially for women who just gave birth. Chiropractors perform manipulations to let the body initiate the healing faster by itself. Chiropractic treatment doesn’t use any drug or synthetic medication, which makes it the primary reason why they are best for new moms, especially those who are breastfeeding. If the sciatica is caused by something outside the scope of a chiropractor, they will refer you to a specialized physician.

 

Helps Avoid Postpartum Depression

As mentioned in the previous items, dealing with all the physical pains after giving birth can cause new moms to have postpartum depression. Unless women are educated that these pains are not normal, they are going to let it steal away the joy of motherhood. Postpartum depression can cause women to withdraw themselves from people- fear of being unable to get back in shape for good, fear of having pain during sexual intercourse, and worse, indifference toward their newborn baby. Waking up for almost 24 hours each day is difficult for new found moms, it makes them be easily agitated and irritated, that’s why it is their due right to be free from physical pain while taking care of their newborn babies. Chiropractic care offers an alternative way to treat these issues using the techniques of biomechanics alteration. This natural way of treating the body does not affect breastfeeding among mothers; breastfeeding is the most obvious way for the mother and baby to bond well. This being a natural approach to treating postpartum pain, chiropractic care can positively influence the emotional improvement among mothers, resulting to better wellbeing. Chiropractic care can help women have better physical health. Better health, as we all know, is better living. If you are experiencing prenatal or postnatal pains, don’t hesitate to ask your healthcare provider about your options today. Your Chiropractors are always ready to assist you and help you have better pregnancy and motherhood.

Author Bio: Melissa K Symmonds is a passionate blogger, Certified Recreational Therapist, and a Chiropractic Enthusiast. She is particularly focused on the pregnancy and postpartum care of Papa Chiropractic, a chiropractor based in Port St Lucie, Florida.

 

 

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

Pelvic Tilt, Neck Pain and Low Back Pain Symptoms

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pelvic tilt

Pelvic Tilt, Neck Pain and Low Back Pain Symptoms

Balance is the key of life the Chinese called it Yin and Yang. The human body is always seeking homeostasis and when out of balance disease and pain will consume you. It is only until balance is restored the body can heal properly. Human structure needs to be balanced from all 3 planes. In static posture and also in movement. Obviously we are asymmetrical beings and perfect alignment will never exist, but we must strive to be as close as possible or problems will exist later on down the road as we age. Also spine is a gravity depending structure. When sacrum and pelvis are off the rest of the spine will be off. Fix the foundation and the rest of the symptoms will disappear.
In the picture above we are looking at the balance of the pelvis from the front and back specifically the relationship between the quads and hams. In the first picture we have a neutral pelvis where the quads and hams are well balanced. In the second picture the pelvis is imbalanced due to the shortening of the quads which led to the lengthening of the hamstring. In technical terms the quads are concentrically loaded and the hams are eccentrically loaded causing an anterior pelvic tilt. Now that the pelvis is imbalanced symptoms of tight hamstring, lower back pain, upper back pain, tight traps, neck pain, headaches etc… will emerge. Until we balance the pelvis symptoms will continually plague the individual.

Our spine has three curves in it: One in the low back called the lumbar curve; one in the upper to mid-back called the thoracic curve; and a curve in our neck called the cervical curve. These curves influence one another. If something is off balance in one, the other two will also be out of balance.Since the spine rests on the pelvis, the curves of the spine are also influenced by the position of the pelvis.

Key to skeletal balance, a sense of orientation and muscular coordination, the balanced pelvis forms a rim-like base for the spinal vertebrae, rib cage, shoulder girdle and head.

Like the sprout growing up to form leaves and down to become roots; pelvic core integrity expresses itself in two directions simultaneously. The pelvic basin is responsible for not only being the base of support for the upper body but for transferring weight through the femur heads down through the knees, ankles and feet. How weight transfers through each leg and foot is dependent upon the positioning of the pelvic basin. Only when the pelvis is gravitationally centred can the feet receive and distribute weight evenly.

Pelvic instability shows itself as pelvic tilts, forward flexion, twists, dips or torques. Symptoms associated with instability include mid and low back pain, hip socket tension, leg length discrepancies, knee and ankle problems, TMJ and jaw pain, difficulty in breathing, groin pain, shoulder pain, difficulty in standing and walking, an inability to stand on both feet and excessive muscle tension throughout the body. Even headaches and dizziness may be traced to pelvic instability.

These diverse and complex symptoms reflect the innate involvement of the pelvis with three distinct bio-rhythms. Not only does the pelvic keystone provide the foundation for muscular-skeletal support but it cradles the meningeal-cranial-sacral system (the dynamic fluid relationship between sacrum and cranium) and provides the hard drive for the proprioceptive nervous system (our energetic sense of orientation).