Tag: health

Blood Flow Restriction: Get Pumped

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Blood Flow Restriction Training article by Core Health intern Daniel Hounjet

What is blood flow restriction training (BFRT) you ask?

BFRT is when you place a cuff similar to a blood pressure cuff around your arm or leg and perform certain exercises. Once the cuff is placed on the arm or leg you pump the cuff up to the point where you are restricting 80% of the blood that is trying to return to the heart (venous blood flow), while allowing the blood to reach the area of treatment (arterial blood flow). The reason it only restricts flow returning to the heart is because veins that are being restricted are closer to the surface of the skin in comparison to the arteries, therefore the cuff only affects the vessels that are close to the surface of the skin.

BFRT allows individuals to exercise with 20-30% of their 1 repetition maximum (1RM) while going through a specified exercise. BFRT allows for significantly less strain on the joint while still achieving the benefits that you would see with traditional strength and mass gaining exercises.

The exact mechanism is yet to be determined, but personal testimonials and current research suggests that there is proof in the pudding. BFR can be utilized by a broad range of individuals some of which include athletes, weekend warriors, wounded soldiers and elderly. Some of the measured benefits include;

  • Decreased recovery time post-surgery
  • Decrease bone healing time and decrease in muscle loss when a limb is immobilized.
  • Allows for a decreased strain on the joints and surrounding soft tissue while obtaining the benefit of heavy loads
  • Increased athletic performance due to increased muscle activation and increased protein synthesis

BFR has shown a decreased recovery time from surgeries such as ACL replacement, patella tendon rupture or Achilles tendon reattachment. One of the big reasons for BFR benefit in individuals who are recovering post-operation is that they are able to begin rehab earlier and are able to regain their strength without heavy loads. BFRT has been turning heads and is now used by several NFL players, some of which include Adrian Peterson and Jadeveon Clowney.

Blood Flow

With the increased research and success that BFR patients are seeing, it is no wonder it is quickly becoming a staple in many rehab and performance clinics

BFR is exceptionally safe and can be utilized by a broad range of individuals as previously mentioned.  As BFR becomes more known and researched it will surely become clearer what the exact mechanism is that causes these benefits.

There are a few contraindications which include; deep vein thrombosis, pregnancy, varicose veins, high blood pressure or cardiac disease. If you have any of these conditions be sure to consult your physician or trained health care provider.

Blood flow restriction training

Blood Flow

http://www.owensrecoveryscience.com/learn-more/category/in-the-news/P12/

 

Schedule your blood flow restriction session online via the homepage

Stress Effect

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Coming off one of the busiest “busy” seasons of my career, I have been thinking a lot about stress.  Stress IS a normal part of life.  We all have it in some form and it comes from a variety of sources, external and internal.  Typically, our bodies respond to stress by activating our nervous system and outputting hormones.  However, there are times when stress is increased or we operate in a stressful environment for a prolonged period.  This heightened period of stress can impact our health in an extremely negative way.  A prolonged period of high stress can alter our mental state, impair our sleep, cause cravings for certain foods and ultimately directly influence unwanted body changes.

In the midst of my tax busy season I found as I continued to push harder and say yes to more and more my mental state deteriorated.  I became more irritable and at times abnormally emotional.  My sleep was profoundly impacted.  I would often feel pure exhaustion but have a complete inability to either fall or remain asleep.  My weight crept uncomfortably up, my muscles were not recovering and I continued to become more stressed and overwhelmed.  I knew I had to make a change but I also felt a desperate need to keep the wheels of the bus in motion.  I feared if I took my foot off the gas pedal everything would fall apart.

It may not be the exact same story for everyone but I can imagine we have all experienced a period of heightened stress.  Chances are there was little we could do to avoid the stress.  We have jobs and responsibilities and commitments to many people and situations.  It is likely that at times our lives are busier than normal.  While we cannot just shut down and decide we no longer want to show up to work or keep our other commitments, it is important to manage our lives so we do not reach the point of burnout.

