Tag: Biomechanics

Book Review: Every Woman’s Guide to Foot Pain Relief

by seedoflifechiro, posted in Health, Movement

In case you hadn’t noticed from my previous blogs about foot care and going barefoot… I am kind of obsessed with healthy feet. As a Chiropractor, I see the spinal changes and postural changes that occur in my patients from poor footwear choices or injured feet on a daily basis.

wanna-see-my-foot

Katy Bowman’s book, Every Woman’s Guide to Foot Pain Relief, belongs on every household’s bookshelf! In her book, Bowman breaks down the details of how your feet move, how they are built, and the basics of both self foot maintenance and rehabilitation. The reality is that most women will experience severe foot pain at some point in their lives. With simple daily activities and stretches… and maybe some better footwear choices… these can be overcome, but most importantly prevented.

Here are some of my favorite take-home points from this book:

  1. Wearing shoes all the time is like living your life with mittens on.x-ray-223836_1920
  2. Your feet are unlike anyone else’s.
  3. Your toes should be able to move independently (This sounds crazy, I KNOW! But I am currently working on this feat).
  4. A shoe whose sole is taller at the back than the front is a heel… even if it’s a running shoe.
  5. Shoes should be foot-shaped.
  6. Ditch the Flip-Flop.
  7. Barefoot time is essential!!
  8. You have the power to change your own feet- and your HEALTH.

I also really appreciated the practical exercises in the back of the book and am implementing them into my own nightly routine. I highly recommend reading this book and starting to assess and correct your footwear and your feet. I am also excited to start reading more of Katy Bowman’s books 🙂

I’ll leave you with this quote from her book:

feet-619399_1920“Human tissue is phenomenal stuff. When you make small changes in your movement patterns, you nudge yourself down a new physiological path. The body works to tear down old or underused tissue every day, and builds up tissues that are in greatest demand. The body continuously adapts to whatever you are doing now. Changing your habits will change your life!”- Katy Bowman

 

Your knee pain may not be knee pain.

by seedoflifechiro, posted in Chiropractic, Health, Movement

One of the most valuable things I use in my chiropractic exam is functional screening, which is looking at how the body’s joints move. It gives me insight into patterns of motion that can result in pain and dysfunction. For example, the knee is particularly vulnerable to altered biomechanics in other parts of the body.

The knee is, most basically, a hinge.

Because of this, it is significantly affected by the biomechanics of the hip, pelvis, and ankle/foot. Joint restrictions and/or muscular imbalances in these areas are incredibly common from everyday activities like sitting, improper footwear, or repetetive activities. The patterns that we create in our everyday life change the way our joints move and can cause stress in joints and tissues that are farther away.

For example, when the gluteus medius muscle is weak or inhibited (not firing when or how we want it to), it does not properly compress the hip joint. This causes the thigh bone, or femur, to change its angle, resulting in increased pressure on the inner part of the knee joint. The medial/inside part of the knee is usually the first place that arthritis shows up on x-ray of the knee. Slight narrowing of the joint (inside the circle below) is the first physical indicator that the knee is under stress.

knee-xray

Clinically, knee issues show up as pain! Remember, knee pain may not be a problem with the knee!

As a chiropractor, I evaluate to see which muscles or joints are impacting the function of the knee and work with you to strengthen or stretch them appropriately. Many times it is the gluteus medius, but can also be a number of other muscles or tissues.

When it comes to aches and pains, it is important to have a professional evaluate your mechanics for you- you cannot appropriately assess yourself. Only when you know what the true problem is, can you correct it with exercises, stretches, and joint manipulation. Otherwise you can create new problems!

I am a prime example of this. When I was working on my internship to complete my Masters in Sport Science and Rehabilitation, I spent many hours each week in a PT clinic helping to evaluate patients and work with them on their exercises. Thinking that I was helping myself, I did all of the exercises with the patients. In 4 months, I had increased my knee pain, given myself plantar fascitis, and irritated my pelvic joints. Not all of those exercises were appropriate for my body and its previous sports injuries. It took being evaluated for my own movement patterns and months of diligent corrective exercises to undo what I thought was going to help me.

Understanding how your body works and starting from a basic analysis can help to diagnose problem areas and correct problems before they begin. Pain is a warning sign that something is not right within the body. Before you cover it up or dismiss your pain, get assessed and see what can be done to strengthen and support your body.

References:

SBR Sport

Dr. Dooley Noted

 

Chiropractic as Part of a Healthy Lifestyle

by seedoflifechiro, posted in Health

Chiropractic as Part of a Healthy Lifestyle

seed-of-life-logo-small

I often hear from patients that they are feeling good, so they don’t need to be checked. While I am happy to hear that they are not having pain, I always stress that it is important to have someone assess your movement and your spine a couple of times a year (minimum) to ensure that there is nothing just over the horizon.

Many people associate chiropractic care with low back pain, headaches, or neck pain. What they fail to realize is that many of these things (if not all) are preventable not inevitable. Many times the way that we move in daily life is not biomechanical.

What the heck does that mean? The curves in the spine begin to develop as soon as a baby starts to gain muscular control over their head and lift it up. Crawling and other developmental stages help to build your spine into the shape that it is as an adult. Basically, we are born with a C-shaped spine that develops into 3 distinct curves in the neck, mid back, and low back. Throughout this same process, we also build patterns into our brains that help our muscles support the skeleton in different motions.

Over time through minor and major falls, injuries, too much sitting, text neck, and so much more, our body builds compensation patterns to make up for what we cannot do perfectly. You can live for many years with a compensation pattern before another straw lands on the camel’s back and you have a major issue. This is why you will often hear, “I picked up a pencil and threw out my back!” Odds are it was not the pencil, but the lifting and bending pattern that had been present for many years.

As chiropractors, we are trained to analyze the body and pick out these patterns for correction. I am lucky to combine my chiropractic training with the training in biomechanics and rehabilitation learned in my Masters of Sport Science and Rehabilitation to help you to be as stable and balanced as possible.

This does, however, mean HOMEWORK. I was really happy to think I left homework behind me when I walked across that last stage to get my diploma… but then I learned that the most important homework is not what is on your desk or computer. It is the corrective exercises that are assigned to retrain your brain and your posture. Chiropractically, I can perform an adjustment to the spine or to a joint and normalize its motion; however, if you return to doing things exactly the way that you have always done them it will just go back out of balance.

My main goal is to have my patients not need me for pain relief but to get checked periodically to ensure that their home exercises are still appropriate, that their body is holding its balance, and that they are making progress.

Is there something you would like me to write about? Drop a comment on this page or on Facebook to suggest a future blog topic!