Don't Break Down on the Side of The Road, Preventative Maintenance for Your Body!

Preventative Maintenance Should be used for the Body

Most business today accept, and recommend preventive maintenance for the machinery in their production plants as it can be quite expensive to replace if they neglect to do so.  An extended time down can also cost business money through loss of production.

People Should Be Responsible for Their Body Machines

It would be interesting to see if the people responsible for the care of their machines provide the same quality of care to their own bodies.  If your body breaks down through neglect, whose fault is that?

Individually we are each responsible for our own body, the greatest machine ever.  It only seems to make sense to me to practice preventive care.  The little aches and pains, twinges, tight muscles, that we all deal with can gradually and sometimes quickly escalate into something far greater.

Chiropractic Care Should be a Part of your Preventive Maintenance Schedule 

It should just be common sense that we should value our bodies as much as we do machines.  Regular Chiropractic care should be a part of your preventive maintenance schedule so you don't break down on the side of the road.  

For more information and treatment options, please visit our website at www.cramerchiropracticrehab.com.

Ever Wonder How Mental Fitness Can Affect Your Low Back Pain? Dr. Cramer Talks about the Psychological Impacts of Recovery

You Don’t Have to Live with Lower Back Pain – Cramer Chiropractic Germantown Can Help

It is not uncommon for people who have had lower back pain for months or years to think they just "need to learn to live with it", as they think they will have the pain for the rest of their lives.  If this is what they think then yes, they will likely have the pain for the rest of their lives, as your attitude and belief system can have a strong influence on outcomes.  

Your Mental Attitude about Back Pain Can Determine Your Results

A poor mental attitude can basically ensure lifelong pain.  Sometimes people dealing with pain allow the pain to become a crutch in their lives and the way they define themselves.  But it doesn't have to be that way.  You are not your pain.

Almost every day— whether at my office in Germantown, our at other Accessible Beltway Clinic locations throughout the region; Chiropractors see miracles. An important aspect I have noticed after years of treatment is that the patient has to be open to the possibility of getting better. There needs to be hope.

People Who Believe Their Back Pain Will Get Better, Often Do Get Better

While not everyone is going to make miraculous improvements, under most circumstances Chiropractors are very successful at helping people with lower back pain, but a good mental attitude is also a requirement.  People who believe they will get better often do.  A poor outlook will often restrain your body from achieving health and wellness. That being said, I have still seen patients improve in spite of themselves.

A Positive Mental Attitude is Key to Health and Back Pain Relief

A positive mental attitude is one of the key facets of good health.  Other facets include: exercise, nutrition, sleep, and a balanced adjusted spine.

The first step to getting rid of that back pain that you think you'll have to live with is changing that thought and picking up the phone to schedule an appointment with a Chiropractor to see if they can help you.  What do you have to lose?

-Back Pain- 

The Effects of Aging on Our Bodies

"I used to be able to do that when I was your age."

It's a phrase you've probably heard a lot of times, and have probably said more times than you'd like to admit.  Aging can be a hard thing to accept. Our bodies make it easier to store fat as we start to lose muscle. Aches and pains that didn't exist 10 years ago occur on a more frequent basis.  But it doesn't have to be that way. We're all going to go down someday, but why go down without a fight? With the proper exercise, your prime fitness could be in front of you, rather than your high school glory days.

No matter what age you are, whether a child or a senior, you can get stronger.  

Strength is Correlated to Longevity

And strength is directly correlated to longevity. Stronger people tend to live the longest. So no matter what age you are, being even a little stronger is always better.  Strength training can help addresses most of the major problems that sneak up on us as we get older. The average person will lose about 1 percent of their muscle mass per year, starting in middle age. With muscle goes a lot of other stuff we rarely think about: the thickness and strength of our tendons and ligaments, the size of our bones, the number of muscle fibers and nerves we can call on when we need to use them.

