Having had two surgeries within 12 weeks wasn’t fun but I learned something. No one talked to me about what to do after the surgery. Once the last stitch was completed, there was almost a feeling of abandonment. I was told by one doctor that it was now up to me and God. Huh?
The only recommendations for nutrition were to stop all my nutritional supplements prior to surgery. Turns out it’s better to have blood more like sludge rather than water. It clots better.
So here’s what I did:
It’s well understood that your protein requirements increase in times of greater need. That’s why when you work out hard and damage your muscles, your body has an increased protein requirement to rebuild the muscle. A teenager needs protein during a growth spurt because protein is required to build muscle and bone. Surgery is a trauma to the body and what’s required to mend the pieces together is protein.
So I made some hard boiled eggs, 18 of them to be exact, plus had some chicken made as well. Eggs have 7 grams of protein and a chicken breast has 21 grams. After the surgery I ate an egg every hour (about 14 per day) and had two chicken’s per day in addition to my normal food. If my body needed protein, that should do it.
In addition to this, when our body becomes inflamed it will create scar tissue. This is often why the doctor will want you to do some form of therapy. The therapist will try to move your leg to prevent excessive scar tissue and do therapies to reduce inflammation (like ice). For some people that have had surgery, the scar tissue can then become a source of chronic pain. Chemically, anti-oxidants such as vitamin C, E, and selenium reduce scar tissue formation. Viola. Eat tons of vegetables during the day to get tons of these antioxidants. So, while I was icing, I’d be munching on crunchy raw veggies.
You can simply google protein requirements and antioxidants for all the research on this stuff. This in addition to icing every 20 minutes and starting to do my own rehab as soon as possible helped me recover from surgery quickly.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Back Pain and Weight
Sometimes your weight can be a factor in lower back pain. If the weight is around the middle of your body and it's directly placing stress on the joints of your spine, it's a factor causing the back pain.
If you don't match an ideal weight for your height but your weight is evenly distributed throughout the body, it's not contributing to your back problem.
Lastly, it really depends upon the back problem itself. If you fell down a flight of stairs and sprained your back, it doesn't matter what your weight is.
If you don't match an ideal weight for your height but your weight is evenly distributed throughout the body, it's not contributing to your back problem.
Lastly, it really depends upon the back problem itself. If you fell down a flight of stairs and sprained your back, it doesn't matter what your weight is.
Monday, June 7, 2010
"I don't want to get buff from weights"
You won’t. Many women have fears of getting “buff and gross”, as one patient put it.
If you are female, you should lift weights and the weights should become progressively heavier.
Regardless, here are the reasons lifting won’t cause you to get buff:
1. Genetics. People that get big have the genetics to get big. There are ectomorphs, mesomorphs and endomorphs. Google them and you’ll soon learn that you can’t make an ectomorph into a mesomorph. Trust me, I’ve tried for years.
2. You must lift weights for many years, even decades, and lift more than twice your body weight in the three big lifts: bench press, squat and deadlift, and do NO CARDIO. If you’re lifting dumbbells or pulling cables, you are most certainly not going to get large.
3. You must eat 2 grams of protein for each pound of body weight per day. To get huge, if you are a scrawny 140 pounds, you must eat 280 grams of protein per day. If you are not doing that then you will simply not grow large bulging muscles.
4. Those people that achieve the really “gross” appearance have taken steroids. Since you are not going to do that, you will not achieve that grotesque look.
5. You must use spray tanning techniques to highlight all the little lines that define muscle.
6. Those “gross” people in magazines are in their contest shape. They aren’t like that all the time. Those pictures show them just 30 minutes away from passing out due to dehydration (dehydrated muscles look better on a stage). They’ve dieted down to the leanest that they can become.
7. Photoshop. All those good looking models in the magazines were half created by a computer technician that can narrow the hips, make lips fuller, etc. What you see in a magazine is a half-truth.
So you can see that lifting weights will not cause you to get big. It takes a lot of work both in and out of a gym to achieve that, as well as good genetics and other techniques.
You need to be strong enough to carry your child, lift a bag of dog food, work in the back yard, walk up the flight of stairs to my office, etc. If you can’t, you need to lift weights to build up to at least that. You will want to lift progressively heavier weights and you should have no fear of getting too buff.
If you are female, you should lift weights and the weights should become progressively heavier.
