Cooler Temperatures Making you Stiff or Sore?

Cooler Temperatures Making you Stiff or Sore?

Sore or stiff back muscles can impact your daily life and leave you feeling limited as to what you can accomplish during the day.  Recently, I have had several patients come in feeling this was especially with fall sneaking up on us this time of year and cooler temperatures. This is very common, so what can you do about it?  Here are 4 tips for painful back muscles:

1.  Apply Ice and/or Heat:  It is important that you apply heat and ice at the correct stage of an injury as they have opposite effects.  Heat increases blood flow to an injured area and relaxes muscles.  On the other hand, ice decreases blood flow, and assists with reducing inflammation.  If your back pain is from a recent or acute injury, apply ice.  If you are in the chronic injury stage, and have experienced this pain for a while, apply heat. 

 2.  Spinal Adjustment:  Spinal manipulation is simply pressure used to the spine to coax the vertebrae into proper alignment.  There is evidence that chiropractic relieves many types of back pain, lower back pain in particular, and helps restore normal range of motion. Spinal manipulations takes stress off surrounding tissues - muscles, tendons, and ligaments - to relieve back pain and restore normal functioning.  That is why it is so important to see a chiropractor for back pain. 

3.  Massage Therapy: allows for increased blood flow to muscles and muscle relaxation.  It is a great way to not only relax, but also decrease back pain.

4.  Active Recovery:  A good idea is to try doing exercises that are not full exertion.  This creates a larger flow of blood to your muscles allowing for quicker recovery that helps to reduce pain felt from sore muscles.

For more information on how to lose weight safely and effectively please call
Dr. Jenna at 630-922-6500.