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relieving spinal stenosis Read more...

Relieving Spinal Stenosis as You Age

Golf legend Arnold Palmer is expected to have surgery later this year to relieve the pressure caused by his spinal stenosis. At age 84 and having spent much of his life golfing at a professional level, he’s surely not alone in his condition--spinal stenosis is common among golfers as well as the elderly, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. What is Spinal Stenosis? Spinal stenosis is a condition in which the spinal canal or the vertebral foramina become narrowed. This can…
April 24, 2014
lumbar spine Read more...

Getting to Know the Lumbar Spine

by Dr. Gary Chimes

Understanding the Spine The lumbar spine is designed as a series of cushioning and gaskets. A lot of people incorrectly refer to the disc as a shock absorber, and sometimes they’ll call it a jelly donut, but that’s not really how it works. It’s really a fibrous outside, that’s similar in structure to a Chinese finger trap, that allows for motion with a firm gel on the inside. By having this gel surrounded by this fibrous outside, it allows for…
December 03, 2013
Kinetic Chain Read more...

The Kinetic Chain and Biomechanics

The Kinetic Chain: What is it? No surprise, our bodies are complex systems. What we sometimes forget, though, is that everything is interconnected. So when one part is not working optimally, it throws off ten others. Remember singing this as a kid? The head bone’s connected to the neck bone. The neck bone’s connected to the shoulder bone. The shoulder bone’s connected to the back bone… Well, the adult version can go on for days. Muscles, connective tissues, joints, bones,…
October 25, 2013
frequent back pain Read more...

The Ohs and Ows of Back Pain

You’re not alone. An approximate 80% of the population will have back pain at one time or another. In America, over 26 million suffer from frequent back pain. It can range from soreness that will go away in a few hours, to a chronic condition that can make everyday tasks near impossible.  Since back pain is most often triggered by awkward posture during daily activities, the key to improving and avoiding back pain is proper body mechanics. Our bodies were…
October 20, 2013
what is posture Read more...

What is Posture?

In a physiological sense, posture is the relationship among the skeleton, muscles, and other tissues of the body as it is held upright against gravity. It is as important to good health as proper nutrition, exercise, and a good night’s sleep. What is poor posture? When we think about poor posture, we often visualize someone slouching or hunched over. Poor posture, however, encompasses a lot more than a static pose. It is the result of chronic bad habits as we…
October 06, 2013
back pain and posture Read more...

Back Pain and How Posture Training Can Help

by Dr. Gary Chimes

Low back pain is the second most common reason that people go to see physicians and it is a natural consequence of being a human. One of the things that happens over time is that people get into postural habits that can lead to poor biomechanics. Those poor biomechanics are what then lead to structural deficits. Traditionally, when we focus on back pain, one concept people like to focus on is what the pain generator is; what structure in the back…
May 04, 2013
Need Good Back Brace Read more...

The Genesis of ActivAided

by Dr. Gary Chimes

The genesis of the ActivAided brace was an opportunity where I was working with some engineer students from Carnegie Mellon. It was a really great, energetic group of students, and they were looking at intraoperative devices for people who have spondylolisthesis and spondylolysis. And they were asking about surgical devices and could they design better hardware for surgical fusion. One of the things that I discussed with them is that there are actually a lot of really wonderful fusion devices…
February 23, 2013