On the same floor as our office is an accounting firm. Every day for years I passed one particular accountant in the hallway and knew he needed to get adjusted ASAP. He’s an older guy, tall, and very rounded. So rounded that he could barely look up without moving his entire body.
How did he get this way?
He’s an accountant. Even before the age of smartphones and computers, this man spent many years hunched over spreadsheets and balance sheets with bad posture. He never really had pain, so why should he do anything any differently? He had no idea of the degenerative processes decimating his spine every day.
Thankfully, many accountants have already seen guys like this and decided, “That’s not going to be me.”
Despite passing our office in the halls regularly, he never decided to take action towards fixing his posture problem. Occasionally he would ask me a question about posture or why someone might visit a chiropractor, but he still wasn’t ready. The next year, he retired and decided it was finally time to see me and be evaluated.
His x-rays revealed lots of spinal degeneration (osteoarthritis) and my first attempts to adjust him were like trying to adjust a cinder block. His spinal joints, which should move, had become stuck and immovable. That was the reason for his limited range of motion, lack of mobility, and now that he was retired… he became aware of neck and upper back pain that he didn’t think should be there.
Was it too late to help?
It took weeks and months before we could really get any consistent movement for him and his spine. He (and his girlfriend) noticed his improved posture and ability to turn his neck. With a lot of adjustments and home care mobility work, he started to see real changes.
But, had he acted sooner, he never would have had to go through that in the first place. Severe posture issues, like his hyperkyphosis (an over-curved upper back due to bad posture) and more common, the Dowager’s Hump, don’t just affect your quality of life — they can shorten it. Hyperkyphosis has been linked to a higher mortality rate.
Some accountants act now, others will wait…
Accountants work under a lot of deadlines and a lot of pressure. In the past, most saw this as a time to gut it out and decrease the amount of time and effort dedicated to their health. Accounting firms would bring in pizza and hamburgers and accountants would churn out the work and deal with the affects of poor health later.
When older accountants began seeing their colleagues pass away due to stress-related illnesses like heart attacks, some decided there needed to be another way. They used “crunch time” as a time to get even more healthy. They drank more water, ate better food, and got rest where they could. Younger accountants seem to be even more aware of the long-term negative effects of approaching your health that way.
They still see their chiropractor during tax season
Gasp! How can they find the time?! This is an age old story, but still appropriate. Two lumberjacks tasked with chopping down a tree. One kept chopping away and as his axe began to dull, he wouldn’t stop to sharpen it. “I just don’t have time to stop now!” The other lumberjack took regular breaks to sharpen his axe and finished much faster than the first. Sometimes (no, actually all the time), neglecting your health is a short-term gain at best. Drinking more coffee instead of getting sleep is not sustainable. Eating poorly to “get back to work” will decrease your energy levels instead of helping while you try to work.
Taking a break from work to visit a chiropractor is like sharpening your axe. You feel better, breathe better, restore the health of your spine and your nervous system. It has both a short-term and a long-term benefit. Likely half of our office is filled with accountants and engineers. Both groups are smart, educated professionals that value their health and take regular proactive steps toward maintaining it.
Bad posture decreases productivity, mood, and causes headaches, neck pain, and back pain
I’m not accountant, but I do see many accountants in my office. They understand more than most the value of their money and their time. They count it, evaluate it, and make decisions on where to allot both. Money and time are resources that must be managed if you want to get the most out of them.
Neither matter much if you don’t have your health. My accountant patients are some of the best. When we do our evaluations, they appreciate our thoroughness. They appreciate that we don’t just start adjusting them without an explanation. We have a plan. Our plan includes a initial evaluation and most likely, spinal x-rays so that we can see what’s happening with the spine and make good decisions.
They appreciate that we want to get to their underlying problem. We don’t just do adjustments, we give recommendations and direction on stretches and exercises they can do to achieve good posture.
We also help with ergonomic changes that won’t break the bank. Your office won’t do standing desks? Not a problem. Snap a pic of your desk layout and we’ll give some tweaks you can make to upgrade your situation without little to no expense.
Why do so many accountants visit CORE Chiropractic? Because it works! Adding chiropractic to your self-care along with good ergonomics, the right stretches, and specific posture exercises will make all the difference in keeping you healthy, pain-free, and productive.
Most importantly, you’ll never be accountant with such a severely rigid spine that a chiropractor can’t adjust you for months. Take action now to avoid this problem in the future, but get all the benefits now. Got a question? Contact us and ask away or schedule a free consultation to get 15-minutes of uninterrupted time to speak with one of our doctors about your specific concerns and condition.