BANISH

B D

POSTURE

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Table of Content

Introduction I

Chapter 1 - Good Posture 1

Chapter 2 - Bad Posture 7

Chapter 3 - Importance of Sleep 10

Chapter 4 - Exercise 12

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Introduction

Ever heard the saying “follow the path of least resistance”? Well, I don’t know if it’s always good advice, but when it comes to your posture, that’s exactly what your body does.

Think of an adolescent you need to constantly remind to sit straight, or stand tall.

They do it when you ask ... for 30 seconds. But quickly end up back in a bad posture.

Why don’t they listen? Interestingly, it’s actually uncomfortable for them to sit straight. They are “fighting” their own structure.

If you want them to sit straight, you need to change their structure so that, in a relaxed state, when “following the path of least resistance” they naturally sit with good posture.

Otherwise you are simply pushing a rock up a hill, if you only tell them to sit up straight.

So ... how do you change their structure?

Depending on what’s actually wrong with their posture, exercise alone may do the trick. We will cover some exercises that can help fix bad posture in this book.

We are also going to look at causes and effects of bad posture.

So let’s get started.

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01 Chapter Why Good Posture is so Important

Posture is very important because it helps to more evenly distribute the force of gravity throughout the body.

The fact is a person with poor posture is more susceptible to back injury, headaches and other pain, and may experience a longer recovery time from an injury than someone with good posture.

Postural misalignments can lead to early degenerative (osteoarthritis) changes in the spine, reduce your lung capacity, cause headaches, neck pain, numbness and pins and needles and a whole range of complications and problems.

Keep this in mind: The spine has three natural curves – there is a forward curve at the neck … there is a backward curve at the upper back … and there is another forward curve at the lower back.

Good posture, in which your spine will aligned over your pelvis, maintains these natural curves and leads to pain-free mobility. Poor posture on the other hand pulls on muscles and creates pain.

Looking Good … Feeling Good

Yes, having good posture can improve the way you look; it can also help you to feel good as well. Here’s how: good posture promotes strength, flexibility and balance in the body. If any these of things gets “out of whack” it can lead to muscle pain.

Proper posture also reduces stress on your muscles and ligaments, which in turn lessens your risk of injury.

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Let’s take a closer look at some of the more common and more painful effects of bad posture:

Back Pain

One of the most common causes of lower is poor posture. The strain on the back while sitting in a slouched position can cause excessive pressure on the joints, muscles and discs.

You see, posture can cause repetitive strain which causes microtrauma to accumulate, which ultimately leads to sudden failure.

Here is an example:

An office worker sits all day every day. While they have breakfast, while they drive to work, at their desk, watching TV. They are normally busy, but they are not active.

Over time this means key postural muscles like the buttocks, abdominal core and lower back start to weaken. Because they are in a sitting position, their hip flexors start to shorten and go tight.

This starts to compress the disc, which slowly over time breaks down and becomes weak.

Then one day the disc becomes so weak, it can’t cope anymore and the slightest thing can trigger it to collapse. Ever heard the saying “the straw that broke the camel’s back”? Well, that’s what we are talking about here.

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3 Basic types of lower back pain

There are three basic types of lower back pain:

Piriformis Syndrome

This is probably the easiest to treat, but even so it can takes months to heal if not treated properly. This condition involves a small muscle in the buttocks called the “piriformis” which spasms and clamps down on the sciatic nerve.

People suffering from this generally report a dull ache in the backside with pain that radiates (shoots) down the leg. Sitting for long periods of time tends to make this worse, and so does climbing stairs and walking up hills.

Piriformis Syndrome Normally simply stretching the piriformis muscle will relieve the symptoms. Here is what you need to do:

Cross the painful leg across the other knee - so you are making a figure 4. Gently lean forward until you feel a stretch in your buttocks on the side of the sciatica. Once you feel the stretch, pause for 20 seconds. Relax, take a breath, and repeat 2 more times.

If this stretch relieves your pain there is a good chance you have Piriformis Syndrome.

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Disc injury

This is the most common cause of sciatica - a lumbar (lower back) disc bulge or herniation.

Between your vertebrae (spinal bones) there are soft discs. Inside the discs are a jelly like substance, which is surrounded by layers of ligaments, like layers in an onion. If this jelly breaks through those ligaments it can compress the lumbar nerve roots which feed into the sciatic nerve.

