The Big Three: Muscles in Spasm During Pregnancy

PREGNANT WOMEN LISTEN UP!

Your muscles will inevitably go into spasm. Which ones they will be I don’t know, but I am willing to bet it will be one of The Big Three or all of them. These muscles all are intimately related to pelvic and low back stability. You have your lumbar spine erector spinae, your iliopsoas and the piriformis. 

The erector spinae muscles lay on either side of the spine and go from the low back all the way up into the neck. They’re a group of muscles including the iliocostalis, longissimus, and spinalis (try saying those three times fast). The names don’t really matter as long as we know what they are meant to do and why they aren’t working properly for you. So, normally these muscles are meant to only be spinal stabilizers and are only meant to keep you standing upright (and sometimes will help with rotation of the spine)...but guess what. During pregnancy you’re putting a lot on these guys, but don’t worry, it’s not your fault, it’s just the nature of the beast. Your center of gravity gets thrown off and these muscles wind up becoming strength muscles just trying to properly keep you from collapsing forward. Fun stuff, eh? 

Outside of being a fun word to try and say for the first time, the iliopsoas is your primary hip flexor and is responsible for bringing your knee to your chest. Sometimes it can be in such a spasm it is seen on x-ray. We don’t need to X-ray you though to know yours is in spasm, don’t you worry mama. The reason yours is going into spasm gets back to the whol center of gravity being thrown off again, however this is more related to your pelvic center of gravity. Your pelvis goes into what has been coined ‘Lower Crossed Syndrome’ by people smarter than me. Basically your pelvis tilts forward to accommodate a growing baby and indicates spasm in some muscles and weakness in others, in this case, we are talking about the iliopsoas. 

The piriformis is such a tiny muscle but is the biggest pain in the butt. This muscle is responsible for causing sciatic-like symptoms in many people, whether they are pregnant or not. Without having any kind of trauma in pregnancy, I just assume this is the culprit if a patient comes in complaining of numbness/burning/tingling going down their leg. It is responsible for external rotation of the hips (opening your leg up). In pregnancy it acts as a sacral stabilizer and is just trying to keep your pelvis glued together, because let’s face it, your ligaments are drunk on Relaxin. 

We have a video about how you can stretch these muscles out available to our followers on Facebook and Youtube. If you’re experiencing low back spasms and are pregnant (or not) these are pretty easy and reliable stretches to help while you wait to get into see us.

Give us a call at (210) 323-2163 to get on the schedule, we are always happy to help you have a comfortable pregnancy :)

Dealing with CoronaVIrus (AKA Common Sense)

We are in the midst of a global pandemic spreading like wildfire. How we respond to life helps to determine how quickly the virus could die down. 

Right now, for this virus in particular, it is important to practice social distancing, whether you are feeling well or if you have been exposed to it either via travel or a carrier. We want to practice flattening the curve as much as possible, and the more social distancing there is, the better.

Our hospitals will likely begin to fill up soon with people who really and truly need emergent care, if you don’t need to be there, we encourage you to avoid it as much as possible-I’m looking at you low back pain, neck pain and headache sufferers. Those are something you should be seeing your chiropractor for, we specialize in musculoskeletal issues. It makes ZERO sense for anyone who is healthy but experiencing musculoskeletal pain to go into the hospital right now.

We keep hearing about people being tested and being positive for CoronaVirus, however you do not want to go into the hospital to see if you have it or not. Please wait until you’re either showing signs of COVID-19 before thinking you need a test. With that being said, you need to realize that the more tests become readily available there will be exceptional growth of people who have the virus. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU NEED TO PANIC, the tests are just being used more and naturally the numbers will grow.

Reach out to elderly neighbors, parents, grandparents, or any immunocompromised people, if you are healthy and low risk to see if they need anything from the store if you are headed that way. We need to make sure they get as little potential exposure as possible, because it can lead to severe complications for these populations.

