Tips To Improve Your Posture
Bad posture can have more than just a negative effect on your joint and spine health, it can also effect how you feel overall. A chiropractor can help to correct bad posture habits and provide exercises to improve and strengthen spinal health. Call us today to find out how chiropractic care can help.
Tech Neck or Millennial Hunchback
Many people as young as 20 year olds are suffering from backs as bad as people DOUBLE their age. Starting chiropractic care could be a safe solution to correct the millennial hunchback.
Does Bad Posture Have You in a Slump?
Bad posture can, not only hurt, but also cause major issues. Make sure to protect your spine. Call today if you’re suffering from back pain.
What exactly is “Good Head Posture?”
Clear Lake Chiropractor Comments: Have you ever noticed how many people have terrible posture? One of the most common faulty postures is called “forward head carriage” or “anterior based occiput.” Other terms are “hump back” or slouching. There are several reasons for this common postural fault. One is the weight of the head is, on average, approximately 10-13 pounds and if it’s positioned too far forwards, the muscles in the upper back and neck tighten up much more than normal, fatigue and become painful. Also, the muscles that attach to the skull have different degrees of strength. They also attach and pull at different angles, contributing to the common forward head carriage posture. The muscles of the chest are much stronger than those in the mid and upper back and tend to pull our shoulders forward. The following pictures offer a good view of both a faulty posture as well as a “good” posture. Notice the forward shift in the line in the pictures of poor posture and backwards shift in the good posture pictures.
As you can see, the weight of the head is back over the shoulders and the shoulder posture is appropriately positioned back in the image titled “Good Head Posture.”
It is important to understand correcting Forward Head Carriage takes time – in fact, it takes a minimum of 3 month before this becomes an automatic new “habit.” Of course, it could take longer or, completely fail if you are not very conscientious about constantly reminding yourself to position your posture as shown above in the “Good Head Posture” image (above). An exercise based on this posture correction technique is performed by retracting your chin / head as far back as you can and holding that position for 5-10 seconds. Doing this multiple times a day, between the time you maintain a partial chin tuck (“Good Head Posture”) position will further facilitate the posture retraining process.
If you, a family member or a friend require care, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our service. We are proud that chiropractic care has consistently scored the highest level of satisfaction when compared to other forms of health care provision and we look forward in serving you and your family presently and in the future.
Dr. Ward Beecher practices at Beecher Chiropractic Clinic at 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston, TX 77062. You can schedule an appointment by calling (281) 286-1300. If you have any questions regarding this blog, please comment below!
Headaches and Posture
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Houston Area Chiropractor Comments: Have you ever glanced at your reflection in a storefront window or mirror as you walked by and noticed your posture? Scary, isn’t it? We all know that we should stand up straight but we soon forget when we get busy and stop thinking about it.
Poor posture is often due to years of standing slouched and this bad “habit” usually starts at a young age. Just look around when you’re in an airport or shopping mall and notice the many people 
have poor posture. In fact, people’s posture may reflect their attitude – if they’re happy, sad or depressed. Poor posture may be related to self-consciousness, especially during adolescence. It is also genetic as we frequently see a “trait” throughout family members with similar postural tendencies.
The most common postural fault associated with headaches is the forward based head and shoulders. From the side, it appears that the head is significantly forward relative to the shoulders, the upper back is rounded forward and the shoulders are rolled forwards and rotated inward. One exercise that helps reduce this postural bad habit is tucking in the chin and pretending a book is balancing on top of the head. The objective is to not allow the book to slide forward off your head and land on your toes!
It takes approximately 3 months of CONSTANT self-reminding before the new “good habit” posture becomes automatic, so be patient. Soon you’ll “catch yourself doing it right” without thinking about it.
Frequently, posture is faulty lower down the “kinetic chain.” The first link of the chain is the feet and the last link is the head. Since we stand on two feet, any change in that first link or the feet, can alter the rest of the chain, especially areas furthest away – the head, resulting in headaches. For example, if one leg is short, the pelvis drops, the spine shifts (scoliosis), the shoulder drops and the head shifts trying to keep the eyes level. A short leg usually needs to be managed with a heel lift, an arch support or combination of both to properly treat the headache patient.
