Many of the things you do on an everyday basis could cause you to experience pain in your back, but they don't have to. Changing some of your routines and incorporating new behaviors will help you strengthen your back and avoid causing too much stress to it. Here are some of the top Castle Pines and Castle Rock back pain prevention tips recommended by our chiropractor.

1. Get Up and Move Around. Sitting in the same position all day can put a strain on your back, but getting up and moving around for just a few minutes every hour can have a big difference. Set a timer on your watch to go off every hour, and when it does, go walk around for a few minutes, stretch your arms above your head, and then sit down again, being attentive to posture.

2. Use Good Lifting Technique. When your back is weak, lifting heavy items can lead to low back pain. Therefore, it's important to practice good form when lifting items, regardless of their weight. Bend your knees to pick them up and hold them close to your body to avoid straining your back muscles while carrying the weight.

3. Maintain a Healthy Weight. Much of the pain you feel in your back may be due to carrying around more body weight than you should be. Just as you should avoid carrying heavy items, you should also decrease your overall body weight to reduce what you need to carry. Eating a diet rich in vegetables and fiber and low in fats and sweets can help you shed a few pounds, especially when coupled with exercise to increase your metabolism.

Pain in your back can prevent you from doing many of the activities you enjoy or care about, but it doesn't have to. Our chiropractic office serves the Castle Rock and Castle Pines area and can provide adjustments to reduce pain due to pinched nerves or tight muscles due to misalignment.

What steps do you take to prevent back pain?

Castle Rock chiropractor Dr. Chris Steiner treats numerous cases of whiplash every year. This painful neck injury can happen very quickly—in just one tenth of a second! Despite how suddenly it occurs, the symptoms may be delayed by a few hours or even days. Sometimes this makes it difficult to connect the symptoms to the event that caused the injury.

And although it is the most common car accident injury in America, with at least 3 million cases reported annually, whiplash can also happen in home accidents, sports collisions or any situation where the head and body are suddenly jerked in different directions. Any of the following symptoms can indicate a whiplash injury that needs immediate attention.

Neck Pain and Beyond: 3 Symptoms of Neck Strain

1. Neck pain is the most obvious symptom reported by our Castle Rock patients, since the neck is where the injury is centered. Depending on the severity of the injury, the pain may be a sharp, stinging or burning pain, or a dull ache. Swelling, tenderness and muscle spasms may also be present, and stiffness may make it difficult to turn the head from one direction to the other.

2. Headaches are another common symptom. If you do not normally suffer from headaches, but notice that you suffer from them more frequently after you were in an accident of some kind, come in for an exam from our car accident chiropractor, because it may be an indicator of whiplash.

3. Shoulder pain, or pain between the shoulder blades can also point toward this injury. Because neck muscles, tendons and ligaments are strained during the lighting-quick process that causes this neck injury, connecting groups of muscles, such as those in the shoulders and upper back, may also be affected.

While these are the most common symptoms, a patient may also suffer from vision problems, difficulty concentrating or sleeping, dizziness and even depression.

Have you ever noticed a sudden onset in any of these symptoms and wondered why? If so, call us for a chiropractic evaluation right away.

Castle Rock Family Chiropractic Care

Dr. Chris Steiner provides our neighbors in Castle Pines and Castle Rock family chiropractic care designed to help the whole family. Although chiropractors are known for helping people overcome back pain and neck pain, we want to help people prevent pain in the first place. And we know this is what everybody wants for their own family. We can help everyone from expectant mothers and colicky babies to their weekend warrior dads, teenage athlete big brothers and sisters, and right on up to grandma and grandpa. We’re here to help everyone.

A Chiropractor for the Whole Family

The reason chiropractic care works so well for so many people in so many different stages of life is that it is natural and non-invasive. Conventional medicine places so much emphasis on playing defense against painful symptoms after they appear, often times with problematic pharmaceuticals and surgeries that cause a multitude of side effects.

Our chiropractor, Dr. Steiner, however, is committed to relieving pain by addressing the root cause, without painkillers that just cover up the symptoms. Most of all, Dr. Steiner wants to help every member of the family prevent and avoid pain and illness by keeping their spines aligned and in great shape in the first place.

For example, we can help expectant moms avoid the common backaches of pregnancy by helping their spines stay aligned while training them in exercises and stretches to minimize problems and prepare them for a healthy childbirth. We can relive colicky babies with gentle alignments that apply no more pressure than you can comfortably apply to your closed eyeball. If your teenage son suffered whiplash from a fender bender, we can help him avoid years of neck and headaches through proactive care. By helping grandma keep her spine in great alignment, we can help her stay fit, active and independent for much longer. In short, chiropractic care can help everyone in every family get healthy and stay healthy.

