Spine Floss

If your back has been hurting and you can't seem to figure out why, you might be overlooking some simple solutions. Making one or two simple changes can make a huge difference in your back and neck pain. Keep in mind that these are solutions to be used in conjunction with chiropractic care and home exercises to maximize the efficiency of the healing process. 1. Wearing a heavy shoulder bag or purse.  Carrying a one-sided bag, purse, or duffel bag could be contributing to your back and neck pain because of the uneven weight distribution. Putting your whole load on one shoulder puts excess strain on that side of the body, which causes the muscles on that side to work much harder, particularly the upper trapezius, pectoralis muscles, and the neck muscles. In addition, the other side of your body must compensate to maintain balance and keep you walking upright, which can lead to overactive quadratus lumborum (QL) and underactive gluteal muscles.  Solution: wear a backpack or c

Finding a neutral pelvis is an important part of correcting posture and relieving back pain. When the pelvis is in a neutral position, it is situated in a way that supports the rest of the spine and allows the spine to “stack” on top of the pelvis. In order to protect the spine and spinal cord, we can use abdominal bracing to maintain the neutral position of the pelvis and spine. WHERE IS NEUTRAL? The pelvis is in a neutral position roughly halfway between both extremes of pelvic tilt. These exercises will help you to find neutral pelvis from a variety of positions. CAT - COW Start on your hands and knees. Your knees should be directly underneath your hips and wrists should be directly underneath your shoulders. Arch your back as tall as you can, rounding through your spine, tucking your tailbone under, and looking for your belly button. Slowly start to arch your back the other way, pressing your belly button toward the ground and lifting your tailbone and your eyes toward the c

Taking care of yourself is important, but many people think it's too hard or too time consuming. The important thing to remember when trying to add a new routine or goal into your daily lifestyle is to start small. For example, if your goal is to start eating more vegetables, start by adding a side of veggies to one meal a few times per week. After the first few weeks, maybe add another day or two, until you have one side of veggies for one meal every day, and keep building up after that. Easy Veggies.  These are a few of my really quick and easy go-to recipes when I need to add some veggies to a meal.  Simple Frozen Veggies Take your pick of frozen veggies. I usually use a California blend with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and zucchini or just broccoli. Throw your veggies into a frying pan with some butter (or oil) and salt and pepper. How much butter, salt and pepper you use is totally up to your taste, but I usually use just enough butter to coat all the veggies an

What's in your vitamin cabinet? For some, the only "vitamins" they've got in the house are Advil or Ibuprofen, while others have an entire Vitamin Shoppe inventory on their shelves. Taking a lot of pills can be a real pain, but sometimes it can be hard to sift through all the recommendations we get from the internet, our friends and coworkers, and the friendly vitamin salesperson at your local health store. These are just a few in my own personal vitamin cabinet that I personally recommend. Multivitamins If you're unsure if you're getting all the vitamins and minerals that you need from your food, a multivitamin is a really easy all in one to take. Most (but not all) people have trouble fulfilling one or a few nutrient categories from their daily diet. Find a multivitamin that you like at your local grocery store. Consumer Lab recommends Kirkland Signature Daily Multi for quality and cost or Centrum Chewables Multivitamin/Multimineral Supplement. My p

For many people, taking care of themselves is not a priority, and it should be. Some have said that it's "too hard" or "too expensive" or "too time consuming." The thing is, self care doesn't have to be a day at the spa including massage, facial, pedicures, sauna, etc (although that does sound pretty nice). Self care can start with one small thing at a time. Generally speaking, it's usually a bad idea to make a lot of big changes all at once if you're hoping for them to stick. Take it one step at a time, pick something easy to remember, and stick to it for 21 days before you add another change. So, what's the most important thing that most people don't do enough of? Drink water. It sounds easy, but it seems that it's a habit that tends to just trickle away through the day if we're not paying attention, leaving us tired and dehydrated at the end of the day. Not only does drinking water help us flush out toxins in our syst

Spinal care is like flossing; 5 minutes a day keeps the doctor away. Well, not really, but taking care of your spine on a regular basis, similarly to brushing and flossing your teeth, can help prevent injuries and degeneration in your spine. Poor posture is one of the leading causes of degeneration and spinal changes as people age. Not only does poor posture put extra stress on your skeleton and muscles, it can also affect your mood, immune system, and focus. Take a second now to re-position your head over your shoulders and pull your shoulders down away from your ears. Think of it this way: the average human head weighs about 12-14lbs (5-7 kg). Grab something about that weight and hold it close to your body. Not too hard, right? Now hold it out away from your body. That gets pretty tough pretty fast. When your head is not properly positioned over the rest of your spine, your neck muscles are having to carry the extra weight of your head. Because of gravity and physics, this means you