Do Your Chores Pain Free!
By Sara Butler
The chiropractors at The Joint see their fair share of people with no idea of how their aches and pains began. It can be difficult to pinpoint how your pain started if you haven’t been out raking leaves or training for marathons! Most people will experience low back pain at some point in their lives but you can do a few things to try and lower your risk. Certainly, regular visits to the chiropractor are a way to keep the pain away, but you can also make sure you’re doing the mundane, everyday things in your life the right way – things such as cleaning your house.
How Housework Causes Pain
Back pain can happen for a lot of reasons. Strained muscles and pinched nerves may be more common than you think and repetitive motions or overuse don’t help the issue. Lifting and twisting the wrong way, using poor posture when mopping the kitchen floor, or hanging that brand new television on the wall by yourself may be to blame. Poor cleaning technique without concern for posture or proper lifting will eventually lead to injury – and you sitting on the table at the chiropractor wondering how on earth it all started!
What Will Happen?
If you continue to do your chores without paying attention to proper posture and form and forego regular chiropractic adjustments, then you might experience:
- Overuse injuries – The muscles and ligaments can become overworked, leading to injuries to the discs in the spine such as herniation or tearing.
- Disc degeneration – Wear and tear accelerated by poor form, shrinking of the discs, and collapse is common with age. Poor practices in everyday life can make this even worse.
- Arthritis – A common ailment associated with age, the onset of arthritis in the joints, may be sooner if you don’t care for your joints properly.
- Spinal stenosis – The space around the spinal cord can shrink with age. Not caring for your spine properly can make this condition even worse, leading to pinched nerves and a lot of pain!
What to Do
When you’re working on cleaning your house, make sure to do a few things. You should:
- Listen to your body – If a movement causes pain, stop it. Then see the chiropractor!
- Stretch – Cleaning your home is exercise, so treat it that way! Stretch your muscles lightly before and after to help keep them from becoming strained or injured.
- Plan ahead – Know your limits and plan ahead, asking for help with big tasks and breaking things up into smaller tasks over a longer period of time rather than doing all at once.
The chiropractors at The Joint Chiropractic may not be your first thought when you’re cleaning your home, but they have great pointers to keep your back – and the rest of you – healthy!
To learn more about your health and wellness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Houston, Tex.
