Causes of a Stiff Back

Lower back pain is one of the most common health ailments. It has several causes, and most people are at risk for at least a few of them. However, the most common causes of back stiffness can be treated with minimal invasiveness and without the use of dangerous medications. At Kosak Chiropractic in Fairfield, we’re dedicated to providing holistic treatments and lifestyle counseling that will prevent the return of back stiffness, so let’s take a closer look at how it can be prevented.

Usually, lower back stiffness can be traced to overuse of some muscles, putting excessive pressure on the structures of the spine. But the muscles in question aren’t always in the back. When the hamstrings or hip flexors are tight, they’ll pull on the lower spine, putting it out of alignment with the pelvis and potentially triggering inflammation. The same can occur with the ligaments in that area. Certain positions also make inefficient use of the lower back’s muscle and ligament support, such as when a person sits hunched forward or slouching backwards. If a person isn’t warming up before exercising, they’re especially likely to strain their supporting muscles through acute injuries or long term wear. Prolonged inflammation and excess pressure could wear down the cartilage cushioning the joints between their vertebrae, leading to more stiffness.

Chiropractic adjustments can realign joints, reducing the pressure on nearby tissues and preventing erosion of cartilage. But to remain healthy, a patient will need to engage in core strengthening and flexibility exercises. Core strengthening will provide the lower back with more support, and flexibility training will lengthen the hip muscles so they don’t pull as much on the spine. Maintaining better posture will also help to prevent tightness in the lower back as well as the neck.

Kosak Chiropractic is located at 1252 Travis Blvd., Suite G, Fairfield, CA, 94533. To schedule an appointment, visit Kosak Chiropractic online or call 707-426-1111.

 

Golf Injuries

If you’re looking for a way to exercise while physically distancing, golf isn’t a bad option. Besides allowing you to stretch your limbs, it exposes you to plenty of sunlight, which will allow you to build stronger bones. But golf can take a toll on your back if you’re not careful, and at Kosak Chiropractic in Fairfield, we’ve seen a lot of golfers suffer from lower back pain. Although we provide holistic, non-addictive treatments to enable a speedy recovery, we want our patients to know how to prevent wear and tear to their musculoskeletal system.

Swinging a golf club subjects the torso and hips to strong forces. The spine is rotating quickly on a tilt, and the lumbar region, or lower back, doesn’t have as much internal stability as other parts of the spinal column. Ideally, the hips and shoulders should be rotating with the spine to create a fluid motion, but if not, the muscles and ligaments attaching to it may be strained. In worse cases, a spinal disc may rupture, or a fracture in the facet joints may allow a vertebra to become unstable. Disc injuries tend to occur more in older athletes, while facet joint injuries tend to happen more often to younger people.

Anytime a person exercises, it’s important to warm up first by doing dynamic stretches. It’s a good idea for new golfers to seek professional training, but one basic pointer is that they should bend with their hips and knees instead of their lower backs. If a golfer suffers an injury that is still causing problems after a day of rest and icing, we can provide a diagnostic and determine whether they would benefit from treatments including chiropractic adjustments, electric muscle stimulation, therapeutic massages, and ultrasound. We’ll also recommend therapeutic exercises that will improve core strength and the flexibility of the hips and shoulders.

Kosak Chiropractic is located at 1252 Travis Blvd., Suite G, Fairfield, CA, 94533. To schedule an appointment, visit Kosak Chiropractic online or call 707-426-1111.

 

Leg Pain and Back Problems

As a chiropractic office, Kosak Chiropractic in Fairfield offers holistic treatments for problems in the musculoskeletal system. The nerves to the rest of our bodies emerge from the spine, and many muscles in the lower body connect to the pelvis or lower back. Since leg pain and back pain are often intertwined, let’s take a look at how they may play into each other and how we treat them.

The nerves to the legs emerge from the lumbar region of the spine, or lower back. They pass through the muscles of the pelvis, and compression in these nerves could cause a shooting pain, tingling, or numbness. The compression could occur at the point where they emerge from the spine as a result of a herniated disc, a bone spur, or the dislocation of a vertebra. There might also be swelling in the piriformis muscle, which links the lower back to the leg, in the sacroiliac joints, which connect the pelvis to the base of the spine, or in the bursae that lubricate each hip. Swelling and constriction in the leg muscles might also cause them to pull on the hips or lower back.

