As we approach the prime growing season, many of us will be spending more time outside sprucing our garden. Being one with nature and doing gardening activities can be therapeutic, and it’s certainly satisfying to watch something you planted grow.

Too often, however, too much gardening activity can mean a trip to your doctor of chiropractic for treatment of back pain. Back pain is a very common result of bending, reaching, pulling, etc., and that takes the joy out of what should be a fun and rewarding part of our life.

A Chiropractor Explains How to Avoid Back/Neck Pain While Traveling 

Staff Writer

So many people live with the constant urge to travel, and why not? A lot of excitement comes from seeing new places, eating new foods, and having new experiences. Yes, traveling is good for the heart and good for the soul. Still, traveling can be incredibly hard on your health, as maintaining a good routine when you’re out of your everyday environment can become quite a task.

Chiropractic Care After Surgery? Here’s What to Know

Staff Writer

Surgical procedures are a basic part of modern medicine. By some estimates, the average person has about nine surgical processes during their life. Some are small and routine, like a mole removal; others are intensive, as with organ transplants.

Your doctor will often put limitations on post-operative activities after a procedure or surgery, and you should always adhere to their proposal. Still, most surgeons do not explicitly mention chiropractic care in their aftercare instructions.

So, Still Awake? Here’s a Chiropractor’s Guide to Better Sleep

Staff Writer

If you are having trouble sleeping at night, you are not alone. More than one-quarter of the U.S. population report they occasionally do not get enough sleep, and nearly 10% admit to experiencing chronic insomnia. If that’s you, let your chiropractor or medical doctor know, and be aware there are things you can do on your own.

Chiropractic Care for Senior Adults: A Healthy Alternative 

 Staff Writer

As a senior adult – age 55+ – you may be looking for conservative and healthy options for your healthcare. Because musculoskeletal complaints often increase with age, chiropractic care can be a wise option. If you’ve never seen a chiropractor before, it’s natural to have some questions about how chiropractic can benefit you.

Here are some of the questions doctors of chiropractic encounter:

Ready for Running? See Your Chiropractor to be Sure

Staff Writer

For some, running is an option to consider only if chased by wild animals. For others, it’s an enjoyable activity, well known for its health benefits. If you love to run, it’s a good idea to learn all you can about the positive and negative effects. Count on your chiropractor to have many wise insights into this activity.

Better Ergonomics Through Your Doctor of Chiropractic

Staff Writer

In a world largely based on technology, it is extremely common for most of us to work sitting at a desk for 8+ hours a day. The action of sitting at a desk for long periods, plus staring at a computer screen, can lead you to hunch forward…and before you know it, your shoulders feel like they’re glued to your ears. If that happens to you more than you’d like, discuss improving your ergonomics with your doctor of chiropractic.

Ways Children Benefit From Chiropractic Care 

Staff Writer

Did you realize many infants suffer misalignments in the spine they’re born? Even a natural birth can cause trauma to the spine as the baby travels through the birthing canal. While adults know when the pain or discomfort they feel might benefit from chiropractic care, babies cannot tell us if something is wrong or where the pain may be coming from.

New Year, New Approach: Let Chiropractic Care Help You Feel and Move Better

Staff Writer

If you’re experiencing ongoing back or knee pain, aching hips, or having trouble sleeping due to shoulder or elbow pain, you might be looking for treatment options other than pills or topical ointments. Maybe you’ve hoped that someone could give you the relief you’ve been searching for or the range of motion you used to have. Chiropractic care may be the way to start the new year right.

Radial Pressure Wave Therapy: Your Doctor of Chiropractic Has the Answers

Staff Writer

There are many forms of therapy to treat soft tissue injuries, and radial pressure wave (RPW) is becoming one of the most popular. As a form of shockwave therapy, RPW stimulates the body’s innate healing abilities by sending high-energy acoustic waves into specific target areas. Your doctor of chiropractic– highly educated in body biomechanics and soft tissue injuries—can tell you more about it.

