One in four Americans live with chronic pain, according to a study by the National Center for Health Statistics. In another study, researchers found three-quarters of these adults used over-the-counter pain relievers within the previous three months. Encouragingly, 55% of that same group used exercise to help reduce their discomfort. 

Evidence supporting movement as part of a pain management plan is growing. Across 21 reviews and 37,000 participants with conditions including arthritis, fibromyalgia, and low back pain, a Cochrane overview found favorable effects on pain severity and physical function, with few adverse effects beyond muscle soreness that faded within weeks. 

Interrupting long stretches of sitting

How hard you move matters less than how often you move. You would not drink a full day’s water in one sitting, so there is little reason to treat exercise as a single morning event and consider the day’s work finished.

In a small 2024 study, office workers who stretched every 30 minutes showed fewer indicators of back muscle overload than those who sat continuously for 90 minutes. For a practical starting point, Palmer College of Chiropractic recommends five posture habits that fit into an ordinary workday:

1. Practice mindful awareness, noticing when you slouch or hunch forward so you can relax, breathe, and correct your position.
2. Take short breaks every 20 to 30 minutes to stretch, stand, and reset your body.
3. Sit and stand tall, keeping your shoulders back, your spine aligned, and your chin parallel to the floor.
4. Use ergonomic furniture, adjusting your chair so your feet rest flat and your monitor sits at eye level.
5. Strengthen your core with planks, bridges, and the cat-cow stretch.

Low-impact options that protect joints

Walking requires no equipment and places little load on your joints. In a 2024 Australian trial, 701 adults who had recently recovered from an episode of low back pain were assigned either to a progressive walking and education program or to no intervention. Those who walked went a median of 208 days before pain limited their activities again, compared with 112 days in the comparison group. That difference matters to anyone who has had one episode and fears the next.

Where joints limit how far you can walk, swimming and other water-based activity ease the load further. Buoyancy supports part of your body weight, which lowers pressure on your spine and lets you move through a fuller range of motion with less discomfort. 

The federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans call for 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity each week, along with muscle strengthening on two days, and note that the weekly total can be accumulated in pieces. Several patterns arrive at the same place:

• 30 minutes of walking, five days a week
• Three 10-minute walks a day, five days a week
• Two 45-minute pool sessions plus three 20-minute walks

Pairing movement with chiropractic care

Your doctor of chiropractic (DC) can restore joint motion and ease the restrictions that make moving uncomfortable, while the activity you choose between visits helps maintain that motion. Where stiffness keeps returning to the same joint, daily movement habits are often what the care plan is missing.

You can do all of this without a gym membership or a formal training plan. Stand more often, walk or swim (if available), and treat motion as something you do throughout your day. When pain is already present, your DC can identify which articular movements are safe for your spine and adjust the plan as your capacity improves.

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Healthcare constantly evolves. We know this. We see it every day. Yet chiropractic is continually overlooked when it comes to research funding. 

The need to elevate chiropractic research to the level that mainstream, traditional medicine enjoys is urgent. If research funding were more equitably distributed, we could see skyrocketing chiropractic advances and a firestorm of patient-centered, whole-being healthcare improvements. 

Yet, despite exciting chiropractic advancements, the misconception became entrenched that there is nothing further to be learned about chiropractic and, therefore no additional funding for research is needed. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. 

Last November an event hosted by The Galien Foundation celebrated groundbreaking innovations, mainly in pharmaceuticals and medical technologies. 

If chiropractic receives more research funding and, therefore, generates more healthcare advancements, its contributions will be as significant and life-changing as we’ve seen in traditional medicine. 

Roots of the Funding Disparity: Chiropractic Versus Mainstream Medicine

At the heart of this funding disparity lie fundamental differences in approach, especially as they pertain to chronic pain, which the World Health Organization identified as the number one disability worldwide. 

Mainstream medicine often views chronic pain as a diagnosis, not a symptom. Typically, when patients complain of chronic pain, a diagnosis of chronic pain is issued by the healthcare provider, along with a treatment plan heavily reliant on painkillers, muscle relaxants or anti-inflammatory drugs. 

