Snow, while beautiful can be a pain to move off the driveway? One “average” snow shovel weighs in at about 5.7 pounds. Of course, the weight depends on the type of snow, but in Utah, we know our snow is usually pretend dense so it’s normally on the heavier side. Snow and Utah has always been normal, but unfortunately many Utahans can experience long-term muscle strain and pain due to snow shoveling. If you have dealt with several days of snow shoveling, you’re likely experiencing some pretty sore muscles. Let our experts at Health and Wellness Clinic in Layton help you find relief from muscle strain and pain related to snow shoveling. 

Common Injuries from Snow Shoveling 

What types of injuries do we see from snow? Typically, people dealing with snow shoveling injuries have muscles that have been forced to contract past their stretching point. Overusing the muscle in a repeated manner can cause muscle fibers to tear. Muscle strain is the most common ailment we treat from snow shoveling. Slips and falls commonly happen when dealing with snow. Slips and falls almost always lead to some type of muscle strain and other injury. Back pain is quite common with snow shoveling due to overexertion. Here are some of the most common symptoms that you have muscle strain:

• Swelling
• Bruising
• Limited range of motion
• Soreness 
• Sudden, sharp onset of pain
• Muscle spasms
• Stiffness 

Self-Care for Treating Muscle Strains

How can you treat muscle strains? Muscles require rest when they have been injured. The best way to start treating your pain is to follow the R.I.C.E. method. RICE is short for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. Following this method, you can give your muscle time to naturally heal itself. Begin this method by resting, so hopefully you can find a friend or neighbor to assist with your snow shoveling needs for a few days as you are healing. The resting phase needs to focus on ceasing strenuous activity, so the body doesn’t continue injuring itself more. Ice packs can be applied to the area with a gentle massage. Elevating the area is beneficial if you do have swelling that is occurring with the injury. 

Professional Muscle Strain Treatment

Chiropractic treatment focuses on helping the body heal naturally. Schedule a consultation for our providers to evaluate the severity of your muscle strain and design a personalized patient treatment program. We will look at the strained muscle, along with the overall alignment of the body as it can lead to additional pain and inflammation in the body. Misalignment does lead to several issues and can make a simple muscle strain worse due to overcompensation in another area. Manual manipulation treatments are used to help soothe the inflamed muscle and calm the nerves. 

How to Prevent Muscle Strain

Salt Lake City averages about 54 inches of snow yearly. We know the snow isn’t going anywhere, so that means its time to take a few moments to prepare the body and have it ready for the next big snowstorm that occurs in Utah. At Health and Wellness Clinic in Layton, we are committed to our patient’s health. We want to prevent some of these serious injuries we have seen occur over the years due to snow shoveling. Use these tips to stay safe and reduce the risk of muscle strain:

• Wear correct gear, including boots that have adequate grip.
• Do not shovel too much at one time. If your body has a history of getting muscle strains from heavy snow, plan on only shoveling half of your driveway and come back a few hours later to shovel more.
• Drink plenty of water! Muscle strain can happen easily when you are dehydrated. The body needs water to energize your muscles and keep them healthy. 

If you are experiencing pain, contact our Layton chiropractic clinic. Our experts are here to provide you with in-depth treatments for common snow shoveling injuries. Request a consultation or give us a call today at 801-784-4807!

The holiday season is upon us, and that means for some people a whirlwind of parties, gift-giving, and more. In fact, a poll conducted by VeryWellMind.com found that more than 80% of people find the holiday season to be somewhat to very stressful. With everything that comes into play for the holidays, it brings many people to the point of feeling completely overwhelmed and exhausted. What many people do not realize is how dangerous chronic stress is to their health. The entire body can exhibit signs and symptoms of stress including:

• Back pain
• Neck pain 
• Headaches
• Fatigue
• Muscle tightness

Stress will lead to a weakened immune system, which increases the risk of illness during the holidays. Stress does make our bodies more vulnerable to diseases, and many people deal with chronic pain that began from too much stress. Chiropractic adjustments are designed to help calm and soothe the nervous system, making it easier for you to cope with holiday stress.

Stress and Your Body

Chiropractic treatments often start with the spinal column as it has been found that the spinal column plays a role in properly transmitting messages from the brain to the rest of the body. When you have too much stress on the nervous system, the spinal column can have excess stress and tension, leading to some of the above symptoms of stress to occur. Chronic stress will cause the muscles to contract and tense often, which can place the muscles in uncomfortable and awkward positions. 

Take a moment to notice the way you sit, stand, and work. For example, do you find yourself leaning to one arm when you are sitting and working behind a computer? Years of sitting improperly, and not stretching the area can lead to pain. We often see patients come in with severe neck and shoulder pain that is directly related to the way they position themselves when they type on their computer. 

Repetitive action is one of the issues that many patients cite when they are trying to identify where their pain is coming from. When people deal with chronic stress, they will often overcompensate by unconsciously holding their neck, back, and arms differently. Over time, the weird positioning will lead to unnatural pressure and misalignment of the spine. Unfortunately, patients often move their body the wrong way when they are stressed, making the issue worse.

