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Your Chair Is Killing You?
Your Chair Is Killing You?
If you’re reading this sitting down—the position we all hold more than any other, for an average of 8.9 hours a day—stop and take stock of how your body feels. Is there an ache in your lower back? Are you experiencing light numbness in your buttocks and lower thigh? Are yo
u feeling a little down?
These symptoms are all so common, and they’re not good. They might well be caused by doing precisely what you’re doing—sitting. New research in the diverse fields of epidemiology, molecular biology, biomechanics, and physiology is converging toward a startling conclusion: Sitting is a public-health risk. And exercising doesn’t offset it. “People need to understand that the biomechanics of sitting are completely different from walking or exercising. Sitting too much is not the same as exercising too little. They do completely different things to the body.”University of Missouri microbiologist Marc Hamilton
In a 2005 article in Science magazine, Dr. James A. Levine, an obesity specialist at the Mayo Clinic, pinpointed why, despite similar diets, some people are fat and others aren’t. “We found that people with obesity have a natural predisposition to be attracted to the chair, and that’s true even after obese people lose weight,” Dr. Levine says. “What fascinates me is that humans evolved over 1.5 million years entirely on the ability to walk and move. And literally 150 years ago, 90 percent of human endeavor was still agricultural. In a tiny speck of time we’ve become chair-sentenced.”
Within a couple hours of sitting, healthy cholesterol plummets by 20 percent. So your posture and health of your spine are related to much more than back pain, it can affect the nerves that are protected by the spine or vertebrae, since these nerves help regulate every function of your body. There is a direct correlation between the health of your spine and the health of your entire body.
The chair you’re sitting in now is likely contributing to the problem. “Short of sitting on a spike, you can’t do much worse than a standard office chair,” says Galen Cranz, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
Generally speaking, the slight “S” shape of the spine serves you well. “If you think about a heavy weight on a C or S, which is going to collapse more easily? The C,” Cranz says. When you sit, the lower lumbar curve collapses, turning the spine’s natural S-shape into a C, hampering the abdominal and back musculature that supports the body. The body is left to slouch, and the lateral and oblique muscles grow weak and unable to support its weight.
This, in turn, causes problems with other parts of the body. When you’re sitting, you bear all that weight through the pelvis and spine, putting the highest pressure on your back discs. Judging by MRIs, even sitting with perfect posture causes serious pressure on your back.
Due to current lifestyles, many sit and work at a computer—I do not believe we were designed to do this. At the very least, take action by investing in a lumbar support or, better yet, an inflatable exercise ball to activate muscles in your lower back while you sit. (Do not sit on the ball in a slouched position.)
If you must sit on a chair, the best sitting alternative is perching in a half-standing position at barstool height that keeps weight on the legs and leaves the S-curve intact.
Limit or eliminate all culprits of bad posture—television watching, computer time, and excessive pressing exercises.
In summary, as you’ve come to realize, dealing with back pain can be a complicated undertaking. All the major anatomical parts—the nerves that are involved with the spine, the cartilage discs that protect the spine, and the postural muscles that support it—must be balanced to be healthy. When these functions are compromised or altered, inflammation, irritation, compression, and pain can result. And by this time, you should realize that treating only symptoms is not the answer. There is no magic potion to cure back pain, but let’s get one thing straight—you have quite a lot to gain by adopting healthy practices to take care of your back.
Why Didn’t My Doctor Tell Me All This Information?
You might wonder why your doctor has never told you about muscle imbalances or other potential causes of your back pain. Well, it could be several possible reasons. Health care has gotten so impersonal that some practitioners are just trying to see all their patients and be able to get home before dinnertime. Some medical schools tend to focus on treating symptoms, not causes. Many pharmaceutical companies are making billions of dollars in profits each year and might not be genuinely concerned with getting you out of pain. Many practices have hospital or group systems that restrict them from sending their patients anywhere but at their locations.
