Ditch the car and walk to school

back care advice fom our southend chiropractorIt’s Walk to School week (May 21 -25) and if you are taking up the challenge to ditch the car and walk your kids to school this week then congratulations. Last year 400,000 children and families participated in the Living Streets challenge. Every year Living Streets come up with a new fun, themed challenge designed to encourage children and their families to walk to school and get a taste of the many benefits walking can bring.

With back pain in children and young people on the rise our chiropractors cannot stress enough the importance that exercise plays in the health of children’s backs. Back pain is on the increase across all ages and a major contributory factor to this increase is down to lifestyles that are heavily sedentary and it’s sad to say that children are not immune to being increasingly inactive.

It’s important that children and teenagers take adequate exercise during the day – one hour is recommended. Taking exercise not only has health benefits but it is good for the brain too and can improve memory and thinking skills.

One of our experienced chiropractors at Cliffs Chiropractic, Arif Soomro, is so concerned with the state of children’s and people’s spines that he developed the Back Story. The Back Story was developed by Arif to be a proactive guide to enable anyone to help themselves take better care of themselves depending on their age.

By choosing an age group you can learn what’s happening to your body and how you can increase your energy levels, strength and flexibility. Making a few lifestyle changes today, and sustaining them, can give you benefits that last a lifetime. The information starts with toddlers and goes through to the 80+ age group. If you have children then you will definitely want to read the appropriate sections for their age.

Now back to ditching your car and walking  your kids to school. You may have missed out on being a part of the Walk to School challenge this May but why not create your own challenge. Try walking to school 5 days and see the benefits. If you have a long drive to school why not park the car 10 minutes away and walk from there.

We know it can be tough to fit in the school walk and ditch the car with everything else that needs to get done but in the long term we think it’s worth it.