Chiropractic Adjustments Help Back Pain Sufferers Find Relief In Wheaton

Back pain is one of the most common complaints of those who seek chiropractic care. When the vertebral joints are not in their proper position they can pinch nearby nerves causing considerable discomfort. If sufferers visit their local professional Wheaton chiropractor, they can receive adjustment therapy which should bring them relief.

Back injuries can occur from a number of sources; lifting a heavy object, a car accident, or a fall. An initial consultation with the chiropractor will usually involve making an assessment of the spine’s condition by means of x-rays and examination. Afterwards, a course of spinal adjustments can be planned based on this information.

An adjustment consists of a manual thrust which is applied to those joints which have become shifted out of position. This movement is very specific, with the angle, direction, depth, and speed the practitioner uses all being determined by the particular degree of misalignment the patient is experiencing. A special hand formation called a “pisiform arrangement” is used to deliver the adjustment.

The common name given to this adjustment method is the “diversified” technique. As the force is applied to the joint, the tissues that have formed around it are gently loosened which in turn have been known to make a popping sound caused by the release of gas bubbles within the body fluids. As the joints are shifted back into their proper locations, pressure is alleviated from affected nerves, range of motion and mobility are improved.

This biomechanical improvement in the functioning of the spine, can affect many nerves and other parts of the body as well. Sometimes the chiropractor will implement other accompanying therapy methods with the adjustments such as ultrasound, acupuncture, massage and exercise. The number of therapy sessions required will depend on the nature and extent of the patient’s injury.

Anyone suffering with back pain, can benefit from receiving chiropractic spinal adjustments. A skilled Wheaton chiropractor who has extensive knowledge in this area can provide care. In a few sessions, back pain will be nothing but an unpleasant memory.

Avoid Back Pain with Dr. Jeff Winternheimer’s Tips for Shoveling Snow

With temperatures dropping and a chill in the air, the snow falls yet again. While many people look forward to the season’s  snow, many more of us dread having to shovel it away. Let’s face it…shoveling snow is hard work! And if not done correctly, it can put severe strain on the back.

“People need to be very careful when shoveling snow,” explains Dr. Jeff Winternheimer, founder of the Illinois Back Institute with 4 locations throughout Chicagoland (Wheaton, Countryside, Berwyn and Orland Park). “While most people recognize the tremendous stress that shoveling snow can place on the heart, what they may not realize is the amount of stress and strain that it can cause to the back,” he adds.

“It’s not surprising that thousands of people injure their backs each and every year while shoveling snow,” he continues. “During the winter season, I’ve seen everything from basic muscle fatigue and low back strain to vertebral disc damage and even spinal fractures,” he says. “But, with proper preparation and a few easy tips, shoveling snow can be a very healthy, fun, and safe form of winter exercise.”

The following suggestions from Dr. Jeff are sure to help.

Dress for Success

Make sure you are dressed appropriately for the weather with layered clothing that is non-restricting and easy to move in. Also, consider wearing a hat. A great deal of body heat is lost through the head, so a hat is a must. If it’s icy cold, breathing through a scarf will help. And, don’t forget the importance of proper boots, which are not only essential for keeping your feet warm and dry, but the soles provide good traction, which will help with your balance.

Don’t Forget the Gloves

Not only do you need to wear gloves to keep your hands warm, but gloves with vinyl or leather on the palms and fingers will help you form a tighter grip on the shovel’s handle so it doesn’t slip. Thick gloves will also help protect your hands from calluses and blisters while shoveling.

Warm-Up

Like any exercise, it’s important to warm up. Before digging into the snow, try a few jumping jacks. Or, take a few minutes to jog or march in place to get the blood flowing and the muscles warm. As we all know, warm relaxed muscles work much more efficiently than cold tight ones; and are less likely to be injured.

Shovel Sense

Using the right shovel can save your back from injury or pain. Be sure that your shovel is lightweight and has a curved handle (like the new ergonomic ones), which allows you to keep your back straighter when shoveling. Also, make sure that it’s not too tall (resulting in an awkward grip) or too small (causing you to bend over). I believe that a smaller blade is better than a larger blade. Although a small blade can’t shovel as much snow, it avoids the risk of trying to pick up too heavy a load with a larger one.

Take Breaks

When shoveling, you need to take frequent breaks and pace yourself. Stand up straight, stretch your back and roll your shoulders a few times to release the tension. Pace yourself. There’s no need to shovel the entire driveway and sidewalk at one time.

