Month: <span>May 2016</span>

When I go to the gym, my pain comes back. I thought exercise was supposed to be good for me?

Exercise is good for you. However, like everything in life, too much of a good thing, turns into a bad thing! Let me explain. Muscles are the brain’s worker bees. They do the grunt work for the body. In order to get stronger, you have to break down the muscles (exercise) forcing the body to put more muscle tissue there. If you have an injury or a compensatory postural change, your brain tells the muscles to contract (work) all the time, to protect the area. So in other words, those muscles never get to rest! If you now go to the gym and make those muscles work even harder, they start “screaming” back at you. It is the body’s way to warning you. If you keep it up, you are going to be sorry! If this is happening to you, you must fix the underlying injury/issue, let it heal, then you can resume exercising that area and get it stronger to help prevent injury down the road. How do you fix it? Get the area adjusted! Once the joint and nerves are doing better, then you can stretch it out, have the muscle tissue massaged and relaxed, and now you are ready to exercise.

Until next time, be happy, healthy, and smart!

Dr. Jim

1. Support. Your neck and head should be even with the rest of your spine, when sleeping on your side. It should not be tilting up or down. When lying on your back, you cervical spine should be supported while your head is allowed to drop back. We want to rest your neck muscles, not shove them up into our “looking down” position that we commonly do while awake.
2. Comfort. The pillow should be soft and comfortable for your ear and head so that you can relax and get into a deep sleep.  Like most things in life, not too hard and not too soft.
3. Durability. Foam is comfortable, but doesn’t last as long. Gel and buckwheat pillows last longer, but some people think the material is too hard for them.
4. One size does not fit all. If you are 250 lbs and your child is 50 lbs, the thickness of your pillows should not be the same. How broad your shoulders are and what position you sleep in must be taken into account. Make sure your pillow is the proper thickness.