Chiropractors seek the origin of illness in order to eliminate it {advice from a #BeverlyHillsChiropractor}

Chiropractor, Walker Ozar and his Beverly Hills Posture team serves the Beverly Hills, California area and the surrounding communities.  A Beverly Hills Posture health and fitness plan starts at the root causes of poor health—from poor posture, fitness and weight issues, ergonomics at home and in the office, to musculoskeletal issues and more—then tailored to include the fitness and therapy programs that are necessary to achieve desired short and long-term results.

As most people know, chiropractors practice natural, drugless, non-invasive health care and rely on the body’s ability to self-heal.  Sounds ideal, but just how does it work?

Chiropractors look at the whole picture

Like other health-care providers, we follow a standard routine to gain information about the patient.  Chiropractors consult, review the case history, conduct a physical examination, and may request laboratory analyses and/or x-rays. Unlike other health-care providers, however, chiropractors also conduct a careful analysis of a patient’s structure and pay particular attention to the spine.  Chiropractors also ask you about your life:   Do you eat well? Exercise at all? How do you deal with stress? Do you have children? What do you do for work? And so on.

Chiropractors seek the origin of the problem

Using this information, a diagnosis is made. Included in the diagnosis is the probable reason for your pain or discomfort. It is important to note that chiropractors seek the origin of the illness in order to eliminate it-we do not simply treat the symptoms.  If your roof is leaking, do you simply catch the drips in a bucket for years on end, or do you repair the roof to prevent it from leaking? Similarly, if the migraine headache you’ve had all week is being caused by misaligned vertebra and an irritated nerve, do you continue to take pain killers indefinitely, or do you realign the vertebra to prevent the pain? You get the picture.

Chiropractors  fix the origin of the problem

Chiropractors have a term for misalignments: subluxations. A vertebral subluxation is a misalignment of the bones that protect the spinal cord. It’s a leak in the roof. Or a kink in the wiring of your nervous system.  The severity of the subluxation can vary, and there are a number of potential contributing factors that can be physical, emotional, mental, or chemical. The subluxation can be caused by any number of incidents, from birth trauma to an auto accident to simple repetition or over-use.

Take Your First Step to Better Health. 
Contact Beverly Hills Posture today to explore how we can support you. With better posture and strengthened muscles, you’ll gain more energy, experience pain relief, and improve flexibility and overall health.

If you have any questions regarding anything we’ve written or would like to book an appointment with us, please click HERE to be directed to our contact page. Beverly Hills Posture is proud to offer Chiropractic Care with an abundance of options including- Yoga, Pilates, Gyrotonic, Acupuncture, Acupressure and Massage Therapy. We dedicate ourselves to creating a healthier you.

How to give shoulder pain “the cold shoulder” {advice from a #BeverlyHillsChiropractor}

Shoulder pain can have a number of different causes, ranging from an injury like a car accident, to a chronic problem like arthritis. Patients who experience shoulder pain may be surprised by the intensity and duration of the pain. The shoulder area is so essential for completing daily activities that it makes sense that the shoulder pain injury should be taken seriously and treated to avoid worsening your condition.

Symptoms
Some signs that shoulder pain needs immediate attention may include a decreased ability to hold objects, decreased functioning of the arm, shoulder pain that persists even while at rest, shoulder pain that lasts more than a day or two, and unusual twinges or aches in the shoulder area.

Diagnosis 
Chiropractic care can be an extremely effective treatment for shoulder pain regardless of its cause. A chiropractor will often begin with an examination of the patient’s neck area since shoulder pain can frequently be the result of “referred” pain from the neck. Whether the shoulder pain is connected to the neck or is limited to the lower part of the shoulder, it can generally be treated with non-invasive methods of natural healing such as chiropractic care.

Treatment
Care for an injured shoulder may include application of heat, application of ice packs, gentle manipulation to help the shoulder return to its original state of functionality, and gentle stretching and strengthening exercises that the patient can perform at home.

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel – we’ll be offering a variety of exercise tips that can help you mitigate shoulder pain in the near future.

If you have any questions regarding anything we’ve written or would like to book an appointment with us, please click HERE to be directed to our contact page. Beverly Hills Posture is proud to offer Chiropractic Care with an abundance of options including- Yoga, Pilates, Gyrotonic, Acupuncture, Acupressure and Massage Therapy. We dedicate ourselves to creating a healthier you.

Ease Chronic Low Back Pain by Opening Your Hips {advice from a #BeverlyHillsChiropractor}

Many people experience back pain at some point in their life and a number of us don’t even know what caused it. We have our theories of what could have triggered this nuisance; from weak core muscles, to lifting something too heavy, or sitting for extended periods of time, the list goes on.  Fortunately for the 31 million Americans currently suffering from low back pain there is hope on the horizon.