Most importantly, the best thing you can do for yourself is to practice some self care. Get outside, plant a garden, go on a hike, for a bike ride, whatever…synthesize that Vitamin D, baby. Eat Healthy (maybe from your garden?), get lots of leafy greens, drink a healthy smoothie. Stress less, we practice limited social media exposure on the weekends and almost NO live TV. I always say I’ve got enough to worry about in my day to day life, It’s been really freeing. You should be getting enough water, it helps to support your immune system and can be just the thing your body needs. If we wind up being quarantined for whatever amount of time, use it as a way to reconnect with yourself, your family, God and mother nature-I bet you’ll come out on the other side a better person for it.

Since this whole thing started to directly affect my normal life, I’ve found beauty and appreciation in little things, that remind me everything is going to be OK. A bird happily chirping in a tree. The noises babies make when they are eating. A cat purring in your lap. Your dog wagging its tail when you come home. How much you love your family and friends. whatever it is, think about how great your life truly is and thank whoever it is that you believe in for it.

Obviously, please continue to stay well and practice good hygiene. Washing hands for 20 seconds has been proven to help prevent the spread of disease...that’s humming Happy Birthday to yourself twice. Wipe down surfaces with a disinfectant, we are using CaviWipes, an antiviral/bacterial/microbial on our tables and our office. Sneeze or cough into your elbows and not your hands. Avoid shaking hands with anyone that you don’t know. It just takes a little common sense to help people continue to stay healthy.

If you are feeling sick or having flu-like symptoms, please consider staying home and help prevent the spread of anything.

Take care of others.

We’re here for you through all of this. Our office continues to stay open for office visits, telemedicine and house calls. We will meet you where you are at…ya know, unless you’ve got CoronaVirus. We have a business to run and patients to treat, after all. If you’re having good ole, regular aches and pains, reach out to us and we will help you feel better. You can reach us at (210) 323-2163.

We’re all in this together, after all.

Exercises for Common Problems

No body is perfect, hopefully if you follow these exercises we can help your body function more perfectly.

TMJ

If you’ve ever noticed your jaw popping or clicking (or getting stuck open or closed), you may have TMJ. You will also notice some ear or jaw pain associated with it. Most of the time, if you’re like me, it’s from clenching your teeth, especially while sleeping. Our favorite exercise for TMJ to instruct patients on is super easy to do, no one will be able to even tell you’re doing it at all. So, first, check and see where your tongue is sitting in your mouth. It should be lightly pressed against the back of the two top front teeth. That’s the exercise (yeah, really). I told you it’d be easy. In fact it’s so easy, that’s actually where the tongue should automatically go when at rest, like we’re talking anatomical position, correct biomechanics stuff (...<3). When you do this, it is virtually impossible to clench your teeth because it inhibits the muscles responsible for closing the jaw. 

The hard part comes into play when we need to train your brain into putting it there. 

So, what we suggest doing is pick a trigger (whatever it is, a text, a phone call, your kids shouting for your attention, etc.), make it something that happens throughout the day pretty regularly and then check and see where your tongue is. From a fellow TMJD patient, this really works. I’ve alleviated my symptoms and my tongue automatically goes behind my top front teeth. 

Neck Pain

Neck pain is the worst. Most of the time it is followed up with a headache, which can range from not that bad to turn-off-all-of-the-lights-and-no-one-talk-to-me-until-I-am-ready bad. Lucky for you, we have some easy ways to help the neck pain you’re already experiencing and may prevent it from happening again. 

First start off sitting, then you will tap yourself on your shoulders with your fingers (right to right/left to left). Relax your shoulders (but keep them where they are) and lower your arms down to your sides. Now you will want to take your neck through all of the ranges of motion. Look up, down, side to side and tilt your head from right to left. 

You want to try to do this throughout your day, so there will be natural triggers to remind you to do your neck stretches (hopefully). We also like to do these when we are taking a shower or just trying to relax. 