Regardless, here are the reasons lifting won’t cause you to get buff:
1. Genetics. People that get big have the genetics to get big. There are ectomorphs, mesomorphs and endomorphs. Google them and you’ll soon learn that you can’t make an ectomorph into a mesomorph. Trust me, I’ve tried for years.
2. You must lift weights for many years, even decades, and lift more than twice your body weight in the three big lifts: bench press, squat and deadlift, and do NO CARDIO. If you’re lifting dumbbells or pulling cables, you are most certainly not going to get large.
3. You must eat 2 grams of protein for each pound of body weight per day. To get huge, if you are a scrawny 140 pounds, you must eat 280 grams of protein per day. If you are not doing that then you will simply not grow large bulging muscles.
4. Those people that achieve the really “gross” appearance have taken steroids. Since you are not going to do that, you will not achieve that grotesque look.
5. You must use spray tanning techniques to highlight all the little lines that define muscle.
6. Those “gross” people in magazines are in their contest shape. They aren’t like that all the time. Those pictures show them just 30 minutes away from passing out due to dehydration (dehydrated muscles look better on a stage). They’ve dieted down to the leanest that they can become.
7. Photoshop. All those good looking models in the magazines were half created by a computer technician that can narrow the hips, make lips fuller, etc. What you see in a magazine is a half-truth.
So you can see that lifting weights will not cause you to get big. It takes a lot of work both in and out of a gym to achieve that, as well as good genetics and other techniques.
You need to be strong enough to carry your child, lift a bag of dog food, work in the back yard, walk up the flight of stairs to my office, etc. If you can’t, you need to lift weights to build up to at least that. You will want to lift progressively heavier weights and you should have no fear of getting too buff.
Monday, May 24, 2010
What's wrong with me?
Pain will limit a patient’s memory and ability to understand. It happens when a patient is in pain and asks me “what’s wrong with me?” I’ll answer and 1 ½ minutes later, they’ll say, “I wish I knew what was wrong with me.” I’ll answer again and sure enough, they’ll leave the office wondering what’s wrong with them.
Pain can blur things. If you don’t know what’s wrong with your body, ask me. I’ll be happy to answer more than once. I understand it’s hard to remember.
The more you know about your own condition, the more you’ll understand why I recommend ice versus heat or stretching versus exercise. Make sure you know why you are coming in to see me.
Pain can blur things. If you don’t know what’s wrong with your body, ask me. I’ll be happy to answer more than once. I understand it’s hard to remember.
The more you know about your own condition, the more you’ll understand why I recommend ice versus heat or stretching versus exercise. Make sure you know why you are coming in to see me.
Be a Friend, Help a Friend!
We know times have been tough, and many people have lost their health insurance. But that shouldn’t prevent people from seeking the medical attention they need and deserve.
For your friends and loved ones who don’t have insurance we have “Friends Helping Friends”. As a courtesy to You, our patient, the person you refer to our office will receive a special new patient benefit.
The first visit includes:
-Consultation
-Orthopedic and Neurological Examination
-Spinal Functional Examination
-Deep Tissue and Trigger Point Examination
-Any recommendations and/or treatment performed that day
With Friends Helping Friends, the first visit is $50 (normally $100) and just $40 after that!
Remember, we are a sports-injury oriented office that specializes in unique and cutting edge methods such as Graston, Gonstead, cold laser, and Non-force Adjusting. These methods are helpful for injuries common to runners, swimmers, golfers, cyclists, and other athletes.
Our office gives patients the advantage of quicker recovery and long lasting results without the ‘crack’ and ‘pop’ of traditional chiropractic.
The techniques we utilize are evidence based and effective in treating such problems as headaches, rotator cuff syndrome, knee pain, degenerative arthritis, and herniated discs.
If you have a friend or family member experiencing pain, refer them to our office. Be a Friend, Help a Friend! They’ll love you (even more) for it.
For your friends and loved ones who don’t have insurance we have “Friends Helping Friends”. As a courtesy to You, our patient, the person you refer to our office will receive a special new patient benefit.
The first visit includes:
-Consultation
-Orthopedic and Neurological Examination
-Spinal Functional Examination
-Deep Tissue and Trigger Point Examination
-Any recommendations and/or treatment performed that day
With Friends Helping Friends, the first visit is $50 (normally $100) and just $40 after that!
Remember, we are a sports-injury oriented office that specializes in unique and cutting edge methods such as Graston, Gonstead, cold laser, and Non-force Adjusting. These methods are helpful for injuries common to runners, swimmers, golfers, cyclists, and other athletes.
Our office gives patients the advantage of quicker recovery and long lasting results without the ‘crack’ and ‘pop’ of traditional chiropractic.
The techniques we utilize are evidence based and effective in treating such problems as headaches, rotator cuff syndrome, knee pain, degenerative arthritis, and herniated discs.
If you have a friend or family member experiencing pain, refer them to our office. Be a Friend, Help a Friend! They’ll love you (even more) for it.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
10 tips for knee pain
1) Get some knee sleeves.
Buy some knee sleeves and wear them every time you workout. Warm knees hurt less.
2) Warm up.
Warming up reduces the viscosity of synovial fluid (the stuff that fills your joint space), providing better lubrication and healthier joints in general.
3) Improve ankle and hip flexibility.
Knee pain that is non-traumatic are typically due to dysfunctions such as hip and ankle flexibility.
4) Work out the butt.
Squats and Lunges work very good for this as long as you are doing it correctly. Ask me and I'll show you.
5) Do the following daily:
• Foam rolling of the quadriceps, IT band, and calfs.
• Trigger point therapy to the same muscles including the inside knee muscle.
6) Stop exercises that increase the pain.
This is sommon sense but lots of people don't follow it. Get it evaluated so that you know what you're dealing with.
7) Get your body in proper alignment.
See a DC. Enough said.
8) Learn how to lift weights properly.
We see a lot of patients FROM the gym. If you don't know how to do a machine, find out first. That's what they are there for right?
9) Eat an anti-inflammatory diet.
Take fish oil, GS/CS that's in the joint formula, and stop eating white pasty things. Eat chicken, turkey, eggs, meat and vegetables. Eat fruit for snacks. It really isn't more complicated than that.
10) Stretch your thighs and calves.
Too many people emphasize the hamstrings. Try stretching the thighs and calves and see what it does for your knees. It may just improve them.
Buy some knee sleeves and wear them every time you workout. Warm knees hurt less.
2) Warm up.
Warming up reduces the viscosity of synovial fluid (the stuff that fills your joint space), providing better lubrication and healthier joints in general.
3) Improve ankle and hip flexibility.
Knee pain that is non-traumatic are typically due to dysfunctions such as hip and ankle flexibility.
4) Work out the butt.
Squats and Lunges work very good for this as long as you are doing it correctly. Ask me and I'll show you.
5) Do the following daily:
• Foam rolling of the quadriceps, IT band, and calfs.
• Trigger point therapy to the same muscles including the inside knee muscle.
6) Stop exercises that increase the pain.
This is sommon sense but lots of people don't follow it. Get it evaluated so that you know what you're dealing with.
7) Get your body in proper alignment.
See a DC. Enough said.
8) Learn how to lift weights properly.
We see a lot of patients FROM the gym. If you don't know how to do a machine, find out first. That's what they are there for right?
9) Eat an anti-inflammatory diet.
Take fish oil, GS/CS that's in the joint formula, and stop eating white pasty things. Eat chicken, turkey, eggs, meat and vegetables. Eat fruit for snacks. It really isn't more complicated than that.
10) Stretch your thighs and calves.
Too many people emphasize the hamstrings. Try stretching the thighs and calves and see what it does for your knees. It may just improve them.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Stress and Our Bodies
Stress and Our Bodies
In a life and death situation our body reacts similarly to how we react to any stress. We have a hormonal, adrenalin and muscular experience. We are simply “hard-wired” to react this way.
How does it work?
During stress, certain bodily functions shut down: digestion stops, sexual function stops, adrenalin in released from glands, and even our immune system is temporarily turned off. Our heart pumps two-to-three times its normal speed, our eyes dilate, and the blood vessels under the surface of our skin close down, so we can sustain a surface wound and not bleed to death (this makes our skin turn pale). At the same time, our blood pressure rises, so life-giving fluid reaches our muscles faster, sweating increases to cool our muscles and help them stay efficient and all of this happens when our minds and bodies are stressed. This is a fight-or-flight phenomenon as well as what happens during chronic stress.
The structural panic pattern
Chiropractic has a unique approach to dealing with stress. The fight or flight response was originally discovered and researched by the great Harvard physiologist Walter Cannon in the 1920’s. Cannon and his associates, being physiologists, studied the body’s reactions to danger by limiting their observations to a person’s chemical, vascular and internal organ changes.
