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Can the Car Ride Cushion Shake up the Chiropractic Industry?

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car ride cushionCan the Car Ride Cushion Shake up the Chiropractic Industry?

How does a valuable medical innovation start?

In today’s entrepreneur-focused world, innovation driven by individuals touches even the medical world. Although traditional medical establishments offer us new guidelines and forms of treatments, it’s often up to solo creators to come up with devices that can help people stay healthy and safe in their day-to-day lives.

However, just because an invention is new doesn’t mean it’s effective. Can a car ride cushion effectively prevent kids from needing a chiropractor later in life? That’s what one new invention from a chiropractor named Dr Cormier claims to do.

In this article, we’ll take a look at whether or not these cushions stand a chance of combating back pain, neck pain, and other issues that can start in childhood. Keep reading to find out whether or not they’re a good investment for your family.

What is the Car Ride Cushion?

The name “car ride cushion” is vague, so the concept merits some explanation.

James Cormier, a chiropractor based in Massachusetts, was inspired by a photo to create the cushions. Two years ago, his sister-in-law snapped a picture of Cormier’s son, who was 7 at the time. The exhausted kid had fallen asleep in the car, hunched over against his seatbelt, as kids often do.

Although Cormier appreciated the picture, it also got him thinking ― specifically, about his son’s spine. As a chiropractor, he knew the slumped position was far from ideal. Yet kids who fell asleep in the car were almost always hunched over or reclined at an odd angle that put the spine out of alignment. What was the long-term toll of the hours spent in these positions?

Dr Cormier decided to develop his own solution to the potential problems this could cause. He came up with a set of cushions that attach to car seat anchors so they’re on each side of the child’s head. The process was fast ― he began designing prototypes in 2016 and had the invention patented and up for sale by 2017.

Cormier believes letting children sleep in unnatural positions can cause a whole host of problems with the spine and nervous system. Is he right? Let’s take a closer look at the science behind his claim.

The Importance of Good Posture in Youth

Anyone with a desk job ― and most people without one ― know the importance of good posture. Strain, pain, fatigue, and more serious issues can all come from hours spent hunched over at a desk or in front of the TV.

Parents with children have to monitor not just their own posture, but their child’s posture too. Heavier backpacks and more time spent in front of screens make combating poor posture in young children more difficult than it once was.

However, recognizing that good posture matters isn’t the same as recognizing why it matters. Good posture isn’t just a matter of etiquette: Research shows that it’s actually crucial to proper anatomical development.

What is Posture?

Posture specifically refers to the way the body is aligned and positioned to hold up against the constant pull of gravity. For example, gravity makes it tempting to let our heavy heads hang forward, while good posture fights against this pull to keep the spine aligned.

Gravity affects the body in all positions, including sitting, standing, and lying down; and it affects all parts of the body. When our posture is good, the bones can do the majority of the weight-supporting work, giving the muscles a much-needed break. This reduces potential muscular strain and injury, as well as damage to the ligaments and joints.

Proper posture requires the spine to be straight and the head and shoulders pulled back, with the ear aligned with the shoulder.

Poor posture can result in muscular dysfunction, spinal degeneration, and chronic pain. If poor posture starts in youth, there’s more time for issues like these to develop. Fostering good postural habits in youth also makes it easier for kids to keep their spines aligned when they become adults. If postural distortion starts at an early age, it’s much harder to break the pattern as an adult.

Childhood Posture Risk Factors

Many children start to develop bad postural habits around age 6, when they start going to school.

School-age children tend to spend a lot of time sitting at a desk, where they often slouch over without taking enough breaks to realign posture. When they get home, they may spend more time in the same position while doing homework. Add in the heavy backpacks and time spent playing video games or watching shows on a tablet, and there’s a recipe for poor posture throughout childhood.

Many schools have added postural analysis for their students to help fight this problem. Yearly analysis starting at age 6 can help catch postural distortion early, while it’s still easy to fix. It’s also important for teachers and parents to do their part to correct posture. This includes adding regular posture breaks for children to stand up and stretch.

However, parents often aren’t thinking about the posture issue when their child is asleep. A good mattress at home can help keep the spine properly aligned. But Dr Cormier and his customers believe posture cushions for the car will also make a difference in fighting childhood posture issues.

Will Car Ride Cushions Work?

The vast majority of childhood posture issues happen while the child is awake.

 

Hours spent at a school desk in a slumped position, combined with hours spent at home in the same position while doing homework or looking at a phone, add up to a potential posture disaster. Vigilant parents and teachers can help by instilling good posture habits from an early age.

 

Compared to all those high-risk posture hours at school and home, the time spent sleeping in a car is fairly minimal. Car ride cushions might help, but it depends on how often they’re really being used. For a family that doesn’t take many long car trips, there’s not much a car cushion can offer.

 

However, if your child does spend a significant amount of time asleep in the car, it might be worth the investment to keep their spine in alignment. The cushions will only work with children of a certain height, though, so they just offer a short-term solution until your child grows.

 

Cormier’s invention may not do much against the perils of bad posture at school and at home, and it won’t shake up the chiropractic industry in any significant way. However, it could become a valuable part of a good posture plan for some families. If you’d like to try it for yourself, you can look up car ride cushion on Amazon.