Most medical professionals work very hard and provide good services, but it is difficult to stay current with all of the new teachings and advances. Many insurance companies have a stranglehold on doctors and will only pay for certain things or place time restrictions on treatment and so a proper treatment plan does not get set up, let alone identifying the true cause of your pain. Fortunately for you, there are other approaches to resolving back pain that do not involve surgery or potentially harmful medications.
Here’s what some of the top medical researchers had to say about chiropractic…
“Manipulation [chiropractic adjustments], with or without exercise, improved symptoms more than medical care did after both 3 and 12 months.”– British Medical Journal
This means in just a matter of weeks you could be back on the golf course, enjoying your love life, or traveling again.
For 10 days only, I’m running a very special offer where you can find out how much this amazing treatment can help your back pain.
What does this offer include? Everything I normally do in my new patient evaluation.
Just call here’s what you’ll get…
An in-depth consultation about your health and well-being where I will listen…really listen…to the details of your case. A complete neuromuscular examination, full set of specialized x-rays (if necessary), and a thorough analysis of your exam and x-ray findings so we can start mapping out your plan to being pain free.
You’ll get to see everything first hand and find out if this amazing treatment will be your back pain solution, like it has been for so many other patients.
Life is too short to let pain slow you down. Call now 325-695-9355.
Monster Neck and Back Pain
Postural Syndromes That Can Turn into Monster Neck and Back Pain
Good posture equals a good day.
—Dr. Jake Morgan
Most people are unaware of the muscle imbalances that cause their lower back pain, symptoms including a dull, achy, tight feeling; sharp severe pain; or lack of mobility—all early signs of spinal problems that can lead to compressed disc, nerve irritation, blood flow restriction, or even limit the amount of oxygen you can inhale.
Your spine is the central support structure of your body. Your spinal cord carries the neurological lifeline from your brain to all other parts of your body. Your health really depends on the flow of energy through an unrestricted nervous system. When your spine suffers, your overall health can suffer too. When you respect your spine by taking good care of it, your spine serves you well by offering its strength and flexibility for a long time to come.
How Do I Know if I Have Muscle Imbalances or Postural Imbalances?
The easiest way I can explain good posture to you is to have you imagine looking at the left or right side of your body in a full-length mirror. The first step is to visualize dime-size dots at the center of your ankle, knee, hip, waist, rib cage, shoulder, neck, ear, and head. The next step is to connect the dots.
When all the dots align in a straight line, you have the least amount of pressure on your discs and joints. When the line connecting the dots is not straight, there will be pain or discomfort.
Here is an easy way to remember this: Straight line, less pain! Hunched up, more pain! Think about those two sentences during your day. Check your body position at least once an hour. Ask yourself, “How is my posture? Do I need to straighten up?”
Please realize that it’s actually easier to stand up straight than it is to stand crooked or hunched. You use more muscles when you hunch up your back. It’s similar when we consider smiling or frowning. We use fewer muscles to smile than we do to frown. I believe that means we were meant to be happy! So stand up tall, and smile.
A Healthy Spine Equals a Balanced Spine
- Upper Cross Syndrome—refers to the postural imbalances of the upper portion of your body, including the neck, upper back, chest, and shoulders
- Lower Cross Syndrome—refers to the postural imbalances of the lower portion of your body, including the lower back, abdomen, hips, knees, ankles, and feet
In your mind, picture your spine as a sailboat mast stabilized and balanced by wire stays. Wires are in the rear of the mast, which represents the musculature in your back, and mast stabilized by wires in the front, your abdominal muscles. A muscle imbalance can create a tug-of-war on your back. Due to your lifestyle, whether repetitive or sedentary, imbalance creates some muscles to become very tight, which pulls and tugs on the spine. The opposite set of muscles get turned off due to a neurological process called “reciprocal inhibition.” For example, when you contract your bicep (the muscle on the front of your arm) your triceps, the muscle on the back of the arm is turned off—it’s how your body is designed to coordinate movement. Your muscles, when out of balance, do not properly support your back. This principle applies to your shoulders, neck, knees, hips, ankles, and wrists.
