The Melbourne Chiropractor has a team of Remedial Massage Therapists that have worked with Chiropractors, Osteopaths and Physiotherapists in the past and are able to give patients the ideal co-management needed for better long term care and progression throughout the healing process.
What Do Our Remedial Massage Therapists Offer?
Treatment that covers area of concern and referral pains.
Holistic treatment that is ideal for your body
Use of various therapeutic techniques aimed at decrease inflammation and pain.
Goal setting for optimal health and function for the whole body.
Promotion of healing, relaxation and muscle ease.
Our Remedial Massage Therapists provide 30, 45, 60, and 90 minute appointment slots.
Our Remedial Massage Therapist are claimable through Private Health
How long you have had poor posture is not a reason to think it cannot be changed, the biggest issue, is how it was caused and what other underlying factors such as trauma or medical problems the patient is dealing with. Most times we find that posture can be improved within the first 8-12 weeks if it is a functional cause, although depending on the severity it may take up to 6 months to see changes in areas that are severely degenerated and affected by poor posture. Lifestyle factors and habits will also come in to play as forward posture at the desk from long hours can limit the amount of change from therapy.
Note* If you are currently suffering from postural issues the early you start the better off you will be. If you are wondering what we do on your first chiropractic session or would like to make a booking, you can always contact us to find out more! Online bookings also available 7 days a week @ https://themelbournechiropractor.com.au/book-now
Back pain is known as the most common cause of bodily pain in Australia. It affects up to 90% of the population at least once throughout their life. There are many different forms of back pain ranging from acute to chronic with various symptoms associated with it. They may include radiating pain down the legs or pins and needles in lower body regions.
Our Chiropractor will assess the areas that are restricted within the spine in both the upper and lower sections to ensure they correct the dysfunctions identified. This will help improve function in the area by reducing tension and alleviating the pain causing the issue. Surrounding areas will also be assessed to ensure that they are not pulling or twisting the area in an unnatural position causing what we think to be the “main” cause of back pain.
Low Back Stretches and Exercises
Low Back exercises and Low Back Stretches may be implemented to help assist with building strength and maintaining flexibility throughout the area of concern. The exercises will be tailored towards what areas of the body need exercise and stretches although general exercises will be given aswell to ensure that the patient has a variety to choose from to suit their needs.
If needed our chiropractors may refer you to our remedial massage therapists or even implement other modalities such as Dry Needling or Cupping to help decrease muscle tightness, especially for people suffering with low back pain.
Our Chiropractors at The Melbourne Chiropractor understand that different modalities should be used to help alleviate pain and discomfort. there is not one recipe that works for every patient hence why our clinic has various practitioners performing different types of chiropractic care. Posture for low back pain can be a big problem and this is why our chiropractors will check for instability within the hips, changes to toe in and toe out of the foot and changes to upper back and lower back curvature. It is common to find underlying postural related issues that can have an impact long term on recovering from back pain hence why our team take a holistic approach to chiropractic care to ensure everything gets done the right way from the beginning.
Our Broadmeadows Chiropractor especially has worked with patients of surgeons who have had spinal fusions or surgeries related to previous low back pain. What we find is patients who have had surgery before have a limitation in low back movement hence why we try to alleviate the tension associated with the area that has been fused. At times we also may refer patients out to surgeons to get a second set of eyes to look at the situation although most of the time we will refer to a doctor to get the right information to proceed. Most times our team of chiropractors will refer for an X-ray and create a report before sending a patient of to a GP for further testing.
On your first visit your chiropractor will do an examination and conduct an assessment which includes:
A collection of prior health history Our Chiropractors collect information that helps to find imbalances throughout your general health and wellbeing. Sometimes the cause of pain may be from certain movements at work, health or medical conditions or something as simple as bending over and hurting your back. By collating the information we need it allows us to understand what you are experiencing and also use this information to help create a personalised treatment plan.
Mobility and Flexibility Tests During this part of the examination we aim to move your joints though their range of motion to look out for any restrictions or pain throughout the joint. This can be done in 2 ways, either actively which is done on your own or passively where the chiropractor moves the joint for you.
