What do an excavator, backhoe, and hydraulic skid have in common? You may already know that the use any of these can result in back pain when not used properly or when your spine is misaligned. However, similar problems can occur, if you’re not conscientious, when using Flint tool rentals such as pressure washers, hand grinders, and even vacuums. If your intention is to complete either home remodeling or on-the-job construction, it is essential that your musculoskeletal system be in good condition.

Be smart before you start: Before you begin any job, big or small, and even before you drive out to an equipment or tool rentals Flint company, you should have your back examined by a health care professional who’s a back expert, like a chiropractor. You don’t want to start any type of physical demand without having your chiropractor check to see if your spine is in good alignment. If you have any unhealthy changes, such as degeneration due to the aging process, you may be advised to wear a back support belt as an extra precaution.

Along with making sure that you are in proper alignment and general musculoskeletal good health prior to starting a new project, seeing your chiropractor regularly during your project work can save you from pain and injury. Vibration created by heavy machinery and tools can affect even healthy joints. In addition, unfamiliar positioning and abnormal torque when using hand tools can stress back, shoulder, and arm muscles.

Remember these tips during your project: Because misalignment can result from the use of heavy equipment and tools, be sure to visit your dhiropractor on a regular basis during the duration of your project. Putting ice packs on the inflammed areas may be one of the suggestions made by your chiropractor. In addition, stressed or strained muscles may require kineseo taping while your working on your project. Unfortunately, a stressed or strained muscle may require rest before embarking on your project again.

When your work is done: Don’t forget to get a thorough chiropractic recheck once again as soon as your project is complete.

Do the work you enjoy! Just remember, from start to finish, you will enjoy the fruits of your labor so much more if you take precautions from beginning to end!

Technorati Tags: back pain, chiropractor, tool rental

Santa Barbara Chiropractor

You know what they say, “Growing old isn’t so bad when you consider the alternative.” However, it’s no joke if the aging process is creating pain in your body! As a chiropractor in Santa Barbara, I give care to quite a few people suffering from age-related challenges that likely would not have occurred if the exacerbating cause had been taken care of earlier in life, especially when it relates to musculoskeletal breakdowns. Poor posture, improper gait, and repetitive overuse frequently produce undue stress in the back, neck, hip, knees, and even the feet that can result in painful conditions over time. If we only knew then how our aging body would feel today, eh? However, as they say, “hindsight is 20-20.”

As you can see from the list of complaints above, there are plenty of musculoskeletal conditions that can, and frequently do, take place as we age, but painful back problems are one of the most prevalent. Back pain that is age-related is generally produced by spine osteoarthritis, or Spondylosis, a degenerative disorder.

Spinal osteoarthritis is caused by prolonged erosion and weight-bearing force on the spine that, over time, undermines discs, joints, and surrounding ligaments. The area of the body and rate of the degenerative process of spondylosis is individual, varying from person to person. It is likely to affect the cervical (neck), thoracic (mid-back), or lumbar (low back) regions of the spine. Spondylosisi symptoms very from person to person and depend on the severity of the degeneration, and can range from low-amplitude pain and numbness to severe sensory loss and muscular atrophy.

Repetitive stresses negatively affect the cartilage surrounding the joints and can induce calcium to deposit in the tissues around the vertebrae. Adjacent nerves, blood vessels, and soft tissue can be constricted by these calcific deposits, also called bone spurs. This type of compression is at the root of Spondylosis.

Regular chiropractic care and overall chiropractic management is beneficial in significantly slowing age-related degeneration of the spine whether or not you are suffering from spondylosis. It may be true that “you can’t un-ring a bell” or “turn back the hands of time,” but it isn’t too late to give your spine the good treatment it deserves. Chiropractors are experts when it comes to treatment of the spine. See your Santa Barbara Chiropractor today, for the health of your spine.

Technorati Tags: age-related back pain, chiropractic, chiropractor, spine osteoarthritis

Your Santa Barbara Chiropractor is an expert when it comes to back pain relief. If you’ve chosen chiropractic treatment for your back pain, you are, no doubt, very satisfied with the results. In fact, a recent Consumer Reports survey of its readers found that the majority of chiropractic patients are “highly satisfied” with their chiropractic care. The survey, which included 14,000 Consumer Reports subscribers, found that “hands-on” therapies, led by chiropractic care, were the top-rated treatments for people suffering from back pain. In fact, chiropractors were given the highest “satisfaction with care” ratings, well above those given to medical doctors who administered various forms of care to back pain sufferers

The survey, reported in the publication’s May 2009 issue, found that more than half of the respondents had “pain (that) severely limited their daily routine for a week or longer, and 88 percent said it recurred throughout the year.” The report stated that while many go to a primary care physician first for diagnosis and treatment, the majority were disappointed with the results.

On the other hand, 59 percent reported that they were “highly satisfied” with the care they received from chiropractors. The next highest rated practitioners were physical therapists (55 percent) and acupuncturists (53 percent), followed by “specialized” physicians (44 percent) and primary care physicians (34 percent).

Respondents were also asked to rate the types of treatments they received. Again, chiropractic/spinal manipulation got top honors, with 58 percent rating it as “helping a lot.” Spinal injections were next highest, rated at 51 percent, followed by massage (48 percent) and physical therapy (46 percent). Other highly rated treatments included prescription medications (45 percent), yoga (44 percent), movement therapy and acupuncture (both 41 percent).

