Now let’s find the neutral spine position:

• Lie on your back with your knees bent
• Get a friend to put their hand under your back
• Gently press their hand against the floor
• Now, while maintaining this gentle push against the floor, lift one leg up
• If you find your back arches away from the hand, you have moved away from the neutral spine
• Try again until you have mastered it
• Now try these:

1. Raise one foot
2. Raise the other foot
3. Raise one arm
4. Raise the other arm
5. Raise one leg
6. Raise the other leg

Another way of achieving the neutral spine is to tighten the muscle between your tummy button and the top of your pubic bone. Try not to hold your breath! Practice tightening and breathing normally. This neutral spine should be used throughout the day and during all activities to help stabilise the spine.

When the body is injured, muscles around the area become tense. This increased tension causes more pain. This is called the “pain-spasm-pain cycle”. Ice reduces pain and the stretch reflex and so allows the muscle to relax and break the cycle.

The blood circulation’s response to ice is first for the blood vessels near the surface to constrict and limit heat loss. This reduces blood flow and slows down the development of swelling. However, continued ice treatment longer than 20 minutes threatens the health of tissues, so a natural reflex expansion or dilation of the blood vessels follows. This increases the blood flow in the area and washes away waste products and brings in the body’s repair materials.

Although easy to apply and very effective, it does carry a small risk. The skin temperature is lowered and so there is a risk of “burning” the skin. Always make sure there is a layer of towel between the skin and the ice pack. So the general rule of thumb is to use an ice pack 3 times a day for 20 minutes, leaving at least an hour between each application.

Good Footwear:

Welly boots may seem practical but actually offer you little support and are difficult to get off, especially with back pain!
Wear shoes with a sole that has grip.
Wear ones that you can lace up to give you more support around the foot and ankle.
Use 2 pairs of shoes, one to walk in and one to drive in so your feet don’t slip on pedals.

Clothing:

Wear a padded jacket that goes past your waist to cover your hips. If you fall it’ll add extra padding.
Try not to keep things in your pocket that may hurt you if you fall.
Gloves give extra padding to your hands if you were to fall.
Try not to walk with hands in pockets, you may need them to grab something if you were to slip.

Falling:

Although not a natural reaction it is best to relax!
If you do fall, try and curl up and roll to cause the least jarring to your body.
Avoid putting your hands out as this easily causes wrist injuries.

Snow and Ice:

Avoid walking too close to the edge of the pavement so you don’t slip into traffic.
Look out for black ice in shadows and under trees.
When scraping car of ice, use the right implements, stand on a stable surface and don’t over-stretch!
When shovelling make sure you bend knees and keep your back straight.
Avoid twisting during this strenuos activity as you may not be used to it and it can cause injury.

STAY SAFE, BE INJURY FREE AND ENJOY THE SNOW!

• Increase Immune System Function. Perhaps the biggest benefit that chiropractic care has to offer is that it can improve your immune system. Since a healthy immune system is necessary to maintaining your overall health improving the function of this system is a huge benefit to your health. Studies have shown that people who use chiropractic care regularly have fewer colds and when they do the symptoms are less severe.

• Helps to Manage Pain. Chiropractic care can also help you to manage your pain by helping to locate and correct serious nervous system stress, strengthen your muscles surrounding your nerves and advising you on the proper care of your body.

• Can Increase Your Range Of Movement. By helping you to manage and control your pain and strengthen your muscles chiropractic care can often help to increase your range of movements following an accident or injury. Chiropractic doctors will work with you to find exercises that will continue to aid you in recovering all or most of the range of movements you had before the injury or accident.

• Avoid The Harmful Side Effects Of Many Drugs. Since chiropractic care is based on natural care they can help you avoid the use or overuse of pain medications and other drugs that often have serious side effects and can increase your health issues. The fewer drugs you take the less dangers await you down the road.

• Get The Right Medical Attention You Need. Since chiropractic medicine deals with your overall health and well being a chiropractor often discovers health problems or conditions that are outside his realm of training. When this happens your chiropractor will refer you to a medical professional who can help you deal with these needs, helping to ensure your continued good health.

A chiropractor is just one of the options available for those of you who are concerned about your health.

Article Source: http://sit-up-straight.co.uk/?p=32 Our lifestyles have become very stressful. We are mentally tired. Our lives now revolve mainly around work. We sit in traffic jams on the way to work, sit for hours at our workstations and then go home and sit in front of the television. Some say we were never designed to sit so much. This causes no end of postural and musculo-skeletal problems. Our lives are so busy that we don’t exercise anymore. Our diets revolve more and more around fast food and this is leading to increased rates of heart disease, diabetes and obesity.