Posts by Randall Holmes

For most people, chiropractic comes to mind only after an injury

This is a shame because chiropractic might have prevented that very same injury. While obviously, this is not a 100% guarantee, a body under regular chiropractic maintenance is more resistant to injury and quicker to recover after an injury occurs. Depending on your level of activity (or inactivity!) you can benefit from the preventative healthcare that chiropractic offers.

A well-aligned body is more resilient to injuries

A tried and true analogy uses the maintenance of a car as an example: regular oil checks and maintenance ensure that your car keeps running longer and doesn’t let you down when you need it most. The human body is a machine that requires regular maintenance in a similar way; circulation and range of motion are important for ensuring that every cell in your body receives the oxygen and nutrients it needs to prosper. Furthermore, your muscles and tendons both crave use to enhance their elasticity. You can even see your pets stretching all day long as they lounge around between naps. It can be a bad sign if you aren’t moving more than your cat!

Chiropractic is preventative healthcare

Spinal adjustments and hands-on attention to the muscles allow your body to work its best. By correcting spinal misalignment, we facilitate smoother functioning of the nervous system which allows your body to protect itself from injury and to heal itself more effectively. If you are interested in finding out more about how chiropractic keeps your body working its best, give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

Cycling doesn’t have to cause you pain!

For many people, cycling begins when you are a kid cycling around the neighborhood, and for many people it will remain that way, less of a means of transportation and more of a fun way to spend a few hours. But for people who take it as an athletic pursuit, biking down mountainous trails or across miles of open road, cycling takes on a more integral role in their health routine. And that goes both ways: yes it builds muscle and cardiovascular health, but it is also fraught with challenges to the body. 

What are the key dangers facing cyclists from a chiropractor’s perspective?

Injuries that cyclists will incur are chiefly due to the repetitive nature of the sport. Below you will find some of the top dangers facing cyclists besides injuries related to crashing!

• Overuse injuries: shock is absorbed through the hands and wrists and filters through to the shoulders; shock is also absorbed by the knees and all this jolting can impact your spine for the worse. 
• Poor posture while biking: hunched over the handlebars is not a good look- and it is not good for you either! Your arms should share some of the weight, but not all of the burden. Make sure you consult with a cycling professional to determine and maintain good posture while cycling. 
• An ill-fitting bike: a properly fitted bike will help you maintain good posture and mitigate shock and overuse injuries. 

Cyclists benefit from chiropractic care

Chiropractic care is an important part of wellness no matter what you choose for sport. Chiropractic adjustment and regular attention to the muscles of the back can help to mitigate the pain inflicted on bikers, especially in the neck and shoulder region. If you are interested in feeling less pain, or preventing pain from interfering with your enjoyment of cycling, give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

Starting an exercise plan may hurt at first

But keeping the upside in mind can help you overcome the roadblock of beginning. Once you get going, it only becomes easier- like a flywheel, your exercise routine will develop a momentum of its own, and the going will get easier.

Furthermore, at Holmes Chiropractic, we believe that exercise is a cornerstone of wellness; in fact, exercise underpins everything we do during a chiropractic appointment.

As a matter of fact, exercise strengthens the muscles that support the spine, improves core stability, maintains a range of motion, and improves circulation.

With that in mind, chiropractor Houston TX. Randall Holmes says, while the scientific community is still at a loss as to exactly how exercise creates the benefits that it does, the jury is unanimous in agreeing that exercising 150 minutes per week should be an essential health objective for all adults. 

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We can make starting an exercise plan less painful

So when was the last time you hit that 150 minutes per-week goal for exercise? Does the thought of getting up and starting give you the slightest pang of anxiety? If the thought of getting in shape seems like an insurmountable task, we want to help you get motivated and start moving. We start with what is at stake: the health of your body in the here and now, and its longevity for the future. As the foundation for your upper body, this is the only spine you get. Keeping it in a state of balance, with a strong set of surrounding muscles, is the best possible thing you can do to preserve it for the future. 

