The Best Things My Chiropractor Taught Me

Home Therapy Tips From My Chiropractor
As you know, I personally recommend chiropractic care to relieve lower back pain, neck & shoulder tension, and carpal tunnel syndrome.

Dr. Rick Cutsinger in Franklin, Tennessee has taught me a few valuable tips that ANYONE can use to help keep your body in tune and your spine in alignment:

How To Sleep Properly
There are certain sleep positions that are better for your back and the overall alignment of your spine than others. Truth is, to keep your spine in perfect alignment, you SHOULD sleep flat on your back. But few of us do, right?

For other suitable sleep positions, try these:

• On Your Side: If you sleep on your side, always place a pillow between your knees to prevent your hips from leaning forward and twisting your spine while you sleep.
• On Your Stomach: Apparently, it's a REAL no-no to sleep on your stomach, due to the increased amount of stress placed on your spine. Who knew? But if you must, then you should raise one leg up slightly and prop a pillow under that knee. It's sort of an enhanced side sleep position.

How To Keep Your Body In Alignment Yourself
Dr. Cutsinger recommends two things to keep the alignment of your spine in check:

1. Do the towel roll. No, he's not trying to start a new dance craze. He's referring to one simple way that you can naturally reshape the top portion of your spine -- along your neck. Simply roll up a regular bath towel to a height that fits NATURALLY under the middle of your neck while you're lying prone on your bed. Important: Make sure the back of your head and back of your shoulders are touching the surface you are lying on.

Lying there for 10 minutes a day with the towel roll softly cushioning the back of your neck, you are reshaping the top portion of your spine back into its natural position. (I found that the thinner end of my memory foam pillow can be substituted for a towel.) Dr. Cutsinger recommends that you incorporate this 10-minute towel roll into your day for the rest of your life.

2. Try some muscle stretches. By doing a series of stretches at home you will retrain the muscles that support your spine. He mostly recommended this when I was having lower back pain, but I've found that (similar to Yoga) such stretches really work wonders. They alleviate tension all through your body. And they're simple!

How To Treat Lower Back Pain
According to Dr. Cutsinger, you should apply heat/ice to relax muscles. In addition to the muscle stretches mentioned above, Dr. Cutsinger recommends a combination of hot and cold packs applied to the affected area. The ice is a natural pain reliever and flushes out edema. The heat is a natural muscle relaxer and induces the healing process.

The proper way to apply heat and ice:
Place ice or an ice pack on the painful spot for 10 minutes, then remove. Wait 30 minutes, then run a washcloth under hot water, wring it out, then place it in your microwave for 50 seconds. Place this heat pack on the same painful spot for 10 minutes, then remove.

UPDATE 8/11/05: Should you let a chiropractor crack your neck?... This has become a point of controversy, so I did a little research, and here's what I learned...