1. Go for a walk even when the weather is really cold – your body has to work overtime to get warm and you may burn up to 50% more calories than you would on the same walk in summer! But remember, go a little slower until you get warm and keep up the hydration.

2. If you find it hard to get motivated to exercise in winter…just think of spring and how much harder it is to get back into shape rather than maintain your fitness throughout the winter.

3. Be aware of tendonitis and stress fracture if you don’t exercise in winter and expect to pick up where you left off after a whole winter with no exercise.

4. Instead of picking up a cup of hot chocolate to keep yourself warm, try a herbal beverage.

5. Develop an interest in indoor sports as opposed to cycling and jogging outdoors. Don’t forget that swimming at an indoor pool is an option for a great cardio workout!

6. Cold air and indoor heaters can dry out your skin. Make sure you drink at least 8 glasses of water each day and use moisturizers throughout winter.

7. Buy some indoor plants to soften up the dry atmosphere caused through heating. Indoor plants give off moisture and oxygen and the colors will brighten up a dull day outside.

8. Wear the right clothes when exercising in winter. Polypropylene is the perfect fabric to wear underneath a tracksuit, which will provide great insulation but minimize moisture loss. Gore-Tex is a fabric used widely for providing protection from the rain and wind.

9. Caught a cold or flu? If the infection is above the neck (nose, throat) you could be OK to complete a low intensity workout. However, if you have symptoms that are worse than an average cold (chest congestion, muscle aches), exercise will only make you worse and delay your recovery. Rest is the best approach.

10. Keep your immune system in peak condition with regular wellness visits to your chiropractor. Not getting sick in the first place so you can continue your normal exercise through the winter is much better than having to battle back from an extended absence.

Chiropractic adjustments, also known as spinal manipulations, are a procedure in which a quick light thrust is applied to restore the normal motion of the joint. The purpose of chiropractic adjustment is to improve your body’s functioning and alleviate pain.

Adjustments are most commonly made to joints in your back, but also to joints of the neck or other parts of the body, such as the shoulders. You may be treated by a chiropractor in order to correct such conditions as:

• Neck, back, shoulder, arm, hand, chest, leg, or foot pain and stiffness
• Headaches
• Sciatica
• Arthritis
• Trauma, such as whiplash
• Scoliosis
• Sports injuries
• Repetitive strain disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome
• Fibromyalgia

Adjusting the joint and restoring its normal range of motion sounds painful, doesn’t it? You may feel pressure or mild discomfort, and the discomfort may be greater if there is significant inflammation or tension around the joint being treated. However, chiropractic adjustments should not be painful.

If you are new to chiropractic care, you may have a harder time relaxing during the procedure than more experienced patients. If you stiffen or resist the adjustment, you may feel some discomfort. However as you get used to the procedures you should find not only that the discomfort decreases, but that you may feel relief and a sense of well-being after the adjustment I completed.

During the adjustment, you will be placed in a certain position to treat the affected areas. Usually you will be lying face down on a padded table. There may be popping or cracking noises during the adjustment, as the joint is moved. These noises are the result of the release of tiny pockets of gas during the procedure, which is completely normal. In fact, it’s the same thing that occurs when someone cracks their knuckles.

After the procedure, you may feel some soreness or aching in the muscles or spinal joints. If it occurs, this kind of discomfort usually happens within the first few hours of treatment. It should not last longer than 24 hours (and if it does, be sure to contact your chiropractor for assistance). If you like, you can place an ice pack on the affected area which should help reduce the symptoms and help you recover more quickly.

In order to be sure you have as pain-free a treatment as possible, be sure you choose a board-certified chiropractor with good patient references. An experienced, competent practitioner will be able to give you the most effective treatment possible with the least amount of discomfort.

PGA golfers Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington have used chiropractic services for years in order to improve and maintain their golfing performance.  Their successes suggest a benefit of chiropractic care, but it’s hard to know if it’s because of the care or because they are world-class athletes. Can chiropractic care help the average golfer improve their performance as well?