Drink Up

Be sure to drink plenty of fluids before, during and after shoveling snow. Like jogging, riding a bike, or a work-out in the gym, snow shoveling is exercise, so staying hydrated is important. Avoid caffeinated drinks, as they cause dehydration, which will make you more likely to experience aches, pains and other discomfort after shoveling.

Use Your Legs

When shoveling, make sure you are lowering yourself with your legs and not bending forward towad the snow with your back. Doing so will help avoid added pressure on your spine.

Alternate Sides

Any repetitive motion for a long period of time is sure to cause soreness. To lessen the chance of experiencing back pain while shoveling, alternate between tossing the snow to your right and tossing it to your left. Also, try changing hand grips so that if the shovel is to your right, leading with the left arm; change it to the left side, leading with your right arm.

Speaking of Grip

Speaking of grip, don’t place your hands too close to one another. Create some distance between your hands (about 12 inches or so), which gives you more leverage and makes it easier to lift the snow.

Lift Correctly

Whenever possible remember to push the snow instead of lifting it. Pushing puts far less strain on the spine than lifting. But, if you must lift, protect your back from injury by doing so correctly. Begin by standing with your feet about hip width for balance and keeping the shovel close to your body. Bend from the knees (not the back) and tighten your stomach muscles as you lift the snow, avoiding any twisting movements.

Toss Correctly

Once you have picked up the snow, turn your whole body and face the direction you want to toss the snow. By doing so, you are tossing the snow in a straight forward way, completely taking out the torso rotation and saving your back. NEVER twist to throw the snow to the side, and never throw it over your shoulder! It’s very important to walk to where you want to dump the snow. Holding a shovelful of snow with your arms outstretched puts too much pressure on the spine.

Listen to Your Body

Stop IMMEDIATELY when you feel any sort of pain or shortness of breath. With snow shoveling, especially, you’ve got to listen to your body and know your limitations.

Take a Hot Shower

When you’re done shoveling, take a hot shower and stretch while under the hot water. Doing so will help relax the muscles and it will lessen the chance of any aches and pains later on.

About Dr. Jeff

Dr. Jeff Winternheimer is a local chiropractor and founder of the Illinois Back Institute. After years of research to put an end to his own excruciating back pain (which stemmed from a frivolous college stunt in 1988), he has developed an innovative, non-surgical, natural treatment that rehydrates the discs and has proven 100% successful. Called Functional Disc Rehydration, Dr. Jeff has helped thousands of people avoid spinal surgery and live pain free by reversing the effects of Sciatica, Stenosis, herniated discs, bulging discs and degenerative disc disease.

If you have questions for Dr. Jeff regarding back health, or would like more information about his ground-breaking discovery, please visit http://www.illinoisbackpain.com, or call 866-693-0955 to schedule a consultation. Dr. Jeff is available for speaking engagements

Is Your Job a Pain in the Back?

Your uncomfortable office chair, long hours at the computer, and slouching habit could be creating more problems health problems that you might think. Proper training in ergonomics and correct posture is essential to maintaining a healthy back. According to researchers, 80% of Americans will experience back pain at some point throughout their lives. Although poor posture is detrimental to your back, with proper training you can correct your posture. With a few easy tips you can significantly improve the health of your back; which in turn will help you to feel better, and it may even help you to be more productive at work.

An easy way to reduce back strain while you’re at work is to simply get up and move. Take a two minute break every half hour of sitting at your office chair to stretch. If you can’t get up that often, try stretching in your chair. Just changing your bodies positioning can do a lot for your back. One of the easiest ways to prevent back pain caused by poor posture is to know the warning signs.

Being able to pin point when the back pain begins, is a good way to figure out if it is the result of poor posture or a more serious condition such as degenerative disc disease, DDD. If your back pain does not improve it is important to seek out other more aggressive treatment options such as, Progressive Disc Rejuvenation.

Life style changes do not have to be daunting tasks, and new healthier habits can replace old patterns of behavior without much effort. Psychological studies have shown that through merely keeping your posture in mind for as little as two weeks you can significantly improve your overall health and peace of mind.

Back Injuries Can Be Due to Back Packs

Back packs, although necessary for kids and college students, may cause a significant amount of damage to your spine, and your kid’s spine if used improperly. Textbooks are heavier than they may appear on the table, and overloading a back pack with too much weight may put your child’s back at risk for episodes of back pain, and long term damage to the spine. Fortunately, by following a few easy guidelines and a little common sense you can send your kids off to school with the peace of mind that at least their back pack is not causing problems.

