Posts Tagged ‘chiropractic’
Your Cincinnati Chiropractor Can Help You Avoid Work Injuries
At my Cincinnati Chiropractic Clinic I treat plenty of older adults who are challenged by balance problems. In fact, 9% of adults, aged 65 and over, are affected by dizziness, “wooziness,” and other balance-related problems. Good balance is crucial, of course, in aiding elders in continuing to be independent and to avoid falling down and sustaining injuries that are frequently extremely serious or even fatal. But, what you may not know is that falls produce a large percentage of work-related injuries for workers under 65 years of age, including those in their twenties and thirties. That’s right! Balance problems can take place at any age. That is why those who work in”precarious locations” like construction workers, roofers, oil platform employees, windows cleaners, or anywhere else where a ladder is required are in danger of serious injury if their balance isn’t good.
The principal function of good balance is to assist us in managing and maintaining our body position, whether standing still or moving, and whether on the ground or high up on a platform. Good balance helps us to walk without stumbling, arise from a sitting position without swaying, and to climb stairs without slipping. To sum it up, then, good balance is vital to our health and well-being.
What is commonly surprising to some young adults, in particular is that they could have a balance dysfunction without any idea of how threatening it is. Sometimes a person can “shake off” a dizzy feeling and the sensation may not come back for a while. But, when unexpected dizziness comes about at a critical moment, it is too late to shake it off and a fall is usually certain.
Vertigo is the medical term for the sensation that you, or things around you, are spinning. Nearly 40% of people in the U.S. will have at least one episode of dizziness that is distressing enough to seek out help from a health professional, such as your Chiropractor at Cincinnati Chiropractic. That said, if you work at any of the jobs listed above, it is an excellent idea for you to see a chiropractor to have your balance checked prior to an unexpected episode of dizziness, rather than as a response to such an episode. Why? Because as a chiropractor, I can not only check your balance, and make corrections if necessary, but can aid you in maintaining good balance in the future. And, naturally, having good balance will likely save you from serious injury or worse.
Balance disorders are serious at any age. If you think that you might have a possible balance disorder, it is crucial for you to be evaluated and treated without delay. To help to make your decision easier if you can answer “yes” to any of the following questions, even if the experience is seldom or infrequent, it is highly recommended that you discuss the symptom(s) with a chiropractor as soon as possible:
• Have you experienced a feeling of being “unsteady?”
• Has the room seemed to spin around you?
• Has there ever a time when you felt as if you were moving when you knew you were standing still?
• Have you lost your balance and/or fallen down?
• Have you ever felt as if you were falling?
• Has your vision ever become “blurred?”
• Have you ever felt disoriented, or lost a sense of time, place or identity?
Remember: Balance problems are not specific to a particular age group. From the time we learn to walk until we take our final step, our falling down is an ever-present possibility. All the more reason to have your balance checked if you work in a job that makes your falling down a “critical” issue. Don’t wait until you sustain a work injury! Call a Chiropractor today, and if you’re in the Cincinnati area, I’d love to be your Cincinnati Chiropractor!
Santa Barbara Chiropractor: ChiropracticTreatment Can Ease the Pain of Spinal Osteoarthritis (Spondylosis)
You know what they say, “Growing old isn’t so bad when you consider the alternative.” But, if the aging process is causing you pain, you are painfully aware that aging is no joke! As a chiropractor in Santa Barbara, when it comes to musculoskeletal challenges, I see too many age-related breakdowns that probably would not have taken place if the original cause had been addressed earlier. Poor posture, improper gait, and repetitive overuse commonly create needless stress in the back, neck, hip, knees, and even the feet that can create painful conditions over time. If we only aware years ago how our aging body would feel today, eh? However, as they say, “hindsight is 20-20.”
Back pain is at the top of the list as the most prevalent musculoskeletal problem to take place as we age. Back pain that is age-related is generally caused by spine osteoarthritis, or Spondylosis, a degenerative disorder.
