Tag Archive for: tips

Autumn Gardening Tips From the BCA!

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We love our gardens and autumn is the time of a lot of there is a lot to do – planting for the spring; clearing never ending piles of leaves and tidying dead growth from summer shrubs. Your back is vulnerable to injury with lots of heavy work, so the British Chiropractic Association has some helpful tips.

Clothes
–    Don’t wear clothes that are tight or could constrict your movement.

Warm Up
–    Gardening is like any other exercise; you need to warm up first. Don’t go straight into heavy garden work; start off with lighter jobs as this will lessen the chance of muscle strain.

Clever pruning
–    Get as close as possible to the things you are pruning and avoid overstretching to reach the area you are dealing with.
–   Invest in some long handled secateurs to reach plants and bushes that are beyond normal reach.

Using the rake
–  Keep your body in line with the rake and don’t over stretch by leaning too far forward or dragging your arms too far behind. Use short, precise movements. When going to pick the leaf litter up, bend both knees and keep your back straight.

Take a break
–    Vary your activity by spending no more than 20-30 minutes on any one thing and make sure you take regular breaks.

Plan ahead
–   A specialist garden trolley might be worth investing in to move pots around to protect them from the cold weather as well as being great for carting heavy bags of compost around.

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Look After Your Neck and Back at Christmas Time!

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A few seasonal tips to help you have a pain free Christmas this year :-)

Tip 1: Did you know everyone has a built in lower back safety belt? To put it on all you have to do is maximally contract your abs, then back it off 50%, then 50% again, this leaves you with a 25% of maximum contraction at the lower part of your abs. When wearing this belt your lower back is exponentially stronger, if you keep using this safety belt it will become natural and you wont even have to consciously think about putting it on. Just make sure your are wearing it when lifting any heavy Prezzies ;-) .

Tip 2: To avoid muscle tightness you have to move properly, when using your arms, whether it be for lifting, reaching, even subtle motions such as waving make sure you keep your upper shoulder muscles relaxed. Try to concentrate on using your arms without shrugging your shoulders, shrugging the shoulders repeatedly leads to chronic tightness. Make sure your aware of this when your around the house putting up those Christmas decorations :-) .

Tip 3: Stay loose, a tight muscle is usually sore, relatively stiff into touch and occasionally feels like it has strings of linguini running through it. If you notice you have muscles like these then I would recommend getting a massage or seeing a manual therapist such as a chiropractor help get them loosened out. Depending on the region of tightness tight muscles can lead to strains, sprains, headaches and muscle tears.

Remember, as Santa always says “HO HO HO!!” “always be pro active, not reactive!” :p and finally…

Have a Very Merry Christmas from us all at Longlevens Chiropractic and Sports Injury Clinic!

Danny Adams

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Tips To Improve Your Posture

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1. Stretch regularly – Yoga and Pilates are brilliant to improve your posture, the better you move, the better your posture and the less problems you will experience. If you feel tight in one particular area or are not sure where you are moving incorrectly then your teacher (yoga/pilates) or manual therapist (e.g. Chiropractor) can help you.

2. Correct your ergonomics at work, if you sit at a desk for long periods at work for example then make sure you ergonomics are perfect. A lot of companies will assess this for you, however make sure it is kept up to date as it is very important for your posture and to prevent injury.

3. Take regular short breaks, if you have to stay in one place for a long period of time (e.g. sitting down) make sure you take a break and move about for at least 5 minutes every half hour. This will allow  the structures within your body to recover from a prolonged period of stress in one position which can lead to poor posture.

4. Drink lots of water – staying hydrated keeps your muscles and joints supple and strong preventing your body from getting lazy and adapting a poor posture.

5. Feel free to fidget! Fidgeting is your body telling you that you need to move to get comfortable, listen to your body. If your body needs to move to be comfortable then let it be comfortable, just don’t let it be comfortable in one position for too long ;-) .

Always remember, keep moving and stay loose, keep your back straight when bending and use your knees!

If your company would like us to pay you a visit to conduct free postural assessments please get in touch!

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Posture Advice from Massage Therapist Kate West

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It’s rare to that you find someone with the ‘perfect’ posture, but the idea is that it is aspired to. Below is a diagram of what we should all be aiming for.

 

There tends to be 3 types of ‘bad’ posture that practitioners see most often:
Sway back posture:

• Head is too far forward
• Neck has an increased curve
• Shoulders are falling forward and down
• Chest and Rib Cage The Upper chest collapses, flattening out the chest wall. Chest also moves back and in.
• Upper Back has an increased bend forward (Kyphosis).
• Lower Back flattens out
• Pelvis tilting under (Posterior tilt) and pushing forward.
• Knees locked
Flat back posture:

• Head is too far forward
• Neck has an increased curve
• Shoulders are falling forward and down
• Chest and Rib Cage falling forward
• Upper Back Straightening out as you move down the spine
• Lower Back flattens out
• Pelvis tilting or tucking under (Posterior tilt)
• Knees locked

Hollow back posture:

• Head is too far forward
• Neck has an increased curve
• Shoulders are falling forward and down
• Chest and Rib Cage collapsing
• Upper Back is rounding (Kyphosis)
• Lower Back has an increased curve (Lordosis)
• Pelvis tilting forward (anterior tilt)
Knees locked

Poor posture can effect the body massively. It can mean some muscles shorten and so cannot perform normally and therefore others lengthen which decreases strength. It can also effect blood flow through muscles which can lead to pain spasms.

Poor posture can be the cause of much discomfort and injuries due to the short/tight muscles or the lengthened muscles that allow too much movement possibly leading to injury.

Posture is something that everyone should be very aware of and be trying to correct every minute of every day.

References:

Kendall, 1993
NLSSM – North London School of Sports Massage

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