Postural pain bringing you down? This may help....

Hello everyone, Dr. Renne here to talk about how you can reduce back pain in your everyday routine.

If you're someone who is living with chronic back or neck pain, your daily routine can get pretty complicated — appointments, insurance paperwork, time off work, treatment regimens to follow, etc. While these are important aspects of managing your pain and recovery process, there are simple things you can do (or avoid doing) every day to help your condition. Good posture and body mechanics (the way you perform your activities all day, everyday) can leave you feeling more like yourself at the end of your day!

Support your spine while sitting at your desk or in your car

Sitting for prolonged periods of time can be a major cause of back pain. Sitting is a static posture, which can add a tremendous amount of pressure to the back muscles and spinal discs. Even worse is sitting in a slouched-over or slouched-down position! This can overstretch the spinal ligaments and increase the pressure on your spinal discs.

Sitting with your back relatively straight and with good support is essential to minimize the strain on your back. You need to provide your lower back with support for the inward curve of the lumbar spine, especially when you sit for prolonged periods of time. Here are a few tips for good posture and support for your lower spine while sitting at a desk or while driving:

• Make sure your chair is set up so your knees are bent at about a 90° angle. Two fingers should slip easily between the bottom of your thigh and the chair.
• The backrest of your chair should push your lower back forward slightly. If it doesn’t, try placing a small pillow, rolled up towel, or orthopedic support on your chair.
• Your buttocks should be pressed against the back of the chair, and your back should be straight.
• It's a good idea to have arm rests on your office chair that place your elbows at a 90-degree angle.
• Place some support under your feet to elevate them slightly and take some of the load off of your lower spine. Sit with your knees slightly higher than your hips to eliminate much of the pressure on your lumbar spine.
• Don’t sit on anything that would throw your spine out of alignment. (Take that wallet out of your back pocket!)
• Don't slouch or slump in your office or car seat—this puts extra pressure on your spine and stress on the lumbar discs. Use the back of the chair to provide support for your back.
• Sit up straight and keep your chin pulled in (avoid keeping your chin and head thrust forward).
• Sit as close to your desk as possible.
• Your computer screen or reading materials should be at eye level.

Some people prefer furniture that promotes more muscle activity, such as a Swedish kneeling chair, standing desk, or a Swiss exercise ball, rather than a chair that provides complete support. Purchasing a good ergonomic office chair that provides optimal back support may also be helpful.

On the phone a lot?  Consider investing in a headset to take the strain off your neck, or try using the speakerphone. Avoid cradling the phone on your shoulder.

If you are in a great deal of pain, try to avoid driving. If possible, have someone else drive, and lie down in the back seat with your knees slightly bent. You can place a blanket or pillow under your knees to support them, as well as a small pillow under your head.

Move about during the day

A healthy body can only tolerate staying in one position for relatively short periods of time. You may have noticed this on an airplane, at your desk, or at a movie theater when sitting is uncomfortable after just a short time. Even with correct posture, holding the same position slowly takes the elasticity out of the tissues; over time, stress builds up and causes discomfort. This is normal!

Keep your joints, ligaments, muscles, and tendons loose by moving about and stretching on a regular basis throughout the day:

Stand up while talking on the phone. Try standing with one foot slightly in front of the other, or placing one foot on something a few inches off the ground; avoid standing straight with your knees locked.

Stretch your hamstrings twice each day. To help you remember to do this on a regular basis, link the stretching to a part of your daily routine, such as when you brush your teeth in the morning and evening, or when you first get to work and before you head home. Flexible hamstrings will significantly reduce the stress on your lower back.

When you return to your seat after moving around, use an alternate posture for just a few moments and some of the tissue elasticity needed to protect your joints will return.

Paying attention to your posture and movement throughout the day and while sleeping at night will help you manage your pain and maintain good spine health.

If you would like to talk with us about how you might improve your posture and support your back in your everyday activities, give us a call at (904) 398-4860.

Yours in health,

Dr. Christopher B. Renne

Chiropractic Physician

4111 Atlantic Boulevard

Jacksonville, Fl. 32207

www.activechirocenter.com

Check yourself before you......

Nah. I won't go there!

But it is National Blood Pressure Awareness Month, so I thought I'd reach out to let everyone know how important it is to monitor your blood pressure and to take ACTION if you have a problem.

First, a little background.....High blood pressure affects 1 in 3 adults in the US. One out of every three! Of course, those numbers are for all adults. For adults over the age of fifty, over half have high blood pressure! Yikes!

High blood pressure is an especially dangerous condition because you can have it and yet be completely unaware of it! But that doesn’t stop it from having very real consequences.

Blood pressure is a measurement of the amount of force your blood exerts on the walls of your blood vessels as it flows through them. Too much force and those walls can fail, just like the pipes in your house. High blood pressure forces your heart to work overtime to pump blood through your veins. It also greatly increases your risks for heart disease and strokes.

In 2010, it is estimated that blood pressure was a direct or contributing factor in over 360,000 American deaths. That is 1,000 deaths per day.

Okay doc, I’m convinced! High blood pressure sounds pretty bad! What can I do about it?