Spinal osteoarthritis is caused by advanced erosion and weight-bearing pressure on the spine that, over the years, damages discs, joints, and surrounding ligaments. The location and degree of the degenerative process of spondylosis is individual, varying from person to person. It may affect the cervical (neck), thoracic (mid-back), or lumbar (low back) regions of the spine. Spondylosisi symptoms very from person to person and depend on the severity of the degeneration, and can extend from negligible pain and numbness to gross sensory loss and muscular atrophy.
Calcium is deposited in the tissues around the vertebrae due to repetitive stresses that negatively affect the cartilage around the joints Adjacent nerves, blood vessels, and soft tissue can be constricted by these calcific deposits, also called bone spurs. This particular of compression is at the root of Spondylosis.
Regular chiropractic treatment and overall chiropractic management is beneficial in significantly slowing age-related degeneration of the spine whether or not you are suffering from spondylosis. No, “you can’t un-ring a bell” or “turn back the hands of time,” but it’s never too late to give your spine the attention it deserves. Chiropractors are experts when it comes to treatment of the spine. See your Santa Barbara Chiropractor today, for the health of your spine.
Corona Chiropractor Explains How Chiropractic Management Can Eliminate Hip Pain
Your Corona Chiropractor provides a potent non-surgical, drug-free approach to easing hip pain and frequently eliminating it altogether. As most of us know, surgery should be a last resort whenever possible. Therefore, before you schedule a surgery to replace that hip, consider the following questions: Is it impossible for you to get a good night’s sleep because your hip pain wakes you up in the night? When you get out of bed in the morning, and/or when you step out of your car, are you stiff and do you find it difficult at first to get your legs moving properly? Do you feel pain in one or both hips when you cross your legs or rotate or twist your hips? If these symptoms sound familiar, it is likely that you have asymmetries and alignment problems in your lower extremities that, in addition to causing your hip pain, can eventually lead to degenerative joint disease in your hips if not treated. The good news is that whether or not degenerative changes have already started, chiropractic treatment can help!
It may be true that you’re getting older and your hip joints just aren’t what they used to be. Nonetheless, are you aware that your hip pain and related problems, which are thought to be age-related degenerative conditions, may not actually be produced by osteoarthritis? That’s right. In fact, rather than being the root cause of your problem, osteoarthritis of the hip joint is typically the outcome of a previous injury (or injuries) to your hips.
Hip problems oftentimes have to do with asymmetry or imbalance when you are in motion, like walking for instance. If you “pronate” when you walk, with your toes pointing away from your body (like a duck), eventually you will feel pain in your hips from the asymmetrical pressure on your hip joints as your body attempts to compensate. Thankfully, you can make changes in your gait pattern at any age, and your chiropractor in Corona can show you how to do it.
Additionally, you may have developed gait changes because of an ankle sprain or knee strain, and since “the knee bone’s connected to the hip bone,” these biomechanical accommodations generate hip pain. Naturally, if not treated, your hip joints will suffer further consequences, namely, the wear and tear that produces degenerative changes.
Other activities that can sometimes injure the hip joints are starting a new job or beginning a new sport that requires you to move your body in atypical ways. Also, transporting a child (or grandchild) on one hip can generate hip pain. Even the way you sit or driving for extended periods of time on a routine basis can cause hip injury and pain.
So you can see that not every pain is caused by “old age,” although we may experience more pain due to the progressive nature of untreated injuries.
Your chiropractor in Corona will treat our hip problem directly, and as part of your chiropractic management will provide appropriate rehabilitative exercises that include gentle muscle stretching and strengthening, and will also study your gait and may offer simple pattern changes.
Your hip pain won’t vanish by itself. Hip pain means that there’s an injury that needs treatment. If left untreated, there is a good possibility that you will eventually require that hip replacement surgery. Remember the old adage, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Your Corona Chiropractor can relieve your hip pain, get your body back into balance, and help you get to back to enjoying your life again!