Once I came out of my busy season fog I made a promise to myself that I was not going to allow the overwhelming feelings to happen again by prescribing to the following:

  • Sleep before everything else. If I cannot fit in something without sacrificing sleep then I need to re-examine my commitments.  I am no good to others OR myself and my body without 7-8 of rest each night.
  • I can say no and it is ok. Less really is more.
  • Walking and low impact moving is sometimes more important for our body than a high impact workout.
  • Meal planning and feeding my body whole, well-rounded meals is good for my brain. Relying on sugar-laden foods makes me feel sluggish.
  • Caffeine can be a bandage if we begin to rely on it to get us through the day. Limiting my intake allows me to function on a more balanced plane.
  • Recognizing the impact stress was having on my body allowed me to begin to undo the negative impact. I had to be kind to myself to start the recovery process.

The weight has started to come back off, I am sleeping through the nights and my emotional and mental well-being are operating at my normal levels.  I am much happier which really the ultimate goal is.  We all will have stress on a daily basis, how we manage it will impact our nutrition and wellness infinitely.

-Amy Moser

For Inquiries regarding our nutrition program please contact me at nutrition@uptowncore.com

Spring Cleaning: Your Plate

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Now that our hibernation is over and summer is right around the corner there have been a few things on my mind.  One, I need to do some spring cleaning. Two, I am pumped for all the time I get to spend in the backyard having bonfires and watching the pups run around.  And three, it’s farmer’s market season so I will be cleaning up my diet and adding a ton of fresh veggies to my meals! Fresh fruits, veggies, and flowers galore!  If this sunshine and warmth doesn’t motivate you to clean up your diet and replace some of the rich, heavy comfort food with crisp, colorful, local fruits and veggies I don’t know what will.  Here are some pro tips to help clean up your plate as the sunny summertime becomes a reality

  • Visit your local farmer’s market weekly to stock up on some fresh fruits and veggies for your meals
  • Sign up for a CSA share or split with a friend. Fresh produce delivered to your door
  • Wash, cut up, and place all those veggies or fruits in containers right away to have ready for snacking or throwing in a pan to cook.
  • Make vegetables a priority with your meals and build your plate around them.  Roasted, raw, steamed, grilled, in a salad, in a smoothie, sauteed, or scrambled with eggs
  • Get protein in at every meal to help keep you satisfied (eggs, beef, chicken, fish, seafood, dairy sources, greek yogurt, beans, legumes, etc.)
  • Nix the pasta and warm, buttered bread at dinner and replace it with roasted potatoes or root vegetables drizzled with olive oil
  • Pick some of the seasonal fruit to have with breakfast, for snacks, or a healthier dessert option topped with coconut cream
  • If your fruits or veggies are nearing the end of their freshness, cut up and place in a freezer bag to use later in a smoothie or cooked up as a side
  • Stock up on some good spices and herbs to season your veggies
  • Break out that grill and bring your cooking outside! Get a vegetable basket for easy grilled veggies
  • Balance meals and snacks with protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Examples: Grilled pork chop, roasted golden potatoes and broccoli both drizzled in olive oil; Mixed greens salad topped with fresh peppers, onions, tomato, cilantro, avocado, salsa, greek yogurt, grilled chicken, and a handful of corn tortilla chips; Greek yogurt or cottage cheese topped with fresh fruit and a small handful of chopped nuts and shaved coconut
  • Keep it simple. Don’t overthink it and make meals more complicated than they need to be

I hope these tips motivate you to do some spring cleaning to your own plate and start your summer off feeling well-nourished and energized.

Coach Janna

Posterior Chain

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Are you working your butt off… literally?

The posterior chain muscles may be the most important group of muscles when it comes to daily performance as an athlete or an average Joe. The posterior chain of muscles in the hip include the glutes, hamstrings and the posterior core/para-spinals; and they are responsible for stabilizing and moving the hip and pelvis. They are often neglected in strength training causing muscular imbalance and anterior chain dominance, which can lead to low back pain and instability. So, if you have had some sort of low back pain, you are most likely not working your butt off as much as you thought.

