One fact, muscles and joints in the upper back often cause this pain. I will explain common causes, when to see a doctor, and simple steps to find relief. You will get clear tips you can try at home, and signs that need care.

Read on.

Identifying Common Causes of Upper Back Pain Between the Shoulder Blades

Upper back pain between the shoulder blades can happen for many reasons. Poor posture and muscle strain often lead to tightness and discomfort in that area.

The Role of Poor Posture and Muscle Strain

Poor posture strains the thoracic spine and nearby muscles. Slouching pulls on the trapezius and rhomboid muscles. This extra load can cause muscle strain, spasm, and thoracic pain. The pain can feel like stiffness or deep discomfort between the shoulder blades.

Long hours at a desk make this worse. Repetitive motions and poor ergonomics increase tension and overuse. Gentle therapy, posture work, and targeted stretches ease muscle strain. A chiropractor can offer treatment and guide you toward lasting pain relief.

Effects of Repetitive Motions and Overuse

Repetitive motions stress the muscles between the shoulder blades. They tire the trapezius and rhomboid muscles. This stress causes muscle strain, tension, and spasms. Poor posture adds load to the thoracic spine and worsens discomfort.

Over time, small tears and knots form, and thoracic pain can become constant.

Repetitive work or sport increases the risk of long-term issues. Overuse can cause stiffness, referred pain, and nerve irritation in the cervical and thoracic regions.

Simple ergonomic changes and focused therapy can prevent damage and ease pain. If pain lasts or limits daily life, follow the guidelines for seeking medical attention.

Exploring Underlying Medical Conditions

Some cases of thoracic pain come from arthritis in the spine. A pinched nerve in the cervical area can send referred pain between the shoulder blades. Muscle strain or spasm in the trapezius or rhomboid can also cause deep discomfort.

Chest or arm pain with upper back pain needs prompt attention.

Tests like X-rays or MRI can find arthritis, fractures, or disk issues. Talk to a provider if the pain lasts or worsens; this helps guide proper treatment and relief. Read the next section for guidelines on when to seek medical attention.

Guidelines for Seeking Medical Attention

Upper back pain can be troubling. Know when to see a doctor.

1. Feel intense pain that does not go away with rest or home treatment. This kind of pain may mean something more serious.
2. Notice weakness or numbness in your arms or hands. This could hint at a pinched nerve or other issues.
3. Experience pain after an injury, like a fall or accident. Injuries can lead to bigger problems if left unchecked.
4. Have trouble breathing or feel chest pain along with back pain. These could signal urgent health issues and need immediate care.
5. Show signs of swelling, redness, or warmth in the area of discomfort. Infections and inflammatory conditions often cause these symptoms.
6. Struggle with persistent stiffness for weeks on end without improvement. Long-lasting stiffness may indicate arthritis or similar concerns.
7. Face chronic fatigue or unexplained weight loss along with upper back pain. These factors could point to underlying medical conditions that need a doctor’s attention.
8. Want professional guidance for posture problems due to work habits or daily routines. A chiropractor can help improve your posture and relieve spinal tension.

Seeking help early can make a big difference in your recovery journey!

Strategies for Treatment and Relief of Upper Back Pain

After discussing why you should seek medical attention, let’s explore ways to find relief from upper back pain. Here are some strategies you can try.

1. Focus on Good Posture. Sit and stand up straight. Keep your shoulders relaxed and avoid slouching. This helps lessen strain on your muscles.
2. Stretch Regularly. Stretching can ease tension in muscles like the trapezius and rhomboids. Try gentle neck rolls or shoulder shrugs throughout the day.
3. Use Heat Therapy. A warm compress can soothe pain between the shoulder blades. Apply it for 15-20 minutes to promote blood flow and reduce stiffness.
4. Consider Massage Therapy. Professional massages can relieve muscle spasms and tightness, offering comfort and relief from discomfort.
5. Practice Ergonomics at Work. Adjust your chair and desk height to ensure good posture while working. Proper ergonomics can help prevent future injuries.
6. Stay Active with Low-Impact Exercises. Activities like swimming or walking keep your spine flexible without putting too much strain on your back.
7. Explore Chiropractic Care. Chiropractors use hands-on techniques to better align the spine, helping relieve thoracic pain effectively.
8. Take Over-the-Counter Pain Relief as Needed. Non-prescription medications like ibuprofen or acetaminophen can temporarily reduce pain and inflammation.
9. Strengthen Your Core Muscles with Exercises like Planks or Bridges, which help support your back and reduce long-term muscle strain.
10. Make Time for Mindfulness Practices such as yoga or meditation to reduce stress levels; high stress often leads to muscle tension in the upper back area.
11. Ensure You Get Enough Rest and Sleep in a comfortable position; mattress choice matters too since poor sleep can worsen existing discomfort over time.

