Painting Your House With Your Chiropractor
September 8th, 2010

Who would have thought that your chiropractor has helpful advice for painting enthusiasts? Painting your house with your chiropractor does not imply that she or he will visit you next Saturday with a paintbrush in hand and ready to do some work. Instead, it simply underlines the fact that springtime brings the notion of spring cleaning, makes the flaking paint around your shutters stand out, and seems to increase the amount of bother that the peeling paint on your living room ceiling causes you. Suddenly you notice the ill-done paintjobs of years past, and you vow to make things right this spring. Chiropractors know about spring fever, but they warn that this is also the prime season to injure yourself with the most innocent activities, especially if you are not prepared physically to undertake activities and chores that your body is not accustomed to and conditioned to do.

There is more to painting even a square room than just the up and down motion of the brush and the gradual movement down the room. There is the twisting to reach that far off spot that is just a bit higher than the ladder will reach, the bending to get the paintbrush into the crevices between the floor and the and the corner, the reaching for the overhead painting, and a host of other activities that spell trouble in the world of a chiropractor. To this end, many chiropractors counsel their patients that when spring has sprung and the honey do lists are getting longer than your arm, it is wise to approach them with care and to prevent the pain that hobby painters experience in their muscles of the back and shoulders, and even the upper legs. You might remember the morning after a painting project in the past when waking up was almost synonymous with pain in areas of your body you did not even know had muscle groups!

Painting your house with your chiropractor’s advice means following a lot of lifestyle counseling tips she or he has to give you. For example, your chiropractor wants you to know that stretching and warm up exercises are part and parcel of having a freshly painted house. You will help to prevent injuries, joint pain, and also the next morning’s muscle stiffness that you are bound to experience otherwise. As you are painting, keep a healthy posture, even when it is hard to do. After prolonged periods of time spent bent or stretched, do some light loosening up exercises to keep your muscles limber and to prevent any pain the next morning. After you project is completed and the clean up is done, do some cool down exercises to help your muscles slow down and work off some of the substances that have been building all day in them. This will help you to not wake up the next morning virtually unable to get out of bed. While these exercises do not guarantee a pain free painting experience, they will greatly reduce the stress that your body will suffer. For the more persistent ailments be sure to make an appointment with your chiropractor!

---