How Does a Tens Unit Work on Muscle Spasm- Pain comes from electroechemical impulses relaying the pain message. A TENS unit interrupts this pathway. T.E.N.S stands for Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation. It is often used to treat low back pain and neck pain. Tens units use a low voltage electrical current to induce pain relief. Continue Reading Article
Neck Exercises- Learn effective neck stretches and strengthening exercises for the cervical spine
End Neck Pain by Improving Posture- How Proper Posture Improves Your Spine Relieving Nerve Pressure- How does posture have anything to do with neck pain?--Neck pain comes from pressure on the nerves. How does this happen?--Usually pressure from a misaligned neck spine. When your spine is misaligned (some call that subluxated) it does not move like it should and in turn creates inflammation in that area. Either out-of-alignment spinal vertebrae (spinal bones) put direst pressure on nerves or the inflammation, or built up degeneration causes the pressure. Continue Reading Article
How to Reduce the Chances of Getting A Stiff Neck- A Stiff Neck.... Horrible especially when you wake up in the morning and realize that it is going to be one painful day. You are stiff, your neck hurts, you cannot turn your head, even brushing your teeth hurts. We get questions about how to treat a stiff neck all the time. Continue Reading Article
How To Avoid Neck Pain While Doing Abs- If you do your Abdominal crunches correctly with proper form, there is no reason to suffer from neck pain or sore neck. One of the biggest mistakes that people make is that involve there neck muscles while doing these exercises- that is a NO-NO. Bringing your head and neck forward puts unnecessary pressure on the neck and it is not healthy. So when you do your abdominal crunch look at the ceiling.Continue Reading Article
Have you have experience a muscle knot in your upper back area- if you could reach it and place some pressure on the area, you would get some relief. Too many times this happens. Painful trigger points could be in your upper back, midback, neck or lower back.
There is a device called the Theracane Massager that can help to reach difficult areas of pain. It works by adding pressure (that you apply) to muscles and increase oxygenated blood flow to the area. The pressure that you apply helps to loosen up the muscle by breaking up adhesions in individual muscle fibers.
One of the best places I found that this works wonders is in between the shoulder blades, in the upper trapezius muscle and in the shoulders at the top.
You can use the theracane at home, or at work. I would recommend that you apply an ice pack right after using it, especially if you use a lot of pressure on the muscles. Read the accompanying manual - I assure you that you will be surprised at all the ways it can be used for pain relief.
Use the Theracane for upper back muscles that you are not able to reach yourself easily.
Great for mid back and lower back pain trigger points that may be hard to reach.
Easy to Use at Home or at Work. Apply as much pressure as you are able to handle.
The latest research is showing to do more of a dynamic stretch routine pre-work out, and sustained stretches post exercise.
What does that mean?
This essentially means to do more of warm up type stretching to start. Things like neck rolls, jogging in place, jumping jacks... After the work out do regular sustained stretches. For example , if you did a lot of triceps, then a sustained triceps stretch for 10 or 15 seconds can be done.
Dynamic Stretches Are Best When It Comes To Warming Up Before You Workout
Recent studies have been shown that static stretching can decrease your strength and athletic performance. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research studied weight lifters who did static and dynamic stretching. They found that static stretching reduced strength. Specifically the weight lifters decreased their one-rep max strength by 8% and decreased lower body stability by more than 22% when doing static stretches.
In addition to dynamic stretches, there are 3 other types of stretching that are beneficial:
Chiropractic Treatment - address the cause of the tight muscles with making sure the spine is aligned properly. The muscles are innervated by the nerves and the nervous system after all.
Foam Rolling - This means changing the length of the muscle using a rumble roller for example. This creates a neural down-regulation that decreases muscle tone
Traction - This decreases stimuli to overactive muscles and allows for movement of fluid into the joint spaces. Two examples of this are decompression and elastic bands.
How Examining Your Own Neck Posture Is Vital to Stop and Prevent Neck Pain!
Your posture is very important to your everyday health. Some say its the window to your spine. How you look and feel depend a great deal on Posture. We have all heard our mothers and fathers say, " Sit up in Your Chair, Stop Slouching" or "Stand up Straight"- these words can be harsh, but they are so true. Bad posture can cause you pain in many areas such as the neck, upper back, mid back and lower back area. Lets talk more about posture, so that you can have the best posture possible
How Do I Check My Posture?