Conclusion

Upper back pain between the shoulder blades is common and can come from many sources. Poor posture, muscle strain, or even conditions like arthritis may cause discomfort. The tips shared here are straightforward and easy to follow.

Stretching, improving ergonomics, and seeking therapy can help greatly. Taking these steps can lead to significant relief in your daily life. If you need extra support, consider talking to a chiropractor for personalized care; small changes can make a big difference!

The post Upper Back Pain Between The Shoulder Blades: What It Means first appeared on Chiropractor Broken Arrow.

Chiropractic care offers a way to treat back pain using hands-on methods like spinal manipulation and joint adjustment. This approach focuses on the real cause of pain, not just the symptoms.

This blog will show how chiropractic treatment helps reduce muscle tension, improve posture, and boost mobility. You’ll learn which types of back pain respond well to these drug-free treatments…and find out if this is right for you.

Ready to discover new ways for lasting relief? Keep reading!

Understanding Chiropractic Care

Chiropractic care focuses on the spine and body’s alignment. This treatment helps many people find relief from back pain.

What is Chiropractic Care?

Chiropractic care uses hands-on techniques to help your body heal. This approach, called manual therapy, focuses on spinal manipulation and gentle movements to fix misalignments in the spine.

Spinal realignment helps take pressure off nerves and can bring back pain relief for many people.

This kind of care does not use surgery or drugs. It gives a safe and noninvasive way that supports your body’s natural healing powers. Chiropractors like Dr. Travis Ring often suggest lifestyle changes as part of your recovery plan too, such as exercises or tips for better posture at home or work.

“Realignment of the spine can make a big difference in how you feel each day.”

How Chiropractic Care Addresses Back Pain

Spinal adjustment helps realign the spine. This process eases nerve compression, which often triggers pain. Dr. Travis Ring uses noninvasive treatment to target these problem areas and improve musculoskeletal health.

Many people find relief because this approach lowers inflammation and corrects posture without drugs or surgery.

Manual therapy, lifestyle tips, and simple exercises support long-term recovery. Focusing on spinal alignment can help your body heal naturally while avoiding side effects from pain medicines.

Each session aims to restore motion and boost wellness care with a holistic therapy plan for lasting results… Now let’s see what types of back pain respond best to chiropractic care.

Types of Back Pain Treated by Chiropractic Care

Back pain can come in many forms. Chiropractors treat acute back pain, chronic back pain, and nerve pain like sciatica. Each type needs different care to help you feel better.

Acute Back Pain

Acute back pain comes on fast. It may happen after lifting something heavy, sudden movement, or a fall. This type of pain often lasts less than six weeks and is common in many people.

Chiropractic treatment helps with acute back pain through spinal adjustment and physical therapy. These methods work to ease muscle tension, fix joint problems, and support pain management.

Focusing on quick relief without drugs lets the body heal while improving how you move each day. Many patients notice better posture correction during care. Often, a chiropractor will suggest simple exercises to do at home too helping keep that low lumbar pain from coming back.

Quick action for acute back issues can speed recovery and lower your risk of future flare-ups, says Dr. Jon Smith of Broken Arrow.

People also deal with long-term or chronic discomfort needing different help—let’s talk about those next.

Chronic Back Pain

Chronic back pain can be tough to deal with. It often comes from issues like a past injury or bad posture. Dr. Ring knows this well, as he faced chronic pain after an injury in college baseball.

Chiropractic care helps many people find relief.

Chiropractic treatment focuses on spinal alignment to reduce nerve compression and relieve pain. This non-invasive therapy works without drugs, promoting the body’s natural healing abilities.