Your Wichita Chiropractor Has Years of Experience Successfully Treating Sciatica
I am aware from over twenty years experience as a Chiropractor in Wichita treating individuals suffering from the pain of sciatica that the condition can be extremely debilitating. Sciatica sufferers are sadly all too familiar with the kind of deep pain that frequently radiates through the lower part of their body, accompanies their waking hours each day and inhibits almost all of their daily activities.
There is a way to ascertain if your low back pain is caused by sciatica. If your pain radiates from your low back, through your buttock(s), down the large sciatic nerve in the back of your leg(s), and possibly radiates into your knee(s), you are more than likely suffering from sciatica. In addition, not just motion, but even sitting can be painful. Often lying down will decrease, or perhaps even temporarily get rid of the pain. But, it’s important for you to be aware that sciatica cannot be corrected without appropriate treatment.
Radiculopathy
One of the clinical diagnoses of sciatica is called a “radiculopathy”, a medical term that means simply that a disc has protruded from its normal position in the vertebral column and is putting pressure on the radicular nerve, or nerve root, in the lower back, which forms part of the sciatic nerve. Such pressure is extremely painful.
Increased pressure on the intervertebral discs, as well as imbalances in the muscles encompassing the spine, can occur during and after long periods of sitting, especially in an improper position. More often than not, a specific event or injury doesn’t cause sciatica, more often sciatica tends to develop over time as a result of general wear and tear on the vertebrae of the lower spine. Over the course of time the lower spine can lose its ability to function normally during common stresses.
Ultimately, the intervertebral disc develops small fissures or cracks, which then allow the soft nucleus to protrude the disc outward. Pain is created as the disc pushes on sensitive tissues. This occurrence is often called a ruptured, or slipped, disc. If the disc presses on the spinal nerve, sciatica is likely to develop. With chiropractic manipulation and management, which frequently includes postural exercises, almost all disc problems, including sciatica, can be totally alleviated.
Periformis Syndrome
Another condition that creates sciatic pain is periformis syndrome. Periformis syndrome occurs when the periformis muscle, which is superficial to the sciatic nerve, goes into spasm and irritates the nerve. In combination with chiropractic manipulation, this particular sciatica can be significantly relieved by sciatica stretches that your chiropractor can recommend.
If you are experiencing sciatic pain, it is extremely important for you to seek chiropractic attention. If you are in the Wichita area, as your Wichita Chiropractor, I invite you to come in to see if I can get you out of pain and help you to get your life back!
San Diego Chiropractor Asks: Could Those Extra Pounds Be Putting Your Joints on Overload?
As a San Diego Chiropractor, I counsel many individuals who come to my clinic who want to lose weight. I know how hard it can be, and I also know how important it is to lose those extra pounds. What’s an extra pound or two? Over time, they can add up to a large number of health issues from heart and pulmonary diseases and diabetes to back pain and joint degeneration. Even a few additional pounds put excessive stress on organs, like the heart, as well as on joints in the low back, hips, and knees. Sadly,more than half (62%) of men and women in the U.S. are overweight or obese, according to recent studies. That is an extremely compelling figure and a sizable national health issue (no pun intended).
Though we try to pretend otherwise, most of us know that the human body has not evolved to schlepp around additional poundage in the form of body fat. A mere excess of 20 or 30 pounds can literally overload and encumber the musculoskeletal system. Extra weight in the abdominal region, for example, requires that the body compensate (counterbalance the weight) by tilting the pelvis forward. This angle puts pressure on the joints of the low back. Joint compression impedes nerve activity and causes painful inflammation. Nearly all people that have a heavy midsectionexperience low back pain as the result of a compressed sciatic nerve or misalignments of the spinal column that restrict nerves as a result of weight-bearing stresses. If not addresses, misaligned vertebra as a rule develop into new arthritic changes in the spine over time, as well as continue to irritate the degenerative changes that have already taken place.
