Clinical care is a constantly changing topic, and the way we approach the care of each and every one of our patients. As this topic is something that is essential in the way we deliver our services, we always have to stay ahead and ensure that we are doing everything we can to welcome and provide exceptional care for everyone. Our team is devoted to each one of our patients, and that is why we went to Atlanta to learn more about Category of One Culture.
The Purpose of Culture of One Care and the Difference You Will See in Our Spine & Sports Care Clinic
Culture of one care is an essential concept to be applied to all types of businesses, especially for those who work directly with patients like us at Advanced Spine & Sports Care. It is the concept of developing a welcoming environment for both employees and guests to ensure that everyone is cared for throughout every day of work and every visit to the clinic.
When you visit Advanced Spine & Sports Care, you will feel as though you are at your home away from home. Each of our extremely dedicated specialists will do whatever it takes to ensure that you are completely comfortable throughout your treatment(s) with personalized care and treatment plans.
Category of One Culture Event in Atlanta
To improve our services and connections with our patients, our leadership team went all the way to Atlanta to learn about the concept of the category of one culture. Through workshops led by the famous Nick Saban and world-renown keynote speaker and Chief Executive Officer of Zappos Jon Wolske, we learned so much. We also had the one-of-a-kind experience to join with people from 47 states and 6 countries, sharing new information while growing together as professionals. After 3 days and over 21 hours of learning, we walked away with incredible information on the concept of the Category of One Culture and how we can implement it to our clinical excellence here in Chicago. When you go to the chiropractors, you deserve to feel relaxed and satisfied during every visit, and we at Advanced Spine & Sports Care promise to continue doing whatever we can to ensure you do.
Come See Why, We are Dedicated to Being the Best Chiropractic Treatment Clinic in Chicago – Contact Advanced Spine & Sports Care
When you are in need of chiropractic treatment in Chicago, there is no clinic more dedicated to your health than Advanced Spine & Sports Care. Contact ASSC today and discover for yourself why we are rated as the #1 Chiropractic Care Clinic in Chicago.
Unfortunately, back pain and emergencies do not just take a break because of the global pandemic. Our team is doing whatever we can to continue providing the care and support that our clients need, especially right now. These are not easy times and we promise all of our past, current, and future clients that we are doing what we can to continue providing our services! At Advanced Spine & Sports Care, YOU are our number one priority.
We are Open at Advanced Spine & Sports Care: An Essential Business
The COVID-19 crisis has left government officials adequating certain businesses as essential and non-essential, because of the services that we provide and the importance of chiropractic treatment services and the relief that it gives for those suffering from chronic back pain, we have been officially considered as an essential service.
The governor of Illinois has recognized the importance of the chiropractic services that we provide and has asked us to stay open to continue providing relief care to those in need of it. Because of the current pandemic, we have made a few adjustments in the way that we provide our services, but we are continuing the same care and making sure that each and every one of our customers who walk through our doors receives a specialized experience in which they leave feeling happy, pain-free, and healthy!
Keeping You Safe
Dr. Ingham here introducing our updated safety procedures in response to covid-19. We have put together a safety…
To continue providing you with a fast and easy experience, we are constantly uploading information to our Facebook page. This includes information on our hours of operation, latest news, and information regarding our services. We have put together a safety committee within the office to make sure your experience at Advanced Spine & Sports Care is both safe and enjoyable. Outlined below are a few key changes that have been made within the office:
Face coverings are required.
Patients are being pre-screened before coming in the office. If you have experienced any fever, cough, or shortness of breath please refrain from coming into the office.
Patients are being scheduled in a staggered fashion to prevent too many people in the office at one time. We ask that you please come at your scheduled appointment time to avoid any overcrowding.
Our Team at Advanced Spine & Sports Care are taking every precaution that we can to ensure the safety and health of our clients and our staff! That is why we have developed a schedule that limits the number of clients we have per day. This has been done to continue practicing social distancing and to make our clients feel more comfortable without any worries.
Not only are we asking you to wear masks, but our doctors & staff will always be practicing every health measure to ensure your health. That includes constant hand washing, the use of antibacterial gel, and the use of masks. These practices will be used while serving each of our clients, especially with those that have procedures and in situations where the six-foot rule cannot be maintained.
We also ask that anyone who makes an appointment with us to wear a face-covering mask during your appointment. We want to continue giving you the services that you need, so by everyone practicing a few precautionary techniques, we can all remain healthy while providing those in need with relief.
Contact Advanced Spine & Sports Care – We Are Always Here For You
At this time, we are working to keep in touch with you through our social media channels and through direct communications with positive messages, uplifting stories of hope & gratitude, and inspiration to keep on moving forward despite everything that is going on!
You can rely on Advanced Spine & Sports Care to continue giving you the chiropractic care you need, whether you are in the clinic or in your home, we are always here! 📲 If you have any questions, call our office or book an appointment, HERE.
There is nothing we want more than for all of those to continue being healthy and safe. For all of your chiropractic needs; you can rely on us here at Advanced Spine and Sports Care.
