Health Tips

Wichita's Gaming World

This past Saturday, Drs. Rachel and Keith attended a tech expo for gamers at WSU. Led by Wichita eSports, several hundred individuals attended to participate in tournaments involving games such as League of Legends and Super Smash Bros projected up on the big screens for all to watch. Also, there were computers grouped together in the corners of the room for other tournaments such as NHL 17. All of this is proof of the presence and support the gaming community possesses here in Wichita, Kansas. For those of you that think gaming is only a pastime, well-known individuals, such as Mark Cuban, are starting to financially invest in leagues so we are guessing that it is here to stay. Gaming involves strategy, brings a team of individuals together, and its potential for the future is looking bright. Teams from major universities, such as Kansas State, attended to participate and observe the active push to grow Wichita’s gaming community. Not to mention, Shocker Startup held a pitch competition during the event too!

Hip extension is an important component for creating a tall and healthy physique. When the hip flexors become tight, due to overuse or lack of use, they prevent healthy hip extension. Healthy hip extension enables the body to generate more forward or upward momentum by driving the foot and leg into the ground, or backwards. Keeping the hip flexors supple is vital for musculoskeletal health in the lower back, hip, and knee regions.

Improper hip motion is oftentimes a culprit to low back pain and knee pain. Interestingly, the area where we experience pain is regularly not the source of pain. When the glute medius and glute minimus become problematic they can refer pain down the leg (mimicking a disc herniation), and to the SI joint. These muscles become dysfunctional due to lack of use. Stating this, you would think working on activating these muscles alone would be sufficient, but recent research indicates that combining soft tissue therapy with rehab/exercise training, adds greater benefit then either alone.¹

I call this one the Chiro-killa! Now I say this jokingly, but foaming the Thoracic spine, commonly referred to as the Tsp, is a great way to help mobilize the mid back. With many occupations becoming desk bound the Tsp becomes excessively rounded. Foam rolling this area can help “straighten” the spine out adding to improved health in many areas throughout the body.

In the medical world, the inner thigh is referred to as the adductor muscles. This group of muscles “add”uct or bring the legs back toward the midline of the body. When it comes to lower body dysfunctions and pain, this group of muscles can reign king in stirring up problems.

Stop whatever you’re doing right now and take a second to feel your calves. Sit in a chair and cross one leg over the other. To do this correctly your calf muscles have to be on slack. Take your fingers and roll across your calf toward your shin. I can almost guarantee every single one of you will feel tension in the inside or outside of the calf, if performed correctly. If you throw your leg on a foam roller and try to foam roll your calf with the shin facing the ceiling, you will feel almost nothing and dismiss the idea that foam rolling your calves can be beneficial for you. You need to foam roll where the tension is present. If you skip this step I politely, and with all my love and sincerity, tell you that you're most likely missing out on huge benefits. End rant. Yes, I know that was a pointless rant but I do feel better getting it off my chest.  

Think of the knee as Cinderella. She was a victim of unfortunate circumstances and left to bear the burden put on her by her stepmother and step sisters. Cinderella does not deserve the grunt work, but as she has no other option, she miserably trudges on. Similarly, the knee is stuck between the hip, ankle and foot; picking up slack where they have left off. Think of this as the fairy godmother blog to save you from present or future knee dysfunction and pain.

With this blog we will be covering foam rolling the Latissimus Dorsi (a.k.a. Lat). I know, as if that wasn’t obvious by the title. Foam rolling the lats can definitely be a game changer in improving your physical health when performed correctly. Key word here is correctly. It's not enough just to lay on the foam roller and then pat yourself on the back for laying on the foam roller. Would you pat yourself on the back for thinking about putting money in your 401K then go blow it all at Best Buy? I don’t think so.

Heel pain is a common occurrence for everyday individuals to elite long distance runners. There are many reasons for this, such as: landing positions, foot strike patterns, shoe types, or lack of strength/mobility/endurance. The list of associated causes for heel pain is broad. This blog will cover some import factors and shopping tips that you can take advantage of the next time you experience heel pain.

As you can see below, if you suffer from seasonal allergies and live in the Wichita, KS area, you probably aren’t feeling 100%. Unfortunately, this area can be a hot zone for all different types of allergens and if that wasn’t bad enough, they can reappear more than once a year. Seasonal allergies, also known as hay fever or allergic rhinitis, affects all age groups. (Fun fact: rhinitis is irritation of the nose and rhinoceros means “nose horn;” in case you were curious!) Anyway, common symptoms include sneezing, congestion, itchy/watery eyes, and coughing. Typical treatment includes antihistamines, decongestants, and steroids.

It was an incredible morning this past Sunday. Wichita Running Company partnered with the Midian Shriners Charity to host the Old Town 10K, here in the heart of Kansas. The morning was perfect! If you’re a runner, you know what I’m talking about. This time of year feels incredible to rise out of bed, throw the sneakers on, and hit the pavement. It hasn’t been one of the hottest summers on record, but the changes in temperature are happening; it makes this time of year fun. Every morning is a new morning; you're not quite sure what it's going to feel like until you step out the door.

