How Salt Lake City Chiropractors Can Help You Sleep

With the weather quickly shifting to the blustery cold of winter, I could probably write a blog about winter sports and how to keep your body functioning at its optimal level and lower your back pain through routine chiropractic care.  

As we are currently right in the middle of the best time of year (football season), I could probably write a blog about how chiropractic care helps athletes in Salt Lake City function to their bodies utmost and prevent injuries through chiropractic care.

I could probably write about how chiropractic care will help to keep you healthy as colds and flu's seem to be starting to overcome the masses.

But, I've already done all that.  Over the past year or so I have written blogs that have covered all those subjects.  So, I think I should write about something that i haven't written about yet.  This is one of my favorite things to do...ever.

Lets talk about sleep.  I can't tell you how many times I hear the phrase, "I didn't do anything, I just woke up with it", when people are talking about a new pain they are experiencing.  

You spend a third of your life asleep.  The position that you sleep in can have a huge effect on your health and the well-being of your body and your joints.

So, what is the best way to sleep?

According to my teachers in school....on your side.  According to many "experts"...on your back.  No one says to sleep on your stomach because that is pretty much one of the worst things you can do for your back or neck.  Very rarely do I ever tell anyone to quit doing something immediately.  One of those things is doing squats...DON'T EVER DO SQUATS...You will hurt yourself.  Another thing I tell people that they should NEVER do is sleep on their stomach.  You've got your head turned to the side for 8 hours and your lower back is put into a position of extension (leaning backwards) all night.  Horrible for the joints...DON'T EVER SLEEP ON YOUR STOMACH!!!

Based on my experience, sleeping on you back or your side can be equally good (or bad) for your spine.  

Here are some principles to remember when finding a position to sleep in:

1.  Try to look at your spine when you are standing up.  Keep your spine in that position when you are laying down.  Whether you are on your back or your side, you want to keep your spine in a straight position while keeping the natural curves of your spine supported.  

While on your side, you should have your knees slightly bent with a pillow between the knees to keep the hips in a natural posture.  NO ROLLING YOUR TOP HIP FORWARD!!!  Your shoulders should be square (do not tuck your bottom shoulder forward either, this creates torque in the spine and strain to the muscles of your shoulders).  Your head should be supported in a way that keeps the neck and shoulders in a straight line with the rest of your spine.  No flexion of the head (fetal position).  Keep the head upright.

While on your back, put a small support under your knees.  Position the pillow so that your head will stay straight (looking up at the ceiling).  DON'T USE A VERY THICK PILLOW.  A thin pillow under the head and a slightly thicker pillow under the neck (or 2 layers of pillow under the neck) should provide the right type of support for the head and neck.

2.  Illustrated below are some positions NOT to sleep in:

Take care, and sleep tight.

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A Utah chiropractor explains how your work posture is causing you back pain

Looking back over past blogs that I have written about health and chiropractic, I noticed that most of the ones that I have done are usually centered around some sort of activity.  When it got cold out, I wrote about skiing.  As the weather started getting warmer, I wrote about outdoor activities such as hiking and mountain biking.

Today I want to switch it up a bit and cover the anti-activity: work.  In the day and age that we live in, computers have become a necessity with most jobs and careers.  You find less and less people who actually do physical work for a living anymore.  Most of us are sitting at a computer all day long, day after day, in exceedingly poor posture.  Then we wonder why we are hurting, because, "I didn't do anything to hurt myself."

Well, YES YOU DID!!!

You might start out the morning sitting up nice and straight, but after about 20 minutes, you look like this guy!

I love computers dearly. It is because of computers that I know that I will always have a job.  As long as there are computers, there will be people who need chiropractic care.

So, lets address a few things that you can do to counter all the damage that you are doing to your spine (and your health) while you sit at your computer.

1. Get the screen higher, and in the middle!  The lower the screen is, the more you hunch over to see it.  Especially on a laptop where the screen is typically smaller and lower than a desktop.  Ideally, as you look straight ahead, your eyes should hit the middle of the screen.  Now a days, there are work stations with 2 or even 3 screens.  I know it's tough, but put the screen that you focus on most directly in front of you.  Looking to the left for 4 hours a day can cause just as much problem as a whiplash with your head turned left.
2. Low back support!  So many people look at the picture above and would assume that the upper back is the biggest problem here.  The lower back is actually more important.  In the office, the illustration I use is quite simple.  I have someone sit in a chair and slump like they normally do.  Then, I put a roll of paper towels (horizontally) in between their lower back and the chair.  With that support, it makes it much more difficult for them to slump.  When they relax, they are still sitting fairly upright.
3. Stop reaching!  Get the keyboard and mouse close to your body.  The more you reach forward for these things, the easier it is for your upper back to follow them forward.

