Tight hamstrings are little thought of when it comes to back pain

But they are one of the most important factors that should be accounted for when determining the origin of your lower back pain. These are large muscles in the back of the thighs which tend to become tight through lack of exercise, stretching and sedentary lifestyles. Seated posture, even good seated posture, still contributes to tightness in the hamstrings which then creates a pull on the network of muscles in the lumbar portion of the spine. The problem then perpetuates itself because people with low back pain are more likely to develop tight hamstrings. 

The relationship between tight hamstrings and low back pain

Tight hamstrings add to the problem further by restricting motion in the pelvis; the movement is then activated by the muscles of the lower back. With the level of stress increased on an already beleaguered region, its a recipe for instability and back pain that can be hard to identify.

Unwind your tight hamstrings to find pain relief in the lower back

At Family Chiropractic & Natural Healing Center, we have a plant to unwind tight hamstrings and therefore make significant inroads toward relieving pain in the lower back. Muscles tighten and atrophy due to lack of use, so we begin by targeting muscles that have been neglected in order to get them moving. We can show you specific stretches for tight hamstrings that can help you find relief from back pain. Give our office in Milpitas a call to schedule an appointment today.

Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C. 

Traps- what are they good for?

Answer: shoulder stability which can mean absolutely everything depending on how you spend the majority of your day. When you sit for hours on end, the trapezius becomes contracted which contributes to that all-too-familiar feeling of stiffness in the upper back and neck. A rather large muscle, the trapezius extends from occipital bone in the neck to the lower thoracic vertebrae, and has implications in shoulder mechanics and stability, overhead movement of the arms, and certain movements in the neck. 

The trapezius is one of the most neglected muscles in the gym

We seek to change this fact. At Greenway Plaza Chiropractic, we see the trapezius as integral to a healthy back. Because of its location, we want to focus on keeping it toned regularly to prevent shoulder pain and stiffness and promote fluid mechanics in the upper back. Furthermore, a strong trapezius makes keeping your shoulders back and your head balanced atop your spine easier- two important pieces of healthy posture. 

We have a plan for stretching and strengthening the trapezius in Houston

If you are interested in taking your trapezius to new heights, give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. We can help you add a plan into your regular routine that will condition the upper, middle and lower trapezius to encourage a healthy alignment of the shoulders and show you some easy stretches that can be done from your desk to keep your shoulders free of stiffness.

Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C. 

 

Are you having trouble falling asleep in Milpitas? It may be time to address you sleep environment.

One factor that is often overlooked by people with sleep troubles is the environment. While it would be impossible to put an exact number on the percentage, I would wager that a good amount of sleep success is determined by factors relating to your sleep environment. 

What exactly is a sleep environment?

A sleep environment takes into account all the factors in your bedroom outside of your body. Things like temperature, light, noise, even the color of your walls can contribute to a sound environment for sleeping or a disruptive one. It is important to take advantage of your sleep environment because these are the factors you can directly control; sleep disorders and genetics are things you have less control over. 

Creating your personal sleep environment

These are strictly confined to ambient factors:

• Mattress: do you prefer firm or soft? The mattress could be the one place where your money matters most; we can help you make an educated decision about which mattress will help you get the best night’s rest. 
• Cleanliness of your bedding: sleep hygiene goes a long way; after all, there’s no feeling quite like a fresh set of sheets. 
• Temperature of the room: you want your room to be slightly cooler, allowing you to get cozy under the covers. 
• Control of noise: this can go both ways- limit distracting noises, but implement calming ones. Many people find that sleeping with a white noise is a great help.
• Smells in the air: calming scents such as lavender can help set the tone for sleep 
• Bedclothes: are you comfortable in pajama pants and a shirt or do you feel they get twisted around you in the night? Sleep in whatever is most comfortable. 

Things to leave out of your room include: screens of all shapes and sizes 

Is pain a contributing factor to your sleep environment?

Allowing pain to linger is a great way to interfere with sleep. If you have a long standing condition that is causing pain in your muscles or back, give our office in Milpitas a call to schedule an appointment today. We are specialists in detecting the true source of your pain and setting a course for rehabilitation that includes chiropractic adjustment and stretching modalities to help you leave pain in the past. 

Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C. 

 

Why stretch in bed? 

Because it’s you and your bed against the world. You know the comfort that is waiting for you at the end of a hard day’s work and commute and crawling in to bed feels like the reward you deserve. As you sink into your comfy world and the stress dissolves, we believe you can take the relaxation one step further with a few simple stretches. Don’t worry, we aren’t asking you to get out bed- that would be ridiculous. These moves can be made from the mattress to release muscle tension further and get your body either ready to sleep or ready to wake! It just depends on your attitude. 

Stretching from bed 

As with all stretching, we want to practice mindfulness- deep breathing is a key that will help nourish the brain as well as the body; to keep the calm vibes coming. These particular stretches target the lower back and hip regions- two epicenters of tension that tend to stay tight from day to day. 

