One of the primary ways, if not THE primary way you can avoid back pain is to adhere to a healthy lifestyle.

Where do you start?

~ Eat a nutrient-rich, balanced diet, with sufficient intake of calcium, Vitamin D and phosphorus. (Phosphate makes up more than half the mass of bone mineral; Vitamin D helps maintain appropriate calcium/phosphorus levels. When phosphorus is too high, the body takes calcium out of the bones to bind with the phosphorus and remove it from the blood. Bones become brittle as a result.)

~ Avoid smoking and excessive alcohol use. That goes without saying.

~ Maintain a healthy weight— additional pounds place excess strain on spinal vertebrae and discs creating physical stress which leads to something else….

~ Stay well-hydrated. The body is 70% water, and sufficient hydration contributes to intervertebral disc health and that of other back related structures and functions. H20 acts as a spinal lubricant.

~ And often over-looked, get your vision checked. Poor vision can affect the way you carry yourself, which can contribute to back problems. Hunched over because you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders? Get your eyes checked. And stop hunching over!

Next post I’ll blog about the Proper Body Mechanics when standing, sitting, driving and sleeping.

For all our back aches and pains, visit Colestock Family Chiropractic in Eaton Rapids, MI specializing in the Activator Method Technique, a painless adjustment procedure that’ll realign your back without the snap, crackle and pop of your typical chiropractor.

Call Dr Denise today at 517.663.8825 to schedule your appointment. Walk-in’s are welcome, however, by appt has priority.

Only 17 minutes from Charlotte, Mi, 22 minutes from Jackson mi, 25 minutes from Lansing Mi, on M-50 in Eaton Rapids between I-69 and 127.

You bent over just right, or wrong, and your back pain is now to the point you can’t ignore it any longer.

You need to do something NOW!

Going to the doctor is always a last resort for most of us.

What if you can’t get in when you need to, what do you do in the meantime to help alleviate your back pain?

To answer those questions I’m going to offer up some good ole’ home remedies to get you by until you can get in to see your doc.

First of all, without knowing the severity of your back pain, if you’re experiencing any of the following symptoms, these home remedies do not apply to you. See a physician immediately if you’re experiencing any of these symptoms:

- you’re experiencing numbness or having trouble moving any of your extremities.
- experiencing bladder control loss
- you’ve developed a severe headache or fever
- you’re over 60 and have been taking steroids for a long period of time.
- you’re experiencing chest pain or pain in your left arm
- you’re pregnant
- you haven’t noticed any improvement after 3 days of self-treatment at home.
>>>>>>>>>if you’re experiencing any of the above symptoms please call your physician ASAP<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Now, on to the home remedies...there are several things you can do to help soothe your aching back pain.

Bed Rest Isn’t Best. Going about your normal, everyday activities—but perhaps at a slower pace, and definitely avoiding what may have caused your pain in the first place—is a good way to start the healing process. A little “couch time” won’t hurt, but light activity speeds recovery, so avoiding lying down for long periods of time.

Hot And Cold. Heat and cold, in the form of a hot bath or hot and cold compresses, can help relieve sore and inflamed muscles and tissue. Remember—cold comes first! Wrap an ice pack (or a bag of frozen vegetables) in a thin cloth to avoid frostbite, and apply to the affected area for up to 20 minutes several times a day. Ice slows inflammation and swelling, numbs tissue and slows nerve impulses to the injured area.

Once the acute pain and muscle spasms subside (about 48 hours after the first onset of pain is recommended), you can apply heat—to loosen muscle tightness - by taking a warm bath or using a heating pad, heat pack or heat lamp.

Pain Relief In A Pill. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as aspirin, ibuprofen, acetaminophen or naproxen sodium, can ease pain, swelling and stiffness. There are a number of over-the-counter and prescription options. Your pharmacist can help you determine which is best for you.

