bchiro

Many of us are stuck in a daily routine of  sitting.  We struggle through rush hour traffic as we drive to and from work. At work, there may be an occasional bathroom or lunch break, but the greatest percentage of our days are spent sitting in a chair. After work, we sit in front of the television to “decompress” or “relax” after a long day.

The health concerns that are associated with this type of lifestyle can lead to weight gain, muscular atrophy, slumped posture, etc.  Check out THIS ARTICLE from the New York Times for a wonderful explaination of some of the changes that happen in your body from prolonged sitting.  Research has even shown that sitting for as little as 9 minutes can be enough to begin to deactivate the core muscles in your back and increase your risk for injury.  Even WebMD has cites the drawbacks of excessive sitting.

If you suffer from pain of any sort, your sitting posture may be partly to blame.  Ask your BCC Doc to evaluate your sitting posture and make some corrections and show you stretches/exercises to help reverse your current situation.  Most importantly, do what your body was built to do, and use it. Get up frequently and sit less!

Stress, poor sleeping patterns, postural dysfunction and dental work can all lead to problems in your temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and cause temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD).  One of the most common causes of TMD is the increase in muscular tension caused by a “postural syndrome” (aka slumped or desk posture). Poor posture will place excessive forces on the neck and cause gravity to pull on the jaw.  All of this stress can cause an involuntary, compensatory clenching (bruxism) problem in the jaw. This article illustrates how the TMD process takes place.

TMJ dysfunction responds very well to manual therapy, which is performed regularly at our office. Muscle release techniques, jaw relaxation techniques, jaw stretches and neck and/or shoulder mobilization/manipulation can help to take the pressure off the jaw.  Remember to ask your BCC Doc to evaluate you to determine which type of therapy is best for your jaw!