The benefits include better mobility, improved posture, and long-term relief from chronic pain. Manual therapy and lifestyle changes also aid recovery and help maintain musculoskeletal health for a healthier future.

Sciatica and Nerve Pain

Acute back pain can lead to other issues, like sciatica and nerve pain. Sciatica happens when the sciatic nerve gets pinched or compressed. This often causes sharp pain that travels down your leg.

Nerve compression may come from a herniated disc or other disc disorders.

Chiropractic care treats sciatica effectively. It focuses on spinal manipulation to relieve pressure on nerves. This method helps improve mobility too, which is great for those with sciatica and nerve pain.

Patients find this approach helpful because it is drug-free and promotes natural healing. Chiropractors may also suggest stretching exercises to support recovery from these painful conditions.

Key Benefits of Chiropractic Care for Back Pain Relief

Chiropractic care offers great benefits for back pain relief. It is a natural way to reduce pain without drugs, improving how you move and feel every day.

Natural and Drug-Free Pain Relief

Chiropractic care offers natural, drug-free pain relief for back issues. It works by realigning the spine and reducing nerve pressure. This helps tackle the root causes of back pain instead of just masking it with medication.

People often find long-term solutions through regular adjustments. These manual therapies support musculoskeletal health and promote overall wellness.

Improved blood circulation is another benefit, enhancing healing while boosting mood and energy levels. Many choose chiropractic care as a safer alternative to traditional medicine.

Understanding how this approach can aid in back pain relief is key to feeling better naturally. Next, let’s look at the types of back pain treated by chiropractic care.

Improved Spinal Alignment and Posture

Better spinal alignment helps reduce back pain. It can ease pressure on nerves. Chiropractic care fixes misalignments in your spine. This treatment reduces inflammation and supports overall posture correction.

When your spine aligns properly, you feel less pain. Good posture also improves nerve function and energy levels.

Healthy posture is key for musculoskeletal wellness too. With regular chiropractic sessions, many people notice better mobility and flexibility over time. Adjusting how you sit or stand can bring long-term benefits to your health as well.

Embracing these changes leads to a more comfortable life overall.

Enhanced Mobility and Flexibility

Chiropractic care helps correct spinal misalignments. This can greatly enhance mobility and flexibility. When the spine is aligned properly, it improves posture and reduces strain on muscles and ligaments.

Manual adjustments restore joint alignment too, which makes movement easier.

Treatment also boosts your body’s natural healing abilities. As a result, you may notice increased flexibility over time. Chiropractors often recommend exercises and stretches to help maintain this progress.

These practices support long-term improvements in mobility and overall physical health.

Conclusion

Chiropractic care can be a game-changer for back pain relief. It focuses on realigning the spine to ease nerve pressure and reduce pain. This method is safe, drug-free, and effective for many people.

If you struggle with back issues, consider trying chiropractic adjustments. Your journey to better health starts now; take the first step!

The post Discover The Benefits Of Chiropractic Care For Back Pain Relief first appeared on Chiropractor Broken Arrow.

Fortunately, most cases of back pain respond to conservative treatments. Noninvasive care at Eastern Oklahoma Chiropractic complements and reinforces other natural back pain relief measures without medications. Read on to learn more about improving your back health.

7 Tips to Relieve and Prevent Back Pain

Many things can set you up for a painful back, such as overuse of muscles, aging, your genes, or a sedentary lifestyle.

Of course, you can’t change your age or genetics, but you can minimize back pain risk in many other ways, including:

1) Exercise and stay active. Moving your body is hugely important for mobility and healing. Too much lying down and sitting can actually strain your back and make symptoms worse. Avoid repetitive motions that stress muscles.

Depending on the cause and intensity of your pain, and with advice from your chiropractor or another healthcare provider, work within your limits to keep moving. An exercise program to prevent and control pain may include:

• Regular aerobic exercise. This releases endorphins and increases blood flow to your back for faster healing and better mobility.
• Core strengthening exercises for abdominal and back muscles relieve strain on your spine.
• Stretching to increase flexibility and range of motion. Stretching exercises can relieve back pain.

