How We Fix Necks and Improve PostureHow We Fix Necks and Improve Posture

By Farzad Aziz
•
13 Mar, 2018
•

Your posture might have a bigger role than you think.Your posture might have a bigger role than you think.

Neck pain is the second most common complaint that we work with. This is because many adults experience chronic neck pain from sustained poor posture and traumatic injuries. The majority of the cases that we see are due to poor posture, and not due to serious traumas like car accidents or falls (although we work with those patients too, just differently).

There are three main pain generators in the neck: The muscles, the joints, and the discs. Posture tends to affect the muscles and joints. Disc injuries need to be treated prior to correcting posture, see our previous post on disc decompression therapy . But why does posture lead to tight muscles and tender joints? The answer is biomechanics. When the head is centered about the body, the muscles do not have to do much to keep it upright, and the joints have a nice full range of motion. When we have poor posture, the muscles will be constantly active to stabilize the neck and this will lead to chronic tight and tender muscles.

Try this: Stick your head forward as far as you can. Now try to look left and right. Next, pull your head back over your body and look left and right. You'll see that you lose the ability to look left and right as your head goes forward. Let's take a look at how we evaluate posture here in our office.

We use a program called PostureScreen to digitally measure posture, and compare it after treatment to see the improvement. PostureScreen was recently tested by UCLA and found to be reliable and accurate ( source ). After a physical exam has been performed, we analyze posture. This let's us visualize where posture has broken down, so we can prescribe corrective exercises. But we take it one step further by analyzing the curvature of the spine with x-rays.

X-ray analysis gives critical information about the curvature of the neck. If you don't have an x-ray you only have half of the required information! There are two important factors when looking at the neck from the side. First, we want to minimize the amount of forward head carriage. A little bit is fine, but excessive amounts cause problems. Second, we want to ensure that the neck has a normal "lordotic" curve. This normal curve is represented by the green line in the image above. We can see that this patient has a reversed curve, called a "kyphotic" neck. After care, the patient's neck is not perfect, but we've improved the curvature substantially, and symptoms improved substantially as well.

How do we do it?How do we do it?

Now that we have a detailed analysis, we can use adjustments, specific exercises, and spinal traction to correct posture and the curvature of the spine at the same time. Adjustments are great at improving range of motion and reducing pain. Unfortunately studies have shown that adjustments alone do not change the shape of the spine. To do that, we need exercise and traction.

We use "mirror-image" exercises to correct poor posture towards normal. Let's say a patient had a head that was shifted to the left. Our simple exercise to correct that is by having them shift their head to the right. This sounds easy, but it can be tricky. Patients are used to their posture, and it feels unnatural to correct. By only performing the exercises in one direction, the body slowly moves towards being centered. This same concept applies to forward head carriage, we have patients retract their head. We use various methods to add resistance to these exercises, like the bands in the above image.

But our most effective treatment is spinal traction.

Spinal traction is a sustained stretch while the muscles are relaxed. It is very important to relax the muscles, since we are not trying to stretch them, we are trying to stretch ligaments that have slowly tightened over time and are holding the neck in poor posture. Ligaments are tough. They need to be held under tension for 10-20 minutes to make a measurable change in shape. We utilize a variety of methods to traction the spine, the most simple of which is the Denneroll. Dennerolls are specially shaped foam blocks that stretch the neck in the right areas without stretching the wrong areas. In the image above, you can see how the neck Denneroll works. You simply lie on the block, and it stretches the tight ligaments in the front of the spine. When used regularly, this can force the spine back into the normal and proper shape.

Spines that have proper alignment are less likely to have pain, and more importantly do not degenerate as fast. Improper curvature is what causes degeneration, its that simple.

We hope this has been helpful! We put posture in our name because we are passionate and serious about correcting it! Please give us a call if you think that you might be a candidate for this type of care. 408.561.2957

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Top Therapeutic Benefits of Cupping

By Farzad Aziz • March 14, 2018

If you’ve been watching the Rio Olympics, you might have noticed that some of the athletes, including Olympic gold medalist swimmer Michael Phelps, have a number of odd purple bruises on their bodies.

While some people were concerned Phelps and others had gotten involved in some sort of strange self-abuse, the round bruises are actually the result of a healing technique known as cupping. The gymnastics team captain, Chris Brooks, and American gymnast Alex Naddourr have also been seen with cupping marks.

Referring to the practice, Naddour told USA Today , “That’s been the secret that I have had through this year that keeps me healthy. It’s been better than any money I’ve spent on anything else.”

Cupping involves heating up small glass cups and then putting them onto the skin, and pulling them away from the body to help loosen and relax muscles by promoting blood flow.

It seems to be working. The U.S. men’s gymnastics team finished second during the qualifying round at the 2016 Olympics, and swim team members Michael Phelps and Nathan Adrian, who also uses cupping, managed to secure gold medals in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

Many massage therapists and other alternative health practitioners are including it as part of their practice. It makes sense as cupping is kind of the inverse of massage. Instead of apply pressure to muscles, the suction uses pressure to pull the skin, tissue and muscles upward. It’s a practice that was developed thousands of years ago, and while techniques have been modernized, the original philosophy is still the same.

Olympic athletes certainly aren’t the only ones to experience the many benefits of cupping, famous celebrities like actress Gwyneth Paltrow walked the red carpet with noticeable cupping marks on her back, and former “Friends” star Jennifer Aniston wore a strapless black dress to a movie premiere recently that showed cupping marks too.

What is Chiropractic BioPhysics (CBP), and why should you care?

By Farzad Aziz • March 9, 2018

What is Chiropractic BioPhysics (CBP), and why should you care?

Decompression Therapy Works When Others Fail.

By Farzad Aziz • March 9, 2018

No profession owns decompression. Medical doctors use it, physical therapists use it, chiropractors use it. Why? Because it works! We all know that drugs may mask symptoms, but let the problem get worse. Surgery might work, but it has serious long term side effects. Even surgeons agree that conservative options should be exhausted before considering surgery.

So patients try stretching and exercise with a physical therapist or they get adjusted by a chiropractor . Both provide some degree of relief, but not enough. They give up, start taking medications and consider surgery. What most people don't do is TRY DECOMPRESSION! Since no profession owns decompression, it isn't well known to patients who need it. Previous decompression machines before computers were crude and hard to tolerate.