• Hamstring stretch: lay flat on your back, lift one leg up; raise it as high and straight as possible, while keeping your buttcheeks firmly on the bed. Hold 30 seconds then switch legs and repeat.  
• The back lift: lay flat on your back, place your two arms on the bed and use them to gently raise your back up while keeping your pelvis on the bed. 
• Spine twist: Lay flat, bend both knees up to your chest then cross them over and drop them down the right side of your body. Extend your left arm and look over left shoulder. Hold 30 seconds, release and repeat. 
• Knee to chest: lay flat, bring one knee up toward your chest and clasp your thigh with both hands. Hold 30 seconds, release and repeat with other leg.

How we help you find relaxation at Family Chiropractic & Natural Healing Center 

With these simple stretches you can influence a whole new level of relaxation without even leaving the bed. At Family Chiropractic & Natural Healing Center, we know the importance of bed, sleep and stretching. They are cornerstones of wellness and we will do everything in our power to help you reap their benefit. If you are struggling with long-standing pain that prevents you from reaping the relaxation of bed, give our office in Milpitas a call to schedule an appointment today. 

Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C. 

Springtime is the best time to make fitness goals

With the weather turning, the colors popping and an overall mood of optimism in the air, it is time to take advantage of the season to make changes in the way you feel. At Family Chiropractic & Natural Healing Center, we are ready to leave the winter behind and clean up our act by getting outside and treating our bodies right. Are you there with us?

Spring cleaning our health habits

• Drink water: to help with digestion, flushing out toxins, boosting energy and making your skin look great, what more reason do you need? 
• Go outside for vitamin D’s sake: the sun is calling your name- it’s time to get out for a walk just to soak up the sun. 
• Take advantage of farmer’s markets to eat seasonally: leave the processed foods behind and get the maximum nutrition from the freshest produce. 
• Leave out the junk food and focus on lean proteins and anti-inflammatory ingredients. Get spicy!
• Sleep well: rhythm and schedule are the keys here. Shoot for at least 7 hours a night and try to be in bed by roughly the same time every night. 

Head into spring with the right foot forward

If your body is reeling from a winter spent indoors, sitting too much, give our office in Milpitas a call. We are specialists in reversing the pain that is inherent in sedentary lifestyles. We identify and correct spinal imbalance that causes nerve impingement and focus on treating muscle dysfunction and pain to help you feel your best. Achieving your health goals is not easy when your body is working against you; let’s get together and resolve any long-standing issues you have with your body so you can set yourself up for success this spring! 

Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C. 

Setting goals is the best way to get started on the way to fitness

Getting fit or improving fitness levels can be a daunting task- no matter where you are on the fitness spectrum you can always benefit from a little goal-setting. However, not all goals are created equal; to set goals that are too hard or too unrealistic is to handicap yourself. This tends to stack the odds against us and set us up for failure rather than success. At Family Chiropractic & Natural Healing Center, we believe in the power of goal-setting so we came up with a checklist for setting successful ones.

With fitness goals it is important to start small: here are five elements for finding success with your goal-setting. 

• Time frame: short goals are easier to visualize than long ones. 8 weeks (2 months) is a space of time that easy to wrap your head around. 
• Start with one goal that you actually care about: do you like to run, walk, swim, stretch or bike? Choose an activity that you truly enjoy and alot time to it
• Write it down: in bold letters in a place that you frequently see. You want to make this goal a psychological tick. 
• The more specific the better: that’s why the idea of walking 10,000 steps a day came about. By putting a nice round number on an activity, you give yourself a baseline that is easy to understand. Remember that whether it be a quantity of units or time, pick a number that you can achieve with ease at first. 
• Schedule the time: write down in your weekly planner the exact times that you will pursue your goal. 

Achieving your goals is made easier by starting with the upper hand

The more your body hurts, the less likely you are to follow through with fitness-related activities. Even walking can be made miserable if your muscles are constantly aching, your head is throbbing or your spine is causing you debilitating pain. At our office in Milpitas, we help by detecting the true cause of your body’s dysfunction and pain 

Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C. 

Chances are you are not as flexible as you used to be

This is a perfectly normal occurrence: as we get older, our activity levels decline and our sedentary endeavors rise while posture remains a constant struggle. It is only natural that as our bodies age and weight is harder to keep off, our flexibility suffers. But the degree to which we let it deteriorate could make the difference between and old age full of pain and one of independence. If you are an 8-hour a day office worker, we want to help you preserve your flexibility to empower your life. When your body is flexible, every day motions are easier: the lifting, twisting and turning that occurs from the first second you step out of bed should not cause you pain. 