2) Eat an anti-inflammatory diet to promote healing and weight loss. Avoid inflammation-causing processed foods, sugar, and trans fats. Choose:

• Colorful fruits and vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes, and strawberries
• Nuts, healthy fats, and fatty fish such as salmon
• Vitamin D and calcium to help preserve bone strength in your spine

3) Practice good posture to prevent muscle strain. Stand with shoulders back. Sit straight in your chair with your feet on the floor. And don’t hunch over your computer!

4) Use ice or heat. Start with ice after an injury to reduce swelling. Later, heat helps to increase blood flow and relax muscles.

5) Try relaxing mindfulness practices such as meditation, breathing exercises, tai chi or yoga.  Relaxation is important because anticipating pain can actually make it worse.

6) Improve your sleep quality to boost healing, energy, and pain relief. Of course, pain can disrupt your sleep, but following the practices above can reduce pain, helping you sleep better. Follow a regular sleep routine. Put a pillow between your knees (side sleepers) or under them (back sleepers) for a better spine position. Avoid sleeping on your stomach.

7) Visit your chiropractor to maintain a well-aligned spine.

Chiropractic Care Anchors Your Back Health

Chiropractic treatment can speed up your recovery and prevent future back pain.

Your chiropractor will assess the causes and symptoms of your pain to create a personalized, holistic treatment plan. Spinal adjustments align the spine to reduce tightness in muscles, improve mobility and relieve pain from irritated nerves. Chiropractors also provide exercises and therapies, such as massage, to lengthen muscles and reduce tension.

Living your most active and healthy life helps to keep your back pain-free and strong!

For Your Complimentary Consultation, Contact Eastern Oklahoma Chiropractic

Call our Broken Arrow office at 918-940-4630 today to begin relieving your back pain.

The post Relieve Back Pain with Chiropractic Care and 6 Healthy Habits first appeared on Chiropractor Broken Arrow.

Back Pain Mistakes to Avoid

The joints, bones, muscles, and ligaments of your back are susceptible to many injuries and diseases, as well as damage from poor lifestyle habits. The good news: you can do a lot to mitigate your risks by staying away from these health mistakes:

#1: Not taking care of problems early

Sometimes people think the pain will go away on its own. Even if it does, it can return later if you haven’t gotten help for the root cause.  Or pain may get worse, becoming harder to treat.

Untreated pain also takes a toll on your mood and causes you to move differently, raising your risk of further injury.

#2: Overdoing it on rest

Being inactive can make the pain worse, weakening your muscles and making you more vulnerable to injury. Unless you’ve been diagnosed with a serious problem requiring bed rest, most back pain is helped by gentle, low-impact exercise, such as walking or swimming. Exercise also gives you an emotional boost and helps strengthen your immune system.

#3: Giving up too soon

People sometimes look at where they want to go, and it seems too big a mountain to climb. However, having a plan and taking it one day at a time will encourage you as you build toward success.

Or you may reach a goal and stop making the good choices that helped you. In reality, keeping your back in good shape is an ongoing process. This includes maintaining a routine of stretches, exercises, and good posture practices.

#4: Having poor lifestyle habits

Two of the biggest back pain culprits are being overweight and smoking.

Extra weight places strain on your spine. Regular exercise and a healthy diet of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean protein will move you toward a healthier weight.

Smoking impairs blood flow, depriving spinal discs of oxygen and nutrients needed for good spinal health and function. Smoking also slows down healing and can increase pain sensitivity.

#5: Thinking health is completely out of your control

One of the biggest mistakes people make is feeling powerless about the hand they’ve been dealt by genetics. While genetics does play a role in your predisposition to certain health conditions, your daily decisions have their own significant power.

You can take control of your pain potential with good spine care, exercise, diet, sleep, and stress reduction. The better your decisions each day, the better the outcome for your spine, pain level, and overall health.

Build and Maintain Your Spinal Health

Your spine is central to your body’s health and stability. Chiropractors provide a variety of healing treatments, including adjustments to correct spinal misalignments, allowing your musculoskeletal system to work properly and prevent injury.

Achieving a pain-free life is not a destination, but a daily journey of making positive choices for yourself and your family.

Call Eastern Oklahoma Chiropractic for Your Free Consultation

Our Broken Arrow team is here to help at 918-940-4630.

The post Managing Back Pain: 5 Mistakes You Can Avoid first appeared on Chiropractor Broken Arrow.

