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Shoulder pain is a buzzkill.

Shoulder impingement, frozen shoulder and rotator-cuff tears are common reasons for a painful shoulder. Onsight Chiropractic is here to introduce a simple but effective method to add to your daily routine and get your shoulder functioning back to 100%.

The Method

The method is quite simple. Just hang. The goal is to hang from a bar for two minutes each day. Sometimes this number needs to be increased, but 2 minutes of body-weight hanging is enough to make physiological changes and see whether this method will help with your current issue. Some of you may be thinking that there is no way you can hang from a bar for 2 minutes straight. That’s okay! Splitting the time up into 10 to 30 second reps is okay as long as you hit that 2 minute goal. If 10 seconds is too difficult then start with putting one or two legs on a stool or other type of support as shown in the picture.  This will help take some of the weight off of your shoulders and let you work up to hanging from full bodyweight. Sometimes your local gym will have a pull-up machine that allows you to adjust the amount of assisted weight. In addition, you want to make sure that your hands are in the pull-up position (palms facing forward) and not the chin-up position (palms facing backwards).

This method can be easily added to your prescribed rehab routine of mobility and strengthening exercises. I prefer to do this as a warmup before an upper body workout, especially on “push days.”  Simply perform the hanging regiment before the strength or rehabilitative training. It will warm up the tissues and open up the joint space so you can use you can exercise without pain.

At first this may be painful on your shoulder joint, capsule and rotator cuff muscles. The force of gravity on these structures are stretching the tissues into a more favorable position for shoulder mobility. Similar to the feeling of braces in your mouth, the stretching may cause some discomfort. The more you challenge the  tissues the more your body will adapt to the discomfort.

***Disclaimer***

The hanging exercise is not recommended for persons with unstable or dislocating shoulders, for those in precarious physical health or with severe osteoporosis. If you have shoulder pain that goes unexplained for several weeks, you should obtain a proper diagnosis from your chiropractor.

-Dr. Edward Espinoza is the author of this post. He may be reached at DrEspinoza@OnsightChiro.com.

A Work-Life Tip from Dr. Espinoza

95% of low back pain is biomechanical in nature. That means there are things we can do to reduce the amount aggravating positions in your low back. We have all heard to sit up straight and not to slouch when you sit. Easier said than done when you are working against gravity!  One of the simplest ways to encourage proper behavior is to use a lumbar roll when sitting, especially when sitting on a large soft couch. Placement of the roll or pillow is key to the success of this tip. Many times people place the roll too high for the pillow to do its job. We want to place the pillow in the lower half of the curve where the lumbar spine meets the pelvis or “belt line” for most people.  This can generally be easy to find as it is typically where the pain originates from. In addition, you do not need a fancy roll to get relief. Many times a throw pillow or rolled up towel will provide enough support to get the job done. Lastly, make sure you are also sitting back as far as possible so that you are on your hamstrings or ”sit bones” as opposed to your tailbone being curled under your body. Keeping the correct curve in your back is a great way to reduce low back pain and using a support pillow helps make this easy!

Dr. Espinoza, or Eddie as he prefers, can be reached at DrEspinoza@OnsightChiro.com

A posture tip from Dr. Nick

Studies have shown that spreading your shoulders and keeping an open chest not only improves your posture, but boosts your mood as well. So let’s add a little positive energy to our day with one easy exercise that you can do even when you’re sitting at work. First of all sit up straight and pull your shoulders down with your arms hanging at your sides. Now squeeze those shoulder blades together and turn your arms out, so that your palms are facing forward and slightly out. Hold this for 10 seconds as you take a deep breath in and a slow breath out. Do this 3 or 4 times and be amazed at how a simple exercise improves both your posture and your attitude. Feel free to do these as many times throughout the day as you want!

Dr. Nick Predtechensky can be reached at DrNick@OnsightChiro.com

We’d love to meet you!

Now that we’ve been in our new neighborhood for over a year, but in Berkeley since 2009, we’d love to let you know about what ONSIGHT is! We’re a community healing center with two distinguished women chiropractors, Drs. Lelke and Falk, and a team of three exceptional massage therapists, Sonja, Noah and Amy. Our facility is shared with PacWest Athletics, an established endurance training organization led by a father-daughter team, Coaches Jay and Emily Ridgeway. They work in-person and virtually with individual and team athletes around the Bay Area and beyond.

What can you expect at our Open House on Feb 28?

Everything offered is free of charge and open to the public. 

Fun Welcome games and door prizes
Brief Table Massages with Sonja and Amy
Spinal Screenings with Drs. Johanna and Jen
Chinese medicine diagnostic consults courtesy of our acupuncturist friends at West Berkeley Wellness Center.
Performance Testing with Coach Jay of PacWest Athletics
Light refreshments
Raffle drawings for free treatment sessions and other prizes

Please come by anytime between 3:00 and 6:00 on Wednesday afternoon, February 28!

Happy New Year from the Entire Onsight Staff!

We wish you an abundance of peace, health, and success in 2018.  To help you unwind from the holiday hustle and bustle, we extend to each of you a $20 coupon off any single massage therapy service for the month of January! Please take us up on our offer. We have 4 skilled massage therapists on staff, our newest addition is Amy Hale who will begin on January 17. At that point, we will have 7-day/week massage availability!

Massage Therapists’ Hours

Amy Hale: M/W/Th 3-8p
Sonja Gubalke: Tu 3-6:30p & 2nd Saturday 2-6p

As always, schedule online by clicking here. Remember, your coupon will reduce the listed fee by $20 when you present and pay for your massage before Jan 31, 2018.*

*Not to be combined with any other offer. No cash value. Limit one per client.

Stress and Digestion