Toe-Touch for Health

Here is a pop quiz question for you: which muscle group contributes most to low back aches? I’ll give you three choices: rhomboids, gluteus maximus, or biceps femoris. Go ahead, discuss amongst yourselves. I’ll wait.

Here is the answer: your biceps femoris, also known as the hamstrings. But wait, you might say, aren’t those muscles on the backs of my legs? Why, yes, they are. The attachments of these muscles are to the legs, but also to the bottom of your pelvis. When they are tight, they tug down on the pelvis. Some of your big spinal muscles attach to the top of your pelvis, which starts the tug-of-war and sets in a backache.

There are many causes of low back pain. They run the spectrum from disc bulges and ruptures, bone spurs, arthritis, joint strains/sprains, muscle strains/sprains, and, of course, the common subluxation. As my regular readers will remember, subluxation happens when one or more of the joints of the spine becomes misaligned and stuck, causing pressure at that joint and in the nervous system, because the spine protects the spinal cord.

Tight hamstrings can put lots of strain on the muscles of the low back, but they can also contribute to low spine/pelvic subluxation by inhibiting a healthy motion of the pelvis and low back. The biggest culprit of tight hamstrings is being sedentary. Sitting at a desk, in the car, on the couch, can all cause the hamstrings to tighten. I probably sound like a broken record at this point (maybe a skipping CD? or a corrupted MP3?) but most of what ails your muscles and bones comes from sitting on your butt. I have a three-step solution to change your life.

Step 1:  Stand up, then touch your toes. Feel the stretch! Do this regularly to loosen up your legs and low back. Step 2: Start a regular walking routine. Keep your legs and core engaged in exercise and you will have more energy and less pain. Step 3: Get adjusted by your chiropractor, of course! Keep your spine and nervous system functioning for optimal health.

Biofeedback

Biofeedback is what is known as a “mind-body technique.” When using biofeedback, a person concentrates on changing a bodily function with their mind. It sounds like a wacky, new-age procedure, but I would argue that everyone reading this article has used biofeedback, in some form. (Think about potty training!) In fact, the only difference between the clinical version of biofeedback and the daily functions that go on in your body is that the first is conscious and deliberate, while the second is automatic. 

Chiropractic works on the premise that your brain controls everything in your body, through complex interactions and communication within the nervous system. When subluxation occurs, caused when one or more joints of the spine malfunction, interference in the nerve signals happen, and the communication breaks down between the brain and body in little, and then in big ways. If you have ever been subluxated (and I bet you have) I would wager that you have used a kind of negative biofeedback. 

Think about it: your body tells you, through pain, discomfort, and general irritability that there is a less-than-optimal condition happening. Maybe your back hurts. Maybe you have a “crick,” a sore leg, an acidic stomach. You tell your body, “I don’t have time for you. Quit telling me about your problems.” So, you stop hurting, at least for a while. More accurately, you stop conscious awareness of the pain/discomfort signal being sent from your body to your brain. The reason I call this a “negative” biofeedback is that you have not fixed the problem your body is telling you about. You have suppressed it.

In positive biofeedback, you are coached into being able to positively affect your body. This works very well for PTSD, high anxiety, and people dealing with chronic pain. Using biofeedback methods, you can train yourself into lowering your own blood pressure, relaxing muscle spasms, even producing less stomach acid. Before becoming a chiropractor, I had been practicing biofeedback for years, without knowing it. When I was a little girl, my stomach hurt when I was upset. My dad sat me down and said, “Whose stomach is it?” I said, “Mine.” He said, “So tell it to quit hurting.” My young mind had not developed cynicism, so I innocently said, “Ok.” And it worked. To this day, I can consciously direct a great deal of my stress away, because I was taught that there is no difference between my mind and body. The two are inseparable.

Chiropractic care can help biofeedback methods become more potent. With less interference in the nervous system comes more clear communication, and better connection between your conscious mind and your body. Don’t suppress your problems, become aware of them. And then fix them. Chiropractic can help you to do this. After all, as my dad says, whose body is it?