How To "Adult" through the Pains and Sprains of Life

By Sara Butler

Staying fit is important -- but who are we kidding? Being an adult is hard. It doesn’t help that as you grow older, things that wouldn’t have made you bat an eyelash when you were 22 now cause you to limp for a week (or longer). Repetitive strain injuries are no joke -- but lucky for you, chiropractors can help you to stay healthy at work and at the gym.

You need to be diligent in order to watch out for signs that a repetitive strain injury is hot on your heels (or wrists, or neck). Here’s what you should be on the lookout for and how your chiropractor can help.

Shoulder Injuries

I have a friend who is a nurse -- and that makes her a terrible patient. But she spends all day on her feet, lifting and turning patients. After a few years of this, her shoulder began to bother her more and more until she just couldn’t ignore it.

Overuse injuries that impact the shoulder can happen at work or at the gym, or maybe even the ball field. Using a keyboard day in and day out in combination with fine motor activities in your fingers can spell disaster. After a full day of that, you head to the gym to do push-ups, shoulder presses, or chest presses -- and those can spell doom! Well, not doom, but you can get uncomfortable quick. One push-up can be the straw that breaks your poor little camel’s back.

Neck Injuries

I spend a lot of time working at my computer. I’ll be the first to admit that even though I spend a fair amount of time researching proper posture, I don’t always practice it. This has led me to waking up in the morning without the ability to turn my head to the left. That was a come-to-chiropractor moment for me.

Sitting in your office chair with terrible, head-forward posture all day is bad enough. Going to the gym and making it worse with some bench presses can lead you straight to a neck injury. Poor posture tends to make you more prone to neck injuries at the gym.

Wrist Injuries

It makes a far better story to tell people you sprained your wrist while catching a bass that was this big or during an intense game of tennis. But the truth of the matter is you probably sprained that wrist doing an online search for wrist discomfort.

Overuse of the wrists at work or at the gym is a common problem. You need fully functioning wrists in order to type, lift, and make rude gestures behind your boss’ back. If you ignore pain or discomfort in your wrists at work, then you can make the situation even worse at the gym, overstretching the ligaments in your wrist and getting a sprain that you had no idea was lurking around the corner.

I’m not trying to talk you into skipping the gym -- far from it! But when something starts to feel funky in your joints or muscles, then you need to get to The Joint Chiropractic pronto. If you ignore it, you may end up with an injury that keeps you away from the gym or prevents you from doing your work, which isn’t as great as it sounds. This whole adulting thing can really cramp your style and that’s fine. Just don’t let it cramp your muscles and land you with an injury!

The information, including but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material contained on this page are for informational purposes only. The purpose of this post is to promote broad consumer understanding and knowledge of various health topics, including but not limited to the benefits of chiropractic care, exercise and nutrition. It is not intended to provide or be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your chiropractor, physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen, and never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this page.