Scroll all the way down to see various tips on wellness and good health.
Ankle Injuries
Ankle injuries are a common occurrence in a variety of settings such as in sport and at work. Uneven surfaces and quick changes of direction can induce these types of injuries. Often times they occur because the muscles that cross the joint are too weak for the forces acting upon the joint. When the muscles are too weak the only structure remaining to support the joint are inelastic ligaments. It's important to remember the P.R.I.C.E acronym when dealing with the acute stages of the healing process.
The healing process can be helped by encouraging normal range of motion of the joint and reducing pain caused by inflammation. A chiropractor can perform gentle manipulation of the joint to encourage this motion. Gentle soft tissue massage of the region can help with lymphatic drainage and reduce muscle tension.
The final stage of dealing with ankle injury is promoting strength in the region to avoid re-injury. Your chiropractor can recommend a series of ankle strengthening exercises to strengthen the fine musculature in the lower leg. Strengthening exercises will gradually increase in intensity as pain decreases. Balance exercises will be promoted during the last stages.
Consult your Chiropractor whenever you have an injury like this. Your doctor can tailor a personal treatment plan in order to reduce your pain, build strength, and prevent recurrence.
Desk Ergonomics
Many people have jobs that require them to sit for extended periods of time using a computer. If your work requires sitting at a desk working on a computer, it's important to adjust the position of your equipment to best suit your needs. Be sure your monitor is adjusted to the proper height so prolonged flexion or extension of the neck can be avoided. The keyboard should be mounted and adjusted to a proper height so the shoulder muscles don't have to be elevated to reach it. If a mouse is used for the computer set up it should be within reach of your hand and you shouldn't need to reach to use it. If you find yourself slouching forward, be sure to utilize the Bruegger's Postural relief stretch (discussed in a previous health tip) to help alleviate muscle imbalance.
By slightly bracing your core throughout the day you are able to alleviate pressure on your low back by creating balance. Your postural muscles in the low back are contracting when you are upright and your abdominal muscles contracting at the same time create balance. People that are sedentary or spend too much time sitting during the day become reliant on their low back muscles and bones to maintain their upright position. Making your office desk more ergonomic and maintaining good sitting posture will help reducing the risk of work injury and maintaining good health. Consult your chiropractor if you have symptoms around the neck, shoulder or back.
Smart Phones
Smart phones have become a large part of our world. Everywhere you look you are likely to find people staring down at their handheld devices.
People that maintain this fixed neck position for too long often feel very achy and sore when they look up. Our body is not designed to handle this prolonged position of the neck. When we hang our head forward we rely on the posterior neck muscles to hold our head in a fixed position. Stress is also placed on the ligaments between vertebrae. This adaptation of the ligaments is known as "Creep." Creep means repetitive stress on a ligament will change the length of the ligament over time. Our body tends to adapt to poor postures and this causes the soreness in the neck when we move away from these positions.
Holding the phone up at eye-level allows you to maintain a neutral head position (neither flexed nor extended) and avoid aggravating muscle and ligament tissue in our neck. This posture should also be practiced when using office phone to avoid work injury.
Consult your Chiropractor for other tips and prevention techniques.
Dealing with Acute Injuries Using PRICE
The acronym P.R.I.C.E. is often prescribed to help people deal with their ailments during the acute inflammatory phase caused by sport, work, auto injuries, etc. The goals of this approach are to control inflammation and decrease pain.
P- Protect- Use a brace or use caution when performing activities of daily living
R- Rest- Prevents aggravation of an acute injury
I- Ice- Helps control inflammation and decrease pain sensation
C- Compress- Helps reduce swelling by facilitating lymphatic drainage
E- Elevate- Helps reduce swelling by facilitating lymphatic drainage towards the core
Whenever an acute injury occurs, it is important to seek attention from a chiropractor or other medical professional in order to determine the severity of the injury. Proper attention will provide the best and most effective approach to dealing with an injury.