How we help you start exercising

We begin by evaluating your musculoskeletal health and providing adjustments to restore spinal alignment and balance. Chiropractor Houston TX. Dr. Randall Holmes says the spinal adjustment has been shown to exhibit a domino effect on our musculoskeletal health including:

• Relieving painful nerve impingement
• Improving range of motion
• Improving circulation

This sets you off on the right foot to start exercising. From here, we can show you simple but effective body-weight exercises for improving the core stabilizers, a set of muscles that provide support for the lower spine. These muscles are the best ally your spine has in its fight against pain and degeneration. One last area of focus is balancing muscles that become over and under worked due to poor biomechanics and posture. We help you affect a wholesale improvement of your biomechanical awareness and postural habits. 

Getting in shape to exercise starts with chiropractic

At our Chiropractic office, we are not short on incentives when it comes to exercise. We want to help you get motivated- give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

Let the blood flow, in the circulation sense

Blood is your life force- it is the transport network that brings oxygen and nutrients throughout the body and carries away waste products that create problems when they accumulate. So what happens when circulation is stunted? Problems naturally occur when normal blood flow is restricted, including: 

• Fatigue; lack of physical or mental energy
• Headache
• Anxiety
• Numbness and tingling or swelling in the extremities

Conditions that cause restriction to blood flow include diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and blood clots. So what can we do to keep the blood flowing as it should? 

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Mapping your circulation

Think of your brain and how every millisecond of the day it is controlling and coordinating the function of the human body. If you starved this vital organ of its input, how could you expect it to work well? Well, the main input for the brain is oxygen! In fact, while it only accounts for 2% of body mass, the brain consumes up to 20% of the oxygen that enters the bloodstream. Part of the reason for this is that even when you are completely idle or sleeping, the brain is still completely active. Lack of sufficient oxygen to the brain is associated with poor memory, dizziness, fatigue, headache, and other more serious conditions. 

Chiropractic for enhancing circulation

Circulation and chiropractic go hand in hand. Because we utilize hands-on modalities to improve health, a boost in circulation is a natural outcome. Chiropractic adjustment frees up nerve pathways and attention to muscles through massage and trigger-point therapy stimulates the body to let the blood flow, increasing circulation to areas that are in need. If you are interested in finding out more about how chiropractic can help improve circulation, give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

Chronic nonspecific back pain is a horrific reality

And its presence in society is growing. Nonspecific low back pain, either acute or chronic, is defined as pain that has no detectable cause. As more people shift into the seats of white-collar office work, back pain is on the rise, peaking now as the second leading cause of workplace disability in the United States. 

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It’s time to stop seeking the magic bullet.

While it would be harsh to say that traditional methods have failed outright, it is worth challenging the commonly held knowledge that these treatments will work when there is clear evidence against them. What is clear is that the medical community is ill-equipped to deal with nonspecific back pain because traditional treatments, including opioid painkillers, spinal surgery, and injections, are often ineffective, and can even make your condition worse. The “magic bullet,” the idea that a single treatment like surgery can fix all your problems is no longer a viable or ethical option and it should not be sold as such by the health industry. 

Alternative therapies on the rise

In response to this falling of the curtain, alternative schools of thought and therapies have stepped into the void. Active and passive therapies now offer pain relief and improvement of symptoms that is comparable and in excess of what can be gained through traditional methods. What this means for you is that a holistic approach to healing your back is worth exploring. The upside is that most things you can do are cheaper, if not completely free, and can start improving your symptoms today. 

Chiropractic as part of a holistic approach to healing your back 

Chiropractic, when combined with exercise, diet, massage, and other natural modalities. More and more studies are showing that back pain can be as much a mental condition as an ailment of the body. Choosing a multidisciplinary, and therefore dynamic, approach to treating your back pain can affect vast improvements in your back pain, without the laundry list of side effects. If you are interested in changing your angle of approach to treating back pain, give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

Sarcopenia is universal

Risk factors for sarcopenia include age, gender, and level of physical activity.

Everyone on earth is affected by the loss of muscle mass that comes with aging. But it is not the same for everyone, and only you get to decide how severe sarcopenia can really be. Sarcopenia sets in at some point during our thirties, and this beginning stage is perhaps the most crucial. Moderately active people may notice insignificant changes in muscle mass while inactive people may lose as much as 3-5 percent per year! This is a particularly bad precedent to set when you consider that sarcopenia only accelerates as we reach toward our sixties and seventies. 