The first step is prevention. When is the last time you, or your close friends and family members, had a blood pressure screening? If it has been a while, don’t wait! In addition to your doctor’s office, most pharmacies now offer free blood pressure screenings.

Blood pressure is measured by two numbers, systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Systolic blood pressure, the top number, is the force exerted when your heart beats and pumps blood out. Diastolic pressure (the bottom number) is the force exerted between heartbeats, when the heart is relaxed.

Generally speaking, systolic blood pressure of less than 120 and diastolic blood pressure of less than 80 is considered normal. If your systolic blood pressure is between 120 and 139 and your diastolic pressure is between 80 and 89, you have pre-hypertension. If your blood pressure exceeds those numbers, you have hypertension, or high blood pressure. If you blood pressure is within pre-hypertension or hypertension levels, you should definitely see a doctor.

If you do have high blood pressure, don’t panic! There are steps you can take to reduce it. First of all, talk to your doctor! He or she may want to prescribe medication to help reduce your blood pressure. It is important to take this medication regularly as instructed.

Here are some other tips to reduce your blood pressure:

• If you smoke, quit! If you don’t smoke, don’t start.
• Reduce the sodium in your diet. Sodium raises blood pressure.
• Reduce your body weight.
• Exercise moderately for at least 30 minutes per day.
• Eat healthy! Make sure you get lots of fruits and vegetables and avoid saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol and, of course, sodium.
• Limit your alcohol intake. No more than one drink per day for women and two per day for men.
• Keep checking your blood pressure regularly!

Remember, you don’t have to go it alone! I find that patients who have support for their exercise and dieting routines are almost always more successful. Find a friend or family member who is also working on their low blood pressure. Take regular walks together. Plan low sodium meals together. Ask each other when the last time you checked your blood pressure was! With the right care, you’ll start to see those numbers come down.

For more information on high blood pressure, check out the CDC’s article on National High Blood Pressure Education Month.

In honor of National High Blood Pressure Education Month, Active Medical & Chiropractic is offering a free blood pressure screening along with fifteen minutes on our hydromassage table. No appointment is necessary. Just mention this blog post when you arrive. We are conveniently located at 4111 Atlantic Boulevard here in Jacksonville, Florida across the street from the world Famous Beach Road Chicken Dinner Restaurant.

Come in and see us today!

Yours in health,

Christopher B. Renne, D.C.

Chiropractic Physician

www.activechirocenter.com

Coffee, to drink or not to drink, that is the question......

From the desk of Christopher B. Renne, D.C.

Some News That Will Perk You Up

Hey folks, here I am enjoying a nice steaming cuppa joe. If you are like many people, you depend on one to two cups of coffee to get you through the day. But is coffee good for you or bad for you? Health experts have long blamed coffee for a laundry list of scary stuff, for everything from high anxiety, to heart disease, to high blood pressure, to cancer!

But the thing about good medical science is that it doesn’t rest on its laurels. Research on coffee continues, and a new study has come out that has some good news for coffee drinkers! The European Journal of Nutrition conducted a randomized trial on 84 men for several weeks and found something surprising: the men who drank coffee had a significant reduction in damage to their DNA. That means that over the course of their lives those men are less likely to suffer from disease and more likely to live longer. Wow. Way to go, coffee!

This isn’t the only recent study which is redeeming coffee in the eyes of doctors. Doctors used to steer patients with heart problems away from coffee. Now they encourage them to drink more of it. Yes, a study at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard School of Public Health concluded that drinking coffee in moderation protects against heart failure!

So what’s the deal with coffee anyway? I’ll let Dr. David Friedman explain why it has such a powerful effect on our bodies both for good and ill:

“The caffeine in coffee is a central nervous system stimulant which has physiological effects very similar to drugs, such as amphetamine and cocaine. This caffeine can be addictive and if you deprive your body of its java fix, it can lead to withdrawal symptoms like headaches, nausea and lightheadedness. Okay, it’s addicting; that doesn’t sound good. But since coffee is also loaded with health enhancing phytonutrients, vitamins, and enzymes, is being addicted to it really such a bad thing?”

Just like with most things, moderation is important. Too much coffee can definitely be bad for you. Research seems to indicate that 1-3 cups of coffee per day is just about right for most of us. Be sure to listen to your body, though. If coffee makes you feel bad or upsets your stomach, you may need to stay away from it.

It’s also important to remember that all this research has been conducted using simple black coffee. Milk, sugar, and cream taste great, but too much of that stuff can lead to weight gain, which can lead to inflammation in the body; that can cause all types of ailments from arthritis, to diabetes, to heart disease. So take it easy on those ‘venti mocha lattes’ at Starbucks! Instead, try substituting natural sweeteners like honey or the natural sugar alternative called Xylitol.

For more information about what the research says about coffee, you can check out Dr. Friedman’s article on the subject here.

Yours in health,

Christopher B. Renne, D.C.

Active Medical & Chiropractic

4111 Atlantic Blvd

Jacksonville, Fl. 32207

www.activechirocenter.com