Simple back tips for your summer cleaning.
By: Dr. Ed Green
Summer is here and it is time to clean that house and make it all
pretty for all the spectacular barbeques you are going to have. I have
seen many patients in my office over the last months with complaints of
low back pain from doing the summer clean. Mainly I get Dr. Ed all I
was doing was vacuuming the house.
I have to say that vacuuming is a big cause of back pain for people that come into the office.
Here is how you fix that problem.
Most individuals when they vacuum bend at the waist and extend there upper body and arms to vacuum. This causes your center of gravity to shift forward. With this shift your low back now has to work hard to keep you from falling over. Now with
your low back tight and unstable lets bend over and learn forward a few
dozen times while holding something heavy.
Doing this motion routinely over and over will cause your low back to
become unstable and leaves you vulnerable to straining your low back.
Most cases I see is when the cleaning is done and you have to now lift
that vacuum and put it away. So to fix the low back while vacuuming
try this. Lets turn vacuuming into an athletic event. Instead of
leaning forward and stretching the upper body, lets use our legs and
perform a forward lunge. By keeping your back straight and your core
tight, while using your legs to push the vacuum forward and back to
neutral you can help prevent low back pain. And for those of you who
have large houses with thick carpets, I would stretch first hehehehe.
Lunging while vacuuming will not only help prevent low back strains but
it will add tone and strength to your core and gluts. There are many
other little vacuuming tricks I will share so stay posted.
Shaving, brushing teeth, cleaning dishes.
The above are a few other easy ways for us to strain our low back. With
each of the above we lean over a study object and again shift our
center of gravity forward. Once again we are leaving ourselves open to
the chance to strain our backs. This is an an easy fix. BRACE YOUR
SELF. When I am either shaving or brushing my teeth and I am leaning
over the sink, I have my other hand firmly placed on the counter.
This is turn takes the pressure off my low back and into my shoulder.
By simply bracing your upper body against the counter, the mirror or a
wall, you are preventing possible low back pain. Usually the pain does
not occur when you are bent over but when you stand up. You can
prevent low back pain while doing dishes by simply standing slightly
sideways against the sink and bending directly over it.
These are a few little tricks that I hope will help prevent that pesky
low back pain from creeping up on you this summer. If you have any
questions please call the office at 805-531-1188. And if a demo is
needed please call BUT the demo does not involve ME vacuuming your house!
Dr. Ed Green is the clinic Director of Moorpark CSI, he can be reached at the above Phone number, for more information on CSI visit our website at www.gotcsi.com
H-wave- it’s not your mammas muscle stimulation!
By: Dr. Terry Weyman
I am known on the Sports circuit as the “Doc with all the cool toys”. However, it’s not about the quantity of “toys”, it’s about picking the right “tool” for the right job. My job is not only to improve athletic performance but also to get the body to recover faster than it can by itself. Ask the Top Amateur Motocrosser how important tissue recovery is when he is laying in the hospital the day before the National Championships with a back injury, or a Pro Golfer the day before the Masters down with a knee injury, or a 20 year old football player the day before the Combine down with a hamstring pull. How important is tissue recovery? VERY.
So, one of my tools is the H-Wave electric stimulation machine. No, this is not your typical E-Stim or Tens unit. This is much more and its part of my regular treatment protocol for getting our athletes back to the field as fast as possible. The H-wave was established for treatment of dental related issues from TMJ to providing anesthesia for those not wanting to take medication. Doing a paradigm shift, we now use it for much more than pain control or overall healing. Now, it is looked at as a machine that can speed up the bodies ability to heal itself and the surrounding tissue to get the athlete back on the field faster than expected. H-wave is unique in that it has the ability to stimulate on both low and high frequencies, at the same time! Now you can aid in pain control to reduce muscle guarding while you work on tissue effusion to maximize healing. What a concept. Once your Doctor or therapist grasps these concepts, the treatment combinations and results are limitless. This is the only machine I know of that can either heal an injury or allow the body to naturally recover faster for next day competition. How do each frequencies work and why do you need both? Well let’s look at each form of stimulation and explain why each form is important.
