Saturday, January 5, 2008

Oversized Purses a Huge Pain in the Neck


Women might want to start adding aspirin bottles to the enormous bags and purses fashionable this year. Karen Erickson, a chiropractor in New York and a spokeswoman for the American Chiropractic Association, estimates that the number of purse-related injuries and sprains she treats has risen 30% in the past year. "When people come into my office complaining of neck pain, shoulder pain and headaches, I go over and pick up their handbag and give it a weigh test," she says. "It is amazing how heavy they get."
Research on kids who carry backpacks suggests they should lug amounts that are no heavier than 10% of body weight. Doctors say the recommended total weight for handbags is far less because of the pressure the bags can cause on one shoulder. Dr. Erickson tells her patients that their fully loaded handbags should weigh no more than 1 or 2 pounds -- although she sees many women who regularly carry 10 to 15 pounds.
"The issue with some of the largest purses is their capacity," says Leon Benson, an orthopedic surgeon in Evanston, Ill., who is also a spokesman for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
Dr. Benson says he sees lots of women come in with a particular type of tendonitis that causes pain in their shoulders. The remedy typically is labor-intensive physical therapy to rebalance the muscles and reduce inflammation of the tendons, "but the patients don't like it," he says.

Dr. Zach's Comments:
-Whenever your spine loses its normal alignment or function, it compromises your ability to regulate appropriate nerve system tension, and the result is a partial loss of CONNECTION between your brain and your body. We call this loss of connection and decrease in the expression of your life energy “subluxation”.
-Chiropractic is the science, art, and philosophy of restoring and maintaining the neurological connections between your brain and your body with the purpose of maximizing the expression of your life energy in your body and thus allowing you to move toward health and eventually wholeness.
-The Purpose of Chiropractic Care is to RESTORE normal alignment and function in the spine in order to RE-ESTABLISH an appropriate brain-body connection so that you may RESUME the healing process and move toward Health, Wellness and Wholeness.

No comments: