Ice Capades

• Created in Newsletter Library, Exercise & Fitness

In the depths of winter, adults, as well as children, exert themselves to engage in enjoyable outdoor activities that will keep them warm and provide both excitement and entertainment. Cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, sledding, ice hockey, figure skating, and speed skating all have their enthusiasts.

Many people are proficient in multiple winter sports. Others have no discernible degree of skill, yet persist owing to the exhilaration and good feelings that are obtained by asserting oneself in the face of freezing temperatures. Even in Southern California, where the winter temperatures are laughably warm compared to those registered in places where it gets authentically cold, residents feel the bite of winter. Even in warmer areas, children and anyone young at heart can visit ice rinks in neighborhoods malls and get a sense of what it's like to skate on frozen water.

Importantly, participation in winter sports may often lead to injury, owing in large part to the physical momentum involved in skating, skiing, and sledding. Although injuries are often random and result from unfortunate circumstances, we can take many protective measures to help prevent an injury, despite having sustained a hard fall on the ice or a rough tumble downhill.

Proper preparation for any winter outdoor activity includes making sure that your body is up to the task. We get ourselves ready for sports-type engagement by participating in regular physical exercise. When we do aerobic exercises, we're training our heart, lungs, and circulatory system to increase their efficiency. Over time, we become better able to breathe more deeply, providing increased amounts of oxygen to power our muscles and other metabolic processes.

When we do strength-training exercises, we're developing the ability of our muscles and bones to support and maneuver with increased mechanical loads -- abilities needed for skiing and skating and other winter sports. Additionally, cardiovascular and strength-training exercises enhance the capabilities of our proprioceptive system, a network of nerve endings that help our bodies make instantaneous decisions regarding balance and position in three-dimensional space, subconscious skills that are critical to the successful enjoyment of winter activities.

Regular chiropractic care is a key component of our winter sports planning. Regular chiropractic care detects and corrects sources of nerve interference and restores and supports optimal mechanical function of the spinal column, our body's mechanical center. By making sure we are getting regular chiropractic care, we help ourselves get the most out of our exercise programs. In this way, regular chiropractic care helps us stay healthy, avoid injury, and have outdoor fun all winter long.

1. Raabe ME, Chaudhari AMW: Biomechanical consequences of running with deep core muscle weakness. J Biomech 2017 Dec 6. pii: S0021-9290(17)30692-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2017.11.037. [Epub ahead of print]
2. Dreischart M, et al: Estimation of loads on human lumbar spine: A review of in vivo and computational model studies. J. Biomech 49(6):833-845, 2016
3. Schuch FB, et al: Exercise as a treatment for depression: A meta-analysis adjusting for publication bias. J Psychiatr Res 77:42-51, 2016

Get in today and get your spine check so your body can get all the information it needs to aid in heal and to help it fight off infections.

When Your Spine Is In Line

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Good spinal alignment means good biomechanical health. Essentially, your spine is the biomechanical center of your body. Your legs are connected to your spine via two large and strong pelvic bones. Your arms are connected to your spine via your shoulder blades, ribs, and numerous strong muscles and ligaments. Spinal alignment supports the functioning of all these associated components. When your spine is in line, then all of your body's mechanical abilities, such as bending forward and backward, twisting and turning, and walking and running are able to be performed at maximal levels.

In addition to the importance of spinal alignment for physical performance, spinal alignment is also a key factor in the functioning of all of your body's physiologic systems. In other words, spinal alignment is a critical element in obtaining and maintaining good health.1 Specifically, your spine houses and protects your spinal cord and 31 pairs of spinal nerves, the lengthy cord-like extension of your brain and the primary branches extending from that main trunk.

