Why Ignoring Back Pain Is A Big Mistake

Back pain houston

Ignoring your back pain is the worst thing you can do

Humans have an incredible capacity to live with pain, especially the kind that accrues slowly over time like the back pain and dysfunction related to our job. We can ignore it, or worse mask it, and move on with our daily activities; this approach sets us up for a lot of pain and degeneration in the future, but these considerations are subjugated to the importance of the task in front of you. It is amazing how we will let spinal flexibility, resilience, stability and posture fly out the window just because we have to get the job done. At Holmes Chiropractic, we believe that ignoring or actively blocking pain signals is the wrong way of going about things.

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Healthy Habits for Hurting Hands

Chiropractor houston

Stiff, sore hands are not something to take lightly!

Tenderness and pain in the joints and tissues of the hands is ubiquitous among office workers due to the repetitive trauma inherent in computer work. If you spend a lot of time interacting with a computer, it behooves you to take measures that will protect your hands so you can avoid conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis. At Holmes Chiropractic, we start with ergonomics- are you setting your hands up for success or future pain? Depending on the level of your wrists and how they rest on the desk, you could be adding more strain than is necessary to your hands. Once ergonomics are in place, you need to be proactive about taking care of your hands. Read on to find out how.

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Are Situps Hurting your Spine?

Spinal health houston

Building core strength without sacrificing spinal health

Core strength and stability is an essential component of spinal health. The situp is a traditional exercise for building core strength that has long been demonized by spinal health professionals, but not for the reason you might think. The fact is, most people do situps incorrectly- they have a half-formed notion of what a real situp should look like and they set out to build a set of abs by religiously performing a movement that is bad for the spine. 

  • When you do a situp incorrectly, you flatten the natural curve of your spine.
  • Many people over-engage the hip flexor muscles, which means they are sacrificing the core-strengthening of the exercise, while over-tightening a muscle that creates a pull on the lower back. 
  • This is an isolated activity which creates repetitive stress for one part of the body while neglecting other muscles.

With this system, you could end up with a sore back and no abs! So let’s take a more practical approach to developing core strength.

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Maintaining Function in the Shoulder, the Body’s Most Mobile Joint

Chiropractor houston

The shoulder is the most mobile joint in the human body

A joint that is utilized so often is a joint that is prime for wear and tear. At the point where it attaches the arm to the upper body, there is a complex network of nerves, tendons and tissues which all have the potential to suffer injury and cause pain. The rotator cuff is a collection of tendons (tissues that attach muscle to bone) and ligaments that support the arm at the shoulder joint. This rotator cuff is furthe reinforced by cartilage and ligaments that give your shoulder strength and support proper range of motion. Understanding the anatomy of this epicenter of movement helps us understand why many normal actions become fraught with pain and weakness when the shoulder starts acting up. So how can chiropractic help?

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The Deep-Rooted Causes of Sporting Injuries

Chiropractor houston

When we suffer sports injuries, where do we assign blame?

It is easy to point to faulty footwear or old equipment, but the truth is that the majority of sports injuries are entirely preventable. The expression, “leave it all on the field,” signals that athletes demand a lot from their bodies, often taking out more than they put in. The most common sports injuries that we treat involve strains and sprains. These injuries are the culmination of your body reaching a breaking point, and that breaking point is likely due to a number of factors both internal and external. So we ask: is that breaking point avoidable? Our job at Holmes Chiropractic is to help you exercise the greatest degree of control over the factors within your body. 

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