All posts by sikorskychiro

exercise, chiropractic

25% of people with this diagnosis will die within one year.

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Fall Prevention Strategy

A consequence of a fall could be a hip fracture. Quarter of individual experiencing a hip fracture will pass away within a year, and a half will be unable to return to their previous level of function. Thes statistic underscore the urgent need for fall prevention.

Almost 40% of people over 70 fall at least once a year. 1 in 5 of these falls result in serious injury.

  • Last year, 300,000 Americans fractured their hip after falling.
  • Nearly 25% of those who fracture their hip will be dead within a year.
  • 50% of them won’t return to their prior level of function.

Why do the elderly fall at increased rates?

Falls may occur due to a combination of factors, including a lack of balance and weakness in the supporting musculature. Poor balance may lead to the act of falling, but it is the weakness within the foot and leg that results in the inability to recover from falling. Weakness in the legs can lead to falls down the stairs. Weakness in the feet and calf can lead to falling during the initiation of walking.

Below are some simple exercises that you could use to strengthen your muscles in your leg to help lower your risk of falling.

1)www.cdc.gov/falls/facts
2)Snow C, Shaw J, Winters K, Witzke K. Long-term exercise using weighted vests prevents hip bone loss in postmenopausal women. The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences. 2000 Sep 1;55(9):M489-91.
chiropractic

What causes the “popping” noise when you crack a joint?

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What is the “Popping Sound”

The “pop” sound during an adjustment, arises from inside a joint after moving the joint past a restricted range of motion (ROM). These sounds are called a cavitation.

A patient being adjusted by Dr. Sikorsky

What is a cavitation? 

Cavitation sounds result from the separation of joint surfaces, which results in a rapid decrease in intra-articular pressure (cavitation), which results in degassing of synovial fluid (mostly carbon dioxide), the creation of a cavitation bubble within the joint, and the sound itself is the result of bubble collapse. An Adjustment Separates the spinal joints call facets joints. There is synovial fluid in the inside the facet joints. The following happens to create the cavitation.

  1. Resulting in a rapid decrease in intra-articular pressure (cavitation)
  2. Degassing of synovial fluid (mostly carbon dioxide)
  3. Creation of cavitation bubble within the joint
  4. The sound itself is either the result of bubble collapse (like popping a balloon) or bubble formation/tribonucleation (like pulling a suction cup off of a window).

 

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TIPS TO LIGHTEN THE LOAD OF YOUR CHILD’S BACKPACK:

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Limited the backpack weight.   A common recommendation weight limit of a backpack should be 15-20% of a child’s body weight. For example, if your child weighs 50 pounds, then the backpack should be no more than 10 pounds (Make certain that the weight in the backpack does not cause your child to lean forward. This is a sign that the backpack is too heavy)

Weight distribution. Once you have the correct weight in your child’s backpack make sure it is distributed evenly. Always pack heavy items at the bottom to ensure that the heaviest load is carried lower and closer to your child’s core area.

Make sure the backpack has padded shoulder straps. Wide, padded shoulder straps distribute weight evenly.

Tighten Up. Always adjust the straps so that the backpack fits close to the body but be careful they are not so tight they pull on the shoulders.

Use both shoulder straps. Carrying the backpack over one shoulder forces other back muscles to compensate for the uneven weight distribution, causing the spine to lean to the opposite side.

Placement. The rule of thumb is that the bottom of the backpack should be 2-3 inches above the waist, while the top of the backpack should be below the neck.

Select a backpack that has compartments to ensure better organization.   Organize your child’s backpack to use all of its compartments. Pack heavier items closest to the center of the back. Go through the pack with your child weekly, and remove unneeded items to keep it light.

Safety. Place sharp or odd-shaped items in the front section of the backpack to avoid direct contact with your child’s back.

Lift with the legs. Make sure your child lifts the backpack using his or her leg muscles and avoids bending the back. Check out my YouTube channel for lifting tips.

