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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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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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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 →