This is Dr. Rob with your weekly health blog. I’ve been seeing a lot of people who work in front of the computer -most people work in front of the computer and text quite a bit- having problems with carpal tunnel syndrome. This is typically due to the position they’re putting themselves in: head forward, hand in a claw-like position. After awhile, the muscles in your hand begin shortening because of the constant position it’s put in.
Here’s one thing I want you to try for a week:
Get a rubber band, place it around your fingers, and as you’re driving or walking around, start pushing your fingers outward. Make sure the rubber band is not too thick just thin enough to provide resistance as you open up those muscles. If you keep opening those muscles, it will begin to develop the muscles on the opposite side of the hand.
That’s your homework for this week; you’ve got to do it a couple hundred times a day. You can easily do it while you’re driving or in front of the computer. You will see that you will soon have less pain in your hand.
We will talk more about how to correct forward head posture which is more complicated. Until then you can always call me at our office Bates Chiropractic at (310) 545-4188 or on our website: www.chiropractormanhattanbeach.com
National Vaccine Awareness Week
Hi this is Dr. Rob with your health blog for the week. This week is Vaccine Awareness Week, October 30th through November 5th.
People have been asking me about vaccines lately, whether or not they should get their kids vaccinated. I really don’t think my opinion is important. What’s important is that you get the facts. Don’t take my opinion, nor your medical doctor’s opinion, get the facts. There’s a book I recommend my patients to read which is Make An Informed Vaccine Decision by Dr. Mayer Eisenstein. He reviews a lot of great facts.
That’s one great source you can go through, but also you can go to www.mercola.com where they will hold a free screening of the documentary The Greater Good. It’s a very rational, scientific discussion of both sides. You’ll get both sides of the coin, pro and con on vaccines. It will give you a better idea on how to make those decisions instead of relying on emotions to guide your decisions.
Get the facts, go to www.greatergoodmovie.org and that will redirect you to www.mercola.com to view this documentary. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate in calling me at Bates Chiropractic at (310)545-4188 or online at www.chiropractormanhattanbeach.com
We want to have our own health freedom, and this is part of it. Make your own choice!
Backpack Attack
It’s back to school week. One of the big problems we have when going back to school is Backpack Attack! We have severe problems with kids going to school, because their backpacks are loaded down with books, and kids start coming up with backpack injuries. In fact, some kids have backpacks that weigh 50 to 60 pounds. Compare that to their little bodies that only weigh 50-80 pounds, that is just way too much weigh for their bodies to take, and it creates postural imbalances as time goes on, and as their bodies are growing. It’ll create subluxations in the body and health problems down the line.
Now, one of the biggest problems heavy backpacks will create is Forward Head Posture, where the head goes forward in front of the shoulders. It creates a lot of undue stress on the ligaments, the nerves, the discs, and joints of the spine, and will set the tone for future degenerative disease like degenerative disc disease or arthritis.
So, what we want to do is keep the spine in alignment. One of the best thing you want to do for your kids regarding their backpacks is keep the straps tight with no more than 15% of the body weight in the packs.
Also, they need a strap or a buckle attached to the waist. So the weight of the backpack is more evenly distributed across the spine, this will help bring back the head a little closer.
Most kids wear their straps loose, which creates a lot of weight down low making the kids push their heads forward in order to counter balance the weight.
The key now would be to fix the cause, which is the backpack attack to where it is over-weighting the body and creating the turtle effect. Said effects create a lot of undue pressure on the areas mentioned before.
The other thing is to get your kids checked for subluxations, because if it’s already been going on for a few years, they’ll have degenerative disc disease building up. Since this is a silent process, their symptoms may then seem like they’re coming out of nowhere, such as severe neck pain, headaches, back pain, discs problems, and may end up with surgeries down the line.
Checking your children is a proactive, instead of a reactive, type of healthcare. First we have to fix the backpack problem, then get your kids checked for subluxations, and create the subluxation problem, so that they may lead a healthy life.
How Do You Treat Your Chronic Spinal Pain?
Hi this is Dr. Rob with your weekly health blog and this week we’re going to talk about pain; chronic pain. One of the most common uses of Cox-2 inhibitors (drugs) is to treat pain.
In 2004, they temporarily took one of the Cox-2 inhibitors called Vioxx off the market. The reason being it was associated with 50,000 deaths over a five year period of time due to heart attacks and strokes. The other Cox-2 inhibitors like Celebrex and Bextra have similar problems. They have many dangerous side effects, but we want to talk about a study that came out on The Journal of Spine, a highly respected orthopedic journal, in July of 2003. They studied the effects of chiropractic adjustments versus the Cox-2 inhibitors, the Celebrex, the Vioxx, and the Bextra. They study found that spinal adjustments worked five times better in treating chronic back pain than the Cox-2 inhibitors. Interesting enough, the drug group had more side effects than it relieved the pain while chiropractic adjustments had no adverse effects.
Now, we should always go with the most conservative route especially when in treating chronic spinal pain. The medical studies show that chiropractic is more conservative than the its counter part.
If you are experiencing chronic spinal pain or know someone who does, contact us at Bates Chiropractic at (310) 545- 4188 or via our website: www.chiropractormanhattanbeach.com.
Mahalo! Life is Motion
Mahalo, this is Dr. Rob with your health blog this week. I’m here in Kaanapali, Maui working on motion, because motion is life and life is motion. This week’s blog is on motion. When you have lack of motion, like sitting in those chairs all day, it’s like sugar for your spine. That’s why you have to get out and do a good stimulation to the nerve system, stimulate the spine, and stimulate the brain. One of the best things you can do to stimulate the spine is to get out exercise like stand up paddling. You just saw me try stand up paddling for the first time while working on my spine. Remember keep up with your physical activity and adjustments.
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