During recent events caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans across the nation find themselves having fewer options when it comes to seeking the relief that they need. Luckily for those in Lakeview, IL, and the greater Chicago area, our team at Advanced Spine and Sports Care leave no one suffering from neck and back problems behind. Whether it be directly providing services or offering tips and tricks, you can count on us for help with dealing with any urgent back and neck pain. We sincerely hope that each and everyone is and continues to be healthy and safe.
Home & Office Best Practices to for Neck & Back Pain
When it comes to the well-being of your back and neck, you can never be too safe. Even though you may not be able to come in and see us every week, we are constantly uploading new videos and posts that help you take preventive measures demonstrating how you can stay healthy while at home or in the job.
Working from home is rapidly becoming the new norm of our lives and often don’t keep in mind the health of our body, back, and neck. Believe it or not, there are a few things that you can do that truly make a difference. Here are a few tips to stay healthy when working at home:
>Dedicate a proper working space
No matter how comfortable it may be, it is extremely important that you do not work from your bed or couch. The ideal working space, whether it be on a laptop or a desktop, you should be sitting in a chair where your back is at a 90-degree angle and the device you are working on is on a flat service where your head is also at a 90-degree angle.
>Stretch and move around
When you are in the groove with your work, it can sometimes be difficult to take a break, but it is extremely important to do so. Sitting at a desk for extended periods of time can do some serious damage to not only your neck and back but also your head. That is why it is essential that you take a break from staring at the screen and move around a bit.
>Practice stress techniques
Keep your mind and body at 100% by practicing proper stress techniques like developing a strong sleeping pattern, daily activities like exercises and yoga, and family time.
Back and neck pain is a nuisance that affects the majority of American adults at some time in their lifetime, and though a wide variety of factors can cause these pains, the real issue is learning how to prevent, correct, and heal them. Because we are spending more time in our homes, finding relief may seem like somewhat of an impossible task. But nothing is impossible with the help of our experts at Advanced Spine And Sports Care. Because we care strongly about our clients, we provide weekly exercises that you can easily do in the comfort of your home with common household objects.
Follow our Facebook Page and YouTubeChannel, you can keep up to date with easy methods to provide fast comfort when you are down with neck and back pain.
Spinal decompression is a chiropractic medical method that provides fast relief without the use of surgery. At Advanced Spine and Sports Care, we currently boast the DRX9000, a state of the art spinal decompression system that directly heals those suffering from back pain that affects the entire body.
Some of the most common spinal injuries DRX9000 Spinal Decompression provides relief for are:
↪ Disc Herniation
↪ Facet Syndrome
↪ Sciatica Nerve Pain
↪ Spinal Stenosis
Contact us today to see if spinal decompression at Advanced Spine & Sports Care, is the right treatment for you!
Sciatic Pain Relief Exercises – From the Comfort Of Your Home
If you are feeling constant pain in the lower back, hip, and legs, you may be suffering from sciatica. According to the American Medical Association, sciatica pain can affect up to 40% of the population over their lifetime, so you are not alone. Because your comfort is something that we strive for, here are a few quick stretches you can do to fight back against sciatica pain:
What you have to do is sit in a chair and cross the leg of the affected side, do a figure four and lean forward gently.
This next stretch is similar to the first, lay down on a flat surface, and make a figure four. Slowly bend the opposite leg of the affected area close to your chest.
Lastly, you will go on the floor and cross the leg of the affected area under your body with the other leg stretched behind you.
Hold each of these stretches for 20 seconds on and 20 seconds off up to 3 times. To see how to do these properly, take a look at the video here.
Contact Advanced Spine And Sports Care for Chiropractic Treatment Services Today
During this current pandemic, it can be difficult to identify what services are and are not essential. Identified by the state of Illinois, chiropractic care is an essential service, and those suffering from unbearable back and neck pain should not be afraid to seek help.
At Advanced Spine And Sports Care, we take every precaution to ensure the health and safety of our patients so that no one feels at risk while looking for help. For minor back and neck problems, we offer advice, help, and tips on our social media channels to make you more comfortable without having to leave the house. For urgent chiropractic assistance, contact us here to explore your options.
As the Coronavirus pandemic, unfortunately, leaves many people staying at home, it can be easy to forget some of the essential things that we should be doing to keep our bodies healthy and in shape. At Advanced Spine & Sports Care, our team never stops making sure that our past, current, and future patients get the advice and service that they need. From healthy beverage tutorials to home exercises, keep reading to discover what we are constantly preparing for you so that you can keep on taking care of your well-being!
Delicious Immune Boosters with Dr. Ingham
Miss out on your favorite smoothie or juice spot? Well, what if we told you that there is a better and healthier way to boost your immune system and get the essential nutrients and vitamins that you need.
Say goodbye to artificial sugars and ingredients and know exactly what you are putting into your body with a delicious and healthy Advanced Spine & Sports Care smoothie special, “the Chiro Bananza.”