If your sciatica is caused by a disc injury, you will normally notice the following:

1. Pain when you cough/sneeze 2. Severe pain when trying to get out of bed that tends to get better as you get moving and warmed up. 3. Bending forward increases the pain 4. You are stuck leaning to one side and can’t seem to straighten up 5. Weakness and/or numbness in your big toe

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Spinal Stenosis

This means that the bones themselves are pressing on either your spinal cord or the nerve root.

If you have Spinal Stenosis, you will probably experience the following:

•• Burning pain in the legs and feet that increases with walking/ activity - often after walking only 100 metres or so. You get almost instant relief by bending forward at the waist, squatting down or sitting.

•• You may notice difficulty coordinating your legs - you might find your not as balanced as you used to be and tend to stumble and trip.

•• You may see wasting and atrophy (shrinking) of the muscles in your legs.

Putting yourself in the spinal decompression position (laying on your back with knees and hips bent) may help - but you will need to seek treatment in the case of Spinal Stenosis.

Less severe Spinal Stenosis can occur at the intervertebral foramen (the space the nerves come out of the spine). A lot of the time, a person will say they felt fine, they bent over to tie their shoes and got sudden severe pain. It lasts around 48 hours and the pain disappears. This often occurs every couple of months or so.

We will talk about ways to improve posture and relieve back pain later in this book. First let’s look at another consequence of bad posture – headaches.

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Headaches

Bad posture can be a frequent cause of tension headaches as well as jaw aches and shoulder aches.

Behold the 19kg head!

The more you slouch – the harder your body and clench. This clenching causes the muscles has to work. Can you imagine having to carry of the face to tighten, which is a common an extra 19kgs on your shoulders – every day? cause of tension headaches and often gives That’s what its like for people with ‘forward people jaw pain as well. head posture’. This inevitably leads to sore, tense and aching shoulders, neck problems, People with forward head posture often report headaches, pins and needles in the hands and getting headaches, neck and shoulder pain even reduces your lung capacity! that gets worse through the day. Many will As an experiment sit up straight, and take in even notice a large prominent ‘bump’ at the the biggest breath you can manage. Notice base of their neck. how much air your lungs take in. Now exhale In most cases all of this is correctable with the and jut your head as far forward as you can. right treatment and right advice. Take in the biggest breath you can. Notice how much less air you can take in? More and more though, we are seeing this condition in adolescents and teenagers. This Well that’s what it’s like for people with forward is the result of increased screen time, and head posture- all day every day! less physical activity. In fact, its becoming so common it’s even got its own name We have also found that when the body is now – “Text Neck”. hunched over, the jaw is more likely to tighten

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02 Chapter What Causes Bad Posture?

There are a variety of causes of bad posture. Here are a few of the most common ones:

• Genetics (idiopathic etc) • Injury (for example whiplash) • Muscle Tension, muscle weakness • Bad daily habits • Use of technology – text neck! • Mental attitude and stress

Let’s look at few examples:

Genetics – Genetics can affect posture, but the good news is it is not very common. When it does, the most common problem is scoliosis. Scoliosis tends to affect women more than men.

If it is picked up early enough (early teens), often it can be treated using special custom braces and exercises. This makes it crucial to have your child screened for scoliosis periodically by a chiropractor who can detect and manage scoliosis.

If not picked up soon enough, scoliosis can develop and become severe enough that it requires surgical intervention.

Injury – Before the advent of text neck, this was probably the most common reason for forward head posture. Car accidents and sporting injuries often cause whiplash. In many cases, people elect not to receive treatment, or don’t

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get treated appropriately. The misalignment to the neck caused by the injury slowly deteriorates over a period of years.

As the head shifts forward placing more weight on the shoulders and neck muscles and strain across the neck ligaments and joints, the head continues to migrate forward over time. Couple this with the modern lifestyle of spending hours every day looking down at a screen and you have a recipe for disaster.

More often than not when we see people with neck pain and headaches we find that the major cause is forward head posture. And we can trace the injury back years and sometimes decades. Our patients tell us that they have felt ‘fine’ up until recently.

