Any pain in your head or neck is considered a headache by the medical doctors. Headaches are something that can affect every aspect of your life. If they are severe enough, they can keep you from living a productive life. Why not allow a St. Paul chiropractor to help you get rid of headaches?

Headaches caused from tension are most often treated with over the counter pain killers. Medical doctors may recommend massage, biofeedback or stress management to treat this kind of headache. More serious types of headaches are treated with stronger, prescription pain killers.

Medical doctors often put their patients through the extra pain and discomfort of different laboratory tests, CT scans, MRIs or lumbar punctures, just for an example. Regardless of the extra cost, very few of these things help bring any type of relief.

People who have debilitating headaches find it impossible to live a normal life, because the pain keeps them from doing things they would like to do. They can’t keep a daily routine, and many times, they can’t go to work either. They miss out on social activities, because they can’t do even the simplest things.

Call a chiropractor in St. Paul that is a specialist in cervical decompression for neck pain if you have any of these symptoms. The best part about this type of treatment is that it doesn’t use any type of drugs, and the headaches will quickly disappear. There is no surgery, and you can save a considerable amount of money, as a result.

A common misconception is that if nothing else works, surgery is the only thing that can relieve your headaches. Nothing could be further from the truth. Have you ever considered the total cost of surgery? Besides the long hospital stay, you will have to pay the surgeon, the anesthesiologist and the hospital fees, not to mention the weeks of work that you will miss. It all adds up to a tidy sum.

Set the money aside that you would have to spend on surgery, and use some to see a St. Paul chiropractor. The relief that you will get from your headaches, will make your visit worthwhile.

One of the most amazing parts of the human is the spine. The spine is an amazing engineering feat. The spine is designed to distribute the weight of the body across its length. The spine gives us the ability to walk upright. Our dependence on our spine is one of mobility. Many people experience low back pain. Low back pain comes when there is a concentration of force. This concentration of force can stress the muscles and soft tissues of the spine. You can take preventative actions to minimize this type of occurrence.

The diet is the fuel we are putting into our body. It is important to maintain nutrition so that our muscles and soft tissues can perform. Many people have poor diets because they eat many processed foods and sugars or fast foods high in fats. This can cause people to gain weight. Your spine has to take up this extra weight on an ongoing basis. For better health it is important to reduce the weight and stress on the spine.

Preventing low back pain means taking positive action to improve your overall health as well as your back health. This is obvious, but one must first start with ways to protect the back in your activities. This means learning the correct ways of lifting, sitting and standing. Sitting and standing in a slouched position increases the stress placed on the lower back and increases the probability of an injury.

Simple things like sitting and standing can help reduce the occurrence of low back pain. Many people sit with their shoulders slouched or too far back in the chair. You should sit more upright and support your spine. When you sit in a slouched position with your shoulders forward, it puts more pressure on your upper back. This is easy to correct by holding your shoulders back and sitting straight in the chair.

Another key area of prevention is learning proper lifting techniques. Lifting applies to all sorts of objects, not just heavy lifting. Most people lift by bending over which puts all the weight and strain directly on the lower back. The lower back was not designed for this type of lifting. Instead use your legs by bending your knees. Let your legs do the lifting because these are the largest and strongest muscles you have.

Exercise is another great preventative practice for low back pain. Start with a stretching course for the muscles. You can then do light exercises. Just going for a walk for 20 minutes can contribute greatly to good spine health. This will help to strengthen the muscles of the back as well as your heart.

The key to good spine health is muscles that retain their elasticity. Massage chairs are very helpful to massage the muscles. Massage chairs can penetrate deeply into the muscle tissues for soothing relaxation. Massage therapy helps to keep the muscles flexible and retain their elasticity. Massage chairs also have heating elements which can be used to help reduce swelling as well.

You should also examine how you sleep. Your sleeping position is very important. We typically spend anywhere between 6 to 8 hours sleeping per day. This is perhaps something we do more than anything else. It is better to sleep on your back than on your stomach. Some people find that putting a pillow between their knees helps to keep their spine straighter, if you sleep on your side. Sometimes the mattress does not support properly, but with the addition of a small rolled towel under your lower back can provide the support you need.

Prevention starts with the basics. Start with your diet, exercise, sitting and standing, lifting techniques, massage chair therapy and your sleeping position. Check with your medical professional for further information in these areas. Prevention of low back pain is an ongoing process. A massage chair can be an important partner to help you maintain your spine in the best health possible.

Sciatica can cause pain, numbness or weakness in your hip, buttock and leg. Chiropractic and sciatica is a good match because chiropractic care can address many of the issues that can cause sciatic pain. Sciatica occurs when the sciatic nerve is compressed, inflamed or irritated.

The sciatic nerve is the longest (and the largest) nerve in your entire body. It starts at the spinal column down in your pelvis and runs down each leg. This nerve can be as wide as your thumb near its point of origin (making it easy to be compressed). As the sciatic nerve progresses downward, it breaks into five branches that serve your thigh, knee, calf, ankle and foot. From this reason alone, it’s easy to see why it can be so incapacitating when this nerve is compressed.