Ultra Low Frequency Stimulation
Development and protocols for H-Wave were based on the well-established facts that fluid shifts and pressures are essential for tissues to heal and to create homeostasis in an injured area. The H-Wave device was specifically designed to improve circulation and enhance fluid shifts; thereby, addressing the inflammation that is so often the causative factor in pain and disabilities. The goal of H-Wave is never to mask symptoms, but rather to speed recovery and/or manage chronic symptoms to allow the body to increase in normal cellular production and integration. Published research has shown that the specific technology of H-Wave represents a paradigm shift in electro-therapeutic treatment and produces the optimal non-fatiguing stimulation for fluid shifts.
High Frequency Stimulation
Some conditions require additional pain relief that fluid shifts don’t entirely address. This is why H-Wave has a secondary mode that is focused entirely on shutting down pain and breaking the pain cycle similar to TENS, however, with a longer lasting effect. Again, in this setting H-Wave is not intending to mask pain while the device is on, but rather create a strong anesthetic affect with significant and lasting relief after a 30 minute treatment. The H-Wave device is so unique and capable of shutting down pain that we have FDA clearance for electrical anesthesia in the field of dentistry. If it can take away the pain from oral surgery, how do you think it will work in the world of athletics when used right?
As I have said, the H-wave is a tool, when used in the correct settings and for the correct purposes, can change the athletes recovery rate and increase their chances for success.
Dr. Terry Weyman is the owner of Chiropractic Sports Institute and travels the world caring for top athletes. He also works for Pepperdine University in their Athletic Training room and for The Factory, a high level training facility. He can be reached at www.gotcsi.com
FUEL FOR A TEEN ATHLETE
By: Terry Weyman D.C., C.C.S.P.
Male or female, teen or adult, athlete or non-athlete, we have all seen magazines, movies and television shows equate “the perfect look” with being thin. Sometimes we even believe it. But any healthy person, especially an athlete, needs to remember that the scale is not the guide to follow. Athletes need the proper fuel to achieve and maintain their goals. We cannot judge or compare what goes into our bodies with what goes in (or doesn’t go in) to the bodies of non-athletes.
A recent study estimated that the amount of energy expended by a typical female adolescent athlete could be as much as 5000 to 6000 calories per day. Teens involved in athletics require proper nutrition (fuel consumption) to perform at their optimum level. The teen athlete needs to consume enough healthy foods to also accommodate the maturation process. If not, the athlete will impair their growth and strength potential. They will also notice that their energy reserves will be depleted for that extra effort in the final minutes of “game day.”
According to Lisa Kimona, RD, Kaiser Permanente Hospital, the athlete should “consume enough calories (measurement of energy when food is converted) to maintain your weight through your sports season. Most of the calories eaten should come from a carbohydrate source (such as starch, pasta, rice, fresh fruits and vegetables). A moderate amount of protein is necessary (such as meat, chicken, fish, cheese and dried beans). Though you should keep fat-intake low, fat serves some very important roles. Fat is a carrier for the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. It is also an important part of all cell membranes, and is the preferential energy source for all heart muscles. In addition, fat cells protect vital organs and nerves, and are an excellent energy source for skeletal muscles in endurance events.”
For those of you who are concerned about how much you eat, this is an example of a 2400-calorie diet.
SERVINGS SERVINGS
FOOD GROUP PER DAY FOOD GROUP PER DAY
Milk (low-fat) 3 cups (8 oz) Juices 2 cups
Dark green or ½ cup Breads, cereals, 12 servings
deep yellow starches
fruits or vegetables
(Vitamin A)
Citrus foods ½ cup Protein: meat, fish 2 servings
(Vitamin C) poultry, egg, dried
beans or peas
Other vegetables 1 cup Fats, salad 3 servings
(or less)
Dressings, nuts,
seeds
Other fruits 1 cup Desserts, candy 1 serving
(or less)
A sizable amount of food? NO, if you’re an athlete. This was an example of a diet consisting of only 2400 calories, well below the 5000 or 6000 calories teenagers are capable of expending. One important fact to remember is that when participating in sports, your caloric intake must match your caloric expenditures. When in doubt, don’t judge yourself off of a magazine cover. Ask what you want your body to do and provide the fuel necessary to complete the task. If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact your health care provider or nutrition counselor.