This is the nature of postural problems though. You will feel normal in most cases as your body adapts to take on the increased load from bad posture. Sooner or later though, your body can no longer adapt and you start to feel pain. This is when I hear things like “I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary”. That is the problem though!

Many of us have discovered that the office can be a source of bad posture and back pain.

Office personnel who spend at least half their day working from a computer can find back or neck pain to be a daily occurrence. The problem is usually the result of ergonomically incorrect workstations that result in bad posture.

Workers can suffer neck strain as a result of extended periods of peering down at computer monitors that are set too low or that sit on desks that are too low.

Chairs that are not adjustable or that offer no back support do little to alleviate the stress that is placed on your spine when you spend long hours sitting. Properly adjusted arm rests allow your shoulders to relax while you work.

Entire industries have been birthed to address the issue of engineering work environments that are more worker-friendly (the current trend is ‘sit-stand desks’). It makes sense that a more comfortable work environment will also be a more productive work environment.

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Here is something else that you should consider:

Briefcases, Purses & Backpacks

Whether or not you have legitimately considered it, the way you accessorize can play a part in your overall posture. Heavy briefcases, oversized handbags, and stuffed backpacks can be lead to poor posture and become a source of serious back pain.

Carrying oversized purses can cause tension in the shoulders, neck and back by tiring overused muscles and placing unnecessary pressure on the nerves.

Purchasing handbags that vary in size and that are well- compartmentalized for a more even weight distribution within the bag is a good way to minimize the stress of carrying a handbag.

Try storing some things in your car like extra business cards, pens, and cosmetic items to keep from carrying too many things in your bag.

If your briefcase is an essential part of your daily work ensemble, care should be taken to ensure you carry as light a load as possible.

Much like a purse, a heavy briefcase can cause tension and muscle strain in the arm, shoulders, neck and back. Make an effort to alternate hands when holding a briefcase and avoid buying cases made out of heavy materials like metal.

For people carrying backpacks, it is suggested that the weight of the backpack not exceed 10% of their total weight. Heavy backpacks can affect posture and lead to future spinal problems.

Remember to switch between using the shoulder straps and handles on your handbag to prevent muscle fatigue.

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03 Chapter The Importance of Sleep When it Comes to Maintaining Good Posture

The average Australian sleeps 7 hours a night. That’s almost a third of our day spent in bed, so it’s important to make sure your pillow, mattress and posture are up to scratch.

• When it comes to sleep posture your best off on your side or back. Avoid sleeping on your tummy as it tends to mean your neck is twisted to the side which can stress the neck and upper back.

• When sleeping on your side or back, you want your spine as neutral as possible. When on your side a pillow between the knees, or on your back a pillow under the knees helps to maintain a .

• Most experts recommend replacing your mattress every 5-7 years. Quite often you will get a 10 year or more warranty, but after 5-7 years you will no longer get the same support from your mattress. • It’s normal for a mattress to develop a ‘sleep signature’ but if you are getting any real depressions in the mattress or feel you are rolling one way or another it’s time for a new one.

• When picking a mattress I always recommend a good medium to firm ‘pocket spring’, with NO comfort layer.

• This gives you a good base support for your spine and if need be you can buy under-lays to soften it up and they can be added and removed to your liking. If you buy a mattress with comfort layer, it’s there forever and you cannot change it. That’s why I make this suggestion.

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What’s the Right Pillow For You?

Your neck needs to be in line with your spine – not too high or low. Also, you want the natural contour and curves of your neck to be supported. This is why many chiropractors recommend a contour pillow.

We stock the Complete Sleeperrr pillow range because they are fully adjustable. I got sick of spending $100 or more on a pillow and it not being right for me, so when I found these I was sold.

The white version is soft and best for children and smaller people. The pink is medium and our most popular. When using the pillow, try it first as it comes. If you can’t get it right, bring it in and one of the Drs will set it up for you.

Benefits include:

• Fully adjustable in height and firmness • Its clever design encourages side sleeping posture which helps breathing and snoring • Designed to allow air to circulate for a cooler healthier sleep • Alleviates neck and shoulder pain

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04 Chapter How to Improve Posture With Exercises

Remember, for most of us back pain develops not from sudden injuries but rather from repetitive strain and improper posture or body mechanics.

