3 Exercises to Prevent Back Pain
Take a moment to think about the day of an average American. We wake up and get ready for the day, sit in the car on the way to work, sit at work all day, sit in the car on the way home, and then spend the rest of the night sitting on the couch. This day of sitting can lead to a lot of extra force applied to the back, specifically it increases the pressure within the discs of the low back. In fact, sitting causes an intradiscal pressure increase of 40% compared to standing. Sitting slouched increases the pressure by 90%.
Unnecessary pressure and wear on the discs can cause a myriad of issues. Most commonly it can lead to weakening of the disc causing an increased risk of disc injury. Prolonged wear and tear can lead to earlier onsets of disc and joint degeneration or arthritis.
So how do you limit your risk for these conditions? Try to limit your sitting throughout the day. Having the option to switch your workstation from sitting to standing can help with prevention. Also, work on strengthening, stretching, and stabilizing the back.
Here are 3 exercises that can help prevent back pain:
1. Cat and Camel: This exercise allows the spine to be fully flexed and then fully extended. This can cause a pumping action that can help to rehydrate the disc while providing a nice stretch to the muscles that tighten up with prolonged sitting.
2. Bird Dog: This exercise is meant for core stability. The core is built more to provide sustained contractions and stabilization and less for force production movements like sit-ups and crunches. Your core consists of your abs, glutes, and back.
To do this exercise, start with your hands and knees on the ground. Extend one of your arms out in front of you as far as you can while extending the opposite leg behind you. Hold that position for 3 seconds and then slowly return to the starting position. Repeat this for 3 sets of 10 repetitions on each side.
3. Dead Bug: Much like the Bird Dog, this exercise is meant to provide stabilization of the core.
To do this exercise, start with both arms and bent legs in the air. Slowly lower one arm and the opposite leg to just above the floor. Hold that position for 3 seconds and return slowly to the starting position. Repeat this for 3 sets of 10 repetitions.
By making these exercises a part of your routine, along with seeing us at Nashville Chiropractic, you can help strengthen the core and decrease your chances of back issues. If you have any questions or would like a demonstration, feel free to call, email, or stop by the office.
Importance of Compliance
At Nashville Chiropractic we make it our goal to provide exceptional chiropractic care to the Nashville area. Most chiropractors are owners of their practice, therefore, offices operate at the owner’s discretion. Many chiropractic offices have various philosophies and perspectives on how to interact with patients and how to reach health goals. This will influence what techniques are used most often, if imaging is done in or out of the office, what the new patient exam protocols are, if they are in network with insurance or accept cash only, and how they present a treatment plan.
The focus of this post is on treatment plans. Goals of a treatment plan can be separated into short term goals and long term goals. In general, short term goals often include decreasing intensity and frequency of discomfort, increasing pain free ranges of motion, and decreasing positive exam findings. Long term goals focus on increased functional mobility and how to decrease the likelihood of reoccurrence or new injury onset. Re-evaluations and patient feedback are documented to see if these goals are being reached.
The stage of the condition; and if it is defined as acute (new, recent, actively painful) or chronic (old, reoccurring, latent periods) will also influence treatment plan formats. An acute condition is actively in the stages of the body’s inflammation process. A chronic case needs to account for compensatory changes from long term failed healing conditions.
This chart illustrates the phases of treatment and healing. The first stage is relief care. After this stage most patients are starting to feel better and be less symptomatic. At time, some patients opt out of their treatment at this time. These are the patients that are most likely to see relapses and re-occurrence of symptoms. The goal of treatment should be to improve and restore function in the present as well as the future.
The tissue that is injured will also influence the timeline of a treatment plan. Different tissues heal at different rates due to biological make up and external and internal stressors. For example, a ligamentous injury may take longer than a muscle injury because it has less blood flow and less nutrients available to it, at the same time a muscle is harder to rest, while a ligament can be more easily stabilized to decrease stress while healing.
