Welcome to Mt Hope Chiropractic Wellness

Getting a cold stinks.

Like most people, every few years I find myself with that all too familiar slight tickle in the nose and throat that, after a few days, blossoms into a head that feels like it's stuffed with cotton, a nonstop cough, and fluids pouring everywhere out of my face.

Fun stuff.

It's a tough, albeit small, period of time in our lives where we can't do everything we want or need to do. It's mentally distracting, and thoughts run through our head as to how long we have to deal with this (or is it ever going to go away), as there is no definitive answer. Amazingly enough, we start to get better. We overcome those worrying thoughts, then eventually our fatigue starts to fizzle, our head feels less cloudy, and taking those first few raw inhales out of those cleared nostrils feels like a momentous triumph.

The common cold exemplifies the condition of human performance:

- We adapt

- We are resilient

- We are capable of incredible, fast, positive change

In the following weeks we are going to take you through a number of common problems we often see in our office that are generated from the lower back, and some simple advice on how to approach it. As you follow the blog, keep in mind the above mantra where it applies to injury in this very common problem area.

Lower back pain, like most other injuries, is a sign that our body has adapted to our environment in a way that isn't necessarily ideal for the long term. The beauty is that back pain, like a cold, is a temporary adaptation response to our habits and behaviors. Through our wonderful resilience we can re-adapt in a very short amount of time in our lives.

At our office we help people find those things we need to change, temporarily or long term, that will eliminate the problem and to promote a prolonged resistance to a return to disorder.

Feel free to reach out to us at mhcwny@gmail.com if you have any questions! We look forward to helping give you, the reader, a better understanding of how to keep yourself well.

Let's face it, sciatica is a big pain in the butt (okay give me a break, I'm a newly minted dad, I need to polish up on the elegant art of dad joking). Leg pain, with or without numbness or tingling, can really be a huge limiting experience, not to mention emotionally draining. A lot of people like to think of it as a major setback, with fears of wondering the source, how long it's going to last, or for that matter, if it's ever going to go away.

For those of your that are presently dealing with it, or have dealt with it in the past, there is some good news. If you read the previous blog post on our website (intro to lower back pain) this type of problem is a temporary sensitivity our body has developed based usually on our habits, and we are very capable or re-adapting and overcoming. With a little detective work, we often can find the reasons why we are currently dealing with this, and apply a course of correction.

The first big questions your should ask yourself are:

-Does it feel the same every time I do a certain activity?

-Has it been moving higher or lower in the leg quickly (within a matter of hours or days)?

-Is there numbness or tingling associated with it?

Like most problems we deal with in the office, we have to reduce possibilities of what it is to as few decisions as possible. Sciatica, by true definition, is caused by a nerve or group of nerves originating from the lower back that have become less mobile in their path to where they end. Think of it like a hose that's being pinched or caught somewhere. Evidence shows that this is actually a LESS COMMON problem of the lower back, and your leg pain may actually be originating from another, more common, spinal issue which we will discuss in another blog.

Sciatica typically presents in the following manner:

-It feels the same every time you perform a certain activity

-Progress or improvement of symptoms tends to be slower (weeks or months)

-Typically accompanied with numbness or tingling

If this sounds like a problem you are presently dealing with, we can help. We can provide the knowledge to approach the source of your problem, both through in office management, and advisement on correcting the habits that started the problem in the first place; through self corrective exercise and appropriate coached movement in your environment. Get informed, and get moving.

As always, comments and questions are encouraged, feel free to email at mhcwny@gmail.com or comment below!

There you are, minding your own business living your best life, when out of nowhere you suddenly have back pain or pain in your leg. It could have jumped on you when you woke up, or when you got up out of bed, or when you bent to grab a shoe off the floor. It could have started with something as simple as sneezing, or as complex as catching a heavy squat clean slightly off center. Regardless of the mechanism, lower back or leg pain that is brought on suddenly is most often caused by a change in the behavior of an intervertebral disc.

So before we dive into disc talk, let's again think about the following questions:

-Does it feel the same every time I do a certain activity?

-Has it been moving higher or lower in the leg quickly (within a matter of hours or days)?

-Is there numbness or tingling associated with it?

