Spine and Health

Tag: Chiro

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The Dangers of The Dreaded Schoolbag!

When was the last time you picked up your child’s backpack? It is astonishing just how heavy they are!

How much attention do you pay to the way your child carries their backpack? One shoulder? Hanging around their bottom? Why isn’t it cool to wear your backpack up high and held firmly against your back?
A recent study has provided some figures/percentages based on body weight versus maximum weight that one’s back should be able to handle without causing postural problems or pain. See chart at the end of the article.

Backpacks are a real problem for kids of today. It is causing current pain and long-term postural issues and chronic pain. Problems are related to the weight that is being supported by the spine and the knock on effect it has on the surrounding muscles. So what can we do about it?

• Ensure that the backpack has thick straps that are evenly spaced apart
(Thin straps can dig in to your child’s shoulders and effect nerve and blood flow)
• Avoid one shoulder bags
• Position the backpack up high over the strong mid-back muscles, keeping the weight close to your child’s centre-of-mass and ensuring maximum support. High and tightly positioned on the body.
• If you’re in the market for a new bag, get one that has a waist clip so that if your child has to have the occasional heavy bag day that they have extra support through their pelvis – note that this has it’s own problems (just shifting the problem) so is not recommended on a regular basis.
• Buy a bag that has wheels! Why carry the bag at all!
• Do they really need to be taking all of those books to school? Be organised and know in advance what you will need for certain. Lighten the load if you can!
• Organise the items so that the heaviest items are closest to the back.
• See your local chiropractor! They are experts in posture and can help you to realign your spine to better deal with the weight, minimize pain and long term effects (2).

Why does this all matter? Your child’s spine houses their spinal cord and thus directly effects nerve flow throughout their bodies. If a heavy weight is continuously held in an unfavourable manner it will activate muscles that are not usually firing. These activated muscles will pull at your vertebrae and hold them in an unnatural position, which in turn causes more stress on the body.
There is a connection between posture and personality! Your child’s backpack could be doing more damage than you think!

The Spine and Health chiropractors in Crows Nest and North Sydney, are experts in pain and posture. Take the time to examine your school-kid’s backpack and the way they carry it. And take the time to bring them in for a thorough spinal examination. If your child has a problem our chiropractors will be able to come up with an action plan to undo as much of the damage as possible and ways to ensure it doesn’t progress any further. It may effect them in ways you never dreamt! AND we have NEW Family Care Rates!

To enable your child to reach their potential please give us a call today on:

Crows Nest Ph 02 9460 8459

North Sydney Ph 02 9955 8055

Person’s Weight (kg)Maximum Backpack Weight (Kg)
272
27-324.5
457
568
689
90+11*

*No-one should carry more than 11kg .

Another standard rule is never to carry a bag that is more than 10% of your body weight.

 

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Slipped Disc Treatment

Do you know what a ‘slipped disc’ is?

First of all you need to know how your body works so that it will help you understand why and how injuries happen and secondly how to stay healthy. The spine is divided into three parts: the neck (cervical vertebrae); the chest (thoracic vertebrae) and the lower back (lumbar vertebrae). These three areas are naturally curved to support the body with strong, flexible muscles and ligaments to maintain the structure. Each disc is tough on the outside with a spongy center with a constant exchange of fluids to enhance our movement.

Slipped discs most often affect the lower back (lumbar vertebrae) and are relatively rare in the neck (cervical vertebrae) and in the chest (thoracic vertebrae) sections of the spine. If we are diagnosed with a slipped disc, it doesn’t really mean that our ‘disc has slipped’ it means that the soft part of the disc bulges through the circle of the connective tissue and that is when you will need slipped disc treatment in North Sydney and Crows Nest by the Chiropractors at the Spine and Health centres.

 

What are the symptoms of a slipped disc? Sometimes a slipped disc can be symptom free, we don’t even know it is happening, but other times it causes a great deal of pain generally due to the pressure on the nerve roots or on the spinal cord.

In severe cases, and if you have pressure on the nerve roots, you may experience weakness up to paralysis in some of your muscles with associated pain radiating to your legs and/or arms. You may also experience a disturbance of feeling in the limbs; muscle spasms or paralysis in some parts of your body. Pressure on the spinal cord can also cause problems with control of the bladder and/or bowel.

For a lot of patients the disc pain comes on with little or no trauma or provocation. Poor posture can dramatically load up a disc creating increase strain and wear and tear. A thorough look at a person’s posture can determine if their discs are under increased strain, or if their posture is a causing their disc problems in the first place.

Did you know that forward head posture significantly increase’s the load on your lower back? For every inch your head moves forward the effective weight of the head doubles creating increased load on your lower discs! It’s not uncommon for the clients who have undergone slipped disc treatment in North Sydney and Crows Nest to have had their forward head posture reduced by up to 6 inches.

It is important to go to the appropriate people in order to make a correct diagnosis because several other diseases have similar symptoms, The team  at the Spine and Health Centres understand the link between posture, discs and health and have had great success in slipped disc treatment in North Sydney and Crows Nest.

Slipped Disc Treatment North Sydney |  Slipped Disc Treatment Crows Nest |