The good news is that chiropractic treatment can help. To begin with the obvious, a moderate body weight is requisite in order for the musculoskeletal system to perform in the way it is meant to. That said, in addition, chiropractic adjustments relieve nerve restrictions in the spinal column and help to get mobility back into the joints of the musculoskeletal system, such as in the low back, hips, and knees. And, certainly exercise and physical activity will be a lot easier, and more beneficial for the body, when the spine is in alignment and the joints have good motion. The added benefit of exercise the, in addition to helping with weight reduction, it can actually reduce degenerative changes as the body ages.
It is always best to talk over your diet and exercise options with a healthcare professional, like your chiropractor. In addition to treating individuals suffering from back pain and joint inflammation, chiropractors can provide expert suggestions on the kinds of lifestyle changes that can help a person to stay healthier, more vigorous, and more active through the years. Arthritis and immobility due to aging don’t have to be inevitable. The structure of the human body is intended to carry a person through an entire lifetime of pain-free movement.
So, if those extra few pounds have started to add up to a lot of pain, as your chiropractor in San Diego and someone who cares deeply about your overall health, I can help. Make an appointment today!
San Jose Chiropractor Discloses The Way Chiropractic Care Can Lessen Back Pain As a Result of Arthritis
Presently there is an assortment of possible treatments from which you can still choose as it pertains to your back pain and pain in various other parts of your body because of arthritic alterations, among them seeing your San Jose chiropractor. Though, a large number of people who are encountering debilitating arthritis and low back pain nonetheless believe that they have got to go to a medical doctor as the most effective way to find a therapy for their problems. However, you may be amazed to find out that not many medical doctors are able to be beneficial people remove, or by natural means decrease the difficulties of back pain resulting from arthritis. Instead of being used to locating and treating the cause of the pain you are going through, medical doctors habitually attend to no more than your symptoms, that you could do not just for pain reduction, but to actually retard arthritic changes in your body.
Finding a chiropractor in San Jose is actually among the finest things that you could do to assist your arthritis and lumbar pain. Chiropractors are doctors who concentrate solely on taking care of the musculoskeletal system, and arthritis is a joint condition. Chiropractic attention has aided many people in delaying the process of arthritis by getting their joints moving. Movement is vital for joint health. A good chiropractor is very knowledgeable in caring for lumbar pain, even when it is the result of arthritis
If you have never gone to a chiropractor previously, you could be somewhat concerned about what will take place once you are in the office. It might help to provide a quick summary of what you can expect. You may be asked about your medical history, that will oftentimes include a family background of arthritis. The chiropractor might inquire about your current diet and lifestyle and may suggest explicit improvements that may be very helpful in decreasing the irritation attributable to arthritis. And, lastly, you will receive a thorough examination. After the examination is finished, the chiropractor will let you know if chiropractic treatment can assist your low back pain, as well as lessen your debilitating arthritic symptoms. of visit Then you will be told about the particular treatment you’ll require.
A chiropractic adjustment reduces pain gently and organically, and it is a painless approach. And, essentially the most wonderful feature of going to a chiropractor for your low back pain and arthritis is that you can feel confident that the root cause of your pain is being attended to, and that the relief you experience doesn’t entail masking the warning sign of pain, but actually eliminating the basis of your malady.
Your Chiropractor in Oxnard Offers A Surprising Solution to Your Allergy Problems
Dr. Donald Bolt, your Oxnard Chiropractor, understands that allergy symptoms can make your day-to-day activities miserable. A walk in the park, a play date with Fluffy, a seafood repast, or merely something as tiny as a nut will often produce such uncomfortable discomforts as itchy eyes, a runny nose, sneezing, or a skin rash.
Unfortunately, quite often an individual’s allergic reactions can go from just plain irritating to severe and life-threatening as the air passageway starts to shut and inhaling and exhaling becomes strenuous. This kind of acceleration of difficulties can frequently generate a state of acute anxiety coupled with a trip to the ER.
Allergies can, indeed, end up as a very significant upheaval and cause you to feel unable to participate in life. Indeed, if you are one of the many individuals who have allergies, it may perhaps seem to you that, every so often, your surroundings are a extremely unfriendly place and that the planet out there you is, actually, out to get you!