Brugger's Postural Relief
Preventing Common Work Injury
Postural strain is a very common cause of neck and upper back discomfort that plagues the work force. Many people get into the habit of holding their head forward and hunching forward while working at a desk or on a computer. Maintaining this position for too long can lead to a phenomenon referred to as "Creep." Creep is when muscles ligaments and discs are placed in a fixed position and adapt to this new posture. This can cause muscle imbalance when body position quickly moved from its fixed position.
Pectoral muscles become short and tight, deep neck flexors become weak, lower traps become weak, posterior neck muscles become tight. This postural strain can be prevented with Brugger's postural relief position.
Begin in a seated position with your feet flat on the ground. Sit up straight and gently roll your shoulders back (stretching pectoral muscles). Hold your palms face up resting in your lap. Try to draw your shoulder blades towards the middle and down towards your lower back (strengthen lower trapezius muscles). Looking straight forward gently retract your chin towards your neck (strengthen deep neck flexors, stretch posterior neck muscles). Hold this position for a few seconds and repeat as necessary throughout the work day.
Chiropractors are trained in recognizing poor posture and have various methods for resolving muscle imbalance. Contact your chiropractor for more information on what passive and active care is right for your situation.
Preventing Low Back Pain
A back muscle or ligament strain is a common cause of lower back pain. Routine or excessive heavy lifting, repetitive awkward movement, and poor posture with sudden movement may cause or contribute to muscle or ligament stretch or tears.
Prevention:
1. Exercise to increase strength and endurance. Abdominal and back muscle exercises are recommended.
2. Weight. Maintaining a healthy weight helps prevent back pain.
3. Standing. Maintain a neutral pelvic position when standing to reduce amount of stress placed on our back muscles.
4. Sitting. Choose an ergonomic chair with good lower back support and arm rest. Maintain your knees and hip level.
5. Lifting. Use your legs, not your back for lifting. Keep your back straight and bend your knees. Hold the load close to your body to avoid using your back.
To see a video on Chiropractic and Back Pain, click http://www.accidentwellness.com/injury466.html.
Tips on How to Manage an Injury at Home after an Accident
1. Avoid using the muscles you injured recently after your accident when you still have sharp pain.
2. Avoid carry things which will aggravate your shoulder injury. Holding things in odd positions may also exacerbate your pain.
3. Stretching muscles and tendons surrounding your shoulder pain joints can help.
4. Ice packs and heat pads. Use ice first when in doubt. Using heat too soon can make your injury much worse. Ask a chiropractor first before using heat.
5. Rest your body to help you heal faster.
6. Get examined by a chiropractor
Check out the following links to watch videos on auto, work and sport injuries and learn how to take care of your body.
http://www.accidentwellness.com/chiropractic/24412-auto-injuries for auto injuries
http://www.accidentwellness.com/chiropractic/24413-work-injuries for work injuries
http://www.accidentwellness.com/injury417.html for sport injuries
Preventing/Delaying Arthritis
According to the Arthritis Foundation in 2007, 46 million Americans have arthritis (almost 1 out of 7 people), the leading cause of disability. Arthritis is an inflammation of the joints. It occurs when cartilage in the joints erodes. The functions of cartilage are to protect the joint, provide shock-absorption when pressure is placed on joint, and allow for smooth movement. When the cartilage breakdown, you may have pain, stiffness, swelling, limited movement, and even disability. There is no cure for arthritis. Early signs of arthritis include stiffness, loss of range of motion, and dull ache in the joint. The most common type of arthritis is osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis usually occurs as people age; it may be delayed if you take care of yourself, especially when you are young.
The followings are tips on how to prevent or delay arthritis:
- Exercise. Do exercises like swimming, biking, yoga, pilates, walking, weightlifting, as long as it is not too fast, heavy or stressful.
- Lose weight or maintain healthy weight. Extra weight adds pressure on joints. Eat more whole foods and less refined, packaged foods.
- Reduce repetitive strain on joints and muscles. Repetitive or forceful motions may leads to osteoarthritis in later years.
- Prevent and treat injuries. Too many sprains in the same joint or lack of treatment for sprains may cause arthritis later.
