The Benefits of Visiting a Chiropractor Regularly

Three Lifestyle Choices Often Recommended By Chiropractors

by Chloe Dean

Although every chiropractor is different, they all want to improve your health and help you to make better choices to keep your musculoskeletal system in good shape. Because of this, there are several lifestyle choices that are frequently recommended by chiropractors (as well as other doctors) for patients who are generally healthy and would like to remain so. Here are three of these choices and why they're so often recommended.

1. Yoga

Yoga is aligned with the goals of chiropractic care in several ways. For example, they both focus on correct alignment, require and encourage relaxation, and work on improving your range of motion. For this reason, many chiropractors may encourage healthy patients to begin engaging in yoga periodically, both as a way to practice better posture and as a way to stay more relaxed between chiropractic alignments. Be sure to ask your chiropractor before starting yoga if you have any injuries or other health conditions, however. Because yoga can sometimes be quite intense, can involve putting a lot of weight on your hands, stretching almost every part of your body, and so on, it may not be ideal to start yoga when you have an injury (or your chiropractor may simply tell you to avoid certain positions until you've healed).

2. Frequent movement

Although the Internet is truly a marvel, it may also decrease the amount of movement you do throughout the workday. Many businesspeople today go into work and simply sit at a computer for hours on end, doing all their research and communications through the Internet with the greatest convenience but not necessarily the greatest health. Some reasons sitting at a computer for long periods of time can be bad for your health include the following.

  • The blood tends to pool in your legs, and over time circulation behind the knee decreases by about fifty percent, making you more likely to get a potentially deadly blood clot, such as with deep vein thrombosis.
  • Your metabolism tends to slow down when you don't make a point of being active, meaning that it could be harder to stay healthy if you forget to stand up and walk around occasionally.
  • You're more likely to get a repetitive strain injury if you don't take a break every little while; even if you have good posture at the computer, your body needs time to relax every now and then.

Taking frequent breaks, whether they're bathroom breaks, coffee breaks, or even just walks to take papers to the desk of someone across the room, can be a powerful habit to protect your health.

3. Posture improvement

Good posture is just as important to health as movement is. This is why "posture chairs," exercise balls, and standing desks are becoming more and more common in workplaces. But it's not just your spine that needs good posture and ergonomics; you can also strain or irritate muscles and nerves in your hands and arms if your normal position applies pressure in the wrong places or if you don't keep your wrists and elbows in a neutral position while typing. Ask your chiropractor for recommendations on posture that apply to your specific job.

These are just three lifestyle changes that a chiropractor may recommend. Be sure to ask for more personalized recommendations from a chiropractor, such as one at Dils Chiropractic, as well, and if you're injured or have other health problems, make sure you ask his or her advice before starting a physically demanding yoga practice.

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