Health Tips

My name is Riley Dreher and I was blessed with the opportunity to complete 500 total hours of shadowing at ICT Muscle and Joint Clinic through Wichita State University. This internship was my final project to complete my Bachelor’s Degree in Exercise Science. I have been accepted into Cleveland Chiropractic College in Overland Park, Kansas where I will begin attending school next January. During my time here at ICT Muscle & Joint Clinic, I was able to develop, study, and seek further knowledge of what I can offer to the future chiropractic world and what ICT Muscle & Joint Clinic has to future patients.

The ICTMJC Mindset

If you knew Patrick Mahomes was going to come to the presentation you were doing, how much more would you prepare, wanting to give the best presentation of your life? Maybe you could care less, but you get the point. The majority of people would automatically prepare like an over-caffeinated-mad-man to make sure the presentation was top notch. But what if we treated everyone like that? What if we were fully present and brought our “A” game with everybody? What if we went that extra mile no matter who was in front of us? This is the mindset we at ICT Muscle & Joint want to have. Nobody is more important than anyone else. Everybody deserves that world-class-athlete-treatment.

Happy New Year Wichitans! Hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday season. With the new year comes reflecting on goals and resolutions to make 2020 the best year yet. Keeping that in mind, we wanted to roll out a new series describing a concept that is near and dear to us at ICT Muscle & Joint and our goals for patient care: Treating Everyone Like an Athlete.

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. 

In today's technology age, most people spend a lot of time sitting at desk looking at a computer, or looking down at their phone. There is nothing wrong with this posture. I'll say it again, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS POSTURE. I wrote this while sitting in that position. However, because of this position and how gravity works, our postural muscles work as our anti-gravity muscles. Without them, we would technically face-plant on our computers and phones 🤦‍♂️. 

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.

Depending on who you ask, you may hear how similar or how different these two service therapies are. However, Dry Needling and Acupuncture have both, similarities and differences.

Potential Adverse (Unwanted) Risks:

• punctured lung
• vasovagal response – feeling lightheaded or flushed
• muscle soreness
• fatigue
• bruising
• pain during insertion
• fainting – typically occurs in individuals who have had prior issues with needles (i.e. giving blood)

Cupping Therapy can be categorized into three, main, different styles: Hot Cupping, Wet Cupping, and Dry Cupping. One style may have an advantage over another depending on the situation. However, our doctors at ICT Muscle & Joint Clinic largely use different Dry Cupping strategies to treat pain when Cupping Therapy is appropriate.

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!

We are often asked:

Greetings Wichitans!

I am Dr. Reals and wanted to introduce myself as the new doctor at ICT Muscle and Joint Clinic. I am ecstatic to be back home and working with Drs. Keith and Rachel and I thought I would use this opportunity to familiarize those that may not know much about me!

What is Dry Needling Therapy?

Dry needling involves inserting a thin, filament needle into a pain point, known as a trigger point, to release tension and promote healing. Trigger points are often thought of as knots in a muscle.

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.

WHAT CAUSES PAIN TO THE BODY?

There are two, main mechanical (movement-based) pain causes: inflammation and tight soft tissue(s). The medical term for tight soft tissue is ischemia. Soft tissue is everything besides bone (ie hard tissue). The third category, highlighted in our overall overview of pain, is directed to the nerves – specifically the peripheral nerves. These are the nerves outside of your spine.