Support Yourself. If you must sit or stand for long periods of time, consider using a brace or corset. Worn properly, they can relieve pain and provide warmth, comfort and support. But, don’t rely on this type of external support too long—allowing it to perform your muscles’ job will eventually weaken them, making re-injury easier.

If your back pain hasn’t improved noticeably after 72 hours of self-care, contact your health care provider.

How Can I Prevent Re-Injury?
To prevent re-injury of your back—and hopefully avoid any recurrence of acute back pain—it’s important to build and maintain the strength and flexibility of those muscles, tendons and ligaments that support your back and spine. You can do this through:

Exercise

- Regular, low impact cardiovascular exercises that don’t jar your back and are easy on the joints, such as bicycling, walking or swimming. If exercising outdoors is not option, consider using a treadmill, elliptical trainer or stationary bicycle. These can be found at almost any exercise studio, or you can buy a home version at your local sporting goods store.
- Core strengthening exercises. By conditioning your abdominal and back muscles, you can develop a “natural corset” to support your spine.
- Gentle stretching to improve and maintain flexibility.

Hopefully a few of these home remedies will help ease your back pain until you can get in to see your doctor or chiropractor.

One chiropractor who doesn’t have a waiting list to get in is Dr Denise at Colestock Family Chiropractic in Eaton Rapids, MI. She specializes in the Activator Method Technique, the only specialist in the Eaton Rapids community and one of only a few thousand in the entire world!

If you’re still experiencing acute or severe back pain after 3 days of home remedies, call Colestock Family Chiropractic today at 517.663.8825
and get back on the road to recovery.

The Activator Method Technique is a painless procedure and you’ll walk out feeling alot better than when you walked in.

Muscle spasms result from inflammation that occurs when a muscle is over-stretched or torn. It begins as a muscle strain and can eventually cause severe low back pain. Many people frequent the emergency room every year because of a muscle strain. In fact, most episodes of acute lower back pain are caused by damage to the muscles and/or ligaments in the low back.

Muscle strains are also known as a pulled muscle. When the muscles in the lower back are strained or torn, the area around the muscles can become inflamed. With inflammation, the muscles can spasm leading to severe low back pain and difficulty moving. Lower back pain from a muscle strain occurs most frequently after lifting a heavy object, lifting while twisting, or a sudden movement or fall. The pain is usually localized, meaning it doesn’t radiate to the leg. The area may be sore to the touch, the patient usually feels better when resting.

Fortunately, muscle strains usually heal with time in a couple of days or weeks because muscles in the lower back have a good blood supply to bring the necessary nutrients and proteins for healing to take place.

If the pain is severe, the patient may be advised to rest, but for no more than one to two days. Pain medications and applying ice or heat may all help alleviate the pain.

If an episode of low back pain lasts for more than two weeks, the muscles may start to weaken. Since using the muscle hurts, people tend to avoid using them. This process leads to muscular atrophy and subsequent weakening, which in turn causes more low back pain because the muscles are less able to help hold up the spine.

As a general rule, people who are active and well-conditioned are much less likely to suffer from low back pain due to muscle strain, as regular exercises stretches the muscles so they are less likely to strain, tear or spasm. A complete exercise program for the low back should consist of a combination of stretching, strengthening and aerobic conditioning.

Above Article by:
Steven C. Ludwig, M.D., Chief of Spine Surgery, University of Maryland Medical Center

In the Eaton Rapids community, Colestock Family Chiropractic can help alleviate your muscle spasm pain. Within 35 minutes from Jackson, Michigan; and a short 18 minutes from Charlotte, Michigan. For better health and wellness located in the city of Eaton Rapids call Dr Denise at Colestock Family Chiropractic at 517.663.8825

Remember that old saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”? That goes quite a few generations back.

Simple things can work wonders when it comes to keeping your spine healthy. It’s called preventative maintenance, and it’s equivalent to that old time saying.

