Gentle chiropractic care is ideal for seniors, providing safe, effective relief for aging joints. As we age, our bodies go through natural changes that affect flexibility, balance, and joint health. Many seniors live with arthritis, osteoporosis, or chronic back and neck pain that interferes with everyday activities. The good news is, pain and stiffness don’t […]
Offering Veterans Treatment for PTSD
Find veterans treatment for PTSD at Advanced Wellness Solutions.
Veterans seeking treatment for PTSD should know that acupuncture can treat PTSD symptoms of depression and pain. Acupuncture for veterans treatment for PTSD can also improve physical and mental health functioning. Acupuncture can also significantly improve sleep quality which in turn improves physical and mental health.
What is PTSD?
PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) can occur after a traumatic (extremely stressful) event. It is common to suffer stress after surviving traumatic events such as combat, being assaulted or even being in a car accident. However, if your stressful reactions don’t subside over time or are impacting how you live your life, you may have PTSD.
Experiencing trauma doesn’t mean you’ll develop PTSD. While about 8% of the general population will experience PTSD, the incidence for veterans is much higher. A public health study of PTSD in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans showed 15.7% of OEF/OIF deployed Veterans screened positive for PTSD compared to 10.9% of non-deployed Veterans.1 It is estimated that 30% of Vietnam Veterans have had PTSD in their lifetime.2
PTSD symptoms
There are four main types of PTSD symptoms:3
- intrusive memories
- avoidance
- negative changes in thinking and mood
- changes in physical and emotional reactions.
Behavioral symptoms of PTSD include agitation, irritability, hostility, hypervigilance, self-destructive behavior, or social isolation. The psychological symptoms of PTSD include flashback, fear, severe anxiety, or mistrust.
PTSD also causes negative mood changes such as a loss of interest or pleasure in activities, guilt, or loneliness. Sleep disturbances including insomnia or nightmares are also common in people suffering from PTSD.
Talk to your doctor or a mental health professional if you or a loved one:
- have had disturbing thoughts and/or feelings about a traumatic event for more than a month
- if these thoughts and/or feelings are extreme or severe,
- feel you (or they) are losing control of your/their life.
Early treatment can help prevent PTSD symptoms from getting worse.
PTSD comorbidities
PTSD often presents simultaneously with other mental health conditions. Depression is the most common comorbidity of PTSD in veterans. Major depressive disorder (MDD) is nearly three to five times more likely to emerge in those with PTSD than those without PTSD.4 Other common comorbidities of PTSD in military veterans include anxiety and substance abuse or dependence. 5
Veterans Treatment for PTSD
One of the most frequently reported symptoms of PTSD among OEF/OIF veterans returning from deployment is sleep disturbances. 6 Sleep plays an incredibly important role in physical and mental health. See Sleep Helps you Heal for more information.
It is important for everyone to find drug free ways to get essential healthy sleep. Veterans suffering from PTSD need extra help in this area.
Acupuncture has been commonly used to treat insomnia in China for thousands of years. Dozens of randomized control trials show that acupuncture improves sleep quality. In these studies, acupuncture was superior to medications regarding the number of patients with total sleep duration.
Acupuncture plus medications showed better effect than medications alone on total sleep duration. Also, acupuncture plus herbs were significantly better than herbs alone on increase of sleep rates. 7
According to Chinese medicine, there are 2,000 meridian acupuncture points on the body. These points connect the body’s meridians or energetic pathways. Acupuncture is the practice of inserting very fine, sterile needles into specific points to facilitate natural healing.
Benefits of Acupuncture for Mental Health and Veterans Treatment for PTSD
Acupuncture has shown potential benefit in a wide range of mental health disorders including anxiety disorders and substance abuse disorders. There is growing clinical evidence to support the use of acupuncture for a variety of mental health disorders.
In 2014, Charles C Engel et. al. ran a well-designed randomized controlled trial. The trial compared the effectiveness of using acupuncture for PTSD. The subjects in the trial were divided into two categories: those who received usual PTSD care plus acupuncture compared to usual PTSD care alone.
The following is taken from Complementary and Alternative Medicine Approaches in the Treatment of PTSD by Gary H. Wynn
Acupuncturists in the study delivered a standardized treatment during the first four sessions to facilitate clearing of trauma, calming the spirit, and balancing the Qi. For the remaining four sessions, the acupuncturist was allowed to adjust the treatment based on clinical findings. Both groups were followed for 12 weeks.
