Recently I had the opportunity to attended two dry needling courses. I have been dry needling for several years now, however there were many things I took away beyond dry needling myofascial trigger points. Three key points I learned about include: different dry needling techniques, battle acupuncture, and cosmetic dry needling.

Here is a list of my 5 favorite types, of foam rollers or accessory rollers, in no particular order. Each one has its own unique advantage. 

The Seven Pillars of Health

If you’re like the average American, you probably already failed your New Year’s Resolution. If one of your goals was to be more “healthy,” it might not even be your fault that you’ve already failed; this is because we don’t have an accurate description of “health.” How is it measured? What goes into being "healthy?"

December Movement Newsletter

We are in the end of fall season and winter starting soon which means the weather gets colder and makes for prime napping. This gets us on this month’s topic: sleep. As many of you have seen, when you fill out intake paperwork with us there are questions on sleep. We know that a main question that may pop in your head can be: “how can sleep relate to my pain and overall health?” We want to answer that as well as give you a few tips we like to use to help address sleep issues you may be having.

About half of the running population is thought to be injured at some point in one year. These “are defined as any damage or disorder that causes significant change or even cessation of ones normal running routine.”(1) So why is this so common? Although there will never be any solution to completely prevent pain, we can try to limit the likelihood and even the severity of the running pain with the following tips. (Additionally, this may focus on our demographic of runners, but some of the same concepts can apply across all spectrums of athletics).

PAIN GUIDELINES

⁣STOP LIGHT SYSTEM TO PAIN 

RED LIGHT:   ⁣

YELLOW LIGHT:

GREEN LIGHT: ⁣

HOW ICT MUSCLE & JOINT CAN HELP YOUR PAIN

References: "A World of Hurt: A Guide to Classifying Pain" 

In this two part blog series, we discuss how the key to becoming less "stressed" is actually incorporating daily habits that allow you to handle life's difficult situations better.

I know what you’re thinking already…what is up with this title!?

As we are in the thick of the fall sports season, one of the most common injuries for athletes is a hamstring strain. Although how injuries occur are a multi-factorial event, there are exercises we can program to help reduce the likelihood of this injury by building resiliency, strength and mobility. 

What’s up Wichita Community! My name is Tyler Panko and I am a recent graduate of Cleveland University in Kansas City with a Doctorate of Chiropractic degree. I grew up on a small town, cattle farm in Tekamah, Nebraska with my parents and four older brothers. Within that environment, I developed an empathy and passion for helping people. As a kid, I cultivated a great interest in sports and human performance. While most kids asked for toys at the grocery store, I asked for the monthly edition of Men’s Health magazine to investigate new training strategies. Throughout high school and college, I considered athletic training and physical therapy, but eventually settled on chiropractic medicine after obtaining my undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. Go Big Red!

One of Dr. Reals' favorite mobility exercises

Pain often comes on insidiously. You may think it’s no certain cause, but a lot of it can come down to self-care habits. I often tell patients that pain is usually stars aligning with a lot of variables that all added up to finally having the tissue “give out” and sending off a painful signal(s) to the brain: physical inactivity, lack of quality nutrition, constant strain or posture, poor sleep habits, insufficient water intake, etc. This isn’t always the case of course, but a combination of these can definitely be main factors of why you’re in the state you’re in.

You should be highlighting these areas if you wish to maximize your runs! Let’s dive in…

Since we are on the theme of running lately, let’s dive into some running topics and tips going into this summer for your runs and races!

The whole moto of this approach is “too much of a good thing can be bad.” With each example, in Part 1, the person started to experience a decline in feeling better when performing more reps or more amount of time spent in a specific stretch. Let’s explain why.

It’s important to understand too much of a good thing can be bad. I often use the analogy,

Easiest truth, find a McKenzie or Mechanical Therapy & Diagnosis (MDT) healthcare provider. This will save you money, time, and frustration. If a clinic’s website does not list MDT than the doctors on staff do not understand MDT. MDT is one of the most botched techniques out there, much like A.R.T., and the growing rise in popularity with dry needling. In my opinion, McKenzie, is the number one conservative-based approach to treating symptoms commonly associated with disc pain and onto further physical therapeutic care and rehab. Sure there are other things that can help treat disc pain such as decompression and distraction machines, however they do not promote self-care which only increase costs to you and the entire healthcare system as a whole. 

When it comes to self-treatment, there is a plethora of information on the internet. How do you navigate it accordingly? Stretch this, activate that, feel here and not there – you can quickly be standing on your head feeling more lost then when you started. We have put together a “cheat sheet” on what we find are the most important CONCEPTS when trying to self-treat at home. By focusing your efforts on concepts or principles, it will help weed out 95% of unneeded information on the web.

I am tired of seeing orthotics being prescribed like pills. Oh, your foot hurts… Well this shoe and orthotic combo work wonders but it will cost you $1300+. Um… No. Has your foot pain hurt you your entire life? Chances are the answer is a strong no! Over-the-counter orthotics are relatively pointless to relieve your pain unless they cost $20 or less constructed with Sorbothane. Here is a link for a pair on Amazon or if you want them now most Walgreens or CVS carry them. Sorbothane is the best shock absorbing material on the market, period. This type of orthotic is more for those individuals that have generalized foot pain during long periods of standing.