Thank you for joining me again this evening for another great nightly podcast. I do these podcast on a regular basis in the hopes that you will be better educated on these topics and this will allow you to make better informed decisions when it comes to your health care. I am doctor Harrison Campbell of Restoration Health a premier sugar land chiropractors office. Last time we discussed home exercises in broad terms covering the downside to the exercises in patients note performing them and the positive of the patients recovering quicker when they perform them diligently. Tonight we will dive a little deeper into home exercises and cover the general exercises I request for patients to perform to improve their over all health.
To start with we will divide the general exercises into body areas such as cervical spine meaning neck, the core, and so on. Unfortunately due to time we will probable not be able to cover all the body areas but we will hit the high points. Let us first look at the neck. Most sugar land chiropractors will agree with me when it comes to desk jobs and the need to stretch the neck. Due to the position holding a desk job requires often times the shoulders and the posterior neck musculature is tight. This can create headaches, stiffness, and pain for the patient. To reduce this effect stretching these key muscles can help alleviate many of these problems.
There are two primary stretches for these patients to perform. The first stretch will target the muscle called the trapezius, and it is this muscle most people associate with tight shoulder and carrying their stress. To perform this stretch you will laterally flex your head by bringing one ear as close to your shoulder as possible. This will create a stretch in the trapezius. The second stretch will target the levator scapulae muscle. As most sugar land chiropractors know, this muscle is often fatiguing when staring at computer screen with the common hunch most people assume when sitting at a desk. Tightness is this muscle creates pain and discomfort at the base of the neck. For this stretch you will bring your head down essentially into your arm pit which will create a stretch along the back of the neck towards one of your shoulder blades.
When performing the stretches it is important to remember to hole them for a minimum of twenty seconds and to not force the stretch. As sugar land chiropractors can tell you the mistake most often made with stretching is the patient wants to force the stretch. They believe that if a little is good more will be a lot better. Unfortunately the only thing a little more stretch will create is a lot more pain. Remember we are trying to restore the nature tension to a muscle not pull or strain a muscle with the stretching.
For the core there are many exercises which can be done. The best exercise to start when strengthening your core is called the dead bug exercise. Now this exercise has the patient flat on their back and the goal of the exercise is to strengthen the muscle known as the transverse abdominus. This muscle as sugar land chiropractors know performs the function of a weight lifting belt in protecting the low back. To start with this exercise, I tell patients to activate the muscle by pulling their belly button towards their spine. When most people doe this the first time they hold their breath, so the next phase of this exercise is being able to hold this muscle active while still being able to breath. There is no benefit to having the transverse abdominus activated but passing out while doing so. Once these phases have been mastered we progress to difficulty by having the patient touch their hand to their opposite knee. This has them moving in a coordinated pattern while still having to keep the muscle tight.
For the low back in addition to the core strengthening exercise there are stretches we can perform to help improve the lumbar spine. These stretches more often than not are focused on the hamstrings. One of the leading causes of low back pain is tight hamstrings affecting the pelvis and by extension the lumbar spine. Most sugar land chiropractors know the importance of hamstrings in regard to the low back being healthy. This is why there seem to be an almost infinite amount of ways to stretch the hamstrings. For patients at Restoration Health the most common way we perform this stretch is on the back and using a belt at the bottom of the foot and pulling the leg up towards the ceiling. It is important to keep the knee straight during the process to provide the best stretch possible for the hamstrings.
In addition to the hamstrings we can also keep the joints in the low back healthy with an exercise known as the Mack Kenzie Williams stretch. This stretch or exercise was designed specifically for the intervertebral disc health in the low back. There are several progressions for this exercise but to start you are on your stomach with your arms below your chest. You then extend your arms to where your forearms are on the ground but your chest is elevated. It is important to keep your hips on the ground through this process. For sugar land chiropractors verse in this exercise the progression will include raising the torso higher off the ground creating more extension in the low back.
Thank you for joining us this evening for our nightly podcasts. I do hope you found tonight educational and informative regarding these home exercise tips. Should you or someone you know have more questions please call Restoration Health a premier sugar land chiropractor office today in order to schedule an appointment with us. Thank you for joining us once again. I hope to see you tomorrow for another great podcast. Thank you and have a great evening. Good night.