Let’s look at a couple of things some people do on a daily basis that can contribute to this muscular imbalance: long periods of sitting; working multiple hours on a computer; long-haul trucking; repeated bending at the waist, such as in construction work; talking on the telephone with your head bent to one side or the other; carrying a heavy purse or backpack around your neck or shoulder; carrying a baby on one hip or the other, causing the hips to be uneven or rotated; or exercising improperly. Oh, and one more thing, take that darn wallet out of your back pocket. One of the worst things you can do is sit on a wallet and create uneven pressure on your pelvis and lower back, creating improper alignment in the spine—then one day you bend forward and have severe lower back pain, or a gradual increase of sciatica or pinched nerve. Again, these changes occur over time. If not corrected, this can lead to permanent postural deformities and a lifetime of chronic pain.
Look in the Mirror at Your Posture
Do this self-assessment exercise, standing in front of a full-length mirror:
- Does your head tilt to the left or right?
- Is one shoulder higher than the other?
- Is one pant leg longer than the other?
- Now turn to the side, and have someone tell you if your neck is in front of your shoulders. Is it? If so, this is called “anterior head posture.”
- Now look at the bottoms of your shoes or boots that you wear daily. Do they have areas that are more worn out than other areas of your shoe?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, these are direct examples of postural syndromes. To fix postural problems, your goal is to balance these predictable muscle and spinal postural positions.
Postural pain can be a small problem that is more of a nuisance…or it can be very debilitating. You might have more than one symptom, and I know I sound like a broken record, but you must always determine why or what is the reason for pain—not just, “I have pain here, so let’s fix this one spot.” I have found in my practice that 90 percent of people have structural problems that develop over years before pain arises. So I want you to look in the mirror: Do you have a slouched or slumped upper back and rounded shoulders? Look at your lower back—does your abdomen protrude? Is one leg longer than the other? Does one pant leg fit longer than the other? Have someone help you check.
As you now know, these distortion patterns, along with various muscular and joint imbalances that created your pain, interrupt your life. It can take months, usually years, to develop, and the true cause is the habitual nature of pain. Your body is a programmable system—when you perform any task repeatedly over time, it becomes a habit. For example, fitness is the body forming habits so you can increase endurance or speed for running.
It takes approximately 90 to 120 days to change human physiology, so the goal is to create new muscle and joint memory. Once you have adopted the various lower back or pelvis distortion patterns, the muscular and joint imbalances are set—after continued practice, they suddenly become a habit. Your body believes these to be “normal.” Once your body accepts these as normal, it then stops trying to correct or remove them. These patterns are now ingrained in your spine and pelvis, and over time pain will develop. This is the main reason most back pain treatments fail—they don’t change the habits.
If you don’t identify the underlying cause, or have symptom-based treatment, pain eases temporarily but then returns again…and the cycle continues. To change and break habits, keep targeting the area initially for 90 days. If you only work on muscles, and not the joints or pelvic imbalances, chasing symptoms or temporary pain relief only, then habits will remain. To get long-term back pain relief, you must balance your muscles, joints, and pelvic distortions, and break any unhealthy habits that have formed. You must form new habits and train your body to become and remain pain-free. This can be achieved only if you learn to help treat yourself.
For 10 days only, I’m running a very special offer where you can find out if you are a candidate for chiropractic care.
What does this offer include?
Everything I normally do in my new patient evaluation. You’ll get…
- An in-depth consultation about your health and well-being where I will listen…really listen…to the details of your case.
- A complete neuromuscular examination, full set of specialized x-rays, review of your MRI, and a thorough analysis of your findings so we can design your plan to being pain free.
The normal price for this type of evaluation, including x-rays, is $225 so you’re saving a considerable amount by taking me up on this offer.
Call today and we can get you scheduled for your consultation, exam and x-rays as soon as there’s an opening.
When you call, tell the receptionist you’d like to come in for the Back Pain Evaluation so she get you on the schedule and make sure you receive proper credit for this special offer.
Sincerely,
Back Pain Is Your Body’s Alarm Saying Something Is Wrong…So Listen!
