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Staying Healthy as a Weekend Warrior
Millions of people participate in sports each weekend as a way to stay active and stay connected to their friends. Inevitably as we age, the likelihood of an unexpected injury creeps up; so how can you stay healthy as a weekend warrior? You may be surprised to learn that the proactive steps you take during the week to stay well will directly impact your ability to keep enjoying your weekend sports.
The Benefits of an Active Lifestyle
Weekend sports such as a softball game may last a few hours. If you enjoy hiking or mountain biking, you may be looking at 4-6 hours of sports activities each weekend. Either way, it’s a short amount of time compared to the number of hours you spend working each week. That is why taking daily, proactive steps with your health are so important. Stretching to improve your mobility, strengthening to improve your support, and moving through your entire range of motion can help you feel more energized each day and potentially reduce your risk of injury on the weekends.
- Weekend warriors have a 40% lower risk of death due to cardiovascular disease.
- At least 75 minutes of vigorous exercise is recommended each week.
- Regular exercise during the week may help reduce your risk of injury on the weekends.
Building a new health habit takes time. Using your smartwatch or a health app is a great way to receive reminders to get up and stretch and move your body. The small steps you take to maintain a balance of strength and flexibility will help you continue to enjoy your weekends. Getting older doesn’t mean you need to stop playing sports, but it does mean that you should be smart about your approach.
Why Pro Athletes Choose Chiropractic
For over 100 years, professional athletes of all kinds have used chiropractic care to recover, reduce their likelihood of injury, and even get an edge in performance. But what used to be a secret is now well-known, and chiropractic care is used by sports teams from high school right up through the pros. Historically, the medical staff of pro sports teams have been focused on helping athletes recover from injuries rather than finding ways to improve their performance (that was left to the coaches). Chiropractors provide a unique bridge between the player, coach, and medical team by focusing on injury prevention, mobility, and performance.
Improving Performance through Chiropractic
Pro sports are big businesses, and athletes, coaches, and owners always maximize their talent. What began as a way to reduce injuries has advanced into a way to improve performance. New research shows how spinal adjustments can influence the brain, spinal cord, and even muscle strength. Here are three exciting findings from the research.
- Motor control and movement patterns can be influenced by receiving a spinal adjustment.
- Spinal adjustments can alter how you process pain.
- Increases in muscle strength have been found after a spinal adjustment.
Pro athletes choose chiropractic for many different reasons. For some, it’s the focus on mobility, while others are looking for a performance edge. No matter what drives an athlete to seek out a chiropractor’s expertise, one thing is for sure: the use of chiropractic care in competitive athletics is here to stay.
Can an Adjustment Help My Athletic Performance?
You may have heard that chiropractic care can help improve your athletic performance. Is it true? The truth is that many athletes work with chiropractors to improve their performance. Chiropractors unique outlook on health and well-being is a perfect match for athletes and people looking to stay active. To perform at your highest level, you need to optimize your body’s structure and function.
The Competitive Edge
Sports keep getting more competitive. Even a slight edge can make the difference between success and failure. Athletes of all ages are always looking for a natural advantage that can help improve their performance. Exciting new research has shown that spinal adjustments can influence muscle strength, balance, and endurance. Here are the three key takeaways:
- Pain can reduce your strength, balance, and endurance.
- Spinal adjustments can improve joint and tissue motion.
- Chiropractic patients have been found to have improved strength and endurance.
Proactively working with a chiropractor, whether you are in pain or not, is a smart idea for athletes of all ability levels. Assessing your movement patterns, making adjustments when necessary, and helping you craft an at-home exercise plan are just a few of the ways chiropractors help athletes improve their performance.
How to Reduce Your Risk of Sports Injuries
As an athlete, there is nothing worse than being sidelined with an injury. Many athletes report that recovery’s mental aspects are just as hard, if not harder, than the physical recovery. With the proper plan of action, many sports injuries can be prevented. Improper training, incorrect stretching routines, and a lack of a good warm-up can lead to an increased likelihood of sprains, strains, and muscle injuries.