With travel, though, often comes extra strain on backs and necks. We advise our patients at Eastern Oklahoma Chiropractic that good travel habits, along with keeping the spine in healthy alignment with regular chiropractic care, are the ticket to a pain-free trip.

How Travel Stresses Your Back and Neck

Experts estimate that up to 80% of people eventually suffer from back pain. Hours of travel spent sitting in cars, planes, and trains, plus handling heavy suitcases, make back pain even more likely. Prolonged sitting keeps your spine in a restricted posture. This places increased stress on spinal discs, muscles, and joints and causes leg swelling and joint stiffness.

Traveling is also stressful and tiring, putting you more at risk for muscle and joint strain.

Fortunately, there’s a lot you can do to prevent discomfort on your next trip.

Tips for Protecting Your Back While Traveling

Movement is your key to improving circulation to the spine and minimizing tension in your lower back and hips. 

Exercise in your seat. Car and plane passengers can perform gentle neck and leg stretch. A good one for the neck: tilt your ear toward your shoulder. Hold for 15-30 seconds. 

On car trips: 

Make frequent stops. Take a break at least every one to three hours so you can walk around.

Support your back. If your seat doesn’t have built-in lumbar support, bring a travel pillow or place a rolled-up towel behind your lower back. 

If you’re the driver: adjust the steering wheel to avoid leaning forward. Use cruise control, so your legs aren’t fixed in one position for the whole drive.

For airplane travel:

Pack light and use wheeled luggage. When lifting bags, bend at the knees and avoid twisting movements. 

Keep your body evenly balanced in the airport security line, with weight on both feet. Backpacks should remain on your back or on the floor, not on one shoulder.

Walk around the gate area. While waiting for your flight to be called, stay on your feet—don’t sit before you have to! 

Request an aisle seat to get up for a stroll every hour or two easily. 

Bring a neck pillow to avoid neck strain while napping.

Sit with good posture and feet flat on the floor. Don’t cross your legs–this can reduce blood flow to legs and cause stiffness in muscles.

Chiropractic Care Prepares You for Travel

A spine out of alignment is more vulnerable to injury caused by travel stresses on the body. Chiropractic adjustments manipulate your spine to improve mobility and stability.

Regular visits to your chiropractor for adjustments, rehabilitative exercises, massage therapy, and other treatments help you head into your journey with a strong spine.

Contact Eastern Oklahoma Chiropractic Today to Schedule Your Complimentary Consultation

Our friendly team in Broken Arrow is here to help. Give us a call at 918-940-4630. 

The post How to Keep Your Back in Good Shape While Traveling first appeared on Chiropractor Broken Arrow.

Chiropractic care, by contrast, allows your body to return to alignment and better health in a non-invasive, natural way.  Our care at Eastern Oklahoma Chiropractic includes holistic treatments that get at the root causes of your back pain.

Back Pain: The Most Common Source of Disability

It’s no surprise that nowadays the most common cause of disability is back pain, particularly in the lower back. More than 80 percent of people suffer from back pain at certain times in their lives, due to causes such as injuries, poor posture or spinal imbalances. Severe back pain is very debilitating, preventing people from working at their jobs, sleeping well, enjoying simple things in life, or even thinking clearly.

The Cycle of Pain Medication Dependence

Patients who are anxious to relieve their pain will often start by taking over-the-counter drugs. When those treatments prove to be ineffective, back pain sufferers may turn to strong prescription drugs. This desperation to ease the pain leads, in the worst cases, to addiction to dangerous drugs such as opioids. Even without drug addiction, a patient’s symptoms may become worse over time, because medications don’t address the underlying causes of pain.

Chiropractic Care: Safer and More Economical

Unlike medication, chiropractic treatment works on healing the body naturally, without the higher expenses of drugs and doctor visits.

In a recent study, researchers looked at the results of patients treated with chiropractic care compared with those who used other types of treatments. The average cost of treatment with a chiropractor was $712, while the average for other types of care averaged out to $1992. Another cost and health saving factor to consider is that safe, natural chiropractic treatments protect patients from the additional expense of treating side effects that may develop when they use drugs to treat their pain.