By contrast, doctors of chiropractic (DC) view chronic pain as a symptom, not a diagnosis. From there, the DC investigates the pain’s cause – spinal misalignment, nerve irritation, biomechanical imbalances, etc. – and works to relieve the pain and determine whether and how recurrence can be prevented. 

Instead of masking pain, chiropractic treatment aims to restore proper function, improve mobility      and support the body’s healing ability. 

Medications used by mainstream healthcare providers can come with side effects and long-term dependency risks, and because chiropractic is non-invasive and pharmaceutical-free, it’s imperative to amplify chiropractors’ voices in discussions of patient care – and that starts with increased research funding. 

Another difference in approach is chiropractic’s hallmark characteristic of personalized attention. One person’s back pain could stem from hours spent at a workstation with poorly designed ergonomics. Another’s might result from rushing their yoga routine or skipping the warmup. 

So, for people living with chronic pain, chiropractic’s hands-on, whole-being approach, with patients as lead members of the healthcare team, may eliminate future flare-ups and the development of chronic illness. 

The Case for Longitudinal Studies  

Longitudinal (long-term) studies are scarce in chiropractic research. One of the few that comes close is a one-year study, considered “short-term longitudinal” because 12 months “captures mid-range outcomes but not long-term durability.” 

The study observed chronic low back pain patients referred for chiropractic treatment by spine surgeons. It concluded that chiropractic can be important in treating chronic back pain.

A 2021 longitudinal study published in Pain Physician observed that patients receiving ongoing chiropractic care for chronic low-back and neck pain experienced gradual improvements over three months. These findings strongly suggest that chiropractic interventions play a significant role in managing chronic musculoskeletal conditions. 

Research also indicates that chiropractic could help treat obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which can cause a type of stroke called ‘silent brain infarctions.’ Chiropractic may contribute to better sleep and neurological health by improving spinal alignment and nervous system function. 

But again, this non-invasive and promising treatment of conditions like OSA remains underrepresented in major health initiatives. 

Albert Einstein urged us to not stop questioning. Questions can lead to discovery and progress. These groundbreaking studies into chiropractic care raise questions of their own about the current state of chiropractic research:

• Why haven’t there been more of these long-term studies?
• What are people “doing right” in current chiropractic practices that lead to such positive outcomes?
• Why should these successful approaches be promoted through further research and advocacy?

Funding and research are needed to realize chiropractic’s potential and findings should be freely shared with the public. Until that happens, we won’t know the full extent of its capabilities. 

By investigating and addressing root causes, prioritizing long-term patient-centered outcomes, and integrating chiropractic studies into major health study agendas, chiropractic research can pave the way for a more holistic and empowering future for us all.  

We advocate for expanding the role of chiropractic care in public health initiatives. Chiropractic benefits the “whole-being” due to its focus on patient education, lifestyle changes and neuromusculoskeletal health—including spinal alignment. All of these factors can improve many physical and mental health conditions. 

The effectiveness of chiropractic in preventive care and chronic pain management supports the public health’s goal to reduce the chronic disease burden. 

By striving for changes that will place chiropractors in full and equal collaboration with other healthcare providers, doctors of chiropractic (DCs) are better positioned for patients as advisors and guides who walk the journey alongside them. 

As things stand, we continue to see patients getting needlessly sicker because they and their primary care physicians operate under the assumption that surgeons and cardiologists are the first ones to call. However, research has shown, and the CDC has recommended chiropractic as a first-line approach. More public awareness and education campaigns promoting chiropractic as a primary care option as an appropriate step are needed.

It’s human nature to want to ignore the red light on our dashboard and hope that the engine doesn’t malfunction. People often do the same thing when pain alerts them of a health concern.

Waiting until pain is intolerable and then heading to the emergency room is not  a safe cost-effective choice . Seeking appropriate and timely preventive treatment is effective in “compressing morbidity,” which means we limit the time we spend in worsening health. 

Chiropractic Treatment of Anxiety, Depression, and Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is a leading cause of disability worldwide, and standard treatments have often been heavy-handed in the use of prescription medications, including opioids, which carry risks of addiction.  

Chiropractic offers a drug-free alternative for pain management, can alleviate physical discomfort associated with withdrawal symptoms and is part of some federally funded opioid alternative programs. However, it remains an underused weapon in defense of public health.  

