Those of us who exercise usually need some sort of guidance somewhere along the way. Whether we are training for a particular sport, strength, power, agility, endurance, or any combination of such, many of us have not had the proper training/instruction to take our bodies through the rigors of ‘tough’ training.
This is where a trained professional comes in. My other business, Pro Form Instruction, LLC, offers continuing education credits to fitness professionals for most of the major fitness certifying bodies in the country. It also has a branch that works with elite fitness instructors and high level athletes. I have seen my share of great trainers and those who can do more harm than good.
On this end, I see injuries due to ‘working out’ and also due to poor instruction from ‘fitness instructors’. It’s important to note that the more specialized the athlete, the more vital it is to have someone qualified to work with him/her, otherwise injury is sure to occur. Would you want a fitness instructor to advise long-distance running for an athlete whose sport doesn’t have any long-term aerobic needs? How about a young athlete being advised to do hundreds of crunches at a time…for what? Does any of this make any sense? Read More »
If you’re interested in a shoe to help you with toning up and you’re considering purchasing an expensive pair of one of those new and cool rounded shoes on the market, please read on.
Sketchers and MBT lead the way in this category with their ‘shaping’ shoes, or shoes that are supposed to help you tone up while you walk. In theory, this sounds great…work on an activity that should tone you up just by doing it, and tone up because of the footwear you choose versus the activity you are performing…and, of course, there is no downside?? Read More »
Within the last year or two, there have been significant additions to the ‘types’ of footwear available for athletes. Sketchers and MBTs have their ‘shape ups’ type of shoes and Vibram, the maker of soles for many shoe and boot companies, has come up with its own concept. (We’ll save the topic of shape-ups for the next discussion and you’re gonna wanna read it!!!) Vibram’s first foray into the shoe world comes in the form of a glove-looking neoprene withVibram sole product.
It is born from sound principles of gait and markets to the those looking to benefit from being as close to being barefoot as possible without actually being barefoot. Vibram’s FiveFingers might just be that product and they are certainly onto something. Read More »
I’ve had the great fortune of working many pro beach volleyball competitions over the years. As a whole, beach volleyball players are great guys/gals, and they really appreciate the care they receive. They are wonderful athletes to work with.
When one considers volleyball injuries, usually the shoulder is the region that gets blamed most. This makes sense as we usually envision volleyball players ‘spiking’ the ball. The rotator cuff and other structures of the shoulder take a beating from the high force and movement that is required of the shoulder…in many cases, the players have dysfunctional scapular movement to begin with and this predisposes them to injury…add that to frequent forceful acceleration and deceleration movements, and you have a nice recipe for injury.
What is sometimes surprising when working with volleyball players is seeing all the other injuries that they sustain as a result of the game. I have seen more neck, knee, hip, low back, toe, foot, ankle, and elbow injuries than I would’ve ever imagined! Shoulder injuries are actually about half of the way down on the list of injuries. Why is this? Read More »
I have been asked by a LOT of my patients who have this condition to write a blog about it…so, here we go…hope it’s informative!
Spondylolisthesis, generally considered to be an anterior slippage of parts of our vertebrae following a pars interarticularis (the region between the two facet joints) fracture or due to degenerative changes can be a very serious condition. In most all cases of the fracture type, it does not heal, and it can be a source of pain. I remember learning about this condition in school and thinking to myself, well, I’ll likely never see any of these…hopefully. I mean, how common is it to see spinal fractures? Certainly, these are are more-so orthopedic concerns than chiropractic ones, right? Read More »
Tennis Elbow, or lateral epicondylitis, is a common medical catch-phrase condition for individuals who experience pain on the outside (lateral) portion of the elbow. Classically, it has been called ‘Tennis Elbow’ because tennis players tend to get this problem, generally from hitting backhands. However, labeling everyone with lateral elbow pain as having ‘Tennis Elbow’ is just simply not correct. Newer research is moving away from using the term ‘Tennis Elbow’ and ‘Lateral Epicondylitis’ and is moving towards calling the condition ‘Lateral Epicondylosis’. Regarding all these complex medical terms, what are we actually describing? Read More »
Ankle sprains/strains are common injuries with athletes of all kinds. I see them with runners, triathletes, figure skaters, soccer players, volleyball players, basketball players, and more…proper treatment for these injuries is essential if the patient wishes to be able to continue with their activities at a competitive level.
Before we begin, we should differentiate between a sprain and a strain. Sprains involve ligaments and strains involve muscles. It is possible to have one without the other (example: hamstring strain).
The vast majority of ankle sprains/strains are what we call inversion sprains. This means that the ankle turns in. This type of injury can lead to damage to various structures, including muscles, ligaments, and even bones. Read More »
After successfully treating hundreds of plantar fascial pain (plantar fascitis or plantar fasciitis) patients who have tried other forms of treatment with limited or no success, I figured it’d be nice to write a blog about a different way to approach this problem. I expect my PT and podiatrist friends to disagree, but that’s okay…the more approaches we have to help patients, the better! I serve as the official chiropractor/rehabilitation specialist for the Baltimore and Frederick Marathons, and treat hundreds of triathletes, so I believe my over a decade of experience with related injuries is worth discussing. One thing to remember is that there is no single treatment protocol for any injury that works 100% of the time, but a different approach to plantar fascitis is warranted due to the high failure rates of current interventions. Read More »
This is Columbia Advanced Chiropractic’s blog site, ‘Body at Work.’ A special thanks to Tammy Hepps for helping to get the blog going. Topics will vary and we would love to have your feedback regarding what you would like to see discussed. Please keep in mind that you are an integral part of the blog experience and the more information we cover, the more you can learn about your health and how to maximize it. We hope you enjoy Body at Work and help make it the best health blog in Columbia / Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland, and everywhere else, for that matter! The old newsletters from ‘The Spinal Column’ are now here on the blog and you can read/comment as you wish.
Please feel free to send us comments on this page about what topics you would like to see discussed in future blog discussions. Although we will try to get your comments posted as quickly as possible, please allow up to 48 hours to do so.
Being that the warmer weather is now here, many of us are working outside in the garden planting flowers, fruits, and vegetables, and doing a fair amount of weeding. Although this seems to be a rather innocuous activity, each Spring and early Summer I get a large amount of patients who present to my office due to gardening injuries. Many of these injuries are quite common and quite painful. I honestly never realized how dangerous gardening really is until I moved to Columbia, MD. Let’s take a look at a couple of the activities that are performed while gardening and evaluate some ways to help reduce the likelihood of injury. Read More »
