Running Resolution

If your New Year's resolution is to start running, you will likely need help. Runners are particularly at risk for injury. Recent studies indicate that half of ALL runners are injured each year. And if you are training for your first marathon, you actually have a 90% chance of sustaining an injury. We can provide you with a treadmill gait analysis to help reduce the chances of injury.

You may be asking yourself why you should see a chiropractor for a running gait analysis. It all boils down to experience. I started seeing an uptick in running related low back and hip pain about 10 years ago, just as the popularity of running surged. All of these patients also had one or more of the following: knee pain, IT band pain, ankle or foot pain. These were also directly related to their back pain. The only way I could resolve a runner's low back pain is to assess and correct all of these dysfunctions. The best way to asses is with gait analysis.

All too often people have been seeing a podiatrist for their foot pain, a knee specialist for their knee pain, and a physical therapist or chiropractor for their low back or hip pain. This rarely works because there is no integration. A knee does not work in isolation, so why treat it as such? The same goes for the foot and ankle. Only when you can assess, align, and integrate the whole body will you be back on your feet and running again.

Or if you are smart, you can correct the problems before they give you pain.

When pain is the road block to your fitness resolution

As a chiropractor, I frequently hear from my patients how they hurt because they don't exercise, but when they exercise they hurt even more. Often times they will have already been to a personal trainer and/or a physical therapist and/or another chiropractor. The problem is that many personal trainers don't understand common dysfunctional movement patterns, and many physical therapists (and other chiropractors) will only look at the site of pain, and not consider how a painless dysfunction in one area (usually core muscles) will result in pain in another area.

As an example, let's look at the shoulder. Many patients have told me that they have a rotator cuff syndrome and therefore CAN'T and SHOULDN'T raise their arms over their heads. In reality they will NEVER get better UNLESS they raise their arms overhead (with good form, of course). Teaching them how to use their deltoid and trapezius muscles to perform this motion will spare their rotator cuff muscles. Just training the rotator cuff muscles is not the answer.

Your body is efficient, sometimes too efficient. It will often try to conserve energy by taking shortcuts. For example, watch someone pick up a pencil off the floor. We all know it is best to bend the knees and squat the butt as low as possible. But is this what we do in reality? Usually not. Most people, when unaware of anyone watching, will contort their bodies in all sorts of strange ways to forego using the core muscles and the big muscle: gluteus maximus. Previously I would have considered this a form of laziness. Now I consider it the body's attempt at efficiency. Using the gluteus maximus and core muscles takes more energy. But if the body continues to avoid using the big/core muscles, it will eventually shut them down and only use the smaller ones. This reminds me of a saying in my family - in order to find the most efficient way to do something, get the laziest person to do it. The only problem is they always complain about it. Your smaller muscles and joints will also complain. Unfortunately, not everybody understands the language.

Any shortcuts that your body takes will eventually result in painful road blocks. Road blocks such as pain in the neck, the low back, the hip, the shoulder, the knee, the foot, and the elbow. Many have been previously diagnosed as spinal disc bulges, sciatica, radiculitis, patellofemoral tracking disorder, plantar fasciitis, IT band syndrome, rotator cuff syndrome, or tennis elbow to name a few. But these are only names. Just naming something does not answer the question "why?". And why is it that most patients with tennis elbow don't play tennis? These shortcuts are the "why?". We can show you how to get to your fitness destination by taking the main roads and using the big muscles/ core muscles. So if someone has told you that you CAN'T or SHOULDN'T squat, lift, run, walk, bicycle, swim, or do any exercise that you want to do, get a second opinion before you give up on exercise.

The Importance of Failure

“I didn't fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.”
― Benjamin Franklin

I can't tell you how many times people have told me that they quit exercising because it hurts. Yet they know that they hurt because they don't exercise. Such is the dilemma of modern man. Our occupations often force us into limited positions for extended periods of time. New research indicates that even those that exercise when they can still have adverse physical effects if they sit too much. My advice is: keep trying.

