How Your Muscular System Works - Emma Bryce

Each time you take a step, 200 muscles work in unison to lift your foot, propel it forward, and set it down. It’s just one of the many thousands of tasks performed by the muscular system: this network of over 650 muscles covers the body and is the reason we can blink, smile, run, jump, and stand upright. So how does it work? Emma Bryce takes you into the body to find out.

Lesson by Emma Bryce, directed by Viviane Leezer.

The Best Way to Sit at Your Desk at Work

There's a lot of false information about the proper posture you need to use when sitting at a desk. Cornell University ergonomics professor Dr Alan Hedge sets out why the 90˚ rule does more damage than good, and what the proper way to sit at your desk is.

Chiropractic For Treating Neck Pain - How Effective Is It?

The techniques used in chiropractic and neck pain have been associated for over 2,000 years. Long before this field of conservative medicine has been recognized by the mainstream medical community in the United States, chiropractic was being widely used in the early civilizations of Greece, India, and China to alleviate neck pain and other forms of pain.

A spinal adjustment to treat neck pain?

A common misrepresentation of chiropractic care is that chiropractors work merely by snapping the neck into different directions until something luckily closes into place. While chiropractors are widely credited for their spinal adjustment techniques (In the case of the neck, it is called cervical adjustment.), they also use a wide range of gentle non-force and soft-tissue therapeutic tools, such as massage therapy, lifestyle suggestions, and an exercise program to supplement the primary spinal adjustment.

How effective is chiropractic for neck pain?

Chiropractors believe that slight maladjustment in the alignment of the spine causes tremendous setbacks in the functioning of the nervous system. Enter neck and back pain, and other body pain which is the result of these setbacks. Through hands-on spinal adjustment, chiropractors can fix the spine and allow the body room to heal itself more quickly. Chiropractic care usually requires more than one session of spinal adjustments and the supplementary therapeutic solutions to fully alleviate the pain and bring back the body's health condition.

Does chiropractic work on all neck issues?

Chiropractic and neck pains do not always go together, but they often do. In cases where the pain is induced by postural strain (the kind caused by sitting in a bad posture in front of the computer the entire day), traumatic injury (caused by whiplash or other injuries from automobile accidents, herniated and ruptured discs, and osteoarthritis and other degenerative processes reminiscent of aging, chiropractic can be a viable solution. It is important, though, that the chiropractor employ all diagnostic tools to thoroughly examine other factors that may be causing the pain. When the practitioner detects a fracture or an organic disease, he may have to refer the patient to another specialist who can administer the appropriate drugs and other treatments for the specific conditions.

Who can receive spinal adjustments to treat the neck?

Practically everybody may receive chiropractic care for pain, but it is imperative that a chiropractor implements a physical and neurological checkup first before devising a chiropractic program for his patient. Posture is one of the first things to be examined. If the chiropractor detects an abnormal curvature of the spine or if one of the shoulders or hips is lower than the other, there must be a reason to believe that something is wrong. However, posture is not the only important thing and does not completely indicate the need for chiropractic care. The practitioner also examines the extremity joints, muscle tone, and strength in the middle and upper back, and the range of motion of the bones.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5049395

Chiropractic Care Helps With More Than Bad Backs

When a person has hurt their back, they figure they can go to their regular medical doctor for pain medication or muscle relaxers or they can opt for a chiropractor who will manipulate their spine in order to offer relief. While this may be true, the treatment of bad backs is just one of many ailments that can be helped.

Chiropractic care is a type of therapy that considers pain or disease to be a symptom of a nervous system malfunction. The movement and manipulation of the spinal column will adjust the nerves' positioning among the bones in order to offer relief. Proper nerve energy can only flow when the skeletal system is in the correct positioning.

There are multitudes of maladies that have been treated successfully with chiropractic methods, including:

- Asthma is common and at times deadly. The breathing system is not functioning optimally and causes wheezing, coughing, inability to take deep breaths. Spinal manipulations have been shown to be helpful in reducing symptoms in asthmatic cases.

- Attention Deficit Disorder and Hyperactivity can cause upheaval in a child's school experience and an adult's life. Often treated with an array of prescription medicines that are sometimes helpful, but also cause additional aggravations to a family. Realignment has been shown to alleviate symptoms of ADD and ADHD.

- Headaches are a common physical ailment. Chronic headaches may be caused by misalignment which may be helped with spinal adjustments.

- Colic in infants has been soothed with chiropractic care. Colic often appears at age one month and continues for two to three months and consists of unexplained crying jags and gas pains.

- Ear infections, also called otitis media, often appear in combination with an upper respiratory infection. They can be quite painful and seem to occur most commonly during early childhood when the inner ear structures are still developing. Otitis media has been helped with by spinal adjustments.

- Various back and disc ailments can be alleviated by manipulating them back into their correct position.

Besides spinal realignments, whole body care is stressed in chiropractic medicine, including proactive steps such as a healthy diet consisting of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins along with proper exercise and posture.

Ergonomics, which is the science of furniture and devices which support healthy body mechanics in the workplace, is also an important lifestyle adaptation that one should consider in order to keep their body healthy and in alignment.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3060768

Chiropractic and the Opioid Epidemic: Rethinking Our Approach to Pain

Inadequate pain management coupled with the epidemic of prescription opioid overuse and abuse has taken a severe toll on the lives of tens of thousands of people in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as many as one in four patients who receive prescription opioids long term for non-cancer pain in primary care settings struggles with addiction. Every day, more than 1,000 people are treated in the ER for misusing prescription opioids.

Deaths involving opioids are six times higher than in 1999; in 2017 alone, more than 47,000 people died from overdoses involving the drugs. That same year, another 2 million people abused or were dependent on opioids.