Following are a variety of exercises that you can use to fix and align your posture so that you don’t suffer dangerous repetitive strain.

Incorporate these exercises into your routine and say goodbye to back pain, headaches and other nasty effects of bad posture! To make things even easier for you we have included car exercises, work exercises and more.

Hopefully, this will make it easier for you to find time in your busy schedule to improve posture and prevent back pain, headaches and other posture-related injuries.

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Stretch it Out

Generally speaking, stretching is the process of engaging your muscles as they are being gently lengthened.

Some forms of stretching require more effort than others, but we will look at several different types of stretching in hopes of providing an adequate starting point for you, whatever your current fitness level may be.

Static Stretching

Static stretching is a low-impact option to elongate muscles gradually. The process involves holding a stretch in place for several seconds without bouncing.

The method requires that the pose be held to for a specified period of time. Once the pose is attained, the body should be completely still. Static stretching is an exercise in elongation as well as balance.

Active static stretching employs the stretch, the pose and balance but requires effort on your part.

Active Static Stretch

With your feet planted firmly on the ground and your knees slightly bent, gently bend forward and touch both hands to your right foot. There will be a slight pivot in your hip, but try to keep your left foot on the ground. Feel the stretch in your left hamstring as well as your back. Don’t bounce. Hold the position for 10 seconds.

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2 Great Body Weight Exercises to Improve Posture:

To improve posture it’s important to strengthen your core. Here are two exercises that are highly effective for strengthening the core:

Planks

Start by lying on your stomach on the floor, place your feet shoulder-width apart and come up into a position like you were going to do a push-up. Instead of going down into the push-up, hold the plank position for about 30 seconds and then repeat three times (with a short break in between). Do this in the morning, evening or both as you begin to get stronger.

Ab Crunches

If you’re going to do these, make sure your positioning and form are correct and that you incorporate different types of crunches to avoid further harming the back. Start by lying flat on the floor on your back, bend your knees at a 90-degree angle and focus on bringing your head and chest up to the ceiling. Try five sets of 10 to start, and increase as you build more stamina. But remember, with these exercises, maintaining a properly aligned posture is imperative to avoid further injury.

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Anytime, Anywhere Exercises

Now let’s apply some of the principles learned. Most people spend a majority of their waking hours in one of three places — home, work or car. Below you’ll find a list of exercises that can comfortably and safely be done just about anywhere.

Exercise to do in the Car

Try this convenient exercise the next time you’re parked at a light.

Sitting Crunches

• While sitting, exhale through your nose, pushing all of your air out and flattening your stomach. • Pull your navel in toward your back and hold the pose for 5 to 10 seconds. • Repeat 10 times.

Exercise to do While Shopping

Shopping is wonderful and very much a sport all its own. Next time you go out on your spree, make a conscious effort to multi-task. Shop and exercise, exercise and shop. Shopping bags are the perfect weight for some light, department store strength training.

Shoulder Press (You’ll need a little room for this one)

• Organize your bags so that they can be safely lifted without hurting anyone. • Next, lift them above your head (as in the picture at the right) with your arms on either side of your head. • Bend your elbows and lower yours arms so that your biceps are level with your shoulders. • Push the bags over your head again.

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Exercises to do While at Work

Even if your office interior wasn’t the creation of some corporate Feng Shui guru, there are exercises you can use to keep you comfortable, refreshed and pain-free at work. Be sure to take a quick break at least every 2 hours—get up, stretch your legs, rotate your wrists, grab a drink of water. You can spare 60 seconds for your health. Here are some exercises that you can also do:

Neck Extension

• Allow your head to slowly and gently lean backward with your face to the sky. • You will feel this stretch in the front of your neck. • Hold the pose for 10 seconds then return your head to its upright position. • Repeat.

Standing Hamstring Stretch

• Stand with your right leg about 12” in front of your left leg. • Flex your right foot pointing your toes upward and keeping your heel on the ground. • With your hands on your sides, bend forward until you feel the slight stretch in your right hamstring. • Hold the pose for 10 seconds before standing upright again. • Alternate legs and repeat.

