I saw my dentist this morning. When I was waiting for him the senior partner ushered me into his room for advice on back pain. His dental nurse said that she used to work for a chiropractor. Chiropractors not only treat back pain;they advise on how to avoid it. The dentist was drilling and prepping for up to an hour. He felt the pain in his upper shoulder muscles (supraspinatus) and lower back (sacroiliac joint). She suggested that he lower the patient on the couch until they were nearly horizontal and work sitting nearer the head. Dental work is a compromise between the comfort of the patient and the dentist. You do not want your patients to choke. Neither do you want your staff off work with back pain. He needed to bring his elbow closer to his body to relax the shoulder and to avoid both twisting the spine and leaning to one side at the same time. Twisting the spine is OK if you are sitting straight,but when you bend the spine you put a strain into the sacroiliac joints and the supporting muscles:piriformis,gluteus medius and gluteus minimus for example.
Try this:sit tall in your chair,tilt your pelvis forward a little,place your left hand on your outer thigh and your right hand on the back of your chair;rotate as much as you can. Take a minute or two to do this. Rotate a little further each time you breathe out. Look over your right shoulder and open the shoulder muscles,stretching the pects. (pectoral muscles). Twist from the upper waist. That squeezes your kidneys and liver,flushing new blood through your internal organs. Try the other side. That was a good stretch. Now bend forwards and reach out to one side. Feel how the further you stretch the more you side bend the spine. That is not a good stretch. There is an old saying,When the spine is line you feel fine.
Can anyone answer this common question? What is the difference between an osteopath,a chiropractor a physiotherapist and a holistic therapist? They all claim to have a unique philosophy and light heartedly (I hope),tease one another.