These are not the only causes of leg pain, but they are among the most common and the most responsive to noninvasive treatment. We work to reduce inflammation and set joints back in the right place by performing gentle, manual adjustments. These adjustments can release pressure on compressed nerves and allow the body to continue its natural healing process. We may also perform massage therapy and electric muscle stimulation to relax tight lower back muscles and allow blood to flow in and out more easily.

Kosak Chiropractic is located at 1252 Travis Blvd., Suite G, Fairfield, CA, 94533. To schedule an appointment, visit Kosak Chiropractic online or call 707-426-1111.

Exercises for Healthy Hips

Keeping your muscles strong and flexible is essential for keeping your skeleton in alignment. Whether you’re recovering from an injury or just trying to stay healthy, it's a good idea to be stretching regularly. At Kosak Chiropractic in Fairfield, we help patients to devise individualized therapeutic regimens that fit their needs and are safe for them. But there are a few strategies for maintaining strong hips that work for most people, so let’s explore the basics.

We need to be cautious about forms of exercise such as jumping that subject the joints to repeated impacts. While in recovery from an injury, it’s often better to start slowly with range-of-motion exercises, such as hip circles. This means standing on one leg and slowly rotating the other in the air. Another exercise is the knee-to-chest stretch, in which a person lies on their back with their legs straight, and lifts one knee toward their chest and holds it before switching to the other leg. Side leg raises, in which a person lies on their side and lifts their leg while keeping it extended, are also a good way of strengthening the glutes.

As a person recovers, they’ll be able to do more complicated stretches and higher-stress exercises, such as lunges. The keys to avoiding overuse injuries are to ramp up intensity slowly and to maintain a varied work-out routine. Strong core and hip muscles will allow runners and other athletes to better withstand the jostling their joints are subjected to when their feet strike the ground or they have to change direction suddenly. We can also help athletes to recover faster by providing electric muscle stimulation, which increases blood flow by contracting the muscles, and by adjusting dislocated joints that may be putting extra strain on the hip and lower back muscles.

Kosak Chiropractic is located at 1252 Travis Blvd., Suite G, Fairfield, CA, 94533. To schedule an appointment, visit Kosak Chiropractic online or call 707-426-1111.

Osteoarthritic Hip Pain

Kosak Chiropractic in Fairfield treats aches and pains by taking a holistic perspective on health. If a patient is suffering from hip pain, it won’t just be their hip that’s affected, but also their lower back and legs. But by the same token, improvement in hip function can improve overall health, and we offer several non-addictive, complementary treatments for strengthening hips affected by osteoarthritis.

When a person has osteoarthritis, the cartilage that cushions the bones in their joints is eroding. This causes the bones to rub together, triggering inflammation and the growth of bony spurs. Wear and tear is a factor in osteoarthritis, and as the cartilage on the ball of the femur gets worn down, grinding between the femur and socket of the hip changes the hip’s mechanics. The muscles and ligaments surrounding the hip joint are complex, allowing the leg to move in all directions, and as they experience more friction, they become strained. The hip will often stiffen, leading to deterioration of the muscles between the leg and lower back.

Hip pain will often be worse when a person has been lying down or seated for a long time. Although it is tempting to rest for long periods, inactivity will cause further atrophy of the hip muscles. Instead, they need to be strengthened and made more flexible through therapeutic exercise. We can help by prescribing personalized work-out routines as well as providing anti-inflammatory treatments such as therapeutic massages and electric muscle stimulation. We also advise patients on better posture to reduce stress on their pelvic joints, and perform chiropractic adjustments on lower back vertebrae that are under stress due to tight muscles.

Kosak Chiropractic is located at 1252 Travis Blvd., Suite G, Fairfield, CA, 94533. To schedule an appointment, visit Kosak Chiropractic online or call 707-426-1111.