Dr. Terry Weyman is a Sports Chiropractor in Southern California, you can gain more information at www.gotcsi.com
How to get the MENTAL Edge
By: Dr. Terry Weyman
“Athletes are mental” I overheard a kid at a local race say. “They are crazy to do these things”. In some cases he is correct. They are mental. In even some cases, those who are “more mental” are the ones that win. But being “mental” is not a bad thing, but a good thing. Most people train the body, get adjusted to strengthen the structure but very few train the mind. Mental toughness separates the champions from the contestants. Not only can mental toughness separate you from your other competitors, but it can also separate you in the board room, the class room or in times of depression or tragedy. Just as you train and work harder on the physical, training the brain to be tougher takes time and practice, but the pay off can be great.
Jason Taylor, the 2006 NFL Defensive Player of the Year said it best when he said “Pressure does one of two things to people, it either crushes you or it turns you into a diamond”. Top Athletes KNOW where they belong and won’t settle for anything less than the top position. Some call it desire or will but the fact remains, they KNOW with every cell of their body. They have also learned, through experiences, that their body will do whatever their mind tells them to do. This is true for either positive or negative experiences. Your mind is always looking for the “easy way out.” If you give your mind that option, your body will go there. If you take it away, your body will dig a little deeper to find a solution. Our world is riddled with “mediocre” athletes who have become superstars because their minds BELIEVE they are capable of greatness. Have you ever heard someone say “he/she is not the most talented athlete out there but they work harder than anyone we have ever seen and no one can seem to beat them”. I have even heard coaches and trainers say “give me work ethic, passion and commitment over natural talent any day”. That is another word for, give me someone who’s MIND is the most determined and I will make them a champion. Another example of how powerful the mind can be is to look to hypnosis. There are people who use hypnosis to have surgery instead of being put out by pharmaceutical drugs.
So how do you train the mind and how do you learn to stay focused and cool under pressure?
First and foremost learn this: “what the mind believes, the body achieves.” In order to achieve peak performance, your mind and your body must work in concert with one another. It must learn resilience and adaptability. Being mentally tough is learning how to sustain ideal performance no matter what life throws at you. Finding the positive, no matter how deeply buried, in all things. You get stuck on the freeway behind an accident, late for a meeting, you see it as “more time to prepare”. You get injured prior to an important match, you view it as more mental time to watch and discover an opponent’s weakness. Instead of being that block of solid wood, learn to be that supple tree than can handle hurricane force winds and still stand.
The next step to mental greatness is to “Change your vocabulary”. Replace “I will try” with “I will do”. Or “I hate this part” to “I dislike this part and can’t wait to figure it out”. In sports or life, there are no “problems” just “challenges”. Take out the word “I can’t” and replace it with “I will”. Look at your heroes in your sport, your industry or your life; listen to what comes out of their mouths. Don’t reinvent the wheel, learn and study the masters.
Avoid negativity! Negative people are like cancers. Their view is if “they can’t do it, they want to make sure others can’t do it as well”. You will hear them around the field, at the water cooler or in the stands. Saying things like “yea I tried that, did not work” or “you should not try that, you will just get hurt”. These comments are infectious and deadly to the champion. As in building your body up stronger to resist infection and disease, build your mind up to resist the “misery of failure” by cataloging many positive experiences and happy thoughts to go to when you hear a negative comment. Build that wall up to make your self immune. I have a statement, “why waste a day by having a ‘bad day’ when you can change that and have a ‘phenomenal day’. It may take you all day to find a reason to have a ‘phenomenal day’ but never stop the quest.
Ever see an Athlete with ear buds in his ear connected to his iPod? These athletes are using their favorite music to inspire, relax or motivate themselves. USING MUSIC can have various effects and used right can bring you the desired effect. From calming you down to pumping you up, Music triggers synapses in the brain that can be very powerful. It has been shown that listening to music can increase your focus, your heart rate and certain neurotransmitters that can have a powerful physical influence.
