Your Workplace Ergonomics Could Be Hurting Your Health!

If you are among the many who have an office job, sitting most of the day, you should be aware that your spinal health affects your overall health — and chiropractic care can play a big part in it!

It is no surprise that every year more office workers find their way to the chiropractor. The workplace has transformed over the years and we are information based, sitting looking at our laptop, tablet or smart phone. This translates to sitting for hours on end.

How does this impact your health? Well, there are several ways, including:

• Poor Posture
• Increased stress
• Repetitive strain injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome
• Back and Neck pain
• Headaches
• Eyestrain

The above health issues are just a few that we chiropractors see and over time can have a negative impact on your health. This is why it’s so important to take charge of your health and be proactive by taking care of your health, your musculoskeletal system.

Your posture impacts your overall health!

A majority of the problems chiropractors see in office workers as well as those that tend to be sedentary throughout the day are issues directly related to poor posture. Sitting for long periods impacts your muscle – skeletal system. Your body was not designed to be sedentary for long stretches in unnatural postures, and the stress this places on your spine and joints.

Conditions that can be linked to poor posture at your desk?

• Headaches
• Neck pain
• Tingling into fingers, legs or arms
• Sinus pain and pressure
• Frozen shoulder
• Tight upper back muscles
• Fatigue
• Dizziness
• Tight hip muscles
• Low back pain

Many of the above symptoms are things that people don’t realize or make the connection between what they may be experiencing from their posture while at work.

Studies have found workers who deal with their back and neck pain through seeking out care with a movement specialist, like a chiropractor and who are proactive with their working ergonomics are able to increase their productivity at work with decreased sick days.

Isn’t it time to move better, be more productive with less aches and pains!

Call Dr. Stefanie Yao and let’s get you moving well in Victoria, BC at 250-704-1178

Reactive vs Proactive

When it comes to our health people often fall into one of two categories: Reactive or Proactive – as a manual therapist, Chiropractor that works with clients and their movement I see this often.

Reactive people usually only come in for treatment when they’re in pain and want to get out of pain and need relief. They are reacting to an uncomfortable issue or symptom.

Proactive people are those that regularly schedule appointments, even when they’re not in pain. They are seeking treatment and care to maintain overall good health and pain free movement, before things hurt. They are taking preventative measures to keep themselves in optimal health.

Having said this most people are reactive in their approach to health. When something hurts, they seek medical attention and help. However, I ask why not be proactive in your health?

Why not be proactive?

Manual therapists such as chiropractors and massage therapists seem to be the best suited for the proactive as well as reactive people. However your manual therapist will definitely agree that being proactive is better overall for your body and health.

Which ever route you choose Dr. Stefanie is here to help you in Victoria, BC at 250-704-1178.

Workplace Wellness

Do you have workplace wellness at your office?

Wellness at your office is important for your employees health and wellness and also beneficial to your companies bottom line. Less sick days lead to a more productive staff.

Out of Tune?

Having trouble sleeping, low energy levels and finding it harder to make it through the day. The doctors insist there’s nothing wrong, but you innately feel like something’s out of tune? Maybe it’s time to call the Chiropractor.

D.D Palmer, the Father of Chiropractic, recognised that repetitive physical, chemical and emotional stress can alter the normal ‘tone’ within a person’s Nervous System (restrictions / subluxations). This irritation on one’s nervous system can lead to poor physical, mental and emotional performance. By restoring normal tone to the Nervous System with specific Chiropractic adjustments better health will naturally follow.

Health is the ‘music’ that plays when all your cells, tissues and organs vibrate in unison – orchestrated by a finely tuned Nervous System.

If you’re feeling sluggish, weak, and tired, a trip to the Chiropractor may be the thing YOU need to get you back in tune and on key.

 

Feeling Rusty?

Does it take a while for you to get going in the morning? Joints a little stiff and achy, but take a few hours to loosen? Stiff, tired joints can leave you feeling and acting much older than you are.