Disc related lower back and leg pain typically behaves in the following ways:

-The pain can differ in intensity and location when doing certain activities

-The problem gets better or worse, or moves up or down the leg, within hours or days

-Numbness and tingling is less common with this problem.

A better perspective of how we can improve a disc is thinking about squeezing a balloon. As shown in the picture, air has to push away from the force that we apply on it. The discs in our back behave the same way. Take sitting for example, if we sit in one particular way all the time (you might even be slouching in a chair right now as you read this) we are applying a specific kind of load into our disc. Let's say that we do this for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, for years on end, and over time this tissue can get worn out.

Getting a cold stinks.

Like most people, every few years I find myself with that all too familiar slight tickle in the nose and throat that, after a few days, blossoms into a head that feels like it's stuffed with cotton, a nonstop cough, and fluids pouring everywhere out of my face.

Fun stuff.

It's a tough, albeit small, period of time in our lives where we can't do everything we want or need to do. It's mentally distracting, and thoughts run through our head as to how long we have to deal with this (or is it ever going to go away), as there is no definitive answer. Amazingly enough, we start to get better. We overcome those worrying thoughts, then eventually our fatigue starts to fizzle, our head feels less cloudy, and taking those first few raw inhales out of those cleared nostrils feels like a momentous triumph.

The common cold exemplifies the condition of human performance:

- We adapt

- We are resilient

- We are capable of incredible, fast, positive change

In the following weeks we are going to take you through a number of common problems we often see in our office that are generated from the lower back, and some simple advice on how to approach it. As you follow the blog, keep in mind the above mantra where it applies to injury in this very common problem area.

Lower back pain, like most other injuries, is a sign that our body has adapted to our environment in a way that isn't necessarily ideal for the long term. The beauty is that back pain, like a cold, is a temporary adaptation response to our habits and behaviors. Through our wonderful resilience we can re-adapt in a very short amount of time in our lives.

At our office we help people find those things we need to change, temporarily or long term, that will eliminate the problem and to promote a prolonged resistance to a return to disorder.

Feel free to reach out to us at mhcwny@gmail.com if you have any questions! We look forward to helping give you, the reader, a better understanding of how to keep yourself well.

There you are, minding your own business living your best life, when out of nowhere you suddenly have back pain or pain in your leg. It could have jumped on you when you woke up, or when you got up out of bed, or when you bent to grab a shoe off the floor. It could have started with something as simple as sneezing, or as complex as catching a heavy squat clean slightly off center. Regardless of the mechanism, lower back or leg pain that is brought on suddenly is most often caused by a change in the behavior of an intervertebral disc.

So before we dive into disc talk, let's again think about the following questions:

-Does it feel the same every time I do a certain activity?

-Has it been moving higher or lower in the leg quickly (within a matter of hours or days)?

-Is there numbness or tingling associated with it?

Disc related lower back and leg pain typically behaves in the following ways:

-The pain can differ in intensity and location when doing certain activities

-The problem gets better or worse, or moves up or down the leg, within hours or days

-Numbness and tingling is less common with this problem.

A better perspective of how we can improve a disc is thinking about squeezing a balloon. As shown in the picture, air has to push away from the force that we apply on it. The discs in our back behave the same way. Take sitting for example, if we sit in one particular way all the time (you might even be slouching in a chair right now as you read this) we are applying a specific kind of load into our disc. Let's say that we do this for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, for years on end, and over time this tissue can get worn out.

Hey all!

We hope you're liking our lower back series thus far. We hope that in our past few posts it has helped to educate you on some differences in how pain can present. There are a few more subjects to cover, but before getting into those, a big question that gets asked in the office often is how to build lower back strength.

This of course is a difficult question to have just an immediate response for, as it depends on the individual. Is your goal to survive the rigors that a desk job can impact upon us? Are you involved in a specific sport that has certain demands? Are you a seasoned power lifter seeking that new personal best on a sumo dead lift? You can see this can be a different answer for certain people indeed!

I think most people that arrive in the office are using strength as a reference to prevention of their problem from happening again. For ourselves, this is type of strength is defined as educating your back on becoming stable. If you think about a day in terms of movement, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of small changes in position we take . If the majority of these are performed poorly, they may lead to problems down the road.