At 12 weeks, the acupuncture treatment group showed significantly greater improvements in PTSD symptoms as well as improvements on ratings of depression, pain, and physical and mental health functioning.
In the study abstract,8
Mean improvement in PTSD severity was significantly greater among those receiving acupuncture than in those receiving UPC. Pre-post effect-sizes for these outcomes were large and robust.
If you suspect you or a loved on is suffering from PTSD, please seek treatment. PTSD symptoms usually get worse without treatment.
Call (772) 403-7640 to schedule your appointment.
Chiropractic care for shoulder pain
Gentle chiropractic can effectively treat shoulder pain. Shoulder pain is musculoskeletal pain. Gentle chiropractic care shines as an effective, drug free way to relieve musculoskeletal pain.
Accepting new patients. Call 855-509-5400 to schedule your appointment.
We Accept All Major Medical Health Insurance and Medicare.
The shoulder is a complex arrangement of bone, muscles, nerves, bursa, tendons, and ligaments. No other joint in the body has the range of motion that a fully functioning shoulder does. It’s easily the most mobile joint in the body. This incredible mobility and flexibility comes at a price. Shoulders are prone to injury.
If shoulder pain comes on suddenly and was not caused by an injury, call 911 immediately. Shoulder pain can be a symptom of a heart attack.
It’s important to diagnose the cause of shoulder pain. We will perform a variety of orthopedic tests to determine the cause of shoulder pain. Imaging will be ordered if the prescribed treatment plan isn’t providing pain relief.
Causes of Shoulder Pain:
Golfing
Common shoulder problems affecting golfers include rotator cuff tears, long head of the biceps tendon injuries, shoulder impingement, osteoarthritis, and shoulder joint instability. Due to the golf swing, the lead shoulder is particularly vulnerable to injury. Golf injuries often respond well to nonsurgical gentle chiropractic treatment.
Rotator Cuff Injuries
If you’re a sports fan, you’ve probably heard of a rotator cuff injury. Rotator cuff injuries are a common reason for shoulder pain.
Four different muscles and associated tendons make up the rotator cuff. This unique arrangement of muscles, tendons surround a ball socket like joint allowing you to raise, rotate and move your arm in a wide variety of ways.
There are three different types of rotator cuff injury: 1
- RCT or Rotator Cuff Tendinitis: the tendons are irritated and/or damaged,
- RCI or Rotator Cuff Impingement: the bony process on the scapula is rubbing (impinging) upon the tendons and bursa of the rotator cuff.
- RCB or Rotator Cuff Bursitis : the bursa is inflamed and swollen
Postural Syndrome
Poor office posture injuries (postural syndrome) are repetitive use injuries. Poor ergonomics can cause musculoskeletal disorders. Ergonomics describes how you interact with your environment. Poor workspace ergonomics can result in
- headaches
- shoulder pain
- back pain
- neck pain
- wrist pain
Postural syndrome is common if you spend 8-10 hours a day with
- your shoulders rolled forward
- your head jutting forward
- and your upper back slouched.
The human body is great at “making do” with whatever situation you put it in. It will do it’s best to adapt. Ifyou keep stressing your body, you will cause a repetitive use injury. In repetitive use injuries, pain develops over time. As you can see from the list above, shoulder pain is part of postural syndrome.
Chiropractic care is very effective at relieving shoulder pain and other symptoms of postural postural syndrome. For long term relief, you should address your workplace ergonomics. Click here to learn how to create an ergonomic home office.
Frozen Shoulder
Adhesive capsulitis (a,k.a. frozen shoulder) is sneaky. It isn’t caused by an injury. Patients will try to describe it as a dull pain located deep inside the shoulder.
In the earliest stages, the symptoms are mild becoming more severe over time. Over time, the shoulder may become almost impossible to move. Thus the moniker, “frozen shoulder.” 2
Frozen shoulder can be treated with gentle chiropractic care.
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis of the shoulder is rare and usually caused by a previous injury. Chiropractic care maximizes the function of arthritic joints. Gentle chiropractic care can treat osteoarthritis 3 and is recommended for arthritis pain management.