A few key points to Look at when analyzing your posture or someone else's The quickest way to see yourself is what? - Looking in the mirror, Right! Looking at our neck posture is the absolute simplest way to figure out why you experience neck pain. It's also a great tool to use to prevent future neck pain and cervical degeneration. This article explains how we can understand what we are looking for in our neck posture, how to check our posture, and why it's so important.
What Does Your Posture Look Like? It can be hard to see what your own Posture is. Have a trusted friend look at your posture for you. Or look at yourself with a full length mirror
What Type of Posture Do You Have?
Are one of these your Postures?
A Common Posture MisAlignment
Forward Head Posture Anterior Head Carriage The most common postural shift we see is forward head- this is where the head and neck ar forward of where they should be. Keep in mind a lot of us also have shoulders that roll forward, so picture them where they should be.
Other variables that may throw off your analysis besides forward shoulders, might be a crooked nose, ears that are different, or a jaw that is shifted. Keep this in mind when you are viewing your neck posture.
Another Way to Check Posture
Simple technique, all you need is a camera Another great way to analyze this is take a picture with a digital camera. It's easy to look at your anterior-posterior posture in the mirror. Your lateral posture is more difficult to analyze. A picture with a camera works great. A standing x-ray is even better because it will show exactly what your spine looks like. If the spine is shifted your posture will be shifted.
Also look at old pictures you may have. Break out those family photos from last Christmas and look at your posture, you'll learn a lot.
A tip to get your actual posture is to close your eyes, march in place a couple times, then relax and open your eyes while looking in the mirror or have someone take your picture. With your eyes open looking at your posture you will try to correct yourself without even knowing it. Another option is to just close your eyes and shake out your body. Basically, what I mean is to shake out your arms and legs, loosening up, and then stop where you think is straight. You might be surprised at what you find.
Ideal Posture of the Body
What is the Perfect Posture, and CAN I ACHIEVE IT? type=text From the front view your posture should be straight up and down- to see this in the mirror your shoulders and the tops of your hips should be even. You can look at points in your mid-body also to see if there are any shifts in your spine. For example, your shoulders may look even or level, but when you try to line up the point midline to your eyes to your to the middle of your chin to your Adam's apple things don't line up.
Looking at your whole body, a straight line should be able to be drawn from the point between your eyes to your Adam's apple, to your groin (the point of the "V" where your legs meet, to a point midline between your ankle bones).
Looking at your posture from the side, the ear should line up with the front to middle of the shoulder, and further down to the hip, and to the ankle bone.
Good Posture... A good stance and posture reflect a proper state of mind.
- Morihei Ueshiba
Sway Back Posture
Sway back posture is when the body tilts backward. This typically happens one of two ways. The first happens when your body tries to correct for forward head posture. When your head goes forward it also tilts down slighly. Your body however tries to keep your eyes even with the horizon so it extends back in the lumbar spine. The other way this happens is in people who are carrying extra weight in their mid section. They tend to extend backward to balance the weight. You can use a posture corrector to correct your posture.
Hyper Lumbar Lordosis Posture
Increased curve in the lower back spine area Hyperlordosis is an increased curvature of the lumbar spine. Any increased or lost curve of the spine will put unwanted pressure on nerves.
Thoracic Kyphosis Posture
Hunch back posture- your upper mid back juts out type=text This is also called a hyperkhyphosis. The thoracic curve is known as a khyphosis, whereas your cervical and lumbar spine are lordotic curves. This posture often happens in conjunction with forward head as well. When the head pulls forward the upper thoracics sometimes hunch up creating a "hunch back look".
Forward Head Posture
Your Head is way forward than it should be. Foward Head Posture A popular posture that many people have. It often occurs when someone is sitting at a computer for great lengths of time. This is when the head and cervical spine shift forward. It often involves loss of the neck curve. This is the most common postural shift. The good news is that the cervical traction pillow is a great remedy for forward head posture.
Posture Is an Important Window Into your Spine
Its how others see YOU. If you notice one shoulder is lower than the other, then often times your neck is shifted to that side. This applies the same to the hips. If your pelvis or low back shifts to the left, then the left hip will drop.
If you see that your chin is more to one side or you can see one ear more than the other then your neck may be rotated slightly.
If one ear is lower than the other or you can't imagine a straight line across connecting through both eyes or ears you may have a slight head tilt.
All of these observations make you aware that there are most likely those same shifts inside you of your cervical spine.
Forward neck posture or forward head carriage is when the head juts forward compared to the shoulder. In severe cases you will notice this when looking in the mirror; simply turn a bit to try to see yourself from the side. If you have any of the above postural misalignments especially forward head posture, I would start using a neck pillow at night, and do specific neck exercises to correct your posture.