The recommended treatment plan goals and visit frequency are based on researched ethical expectations that take into account stages of the condition and biology of injured tissue. Researchers, such as Perry Nickelson, author of Stop Chasing Pain, Gray Cook, physiotherapist, and Craig Liebenson,DC, have effectively defined reasonable times of the body’s healing process with conservative treatment. It can confidently be stated you should expect 80-90% of acute symptoms to be gone within 2-4 weeks of treatment, about 5-6 visits, when utilizing chiropractic care. The last 10-20% of treatment takes a bit more time, active effort, and compliance.
Research also supports that combination care is more effective than the individual treatments alone. Chiropractic adjustments, muscle work, exercises, diet, and rest are more effective together than simply choosing one route. Long term goals, chronic pain conditions, and injury prevention are dependent on this combination.
Of course the only way this is useful information and an effective treatment path for patients is if they are compliant. At Nashville Chiropractic we try to support easy compliance. At our office patients have the option to schedule out their appointments as far into the recommended plan as they wish. This allows for patients to consider their schedules and progress. Payment is collected at time of service to ease financial comfort for the patient and to hold our doctors accountable to the visit at hand.
To summarize:
- Treatment plans are designed to reach short and long term goals of being pain free and functional.
- Stage of the condition and the specific injured tissues are two aspects that determine goals and duration of a treatment plan.
- Research has shown what expectations a doctor and patient should have for the healing process and future injury prevention.
- It is always the patient’s choice to comply with recommended treatment plans. Successful recovery is not guaranteed if a patient does not follow through with a credible, researched treatment plan.
At Nashville Chiropractic, we vow to never recommend more treatment that what is reasonably and ethically necessary. We hope to provide as much flexibility in scheduling and payment options to ensure that time and financial management are on the patient’s side to ease compliance to treatment.
Chiropractic Care Grows, and Gains Acceptance
Here is a blog post from the NY Times about how chiropractic is growing and becoming more involved in mainstream medicine. Just last week a bill passed to include more chiropractors in the VA program throughout the country. Hopefully this trend will continue, and more people can experience the benefits of honest and effective chiropractic care. Please share you chiropractic experience with anyone you think may benefit from it!
Check out the link below:
Chiropractic Physicians Urge Conservative Treatments for Pain Amid Opioid Epidemic
During National Chiropractic Health Month (NCHM) this October, the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) will bring attention to the public health crisis caused by pain, and in particular the overuse of prescription painkillers, with the theme #PainFreeNation. The campaign is part of the chiropractic profession's ongoing efforts to educate the public about the value of exhausting conservative forms of care for both acute and chronic pain before resorting to higher risk options, such as opioids.
National Chiropractic Health Month is a nationwide observance that helps raise public awareness of the benefits of chiropractic services and the profession’s natural, whole-person, patient-centered approach to health and wellness.
"Opioid medications involve the risk of overuse and addiction. Beyond this, prescription drugs that numb pain may convince a patient that a musculoskeletal condition is less severe than it is, or that it has healed. This misunderstanding can lead to overexertion and a delay in the healing process or even to permanent injury," explains ACA President Anthony Hamm, DC.
President Hamm notes that people in pain should be informed of all management strategies, including non-drug approaches such as chiropractic, to reduce their risk of overuse and addiction.
"Each patient is unique, and care plans should be tailored to focus on what is the safest, most effective treatment for the individual. Chiropractic physicians stand ready to work together with medical physicians to help address this epidemic that has caused unnecessary suffering, enormous loss of human potential and massive financial and personal costs," he adds.
Fortunately, health care quality organizations have begun to recognize the value of this conservative, multidisciplinary approach. Earlier this year, the Joint Commission, which certifies more than 20,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States, including every major hospital, revised its pain management standard to include chiropractic services and acupuncture. Clinical experts in pain management who provide input to the commission's standards affirmed that treatment strategies may consider both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic approaches.
For updates and more information on #PainFreeNation as October 2015 approaches, go to www.acatoday.org/NCHM and follow ACA on Twitter at@ACAtoday and on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.
The American Chiropractic Association based in Arlington, Va., is the largest professional association in the United States representing doctors of chiropractic. ACA promotes the highest standards of ethics and patient care, contributing to the health and well-being of millions of chiropractic patients. Visit www.acatoday.org.