Good posture goes beyond sitting up straight. Slouching over a computer keyboard all day creates a chain reaction throughout your body that can result in shoulder, neck and back pain. Not pretty.

Here are six simple stretches you can do to improve your posture. Good posture means good health.

Sitting is part of our every day, even if we lead an active lifestyle. Sitting isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but long periods of sitting and lack of stretching can cause postural problems. Regular stretching can address these specific postural imbalances. Do these stretching exercises in the prescribed order every day for a great pain-free body.

Relax the back: Lie on your back, knees bent at 90 degrees, placing your calves on the seat of a chair. Straighten your arms out from the shoulders with your palms up. Relax, breathing deeply, letting your low back settle into the floor. Hold the position for 5 minutes.

Stretch the chest: Stay in the ‘relax the back’ position. Lace your fingers, palms together, with your arms extended above your chest toward the ceiling. Extend your arms, keeping your elbows straight, over your head to the floor behind you. Repeat 30 times with… continue reading

Looking for a Snellville chiropractor? Contact us today for more information.

California would prohibit chiropractors from treating allergies under a bill approved by the state Senate.

Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff, a Republican from Diamond Bar, says some chiropractors have claimed they can use lasers to diagnose and treat hypersensitivity to certain food, medicine and environmental allergies, without evidence that the treatments work.

His bill prohibits chiropractors from treating allergies because the state defines that as practicing medicine. It also bans chiropractors from advertising that they can treat allergies.

The ban includes but is not limited to laser therapy. Huff’s bill, SB352, passed Thursday on a 34-1 vote and goes to the Assembly.

It is supported by the California Medical Association but opposed by the state Board of Chiropractic Examiners and… continue reading

Looking for the best chiropractor in Snellville? Contact us today for more information.

(NewsUSA) – JoAnn Jones (name changed to protect patient privacy) first noticed the pain in her upper right shoulder and back. She initially went to her chiropractor, thinking it was related to lower back pain, but as the pain grew over the next five days, she knew it was something more serious. When she awoke the fifth morning with a rash covering parts of her body, her doctor immediately put her on an antiviral medication for shingles. The rash eventually faded, but the pain did not.

“It’s a devastating illness, a chronic condition that you live with 24-7,” explains Jones about her postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), or after-shingles pain.

Ms. Jones is not alone in her struggle. Every year, approximately 1 million Americans develop shingles, or herpes zoster. Distinguishable by a rash and blisters that most commonly occur on the torso — chest and back — waistline, upper arms or side of the face, shingles is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox, the varicella-zoster virus.

One-in-five people diagnosed with shingles suffer complications resulting in PHN, or after-shingles pain resulting from nerve damage caused by the virus. PHN pain, which may last… continue reading

Looking for the best chiropractor in Snellville? Contact us today for more information.

Dr. David Van Amberg, 37, opened his own practice as a chiropractor in 2002 in Warren. He studied to become a doctor of chiropractic for four years in Georgia, after receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee. In his chiropractic practice, Dr. Van Amberg said he also tries to find the underlying causes for his patients’ general health issues. Currently, he’s conducting an informal research study on vitamin D levels in his patients. Dr. Van Amberg lives in Warren with his wife, Lori, and their two children: Dayton, 7, and Anna, 4.

Why chiropractic? “I always wanted to be my own boss. I went to a chiropractor at 8 years old because of a major car accident; the car flipped over a few times. I wasn’t severely injured, but my father had been going to a chiropractor for years for sports-related injuries and he wanted us all to get checked out. I quickly learned that it was more about health care than pain treatment.”

Sports connection: “I always loved sports. I remember Joe Montana, the famous quarterback, got adjusted on television. This was in the early ’80s. Back then it certainly wasn’t mainstream that people went to chiropractors for health care; some did, but it… continue reading

Looking for a Snellville chiropractor? Contact us today for more information.

Never mind that mobile phones have wreaked havoc in traffic and produced a generation of westerners who can’t endure a moment alone. Now, the devices have generated their own disability: “Text Neck.”

The term was coined by a South Florida chiropractor who defines the condition as: Overuse syndrome involving the head, neck and shoulders, usually resulting from excessive strain on the spine from looking in a forward and downward position at any hand-held mobile device, i.e., mobile phone, video game unit, computer, mp3 player, e-reader. This can cause headaches, neck pain, shoulder and arm pain, breathing compromise, and much more.

People at risk? Those who twist themselves into unnatural contortions in order to use hand-held devices often two at a time.

Dr. Dean Fishman came up with the term after noticing among his patients a fast increase in repetitive stress injuries that he traced to hand-held devices. That’s when he created the Text Neck Institute and registered the Text Neck term.