Age 55 or Over? See Your Chiropractor for Exercise Options

Staff Writer

Here’s what we know: Physical activity for those age 55-plus can reduce the risk of falls and improve health and quality of life. The health benefits include increased energy, increased strength, stronger bones, improved immune function, and decreased risk for cardiovascular disease. However, the right physical activity does vary from person to person, so see your chiropractor for exercise options that are best for you.

Use Chiropractic Care to Take Care of Your Lower Extremities 

Lower limb injuries are very common among athletes and non-athletes. These injuries, ranging from pain in the feet and ankles to knee and hip issues, can be debilitating. Chiropractors are highly experienced in treating acute and chronic injuries such as knee and ankle ligament damage, plantar fasciitis, leg pain, muscle strains, and joint complaints. For these issues, chiropractic care often is an excellent choice.

Chiropractic Care and You: When Foot Orthotics is the Answer

Staff Writer

Did you know back pain is sometimes due to misalignment or loss of proper function in the lower extremities? The foot has 26 bones, 30 joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments that work together to provide support, balance, and range of motion. If indicated by a physical assessment, chiropractic care may include customized foot orthotics to correct mechanical dysfunctions or lower extremity misalignments resulting in pain or discomfort.

Soft-tissue Injury? Your Chiropractor Can Reduce Pain, Improve Function

When soft-tissue injuries like sprains, strains, and bruises happen, know the acronym IASTM – it may be your best option for improving physical function, reducing pain, and regaining range of motion. Chiropractors can use IASTT – instrument-assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization – to help patients move the way they want to move or recover from injuries more completely.

Wondering About Backpack Safety? Your Chiropractor Has the Answers

Staff Writer

When you move your children’s backpacks after they drop them at the door, does it feel like each contains a bag of cement? Have you noticed your child struggling to put on the backpack or bending forward while carrying it, or complaining of tingling or numbness? Not a good beginning to the school year. Count on your chiropractor for good advice about backpack safety.

Look to Your Chiropractor for Help Solving Sciatic Pain 

Staff Writer

Sciatic nerve pain – referred to as a Sciatica – originates in the low back or buttock and travels into one or both legs. Of patients reporting low back pain, it’s estimated that 5-10% have Sciatica. Unfortunately, 10-40% of people will experience it in their lifetime, but that doesn’t mean you need to live with it. Your chiropractor knows ways to help moderate Sciatica, or greatly reduce how much it affects your life.

Learn How Your Chiropractor Can Help With Hip Pain

Staff Writer

Most people know chiropractors help patients with back and neck pain, but many don’t realize they can help with extremity problems as well. Whenever people start ramping up or resuming physical activities, many of them will feel pain in areas that haven’t been worked in a while. Hip pain is one of those areas.

Why Your Chiropractor May Recommend Therapeutic Ultrasound Therapy

Staff Writer

When most people think about ultrasound, they picture a wand on the belly of a mom-to-be to check the development of a growing fetus. However, there is a different kind of ultrasound called a Therapeutic Ultrasound. This type of ultrasound is a treatment method that chiropractors and other healthcare practitioners use on the body’s soft tissues to reduce inflammation and pain and speed up the healing of injured muscles, ligaments, and tendons.

Team Up with Your Chiropractor When Sports Are Important to You

Staff Writer

With summer leagues in your community in full swing, Major League Baseball heating up, and National Football League teams beginning team activities, it’s a good time to remember there more than 8.6 million sports-related injuries every year, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. If an injury happens to you or a loved one, seeing a chiropractor makes sense.

Travel Stress, Strains Are Good Reasons to See Your Doctor of Chiropractic

Staff Writer

What do your summer travel plans look like? Long-distance or day tripping? Heading northwest to Washington state or south for some Florida sun? You don’t need a doctor of chiropractic to tell you that sitting in a car or plane for an extended period, carrying luggage, or sleeping in hotels (or Aunt Martha’s worn-out bed), can all wreak havoc on our bodies.

Not Had Chiropractic Care Yet? Here’s What to Expect

If you’ve decided to see a chiropractor for the first time, you’re probably asking yourself an array of questions about what to expect. A very common question by people who are new to chiropractic is, “What should I expect after an adjustment?” Although some people may be reluctant, chiropractic care from a licensed Doctor of Chiropractic is safe and effective in pain relief.

