Chiropractic Statistics | Akridge & Akridge Chiropractic
According to a new survey, there are currently over 100,000 chiropractors in the world!
Tips For Proper Body Alignment To Avoid Back & Hip Pain | Akridge & Akridge Chiropractic
Your posture plays an important role in your overall health.
Poor posture leads to chronic strain and discomfort. “Lower crossed syndrome” is poor posture that results from excessive tightness in your lower back and hip flexor muscles with weakness in your abdominal and buttock muscles.
Patients with lower crossed syndrome often have a “sway back.”
Patients who sit for prolonged periods of time are at greater risk of lower crossed syndrome.
This postural problem commonly leads to painful conditions involving the back or hips. Successful treatment of lower cross syndrome involves stretching excessively tight muscles, strengthening weak muscles, taking frequent breaks from sitting, and modifying your workstation to be more user friendly.
Need help setting up an ergonomic workstation? Use this handy guide 👇
Chiropractic enhances employee wellness
Employees have spoken and they’re telling their bosses: We WANT to be healthy, both at home and in the workplace.
In partnership with Workforce Management magazine, Virgin Pulse surveyed 361 businesses and 3,822 employees in 2014 on the impact of health and wellness. The survey found:
- 87 percent of employees said wellness positively impacted work culture, an increase of 10 percent from 2013.
- 96 percent of employees participate in wellness programs to improve their own health. Improved health was a bigger motivator at work than financial incentives.
Akridge & Akridge Chiropractic can help you and your employer to integrate chiropractic care into your employee wellness program. Jenn Jorgensen, the practice representative for our clinic, travels to businesses and meetings to explain our philosophy of chiropractic care. She also does health and wellness screenings and talks about “How to Stay Young.”
If you’d like Jenn to visit your office or meet with your management team, please give us a call at 402-884-4774 to set up an appointment.
Does your boss need more encouragement? Here are some other findings from the Virgin Pulse survey:
- Enhancing mental health is also a priority in the workplace: 52 percent of employers offered services for mental health and depression management in 2014, a 14 percent increase from last year.
- The top three options employees want in a wellness program include physical activity programs (72 percent), healthy on-site food choices (66 percent), and on-site gyms and fitness classes. The top three offerings by employers are stop-smoking programs, physical activity programs, and mental health services.
- Wellness programs can be a great recruiting tool: 88 percent of employees describe access to health and wellness programs as an important factor for defining an employer of choice.
June is National Employee Wellness Month. Find more information here:
http://employeewellnessmonth.com/wellness-insights-resources/
Feeling stressed? Relax with chiropractic care
You know the signs of being stressed out. Your heart beats faster, muscles tense, and it’s more difficult to think while you’re trying to meet a deadline or cope with a last-minute problem.
But when you get a headache that same night or your lower back pain flares up the next day, you still could be suffering the effects of the earlier stress.
“Past or present psychological distress can also lead to pain, particularly low-back pain, which often comes with leg pain, headaches, sleep problems, anxiety, and depression,” according to the American Chiropractic Association. “Stress may even be a more powerful pain generator than strenuous physical activity or repetitive motion.”
When you’re stressed, your body releases a hormone called epinephrine, or adrenaline. This increases heart rate, blood pressure, and blood glucose levels. Your body also releases glucocorticoid cortisol, or hydrocortisone, which suppresses inflammation and the immune system.
All of these reactions are necessary when you’re facing a one-time “fight-or-flight” situation: someone is attacking you, for example. But when the stress is ongoing, from work or at home, it takes a toll on your body.
High levels of glucocorticoids can hinder growth, delay wound healing, and increase risk of infection.
“Chronic stressors — or their constant anticipation — can make us believe that we must always be on guard, leading to anxiety,” the ACA says. “Feelings of hopelessness or avoiding solving our problems can spark depression.”
Chiropractic care can help manage lower back and other pain that flares up in stressful situations. The ACA also recommends exercise, massage and other stress-relief measures to keep you pain-free.
April is national Stress Awareness Month. If you think you’re in pain due to stress, please check in with Dr. Craig or Dr. Lacey. We’ll evaluate the source and help you find ways to relieve both the stress and the pain.
Too much sitting? Get a stand-up desk
It doesn’t seem very risky to work at a job where you sit at a desk all day and work on a computer. But several research studies indicate that this could be the most unhealthy thing you do in a day.
According to Men’s Health magazine, scientists at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana analyzed the lifestyles of more than 17,000 men and women over about13 years. They found that people who sit for most of the day are 54 percent more likely to die of heart attacks.
Information about the health hazards of extended sitting have been compiled at juststand.org. The medical community has coined the term “sitting disease” to refer to “metabolic syndrome and the ill-effects of an overly sedentary lifestyle.”
“For people who sit most of the day, their risk of heart attack is about the same as smoking,” according to Martha Grogan, a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic.
If you want to raise your health profile at a sedentary job, try a standing desk. They are available in a wide range of prices and styles, from an adjustable tray that sits on your current desk to entire desks that raise at the turn of a crank or the touch of a button.
Then there are desks designed by creative office workers looking for a simpler solution. This man made his desk for $22 with parts from Ikea. And this engineer made his desk out of cardboard.
One of our patients who works out of her home had another solution. She bought an extra-long HDMI cable to connect her PC or laptop to her flat screen TV, and then she shares the computer screen with her TV. She props her wireless keyboard on top of a small table that’s just the right height, and stands in front of the TV to work.
The folks at ReadWrite built their stand-up desks and tracked their efficiency. They determined that the stand-up desks made their staff 10 percent more productive.
However, long-term standing isn’t for everyone. Many bloggers recommended standing on an anti-fatigue mat. One executive found that too much standing was too painful for him.
Whatever works for you at work or at home, be sure to move around and change positions throughout the day to keep your back at its healthiest.