Chiropractic Care of Shoulder Pain
Chiropractors focus on the relationships between the structure and function of joints, muscles and other soft tissues. They accomplish drug free pain relief without surgery through manual manipulations and other therapies. These therapies reduce inflammation and swelling and aid in natural healing.
There are many therapies chiropractors use to relieve shoulder pain. Chiropractic treatments include:
- Chiropractic adjustments
- prescribed exercises
- ultrasound
- electrical muscle stimulation
- application of ice/heat
These chiropractic therapies can
- provide pain relief
- restore mobility
- increase range of motion.
Most patients choosing chiropractic care of shoulder pain are able to return to their normal activities within 6-8 weeks without resorting to steroid injections or surgery.
Accepting new patients. Call 855-509-5400 to schedule your appointment.
We Accept All Major Medical Health Insurance and Medicare.
If you’re experiencing shoulder pain, call Advanced Wellness Solutions to schedule your appointment.
Gentle Chiropractic Care for Fibromyalgia
Gentle chiropractic care for fibromyalgia can help manage the chronic pain, fatigue and poor quality sleep that afflicts patients.
Accepting new patients. Call 855-509-5400 to schedule your appointment.
We Accept All Major Medical Health Insurance and Medicare.
Fibromyalgia is characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain in the joints, muscles, tendons and other soft tissues throughout the body. Other symptoms include:
- fatigue,
- difficulty sleeping,
- memory issues,
- mood issues.
Not that long ago, if you were suffering from pain, fatigue and muscle spasms, your doctor would run a variety of tests. If the tests showed nothing and you kept pestering you doctor, you might get diagnosed with fibromyalgia. That’s no longer the case. Researchers are making progress unraveling this mysterious condition. Research studies suggest that the nervous system plays a role in the illness. Researchers believe that the fibromyalgia patient’s nervous system amplifies painful sensations, affecting the way the patient’s brain processes pain signals. 1
Gentle Chiropractic Care for Fibromyalgia
Gentle chiropractic can help manages fibromyalgia pain and fatigue.
According to a clinical trial published by the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. 2
“Chiropractic management improved patients’ cervical and lumbar ranges of motion, straight leg raise and reported pain levels.“
Many patients with fibromyalgia also suffer from headaches, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders, irritable bowel syndrome as well as anxiety and depression.3
Symptoms of fibromyalgia
- muscles spasms.
- fatigue
- poor quality sleep
- “fibro fog” which is characterized by trouble with remembering, learning, paying attention, and concentrating.
- widespread pain.
If you’re suffering from the symptoms of fibromyalgia, you owe it to yourself to see the pain relief specialists at Advanced Wellness Solutions. Schedule your appointment by calling: 855-509-5400
Gentle Chiropractic for Car Accident Injuries
Florida car accidents are happening more frequently these days. Stressed drivers are causing injury and fatality rates to climb.1 If you’ve been in a car accident, you should choose gentle chiropractic care for those injuries.
Accepting new patients. Call 855-509-5400 to schedule your appointment.
We Accept All Major Medical Health Insurance and Medicare.
Gentle Chiropractic Care for Car Accident Injuries
There are 3 Compelling Reasons to Choose Chiropractic Care after a Car Accident, When choosing a chiropractor, you’ll want to choose one that practices effective gentle chiropractic care.
Injured in a Florida car accident?
The chiropractor you choose can make a difference!
What is Gentle Chiropractic?
Many patients in pain are afraid of the traditional spinal manipulation methods. They don’t want to be twisted, snapped or “crunched.” Different chiropractic techniques and patient positioning are used to deliver effective, gentle chiropractic care. This will allows for optimal recovery after a car accident.
One gentle chiropractic modality is the Activator Method. This provides a gentle spinal manipulation for patients in severe pain. This chiropractic technique uses a small, hand-held Activator Adjusting Instrument to deliver a gentle impulse force to the spine. This gentle modality is beneficial for patients who have suffered a traumatic injury. It avoids the twisting and contortion frequently involved in traditional manual adjustment modalities.
Gentle chiropractic adjustments can to help you get back to living the life you love.
Gentle Chiropractic replaces high-velocity adjustments with low-velocity, low amplitude manipulations. There’s no twisting you into a pretzel or snapping movements.