Chiropractic already improves life for many people with chronic pain, anxiety and depression. Recent research discussed in JAMA Network Open revealed that depression and anxiety were comorbid in approximately 40% of chronic pain patients who were tracked in a massive study. 

Imagine the improvements that might be made in patients’ lives around the world if chiropractic care, which has the highest satisfaction rate and is conducive to a consistent approach, featured more prominently in public health. Picture a seesaw where overall public health soars and chronic illness and healthcare costs plummet. 

In addition to collaborative care, it’s time to further integrate the roles chiropractic plays in the following: 

• Employee benefits and workplace health
• Government policy and public health programs 
• Legislative and policy level discussions

Whole-Being and Integrated Care

The Global Health and Purpose Summit convened in New York in May 2025. Among its goals was collaborating with nongovernmental organizations and business leaders to transform healthcare, climate, and environmental sustainability. 

Healthcare has missed many opportunities to pivot from crisis intervention care toward integrated, “whole-being” care focused on prevention and with chiropractic as a central component. 

It’s essential that public perceptions shift to consider chiropractic care a priority. Reducing the need for surgery, hospitalization and medication is a cost-effective solution. Seeking chiropractic care before pain becomes unbearable minimizes lost work and increases people’s healthspans, keeping them well longer. 

In these ways, they avoid the higher costs associated with health conditions that chiropractors could have managed but became chronic instead. 

In 2018, the Nordic Maintenance Care Study showed that over a one-year period, patients receiving chiropractic “maintenance care” (regularly scheduled treatments) reported fewer days with lower back pain compared to those who were treated only when pain bothered them. The study supports the case that chiropractic care can be a cost-effective investment.  

It is our mission to continue to work towards a system that is better educated on the benefits of chiropractic care both to improve personal healthspan and savings in healthcare costs.

Every injured worker deserves more than a painkiller and a place in line. And yet, across many state workers’ compensation systems, patients are ushered down a well-worn path of imaging, referrals, and prescriptions—while effective, conservative options like chiropractic care remain overlooked. Despite robust evidence, doctors of chiropractic (DCs) are still fighting for a rightful seat at the table of recovery care.

The Problem: A System Stacked Against Conservative Options

Too often, the workers’ comp system treats injuries as paperwork—symptoms to be coded, costs to be minimized. But behind every claim is a person whose life has been interrupted. Insurer-controlled provider networks frequently exclude DCs, locking patients into physician-directed pathways that can bypass non-invasive care entirely. The result? Delays, excessive imaging and an overreliance on medication.

Recent findings show how restrictive referral systems sideline DCs even when they offer faster, lower-cost recovery options. Studies have also shown how injured workers are often “put on rails”—funneled through default treatment pipelines that leave little room for patient-centered or preventive care.

The Underutilized Solution: Chiropractic Care

Chiropractic care is more than a spinal adjustment; it is an active, evidence-based strategy for neuromusculoskeletal recovery. A 2024 study published in the Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation showed that workers receiving chiropractic care experienced fewer disability days and were less likely to develop chronic disability. These workers recovered faster and returned to work sooner.

Earlier research aligns with these findings, including studies showing significantly lower opioid prescribing rates and shorter disability durations for patients receiving chiropractic care.

Too often, though, access to chiropractors depends not on what works best, but on who holds the referral power. A warehouse worker with a lower back strain may be steered into a long cycle of passive care when early chiropractic intervention could get them back on the job weeks sooner.

Costs, Opioids, and Missed Opportunities

Early access to chiropractic care also helps curb runaway workers’ comp costs. Analyses from multiple state systems have found that higher chiropractic utilization correlates with lower claim costs and fewer lost workdays.

These are not just accounting wins—they are critical levers in the fight against opioid overuse. Chiropractic reduces dependency on prescription drugs by addressing the root causes of pain with physical, non-pharmacological interventions. Research from the Department of Veterans Affairs has shown that this approach helps prevent opioid initiation in the first place.

A System Ready for Change

The timing couldn’t be better. Some large employers are now incorporating chiropractic into their employee wellness and recovery strategies. These companies know what the data confirms: keeping employees healthy, pain-free      and present is good business.

