Podcast

My interview with Mikhail Alfon: Taking Ownership of Your Health

A while back one of my patients invited me to do an interview for his podcast "A Day in the Life Podcast." He is the cofounder at Blue Light Media, OC native, and a leader in brand building. You can find Mikhail on Instagram @miqk or at on LinkedIn .

If you are an OC resident and enjoy hearing interviews from other professionals in your community here is the link to A Day in the Life on Itunes (feel free to subscribe).

Link to Interview

Why the Adjustment May be Your Ticket out of Pain

Everybody has experienced joint discomfort, muscle aches and pain, or an injury.

A common culprit is neuromuscular imbalance. It happens for a host of reasons. A few of these reasons are poor posture, dysfunctional movement patterns, imbalances created during exercise/sport, and injury.

Chiropractors use adjustments to help clear these neuromuscular imbalances. Take this crude analogy. In the 90’s the federal government required sensors on garage doors to prevent accidents. The sensors serve as a binary safety feature to reverse the motorized trolley in case anything is blocking the path of the door. If there are obstructions to the sensors the doors will reverse direction or malfunction. Lights will flash and the doors will not open and close properly.

In the case of the body, lets take an injured hip joint, if the sensors/nerves embedded in the joints (hip, pelvis, sacrum) and muscles surrounding the hip send abnormal information to the brain and spinal cord the brain may choose to alter "normal" control. It will find a different way to keep you upright and provide the movement that a person requires to function. Unfortunately, there are no alarms alerting us to the specific problem and respective adaptation(s).

The potential results: 

• decrease in spatial awareness
• muscle weakness
• asymmetric muscle stiffness or splinting
• reduced range of motion
• overall changes in body mechanics
• changes in spinal curvature.

Depending on the duration of the injury or misalignment, the body may begin to compensate and deviate from a more natural movement pattern. This may continue until the sensory and motor dysfunction (referred to as dysafferentation) is removed.

Evaluating the body is a multilayered task. In my approach, the first step is to ensure that we do not impose movements or posture on top of cumulative compensations (joint misalignments and abnormal muscle tension), but rather gradually restore the neuromuscular function through evaluation and specific gentle adjusting.

12 Ideas On Why You Should Have Started Chiropractic 10 Years Ago.

1. Health is simple disease is complicated.
2. Spine-related disability is on the rise, and low back pain is now the leading cause of global disability
3. Disability from other musculoskeletal disorders has also increased nearly 50%
4. Life with pain interferes with work, financial stability, family, sleep, activity, etc.
5. Drugs and surgeries should be avoided unless it’s an absolute emergency
6. You want to function at high-to-normal levels with your healthiest years ahead of you
7. When the spine is not aligned it can impact the function of the nervous system.
8. Chiropractic looks to eliminate the root cause and can help co-manage a variety of conditions.
9. Degeneration and an inflexible spine is not due directly to aging, but occupation, lifestyle, nutrition, and daily movement patterns.
10. Research supports the notion that chiropractic is effective for prevention and as a first-line treatment for neuromuscular pain
11. It’s an investment in your health and opportunity to learn how to interact with your nervous system.
12. Adjustments and soft tissue manipulation may promote range of motion, sensory and motor control, and overall joint health.

The Signs and Risk of Injury When Carrying a Heavy Purse

Last week, a journalist for Bustle Magazine was looking for information about “the signs and risk of injury when carrying a heavy purse”.  I wanted to post a response but missed the short deadline.  I’d intended to address this topic anyway following my 5-part interview series, so here are my thoughts and some recommendations on this subject.

In my experience, the patient who gets the best results is the one who is open to making small, ongoing improvements in body awareness and how he or she moves. Typically, we adjust our movements as a way to relieve pain, but this does little to correct the true cause.

Let’s touch on a relevant and common dysfunctional posture.  The head is out in front of the chest and the shoulders are folded forward. This position puts excessive stress on the neck, leads to tight lat and pec muscles, and changes how the body moves when walking. Add a heavy purse to this picture and pain is likely to surface.

1. What are some signs a woman's purse is too heavy and may be damaging her back?

Signs and symptoms may include changes in posture, red marks from compression of the strap, neck stiffness, neck and joint pain, or a decrease in the neck’s normal ranges of motion.   Symptoms may also include localized shoulder pain or tingling and numbness that travel down the shoulder and into the arm.

For example, a woman is pain free, relaxing at her table.  She looks down to respond to a text message and hears a pop in her neck followed by pain.  A few days later, she notices she has difficulty turning to the left to check her blind spot while driving.  

2.  How does carrying a heavy purse cause damage to the body?

There are several things which may be causing this woman’s problem, but the “take away” here is that she experiences a stress response from her heavy purse or tote bag.  Her body responds to her overloaded purse by creating new behaviors or changing existing ones to make it easier to tolerate her body’s discomfort.  

The woman alters her resting posture and her movement patterns.  She may droop her shoulder forward, hike her left hip, rotate her mid and lower spine, and shift her pelvis into an unnatural tilt.  The repetitive strain caused by the purse on this woman’s favorite side can cause micro traumas leading to overuse injury.  This can lead to low back misalignments, pain, and stiffness through the hips and down the legs.

Many other everyday repetitive activities cause the same problems.  Examples include sitting on the sofa with your laptop, taking a car seat carrier in and out of the house, closing and opening a stroller, carrying your child in one arm while cooking, and poor sleeping posture.

Carrying a heavy purse may also reveal past problems.  I see patients who have unknowingly injured themselves by carrying their child in a car seat or holding a nursing baby.  These “secret” injuries also occur while rocking or bouncing on a physio ball, practicing yoga or doing high-intensity interval training.  The injury does not happen in the moment but over time as the action is repeated over and over. Muscles will conform to the positions that we put them in most frequently.

3.  What are some good safety tips to protect the neck and back?

The first obvious recommendation is to lighten the load in the purse and switch arms frequently.

Second, in order to avoid injury, the body must be able to resist the load without jeopardizing healthy biomechanics.  This means the body must avoid contorting or shifting muscles and joints in an abnormal fashion. 

So whenever possible, do a quick posture assessment before throwing the bag over your shoulder. Try this checklist:

·      Seat both shoulders.  Depress them and lightly contract them together.

·      Tuck your chin back.  Your earlobe should be in line with the center tip of your shoulder.

·      Tighten (activate) your core/abdominals and buttocks.  This will help distribute the weight properly and engage the primary and stabilizer muscles.

Lastly, listen to your body. If you experience pops and clicks, periodic episodes of pain or pain during a specific movement, don’t dismiss these as normal.   Be proactive in addressing the cause.  Early intervention will ease your pain and help you feel your best again.

As a Chiropractor I adjust the spine and extremities as a means of corrective care and not just to provide temporary pain relief. Once the joint alignment and motion has been restored adding bodywork as an adjunctive therapy is helpful for loosing the muscles and balancing posture. The body is a self-healing machine it just needs a little assistance.

Interview Series Part 4 of 5: Chris Tran

Exercise, Experts and Spine & Joint Health

(Back for more? Skip the introduction and go directly to Part 4)

The health benefits of regular exercise are well known.  We exercise for weight loss, physical therapy, enhanced performance, aesthetics, and general well-being.  I see patients from all walks of life and each one of them faces his own unique set of challenges to health and fitness. Injuries can pose short-term or long-term challenges and frustration.  It’s easy to feel as if you’re backsliding rather than making strides toward your fitness goals.

As a chiropractor, I know that spine and joint protection are key to avoiding injury during exercise. I look at exercise through this lens and attempt to educate my patients about the structure and function of their spines and joints.  I also want my patients to enjoy the fulfillment which comes from exercising in a variety of ways while experiencing pain-free training.