Ingredients
➢Spinach 🍃
➢Flaxseed
➢Frozen banana 🍌
➢ Blueberries
➢Citrus of your choice 🍊
After adding all of the ingredients in a blender and mixing them all together, you will get a green liquid. Don’t be afraid of the color; it is absolutely delicious! This smoothing is full of essential nutrients, vitamin C, and iron, perfect to start your day on the right foot while giving a strong boost to your immune system!
Check out Dr. Ingham’s smoothing tutorial, HERE. Give a like and stay tuned on the Advanced Spine & Sports Care Facebook Page for more tutorials to come in the upcoming weeks.
At Home Exercises Tips for Mind & Body Health
Being at home and not able to go to the gym shouldn’t stop you from keeping up with your daily exercise routines. Whether it be a heavy home workout or a full-body stretch to relieve some tension and stress that may be building up, it is essential to follow out daily exercises to keep your body and mind in shape.
Our team at Advanced Spine & Sports Care is constantly uploading exercises and stretches to our social media channels via Facebook & YouTube so that our clients can continue to focus on their health using their surroundings and objects easily found around the house. Here are a few tutorials:
Unilateral Squat Complex with 3 Toe Taps
Targeted Area: Unilateral foot, ankle, and knee stability.
Benefits: Increased stability in the joints while promoting structural stability.
Stability Ball Rollouts
Targeted Area: Core
Necessary Equipment: Yoga mat and inflatable exercise ball
Benefits: Stronger core while promoting a healthier spine
“Flossing” the Sciatic Nerve
Targeted Area: Sciatic Nerve
Benefits: Relieving tension off of the Sciatic Nerve and helping those suffering from sciatica be more comfortable.
Sciatica affects a lot of people these days & all this sitting while binge watching seasons of your favorite shows on Netflix isn't helping! 👩💻📺 When the muscles surrounding the lumbar spine & gluteals get tight, its common that the sciatic nerve can get caught or pinched. This then causes sciatica which can elicit discomfort in the lower back, gluteals & even all the way down the legs & into the feet! 👣✅ One exercise we can try to help relieve some tension is to "floss" the sciatic nerve. This exercise is not a comfortable one but can be used & help the nerve glide a littler easier. ✅ But this exercise of eliminate sciatica alone, we must also perform the correct hip movements to help get the tension of the nerve. Overtime though, this drill can be used as a test to see if range of motion is improving. ✅ Ideal range of motion for this exercise will have the lower back pressed up against the wall with the leg held straight. As you can see in the video, I don't have the mobility to press my lower back against the wall so more flexibility work must be done.✅ If you are or have dealt with sciatica before we highly recommend adding this to your daily routine to help relieve or prevent these symptoms from progressing to even bigger issues.#ThinkChiropractic #getadjusted #physicaltherapy #health
These are just a small example of the endless stretching and exercise videos that you can access for free on our social media channels. See our exercises of the week on our Facebook Page to accompany our video series on our YouTube Channel.
“The True Power of Chiropractic: Unlock Your Body’s Natural Ability to Adapt, Renew, and Restore“
Another activity you can participate in during your time at home is exercising the mind. If you are suffering from pain every day and are in search for clear answers without having to rely on medication, our very own Dr. Ingham has released a new book that brings clarity to chiropractic care.
“The True Power of Chiropractic: Unlock Your Body’s Natural Ability to Adapt, Renew, and Restore” provides first-hand professional insight on how a visit to the chiropractic can improve your everyday life. (Available on Amazon, HERE)
Staying Strong And Healthy Together
Through these unprecedented times, we need each other. At Advanced Spine & Sports Care, we believe that it is our duty to continue serving the greater Chicago area in every way that we can. Your health doesn’t take a break while you stay at home; you can count on our team to stop at nothing to attend to each one of our clients. For any questions or inquiries, contact us here. Remember, your well-being comes first, so stay tuned for more tips, tricks, and tutorials from our team at Advanced Spine & Sports Care.
Posture is very simply the position that you hold your body in when you stand, sit and lay down. There’s a proper way to hold your body and a lot of improper ways to hold it, with a big difference in what each way can mean for your body.
Good posture stops your muscles wearing abnormally, keeps your ligaments free of stress and makes your muscles work efficiently, so your energy goes a lot further. Poor posture comes with none of these benefits; it puts strain on your ligaments and muscles and can cause a host of medical complications, ranging from high blood pressure to spinal dysfunction.
The good news?
Poor posture can be the result of injuries and disease but very often it’s a habit, which means that with a little hard work and plenty of practice, you can improve it!
Here are our top seven tips proper posture tips that’ll help you to make positive changes to your posture straight away:
Tip One: Reduce Factors that Cause Poor Posture
You can’t eliminate every cause of poor posture, but you may be surprised to discover what kind of simple actions and small habits contribute to its development.
Here are some of the most common things that cause poor posture:
Obesity
Stress
High-heeled shoes
Tight clothing
Keeping your wallet in your back pocket (and sitting on it)
Carrying heavy bags
Wearing worn shoes
Bad eating habits
Wearing an ill-fitting bra
Many of these contributory factors are easy to eliminate from your life, making them a great place to start when improving your posture.
