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Skiboards Are The Way To Go!

Skiboards Are The Way To Go!

**This blog is updated and re-posted with permission from www.yourchiropractor.net We’re posting it on DBAM because it covers a favorite sport of many, skiing…and it’s about a way to keep those participating safer while sacrificing none of the fun!

I’ve been an avid skier my whole life.  I may not be a double black diamond skier or even all the time a solid black diamond one, but I’d comfortably call myself an advanced intermediate skier.  To me, nothing is more peaceful than being on top of a mountain, with the snow falling down, and only hearing the sound of the carving of the skis.

From childhood, my dad and I would take father and son ski trips and they provided some of the best memories of my life.  From Switzerland, to Mount Tremblant, to Vail, Park City, Tahoe, and more…I was exposed to skiing at an early age and I am very fortunate for this.

Being a sports chiropractor, my life revolves around treating injuries, rehabilitating such injuries, and helping to prevent future injuries.  Skiing is a sport, that although insanely fun, comes with its set of injury risks.  I’ve treated many various skiing (and fairly stated, snowboarding) injuries in my day.  This begs the question: how do we mitigate the risks of skiing while still having loads of fun?

Several years ago, a patient started talking with me about skiing.  He mentioned that he no longer used skis but was using something called ‘Skiboards.’  He talked about how much fun they were and how much safer he felt using them vs. skis.  This conversation piqued my curiosity.  After all, I loved skiing and I also wanted to minimize risk as much as possible. Continue Reading →

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The Need for Youth Sports Information

The Need for Youth Sports Information

As a parent of a child involved in youth sports, you want your child to be healthy, happy, and performing at an optimal level.  Nothing is worse than uncertainty as there is no game plan to approach it.  You have questions and they need to be answered.

Your child plays a sport and gets knee or leg pain.  What do you do?  You want your child to work on strength and conditioning.  Is it safe?  Where do you go?  How much is too much?  What do you look for when selecting a personal trainer/strength coach?  Should your child play one or two sports?  Which offers a lower risk of injury?  Your child has a question about hip tightness and you don’t know who to ask. Continue Reading →

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Why The Cross Crawl Pattern Is So Important

Why The Cross Crawl Pattern Is So Important

Cross Crawl pattern as baby’s left upper extremity goes forward, so too does the right lower extremity

As DBAM starts moving into education on the topic everything youth sports, it’s important to consider our most primitive movement patterns.  This is where it all starts.

Babies start their true ability to move around by crawling.  It involves the left upper extremity moving forward while the right lower extremity also moves forward.  Then vice versa.  The cross crawl is not just a thing kids do before they get upright.  The crawling movement is an essential action to proper development of the brain.  This is why those parents who try to have their kids walk as soon as possible are, can we say, Meatheads? Continue Reading →

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The Upright Row…Stop It Now and Save Your Shoulders!

The Upright Row…Stop It Now and Save Your Shoulders!

I’ve written and taught on the topic of the exercise called the ‘Upright Row’ many times in the past.  Sadly, people are still performing this most awkward and dangerous exercise.  I guess I will try to keep reaching as many people as possible about this movement.  It is responsible for too many injuries.  This blog falls on the heels of a prior blog about ‘side deltoid raises’ and the issue of impingement.

The upright row is responsible for shoulder damage.  I cannot tell you how many times I’ve seen injuries occur right in front of my face with people performing this exercise. Ouch!  Let’s look at the picture above and break it down!

The upright row movement is a flexion/abduction movement of the shoulder rolled in with internal rotation and a bit of retraction, all while under load. What does this do for your shoulder? Well, nothing too much on the good side and a lot on the bad side (meaning, it’s bad). This movement is notorious for impinging the supraspinatus muscle.  It just so happens that the supraspinatus is the most damaged rotator cuff muscle.  The more distal fibers lie under the acromion process. Continue Reading →

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Learn About Arthrogenic Inhibition

Learn About Arthrogenic Inhibition

So, you’re a runner and keep getting ankle sprains.  You are a powerlifter and keep ‘pulling’ your hamstrings.  You are recovering from shoulder surgery and you simply cannot get back to where you should be even though the surgeon tells you all is okay.  Your knees are just not recovering from what was supposed to be a simple meniscus repair.

WHY can’t you get better?  You feel better but things just aren’t working the way they should…well…here is the likely reason and you’ve never heard about it.

Arthrogenic Inhibition sounds like a complicated concept, but luckily, it is not. Defined as ‘an ongoing reflex reaction of the musculature surrounding a joint after distension or damage to structures of that joint, Arthrogenic Inhibition is readily apparent with really any joint injury.  This includes injury from life, sport, and surgery, and anything else you can possibly do that damages a joint.

Continue Reading →

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Superman is a Meathead!

Superman is a Meathead!

Take a look at the exercise above.  What do you see?  I’ll make it easy…what you are seeing is a soon-to-be low back injury.

It looks like a fit guy doing what is classically called a ‘Superman’.  Well, we all know the man of steel is invincible.  But, we are not.  In fact, our kryptonite is the low back injury that is going to occur when we extend the spine like this.  In fact, studies show that this exercise can create about 6000 Newtons of energy into our low back.

Superman will not break…we will.  Just so you now, 1 Newton equals about .225 pounds of force.  So, if we multiple 6000 x .225, we get 1350 pounds of pressure in the low back.  Do you think your facet joints, ligaments, and discs are made to take this type of pressure?  Well, this is NOT what you want to do.  I’ve heard far too many people over the years saying they love the ‘burn’ in their low back that they feel when performing this exercise.  Well, guess what?  That burn is severely damaging your back.  Don’t Be a Meathead!

Continue Reading →

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Work to Avoid Shoulder Impingement!

Work to Avoid Shoulder Impingement!

So, what is wrong with what the person is doing above?  She’s smiling and exercising…all good, right?  Uh, no!  I’ll cut to the chase.  That woman is looking at significant shoulder damage coming her way due to the movement she is performing.

Many people go the gym and try to isolate, or train, their shoulders.  There is plenty of debate about isolation movements vs. more regional training, but we’ll leave that for another day.  There are many machines the people use to work on their shoulders and there are plenty of exercises with dumbbells.

This discussion is about one particular exercise that rates high on my list of ‘Don’t Be a Meathead.’

Let’s first start with anatomy.  The supraspinatus muscle is one of the 4 rotator cuff muscles and its function is shoulder abduction in the SCAPULAR plane along with a bit of external rotation.  The problem with this muscle is that it travels under a bone that comes off the scapula, called the acromion. Continue Reading →