Yes a recent study has shown that a bad posture can not only lead to irreparable damage to the back, spine and surrounding muscles, but it can also cause our cognitive functioning to be impaired as well! Slouching at your desk or in your seat naturally puts an extended amount of strain on the back, thus generating a dulling slump of power, which in turn ‘projects an attitude of depression and low motivation’. It’s almost like your brain is concentrating on the stress your body is under instead of on anything else. ‘When you sit up straight, psychologically, your attitude is better’.

Health is of course, one of the most important aspects we should consider in our lives – are we being as healthy as we can be, will we feel the ramifications for neglect later in life? But what if correcting your posture could not only help your body work more harmoniously, but also help you be a better thinker? It could even brighten up those long week days by increasing your general well-being.

Best of all, improving posture is easy. Here at Leamington Chiropractic, we offer real muscle realignment that resets and rejuvenates and makes it easy for you to start employing the best posture techniques for a life-changing result.

Why not try testing your posture against a wall, as demonstrated by YouTube user Sort my Swing in this video below. Though it is, of course, aimed at golfers, this is a great, simple way to test whether you’re in need of some posture practise! Try setting up your work space ergonomically, so your shoulders are back, feet flat on the floor and monitor at eye level. If you drive for long periods every day, set up your mirrors so they’re only useful when you have good posture – slouch and you’ll notice it straight away!

Give us at Leamington Chiropractic a call today and find out how we can help!

7 million years ago, roughly around the time David Attenborough was presumably born, our species began to walk on two feet, which meant a pretty dramatic change for our back and spine. Whilst being bipeds has proved particularly useful over the last 7 million years, it has undoubtedly left our back open to a good deal of punishment, what with having to contend with our entire body weight.

Still, according to Rishi Loatey of the British Chiropractic Association themselves, even having to walk upright doesn’t quite match the strain our modern lifestyles now exert upon our backs, and among the chief perpetrators of this exertion, is the way we sit.

Nowadays we spend so much time sat in awkward positions, whether that’s craning over a computer all day at work, lounging around watching the TV at home or even sat up in bed at night reading. The chances are we’re not sitting with the right posture, and as such we’re putting a lot more pressure on the muscles in our backs. With an increased amount of lifting and carrying, not to mention bad diets meaning our backs need to support the added weight we’re all lugging around, there’s little wonder we’re all in such pain.

So what’s the answer? Where does relief lie? Whilst there are a number of posture exercises to get into the habit of doing (why not check out the infographic we shared a few weeks ago) here at Leamington Chiropractic, we’re experts when it comes to aligning the spine and providing effective relief for your body! We also operate throughout Stratford, Coventry, Rugby, Bromsgrove and beyond! Give us a call today to find out how we can help relieve the strain of your busy, modern lifestyle!

The Working Back:

The working back is often one of the worst, especially if you find yourself hunched over a keyboard every day, straining those muscles and setting them in uncomfortable positions for extended periods of time. Indeed, the British Chiropractic Association stated in results from one survey they conducted that back pain from sitting at a desk is more common than that caused by lifting and carrying! The solution is always to line up your back with the back of the chair, put your feet flat on the floor, shoulders back and monitor at eye level!

The Driving Back:

If you commute long distances or often find yourself on the endless motorways of Britain, you’ll know only too well the nightmare that sitting in the driver’s seat for hours on end can be. One of the best ways to ensure you’re always sat up straight is to position yourself, and then adjust your mirrors to suit… the moment you slump and check your mirrors, you’ll know to sit back up!

The TV Back:

After a long day craning over a computer, we sometimes want to crash out on the sofa and lay slumped in front of the telly. Of course this is a terrible position for your back, so why not try bringing in the dining room chair for watching telly. It may be slightly less comfortable, but it’ll definitely help you pay attention and be able to stand once you’re done!

The Sleeping Back:

Lastly, when it’s finally time to get some well-deserved rest, you’ll want to make sure you’re not doing any further damage to your poor back! It’s common for us to sleep with too many pillows, or sleep on an unsupported, old mattress. Invest in these items as they will save you many years of pain! Pillows should provide your head with good support, but remember to try and keep it inline with your spine, whichever way you happen to be sleeping.

Of course, when it comes to easing back pain and re-harmonising the body, aligning the spine through chiropractic could be the perfect solution for you! Give us at Leamington Chiropractic a call today for more or to book!

Indeed, NetVoucherCodes.co.uk recently conducted a study that found that here in the UK, we spend average of 9 hours per day on the internet. Add that altogether and you’re quickly looking at 30 years or more over the course of a lifetime. This is quite a worrying amount of time to be doing any one thing, but the real problems lie in the fact that many of us are spending this amount of time in awkward positions, arched over one screen or another, not giving a second thought to the strain this could be putting on the back.

