Avoid Back and Neck Pain with These Tips
from Murfreesboro Chiropractic Clinic

Providing healthy, pain-free living is part of the mission of Rutherford Clinic of Chiropractic, and we fulfill our mission in various ways. Our Murfreesboro chiropractor Dr. Wesley Stewart offers many services that alleviate pain and correct the underlying cause of pain. We also strive to educate patients on lifestyle changes and habits you can use to keep pain at bay in the first place.

Pain Prevention Starts with a Strong and Healthy Back

Exercise can help prevent back pain by increasing endurance, strength and muscle function. Low-impact aerobic exercise supplemented by core-strengthening exercises are ideal choices. Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight can also take a lot of stress off your back as it helps reduce the pressure that excess weight causes.

Standing, sitting and lifting are three activities that require proper support and alignment. Standing with your pelvis in a neutral position helps distribute your weight, while sitting on a chair with solid lower back support and arm rests can do the same. Proper lifting posture involves keeping your back straight and using the power of your legs to hoist up the load, bending at the knees and holding the lifted item as near to your body as possible.

Chronic neck pain often comes from chronic poor posture, while other neck pain can come from keeping your neck in a static or awkward position. If you spend hours driving or staring at your computer screen, you can help avoid pain with regular breaks. Getting up to walk around can help, as can stretching your neck muscles by shrugging your shoulders, pulling your shoulder blades back, and keeping your shoulders square while stretching your neck to either side. Our chiropractor advises keeping computer screens at eye level so you can keep your head and directly over your spine instead of hunched forward. Scrunching your neck to support a telephone and sleeping on your stomach can also cause pain by adding stress to your neck.

What other pain-prevention tips can you share?

Spinal Health Tips from Our Murfreesboro Chiropractor

Our spines do all the tough work of holding our bodies in the upright position and the important job of protecting our spinal cords. The three major sections of our spines - the cervical (upper back and neck), the thoracic (middle back), and the lumbar spine (lower back) - are made up of individual bones called vertebrae which are separated by discs. If one of the discs becomes herniated or the spinal column is jarred out of alignment, the pain can be intense and long-lasting.

There are many lifestyle steps you can take to keep your spine in top health. Good posture, regular exercise, and proper nutrition are important. You can use ergonomic furniture and learn proper lifting techniques so you don’t overexert your spine. Stress management techniques are another useful tool. Chiropractic care at the Rutherford Clinic of Chiropractic can also be an important element of keeping your spine healthy. Additionally, a postural screening could reveal important clues about your spine’s health.

Your Murfreesboro Chiropractor Has Many Chiropractic Care Solutions

One way we can help relieve neck pain and upper back pain is through spinal manipulation to bring the spinal column into alignment. If you are experiencing low back pain or pain from a herniated disc, Dr. Stewart might recommend spinal decompression. Using natural gravity and your body’s weight, he can gently lengthen the spine to decompress the vertebrae and alleviate the built-up pressure. He may also recommend corrective exercises, nutritional counseling or lifestyle changes to keep your spine in top shape.

If your spine has been injured in an auto accident, sports-related incident or work injury, Dr. Stewart may recommend other treatments to aid in your spinal rehabilitation. This may include physiotherapy procedures, ultrasound, moist heat or cold therapy. He might also prescribe microamperage neural stimulation and interferential electrical muscle stimulation to assist in the healing process.

What questions do you have about spinal health? Leave a comment below and we’ll respond in an upcoming blog. At Rutherford Clinic of Chiropractic we provide “The Care You Need From the People Who Care.”

What to Do After an Auto Accident

At Rutherford Clinic of Chiropractic, we treat car accident injuries on a daily basis. Because we see so many auto accident injuries, we wanted to share some tips on what actions to take following even a minor fender bender. Below you will find steps we recommend you take at the scene of the accident and in the hours immediately following the accident.

While injury to your car will most likely be very evident, injury to your body, such as neck pain or lower back pain, may not appear for weeks or months. To determine whether you have sustained any injuries, contact our Murfreesboro chiropractor at Rutherford Clinic for Chiropractic right after an accident.

At the Scene of the Auto Accident

Immediately after the accident occurs, move your car and the car of the other party to the side of the road, so that you are out of way of traffic. Check to make sure your passengers are not severely injured. In the event that you, your passengers, or the other driver are injured, call for an ambulance.