Most health care providers EXCEPT Chiropractic Physicians typically ignore these issues. Chiropractic Doctors are specifically trained to analyze posture and correct it. You can depend on our clinic for up-to-date treatment approaches such as these.
Dr. Ward Beecher practices at Beecher Chiropractic Clinic at 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston, TX 77062. You can schedule an appointment at BeecherChiropractic.com or by calling (281) 286-1300. If you have any questions regarding this blog, please comment below!
Could Neck Problems Be Affected By Your Posture?
Clear Lake Chiropractor Comments: While most of us have a look in the mirror at least once a day, few of us look at our appearance from a different angle, such as from the side. But, the view from the side can be quite revealing if you suffer from chronic neck pain in Houston.
First, note the position of your head in relation to you shoulders. Is it right above the shoulders or does it lean forward from your chest? If it does, this would be called forward head posture, and can come from a problem in your neck. Lower areas of your spine can also cause this problem. Some of us have increased our weight over the years with much of it added to our abdominal region. Because of this increased core weight, the body must counter-balance the weight gain by causing the lumbar spine to “sway- back.”
While this “sway-back” problem can create pain in the lumbar spine, it can also have far reaching effects in the posture of the neck. Usually someone with a protruding stomach and sway back will have somewhat rounded shoulders and a forward head posture. If treatment is only directed at the neck without considering how other areas may affect the stability of the neck, then the results may be less than optimum.
In an accident, many areas of the body can potentially be injured.
As a chiropractor, I not only look at your primary injuries but also how mechanically one area of the spine can affect a distant area. These more distant areas can cause neck pain by referral or they can impede complete recovery because the body is compensating for abnormal posture or movement elsewhere.
X-rays of the full spine can show this abnormal posture as can a detailed postural analysis from our office.
So do you like what you see when you view your posture from the side? If your posture leaves something to be desired, or you’re wondering whether your neck problem could be improved by changing another part of your spine, then it is important to be thoroughly checked. Just examining the neck after a whiplash may leave some injuries undiscovered. Are there tender spots in other areas of the spine? Does your overall upright posture seem lacking?
Dr. Ward Beecher practices at Beecher Chiropractic Clinic at 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston, TX 77062. You can schedule an appointment at BeecherChiropractic.com or by calling (281) 286-1300. If you have any questions regarding this blog, please comment below!
Headaches, Hygiene and Pillows
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Houston Chiropractor comments: We hear about dental hygiene and how to eat right, but when was the last time you considered if you slept well; in a way that does not stress the spine. Most of us know it’s important to avoid head and neck trauma because serious and devastating injuries can occur. Less understood, are how minor and cumulative stresses over time, can affect the soft tissues in the neck.
If you have never suffered a neck trauma, then maintaining good neck habits is less critical. But most of us have had a few kinks in the neck over the years, and we tend to suffer when problems are not prevented in the first place.
Keeping your neck supple and flexible with daily stretches can help many patients. Others may need to do daily controlled exercises to keep the muscles strong. A doctor can advise you on your specific needs. It’s important to be diagnosed properly before starting any stretching or exercising program.
Ever wonder why your neck might be stiff in the morning? Maintaining good spinal hygiene while sleeping is also important. Eight hours of bad posture can be a significant problem.
Because there is naturally an arch formed in the neck when you lay on your back, a pillow can be designed to support the middle of your neck. The best type of pillow is a water filled pillow. These are superior to the typical cervical support pillows which are only good when you are perpendicular to the pillow. The problems arise from those types of pillows when you move during the evening, placing your head at an odd angle. This problem does not arise with water filled pillows since the water can shift with your head allowing optimum support at all times.
Our clinic provides patients with spinal hygiene exercises and advice to care for problems over time. This can be key to you avoiding re-aggravation of your condition and to prevent problems from occurring in the first place. Many headache patients seem to benefit when they pay attention to the stresses on their neck. It can be looking at a computer screen with the head down or something as simple as the type of pillow you use while sleeping.
Dr. Ward Beecher practices at Beecher Chiropractic Clinic at 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston, TX 77062. You can schedule an appointment at BeecherChiropractic.com or by calling (281) 286-1300. If you have any questions regarding this blog, please comment below!
