Osteopath - Chiropractor - Acupuncture Bondi Junction Sydney

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Top 3 Tips for Avoiding Back Pain

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LISTEN TO WHAT YOUR BODY IS TELLING YOU!

  • When you feel Pain it’s a message from your body that you need to modify your daily activities or habits! You may need to slow down or ease off the actions you are performing on a regular basis. If sitting at the computer for hours gives you shoulder pain, upper back, neck pain or headache you may need to take a break every hour to get up have a quick stretch or walk. It also makes sense to seek professional help if your back keeps aching  and giving you pain.

PERFORM REGULAR STRETCHING EXERCISE

  • Is key… and for most people the best exercise to prevent back pain is to stretch. This is something that even most exercise junkies do not do enough of.  Stretching will help counteract the effect of prolonged sitting and sedentary existence. We need to stretch regularly for mobility and flexibility and most importantly stretching exercise performed carefully will help correct misalignment and imbalances in the muscles and joints. Stretching helps to balance the effect of any repetitive or unbalanced activities that we do on a daily basis even including gym work or sporting activities that may also cause  asymmetrical stresses on the back.

OBSERVE YOUR POSTURE IN ALL ACTIVITIES
Good posture is not about visualising a static military style position where you have an imaginary steel rod in your spine! Developing  good posture is about becoming more conscious of the position your body is in… on any moment to the next moment . This will definitely help you avoid back pain that comes from long term bad habits and imbalanced activities that ultimately put undue stress on your back.
Are you are experiencing back pain or want more advice on the right stretching exercises for you or wish to learn the essential keys for good posture?  Please call my clinic and schedule an appointment. We aim to educate our patients on how to avoid developing problems as well as helping to correct them once they have developed.
Stephen Thwaites
Chiropractor and Osteopath

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What is Osteopathy?

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Osteopathy is a “whole body” system of manual therapy, based on unique biomechanical principles, which uses a wide range of techniques to treat musculo-skeletal problems and other functional disorders of the body.

Osteopaths are government registered practitioners and complete a minimum of five years’ university training in anatomy, physiology, pathology, general medical diagnosis and osteopathic techniques. Osteopaths are primary healthcare practitioners specialising in manual medicine with the philosophy that a healthy body relies on a structurally sound musculo-skeletal system. Only when the framework of the body ie bones, joints and muscles are working smoothly and harmoniously can the other systems of the body function at their best.

Osteopathy best known for the treatment of a wide variety of musculo-skeletal problems.
Also has a role to play in the management of a number of other conditions and when used in conjunction with medical treatment can be of value in reducing the severity of symptoms in conditions such as asthma, gynaecological dysfunction and chronic fatigue.

Many mothers-to-be find Osteopathic treatment very beneficial both to reduce back pain during pregnancy and also to help prepare the body for birth. In addition, there is a wide variety of gentle non-manipulative techniques for use on infants and small children. These can be used in the management of problems such as forceps trauma, infant colic and “glue ear.”

Central to osteopathy is the study of ‘biomechanics’ – how each part of the musculo-skeletal system interacts with and influences every other part. Any joint or muscle injury must therefore be treated in the context of the whole body, since other parts of the musculo-skeletal system will also be affected.
For instance, an ankle injury may mean that the patient limps and favours the other foot. Over time, this imbalance can lead to secondary injuries, such as soreness in the other ankle, knee or hip, or perhaps back pain.

Osteopaths will devise a strategy of treatment that takes into account the entire musculo-skeletal system. Attention is also given to other systems of the body – such as the circulatory, nervous and lymphatic systems – since these all play significant roles in the healing process.