Even good postures will cause a degree of stress on the back if kept rigidly in place for extended periods such as 9 hours per day! As such, it’s always good to consider our body whilst we’re utilizing the latest technology. As a quick-list guide, here’re some things to try to attain perfect posture whilst lost in your gadgets!

• Always consider the position of your head, if it’s not underneath your body, you’re exerting extra strain on your back and neck muscles! Keep it aligned and don’t lean forward!
• It can be tempting to slouch and lean across your desk as the day winds on, but no matter how much you end up focussing on the screen retain a proper, supported position at your computer.
• Take regular breaks, even if they’re only a short walk or movement. Don’t stagnate in one position as this can be terrible for your spine!

If you’ve been suffering from over-gadgetry, or you’ve been sat in the office for too long, give us at Leamington Chiropractic a call today! We can help relieve pain throughout your body through spinal realignment; releasing nerves and allowing your body to function to its fullest capacity once again.

Essentially, a holistic approach to anything is strictly defined as viewing something as a complete whole, a single entity wherein every component or factor toiling away inside is interdependent on all the other components and vital to the final overall result.  It takes into account the idea of connectivity throughout this single entity and thus recognizes that one inward component could directly affect another.

In medicine specifically, holism is medically considering an entire person, and every aspect of their well-being, from the physical capacity, to the psychological and cognitive state, in regards to their treatment or analysis.

The nervous system is an impossibly complex system that supplies our entire body with the information it needs. When we spend time sat at work, slouching in our chair or sleeping in perpetually peculiar positions, we trap and harm those nerves. Imagine one part of your body isn’t receiving the right treatment and attention due to a severed connection; such an inward issue might not register as surficial pain, but it could cause an overhanging sense of distress.

Here at Leamington Chiropractic many of our clients who’ve come to us experiencing back or neck pain, have left feeling entirely rejuvenated. By taking a holistic approach to getting better, realigning nerves and realigning the spinal area allows for a revitalising confluent flow throughout the body, delivering a safe and effective way to relieve pain; chiropractic is the answer! Give us a call today and see why so many people are avoiding surgery and generally feeling better in themselves thanks to holistic chiropractic care!

Naturally, jobs that involve lots of lifting or moving of equipment and lots of physically kinematic activity still account for a large chunk of those being treated for back pain according to the survey conducted by the British Chiropractic Association, but they’re no longer the majority. With thousands of us sat at desks every day, it seems it’s a national case of poor posture that has got us all keeling over in agony.

Sitting in one rigid position, with little movement, sometimes slouching or contorting out bodies in peculiar ways puts more strain on the spine, even when it doesn’t appear to do so instantly. As the hours while away and we’re concentrating intensely on what’s happening on the computer screen in front of us, the spine increasingly becomes laden with the stress of the position. When it’s finally time to get up and move, your back feels stuck, weary and like you’ve been crawling around with a ten-tonne weight on your back. Similarly, the position of the neck can directly impact this as well, often due to a computer screen at an incorrect height or, again, a slouched seating position.

Fortunately, back pain is generally easy to treat, especially when it comes to a chiropractic solution. Here at Leamington Chiropractic, back pain and neck pain are our specialities, meaning we can realign, rejuvenate and reset your spine so you can start looking after it properly at work! With the other health benefits that realigning the spine has been known to have, revitalising and refreshing the nerves that send messages all over the body, give us a call today and book yourself in for the treatment you and your back deserve, and embrace a new life of comfort!

Harm, Doctor?

But surely seeing a doctor first wouldn’t do any harm? Perhaps not, however it is an undoubted fact that most of us would rather have a problem treated via almost any method other than surgery – and that is what going to a doctor first causes, often unnecessarily, according to a recent study. Keeney, who carried out the investigation found that 42.7% of those with back pain who saw a doctor or a surgeon first went through with the surgery, as opposed to the 1.5% of those that saw a chiropractor first, thus outlining that the problems that many required surgery to solve, could actually have been treated by a chiropractor.

The Bigger Picture

With this in mind, we should really now be looking at the bigger picture of chiropractic health treatments. Whilst it can help immensely with back pain and neck pain, sometimes even preventing the necessity for surgery, the treatment of those ailments is really just the surface of the rich construct of chiropractic.

Nerves control how we feel, how our muscles and organs and tissues send messages to the brain. They help us to function physically and cognitively and in many ways offer the vitality that makes us us. When they become trapped or disfigured, when the spine becomes stuck stopping the nerves from functioning properly, we lose that vitality, the signals crawling around your body weaken and, sometimes without even knowing it, we may start to lull.

Chiropractic treatment realigns the spine and the nerves extruding from it, it revitalises and invigorates and allows that life-sustaining prowess to course through your body once more. Its regular application makes for a healthier lifestyle, something that can help prevent illness and make you feel better throughout!

