Do you feel like you’re getting old before your time? Do you wake up stiff and sore and seem to have more frequent bouts of low back pain? Or maybe that uncomfortable ache around your neck and shoulders doesn’t seem to go away? Has your flexibility reached embarrassing levels to the point where you have trouble putting on your socks in the morning? It’s easy to chuckle at this but the fact is many people let their health start deteriorating at a slow pace until they reach a “breaking point” and find themselves in trouble.
Here are two easy screening tests that you can do at home to help find out if you have a potential neck or back problem that is being neglected.
To test if there is a problem in the neck have someone stand behind you while you sit upright in a chair with your eyes closed. Tilt or nod you head up and down until you feel you are in a neutral position. Now, have the person behind you hold your shoulders so they will not move and rotate your head as far as you can go to the left. Hold this position for a few seconds and then with the shoulders still held in place, rotate as far as you can go to the right. Have the person standing behind you watch how far your nose is able to go in each direction. Could you turn further in one direction than the other? Did you feel any pain or tightness with turning in either direction? Did you hear any “popping” or grinding sounds? If you answered “yes” to any of these, a more thorough examination may reveal the underlying problem.
Many spinal problems may be caused by a short leg or create the appearance of a short leg. To test this, simply lie with your face straight down on a bed with your arms relaxed at your side and hang your feet out over the edge so they point down. Have the person testing you level or flatten the bottom of each foot by applying equal pressure with the thumbs under the arches while the rest of the hand holds the top of the foot. Are both legs of equal length when the bottoms of the shoes are parallel with eachother? Is there a noticeable difference between the right and left? If you answered “yes” then a potential spinal problem may exist. Uneven leg length greater than 1/4″ is a clinically significant finding and needs to be evaluated.
The fact is you don’t have to be in pain to do these tests. Try them on all members of your family and be aware that most spinal problems start early in life. Isolating, detecting and correcting the underlying cause is the key to optimal health and performance. Are you going to reach your ”breaking point” before you get your spine and nervous system checked by a qualified Doctor of Chiropractic?