Public systems are beginning to catch up, modernizing infrastructure and prioritizing better tracking of provider performance and treatment outcomes. This shift opens the door for conservative care to be integrated into mainstream recovery planning.

As workers’ compensation evolves, it must reflect not just clinical evidence but real-world recovery patterns. Conservative care is no longer “alternative”—it is foundational.

A Whole-Being Approach

Chiropractors don’t just treat pain,they help patients reclaim their lives. Many provide movement coaching, ergonomic guidance and stress-reduction techniques that address the physical and emotional toll of injury. The VA’s Whole Health Model exemplifies this: treating not just the symptoms, but the person behind them.

Injured workers carry more than physical pain. Fear of reinjury, trauma from the accident, anxiety over lost wages—these invisible burdens prolong recovery. DCs are trained to see and treat the whole patient, helping rebuild resilience from the inside out.

A care model that ignores those burdens may clear the case but fail the person. By contrast, chiropractic care often serves as an anchor in recovery, grounding patients in active participation and steady progress.

Conclusion: Chiropractic Isn’t Optional—It’s Essential

We have the data. We have the results. What we need now is action. Workers’ compensation systems must evolve to reflect what evidence already makes clear: chiropractic care works. It shortens recovery. It saves money. It keeps people off addictive medications. And it gives patients the dignity of choice.

When patients are empowered, outcomes improve. It’s time for policymakers, insurers and employers to align recovery systems with the evidence—and the people they were built to serve.

Chiropractic care isn’t a luxury. It’s a lifeline.

We live in the “Digital Age,” a time when information is dispensed and consumed every second of every day through digital devices such as our computers and smartphones. Thanks to these devices, we are arguably better informed than any humans who lived before. However, they can lead to shrimp posture, a collection of body positions that includes tech neck. Both of these conditions can cause serious health issues. 

Tech Neck: Definition, Scope, Solutions

Tech neck (also called text neck and forward head posture) results from frequently gazing down at electronic devices and their keyboards. Repetition of tech neck body movements and positions strains the neck and spine, causing neck muscles to tighten and shorten and chest muscles to weaken. 

If not addressed, tech neck’s long-term consequences include: 

• Balance problems that increase fall risk
• Compressed nerves that cause tingling, numbness, and weakness in hands and arms 
• Degeneration of the cervical spine, cervical spondylosis, and herniated discs
• Fatigue 
• Headaches, including migraines
• Musculoskeletal changes, such as joint damage, muscle stiffness, hunched shoulders, and forward head posture  
• Pain in the shoulders, neck (cervical spine), and upper back (thoracic spine) 
• Reduced lung capacity resulting in lower oxygen intake 

The human head weighs about 10 pounds. When moved 30 degrees forward from its natural, aligned position to create the position many people assume when texting, a ten-pound head drives 40 pounds of weight onto the neck and shoulders. 

Adverse effects, including reduced mobility and pain, worsen with frequency and duration. Since people often use digital devices many times a day and for long periods of time, the effects can become chronic, even permanent, and result in anxiety and depression.  

However, tech neck is a problem that can be addressed. Practicing good posture, including reducing forward head posture, cutting back on device use, and taking frequent breaks during use, are excellent first steps. 

Other remedies include:

• Chiropractic care
• Ergonomic options such as sit-stand or adjustable-height desks 
• Exercises that strengthen chest, back, and neck muscles
• Keeping monitors and handheld devices at eye level 
• Stretches
• Yoga

Seeking expert advice is wise if underlying conditions or other complications are present and is definitely indicated when symptoms of tech neck persist despite self-directed corrections. 

Tech Neck Is an Example of Shrimp Posture 

Imagine a shrimp with its C-shaped body. For many people, assuming a shrimp-like posture is a habit when doing desk work or using handheld devices. 

Shrimp posture is poor posture characterized by slouching, which curves the spine and compresses the stomach. The more time one spends slouching, being sedentary, or using handheld devices, the more likely it becomes that shrimp posture will result. 

Because the tech neck is an example of shrimp posture, the health problems connected to it apply to shrimp posture. 

