Golfing in Houston

golfers

Golf and chiropractic go hand-in-hand: with the season swinging in Houston, ensure your back is in a state of alignment and health by calling our office and scheduling an assessment today. When subluxation pre-exists without you knowing, one part of the body could be exposed to more pressure than the rest, subsequently becoming strained from the excess. 

At Holmes Chiropractic we offer the following to the golfers in our area:

  • Spinal adjustment: to improve spinal mobility and reduce pain. 
  • Rehabilitation exercises
  • Swing advice: lessening the amount of rotation during your swing can reduce the chance of creating damage through excess torsion. 
  • Core strengthening exercise: to provide stability to the body and resistance against the strain of torsion created by the golf swing. 

Because the golf swing is a naturally harmful motion to the spine, we seek to keep your body in the kind of shape that will resist injury so that you can keep swinging without fear of debilitating pain. Whether you are a golfer seeking preventative solutions for keeping yourself flexible and strong, or someone looking to get back on the course for the first time in years because of back pain, we are here for you.

Dr. Randall Holmes, D.C. 

Sciatica

sciatica sucks

Sciatica is a disorder that is most commonly characterized by mild to intense pain in either the right or left leg. The sciatic nerve is the largest single nerve in the entire body, running from the sacrum through the buttock and through the hip into each leg. Five sets of paired nerve roots combine to form the sciatic nerve and an impingement to any one (or more) of these roots can lead to sciatic nerve pain. 

Spinal disorders that lead to impingement on the sciatic nerve roots include: 

  • Piriformis syndrome 
  • Herniated disc
  • Spondyloisthesis
  • Lumbar spinal stenosis 

If the disorder that has led to your sciatic nerve pain is structural, chiropractic can help relieve the pressure to the nerve. At Holmes Chiropractic, we use a combination of modalities to treat your sciatic nerve pain. 

  • Ice/cold therapy to reduce inflammation and control pain.
  • Spinal adjustment: to restore misaligned vertebrae to their proper position, stopping them from impinging on nerves. 

If you are tired of living with sciatic nerve pain, call our office in Houston at (713) 862-2440 to get an evaluation and find out how we can get you on the path to living pain free. 

Dr. Randall Holmes, D.C. 

 

Return to a Moving Lifestyle

move more

Ditch the car; take a bike to work! But wait, life is never as simple as that. For many people, ditching the car is simply an impossible consideration. However, the essential idea behind this statement is that we need to return movement to our lives. Too many activities are being automated, too much time spent in front of screens and not enough attention to the little movements of life are leaving backs in a state of premature degradation. At Holmes Chiropractic, we want to see this trend reversed to prevent a future of back pain. 

A program for movement is all about the individual: it depends on the idiosyncrasies of your daily schedule and your commitment to a healthier back care lifestyle. We can help you to reclaim wasted minutes of the day and put them to work for you. It does not have to be a drastic lifestyle upheaval: simply adding in a 10 minute walk after dinner can lay the foundation for greater health because every little movement counts.

Fitness blogs and exercise magazines are chock-full of ways to ambiguously improve your life. There is simply too much information and almost none of it is personalized to the individual: it often leaves people feeling slightly turned off. If you are one of these people, or someone who can see the benefit of moving more, give our office in Houston a call. We evaluate the condition of your spine and come up with a succinct fitness package that takes into account your level of fitness, the condition of your body and your personal fitness goals. 

Dr. Randall Holmes, D.C. 

How to get Moving

moving

Think about what you put your spine through on a daily basis: the twists, the turns, the bends and dips and, those dreaded lifts. These are all putting pressures on the muscles and vertebrae in your back that can lead to misalignment and pain, but the most insidious of all might be not moving at all. Sitting is becoming epidemic in America, and spines are suffering.

Your spine on sitting:

  • Muscles atrophying due to lack of movement
  • Spinal discs absorbing fluid and tightening
  • Range of motion restricting
  • Circulation stagnating
  • Pain accumulating

The modern office is a fear-inducing place for the modern spine. The body needs to move; it yearns to move. But hours and weeks and, ultimately, years of sitting in the office train the muscles into a state of tightness that can only be detrimental to your overall well-being. At Holmes Chiropractic, we want to help you rediscover the joy of movement and how good it makes your body feel. From a simple walk to a jog or swim, the activities can be fun and uplift your mood while simultaneously refreshing your body.

