Chiropractor Shows A Great Neck Stretch

Is Back Pain Caused By A Lack Of Exercise?

Many people seem to want to know if you can just exercise lower back pain away. Is it only about exercise? That is, did you end up with lower back pain due to a lack of exercise? Or could it be something else?

Your back pain is not necessarily caused by a lack of exercise, but it's probably a good place to start looking. When I ask patients if they exercise, most are still saying "no." Those that do exercise tend to stick with the same machine or routine for their entire program. (And almost none of their "routine" exercises focus on improving their back muscles.)

So on one hand, we have those that don't exercise and have lower back pain. It's easy to take a guess and see that their spine is having problems due to a lack of muscular support. While their spine may need more work at this point (check with your healthcare professional), eventually they'll exercise lower back pain away by creating a muscular back support around their spine with regular exercise.

Those that do exercise, but are not performing a variety of movements are causing a different problem; muscular imbalance. They are likely only developing certain muscle groups while largely ignoring others. Worse, they may be performing activities that are alarmingly similar to what they already do all day.

They are strengthening muscles that are already overworked (muscles in the front of the body) and not strengthening muscles that are typically ignored (back muscles). This is a standard recipe for developing lower back pain problems and should be avoided.

Overall, maintaining a variety of activities that includes exercises to enhance cardiovascular health, strengthening and stretching will help exercise lower back pain away for good. The same formula works for almost everyone. First, due some exercise regularly. Next, make sure you take some time to strengthen your back muscles (especially if you already know you need it!).

Chiropractic For Pregnant Women

Your Pain Just Started, But Your Problem Began Long Ago...

There are problems that have just started, lurking beneath the surface where you have not yet felt their pain. You may go years, occasionally feeling some soreness and stiffness, just to have it go away on its own. Maybe you feel a twinge, take a pill, and it all seems like it's going to be okay.

Then one morning you get up, accidentally drop your socks on the floor, bend down to pick them up and you can't get back up. You are having so much pain that you barely manage to make it to your bed and hang on. You start taking pills like crazy until you manage to pull out the yellow pages and find a nearby chiropractor.

On your visit to the chiropractor, he explains that your spine is showing signs of wear and tear, that your problem likely began years ago. "What? I just bent down to pick up my socks. My problem started this morning." The problem with believing that your problem is new is that you will also likely believe that your pain should go away quickly.

You are likely forgetting about all the times you felt warning signals and quickly dismissed them or medicated them away. You don't realize that you haven't been able to touch your toes in years, you don't exercise regularly, and your job entails you sitting for extended periods of time. These were all factors in the building of your spinal problem, long before you ever felt your first symptom... the back pain.

The back pain ended up as the final result of the years of build up on your spine. Now you can either go for stronger drugs to cover things up, or you can begin to undo the years of ignoring the warnings and work to build up a healthy and normally functioning spine. The good news is that it rarely takes nearly as long to put your back together as it took to make it bad in the first place.

There is a point of no return. There is a point when you've ignored and dulled the warning signals for so long that the degeneration in your spine and the bulging of your spinal disc have eliminated some of the more conservative treatments. There is a time when your only choice is a spinal surgery or injections to stop the pain even if they aren't fixing anything.

What can you learn from this? When the back pain hits, take a good look at when your problem began and not just when your symptoms began. Seriously evaluate what its going to take to get your spine back to a good place and pain-free. The longer you wait in taking the proper steps, the more difficult the journey.

Vitamin D May Cut Risk of Flu

New research from the Yale University Medical School showed that Vitamin D may reduce the incidence and severity of influenza and other the upper respiratory tract infections, and those with higher levels of vitamin D also experienced a marked reduction in the number of days they were ill.

Simple steps such as eating foods rich with vitamin D and getting more sunshine may help to reduce your chances of contracting flu and other similar illnesses. In addition to getting more sun and consuming milk and foods with vitamin D such as fatty fish, eggs, and grasssfed beef products (especially dairy), researcher James R. Sabetta, MD recommends supplements, especially for people in areas with less sunlight and for those who spend daylight hours in darker, indoor environments.

The researchers conclude that the lower levels of vitamin D seen during the winter in temperate climates may contribute to the prevalence of influenza in colder months. Sabetta says vitamin D has known effects on the immune system, and the study reinforces the association between vitamin D deficiency and susceptibility to infections of the respiratory tract.

Sabetta JR, DePetrillo P, Cipriani RJ, Smardin J, Burns LA, et al. 2010 Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D and the Incidence of Acute Viral Respiratory Tract Infections in Healthy Adults. PLoS ONE 5(6): e11088. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011088

Chiropractic Cures A Blind Man?

Overloaded Backpacks Hurt Our Kids' Backs

This article was written for the Washington Post, and picked up by newspapers nationwide. It offers tips such as limiting the amount of weight in a backpack to just 10% of a child's weight and using both straps to carry the bag.

Overloaded Backpacks Hurt Our Kids' Backs

Schedule an appointment to have Dr. Permenter examine your child's spine with and without their backpack. 704.569.3130