Causes of Sciatica Misalignment (subluxation) of the spine Pelvic misalignment Slipped or herniated disc from a fall or accident Tumors Diabetes Arthritis Vitamin deficiencies Pregnancy

Simple movements are often the triggers for sciatic pain. Simply sitting, standing, walking, lifting, sneezing or bending may be enough to send sharp pains down your leg from your hip. A chiropractor can treat many sciatica cases successfully.

Many people don’t realize that sciatica often begins with lower back pain. They may feel these aches and pains for a few weeks before the true sciatica pain begins. They may feel pain, numbness or weakness start in the hip and move through the buttocks, then down through the thigh, the calf and finally the foot. The pain can be as minimal as a dull ache or it can be a hot, shooting pain. Pain can last for a few minutes, a few hours or several days or weeks. The pain going down the leg eventually becomes worse and more severe than that in the lower back. Those who have suffered sciatica for a long time will realize the pain will eventually localize in the buttocks and thighs. If left untreated, the nerve may sustain permanent damage and the calf muscle may begin to deteriorate.

Most people will wait until the sciatica pain is unbearable before they seek the aid of a chiropractor. This can cause you permanent nerve damage. If you contact a chiropractor when you first feel sciatic pain, there is a much better chance of relieving the pain and fixing the cause. A chiropractor will take your medical history when you first meet, and then do a physical exam. You may need x-rays. The chiropractor will discuss the results and recommended treatment with you.

Chiropractic adjustments to your spine may be done to help correct any misalignments. These adjustments help remove any vertebrae that may be pinching the sciatic nerve. Muscle spasms may be treated with massage. Your chiropractor may also recommend ice packs or ultrasound treatments to help relieve the symptoms first. In the majority of cases, several sessions of manual adjustments (possibly months) are adequate to relieve the problem.

Chiropractic for sciatica works well. Sciatica has a direct cause that can be determined by your chiropractor. Chiropractic can not only relieve the symptoms but remove the cause as well, so the chance of a return of the pain is significantly reduced. X-rays taken before and after treatment for sciatica have proven that chiropractic care realigned the spine and reduced the symptoms. Before you take pain medications to just cover up your symptoms, see a chiropractor if you think you may have sciatica.

We certainly live in stressful times. It’s not easy to assess whether our era is the most stressful, but we do have plenty of daily stress. With the job, the home, the kids, the relatives, and the economy – all these stresses add up and yet we wonder why we have so many aches and pains.

So many ailments are stress-related. Americans are notoriously overweight. Overeating is a stress-coping mechanism.1 Headaches and backaches are often associated with increased stress. There’s a strong correlation between high blood pressure and stress, ulcers and stress, and even cancer and stress.

What can we do? The external stresses in our lives aren’t going away. Our activity-filled lives are busy and complex – there’s always going to be stress. The key is to help avoid or ease the physical effects of stress. Interestingly, chiropractic treatment can be of great assistance in reducing the effects of stress on the body.

In general, stress causes muscles to tighten. This is an unconscious reaction. Tight muscles cause a cascade of further muscle tightening, shortening of muscles and ligaments and, as a result, a decrease of mobility in joints, particularly shoulder joints, hip joints, and joints of the spine.2,3

This overall mechanical effect of stress has a number of additional consequences. All the extra unconscious muscle activity wastes precious nutritional resources and uses up energy needed for critical body functions. Lactic acid accumulates, irritating nerve endings and further increasing muscular tightness. And, most importantly, the losses in spinal joint mobility lead directly to increased levels of pain. This, of course, leads to more stress.

This vicious circle of stress, muscular tightness, and pain can be relieved and reduced by chiropractic treatment.4 Chiropractic therapy is especially designed to improve joint mobility of the spine and pelvis. This gentle, effective treatment gradually restores maximal spinal motion. Muscle tightness is alleviated, metabolic processes begin to return to normal, and nutrients become more available to help maintain healthy functioning. Levels of pain are reduced, and we become better able to withstand the physical effects of stress.

Your chiropractor will explain the many benefits of treatment, and can provide instruction in stretching techniques and specific exercises that help maintain the positive results of therapy.

There will always be stress. We can learn how to reduce the physical effects of stress, and become stronger, healthier, and happier in the process. ——————————————————————————–

Take a Break! A few quick tips -

Get up out of your chair or leave your workbench and walk over to an open window. Change your point-of-view. Breathe some fresh air. Go for a five-minute walk, either in the corridors of your building or out-of-doors. Call a friend and chat for five minutes. Close your eyes, clear your mind, and take an imaginary vacation – relaxing on a warm beach, deep-sea fishing on a beautiful yacht, or skiing down a gorgeous mountain.

These short, focused breaks will help reduce muscular tightness and physical stress, and also help your brain recharge so you can be more creative and productive!