The first tip is to make sure the back pack you select is designed with the spine in mind. Backpacks with wheels are always a good bet. Also, when shopping look for one that has padded adjustable shoulder straps, and an adjustable belt strap. The belt, waist, or hip strap helps to redistribute some of the load away from the back making it easier to carry. Furthermore, keep in mind the material of the backpack. You will want to choose one that is made from lightweight material, because the less weight that your child is lugging around the better. Also, limiting your child’s load to 5-10% of their body weight is a great precaution to take.

Another great way to ensure that your kid’s spine is not being harmed by their backpack is to teach your child how to properly wear and load their backpack. Heaviest objects should go on the bottom, and compartments should be packed with the lighter stuff. You should also take care to make sure that the stuff in the compartments is evenly distributed by weight.

Advocate to your children to only carry the necessary books with them, make frequent trips to their locker if possible, and to immediately remove and reduce the load of their back pack if it starts causing them pain.

Lastly, get involved, attend PTA meetings, and bring the issue of backpacks safety up. It is important that kids have the ability to get to their lockers and unload unnecessary books and materials as often as possible.
There are more tips on the way!

At Home Tips For Back Pain Relief

There are many components to back pain. If you suffer from back pain it is very important you see a Dr. to identify what is causing your back pain. Having said that, I will now explain about a few of the components that will lead to you having chronic back pain, after that I will give you advice on how  and what you can do about it.

A large portion of all chronic back pain (pain that last more than 3 months), comes from a break down in the disc. We call this disc degeneration. There are several variables that will lead to disc degeneration. The one that I want to talk about in this article is what we call muscle imbalance. This problem is very common and probably the least understood. So I will do my best to explain it.

Muscle imbalances develop often as a result of simple activities. It has a lot to do with the control mechanisms in the nervous system for our muscles, and our daily activities.  You can very often have muscles get too tight, let’s say from sitting too long, and a as a consequence of the tight muscles other muscles can get weaker. This results in muscles going out of balance. It indirectly related to what is called the neuromuscular system. The technical medial term I am talking about is called reciprocal inhibition.   For the sake of simplicity all you really need to know is when muscle go out of balance (reciprocal inhibition) the effect is an increase in load on the disc. The muscle imbalance leads to  more pressure on one side of the disc relative to the other side. This really can be side to side or front to back. The uneven pressure on the disc will lead to a breakdown in the disc we call this disc degeneration, and this can lead to back pain.

The goal of this article is to help you understand back pain and help you identify that there are thing you can do to make yourself better. Now to fix the problems with the muscle imbalance, what you need to do is get the muscle back in balance. I have spent the last 18 years of my life helping people get out of pain and assist in the process of getting muscle back in balance.   To get the muscle back in balance is a 4 part process. This article is about the first part, this is known as the Inhibitory techniques. This is a process that is used to release tension, and/or decrease activity of the overactive neuro myofascial (muscle) tissues in the body. To accomplish this we use a foam roll. This roll is about 3 feet long and 6 inched in diameter. It is like a long foam cylinder. They are soft and have some give to them, they are foam!

This process is designed to do 2 very important things. Number one, to eliminate the effect trigger points will have on the muscles and the body. A trigger point is a portion of the muscle that will get real tight as a result of activities of your life, very often they will be the source of some low level pain. Number two; influence the effect the nerves and nervous system has on the muscles. Part of why you have muscles out of balance is because of the effect the nervous system has on the body.   If you are interested in performing this at home what you would need to do is order a foam roll the cost is roughly $20-30 USD. And start to roll up and down your spine. You want to position the roll at about your mid back. You would position the roll so that the end of the roll is at either elbow. You want to be able t roll up and down. You would be positioned on your back with the roll between your shoulder blades and start to roll up a few inches and down a few inches. If it hurts too much stop doing it.   Do this one time per day for 30-40 seconds gradually going higher and lower this will start to break up some of the trigger points and start to loosen up the muscles allowing the nervous system also to relax the hold it has on the muscles. Again if you have pain you need to see a Dr.

I have released on my website the top ten tips for back pain so if you find this information helpful you will find the top ten tips very helpful.  Yours in spinal health; Dr Jeff Winternheimer.