You may ask yourself how it is that others seem so unsusceptible to the exact same environmental challenges that send your body into overwhelm. Others seem either unaware of or completely unresponsive to the potential irritants that lie in wait at just about every turn, while your system reacts, or rather overreacts, to them. Why you? It’s a good question. The answer is that quite a few individuals, just like you, have a hyperactive immune system that literally “goes wild” when you are exposed to ordinary substances most notably pollen, dander, shellfish, or nut products.
Can your Oxnard Chiropractor assist you in finally getting relief from your allergy symptoms? The answer is a unquestionable “Yes,” and the reason might surprise you. Countless chiropractic patients have noticed that they experience freedom from their allergy symptoms after a chiropractic treatment, even though chiropractic care does not actually directly address allergies, per se. The scientific explanation for the decline in allergy symptoms is due to the fact that chiropractic adjustment has an effect on your complete nervous system, which includes your autoimmune system, and that is at the root of your hypersensitive responses. Every time there is a hindrance in the nervous system, in conjunction with other challenges, the autoimmune system, whose responsibility it is to help you to adapt and react appropriately to your environment, may become under-active or overactive. Where your allergies are concerned, the reaction is the latter (it becomes overactive).
Since chiropractic adjustments are meant to reduce or even entirely remove hindrances in the nervous system and bring back equilibrium and relaxation to the entire body, together with a number of other corrections, the treatments provide homeostasis to the autoimmune system at the same time. A strong immune system reacts properly to so-called allergens in the environment.
So, as stated above, your Chiropractor in Oxnard doesn’t necessarily treat allergy symptoms, but then that doesn’t indicate your allergies won’t improve or go away. On the other hand, you could point out, instead, that relief from your allergies is merely the consequence of your well-adjusted nervous system. If you would like to get back into harmony with your surroundings as soon as you can, contact Dr. Bolt, your Oxnard Chiropractor, today. He will help you to enjoy your environment again!
Santa Clara Chiropractor: Growing Older Doesn’t Have to Hurt
There’s no denying the fact that as we age our body doesn’t feel or respond the same way as it used to when we were younger. It hardly seems right that as our mind appears to improve and become more “inventive,” our body seems to become less “cooperative.” We’re stiff in the morning; many of the activities we do during the day make us sore at night; and, if we’re not cautious, even a motion as simple as turning too hastily or bending over to pick up a dropped pencil, can send our back or some other muscle group into spasm. But, it isn’t necessary for our body to go from bad to worse because there are specialized techniques for us, “boomers,” that can not only slow down the aging process of the body, but help us to avoid some of those problems altogether.
For instance, arthritis. In point of fact, barring pharmaceuticals, allopathic medicine fails to address this age-related affliction. Why? It is because most medical professionals focus only on the symptoms of arthritis. Chiropractic care, in contrast, not only helps to relieve the pain of arthritis, naturally, without drugs, but it looks for the origin of the problem and eliminates it. Chiropractors, like your Santa Clara Chiropractor, have been treating men and women suffering from pain caused by arthritis, and other age-related challenges, for over one hundred years.
Repetitive stresses, years of poor gait and incorrect posture, and inadequate movement cause wear of various joints over time and cause the arthritic changes the body goes through as you get older. Chiropractic adjustments reestablish motion in your joints and relieve any vertebral misalignments that may be causing irritation and restriction. In addition to causing arthritic changes in the spine and increasing pain, did you know that misaligned vertebra can also weaker your resistance and immunity? It’s an authoritative fact, and this may be one of the reasons why it may seem that as you age you experience more health issues and that it frequently takes longer for you to feel better again. According to research done on men and women, those who received regular chiropractic care stayed healthier. In fact, you could say that, as you get older, chiropractic adjustments are good for what ails you!