Here are 6 tips to relieving neck pain and back pain:

1. Develop Body Awareness
The body is an interrelated machine - an aberration in one part will diminish function in other areas. Postural alignment is the science of how the parts of the body relate to the whole form. When everything is perfect, bones are centered and balanced with respect to one another, freeing muscles from spasms and allowing them to do their job of moving the body.

Take note how the muscles, bones, and joints feel in response to various activities. Does sitting bother you more than walking? How do your muscles feel when you get up in the morning? By answering questions like this will help you trace the effects of your movements on your back, allowing you to move more efficiently.

2. Strengthen Your Core
The abdominal and back muscles work together to hold the trunk upright. The action of these muscle groups balance one another to support this area. Weak or tight torso muscles, along with any strength imbalances between them, can be the precursor to back injuries. Core strengthening programs, such as Pilates, yoga, and water exercise (to name just a few) are excellent ways to build up your trunk muscles.

3. Use Your Body Well
If you are like most people, you perform certain activites many times during the course of the day. But have you stopped to consider whether you are doing them in a mechanically efficient way? Over time, most routine daily activites become a matter of habit. If you repeatedly do chores from non-neutral positions, that is, you use muscles when bones could do a better job, you may be setting yourself up for injury and/or back strain.

Learning and practicing proper body mechanics is often a matter of unlearning ways of doing things to which you are accustomed, but that may also be stressful to your joints. This is especially true when lifting heavy objects or reaching for something

4. Be Active & Exercise
Research has shown there are many kinds of activities that help decrease and/or prevent back pain. Exercise builds muscle tone and increases flexibility. It is quite often a component of rehab programs given by physical therapists and back specialists.

Doing back exercises, along with making an effort to sensibly increase your activity levels can help you prevent or manage your back pain. Of course, you should ask your doctor first, to be sure you do not run the risk of making injuries or condition-specific matters worse.

Preventative maintenance means not only doing your back exercises, but also taking frequent breaks from the computer or desk, stretching, walking more (even when you don’t have to), and other activities.

5. Breathe
Did you know that the same muscles that enable you to breathe also function as posture muscles? Breathing exercises taken from martial arts, yoga, Pilates and singing technique can all be of value in developing a strong core and a healthy postural alignment. Core muscles are responsible for good posture. If your spinal bones are aligned, and your trunk muscles are flexible and strong, your posture will easily hold upright against gravity, and enable you to perform movements fluidly.

6. Maintain a Healthy Weight
A healthy back is the working combination of nerves, muscles, bones and more. But being overweight puts pressure on these structures. If you maintain a healthy weight for your height, you decrease your risk of back pain. Research has linked overweight with an increased risk of disk, neck, and other back problems.

There you have it! Six preventative maintenance tips to alleviate your neck and back pain so you can be as limber as Gumby.

If your experiencing any kind of neck or back pain, Colestock Family Chiropractic in Eaton Rapids, MI is your solution for neck and back pain relief. Our hours and contact information is on the “About Us” link here on the site.

If you’re hurtin’ for certain, call Colestock Family Chiropractic at 517.663.8825 and let Dr Denise erase your neck and back pain with the painless Activator Method Technique.

Lower back pain is the pits, no question about that! But I’ll bet you didn’t know that it’s also extremely unnecessary.

Alleviating back pain can be easier than you think. These 2 simple tips you can do at home show you how:

1 - Stand up straight with your feet shoulder width apart. Next, stand facing the side of an open door in your house and then grab the door knob or handle with both of your hands. Then, slowly begin to squat down as low as you can with both feet completely flat on the floor. Real easy now… Slowly move further and further away from the door until you’ve stretched as far as you can without serious pain.

Be sure to do this gently. It should not hurt severely, but feel like a really good stretch. Practice this until you can squat down and stretch your arms out without using the door.

This exercise is very much like a basic squat, except you are using a door for support. You should feel a really nice stretch in your lower back and hips. With practice you will be able to squat down and stretch your arms out in front of you.