Gentle chiropractic can treat pain in your neck, back, wrists, shoulders, hips and knees.
Gentle chiropractic care is more comfortable and provides maximum benefit from minimal visits.
Car accidents are often violent. The force of the accident places a lot of pressure on the neck and back. The neck and back are easily injured by the force. It’s no surprise that the 4 most common car accident injuries are all forms of soft tissue injuries.
- Headaches
- Neck Pain and Whiplash
- Shoulder Pain
- Back Pain
Gentle chiropractic care can prevent long-term, chronic pain conditions from developing.
If you or someone you know has been in a car accident, you need gentle chiropractic treatment. Call Advanced Wellness Solutions at 855-509-5400 to schedule an appointment.
Gentle Chiropractic Care Provides Chronic Pain Relief
Gentle chiropractic care provides gentle, precise chronic pain relief without twisting, cracking, or popping.
At Advanced Wellness Solutions, we’re happy to help our patients get back to enjoying life instead of simply struggling to survive the day. Regrettably, many of our chronic pain patients and seniors endured unnecessary suffering before finding our clinic.
Accepting new patients. Call (772) 403-7640 to schedule your appointment.
We Accept All Major Medical Health Insurance and Medicare.
Living with chronic pain makes everything more difficult. Performing even the simplest tasks can be difficult when you’re in chronic pain. Whether it’s headache pain, back pain, neck pain, or hip or knee pain, chronic pain leads to a stress reaction throughout the body. Chronic pain can cause muscles to tighten and spasm, which in turn results in even more pain.
Studies show that chronic pain can elevate blood pressure, pulse rate, adrenaline and cortisol serum levels, putting hazardous stress on the cardiovascular system. Chronic pain may also experience elevated serum lipids and glucose levels.1
So it’s clear that chronic pain is bad for your physical health. However, the damage caused by chronic pain doesn’t stop with your physical body. Chronic pain also affects your emotions, your relationships, and even your state of mind. Chronic pain is known to change the levels of stress hormones and neurochemicals found within your brain and nervous system. This disruption of the delicate balance can affect your mood, thinking and behavior.
People suffering from chronic pain tend to have poor sleep and sleep disturbances. This leads to fatigue, trouble concentrating, decreased appetite, and mood changes. Poor quality sleep, the frustration of dealing with chronic pain, and the elevation of stress hormones can then cause depression and anxiety.
Overuse of Pain Relief Medication Can Cause Headaches
When you’re in chronic pain, it’s so easy to just reach for some over-the-counter pain relief medication. Unfortunately, repeated use of pain relievers can cause medication overuse headaches. 1Medication-overuse headache (MOH) is a clinical diagnosis. It’s classified as a secondary disorder affecting patients who use pain-relieving medication (OTC or prescription) more than two to three days per week.
The bad news: the most effective treatment for MOH is to stop using pain-relieving medication.2
The good news: gentle chiropractic care can effectively treat chronic pain without drugs or other medication. Finding effective treatments for chronic pain can restore healthy sleep patterns, which in turn can reduce blood pressure and pulse rate while lowering adrenaline and cortisol serum levels.
Accepting new patients. Call (772) 403-7640 to schedule your appointment.
We Accept All Major Medical Health Insurance and Medicare.
Advanced Wellness Solutions treats musculoskeletal pain using personalized holistic healthcare. We offer gentle chiropractic and medical massage therapy.
Could Chiropractic Care Help Your Headaches?
Headaches are a very common health complaint. Sometimes, headaches are mild. Other times they can be frequent and severe, disrupting your life at home and work. Fortunately, chiropractic care for headaches can provide effective, drug-free headache pain relief.
It’s important to take headaches seriously. You should see your doctor if your headache pattern changes or if your headaches are getting worse.
Seek emergency care if you have any of these signs and symptoms:
- An abrupt, severe headache, often like a thunderclap
- Headache with a fever, nausea or vomiting, stiff neck, mental confusion, seizures, numbness, or speaking difficulties, which may signal a number of serious conditions such as stroke, meningitis, encephalitis or brain tumor
- Headache after a head injury, even if it’s a minor fall or bump, especially if it gets worse.
