benefits of exercise & chiropractic care
The sun is out. The birds are chirping. Everyone you know wants to be outside walking, running, strength building or biking. The first thing many people do is just lace up their running shoes and hit the open path.
That’s when the mistakes begin.
In the rush to get healthy with exercise, people tend to plow ahead without considering the benefits/necessity of stretching to help their bodies perform at the best level. And of working with a chiropractor to ensure their bodies can handle the exercise they want to do.
Chiropractic care can be instrumental in preparing the body before and managing pain after exercise as well.
In general, a reasonable amount of exercise that uses activities you enjoy and will keep doing daily is recommended for patients undergoing chiropractic treatment.
how can chiropractic help?
Chiropractors are extensively trained in the assessment, diagnosis, prevention, and management of musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions. To help relieve pain and dysfunction, joint manipulation is only one of many tools chiropractors are trained to perform effectively and safely.
But, in order to optimize outcomes, you have an important role to play in supporting your care. Chiropractic adjustments work best and are most effective when done in conjunction with other therapies like exercise.
Exercise, in addition to passive care such as manipulation and soft tissue therapy, can be an important component to recovery. Patient engagement through active care can help empower the patient, increase confidence in their own capacity, and improve pain and function.
Your chiropractor can help you tailor exercises to meet your needs and goals.
what type of exercises are best?
There are many applicable back exercises that are available for patients also undergoing chiropractic care for lower back pain.
For example:
- If a patient feels best when bending over, exercises that promote low back flexing like pulling the knees to the chest, posterior pelvic tilts, bending forward from a sitting position and others are usually helpful.
- If a patient feels best in extension, especially if leg pain centralizes or diminishes, prone press-up type exercises usually yield the best results.
Other exercises that can help reduce lower back pain include:
- Strengthening of the pelvic stabilizing muscles (trunk muscles)
- Stretching of the hamstrings, adductors, and other overly short or tight postural muscles
- balance promoting
what happens after 40?
In her book, “Fitness after 40,” orthopedic surgeon and mobility specialist, Dr. Vonda Wright, recommends that people over 40 shouldn’t exercise more, they should exercise smarter. The first smart move is to improve your flexibility and balance. Both physical factors suffer from muscle loss and joint stiffness as you age.
Quoted on CNN, Dr. David Geier, former director of Sports Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and spokesperson for the American Orthopedic Society of Sports Medicine concurs, stating that: “Flexibility is the third pillar of fitness, next to cardiovascular conditioning and strength training.”
Flexibility can help reduce injuries, improve your balance and help you reach your optimum level of fitness.
Working with your chiropractor can help to ensure that exercises you are planning on doing are right for your body.
Move, Just Move…
Don’t give up. You can still kick some butt at forty-plus — if you are smart about it and put strategies in place to help you overcome the common obstacles. As with most things, if you apply a bit of self-restraint and some discipline, the results come surprisingly easily, even as a mature trainee.
Challenge yourself but recognize your limitations. You will enjoy your body’s movement more if you take care of it.
Take care of your body and it will take care of you.
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To schedule an appointment for treatment with chiropractic, acupuncture or massage, please contact Shimer Chiropractic today at 720-340-4107.
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