How Your Back Works and When the System Breaks Down
Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.
—Robert H. Schuller
Let’s look at the spinal system—muscles, connective tissue, joints, bones, and nerves.
The spine is a very complex system and, to understand how it works, you need a basic comprehension of how its components work. No one component is more important than the other, as they all have to function and integrate properly in order to limit damage. The bones provide rigid support, while the muscles and connective tissue stabilize the joints, and the master system that controls all of the muscles is comprised of the nerves. All of these components have to work in a coordinated manner.
- The lower back is made up of vertebrae, bones that are stacked one on top of the other.
- In between each of the vertebrae is a disc, the cushion between the bones of your spine. The discs carries 70 percent to 80 percent of your body weight.
- The ligaments are strong connective tissue that attaches the bones together.
- Tendons are strong connective tissues attaching muscles to bones.
Any dysfunction of the above can lead to abnormal movement, wear and tear, or bony and soft tissue decay, thus leading to pain.
The back anatomy includes small nerves that control tiny muscles, holding your spine in alignment. The muscles control the joints, so it is very rare if you have an isolated nerve problem. When you have an injury or dysfunction of the spine via micro or macro trauma, the nerves that control the muscles do not fire properly. The muscles stop moving the joints of your spine, create joint misalignment or improper movement, and allow stagnation of fluid that lubricates your joints. The body slowly deteriorates—weeks, months, years pass, and potentially culminates into back pain or possible degenerative disc disease. This can set up a high probability category for disc herniations, disc bulges, nerve pain, muscles spasms, chronic pain, and impairment. As you see, it is a complicated system. Moving on, let’s take a look at different conditions that cause back pain.
Old Injuries Come Back to Haunt You—Back Pain Is Not Just “Old Age”
Your back takes a beating during your lifetime. Most back pain occurs due to two major categories: 1) micro or macro trauma or 2) too much stress to the back. This can include repetitive strains, such as sitting, or prior trauma or injures to the back, like a fall, auto collision, or any type of accident. But many people believe their pain and decline are from “normal aging,” so they believe it’s normal to have back pain. This simply is not true. Just because it is common does not make it normal. If that were true, all 360 joints in your body would hurt since your whole body is the same age.
The majority of problems or conditions in the spine are due to new or old injuries, categorized as macro trauma (for example, that skiing accident that hurt your back, lifting a too-heavy bag of dog food, or falling off a ladder). Other back conditions result from micro trauma—postural strain is one, such as sitting for six to eight hours daily; compressing your spine while looking down or at a computer at work for the last five years; exercising the wrong way; repetitive movements, like picking up your kids; or an occupation that requires a lot of bending or twisting. Many people can relate to one or two macro traumas to the back in life, and it is very difficult to avoid micro trauma. So it is usually a combination of events that have an effect on your back, and it can affect multiple sensitive structures. Trauma in either form—macro or micro—and muscle imbalances are the most common reasons for lower back pain.
Lack of Stimulation or Nutrients Can Break Down Your Back
We have talked about excess strain, as well as mechanical injuries from our past, but a sometimes overlooked reason for back pain is a deficiency, too little of something. This can be include having too little nutrients in your body, too little water in your diet, or too much coffee or other diuretics that deplete fluids and can lead to toxic buildup in the body. You must be adequately hydrated at all times, as the majority of the discs, your cushions, in your spine are made up of water. Too little vitamins or minerals, due to a poor diet lacking in fruits and vegetables, can put a stress on the joints, muscles, and nerves of your back.
Lack of stimulation of your back is related to not enough movement in the form of exercise that helps keep your muscles toned and joints lubricated. Too little movement of your joints stagnates the fluids that lubricate them. This will stagnate and limit nutrients, oxygen, and blood supply to the cartilage of your joints in your back, potentially leading to inflammation, as well as early onset of arthritis and pain. We all know that the obesity problem we have in the United States of America is partially the result of sedentary jobs and poor dietary habits, all of which contribute to multiple health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, and so forth. So as you already know, it is time to get moving!