- A sudden, severe headache unlike any other headache you’ve experienced
- Headache that gets progressively worse over days and changes in pattern
Overuse of Pain Relief Medication Can Actually Cause More Headaches
If you have frequent headaches, you should know that repeated use of pain relievers can cause another type of headache, overuse headaches. 1Medication-overuse headache (MOH) is a clinical diagnosis. It’s classified as a secondary disorder affecting patients who use pain-relieving medication (OTC or prescription) more than two to three days per week.
The bad news: the most effective treatment for MOH is to stop using pain-relieving medication.2
The good news: chiropractic care for headaches can help many different types of headaches. Current evidence suggests that chiropractic care, including manual therapy, can be effective in treating cervicogenic and tension headaches. Studies have also shown that chiropractic care can help decrease the intensity and frequency of migraines.3
Different Types of Headaches
Tension Headaches:
Chiropractic care is very effective at helping to manage tension headaches. Tension headaches are the most common type of headache. Sometimes, a dull, aching pain is a tension headache. You may feel tightness or pressure across your forehead or on the sides and back of your head. You may also feel tenderness on your scalp, neck and shoulder muscles.
Sometimes the pain of tension headaches can be so severe that it is difficult to distinguish it from a migraine. To make matters worse, it’s possible to suffer from both tension headaches and migraine headaches.
It’s rare to have migraine-like visual disturbances, nausea or vomiting with tension headaches. However, like migraines, you may experience an increased sensitivity to either light or sound with a tension headache.
One way to tell if it’s a migraine or a tension headache is that physical activity often makes migraine pain worse, while it doesn’t for tension headaches.
Tension headaches are often due to a combination of stress and back or neck strain. That’s why chiropractic care has been proven to help provide relief for these headaches.
Migraine Headaches:
Migraine headaches are serious. They are surprisingly common and a leading cause of disability.4 Studies show that chiropractic care can help relieve migraine pain by reducing muscle tension and correcting postural strain on soft tissues. Study authors suspect that spinal manipulations also activate descending pain inhibitory pathways responsible for pain modulation.5
There is no cure for migraine headaches. Unfortunately, many medications used to treat migraine have alarming and disabling side effects. As a result, more people who are suffering from migraine headaches are turning to alternative care options, such as chiropractic care. 6
Cluster Headaches:
Cluster headaches are a rare but devastating form of non-life-threatening headaches. These headaches occur in cycles, with each cycle lasting weeks to months. They are also called “suicide headaches” because of the extreme pain that they cause.
Cluster headaches result when the trigeminal nerve is pinched, compressed, or shifted improperly due to a spinal misalignment. This is why chiropractic care is ideally suited to treat cluster headaches.
During the cluster headache cycle, headaches can happen as frequently as every day and last for a few minutes to a few hours. After going through a cycle of cluster headaches, the sufferer will go into a period of remission. During this period of remission, no headaches will occur. A period of remission can last anywhere from several months to years.
Because of the cycles of intense pain, patients who suffer from cluster headaches can be emotionally raw by the time they seek treatment. These headaches are severe and have earned the nickname suicide headaches for a reason.
TMJ Headaches:
TMJ headaches are caused by temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction. Less severe TMJ problems can cause annoying and sometimes painful clicking. Temporomandibular joint dysfunction can cause a painful headache with dull, aching pain in and around the ear. In some cases, the pain travels to the side of the scalp, back of the head, or down into the neck. Tenderness in the jaw area and neck is common in these kinds of headaches. TMJ dysfunction is often made worse by chewing, excessive talking or yawning.
Chiropractors can provide significant relief of the pain caused by TMJ dysfunction by manipulation. Unfortunately, most people are unaware that the jaw can be adjusted. Adjusting the jaw is a delicate procedure that requires a skilled hand using a very light technique or gentle chiropractic care. Because of the finesse involved, there usually isn’t the satisfying “clunk” that accompanies many other joint manipulations.
At Advanced Wellness Solutions, we’ve been seeing great results using acupuncture for relief of TMJ pain as well as for chronic pain relief.
Gentle Chiropractic Care for Headaches
Gentle chiropractic care replaces high-velocity adjustments with low-velocity, low-amplitude manipulations. It is performed with a gentle touch, targeting a specific area. Gentle chiropractic care is more comfortable and provides maximum benefit from minimal visits.
7 Tips to Creating an Ergonomic Home Office
A lot more people are working from home these days. For many, it brings to mind images of relaxing on the couch while working. Few realize the importance of creating an ergonomic home office until they’re in pain.