Importance of Posterior Chain Muscles

When your hip joint and its muscles fail to function, your lumbar spine takes over movements that it shouldn’t which can cause low back pain. The glutes are often the most affected by the lack of hip mobility, often getting inhibited or unused. Posterior chain muscles are crucial to full functioning hips. Many Crossfit movements require powerful hips, which really means a powerful posterior chain. The power positions in the Olympic weightlifting movements, deadlifts, kettlebell swings, rowing, and even the push press all generate power from your hips. Without full functioning hip muscles, these movements will lack efficiency and cause pain.

How do I know if I have a weak posterior chain?

Along with pain there are some postural signs that can be seen that can help us identify weaknesses. One of these signs are an anterior pelvic tilt or lower cross syndrome (LCS). LCS can be seen in individuals with a hyperlordotic curve in their lumbar spine, which is caused by tight/over used anterior muscles (rectus femoris, iliopsoas, and abdominals) and weak/inhibited posterior chain muscles (hamstrings, glutes).

The Fix

Just like with UCS, we want to address the short muscles first then strengthen the weak. Stretching and mobilizing the rectus femoris and hip flexors (refer to Low Back Pain post). Next, we want to strengthen the posterior chain muscles. The main movement we want to get to activate all the posterior chain muscles is the hip hinge. This can be seen in exercises like the “Good Morning”, kettlebell swings and deadlifts. The combination of the stretching and strengthening will help take some tension off the anterior muscles, make the posterior muscles fire correctly and bring full mobility back into your hip joint and stability to your low back.

-Curtis Hoang

 

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The Journey of Fitness

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In the constant pursuit of the fad of the week we find ourselves chasing a mythical magic pill, the path of least resistance, one that will give you the desired aesthetic and performance that we see on Instagram, T.V., or in magazines. Or maybe you’re pursuing fitness because you love the way it makes you feel, you remember a time when you felt more alive and are desperate to get back there.

Sometimes this sparks something inside you, drives you to want to do more, achieve more, be the best version of yourself, you find your groove and don’t look back. Other times the promises of your well intentioned endeavor falls short and it’s back to the drawing board.

Fitness is a journey, one that is never mastered nor completed. It is an evolving part of your internal fabric driven by variables that change with the world around you. The worst thing you can do is give up on yourself and fill your subconscious with doubt on whether or not you’ll ever find something that suits you.

Sit down and define your ‘why’. Without an intrinsic drive to push you past the points of resistance you leave yourself vulnerable to failure. It has to come from you and it has to hold value with your current set of priorities, without that it is simply another short term solution to a long term dilemma. Align your drive with the intended stimulus and outcome of the given fitness program, if it initially makes you uncomfortable- good! Comfortable is what got you where you’re at, you have to trust yourself and your intuitive nature to what you know you want. Keep putting yourself out there and know that you can achieve what you may think just isn’t meant for you.

Once you’ve set yourself on this path be prepared to work hard and commit to the process as there is always work to do and areas of your fitness you can continue to improve upon. Be ready to reevaluate your ‘why’ as your circumstances and priorities change and adjust your approach accordingly.

Most of all remember to enjoy it. To steal a commonly used quote on happiness, fitness is the journey-not the destination.

-Dr. Crane

IMG_0001Photo by Alex Tubbs of Tubbs Photos

Should I be counting my macros?

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Personalized nutrition and macro counting

One of the latest trends in the health and fitness industry is to manage food intake by keeping track of macronutrients, i.e. the amounts of protein, carbohydrate and fats that are consumed in a day.  While there are many benefits to precise measurement of food, it can also be time consuming and hard to implement long term.  If you have been thinking about jumping on the bandwagon here are some questions to consider before making the jump to the next nutritional level.

  • Is the majority of your diet whole unprocessed foods?
  • Are you getting enough of your daily nutrient requirements from the foods you eat and not just from supplements?
  • Are the majority of your beverages non-caloric and non-alcoholic?
  • Are you staying hydrated enough to sustain your activity level and body size?
  • Do you have appetite awareness?
  • Are your eating habits consistent? i.e, skipping meals, eating until over – stuffed?
  • Are you getting enough physical activity? Too much?
  • Do you sleep at least 7-9 hours a night?
  • Can you prepare basic nutritious meals and recipes?
  • Do you shop efficiently for as high quality foods that you can afford?
  • Are you able to make time to plan and prepare a menu?
  • Do you have a supportive environment for nutritional changes?