There are many more ergonomic recommendations that could be made, but I like to keep it simple.  Start with these simple changes and see how much your body appreciates the effort you are making. If you’re still hurting, come in to our clinic in Sugar House for a chiropractic adjustment.

~ Dr. Michael Hill, DC

Relieve the pain of summer vacation travel with chiropractic treatment

Along with the summer that has come upon us, there are several other things that come with it.  Warm weather, more outdoor activities, kids being bored at home because there is "nothing to do," and vacations.  Like most of you, I can still remember family vacations as a kid during the summer time.

Many of our vacations revolved in some way around baseball.  While living in Louisiana as a child, I remember a summer vacation when we went over to Houston.  During the day, our whole family would do SeaWorld or other fun outdoor activities and at night my dad would take my older brother and me to the Houston Astrodome to watch a series between the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves (our favorite team).  Later, while living in central Illinois, our vacations would generally involve driving down to St. Louis and doing Six Flags during the day, and – you guessed it – baseball games at night between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Braves at Busch Stadium.

As a child, I never really thought much about how hard trips like this can be on your body.  Vacations typically involved getting up really early and driving for several hours in order to get to the theme park by the time it opened.  Then, you walk around in the hot sun all day and get exhausted.  After the park, you manage to find some dinner somewhere before heading out to the ballgame to sit in uncomfortable seats for a few hours before finally heading back to a hotel and sleeping in an uncomfortable bed for only a few hours before getting up the next morning to do it all again.

You could probably say the same for most family vacations whether they are to the beach, to the mountains, flying overseas, or just driving across the state to visit relatives.  These trips take a toll on your body.  After all, there is a saying that goes, "I need a vacation to recover from my vacation."

This is where The Joint Chiropractic may be able to help you out.  With over 250 locations across the country (and at least a hundred more planned), we've got your back.  Whether you are a member with us or use our package visits, they are good at any location around the country.  The doctor in that location (although they won't be as good as the doctors at Sugar House) will have your history and treatment protocols.  You won't have to go through any of the hassle of re-examinations or new x-rays and you'll be in and out in a convenient manner so that you can get on with your vacation.

So, with your vacation plans this year, don't forget to go to www.saltlakecitychiropractor-thejoint.com and look up the closest The Joint chiropractic clinics so that you can continue your maintenance and enjoy your vacation that much more.

~ Dr. Michael Hill

Why world class athletes seek chiropractic care

With it being the week of the Super Bowl, I decided to write this particular blog about the benefits of chiropractic care with athletes. In previous blogs, we have discussed the numerous benefits of chiropractic care when it comes to pain relief, injury prevention and general overall health. Now, we get to discuss a topic that most of us will never get to experience.

Elite athletes are much different than the rest of us. They push their bodies to the absolute limits each and every day. Whether they are trying to gain speed, strength or agility, elite athletes are required to get every ounce of ability out of their bodies in order to achieve greatness.

For example, let’s just take a look at the Olympics. Many events at the Olympics are decided by tenths, hundredths, or even thousandths of a second. Think about that for a minute. Once every four years, an athlete has one single opportunity to earn a Gold Medal in a sport that they have worked their entire lives to earn. And that medal will be awarded to an athlete that ran a race in .001 second faster than the guy who finished second.

When we look at how chiropractic care will help these elite athletes, we have to examine what it actually does. Chiropractic care is really designed to make your body function as well as your body can function. Does it help people with pain? Yes. Does it help people avoid injury? Yes. None of these are the reason that elite athletes use chiropractic care.

By adjusting the spine (and extremity joints), chiropractors are helping the body to function to the best of its abilities. When the bones of the body are properly aligned, movement is fluid and natural. The body doesn't have to strain or work harder than it should in order to move. There is no wasted motion or wasted energy when the body functions properly.

Now, to you and me this really doesn't matter much. Does it really matter if you can stand up from a chair in .001 second faster than someone else? Does it matter if you can wash dishes just a little faster than someone else? Does it matter if you exert a little more effort picking up that bottle of water?

To elite athletes, these things are HUGE!!! Fractions of a second can mean the difference between a Gold Medal and no medal at all. Or, it can mean the difference between making the game-saving tackle or missing the runner and allowing the TD. It can mean the difference between a home run and a lazy fly ball. Or, it could mean the difference between a 300 yard drive and a slice into the woods.

When you get into the world of professional and world class athletics, fractions of a second could literally mean millions of dollars are earned or lost. Fame and fortune vs. failure and loss. This is the reason that elite athletes use chiropractic care.

~ Dr. Michael Hill