Tip Two: Learn How to Stand Correctly
Investing in more supportive shoes and switching your wallet to your front pocket may help to improve your posture, but you also need to make bigger changes if you want to see great results. One of the best tips to improve your posture is to relearn how to stand.
To stand correctly, your knees should be slightly bent, stomach tucked in, and earlobes aligned with your shoulders. Your back should be straight, and your shoulders pushed back, with your feet separated by roughly the width of your shoulders. Finally, your arms should hang loosely at your side and your weight should be mostly on the balls of your feet.
Changing how you stand is no easy task; you’ll have to consciously switch your standing position to something entirely new, but it’ll all be worth it in the end when the health of your bones, joints, muscles and ligaments improve.
Tip Three: Improve Your Sleeping Habits
Next is your sleeping position and sleeping environment, two things that can have a big impact on your posture and overall health. One of the most important things here is comfort: you should be as comfortable as possible while you sleep.
You should try to sleep on your side or back and always with a pillow. Specialist posture pillows are a great investment, but you can also improve your posture by sleeping with a pillow placed below your knees (when sleeping on your back) or placed between your legs (when sleeping on your side). For an even more beneficial night’s sleep, invest in a firm, comfortable mattress.
Tip Four: Get Your Sitting Position Right
Once you’ve nailed the right position for sleeping and walking, you’ll need to relearn how to sit. Sitting in the proper position is essential if you spend hours working at a desk every day, regularly slump, or are prone to slouching – something you should definitely try to avoid if you want your lungs and intestines to work properly!
To start:
Your feet should be placed on a solid surface, your legs uncrossed, and a slight gap left between your knees & seat.
Make sure your knees aren’t above your hips and your shoulders are relaxed with your arms positioned parallel with the floor.
Ensure that your chair is providing ample support for your lower and middle back.
When driving, you can continue the healthy posture changes by moving your seat closer to the wheel, slightly bending your knees and supporting your back with a cushion for extra comfort and support.
If you find yourself sitting for long periods of time during the day, try to get up and move around every now and again.
See Here 3 amazing reasons to book regular appointments with a chiropractor if you spend most of your working day sitting down.
Tip Five: Change How You Hold Your Phone
Do you often stare down at your phone when sending texts, browsing the internet or playing games? If so, you could be suffering from a problem known as ‘text neck’. Tilting your head down to look at your phone is terrible for your spine, but thankfully, easy to resolve.
You can correct this poor posture problem simply by lifting your phone up to your face or moving your eyes instead of your neck. If you lean forward while using a computer, then the results can be similar, so it’s worth spending a bit of time rearranging your desk!
Tip Six: Correct Posture Mistakes Quickly
You shouldn’t feel bad if you can’t master these new positions overnight, it’ll take time. To give you the best chance of success, try to stay conscious of what you should be doing, so you can correct yourself when you fall back into old habits.
If you find yourself putting most of your weight on one leg, slouching in your chair, hunching over your phone, sticking your chin out, resting your phone between your ear and shoulder or in any position that’s not healthy for your muscles and ligaments, correct your posture as quickly as possible.
The more you practice, the easier it’ll be!
Tip Seven: Visit Advanced Spine & Sports Care in Chicago
Our final tip is essential if you’re struggling to find a starting point to correct your posture or you aren’t having much luck going it alone. A chiropractor is one of the best medical professionals to visit for support and guidance as you improve your posture.
A chiropractor can give you tips and tricks for improving your posture, help you to strengthen key muscles with special exercises – building muscle flexibility is vital for maintaining good posture! – and customize a treatment plan to give you the best start to your posture improvement. Chiropractic care is also highly beneficial for reversing years of wear, tear and injuries that can occur due to poor posture!
If you’re tired of poor posture affecting your health, then there’s no time like the present to turn things around. Enlist some expert help from Advanced Spine & Sports Care and start making posture improvements that’ll benefit you for the rest of your life.
Chiropractic care is a safe & natural option for treating pain, and it provides an excellent approach for supporting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. If you’re skeptical about visiting a chiropractor, take a moment to dive deeper into these five common myths surrounding chiropractic care and instead learn the truth about the benefits of ChiropracticAdjustments and spinal manipulation.
Myth 1: Chiropractors Aren’t ‘Real’ Doctors
Chiropractic school is not only rigorous, but it is also virtually identical to medical school.
The premedical prerequisites to get into chiropractic school are the same as medical school, which involves a full year of biology, chemistry, physics, calculus, organic chemistry, as well as a year of labs. As a result, most chiropractors have a four-year undergraduate degree in a science field before entering chiropractic school.
Attending traditional medical school and chiropractic school is also very similar, with the primary difference being that medical students will complete residency programs while chiropractors enter internship programs.
After completing undergrad, chiropractic school entails two additional years of classroom study followed by a third year consisting of both classroom study and clinical experience. The fourth and final year is all clinical.
Once students graduate from chiropractic school, they must pass four sets of national board exams which are heavily weighted on diagnostic and practical skills, as well as state board exams in the states where they wish to practice.