His website guides people to his practice, but the attention has outgrown his waiting room. Today he offers training for… continue reading

Looking for a Snellville chiropractor? Contact us today for more information.

JOLIET — Chiropractor Timothy S. Skaggs may only be 26, but in just one year of practice, he’s won the trust and respect of patients, regardless of age, for his compassion, listening and humility.

Skaggs owes it all to a high school field trip to the cadaver lab at the National University of Health Sciences in Lombard.

“I was fascinated to see the spinal cord, tendons and all the things that make a body run,” Skaggs said. “A demonstration later that day took the mystery and scare out of it. I wanted to learn more and more.”

Today, Skaggs offers a variety of alterative medicine procedures at his facility but has no problem referring his patients to specialists. He holds a doctor of chiropractic degree.

Errol Chapin of Joliet says he is alive because of Skaggs.

Skaggs had been treating Chapin for back and shoulder discomfort. While bowling, Chapin released the ball felt an excruciating pain rip through his shoulder to the middle of his back when he released the ball.

Chapin returned to Skaggs.

“I gave him a careful examination and… continue reading

Looking for a chiropractor in Snellville, GA? Contact us today for more information.

Sitting down for long-hours causes back aches, which may hamper workplace productivity, researchers say.

Occupational health physician Dr Abed Onn has listed low back pain as one of the three most common work-related ailments, alongside noise-induced loss of hearing and upper limb muscular disorder, Star Online reported.

Due to lack of reliable statistics, he based his evaluation on cases he has handled in the course of his work.

“Low back pain is not an old man’s ailment. I am seeing more cases of low back pain in fairly young individuals, even people in their early 30s,” Dr Onn said.

Orthopaedic and spine surgeon Dr Siow Yew Siong asserted that office workers suffer from mostly sprained and strained low backs as well as early degeneration of the spine because of the sedentary nature of office work.

“Sprains and strains are much more common than actual spinal diseases,” said Dr Siong.

“Poor sitting posture, poor office ergonomics (designing of equipment to fit the human body), wrong lifting techniques… continue reading

Looking for a chiropractor in Snellville, GA? Contact us today for more information.

John, a 54-year-old businessman, has lumbar disk herniation. He has undergone a six-week comprehensive physical therapy program, which has helped his back pain, but not his leg pain. Mary, a 70-year-old retired nurse, has had severe back pain and leg pain for several years as a result of spinal stenosis. Due to other medical conditions, she is not a candidate for surgical intervention for her back pain.

Radicular pain, associated with numbness and weakness, usually radiates from the neck or back into arms or legs directly along the course of a spinal nerve root. Radicular pain, due to chemical irritation or mechanical pressure to the nerves, may result from degenerative osteoarthritis, spinal stenosis or disk herniation. Injection of steroids through the epidural space, around the nerve root, or at the facet joint may reduce inflammation, thereby decreasing or eliminating the pain. Common procedures include epidural steroid injection (ESI), selective nerve block (SNRB), and facet joint block. These procedures are performed by a pain specialist using fluoroscopic guidance to aid in the injection of lidocaine and steroid into the targeted area.

In a SNRB, the nerve is approached at the level where it exits the foramen (the holes between the vertebral bodies). Although… continue reading

Looking for the best chiropractor in Snellville? Contact us today for more information.

Around two-thirds of patients who had ozone injected said it relieved the pain caused by disc problems.

The research, involving 327 volunteers with long-term back problems that had failed to get better with other treatments, is the latest in a long line of studies highlighting the pain-zapping qualities of the gas.

Ozone is a highly reactive gas which can be beneficial or harmful to human health, depending where it is in the atmosphere.

The ‘ozone layer’, which extends from six to thirty miles above the Earth’s surface, protects us from the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation.

But at ground-level, it can be a dangerous air pollutant that damages the airways and inflames the lining of the lungs. In recent years, however, pain researchers have been investigating its potential as a remedy for herniated discs.

This is where discs in the spine which normally act as shock absorbers for the body become damaged and inflamed, pressing against nearby nerves and causing pain… continue reading

Looking for the best chiropractor in Snellville? Contact us today for more information.

SALT LAKE CITY — Two-time Olympic medalist and reigning 1,500 world champion Katherine Reutter will have surgery on her left hip Thursday in Salt Lake City.

Reutter says she will have similar surgery on her right hip March 22.

Both hips are impinged and causing pain and stress on her back. She also has a torn labrum in the left hip.

Dr. Stephen Aoki at the University of Utah is to perform both procedures.

Reutter made the decision last weekend after competing in the U.S. Short Track National Championships. She finished fifth overall.

She will miss the remainder of the World Cup season and world championships but hopes to return next season.

Reutter won six World Cup medals this season before the injuries proved too much to… continue reading

Looking for a Snellville chiropractor? Contact us today for more information.