So, now that you’re in the groove of getting adjusted, you are probably wondering the best way to keep your adjustments holding as long and as well as possible. I have two major tips for you to keep your body moving forward 1. Move your spine right after your adjustment and 2. Focus on good posture between visits
Getting deeper into the movement portion, we have several wobble chairs in our waiting area that are very beneficial for your spine. Going through all the ranges of motion on the wobble chair helps you in multiple ways: first by activating all the muscles in your core, which help stabilize all parts of your spine. Also, moving those joints in your spine (with newly increased ranges of motion after your adjustment) helps your brain reconnect to your body and realize where each joint is in space. This new awareness helps drown out signals of pain, and helps your spine to move more freely. As a final awesome benefit for the wobble chairs, as your spine moves to the end range of motion, your disc spaces clear out the waste products and are able to re-hydrate. Not able to sit and wobble for a few minutes? A walk for 5-10 minutes also helps cement in the new movement patterns.
The second part of maximizing adjustment is working on your posture throughout every part of your day. Proper posture decreases spinal stress and strengthens important spinal muscles. We will talk about posture in all positions - starting with the most common for most of us… sitting. While sitting, we recommend sitting slightly forward on your sit bones, as opposed to leaning back onto the chair on your sacrum and tailbone and dumping pressure into your lower back. Keeping your head over your shoulders and your eyes looking straight ahead as opposed to your head pointing down at a screen.
If you spend a lot of your day standing, yay for you! This is much easier for you body, though it requires building stamina for many people who are used to a desk job. To maximize your posture, our best advice is to put weight equally on each leg and not dump into one hip. Moving around a bit throughout the day (having a small ball to put under your feet and roll around is a great distraction).
Lastly, since we should be spending about 7-8 hours in this position, we must address your sleeping posture. Here is a link to a blog where we have written extensively about your sleeping posture. Cliff’s notes: Sleeping on your stomach is not recommended, sleeping on your back should require a smaller pillow, and sleeping on your side requires the most support for your shoulder/neck area.
If you would like an ergonomic assessment of your work space, have a coworker shoot a photo of you in your space, and email it to us. We love to help!
Getting deeper into the movement portion, we have several wobble chairs in our waiting area that are very beneficial for your spine. Going through all the ranges of motion on the wobble chair helps you in multiple ways: first by activating all the muscles in your core, which help stabilize all parts of your spine. Also, moving those joints in your spine (with newly increased ranges of motion after your adjustment) helps your brain reconnect to your body and realize where each joint is in space. This new awareness helps drown out signals of pain, and helps your spine to move more freely. As a final awesome benefit for the wobble chairs, as your spine moves to the end range of motion, your disc spaces clear out the waste products and are able to re-hydrate. Not able to sit and wobble for a few minutes? A walk for 5-10 minutes also helps cement in the new movement patterns.
The second part of maximizing adjustment is working on your posture throughout every part of your day. Proper posture decreases spinal stress and strengthens important spinal muscles. We will talk about posture in all positions - starting with the most common for most of us… sitting. While sitting, we recommend sitting slightly forward on your sit bones, as opposed to leaning back onto the chair on your sacrum and tailbone and dumping pressure into your lower back. Keeping your head over your shoulders and your eyes looking straight ahead as opposed to your head pointing down at a screen.
If you spend a lot of your day standing, yay for you! This is much easier for you body, though it requires building stamina for many people who are used to a desk job. To maximize your posture, our best advice is to put weight equally on each leg and not dump into one hip. Moving around a bit throughout the day (having a small ball to put under your feet and roll around is a great distraction).
Lastly, since we should be spending about 7-8 hours in this position, we must address your sleeping posture. Here is a link to a blog where we have written extensively about your sleeping posture. Cliff’s notes: Sleeping on your stomach is not recommended, sleeping on your back should require a smaller pillow, and sleeping on your side requires the most support for your shoulder/neck area.
If you would like an ergonomic assessment of your work space, have a coworker shoot a photo of you in your space, and email it to us. We love to help!
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Dr. Yetter
Dr. Sheena grew up in the western suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota and completed her undergraduate studies in Architecture, Chemistry, and Sustainability at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus.