My last article dealt with the topic of chiropractic and pregnancy. I hope it was helpful to many of you expecting moms! This article will address many of the musculoskeletal conditions that mom (and dad, for that matter) likely will have to deal with following the birth of baby!
This topic is also probably very familiar to most people out there (at least if you deal with small children.and most people at some time in their life will!). I am currently treating a lot of new and ‘kinda’ new mothers who have mid and low back pain from carrying around their infant and/or toddler(s) and moving the children from place to place. Although an infant (we’ll say less than 1 year of age) is not too heavy, with time, the little critters begin to feel quite heavy! It is not hard to understand how carrying and transporting a small child can definitely create quite a strain on one’s back, shoulders, neck, hips, etc.
The funny thing about an infant is that the weight is like ‘dead weight.’ What I mean by this is that if the child could only cling to your shoulder, shirt, neck, etc.the child would help to support its own weight and it wouldn’t seem so darn heavy! However, this is obviously not the case. In terms of transport, infants are like cute sacks of potatoes! (Sorry new moms!) But it is true. Lifting, holding, and placing infants and little kids are quite physically demanding! I would like to discuss two activities that subject your body to a great risk of injury when caring for an infant or small child, and some basic suggestions that will help you properly perform these activities. Read More »
I would like to touch on the topic of chiropractic and pregnancy because I currently have a lot of pregnant patients. Although I learned all about the changes in the body associated with pregnancy while in graduate school, I never realized the effort it takes to be pregnant. I think that most men take this for granted! There are so many chemical changes in the body that most people seem to forget about the accompanying physical changes that take place too. As the fetus grows, the amount of stress placed on the joints, muscles, and ligaments is quite impressive. It’s no wonder that it’s difficult for women to stay comfortable during pregnancy! In fact, pregnant women tend to complain of many aches and pains. Most of these discomforts are felt in the low back, mid-back, and feet. Read More »
One of the more common conditions that patients suffer from these days is upper back and lower neck pain. This condition has become more and more common partly because as a society we are sitting more and more. The bottom line is that when you sit for long periods, you develop poor posture. I will now discuss the main pattern of muscle imbalances that lead to upper back and lower neck pain. This pattern of imbalances in the upper body is known as the upper cross-fix pattern. The upper cross-fix pattern is a little difficult to explain, but the concept is not too difficult to understand. (The pattern is similar to the lower cross-fix pattern that can be reviewed now from the archive.) I will start by telling you that the cross-fix pattern seen in the upper body is simply a pattern of certain muscles that become tight and certain muscles that become weak. The pattern is called a “cross-fix” because when we look at the muscles that are weak, and the muscles that are tight, they appear to cross each other in a pattern that resembles the letter “X”. Read More »
Vladamir Janda, M.D., a leader in the field of manual medicine, first discussed the lower crossed syndrome. This condition describes a pattern of tight muscles and weak muscles. Due to the improper length of these muscles (the tight ones being short, and the weak ones being long), we develop postural imbalances, and eventually, pain. Let’s face it…most of us tend to sit at a desk, usually typing at a computer. Hour after hour, day after day, this poor posture leads to joint and muscular imbalances. People who suffer from these postural problems frequently complain of a tight low back and/or hip pain. If left unchecked, the imbalances can continue to create a chronic pain condition that becomes more difficult to correct. However, if we can detect the problem early and make appropriate corrections to the musculature, it is possible to negate the effects of the bad posture. Now we’ll take a look at the reason why the muscle pattern is called a “crossed” syndrome, and we’ll discuss how to help correct it. Read More »