While it is true that a chiropractor doesn’t prescribe medication or perform surgery, it certainly doesn’t disqualify them as a “real” doctor. Chiropractors are officially known as Doctors of Chiropractic, and are without question experts in their field.
When it comes to neurology, alignment, and musculoskeletal disorders, Doctors of Chiropractic are more thoroughly trained than any of those other “real doctors.” Chiropractors spend years extensively learning about one thing and one thing only—musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction—making them the ideal portal-of-entry provider for musculoskeletal disorders.
Myth 2: Chiropractors “Crack” Backs
Many people fear chiropractic because they imagine horrible cracking movements that occur from a sudden and unexpected blow. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
The word crack itself implies breakage. A chiropractor isn’t cracking anything. Chiropractors are adjusting, aligning and manipulating, and a good chiropractor will communicate each step with you before the adjustment and as the adjustment occurs.
About 60 percent of the time, patients will hear a cavitation, a popping or clicking sound, which is simply a release of gas from the joint spaces. The cavitation is not the adjustment itself, but rather a byproduct of the alignment.
There are a variety of techniques utilized for adjustments, varying from gentle touch to hand manipulation to the use of retracting tables. Not every type is right for every patient, which is why a skilled chiropractor will take the time to listen to your concerns, understand the root of your problem, and develop an individualized course of treatment that is best suited for you.
Myth 3: Chiropractors Only Help with Back Pain
Your spine is without doubt one of the most important parts of your body, but chiropractic care extends further than the spine alone.
The doctor may employ a variety of specific techniques to adjust and manipulate other joints such as the shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, and knees. Some conditions that affect the extremities that can be treated with chiropractic include plantar fasciitis, tennis elbow, impingement syndromes, and TMJ.
It is also important to remember that the nerves originate in the brain and innervate through the spine. This means that if there is pressure on the spine, and consequently, the nerves, the symptoms can present elsewhere in the body.
For example, if you suffer from headaches, chiropractors will take care to examine the top cervical vertebra (called the atlas) to make sure it is positioned properly. If this particular vertebra is not aligned properly, it could create or increase the likelihood of these chronic headaches.
This is why chiropractors do all the necessary tests, exams, and imaging to first determine where the pain is actually originating from and then design treatment plans to address them.
Myth 4: Chiropractic Adjustments Are Dangerous
A common myth of chiropractic adjustment is that it can cause a stroke. According to one study, the odds of a hemorrhagic of stroke in the normal population, chiropractic patient or not, is 1 in 5.85 million people.[1]
The truth is, neck adjustments cause no more stress to the arteries in the neck than any normal range of motion exercise. When performed by licensed and experienced Doctors of Chiropractic, spinal manipulation and adjustments are safe practices that help to restore your body to its natural flexibility and mobility while relieving pain, soreness, and stiffness in the joints and muscles. In addition, because adjustments and manipulations are a natural, alternative approach to a problem, chiropractic is much safer than surgery or the use of opioids. Surgery is rarely effective for musculoskeletal problems, while painkillers only mask the pain as opposed to solving the root of the problem.
Myth 5: Once you start chiropractic care, you’ll have to continue to go for the rest of your life
Chiropractors do hope you continue to return, but it’s not for their benefit. Better health is a holistic lifestyle, and chiropractic is a part of that.
When you wait to visit a chiropractor when you are in severe pain, there is already a problem. The chiropractor will then work to treat not just the symptom, but to discover the underlying cause. The number of visits per month needed will depend on your unique case—it could be once a week, whereas others might need as frequent as twice a week. Once the underlying problem is fixed and you start to feel better, this is not where chiropractic visits should end.
Future visits are in place to continue to strengthen and support your body, so you are able to maintain that “feel good” phase without slipping back into the same habits and routines that landed you in pain in the first place.
Just as you would jog a few times a week to maintain cardiovascular health or schedule routine dental visits to protect your teeth, chiropractic care is one more piece of the puzzle for maintaining a healthy body and healthy lifestyle.
Dispelling Chiropractic Care Doubts
Millions of Americans have experienced meaningful pain relief and wellness benefits from chiropractic care.
If you think you could potentially benefit from chiropractic care, it is important to take the time and effort to choose the right chiropractor, just as you would for any healthcare professional. To learn more about our unique and holistic approach to chiropractic treatment at Advanced Spine and Sports Care, as well as what to expect during your first visit, click here. We’re here to help.
Experiencing a small amount of stress on a regular basis can be very beneficial for the mind and body. Healthy doses of stress can help you to be more productive, reach optimum levels of performance, increase your memory, and trigger the fight-or-flight response in dangerous situations. Stress isn’t always bad, but there’s a big difference between good stress & harmful stress.
Harmful stress can impact your thoughts, alter the way you behave, and negatively affect your body. Too much stress or the wrong kinds of stress can also lead to numerous health problems, such as depression, heart disease, and lack of energy. Experiencing regular or high levels of stress can impact your life day-to-day, especially if you’re also feeling tension.