2- Now, for the next exercise, lay flat on the floor. Put your arms to your side, and bend your knees up comfortably, shoulder width apart, with your feet flat on the floor.

Then, slowly begin to move your legs and knees up to your chest, while tightening your abdomen.

Don’t forget to breathe deep.

Lower your legs and repeat. Do 2-3 sets of as many repetitions as you can. Start with 10 repetitions per day then work from there. Practice these and your lower back pain will begin to diminish!

Drink plenty of water when you’re done!

To address spinal joint dysfunction, Dr Denise Colestock uses an instrument called the Activator. This unique hand-held instrument was scientifically designed to give a very specific, low-force adjustment.

The Activator instrument delivers a controlled and painless “light and fast thrust” without causing undue strain to patients. The Activator Method Technique adjustments are so quick and controlled your body’s muscles are less likely to resist, allowing for a more precise and exact adjustment.

One of the benefits of the Activator Method Technique adjustment is that it can zero in on the exact problem area that is causing you the pain you’re experiencing.

The Activator Method Technique incorporates the latest advances in orthopedic, neurological, and chiropractic examinations along with a unique system of administering spinal adjustments. Using the Activator instrument, Dr. Denise can help restore spinal balance safely and comfortably.

Doctors using the Activator Technique receive extensive training; and it is one of the most scientifically researched techniques in chiropractic care. Patients all over the world are now benefiting from the ease and painless precision of this unique method of chiropractic care. No more snap-crackle-popping of your spine that many general chiropractors continue to adhere to.

Call Colestock Family Chiropractic in Eaton Rapids, Michigan today at 517.663.8825 and see how the Activator Method Technique can work wonders for many areas of your pain relief.

If you’ve spent any time reading this informative chiropractic website, you’ll notice that the approach that Dr Denise uses is referred to as the Activator Method Technique.

While that’s an accurate title to a degree, the actual technical title of this technique is called the Activator Method Chiropractic Technique (AMCT) for those of you keeping score at home. Abbreviated as AMCT for short.

While they are both one and the same in chiropractic jargon, I thought it would be appropriate to clear up any misunderstandings.

So, now that’s cleared up, whose your source for the gentle approach to chiropractor services in the mid-Michigan region utilizing the Activator Method Chiropractic Technique? That’s right, Colestock Family Chiropractic located in Eaton Rapids right off M-50.

If pain management is a problem for you, do yourself a favor and call Dr Denise at Colestock Family Chiropractic today at 517.663.8825.

As one of only a couple thousand proficiently rated doctors in the entire world with the Activator Method Chiropractic Technique right here in mid Michigan, Dr Denise can pinpoint your pain area and let the Activator Method Chiropractic Technique work it’s magic using the gentle approach to chiropractic and pain management.

Colestock Family Chiropractic is open Mon, Tues, Weds and Fri from 10am until Noon and 3pm until 6pm. Closed on Thursdays. Walk-in’s are welcome however appointments have priority.

Call today 517.663.8825 and get those winter aches and pains to disappear with the AMCT solution.

An encouraging study has surfaced about the link between migraine headaches and chiropractic adjustments.

Of 150 patients suffering migraine, 98% of them experienced immediate relief of their current migraine through adjustments of the neck and traction - both common therapies in chiropractic care.

Of 200 patients, 90% had headaches resulting from problems with vertebrae. 80% received complete relief through chiropractic adjustments, of manipulation.

Of 100 cases of headaches attributed to neck problems, 75% received significant reduction of headaches after several chiropractic treatments. The majority had maintained their progress at a six-month follow-up visit.

The studies have shown that the frequency of tension headache and the need for medication were reduced through chiropractic care.

Relief of nausea and dizziness often experienced by severe headache sufferers was reported after chiropractic adjustments.

Working with your chiropractor to provide crucial information and to understand your condition greatly helps the recovery process. Keeping the recommended treatment schedule also helps ensure the most effective and rapid recovery.