Chiropractors using Koren Specific Technique (KST) have discovered that structural changes in the body are also involved in the fight or flight response. We refer to this as the panic pattern.
What is the panic pattern?
The panic pattern is the structural component of chronic stress. It consists of the following:
1. The coccyx (tailbone) moves forward. When the coccyx moves forward, our nerves within the spine tighten. Watch your dog when they tuck their tails between their legs as they run in fear. This happens to us too.
2. The sternum moves up. This protects our heart and lungs.
3. The zyphoid process moves forward. This often makes breathing harder.
4. The larynx moves up. This makes it harder to speak and makes our throats feel tight.
5. The pubic bones moves up.
Which comes first—the stress or the posture?
It doesn’t matter. We strive to fix both, but in the chiropractic office it’s easier to fix the posture. Some research has shown that postures may not just reflect internal states but rather produce them.
Researchers discovered that tasks performed in “defeated” or “helpless” postures create a sense of defeat in patients. When people perform the tasks in good posture, the sense of defeat takes far longer to manifest. It’s like smiling or frowning, irrespective of our emotional state, we create a chemical physiology of happiness or sadness.
Finding and correcting the panic pattern
Using KST protocols, we can quickly and easily analyze and correct or adjust the posture making it ideal for correcting the panic pattern. The patient is usually adjusted in standing or sitting posture. I use the ArthroStim™, setting it at 12 taps per second. The areas that are adjusted are usually the coccyx, sternum, ziphoid, larynx, and pelvis. Patients often feel an immediate sense of relief within 24 hours and the stress reduces their physical pains tremendously.
In a life and death situation our body reacts similarly to how we react to any stress. We have a hormonal, adrenalin and muscular experience. We are simply “hard-wired” to react this way.
How does it work?
During stress, certain bodily functions shut down: digestion stops, sexual function stops, adrenalin in released from glands, and even our immune system is temporarily turned off. Our heart pumps two-to-three times its normal speed, our eyes dilate, and the blood vessels under the surface of our skin close down, so we can sustain a surface wound and not bleed to death (this makes our skin turn pale). At the same time, our blood pressure rises, so life-giving fluid reaches our muscles faster, sweating increases to cool our muscles and help them stay efficient and all of this happens when our minds and bodies are stressed. This is a fight-or-flight phenomenon as well as what happens during chronic stress.
The structural panic pattern
Chiropractic has a unique approach to dealing with stress. The fight or flight response was originally discovered and researched by the great Harvard physiologist Walter Cannon in the 1920’s. Cannon and his associates, being physiologists, studied the body’s reactions to danger by limiting their observations to a person’s chemical, vascular and internal organ changes.
Chiropractors using Koren Specific Technique (KST) have discovered that structural changes in the body are also involved in the fight or flight response. We refer to this as the panic pattern.
What is the panic pattern?
The panic pattern is the structural component of chronic stress. It consists of the following:
1. The coccyx (tailbone) moves forward. When the coccyx moves forward, our nerves within the spine tighten. Watch your dog when they tuck their tails between their legs as they run in fear. This happens to us too.
2. The sternum moves up. This protects our heart and lungs.
3. The zyphoid process moves forward. This often makes breathing harder.
4. The larynx moves up. This makes it harder to speak and makes our throats feel tight.
5. The pubic bones moves up.
Which comes first—the stress or the posture?
It doesn’t matter. We strive to fix both, but in the chiropractic office it’s easier to fix the posture. Some research has shown that postures may not just reflect internal states but rather produce them.
Researchers discovered that tasks performed in “defeated” or “helpless” postures create a sense of defeat in patients. When people perform the tasks in good posture, the sense of defeat takes far longer to manifest. It’s like smiling or frowning, irrespective of our emotional state, we create a chemical physiology of happiness or sadness.
Finding and correcting the panic pattern
Using KST protocols, we can quickly and easily analyze and correct or adjust the posture making it ideal for correcting the panic pattern. The patient is usually adjusted in standing or sitting posture. I use the ArthroStim™, setting it at 12 taps per second. The areas that are adjusted are usually the coccyx, sternum, ziphoid, larynx, and pelvis. Patients often feel an immediate sense of relief within 24 hours and the stress reduces their physical pains tremendously.
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