When we align your spine with gentle chiropractic adjustments, your nervous system regains the power to heal your body and restore your full potential of mobility. This provides you with a natural remedy for pain, without the expense and side effects of drugs. With this safe, holistic approach you have the best of both worlds: reduced pain and more money left over to spend on enjoying your new life potential.

Contact Eastern Oklahoma Chiropractic for Your Free Consultation

We’re committed to helping our patients feel great and be in control of their health. Give us a call at (918) 940-4630 for your checkup at our Broken Arrow office.

The post Back Pain Relief Through Safe, Low-Cost Chiropractic Treatment first appeared on Chiropractor Broken Arrow.

Hard-working people deserve the opportunity to retire on their own terms. Health and productivity enter into a downward spiral with the onset of chronic low back pain. Millions of working-class people receive a figurative death sentence for their careers and hobbies when the unfair reality of low back pain becomes a daily presence in their lives. Too many people believe the only options available come in the form of physical deterioration or dangerous pharmaceutical drugs. People deserve an expanded understanding of non-medical and non-pharmacological options. Research proves that spinal adjustments change lives for many who suffer from chronic low back pain.

Back pain arrives in two forms discerned by a factor of time. Acute pain indicates a new episode of pain. Chronic pain describes pain existing longer than three months. The majority of acute pain eventually develops into chronic pain when the cause of the new injury remains untreated People tend to address acute pain with pharmaceutical drugs which can sometimes reduce the pain but always leaves the problem unaddressed, accumulating more damage, and becoming more permanent. Research determines that more than 60% of untreated acute pain develops into more severe chronic pain. The simple solution begins with understanding the body. Optimal long-term healing from injury begins when the body is properly aligned and functioning at peak performance. Ignoring acute pain or masking the pain with drugs permits the body to deteriorate into stages which make recovery incredibly difficult.

Noteworthy facts about back pain include:

• Back pain represents the single leading cause of worldwide disability

• Back pain represents one of the most common reasons for missed work

• Back pain accounts for more than 264 million lost workdays annually

• Experts estimate that up to 80% of the population will experience back pain at some point

• Most cases of back pain originate from unserious conditions

• Low-back pain costs Americans at least $50 billion in health care annually

• Lost wages and productivity account for another $50 billion in loss

Research shows that spinal adjustments provide faster and more effective relief from back pain than popularly prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs. A clinically tested group that received spinal adjustments also required less time off work and used less medication. The key to maintaining a high level of function begins with committing to appropriate treatment when experiencing acute back pain. Chiropractic care provides restoration and healing which prevents acute pain from turning into long term chronic pain. Chiropractic plays a lead role in helping back pain sufferers avoid both long term pain and an unhealthy reliance upon dangerous drugs. Freedom from back pain begins with understanding that the road to a pain-free life is better ensured through Chiropractic care.
Avoiding

The post Avoiding Back Pain Makes it Worse… Chiropractic Provides a More Effective Solution than NSAID Medications first appeared on Chiropractor Broken Arrow.

If you are relatively fit and work out regularly, working in the yard is just one of those facts of life that tend to aggravate any weak spot you already have in your spine. Unlike working out at the gym, the forces on your body in the yard are less predictable ( how much force will it take to pull that tree root out? Lots and then none as you careen backwards). The tasks involve unexpected resistance ( we have all been digging holes and hit rocks sending reverberations all the way up our skeletons). Yard projects also tend to last longer than workouts and I know that I try just to rush through them without taking breaks to stretch.

Odds are, you have already tweaked yourself and are experiencing your own back pain from yard work or you wouldn’t be reading this so call our office at 918-940-4630 and schedule an appointment. Also, please start icing the area for a new complaint and transition to heat after a couple days.

To prevent future back pain from yard work, here are some tips I have learned over the years. First, if you have a big project like a great big truck of mulch that you want to install, commit to doing it for an hour and then taking a break. I am also impatient and when I decide to do something I want it done yesterday. That personality has not served me well over the years when it comes to yard work. One hour, then take a break and kick your feet up, stretch a little, drink a refreshing beverage and see how you feel before you go back to hour number two (always remember to stay hydrated especially here in the oppressive heat of Broken Arrow, OK).  Do this every hour or so. Six hours of doing repetitious activities that your body isn’t used to will hurt just about everyone.