Plantar Fasciitis is a common foot complaint we see here at ICT Muscle & Joint Clinic in Wichita, Kansas. The classical symptom associated with plantar fasciitis is pain that occurs with walking, after prolonged periods of non-weight bearing. If this describes you, than you very likely have a true case of plantar fasciitis.

One of my favorite rehabilitation approaches to practice and learn more about is DNS, or Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization. Pavel Kolar of the Prague School, organized the DNS clinical protocols and has also recently published a book, Clinical Rehabilitation. I swear, every time I open this book my mind is exposed to something new, or a correlation is drawn between two things I never placed together. There is a chapter specifically dedicated to treatment rehab in the fields of obstetrics and gynecology, from which this blog is sourced. Get ready for a crash course in all things childbirth!

School is back in session! All the youngsters in Wichita and surrounding areas have made the trek back into the classroom, with their school supplies in hand. The start of the school year also signifies the start of fall sports: basketball, cross country, baseball, football, and many others. Often, increased sport activity leads to increased sports-related injury rates, but this does not have to be the case!

It was GoTime with Foam Rolling

This weekend we had the privilege of teaching our 5 most important foam rolling areas to GoTime Training family. It was a gorgeous morning with their huge, glass-style garage doors (seen below) opened overlooking the Stryker Soccer Complex. The weather was perfect and so was the class engagement! GoTime training is over 10,000 square feet, offering bootcamp classes, semi-private classes, and nutritional consultations.

Most of us tuned into a certain world-wide sporting event that happened very recently. Thousands of athletes in many different sports, trained countless hours to prepare for this life changing event. So, what does the Games have to do with prenatal/postpartum health and breathing?? Let me explain.
 
In America, we have lost respect for the birthing process and everything it entails. Pregnancy should be treated as an athletic event, but instead most postpartum moms are checked on once at 6 weeks and given very little direction on how to return to daily activities. For years, mothers have suffered in silence because they are embarrassed by the changes in their body or they don't believe that anything can be done to treat their symptoms.
 
Luckily, in the past several years, a system of support has risen to the surface with the goal of being available to help women through this physically and mentally taxing process. Don't get me wrong, having a child is innumerably positive but I would like women to be aware that we can add more positives to that list such as: being free of back or pelvic pain, returning to pre-baby physical activities, bladder control, and feeling strong again! This is where breathing comes into play; without this proper function, it is difficult to accomplish the above-mentioned list.
 
The two main reasons breathing is so vital are 1) we need oxygen to live, and 2) it involves our core i.e. where we derive stability for all movements. The more prepared you are before becoming pregnant, the quicker you will make progress. Tissues in the core are disrupted with pregnancy and will take time to heal. Also, if a breathing pattern is improper, it must become a conscious effort to retrain. Once this begins to happen, your core will be able to better stabilize your lower back, pelvis, and hips and subsequently relieve you of your pain or incontinence.
 
The main muscle of respiration is the diaphragm. It cannot work if you do not allow your belly to expand with inspiration, or breathing in. Think of your belly as a balloon or a kite. It is there to essentially 'catch' the contents of your abdomen when your lungs expand to receive oxygen. The easiest position to work on proper abdominal breathing is lying on your back with your lower legs resting on a chair or the couch. Once you are in this position, check that there is not an arch in your lower back and that the spine is resting on the floor. Place one hand over your belly button and the other on your chest. When you inhale, the lower hand should rise while the upper hand should not. This may be difficult at first, but stick with it! Your body and your baby will thank you for it.

Guest blog by Sara Skiles, owner of Wichita Doula:

Many individuals lose awareness of how to move their bodies properly. I was one of them. A couple years ago during chiropractic school, I was goofing around on a buddy’s longboard trying tricks I had no business trying. This buddy is now owner of High Country Muscle & Joint Clinic in Golden, Colorado. He is a functional chiro trying to spread a similar message about proper movement strategies. But long story short, I ended up falling off and dislocating my elbow. I find myself very fortunate to not have broken anything. During the rehab phase, I spent time thinking through my fitness goals and expectations. I was a very active individual going to the gym lifting weights and focused on programming “functional” exercises; it was therapy for all the school work. But this incident changed me. Thinking about my programming after the accident, I realized I had no idea how to fall properly; such a silly thing. How does someone not know how to fall properly? Especially someone who viewed themself as “functionally” fit. 

July 4th, 2016

The holiday weekend was a rainy one, to put it lightly. Some of that humidity hung around Monday morning, but that did not stop over 530 runners from participating in the 5K race. The course began inside Cessna Stadium and then ventured out around the Wichita State Campus. Many were festive in red, white and blue and everyone received a t-shirt and a finishers' medal.