We promise to help you return strength to underutilized muscles and treat the structures and tissues of your back which may be damaged from years of misuse. Call our office in Houston to schedule an appointment today.

Dr. Randall Holmes, D.C.

Fitness and Chiropractic

fitness

For health nuts and couch surfers alike, the body will thank you for any level of exercise that you choose to input into your health and wellness plan. As we grow older, our body’s need more movement and more targeted exercise to strengthen parts of the body which are vulnerable to injury and degradation. For people suffering from back pain on a regular basis, or those rehabilitating specific injuries, exercise can be used in a purposeful and targeted way to create improvements at a faster pace than if no exercise was undertaken.

At Holmes Chiropractic, we teach stretching and exercise to help people rehab injuries, manage back pain and improve their overall quality of life. 

For low back pain, a lot of emphasis is placed upon increasing core strength: the abdominals, trunk muscles, erector spinae, and other groups of muscles that make your body more resistant to common types of back injuries. But not all conditions will necessarily respond to a strengthening of the core; this is why it is important to get an assessment by a professional to find out which parts of the back and body need to be targeted with specific exercise. 

Learning about body mechanics, especially those of the back, can help you greatly reduce your risk of injury. As with all back injuries and pain, we start small and scale up: the level and intensity of exercise you undertake should be directly tempered by the amount of pain you feel. 

For help on instituting a more individualized work out plan to heal your back fast, give our office in Houston a call at (713) 862-2440. 

Dr. Randall Holmes, D.C. 

Posture while…Sleeping?

sleep

What is your personal sleep posture? Spread eagle, stomach down? Fetal position? Do you move a lot when you sleep, or stay still as a rock? Few people can answer these questions with total clarity because by nature, sleep is an unconscious activity. But some sleep positions are superior to others, and we do have the power to influence how we fall asleep. We generally choose whatever feels most comfortable, which is fine for those of us who sleep on our sides or back, but sleeping on the stomach can be incredibly damaging to the spine. Here are some postural considerations while sleeping: 

The primary goal for any sleepers should be to keep their spine as close to natural alignment as possible.

The stomach-down position should therefore be avoided, but if you must sleep this way, use a pillow underneath the stomach to avoid letting the curve of your back collapse into the bed. Furthermore, the position that the stomach sleeper’s head usually takes during sleep puts a lot of pressure on the muscles of the neck and the shoulders. 

Sleeping on your back is one of the best positions, but it can put pressure on the lower back. You can defeat this condition by putting a pillow under the knees that gently lifts them and alleviates pressure from the lower spine. Make sure you are using a pillow that keeps your head straight in relation to the spine. 

When sleeping on the side, bend your knees in a loose approximation of the fetal position to avoid pressure accumulating to the lower back. As with the sleeping on your back, pillow usage is crucial: you don’t want a pillow that encourages the neck to angle up or down to aggressively. 

Changing the way you sleep is a challenging proposition: it requires peeling back years of repetitive behavior and a lot of patience, but the upside is tremendous. We would like to see people waking up refreshed and pain free. At Holmes Chiropractic, we have the knowledge to help you institute changes that will lead to a restful night’s sleep.

Call our office in Houston at (713) 862-2440 

Driving Posture

driving posture

 

Does your car seat offer you any support? If not, what steps are you taking to maintain a healthy resting position while commuting? These may sound like tough questions when you commute for only thirty minutes a day, but the minutes add up, especially for your spine. Car seats are rarely engineered to encourage a neutral resting position, so the onus is often upon us to ensure that our backs remain upright rather than slouched in our seats. 

Here are some postural tips: 

1. Avoid leaning to one side: this is more common than you might think. Drivers often find themselves leaning on the center console which introduces a slight but significant imbalance to the back. Over hours and hours, this imbalance can compound to cause pain. 

2. Hips straight, face straight. Keep your chin level and your head balanced over your spine to prevent the weight of the head from causing excess pressure to the cervical vertebrae. 

3. As time creeps on, don’t let your shoulders tense. This is something that happens no matter what the activity. Be cognizant of muscles in the neck and shoulders tightening, because this is symptomatic of the entire back. If you need to, pull over and stretch. It may sound silly, but it can save you from being stiff at the end of the drive. 