You may know that I have registered for the Reeds Lake Triathlon next month. My intent is not to brag but to inspire. Too many people have said to me "I couldn't do that". I tell them that under the right circumstances, I know they could. I failed last year when preparing for the same Triathlon. I failed by not giving myself enough time to increase my distance in swimming. I was nowhere near the 1/2 mile needed to complete the race. To enter the race would have been suicide.

My first experience with failure was when I joined the football team as a junior in high school. My parents were convinced that I was going to seriously injure myself, but by junior year they gave in to my pleading and they said "go for it". On the very first day of weight training, we were told to do various exercises including bench press, squats, overhead press, dips, and pullups. We paired up so that everyone had a spotter to help with the lift when needed. As a novice, I feared what would happen if I went too far. Would I really hurt myself? We started with pullups, and my spotter was trying to help by pulling up my feet while standing behind me. He was stronger and more experienced than I, so I trusted him. After the tenth pullup I was exhausted. He kept encouraging me to push myself, which I did. I did one more with his help. I wanted to try one more to get to twelve, which was our goal. My spotter helped, but it wasn't happening. My hands gave out and I lost my grip. I fell face down as my spotter was holding my feet. I expected the room to erupt with laughter. It did not. My teammates respected my effort more than my accomplishment.

My message is do what you can when you can and keep pushing to failure. Not that you have to fail all the time, but if you don't occasionally test your limits, how can you know where they are?

Try and Tri again

As my training for my first triathlon continues, I would like to share with you a few mistakes I have made along the way. My first big mistake was made last year. I did not give myself enough time to train. I started in May for a race in Early September. I underestimated how long it takes for me to go from no swimming at all to a half mile distance. My running and bicycling training seemed to go smoothly. As I have stated before, I have a large frame. My weight hovers around 200 lbs. even though I am only 5'9" tall. My bodyfat is around 15% which is where it should be for a male. I am convinced my genetics makes it more difficult to swim, but I will not use this as an excuse to fail. The best we can do is learn from our mistakes.
This year I started in January. By March I felt great, and got up to 10-12 laps, whereas I need to be able to do 15-17 laps comfortably. So being about 2/3 of the way there with plenty of time to spare I thought I would try something different. Something to lower my bodyfat even more. This is where I went wrong. Greatly reducing carbohydrate intake initially felt great. I felt lighter and leaner. But within a few weeks my training suffered. All I could muster was 4-5 laps. I continued through April and May, but I could not increase my distance in swimming. Now even my biking and swimming started to suffer. Eating a low carbohydrate diet depletes the body of glycogen stores, limiting cardiovascular endurance. I could tell that my muscle strength was not effected, but this did not help me. I needed endurance.
Now I am back up to 8 laps, or about half the total swim distance needed. I have done a complete turnaround now and eat a high carbohydrate diet. I am fairly certain that my body can catch up in time for the Triathlon in September. At least nothing will stop me from trying.

Second attempt at first "Tri"

The importance of exercise for overall health cannot be understated. This is why I have periodically blogged about my personal endeavors regarding physical fitness. It is my way of "walking the talk".

I have often referred to myself as a recovering meat-head, meaning it is my inclination to do weight training and powerlifting exercises over any other sort. It is not that I don't like "cardio" exercises like running, biking and swimming, but it is easy to stick with what you are good at. At 5'9" and 205 lbs, my body is better suited to throw heavy weights around. In fact, when I started swimming last year, I felt like a fish out of water. Perhaps a better analogy would be a swimming bulldog. Most English bulldogs don't swim, and the few that might certainly can’t compete with a Labrador.

Regardless, I have grown to enjoy swimming, running, and bicycling. It is my goal to complete a "sprint" triathlon this year. I trained for one last summer, but my swimming abilities were just not there yet.

There are other reasons for me to train for this triathlon. Most injuries that I see in my office are due to some sort of over-stress or repetitive stress. The best way to avoid repetitive stress is to vary your exercises. Like I said before, it is easy to stick with what you are good at. Runners want to run. Yogis want to yoga. Meat-heads want to lift weights.