We undertand your discomfort and welcome the opportunity to work with you for your complete healing.

If you’re experiencing severe headaches, your official hometown headache treatment location is Colestock Family Chiropractic at 802 S. Main St in Eaton Rapids Michigan 48827.

Call today and make an appt at 517.663.8825

Only 11 miles from Leslie Michigan
Only 10 miles from Charlotte Michigan
Only 22 miles from Jackson Michigan
Only 25 miles from Lansing Michigan

This video showcases Dr Denise Colestock performing an adjustment on a new client with the gentle approach to chiropractic care using the Activator Method Techique.

So the new year is here and you’ve decided to finally get to the bottom of your lower back pain that has been nagging you for way to long.

Once and for all you’re finally going to do something about it.

The first step is understanding the various causes of low back pain and learning a little bit about the normal design anatomy of the tissues in this area of your body.

Important structures of the low back that can be related to symptoms there include the bony lumbar spine vertebrae, discs between the vertebrae, ligaments around the spine and discs, spinal cord and nerves, muscles of the low back, internal organs of the pelvis and abdomen, and the skin covering the lumbar area. Many muscle groups that are responsible for flexing, extending, and rotating the waist, as well as moving the lower extremities, attach to the lumbar spine through tendon insertions.

Fortunately, most occurences of low back pain go away within a few days. Most lower back pain follows injury or trauma to the back, but pain may also be caused by degenerative conditions such as arthritis or disc disease, osteoporosis or other bone diseases, viral infections, irritation to joints and discs, or congenital abnormalities in the spine.

Obesity, smoking, weight gain during pregnancy, stress, poor physical condition, posture inappropriate for the activity being performed, and poor sleeping position also may contribute to low back pain.

Nearly everyone has low back pain sometime. The risk of experiencing low back pain from disc disease or spinal degeneration increases with age.

Exercise may be the most effective way to speed recovery from low back pain and help strengthen back and abdominal muscles. (Read elsewhere on this website about proper back exercises)

Most low back pain is triggered by some combination of overuse, muscle strain, and injury to the muscles, ligaments, and discs that support the spine. When low back pain strikes, we become acutely aware of just how much we rely on a flexible, strong back. The causes of low back pain tend to be interrelated.

Just What Are the Low Back Pain Symptoms?

The term “low back pain” is used to describe a spectrum of symptoms. Depending on the cause, low back pain may be dull, burning, or sharp, covering a broad area or confined to a single point. Leg symptoms can be caused by lower spine problems that place pressure on a nerve to the leg; they can occur on their own or along with low back pain. Your health professional can assess acute low back pain by talking to you about your medical history and your work and physical activities, and doing a simple physical examination. However, some episodes of low back pain are signs of more serious conditions. Low back pain can result from something simple, like cleaning house or lifting a heavy box, or it can be caused by a diagnosable spine condition like a herniated disc or degenerative disc disease.

Effective pain relief may involve a combination of prescription drugs and over-the-counter remedies including BioFreeze (a product Colestock Family Chiropractic endorses and carries). Some type of Lumbar Support is also important for constant support for low back pain.

The vast majority of lower back pain conditions will eventually get better with time and can be addressed with non-surgical treatments, such as osteopathic or gentle chiropractic care such as the Activator Method Technique, physical therapy, pain medications, etc.. Low back pain responds very well to appropriate conservative treatment such as physical therapy with the Activator Method; along with proper medication which can be prescribed by your physician.

If you’re experiencing any kind of lower back pain and reside within driving distance of Mid-Michigan, contact Colestock Family Chiropractic in Eaton Rapids at 517.663.8825 to schedule an appointment today. As one of only a few thousand proficient-rated professionals in the entire world using the Activator Method Technique, Dr Denise Colestock is only a phone call away in alleviating your lower back pain in Mid-Michigan.