While we are all human and not many of us are going to be accomplishing every single one of the tasks above, they are all individually great places to start dialing in our nutrition before beginning to count macronutrients. Once you have the majority of these habits in place, the next step then would be to consider weighing and measuring your food to help you achieve your nutrition goals.

Whether you are ready to take on macro counting or trying to just get the basics down a nutrition coach can be really helpful to guide you along the way. Take some time, think about your goals, and do some research on your options for nutrition coaching. Usually working one on one with a personalized coach is going to lead to the best results with least amount of frustration.

 

-Alye Deroma, Certified Precision Nutriton Coach

 

For inquires on our nutrition program please visit here or email alye@uptowncore.com

Chiropractic and Massage, Partners in Wellness

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Deep Tissue Massage  in conjunction with the Chiropractic adjustment

Chiropractic and massage therapy work together simultaneously creating a synergistic effect resulting in much faster recovery time. Correction of one’s structure often occurs more easily and with less discomfort when both modalities are used together. The positive results of chiropractic care last longer when muscle tension is released, which might otherwise pull one’s structure back out of alignment.

Since massage therapy is good for the nervous system it is usually done before chiropractic treatments are given. The adjustments are much more effective this way. Sometimes the body can be so stiff that it resists the adjustments. When it becomes relaxed through massage, it allows the doctor of chiropractic to more easily realign various parts.

Chiropractic treatment is useful for treating people that are under constant physical and/or mental stress. Massage therapy can also be part of this treatment because of its beneficial effects. A person can be healthy in every other way, but have physical pain caused by tightness and stress. Through massage and chiropractic techniques they can be helped.

Massage, when used with chiropractic treatments, is also good for physical injuries such as those that happen in auto accidents. Injuries occurring from a variety of other activities as well as physical pain from stress benefit from both treatments. The immune system is stimulated by massage and chiropractic treatments along with blood circulation. By doing massage you are using the body’s natural energy to heal itself.

Since the massage increases the blood flow it can also help relieve headaches. Many people suffer from these on a regular basis. The improved circulation helps to decrease the pain and stimulate nerve flow.

You must be aware of the signs your body gives you for spinal stress, so that you can get to the chiropractor at the first signs of dysfunction. Spinal distress can bring on a tingling sensation in the legs, shoulder, and arms and sometimes even numbness. This is why it is important to address spinal problems immediately. Chiropractic and massage therapy can not only correct the problem but restore your natural energy that becomes lost when dealing with spinal distress.

The bottom line is that chiropractic and massage therapy are compatible forms of health care that share the goal of your total well-being, not simply an absence of illness. Both offer natural hands-on, drug-free techniques. They can be used as preventative as well as restorative therapies. When used in combination, they help you maintain your optimum health and wellness.

We now offer massage therapy at both our Uptown and Plymouth locations! Schedule online or give us a call to book your next massage!

Plymouth- 763-205-3783

Uptown- 612-872-9596

Posture Fix for Back and Neck pain

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Sitting properly to reduce back pain

Neck and back pain due to posture is a growing problem.  A vast majority of our patients present with symptoms that arise from cumulative stress placed on the body through poor ergonomics.

Did you know that the average full-time worker spends 2/3 of their day sitting? Often thought of us a comfortable place of respite, chairs and the time we spend in them can greatly impact our bodies, forcing them into anatomically unsound positions. Hours on end spent in chairs is slowly crippling our bodies and our health. Your hamstrings shorten, your hips lose their ability to straighten and therefore generate power, and your lumbar-spine is forced to support the weight of your slouching-body. Unfortunately, in this modern age of instant communication, advanced medicine, and the ability to access information on the internet by just a few clicks of a button, much of this is unavoidable. Our jobs are much more sedentary than they used to be. So what is the modern day desk warrior to do?