Other problems that can result include: 

• Acid reflux and slower digestion
• Chronic fatigue
• Circulation problems
• Pain in any region of the spine: cervical (neck), thoracic (upper) and lumbar (lower)
• Sciatica 

The Surprising Benefits of Improved Posture

Shrimp posture and its effects can be corrected or improved by the solutions presented earlier for tech neck. However, core-strengthening exercises and lumbar support might be beneficial because they can involve any or all regions of the spine. 

Just as making healthful postural changes helps to ward off poor health, it actively supports good health. With improved lung capacity and circulation, more oxygen and blood reach the brain, boosting cognition and focus. 

Anxiety, depression, and fatigue can improve, as can confidence, physical appearance, and overall vitality. 

Therefore, concluding that sound posture can enhance longevity requires no great leap. Because posture impacts so much of overall health, it can extend longevity and good quality of life.  

A Reward for Healthy Habits

Just as chronic and permanent pain and other health problems connected to shrimp posture are acquired over time, a lifelong commitment to corrective action can repair much, and often all, of the damage. When resolving to adopt healthy habits over a lifetime, the hope that we will be rewarded for them helps to ensure success. 

A Personal Note

I’ve encountered these conditions longer than they’ve had names. If you’d like to see one chiropractor’s perspective on how our devices are hurting us, please see my website.

When we are young, there is so much potential for a healthier future. Pediatrics chiropractic  makes that potential a reality for many babies and children—alignment for Whole Being care starts at birth even when no symptoms or irregularities are present.

Chiropractic is a drug-free and noninvasive healthcare option. Pediatric chiropractic treatments are gentle and designed for the individual child’s age and development. We examine the spine, ligaments, growth plates, and surrounding tissue.

Chiropractic education includes prenatal and pediatric care, and many chiropractors advance their education through diplomate programs. Chiropractic maternal and child healthcare includes prenatal care that facilitates faster, easier, and safer births.  

Why Chiropractic Pediatrics Is Safe for Children  

As parents and guardians sought alternatives to conventional pediatric care, many embraced chiropractic due to the research supporting its safety and efficacy. Safer Care Victoria is an Australian government healthcare agency. According to its 2019 independent review titled “Chiropractic Spinal Manipulation of Children Under 12.” 

Here’s what 21,824 parents and guardians told researchers:

• Children were “much improved” following treatment. (87%, or 19,052 respondents)
• They were “satisfied or very satisfied” with information about treatment risks. (99.1%, or 20,907 of respondents)

Parents and guardians expressed strong sentiments about their right to choose their child’s healthcare, taking into account the child’s overall health and well-being. These sentiments echo chiropractic’s “Whole Being” approach, which trusts the body’s capacity to heal without drugs and invasive treatments.  

As with any form of healthcare, comprehensive clinical assessments are essential prior to treatment. These assessments should include family histories and the symptoms present, particularly since conditions such as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and hypermobile EDS (hEDS) are usually not apparent until later childhood. 

However, chiropractic treatment of children is gentle throughout childhood to protect against underlying and undiagnosed conditions such as these. 

Safe at Any Age

Chiropractic care is safe for children from birth all the way through adulthood. Treatments address various conditions and situations, that include:

1. Chiropractic Prenatal Care 

Chiropractic can play an important role in prenatal care, including adjusting pregnant women’s hips to shorten labor, help reposition babies—including those that are breech. It can also help ward off complications that might otherwise require C-sections.   

2. Chiropractic Care of Infants 

Chiropractic care can be beneficial for infants as young as a few weeks. Treatment is always extremely gentle and based on factors including: 

• Age
• Gestational, physical, neurological, and anatomical development 
• Joint anatomy
• Muscle tone

Other benefits include a better range of motion and pain relief from the stressors of labor and delivery. 

3. Chiropractic Care in Toddlers, Children, and Adolescents

As children move beyond infancy, doctors of chiropractic (DCs)  adjust their approach accordingly while continuing to treat and monitor any issues that present in infancy, including:

• Toddlers (Ages 1 to 5). DCs pay particular attention to balance, coordination, and posture. They examine muscles and bones, monitor developmental milestones such as walking, track growth, and check into injuries resulting from falls.
• Elementary and Middle School (Ages 6 to 11). These children begin experiencing more “adult-like” problems, including poor posture and neck, back, and shoulder pain. Causes include backpacks, sports injuries, and ergonomic problems such as poorly adjusted school desks and seats.    
• Adolescence (ages 12 to 18). When children become teenagers, they experience growth spurts and other hormonal issues. Pain from posture problems such as tech neck is more prevalent, and children are often heavily involved in sports. 