Yoga has been proven countless time to speed the healing process. We know that it is imperative to strengthen and stretch our bodies, but what muscle groups precisely should we focus on to ease low back pain? To make it simple, we are only going to focus on the muscles that contribute to the movement of the hips. The hips include many muscles with one in particular, the psoas, which connects directly to vertebra in the low back.

The following yoga poses will ease low back pain regardless of severity and intensity by focusing on hip opening. Here are some of my favorite hip openers that have helped me as well as countless others in living a life with a pain-free back.

Pigeon Pose

This classic pose helps posture by stretching the muscles on the sides of the thigh, the groins and psoas muscle. Begin by holding this position for one minute and gradually work up to three minutes. This can be practiced either on the floor or with the hips propped up on a cushion or blanket. If the first pose is too difficult then try one of the variations. This pose is safe to do post surgery and should be practiced with flexed toes to protect the knee.

Bound Angle Pose

This simple pose helps to stretch and tone the inner thighs and groins, relieves sciatica by reducing lumbar lordosis, and increases circulation to the low back. Tip: If your knees are higher than your hips sit on a folded blanket or cushion. You can also do this pose lying down.

Wide-Angle Seated Forward Fold

This therapeutic posture is used for strengthening the spine, relieving sciatica, stretching the inside of thighs, hamstrings, adductors, groins and back. If you have hips on the tighter side sit on a folded blanket and use a strap around each foot to hold for support.

Tip: Practice with a tall spine trying to avoid any rounding in the back.

It is always a good idea for people new to yoga to practice these postures at least once with a professional. The practice of yoga helps us to get more familiar with our bodies thus possibly preventing future injuries. Just like every lifestyle change it takes time and daily dedication to reach maximum results.

For more tips and information, contact:

– Chelsey Charbeneau – CYT, E-RYT
Certified Yoga Therapist, Yoga Instructor, Private Trainer

If you have any questions regarding anything we’ve written or would like to book an appointment with us, please click HERE to be directed to our contact page. Beverly Hills Posture is proud to offer Chiropractic Care with an abundance of options including- Yoga, Pilates, Gyrotonic, Acupuncture, Acupressure and Massage Therapy. We dedicate ourselves to creating a healthier you.

Runner’s knee pain relief and the “Myth of the IT Band Massage”

The IT Band or “Iliotibial Band” is a thick, tough fascia that runs from the hip to just below the knee on the outside of the thigh.  The IT Band is often the cause of knee pain in runners as well as many other types of overuse activities.  The causes of this pain and the solutions are subject to much debate.  What is clear is that many of the “accepted” methods of treatment are not really of much use.

The overwhelming suggestion for relieving IT Band pain is to massage the outside of the thigh using a foam roller.  While we are certainly fans of using foam rollers to treat a variety of ailments, the typical use of a foam roller to treat IT Band pain is at best ineffective. There is nothing wrong with using a foam roller to massage the IT Band; this type of therapy isn’t actually going to help alleviate the pain.

As with any injury or chronic pain, it is always advisable to see a qualified professional to assess treatment options.  Knee pain in particular can be very complicated. Diagnosing the cause (of runner’s knee) and recommending an effective treatment plan should be handled by someone with the proper credentials and experience to get it right and help alleviate the pain.

So if using the foam roller to massage the IT Band is not generally an effective method of treatment, what is?

The answer is, it depends.  Since there isn’t just one cause of pain in the knee or one reason that your IT Band may be distressed, there can’t be just one solution.  The good news is, once we have diagnosed the root causes of your problem, we can begin to build a treatment plan that will not only alleviate your pain, but correct the underlying cause.

Knee pain, whether caused by an inflamed IT Band or some other reason, more often than not can be treated effectively.  A patient can also support that treatment with an effective fitness regimen focused on strengthening and stretching the affected areas.

Chiropractic offers many solutions to knee pain and IT Band issues.

Physical Therapy  offers a wide range of therapies that address the root causes of knee and IT Band pain.

Pilates, Yoga and GYROTONIC® instructors can design an effective exercise regimen that will help patients strengthen and stretch the affected areas so that pain relief is long-term.

Acupuncture is one of the key supporting therapies for knee pain relief.  In many cases,  Acupuncture is an extremely effective approach to resolving knee pain and in particular, IT Band pain.

While massaging the IT Band using foam rollers is not generally going to help get rid of knee pain, a qualified therapeutic massage professional can greatly reduce knee and/or IT Band pain.  The massage team here at BHP is well versed in treating patients in conjunction with the overall treatment plan.

It is this multi-dimensional approach to resolving knee pain, whether it is caused by the IT Band or some other issue, that offers the best chance for success.  More importantly, once we have identified the root cause of your pain and have begun to treat it, we can teach each patient a few simple exercises/stretches that they can do at home to prevent the problem from recurring.