From a purely medical perspective, an issue needs to be treated right at the physical source of the problem, which makes a great deal of sense to most of us, as the perceived source of the pain should be addressed thus stopping the pain. All other forms of treatment are simply nonsensical, and as such, a spinal correction couldn’t have a direct impact on a remote ailment elsewhere on the body.

As chiropractors practising these methods everyday though, there is a definitive pattern and hard evidence that suggests otherwise. And it’s not results alone that this evidence is based on, far from it, in fact, as spinal nerves communicate and connect with every major organ in the body. Often issues can arise simply from a lack of a consistent nerve supply, and thus can be corrected by refreshing the corridors by which the nerves travel and aligning the spine so it isn’t cramped or blocked from allowing a fluid flow from its centre.

Even when this doesn’t have a direct impact on the specific ailment itself, a free and thorough flow of the nerves could certainly improve healing capacity and speed. Often the case is that we may not even be fully aware of the problem, but feeling generally under the weather, tired and worn out may not be entirely to do with stress and not getting enough sleep. A spinal adjustment might be just what you need to feel invigorated and fresh again.

This is why we at Leamington Chiropractic say we treat more than just backs. We bring well-being and a refreshing overall feeling to our clients, who’re always surprised and convinced by the results. Why not give us a call today and find out if spinal realignment really could help change your life!

Chiefly, the chiropractic philosophy regards subluxation, nerves involving the spinal cord becoming compromised, as the source of the pain. That in mind, adjusting and manipulating the spine to contend with these rogue nerves will put an end to the pain, and right the wrongs the brain is detecting in the body, thus creating a better overall perspective of personal health.

Thus, whilst many may visit a chiropractor for help with a specific area of pain in the first instance, the well-being and overall improvement it can lead to is why advocates keep coming back, and indeed feel incomparably rejuvenated after a course of realignment.

So then, how do you take care of your back once the chiropractor has worked their magic? Here’re a few simply tips from the experts to make sure you’re not using your back incorrectly!

1)      Think about good posture. You’ll remember our handy infographic just a couple of posts back, reference back to that image for just how to maintain the correct posture that will keep your back in check!

2)      Exercise is a simple one, but remembering posture when you walk, and making an effort to go swimming are great ways to stretch those back muscles and keep them moving!

3)      Remember when lifting and carrying to bend your knees, and keep your back straight. Do your best to split larger loads down into smaller piles and several trips, it may be slightly more time consuming but you’ll appreciate the benefit your back feels from the care!

4)      When sat at a desk, adjust your backrest so you may sit with your feet flat on the floor, and your shoulders back and relaxed. Being hunched over a computer is a back pain kick starter.

5)      Sleep on a well sprung quality mattress. It’s worth investing in one for the sake of your health!

Give Leamington Chiropractic a call today and find out how one simple appointment really could change your life!

It’s the New Year already, and as we sink back into our armchairs packed with seven too many helpings of turkey in various states and capacities, it’s time to start thinking about 2013! And we all know what that means; New Year’s resolution! Here at Leamington Chiropractic we’re all desperately searching for things to give up, start or attest to be working toward next year; and as such, we thought we’d provide a few helpful tips if you’re struggling as well. Stick to them and make 2013 the year of improvement for yourself!

Posture

So many of us walk around with bad posture, so much so that an incorrect way of sitting, standing or even walking is now part of our culture; it’s inherent and automatic and most of all, it can perpetuate terrible pain and lead to irreversible problems later in life. Read our posture infographic from a couple of weeks ago and start practising carrying yourself more appropriately. It’ll be difficult at first, and a real conscious effort; but just weeks into your campaign and you’ll feel healthier, more confident and soon enough you’ll be walking correctly without even thinking about it!

Exercise

It may seem like an obvious one, but the array of benefits just a small amount of exercise can bring to your general well-being is staggering. How about grabbing some running gear and heading out for a run in the evening; or perhaps working on some stomach exercise just before you jump in the shower? Not only will it get the blood moving and iron out a few daily creases, but it’ll help you sleep better, and feel more alert throughout the day! Commit to doing short bursts and you’ll be a better you in no time!

De-stress

We’re all stressed. It’s a modern day prerequisite for having a job; must be able to become pathologically stressed. That is a misconception we wander around considering fact, where in reality, de-stressing is entirely a possibility. Make a real effort next year to sleep, socialize, get away from everything for a while and relax. Exercise will help you sleep, as will getting to bed regularly and on time. A concerted attempt to see friends and forget about the woes of the working world will also help to remove a layer of that claustrophobic sense of isolation. Remember, nothing is more important than your health, so put it first!

Try some of these or create your own New Year resolution plan of action, and remember, chiropractic is largely effective at helping each of these areas, so to get off to a flying start you can build on, give us a call today!