4. Hands at 9 and 3

If you commute to make your living, driving posture should be high on your list of health priorities. At Holmes Chiropractic, we help people see the problem areas in their lifestyle and how it is contributing to their back pain. For an assessment that takes into account your particular back pain and how it relates to your lifestyle, call our office at (713) 862-2440. 

Dr. Randall Holmes, D.C. 

 

Posture while Sitting

Stress

Take stock of your posture right this instant: chances are your head is leaning forward to the screen, your shoulders are scrunched together and your back is rounded. Or you are slouched low in your chair scrolling through a news feed on your phone. Any or all of the above are positions that many of us put our backs through on a daily base. This is because there is a human inclination toward laziness, especially when it comes to posture. We all know what good seated posture looks like, but after 5 minutes of concerted effort to hold ourselves upright, many of us falter and slide downward or forward. 

Nevertheless, a reminder of good posture is always worth repeating, especially as we are spending more and more time sat in front of screens. Try to remember this ideal image of good posture when working at the computer:

  • Head facing straight forward, centered over the spine
  • Natural lordotic curve in the lower back which should be supported by some kind of cushion. 
  • Shoulders relaxed and not caving inward toward eachother.
  • Buttocks touching the back of the chair.
  • weight of torso distributed evenly between the hips 
  • Legs at 90 degrees or slightly higher and feet rested flatly on the floor, without too much pressure being pressed upon them.

Even if you could hold yourself in this ideal position for 8 hours straight, it would not be good for your spine. There needs to be a regular dash of movement and stretching added into the scheme. However, if you can teach yourself to practice good posture and stretch regularly, your work day will not leave you stiff and sore anymore. Call our office in Houston at (713) 862-2440 for more tips on how to make your waking habits healthy again. 

Dr. Randall Holmes, D.C. 

Health of the Lumbar

walking

Perhaps the most thought of region when it comes to back pain is the lumbar. Five cylindrical bones form the spine of the lower back and support all of the body’s weight while providing flexibility and range of motion. However, a key task of the lumbar is also to provide stability and not allow extreme movement that will damage the body. Because of this, the lumbar are among the heaviest bones in the spine, (only the sacral vertebrae are heavier) and among the most vulnerable to damage.

Diverging from the lumbar vertebrae are networks of nerves that influence the mechanics of the body, including the hips and knees. The low back is vulnerable because of the weight it supports as we grow, but it’s burden is compounded by counterproductive habits such as poor posture, lack of strength and the idea that the spine is just one long bone. For example, much of the burden to the lumbar can be reduced by using the thoracic vertebrae properly and performing heavy weight lifting with the legs and not the back.

No treatment will truly end back pain forever by itself. It takes a concerted effort by you and whichever back care professional you choose. At Holmes Chiropractic, we offer you the expertise and treatment that will address your particular condition at its source. Besides ensuring the alignment of your spine through the lumbar region, we help people by preaching prevention: the actions you can take to strengthen muscles, sit and stand properly, and optimize the mechanical advantage of your back. 

Call our office in Houston to schedule an appointment and see how we can get your back feeling better today. 

Dr. Randall Holmes, D.C. 

Range of Motion in the Thoracic (Vertebrae)

fitness

The lesser thought of set of vertebrae when it comes to dysfunction is the thoracic. The thoracic vertebrae have a limited range of motion because they form the the thoracic cage which houses the heart and lungs. This makes them the least vulnerable to injury, but misalignments in this region still occur, and can cause discomfort.

Ensuring your thoracic spine’s health imparts upon you the following benefits:

  • Improved spinal mechanics
  • Better shoulder mechanics
  • Greater lung capacity
  • Better diaphragm functioning
  • Increased range of motion

The spine is not one long bone; as such, the thoracic vertebrae are meant to be a functioning member of your spine. While the thoracic spine may have limited motion, it is not meant to be immobile. If you are feeling pain in the middle of your back, it is worth getting an assessment to ensure that your thoracic vertebrae are in alignment.  Call our office in Houston to find out how you can start using your spine to its maximum mechanical advantage. 

We can be reached at (713) 862-2440

Dr. Randall Holmes, D.C.