Create a Fitness Plan
Developing a fitness plan that includes dynamic stretching, strength training, and cardiovascular exercise can help decrease your chance of injury. Each aspect of your plan requires movement or biomechanics. Biomechanics is the science of how your muscles, bones, tendons, and ligaments work together to produce movement. Ensuring that you have optimal biomechanics is critical if you hope to reduce your chance of injury. Altered biomechanics in one body joint can lead to compensations in others resulting in pain, increased risk of injury, or potentially advanced degeneration.
- Take time to move through your bodies full range of motion each day.
- Alternative training different muscles groups every other day.
- Schedule periodic movement assessments to improve your biomechanics.
Movement assessments are an essential part of every chiropractic evaluation. Chiropractors are trained to carefully examine your biomechanics and provide both passive and active ways to improve them. No two people move the same, which is why having a qualified healthcare professional analyze your movement is so important. By identifying altered biomechanics before you have pain and discomfort, you may not only be able to reduce your risk of injury but maybe even improve your performance.
Science Sources:
The Underappreciated Health Benefits of Being a Weekend Warrior. Harvard Health Publishing. 2017.
Neurophysiological Effects of Spinal Manipulation. Spine Journal. 2002.
Preventing Sports Injuries. University of Rochester Medical Center. 2023.
Does Maintained Spinal Manipulation Therapy Result in Better Long-Term Outcome? Spine. 2011.
Start Creating Healthy Habits Today!
Call or schedule an appointment online and we can help you create healthy habits, enabling you to achieve your goals so you can live your best, most healthy life ever!
Schedule an AppointmentContact UsSetting Smart Health Goals
Have you ever felt like you were working hard but weren’t making any progress toward your goals? You’re not alone. Most people feel that way each year around this time. They set goals, and take a few action steps, but never seem to accomplish very much. Often the problem isn’t a lack of motivation, but likely because you haven’t set smart goals. Smart health goals can help you clarify your thoughts, focus your efforts, use your time to your advantage, and increase your chances of not only achieving but surpassing your expectations. Creating healthy habits and resolutions is crucial to achieving your goals towards a stronger, healthier, and happier life.
Why it Matters:
Living a healthy life requires more than just being free from pain. Setting health goals, stretching your comfort zone, and celebrating small wins are important parts of a fulfilling life. As you plan your New Year’s resolutions for a healthy year, plan smart goals. Smart health goals are an effective way to provide the clarity, focus, and motivation you need for success. By setting a completion date, you are more likely to reach your goals.
S – Specific: Make your goals specific for more effective planning.
M – Measurable: Define how you are making progress.
A – Attainable: Make them reasonable to accomplish.
R – Relevant: Your goals should align with your values.
T – Time-Based: Set a date of completion.
If you struggle to follow through on your New Year’s resolutions each year, try setting health smart goals. There is no better time than right now to begin setting goals to improve your health this year. Living a healthy life is a journey, so don’t forget to celebrate each step of your progress. Our practice is here to help guide you along the way. If you have a health challenge or an ache or pain that’s holding you back from reaching your goals, let us know. We’ll be happy to help! Just talk with Dr. James Beadle and Dr. David Miranda.
How to Cultivate a Positive Mindset
Mindset is the #1 predictor of success. Often, the conversations that you have with yourself determine your growth (or lack thereof). Whether you believe you can or can’t do something, you’re probably right. Thinking that you can’t do something can become a self-fulfilling prophecy that prevents you from taking action and making the decisions you need to live your best life.
Why it Matters:
The good news is you can change your habits, beliefs and transform your thinking. When you do, you’ll be able to look at the world with a new perspective, which empowers you to become the person you know you can be. Take some time this week to think about the thought loops that play in your head. Be more conscientious about what you tell yourself. Each day, identify what thoughts you can switch to cultivate a more positive mindset.