Motion is Life. If you let anything sit in one place for too long, it’s bound to freeze up like a rusted hinge. Our joints in our bodies, are no different when subjected to long standing fixations / restrictions. This is why maintenance chiropractic care is so beneficial. Adjustments unlock ‘stuck’ joints before they become painful, arthritic and frozen in place – the longer you wait between visits, the more work is required to get them moving again.

Like rusted hinges, chronically fixated joints take TLC and more frequent adjustments to become free again. Avoid the hassle and visit your Chiropractor regularly, not just when you can’t move and don’t let your joints get that bad in the first place.

Healing Process

It’s true when people seek out Chiropractic or Physiotherapy care they are typically in some kind of pain, discomfort or soreness. What they are expecting to get when they come in, is to get and feel better. Fair. No one likes to be in pain.

For the most part, the people that I see end up leaving with relief, feeling better then when they came into the clinic. However they aren’t 100% cured. Some people feel that just because they are leaving better then when they first came in they aren’t returning for follow-ups. You need to understand and realise that ‘healing is a process that takes time’.

Yes, there are people that expect to be cured with 1 treatment and have immediate relief, but sometimes that isn’t the case. Mind you there are some that do get to near 100% in one session, but typically it doesn’t happen often, and I usually see them a few weeks later.

Most people I’ve treated tend to feel remarkably well after 1 or 2 sessions. But for the most part people need a little more than 1 or 2 sessions to help set them straight. However in saying this, there are also things that patients need to be doing between treatments which can enhance and advance their healing.

Some such things include home care advice, heat or ice, stretching and exercises. While other may require a little more assistance such as the addition of other therapies to complement their Chiropractic care – Massage, Acupuncture or Kinesiology.

Care from your Chiropractor tends to be passive and the healing process takes time and requires team work. Your Chiropractor and your health team are doing their part to help you but as a patient you can also take an active role and responsibility for their own care between visits. For best results – Team Work Make the Dream Work!

Xrays and MRI Findings

Just because your therapist – Chiropractor, Physical Therapist or Medical Doctor has ordered xrays or even an MRI or CT for you, the results should not define you.

As a clinician I see this a little too often with patients telling me that they have “degenerative disc disease” and that due to the degeneration they are unable to do certain activities or are either in so much pain due to all the degeneration.

Yes, we all have some form of degeneration in our joints. But it doesn’t necessarily have to define you such that you may not be in the amount of pain that is presented on the imaging. Sometimes your Xray, MRI or CT findings may not necessarily be indicative of what you’re even feeling. Don’t get hung up on the results.

This Systematic Literature Review in the American Journal of NeuroRadiology in 2014 from Brinjikji et al. looked at MRI images of asymptomatic back pain free individuals and found degenerative changes in their imaging studies. The results were surprising. Many people, even those in their 20’s, showed signs of disc issues. The medical community is now realizing that these things are simply a normal part of the ageing process. Some people refer to these things as “wrinkles on the inside.”

The take home point is that just because you may have degeneration found in your joints on imaging it doesn’t necessarily mean you should be in considerable amounts of pain. Xrays and imaging are a great resource to help rule out possible sinister issues that maybe causing your pain but don’t let the results define you as it is not predictive of your outcome.

SO if you’re suffering from low back or neck pain give your manual therapists like your Chiropractor a call and try conservative care over something like drugs or surgery or other interventions that may cost the healthcare system a tonne of money.

Reference: http://www.ajnr.org/content/36/4/811.long

How Chiropractors Can Help in Healthcare

Found this great article written by a Chiropractor in Maine regarding a recent blog article posted by an MD making the argument that Chiropractors could step up and aid with the family doctor shortage in healthcare.

You can read the two articles here…

Chiropractors as family doctors: Once denounced by the mainstream, the profession gains ground

How to cope with this projected primary care physician shortage … find a good chiropractic physician and use them as your primary care physician

 

Spine Specialists

Pictoral of Upper and Lower Crossed Syndrome