Orthopaedic and neurological tests During orthopaedic and neurological examinations, your Chiropractor will go through the following tests: – Muscle strength tests and functional tests – Pain levels of the region of complaint – Nerve function – Joint stability and function
Posture Assessment Your Chiropractor will look out for discrepancies in posture such as scoliosis, kyphosis, rounding of shoulders (poor posture) and other variances throughout the body such as hip or shoulder drop. This enables our Chiropractors to find reasons indicating an issue with poor posture and alignment in regions such as the hips, lower limbs, ankles or feet.
Chiropractic Room in Broadmeadows
Spinal x-rays
When there is a reason for it, your Broadmeadows Chiropractor will refer you for Spinal X-rays to get an understanding of the underlying causes to your issue. Your Broadmeadows Chiropractor may also check spinal alignment and any other anomalies present that you were not aware of at the time.
Chiropractic Adjustments are used to help bring the body back to its natural balance. All adjustments are used to target areas of restriction and to decrease overall tension and alleviate pain within the area.
Progress examinations
Progress examinations are a visit created to evaluate your condition and progress throughout the time you have been visiting the clinic. At times if we see only minimal improvements have been made, other modalities such as dry needling or cupping may be implemented to help relieve the pain. Alternatively we may refer you to other health professionals to examine your complaint so that we can get you back on track as quick as we possibly can.
Long periods of sitting in an office chair is most likely going to cause issues with your back and neck. Slouching, hanging your head over and sliding down the chair can strain muscles and cause a muscle imbalance within the area. By doing this spinal structures can be damaged and back pain or neck pain may arise from the issue and at times headaches and migraines may become more prominent.
What Is Back Pain In Desk Workers?
It is common for desk workers to have back pain as muscles are working continuously to keep us upright in a chair. Especially now that people are working from home and not using an ergonomic setup we have found that our locals from our Westmeadows, Broadmedows and Fawkner clinics who are now working from home are suffering from this. From neck pain to back pain sedentary activities such as desk work put you at risk of restricting physical activity that could be doing you good.
At The Melbourne Chiropractor we use different treatment modalities for back pain depending on the issue. Not everyone’s back pain is the same hence why we try to offer as many things possible to the patient. The biggest thing you can be doing in the office is looking after your posture! Standing desks are a good step in the right direction but also ergonomic seating with head support is ideal. Taking breaks every 30 minutes for a quick stretch and moving your screen to eye level are some easy ways to help support your body.
If you are finding it hard to manage your back pain and it is to far gone, you can always contact us to see how we can help you today. If we feel that during our examination what we provide for you is not suitable, we can always refer you out to the best professional for your problem. We may like to implement things such as Manual Adjustments, Remedial Massage, Dry Needling and Cupping to help alleviate symptoms or even prescribe exercises and stretches for back pain to help the problem.
Book Online Today!
It is common for people to complain about back pain as it has a significant effect on someone’s family life, daily activities, work life and recreational activities. Our team at The Melbourne Chiropractor are able to help you with issues such as back pain.
If you want to know more about what we do or would like us to help with your back pain contact us today and visit one of our locations at Broadmeadows, Westmeadows or Fawkner.
You have just visited an allied health professional and your feeling allot better now! But, question is…. Will you be doing anything different to what you were doing before? If your answer is No then it may be ideal to keep an appointment for later on in the month to combat these pain episodes that have been bringing you down!
Pain is a signal coming from the body that alerts us that we are doing something wrong. Hence why we should aim to make changes to combat pain by altering our lifestyle (especially those bad habits!)
Our team of practitioners offer wellness care for those who are willing to take their wellbeing to the next level. This incorporates a plan that helps to reduce reoccurrences of episodes from pain and increase overall mobility and function of the body. Advice on daily living activities such as work posture, lifting biomechanics and sleeping are all things our team look into to improve your wellbeing for many years to come.
Chiropractic Care involves the movement of joints back to a normal position where the body is then able to move effectively. Tension is also decreased from the area as tight muscles are relieved and an increase in mobility and flexibility can be seen almost instantly. There are many different techniques that a chiropractor may use including manual adjustments, low force techniques, trigger point therapy, dry needling, prescribe exercises, prescribe stretching or mobilisations in the area of complaint.
Our team of practitioners at The Melbourne Chiropractor strive to get functioning to the best of your abilities. By getting to the bottom of the problem early on it will be easier to tackle the complaint in a shorter period of time.
This is when you are sitting with your head forward, away from its ‘neutral’ position. When our head is sitting in a forward position, it increases the load and compression on the neck. As a general rule, every 2.5cm that the head is in a forward posture, an additional 4-5kg of weight is felt on the neck!