Call anytime between the hours of 8 am and 5:30 pm Monday through Thursday and 8am through 12pm on Fridays. Tell the receptionist you’d like to come in for the Back Pain Evaluation and receive a huge discount!
We can get started with your consultation, exam and x-rays as soon as there’s an opening in the schedule. Our office is called Advanced Chiropractic and you can find us at 4549 Catclaw Drive Abilene,TX.
I look forward to helping you get rid of your pain so you can start living a healthier, more joyful life.
Sincerely,
Don’t forget to download your free copy of my book 21st Century Back Pain Solution
Five Deadly Sins Made When Dealing With Back Pain Mistakes to Avoid
Five Deadly Sins Made When Dealing With Back Pain
Mistakes to Avoid
Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health.
—Carl Jung
Mistake 1: Treat only the symptom.
Taking NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) or other daily medications to control the pain is just masking the deeper cause of your symptoms. I have been treating patients long enough to know there is value in medications to control pain in acute situations or help you function in chronic situations. But believing a pill will cure your back pain is not realistic. Even small children know that when the fire alarm is going off, there is a fire—they don’t just put earplugs in their ears and ignore the alarm. The same concept applies to physical pain—pain is a symptom, a warning, that something is wrong that you need to address.
Mistake 2: Continue to do nothing.
Believing that there are no more treatment options or there is no one left to help you is The “I GIVE UP” Syndrome. Maybe you have tried treatments with minimal or no results, or did not follow through with treatment recommendations. Perhaps you were told that surgery is your only option left or that you will just have to deal with it the rest of your life. Even if no one has found the true cause of your problem, do you really think giving up is going to improve your situation?
Mistake 3: Hope it will go away on its own.
Well, many times it might improve, temporarily, but not taking action to determine why there is pain leads to reoccurring problems. Action is the key word.
Mistake 4: Do not follow doctors’ recommendations.
Back specialists treat spinal conditions every day, spent years studying disorders of the spine, and—unless you had an acute traumatic accident, such as a car wreck, that initiated your pain—know a gradual process occurs to develop back or neck problems. Specialists know it can take multiple treatments, education about your condition, and lifestyle changes, all of which take time. They know you can’t always just cut out the pain or permanently mask it with medication. Let me put it this way: As a general rule, it takes 90 days to change human physiology. This is why military or police training is usually around a 90-day boot camp. Back specialists know that, to change your body or lifestyle routine in a positive way, it takes about 90 days. So in order to change conditions in your spine, you’ll need a little patience—nothing wrong with that.
Mistake 5: Fail to take responsibility for where you are.
Many back pain suffers go to doctors looking for a quick fix. Most doctors are very smart and good at what they do, but they are not necessarily miracle workers. No one should care about your body more than you do. You must be part of the process in helping relieve your back pain. Own or take responsibility for improving your condition. It takes the right mindset to overcome your back pain, so don’t act like a victim.
“What is the difference between an owner and a victim?” you might ask. Keep reading….
Owners vs. Victims
- Owners take full responsibility for their outcomes, knowing they are the sole creators of their actions and reactions, successes and failures
- Victims, on the other hand, see themselves as having been dealt a bad hand, continually waiting on the next thing that will happen to them. They take no responsibility, placing blame for their circumstances or pain on life, other people, and bad luck.
- Owners take it upon themselves to seek professional guidance and to manage the pain, and say, “I want to be pain-free so I’m going to do my exercises, prescribed treatments from my doctor, and stop or limit things that make my condition worse,” or, “I want to be pain-free so I am going to make time and do my exercises. even if it is uncomfortable.”
- Victims, however might say, “I know I should do my exercises or follow the treatments my doctor told me to do, but it hurts too much. This is not fair. Why me? I will continue to do nothing to improve my situation.”
- Owners take action and responsibility to get better.
- Victims, as you probably can tell, prolong recovery because they are their own worst enemies.
- Owners ask, “What can I do?”
- Victims ask, “Who can I blame?”
As it relates to your back, the way a person responds to pain is a choice. You can own your pain, or act like a victim.