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Additional Exercises That You Can Do to Improve Posture

1. Child’s pose

This resting pose stretches and lengthens your spine, glutes, and hamstrings. The child’s pose helps to release tension in your lower back and neck. Do this:

1. Sit on your shinbones with your knees together, your big toes touching, and your heels splayed out to the side. 2. Fold forward at your hips and walk your hands out in front of you. 3. Sink your hips back down toward your feet. If your thighs won’t go all the way down, place a pillow or folded blanket under them for support. 4. Gently place your forehead on the floor or turn your head to one side. 5. Keep your arms extended or rest them along your body. 6. Breathe deeply into the back of your rib cage and waist. 7. Relax in this pose for up to 5 minutes while continuing to breathe deeply.

2. Forward fold

This standing stretch releases tension in your spine, hamstrings, and glutes. It also stretches your hips and legs. While doing this stretch, you should feel the entire back side of your body opening up and lengthening. Do this:

1. Stand with your big toes touching and your heels slightly apart. 2. Bring your hands to your hips and fold forward at your hips. 3. Release your hands toward the floor or place them on a block. Don’t worry if your hands don’t touch the ground — just go as far as you can. 4. Bend your knees slightly, soften your hips joints, and allow your spine to lengthen. 5. Tuck your chin into your chest and allow your head to fall heavy to the floor. 6. Remain in this pose for up to 1 minute.

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3. Cat cow

Practicing cat cow stretches and massages your spine. It also helps to relieve tension in your torso, shoulders, and neck while promoting blood circulation. Do this:

1. Come onto your hands and knees with your weight balanced evenly between all four points. 2. Inhale to look up, dropping your abdomen down toward the ground as you extend your spine. 3. Exhale and arch your spine toward the ceiling and tuck your chin into your chest. 4. Continue this movement for at least 1 minute.

Even More Things You Can Do to Improve Posture

»» Support your back by using an ergonomic the monitor until it’s about an arm’s length desk chair while working. If you cannot get away. Next, adjust how high the monitor is. an ergonomic chair and your current office The top of your computer’s screen should chair does not have lumbar support, you be no more than 2 inches above your eye can roll up a small towel and use it or you level. Computer monitors that are too low can use a small pillow. or too high can strain your neck and eyes.

»» Set your chair height so that your legs are »» Take regular breaks. Sitting for long parallel with the ground and your knees periods of time can reduce blood flow are even with your hips. Your arms should and cause muscle fatigue. To prevent that, be parallel to the ground on the armrests take frequent breaks. Stand up from your as well. desk and move. When you take a break, stand up and walk away from your desk if »» Your feet should be flat on the floor. If you can. Get your blood flowing by doing you’re wearing shoes with heels, removing some calf raises and shoulder shrugs. If them may be most comfortable. If your you have the room, practice a few lunges feet can’t reach the ground, use a foot rest. or squats. Several short breaks during the Don’t sit with your legs crossed. This can day are better than just a few long breaks. reduce blood flow and cause muscle strain. If you can, take a one- to two-minute break every 30 minutes. At the very least, get up Keep your screen at eye level. From your and move around every hour. seated position, move the screen directly in front of you. Extend your arm, and adjust

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Regular Exercise Has Numerous Benefits

It promotes circulation and blood flow, which can help with the healing of injuries and also provide needed nutrients that help ensure good health of such body parts as your spinal discs.

Exercise also promotes good posture and improves flexibility. That means you’ll be able to move more efficiently and avoid overburdening specific muscle groups.

Also, using exercise to strengthen the muscles around your spine will alleviate pressure on overworked vertebrae so that your back feels better.

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CONCLUSION

Unfortunately, bad posture can develop over time without a person even realizing it – until he or she begins to feel pain in the back or frequent headaches or other symptoms.

And even then they may not realize that their symptoms are related to poor posture!

That’s why it’s important to take steps now to ensure good posture. Sit up straight and pull your shoulders back and down when sitting, standing or walking.

You may feel odd at first but just as bad posture habits can develop over time so can good posture habits.

Keep it up and in no time you could have a healthy posture! Here are a couple of things you can do to check your posture and ensure that you continue to improve it.

1. Sit up straight in a chair and put your hands flat on your thighs. Now pull your shoulders back and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Hold this position for 5 seconds. Do this 3-5 times a day to help strengthen the back muscles that are activated for good posture and to continue getting used to having good posture.