Your Doctor of Chiropractic Can Help You Counteract Stress

Staff Writer

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), more women than men (28 % vs. 20%) are likely to report having high-level stress (8-10 on a 10-point scale). Nearly half of all women (49%) in one survey said their stress level increased in the past five years. It’s reassuring to know your doctor of chiropractic can help keep stress in check.

See Your Chiropractor to See All the Benefits of Stretching

Staff Writer

The idea of stretching as part of physical fitness goes all the way back to the Roman Empire, whose soldiers were told to stretch to prepare for battle. We’ve been stretching ever since. When we yawn, we raise our arms above our heads or behind us. It is instinctual. It feels amazing. However, does stretching truly prevent injuries? How do you stretch properly? Your chiropractor can help you answer these questions.

Why It’s Good to Discuss Icing Treatments with Your Doctor of Chiropractic 

Staff Writer

Using an ice pack after an injury is a common practice, but you can make missteps when applying ice. Doctors of chiropractic know that automatically applying an ice pack to a musculoskeletal injury may not be the best option for a fast, full recovery.

How Chiropractic Treatment Can Help With Scoliosis

Staff Writer

Scoliosis is an abnormal sideways curvature of the spine that occurs in children, often during the growth spurt just before puberty. Scoliosis may create undue emotional distress because it usually occurs during crucial developmental years when children are most sensitive to peer pressure. The good news: chiropractic treatments can help with scoliosis.

Learn How Your Doctor of Chiropractic Can Treat Tension Headaches 

Staff Writer

You wake up certain mornings and feel like you have a rubber band wrapped tightly around your head. This is the classic sign you have a tension-type headache…and that’s going to affect your day. Rather than accepting headaches as something you can’t control, consider making an appointment with a doctor of chiropractic. Chiropractors can provide conservative, non-pharmaceutical treatments that can bring relief.

Chiropractic Care and E-stim Treatment: When is it Right for You?

Staff Writer

Getting back to optimal health from sprains, strains, and other injuries is a primary reason people visit doctors of chiropractic. One of the treatment possibilities, if indicated by a physical exam, is electrical stimulation, referred to as “E-stim.” E-stim is not a stand-alone treatment but typically used as one of many complementary treatments in chiropractic care.

Learn How Chiropractic Care Is Safe, Effective

Staff Writer

Any healthcare treatment that’s unfamiliar can cause concern or reluctance about whether it’s a good idea. Be assured that chiropractic care from a nationally and state-licensed Doctor of Chiropractic is safe and effective.

Feeling Foot Pain? A Chiropractor’s Guide to Treating Plantar Fasciitis

Staff Writer

Not everyone knows its official name (Plantar Fasciitis), but nearly everyone feels heel pain at some point. Plantar fasciitis occurs when the strong band of tissue that supports the arch of your foot becomes irritated and inflamed. So, if you have sharp pain in the heel or bottom of your foot, it’s time to see your chiropractor. There are many conservative treatments available to get you, well, comfortably back on your feet.

Seek Chiropractic Care First for That Pain in the Neck

Staff Writer

Neck pain is one of the more common musculoskeletal disorders in the adult population worldwide. More than 30% of adults in the United States have or will experience neck pain. If not treated, nearly 50% of individuals will continue to experience some degree of chronic neck pain; many will have frequent occurrences. To help prevent or treat neck pain, seek chiropractic care.

Ready for Golf? Your Doctor of Chiropractic Can Keep You on the Course

Staff Writer

Golf, they say, is one game you can play all your life. A day out on the course will allow you to get some exercise walking the course, get some vitamin D while out in the sun, and offers an opportunity for social interaction. Your doctor of chiropractic can help you enjoy these outings ­ – golf is a game of correct muscle memory, exertion, and hours of repetitive motions in awkward positions.

Treating Injuries: When Do Chiropractors Recommend K-Taping? 