Call anytime between the hours of 8 am and 5:30 pm Monday through Thursday 8-12 on Fridays. Tell the receptionist you’d like to come in for the Back Pain Evaluation valued at over $225. Mention this blog and get receive our New Patient Special!
We can get started with your consultation, exam and x-rays as soon as there’s an opening in the schedule. Our office is called Advanced Chiropractic and you can find us at 4549 Catclaw Drive, Abilene TX.
I look forward to helping you get rid of your pain so you can start living a healthier, more joyful life.
Sincerely,
Don’t forget to stop by the office and grab my book! Or download your copy from our website.
How to get rid of Crippling Neck Problems
Which Of These Crippling Neck Problems Would You Like To Be Rid Of?
- Serious and debilitating neck pain
- Sharp, shooting pains in the shoulders and arms
- Numbness and tingling in the arms and hands
- Severe, chronic headaches
- Herniated or Bulging Cervical Discs
Many doctors act like your options are limited with neck pain – bed rest, pain pills, steroid injections, and exercises.
They’re wrong.
No matter where you are with neck pain, whether you’re having unrelenting pain and facing surgery or you just injured it yesterday, a treatment called non-surgical spinal decompression may be the answer for you.
Nothing’s worse than feeling great mentally, but physically feeling held back from life because your neck hurts and the pain just won’t go away!
Sure, you can numb the pain if you take enough Vicodin, Soma or some other pill. But the real problem is while you make it through the day all “numbed up”, you are likely injuring your neck even more…without knowing it.
Here’s Proof This Treatment Works
While non-surgical spinal decompression has only been around a few years, there is plenty of research to back up its claims. Here’s just a handful…
“We thus submit that decompression therapy should be considered first, before the patient undergoes a surgical procedure which permanently alters the anatomy and function of the affected lumbar spine segment.”
– Journal Of Neuroscience Research
“86% of the 219 patients who completed the therapy reported immediate resolution of symptoms”
– Orthopedic Technology Review
“vertebral axial [spinal] decompression was successful in 71% of the 778 cases”
– Journal of Neurological Research
“good to excellent” relief in 86% patients with Herniated discs”
– The American Journal of Pain Management
“decompression therapy reported a 76.5% with complete remission and 19.6% with partial remission of pain and disability”
– Rio Grande Hospital, Department of Neurosurgery
As you can see, spinal decompression has a high success rate with helping disc herniations, pinched nerves, and severe pain. In just a matter of weeks you could be back on the golf course, enjoying your love life, or traveling again.
Spinal decompression treatments are very gentle. In fact, every once and awhile I even catch a patient sleeping during sessions.
You’ll simply lie on your back, resting your head on a comfortable pad.. We’ll set the computer to focus on your problem area – then the advanced computer system will do the rest.
Most patients feel better with just a few treatments, and best of all there will be…
No Dangerous Drugs, No Invasive Procedures, And No Painful Exercises.
My name is Dr. Jake Morgan, owner Advanced Chiropractic in Abilene. I understand what it feels like to live in pain, because I see it every day.
I’ve seen hundreds of people with neck pain, arm problems and headaches leave the office pain free.
What does this offer include?
An in-depth consultation about your health and well-being where I will listen…really listen…to the details of your case. A complete neuromuscular examination, full set of specialized x-rays (if necessary), and a thorough analysis of your exam and x-ray findings so we can start mapping out your plan to being pain free.
You’ll get to see everything first hand and find out if this gentle treatment will be your neck pain solution, like it has been for so many other patients.
Call today and we can get you scheduled for your consultation, exam and x-rays as soon as there’s an opening.
When you call, tell the receptionist you’d like to come in for the Neck Pain Evaluation so she can record the date and give you proper credit for this special offer.
Sincerely,
P.S. Before you go under the knife and opt for neck surgery, you should seriously consider this less invasive approach. Call 325-695-9355
I may be able to help you live a normal, pain-free life again!
Download your copy of my book 21st
Century Back Pain Solution!
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