Training Smart to Lower Your Risk of Injury

This is a repost from the Millar Chiropractic Clinic website.

Training Smart to Lower Your Risk of Injury

Visualization and Exercise

Visualization is an effective tool for creating the life you desire. It is also the key to making your workouts more beneficial. Visualization enhances the natural connection between your body and your mind. When you picture your muscles working in your "mind's eye", the "wiring" between your nervous system and your muscles increases. More nerve-muscle connections are created and enhanced, resulting in stronger and smarter muscles. It is really quite remarkable. And the nice part is that it doesn't take any extra effort, other than thinking about it!

Have you ever been out running when you suddenly experience pain in your shins?  Shin splints¹ are common in runners, but there are things you can do to lower your risk.


One thing you can do to lower your risk of injury is to make sure you have a plan for exercise. Having a well thought out strategy can help you train smart and train safe. When you train smart and follow your plan, then you can also train hard while minimizing your risk of injury.

Training smart and safe means paying attention to what is happening in your body as you workout. "Paying attention" is a learned skill that depends upon repetition and mental focus. Visualization is an important aspect of mental focus, and if you're visualizing ideal form while you're exercising, then you are automatically paying attention!

If you are a runner, you can focus on:
•    Visualizing a strong, fluid and erect spine, and a strong abdominal core.
•    Keeping your head upright, looking forward and slightly down, while keeping your chest open and relaxed.
•    Keeping your arms and shoulders relaxed while you move.
•    Visualizing a long, fluid stride with your feet landing gently, and then pushing off powerfully, as your leg extends behind you.

Training smart also involves trusting your instincts, instead of following your ego. This can be challenging for many of us. In the middle of a workout, it can seem imperative to complete your set and do that last rep even if your form is suffering. But the truth is, form is the most important thing.  If you end up sacrificing proper form to complete those last few reps, you may get an unexpected and unwelcome result.

It is the same for runners. If you are running and your form begins to break down, take that as a signal to lessen your speed enough to reestablish your good form. If you train while focusing on proper, effective form, you will be more likely to run a good race at a good pace when the time comes.

As in much of life, there is a sweet spot where you are training hard enough to get the results you're seeking, but not overtraining and increasing your risk of injury.  Remember, to pace yourself so that you continue to receive the benefits of training over the long term, rather than being side-lined by an injury.



¹Couture CJ, Karlson KA: Tibial Stress Injuries: Decisive Diagnosis and Treatment of "Shin Splints". Physician and Sportsmedicine 36(6):29-36, 2002 

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Mini Workouts While You Work

This is a repost from Millar Chiropractic Clinic Website

Mini Workouts While You Work

What Do You Eat at Work?

The vast majority of us sit throughout the day at work. Exercising regularly - even if it's just a few minutes at a time throughout the day - helps to keep a person's metabolic rate, at an optimal level and therefore the muscles continue to burn calories even while sitting. Conversely, when we sit for hours at a time without getting up to move around, our metabolic rates drop.  That is why taking short exercise breaks often throughout the day may be even more beneficial than performing a longer workout once a day - if it means you barely move for hours at a time during the rest of the day. You can help keep your metabolism revved up and your blood sugar and energy levels balanced by making an effort to bring your own healthy lunch and snacks to work. It takes some effort to prepare your own food in advance, but the benefits are well worth it. If you prepare a healthy dinner, try making a bit extra and bring the leftovers with you to work for an easy lunch.  A salad can be a simple solution, adding some grilled chicken or turkey for protein. Whole milk organic yogurt is a good choice for a snack that will satisfy your hunger longer than anything out of the vending machine. Bring zippered plastic bags containing organic cheddar or other cheese, and an organic apple, banana, or other fresh fruit - preferably something in season. Energy bars can also be a good choice for a snack at work, but make sure to read the ingredients and avoid anything with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame or sucralose (Splenda).  Ideally they should have at least 30% protein to keep your blood sugar level.

Are you like most typical office workers who sit for hours on end in front of a computer screen?  If so, probably one of the most important things you can do for your health is get up and move around every 30-60 minutes, even if your exercise break is very brief.  Fitting in exercise doesn't have to be a big interruption during your day.  Just walk around your home or office for a few minutes, or even just march in place or do a quick stretching routine.

This is also a good time to give your eyes a break.  Your eyes become fatigued when you look at something at a static distance for too long.  Make a point to look out a window if you can and focus on the details you see.  Look around your house or office and focus on items at varying distances to exercise the lens in your eyes.  Looking at trees outside and other natural surroundings are not only pleasant and relaxing, but can also help your mind be refreshed and energized.

Stand up straight, making sure your knees and shoulders are relaxed, and tighten your abdominal muscles for a strong core while you do the following stretches:

• Inhale while you sweep your arms out to your sides and then up over your head, and exhale while you bring them back down to your sides.
• Inhale while you reach one arm over your head and gently lean to the opposite side to stretch, and exhale while you return to center bringing your arm back to your side.  Repeat on the other side.
• Inhale while you sweep your arms in front of you, and exhale while you bring them back, stretching the chest muscles. 
• Keeping your arms straight out at your sides and your breathing relaxed, gently rotate your torso to one side and then to the other.
• Continue taking nice deep breaths while you roll your shoulders forward and then backward.  Then place your hands on your shoulders and circle your elbows around very slowly - as if you are drawing the biggest circles possible with your elbows - stretching out the muscles of your upper back and shoulders.
• Stretch your neck by gently tilting your head forward and back, then gently tilt your ear toward each shoulder, and finally gently turn your head from side to side.  Make your movements slow and relaxed and be careful not to push too far.  Just stretch to the point where it feels comfortable.
• Warm up your legs a bit by bending your knees into a partial squat, and then come back to standing, then up on your toes.  You can add in the arm lifts we started with, lifting your arms above your head while you raise up on your toes, and lowering your arms as you lower your body.