The Key is to Focus on Total Body Strength which comes from Lifting Weights

But, you have to train smart, focus on stability and mobility, and total body strength. It is important to focus on strength that comes from lifting weights, so yes ladies you need to lift them.  Your bones will not break if you pick up a weight that is heavier than your purse.  You need to push yourself.  And guys you have more muscles then just your biceps.  First everyone needs to work on their "core": abdominals and lower back.  These are the muscles we use every day, all day.  Follow this with shoulders, hips, legs, just move those weights and push yourself.

When you get Comfortable, Begin  Lifting Weights in a Functional Position

Now as you become more comfortable with the weights, try to lift them in a functional position, for example; standing.  We sit too much and that can in and of it lead to lower back problems, so standing helps reduce this risk, plus while standing you are engaging you core muscles. You have to brace the muscles in your core to maintain your balance and posture. 

One final thought, if you have put in the work and have some strength, you'll never have to utter the words "I've fallen and I can't get up".

For more information and health tips, visit the Cramer Chiropractic website and like us on Facebook.

What Causes my Back Pain?

Why do I have Back Pain?

I have many patients’ that come into my office, Cramer Chiropractic & Rehab, in Germantown and ask "Why do I have back pain?"  Well, the short answer is we are each responsible for our back issues.  The vast majority of us don't get the proper physical conditioning to benefit our spines.

We exercise haphazardly and without warming up properly.  We gain too much weight, ride rather then walk, and slump on sofas and chairs.  We subject our backs to unnecessary twists and turns by lifting and carrying things improperly.

We Put Tremendous Pressure on Our Backs Each Day Which Leads to Pain 

The pressure and stress on our backs is tremendous.  Standing exerts 100 pounds of pressure per square inch on the lower spine.  Sitting is 120 pounds.  Even laughing and coughing can put a great amount of pressure onto your lower back.

Rules to Avoid Increased Pressure on Your Back 

Here are some basic rules for avoiding increased pressure on your back:  Maintain the natural curves of your spine no matter what you are doing.  When bending or lifting always bend your knees. Avoid off balance torso twisting.  Proper exercise can help keep your muscles in shape, thereby keeping us erect and aligned.  As a preventive measure against back aches and pain have regular Chiropractic check-ups.  A little prevention now, may help you avoid a bigger problem down the road.

For more information about back pain please visit our website and connect with us on Facebook. 

Feeling Stressed? Chiropractic Care can Help Relieve Some of the Stress from Your Body

Work, Family and Finances can Impact how we Feel and Cause Stress

Feeling stressed out?  Welcome to America!  It is not unusual that outside our nation's capital and in my case specifically Germantown, MD that people have a lot of stress.  Everything from work, family, finances, etc can have a huge impact on how we feel.  And somehow this still shocks people that this can affect their bodies.  

You can go back over a decade and start to see articles, even in the New England Journal of Medicine, find that a person's inability to adapt to stress can cause physiologic changes that can be dangerous. Some of the changes include higher blood pressure, increased blood sugar, increased cholesterol, increase in the hormone Cortisol, and increased abdominal fat.  As a Chiropractor, I can feel that increased tension in your neck and upper back.

We Face Stress in Various Episodes in Our Life 

Each episode of stress can be over very quickly, or can become chronic.  Our responses are dependent upon our individual development, genetic makeup, life experiences, and personal behaviors, such as diet, smoking, drinking, and exercise.  Typically when a stressful event occurs our bodies respond, and then return to normal.  Chronic stress is when our bodies maintain their stressful state and does not return to normal.  Problems that can arise are insulin resistance, heart disease, memory loss, immune system dysfunction, decreased bone density, and from my perspective, misalignments of the vertebrae in your neck and back.  

Chiropractic Care can Help Relieve Some of the Stress Caused by Your Body

While chiropractic is not a treatment of diseases, it can help with the misalignments in your spine. When a patient is "out of whack", adjusting them can help normalize the motion of these individual vertebrae, and in doing so help the associated muscle tightness, the physical manifestation of the stress, begin to return to normal.  And if you start to feel physically better, don't you think that may be a small burden off your mind.

To learn more about chiropractic health and wellness, please visit our website at www.cramerchiropracticrehab.com.