Accidents ranging from a small bump to more serious events often go unreported, putting children at risk for chronic pain in later life. Also notable is that today’s schools are less likely to have a healthcare provider on staff. Regular chiropractic care acts as a benchmark for identifying and treating unreported injuries.

Treating Scoliosis 

Scoliosis is a condition characterized by an S- or C-shaped curve in the spine and can develop at any age. Chiropractors generally start watching for it between ages 6 and 12, much earlier overall than conventional pediatric practitioners. 

The chiropractic hallmarks of prevention and spinal alignment position chiropractors for earlier diagnosis and treatment of scoliosis.   

Where to Learn More 

The following are resources for those wishing to learn more about how chiropractors serve  prenatal and pediatric patients: 

• International Chiropractic Pediatric Association
• ICA Council on Chiropractic Pediatrics (affiliated with the American Chiropractic Association) 
• Academy Council of Chiropractic Pediatrics

I also invite you to learn about my own rewarding experiences in prenatal and pediatric chiropractic care.

Even with return-to-office policy shifts, telecommuting is likely to stay. Recent data suggests that up to 30% of Americans work from home at least part of the time. That’s why it’s important to consider home office ergonomics to avoid repetitive stress injuries.

If you telecommute, consider how conducive your home workspace is to performing job tasks. Your workspace might include a desk, a chair, a computer, and a smartphone. Perhaps you have “satellite offices,” other places you work at home. 

These satellite offices might involve:

• A dining room chair
• An armchair 
• A kitchen table, coffee table, end table, or kitchen island
• Pillows and cushions
• Patio furniture
• Sofas 

If that’s the case and you work this way too often or too long, you could damage your body to the point of permanent ergonomic-related postural deformities. Telecommuting continues to metaphorically reshape the world of work while it literally reshapes workers. 

Who Is Responsible for Ergonomic Home Offices?

Whether companies must attend to staff’s home office ergonomic needs hinges on variables, including who chose the remote work arrangement in the first place. 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has few, if any, regulations around this. Employers requiring, or simply encouraging, remote work should protect employee ergonomic health to the best of their abilities. Such support could include providing equipment, employee stipends, training, and other resources. 

While OSHA requires that employers provide safe, healthy work settings, its enforcement reach is limited. Unless injuries spark investigations, employers are found liable, or workers’ compensation is involved, and responsibility for home office ergonomics is largely uncharted territory.     

However, remote workers should remember that treating sofas like office chairs and kitchen tables like desks can cause microtrauma, repetitive strain/stress injuries, and more serious problems over time. Even with employer-provided, ergonomically-designed home offices at their disposal, much of remote worker’s health and safety is determined by employees. 

What Doesn’t Work in Home Offices?

So, what’s wrong with using coffee tables as desks, couches as office chairs, and pillows as chair cushions? 

Coffee and end tables are too low for office work. Using them as such can cause issues including poor posture, wrist injuries, lower back pain, and neck strain. Kitchen and dining room tables and kitchen islands are too tall to allow proper positioning of wrists, legs, and feet. 

Though they may seem like a logical choice, kitchen islands should not double as standing desks. Kitchen and dining room chairs rarely offer lumbar support and can also cause injuries. 

Sofas and armchairs often lure us into a false sense of security where we forget that our health is impacted. Issues related to sofas include inadequate spine support, neck and shoulder problems, and fatigue.

Surfaces not designed for office work are usually non-adjustable, making monitors too high or too low and keyboard positions sub-optimal. This can cause carpal tunnel syndrome and other musculoskeletal problems. Noticing we’re uncomfortable, we might boost ourselves with cushions or wedge a pillow behind our backs. Doing this is rarely a permanent fix and may contribute to deformities and chronic pain. 

Among the best ways to prevent injuries associated with remote work is through regular breaks, stretches, and walking. Making movement and self-care part of your daily routine works wonders, as does the acronym STEAM: Stretch, Tea, Exercise, and Meditation. 