Misalignments in the Spine Can Be the Cause for Pain
What Type of Pain can result from bad posture? Any misalignments we see means that those shifts may be happening in the spine, and this may mean there is pressure on nerves. This intern can cause pain, neck muscle spasm, or something worse. Also, if the spine is unbalanced, and the nerves aren't functioning at their best it will start to cause wear and tear in the spine; in other words, breakdown or degeneration. Improper posture can lead to all types of pain:
Shoulder pain
Headaches
Neck Pain
Upper Back Pain
Stiff Neck
So check your posture, and make sure your neck is in good alignment - just to avoid these pains.
Cervical Support Pillows that Make A Difference
Neck Pillows that Can help you Improve your neck Posture There are many neck pillows available online. Soft ones, hard ones, fluffy ones, foam ones, tempur-pedic ones--even ones filled with beans. Which is the right neck pillow for you? Here is a recommendation of some of the neck pillows we recommend for better posture. Check out frequently asked questions about these neck pillows at the Neck Pain
Cervical Support Pillows that Make A Difference
Neck Pillows that Can help you Improve your neck PostureThere are many neck pillows available online. Soft ones, hard ones, fluffy ones, foam ones, tempur-pedic ones--even ones filled with beans. Which is the right neck pillow for you? Here is a recommendation of some of the neck pillows we recommend for better posture. Check out frequently asked questions about these neck pillows at the Neck Pain Relief Shop.
The Arc4life Cervical Linear Traction Neck Pillow: This neck pillow comes highly recommended by Arc4life. It does traction and gives you support for your neck. If you have degeneration in the neck spine, a bulging or herniated disc, or forward head posture, consider this neck pillow. Dimensions: 24"x17", Color:White, Fill: Polyester Fiber Fill
Arc4life Cervical Traction Neck Pillow Large - Same Arc4life pillow- but larger. Its smaller than a king size, but smaller pillow than a king: Dimensions: 28"x17", Color:White, Fill: Polyester Fiber Fill
Arc4life Linear Gravity Support Pillow - Smaller size pillow great for petite individuals, someone with a shorter neck, or even teens. Dimensions: 20"x15", Color:White, Fill: Polyester Fiber Fill.This pillow also comes in a medium size pillow: 24"x17", and large size: 28"x17"
Improve your Lower Back Posture While Sitting
Use a Stress Wedge or Posture Wedge to fix your lower back posture If you sit at a computer for long periods of time, or you have a desk job, changes are your posture is suffering because of poor ergonomics. The Stress Wedge is a positioning wedge that you sit on. The incline on this foam wedge helps to give you proper form in the lumbar spine. It also eases lower back pain while in the seated position. You can also use a lumbar support cushion behind your back to make sure you are sitting up straight. The side support wings of a lumbar support cushion aid in making sure your spine is properly aligned. Finally, if you do a lot of driving make sure you have a supportive drivers seat with adequate lumbar support.
Hunch Back Posture refers to the "hunchback of Notre Dame" or the "egor" type person, if you will. That being said, we are talking about looks, not personality or anything else. This, of course is the extreme case, literally bent forward, with a hump on the back, one shoulder higher than the other...
...But what if you have bad posture, and you are starting to feel like the upper-back is "humping" up? This can be referred to as hunchback posture. Throw a spinal curvature in the mix (scoliosis) and that makes things hump upward too.
How Does A Hunch Back Posture Develop in the back?
In most cases we are talking about here, activities that promote forward head posture can eventually lead to the upperback moving upward - "HunchBack".
If the head drift forward the upperback follows that path as well. Our spines are built in such a way for maximum strength and so to with stand the forces of gravity pushing downward. Things like always texting with your head down, numerous hours on the computer, or continual stressful driving forces the head forward.
Chances Are You Know Someone with this Posture...
Now you have a name for it.
Do You Know Someone with this Posture?
5 Products I can Recommend to Help Avoid the Hunchback Posture From Developing:
Also Reasons Why these specific products will help you.
Hot and Cold Pack 9x16 - This is for when you are experience neck pain and upper back pain. Keep it in the freezer.
Arc4life Traction Pillow - A Support Pillow For Better Sleep. This pillow will allow your neck to have proper curvature.
Posture Pulley Neck Exerciser - For decreasing the forward head posture- this posture pulley will help it with resistance added.