Do you think your lower back is durable? Try this quick test! Attempt to perform the bird dog as shown in the picture:

Are you able to do this without wobbling? Can you keep your back flat while performing? Do your hips shift from side to side drastically while you perform this? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may need to get on a short period of exercises to learn how to move better in your day to day activity. At our office we strive to educate people how to move with better purpose through their day. If you feel like a program like this would be helpful for you, feel free to give us a call and set up an appointment.

 

As always , feel free to email us at MHCWNY@gmail.com or comment with questions. 

Let's face it, sciatica is a big pain in the butt (okay give me a break, I'm a newly minted dad, I need to polish up on the elegant art of dad joking). Leg pain, with or without numbness or tingling, can really be a huge limiting experience, not to mention emotionally draining. A lot of people like to think of it as a major setback, with fears of wondering the source, how long it's going to last, or for that matter, if it's ever going to go away.

For those of your that are presently dealing with it, or have dealt with it in the past, there is some good news. If you read the previous blog post on our website (intro to lower back pain) this type of problem is a temporary sensitivity our body has developed based usually on our habits, and we are very capable or re-adapting and overcoming. With a little detective work, we often can find the reasons why we are currently dealing with this, and apply a course of correction.

The first big questions your should ask yourself are:

-Does it feel the same every time I do a certain activity?

-Has it been moving higher or lower in the leg quickly (within a matter of hours or days)?

-Is there numbness or tingling associated with it?

Like most problems we deal with in the office, we have to reduce possibilities of what it is to as few decisions as possible. Sciatica, by true definition, is caused by a nerve or group of nerves originating from the lower back that have become less mobile in their path to where they end. Think of it like a hose that's being pinched or caught somewhere. Evidence shows that this is actually a LESS COMMON problem of the lower back, and your leg pain may actually be originating from another, more common, spinal issue which we will discuss in another blog.

Sciatica typically presents in the following manner:

-It feels the same every time you perform a certain activity

-Progress or improvement of symptoms tends to be slower (weeks or months)

-Typically accompanied with numbness or tingling

If this sounds like a problem you are presently dealing with, we can help. We can provide the knowledge to approach the source of your problem, both through in office management, and advisement on correcting the habits that started the problem in the first place; through self corrective exercise and appropriate coached movement in your environment. Get informed, and get moving.

As always, comments and questions are encouraged, feel free to email at mhcwny@gmail.com or comment below!

Good morning! Well, maybe not so good……that depends on how your body is feeling! You may have Noticed recently that in the morning you’re feeling like you just time warped 20 years and your back or neck just does not like waking up with you. Pain in the neck and lower back in the morning is a common experience to have for a period of time, and there are some explanations as to why, and fortunately ways to help fix it! Morning pain can be attributed to various factors, and understanding these potential causes can help address the issue. 

One common reason is related to the body's overnight recovery process. During sleep, the muscles and ligaments in the back relax and may become stiff, especially if you maintain a certain position for an extended period. The lack of movement can lead to a temporary reduction in blood flow and oxygen supply to the muscles, contributing to stiffness and discomfort upon waking. To help alleviate this problem, a key factor to prevention is finding a consistent movement program during the day that can help make these structures more resilient. 

Another factor contributing to morning back pain may be the choice of sleeping posture or mattress. An unsupportive mattress or improper sleeping position can lead to misalignment of the spine, putting strain on the back muscles. Over time, this strain can result in discomfort and pain, particularly upon waking. It's essential to ensure that your mattress provides adequate support and promotes a neutral spine alignment during sleep. For more advice, the chiropractors at our office can help you navigate strategies that work best for you. 

Additionally, underlying medical conditions such as arthritis, herniated discs, or spinal stenosis can cause morning back pain. Inflammatory conditions may worsen during periods of inactivity, leading to increased stiffness and discomfort in the morning. 

If your morning pain persists or worsens, having an evaluation by a chiropractor can aid in solving it! Often, a key factor in helping out our night time or morning problems is creating change in the things we do in our hours that we are proactive and awake. Changing our daily routine can often lead to better success in better quality rest, and thereby reducing morning pain.  The providers in our office can help in providing therapy to stressed areas of the spine and muscles, provide targeted home exercise, and to provide insight in creating a better sleep strategy. 

Call or make an appointment to begin getting your mornings back!