Setting Up a Remote Workspace 

Even furniture intended for office use doesn’t guarantee proper ergonomics. Not all desk chairs, for instance, are created equal. Look for features that meet your needs, such as adjustable armrests and customizable lumbar support. General guidelines include:  

• Chairs adjusted so that elbows are at a 90-degree angle, forearms parallel with the floor, and hips level with or slightly lower than your knees
• Feet resting flat on the floor (use a footrest if needed)
• Monitors placed properly, the tops of their screens just below eye level

This article from the Mayo Clinic offers additional guidance and depicts an effective home workstation.  

Wireless keyboards expand how we work from home, allowing us to switch rooms, work from a cafe or park, and exercise.

The following are ways we can prevent headaches while “looking out” for our eyes: 

• Adjust the brightness on computer monitors  
• Ensure adequate task lighting
• Maximize natural light and other ambient light sources 
• Place workstations so that you’re not peering into outdoor glare 

We can do a lot to help ourselves stay safe and well while telecommuting. Remote workers should do everything they can to maintain good health, and employers should support this wherever possible. 

Chiropractic care is an effective, drug-free and long-established approach to injury prevention, chronic pain treatment and overall optimization of musculoskeletal health. However, studies suggest that chiropractic care can positively impact nervous system function, specifically, the brain’s command center, helping to improve mood, sleep and overall health and well-being. These benefits are based on natural responses in our brain-body connection.  

Research also reveals potential links between chiropractic adjustments and improved muscle control and motor function. This may involve neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to adapt following injury or reorganize and form new connections between neurons, which could help the nervous system adapt and heal. Neuroplasticity is often described as the brain’s gift for “rewiring” itself in response to injury, experience, or new learning.

For example, many people who lose the ability to speak following a stroke regain it over time as the brain strengthens secondary language centers to compensate for damaged areas. Similarly, if your dominant hand is in a cast, neuroplasticity helps you adapt by training your non-dominant hand to perform tasks like signing your name.

Think of your brain as a drone pilot and your body as a drone. The brain sends signals through the nervous system, like the drone’s remote controller, to direct the body’s muscles, fine-tune balance or react to the environment. 

Meanwhile, sensors in the body — the drone’s cameras and instruments — send information back to the brain about our body position, a touch we felt, some pain, or the temperature so that the brain can respond appropriately. 

If the signal between the pilot and the drone is disrupted, say there’s interference or a lag, the drone might move erratically or not respond. Similarly, if the brain-body connection is off, your movements can become uncoordinated or your muscles may not function properly. 

Testing the Brain-Body Connection

In one study, researchers examined the effects of chiropractic care on brain function by dividing patients with chronic low back pain into two groups with 38 patients each. 

Using electroencephalogram (EEG) to study brain signals, somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) to factor in the brain’s management of touch and sensations, Fitbit data to gauge activity levels, and sleep data, researchers were able to draw objective conclusions. By having each patient complete questionnaires to report how they felt in a more subjective way, researchers could draw more nuanced conclusions throughout the study.  

One group received actual chiropractic care while the other received simulated chiropractic treatment. EEGs and SEPs were performed before the study’s start, immediately following the first chiropractic session and again after four weeks of care. The questionnaires were completed at the beginning of the study and repeated after the fourth week. Fitbit data collection was continuous throughout. 

Following chiropractic care, EEGs showed significant increases in beta, alpha and theta brainwave frequencies and a marked drop in delta brainwave power. Delta brainwaves are slow and typically dominant during heavy sleep. Theta brainwaves are also connected to sleep, particularly deep, meditative states and drowsiness. On the other hand, Alpha brainwaves tend to be most active when we’re awake, but calm, as when we daydream or meditate. Beta brainwaves are faster and associated with analytical thinking. 

The study suggests that chiropractic care could cause our brains to pivot from comparatively sluggish and diminished brain power to become brains that are relaxed yet alert. More specifically, chiropractic may cause neuroplastic alterations of brain structure and function related to how we experience pain, manage sleep and regulate our moods.

This multinational study, involving researchers from New Zealand, Denmark and Turkey, revealed that chiropractic may benefit muscle control and motor function, including signals sent by the brain to muscles in our arms and legs. 