Low Back Pain

FACT. Low back pain is one of the most common excuses for people to either not go into work or participate in activities they would like to, but feel that they can’t. 

This one may have to be done at home. First, get on your hands and knees on the ground. You’re then going to drop your bellybutton down toward the ground and look up (think of a cow standing in a field), then bring your bellybutton toward your spine/spine toward the ceiling (like a hissing cat).

If you are experiencing any of the above, we have so many more things left in our back pocket to help you. Give us a call, set up an appointment and then we can go over so much more detail. Our number is (210) 323-2163, give us a call anytime.

The Gate Control Theory of Pain

When I was in chiropractic school I learned so much about how and why chiropractic works but this is the one that made the most sense to me and has stuck with me many years later. Now, it’s just a theory, and it’s pretty hard to prove if it is true, maybe in my lifetime it will become a law of science.

Let’s set the scene, you’re walking along and then you stub your toe on the coffee table. What’s the first thing you do without even thinking about it? As soon as your brain realizes what’s going on, you put pressure on the stubbed toe and it helps alleviate the pain. 

Now let’s get into the nitty-gritty details of the theory, pain and movement move up the same neural pathway to the brain. Movement is a faster and pain is a stronger signal up the pathway. The faster one, movement, will get to the brain faster and prevent the stronger one, pain, from making it in. So, by putting motion into the joint, it gets to the brain before the pain, essentially tricking the brain into thinking there isn’t a problem anymore (if there ever was). 

So, how does this relate to chiropractic care? When a chiropractor puts movement into a joint, then that signal makes it to the brain before the pain signal can make it there. So, that’s why when patients get off the table they will feel better almost immediately, even if it’s only slight.

If you’re looking for a chiropractor and live in San Antonio, please reach out and I’m sure we can help. You can reach us at (210) 323-2163.

Let’s Talk About Low Back Pain!

One of the most common complaints doctors hear about from their patients is low back pain, so if yours is bothering you, you aren’t alone. Almost daily I get asked about why someone’s back is bothering them and how they can help it. Luckily, I have a few ideas. First, let’s go over how you got to where you are. 

Low back pain can come on for many different reasons. Degenerative disc disease and osteoarthritis are two that most cannot avoid.  Like to say it happens to the best of us. With that being said, the best way to hold it off is by moving your body and your joints. The human body was made for movement and craves it. One way that everyone can begin moving around is by taking a walk. We live in San Antonio, if it’s in the triple digits that day, another way to get movement into your life and staying cool is by swimming or doing aqua-aerobics.

Most of the time, we can relate low back pain to a weakened core (the core is a whole other blog post in and of itself, and we will get into the nitty gritty at another time). In this scenario, patients will come in and say “I bent over to pick up a pen off the ground and couldn’t come back up”. It’s not like that pen weighed 150 pounds, it’s the fact that they don’t have strong core and they bent over the wrong way one too many times (the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back). So, if you don’t want to be one of those patients, then you should ALWAYS be using your legs to pick things up (yeah, even that pen that you dropped on the ground).

When I was in chiropractic school a colleague always bent at his knees and squatted to grab his backpack at the end of the day and said he didn’t want to waste his “flexion-dollars”. I really like that concept, the fact that you only have so many flexion-dollars you can spend in one life, so use them wisely and save them in your bank.

Now, you’re on a chiropractic blog, so of course I’m going to talk about why chiropractic is great at helping low back pain. Like I said earlier, your body craves movement and as a chiropractor that’s exactly what we do when we are adjusting patients. We look for joints that are hypomobile, or aren’t moving as much as they should and then put motion into the joint so we can restore normal biomechanical function. It doesn’t matter how you’re adjusted, whether it be manual or instrument assisted, an adjustment is an adjustment is an adjustment. 

If you’re experiencing low back pain and live in the San Antonio, TX area, we would be happy to help you get out of pain. You can get on the schedule by calling (210) 323-2163.