MENU

Stretching: The Solution to Muscle Pain… or Is It?

Do you have tight, stiff, or painful muscles? You obviously need to stretch more, right?

If something is tight, stiff or painful, we immediately assume it needs to be stretched. Stretching may provide temporary relief for some, but the majority of people do not get results. Unfortunately, stretching is not the answer to all of your problems. In this article, we will talk about two of the major contributors to your tight, stiff, and painful muscles. Read more

Top 5 Foam Rolling Mistakes

1. Only foam rolling AFTER exercise.

Foam rolling is a great way to warm up your body BEFORE exercise.  Foam rolling followed by a quick dynamic warm-up is a great way to prepare your body for movement. To learn how to foam roll and perform a dynamic warm-up click the following link: The 6 Characteristics of a Good Dynamic Warm-up by Eric Cressey. 

2. Rolling over the greater trochanter.

The greater trochanter is a bony prominence of the femur.  If you google it, you can see pictures of it.  If you run your hand down the side of your thigh, you will feel a bony bump at the top.  When you are rolling the side of your leg avoid rolling over that bump.  It can irritate the bursa that is over top of it.

3. Hyperextending low back.

The foam roller is a great way to mobilize your mid back (thoracic spine) into extension.  If you go to the 1:35 mark in the following video (Foam rolling Series) you can see how to perform this.  You will notice that he doesn’t go near the low back (lumbar spine) when performing this movement.  The low back and mid back work differently and hyperextending the low back can irritate it.

4. Using the foam roller on every muscle.

The foam roller works great for most muscles but it doesn’t work that great in the calf area. Try using a massage stick (The stick) instead.  Make sure the calf is relaxed in order to get the deep calf muscles as well.  Sit down lifting your knee straight toward the ceiling let your foot relax so it points toward the floor and relax as much as possible as you roll/massage your leg.

5. Using the foam roller to treat pain.

Foam rolling shouldn’t be used to treat pain. Foam rolling may reduce or eliminate your pain temporarily but ultimately it only delays you from getting the proper treatment.  Proper treatment involves removing adhesion, which the foam roller cannot do. To learn more about this topic click the following link: Can foam rolling remove adhesion?

If you are experiencing pain or have any questions regarding your pain, please click the button below.

Knee Surgery May Not be the Answer

A recent article in the NY times (Common Knee Surgery Does Very Little for Some, Study Suggests) suggests that many people may be undergoing unnecessary knee surgery.

The studies they referenced in the article showed that people undergoing knee surgery for degeneration did no better than people that underwent sham surgery, physical therapy, or who took medication.  This research suggests that jumping into surgery may not be the answer and it is costing our healthcare system billions of dollars.

Meniscus (shock absorbing cartilage in the knee) tears are very common.  They can occur from trauma or degeneration.   The degenerative type occur without trauma and accumulate from the stress and strain of life.  MRI’s allow us to visualize degenerative changes in the mensicus which have many doctors rushing to surgery.  The research is showing that we shouldn’t be so quick to rush into surgery in these cases.

If you have knee pain or have an MRI showing degenerative changes in the mensicus or other tissue, then conservative care should be your first priority.  Adhesions can accumulate in the tissue surrounding the knee.  This can occur without any previous history of trauma.  Adhesions will act like glue and not allow the knee to move properly.  To see if you have limitations in your knee.  Perform the test Read more

Triathlon Training and Recovery

One of the most crucial pieces left out of a beginner’s triathlon training program is recovery. If you don’t allow your body to recover, then overtraining can occur.  Training for a triathlon can put a lot of stress on your body because you have to train for 3 sports at once.  Learning to balance swimming, biking, and running in the right ratios takes time.  Common warning signs of overtraining include:

  • Sudden drop in performance
  • Changes in your sleep pattern
  • Loss of enthusiasm for training
  • Change in appetite
  • Increased incidence of illness
  • Feeling tired even after easy workouts
  • Moody and unpleasant to be around

Beginner athletes always assume more is better.  This may work for a year or so but eventually you will stop seeing improvements and realize that you have to train smarter, not harder.  The best way to do that is to get a triathlon coach.  Find someone in your area that has a good reputation and listen to everything they say.  If hiring a trainer is not in your budget, then read the Triathlete’s Training Bible.  This book will give you the basics to design your own training program. Everyone responds differently to training and listening to your body is very important.  Your training program will change over the years as you learn what works and what doesn’t work. Most programs will have at least one complete rest day a week and then every 4th week will be an easy week.  It is also important to take a break from training completely at the end of the triathlon season. Learning to train smarter will allow you to perform pain free for many years.

 

No pain, no gain…..right?