Staff Writer

You’ve seen it: athletes and weekend exercise enthusiasts wearing brightly colored tape arranged in patterns on their back, knees, shoulders, or elbows. To you, it may look like an oversized bandage without a purpose. What you’re actually seeing is Kinesiology Tape, commonly called K-Tape, and your chiropractor may recommend its use to treat injuries to the musculoskeletal system.

Your Doctor of Chiropractic Knows Good Posture = Better Health

Staff Writer

Everyone’s body requires proper support and stability to avoid injury or musculoskeletal complaints. Age, body type, injury history, activity level, and routines of daily living all may be factors that affect posture and stability. No one knows more about the ways poor body mechanics and positioning affect your overall health than your doctor of chiropractic.

How You Can Benefit From Low-force Options in Chiropractic Care

Staff Writer

Have you been manually adjusted by a chiropractor before and felt like it was too much force? Do you have osteopenia (losing bone mass) or suffer from osteoporosis and wonder if you can be adjusted? Have you had surgery and want to know more about chiropractic care for specific musculoskeletal pain or conditions?

For Countering Stress, Strategies Include Chiropractic Care

Staff Writer

Many factors can cause stress – financial difficulties, family or relationship troubles, a chronic illness, or pressures at work. Whether you are face-to-face with a brown bear in Alaska or moving to a new home, your body responds the same way to these stressors – the “fight or flight” response. There are many helpful strategies, and non-invasive chiropractic care is one of those.

Your Children Can Benefit From Chiropractic Care

Staff Writer

Haven’t thought about a child’s need for chiropractic care? Remember this: The body’s nervous system – brain, spinal cord, and nerves are the communication system for the entire body, including growth and development. The bones of the spine protect the spinal cord. Nerves exit the spinal cord between bones and connect to every cell, organ, and body tissue.

Chiropractic: When You Love Running, Put Your Feet First

Staff Writer

Whether you run for recreation or are an athlete, understanding the physics of running and the importance of supportive running shoes will ensure a lifetime of running happiness. Let your chiropractor help you get the most of your activity and reduce the possibility of injuries or discomfort.

A Chiropractor’s View: Why Hydration is Essential

Staff Writer

The human body is more than 65% water, so it makes sense that staying hydrated is important for our bodies to function properly. Drinking enough water each day helps keep the body temperature down, lubricates the joints, and ensures the organs are functioning properly. Although we can get some of our water consumption through the food we ingest, it is essential to drink fluids throughout the day.

Countering Migraines with Chiropractic Care

Staff Writer

Anyone who suffers from migraines knows how debilitating and miserable they can be. The severe pain, nausea, and extreme sensitivity to light, smell, temperature, and sound sometimes affect sufferers for hours or days at a time. While mainstream medicine provides some relief with over the counter and prescription medications, chiropractic care has been shown to be an effective treatment for those suffering from chronic migraines.

Doctors of Chiropractic Can Help with Painful Conditions

Staff Writer

Any condition resulting in pain certainly affects your day-to-day life and happiness. There are ways to counteract pain, and your doctor of chiropractic can help you find the methods that are best for you.

See Your Chiropractor to Help Prevent Ergonomic-Related Problems

Staff Writer

Musculoskeletal disorders or injuries affect many different occupations and continue to be a major factor in time lost at work. Musculoskeletal disorders, referred to as MSDs, are injuries to the body’s muscles, tendons, ligaments, and nerves. As specialists in identifying and treating MSDs, chiropractors can provide personalized insight into working conditions resulting in MSDs.

Prevent Lifting Injuries: Chiropractors Have the Help You Need

Staff Writer

Have you ever lifted a heavy box, felt a pulling sensation or sharp pain, and thought, “Well, that didn’t feel right?” If it hasn’t happened, it probably will. According to the American Chiropractic Association, as many as 80% of us will experience back injuries or pain in our lifetime. Doctors of Chiropractic can help you know how to lift objects safely. Consult with your chiropractor for proper lifting biomechanics.

