Archive for May, 2010
Let’s face it, there’s just nothing good to say about belly fat. In fact, when you look at all the studies that have come out recently about the adverse effects of excess weight around the midsection, even Santa Clause doesn’t look all that jolly anymore. As your Ventura chiropractor, I’ve explained to my overweight patients who are experiencing low back pain that too much weight in the middle is likely the culprit. The spine wasn’t designed to haul around excess weight on a regular basis. As an individual puts on extra fat in the belly, the spine starts to distort and compress, which creates pain and discomfort. Belly fat can also cause the pelvis to tilt forward and pinch the sciatic nerve. But, if low back pain and sciatica aren’t enough to get you to change your eating and exercise habits, how about this: A new preliminary study suggests that excess fat in the abdomen during middle age can actually boost the risk of dementia later in life!
It is estimated 24.3 million people worldwide suffer from dementia. In the new study, researchers at Boston University School of Medicine examined the medical records of 733 people with an average age of 60 years. (Note: Nearly 70 percent were women.) The study found that increasing levels of body-mass index in middle-aged individuals corresponded with lower brain volumes when they are older, i.e., lost mental capacity, especially when the excess fat was in the middle.
So, there you have it. You have one more good reason to get rid of those extra pounds, especially around your midsection. Lose the weight, lose your back pain, and avoid losing your mind!
Ventura Chiropractor: Avoid Injuries With These Youth Sports Tips From an Expert
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’re a young athlete in junior high or high school, or if you’re the parent of one, Thomas Solecki, DC, DACBSP, a sports medicine expert and chiropractic physician, has some tips on how to get the most out of youth fitness and sports activities that will not only maximize the health benefits of youth exercise, but will help to avoid injuries as well. Dr. Solecki is a faculty clinician at National University of Health Sciences’ Whole health Center, is certified in exercise rehabilitation and exercise performance enhancement, and also serves as a chiropractic physician for athletic teams at DePaul and Northwestern universities. So, when Dr. Solecki offers advice, as your Ventura Chiropractor, I say “listen up!”
Sports Safety Tips:
- Warm up with light activity, then progress to moderate activity at least 5-10 minutes before exercising or participating in sports. You should feel “hot” and have a little sweat going if you are properly warmed up.
- Cool down and stretch after every workout. Never just walk away from a sport or activity. Hold each stretch for 30 seconds to one minute without bouncing.
- For safe training, never increase your exercise intensity or the amount of weight lifted by a factor of more than 10 percent every two weeks.
- Train specifically for your sport. Each activity uses different muscles and patterns in the body; make sure your body is trained for your sport
- Use heart-rate guidelines in training for endurance sports. Certain formulas can be used to help calculate safe heart rates for training children, teens, and adults. These ranges can be used to train specifically for longer endurance, short bursts of heavy exercise, etc. Talk to a fitness professional to help you find these ranges.
- Give your body a break. Always take one to two days off per week to let your muscles heal and your body repair.
- Cross-train with different activities. This allows your body to repair and helps you gain strength and endurance at the same time. Your body adapts to an exercise program every four to six weeks. Change exercises or types of workouts every four to six to help improve your performance and also to avoid overuse injuries.”
- Don’t use thirst as a guide to drinking. By the time you are thirsty, you are already more than 3 percent dehydrated. Guidelines:
- Drink at least 64 ounces (eight 8 oz. glasses) of water per day
- Drink two to three cups of fluids up to two hours before exercise
- During intense and prolonged exercise sessions, or when exercising in an environment that is hot and/or humid, drink 8-10 ounces of fluid every 20 minutes.
- After exercise, drink enough fluids to quench your thirst plus extra. (A good guideline for hydration is urine. Urine should be clear, if it is dark colored you have dehydrated and need to drink more.
Dr. Solecki advocates using what he calls a “periodization schedule of training” for serious and competitive high school athletes who focus year-round on their fitness and sports training. What does this mean? According to Dr. Solecki, it means that your training should be very different in your off-season versus pre-season. In other words, give yourself periods of time with more strenuous exercise and periods with lighter/recovery types of exercise.
Dr. Solecki also wants you to be aware that if you change workout types or start a new sport, some muscle soreness is normal and even good. The soreness from lactic acid build-up is an indication that you are building stronger muscles. But, not all pain is “gain.” He suggests that if you find yourself much more sore on day two than you were on day one, or if you’re only getting sore on days two or three, this is an indication that you are pushing too hard and need to back off.
And, finally, Dr. Solecki advises that children age 12 and under should avoid using weights or heavy lifting because the growth plates at the end of children’s bones may be damaged by lifting weights too early, which will affect later growth and development. The alternative? Dr. Solecki recommends that younger athletes stick with exercises using only body their own body weight until their growth plates have closed.
Source: National University of Health Sciences, www.nuhs.edu
The Importance of Good Posture
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It’s a great time to be alive, isn’t it? Science and technology have literally put the world at our fingertips. And, in addition to the unlimited access we all have to information and communication, there are computer games, video games, and round-the-clock TV shows. Unfortunately, the “pros” of most things arrive hand-in-hand with the “cons.” Now, there are plenty of “cons” to be addressed here, but as a chiropractor, I’m going to focus on the adverse effect that our bad posture is having on our musculoskeletal system, not only while we’re engaging in these activities, but even after the work and play is done. All you need to do is to take a look at the majority of teenagers to see that posture, in general, is in a slump.
Why is posture so important? Poor posture causes headaches, neck pain, and back pain, just for openers. And, since the back bone is (eventually) connected to the hip bones and knee bones, bad posture can create a lot of painful movement from your head to your toes.
Joe Donofrio, dean of clinical services at Sherman College of chiropractic in Spartanburg, offers some great posture tips. Check them out at goupstate.com
“Re-Inventing” Activity
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’ve been reading my blogs, you know that as a chiropractor I am very concerned about excess weight and obesity when it comes to people’s health in general, and my patients’ health in particular, especially since I observe first hand every day the damaging effects to the musculoskeletal system that take place when a person carries around unneeded, and therefore unhealthy, poundage. The damage begins early and affects young and growing bones structures as well as those that are on the other end of the spectrum and aging. So, I was very happy, indeed, when I read today on nationalpost.com that U.S. schools and childcare programs could be required (by law!) to include daily exercise as part of the new National Physical Activity Plan released on Monday.
It is no secret, though still shocking, that two-thirds of adult Americans and one-third of children are either overweight or obese. Obviously, along with a poor diet, inactivity is taking its toll on the U.S. population. Most research shows that both adults and children absolutely need at least one hour of moderate physical activity a day to stay healthy and to keep from gaining weight. And, in addition, regular exercise helps to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and other cardio-vascular diseases. (Plus, regular exercise stimulates the brain and promotes learning!) The NPAP plan, along with changing medical school curricula and adding guidelines for doctors on counseling patients, local regulations will “encourage” the construction of sidewalks, playgrounds, and parks, and (hurray!) a return of organized exercise in schools.
Nancy Brown, Heart Association CEO, stated: “Unfortunately, nearly a quarter of the U.S. population does not participate in any physical activities.” It is vital to get our country back on track moving the human body as it was designed to move. And, it is important to start early by encouraging our children to be active once again, as children used to be before video games, computers, and 24-hour TV programs. Putting PE back into our children’s daily school activities will not only help them to get and stay healthy, it will help them to get and stay smarter, too!