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Tips for walking better.

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It’s almost summer and you know what that mean. Its walking outside season.

Today’s blog will be about tips to help improve walking and minimize the chance of injury. Walking can also be used for rehabilitation. We could use walking to help lower back pain as well as neck and upper back pain. One of my favorite authors Dr. Stu McGill uses this quote “walking is nature’s back balm”.

Photo by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi

TIME

How much time should you start with, if you have not been walking or just starting out? I would start with 20 to 30 minutes. Once this time becomes comfortable and easy you can start to increase your time or distance. A good rule of thumb is 10%. Never increase time or distance more than 10% a week. If you hit a time or distance that is challenging you can stay at that time or distance for 4 weeks or until it becomes easy and then start increasing again.
In the beginning it might be helpful to wear a heart rate monitor so you can better judge effort. A good target heart rate to train at is: 180-(your age).  This heart rate is safe and it will not be pushing yourself to hard. This heart rate will be your zone 2 or fat burning zone.  Your muscles will be using fat for the vast majority of fuel during your training. This heart rate is also a heart rate which you could sustain for long periods of time.

Walking can also be used for rehabilitation. We could use walking to help lower back pain as well as neck and upper back pain. One of my favorite authors Stue McGill uses this quote “walking is nature’s back balm”.

Shoes

So let’s start from the ground up. Comfortable shoes or sneakers are important. So if you have a specific pair that works for you continue. If you’re going to buy a new pair. The most important tip is the shoe should feel Good and comfortable. So if you try the shoe on and walk around the store and it does not feel good this shoe will not work. On the other hand if you try a shoe on and it feels great. that shoe will work for your body. Studies have shown how the shoe feels is more important than other aspects such as stability or cushioning. So pick a shoe based on comfort. Once you have a good pair of shoes that works with your body make sure your shoes are tied. This will help prevent you from getting blisters or hotspots in your foot if you start walking for longer periods of time.

Stand up straight.


Good posture is important that only four sitting in front of the computer but also is important for most of our activities this will include walking. The vast majority of patients or people in today’s world sit too much. So walking is great way to improve one’s posture. Only if we walk with good posture will our posture improve. Chin up, shoulders back(no slouching). Head over shoulders, shoulders over hips.

chiropractic

Does that finding on an MRI mean that where’s your pain is coming from?

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I have ordered a lot of MRIs during my chiropractic career. I have order less as I progressed thru my years of practice. I have found that most people will have some changes on an MRI. The most common finding includes, arthritis, disc bulging and disc hernation.

If your over 40, good chances that you’ll have some changes/finding on an X-Ray of MRI. I can only think of two recent patient that had no finding on their MRI.

Does a finding on an MRI mean it’s the pain generator? No, it does not. As a doctor we should treat the person in front of us and not an image.

If the symptoms warn it or patient fails to progress at all, then advanced imaging might be needed. The most common advanced Image is an MRI. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive imaging technology that produces 3d images of the body.

Here a great study that showed most people have finding and asymptomatic

“We performed MRI examinations on 98 asymptomatic people. The scans were read independently by two neuroradiologists who did not know the clinical status of the subjects. To reduce the possibility of bias in interpreting the studies, abnormal MRI scans from 27 people with back pain were mixed randomly with the scans from the asymptomatic people.”

“On MRI examination of the lumbar spine, many people without back pain have disk bulges or protrusions but not extrusions. Given the high prevalence of these findings and of back pain, the discovery by MRI of bulges or protrusions in people with low back pain may frequently be coincidental.”

So, if you have finding on a MRI and are having symptoms. maybe the pain is coming from the finding or maybe it not. The important thing is to treat the person as a whole and not just a finding.

Ref.:

N Engl J Med. 1994 Jul 14;331(2):69-73. Magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar spine in people without back pain. Jensen MC1, Brant-Zawadzki MN, Obuchowski N, Modic MT, Malkasian D, Ross JS.