On a well-known image sharing website, I searched for “working from home” and found the image below. If this is how you’ve been working from home, you may notice you have some new aches and pains. Your neck and back may be aching. Your wrists may hurt as well. Maybe you’re having headaches.
Don’t wait until you’re in severe pain to ask yourself: Is your workspace helping or hurting you? Are you working productively? Or is working from home slowly crippling you?
(By the way, this article applies to children who are homeschooling as well.)
If the decision to work from home was a sudden one, you probably didn’t give much thought to ergonomics. You set up your computer where you could and got to work.
The majority of people are unaware that an employer designed their workspace with ergonomics in mind. Ergonomics draws on many disciplines to optimize the interaction between you and the work environment. Ergonomics is how you and your workspace interact.
When your home office isn’t set up with ergonomics in mind, eventually you’ll experience:
- headaches
- shoulder pain
- back pain
- neck pain
- wrist pain, a.k.a., carpal tunnel syndrome treatment
Poor office posture injuries are repetitive use injuries.
Notice the word “eventually” above. You see, the human body is great at “making do” with whatever situation you put it in. This means the first time you flop down on your couch to work, your body isn’t going to scream at you to stop. Instead, it will do its best to adapt.
However, if you continue to put stress on your back, neck, shoulders, elbows and wrists with poor office posture, eventually you’ll experience the aches and pains described above.
It’s not just people who work from home who can suffer from these injuries. Anyone who works in an office is susceptible to these repetitive use injuries. However, if you’re working from home and you haven’t set up your home office with ergonomics in mind, then you’re even more susceptible to these types of injuries.
Employers invest in trying to optimize workplace ergonomics because they want to increase productivity while decreasing injury and illness. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in 2013, musculoskeletal disorders cases accounted for 33% of all worker injury and illness cases. 1
Home Office Ergonomics Can Prevent Musculoskeletal Disorders
Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders are among the most frequently reported causes of lost or restricted work time. These include:
- carpal tunnel syndrome (wrist pain)
- tarsal tunnel syndrome (ankle/foot pain)
- pinched nerves
- herniated disks (back/neck pain)
- tendinitis
- rotator cuff injuries (shoulder pain)
- epicondylitis (elbow pain)
- trigger finger (finger pain)
- muscle sprains, strains and tears
- mid back pain
- low back injuries
- neck pain
These Musculoskeletal Disorders have one thing in common. They all have symptoms of pain, swelling, and numbness.
The following are frequent causes of work-related musculoskeletal disorders:
- repetitive motion involving microtasks
- overexertion
- vibrating, rubbing, or jarring.
Creating an Ergonomic Home Office
You can reduce your risk of illness or injury by keeping workspace ergonomics in mind as you set up your home office.
Create an ergonomic home office by focusing on these key elements.
#1: Choosing The Proper Chair
It’s well worth the investment to purchase a quality chair. Keep in mind you will be spending 8 to 15 hours a day sitting as you work.
Don’t let clever marketing trick you. The term “ergonomic chair” is used loosely at best and is lying at worst. Instead, focus on finding a chair that fits you properly. If you are tall or short, you may need to spend some extra time to find that perfect chair. One advantage to outfitting your home office is you can purchase the best chair for your body.
The height of the chair is paramount. You should be able to adjust your chair so your feet are flat on the floor and your legs are parallel to the floor. Tilts are helpful to get that angle just right.
The backrest of your office chair should be separate from the seat. You should also make sure you can adjust the height and angle. Be sure the chair supports the natural curve of the spine. Pay close attention to the lumbar region of the chair. Make sure your chair offers proper support in the curve of your back.
What about Exercise Ball Office Chairs? While an exercise ball is great for working out, it is not your friend as an office chair. For most people, the height of the ball is not suitable for desk work. (See the image above for proper positioning.) While it’s good to exercise your core, these exercises should only be done for a short period of time, not for an entire 8-hour workday.
#2: Choosing the Proper Keyboard/Mouse
Many office workers suffer from tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndrome and other repetitive strain injuries caused by poorly designed keyboards and mice or positioning.
Finding the right keyboard and mouse is difficult because there is no “one size fits all” product or solution. While there’s no one product that is right for everyone, there are things to keep in mind to help you find the perfect match!