 

Video on Dr. Cormier’s invention

 

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About the Author

Andrew is the head editor for eChiropractor.org. eChiropractor.org is your one-stop shop for chiropractic news and techniques. We offer current research, actionable advice, and balanced viewpoints ― if you check us out, make sure you read our article about disc desiccation.

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.

 

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

Chiropractic Care Can Help with Text Neck Problem

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tex neck and chiropractic careChiropractic Care Can Help with Text Neck Problem

Are you currently reading this while hunched over your phone?
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If so, here’s a very scary wakeboard call: Chiropractic Care Can Help with Text Neck Problem.
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Most people spend an average of two to four hours a day slumped over their smartphones, according to the study, and that awkward position isn’t doing any favors for your neck and back.
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We know you won’t be throwing out your phone, tablet, or e-reader anytime soon. That’s fine, just be sure to use it with proper posture, which means your ears are aligned with your shoulders and your shoulder blades are back in the neutral position.
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How is Texting Hurting Your Health?

Let’s first put the situation into perspective. Mobile device usage has increased significantly and will continue to do so into the future. According to text-neck.com, Americans spend 2.7 hours per day on average communicating and socializing on their phones, and they spend even more time looking down at their mobile devices for web searching and other uses.

They go on to say that 75% of the world’s population spends hours daily hunched over their handheld devices. Studies also show that people under the age of 30 send an average of 3,000 text messages per month. That’s approximately 100 text messages a day!

Perhaps an even more unsettling thought is the fact that young children and toddlers are now given phones and tablets as play toys. One study found that 75% of children under 8 have access to a smartphone or tablet. It’s also been reported that in the U.S. alone, nearly 1 in 5 kids under the age of 8 use a mobile device at least once a day.

The problem with all this time spent with the head flexed forward is that it increases the risk of developing what has been termed as Text Neck.

What is a Text Neck?

Text neck is the term used to describe the neck pain and damage sustained from looking down at your cell phone, tablet, or other wireless devices too frequently and for too long. And it seems increasingly common. Recently, a patient came in to my practice complaining of severe upper back pain. He woke up and was experiencing severe, acute, upper back muscle strain. I told him I believe the pain is due to the hours he was spending hunched over his cell phone. Diagnosis: Text neck. Of course, this posture of bending your neck to look down does not occur only when texting. For years, we’ve all looked down to read. The problem with texting is that it adds one more activity that causes us to look down—and people tend to do it for much longer periods. It is especially concerning because young, growing children could possibly cause permanent damage to their cervical spines that could lead to lifelong neck pain.

Chiropractic Care Can Change Your Posture From Clarke Kent to Superman

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san leandro chiropractorChiropractic Care Can Change Your Posture From Clarke Kent to Superman

It’s not always easy, or for some people even possible, to maintain good posture. This is because our bodies adapt to our day to day life and environments. As the structure of the body changes it often results in the commonly seen forward slouching, internally rotated shoulders and compressed rib cage due to the nature of most people’s jobs – sitting in front of the computers for avery prolonged periods of time. Ideally the chest should be out, shoulders back, head high and chin tucked in.

Manual therapists such as doctor of chiropractic can make a massive difference to your body’s structure and function. We work on the mechanical aspects of the body aiming to find and treat restriction and dysfunction. Once the structure of the body improves and returns to a balanced and neutral state, maintaining good posture will come easily and naturally.

You shouldn’t be constantly having to try and force yourself to sit up straight or stand properly.  The body is designed to be that way naturally but many of us have unknowingly retrained it to adopt unhealthy postural habits which then become the norm.

Did you know your posture affects the way that you as well as others view and think of you? Good posture signals confidence, health and strength. Other people subconsciously pick up on these subtle signals and behave accordingly. Poor posture increases the likelihood of developing stress related conditions such as anxiety as it can affect the release of the stress hormone cortisol.

How can I find the cause of my Bad Posture?

There are a few simple tests you can do which will help you find out what the cause of your bad posture is.

1. Stand in front of a mirror and put yourself into a ‘good’ posture position, which will most likely feel very strange. You might even feel a bit self-conscious standing in this new position, but if you are able to achieve this ‘good’ posture, you don’t have a problem with joint or spinal flexibility. It is therefore likely to be habitual.

2. Now hold this posture for as long as possible. You might start to feel certain parts of you starting to ache. That is most likely due to muscle fatigue as a result of poor endurance of your postural muscles.

3. If you are unable to adopt the ‘correct’ posture, it is a sign that you lack the mobility to do it, either because of joint restriction, pain or muscle and ligament shortening.

4. If you feel less pain holding good posture, it is a fairly obvious sign that your bad posture is a direct cause of the pain, or at least part of the cause.

So how can I improve my posture?

If you look at the 4 points above, whichever category you fall into, the direct recommendation for you would be.

If point 1 and 2 are true for you, then you will improve by holding that ‘good’ posture more often until you are able to do it all day or by doing specific postural exercises to strengthen you muscles. A chiropractor can help you with this.

If you fall into category 3, you need help. It would suggest you might need chiropractic treatment to help you, combined with an exercise programme. Contact a chiropractor and have a proper evaluation and have the underlying problem dealt with.

If you fall into category 4, you should try to adopt your ‘good’ posture immediately and continue. If you feel unable to do it for any length of time, you might need chiropractic treatment to help you.


If you want to improve your posture, self confidence and the impression your body makes on others call 5104812225 or email me to book an appointment now.