Tension can produce feelings of mental and emotional strain, with stress & anxiety often being common symptoms in people who feel tense on a regular basis. Experiencing tension can lead to muscle aches, lack of productivity, poor cognitive ability & pain. Like stress, it’s important to treat tension quickly to make sure that it doesn’t continue to negatively impact your life.
If you’re experiencing tension or stress on a regular basis, then there are a number of effective treatments that you can consider. Here are four examples of common and healthy ways to reduce stress and tension in your life:
Meditation is a prehistoric practice that people have used for thousands of years, historically in a religious context, but today it’s most commonly used for relaxation and stress relief. It’s believed that meditation can relax the mind and restore a feeling of calmness and peace that can reduce the stress of everyday life and promote excellent emotional and mental well-being.
The benefits of meditation come in many forms, often surrounding a reduction of stress, anxiety, tension, and emotional over-stimulation. Practicing meditation improves self-awareness, gives you a refreshed perspective on sources of stress and helps you to manage stress in a more productive manner. In some instances, meditation can also help people to manage health conditions, such as depression, heart disease, tension headaches and anxiety.
There’s no single form of meditation; you can be still during meditation or active. The Chinese martial art, Tai Chi, is an active form of meditation where you practice deep breathing and perform different postures at your own pace. Mantra meditation, on the other hand, requires the participant to mentally repeat a meaningful word and ignore other distracting thoughts. Meditation is very unique to the individual and attending meditation workshops can be a beneficial way to learn how to meditate effectively to reduce stress and tension.
Exercise is an important part of leading a healthy lifestyle and maintaining a healthy body, but it also plays an essential role in establishing a healthy mind. Different exercises can be used as a technique to cope with and manage tension, as well as situations or events that cause stress. In much the same way that stress can impact the body, the physical benefits of exercise that improve the body, can at the same time improve the mind.
Exercising produces a reaction within the body that chemically reduces levels of stress. When you exercise, endorphins are released in the body; these can improve your mood and even reduce pain. At the same time, levels of stress-related hormones in the body, like cortisol and adrenaline, are reduced. These short-term benefits of exercise and stress reduction are great for reducing stress, but the positive benefits of weight loss and improved performance can also provide long-term stress relief.
Creating a custom exercise plan is a great way to ease into regular exercise and partake in the exercises that are most beneficial for your mind and body. Combining a regular exercise routine with healthy back, neck, and spinal alignment exercises could also help you to relieve other forms of stress and tension throughout your body.
Muscles stiffness, aches and pains can very often be a result of regular stress and tension. To ease the pain that stress can cause, massage therapy is an effective and remarkably successful treatment option. Massage targets body aches and pains but it also lifts your mood and relieves emotional strain.
It’s thought that massage can reduce the levels of cortisol in the body, which is a key stress hormone. Massage can also increase parasympathetic nervous system activity, another way to reduce stress and create a feeling of calmness.
Massaging the body can have wonderful benefits for the mind and overall emotional and mental well-being. During a massage therapy session, a number of techniques are used to reduce tension in the body and create a feeling of whole-body relaxation. By relaxing the mind and body, everyday stresses can be reduced, and a greater level of control can be gained over managing and coping with stress.
Stress can very easily take over the body, causing mental strain to turn into physical aches and pains, and impact important parts of a healthy lifestyle, such as sleep, energy, and nutrition. The mental pressure of stress and the emotional strain of tension can both be treated through regular chiropractic treatments. Chiropractic care can relieve stress in a number of ways, sometimes through physical treatments designed to resolve the root cause of pain, and other times through ongoing treatment plans and lifestyle changes.
For common problems associated with stress and tension, like tension in the muscles, spinal adjustment and other chiropractic treatments can be highly effective. Spinal misalignment can cause problems with the nervous system, which affects how the body communicates – an unhealthy spine can cause the nervous system to have trouble coping with stress. Poor blood circulation and muscle tension can also cause other stress-related problems. Chiropractic treatments can improve blood circulation, adjust the spine, and reduce body tension to restore energy and improve health of the whole body.
Professional chiropractic treatment plans can extent from treatments designed to reduce pain, to nutrition plans, massage, exercise routines, and even help learning how to meditate effectively. By attending regular chiropractor treatments, you can address the problems associated with stress and improve your body’s natural ability to handle stress, whether it’s through learning new relaxation techniques, understanding the correct posture to reduce stress, or improving spine health for better overall health.
Stress and tension can negatively impact your life every day, but with so many treatment options out there, it’s never been easier to treat stress and the large number of symptoms.
Sciatic nerve pain or sciatica, is an incredibly common type of pain that experts estimate 40% of people experience at some point in their lives. This pain can be very disabling and leave one of your legs feeling weak or numb, possibly with a burning or stabbing sensation. If you have sciatic nerve pain or you think that you may be experiencing the symptoms of sciatica, then seeking treatment is one of the best things that you can do to relieve the pain sooner rather than later.
Never heard of sciatic nerve pain or want to learn more about this unique condition? Read on to discover more about the causes and the best treatment for sciatica…
What Is Sciatic Nerve Pain?
