Chiropractic Tip: Make Your Core Work for You
By Sandy Schroeder
If you sit all day, back and leg pain may be catching up with you through stiffness or pain. Or you may not have the endurance when you need it, or the strength for daily chores. Standing whenever you can, using an adjustable work station, and fitting in walks and stretching, helps but core workouts will take you even farther.
Harvard Health says regular core workouts cover a lot of ground.
- To ease stiffness and back pain so you can sit, move and sleep without pain
- To avoid low back pain by keeping the back flexible and strong
- To make everyday lifting, bending and turning chores easy
- To build endurance for lifting big items, lugging groceries and cleaning the house
- To help you score more with running, golf, tennis or volleyball
- To strengthen your balance skills to avoid falls
- To perfect your posture as you trim your figure and tone your waist
Try a Goblet Squat
- Work quads, hamstrings, core muscles and glutes
- Stand with feet hip-width apart holding dumbbell or kettlebell at chest height
- Bend at the hips and knees lowering your bottom toward the ground, as if you were sitting down
- Go as low as you can and then push to stand back up. Don't let your knees go past your ankles.
Let Chiropractic Help Too
Once you get your core exercises going, you may be looking for more good fitness and wellness moves. Chiropractic can lend a hand. The Joint Chiropractic clinic near you staffs a wellness clinic that helps people start moving and keep moving. Focusing on spinal health, your chiropractor will show you how a healthy spine works to improve overall health and fitness.
A gentle targeted spinal adjustment may turn the page for you, easing stiffness or pain, and generating a fresh sense of energy, awareness and focus. As you evaluate your spinal adjustment, you may find weekly 15-minute spinal adjustments become the go-to spot to work on all of your health and fitness issues.
Walk as much as you can - Try for 30 minutes every day and build from there, walking before breakfast, after lunch, and after dinner.
Stretch a little every day - Keep your range of motion when you bend down and reach up by using a simple 10-minute stretch routine in the morning or the evening.
Move to shed stress - Burn up some of that nervous tension out on the courts, in a weekly yoga class, or in a soothing tai chi session.
Hike, bike or climb - Use your weekends to get your whole family outside on a bike trail, or doing a wilderness hike.
Stop by The Joint Chiropractic clinic in your community and find out more about affordable personal healthcare packages that eliminate the hassle of insurance. Evening and weekend hours make visits easy and walk-in visits are welcome.
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Columbus, Ga.