Even if there are no severe injuries and the accident is just a fender-bender, we recommend contacting the police. You will need to file an accident report with the police. If an officer will not come to the scene, file a report at the local station later for insurance purposes.

Record the contact and insurance information of the other driver involved in the accident and give him your information as well. If you are not driving your own car or the other driver is driving the car of someone else, get the contact and insurance information for the owner of the car too.

Additionally, we recommend that you collect the information of witnesses, in case there are any discrepancies with the insurance reports later on. Taking pictures of the damage to your car and the other car at the scene is also advised, as these can be provided to the insurance companies as well.

Chiropractic Care and Rehabilitation for Accident Injuries

Contact our Murfreesboro chiropractor after an accident, even if you do not feel neck pain or any symptoms of whiplash. These symptoms often develop later on, increasing in intensity as time goes on. Chiropractic treatment will provide neck pain relief if you have suffered an injury, without the need for medication.

Have you recently been in an accident? What steps did you take following the accident?

Our Murfreesboro Chiropractor Beats Back Pain

The most common pain problem that we treat here at Rutherford Clinic of Chiropractic is back pain. Whether it is upper back pain, low back pain, or a combination of neck and back pain, we see patients who are dealing with this every day, and we are firmly committed to helping our patients through using non-invasive methods.

Our chiropractor, Dr. Wesley Stewart, always examines each new patient so that he can locate the exact area where their problem originates. After this is identified, we can begin a treatment that will stop the pain and keep it from coming back to haunt you again.

We Tell Low Back Pain To Back Off

The reasons for low back pain, upper back pain, and all types of pain in the back and neck area can be related to joint and disc problems, injuries, poor posture, or a sedentary lifestyle. Often, joint and spinal disc problems occur when a patient is involved in a car accident that throws the body forcefully backward or forward, thus causing the back and neck vertebrae to move out of their proper placement. This can in turn cause the discs that cushion the vertebrae to become trapped, causing further pain in the upper back, lower back, or both.

Back pain may also be due to muscle strain: Any time that you overdo it in the gym, for example, or when you take a sudden spill, this can cause the spine to be jarred out of its proper alignment -- and back pain is all too often the result. Additionally, chronic poor posture or a sedentary lifestyle put undue pressure on the spine, causing misalignments that hamper the flow of blood and affect nerves. At our clinic, we treat back pain patients ranging from car accident victims to personal injury victims to those with sports injuries.

Our Murfreesboro chiropractor and staff make it our top priority to help you overcome your pain problems -- and in fact to make you feel as if the injury never happened at all.

What kind of back pain have you had trouble with? Ask us any questions and we will be right here to help!

Fibromyalgia is a condition that causes pain all over the body, particularly neck pain, back pain and headaches. Patients with the disorder also experience fatigue, memory problems, and numbness. At the Rutherford Clinic of Chiropractic in Murfreesboro, TN, our chiropractor treats patients suffering from the disorder using chiropractic techniques such as spinal decompression and spinal adjustments. Murfreesboro fibromyalgia patients also receive nutritional advice and learn corrective exercises as part of our clinic's all-over approach to health.

Causes and Symptoms

The exact cause of fibromyalgia is unknown. Some patients develop symptoms of the condition after a traumatic event or a severe illness. Common symptoms of the disorder include pain all over the body, such as low back pain and headache pain. Pain caused by the condition comes from the muscles and often feels like a dull ache.

The condition is often accompanied by other disorders. Many patients with the disorder feel tired, as their sleep is disrupted by the pain. Other problems, such as sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome occur along with fibromyalgia. It is also usually accompanied by psychological issues, such as anxiety and depression. Some patients also experience other physical ailments including irritable bowel syndrome or endometriosis.

Chiropractic Care for Fibromyalgia

At our clinic, our chiropractor, Dr. Wesley Stewart, offers treatments for patients suffering from fibromyalgia. A spinal adjustment or decompression therapy relieves pressure on the nerves of the spine, helping to alleviate pain. Chiropractic care at our clinic is a non-invasive option for patients who wish to avoid surgery and medication.

Chiropractic care for fibromyalgia extends beyond spinal treatment. Dr. Stewart also teaches patients exercises they can perform on their own for pain relief. The exercises go hand in hand with a nutritional evaluation which helps improve a patient's overall quality of life. Chiropractic treatments also help alleviate accompanying conditions, such as depression and anxiety.

Do you suffer from fibromyalgia? Has chiropractic care helped you?