Sciatica is the name of a specific type of pain that you experience when there’s irritation to the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is located between the hips and feet and runs down the back of each leg. The location of the nerve explains why the symptoms of sciatica can involve experiencing pain in the lower back, hips, and leg.
Sciatic nerve leg pain, and pain in the hips and back, can manifest itself in many ways, including:
Shooting pain
Constant stabbing pain
Burning pain
Numbness
Difficulty moving
Weakness
Tingling
The symptoms of sciatic nerve pain normally only occur on one side of the body, but the experience is very different from case to case. For some people, the pain will only last for a short duration (typically 4-6 weeks) and it will only cause slight irritation. For other people, the pain will last for much longer and can be quite severe.
What Are the Causes of Sciatic Nerve Pain?
Sciatica is generally caused by some form of pressure to the sciatic nerve; the type and location of this pressure can determine the location, severity, and duration of the pain. There’s a long list of causes of sciatic nerve pain, including:
Degenerative Disc Disease
Spondylolisthesis
Muscle Spasms
Pregnancy
Lumbar Spinal Stenosis
Lumbar Subluxation
Lumbar Disc Herniation
Tumors
Sometimes, other back injuries may also cause sciatic nerve pain. While not generally a cause, the pain experienced can be worse for people that are overweight or accentuated by additional problems, such as inadequate sleeping provisions.
Common Treatment for Sciatica
As you would imagine from the many possible sciatic nerve pain causes, there are a number of treatment options. The treatment advised will largely depend on the severity of the pain and root cause, although in certain cases, like with chiropractic care, some treatments can help with multiple severities of sciatica.
Here are four common treatment options for sciatic nerve pain:
1. Sciatic Nerve Pain At-Home Treatment
At-home treatments can be very effective in treating short-term sciatic nerve pain, as well helping with the recovery process in conjunction with other treatments. Treatments and care at home can include stretching the back regularly, using heat and ice packs, and gentle exercises. If at-home treatments don’t help to reduce the pain, more substantial treatment is often advised.
2. Over-the-Counter Sciatic Nerve Pain Medication
In many cases, an over-the-counter pain medication may be suggested to alleviate the pain. This can work in conjunction with at-home treatment to cope with the pain until it subsides.
3. Chiropractic Treatment for Sciatic Nerve Pain
Chiropractic Treatment for Sciatic Nerve Pain, along with other physiotherapy treatments, are a very common suggestion for cases of sciatic nerve pain. Unlike some at-home treatments and medication, the purpose of chiropractic treatment is to address the underlying cause of the pain. Chiropractic care can include a range of treatments, such as:
Depending on the extent of sciatic nerve pain, further sciatica treatments may be suggested, such as:
Cognitive behavioral therapy
Acupuncture
Anti-inflammatory treatments
Lifestyle changes
(In the worst cases of sciatic nerve pain, where the pain is severe and prolonged, surgery may be an unavoidable requirement to treat the underlying cause of the pain)
What Is the Best Sciatica Treatment Option?
Each type of sciatica treatment has its own benefits, and in some cases, options like surgery may be unavoidable. Yet, for persistent sciatic nerve pain, the best sciatica treatment is often physiotherapy. In particular, chiropractic care is a highly effective physiotherapy treatment for sciatica.
As well as treating the cause of sciatica, a chiropractor will also be able to advise you on good practices that can prevent re-occurrences of sciatic nerve pain in the future, such as:
Which exercises to do at home to improve the muscles in your back
How to correct your posture when you’re sitting and standing
Which lifestyle changes to make for improved back health
How to properly support your back
How to improve your diet for optimum health
Chicago Chiropractic treatment is ideal for anyone seeking the best natural treatment for sciatic nerve pain, as it involves non-invasive procedures. The treatment plan will be customized to your exact needs and lifestyle, and you’ll receive ongoing support from a chiropractor that knows your unique medical history. As is the case with many types of back pain, and pain in other areas of the body, chiropractic care is often an effective and rewarding treatment for sciatica.
Sciatica Treatment Plans Chicago
Are you you’re looking for chiropractic sciatica treatment in Chicago? The experienced chiropractors at Advanced Spine & Sports Care are here, ready to customize a sciatica treatment plan, that’s best for you. Our sciatica chiropractic care and physical therapy services are a natural treatment for sciatic nerve pain that can effectively reduce the pain you’re feeling and address the real cause of the problem.
Contact us today to talk with one of our excellent team about treatments for sciatica. We’ll ensure that your pain is diagnosed and treated with continued Chiropractic Care for a healthier life now and in the future!
Morning and Night Routines to Help You Live Better
Does the following scenario sound familiar to you? You sleep through the alarm and wake up in a panic. You have to rush around the house to get ready, and with no time for breakfast you just grab a cup of takeaway coffee on the way to work. You arrive feeling stressed and underprepared which sets you up for a challenging day. After work, you get home exhausted, flop down on the sofa and watch bad TV all night. You don’t get to sleep until late and then wake up several times during the night, so you sleep in again in the morning. Is that you? Do you find that you’re completely burned out longer before the week’s over, but don’t know how to get out of the rut? A routine is what you need. Having a healthy morning and evening routine primes you for a successful day and better well-being. You’ll achieve more, be able to think more clearly and, most importantly, you’ll feel better. They key is discipline, and if you take the time to set up healthy and structured routines to get your day started and ended well, you’ll soon see the difference.
