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At Espinosa Family Chiropractic, we believe in a holistic approach to health: from this perspective, a chiropractic adjustment to relieve pain and re-establish balance is only the beginning. To continue the path of healing and improving wellness, it takes a coordinated effort between exercise, nutrition, sleep, posture and a host of other factors. For many people, this seems overwhelming but we urge you to fear not: if you are serious about making changes to improve your health, we are here to help. 

Corrective exercise is an invaluable element of chiropractic care. It improves the effectiveness of a spinal adjustment by going further: strengthening the muscles and connective tissue that keep your back balanced and healthy. Often, a quick examination will reveal that lower back and core muscles are strained without a person’s awareness. This type of muscle strain can be relieved with stretching and light aerobic activity, simple movements that get the muscle groups moving. 

A program for corrective exercise should be detailed to the individual: it is important to note that if you have suffered a serious spinal injury NO exercise should be undertaken. However, most conditions involving mild to moderate back pain will improve with appropriate exercise. We start slow: doing stretches and exercises that you feel comfortable with in small doses. We then introduce more advanced stretching and exercise as your strength and flexibility returns. 

If you are tired of back pain creating a drag on your life, give our office in Sacramento a call at (916) 457-8825

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C. 

One of the greatest benefits of chiropractic is how it improves range of motion, impacting flexibility, reaction speeds, balance and coordination. It’s no wonder that many athletes swear by chiropractic to keep them on top of their game. At Espinosa Family Chiropractic, we see the impact that sedentary lifestyles have on the standard human’s flexibility: it is a very sad sight and we are here to change that.

When we sit in front of the computer all day, then watch TV all night, our muscles are training themselves to achieve only the range of motion necessary to sit, and generally not with good posture. Age and weight are other factors that conspire to limit the seemingly unlimited range of motion we once enjoyed as children and young adults. Poor flexibility leaves us more susceptible to injury, makes everyday movements more difficult, limits our athletic performance and makes recovering from injury less successful. 

Through chiropractic adjustment, we target spinal joints that may be out of alignment, creating pain and limiting your motion. Once we get you moving again, we help you implement a personalized plan that combines corrective exercise and flexibility stretching to keep you limber for a long life. 

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C.

At Espinosa Family Chiropractic, spinal adjustments form the basis of our practice; however, our expertise extends to the realms nutrition and corrective exercise for those seeking total wellness. Immune function is certainly improved by ensuring the proper alignment of the spine, but to live a long life free of pain we need to be eating well, sleeping restfully, and strengthening our body properly. While not everyone is willing to upend their diet, adhering to some simple principles can change the way you feel and impact positive immune function and mental health. 

• Eat organic: At one time, the adage, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” may have been universally applied to all apples. Today, however, you want to ensure that your apple hasn’t been sprayed with pesticides during the course of its growth. Less pesticides, more nutrients. 
• Less alcohol: A great way to reduce your caloric intake, especially for beer drinkers. Reducing body weight is a great way to lessen the burden on the lower back.
• Focus on raw ingredients: Juice contains more sugar and fewer vitamins than the fruit it supposedly comes from. 
• Hydrate: A large percentage of Americans are chronically thirsty. Do you drink your eight 8 oz. glasses a day? An easy way to start getting more water in your diet is to purchase a 1 liter water bottle and drink it down twice throughout the day. 
• Eat less processed food: These contain all the wrong kinds of sugar and fats. Making the effort to cook with wholesome ingredients may take an hour longer but save you years of pain.

Nutrition and chiropractic care are complimentary in their quest for wellness: call our office in Sacramento today to start creating a dynamic plan that incorporates nutrition and chiropractic care.

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C. 

Summer is a time to feel fine: plentiful sunshine, longer daylight hours and rich, colorful surroundings make us feel immediately happier. At Espinosa Family Chiropractic, we love summer because it gets people outdoors, exploring the things that truly make them happy after a winter that can sometimes become monotonous. Here are a few ways you can take your well-being to the next level during summer.

