Postural Weakness

I was sitting here watching the Olympics tonight, thinking of what to write about and realized that my neck is tired from sitting here reading emails and facebook. Your posture while working on the computer can make or break your day. Your neck and upper back muscles have to hold up that 15 pound bowling ball. If you are not keeping these muscles strong with some simple exercises, you may suffer from chronic neck and upper back pain. Those muscles hold your head high and above your shoulder girdle. Any forward positioning of your head puts extra stress on your neck and upper back muscles. Those muscles are then working overtime all day and then they may hurt.
Another problem is the way you may view your computer screen with glasses. There are many types of lenses and the way you read through the lenses may effect your neck postures. Occasionally, I have recommended my neck patients to get a different pair of glasses for just computer work because the progressive lenses they have cause them to shear their head forward on their neck causing pain.
If you have had chronic neck, upper back, shoulder pain and even headaches,it is good to correct your work station to reduce the stresses on these areas. Still, if you have adapted to these postures, you may have shortened muscle tissue that can not self correct your posture. At this point, you may benefit from physical therapy to lengthen these muscles and restore the joint mobility you may have lost in the cervical joints. A good postural strengthening program is a very important part of reducing postural weakness and head and neck pain. If you every have any questions, I can be reached at (208)661-7167 PST.

Are You Afraid to Exercise this New Year?

Well, this is my first blog. Knowing where to start is a challenge, so I thought I would address the standard New Year's Resolution of getting more exercise.

Are you one of the 80 percent of the adult population that has suffered from low back pain in their lifetime? Are you sitting behind your desk dreading your New Year's resolution because you are afraid that your low back pain with act up?
The New Year is here and there is no time like the present to think about your fitness and how it can help your low back pain. Exercise can reduce stress, improve circulation and ultimately help you maintain a heathly weight. If you are carrying around a spare tire, you are putting extra stress on your low back. The larger the distance betweeen your spine and your navel, the greater the lever arm that puts undo forces on your lumbar spine. By reducing this distance, you can greatly reduce low back pain.

If you have low back pain and you want to exercise, it is important to think about how you use your stomach muscles to reduce certain forces cause low back stresses. Core strengthening, lumbar stability exercises and motor contol patterning are all important when you are starting a fitness program. If you can keep good motor contolof your trunk muscles while exercising, you are less likely to have more low back pain and you can reap the benefits of exercise.

The position of your back during exercise is very important. Maintaining what physical therapist's call "pelvic neutral" can be the key to helping you during your fitness routine. Every person's "pelvic neutral" is different. Every person's low back pain story is different. Physical Therapist's understand the anatomy of the spine and the forces that are placed on your body specifically and how to reduce those forces with prescribed exercises.

If you have any questions about my first blog or need more information about low back pain contact Cathy Gephart PT, OCS owner of 2 Hands Physical Therapy. I specializes in individualized hands-on treatment for any musculo-skeletal condition,post operative rehabilitation, and medical massage. My contact phone number is (208)661-7167.