——————————————————————————–

1Marchesini G, et al: Psychiatric distress and health-related quality of life in obesity. Diabetes Nutr Metab 16(3):145-154, 2003 2Weickgenant AL, et al: Coping activities in chronic low back pain: relationship with depression. Pain 53(1):95-103, 1993 3Burns JW: Arousal of negative emotions and symptom-specific reactivity in chronic low back pain patients. Emotion 6(2):309-319, 2006 4Hurwitz EL, et al. A randomized trial of chiropractic and medical care for patients with low back pain. Spine 31(6):611-621, 2006

You’ve heard much about chiropractic medicine and how it’s supposed to improve your general health. You’ve heard about people being healed of conditions they were once made to believe as helpless. You’ve heard about those who simply claim this particular brand of healing is a good way of perfecting the body through the nervous system. You’ve probably heard a lot about chiropractic medicine and, unless you’re a chiropractor yourself, you definitely need to do your homework to be sure whether or not this is, in fact, good for you.

One way to find out about how this method will impact your health is to listen to what those who have actually tried it have to say. For instance, there’s a good number of chiropractors in Chesterfield Missouri so you’ll have a better chance finding people who have explored this brand of alternative medicine there. Most probably, this will be the most critical part of your decision whether or not to go for treatment.

Once you’ve researched a good deal about the benefits of this healing method, you’ll always want to end up with a chiropractor who is qualified and competent. This is where you’ll probably need first-hand information from those who’ve actually been to chiropractic clinics and received treatment. Don’t rely on online reviews, especially those written on their own websites.

After all, what webmaster would put up on his site anything less than a positive review of his products or services? If you really want to know what a clinic is made of, hear it from people who’ve been there. However, should you want to stick to online research, you can actually find an independent website where adequate space is allotted for people to post their unrestricted, impartial comments about chiropractors they’ve been to.

When deciding which practitioner you’ll be most at home or confident with, consider the location of the clinic. Most probably, you’re going to have to keep coming back for follow-up treatments. Getting a clinic that is close to where you live is definitely a good idea, but if there’s simply no chiropractor close by, you can at least choose one in an area where parking or traffic won’t be much of a hassle. Also consider transportation routes and how convenient or inconvenient it will be for you to keep coming back to that clinic for your sessions.

There could be a lot of things worth considering when deciding whether or not chiropractic medicine is good for you. But should you decide it is, the most important step that will guarantee your satisfaction is to ensure that the practitioner you choose is one who shares your own views about health. If you think that health is a purely physical thing which cannot possibly be affected by anything not physical, then find a chiropractor who will probably appreciate working in tandem with your medical doctor. Nevertheless, if you think health has a mental and spiritual dimension that needs to be cultivated, then get a practitioner who will be more inclined to recommend a more holistic healing plan.

Americans spend more than $2 billion each year on sleep-aiding medications. Sleep is supposed to be a natural process. What’s going on? There are many issues in the way of getting a good night’s sleep. Daily stresses such as work problems, financial difficulties, family challenges – can all keep a person up at night.1 We rehash what was said over and over again, or we endlessly review the problems confronting us, creating more anxiety and worry while the minutes and maybe even hours tick away.

Eating late at night – particularly fat-filled foods and snacks – may also interfere with the ability to fall asleep and sleep restfully. Late night meals engage all the resources of your digestive system – your body is actually doing a lot of work when it’s supposed to be resting. Not good. And, of course, a lot of this late night food is stored as fat, creating additional problems.

Not enough exercise also contributes to lack of restful sleep.2,3 When you’re doing vigorous physical work, your body needs to recover. Sleep allows your body to repair and rebuild, getting stronger in the process. Regardless of one’s stresses and worries, vigorous exercise makes a physical demand on your body that will put you right to sleep. If you are not exercising regularly, this strong physiologic need for deep rest is missing, and you’ll likely be tossing and turning the night away.

Old, soft, lumpy mattresses are another potential sleep-disturber. But too-firm mattresses may also cause problems. A good mattress is supportive and comfortable – it “gives” in all the right places and provides a balanced, springy platform for a restful night’s sleep. The solutions are straightforward and none of them involve medication. Regular exercise is the key ingredient. With consistent exercise, your body’s need for sleep will win out over your conscious mind’s automatic mechanism of repeatedly processing the day’s events.

Chiropractic care may be another key ingredient. Gentle chiropractic treatment ensures that all your body’s systems are talking to each other and the right messages are getting through. Chiropractic treatment ensures clear communication from one body system to another. Late at night, systems shut down when they’re supposed to and the result is a good night’s sleep. Your chiropractor will be glad to provide you with important information on customized exercise and nutrition programs that will help you continue to be healthy and well.

1Richardson GS: Human physiological models of insomnia. Sleep Med 8(Suppl 4):S9-S14, 2007 2Lee YC, et al- Lifestyle risk factors associated with fatigue in graduate students. J Formos Med Assoc 106(7):565-572, 2007 3Li F, et al: Tai chi and self-rated quality of sleep and daytime sleepiness in older adults: a randomized controlled trial. J Am Geriatr Soc 52(6):892-900, 2004