This suggests that chiropractic adjustments might enhance the brain’s control over muscle function.​ In addition, there is potential for spinal manipulation to improve motor function, possibly benefiting persons with movement disorders or muscle control impairment. If true, chiropractic is a possible avenue for treatment in rehabilitation settings for patients seeking to improve muscle control and coordination. 

What Physical Fitness Does for Neuroplasticity 

Exercise boosts blood flow, meaning more oxygen and nutrients reach our brains, making us more alert and mentally focused. It enhances neuroplasticity by helping the brain forge new neural connections, especially in learning and memory, and it triggers the release of chemicals such as Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), to help neurons survive and grow. 

Doctors of chiropractic help patients become or remain physically fit because a whole-being, drug-free approach makes that focus natural, in every sense of the word.

While it is a popular term these days, for those who are unfamiliar, here is a thought experiment to help you understand what’s meant by a cortisol detox.

Imagine that you are terrified enough to start running from a threat. Lungs heaving and heart pounding, you never dreamed you could run this fast. Your destination: a cave about a quarter mile ahead. You leap over fallen branches and scramble through thorny brush. 

When you fall, you spring to your feet again and keep running. Homing in on the cave’s entrance, you shoot through headfirst like a torpedo. The bull elephant that was hot on your trail skids to a stop outside, too large to follow you in. 

Anyone who’s outrun a bull elephant probably has the stress hormone, cortisol, to thank. It is part of the body’s hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. When our brains sense danger, they activate the HPA, causing our adrenal glands to release cortisol. 

Cortisol reroutes energy from where it’s less needed to where it’s needed most. Cortisol also helps us through difficult psychological or emotional experiences. Too much cortisol means that a “cortisol detox” might help restore its normal levels and stop unhealthy effects.  

Cortisol boosts energy by triggering the release of blood sugar and manages inflammation to reduce pain and swelling and prevent infections. It “borrows” glucose retained in the liver to prevent low blood sugar and even suppresses our appetites in case we can’t find food for a while.  

Stress is part of life, and some stress is good for us. But when it becomes too much — money shortages, family tensions, overstimulation from smart devices, etc. —  our brains stop discerning bull elephants from stressful but safe situations, such as making a speech. 

When this happens, cortisol imbalances can become chronic, leading to longer-term physical, mental, and emotional health issues. 

The list of possible problems related to high cortisol and chronic stress include:

• Anxiety, depression, and irritability 
• Blood sugar imbalances, insulin resistance, and fatigue
• Racing thoughts, brain fog, and forgetfulness 
• Susceptibility to illnesses, slower healing time, and greater risk of infection
• Weight gain, especially abdominal

We see bullet points like these in healthcare articles all the time, but they often lack explanation. If we remember that cortisol’s job is to take energy from some systems to give to others, it’s easier to see how prolonged cortisol production would lead to problems by depleting some resources and overloading others.  

Additional problems may include high blood pressure, muscle weakness, headaches, and salt or sugar cravings. Digestion problems are also possible, and some women with high cortisol report irregular menstrual cycles. 

Doctors of chiropractic (DCs) are skilled at addressing these issues. Their mentorship-based care helps patients understand how stress, habits, and other lifestyle features impact their whole-being, but seeing a chiropractor sooner rather than later is important for achieving the best possible outcome. 

Cortisol Detox Versus Cortisol Detox Diets

It is a human tendency to embrace unhealthy habits that have long-term consequences, then latch onto fads and quick fixes such as “detox diets” and scam nutritional supplements to make everything right again. 

A cortisol detox can be a healthy choice, but cortisol detox diets and many supplements marketed as a means of cortisol control or elimination are ineffective and possibly harmful. A detox that includes a consistent sleep schedule of seven to nine hours, adequate hydration, and nutrient-, fiber-rich foods is a better option for treating high cortisol and chronic stress. Exercise is important, too, because it can help reduce cortisol, balance blood sugar, and manage stress. However, one should be careful not to overdo it on exercise as too much can increase cortisol. 

DCs help re-establish mental, physical, and lifestyle alignment, including identifying exercises that won’t raise cortisol.  

If you have questions about cortisol or chronic stress, talk to your DC. If you’re not currently benefitting from chiropractic treatment, consider scheduling a consultation with one soon. Remember, sooner is safer than later.