The very nature of the game of golf suggests a good match for players with chiropractic care. Golfing can involve considerable strain on the spine. Golfers need to move from a standing position quickly to club head speeds, requiring good posture, balance, and the ability to rotate the spine properly. Poor posture can create exaggerated or flattened spinal curves that can seriously affect swing performance. In fact, Tom Ward, PGA Golf Instructor, says, “Over 50% of all golfers will experience some sort of pain due to poor posture and the problems that arise from loss of proper curves in the spine.”[1]

By working with your spinal range of motion, chiropractic care can help correct golf injuries, maintain performance, and improve the posture needed to perform a good golf swing. When the chiropractor aligns all the vertebrae, the spine can move better. An individualized treatment plan including chiropractic adjustments, specific rehabilitation exercises and muscle techniques may make a significant difference in your overall performance and enjoyment of the sport.

Recent research confirms that chiropractic care can indeed lead to improved golf performance. A recent study published in the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine demonstrated that the combination of chiropractic care and stretching are associated with greater improvements in golfers swing when compared to stretching alone.[2]

Two groups of golfers participated in the study. One group received a program of stretching only, and the second received both stretching and spinal manipulation. The stretching program was the same for both groups, and both groups had similar average ages, handicaps, and initial swings. All 43 participants initially performed three full swing maneuvers, and the average distances were recorded. Over a 4-week period, all participants hit 3 balls before and after treatment.

After 4 weeks, the stretching only group showed no improvement in swing performance.  However the stretching and manipulation group did improve their swing performance and there was greater driving distance right after treatment each week. So it appears that yes, chiropractic care can help not only top golfers such as Woods and Harrington, but it can help you improve your golf game too.

References:

[1] Tom Ward, PGA Instructor. http://www.golflink.com/golf-tips/tips/ward032.aspx

[2] Journal of Chiropractic Medicine (2009) 8, 165-170.

A triathlon is an athletic event incorporating back-to-back running, cycling and swimming. Triathlons exert great strain on the body, which may challenge athletes on both physical and mental levels. The extreme training a triathlete must endure can put the body under great cumulative stress, and it’s not uncommon for the athletes to suffer from a broad range of injuries and overuse stresses.  At my chiropractic office in Springfield, VA we help many triathletes improve their performance and speed up their recovery.

There are numerous worldwide triathlon events, such as Ironman, Half-Ironman, Olympic and Sprint. The majority of these events advocate the use of chiropractic care to aid not only in treating injuries, but also to improve performance. Chiropractic care offers the possibility of enhanced finishing times and a greater likelihood of triathletes finishing events.

Chiropractic care focuses on treating the athletes neuromuscular skeletal system and allows the body to function optimally. For these reasons, chiropractic care is ideal for athletes looking to treat or prevent injuries.

One treatment that we use at my chiropractic office is called Active Release Techniques.  Active Release Techniques or “ART” for short is a soft tissue treatment designed to treat the injuries that occur to the muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerves. It is very effective in locating and treating the cause of soft tissue conditions. Many triathletes suffer from injuries attributed to repetitive strain and stress, since excessive training can result in muscle restrictions due to adhesion formation. Before treatment takes place, a biomechanical analysis of the athlete is conducted to determine the exact location of restrictions in the body along the kinetic chain. Active Release Techniques focuses on specific tissues that have formed adhesions or scar tissue from repetitive strain. Once the muscular adhesions are treated, specific exercises are then carried out in order to aid the recovery of damaged tissues. Unlike most treatments, treating the injured triathlete with chiropractic care does not require extended rest periods before improvements are seen. It is very common that injured athletes who receive the Active Release Technique show signs of improvement in just a few sessions. For those who are looking to invest only in preventive treatment, improvement in performance is also achieved in the span of a few sessions.