With that goal in mind, I’ve created a 5-part educational series in which I interview a master Pilates instructor, yoga instructor, physical therapist, strength coach, and a spin instructor.  I want to introduce you to different types of exercise with an emphasis on spine and joint protection.  I hope you’ll benefit from the unique insights provided by these fitness experts.

INTERVIEW SERIES: PART 4 OF 5

Christopher Tran, Lead Personal Trainer

My fourth conversation was with Chris Tran, lead trainer and co-owner at Elite Generation Training.  I talked with him recently about personal training, mechanics, integrated care, and the fitness industry.  You can learn more about Chris by visiting: Elite Generation Training. Here are the questions I posed to him and excerpts from his responses.

What attracted you to pursue personal training and what about the job excites you?

Answer: I’ve been into fitness for 13 years. It seems like so many people in the health and fitness fields have different views about the purpose of personal training.  They seem to compete against one another rather than working together for the purpose of empowering the client to achieve his health and fitness goals. I pursued personal training to do this task. There’s only so much a personal trainer is able and allowed to do, but for my part, I prioritize my client’s goal before anything.

The most exciting part about personal training is seeing my clients reach their goals. It’s one of the most rewarding feelings to see them do things they never thought that they could do (or ever do again).

How do you balance results with injury prevention? Can you provide a specific example?

Answer: It’s actually quite simple. I start with a couple of handpicked screening processes to evaluate which movements the client is able and unable to do.   My screening process tells me everything I need to know about how the client’s body moves.  From there, I proceed with exercises that incorporate the seven basic human movements. Then, I develop a workout schedule/program to help keep everything on track.

This next part is the most important: I teach/coach the squat, deadlift and overhead press. They are my staple exercises because when done properly, they can prevent injury.  This enables me to achieve results and maintain the client’s safety.

From my experience most people need to work on their posture. Does this play a factor in how you approach movement and function?

Answer: Of course, but I don’t like to think of it as posture work. I’m very exact when I teach positioning for every single exercise. I know if I get the client in a certain position, it will cause a chain reaction and fix poor posture indirectly. I don’t like putting too much focus on the traditional methods of posture work, (i.e. saying “pull the shoulders back,” or doing cable rows to help with rounded shoulders).

What sort of things do you consider when developing a training strategy?

Answer: I prioritize getting the client to be able to feel what I need them to feel, such as what muscles are turned on and off.  Another major priority of mine is getting the body into anatomical neutral—aligning everything in all three body planes and checking the fascia lines.

Elite Generation Training, Lake Forest

How do you devise and implement a program with joint preservation in mind?

Answer: This goes back to the squat, deadlift and press. Getting into the right position in these movements will preserve all the joints.

Do you face client pushback and if so how do you remove those constraints?

Answer: Actually, not really. My clients love that fact that I’m so specific about what I want them to do. I always explain why it’s so important to get into a specific position, which I find reassures and develops a strong rapport with the client.

What training method(s) do you utilize i.e. non-linear periodization, cluster, block, conjugate, etc?

Answer: This is a hard one. I incorporate a little bit of everything depending on the client, the goal, and previous exercise experience.  If I had to pick two methods, I would say non-linear/linear periodization and conjugate.  If the goal is prehab/rehab, I utilize isometric/eccentric work and partial repetitions.

If you could correct one mishandled exercise, which would it be and how would you go about it?

Answer: Definitely the squat! Oh my…where do I start? I guess it would depend on the person and how his/her hips and socket move. Since most people have an anterior pelvic tilt, they naturally hinge at the hips, shifting most of the tension of the weight in the low back and hips. I’m a true believer in sweeping the knees under the hip, or starting the movement with the knees instead of the hips. This keeps the torso more upright because the hip starts in a more neutral position.

I thank Chris for this interview. It's clear that his passions and purpose are in alignment. I suppose that is why he works hard to help his clients reach their goals.  I respect his approach to training and personalized health care. If you have questions for Chris or would like to find out more about Elite GenerationTraining's services click here for the contact info.