Over 15 years in Chiropractic practice, what proactive health care philosophy do you put into practice and why ?
Consistency, consistency and consistency. All change can be hard when trying to maintain health. The secret is coming up with habits or a process that you can follow that doesn’t feel too restrictive. Then just building those habits by consistently following the plan. Sometimes it can take months to see the results but once you see them the value of that consistent plodding along makes it feel like just a part of life and not a chore. Also finding a team of friends, family and healthcare professionals you trust to turn to when you need support.
What type of case are you seeing a lot of this time of year ?
Low back pain. Every case is different however some commonality exists. A lot of people are working from home and inefficient work stations, loading their sacro-iliac joints, lumbar discs and their posture is deteriorating. Stiffness and lumbar spine ache is fairly safe but it can be a precursor to more serious injury pathogenesis such as sciatica or disc herniation.
What cases do you see over and over again ?
Two things come to mind….
Low back pain (sedentary lifestyle/sitting/lack of condition or movement).
Sciatica from leading a sedentary lifestyle. Sitting for long periods can put pressure on intervertebral discs.
Prevention is better than the cure, so it is important to focus on exercise to build strong stabilisers so that when you do mow the lawn or start back up at gym again or play that weekend game of touch or cricket your body can handle the sudden change in physical activity. Low back and disc injuries often come on after something that seems trivial because it is a build up of being deconditioned, weak and/or having bad posture.
Another thing that I see often and amazes me when I take my patients medical history is often the intensity and frequency of fairly common headaches that people put up with or self medicate for without a diagnosis or proactive treatment. It is terrible what people will just accept as being “part of life”. Common headaches such as tension type or cervicogenic headaches can be effectively treated with a thorough treatment plan including massage, dry needling, manipulation and making some simple changes at work or in your exercise program. A common thing to hear from patients is, “ I don’t know why I waited so long to get treatment and I can’t believe I just lived with this when I didn’t have to.”
Final summary on health care and keeping well?
Often people feel that in their busy paced lifestyle especially in cities like Sydney they aren’t able to take time to exercise or care for themselves. Research has shown that even exercising once a week can provide measurable health differences. Changing your ergonomics of your work station, taking multiple breaks from the desk and seeing your chiropractor every 4-6 weeks, to fill in the gaps that even the best day to day management can’t help you avoid, is integral.
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