- Supplements: Glucosamine and chondroitin, MSM, vitamin C and D, and boron.
- Drink lots of water. Minimize coffee, tea and soda as substitutes for water because they contain ingredients that may block the absorption of water to the cartilage in joints.
To read an article on “Non-surgical Treatment for Osteoarthritic Knee Pain, click http://www.accidentwellness.com/injury876.html
Stress Symptoms & Relief
One of the keys to healthy living is balancing the periods of stress to time for relaxation. Without having enough time for relaxation between stresses may cause physical and behavioral symptoms as follows:
Physical: fatigue, headache, backache, muscle spasm, chest pain, numbness, sleeplessness, stroke, heart attacks, indigestion, sexual dysfunction, hormonal imbalances . . .
Behavioral: depression, anxiety, irritability, negative attitude, concentration difficulty, difficulty controlling anger, compulsive eating, drug/alcohol/family abuse, increase in smoking . . .
Tips for Relieving Stress:
A. Exercise – Make time to do combination of exercises. If time is limited, do stretching.
B. Relaxation – Take a break and relax to take your mind off from what is causing stress.
C. Meditation – Close your eyes, breathe slowly, visualize and concentrate your thoughts upon a place or object that makes you feel happy and peaceful. Your whole attention should be pointed at this place or object you have chosen to concentrate upon.
D. Deep breathing – slowly inhale through your nose as your abdomen expand outward fully. As you slowly breathe out from your mouth, visualize that stress is leaving your body. Repeat several times.
E. Self-talk – Think and say something positive to yourself.
F. Talk it out – Talk about your stress with someone who is a good listener.
G. Laugh – Do, read, or watch something that will make you laugh.
H. Massage – Get a massage for your shoulder, neck and scalp.
Checkout http://www.accidentwellness.com/injury472.html for articles on stress.
Skiing & Snowboarding Injuries Prevention and Treatment Tips
Snow sport injuries are mostly caused by falls and collisions while being on the slopes or dangerous terrain. Factors that may contribute to accidents includes off-trail skiing, skiing above ability level, equipment-related, and failure to making adjustment to altitude.
Some of the most common skiing & snowboarding injuries include:
- Shoulder injuries
- Spinal injuries
- Knee injuries
- Head & neck injuries
- Hand injuries
- Ligament injuries
Snow sport injuries may be prevented by:
- Warming-up and stretching before going up the slope.
- Inspecting for any faulty equipment and making proper adjustments to equipment.
- Using protective equipment such as helmets, wrist guards, elbow and kneepads, etc.
- Practicing safe skiing & snowboarding techniques, and following the rules of the slope.
Treatment Tip:
- Soon after having a snow sport injury, place an ice pack, wrapped with a towel over the injured area for 10 minutes for every 20 minutes to reduce the swelling and pain.
- See a chiropractor for examination and treatment ASAP.
The information provided herein should not be used for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.
Should I Use Ice or Heat?
There is some confusion about which is better for a certain stage of the healing process. The best way to make sense of the ice/heat debate is to understand what is happening during the healing process.
During the *acute inflammatory stage* of the healing process there is inflammation and there is pain. This stage typically lasts about 2-3 days following the time you are actually injured from an auto accident. Application of* ice* is best for controlling inflammation and temporarily numbing the pain in the effected region.
During the *repair phase* the tissue is healing and it is recommended that the injured person use heat to deal with tightness of the muscles. *Heat *will help promote blood flow to the affected area and reduce muscle tension. This phase of the healing process occurs between 3 days and can last up to 14 weeks. During this stage, it is not uncommon to experience flare-ups of pain that are accompanied by inflammation of the affected area. In this case, *Ice* can be used to help control inflammation and pain.
During the *remodeling phase, *the tissue has repaired and the body is now attempting to return to its normal state. During this phase it is important to perform exercises and stretches as prescribed by a chiropractic physician. Proper stretching and exercises can promote normal range of motion and can promote strengthening of weak muscles. *Heat *is often used in this stage to help reduce muscle tension.
See your chiropractor for examination and consultation immediately when you have an auto injury.