Decreased sleep duration is associated with obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease
Controlled laboratory studies have shown that decreased quantity and quality of sleep negatively affects glucose regulation and alters food intake and energy balance.
Experimental sleep restriction alone or in combination with misalignment, and decreases in sleep quality negatively affect glucose regulation. Sleep curtailment alters energy expenditure, weight regulation, gene-expression, and inflammatory cytokine levels.
Below is a cool chart from the study. It’s amazing what a lack of sleep can effect.
this image is from the study.
Besides eating right, exercising and chiropractic care, getting 7-9 hours of sleep a night is necessary for a healthy life style.
Having good running form is another way to prevent running injuries. There are many nuances to running form. We’ll discuss the big three. They are Cadence, Posture and Foot placement.
Cadence (Stride Length)
The amateur runner may not put much thought into their running beyond putting one foot in front of the other, however, if you are finding yourself with consistent pain in your shins or recurring lower leg injuries the way you run may be playing a role. New research has demonstrated that when you take a longer stride as you run, the ground reaction force on your legs will be increased. This increased force can lead to more injuries and micro traumas that can lead to chronic injuries and discomfort.
With Cadence think quick feet. A faster stride will reduce the amount of time you spend on the ground and decreased ground-reaction force. This reduces the impact on your body gets hitting the ground.
If you think that this may be affecting your ability to run pain-free, try taking some shorter runs and actively think about taking shorter steps while running. Your legs will have to move faster to maintain the same pace as before. It will take some time to retrain your brain to alter your running pattern, but with some regular training, you should be able to make the transition.
Photo by sasint–3639875 See how long her stride is? If the foot is landing far in front of you, your cadence is most likely low.
Posture
Good posture will help you run with less pain and prevent injuries. Basically good posture will create good running posture. Your head should be over your ribcage and your rib cage should be over you pelvis and pelvis over your feet. This posture will let you run using less energy. If your posture is good it will be easier to fill your lungs with air. Next is to engage your core and build midline stabilization.
Foot Placement
Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. This is a very stable position. Now stand with one foot in front (heel to toe). That’s harder right? Standing this way or running this way takes a lot of balance and energy. We’ll call this cross over gait. When we run we should land with our foot under our knee and our knee under our hip. This will support your center of mass better. Think leaning tower of Pisa, the top is not over the bottom making it unstable.
Photo by John-Silver–3202135 The base would be the foot and the hip would be the top.
Take a look at this runner. His foot is on the midline of the body. The leg is not stacked The hip is not stacked over knee or foot. Can you see the pelvis dropping on the left side as well?
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio Can you see the cross over gait? The foot is midline, the hip once again is not stacked over the knee and foot. Look at her stomach muscles. Can you see the twisting? Here’s an example of the core not being engage and lack of midline stabilization.
If you are new to running or experienced and need help we are here! Please call the office to set up an appointment.
Did you know that we lose 1-1.4% of muscle mass/year & 3% of our strength/year starting at the age of 40. Anyone who has turned 40 know this but in a different way.
Here’s some examples:
If I look at a cookie I gain weight
I don’t feel as strong as I once was
I’m more tired then I used to be.
I gain 5lbs a year with no major change in my diet
My clothes don’t seem to fit right
I don’t look good in the mirror
I get sore and tired from normal actives around the house
You see your Medical Doctor & they tell you that you have Arthritis & to just learn to live with it
The medical Doctor says it’s “Wear & tear” which is ironic because you’ve been sedentary. (Study after study shows exercise help arthritis and decease pain. Doing exercise correctly does not cause pain)
The MD say’s if you can’t live with it we’ll give you pills. You start taking NSAIDs which ⬆️ heart disease 30-40%
Now you’re getting desperate. Everyone promises a quick fix – you reach for experimental things like stem cells. Treatments with side effects like steroids & you’re getting more & more depressed
Next you’re getting scanned (MRI/C.T). Nobody has addressed the fact that you’re weak. That you don’t have strength. All they are talking about are the tissues which are the victims
The next step is that they recommend surgery
How do you fix & reverse this?
Good question. It’s simple!
30m/day of general activity – choose whatever you like – hiking, waking the dog, swimming , biking or yoga & most importantly 2x/week resistance (strength) training
Come in or call the office and We could help you find the exercise that are the best for you.
People that come into our chiropractic clinic for treatment after lumbar disc herniation or disc bulging frequently have a history of pain which is worse in the morning and then improves after they’ve been up moving around for a bit.
Often they have some questions about what exercises and stretches they can do in the morning to make them feel better. We learned more about morning back pain in a disc – injured patient after the research of Michael Adams in the 1980s.(1,2) Adams referred to the “diurnal behavior of the disc” which mostly refers to the tendency for the discs to absorb moisture from the tissues around them overnight.