You don't have to do all of these during each break, unless you would like to.  Pay attention to which exercises feel good to you and which areas of your body have the most tension.  Usually just a few repetitions will be sufficient, and taking regular mini-breaks throughout the day can make a big difference. It only takes a few minutes to get your circulation going and your joints and muscles loosened up. 

Mini-exercise breaks also give your mind a rest, and you will probably find that you have renewed mental vigor and greater clarity when you get back to work.  Exercise breaks are especially helpful when you are struggling with a problem.  You may notice that giving your mind a break while you perform a short bout of exercise is just what you need to come up with a solution.

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Do You Have Chronic Knee Pain

This is a repost from  Millar Chiropractic Clinic

 

Do You Have Chronic Knee Pain?

Treating Chronic Pain With Chiropractic

Chiropractic care is an essential part of a broad-based approach to the treatment of various types of chronic musculoskeletal pain. Medication alone is never an effective solution to chronic pain because it does not address the underlying causes of the problem. On the other hand, if biomechanical issues are a component of the overall cause, chiropractic care is able to provide a great deal of benefit. Chronic musculoskeletal pain often has its origins in spinal misalignments. These restrictions in spinal joint mobility may be due to long-term postural problems or to an old injury - often a motor vehicle accident or fall, or perhaps a severe back spasm that was triggered by bending-and-lifting and never completely healed. If spinal misalignments persist, other structures begin to compensate. Sacroiliac joints and ligaments get tight. Hip joints will eventually lose some mobility. Knee and ankle motion are compromised, and eventually chronic back pain, hip pain, and/or knee pain develops. Chiropractic care addresses the cause of these many problems by analyzing, identifying, and correcting spinal alignments. As the biomechanical function of your spine improves, so does the mobility of all other weight-bearing joint such as your hips, knees, and ankles. As a direct result of chiropractic care, chronic pain begins to reduce and resolve.

Chronic knee pain is well-known for being difficult to treat successfully.  People with chronic knee problems often become discouraged as they consult specialist after specialist - rheumatologists, orthopedic surgeons, physical therapists and others - often with little to no improvement.  The lack of progress becomes more understandable when one realizes that typical evaluation and treatment are directed at the symptoms rather than the cause. But, as is also the case with most other pain syndromes, it is usually most beneficial to address the underlying biomechanical problems instead of the trying to cover up the symptoms.

Poor biomechanics are at the root of many chronic knee problems. Of course, it is important to rule out various other diseases and orthopedic conditions which can also cause the same type of ongoing pain. The most likely of these possibilities need to be considered and ruled out before establishing a diagnosis of biomechanical knee pain. Osteochondritis dissecans, a torn meniscus, and synovial effusion are all frequently encountered in persons over age 40 with chronic knee pain. Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and ankylosing spondylitis are a few rheumatologic conditions which may result in sporadic or chronic knee pain.¹

When these medical entities have been eliminated as possibilities, a biomechanical causation becomes likely. How does a person develop "faulty biomechanics"?  The majority of us have never received effective instruction in how to use our bodies properly. We sit and stand in all sorts of unsound postures, slumping, slouching and just generally giving in to every available force of gravity. We stand with all our body weight on one leg or the other, neck and shoulder muscles gripped tightly and abdominal muscles sagging and protruding. When we sit we slump down, stressing the lower back with poorly tolerated mechanical forces, and many of us regularly sit for hours with legs crossed, stressing the knees as well as the hips and low back.

Over the course of a lifetime, our bodies have continually tried to adapt to a range of inefficient and stressful postures and habits. But eventually no more adaptation is possible.² The result is that muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints eventually break down and fail. We experience this failure as pain. And once this type of pain has started, it is not going to go away unless the underlying causes are corrected. Specifically, the person's biomechanics need to be restored closer to normal.

Correction of posture takes time and can only be accomplished gradually. The key is to learn what to do, learn how to do it, and to be working on posture every day.³ The most important thing is to begin. Three basic biomechanical corrections are as follows: (1) When standing, be sure to have your weight over the balls of your feet and to have your weight evenly distributed on both legs. (2) Activate your deep abdominal muscles by visualizing an "inner lift". (3) Have straight lines of force running down your legs (rather than lines of force crossing at your knee, creating torsion and tension). Visualize "straight energy" flowing from your hip sockets, straight down through the center of your knees, straight down to your feet, between your first and second toes.

Visualizing and implementing these three biomechanical corrections on a daily basis represents the first series of steps toward improving knee mechanics and reducing chronic knee pain.

If you have an area where you can safely walk barefoot - ideally in soft grass or on a sandy beach - this can be very helpful for restoring proper biomechanics to your feet, knees and hips.  If you are allergic to bees and/or other insects, walking barefoot is probably not worth the risk.  But if you're not and you have a safe place to walk barefoot, you should notice the benefits from even a short barefooted walk, as your body often easily begins to adapt a more natural gait. 

¹Yusuf E, et al: Do knee abnormalities visualised on MRI explain knee pain in knee osteoarthritis? A systematic review. Ann Rheum Dis 70(1):60-67, 2011

²Suri P, et al: Low back pain and other musculoskeletal pain comorbidities in individuals with symptomatic osteoarthritis of the knee: data from the osteoarthritis initiative. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) 62(12):1715-1723, 2010

³Bennell KL, Hinman RS: A review of the clinical evidence for exercise in osteoarthritis of the hip and knee. J Sci Med Sport 14(1):4-9, 2011