When your spine is out of alignment or misaligned, the small ligaments that hold the vertebras together and the small muscles that move those bones become irritated and inflamed. Left undetected, this soft tissue inflammation can affect the local spinal nerves, leading to nerve irritation. The resulting nerve interference disrupts the flow of information between your brain and the regions of your body supplied by the irritated spinal nerves, potentially resulting in loss of function or abnormal function of affected cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems. Nerve interference may cause muscle tightness and pain, as well as signs and symptoms of conditions affecting your gastrointestinal, immune, endocrine, and cardiorespiratory systems. Overall, spinal misalignment and nerve interference may be involved in causing a wide variety of conditions and disorders affecting the musculoskeletal system and other systems of your body.2,3

Regular chiropractic care plays a primary role in helping you and your family maintain high levels of health and well-being. By detecting and correcting spinal misalignments and sources of nerve interference, regular chiropractic care helps optimize spinal functioning. As well, by directly addressing nerve interference, regular chiropractic care helps information flow more freely between your brain and the rest of your body. As a result, all of your physiological systems receive and transmit more timely and accurate information regarding metabolic status, need for nutrients, and other requirements. In this way, regular chiropractic care helps us achieve more complete physiological performance and attain higher standards of overall health and wellness.

1Wieland LS, et al: Yoga treatment for chronic non-specific low back pain. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2017 doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD010671.pub2
2Coulter ID, et al: Manipulation and mobilization for treating chronic low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Spine J: 2018 doi: 10.1016/j.spinee.2018.01.013. [Epub ahead of print]
3Yeganeh M, et al: The effectiveness of acupuncture, acupressure and chiropractic interventions on treatment of chronic nonspecific low back pain in Iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Complement Ther Clin Pract 18, 2017

Detective Story

When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes applied himself to a difficult case, he famously utilized his powers of deduction. Holmes assembled and examined the facts before him and employed a scientific method of analysis to arrive at a solution that took into account of all the elements of the case. The great fictional detectives who followed in his wake including Agatha Christie's Miss Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot, and G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown, all utilized Holmes's painstaking attention to detail and his inimitable, relentless logic.
Your chiropractor, as well, employs methods similar to Holmes’ in their search for the causes of your health issues and the keys that will provide access to abundant wellness and well-being. On the first office visit with a new patient, your chiropractor obtains a thorough health history, including current and past problems, past surgeries, medications, and everything else that is important to understanding your present health circumstances. Next is the physical examination, in which your chiropractor gathers objective findings such as the ranges of motion of your neck, lower back, and various extremities. The strength of key muscle groups is determined, reflexes are tested, and sensory patterns in your arms and legs are assessed.
Additionally, your chiropractor examines the mobility and overall function of the joints of your spine, especially in the cervical (neck) and lumbar (lower back) regions, to identify locations of spinal joint dysfunction and nerve interference. Finally, based on your health history and the physical examination findings, as well as information derived from X-rays and other special tests, if needed, your chiropractor deduces the likely source of your health complaints and devises a program of treatment that will help restore and maintain good health.
By utilizing a comprehensive process of deduction, your chiropractor ascertains the primary spinal regions of joint dysfunction and nerve irritation that are interfering with your ability to express optimal health and well-being. Treatment is directed at correcting these biomechanical problem areas by use of manual chiropractic methods and instruction in rehabilitative exercise routines. Your chiropractor may also help you to set-up a healthy eating program that works for you, as well as provide information on establishing nighttime habits to consistently obtain sound, restful sleep.
Regular chiropractic care is important for all of us, from the youngest members of our families to the oldest. By detecting and correcting sources of nerve interference, our chiropractors help us to demonstrate high levels of health and wellness, now and into the future. Habits of good health can spread throughout a neighborhood and a community. As a result, in the long run, everyone benefits.
Sources:

1. Goncalves G, et al: Primary prevention in chiropractic practice: a systematic review. Chiropr Man Therap 2017 Mar 20;25:9. doi: 10.1186/s12998-017-0140-4. eCollection 2017
2. Clijsters M, et al: Chiropractic treatment approaches for spinal musculoskeletal conditions: a cross-sectional survey. Chiropr Man Therap 2014 Oct 1;22(1):33. doi: 10.1186/s12998-014-0033-8. eCollection 2014
3. Gorrell LM, et al: Manual and Instrument Applied Cervical Manipulation for Mechanical Neck Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 39(5):319-329, 2016

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