Beyond the risks of addiction and overdose, 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 permanent injury. Chiropractic and other conservative (non-drug) approaches to pain management can be an important first line of defense against pain and addiction caused by the overuse of prescription opioid pain medications.

Rising Recognition of the Value of Non-drug Approaches to Pain There is a growing body of research that validates the effectiveness of chiropractic services, leading many respected health care organizations to recommend chiropractic and its drug-free approach to pain relief.

In 2017, the American College of Physicians (ACP) updated its guidelines for the treatment of acute and chronic low back pain to recommend first using non-invasive, non-drug treatments before resorting to drug therapies. ACP’s guidelines, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine and based on a review of randomized controlled trials and observational studies, cite heat therapy, massage, acupuncture and spinal manipulation (a centerpiece of chiropractic care) as possible options for non-invasive, non-drug therapies for low back pain. Only when such treatments provide little or no relief, the guidelines state, should patients move on to medicines such as ibuprofen or muscle relaxants, which research indicates have limited pain-relief effects. According to the guidelines, prescription opioids should be a last resort for those suffering from low back pain, as the risk of addiction and overdose may outweigh the benefits. (Listen to a podcast about this study by clicking the link above.)

In March 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released guidelines for prescribing opioids that also promote non-pharmacologic alternatives for the treatment of chronic pain. In 2015, the Joint Commission, the organization that accredits more than 20,000 health care systems in the U.S., including every major hospital, recognized the value of non-drug approaches by adding chiropractic and acupuncture to its pain management standard.

Conservative Care First: A Common Sense Approach

The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) encourages patients and health care providers to first exhaust conservative forms of pain management, when appropriate, before moving on to riskier, potentially addictive treatments such as opioids. To this end, ACA delegates met in Washington, D.C., in 2016 and adopted a policy statement proposing a solution to the dual public health concerns of inadequate pain management and opioid abuse. ACA’s policy statement supports:

1. The investigation of non-pharmacologic interventions for pain treatment across a variety of patient populations and healthcare delivery setting
2. The promotion of evidence-based non-pharmacologic therapies within best practice models for pain management
3. The improvement of access to providers of non-pharmacologic therapies
4. Interprofessional education to augment the training of pain management teams
5. And public health campaigns to raise awareness of drug-free treatment options for pain syndromes.

Article Source: http://www.acatoday.org/Patients-Why-Choose-Chiropractic-Chiropractic-and-the-Opioid-Epidemic

Sciatica and Low Back Pain Relief

Dr. Pazdel shows how the spine and associated nerve network can be the cause of chronic low back pain. This condition can be relieved and changed without drugs through chiropractic care. Living with chronic pain is no fun at all. Chiropractic care changes lives!

See more at http://www.pazdelchiropractic.com

How Can Chiropractors Benefit Your Health?

Back and neck pain are the chief complaints for which patients seek chiropractic help. Through manual spinal manipulation, chiropractic care is a holistic therapy that focuses on maintaining healthy musculoskeletal and nervous systems to ensure overall wellness.

Effectiveness
The research about chiropractic care is growing. According to the Annals of Internal Medicine, recent studies show that spinal manipulative therapy performed by a chiropractor, along with exercise, relieve neck pain more effectively than medication.

Furthermore, the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics reported that an integrated approach to health care -- including chiropractic care -- results in a 51.8 percent reduction in pharmaceutical costs and 43 percent fewer hospital admissions.

You should consider seeing a chiropractor if you experience frequent pain in your back, neck or joints, as well as headaches. This is especially so if intense soreness follows accidents, household chores or prolonged periods of poor posture.

Back and neck pain
Chiropractors are best known for safely and effectively treating acute back and neck pain, as well as headaches. Whereas a medical doctor might prescribe pain medicine, muscle relaxers or anti-inflammatory drugs, and an orthopedic doctor might suggest surgery, a chiropractor will treat your back problems by hand, through manipulation of the spine.

Nancy Elwartowski-Cooper, a pediatric and prenatal chiropractor, sees more and more referrals from medical doctors: "They (patients) are tired of the drugs and want answers to what is causing their problems."

Chiropractors bring the musculoskeletal structure into proper alignment. Chiropractors change the position of your body and apply pressure to particular points along the spine that are not properly aligned. This results in a popping noise similar to the one created when you crack your knuckles. The noise is created by a change in pressure in your joints as gas bubbles are released.

By adjusting the spine with their hands at particular pressure points, chiropractors unblock nerve energy and allow it to flow better down your spin and throughout your entire body. Repeated visits can, over time, realign your spine to optimize overall health.

Chiropractor Brian Elwartowski said the brain sends messages down the spinal cord and out through the nerves to the rest of your body. If certain nerves are squeezed by a twist in the spine, they won't function as well as if they were straight. "Chiropractic [care] allows the nerves to work at their most optimum ability," he said, "allowing the body to heal at its optimum ability."

Treatment plan
Many chiropractors seek to care for the whole person, from general wellness to disease prevention. They examine every patient, not only for the reason of their visit but also their level of health. After diagnosis, a chiropractor develops a treatment plan.

Keith Overland, president of the American Chiropractic Association, said, "This may include combinations of chiropractic manipulation, physical therapy and rehabilitative procedures for many musculoskeletal problems."

Some chiropractors provide nutrition advice, exercise recommendations, ergonomic and lifestyle counseling and so on. The successful management of chronic conditions may require a combination of these major components. This holistic approach can reduce the need for potentially addictive pain medication or invasive surgery.

Article Source: https://www.foxnews.com/health/how-can-chiropractors-benefit-your-health