Posts by Dr. Cremata, DC
Become a Better Sitter: Why Postural Strength Matters
Postural strength helps you live a better life
Whether you are on your feet all day, or sitting through a shift at the office, your postural muscles are always at work; after all, they are trying to keep you upright. Despite their best intentions, we often give in to our desire to let our muscles rest by slouching, slumping, leaning against a wall or over a counter, or just about anything that feels more, “relaxed.” But this is a deception, and giving in to bad posture often leads to back pain and dysfunction. Here’s a basic formula for postural strength:
- Postural muscles refer to the deep sets of muscles between the pelvis and abdomen and all the way up the spine. These muscles are always working to keep us upright and as a result they are often over-worked, leaving them tight.
- Phasic muscles refer to the muscles which lend us strength and help initiate movements. Muscles like the abdominals and glutes are often under-worked in office-workers, leading them to become weak.
Overly-tight postural muscles with a complementary set of weak phasic muscles is a recipe for back pain that many of us need help overcoming.
Empower your Brain to Influence Sleep
How your brain controls sleep
Your brain conducts the transition between the stable states of wakefulness and rest. As you proceed through a day full of activity, your body and brain naturally progress toward the need for sleep; this is an essential need that affords your body the time it needs to rest and recharge. As it becomes time for sleep, your brain sends signals that inhibit the parts of the brain which are responsible for wakefulness and begins the transition toward sleep. But what if your brain doesn’t have the inputs it needs to function properly?
Mechanical Low Back Pain
Mechanical pain is movement-related pain
Injuries that relate to the articulation and movement of the spinal motion segments, including the vertebrae, discs, joints, ligaments and muscles are among the most common, and most painful types of injuries in human existence. Almost every motion of the upper body involves the spine in some capacity, and the muscles which support the spine are used to initiate movements and transfer forces across the body. When something goes wrong in this process, we are left with mechanical pain, also known as back strain. Back strain is made all the worse by the fact that often, any proceeding movements will exacerbate the problem.
Is Your Posture Putting Your Spine Under Pressure?
The way you position your spine matters
Whether you like it or not, and whether you are conscious of it or not, each position you adopt throughout the day is likely putting your spine under pressure. With awareness, the amount of pressure can be limited; likewise, with no awareness, this pressure can accumulate and cause back pain and dysfunction. The positions that put your spine under the most pressure are among the most common that we assume during the day:
- Sitting is the worst position for your spine
- Sitting and lifting
- Lifting or bearing weight
- Leaning forward
- Forward head posture
How to Deal with a Pain in the Tailbone
A pain in the tailbone is perfectly placed to upset your lifestyle
The coccyx is the bony structure at the base of the spine, known colloquially as the tailbone. Any pain here can be a real life-changer: from defecation to sexual function; and from physical activity to simply standing or sitting, the coccyx is perfectly placed to cause a world of pain. Most of the movements we do throughout the day will include some kind of articulation in the tailbone region. For women, the physical discomfort of menstruation is exacerbated by the presence of pain in the coccyx. No matter the cause, pain in the coccyx, also known as coccydynia, is perfectly placed to disrupt your lifestyle and happiness. So what can we do about it?
When it Comes to Cellulite, We Say Good Riddance!
Does cellulite affect your well-being?
Cellulite refers to the dimpled appearance of skin on the legs, buttocks and thighs that affects, by some estimates, over 90% of women at some point in their lifetime. Step one for anyone frustrated by the appearance of cellulite is to take a deep breath and realize that you are not alone! And while the appearance of cellulite damages self-esteem and often gets worse over time, there are steps you can take to manage and even get rid of it. It starts by understanding what it is, and perhaps we can best do this by understanding what it is not.
Restoring the Bodily Mobility You Expect Without Surgery
Range of motion versus flexibility
Range of motion and flexibility are two terms that are too often conflated. In reality, flexibility is indicative of good range of motion in a given joint. Without getting too pedantic, the general formula is that when flexibility is reduced, range of motion becomes limited. A good example of this is the elbow joint, which consists of both a pivot and a hinged joint. Both moving parts must exhibit “good” flexibility for the elbow to be considered as having full range of motion.
Regardless, the problem remains the same: reduced flexibility and limited range of motion are both likely to cause dysfunction and pain. At Relief Medical Group, we have a plan for restoring flexibility to your joints in order to help you live a life with a full range of motion.
Conservative Care First for Back Pain
What is your first line of treatment for back pain?
When it comes to injury, whether it be acute or chronic, and the pain that comes with it, there are many options available to you for treatment. It is unfortunate that the norm in our society is for back pain sufferers to choose, or be guided to choose, pharmaceutical medication or surgery as their first method of treatment. The reality is that these aggressive forms of treatment are only absolutely necessary in a minority of cases and they come with zero guarantee of eliminating pain while also coming with a host of potentially debilitating side effects.
Acoustic Compression Helps Psychological Causes of ED
If your ED is psychological…
Many men suffering from recurrent ED are told that there is no physical cause for the dysfunction. Psychogenic dysfunction is the next most likely outcome- a mental block that is preventing you from achieving or sustaining an erection. While traditional ED medications such as Viagra, Levitra and Cialis are all effective options for treating this type of psychological block, some men search for alternative treatments that don’t involve the laundry list of side effects and potential health risks that come with pharmaceutical medication.
The Science of Erections
The anatomy of an erection
To begin with there are three types:
- Psychogenic: thoughts and nerve signals contribute to your erection
- Reflexogenic: physical stimulation in which the signals don’t even reach the brain.
- Nocturnal: erections that occur without your knowing in the dead of night.
However, they all essentially rely on the same mechanism of blood vessels in the penis. In this most basic of biological processes, arteries relax allowing blood to flow (at ~30 cm/second) into the shaft while the veins close up; about 130 ml of blood is required to maintain an erection. Pressure within the corpora cavernosa prevents the blood from flowing back out and thus you have an erection. Erectile dysfunction simply refers to some problem along the way that prevents you from achieving or maintaining an erection.