The other reason is for me to complete a triathlon is to learn by experience. Like many things in life, what the books tell you about running, bicycling, and swimming is different from first -hand knowledge. There is still no consensus on many things like the best way to stretch, the best shoes to wear, or the best diet for fuel. Similarly, there are many different theories on what causes training related injuries. How can I expect to know how to treat plantar fasciitis if I cannot avoid getting it myself? Sufficed to say, I have learned much from the journey, and plan on learning much more. Stay tuned.

Successful Squatting Part 2

Part 1 of Successful squatting discussed how to save your low back. Part 2 will save your knees. And it's not what you think.

Right now you expect me to say that the knees should never pass over the feet. Hogwash! This is flat out wrong. Almost every trainer in the world has repeated this mantra as if it were Gospel. The truth is that there is a study that says this MIGHT result in knee pain. The same research also suggests that if you limit how far forward your knees move, you are more likely to INJURE YOUR BACK. Pick your poison.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c375/ff851b69346484952590c2d1185252d7792e.pdf

What you really should be looking out for is how far IN your knees might moving. Many people have tight hip adductors (groin) muscles, and others might have weak gluteus medius and minimus muscles, but proper positioning creates the better balance.

Look at yourself while squatting. It is not hard to see if the knees are collapsing inward, yet is an extremely common mistake. Knee pain is very likely to result. So make sure your shins are as vertical as possible.

If this seems impossible, try the stretch described below. Tight groin muscles might be preventing proper hip positioning, and thus preventing proper knee positioning.

The feet need to be as wide as you can, and and straight forward as you can. Any outward rotation of the feet will result in an ineffective stretch. Then shift your body to one side and hold for 2 seconds, then the other side and hold 2 seconds. Be sure not to hold your breath.

As I stated earlier, I often use the squat as an assessment tool for people with low back, hip or knee pain. Watch yourself in a mirror facing front to check the knees for buckling in. Then turn sideways to check for "bowing". You might be surprised what you find.

Successful Squatting

Squatting is not only a great exercise, it is also a great tool with which to measure your overall biomechanics. While many people can be found in gyms squatting in many different ways, we will focus on a basic (back) squat. This is where you put a bar across your shoulders behind your head. Truth be told, most people have such poor form, they should start with their own body weight anyway. However, a broomstick across the back can actually help you start off with the right form.

There are at least 2 very common mistakes made when squatting. One of them is adding a bow at the end of the squat. The squat movement should come from the hips and not the back. This means that the depth of your squat is dependent upon your hamstring flexibility. If your hamstrings are tight, only way to get low is to bow, or to round your lower back, or both. This happens by either the weight shifting forward, and/or with the lumbar spine going into flexion. Either one increases your chances for low back injury.

The best way to overcome these habits is to 1) make sure that your hamstrings are flexible and 2) only go as low as you can without leaning forward or rounding your back. If it so happens that you can only squat down 10 inches with good form, then that is as far as you should go.

Avoid the temptation to stretch the hamstrings by touching your toes. This movement involves rounding of the low back. Teach the body to use the hips by laying on your back and using a strap, cord or jump rope to wrap around the foot, and lift that leg as high as you can while keeping the knee straight. I prefer a two second hold. Repeat 10 times on each leg, and remember to not hold your breath.

The second common squatting mistake will be the topic of the next blog. Stay tuned!

Exercises to correct anterior pelvic tilt

Sitting is modern man's epidemic.  Tight hip flexors are the result of all this sitting, and this starts the dysfunction for many low back pain cases.  Anterior pelvic tilt is a common result of this dysfunction.  Bridge exercises are usually the go-to for many physical therapists and chiropractors, but often sloppy exercise form dominates. Time is wasted, and low back pain persists.  This version of pelvic tilting decreases the chances of incorrect form.  "Laying pelvic tilt", "kneeling pocket push", "kneel and lean", and "kneeling bridge" are the exercises covered in the attached video.

Wall Butt Bump Exercise

This video shows a "wall butt bump" exercise typically given for low back patients. It teaches the body how to bend forward without rounding the low back. When the low back rounds, there is more pressure on the intervertebral discs. When the lumbar spine stays in a neutral arched position, the body utilizes the gluteus maximus muscle to perform the lift. This is biomechanically advantageous since this is the biggest muscle in the human body. Patients are typically instructed to perform 10 reps 3 times per day.