How Do I Know When My Mattress Is Going Bad?

There are a few ways to know if your mattress is going bad.

First, if it is more than ten years old, stick a fork in it, its done.  Its shot, its gone.  I don’t care what its was made out of, it won’t last ten years.

Second, if its between five and ten years old, it is suspect.  It might still be good, but you need to evaluate it a little closer.  Does it look like its sagging ?  Are there pits in it ?  Do you feel pain in the morning ?  If so, something is wrong with the mattress.

Sometimes you can flip it, sometimes you can put a board between the mattress and box-spring, you can even try switching sides with your partner.  But, these are stopgap measures that will get you by until you can get a better mattress.

What kind of mattress should you get ?

The firmer the better.  As firm as you can. This flies in the face of every mattress salesman in the country, but my clinical experience, the clinical experience of other doctors and the research shows that a firm surface is best.

Most of the stuff on the market today is way too soft.  The exotic foams they use make it like sleeping on a bag of marshmallows.  Not good for the spine.

For more information on pillows, mattresses and spinal health log on to my web-site www.painfree-greatposture.com.

For more information on back pain, log on to www.newbackpainreliefinfo.com.

Fibromyalgia and Cord Compression?

Fibromyalgia is a difficult problem to diagnose or determine its cause. Since exercises, diet, and weight loss can be so helpful to fibromyalgia patients, we may think they can completely solve the problem.  But often they don’t.

Chiropractors recognize the importance of good spinal posture in affecting a variety of health problems, including fibromyalgia. It’s important to not think of the disease as having a single solution, but rather as a more complex entity, needing a comprehensive approach. But is there any research on the spine being involved in patients with fibromyalgia?

Recent research (Holman AJ. Positional cervical spinal cord compression and fibromyalgia: a novel comorbidity with important diagnostic and treatment implications. J Pain 2008; May 20 epub.) has looked into a specific  problem seen in fibromyalgia patients: spinal cord compression. The scientist took MRIs of fibromyalgia patients with the neck in different positions such as max forward and backward bend. These positions can show the spinal cord is compressed/pinched where a neutrally positioned MRI or CT scan may not. In the study, 71% of patients with fibromyalgia had positional cervical spinal cord compression.

So what does this mean? It means if you have fibromyalgia there may be an undetected cervical compression problem that may also be affecting you.

Good neck posture and mobility are keys to good health. We can diagnose your condition and see if there is a spinal component to your problem that may have been overlooked. Sometimes it’s the low back pain that keeps us from exercising and ultimately getting rid of the fibromyalgia-inactivity-pain cycle. And, as the research above suggests, maybe the problem is in the neck and this needs to be addressed in a specific and comprehensive manner. Sometimes immobility in one area of the spine is compensated for in another, which can make your ability to heal somewhat lessened. Maybe the neck has been a concern of yours for a long time since the fibromyalgia symptoms came on following a neck trauma such as a whiplash. If you also suffer from headaches and have spinal pain, these are important clues that some of your symptoms may be spinally related.

It’s important to view your fibromyalgia symptoms from a global perspective, and not just think of one isolated issue as the root cause, and the only place where treatment needs to be directed.

To get more FREE information on how fibromyalgia can be treated without drugs or surgery log on to www.stopyourfibronow.com.

If you would like a complimentary consultation to begin to address your health concerns, just give Leah or Jennifer a call at 262-251-8306 to make an appointment.

What Causes Poor Posture?

Poor posture is commonly caused by misaligned bones in the spine.  When spinal bones misalign in certain ways, they cause the spine to tip forward.  The shoulders then droop down and forward, and you can start to get what is called forward head posture.  (See the picture).

Forward head posture not only causes neck and back pain, but can cause a whole smorgasbord of conditions like shoulder pain, carpal tunnel symptoms, headaches, dizziness and fibrositis/fibromyalgia.

The bones of the spine misalign because of trauma like car accidents, falls, lifting or sports injuries.  Also, people who are depressed often carry themselves in a droopy forward head posture that eventually warps the spine and causes pain.  Sometimes the toxic effects of drugs or a bad diet can affect the muscles in such a way that the spine is effected.

Many spinal mis-alignments are self-correcting.  Meaning the muscles of the body can re-align the spine all by itself.  Unfortunately, the body has a hard time correcting mis-alignments in the forward direction, because the muscles don’t have enough of an angle to pull a bone straight back.  There is nothing behind the spine to pull it backwards.

So, when a bone misaligns forward, it tends to get stuck.  As time goes on, more and more bones get misaligned forward until the spine starts to lean forward and droop.  All you have to do is look at a group of elderly people and you will usually see a lifetime of forward misalignment.

Many posture correction treatments focus on making the muscles of the spine stronger in order to pull itself upright.  The problem is, that the angle just isn’t there to get it accomplished.  With these methods, even the slightest correction takes heroic effort.

New advances in chiropractic technique make it possible to correct posture without muscular effort.  Once the spine is re-aligned, the body weight is supported by the spinal bones.  The muscles then relax and give the person greater ease of movement.  To find out more about this method log on to www.new-chiropractic-solutions.com.

Or, you can call Jennifer or Leah at 262-251-8306 and set up a FREE consultation and posture evaluation to see if I can help you get pain free-great posture.

Does Poor Posture Cause Back Pain?

Yes, absolutely.  Poor posture is by far the leading cause of back pain.

The main problem people have is that the spine misaligns in such a way that the shoulders and head droop down and forward.  When this happens, more pressure is placed on your discs and they begin to get swollen and deteriorate.

This leads to arthritis, degenerative discs, sciatica and spinal stenosis.  Many medical treatments are available that treat the damaged discs.  These include medications, steroid injections and even surgery.

However, these treatments do not address the root cause of the problem.  Which is poor posture. This is why medical treatment of back pain has such a high failure rate.

A treatment that simply addresses the damaged disc without addressing what caused the damaged disc, is doomed to failure.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes a patient may need to have some medication to reduce the swelling in a disc.  But, if the postural problem that caused the swollen disc is not addressed, the disc will continue to deteriorate and get worse.

Doctors of chiropractic concentrate on alignment and posture.  This is why chiropractic treatment of back pain has such a high success rate.  It treats the underlying cause of back pain and disc problems.

Thanks to new advancements in chiropractic technique, posture can be corrected very effectively.  Improvements can be seen on a treatment by treatment basis.

To learn more about what I do to treat back pain, sciatica, degenerative discs and spinal stenosis, log on to www.NewBackPainReliefInfo.com and order our FREE report.

If you would like to set up a FREE no obligation consultation to see if I can help, call Jennifer or Leah at 262-251-8306 and they can set it up for you.