Stretches to reverse the harm of excessive sitting and preserve flexibility: 

• Fold forward: move to the edge of your chair and extend your legs straight with feet hip width apart. Sit up straight and inhale deeply; on the exhale fold your upper body forward reaching with your hands toward your feet. Grasp as low down on the leg as you can reach and hold for 15 deep breaths. 
• Release the chest and shoulders: Simply take your hands off the keyboard, sit up straight and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Hold for 10 seconds.
• Gentle twist: again take your hands off the keyboard, sit up straight and gently twist to the right looking with your head over your right shoulder. Hold 15 seconds and repeat on the other side. 
• Release the neck: sitting upright, turn your head to look directly left, feeling a stretch in the neck. Hold 10 seconds and repeat on the other side. 

Why stay flexible? 

Posture is, of course, tantamount to preserving the integrity of your spine, and these stretches will release tension from the muscles that support an upright posture, making it easier to sit up straight. Loss of flexibility is pervasive in the office, so let’s start doing something about it. At our office in Milpitas, we can help you identify harmful patterns of movement and turn them into something positive. Let’s start moving more and moving differently to change the way your body feels and impact flexibility. Give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C. 

A quesadilla could save your life 

With a hectic schedule, it helps to have some go-to meals. 

You arrive home from work exhausted, look in the fridge and find it’s (mostly) empty. For many of us, this necessitates a call for take-out or a delivery pizza! Now we are subjecting an already tired brain and body to insufficient nutrients and most-likely processed fats and sugars. We propose an alternative solution: create a meal from what you have.

Chances are you can find a spare red pepper and a can of black beans lurking in the back of the pantry, or a long-forgotten bag of rice. From this, we can create a meal that doesn’t follow a recipe, doesn’t require a trip to the store and utilizes whatever is in your kitchen to deliver a healthy meal that stabilizes blood sugar and gets your body the nutrients it needs. 

The formula:

When it comes to constructing something from nothing, it helps to keep this formula in mind: Grain + Healthy fat + Lean protein + Vegetable. This gets you the carbohydrates, fats and proteins you need to feel satiated and stable as well as certain vitamins from the vegetables. 

And what fits this formula for a go-to meal? Here are some ideas: 

• Whole grain pasta + olive oil + (red pepper) + chicken 
• Quesadillas: whole-grain tortilla + cheese + refried beans + corn + salsa
• Rice + vegetable + le

Think ahead: Prepping meals ahead of time makes your go-to even quicker

Do you have a spare hour on a Sunday night? While you are idling by watching your favorite show, try throwing some ingredients for chili into a pot. You can make enough for several portions and then portion/freeze each one to be thawed and reheated as you desire! No prep involved. Every time you go to the grocery store, pick up a bag of pasta, lentils or rice to have as the base of a healthy meal. In times of desperation, these can provide you with a delicious, satiating meal that will keep your diet on track. At Family Chiropractic & Natural Healing Center, we know that nutrition is one of the best ways to empower yourself throughout the day. Don’t let a busy schedule defeat your diet!

Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C. 

Do you carry your head forward? 

Forward head posture is becoming almost as prevalent as breathing among humans. You know the look: head held forward in relation to the shoulder joint, hunchback-style. This position lends itself to overextension of muscles in the front of the neck and tightness and stiffness in the muscles in the back. When left unaddressed, this can lead to degenerative conditions in the vertebrae, nerve impingement and a generally unflattering appearance. Here is our question to you: how many times have you felt tightness in the neck and done nothing about it? 

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Technology is our friend

It’s our all-knowing, life-optimizing friend who lives in our pocket. And just like with all friends, sometimes we need some space. But this can be hard to come by- you put your phone in a drawer but there is the tablet on the dresser, the laptop on the bed and the TV on the wall. Sometimes we need to practice self-discipline and truly unplug. 

A formula for technology detox

Here are some things that aren’t so ambitious as reading a book, but will still help you to find some peace of mind and pleasure away from the internet. 

• Cook for yourself: from scratch. Devoting time to purchasing, preparing and consuming your own meal is a relaxing and rewarding process as long as you don’t pick a recipe that is out of your skill-level!
• Hang out with friends: phone off the table. Phones have a way of becoming a third party just by their inanimate presence. And then they start chirping mid-conversation to everyone’s distraction.
• Legs up the wall: an amazing yoga technique for relaxation. Lie on your back and inch your legs up a wall until your buttocks are pressing against it. Let the blood flow and the stress drain out of your feet.
• Explore your neighborhood: walk, people watch, observe. The world is, in reality, so much wider than our phone’s can ever know.  

Starting small

It doesn’t matter if you’ve got 20 minutes, 2 hours or 2 days, every chunk of time is just as valuable as the next.  Technology is often a crutch that let’s us escape from our own thoughts and live through the memes of the day; in this way, being away from your phone and alone with your thoughts is an amazing refresher. Call our office in Milpitas today and let’s start finding time to go unplugged!

Dr. Gregory Lind, D.C.