By: Dr. Phil Bechard, DC

Knee pain is a common issue…..and one of the most commonly asked questions I get is “do you treat knees?” while I’m working on another issue with someone!  

Knee pain tends to generate from injury, aging, or overuse. Mild forms of knee pain tend to go away, but severe, limiting, or long term knee pain should be addressed through the guidance of a professional. 

The most common forms of knee pain that we work on in the office include:

• Meniscus injuries

• Osteoarthritis

• Patellar tendonitis 

In addition to problems directly associated with the tissue of the knee, knee pain can also be caused by a variety of other issues! Often knee pain is generated from other places, due to the fact that it is a very stable joint in the body. If it is suffering from wear and tear, it’s likely that the problem is not necessarily the source that needs to be worked on! This is why it is important to be evaluated so a source can be established and appropriate care for your specific problem can be advised. Below is a list of a number of the most common causes for knee pain that isn’t generated from the knee:

• IT Band syndrome 

• Lower back dysfunction/referral pain 

• Hip mobility Issues

• Ankle mobility issues 

• Core stability 

If you have knee pain and haven’t quite figured out how to get yourself back to the things you are missing out on because of it, even if it has been years, a chiropractor in our office can help evaluate the source (or sources) of your pain and how to best address them. If you feel like you're miles behind because you can’t move forward with your knees, give us a call at in Rochester 585-445-8584 or in Penfield at 5858-445-8605 or schedule online.

Good morning! Well, maybe not so good……that depends on how your body is feeling! You may have Noticed recently that in the morning you’re feeling like you just time warped 20 years and your back or neck just does not like waking up with you. Pain in the neck and lower back in the morning is a common experience to have for a period of time, and there are some explanations as to why, and fortunately ways to help fix it! Morning pain can be attributed to various factors, and understanding these potential causes can help address the issue. 

One common reason is related to the body's overnight recovery process. During sleep, the muscles and ligaments in the back relax and may become stiff, especially if you maintain a certain position for an extended period. The lack of movement can lead to a temporary reduction in blood flow and oxygen supply to the muscles, contributing to stiffness and discomfort upon waking. To help alleviate this problem, a key factor to prevention is finding a consistent movement program during the day that can help make these structures more resilient. 

Another factor contributing to morning back pain may be the choice of sleeping posture or mattress. An unsupportive mattress or improper sleeping position can lead to misalignment of the spine, putting strain on the back muscles. Over time, this strain can result in discomfort and pain, particularly upon waking. It's essential to ensure that your mattress provides adequate support and promotes a neutral spine alignment during sleep. For more advice, the chiropractors at our office can help you navigate strategies that work best for you. 

Additionally, underlying medical conditions such as arthritis, herniated discs, or spinal stenosis can cause morning back pain. Inflammatory conditions may worsen during periods of inactivity, leading to increased stiffness and discomfort in the morning. 

If your morning pain persists or worsens, having an evaluation by a chiropractor can aid in solving it! Often, a key factor in helping out our night time or morning problems is creating change in the things we do in our hours that we are proactive and awake. Changing our daily routine can often lead to better success in better quality rest, and thereby reducing morning pain.  The providers in our office can help in providing therapy to stressed areas of the spine and muscles, provide targeted home exercise, and to provide insight in creating a better sleep strategy. 

Call or make an appointment to begin getting your mornings back!

The relationship between cervical (neck) joints and headaches can be complex.. However, some ways in which cervical joints may contribute to headaches include:

• Muscle Tension and Posture: Poor posture and muscle tension in the neck and upper back can lead to strain on the cervical joints. This tension can radiate to the head and contribute to tension-type headaches. 

• Nerve Irritation: The cervical spine houses nerves that extend into the head. If there is irritation or compression of these nerves due to issues like herniated discs or misalignment of the vertebrae, it could result in headaches.

• Cervicogenic Headaches: These are headaches that originate from the neck. They can be caused by dysfunction in the cervical spine, such as arthritis, injury, or muscle tightness. The pain is often felt on one side of the head and may be accompanied by neck pain.

• Blood Flow: Some researchers suggest that changes in blood flow to the brain due to issues in the neck could contribute to certain types of headaches.