2. Watch yourself in a mirror whenever you get a chance to make sure you are standing, walking and sitting with good posture. Make sure your shoulders are back. It may help to imagine a string running from the ceiling to the floor and right down the center of your body. The string should be pulling your head up and you should also have a long, straight spine.

At our practice, postural correction plays a very important role in what we offer patients.

We realize that when someone comes in with a headache, or back pain, there is normally an underlying reason.

And that reason usually has something to do with bad posture - so if we truly want to correct the cause, we need to address posture.

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We use specific chiropractic adjustments which are gentle, and incorporate specific postural exercises, neuromuscular rehabilitation, massage and sometimes even spinal orthotics.

Postural problems tend to get worse when ignored, and are best prevented all together.

Hopefully, the exercises in this guide can help you. But please don’t hesitate to contact us to get additional help and support to improve your posture and relieve recurrent pain.

We offer a variety of tests that can help pinpoint your problem and determine the best treatment going forward.

Our testing normally includes:

Postural examination: Just by looking at your posture, we can work out where you are most likely to get pain. There are different postural patterns we look for, but if we can work out where yours is going wrong, we are halfway there to giving you a lasting correction.

For example, is the curve in your lower back too flat (military back) or too curved (sway back).

Are your hamstrings too tight? What about your hip flexors? Are you rounding in the shoulders or hunching? Does your head protrude too far forward?

Your posture tells us a great deal about the state of your body, and a lot of the time is key to making a lasting correction.

Orthopedic Tests: These tests often make you feel worse! But the point is if we can reproduce the pain, we can figure out what’s causing it. If I can move you in a certain way and it hurts, I can find out what’s causing the pain. Once we know the cause we can figure out how to treat it.

Neurological tests - motor and sensory: Here we are looking for ‘deficiencies’. For example, is one leg weaker than the other? Do you have less sensation on this leg than the other? This helps identify exactly which nerve is involved, and on what side of the spine.

Physical examination: Normally a good physician can locate where the pain is coming from by palpating (feeling) your spine. It is usually fairly obvious to trained hands, so you shouldn’t even need to tell them where it hurts. Let them find it, because then you know they know what they are doing.

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Investigations Even after all this, many times imaging will still be required. This is normally an x-ray, CAT scan (CT) or an MRI. Each form of imaging has its pros and cons.

Normally an x-ray is ordered first. It is good at showing misalignments in your spine, biomechanical problems (areas where you spine is under stress), postural problems and can also help to determine how long a problem has been there.

It will also detect a number of different types of arthritis, which can help to figure out how long a problem has been there.

If the x-ray doesn’t show anything abnormal, the next step is normally a CAT scan. This is good at checking for disc bulges, and anything that could be pressing on your spinal nerves.

An MRI is typically the last resort - this is because it is a more expensive form of imaging. This is the most sensitive way of diagnosis spinal stenosis and disc injuries. Normally this is ordered by a specialist - so hopefully you never need to go that far.

Once we know what’s wrong it’s time to correct it:

We create a customized program of care to do 2 things:

1. Get you out of pain ASAP 2. Strengthen and stabilize to give you the best chance of long term success

We do this by incorporating:

• Adjustments - restores the normal movement and position to a spinal segment/joint to relieve nerve pressure and pain. • Remedial massage - relaxes your muscles, tendons and connective tissue to release nerves and deeper connective tissues. • Trigger point therapy - Myofascial (muscular pain) often results from accumulated stress and repetitive strain. This can result in tight knots which are contractures and adhesions of the muscle. Trigger point therapy breaks these down and gets your tight muscles to relax. • Spinal orthotics - specifically designed to help restore posture and correct spinal alignment.

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• Specific postural exercise - Strengthens your postural muscles, and stretches opposing muscles. • Rehab exercise - activates weak muscles and creates balance in your musculoskeletal system. We need to strengthen your core and postural muscles to give you stability and strength. • Neuromuscular re-education - creates more stability in your spine by creating new, stronger movement patterns. This results in improved co-ordination and stability – so you are less likely to pinch a nerve by simply tying your shoelaces.

If you would like our assistance, you can visit our website at www.chwc.com.au or you can email us at [email protected].

I sincerely hope this book has given you a greater understanding of the importance of posture and how poor posture can lead to aches and pains.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

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