Reducing Tension Headaches Caused by Poor Posture

Ergonomics is the study of posture and positioning of your body. It sounds pretty boring until you consider that millions of people are suffering from headaches every day related to their posture! Whether it’s an assembly line, typewriter, computer, tablet, or phone, you are likely spending a lot of time looking down.

Research has found that up to 20 pounds of pressure is placed on your neck for every inch your chin extends forward or down. This increased pressure can irritate the tissues of your neck leading to everything from premature degenerative changes to chronic headaches.

Maintaining a healthy posture can not only help reduce the stress and pressure on the spinal joints of your neck- but it can also help dramatically reduce headaches. The first step in regaining a proper posture is to establish normal motion. This is why chiropractic adjustments are likely to become your new best friend.

Chiropractic care is focused on finding the areas of your spine which aren’t moving correctly and gently helping them regain their normal range of motion. After we have worked with you to restore proper movement, then we can focus on strengthening the muscles supporting your neck and back. This personalized type of care is how we have been able to help many people just like you establish better posture and reduce the frequency and severity of their headaches.

• Every inch of forward head posture places up to 20 lbs of pressure on your neck
• This pressure can contribute to tension headaches
• Research has shown chiropractic care can dramatically improve your posture and reduce your headaches  

Take a look around your workstation the next time you are at the office. Is it set up in a way that's ergonomically correct? If not, or if you're not sure, just let your chiropractor know. They would be happy to set up a time to come to your office, evaluate your workplace, and provide specifics recommendations for improvement to help keep you and everyone you work with feeling great!  

Science Source:

Evidence-Based Guidelines for the Chiropractic Treatment of Adults with Headache. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. Volume 34, Number 5. 2011

Efficacy of Manual and Manipulative Therapy in the Perception of Pain and Cervical Motion in Patients with Tension-Type Headache: A Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial Journal of Chiropractic Medicine. (2014) 13, 4-13

How to Become the #1 Chiropractor on Google in Your City

Google search has over 1 billion users! These are people in your community searching for your practice. So how do you get to the top?

It's call search engine optimization and it's how you market your chiropractic practice online. 

Get a FREE chiropractic social media content package here

Somebody types in "your city chiropractor" it'd be ideal to come up number one. If you're on the fourth page, you fundamentally do not exist. Hate to break it to you. 

So what are some Google tips to help get you up to the first page?

...it's not using a headline of "wellness awaits you." 

OK. So I've ranted about this before I'll rant about it again. "Wellness awaits you" is not a compelling headline. I just want just to want to get that out there. Nobody in town right now is saying,  "I am desperately looking for wellness, and if it awaits me in this clinic, I am motivated to spend cash and sign up for the first visit possible." Nobody even knows what that means! Chiropractors fight about what wellness means, never mind the public.

So how do you build a compelling headline?

It depends on your practice type. If you want to do acute care and auto accident cases will speak to that with your call to action. If you're going to take care of CrossFit athletes, or as they are commonly known as "new patient generator gyms" (kidding) then speak to them. Speak to their pain points, their issues. Make sure that you are creating a compelling headline and a persuasive call to action at the top of your website. That's absolutely crucial. 

Next is a very commonly overlooked aspect of SEO- imaging sizing. Most people don't think about this.

You might say to yourself, "well I'm going to use a company, and I'm not going to build my own website." 

Cool, don't build your own site, you still should know this information. Most of the web building companies do a terrible job or don't pay attention at all, to image sizing. So you want to be at least able to speak to the person and tell them, " I want these things taken care of." 

So why does this matter? If your images are big, it takes a long time to load your page. A longtime means about two seconds. Google will push you down in their ranking. Even if you have everything else right and your image size it too big, Google forces your webpage down in raking. It takes even two seconds to load, it's hurting you. Your page needs to load in less than one second, and image sizes are the number one reason why websites load slow. The good news is there are a bunch of tools out there for free that squash pictures to 10 percent of the original size and its impossible to tell the difference. 

Finally, Google loves fresh content.

Nobody wants to go to a Web site desperate to find relief, and it looks like they literally have to like dust off the top of the website due to inactivity. Also, don't be the guy/girl that decided to post 25 things in three weeks and that hasn't touched it in two years. That's not compelling.  

Consistent updates with fresh content on your social media and your website are crucial to gaining valuable exposure and search engine optimization. And there's plenty of tools to help you schedule those things out. So don't go feast and famine. Make sure that you are continuing to put out content even if it's once a week. The search engines like to see that, and so do prospective patients. I mean, would you go a doctor if their website looked like it was created 15 years ago and hasn't been touched since? I don't think so.

If content creation is complicated for you- pick up a free sample content pack at The Smart Chiropractor. We'll send you over some excellent evidence-based content to get started. 

Solving the Opioid Crisis...with chiropractic?

Over the past few years, our country has been fighting one of the most deadly epidemics in history: addiction to prescription pain medications. What’s more, thanks to a pharmaceutical industry that has billions of dollars to spend on lobbying and advertising…t's been an uphill battle.

In the United States alone, over 300 million prescriptions for pain relievers are filled each year.

Many of the people filling those medications started taking them due to back pain, and until recently, prescribing pills has been the standard of medical care for acute pain. That’s why we have so many people addicted to painkillers, and it’s estimated that 2% of the population will eventually become addicted to these prescription painkillers.

There is a better, safer way; a way to find relief without becoming addicted to these dangerous medications.

New research shows that when Chiropractic care is added to standard medical care, over 73% of people have significant improvement or complete relief! What’s more, when people focus on correcting the cause of the problem and experience relief naturally, they don’t need to keep taking that higher and higher dose of medication to reduce their pain.

That’s why many healthcare organizations are looking towards Chiropractic care as a tremendous ally in the fight against prescription medication abuse and addiction.

•  Medications are no longer recommended as a first-line treatment for back pain.
• Over 73% of people who added Chiropractic to their medical care found significant or complete relief from back pain.
• Adjustments can help you address the cause of the pain, not just mask the symptoms.

Science Source:

Adding Chiropractic Manipulative Therapy to Standard Medical Care for Patients With Acute Low Back Pain. SPINE Volume 38, Number 8, pp 627-634. @2013