Movement

Dr. Erickson enjoys a good triathlon, adventure race, half marathon, or CrossFit WOD as much as the next guy

That’s really the benefit of chiropractic. To athletes, whether it’s triathlon, CrossFit, running marathons, lifting weights, cycling, golf, or any other sport, movement is life. We need to move efficiently and completely through an excellent range of motion. How important is movement? To your body and your brain, movement is everything. A brain researcher named Roger Sperry was famous for his research on movement (he won the Nobel Prize for his work in brain research). He said movement in your body (and particularly in your spine) generates power for your brain, much like a windmill generates power for a power plant. Chiropractic is movement.

“…injured workers diagnosed with low-back pain returned to work MUCH SOONER when treated by chiropractors than by physicians.”
~The Manga Report, 1993

(Substitute “workers” with “Athletes” – the same principles apply)

https://youtu.be/HOk4VSAeLbo

Years of stress and injuries begin to limit the movement in your body (and particularly your spine). What happens to that energy when your body doesn’t move like it used to? It decreases, limiting your capacity for work, for play, for spending time with your spouse or kids, and for living life to the fullest. You don’t think about your spine very often. In fact, you only think about it when it’s in pain from abuse and overuse. But stress builds over time – it’s just the state of the world that we live in.

“Better than 90% of the energy output of the brain is used in relating the physical body in its gravitational field. The more mechanically distorted a person is, the less energy available for thinking, metabolism and healing.”

~Roger Sperry, PhD., Neuropsychologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology & Medicine)

 

Over 90% of professional athletes use chiropractic to excel at their sport (Sean Atkins, PhD, Exercise Physiologist), and they don’t have the same stresses as you. They have an off-season. They aren’t weekend warriors, they have one thing to do, not twenty,  or thirty, or forty things like you and I.

Are You an Athlete?

If so, how long do you want to be athletic? Because choices you made 5, 10, or 20 years ago are affecting you now, and choices you make today are going to affect you in 5, 10, 20 years, and beyond. If you let stress accumulate too long, your body will decay before its time. Arthritis, joint pain, muscle inhibition, autonomic dysfunction, poor health, and more await those who put off for the future what they should have done now.

“The spine is the lifeline. A lot of people should go to a chiropractor but they don’t know it.”

~Jack LaLanne

 

Remember Jack LaLanne? Maybe not, but he was a chiropractor, and a very accomplished athlete. He was 54 years old when he had an unofficial pull-up contest against a then 21-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger, and won (handily). He said “The spine is the lifeline. A lot of people should go to a chiropractor but they don’t know it.” He’s right about that – the spine is the lifeline. It houses the nerve highway of the body and should be kept in tip-top shape.

Do you know the level of stress in your body? If not, would you like to know? We test real stress. We use EMG technology, thermal autonomic scans, heart rate variability testing, and good old x-rays. We can see where your body is stressed, where you can get stronger and heal better, and how your body is compensating. Then we can go to work to make your body stronger, more adaptable, and ultimately healthier.

 Do you need a chiropractor?

If you answer yes to any of the following, you should at least get checked.

  • Do you feel like you should have more energy?
  • Do you injure easily?
  • Do you have neck or back pain?
  • Do you have other chronic pain or illness?
  • Do you have headaches or migraines?
  • Do your joints hurt?
  • Do you have high levels of stress?
  • Do you feel like something is just “off?”
  • Do you feel anxious or sensitive?

*chiropractic has also been found to be beneficial with PTSD, ADHD, immune system problems, childhood behavioral and developmental problems, ear infections, digestive disorders, etc. Please contact us with any specific questions

Testing

We take our testing very seriously. We get results because we don’t guess about things, we test. Our athletes are very interested in our testing because they tell us exactly what the spine is doing, not just what it looks like on x-ray. While we love and use digital x-ray in our office, we need to understand something. For the bones to be moved out of their normal position (a common finding on stressed spines), four things need to happen:

    1. The body reports stress to the brain,
    2. The brain processes that stress and formulates a solution,
    3. The brain signals the muscles to compensate, correct, or protect the stressed or injured tissue,
    4. The muscles move the bones to the state we see on the x-rays.

So a more comprehensive approach is to view the muscular activity, which is much more important than just the x-rays. As computer programmers often say: “garbage in, garbage out.” Where we see abnormal stress levels in the spine is precisely where the work needs to be done, not just where bones appear misaligned on x-ray.

We also test the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). The ANS controls all of the normal regulatory functions of the body. We can easily and quickly find areas of irritation between your brain and your organs (Rolling Thermal Scan), as well as overall function and balance (Heart Rate Variability, or HRV). These things are imperative to know for athletes who are over-training or on extreme diets or workout schedules. We can use these tests to formulate specific care plans, and to monitor your progress over time.