While there is no perfect solution, here are some tips to keep your body as healthy as possible throughout the workday:

1. Be aware of your posture.

The easiest way to put yourself into a sound position without thinking about 40 checkpoints is to pay attention to your elbows.

 Yes your elbows.  If my elbows are in a good position in relation to my torso, then my shoulders are neutral, neutral shoulders gives a high likelihood to a neutral cervical spine and this keeps your upper body is in an ideal position with minimal tension levels. Don’t adjust your neck to see the screen. Instead adjust your chair and computer monitor. If you have to crane your neck too far downwards to see your computer screen, you naturally force your pelvis/lumbar to round and cave in.

2. Work some desk stretches into your daily routine.

We should be cultivating mobility daily regardless of where we are, so why not do it at your desk? And yes a standing desk or a desk that has the ability to adjust up and down is best but I realize it is a convenience that is not afforded at all work places, so if you don’t have the luxury then proceed to #3.

3. Stand up regularly.

Who will notice (or even care) if you stand up once every 30 minutes and get yourself out of that position of flexion. Many studies have shown benefits of leaving your desk at periodic intervals to walk around. Just remember to come back!

4. Be active OUTSIDE OF WORK.

As tempting as it is to get home and retire to the couch, use your time outside of work to MOVE your body the way it’s meant to be moved. Try some functional movement workouts or yoga. You will be surprised to find you actually feel better and more energized.

I hope these tips are helpful.

Visit http://www.corechiroclinics.com to learn about all the of the services we offer to help our patients

MOVE WELL, EAT WELL, BE WELL.

Don’t let me catch you slouching! Posture and what to do about it

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Dr. Neil Crane

Ergonomic checklist

By now we’ve heard the term text neck , seen the photos of people slouched over a computer or craning their necks down at their phone, may have even had the ergonomic breakdown at work. But what are the implications of poor posture and how can it really affect you.

Before we get too far into the do’s and don’ts let’s get a better understanding of what bad posture is actually doing to your spine.   As you progress through development from infancy to sitting, sitting to crawling, crawling to standing, and standing to walking- running- jumping- etc., you are changing the dynamic of how your body holds and distrubutes weight throughout each phase.  In doing so, you form 3 primary curves of the spine.  First is the lordodic cervical curve that would look like a reverse c-shape from the side, second the kyphotic thoracic spine, and finally the lordotic lumbar spine.  Each curve serving a purpose for the overall stability of the spine and all the mechanisms that attach and rely upon this structure to function.  This shape and form is very intentional as our bodies are much smarter innately than we give them credit.   By forming this intentional shape, our weight is evenly distrubuted from our head down to our toes to transfer weight and force evenly from the spine to the extremities and allowing for the muscles, tendons, and ligments to peform their duties without becoming stressed. By changing any one of these shapes or curves in the spine, we thus alter the stress load throughout the entirety of the spine.   So by losing that curve in your neck or flexing your head down looking at your phone, you’re implicating every function thereafter that relies upon the shape.  Leading to tightness in the cervical flexor muscles (front of the neck)  weakening and overusing the cervical extensors muscles in the back of the neck and upper shoulders which leads to stiffness, tension, pain, headaches, loss of mobility, and eventually structural breakdown or degeneration of the spine. This is happening at an alarming rate as patients are presenting at as early as 18-20 years of age with symptoms consistent with the breakdown that was just described.  I’ve used the cervical spine as my example for the sake of simplicity but you could go through this process with each region of the spine and each region will be affected by the other once things begin to breakdown.

We all know technology is going no where and chances are we are going to spend more time sitting, in front of computer or phone than ever before.  So make the changes now to avoid having to deal with the complications later.

Posture checkpoints-

Head and neck must remain neutral – eyes level to the horizon

Elbows low and in contact with the torso

Shoulders back

Get up and move around!  Take breaks, alternate with standing if you have the option.

Exercising consistently is the most beneficial pro active measure you can take against bad posture

Focus on strengthening the upper back and core musculature to most efficiently offset negative stress due to posture

Please let me know if you would like to go over any posture related questions or concerns on your next visit.

Move Welll!