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Sarcopenia from a chiropractor’s perspective

Sarcopenia is doubly scary from a chiropractor’s perspective; you have to remember that your spine is also weakening with age. Most people can’t afford to lose muscle mass in the core stabilizing muscles that support the lower back. With a weakened support system, embattled intervertebral discs will often give in to herniation; vertebral bodies will impinge on spinal nerves; the end result can leave you hunched over with back pain in your old age. Let’s all take a moment to agree that this is not how we want to end up.

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Chiropractic helps you keep the upper hand on sarcopenia

While the condition may be inevitable, you don’t have to accept the symptoms lying down. Our natural modalities ensure that your spine remains in alignment despite the weakening that is occurring all around it. Chiropractic adjustment has the double-positive effect of improving both circulation and range of motion, allowing you to pursue exercise without fear of injury. This is the single most important way to fight back against sarcopenia: keep yourself moving. We can also show you how to strengthen and stretch the muscles that matter for maintaining core stability, allowing you to remain upright as you approach old age. If you are interested in using our services to fight back against sarcopenia, give our office in Houston a call to schedule an appointment today. 

Today, watch out for when the Comfy Couch Turns Ugly

Your sofa should be a place for relaxation

The world will be watching the Kansas City Chiefs play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers today, and most will be watching from a reclined couch while stuffing their face with carbs. This ritual has become a tradition that hinges on becoming a national holiday in America as the Super Bowl grows in popularity every year. It makes sense too, because from the comfort of your home you can watch others mercilessly pound each other and be glad it is not your spine getting crunched play after play. But believe it or not,  your spine is not entirely same either.

Sitting for long periods of time is hard on your spine

Studies show that sitting loads your spine with up to 3 times as much pressure as standing. What’s more, few sofas offer the support necessary to encourage you to maintain good posture. Most of us end up melting into the couch, which can have serious consequences for your spine if you spend a lot of time watching television or reading. Chances are, you are not going to stop sitting on the couch; instead, you can take proactive steps to relieve the stiffness that besets your back after sitting on the sofa for long periods of time.

Stretches to relieve back tension after a sofa session

• Spinal Twist: Sit up straight in a chair and slowly rotate your torso to one side, grabbing the back of the chair if you can. Only go until you feel a gentle stretch in the shoulder and oblique muscles of the core 
• Spinal Elongation: stand straight up then bend at the waist and hang with your fingers reaching down toward your toes. Don’t go any further than the feeling of a gentle stretch. From here slowly raise back up to a standing-tall position then reach your hands up toward the sky and clasp them together. Hold for 3-5 seconds. 
• Stretch the Neck: clasp your hands on the back of your head and lower your chin toward your chest until you feel a gentle stretch in the neck muscles. 
• Stretch the hamstrings: the hamstrings are paired muscles which get tight and create a pull on the lower back, often resulting in uneven alignment of the spine. Sit on your butt with one leg tucked in criss-cross apple sauce and the other extended. Reach for the foot of the extended leg until you feel a slight stretch in the hamstring. 

These stretches target the hamstrings, lower back, shoulders and neck, all the areas which are prone to tightness after a sofa session. Taking 3 minutes to stretch after an hour of sitting on the sofa can work wonders toward undoing the cycle of tension that eventually leads to back pain.

Please do yourself one more favor today when you get up during the halftime show, walk past the chips and soda and 7 layer dip. See if you can find a carrot to crunch on. And as you hear that crisp cool carrot shatter in your mouth, be glad that is not the spine of your favorite quarterback making the crunching noise on this great American holiday known as Super Bowl Sunday.

Understanding your spine is the best way to keep it healthy

Spinal motion segments are the functional units that allow for the mobility of your spine. Between each of the 33 vertebrae in your spine is an individual mobile unit comprised of:

• The two vertebrae
• The intervertebral disc 
• Two facet joints 
• A network of ligaments and tendons

The first three are called the articular triad; these are the three components that allow for articulation between vertebrae and the overall movement of the spine. Healthy spinal motion segments allow for a reasonable degree of movement in the upper body while also stabilizing the spine and preventing injury from excessive movement. 

