Posts by Randall Holmes
Morning Stiffness Solved With Three Simple Stretches
You won’t even have to get out of bed for this one
It’s no wonder that many of us find that our first inclination upon waking is to stretch; as adults, most of us are feeling stiffness in some part of the body in the morning, and all of us have our techniques for dealing with it. It probably won’t surprise you to know that the majority of us choose to do nothing about it. And as we busy ourselves with the activities of the day, the stiffness seems to fade into the background. But rest assured, it is has not disappeared; most likely, it is getting worse, but your body and brain are good at masking the stiffness and distracting you from thinking about it. So before this insidious situation sets in, choose to do something about it by having a 3 minutes stretching session before you get out of bed.
With Spinal Health, Posture Leads the Way
Much is written and said about posture
But there is one maxim that we know to be true: poor posture leads to poor health. It doesn’t just make you look bad (at the very least, lacking in confidence), it also sets a tone for which the rest of your body and mind will follow.
Poor posture:
- Puts more pressure on your spine
- Limits spinal joint mobility
- Causes organ dysfunction
- Changes the shape of your spine
- Compresses nerves and causes dysfunction in the nervous system
- Reduces lung capacity
- Interferes with brain functioning
If we have not provided enough reasons thus far, rest assured that the list goes on. Understanding the role of posture in not just our spinal health, but our overall wellbeing, is a critical first step in changing the way you sit, stand, sleep and move around.
Activity Makes for a Healthier Pregnancy
Activity is the key to mitigating discomfort during pregnancy
Let’s face it: pregnancy is going to be uncomfortable. With your body undergoing enormous changes at a rapid clip, there is bound to be periods of pronounced pain, nausea and distress. It’s in your best interest to do everything in your power to keep these circumstances at a minimum. One way you can do this is through exercise: staying active contributes to more physical and emotional balance. At Holmes Chiropractic, we have decades of experience using chiropractic modalities to help women achieve a more comfortable, more successful pregnancy with fewer complications during childbirth. But the work doesn’t stop once you leave our office! Read on to discover some simple, yet profound, ways to stay active during pregnancy
Chiropractic For Tennis Players
Tennis plays a role in holistic healthcare
By keeping you active and socially engaged, tennis does a lot for our well being. It is a low-impact sport that can be enjoyed at any ability, while also contributing to lower levels of anxiety. But tennis still has its risk factors, as up to 60% of regular players will suffer some form of injury related to their sport. The most common injuries in tennis are:
- Tennis elbow
- Sprained ankles
- Back sprains
- Tendinitis in the shoulder
The repetitive actions and motions involved in tennis lend themselves to wear and tear that can cause injury. If you want to prevent an injury from keeping you off the court, it pays to be proactive.
Why We Take Stress Seriously
Stress is the glue that holds many problems together
Allowing our lifestyles to run out of control and become dominated by stress is a sure way to leave our bodies and minds vulnerable to the onset of degenerative conditions. Stress is linked with heart disease, headaches, obesity, depression and a whole host of musculoskeletal conditions; this wide-ranging set of conditions shows how stress can be an underlying killer. As we see it, stress is a malevolent glue that remains quiet at the root of much of the pain and many of the conditions we treat here at Holmes Chiropractic. We can’t let the members of our community leave stress unaddressed! Read on to find out about our action plan for dealing with stress.
Spinal Health: Killer Habits vs. Habits That Kill
We all know we could take better care of our spines
But on the other hand, we are humans and thus it is easy to procrastinate. We are really good at ignoring the pain and stiffness that has set into our spines over the years. But take it from a chiropractor, the stakes have never been higher. Do you really want to be someone who starts taking spinal health seriously after their spine has succumbed to a serious, degenerative injury or condition? That is the reality for so many Americans, who neglect their spine for decades before it finally says, That’s it, no more. From that point forward that person’s life will be, at least partially, defined by a struggle for spinal health. We urge you to take a look at your lifestyle and determine which habits are holding you back from achieving maximum spinal health.
Overcoming Sciatica with Pregnancy Chiropractic
Why is sciatica more prevalent during pregnancy?
The key word here is prevalent- pregnancy is not considered a direct cause of sciatica, and thus we didn’t say, “how is sciatica caused by pregnancy?” However, some explaining needs to be done for why sciatica seems to strike an unusually large amount of pregnant women. The reason is that pregnancy creates a perfect storm of conditions that lends itself to impingement on the sciatic nerve. Let’s take a look at this mosaic in greater detail:
- Activity levels decrease
- Good posture is difficult to maintain
- The added weight of a growing baby
- A shifting center of gravity
- Ligaments loosening (particularly in the third trimester) in the pelvis in preparation for labor and delivery.
- Your abdominal muscles are stretched out on the front side as your belly grows, while the network of muscles that supports your lower back is strained trying to support this unstable system.
It’s no wonder that many women in the third trimester begin to feel the symptoms of sciatica- pain in the lower back, usually limited to one side; shooting and burning pains down the leg; weakness or numbness in the lower extremities. So how can chiropractic remedy this situation?
A Great Beginning for Mother and Child
A new life to nurture
You’ve welcomed your baby into the world and spent the first week adjusting to life as a mother, caring, feeding, and attending to your newborn’s every need. But what about your own body? In order to effectively care for your child, you need to be in a state of balance, physically, emotionally and mentally. In the immediate period after giving birth, you lose about 12 pounds between the weight of the baby, the placenta, blood and amniotic fluid. You will continue to lose weight as you urinate more frequently- this is your body expelling the excess water retained by your cells during pregnancy.
Even then, your belly is not going to shrink on its own! Your abdominal muscles remain stretched out and many women complain that they still look pregnant. A final consideration (some might say primary) is your spine: levels of the hormone relaxin can remain elevated for weeks and even months after pregnancy, which means that your pelvic ligaments are not going to tighten, and instability will still exist at the base of your spine. This is often a cause for the aches and pains of pregnancy to persist even after birth.
Chiropractic for Third Trimester Pregnancies
It’s so close you can feel it…
The third trimester is a hectic time- while the anticipation reaches its climax, a woman’s body is strained to the max to account for the full weight of the baby. Typical features of the third trimester include:
- Activity slows down
- Frequent urination
- Back pain and general discomfort
- Heartburn
- Anxiety
- Contractions begin
The third trimester will challenge you physically and emotionally. That’s why we are standing by to provide you with the chiropractic support you need to sustainably manage your pregnancy. Here’s how chiropractic helps women in their third trimesters.
Coming to Grips With Your Weight
Let’s talk about your weight
At our office in Holmes Chiropractic, education is a part of our mission, and education about weight is something that not everyone is willing to listen to with an open ear. But here’s the thing: maybe you aren’t getting the facts straight from your other doctors. While traditional medicine treats the symptoms of obesity (blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, joint problems) with medication, it leaves the individual short of options for real effective weight management. We believe in the power of your target weight and we will help you do whatever it takes to lower and maintain a healthy target weight that does not overly burden your spine.