- Distance: Proper sitting posture dictates where you should place your keyboard.
- Angle: The keyboard should have a slight negative angle of about 15 degrees
- Height: Your posture and desk height dictate the correct height of your keyboard and mouse
- Mouse: the most important thing is to make sure you don’t twist your wrist while using the mouse
What about Wrist rests?
Often a wrist rest is used as a support rather than a rest. It should only be used, ideally, when a sharp or hard surface is present that you are constantly coming into contact.
#3 Laptop: Ergonomic Friend or Foe
Unfortunately, your laptop is an ergonomic foe! Laptop computers are much more convenient and portable than desktop varieties. However, it’s the ability to use your laptop anywhere that makes it an ergonomic foe! Using it while in bed or while seated on the sofa is a recipe for neck, shoulder and back pain. In addition, the keyboard is flat, which means your wrists won’t be properly positioned.
If you must use a laptop computer, don’t use the laptop’s keyboard and mouse pad. Instead, purchase an ergonomic keyboard and mouse and attach them to your laptop just as you would to a desktop. Place the laptop on a flat surface and position the screen to the proper height. See the illustration above. When you do this, you will find it very uncomfortable to use the laptop’s keyboard/mouse.
#4: Using the Phone
Do Not Cradle Your Phone!
If you are on the phone and typing, cradling the phone between your ear and shoulder can be hazardous to your neck. Cradling the phone can lead to neck spasm, headaches and ear pain.
Using speakerphone is the fastest and easiest solution. If using your phone’s speakerphone isn’t an option, invest in a good headset. It will literally save your neck!
#5: Choosing a Desk
Height is by far most important factor in choosing a desk for your ergonomic home office. The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) recommends a general height desk of 28.7 plus or minus 1.
Many people work from home from their dining table. Standard dining table heights are 28″ – 30 so it’s possible your dining table is the proper desk height. It’s also possible that your dining table is just a bit too tall or short. In the Work From Home Office Ergonomics illustration above, make sure your arm rest allows your elbow to be at a 90° angle while working at your table. If not, shoulder, wrist, neck and back pain can result.
#6: Positioning Your Monitor
- Distance: Your monitor should be set up 20 inches away or at arm’s length
- Elevation: The top of the screen should be at or slightly below eye level. The monitor should be directly behind your keyboard. If you wear bifocals, lower the monitor an additional 1 to 2 inches for more comfortable viewing.Tilting your head back to try to read your monitor can lead to headaches and neck pain.
- Angle: 10-20 degrees A greater angle will cause you to hold your head at an uncomfortable angle, leading to neck strain.
- Glare: Glare on your screen causes eye strain. Placing your monitor and desk perpendicular to the window works best. Whatever kind of lighting you use, position the monitor so that there is no distracting glare.
#7: Footrest
Footrests are a way to shift postures or provide support for the feet if the chair cannot be lowered. Unfortunately, using a footrest when the chair is too high provides only one place for the feet to rest.
- Height: Footrests should be adjustable. Adjust the footrest until the thighs are parallel to the floor +/- 1-3 inches.
- Rocking: When using a footrest, be sure to shift postures frequently. The rocking action on all-plastic footrests tends to wear out quickly, so look for durable models.
Chiropractic Care Can Help!
If you haven’t set up an ergonomic home office, you may already be feeling the effects. Sometimes simply changing your workspace can help alleviate your pain. If it doesn’t, gentle chiropractic care can help. Chiropractic care focuses on treating all of your joints and muscles. If you work on a computer all day, be sure to ask Dr. Danielle about adjusting your wrist.
3 Reasons to Choose Chiropractic Care after a Car Accident
If you live in Stuart, Palm City, or Hobe Sound, Florida, and are injured in a car accident, here are 3 reasons to choose chiropractic care after a car accident.
Car accidents can not only cause injury but anxiety as well. Even if your car accident was minor, your injuries could be serious, even life-altering. According to a study published in the Society of Automotive Engineers, vehicle1 crash damage does not directly correlate to the degree of occupant injury.
Unfortunately, it’s common for people to develop chronic issues as a result of a seemingly minor accident. What’s worse, you may not be aware that you’ve been injured immediately following the accident.
Accepting new patients. Call 855-509-5400 to schedule your appointment.