The mind also is your CPU so to speak. Your central processing unit, and like every great computer, its love a strong routine. Some athletes call this routine a “superstitious pattern” but all it is a routine that an athlete draws upon for stability. Routines help us stay calm under pressure by giving our minds something to focus on instead of the pressure of the moment. To take that big race and boil it down to “just another regular day”, by having a regular routine, you allow your mind to stay focuses on the task at hand instead of the “distracting noise”.
Understand this, we are not perfect! God did not make us perfect for a reason. If we feel we are perfect than we have nothing to learn. We all make mistakes; the true champion does not get upset but studies and learns from his mistakes to minimize the reoccurrence of the incident. My father had a saying, “to make a mistake is human; to repeat it is stupidity. Learn from your mistakes so you never enter the realm of stupidity!” Even the greatest of all athletes and CEOs have coaches and are able to be taught. Strive for perfection by being teachable.
Get Psyched! You know how you feel when you’re getting ready to go on the long awaited vacation? Nothing seems to bother you, no matter HOW MUCH GOES WRONG prior to departure. You are so pumped on the final outcome that the journey is just that, a journey. But the real reason is you REMEMBER what vacations are. You may have caught your first fish or had your first kiss or flew on your first plane. Whatever it is, your excitement is drawn from a past experience. Use past victories or positive moments to get pumped and inspired so much that no matter what happens prior, it does not deter you from reaching your ultimate goal.
Learn how to be an island! Have you ever heard, “you can’t do this” or “no one has ever done that” or my favorite, “don’t try that, it’s too hard”. If you buy into these negative thoughts, then you fall back into the masses or the ordinary. How do you think World records are made, or new tricks at the X-Games are done? These boundaries are shattered by athletes believing so strongly that they can do it that it is done. They have replayed the success so many times over and over in their mind that their body already knows the outcome. Even when nobody else believes they can do it, they are able to stand alone with their belief. They have found their inspiration and used it over and over till they own it. Travis Pastrana said he had done the double back flip on a motorcycle, (one of the greatest single feats in extreme sports ever) over a thousand times in a foam pit but over a MILLION times in his brain before he accomplished the unbelievable at X-games a few years ago. He was the ONLY one who believed he could do it and when the doubters gathered, he pulled off the unbelievable. Never doubt yourself; ANYONE can be BEAT at ANYTIME.
If you can’t see it, you won’t be able to do it. VISUALIZATION is one of the biggest keys to training your mind. Close your eyes and see you accomplishing your goals. Tap into all your senses and make it happen. Find the path and learn how to do it. Close your eyes, and visualize the journey to the top. What does the air feel like against your skin, what does the day/night smell like, what are the sounds surrounding you and what do you see? Practice your victories over and over again until it becomes second nature. A good example of this was a P.O.W. who was stuck in a hole during the war. Over and over he played golf in his mind. Felt the cool grass under his feet, the wind in his face, and the crowd’s thick hush in his ears. He played over and over. When he finally got released two years later he went to the golf course and shot two over par on his FIRST ATTEMPT at the game! Teach your body how to achieve the victory first by visualizing it in your mind. Ever see a dog sleep? They sometime run, in their dreams they are running but they are asleep, YET their muscles still work. When you visualize in your mind you are still are teaching your muscles how to react and move. IF you can’t see the victory in your mind, your body will never deliver the victory.
By following these steps and practicing these tricks you too can be on the road to greatness.
Dr. Terry Weyman has been working with athletes from high school to the Olympic and Professional level for over 20 years. He drew inspiration for this article from not only his personal experiences but from his teachers as well. Dr. Spencer Baron, Author of “the secrets of the game” www.secretsofthegame.com, is both an inspiration and a mentor. The other inspiration for this article came from my son, Tyler Weyman, who in a short time has climbed the ranks of Motocross into the National level. Watching his trials and tribulations was a big reason for this article, Love this kid. Dr. Terry can be reached at his website, www.gotcsi.com or on Twitter @DrTerryW
Sign up for his monthly newsletter to get more “tips on how to live your life like a pro” at www.gotcsi.com on the left hand side
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