If you or someone you know is suffering from a training injury give us a call today at (703) 912-7822 or visit us at Chiropractor in Springfield, VA.

One of the most common questions I get at my Chiropractic office in Springfield, VA is: What is Active Release Techniques and how can it help me.  Today’s post is to give you a better understanding of what ART is and how it is one of the best treatments for muscle injuries, tendonitis, ligament sprains, and nerve entrapments like carpal tunnel syndrome.

What is Active Release Techniques (ART)?

Active Release Technique is a patented, state-of-the-art soft tissue system that treats injuries to muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves. ART is not massage, physiotherapy, or chiropractic care.While those procedures correct muscle and joint dysfunction, they do not necessarily address the underlying problems caused by scar tissue, which are essentially connective tissue adhesions.

ART stretches, separates, and releases these connective tissue adhesions allowing for an increase in your range of motion, flexibility, and strength while also restoring vascular circulation.

A few of the conditions that can be resolved quickly and permanently with ART include:

• Headaches
• Back pain
• Shoulder pain
• Tennis Elbow
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
• Knee problems
• Plantar Fasciitis

Active Release Technique has proven to be especially valuable for athletes, from the beginner to the professional. 90% of the time athletes with acute or long-standing strain/sprain injuries experience complete recovery, in a short period of time. ART has proven to be a fast, effective, non-invasive way to correct and rehabilitate a wide variety of soft tissue injuries.

How do overuse conditions occur?

Over used muscles (and other soft tissues) change in three important ways:

• Acute Conditions (pulls, tears, collisions, etc)
• Accumulation of small tears (micro trauma such as typing on a computer)
• Not getting enough oxygen to the muscle (hypoxia)

Each of these factors can cause your body to produce tough, dense scar tissue in the affected area. This scar tissue binds up and ties down tissues that need to move freely. As scar tissue builds up, muscles become shorter and weaker, tension on tendons causes tendonosis (tendinitis) and nerves can be entrapped. This can cause reduced range of motion, loss of strength, and pain. If a nerve is entrapped you may also feel tingling, numbness, and weakness.

What is an ART treatment like?

Every ART session is a combination of an examination and treatment. The ART provider uses his hands or her hands to evaluate the texture, tightness, and movement of muscles fascia, tendons ligaments, and nerves. Abnormal tissues are treated by combining precisely directed tension with very specific patient movements.

These treatment protocols over 500 specific moves are unique to ART. They allow providers to identify and correct the specific problems that are affecting each individual patient.

If you have been suffering from an injury to your muscles, ligaments, tendons, or nerves give us a call today at (703) 912-7822 or visit us at Chiropractor in Springfield, VA

Weekly Health Update

Mental Attitude: Poor Eating Habits Can Cause Depression.
The ingestion of trans-fats and saturated fats increase the risk of suffering depression, while ingesting olive oil appears to protect against depression. Participants with an elevated consumption of trans-fats (fats present in artificial form in industrially-produced pastries and fast food, and naturally present in certain whole milk products) showed a 48% increase in the risk of depression. Also, the more trans-fats consumed, the greater the harmful effect they produced.
Public Library of Science, February 2011

Health Alert: Only 24 Hours In A Day!
National restrictions were first introduced in 2003 to limit the hours resident physicians could be on duty. At the time, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) cited increasing acuity and intensity of medical care in teaching institutions, as well as scientific evidence of the negative effect of sleep deprivation on performance, as reasons for instituting restrictions. Those limits were not to exceed 80 hours in a week or more than 24 consecutive hours. In December 2008, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued a report recommending further action to reduce resident fatigue and ensure patient safety within 24 months of the report. The IOM committee did not recommend a change from the maximum of 80 hours per week, averaged over four weeks, but instead recommends decreasing the maximum length of shifts, increasing the time off between shifts and mandating a sleep period during longer shifts.
Journal of the American College of Radiology, 2010

