Category: chiropractor southend

Spring Sports to Boost Your Back Health

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If you think that taking it easy is the best way to manage your back pain, think again! Exercising regularly is one of the most effective ways to reduce back pain and prevent future episodes from returning. According to our Southend chiropractor, there is an exercise suitable for almost anyone suffering from back pain. Some people even start exercising the day after having back surgery!

So now that spring will soon be upon us, why not get your body moving and shift your back pain?

Aerobic exercise, such as walking and swimming, can really help to get your blood flowing to your back muscles, which can increase strength and aid in injury recovery. Yoga is also a great choice of activity if you suffer with back pain. A good instructor will even be able to adapt your exercises to suit your level of comfort.

Remember to check with your doctor or therapist before starting any new exercise and to stop any activity immediately if it causes your pain to worsen.

Don’t Let Chronic Pain Ruin Your Relationships!

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back care advice from our chiropractor near leigh on seaFebruary is the month for love, but if you suffer with chronic back pain, your relationship may often seem more “cucumber sandwich for one” than “hot dinner date for two”! But your partnership doesn’t have to suffer at the hands of your back pain. Here, our Southend chiropractor shares a few simple tips that will help your relationship thrive through your back pain.

1: Be Open and Honest

If pain is currently part of your life, then the people in your life need to know about it. Staying silent and brushing your condition under the carpet will only cause your loved ones to feel helpless and even disconnected from you. In order to empathise with how you feel, people need to know how you feel. Many chronic pain patients end up feeling frustrated with their partner for seemingly not  understanding their level of pain, but this is often down to a lack of communication.

 2: Keep Plans When You Can

Feeling isolated from your social circle can bring a lot of negativity to you relationship. Try not to let your back pain keep you from socialising. Tell your friends about what activities you can and can’t do and make plans that you know you will be able to carry out.

3: Take on New Roles

Your back pain may make it difficult to perform certain chores that were once your responsibility. If this is the case for you, replace your previous responsibilities with more manageable ones. Let your partner bath the children while you take care of helping with homework, for example. Back pain may mean that you can’t always do all the things you once did, but it’s vitally important to your mental health that you remain a contributing member of your family.

4: Ask for Help

Don’t assume that people don’t care because they haven’t offered help; quite often people will avoid asking for fear of offending you. Give your partner the opportunity to feel closer to you by asking them for help. If you’re having trouble with a task, ask your partner to lend a hand.

Don’t let back pain define you or your relationship with you partner. It may currently be part of your life, but it certainly doesn’t have to control it.

Anti-inflammatory drugs not the answer to back pain

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Anti-inflammatory drugs also known as NSAID are commonly prescribed by GP’s and bought over the counter by patients for a wide range of aches and pains including lower back pain. They include Ibuprofen and Naproxen.

However, a new study reveals they have no significant effect on back pain.

Back pain affects four fifths of people at some point during their lives and is a leading cause of disability worldwide. The study shows that anti-inflammatory drugs only provide very limited short term relief, arguably of no clinical significance. When the side-effects of NSAIDS, which are very common, are considered it is clear these drugs do not provide the answer and are dangerous. Earlier research has also found paracetamol to be no more effective than a placebo.

Last year the America Heart Association warned ibroprofen can trigger heart failure; other commonly reported side-effects include bleeding from the stomach, vomiting and anaemia.

So please think twice before you next reach for an anti-inflammatory tablet. Instead try an ice pack (see our website for how to use one correctly), go for a gentle walk and avoid sitting and bending.

Alternatively try a curcumin and/or ginger tablet, both good herbal anti-inflammatories. Best of all ask your chiropractor for the best bespoke advice.

For all current patients, a chiropractic adjustment is likely to get you back to normal quickly. The longer you leave it, the longer it is going to take to get better.

Changing Changes At Cliffs

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Chiropractic treatment at cliffs chiropractor southend on seaWe are implementing a new system at Cliffs after a recent course Arif has attended. Very few chiropractic clinics ask their patients to get changed for regular treatments so we have implemented a one month trial of not undressing to assess how you, our patients, like it.

Most clinics prefer it as it saves the patients’ modesty and time. So, next time you arrive for your appointment please be prepared to take shoes and coats off and wear loose clothing if possible. For new patients and for review appointments it will be necessary to undress and wear a gown as normal.

Thank you for your help.

Wave Goodbye to Winter Health Worries!

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No matter how hard we try and no matter how many “pro this and pro that” food we eat, we can’t escape the fact that there are just some ailments that strike harder during winter. But as the season comes to an end and those grey skies once again turn blue, how exactly is our health likely to benefit?

Our Southend chiropractor highlights three common health complaints that take a step back during spring and summer.

1: The Common Cold

While a sniffly nose and a sore throat can come on in any season, the majority of us bear the brunt of the “lurgy” during the winter.

2: The Flu

Medically known as “influenza” the flu is much more likely to strike during the winter (doctors even call winter the “flu season”). The most effective way to avoid the flu is to keep healthy all year round – even in the summer when the illness is not so common.

3: Painful Joints

Many people who suffer from joint pain notice that their pain and discomfort gets worse in colder weather.

Good Winter!

Valentine’s Day Special: Why You Should Really Love Your Back!

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back care advice from our southend chiropractorWith health information more readily available than ever, you’d be hard pressed to go through life without knowing that looking after your spine is pretty important! But why is taking care of our beloved backs so crucial?

As it’s the month of romance, our Southend chiropractor shares five great reasons why loving your spine should be your number one priority this Valentine’s Day…

1: Your spinal cord enables you to bend and twist. If you injure your spine, your mobility can become limited. Wear and tear over time and bad posture may also leave you with difficulties with sitting up straight, bending over and walking. Our spines have more functional responsibility than we give them credit for. The simple fact is your spine needs TLC in order for it to work optimally.

2: Your nervous system runs electrical impulses up and down your spine, enabling you to feel sensation. When you damage your spinal cord, neural responses can become disrupted which can lead to decreased or altered sensations in parts of your body, such as pain, numbness or tingling.

3: Each time you eat or drink, food and fluid travels down your throat and into your oesophagus before reaching your stomach. Your oesophagus is parallel with your spine. If you injure your spine, it can press against your oesophagus and potentially obstruct or even puncture it.  To give you an idea of the extent of this damage; a punctured oesophagus would require surgery.

4:  Incorrect movements and bad posture can place unnecessary pressure on the spine. Overtime, this can lead to degenerative diseases, wear and tear and permanent damage to your spinal discs.

5: Not only can stress on your spine be extremely painful, but a spine that doesn’t function properly can cause your quality of life to deteriorate. Chronic back pain can lead to feelings of frustration, isolation and even depression. The spine plays such a critical role in your overall health – it’s really not worth neglecting it.

So there you have it; five great reasons to give your spine the care and attention it needs!

Love your spine and it will love you back; it’s as simple as that.  It is the month for love, after all!

New Year, New Prospects! Could You Be a Chiropractor?

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Ready for a change of career in 2017?  Thinking of going into the highly rewarding field of chiropractic care but don’t know where to start?

Here our Southend chiropractor runs through the basics:

First of all, you’ll need to get studying for your chiropractic degree. Typically, this will take you about 4 years of full-time studying. However, you should be aware that if you don’t have the necessary entry requirements for a chiropractic degree course, you may need to take an undergraduate course beforehand.

The General Chiropractic Council (GCC) is responsible for regulating and setting the standards in all stages of chiropractic education. This ensures that members of the public can be confident that they will receive a safe level of care from registrants.

If you’re interested in becoming a qualified chiropractor, contact universities that offer chiropractic courses in the first instance to check each one’s entry requirements.

Good luck!

A New Attitude for Better Health!

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health living advice from our southend chiropractorThinking about making positive changes in 2017 but worried that your goals will turn into nothing more than New Year “could-have-beens”?

Our Southend chiropractor wants to reassure you that it is normal to face challenges and setbacks along the way. The problem is too many of us stunt our growth and stop ourselves from achieving our goals by having a fixed mindset. We hear an inner voice that tells us that our goals are impossible or that we do not have the determination or skills to make our dreams happen. And we listen to it.  But this kind of thinking is simply not true. We all want things, but to get them, we have to believe in our abilities. We have to change our thinking from “I can’t” to “I can and I will!” It is like the famous saying, “Whether you tell yourself you can, or you tell yourself you can’t, you’re right.”

Don’t be afraid to fail. So many people fail at something and decide that that is an end point. (How many people pack in their New Year healthy eating plan just because they slipped up and opted for a burger instead of a salad? How many people go back to smoking full-time after having one cigarette on a night out or during a moment of weakness?) The key to success is looking at your failures as a lesson and identifying what you can learn from them. Some of the most successful people of our time have also encountered the greatest failures. It’s not the falling over that matters (or how many times we fall), it’s the getting back up!

So the next time you consider giving up on getting what you want to achieve, don’t!

Put a list of your goals, dreams and desires somewhere that you will see them every day.  The fact that you have to see them all the time can be very encouraging, and it can give you that extra motivation that you need when things get tough. Just imagine the motivating power of looking at a section of your list and saying “I did that.” Now imagine if you could say to yourself, “I did all that!” And do you know what? It really is possible with the right frame of mind.

Pupil posture … taking care of your back starts at school

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back care advice for children from our cliffs chiropractor southend Is school bad for your health? We all understand the importance of looking after our backs, especially as we get older, but should concern for our posture start even sooner…even at school age?

Arif certainly thinks so, “Over the past four years I’ve been treating more and more cases of back, neck and shoulder pain in children and teenagers and it all seems to start at school.”

“We need to take action to help them now or they will suffer in the long term.”

As a specialist paediatric chiropractor, based here at Cliffs Chiropractor Southend, Arif believes parents and carers need to understand the effect mobile devices, poor school seating and heavy rucksacks is having on the spine.

Read more on this subject in an article by Arif published in The Echo: Pupil Posture … Taking Care Of Your Back Starts At School.

 

 

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