Teaching is an admirable yet strenuous profession that demands more than just intellectual exertion. Long hours on your feet, lugging books, and grading papers can significantly strain your back and spine. Let’s delve into how chiropractic care can be beneficial for those in this vital profession.
Why Do Teachers Have Back Pain?
Much research into childcare health and safety issues often revolves around the spread and susceptibility of infectious diseases without considering the physical demands inherent to the adult childcare worker or teacher. Many things can contribute to back pain, from the room’s design to the physical habits of an individual educator.
Consider early childhood teachers who often sit on the floor or small child-sized pieces of furniture. They spend most of their day bent over to look over their small students’ work or occasionally needing to chase after a mischievous youngster. These positions can lead to back and neck pain in the long run.
- Relief from Neck Pain
Whether teaching courses or grading student work online or offline, it’s possible to experience neck pain from sitting hunched over a desk or screen for long periods. A chiropractor might help ease your neck pain through spinal realignment and relieve tension in your neck muscles.
Studies have found that 12 weeks of spinal manipulation can be more effective than medication for non-specific neck pain.
- Alleviating Back Pain
While constant bending and lowering to work at lower levels is part of the job for a teacher, it can create an environment perfect for back pain. Back pain is the leading cause of disability around the world, and lower back pain is the most prevalent soft-tissue injury among teachers.
Chiropractic treatment can help with chronic pain, but make sure to take breaks from prolonged standing and look into other ergonomic solutions to improve your surroundings.
Chiropractic care can be more effective and less invasive than surgeries or injections for chronic and short-term back pain. Spinal adjustments are great at relieving pain.
- Reducing Headaches
Stress is a near-constant companion to teachers with no end of sources and can contribute to muscle tension and headaches. In our current age, it can be challenging to find time to not stare at a screen, an activity that can be a significant source of eye strain and increase the severity and duration of your headaches.
Another source is dehydration, which can easily go unnoticed throughout a busy school day. Some teachers also tend to drink less water while working because bathroom breaks can be inconvenient, making them more prone to dehydration headaches. Dehydration can also contribute to muscular back pain.
Sessions of spinal manipulation have been found to reduce tension headaches. A 2016 study showed that 6-8 sessions of upper cervical and upper thoracic manipulation were more effective than exercise or mobilization in patients with chronic headaches.
Chiropractic Care at Total Chiropractic Care Can Help Teachers
If standing on your feet all day is causing back, hip, and/or leg pain, we can help. Total Chiropractic Care has more than 25 years of extensive experience in treating injuries and pain through comprehensive chiropractic care. Back pain isn’t inevitable. Schedule your appointment today and take the first step towards a more comfortable life.