Also, please identify your weak spots of your body and stretch them after you do your yard work. I am not suggesting a 45 minute stretch session, but 3-4 stretches on the parts that you already know will bother you the most. Don’t have a weak link on that body of yours? Yeah right, we all have one. If you really think that, you aren’t paying enough attention to your tight muscles. Those are my people who really get hurt when they hurt themselves because they don’t pay attention to the warning signs of an oncoming injury.

As always, our chiropractic office here in Broken Arrow, OK  is here to help.  If you have questions or have hurt yourself, please give us a call at 918-940-4630 to set up your first visit.  We promise to do all we can to have you back on your feet as quickly as possible.  Thank you for allowing Dr. Travis Ring and Eastern Oklahoma Chiropractic to be a part of your health team!

The post Back Pain from Yard Work in Broken Arrow first appeared on Chiropractor Broken Arrow.

First, you need to properly warm-up before you golf. This does involve being willing to look a little stupid in front of your friends so you will need to suck it up to feel good. I would suggest doing planks or sit-ups to activate your core muscles and prepare them to contract during your golf swing. Doing walking lunges will also help warm up your legs and butt muscles. I also recommend doing spinal rotation while keeping your hips very still and quiet. Going back and forth several dozen times will help your body prepare for the extreme rotation associated with golf.

Secondly, you know your back always feels sore after your first few times golfing. Be proactive and schedule a visit with your chiropractor before you hurt yourself. The old saying, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure applies here. My patients that get adjusted regularly and take care of their spine with regular chiropractic care have better swing mechanics, less pain during their round and less recovery time. They end up playing a lot more golf in the season because they are not stopped by the pain. Tiger Woods has had his own private chiropractor his entire career and while he has recently been sidelined, he has been quoted numerous times on what an invaluable member of his team his chiropractor has been.

Thirdly, make sure you have good swing technique. Don’t try to evaluate this yourself. A PGA pro will be the best person to help you improve your swing mechanics to avoid damaging your back.  If you do not have access to a PGA pro, speak to the club professional at your local course and rely solely on the salesman at the store as a last resort.  You want your information from the best available.

At Eastern Oklahoma Chiropractic, we are always here to help you feel better. Call us at 918-940-4630 to schedule your appointment and we can evaluate your current situation and make the appropriate adjustments to your spine and your swing to help you stay on the course and out-drive your buddies.  We want to help you continue to do the things you enjoy.  Thank you for allowing us to be your chiropractor.

The post Why Does My Back Hurt While Playing Golf? first appeared on Chiropractor Broken Arrow.

Why do kids have so much back pain?  Let’s start with their big heavy backpacks that don’t quite fit that they sling over one shoulder.  While I frequently recommend smaller backpacks, keeping more in your locker and roller bags, that isn’t always realistic.  At the very least, be sure to wear a backpack with adjustable straps over both shoulders and the best scenario would be to use a waist strap too.  Where do you get something like that?  Try Dick’s or another sporting goods store.

Just like any office worker, if you sit all day, it will cause back pain.  My office chair has lumbar support and a butt cushion.  Most school desks I have seen have hard resin chairs with no padding. How can anyone be expected to sit quietly and calmly on that?

That is one of the many reasons that varied physical activity is important for keeping your kids healthy and free of back pain.  This doesn’t mean three hours of soccer practice every night year-round.  Variety in sports is important.  The kids that do best and have the least pain and injuries are the ones that don’t get so focused on one sport.  If your child is happy to settle for the B team because they are enjoying a variety of sports, be happy for them.  Be proud that they are making a decision that will cause them less pain and injury in the future.

Chiropractic care has been shown over and over to be effective and safe for kids.  If your child is struggling with back pain give a chiropractor a call.  We are honored and excited if you choose us for your family’s chiropractic care.

If you have any questions, please give us a call at 918-940-4630 and schedule your initial visit with Dr. Travis Ring with Eastern Oklahoma Chiropractic.  We are located conveniently off the Broken Arrow Expressway at 61st and Aspen across from the world’s largest QT (that may be an exaggeration but that place is huge!!)  Thank you in advance for allowing us to care for your child.

The post Why does my child have back pain? first appeared on Chiropractor Broken Arrow.