When it comes to the health of the musculoskeletal system, chiropractors are highly proficient whether it’s the small, growing frame of an infant or the full-grown body of an aging adult. Your chiropractor understands the aging process and has exceptional observational and diagnostic skills that aid in locating spinal misalignments and joint conditions. A chiropractic examination can, in fact, often reveal some age-related changes before they’ve had a chance to create noticeable pain. Moreover, your Santa Clara Chiropractor can assess your posture and observe your gait to determine if there are any inappropriate patterns that might generate further arthritic changes.
So, if you have been feeling your age lately, but you’d like to feel a whole lot better, make an appointment with your Santa Clara Chiropractor today!
Dr. David Hoewisch is a Santa Clara Chiropractor with over 25 years of experience helping thousands of patients get out of pain and get their lives back. His office is located at 1221 Lafayette St., Santa Clara, CA, 95050. Dr. Hoewisch has traveled around the world and is an avid outdoor enthusiast. He is a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) and learned sign language at an early age. He treats many deaf patients in his clinic. For more information go to his website at http://www.santaclarachiropractor.net
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Hoewisch
Sacramento Chiropractor: Golf Injuries Can Be Averted
Injuries are not uncommon with any kind of sport. So, it’s a good idea to discover what injury is apt to occur in a particular sport and then to do as much as you can to avoid it. The truth is, though, that sports injuries can’t always be avoided. Consequently, it’s important to be physically fit to make incurring injury less likely, or less traumatic. The most valuable thing that you can do is to be confident that you have an appropriate fitness level before beginning to play a sport, such as golf. By perpetuating a healthy lifestyle, making sure your joints are mobile and your muscles are limber, preparing your body before activity, using proper form and good postures while actively playing, and giving yourself an appropriate amount of cool down and relaxation time, you may very well keep your body safe from injury.
It isn’t simply amateur golfers who get injured. Approximately, one-third of pro golfers play injured at any given time. Fortunately, overall good health and fitness can decrease how many injuries you may acquire and might actually preclude them completely.
It is crucial for you to have effectual body strength in the muscle areas most utilized during golf. But, it’s prudent to make sure your spine is in healthy alignment and that it has good mobility before you set out to build muscle strength. A injury-free golf swing is contingent upon your spine’s facility to adequately move in a rotational action. Back injuries are the most prevalent sort of injuries suffered by golfers. To get the help you need so that your spine is in proper alignment and there is efficient movement in the vertebrae, see your chiropractor in Sacramento. Chiropractic care can make a big difference in helping you to avert back injury.
Once you’re “straightened” it’s time to strengthen. Safe, injury-free action on the green is contingent upon your being prepared for your golf activity. You can warm up your muscles and make straining them less likely by doing golf stretching and flexibility exercises. Flexibility in all parts of the body can be increased relatively fast through full body range of motion (ROM) exercises. Furthermore, elastic band conditioning offers functional golf range of motion advantages and can increase needed strength in the shoulders, hips and deep muscles of the core. Due to the fact that elastic band training provides the dynamic resistance that regular weight lifting does not, sports professionals, such as your chiropractor, are adding them to their golf conditioning programs.
Besides back injuries, a large number of golfers suffer from “Golfer’s Elbow.” There is a small difference between golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow despite the fact that they are nearly identical injuries. Tennis elbow impinges the outside of the upper arm whereas golfer’s elbow impinges the inner arm. Golfer’s elbow, like tennis elbow, can be the consequence of a single intense action, such as (in golf) hitting the mat at the driving range or striking a hard fairway surface. Repetitive stress from smaller shocks, though, is most often the protagonist. Moreover, it can happen to those who suddenly begin to play too much golf. For instance, if those that generally play golf once or twice a month elect to enter into a tournament, they are conceivably at risk for incurring the injury.
Golf makes unique demands on our body. The game is usually longer than many other sports and that can lead to fatigue. Bad posture and impeded coordination are normally the result of a fatigued body. These two factors combined can produce a variety of injuries. In addition, because of the constant swinging of the golf clubs, the shoulder muscles are subject to injury. Just as attention should be given to make sure that your muscles are stretched and warmed up before starting your golf game, be sure to rest your body appropriately between games.