Diet: Tea Can Help.
This study looked at the effect of treating superficial precancerous lesions in the mucosal lining of the mouth with a mixed tea product. After the six-month trial, partial regression of the lesions was observed in 37.9% of the group treated with tea as compared to only 10% of those treated with a placebo.
Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, 1999

Exercise: Exercise And Stress.
Regular exercise reduces the amount of stress hormones in the body, lowers the resting heart rate, relaxes blood vessels, and lowers blood pressure.
Mayo Clinic, March 2011

Chiropractic: Have Back Pain?
Spinal manipulation is the best treatment for acute low back pain.
Agency for Health Care Policy and Research

Wellness/Prevention: A Cup Of Tea.
The antioxidant properties of tea flavonoids may play a role in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease by decreasing lipid oxidation, reducing the instances of heart attacks and stroke, and may beneficially impact blood vessel function (an important indicator of cardiovascular health).
Archives of Internal Medicine, 1996
If you or a family member is suffering from neck pain, lower back pain or headaches call our chiropractic office in Springfield, VA at (703) 912-7822.

On the show Dr. Oz aired a segment featuring the spine and the causes of back pain. Dr. Oz explained that 80% of people experiencing back pain could benefit from visiting a chiropractor and receiving a chiropractic adjustment to the spine.

On a large piece of equipment designed to represent the spine, Dr. Oz demonstrated how the spine getting out of alignment causes pressure on the discs and nerves, which in turn, causes pain. Dr. Oz said that even simple things such as sleeping wrong or getting groceries out of the car can force the spine out of alignment.

Dr. Oz explained that pain medications only mask the symptoms, but do not treat the underlying cause of back pain. He also said that a misaligned spine can result in a herniated disc which causes a lot of pain and takes quite a while to heal.

Dr. Oz had a chiropractor on the show who proceeded to give an audience member a chiropractic adjustment. Chiropractors restore health by the manual realigning of joints, particularly the spine. After the adjustment was given, he explained to Dr. Oz that realignment of the spine reduces interference to the nervous system and lets the body heal itself.

Dr. Oz has praised the benefits of chiropractic treatment before on previous shows. The majority of chiropractic clinics offer spinal and joint adjustments, massage, electrical stimulation, acupuncture, heat, cold, and exercise prescription to reduce their client’s pain.

Here is a clip from the show:

How is it that chiropractic health care can be so effective across so broad a range of conditions?

The key is that chiropractic care focuses on restoring more normal function within the nerve system. The nerve system is responsible for directing and coordinating all the functions in your body. When the nerve system works right, your body can begin to recover effectively from many kinds of problems.

Chiropractors are specialists in analyzing and correcting nerve interference, Chiropractic care restores the free flow of information between your brain and the rest of your body. When your body’s physiologic systems receive accurate information – on time and in the right sequences – they can do the jobs they were designed to do. The result is dynamic, vibrant, fully expressed health and well-being.  To learn more about chiropractic and how it affects your nervous system visit us at http://www.NovaChiroWellness.com

Are you discouraged because you failed on your new diet or you have not followed through with your New Year’s resolutions. Here is a great speech by one of the New York Jets coaches on discouragement.

A friend of mine sent me this great guide to living a healthy 2011 and I wanted to pass it on to you.  What do you think of the guide? I would love to hear your comments.

Health:

1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow ON trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured IN plants..
4. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy.
5. Make time to pray.
6. Play more games
7. Read more books than you did in 2010 .
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9. Sleep at least 7 hours.
10.Take a 10-30 minute walk daily.  And while you walk, smile.

Personality:

11. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don’t have negative thoughts on things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don’t over do.  Keep your limits.
14. Don’t take yourself so seriously.  No one else does.
15. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time.  You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past.  Don’t remind your partner of his/her mistakes in the past, that will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.  Don’t hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn.  Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don’t have to win every argument.  Agree to disagree…

Society:

25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time with people over the age of 70, and under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick.  Your friends will.  Stay in touch.

Life: