2025 is here! A new year awaits, and what better time than now to make resolutions? Resolutions can help you reach your short-term or long-term goals and are a great way to challenge yourself and stay accountable.
Nearly 65 million people report recent episodes of back pain and roughly 16 million people experience chronic back pain. If you, like so many others, have persistent back pain, make it a priority to find relief. Visit any one of our Chiro One locations, and our professional chiropractor doctors will create a personalized care plan that targets your pain and puts you on the road to recovery. In the meantime, follow these five simple but effective resolutions that can help you reach your wellness goals.
1. Improve Your Posture
Orlando Health states that an average American spendsalmost four hours looking down at their smartphones, leading to poor posture and health conditions. This staggering number is significant but not necessarily surprising. In our digital age, numerous factors encourage the development of poor posture, including texting, watching videos, and even lying in bed for long periods scrolling on phones. To avoid the consequences of poor posture, be mindful of how you position yourself. Try out these simple and easy improvements.
When sitting, sit at a 90-degree angle with your back against the chair
Keep your feet flat on the floor
Hold your phone at eye level rather than bending your neck down
Stretch regularly
Distribute weight evenly between both sides of your body as you stand and avoid leaning
2. Prioritize Restorative Sleep
There’s no way of getting around it, sleep is essential to our health—including our spinal health. It’s recommended that adults alone need 7-8 hours of solid rest each night to power natural brain repair. When it comes to chronic back pain, sleep plays a crucial role in ensuring our intervertebral discs are supplied with the proper amount of water they need each day. If you’re not getting enough sleep, back pain can continue to occur and can even lead to degenerative disc disease.
This year, make a conscious effort to get the sleep you need. Consider following these tips to help improve your quality of sleep.
Avoid caffeine 10 hours before you’d like to sleep
Stop the use of all screens (phones, TVs, etc.) one hour before you’d like to sleep. Instead, engage in activities that can help you wind down before bed, such as reading a book or writing in a journal
Create an environment conducive to sleeping: blackout curtains over the windows, a comfortable temperature that’s not too hot or cold, and even place your phone somewhere outside of the room
Use a pillow that properly supports your neck during sleep
Sleep in a position that supports the natural curvature of your neck and avoids putting pressure on your spine. Sleeping on your back is a great position
3. Implement Regular Exercise and Stretching
It can’t be stressed enough how important it is to move your body. While it’s easy to sit or lay around for hours at a time, being sedentary only increases your chance of pain and reduced flexibility. To avoid injury and chronic pain, put computers or phones aside and focus on getting regular exercise and stretching. To get started, try out these improvements to get moving.
Stand up and walk around once an hour to alleviate stress on the spine. Try switching to a standing desk at work
Do some form of exercise daily, such as walking, yoga, strength training, etc. Doing so can help keep you mobile, flexible, and help relieve back pain
Stretch! Always stretch before working out to avoid injury
4. Wear Supportive Shoes
Keep those shoes on, even when you work from home! While going barefoot and choosing style over comfort may be your top choice, it’s been proven that wearing supportive footwear can make a difference. Inflammation from lack of support can migrate throughout the body, causing back pain. Manage your back pain with the following effective shoe tips.
If you wear the same shoes often, buy a new pair of your “everyday shoes,” especially if it’s been more than a year since your last pair. Shoes should be replaced regularly to ensure proper support
Choose a pair of cushioned shoes with arch support
Make sure shoes fit properly. If shoes are too big or too tight, it could impact your spine, leading to back pain
5. Make an Appointment at Your Local Chiro One Wellness Center
This year, we would love to work together to meet your New Year’s resolutions. Start by scheduling an appointment with a doctor at Chiro One today. We’ll put together a personalized care plan that includes chiropractic adjustments and active therapies to help find the root cause and relieve back pain.
Don’t let another year go by. Make back pain relief a priority in 2025.