Dysfunction in the spinal motion segments

If that wasn’t a dystopian headline… but the unfortunate truth is that things frequently do go wrong with the spinal motion segments; this leads us down the road toward back pain and degeneration of the spinal structures. The two most frequent problems which face spinal motion segments are: 

• Hypomobility: limited range of motion 
• Hyper mobility: excessive range of motion

Both conditions are capable of stressing facet joints and compressing spinal nerves which exit at every level of the spine. 

Keeping spinal motion segments healthy

You can mitigate problems associated with hypo- and hyper-mobility in the spinal motion segments by following a general guideline of diet and exercise. But at a certain point, this may cease to be enough; as the pressures of gravity, poor posture, and age accumulate, your spine may need a helping hand. We make sure that all the knowledge is in your hands: from therapeutic stretching and exercise techniques to hands-on modalities that maintain spinal alignment and reduce intradiscal pressure, we are your go-to source for spinal health. 

If you are interested in improving your spinal health and maintaining the integrity of your spinal motion segments, give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

It’s often said that pain and stress go hand in hand

Subluxation illustrates this twisted system perfectly. A physical manifestation of mental stress is a prolonged contraction of the muscles that we call muscle tension. This tension can be painful in of itself, as well as contributing to reduced range of motion. But the problem intensifies when tense muscles then pull your spine out of alignment. When vertebral bodies move out of alignment, they can put undue pressure on spinal nerves which exit at each level of the spine. This is a recipe for pain that causes mental anguish and stress in even the most resilient of individuals. 

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Doing something to break yourself out of this cycle

At our office in Houston, we believe that chiropractic can help people suffering from stress by removing a significant part of the equation contributing to their condtion. If physical dysfunction and pain are exacerbating your stress, we want to help you design solutions that will ease the pain. In doing so, we help you focus on addressing the other factors that make up your particular stress profile. Spinal adjustment restores spinal alignment, alleviates nerve compression and improves circulation. With better blood circulation, oxygen and nutrients reach the places they are needed most, including your brain, which can help you manage the fight-or-flight response which defines stress. 

Improving physical health to reduce stress

Give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. We are specialists in designing solutions that use natural modalities to reduce stress. We are standing by to help you achieve your health objectives for the new year.

Sleep is an essential component of wellness

Because we are aware of this fact, nothing is more frustrating than laying in bed waiting… waiting to fall asleep and knowing that it’s not going to happen. You may have the laptop propped somehow, playing your favorite show; you may be lazily scrolling through your phone, barely processing the last dregs of your news feed. But when it comes time to shut off the brain and get down to REM sleep, many of us are finding it harder than ever. Our minds are constantly stimulated, from the trumpets of push notifications during a stressful commute to using television as a means of winding down from a stressful day. If the flux of life in Houston has you spun out, read on to find out how chiropractic can help you rediscover restful, restorative sleep. 

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Chiropractic helps you find better quality sleep

Studies have shown that 1/3 of people who receive a chiropractic spinal adjustment report improvement in their sleep the very night of their treatment. How does this work? 

• By addressing pain: if pain is keeping you up at night, our natural modalities seek and correct many musculoskeletal causes of that pain. Spinal adjustment not only alleviates nerve compression and mitigates back pain, but it also increases feelings of relaxation that help you sleep.
• By boosting circulation: oxygen is a primary component of sleep. Getting the oxygen and nutrients you need to your brain cells is a signal way of falling and staying asleep.

Furthermore, we can counsel you on sleep hygiene and environment- the particular factors that contribute to your sleep health. From sleep position (side, back, stomach), to sleep equipment (pillow, bed, blankets); from temperature and darkness in the room to how you prep for sleep beforehand; every little factor matters. We are Houston’s go-to resource for improving the quantity and quality of sleep. 

Helping Houston sleep better

If you are tossing and turning because of anxiety, you will want to seek another kind of specialist, as we are not qualified to address mental health concerns. But if you suspect that physical pain or dysfunction is the source of your sleeplessness, give our office in Houston a call to schedule an appointment and start sleeping better today.