When you visit a chiropractor to help get relief from back pain, your chiropractor will typically perform a series of adjustments over the course of multiple appointments. Beyond this type of care, he or she will also customarily discuss different lifestyle changes you can make to keep your back healthy. These can often include making changes to your posture and even your sleeping position, as well as incorporating more exercise into your life. Chiropractors often advocate walking for back pain patients. This simple activity is easy for many people to perform. Here are three specific benefits of using walking to complement your chiropractic care.

Walking Increases Circulation

Walking is an effective way for you to increase your heart rate in order to boost your body's circulation. This is important for people suffering from back pain because as more oxygenated blood and vital nutrients are pumped throughout your body, they contribute positively to the healing process. Boosting your circulation is important because if you've been suffering from back pain for a long time, you might have decreased your amount of activity, which won't have helped your body's ability to heal.

Walking Strengthens Key Muscles

Although walking isn't traditionally viewed as a muscle-strengthening activity in the same manner as weight training, the mechanics of this simple cardiovascular exercise lead to improved muscle strength. Given the full-body workout offered by walking, this exercise can help to improve the muscles in your back and throughout your core. It's important to strengthen these muscles because they have a positive impact on your posture. When strong, these muscles help you maintain an upright posture that is healthy for your back. If they've become weakened, you'll have trouble sitting and standing upright and might start slouching, which will be detrimental to your back health.

Walking Helps You Reduce Stress

Walking is an exercise that helps reduce stress and anxiety. The emotional benefits of this activity are ideal for those suffering from back pain, given that it's easy to feel stressed and even depressed when you're constantly dealing with discomfort. The endorphin release that occurs during your walk can quickly lift your mood and the repetitive nature of walking can also offer a meditative-like effect that promotes calm and lessens your preoccupation with your back pain. Finally, given that stress can actually enhance your back pain, it's ideal to find an activity that helps melt the stress away.

For chiropractic care in your area, contact a company such as Citrus Chiropractic Group.

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