weight loss

San Diego Chiropractor Asks: Could Those Extra Pounds Be Putting Your Joints on Overload?

by admin on March 29, 2010

San Diego Chiropractor

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!

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Can Weight Reduction Help Painful Arthritis?

by admin on July 19, 2009

San Diego Chiropractor: Chiropractic and Arthritis

Do you suffer from painful arthritis? Do you also have a problem with your weight?  If you’ve answered in the affirmative to both questions, more than likely you’re having back pain not only due to arthritis, but also because of the strain your weight is putting on your spine.  The body was not designed to carry around additional weight in the form of body fat.  If you are carrying around even an additional 20 or 30 pounds day in and day out, your spine, which supports the body, is being put under a great deal of strain. This kind of strain can created aberrations of the vertebral column. These misaligned vertebra can generate arthritic changes in the spine and continue to irritate the degenerative changes that have begun. In addition, your body may compensate in other ways, for instance your hips moving forward or tilting to support the excess pounds.  This can pinch the sciatic nerve, which is extremely painful.

A new survey by the NPD Group, a leading market research firm based in Rosemont, Ill., shows that approximately 62% of adults and 34% of children are overweight or obese. The ubiquitousness of arthritis escalates with increasing weight. Research indicates that sustaining a healthy weight reduces the risk of developing arthritis in the first place and may decelerate disease progression. A loss of just 11 pounds can lessen the occurrence (incidence) of new knee osteoarthritis and would do quite a lot to relieve back pain as well.

In order for an individual to overcome their back pain, knee pain, and pain in the joints in other regions of the body, a good diet and regular exercise is mandatory.  Even though this information probably doesn’t seem like anything new, it genuinely is the only action for you to take in order to get out of pain and regain your life.

First of all, let’s discuss the topic of dieting.  The majority diets (and there are hundreds from which to choose) can be temporarily useful.  Sadly, the diet industry is not interested in having you lose weight permanently because as a result they would not have you as a customer.  Eating a life-enriching diet (as a lifestyle choice and not a temporary fix) and cutting your calories so that you are at a slight calorie “deficit,” is the only approach to losing weight in a healthy, permanent manner.  Shedding a lot of pounds too fast is not only unhealthy, but unsafe. You should be losing about 2 pounds every week in order for it to be truly effective.

Research has proved that exercise and physical activity not only reduces pain and augments function, but genuinely postpones disability. Be certain to get no less than 30 minutes of moderate physical activity no less than 3 days a week. You can get activity in 10-minute intervals.

In addition to the benefits your joints will undergo from exercise, chiropractic adjustments are a highly beneficial way to get motion back in the joints of your spine and other places in your body. A well-adjusted spine makes exercise and physical activity a lot easier and actually slows down arthritic degenerative changes. The Annals of Internal Medicine published the findings of a survey of 232 people who were under a rheumatologist’s care for their arthritis.  Of those people, 63% answered the survey by saying they were taking advantage of some type of “complementary care” as named by the study.  Of those individuals, 31% were using chiropractic. Possibly the most notable statistic was that 73% of those trying chiropractic found it beneficial.  Explaining why they’d tried the non-medical chiropractic care, the responders provided a number of reasons: 1) to control pain, 2) they’d heard that it helps, 3) they felt assured that it is safe, 4) it had assisted someone they knew, and 5) because their prescription medication wasn’t stopping the pain.

Chiropractors, also called doctors of chiropractic, have been assisting people suffering from back pain due to arthritis as well as other arthritic problems for over a hundred years. Not only can arthritic pain and degenerative changes in the spine be caused by the misaligned vertebra that your San Diego chiropractor will adjust, if left unchanged misalignments can lower resistance and immunity, which can lead to new health conditions.

It is always wise to see a health care professional to get information about diet and exercise. Your chiropractor is an excellent resource for information on the kind of lifestyle changes that you will require to help you to manage your arthritis. Moreover, in addition to getting your spine in alignment through gentle adjustments, your chiropractor will evaluate any faulty gait patterns or posture irregularities that may be compounding your arthritic pain.

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