So if you have any type of knee pain, or in fact have an issue with your IT Band, please contact a medical professional for an evaluation so that you can isolate the cause of your problem and find the most effective solution that will help you alleviate the pain (short and long-term).  Finding the cause of your knee pain first, and then the best regimen to overcome the root cause of the problem, can get your “runner’s knee” under control once and for all.

If you have any questions regarding anything we’ve written or would like to book an appointment with us, please click HERE to be directed to our contact page. Beverly Hills Posture is proud to offer Chiropractic Care with an abundance of options including- Yoga, Pilates, Gyrotonic, Acupuncture, Acupressure and Massage Therapy. We dedicate ourselves to creating a healthier you.

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To follow-up on our previous post - we had to show you. 

The True Effect of High Heels infographic

If you have any questions regarding anything we’ve written or would like to book an appointment with us, please click HERE to be directed to our contact page. Beverly Hills Posture is proud to offer Chiropractic Care with an abundance of options including- Yoga, Pilates, Gyrotonic, Acupuncture, Acupressure and Massage Therapy. We dedicate ourselves to creating a healthier you.

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Chronic back pain is one of the most common physical ailments and one of the most complicated to pinpoint the cause. Given the amount of abuse we often subject our bodies to, it is no surprise that chronic back pain is such a huge problem.

From overzealous weekend warriors to sitting for hours on end with poor posture, we are constantly putting stress on our backs leading to an epidemic of chronic back pain.

Given the complexity of the back and the myriad reasons why we might be experiencing back pain, figuring out the root causes is difficult.  Deciding the best course of action is even more mystifying to many of us.  What is clear is that in order to relieve back pain in the long term, you need to figure out what is causing your discomfort.

Chiropractic care, acupuncture and therapeutic massage are great options to greatly reduce or eliminate back pain within a visit or two.  Our physical therapy and fitness team members plan an  important role in assisting people with implementing an exercise regimen that will get the body back into alignment and balance so that the back stays healthy and pain-free.

The potential causes of back pain are too many and too varied to attempt to discuss them all.  This article will focus on one of the major causes of back pain.  It seems simple, but in fact can be rather complicated:

IT JUST MIGHT BE YOUR SHOES

Sounds simple.  But when you consider the interplay of your feet, legs, hips and back when you walk, it becomes obvious that there are plenty of ways this process can go wrong.  Over time, any imbalance in your gait can begin to reflect in chronic back pain.  Your shoes have a direct impact on your feet and play a role in how well your stride is balanced, or not.

We all know the obvious culprit when the discussion is uncomfortable footwear.  High heels are generally murder on our feet, gait and posture.  The reality is however, there are a number of different types of shoes that can and do create chronic back pain.

Let’s take a look at a few potential problem shoe choices:

High Heels

These types of shoes are the epitome of the wrong ones to wear.  But let’s make sure we understand the definition of a “high heel.” Any heel over an inch high creates the problem mechanics of a high heel.  So yes, stiletto heels are clearly a problem.  Men’s dress shoes, cowboy boots and any other shoe with a heel an inch or more tall will tend to cause you to walk with an arched back and slightly bent knees.  This shortens your calf muscles and makes your quadriceps work harder.  It also puts up to 200% more pressure on your kneecaps.  All that shifted muscle and joint strain has a direct impact on your spine and back.

So don’t be fooled into thinking that high heels have to be three inches high or only women’s shoes to be a root cause of back pain.

Flat Shoes (Flats)

So the obvious answer to not wearing high heels would be: “Flats” (right?)… oddly enough, you just might be wrong!  In fact, tests show that flats produce up to 25% MORE impact pressure than high heels do.  The cumulative effect of all of that pounding can have huge implications for your hips and back, leading directly to chronic back pain.  Lack of padding and support can also have negative impact on your feet which causes further problems.

Sneakers (Tennis, Running, Athletic Shoes)

So we now know what shoes not to wear, what does that leave us with for options?  Not surprisingly, shoes that provide support for your feet, are flexible and provide some padding to reduce impact are the best choice.  While this perfectly describes what is generally referred to as “sneakers,” , they aren’t the only choices.  Many shoe companies make a wide range of stylish shoes that fit the criteria.

About “Toning Shoes“(we all know the brand names, but we’ll refrain from mentioning any here)

These shoes are certainly not the answer.  In fact, they’re designed to create instability in your gait, forcing your muscles to work harder.  This concept was supposed to help the wearer tone up muscles which in turn would help the wearer lose weight.  The problem is, “tone up” shoes do not and did not work; wearing them can lead to chronic back pain along with a laundry list of other problems. (Note: We would not recommend these types of shoes under any circumstances.)