- Positive thinking can help with managing stress and improve your
- A positive outlook can decrease your likelihood of a heart attack or cardiovascular event by over 30%.
- Negative emotions may weaken your immune
Cultivating a positive mindset isn’t just a woo-woo, granola way to approach life. A positive mindset has been shown to improve your overall health and well-being. New research on the mind-body connection has proven that our mental health impacts much of our physical health.
Moving Your Way to Better Health
You’ve heard it before, but regular exercise is good for your physical and mental health. Creating healthy habits of daily exercise can help you lose weight, lower your risk of future health challenges, reduce your stress, and improve your mental outlook. But, if you’re like many people (over 80% to be exact) you aren’t getting enough exercise each week.
Why it Matters:
As a chiropractor, we focus on three types of movement- segmental (your body’s individual joints), regional (your neck, low back, leg, etc.), and whole body. All three types of movement are essential for you to stay well. Full body movement is general exercise such as running or walking. Regional movement may be the stretches and smaller exercises you perform daily. Segmental motion is what we focus on here as chiropractors.
To generate the benefits of regular exercise, your body needs all three types of movement.
- Whole Body: Daily exercise can improve your mood, sleep, and lower your risk of chronic
- Regional: Dynamic stretching can improve your range of motion, biomechanics, and energy
- Segmental: Adjustments can positively influence the function of your nervous system, decrease aches and pains, and relax your muscles.
Millions of people make New Year’s resolutions to get more active each year. And each year, they seem to come up short. But this year, you have the tools and resources to succeed. By setting smart health goals and cultivating a positive mindset, you can begin moving your body towards better health this year. If you notice yourself struggling to stay on track, or sidelined by chronic aches and pains, let us know. We’re here to help you get active, stay healthy, and reach your goals.
Increasing Your Energy
Have you found yourself tired and drained at the end of each day? It may be easy to grab a second (or tenth) coffee or energy drink, but boosting your energy level doesn’t mean you need to rely on caffeine’s short-term effects. Short-term bursts of energy can often lead to a crash. Creating healthy habits each day can increase your energy level, mental focus, and endurance.
Why it Matters:
Walking through a store, you’ll notice dozens of products that are designed to increase your energy level. Many of these synthetic stimulants aren’t very healthy, and some can even become addictive. Instead of a daily quick fix, it’s better to consider the effect that stress, exercise, and diet can have on your energy levels.
Stress: Being stressed out consumes a ton of energy. Discovering ways to decrease your mental stress with meditation or physical stress with chiropractic care can help increase your energy levels.
Exercise: Daily exercise will help you sleep better, elevate your mood, and circulate more oxygen in your body.
Diet: Eating foods with a low glycemic index (where sugar is absorbed slowly) can help you avoid a crash after eating and keep you more energized throughout the day.
A lack of energy is often a symptom of a more significant issue. Too much stress, less than ideal food choices, and a lack of exercise are major factors in your energy level. Developing an awareness of your daily habits and making small changes can result in big changes. Try to avoid using caffeine as a crutch and make positive lifestyle choices instead. If you’re struggling or would like specific natural supplement recommendations, let us know, and we’ll be glad to help.
Science Sources:
SMART Goals: How to Make Your Goals Achievable. MindTools. 2022.
Positive Thinking: Stop Negative Self-talk to Reduce Stress. Mayo Clinic. 2022.
The Power of Positive Thinking. Johns Hopkins Medicine. 2022.
The Use of Spinal Manipulation to Treat Injury. J Can Chiropr Assoc. 2016.
9 Tips to Boost Your Energy Naturally. Harvard Health Publishing. 2020.
Start Creating Healthy Habits Today!
Call or schedule an appointment online and we can help you create healthy habits, enabling you to achieve your goals so you can live your best, most healthy life ever!
Schedule an AppointmentContact Us