According to a Dynamic Chiropractic article on that report, “Chiropractic ranked first out of 11 treatments, including massage, acupuncture, and exercise, in its ability to treat back pain. More readers said that chiropractic ‘helped me feel much better’ than any of the other therapies.” Prescription drugs and over-the-counter drugs ranked eighth and 10th, respectively.

So, if you’ve been “highly satisfied” with your chiropractic care, you’re not alone! In fact, more and more people are turning to chiropractic treatment not only for back pain relief, but for a wide variety of painful conditions from sports and repetitive stress injuries to arthritis. If you live in the Santa Barbara area, feel free to call our office at 805-882-1956. Thanks for reading!

A public version of the report can be found on the Consumer Reports Web site

Technorati Tags: back pain relief, chiropractic, chiropractor, Consumer Report

If you’re feeling low back pain, you’re not the only one, and your Santa Barbara Chiropractic can help. Low back pain bothers many people, an amazing 80% in fact, making it second only to the common cold in its prevalence. However, unlike the common cold, waiting for your back pain to “run its course,” and taking prescription or over-the-counter remedies while you wait, is not the cure. Usually most back pain won’t go away by itself. Frequently, if your pain lessens, it is routinely because your body has compensated for the problem, thus producing new conditions. Low back pain is nothing to sneeze at! If you’d like to defeat your back pain for good (and who wouldn’t?), you need to seek the advice of a back pain expert, like your chiropractor.

In many instances back pain is a mystery to most people who are afflicted by it, and chiropractors are proficient at solving the puzzle. They want to know why it is that they have not experienced any trauma, accidents, or major injuries before the onset of their condition? The answer is that the cumulative effects of unsuitable sitting posture, bad work habits, incorrect lifting, lack of routine exercise, and other unhealthy lifestyle-related influences generate most back pain. These factors add up over time and produce stresses and imbalances on the spine producing subluxations that can turn into serious back conditions. The process is similar to the front end of your car being out of alignment. When you persist in driving anyway, there is unbalanced wear and tear on your tires. If you ignore the problem, the situation would, no doubt, get worse until you “blew” a tire. The stability of the spine is jeopardized when your spine is misaligned. It’s not only a problem waiting to happen, so to speak, it’s a problem waiting to get worse. And then, something as easy as bending over to pick up a piece of paper can be the “final factor” that causes back injury. The surrounding back muscles go into spasm when thisoccurs to stabilize the stressed or injured tissues of the back.

Chiropractors have more education, training, and experience than medical doctors when it comes to problems of the spine. They offer highly qualified diagnosis and experienced treatment for all muscular-skeletal problems. They not only provide welcomed relief to individuals suffering from back pain, but they are aware of what will assist you in avoiding further back pain. Your chiropractor not only will provide you with effectual adjustments and other productive chiropractic therapies but, in addition, will offer a personal exercise strategy and recommend other beneficial lifestyle changes that will help to keep you well-adjust and pain-free in the future.

Technorati Tags: back pain, chiropractic, chiropractor, low back pain

Your Santa Barbara Chiropractor knows that there are a lot of reasons for back pain, and that body weight, especially around the middle, is one of them:  There are many individuals today in a daily struggle to lose weight, particularly too much weight around the middle. Yet, the imperative to lose weight is, more often than not, more than a simple cosmetic issue.  The unfortunate truth is, if people are lugging around extra weight in the front of their body, their back is going to be in pain as a consequence.

The majority of men and women who are overweight encounter moderate to severe back pain. The reason for this is because the spine was not made to carry anything that weighs more than the body is at its generally healthy weight.  As a human being puts on added weight, the spine starts to negatively change and to compress, creating a lot of pain and discomfort.  In addition, it can have an impact on the pelvis, tilting it forward and perhaps compelling it to pinch the sciatic nerve. That is one of the main reasons why people who are overweight tend to have challenges with their lower back. The affliction is due to either sciatica or the distorting of the spinal column.

If you are suffering from this problem, certainly the thing to do is to take off the extra weight that you are carrying around, and your spine will immediately respond and return to its regular position.  Regrettably, losing weight is difficult and it can take time, even with the best of intentions. But, luckily you don’t have to endure back pain as you lose the weight. A chiropractor can help you to get the pain relief you’ll require to help you as you shed the extra pounds.

However, you will still need to lose the extra pounds, and not having back pain will undoubted help you do it. Two things that are simple (but not necessarily easy), but will be highly beneficial to you in losing the extra weight naturally are doing some sort of exercise, even if it’s merely a little bit per day, and adapting the food you eat so that you are taking in less calories than you are using throughout the day. Sure, you’ve heard about these two things before. But, now that you’ve found out that your back is depending on you, it’s the perfect time to get truly motivated.

Start exercising slowly, especially if you’re having challenges with back pain. And, most importantly, be sure to see a chiropractor so that you don’t go wrong the way many people do, which is to exercise into the pain. That will definitely make matters worse. Exercise, though occasionally uncomfortable, should never be painful or cause pain. That’s why it’s important to see a chiropractor if you’re suffering from back pain.

Do basic stretching exercises and also concentrate on your core abdominal body muscles. Strong stomach muscles aid in relieving back pain. Your chiropractor will be able to provide exercises that are best for you, personally. After a very short period of dedication to losing the weight that is producing your back pain and conceivably other health difficulties as well, you ought to begin to notice a significant difference in the way that you feel.

Technorati Tags: back pain, fat, overweight, Santa Barbara Chiropractor