• Get plenty of vitamin D; it is free, after all. One of the most crucial components for immune system functioning and bone health is also the one which many Americans lack the most. Apply some sunscreen, grab a bottle of water and relax in the sun
• Stay hydrated: Pay attention to water and sodium levels in your body: we sweat more during the summer which means you probably need to drink more water than normal.
• Eat well: Local produce is abundant and often cheap. With farmer’s markets operating quite frequently, there is no reason to ignore all the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients which await you with some finely colored produce.
• Exercise, differently. Hiking in the mountains, swimming in the lakes, all of these become available during the summer season.

Relax: use the summer to focus on removing stress from your life. It is a great chance to reset, and we want to help you in this endeavor. Give our office in Sacramento a call at (916) 457-8825.

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C. 

Gardening season is in full swing: with temperatures and spirits high, more people leave their winter skin on the couch so they can get growing. Gardening and chiropractic are complimentary: gardening is exactly the type of activity that gets people off the couch, to the benefit of their mind, body and soul. However, some of the motions involved can put strain on the back, especially if there is a pre-existing subluxation. At Espinosa Family Chiropractic, we offer prevention and treatment modalities that keep you in a state of enjoying gardening without the hassle of pain. 

Avoid aches and pains this gardening season by following these easy tips: 

Warm up: Stretching for less that 5 minutes before you get down and garden can keep your body limbered and strong against the kind of twisting, bending and dipping motions that are most frequent while gardening. 

Take breaks and drink water: Step back and enjoy the fruits of your labor while having a gulp of water or two. Make sure you are replacing the water that you shed so you don’t end up feeling exhausted and headache-y at the end of the day. Keeping properly hydrated makes all the functioning systems of your body work more efficiently. 

Avoid twisting unnecessarily: Keep your spade in front of you, to avoid twisting behind you to reach it. 

Lift properly: large loads are sometimes unavoidable in the garden, so make sure that you observe proper lifting etiquette by lifting with your legs and whole body as opposed to bending and lifting with the back. 

Mix up your tasks: Remaining hunched over on your knees for a long period of time encourages muscles to tighten and strain to occur. If you can, mix it up by doing small tasks and moving from patch to patch of your garden to keep muscles limber. 

If your back is not letting you enjoy gardening the way you used to, give our office in Sacramento a call. We can identify and correct misalignment, and speed the healing process of damaged tissues and strained ligaments. 

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C. 

There is a high correlation between people who commute regularly or drive for a living and those who have spinal disorders. This is because the driver’s seat is not the best place for backs: very rarely are car seats engineered with a proper resting position in mind, and if they are, it may not be properly adjusted to the individual. So we must take a proactive approach to protecting our musculoskeletal integrity when driving regularly. Here are some ways you can make your daily commute more conducive to a healthy back:

• Lumbar support: whether it is built-in or whether you must add it in, using something that promotes the natural curvature of your spine will save you from the problem of slumping or slouching. 
• This being said, you must still take frequent breaks, depending on the length of the journey. Even sitting with perfect posture without moving for hours leaves you stiff and sore. Make sure you are hydrating regularly, and take breaks to breathe in the scenery. 
• Head positioning is very important. While you should always have your eyes on the road, make sure you are not craning your neck forward, amplifying the weight of your head to the spine and muscles in the neck and shoulders. Try to keep it centered above the spine with the chin slightly tucked. 

Don’t let driving put a drag on your spinal health. If your back feels sore or out of sorts no matter what kind of good things you are doing for it, there may be an underlying spinal condition that needs evaluation. At our office in Sacramento, we provide you with adjustments to keep your spine in alignment and slowing the advance of degenerative decay. Find out how our form of corrective chiropractic can optimize your well being by calling our office today. 

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C. 

Sinuses play a larger role in our lives than they are often given credit for. Like many functioning parts of the body, we don’t pay them attention until they give us grief. Sinuses are located throughout the head: in the cheeks, the nose and the forehead. They are air-filled sacs or cavities that drain mucous from the nasal passageways: so, when they get blocked up, mucous builds creating a veritable breeding ground for bacteria that can lead to infection. 

The kind of congestion associated with sinus problems often leads to headaches, with presenting symptoms of pressure in the sinus regions, feelings of stuffiness and full ears that feel likely to pop. They are usually worse in the morning, after you have spent the night lying down, giving them even less chance to drain. 