It's crucial to have a consultation in order to determine if chiropractic is the right course of care for your headache, especially if it’s been persisting for a long amount of time. They can conduct a thorough examination, consider your medical history, and determine the appropriate course of action. Our chiropractors will then, if appropriate, help you create a plan that includes manual therapy, exercise, and postural advice that should help you break the cycle! If you’re interested in what we can do for you, call our offices at 585-445-8584 (Rochester), 585-445-8605 (Penfield), or conveniently schedule online at www.mthopechiropractic.com 

Let's face it, sciatica is a big pain in the butt (okay give me a break, I'm a newly minted dad, I need to polish up on the elegant art of dad joking). Leg pain, with or without numbness or tingling, can really be a huge limiting experience, not to mention emotionally draining. A lot of people like to think of it as a major setback, with fears of wondering the source, how long it's going to last, or for that matter, if it's ever going to go away.

For those of your that are presently dealing with it, or have dealt with it in the past, there is some good news. If you read the previous blog post on our website (intro to lower back pain) this type of problem is a temporary sensitivity our body has developed based usually on our habits, and we are very capable or re-adapting and overcoming. With a little detective work, we often can find the reasons why we are currently dealing with this, and apply a course of correction.

The first big questions your should ask yourself are:

-Does it feel the same every time I do a certain activity?

-Has it been moving higher or lower in the leg quickly (within a matter of hours or days)?

-Is there numbness or tingling associated with it?

Like most problems we deal with in the office, we have to reduce possibilities of what it is to as few decisions as possible. Sciatica, by true definition, is caused by a nerve or group of nerves originating from the lower back that have become less mobile in their path to where they end. Think of it like a hose that's being pinched or caught somewhere. Evidence shows that this is actually a LESS COMMON problem of the lower back, and your leg pain may actually be originating from another, more common, spinal issue which we will discuss in another blog.

Sciatica typically presents in the following manner:

-It feels the same every time you perform a certain activity

-Progress or improvement of symptoms tends to be slower (weeks or months)

-Typically accompanied with numbness or tingling

If this sounds like a problem you are presently dealing with, we can help. We can provide the knowledge to approach the source of your problem, both through in office management, and advisement on correcting the habits that started the problem in the first place; through self corrective exercise and appropriate coached movement in your environment. Get informed, and get moving.

As always, comments and questions are encouraged, feel free to email at mhcwny@gmail.com or comment below!

Nice try Jeff, but the real answer is you should always train your core as a runner, ESPECIALLY if you consistently deal with any of the following:

• Nagging hip or knee pain that begins at any time during your run

• plantar fasciitis or achilles tendonitis

• unbalanced muscle soreness later in the day or the day after running

• lower back or neck pain

How does the core tie into running?

Without getting too complex, when we refer to the core, we typically are referring to the muscles that do a lot of the heavy lifting (no pun intended) in the body, many of which are deeper than the surface and are localized around the lower ribs, torso, and hips. Yes, you can rock a dad bod and still have a solid amount of intrinsic core strength, which is often a misconception that many people have. The best way to think about how they apply to running is thinking in terms of jumping on a trampoline.

If you've ever had the pleasure of breaking in a brand new trampoline, you'll know how amazing it is at transferring the hop you put into the canvas and allowing you to bounce to amazing heights (especially if you have like 2-3 other people to launch you into the air). As the springs begin to wear down over the years, the canvas takes a lot more effort to bounce into to get high, and often you cannot spring as high as you once were able to.

The core works in the same way at helping you while running. When it is working well, the center of our body acts like a spring, transferring energy that we produce from the ground with the push of our leg, and shifting it into our upper body to produce push forward. If the springs start to get loose, that push forward still has to happen, and our body compensates by getting it elsewhere. These compensations are the reason why we start to break down and develop physical issues, but lucky for us we don't have to by a new trampoline!

Self screen

Although there are many other procedures we would do to figure out the best plan for you in office, one of the easiest screening tools you can do for yourself is a single leg standing test:

With no shoes on and standing in front of a mirror, simply attempt to stand on one foot. When you do this do you notice:

• Does your hip has to glide to the side?

• Does your body rotate?

• Does your ankle jiggle like a leaf in the wind?

• Is it harder on one side compared to the other?

These can all be small signs that an additional investment is needed for you to continue to run without pain. For further assistance, feel free to schedule an appointment and we can begin to help you with a plan to get back to your best running ability, or running pain free!