Forward head posture
Rounding shoulders is exactly what it sounds like. You may often hear people refer to this as being in a slouched position. We can begin to develop rounding or rolled forward shoulders after being in this sustained, hunched position and adapting it as a postural habit.
Slouching in upper back
When the spine of the upper back curves at an increased angle. This can also be known as an increased kyphosis. This position is often adapted after continuously maintaining a slouched position, rounding shoulders and forward head carriage.
Increased curve in lower back
This is also known as increased lordosis or hyper lordosis. In this position, your pelvis tilts forward and creates an exaggerated curve in your mid to lower back region.
Good vs Poor Posture
What’s the cause of posture problems?
Desk Work
Long periods of driving
Incorrect sleeping positions or pillow
Weak stabilising muscles
Hypertonic muscles
Structural or functional changes such as scoliosis
Sedentary activity
Progression of the ageing process (degeneration)
What can be done to help prevent posture issues from occurring?
Awareness of your posture
Stretching and using things such as a posture pole
Keeping active!
Ergonomic working environments
Using the correct pillow
Correct Seating Posture vs Incorrect
Benefits of Having a Good Posture:
Reduction of muscle tension
Decreased stress on joints and ligaments
Increase in energy and mood
Decreases the risk of injury
Helps decrease episodes of pain and tension throughout the body
How Can Our Team Help?
Depending on the severity of the injury or area of concern our practitioners in our Broadmeadows, Westmeadows and Fawkner Clinics will treat accordingly to your complaint. Treatments that may be provided but are not limited to include:
Spinal manipulation, Activator Methods, Drop Piece, SOT and other adjustive techniques can help alleviate joints that have restriction such as spinal segments and joints (LeFebvre, Peterson & Haas, 2012)
PNF/PIR/prescribed stretching – Stretching has shown to reduce pain, improve functionality of the wrist and hand also maintains strength and improves patients in both long and short-term outcomes.
Remedial Massage, Trigger point therapy or use of handheld massager – Have shown to decrease pain/tenderness, enhance both range of motion and quality of life and influence flexibility (Shah et al., 2015) (Imtiyaz, Veqar & Shareef, 2014)
Advice on daily living activities/diet – This enables advice on how to change to make healthy actions into habits and may offer a valuable alternative with potential for long-term impact. (Gardner, Lally & Wardle, 2012)
Prescribed exercises – produce more beneficial outcomes in terms of increased strength, improved function and reduced pain scores. (Fernandes, Pedrinelli & Hernandez, 2015)
Dry Needling or Cupping to the surrounding musculature to help decrease tension and inflammation around the area of the hand and forearm.
Are you experiencing continuous neck or back pain that seems to come and go? If so, this is a chronic issue that can be very common as the body likes to adapt to certain stressors put upon it that forces the body to change in a way to avoid pain or further damage.
The body developing changes occurs over a period of time in small instances. Patterns begin to develop and this can be from injuries in the past, poor posture, daily activities, work related issues or lack of mobility in an area.
Your musculoskeletal system creates new patterns to help decrease pain although in doing so it tightens up and creates stiffness around the spine in turn altering function. This then creates a problem that can cause postural changes and possible acute episodes of pain. As mentioned before many of these issues may be caused by work posture, lifting incorrectly, a poor pillow or poor sleeping conditions. This can usually cause issues such as neck pain, low back soreness and a decrease in both flexibility and mobility of certain regions of the body.
This can become an issue and should be addressed as soon as possible so that the source of pain can be addressed and a health professional can help correct the issue and influence the body in making the right changes to get back on track!
Low Back Pain Causing a Shift In Posture
What can you do?
Seek advice early as it may help decrease the severity of your chronic episode and also prevent it from getting worse.
Relapses can be minimised by getting regular check ups to ensure mobility through the joints and tension throughout the muscle is decreased.
Being aware of acute episodes or tightness that continues to reoccur and finding a health professional early on before things progress.
Find the underlying cause of pain as at times you may find the source of the pain may not be in the area you are feeling it!
*Note – The longer you take to recognise your pain and do something about it the worse it may get. Getting to the root of the problem early on is ideal as it will help eliminate not only the pain but also enhance overall wellbeing. Get in contact with our team at The Melbourne Chiropractor today and lets get you back on track today!