Your Doctor of Chiropractic Can Help Prevent Text Neck

Staff Writer

It’s been nearly three-quarters of a century since the comic strip “Dick Tracy” featured characters wearing a small “two-way wrist radio,” and more than 50 years since the introduction of a handheld communicator in the TV series “Star Trek.” Though seemingly far-fetched, these ideas stirred the real-life quest to develop a small personal handheld communication device. Who’d have thought the chiropractic profession would be brought into the mix?

Got Carpal Tunnel Syndrome? Your Chiropractor Can Help 

Staff Writer

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) has many symptoms, and they’re usually obvious. Tingling or numbness in the fingers or hand. A sensation that feels like an electric shock. Pain that travels from your wrist up the arm. These symptoms may happen while holding a steering wheel, phone, or magazine, or the sensation may wake you from sleep. Chiropractors can help treat carpal tunnel syndrome and offer ways to minimize how much it affects your life.

Why Chiropractic Care After Surgery May Be a Helpful Option

Staff Writer

There’s a presumption out there that once someone has surgery, chiropractic care may no longer be an option. Although a surgical history may change what someone can receive regarding treatment options or techniques, a skilled doctor of chiropractic can still assess if chiropractic care is an option. According to research, up to 12% of patients in chiropractic offices are postsurgical.

Chiropractic Therapy Can Reduce Odds of Re-injury

Staff Writer

Your body goes through a lot when you have an injury. You immediately feel pain and then inflammation surrounds the tissues to help heal the area. Once things start feeling better, many people jump back into their daily activities – sometimes too early, which can cause pain again. Does this sound familiar to you? Then it’s time to talk to your doctor of chiropractic about active therapy.

A Chiropractor’s Tips for Healthy Aging and Feeling Better

Staff Writer

A senior adult patient who comes in for chiropractic treatments because of chronic pain said, “If I knew I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.” Many seniors look to their chiropractors to help keep them feeling their best.

Got Low-back Pain? The Case for Chiropractic Assessment and Care

Staff Writer

It’s a fact: more than 85% of people experience back pain severe enough to feel the need to see a doctor at some point in their life. The question is, what should you do about it? Here’s why you should consider chiropractic care first.

Really? Talk With Your Chiropractor Before Selecting a Mattress?

Staff Writer

People understand that selecting the right mattress can help their back and neck but getting information on choosing the right mattress is nearly impossible. According to the Better Sleep Council, there’s so much confusion about mattress shopping that many people decide to keep their old, worn-out mattresses. If that’s you, perhaps your chiropractor is the right one to help.

Getting “Back” to Feeling Better When Low-back Pain Strikes

Staff Writer

Here’s something you already know:  Low-back pain is very common…and if you are experiencing pain or decreased range of motion, you are not alone! Here’s something you should know: chiropractic care is very effective in treating low-back pain. Chiropractors believe in optimizing health through food nutrition, constructive exercise, stress management, and focus on the importance of good posture and joint mobility.

Why See a Chiropractor? Getting Answers About Low Back Pain

Staff Writer

According to the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the most common condition for which people seek care with their primary care physician is low back pain. It is also a leading cause of lost workdays in the U.S. and a top reason for disability worldwide.

Low Back Pain: Sometimes it “Isn’t What it Seems to Be”

Staff Writer

Sometimes, where pain presents itself is different from the source. For some patients – and perhaps more often than is known – low back pain results from a sacroiliac joint problem. The body’s sacroiliac (SI) joint links the pelvis and lower spine.

Chiropractic Tips for Athletes

Staff Writer

Whether you’re a professional athlete, active on the weekend, or know the benefit of keeping active, chiropractic care can keep you in good physical condition. Here are three things you can do now that are fundamental to optimal physical and mental health:

1. Understand the importance of restive sleep
2. Fuel the body’s systems through a balanced diet
3. Use stretching and exercises to stay as physically fit as possible.

Welcome to CUKC Chiropractic Health Center Blogs!

Hello, and welcome to the Cleveland University-Kansas City (CUKC) Chiropractic Health Center blog page. This free content is being produced by licensed doctors of chiropractic who are members of the clinical staff at the Health Center. It is meant to serve as an informative health resource for all who view it.