An unexpected injury sometimes associated with golf is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. But, this injury can be the result of many games of golf played over a number of months repetitively since it is an affliction that happens as a result of repetitive stress Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can be a serious injury causing disability and occasionally necessitating surgery. However, chiropractic treatment and, sometimes the use of a brace will help the condition if a health professional, such as your chiropractor, diagnoses it at an early stage.
Injuries are assumed to be unavoidable part of life for most golfers. However, a healthy, mobile spine, good preparation, appropriate exercise and muscle conditioning, attaining and maintaining a a suitable fitness level, and reasonable rest and recuperation after your game is over, can make injuries much less a part of your golfing experience.
Dr. Yong Kim is a Sacramento chiropractor with over thirteen years of experience helping thousands of patients get out of pain and get their lives back. His office is located at 1707 Professional Drive, Sacramento, CA 95825. He has special training in the area of sports injuries. Dr Kim is himself an avid health enthusiast. For more information go to his website at http://www.sacramentochiropractor.org
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Yong_J_Kim
Seattle Chiropractor: Chiropractic Care Can Not Only Help You Get Rid of Back Pain, But Foot Pain As Well!
It’s not surprising that Chiropractic Seattle Style has treated plenty of individuals suffering from foot pain, and knows all too well how commonplace painful foot problems are these days. Here’s why: We’ve all heard that movement is beneficial for the whole body, right? In fact, our overall good health relies upon our getting regular physical exercise. If that’s true, you may be pondering as to why so many individuals suffer from foot pain. After all, our feet are made for walking, aren’t they? Yes, but they aren’t designed for mistreatment.
The normal, healthy individual takes 3,000-5,000 steps each day, not counting activities like running and aerobic exercise. However, many times those steps are taken by individuals walking incorrectly, with poorly aligned gait patterns and bad posture.
Furthermore, many individuals wear poorly-designed, improperly-fitting shoes. Walking and exercising on feet that are impeded from functioning as they were meant to cannot help but to produce painful problems not only in a variety of places in the feet, but in other parts of the body, too. For example, if an individual over-pronates (walks like a duck) in shoes that are poorly-made or unevenly-worn, or in any pair of high heels, that person will not only develop foot and ankle challenges, but will probably experience challenges in the back, knees and legs.
The most prevalent foot problem is Plantar Fascitis (heel pain), which is usually caused by inflammation of the plantar fascia. The plantar fascia is a superbly-made, multi-tasking band of connective tissue that encircles the muscles on the bottom of the foot, fixes the heel bone to the ball of the foot, sustains the arch, protects the foot, and absorbs shock. As you can see, the healthy function of the plantar fascia is crucial for pain-free walking and exercise.
There are many factors that can be considered reasons for the development of Plantar Fascitis. Short and tight calf muscles are one factor. When calf muscles get short and tight they exert a strong pull on the back of the heel bone, producing undue stress on the smaller and weaker plantar muscles and fascia. What causes calf muscles to get short and tight? Besides aerobics, volleyball, running, basketball, tennis, and similar activities that involve running and jumping, the wearing of high heels can produce the problem.
Other determinants that contribute to Plantar Fascitis include sudden strenuous activity after a period of prolonged inactivity, abnormal gait patterns (such as over-pronation), unsuitable footwear, walking on hard or uneven surfaces (especially barefooted), and obesity.
Once developed, Plantar Fascitis is often not easy to manage and can become extremely painful and tenacious. Plantar Fascitis won’t go away without appropriate care.
If you are suffering from the pain of Plantar Fascitis, your chiropractor will be able to establish the cause of your problem and what chiropractic management would be most beneficial. Treatment might include ultrasound therapy, laser, joint manipulation, Graston technique, muscle stretching and strengthening exercises, kinesio taping and, in some cases, orthotics.