If you are someone who is suffering with neck pain and are reading this blog then our recommendation would be to see a Chiropractor or another health care professional to see how you can be helped! The earlier you choose to make a change to your neck pain the better off you will be as being proactive to the causes of neck pain can limit the amount of degeneration and damage you could be causing!
Do pillows help you sleep better?
There are two important factors that determine a good night’s sleep!
1. The position you sleep in
It is recommended to either side sleep or sleep on your back. Sleeping on your stomach is not ideal as it puts allot of strain in the neck area and can cause issues.
2. The pillow you use
The pillow you need is one that allows you to lay your head on to it without bending your neck or tilting it either side. There are allot of pillows around that can support your neck although finding the right one can be hard to do. If you are struggling and need assistance our team are more than happy to help you in the clinic to fit you out with the correct pillow for your posture.
What is the correct height for a pillow?
Diagram of Correct Pillow Height
All pillows are different and the correct pillow for you will not be the correct pillow for someone else as people sleep differently and may have broader shoulders than someone else.
What Makes A Good Pillow?
The most important factors when looking for a pillow include:
Head and neck support in a neutral position
No space between the neck, shoulder and pillow
Dense materials are great like memory foam although to hard can be problematic
A contoured pillow that is comfortable is ideal for sleeping on
Contoured Pillow For Side Sleeping
What Makes A Bad Pillow?
Pillow offers no support for your head and neck
Pillow moves you out of neutral spine posture when sleeping
Pillow is not breathable or dense.
Pillows usually last up to 2 years as they begin to sag and begin not to hold as well as before. Washing your pillow regularly also helps maintain its freshness and allows it to reman hygienic for many more sleeps.
Do Bad Pillows Cause Neck Pain?
A “Bad Pillow” is a primary cause of neck pain as sleeping in a position that strains the muscles in your neck for hours at a time can do more damage to you then sleeping on a couch! The reasoning behind this is that poor sleeping posture for prolonged periods will aggravate just about anything in your body let alone the neck. Changing your pillow is just an extra step to help correct your poor posture as this is a habit that becomes continuous and may be bringing at risk for episodes of neck pain.
Should You Get A New Pillow?
A new pillow may be a drastic change although if you are someone who is experiencing neck pain this may be the change you need to kick start your journey to better health. It is important that you look around for the best quality pillow and don’t cheap out on something that is there to support your neck for years to come! If you are having trouble finding something that best suits you our team at The Melbourne Chiropractor have various pillows in stock that can be fitted before buying.
Chiropractic care is recognized as being a way to help decrease pain and increase overall functional well-being. Chiropractor’s may help you achieve a healthier lifestyle by giving you strategies to overcome stress, injuries, pain, and other musculoskeletal conditions. This can all be done with various methods and not one person is treated the same to the other hence why many modalities are used to make the changes needed to make a difference!
At The Melbourne Chiropractor we bring out the best from our patients by striving to achieving health and wellbeing. Our aim is to reach patient goals and from there do our best to continue to exceed our patients expectations. We always try to offer various treatment modalities and our clinic offers that. Some of the things we bring to the table include both Manual adjustive techniques and low force techniques such as drop piece and activator methods. We also offer dry needling and cupping therapy including remedial massage, soft tissue and trigger point therapies. Our clinic not only offers passive care but we also involve the patient into their own care by creating thorough plans to get them back on their feet long term. We do this by supplying the patient with exercises and stretches and we give various options depending on the situation. Usually to get to such a stage we do a thorough examination which enables us to make an accurate judgment of how to guide you through your healthcare journey.
The Melbourne Chiropractor Treatment Room (Broadmeadows Clinic)
The Chiropractic team at the The Melbourne Chiropractor understand that pain is best managed by creating long term changes! Firstly, the pain needs to be alleviated with adjustive techniques or low force techniques to the spine, soft tissue massage to the surrounding musculature and then be accompanied with an exercise regime to help make the changes needed to influence bad habits and behaviours! Many of our patients seek.
By creating a change to your musculoskeletal system, it will help decrease muscle tension and restrictions through the spinal segments which in turn allow you to use your spine to further strengthen it! If you are seeking treatment which will help restore your structural and functional health our chiropractors at the The Melbourne Chiropractor are here to help get you back on track! BOOK NOW