We Accept All Major Medical Health Insurance and Medicare.
Chiropractic care is the best option for musculoskeletal injuries, including those suffered in car accidents. Many of these injuries can be effectively treated without drugs or surgery. Fortunately, the injuries suffered in most minor auto accidents don’t require surgery and drugs.
Here are the top three reasons to choose chiropractic care after a car accident in Martin County, FL
#1: Imaging can’t catch micro-tears that are caused by a car accident.
Unfortunately, medical imaging such as X-rays or MRIs can’t detect the micro-tears in ligaments and muscles after a traumatic injury like those resulting from an auto accident. These microscopic tears in the muscle are why you may wake up with severe pain the day after an accident. Whiplash is a soft tissue neck injury that occurs when the neck snaps back and forth in a rapid motion. That rapid snapping back and forth causes microscopic tears in the neck muscles.
Soft-tissue injuries (a.k.a., micro-tears in ligaments and muscles) like whiplash can take a long time to heal. One study found that more than 70 percent of people who visited the emergency room after a car accident were still in pain six weeks later. Other researchers have noted that nearly half of whiplash sufferers continue to experience symptoms three months later, while 25 percent remain symptomatic for six months.2
Traumatic injuries such as those suffered in a car accident often include microtears and microlesions. These cause inflammation, which in turn causes pain.3 Studies show that chiropractic adjustments help the body release anti-inflammatory Interleukin 6 (IL-6). 4Interleukin 6 (IL-6) plays an integral role in the body’s healing ability, including trauma, burns, cancers and infections.5
#2: Chiropractic Care After a Car Accident Helps Heal Internal Scar Tissues
When you hear the word “scar tissue,” you might think of the scar from a nasty fall off your bike when you were young. Your body also forms this special type of tissue inside your body when your ligaments and muscles are injured. Just as the scar tissue you see on your skin doesn’t look or act like your undamaged skin, the scar tissue inside your body doesn’t have the same elasticity or mobility as uninjured soft tissue.
When scar tissue forms in the ligaments, especially those in your neck or back, it can lead to long-term pain and reduced mobility. Scar tissue continues to grow and change throughout the recovery process, which may take from twelve to eighteen months. 6Prompt chiropractic care after a car accident is very effective at remodeling scar tissue. Chiropractic treatment and stretching of scar tissue helps align the collagen fibers, allowing them to tolerate daily activities. 7
Studies show that car accident victims treated within one week of their accident saw the best overall improvement.8 Many chiropractors refer to this time period as the “golden week” because the inflammatory reaction that occurs during this period, if left unchecked, will produce scars and adhesions that make future management more difficult.
#3: Chiropractic Care After a Car Accident Releases Pain Relieving Hormones
Studies also show that chiropractic care helps release pain-reducing hormones.9 These hormones provide natural pain relief from both acute and chronic pain. They will help relieve the pain from the acute injuries suffered in a car accident. Fortunately, they don’t stop there! They will also help any other areas that were causing pain before the accident.
Unfortunately, turning to pain pills can actually make pain worse in the long run. Contrary to marketing messages that imply otherwise, pain medications do not speed up the healing process. Pain medications (both OTC and prescription) can be very beneficial for the first 7–10 days after a traumatic injury. Used in the short term, these can provide symptomatic relief while chiropractic care breaks up scar tissue and adhesions, relieving stiffness, pain and the discomfort it causes.
We’re learning that you won’t find the solution to pain—even – even chronic pain—in a pill. Not only are opioid medications dangerous and addictive, they can actually cause your pain to worsen. Studies show that when you use an opioid pain reliever, it sets off a chain of immune signals in the spinal cord that amplify pain rather than dulling it, even after the drug leaves the body. 10
Prompt Chiropractic Care is Key
Gentle chiropractic care will help prevent long-term, chronic pain conditions and allow you to achieve optimal recovery after an auto accident. Gentle Chiropractic Care is a newer method of chiropractic care. It replaces high-velocity adjustments with low-velocity, low-amplitude manipulations. It is performed with a gentle touch, targeting a specific area. Gentle chiropractic care is more comfortable and provides maximum benefit from minimal visits.
If you or someone you know has been in a car accident and you need gentle chiropractic treatment, call 855-509-5400 to schedule an appointment.