Have you ever heard the saying, no pain, no gain?  This saying can be a good thing or a really bad thing.  For example, if a triathlete starts swimming after a long break, it is probably going to be a painful experience.  It’s hard to get oxygen, your arms are sore, and you are trying your hardest not to let your legs become a 60 pound anchor.  At first you have to push through the pain, and eventually it becomes easier. Pain in this case is a part of becoming better, stronger, and faster.  If that same triathlete has shoulder pain on his right side during the recovery portion of his stroke, then that’s a different story.  This is bad pain and indicates that the joint is not working correctly.  This pain would most likely be caused from adhesion in the rotator cuff muscles.  This will cause the joint to move incorrectly and create pain in the shoulder and down the arm.  Bad pain is your body’s way of saying STOP.  If you try to work though the pain and take anti-inflammatory medicine, it will only get worse.  The medicine will allow you to continue to move the joint wrong until something tears.  I like the saying, “No GOOD pain, no gain”.   If you are unsure if your pain is good or bad, please schedule an exam to find out.

Spinal decompression with no machine?

The goal of spinal decompression is to take the load off of the discs in your low back or neck.  This can help take away neck pain, low back pain, and numbness/tingling in your hands and feet.  At Muscle and Joint Chiropractic, we treat the adhesions to naturally decompress the spine.  Any muscle that crosses a joint will stabilize and compress it.  In the neck and low back there are many muscles that cross these joints.  If you have adhesion in these muscles, they will increased load and pressure on your discs because the joints are not moving correctly.  Breaking down adhesion with ART, MAR, and IAR, will naturally decompress the spine.

Can you really “work through” the pain?

The short answer is maybe, but eventually it will catch up with you.  I have many patients that come in and say they can usually work through the pain but this time it will not go away.  This response indicates to me that they never actually worked through the pain.  Their body compensated by loading up another area.  Eventually there will be no other areas to compensate to and pain will result.  Most of my patients are between the ages of 30-55.  This is the common age range when the body runs out of areas to compensate to.  One of the most common under diagnosed sources of pain is muscle adhesion.  If you have a nagging injury that will not go away or you have been “working through” the pain, please call our office to schedule an exam.  This way you will know if adhesion is at the root of your pain.

Can foam rolling remove adhesion?

Foam rolling is a great way to warm up before exercise, but it will never remove adhesion.

I am a big fan of foam rolling as a warm up.  It will warm up the tissue and prepare it for exercise.  However, I would never use a foam roll as a method of relieving pain.  If you are experiencing pain, you should be evaluated by a professional.  Most likely you have adhesion build up in your muscles.  Adhesions can alter the way the joint moves which leads to pain.  You can think of it as pouring glue into a muscle.  The muscle won’t stretch or contract like it should.  The only way to get rid of adhesion is through treatment from a certified provider specializing in  MAR, and IAR, and ART.

If you are experiencing pain or stiffness, click the button below so we can determine the cause.

Preventing Shoulder Pain-Installment 1

Shoulder pain is one of the more common reasons patients come to Muscle and Joint Chiropractic. We have excellent results using Integrative Diagnosis™ with MAR™ and IAR™ and ART® to treat the soft tissue surrounding the shoulder, but understanding how the shoulder works is crucial to preventing you from having to visit the Chiropractor’s office. The shoulder (glenohumeral) joint is designed for movement.  This becomes obvious when you look at the structure of the joint.  The amount of support from the bone is minimal.  If you think of a softball sitting on top of a golf tee, then you can imagine how much bony support (the area that the golf tee is in contact with the softball) that the shoulder receives.

Since the support doesn’t come from the bone, the soft tissue surrounding the shoulder plays a huge role.  The group of muscles that cross the shoulder (rotator cuff muscles) contract to stabilize the shoulder. Read more

Part 3: How to diagnose and treat adhesion?

Part 3 of 3: Click here for part 1 and part 2

After understanding how adhesion forms and what it can lead to, we can now focus on how to treat and reduce adhesion.  Adhesions are diagnosed and treated by a skilled certified provider.  Adhesions can’t be broken down by foam rolling or massage. There are two main methods of achieving this goal:

1.     Manually (Dr. uses hands)-MAR (Manual Adhesion Release) and ART (Active Release Techniques)

2.     Instruments—The newest instrument on the market today is the Instrument Adhesion Release (IAR).

The key to breaking down adhesion in a muscle is finding it. This may seem very obvious but adhesion is very common and finding the relevant adhesion takes years of training. Once the proper diagnosis is made, treatment can begin.  MAR and ART take advantage of the different attachment points of muscles to achieve maximum tension on the adhesion. These techniques are non-invasive and done exclusively through a skilled doctor’s hands.  Once the adhesions are broken down over a series of visits, the muscles can function normally again.  They can lengthen and contract with the appropriate force to allow for normal joint motion resulting in less pain for you.

If you have pain or stiffness, get the proper diagnosis first by clicking the button below.