Tips for a healthy back – Part 1

Tips for a healthy back – Part 1

By: Dr. Joe ‘BackCrack’ Cipriano

(Hi, I'm Dr. Joe 'BackCrack' Cipriano, a chiropractic physician in Greenville, SC. All of the people you see in my videos are real, actual patients. My y-strap decompression adjustments get the results people have been searching for. I'm here to help! For appointments and other information, please visit my website, www.DrJoeBackCrack.com, and to watch my crack-tastic videos, please visit www.YouTube.com/DrJoeBackCrack.)

I love seeing and helping my patients. I’m sure most caring doctors feel the same way. Similarly, I’m also quite confident that most will tell you this: The less often we have to see you, the happier we are (if it’s for the right reasons, of course) – that means you’re doing okay on your own, and don’t need much help from us. But how can you do this? In my field, specifically, how can you take good care of your back so you don’t need to see me very often? So I don’t have to give you more intense cracks for more serious problems? I’ve got lots of great tips for you, but I know the attention of an online surfer is short, so I’m going to limit the tips to just three today, and maybe we’ll circle back for some more another time. Here’s what we’ll cover today, then: First, even though I don’t want you to see me often, if it can be helped, I would like you to get an assessment from a chiropractor at the first sign of back problems, no matter how small. Second, I’m going to suggest that you focus on your posture. And finally, I’ll provide some links to some helpful back stretches and exercises.

So, let’s start at the beginning – when you first feel just a little bit of back pain. Trust me on this: Don’t wait until it gets worse. The earlier we can help you, the less often we’ll need to down the road, and this is surely the case will any medical ailment. If you’re anywhere near me (and you can find our office address right here on my website), then please, book something ASAP through our online booking form. If you’re nowhere near me, and can’t make the trip, I have several affiliated chiropractors linked on my website who would also be happy to help you. And finally, if you’re nowhere near me or any of my associates, I always default to Yelp. Reviews on Yelp are usually a good indicator for quality and patient satisfaction, but beware fake reviews. (When I use Yelp for anything, I’ll usually check to see how many reviews each reviewer has posted; if they’ve only posted one, and it’s just for the business I’m looking at, I get skeptical. But if they have hundreds of credible-looking reviews, I take them more seriously.)

Second, and even before you have any back pain at all, focus on your posture! Truly, not enough people do this. If you’re at a desk job, please take frequent breaks and walk around. Five minutes can go a long way towards good back health – that one email can wait. Also, make sure your computer monitor is at the right height, so you don’t need to slouch to do your work. Ideally, the top of your screen should be right around your eye level, and the distance between your eyes and the screen should be about an arm’s length. It might also be wise to consider a wearable posture corrector. Some of my patients have reported great success with this one, available on Amazon, but obviously, you don’t want to wear this thing 24/7 – be sure to follow the instructions closely.

Speaking of instructions, I’ve also found a few really good instructional videos to help with your back health…First, yoga is unbelievably good for your back, so here’s a really great video for beginners. The more flexibility and strength you have, the fewer problems you are generally going to experience, but do ensure in advance that you’re healthy enough to do yoga before you try it. Same thing with the McKenzie Approach in this video – make sure you’re healthy enough to try it. And, if you are, trust me, it is going to make a world of difference for you.

Exercise, good posture, and early problem detection from a professional – it’s not rocket science, right? You have the tools you need, don’t you? Might as well use ‘em, so you don’t need some more serious back-cracking down the road! And with that, I’ll bid you farewell for now, and I’ll hope to see you at my office soon, but – if you follow the tips in this post – not very often at all.

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