Health and Wellness Blog
Morning Time: When Sciatica Symptoms Are Sharpest
Waking up in pain
Sciatica is caused by compression of the largest nerve in the body. Many people find that this type of pain is at its most severe in the morning time and there is one quite clear explanation for this: as sciatica is caused by nerve compression, any activity that causes such compression is bound to cause you more pain. It is very likely that if your sciatic nerve pain is at its most severe in the morning, you may need to address the way you sleep. When choosing to account for your sciatica with conservative treatment methods like chiropractic, there are three main avenues available to you:
- Address misalignment that is causing the compression in the first place
- Stretch and condition the muscles that could be impinging on the nerve
- Avoid the degree to which the nerve is compressed
The latter is where your sleeping style comes into question. Read on to find out how you can sleep comfortably while accounting for your sciatic nerve pain.
Starting Your Day With Your Spine in Mind
The best way to ensure you get off to a good start each day
Approach your day like a really long exercise routine- whether your job involves a lot of moving or barely any movement at all is immaterial. Each type of job comes with a unique set of risk factors for your spine. One way to prevent these risk factors from doing damage to your spine is to prevent them altogether by strengthening and stretching the supporting back muscles as soon as you wake up. A morning stretch routine has the further advantage of:
- Getting your blood moving
- Decreasing tension in the musculature
- Improving range of motion in your spinal joints
Read on to find out about a few key yoga poses that can be done every morning, even in a hurry.
Tight Hips Spell Trouble for Your Spine
The importance of hip mobility
When it comes to spinal health, your hips can go both ways: tight hips cause instability at the base of the spine and lower back pain; loose hips improve your body’s ability to stabilize and transfer forces, helping to prevent injury. Opening your hips is a key way to release many regions from the tightness and tension of daily life. Fortunately, you can practice strengthening and stretching your hips from anywhere at any time.
Changing Alignment Habits for Less Pain
Your body is a conformist
Many of us have led ourselves down the road toward back pain through bad habits. Some of these habits are more subconscious than others, such as the way we position our bodies as we perform repetitive tasks. If you work at a computer all day, and pay little attention to posture, chances are good that your body is training itself into holding patterns that are pulling your body out of alignment and contributing to tension and pain. In order to start feeling less pain, we need to seriously look at the holding patterns that our bodies have established over the years.
Protecting Your Back with Layers of Prevention
Keeping yourself free of back pain is a lifelong struggle
The sooner you start, the more likely you are to be successful in keeping back pain at bay. The simple truth is that our current healthcare system does not set our citizens up for success; western medicine is predicated upon waiting until the problem happens, and then treating it accordingly. At Hayes Family Chiropractic, we disagree with this course of events. As we have iterated before, the spine is a finite structure- because of the extraordinary amount of responsibilities it has, as well as the enormous amount of pressure that is put on it daily, it is likely to degrade over time. The speed at which this degradation occurs, however, is partially controlled by you!
Your Instinct Tells You to Stretch: Daily Decompression for Embattled Spines
There is no better time than now to start stretching for your spine
Spinal compression is with you from the word go- the force of gravity is always pushing downwards, creating strain in the spinal discs that serve as the cushions between your vertebrae. Modern lifestyles then exacerbate the problem by adding lack of activity, poor posture, lack of hydration and many other malefactors into the mix. It’s no wonder that our aging population is suffering from more stiffness, pain and nerve problems than ever before. The effect of back pain on quality of life is palpable- chronic back pain sufferers are more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression and cognitive dysfunction because of the omnipresence of physical pain. At Hayes Family Chiropractic, we believe in being proactive about mitigating the forces that seek to compress our spines and interfere with our lives.
Cervicogenic Vertigo: It’s All in Your Neck
Vertigo is sensory confusion at its finest
By far the most common cause of vertigo is benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), a condition that causes a sensation of spinning, either inside or outside of your head. The most common cause of BBPV is thought to be head injuries which alter the way your brain perceives the position and balance of your head, often involving dysfunction in the vestibular apparatus located in the inner ear. But there is another, less common, cause of vertigo known as cervicogenic dizziness, which is entirely different in nature.
The Many Postural Changes of Pregnancy (And Why They Hurt)
When your body starts changing…
…your mindset needs to change to. It’s time to stop thinking about pregnancy as just your belly getting bigger and your back hurting. The reality is that every part of your body changes to support the new life inside of you and thus we must take a whole-body approach to preventing pain and dysfunction. At Hayes Family Chiropractic, we believe that the best way to do this is with chiropractic’s natural healing modalities, as well as attention to posture and trimester-appropriate exercise. Below we have identified all the threats your body faces during pregnancy and what we can do about it!
Regular Exercise Makes for a More Comfortable Pregnancy
How can exercise benefit your pregnancy?
In a multitude of ways, the most important being: maintaining postural stability, boosting circulation and mitigating the common discomforts of pregnancy including back pain. If that sounds a lot like the role of chiropractic in pregnancy it is because exercise and chiropractic complement eachother in the quest to make your pregnancy more comfortable. Physical activity is different during each successive trimester, and it should always be performed with a measured, careful approach. At our office in Dunedin, we are pregnancy chiropractic specialists and we have been helping women in our community use exercise in support of healthy, successful pregnancies from day one through to the postpartum period and beyond.
What To Do About Tailbone Pain During Pregnancy
The tailbone region comes under fire during pregnancy
The tailbone, also known as the coccyx, is a small, triangular bony structure at the base of the spine. It’s crucial location places it among the foremost battlegrounds of back pain during pregnancy. The tailbone is meant to contribute stability to the lower back, stabilize posture, and serves as the connecting point for many pelvic floor muscles. It provides for balance and weight distribution between the hips and supports a number of biological functions in both men and women. During pregnancy, several factors combine to threaten the coccyx region and cause pain:
- Pregnancy hormones
- Growing weight of the baby
- Postural changes and a shifting center of gravity
These risk factors can lead to localized pain in the coccyx, as well as a host of more serious injuries including: Symphysis Pubic Dysfunction, herniated discs and sciatica.