Here are some things to think about when selecting the appropriate shoes:

Shoes with a low heel

Shoes that flex with your foot

Shoes with a contoured in sole to support your arch

Shoes that feel comfortable in the store

Shoes with at least a half-inch of wiggle room in the toe

Follow these simple guidelines (when buying/wearing shoes) and you’ll greatly reduce the chances of experiencing back pain as a result of what is on your feet!

If you currently experiencing back pain, we recommend that you give us a call to book an appointment.  We can assist you by doing a full postural review to pinpoint the cause of your pain.  We can also do a gait analysis and help you select the appropriate shoes based on how you naturally walk.

In addition to the proper footwear, the Beverly HIlls Posture Team can assist you with an exercise program that will strengthen your body, improve your posture and help you eliminate back pain in the long run.

If you have any questions regarding anything we’ve written or would like to book an appointment with us, please click HERE to be directed to our contact page. Beverly Hills Posture is proud to offer Chiropractic Care with an abundance of options including- Yoga, Pilates, Gyrotonic, Acupuncture, Acupressure and Massage Therapy. We dedicate ourselves to creating a healthier you.

How you can use a foam roller to alleviate your back pain

The back is a complicated piece of equipment and the causes of back pain are many and varied.  Fortunately, there are a number of solutions depending on how serious the cause of your pain is.  As always, you should consult with a qualified professional to access your particular situation.  Walker Ozar and the Fitness Team at Beverly Hills Posture can certainly assist you with any questions you might have.

The foam roller is one of the most effective tools you can use to help alleviate back pain caused by tension in the back structure.  For those that are unfamiliar with foam rollers, they are exactly what they sound like.  A foam roller is nothing more than a soft, cylindrical piece of foam.  A very simple device, but the benefits far outweigh its simple design.  Foam rollers have the added benefit of being inexpensive, easy to carry and can be used anywhere you can comfortably lie down.

Here are three simple ways you can use a foam roller to help alleviate back pain and support any work you are doing to strengthen this area of the body:

The Spine

The foam roller is often referred to as a “spine roller” due to its ability to help restore your spine to its normal shape.

Simply align the foam roller vertically along your spine and lie on it for five to ten minutes.  Don’t move, just relax and breathe and let gravity and your body weight sink into the roller.  This will help your spine return to its normal curvature.  The closer your body is to its desired position, the less likely you are to experience pain due to misalignment.

Lats

The “Lats” (or Latissimus Dorsi) are the large muscles that form a “V” across your upper and mid back.  They attach along the side of your body under your armpits.

Rolling your Lats can help you relieve tension or knots in these large back muscles and reduce back pain as a result.  The movement is very easy to do and can be done in a short period of time.  Roll onto one side, with your arm extended along the floor.  Turn your arm so that your thumb is towards the ceiling.  Straighten your legs and stack your hips and legs in a straight line.  Place the roller under your armpit.  Slowly roll the foam roller down your side, stopping to focus on knots as you feel them.  When done, flip over and repeat on the opposite side.  Each pass down your side should only take 45-60 seconds.  Repeat on each side at least three times, or as often as it takes for you to feel the release of muscle tension.

Rhomboids

The Rhomboids are the muscles located in your upper back.  This muscle group has a tendency to carry tension as a result of poor posture throughout your day.  Foam rollers can help relieve this tension and thereby help alleviate back pain.

Lie on your back with the roller placed horizontally across the middle of your back.  Bend your knees and lift your hips a couple of inches off the floor.  Cross your arms on your chest and roll your shoulders slightly forward.  Lift your head and shoulders and roll the foam roller slowly up your back to just below your neck.  Stop and focus on any area that feels tender or knotted up.  Hold that position for 30 seconds.  Remember to relax and breathe.  You can go up and down a few times as you find the tension in your Rhomboids.  Getting the muscles to relax and release will help eliminate the unnatural tension that is often the cause of back pain.

Summary

These are just a few of the myriad of movements you can perform with a foam roller to help you relieve back pain.  The great thing about a foam roller is that it has many uses for a wide range of body ailments, not just your back.  It also is helpful in supporting your fitness program as your body changes and adapts to your workouts.

As with any exercise program, it is always advisable to get help from qualified professionals to get the maximum benefits in a safe manner.  With proper instruction, foam rollers can be a very useful tool in your overall fitness and managing pain issues.  If you have any questions or would like to discuss your fitness program, please give us a call or drop us a note—we will always be happy to assist you!

If you have any questions regarding anything we’ve written or would like to book an appointment with us, please click HERE to be directed to our contact page. Beverly Hills Posture is proud to offer Chiropractic Care with an abundance of options including- Yoga, Pilates, Gyrotonic, Acupuncture, Acupressure and Massage Therapy. We dedicate ourselves to creating a healthier you.