So, how does this relate to chiropractic? Often, misalignment of the cervical vertebrae can interfere with the nerve communication to the sinuses. We correct any presenting subluxation and employ other methods like localized tapping to encourage the sinuses to drain. 

Anyone who has lived with chronic sinusitis knows how much of thorn it can put in their side. Along with chiropractic treatment, we encourage people to get moving, as exercise helps to improve circulation and clear out the sinuses further. Dietary considerations include consuming ingredients that contain anti-inflammatory properties and staying fully hydrated.

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C.

Strengthening and stretching: the immortal S’s that will help you overcome back pain once and for all. Whether you are suffering acute back pain from a traumatic injury, or more generalized pain that has accrued from repetitive stress, the back can benefit from these exercises done on a daily basis. DO NOT undertake any stretch, exercise or movement that exacerbates your pain to even the slightest degree. Your best bet before starting any exercise routine is to confer face-to-face at our office in Sacramento.

Bridging

• Lay supine with knees bent, hip-width apart.
• Raise hips slowly until a straight line is achieved between knees and chest.
• Hold bridge for 5-10 seconds and slowly return to ground.
• Repeat 5 times
• Do not be discouraged if you cannot achieve the bridge at first. Many people need a few days to work their way up to it.

Wall squatting

• Stand against wall with feet in front of body by about 12 inches.
• Keep back straight, flex stomach muscles and lower body into a squat.
• Squat as far as you can, with the intention of your thighs being parallel to the ground.
• Hold 5 seconds then reverse the motion.
• Repeat 10 times

At Espinosa Family Chiropractic, we love seeing people live pain free lives. It is a privilege of our job that we can help in this endeavor. For help creating a routine that incorporates stretching and exercise that strengthen the structurs and muscles of the back, give our office a call today.

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C. 

How much benefit are you actually reaping from your daily crunches? The lumbar region of the back is the main support for your entire body: it makes sense that keeping the surrounding musculature strong and healthy will boost the spine’s longevity. The core is a complex series of muscle groups that plays a role in almost every aspect of human movement, no more so than in the mechanics of the back. The core is used for stability and force transfer across the body, and force production is actually a tertiary function. This leaves me asking why so many people focus on crunches as the sole method to improve core health?

Core stability is the ability of the muscles to control the force we produce and therefore, a stable, strong core will be the one that inoculates us against injury. Core stability movements such as planking, side planking and deadlifting are a better metric for core strength than the number of crunches you can perform.

For those looking to improve their core muscles to make an impact on the overall health of their back, including the prevention of injury, a calculated approach must be applied. This is where we can help at Espinosa Family Chiropractic: we can put together a plan that develops the core as a stabilizer rather than a force producer, thereby increasing the longevity of your spine.

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C.

Don’t take for granted the number of minutes you spend commuting on a weekly basis. The minutes add up quick and very few cars are equipped to support or even encourage a neutral sitting position for the spine. Many people can recall the feeling of being stiff and sore from a road trip. This feeling is an outcry from muscles which have accumulated tension from lack of movement during the drive. Your intervertebral discs have absorbed fluid during this time, further limiting your range of motion. We often take the rest stop exit to relieve our bladders, but rarely to give our muscles and spine the attention they deserve. Driving truly is a rigorous undertaking for the back; at Espinosa Family Chiropractic we encourage you to help out in any way you can by using posture.

Sitting up straight is the best way to begin: with your butt back in the seat and your head balanced above your spine, the rest of the body will follow suit. Do you ever find yourself leaning on the center console? Now is the time to stop, as this encourages a muscular imbalance that will compound over the long drive. Holding the steering wheel at 9 and 3 is good, but are your shoulders relaxed? It might be appropriate to adjust the height of your seat or steering wheel (if possible). Finally, car seats are not conducive to supporting the lordotic curve. Use a small pillow or rolled up jacket to give your back a boost and see how it immediately makes you feel better.

At our office in Sacramento, we are keen on showing people how the little things add up. Just as poor posture can defeat your well-being, so can proper posture change the way you feel at the end of a long drive for the better. For a whole range of holistic lifestyle adjustments and counseling, call our office in Sacramento at (916) 457-8825.

Dr. Raymond Espinosa, D.C.