Posture Corrector - For Better Posture. Period.
This will help you sit up better and stand better.
How to Fix this Posture?
The hunchback posture is more common then you think. Here are a few things sthat hould be done to fix this posture:
1) Just being aware of it and the things that may worsen it is the first step. When you are cognisant of it you can straighten you posture or change body positions.
2) Exercises. A very common exercise I give to someone with forward head carriage are called "head retraction exercises". To perform, you want to pretend your head is on an imaginary track going anterior to posterior. Now slide that head back on that track being careful not to flex or extend but glide the head backward.
3) Neck Traction. This is extremely important because after having forward head for a while, ligament and muscles will shorten, not allowing the head to comfortable stay in the normal position.
Is this A Common Posture?
Today, this is one of most common postural misalignment we see. Why? All of the things we do that can lead to forward head posture can eventually lead to the hunch back posture. Especially now with smart phones, more time spent on computers or laptops, sometimes reading with our heads down...
We are in the information age, we can take in more info, etc. but we have to be aware of our posture.
Nowaday’s people are working longer and longer hours. The jobs are often at 2 extremes- either sitting in a cubicle all day or maybe working in a factory or retail where they are standing for long periods of time. For me personally, I have worked mostly physical jobs. My very first job was very physical- I worked at a plant auction where I stood nonstop for 6 hours with heavy lifting as well. I can say that this job definitely helped me to be fit. I suffered a little bit of back strain but because it was a summer job, I went back to college and spent a lot of time sitting and studying.
Being physically active at work is very important to one's health. Research has shown that sitting for extended periods of time can lead to various diseases such as heart attack, stroke and other metabolic syndromes. Unfortunately in today’s techie world, there are so many jobs that are sedentary- a desk job, telemarketing, computer oriented etc. Some people eat their lunch in front of the computer or in front of their iPhones. What are some ways we can break out of these habits and be physically fit?
Stand while at your desk- work in a standing position. This upright position can burn 40% more calories than sitting.
Get up and take a break- walk around. You know those early mall walkers in the morning that you see walking around and around? You should do the same. Walk around your building. Take the stairs in stead of the elevator.
Sit on a yoga ball chair- This helps to strengthen your core and improves balance.
Change up where meetings are held- hold them outside if possible.
Get a treadmill desk- I know this may be impractical but this works if you work from home. This allows the user to walk at a slow pace while working. I recently just saw this on the Today show. Looks crazy but I bet it works.
I always say that movement is the key to a healthy life. Remaining sedentary sets you up for disease, weight gain and poor posture. So the next time you have a choice in the matter – to sit or to stand. Choose the latter; your health will thank you.
At Arc4life we get a lot of calls from customers who need a recommendation for their neck pain. Over the years, we have composed a list of the top 5 selling items on our website that just make sense when it comes to alleviating neck pain. We call it the Neck Pain Relief package. Here is what it includes:
a traction unit - something to stretch the neck
a support pillow for the neck that aligns the cervical spine while sleeping ( on your side or on your back)
a hot and cold pack (great for moist heat or a cold pack on your neck, depending on your pain)
a natural pain relief gel (great for muscle of the neck and upper shoulders)
a homeopathic muscle relaxer
Check out the Neck pain Relief Package at Arc4life. These products all work very well together to combat neck pain and quick and painlessly as possible.
Here is a product you can wear to improve posture: the posture corrector. It will help to roll back your shoulders, and prevent the hunchback posture. This brace also helps if you suffer from upper back discomfort from slouching or bad posture.
If you do a lot of sitting during the day or perhaps for your job, then a low back pillow may interest you. Whether you are a truck driver, limosine driver or maybe you work at a call center- sitting may be a major part of your job. You may even have constant low back pain, back stiffness, muscle pain or poor posture because you sit for a better part of the day. One solution for this is to use a special low back pillow that will help promote good lumbar posture.
What are the muscles that make up the neck and surrounding areas: You might or might know a few: the cervical paraspinals, the scalene muscles, the suboccipitals, the levator scapulae just to name a few. If you are suffer from neck pain, or stiff neck and are not able to turn your head a certain way, this information can be important to you. Knowing how to stretch and strengthen the neck muscles is very important.
Our neck if looking at it from the side and through an x-ray, should be a C Shaped curve. This C Shape curve is very important for proper neck posture. If someone has been diagnosed with a military spine it means that they have lost the proper c curve in their cervical spine. One way to treat this at home is through neck traction, or stretching. Read our article below on how to treat a military neck.