Lower Back Pain in Runners

Although it is to our long-term benefit to exercise regularly, lower back pain is a common problem among runners. Many athletes, professionals as well as amateurs, experience soreness in their lower backs and hips immediately after work-outs. Over time, they may be at risk for wearing down their muscles, spinal discs, or cartilage. At Kosak Chiropractic in Fairfield, we want to ensure all our patients are able to maintain a healthy lifestyle, which is why we wanted to discuss preventive care for runners.

We have several deep muscles in our core and hips that help to stabilize our spines. When they’re strong, they restrict torque and lateral sway, and put more force into our strides. But our core muscles aren’t just the ones we see from the outside. The deep muscles linking our lower spines, pelvis, and femurs can easily become tight if we’re sitting all day, and the condition of our surface abdominal muscle doesn’t necessarily reflect the strength of the ones beneath it. 

If you experience radiating pain, you should come to our office to be treated for a pinched nerve. But if you are trying to reduce post-workout aches, you may want to try more hip stretches and core strengthening. Bridges, side-lying leg raises, and side planks are exercises that target the hip muscles connecting to the lower back. You should also try to make sure you’re getting in a twenty minute walk each day, if you work in an office setting, and making sure you warm up and cool down adequately during each work-out. If you’re unsure whether exercising is safe for you, we can help you devise a personalized work-out plan.

Kosak Chiropractic is located at 1252 Travis Blvd., Suite G, Fairfield, CA, 94533. To schedule an appointment, visit Kosak Chiropractic online or call 707-426-1111.

Lower Back Pain in Cyclists

Exercise is essential for musculoskeletal health, and cycling is a great way to strengthen your leg muscles without jostling your spine. Stationary bikes allow people to remain active even in bad weather or if they have difficulty leaving the home, and we at Kosak Chiropractic in Fairfield encourage everybody to find a way they enjoy staying active. However, cyclists also suffer high rates of lower back pain. This problem is treatable and preventable, but we want our patients to understand what’s going on when they devise their exercise routines.

As with any sport, cyclists need well-fitted, functional equipment. People who inherit old bicycles or don’t properly adjust new ones often need to stretch too far forward to reach the handlebars. This would strain the lower back muscles and require a person to maintain the same posture as long as they ride, and it’s never good for people to have to maintain the same position for an extended period.

Getting a bicycle properly fitted is essential, but not sufficient for preventing back pain. We often emphasize the need for a strong core, and it’s true of cyclists, as well. When a cyclist gets tired, the hip muscles supporting their lumbar spine weaken, allowing its joints to wear by swaying side-to-side. Some simple core exercises include bird-dogging and planking, but people already experiencing lower back pain should consult with us to determine what is safe. We can also relieve their pain through massage therapy and electric muscle stimulation, which will reduce inflammation, and by adjusting their lumbar vertebrae to their proper position.

Kosak Chiropractic is located at 1252 Travis Blvd., Suite G, Fairfield, CA, 94533. To schedule an appointment, visit Kosak Chiropractic online or call 707-426-1111.

 

Do You Have a Pinched Nerve?

Have you ever accidentally contorted your body in a way that resulted in a sharp pain that decreased mobility in your neck or arm? If so, you might have experienced a pinched nerve. Pinched nerves can occur anywhere along the spine, including the upper, mid, and lower back. They can even happen in any joint of your body. We at Kosak Chiropractic know all about the dreaded pinched nerve and how painful it can make doing the simplest tasks. Sometimes the nerve can move back into place naturally. However, if the pinched nerve is severe enough, you will need spinal adjustments to correct it.

Symptoms of a pinched nerve include:

- Lower back pain

- Numbness, tingling, or burning sensation in your arms, legs, fingers, or toes

- Pain radiating along your spine

- Severe headaches or migraines

- Pain that shoots down your arm or leg

- Neck pain

A pinched nerve can be caused by subluxation, disc degeneration, osteoarthritis, or disc herniation. These are silent afflictions in their beginning stages, which is why it’s important to see a chiropractor regularly. Your Fairfield, CA chiropractor will re-align your spine in an effort to correct your pinched nerve but also prevent one from happening again in the future. 

Do you have any questions or concerns? We are happy to help. Kosak Chiropractic is located on 1252 Travis Blvd., Suite G, in Fairfield, CA 94533. For more information or to schedule an appointment, please visit kosakchiropractic.com or call us at 707-426-1111.