The discs soak up the fluids from the tissues around them while a person is recumbent in bed overnight. So in the morning when they wake up the outer layers of the disc are under a bit more tension, which we refer to as hydrostatic pressure.
In turn, the disc becomes a bit more plump, adding pressure to nerves and surroundingstructors.
So what should you do? Once you get out of bed you should not bend over right away. Try to keep your back straight or try stretching backward .
Next, use your hips to bend over the sink to brush your teeth.
A straight back using my hips to bend over.Bending at the lumbar spine causing lots of pressure on the lumbar discs
The above picture is a great way to cause sharp shooting pain in the morning.
Try to sit up straight or use a back support in the small of your back like in the picture above.
Sitting with a more normal curve in the lumbar spine helps take the pressure off of the lumbar discs and helps decrease pain.
A wrong way to sit
Sitting like this cause more disc pressure causing disc irritation. It can cause the disc to bulge more.
Discs are fatter in the morning because the absorb fluid overnight. So think of a jelly doughnut if the doughnut has more jelly its more likely to shoot out if you put pressure on it.
So remember back straight, stomach tight will help prevent lower back pain and help you heal if you have pain.
A weak core can increase your chances for lower extremity injury during exercise!
The core is important for your lower back and neck health for sure. It’s also very important for extremity health. If you have been dealing with an arm or leg injury (extremity) that has not been getting better with treatment, it might be good to add in some core exercise to improve outcomes.
Take Home Message from the study: A college freshman with dynamic postural control limb imbalances, decreased hip extension strength, or decreased core muscle endurance during bridging exercises is more likely to develop a lower extremity overuse injury.
This is a pretty cool picture. Can you believe the detail? The red in the picture is the muscle and the white stuff is the connective tissue is called fascia. A painful area in a muscle can be caused by damage to one or both of theses structures!
Ok, we’ve worked on any muscle imbalances, fixed any joints that needed fixing and now we’re working on running form. What’s next is everyone’s favorite: running shoes
Let’s talk about running shoes!
When I’m looking for a running shoe these are the things I look for:
Heel to toe drop:
This a zero drop shoe. That means the heel and toe are at the same level.
Here’s a large heel drop.
Now which one to choose?
You can not use a zero drop shoe if you were using a running shoe (with a large heel drop) like the one above your whole life. Doing that you would destroy your Achilles tendon and calves.
I would suggest using the lowest heel to toe drop you can tolerate. better to error on a bigger drop then lesser drop. You can always go lower the next shoe. This will lower your chance of soreness. Remember change can take time, don’t rush things
2. Where the shoe bends:
I like the shoe to bend where my big toe bends which is the “knuckle” part of the big toe. It only makes sense that the shoe bends where the body bends.
3. The toe box:
The toe box is the space around the toes. Take your foot out of the shoe or sneaker and take a look. I bet it does not look like your shoe. Most people don’t have elf shaped feet.
A big toe box gives more room for your foot and toes. The second picture is an insert( black one) from a shoe with a big toe box. My foot does not spill over the insert(green one) like the first picture.
If you have any question please call the office! Or you could bring your shoe in and we can go over it in person.
I’m going to do a multi-part blog on running and running shoes! Running and advice on the proper shoe are topics often brought up in my clinic so why not share for easy reference?
Starting with part one:
Here one question I get often: I’m going to start to run to get in shape, so what brand (x) of running shoe?
There so many variables that go into the question. Your biomechanic faults/deficiencies, anatomical variants, the current level of your strength, the current level of fitness, what is your running form/style. Plus add in what you do for a living. A construction worker has different stress on the body then a person who sits at a desk all day.
In my opinion, it’s better to start with yourself. First, improve your body and then work on your running mechanics. After, try to find the best style of running shoe based on comfort.
I like to take a “ground-up” approach. The first thing to do is to make your foot and lower extremity better. Fixing any joint dysfunction and then working on making your body stronger and more flexible is a great start.
Next is to improve your running form. I would video record the person running and make any necessary correction. RUNNING is a SKILL and will need to be practiced.
After doing all of the above, the patient will be less likely to get injured. Plus it will be easy to find the right running shoe.
Another reason to see a chiropractor! Chiropractic is the safest non-drug treatment for your pain. A recent study links the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDS) with increased risk of heart attack.
All NSAIDs, including naproxen, were found to be associated with an increased risk of acute myocardial infarction. Risk of myocardial infarction with celecoxib was comparable to that of traditional NSAIDS and was lower than for rofecoxib. Risk was greatest during the first month of NSAID use and with higher doses.
