The annual BackCare Awareness Week is organised by the charity BackCare, and this year, they promise to have the biggest campaign ever.
We’ve been really impressed by this year’s resources, especially the cleverly named Inside Story collection of PDFs.
Follow the link to see yourself in an x-ray with detailed explanations of how posture in your daily life, relaxing, working at a desk, driving and carrying bags affect your spine. There are many helpful diagrams, case studies, exercises, and tips within The Inside Stories pdfs.
Does your sofa bite – or does it feel like it sometimes? Then make sure to read the Relaxing pdf to find out why. You’ll also find hints and tips for choosing a new sofa or dining chair, or how to make your old ones more back-friendly. There’s also a must-read at the end: ‘First aid for your back’.
It’s Important to Be Kind to Your Spine!
There’s a very good reason why our favourite saying at The Lymington Chiropractic Clinic is ‘Be Kind to Your Spine’ – so much stems from the spine. And, as Chiropractors, your spine is our primary concern. We may have special interests in other areas, such as feet and paediatrics, but our core practice is the spine, and everything linked with it. Similarly, our colleagues in acupuncture, massage therapy and podiatry find much of their work involves issues relating to the spine and back.
Without the spine, you would not be able to stay upright – it gives you stability. Yet, it is also the spine that allows you the flexibility to bend. This is thanks to its amazing structure – an s shape of 33 vertebrae and 23 elastic spinal disks organised into five sections: the cervical spine, thoracic spine, lumber spine, sacrum, and coccyx. The spine also protects the spinal cord, which is the central pathway for messages between your body and your brain. Therefore if this pathway is damaged or affected, messages can’t flow, and this impinges on how your body functions.
Pain and discomfort can also severely affect your mood.
SUFFERING FROM BACK PAIN? – YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
Our professional body, The British Chiropractic Association (BCA), has conducted some recent research and found that:
- Nearly 73% of British people are struggling with back pain on a daily basis.
- 60% of British people are using exercise to manage their back and joint pain
- Over half (52%) of British people have lived with bone and joint pain for more than 12 months
- A third of British people (33%) haven’t seen a GP to treat their bone and joint pain as they struggled to get an appointment.
Follow the link to find out more about how the BCA is supporting the UK’s back health, and see the BCA President’s simple tips to incorporate into your daily routine to help ease back pain.
We also recommend their easy-to-follow exercise sheets for grown-ups and kids.
We’re Here to Help
At Lymington Chiropractic Clinic we are here to help through advice and treatments that provide a pathway back to increased mobility and better outcomes.
Improving your posture can take the strain from the rest of your body, which will relieve pain and discomfort. Through careful assessment of your posture and spine, we can identify the impact of bad postural habits. We can then suggest an appropriate treatment plan, including a mix of gentle adjustments, strengthening exercises and massage to help retrain your spine so that you feel balanced, upright and stronger.
It is important to us to provide care and information on how people can manage their back pain – That’s what we aim to do with our website Resources section.
Here, we have a number of videos that we provide for people to help them manage their back pain, for example, our video to help you get out of bed in the morning with less low back pain and ache.
If you would like to learn more about the spine and its importance to your health and well-being, take a look at the links below. There is also a great blog article about working from home from the British Chiropractic Association with top tips to help build good postural habits.
We also have a number of spine-related blog posts that may interest you. See the links below.
So, if you have any concerns about your back, spine or posture and feel you need to be kind to your spine, BOOK ONLINE or call the clinic on 01590 679560 to book an appointment with chiropractors Colin, Charlotte and Fiona, massage therapist Hannah, and podiatrist Paul. For acupuncture appointments with Amanda call 07876 343821.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279468/
https://www.umms.org/ummc/health-services/orthopedics/services/spine/patient-guides/anatomy-function
Back Care Awareness Week – British Chiropractic Association (chiropractic-uk.co.uk)