Dysfunction of the Nerves

When we are dealing with excessive stress, it is common to start seeing new issues arise. Chronic stress can lead to nerve dysfunctional such has having shooting pains or numbness in different areas of the body. Depression and anxiety are other things that often come into play around the holidays. Many patients come in with depression concerns when the weather starts to turn from bright, sunny days to the grey-gloomy sky that sets in with the inversion in Utah. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is common in Utah when the seasons change from fall to winter. If you have noticed this in the past, it is always wise to schedule a visit with your doctor to discuss preventative treatments. Our experts at Health and Wellness Clinic have multiple treatment methods for patients to follow in order to help get through the stress-laden holiday season when you are struggling with SAD. Our chiropractic treatments are safe, and effective ways to target stress and nerve pain in the body. Chiropractic adjustments will help to relax the body and increases the circulation of blood in the body, allowing nutrients to be properly transferred to the muscles, ligaments, and joints. When we do an adjustment to the neck and spine, it will place them back into their natural and proper order. Having proper alignment will improve the muscles and bones by removing the pressure that has been pressing down and leading to nerve pain. 

Chiropractic Treatment for Holiday Stress

Almost every patient the comes in for a chiropractic adjustment leaves feeling improvement. Proper alignment can help to reduce emotional stress, and often helps to reduce tension headaches along with muscles aches. Contact our office to schedule a consultation for your holiday stress and let our experts help you on the way to your best holiday season stress-free! Contact Health and Wellness Clinic in Layton today and bring your body back into its proper balance. 

Each year, 20-50 million people are injured or disabled from car accidents. If you have ever been in a car accident, you know how easy it is to sustain an injury, whether that is a simple injury or a long-term injury, car accident injuries cannot be ignored. Chiropractic treatment following a car accident can improve mobility, reduce inflammation, and strengthen your body. At Health and Wellness Clinic in Layton, we offer several chiropractic treatments for car accident injuries. 

Common Auto Accident Injuries 

Following a car accident, patients often experience a wide range of injuries and painful symptoms. Here are some of the most common issues you may be facing after auto accidents:

• Cuts – These injuries are common due to broken glass and debris flying in the car. It is typical for a patient to be treated on-site by emergency responders for minor cuts, but larger ones will require stitches and a professional doctor to properly treat them.
• Whiplash – Many patients experience whiplash and soft tissue damage following an auto accident. In many cases, soft tissue damage will lead to chronic pain if it is not effectively treated. 
• Spine and Back – Patients often deal with back pain related to a car crash. Lower back sprain or slipped discs are common conditions we treat in our Layton chiropractic office. It is important to follow correct treatments for spinal manipulation to get to the root cause of pain and ensure we are focused on strengthening the spine and back.
• Burns – It is common for patients to experience painful burns due to car accidents. Thermal burns can be painful and often lead to permanent scarring. 
• Fractures – Broken limbs are common following car accidents, especially if the individual was thrown around in the car or thrown from the car. Fractures can heal in a matter of weeks or months, but chiropractic treatment can help to improve the healing time with effective treatments focused on stimulating blood flow to the area and strengthening the muscles surrounding the injury. 

 

Reduce Painful Inflammation 

Inflammation is one of the most common ailments that occurs following a car accident. The force from even a 20 mile per hour crash often leads to soft tissue damage. Whiplash often results in painful micro-tears.  Micro-tears are small tears in the ligaments, which are not detectable on an X-ray. These micro-tears are normally the main culprit causing pain and inflammation following a car accident. What occurs in the car accident is the individuals head is thrown back and forth and side to side in a rapid motion. Having the muscles jerked so quickly, and without being prepared to do so will lead to painful side effects. 

Patients come in for whiplash and other injuries sustained from a car accident, and they often find improvement thanks to our chiropractic treatment. Some of the treatments we focus on include spinal manipulation and muscle relaxation, which causes the body to release IL-6, a natural substance released by the body, which aids in the reduction of inflammation. Each patient has different injuries sustained from car accidents, which is why it is so important to schedule a consultation for our experts to evaluate the severity of your injuries and create a customized patient treatment plan. 

Treating Scar Tissue

Following an injury, the body starts working to heal itself. Scar tissue can form inside the body, which can hinder your range of motion and cause a unique type of pain. Muscles that develop scar tissue need to have correct treatment to break up the scar tissue, allowing them to work effectively. Many times, the reason why people feel so stiff after an accident is because of the scar tissue. A chiropractic adjustment can help to break up the scar tissue, improving your entire body. 

Restore Range of Motion 

If you have been injured in a car accident, and you now have limited motion, contact our Layton chiropractic office. We work to target the real problem, not just treating the symptoms. Quite often additional muscles will be forced to overcompensate for the issues that have occurred, which can make it harder to get to the root source of pain and inflammation. Our goal has always been to work on restoring range of motion to help you get back to enjoying your life. Range of motion is restored when we focus on healing the area with stimulation therapy, which improves blood flow. With improved blood flow comes nutrients, which your muscles need in order to start healing. Many of our patients find improvement in range of motion after just a few treatments. 

Reducing Pain with Chiropractic Treatment

Studies conducted on patients who have undergone chiropractic treatment following a car injury prove that people experience less pain. In fact, chiropractic treatment often reduces the need for surgery, or helps to improve the healing time following a surgery. Physical manipulation is designed to help the body release pain-reducing hormones, designed to reduce inflammation, improve elasticity, strengthen flexibility, restore range of motion, and reduce overall recovery time. 

Injuries from car accidents will disrupt your life. Don’t wait to contact a chiropractor! Contact our office as soon as possible so we can begin treatment and prevent injuries from getting worse. Everyone’s bodies respond differently to car accidents, which is why it is imperative to have a consultation with our therapists to put together the best patient treatment program for your needs. Don’t let a car crash ruin your life and lead to life-long injuries that you cannot recover from. Natural Health and Wellness in Layton is here to help improve your life with correct manipulation. We provide low-risk treatments designed to enhance your life. Schedule a consultation today!