Just imagine: what could your family do together if everyone was healthy?

Where Does Back Pain Come From?

Eighty percent of Americans experience back pain at some point in their lives. The pain can be due to a range of causes, and can manifest in varying parts of the back for different people. Some people will feel discomfort in the shoulder area or mid-back, while others are plagued by low back pain. Each person's experience will be different, and our Castle Rock chiropractic practice excels at creating treatment plans that are tailored to fit each individual's needs.

Causes of Back Pain: Injury, Extended Periods of Sitting, Shoes and Mattresses

Acute injuries are one common cause of Castle Rock back pain. Car accidents, improper lifting, sports injuries and other types of injury can lead to immediate and lingering pain in the back. If you see our chiropractor soon after an accident, we can help relieve your pain, help you heal more quickly, and help you avoid the long term discomfort of an improperly healed injury. We can also teach you techniques for avoiding future injuries to your back, such as proper lifting techniques and pre-workout stretches.

Many of those who live in the Castle Pines area have jobs that require sitting at a desk for long periods of time, which can also contribute to pain in the back. Even with ergonomic furniture, extended periods of sitting shifts your spine into an unnatural position that can cause pain over time. Adjustments at our Castle Pines area clinic can help. You can also reduce pain from sitting by making sure that you stand up and take regular breaks, and by stretching at normal intervals.

Other factors to look at when determining the cause of pain in your back are the shoes you wear and the mattress you sleep on each night. Shoes that do not give the proper support can transfer pain and pressure to other parts of your body. A mattress needs to be neither too hard nor too soft to allow your spine to rest at just the right position to avoid causing pain. Additionally, your pillow needs to support your neck and head properly as well

Do you frequently suffer from low back pain? What was the cause and the treatment of your pain?

Castle Rock Auto Accident Rehabilitation Works

At Steiner Chiropractic, we dedicate a lot of time and energy to Castle Rock auto accident rehabilitation to ensure you have all the support you need to make a full recovery from the auto accident injury that may be causing you neck and back pain.

Our auto accident rehabilitation plans are specifically focused on providing the ultimate in chiropractic care in order to relieve neck pain, back pain, and help your body recover so you regain full physical functioning without risking a relapse of your symptoms. Our experienced team always has your best interest in mind.

Low Back Pain, Auto Accident Rehabilitation and Chiropractic Care for Castle Rock

Many of our auto accident patients come to us with symptoms such as back pain, neck pain or lower back pain ache. Others suffer from arthritis, migraine or dizziness. Our chiropractors perform physical assessments to see if these symptoms are caused, or aggravated, by subluxations and can be helped through chiropractic care. If this is the case, the chiropractor makes adjustments to provide immediate back and neck pain relief. However, in many cases, the patient still experiences headache, arthritis pain, migraine or dizziness until he’s had a number of regular adjustments.

This is because the body needs to readjust to correct spinal alignment and become stronger so no more subluxations occur. And that’s where rehabilitation comes in. With the support of rehabilitative chiropractic care, patients can enjoy special services that aid with pain relief and pain management. Patients can also make use of our tailor-made strength and conditioning exercise programs that strengthen the muscles around the affected area.

Whether you've had an injury and suffer from headache and dizziness, have poor posture that causes back pain or neck pain ache, or you suffer from a condition such as arthritis or migraine, our chiropractic care services, including auto accident rehabilitative exercises and other services, can help with pain management and muscle strengthening to help you revive from prexisting and your auto accident injuries.

You’ll learn which activities and postures to avoid or adapt in order to minimize your pain, and how massage therapy can help diminish the discomfort in your muscles by increasing circulation so they heal better.

Our castle rock chiropractor will teach you rehabilitative exercises that increase the support your muscles give your body – for example, strength exercises for the lower and upper back if you suffer from back pain, neck pain or lower back ache. In addition, you can learn core conditioning exercises for increased strength and better posture. In many cases, our chiropractor will also teach you exercises you can do at home to aid your healing. Of course, your rehabilitative progress will be monitored with our state-of-the-art equipment. That way, we can see how quickly you’re healing and make adjustments to the treatment if necessary.

Other auto accident rehabilitative services may include orthotics, which are specially designed inserts for the shoes that can help balance out your alignment to help with back pain and neck pain.  If you have suffered an auto accident injury or are experiencing chronic pain, please call us to schedule a consultation with one of our castle rock chiropractors.