Chiropractic Health & Wellness Blog

Here at Lyn Lake Chiropractic, a good portion of our Minneapolis chiropractic patients are 65-years-old or older. Additionally, that number is expected to grow quite a bit over the next few years. In fact, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Aging reports that this portion of the population will almost double by the year 2040, increasing from 14.1 percent to 21.7 percent. 

Whether you’re in this age bracket now or soon will be, chiropractic care can help you grow older with less pain and, ultimately, more grace. How?

Chiropractic for Back Pain Among the Elderly
As one report published in Chiropractic & Manual Therapies points out, “the most common reason for an older adult to see a DC is musculoskeletal pain, most often lower back pain.” Fortunately, chiropractic is an effective option for this problem which is all too prevalent in aging individuals. 

For instance, a case study involving an 83-year-old Quick read more or view full article man found that after just eight chiropractic treatments, his spasms and tenderness was gone, his pain dropped from a 10 out of 10 to a 4 out of 10 on a pain scale, and he was able to better care of his disabled wife. Additionally, he still reported enjoying these same benefits four months after the study concluded.

A Lower Risk of Falling
Another issue that some seniors struggle with is dizziness. Unfortunately, this contributes greatly to the high number of falls reported by members in this age range, a problem which the Vestibular Disorders Association states applies to somewhere between 20 and 40 percent of our nation’s elderly. 

Chiropractic can oftentimes help as, in one case, researchers studied 14 people aged 65 and older, assessing the results of eight weeks of chiropractic care (which consisted of two visits per week) on the participants’ dizziness. One-half of the individuals who had this problem prior to the chiropractic sessions reported that this issue resolved completely by the end of the study. Some participants also reported experiencing better balance, another factor that is partially responsible for this group falling.

Although there are more benefits of chiropractic, these are the main two which affect people 65 and older. Therefore, if you fall into this age range and live in the Minneapolis  55408 area, call Lyn Lake Chiropractic and schedule an appointment today. We’re here to help you age as gracefully as we can! 612-879-8000 Minneapolis Chiropractor. Read Less

Have you ever gone out to shovel your Minneapolis drive or walkway, only to feel your back ache as a result? If so, you aren’t alone as statistics provided by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons indicate that more than 200,000 people are injured in the U.S. annually as a result of trying to get rid of snow and ice by hand. 

Does this mean that you are stuck with it until spring arrives if you want to keep your back in good health? Of course not. While you can’t always avoid injury 100 percent of the time, there is a way to shovel snow that is better for your spine and all of the muscles and soft tissues that surround it.

Proper Snow Shoveling Technique
Ideally, protecting your back starts before you even pick up a snow shovel. Because moving snow from one area to another is rather physical Quick read more or view full article in nature, you want to make sure your muscles are warmed up and ready to work. One way to do this is to walk in place or on a treadmill for a few minutes. If you have a stationary bike or some other cardiovascular exercise equipment, that would work too.
Once you’re ready to go outside and start moving the white stuff, using proper technique can save you from a lot of discomfort and low back pain.

The safest method, according to the experts at Spine-health, involves:

• Directly facing the snow or ice you intend to move.
• Putting one hand on the handle of the shovel and the other as close to the shovel itself as possible.
• Instead of bending your back to pick it up, bend at the hips first and then the knees, utilizing your leg muscles to do a majority of the work.
• When you go to move the snow, move your entire body in the new direction versus just twisting your back.
• Walk the shovel of snow or ice to the new location and drop it, minimizing injury from heaving or throwing it.

Do these five things and you’ll reduce your risk of back injury while getting rid of the snow and ice we commonly get in the Minneapolis area. Also, make sure you come in for your regular chiropractic visits too and the staff at Lyn Lake Chiropractic will do our best to keep you back pain free! Minneapolis Chiropractor at Lyn Lake Chiropractic 612-879-8000 Read Less

February 14^th is a holiday designed specifically to celebrate the love-filled feelings that you have for your spouse, parents, children, and everyone else you hold near and dear to your heart. Well, the staff at Lyn Lake Chiropractic want to make sure all of our Minneapolis patients have hearts that are as healthy as possible, which is why we’d like to share how chiropractic can help with this.

Heart Benefits of Chiropractic
For starters, chiropractic can help lower your heart rate, thus lowering your risk of cardiovascular-related issues like heart attack or stroke. For instance, in one study, each participant was asked to wear a heart monitor before and after a chiropractic session. Researchers found that the individuals’ heart rates decreased slightly post-manipulation. Furthermore, their pain “was reduced significantly” too, which is an added bonus!

Chiropractic has also been found to lower blood pressure, a Quick read more or view full article condition that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports affects one-third of U.S. adults. In fact, one piece of research published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics found that “systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly” in  individuals who were treated with chiropractic adjustments to their middle back. As a side note, the participants also reported experiencing lower levels of anxiety, again showing how chiropractic offers many benefits physically and mentally.

Improving Heart Health
Of course, there’s more to a healthy heart than engaging in chiropractic care. Therefore, here are some suggestions to help you improve your heart health, courtesy of Harvard Medical School:

• Get daily physical exercise. Even if you can’t do a lot at the beginning, every little bit counts.
• Increase your fruit and vegetable intake. Because they’re loaded in vitamins and nutrients, these two food groups can not only help your cardiovascular system, but all of your other bodily systems too.
• Ease up on sugary drinks. This can help keep your weight in check which is always good for your heart.
• Take the time to de-stress. Constantly feeling worried about things isn’t beneficial to your heart, so stop every once in a while and breathe or count your blessings to ease the stress on your heart.

If you’d like to see how chiropractic can help you improve the health of your heart (and rest of your body), come see us at Lyn Lake Chiropractic. We’re the Minneapolis chiropractors who care! Read Less