What Is A Routine?
The definition of a routine is a sequence of actions which you repeatedly carry out. For example, if you wake up at 6am every day, that’s a routine. If you always read the newspaper and eat toast before heading out of the door, that’s a routine too. Routines set the rhythm of your life, however just because they are a routine doesn’t make them a healthy routine. Routines have power, and if you choose to have unhealthy routines, you will end up trapped in an unhealthy cycle. Conversely, if you choose healthy ones, your life will change for the better.
So, what kind of routines are beneficial for our lives?
Good Morning Routines To Kick Off The Day
Rather than your old unhealthy routine of sleeping through the alarm and rushing around like an idiot, you can replace it with a healthier schedule to prepare you for success.
Get Up Early
Getting up early will help you to prepare adequately for the demands of the day. It will prevent you from experiencing the stress and panic of running behind, and will help you to put in place other healthy routines that will set you up adequately for the day ahead. What are the benefits of rising early? For a start, you are naturally more creative as your mind has been refreshed from sleep, and there are fewer things to distract you early in the morning. The early exposure to sunlight increases your feelings of well-being and positivity and if you use some of that extra time to meditate or work out, you will feel less stressed and more energized too.
Recite Affirmations
As part of your morning routine, you should set aside some time to recite some positive affirmations. These statements can be used to reframe the way you think and feel about yourself and the day ahead. They can help you to overcome negative feelings and will help you to visualize the good things that will happen. By saying simple statements such as:
“I will be successful in everything I do today.”
“I am a strong and beautiful person.”
“I am liked and respected by those who know me.”
By visualizing and affirming the things that you would like to happen in your life, you are focusing on them and believing that achieving them is possible, and this, in turn, enables you to act on them and make them become a reality.
Take Some Exercise
Exercise is one of the best things to introduce into your morning routine. By boosting your blood flow, releasing endorphins and strengthening the body, exercise prepares you physically and mentally for the day while also keeping you healthy. By helping to fight anxiety and depression, and by keeping your body fit, introducing daily exercise into your morning routine will improve your well-being.
Eat A Healthy Breakfast
When you were running late, you probably grabbed an unhealthy fast food snack on the way to work, or just ate nothing at all. Both of these scenarios were bad for your health. Consuming the right fuel at breakfast time has a major impact on your day, so schedule in time for a healthy breakfast that is low in sugar and low in fat, such as a smoothie, oatmeal or yogurt and fruit. This will help to curb food cravings and give you energy to set you up for the day ahead.
Good Evening Routines To End The Day Positively
Ending the day well is just as important as beginning it properly. By putting in place a healthy evening routine, you can prepare yourself for a good start the next day. Here are some suggestions for good evening routines that will set you up for a restful night.
Prepare Your Goals
Before going to bed, determine your goals for the day ahead. This will help to get the tasks that need to be achieved clear in your mind, and will allow your brain to start thinking about how you will accomplish those tasks in advance. You’ll be well prepared in the morning.
Reflect On What You Achieved
An important part of every evening should be to reflect on all of the things that you achieved during the course of the day. It can be all too easy to forget about the positives if just one or two things went wrong, however taking the time to celebrate your successes will put them into perspective and encourage you in achieving your goals.
Clear Your Mind
You can’t sleep well if your mind is still buzzing with all of your worries, stresses and fears. Before you go to sleep, you need to clear your mind and put aside those challenges for the night. You can do this by reading for a short while, listening to some calm music, meditating, writing a journal or watching a relaxing TV show. Focus on something completely unrelated to work before bed.
Be Prepared
To minimize the rush and panic of the morning, take the time before bed to prepare things in advance. Choose your outfit, make your lunch, get the coffee maker ready to go and pack your work bag. By doing these simple things, you’ll be freeing up a lot of mental energy.
Tidy Your Home
A messy home means a messy mind, and waking up in an untidy room can leave you feeling unmotivated. Put aside 10-20 minutes every night to do a quick clean up, to wash the dishes and to wipe the sink and you’ll feel more refreshed in the morning.
Sleep Properly
The key to a good night’s sleep is to stick to a set schedule for going to bed and waking up. If you have a mobile device that has a night mode, you should select this in the evenings, and minimize any blue light from device screens. Set your bedroom temperature to between 60 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit and make sure your room is kept as dark as possible. Quality sleep means quality rest, and quality rest means that you feel much better the next day.
Introducing a routine into your everyday life may not be the easiest thing to do, but it can make a huge difference to your day. Although it will require some dedication and discipline at first, you will soon become used to it, and will begin to notice the difference.
The longer you stick to your routine, the easier it will become to stick to it, and soon it will be ingrained in your life. You will find that each day flows more smoothly, and you will become more productive, more healthy and, essentially, more happy.
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