Holidays Can Be a Pain in the Neck
BC's Chiropractic Doctors offer a few suggestions for holidays...
"After every holiday, people visit their family chiropractic doctor with physical complaints that are usually the result of the holiday," says Dr. Don Nixdorf, executive director of the BC Chiropractic Association.
Here are some tips to make your holiday weekend enjoyable, and pain free:
- If you have to
drive more than two hours to visit friends and relatives, take a break;
get out of your vehicle and stretch. This temporarily restores normal
posture, which will help prevent a recurrence of neck or low back conditions.
- When loading your
vehicle for the trip, organize your luggage and packages into smaller
loads, as opposed to one large suitcase, cardboard box or carrying case.
- Wear your seatbelt.
Adjust vehicle headrests so that they are no more than two inches behind
the centre of the back of the head. Many of the estimated 20 million
car accident victims suffering whiplash injuries in North America could
have prevented much of the injury had their vehicle seat headrests been
adjusted properly.
- It's OK to be a
couch potato this weekend, but don't slouch on the sofa and don't fall
asleep on the recliner, as two or three vertebrae in the spine can assume
a sharp angle. When you sit up, the normal movement isn't restored.
"We often see people walking into our offices with their heads sideways,
because by slouching, the position of the joints irritates the nerves
and blood vessels, causing muscle spasm," says Dr. Nixdorf.
- Avoid bending directly over the oven door to lift out the turkey. Crouch down, pull out the oven shelf, and use your legs for better balance. Avoid putting all the leverage on the lower spine. This helps reduce the sharp leverage on the lower spine.
With these few simple tips, the Chiropractic Doctors of BC wish everyone a healthy, happy holiday.
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