The Keys to Successful Squat Exercises

If you’ve ever tried to tone and tighten your lower half or to do more in your workout, you were probably told to do squats. Building strength and staying fit is a great way to improve your health and reduce your aches and pains. Squats can be a strong move that strengthens your legs and buttocks while increasing endurance. However, there is a right and wrong way to perform the move, and if done incorrectly it could cause more harm than good.



When doing squats, or any toning exercise, it’s important to stay focused on your form the entire time. To start, stand with your legs slightly wider than shoulder width with your toes pointing away from center at a 45 degree angle. Keep your weight on the heels of your feet, and you know you’re doing this correctly if you are able to wiggle your toes easily. This stance will keep your knees safe from injury during the squat, so make sure to keep this position throughout the movement.



During the exercise itself, keep the muscles in your buttocks flexed throughout the move. Lower slowly into the squat keeping your shins straight and your knees above your ankles. Never squat down with your knees extending past your toes, instead lean back bringing your buttocks out behind you.



Be especially careful doing squats to prevent lower back strain. You will find that you really don’t need much weight at all. Try doing them in your living room for a few reps and you will feel the burn rather quickly. At the gym you can use light dumbbells in your hands or a smith machine to keep you in stable form.



As with any exercise, the proper form for squats is best learned through repetition. Once you’ve got the right form down, keep at it consistently and you’ll be seeing results in no time.




The Glastonbury Chiropractor is located in central Connecticut- CT Spine and Disc Center specializes in patients who suffer from sciatica, disc degeneration, bulging disc or herniated disc in the lumbar spine. Call our chiropractic office at 860-633-8756 to schedule an appointment and to see if you are a candidate for non surgical spinal decompressionAdditional Reading Resources:

• health articles
  
• powerful exercises
  
• back pain and sciatica exercise video
  
• What is Non Surgical Spinal Decompression: FAQ's
• Research about Non Surgical Spinal Decompression

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Low Back STrain vs. A Low Back SPrain

A strain typically refers to the muscle and a sprain usually involves the joint or tendons and ligaments. Because in an injury both tend to be effected, we often refer to the condition as a strain/sprain.

Basically, tendons connect muscles, ligaments connect bone to muscle and they cross joints. So, based on this, it’s often difficult to isolate one injury from another.

Both a strain and a sprain can be from an acute injury, but they can often be a result of a chronic condition that has been there, but is re-injured or re-exacerbated.

For example, you can get a new low back injury or pain that can strain or sprain the low back, but you can also re-injure your low back.

However, the back pain which started as a low back strain or sprain is treated very well with chiropractic care. When it’s disc pain, the spinal decompression works best.


CT Spine and Disc Center is located in central Connecticut- Specializing in patients who suffer from sciatica, disc degeneration, bulging disc or herniated disc in the lumbar spine. Call us at 860-633-8756 to see if you are a candidate for non surgical spinal decompression

Additional Reading Resources:

• chiropractic glastonbury
  
• chiropractor video
  
• support belt for a lower back strain or sprain
  
• Understanding Non Surgical Spinal Decompression: FAQ's
  
• Research about Non Surgical Spinal Decompression
  

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Getting Rid Of The Trigger Points In Your Lower Back Can Help Relieve Lower Back Pain.

Trigger points are knots in the muscle that can often be sore or painful. When they are present the muscles of the low back become more rigid and tight, causing more pressure and inflammation to accumulate on the nerves. This in turn can make your back or leg pain worse.

Most consistently the trigger points we find in people’s backs are in the lower back on each side of the spine just above the pelvis.

The reason we get these trigger points in the back, to begin with, can be from a lower back strain, past injury, or disc herniation, that puts pressure on the nerves.
If there is pressure on nerves going to the muscles of your low back, these muscles don’t get 100% of the information being sent to them. This causes muscle imbalances, tightness or trigger points.

If it’s a strain or misalignment of the spine creating the nerve pressure, chiropractic care can help relieve the pressure and therefore the trigger points in your back. Whether the cause of the nerve pressure is from a herniated disc or degenerative disc, the best option is Drx9000 spinal decompression.

In the mean time to help relieve some pressure temporarily there are ways of decreasing those trigger points. I can show you a quick way to help. With a little practice you can reach around to your low back and feel the trigger points. I say “a little practice” because it may take a couple times to realize what and where those trigger points are.

It will feel like a hard ball of muscle and it will move slightly when you press on it.

Once you find the, the best way to help loosen the muscular trigger points is to press on them and hold for 5-10 seconds. Repeat this action 1-3 times. You will notice that the trigger point gets smaller and harder to stay on. You may notice it breaking up under your fingers as well. If you are having trouble locating the trigger points it sometimes helps to bend slightly forward. This pushes the muscle more to the surface.

The muscle fibers should be smooth when they are knotted up it not only causes muscle tension, but it will create more pressure on nerves and more pain. Breaking up those trigger points will help relieve your pain.