Tight Muscles. First we need to understand why a muscle is tight.

Muscles can be short and tight for many reasons:

1. physiologically the muscle is in a partially contracted state from posture or overuse
2. neurologically the muscle is in an “on” state or excited overly contracted state
3. adhesions have formed in and around the joint and/or muscle causing restriction
4. decreased blood flow, which means less oxygen and nutrients (electrolytes) that allow for proper muscular function

There are many stretching techniques. All stretching methods can be effective, but there are a couple tricks that can make your stretching even more beneficial.  Let’s take a look.

Collage of several of Gray’s muscle pictures, by Mikael Häggström (User:Mikael Häggström) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Classic Stretching. What we learned in high school was just stretch the tight muscle. This is relatively ineffective because the tight muscle is still attempting to contract or is in a partially contracted state. You will still gain some flexibility but this is the least effective method.

Try This. Sit on the floor and with your feet out in front of you and knees open and extended try and touch your toes. This is your baseline study. Now take a big breathe in (2-5 seconds) and then blow it out and try to touch your toes again. You will likely notice a big difference. Lesson: muscles love oxygen, this is why when you go for a hike you breathe harder as your muscles are simply demanding more oxygen!

Another Trick. Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation Stretching (What is that?)

Try This. Sit on the floor and with your feet out in front of you and knees open and extended contract all of your posterior muscles, that is your calves, hamstrings and gluts (butt muscles), effectively your toes will be pointing away, (plantar flexion). Contract these muscles for 5-10 seconds, then relax for 1-2 seconds, while you take a slow deep breath, (2-5 seconds). Now stretch again and try and touch your toes. Again you will likely notice a marked difference.

This technique is called “Contract-Relax-Passive Stretch” and should be used for all stretches.

Here is the protocol for all muscles:

Contract muscle to be stretched for 5-10 seconds.

Relax it for 1-2 seconds, while taking a slow deep breath for 2-5 seconds.

Passively stretch the muscle & hold the stretch for 15-30 seconds or less based on your tolerance/comfort.

Repeat 3-5x or less based on your tolerance/comfort or need.

Allow 30-60 seconds of rest between repetitions.

In the next blog we will discuss bad stretches and what to avoid, until then stay loose!

If you have more questions about stretching just ask: Dr. Lance Casazza.

Ever wonder why people get shorter as they get older? One of the primary reasons is spinal disc dehydration. There are 24 discs of the spine and with time, gravity and lack of proper motion they become dehydrated and consequently you get shorter.

Analogy: The Sponge

A dried-up and wet sponge are a good analogy of fluid flow and dehydration of discs. A wet sponge has plenty of fluid, has flexibility and fluid readily moves in and out of the sponge. The hydrated disc is also taller than a dry sponge. In contrast the dry sponge has little to no flexibility and fluid cannot flow back and forth easily.

How About A Study?

Motion & Nutrition. Immobilization arthropathies are probably due to nutritional failure. Avascular cartilage, behaving like a water filled sponge, gives off fluid on compression and takes it up on release of pressure. Alternate compression and re-expansion allows a supply of nutrients and removal of metabolic waste. With proper motion, discs will maintain their height and spinal degeneration will be minimized.

Arthritis & Rheumatism, 1984. In simple English proper motion keeps the discs healthy.

 If proper motion is not maintained, in time, with gravity, trauma and micro trauma, the discs will dehydrate and lead to bony degeneration. Please revisit: The Bone Spurs Blog, Dec 2012.

What to do?

Chiropractic adjustments: Surprise! Routine care is the best way to maintain proper joint motion and decrease the risk of disc dehydration and spinal degeneration.

Try this: Imbibition for the Discs

Sit up in a chair with good posture. Then hunch over with bad posture. Slowly sway back and forth as if someone is grabbing the middle of your low back spine and shoving it forward and then pulling it back. This swaying is great to prevent back stiffness and helps pump the discs.

If you have more questions about disc health, chiropractic adjustments, talk to Dr. Lance Casazza. From all of us have a very Happy Holiday Season!

When is the last time you did something nice for someone for no reason at all? Performing random acts of kindness has been shown to have immense benefits for the one performing them and of course for the person you are helping. In the movie Pay It Forward, a middle school boy has a class assignment where the teacher challenges the students to come up with something that will change the world. The young boy decides to randomly do good deeds for complete strangers and then they would do the same. In these troubled times this is an incredibly refreshing idea.

In the book The Health and Spiritual Benefits of Helping Others, the author Allan Luks, shares some significant findings of his research:

1. Helping others contributes to the maintenance of good health and can diminish the effect of minor and serious psychological and physical diseases and disorders.
2. The rush of euphoria often referred to as a “helper’s high” after performing a kind act involves physical sensations and the release of the body’s natural painkillers, the endorphins. The initial rush is followed by a longer period of calm and improved emotional well-being.
3. The health benefits and sense of well-being return for hours or days whenever the helping act is remembered.
4. Stress related health problems improve after performing kind acts. Helping others:
   • Reverses feelings of depression.
   • Supplies social contact.
   • Reduces feelings of hostility and isolation that can cause stress, overeating, ulcers, etc.
   • Decreases the constriction in the lungs that leads to asthma attacks.
5. Helping can enhance feelings of joyfulness, emotional resilience, and vigor, and can reduce the unhealthy sense of isolation.
6. The awareness and intensity of physical pain can decrease.
7. Attitudes such as chronic hostility that negatively arouse and damage the body are reduced.
8. A sense of self-worth, greater happiness, and optimism is increased, and feelings of helplessness and depression are decreased.
9. When we establish an “affiliative connection” with someone (a relationship of friendship, love, or some sort of positive bonding), we feel emotions that can strengthen the immune system.
10. Caring for strangers leads to immense immune and healing benefits.
11. Regular club attendance, volunteering, entertaining, or faith group attendance is the happiness equivalent of getting a college degree, or more than doubling your income.

Refreshing indeed. Hopefully this brightens your day.

If you have more questions about the importance of good deeds and how chiropractic care can help you to a healthier life style, talk to Dr. Lance Casazza.

Let’s start with a quote:

“People increasingly see conventional medicine not as health care but as disease care. People want more than that. It’s irrational to always wait until one develops a problem to pay attention to one’s health.”

-Larry Dossey, MD

Well, well!

Yes that is exactly what Chiropractors have been talking about, wellness or maintenance care!

Take care of yourself “before” you are sick.

Sounds great, so what should I do?

To stay healthy and decrease the risk of all disease and illness there are some basics that should be done on a daily basis. Remember do the best you can, if you skip a day or two, or fall a bit short of a goal no big deal.

1. Oxygen. Oxygen is essential to every cell in your body. So slow deep breathing hourly. Try starting with 5-10 deep breaths per hour.
2. Water. 70-90% of your cells are water. So water consumption is paramount. Try drinking 40% of your body weight in ounces. That is a lot so try getting 12 ounces a day and add more as you go. Remember: alcohol, caffeine and sugar all dehydrate you so beverages that contain those are ones to try and avoid.
3. Heart. Without the old ticker of course you die, but even a heart that is not functioning properly can lead to problems. So let’s keep this muscle in shape the best we can. Let’s start with cardiovascular exercise, (walking, running, cycling, etc.): 20-40 minutes, 3-5 times week.
4. Muscles. Muscles need to stay strong and flexible for optimum performance. Lifting weights: 2-3 times week (this does not mean heavy lifting or does it require a 1.5 hours) Stretching: 5-10 minutes a day is a great start.
5. Diet. The food you eat is super important as these nutrients will go to every cell in your body and help them function. So good food means healthier cells and bad food well… Decrease: calories, refined sugars, saturated fats, processed foods, dairy and soda. Increase: organic fruits, vegetables, good fats, protein and complex carbs.
6. Mental Attitude. Your state of mind is a huge part of health. Being under constant stress, angry or unhappy has been shown in countless studies to be detrimental to ones’ health. Always try to decrease stress, be more understanding and choose happiness as often as you can.
7. Chiropractic adjustments. The joints of your spine need to move as efficiently as possible to allow your entire body to function at its’ highest level, starting with the nervous system; but also including all your systems, ask me for the details. I will also cover these topics in future blogs.

For details on all the topics above talk to Dr. Lance Casazza, and I will help you out.

As the obesity epidemic continues perhaps we need some guidelines for our daily eating habits.

So here it is:

Journal. To make changes you first must be aware of your eating habits. Are they good or bad, you may not even know. Write down everything you eat for 3 days. Then check your list according to the rest of these tips.

Variety. Eat a variety of nutrient-rich foods. You need more than 40 different nutrients to have maximal body function. These nutrients do not exist in one or two foods, so you need to eat a wide variety of foods. Eat whole grains, fruits and vegetables. 6-11 servings from the bread, rice, cereal and pasta group, 3 of those being whole grains. 2-4 servings of fruit. 3-5 servings of vegetables.

Moderate portions. If you keep portion sizes reasonable, it’s easier to eat the foods you want and stay healthy. The recommended serving of cooked meat is 3 ounces, similar in size to a deck of playing cards, not a half pound burger. A medium piece of fruit is 1 serving and a cup of pasta is 2 servings. A pint of ice cream contains 4 servings, so make it last 4 nights, do not eat it all at once! Instead of 4 pieces of pizza eat 3, that is a 25% decrease! Moderation is the key.

Reduce frequency of bad choices. Most people eat for pleasure as well as nutrition. If your favorite foods are high in fat, salt or sugar, the key is moderating how often you eat these foods. For example if you love fried chicken you don’t have to give it up. Just eat it less often.

Eat regular meals. Skipping meals can lead to out-of-control hunger, resulting in overeating. When you’re hungry, it’s also tempting to forget about good nutrition. Snacking between meals can help curb hunger.

Skipping breakfast can decrease your metabolic rate by 5%, adding up to 10lbs per year. The ideal diet is 4-6 small meals. Not eating for long periods can lower your metabolic rate 10-20% preventing the use of 250-300 calories a day. Dr. Sears, The Zone

Balance your choices. Not every food has to be “perfect.” When eating a food high in fat, salt or sugar, select other foods that are low in these ingredients. If you miss out on any food group one day, make up for it the next. Your food choices over several days should fit together into a healthy pattern.

Replacement. Try skim or low-fat dairy products, lean cuts of meat, foods with low sodium levels, etc.

Make changes gradually. Just as there are no “super-foods” or easy answers to a healthy diet, don’t expect to totally revamp your eating habits overnight. Changing too much, too fast can get in the way of success. For instance, if you don’t like the taste of skim milk, try low-fat. Eventually you may find you like skim, too.

Remember, foods are not good or bad. Select foods based on your total eating patterns. Don’t feel guilty if you love foods such as apple pie, potato chips, candy bars or ice cream. Eat them in moderation and choose other foods to provide the balance and variety that are vital to good health.

Chiropractic adjustments: If you have more questions about the importance of diet and how chiropractic care can help you to a healthier life style, talk to Dr. Lance Casazza.

We always hear about the importance of posture. Your mom or a teacher constantly reminded you when you were young to “sit-up straight”! So let’s take a closer look and see if they were onto something.

First a study and the importance of posture?

Posture affects and moderates: spinal pain, headache, mood, blood pressure, pulse, respiration, sympathetic function, homeostasis, autonomic regulation, breathing and hormone production. Sound pretty important!

American Journal of Pain Management, 1994

Dramatic respiratory changes.

Did you know that after age 20 that your vital capacity, (maximum volume of air that a person can exhale after maximum inhalation), decreases 5-20% per decade! Mostly due to postural changes! Brian K Ross MD, University of Washington

A quote from someone in the know:

“Better than 90% of the energy output of the brain is used in relating to the physical body in its gravitational field. The more mechanically distorted a person is (bad posture), the less energy available for thinking, metabolism and healing.” – Dr. Roger Sperry, Nobel Laureate

Sit-up Straight! Loss of proper joint structure and function (due to poor posture) increases adhesion formation in the soft tissue in and around the spine. Grieve, Common Vertebral Joint Problems, 1988

Now go take a look. Next time you are out, start observing people over 50. First ask yourself; do they have good or bad posture. Then ask yourself if they look healthy or not. You will discover that almost always people with good posture look younger and healthier than those with bad posture. Very interesting indeed.

How about a couple of demonstrations? Try this.

First sit-up straight and take a big breath in and out. Notice how full a breath you can take.  Now hunch over and breathe again. The difference is obvious. With chiropractic adjustments and proper stretching you can maintain or improve your ability to breathe.

Here is another demonstration. Try this.

Stand up straight with good posture, (head directly over shoulders, no tilted head) and put your arm out at 90° to your side. Have someone behind you push down on your arm as you resist their effort. Your shoulder should hold strong. Now slump over (anterior head translation and flexion) with bad posture and have your partner push down again, your shoulder should be weak and you should have some difficulty holding it up. That does seem odd, it is as if your muscle was shut off. Try this on your family and friends.

Explanation. With good posture your brain can communicate through your spinal cord to all your muscles and vital organs. In turn your muscles and vital organs can communicate back to your brain. This is your autonomic nervous system at work. There is a constant two-way flow of information that helps run all your systems and keeps you alive. With poor posture you can see that information is slowed and the systems do not work at 100%. With proper posture you can maintain proper nervous system function.

Big benefit! Maintaining your autonomic nervous system function is one of many benefits of chiropractic care that has nothing to do with pain. All too often the public thinks that chiropractic care is only useful for low back pain. Not so, in future blogs we will continue to discuss other benefits of care that are not pain related.

Chiropractic adjustments: Routine care is the best way to maintain proper posture. If you have more questions about the importance of posture and how chiropractic care can help, talk to Dr. Lance Casazza.

10 million Americans have osteoporosis and 34 million more have low bone mass, called osteopenia, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation. Bones are NOT dead sticks holding you up. Bones continually change throughout your life, with some bone cells dissolving and new bone cells growing back in a process called remodeling. With this lifelong turnover of bone cells, you replace most of your skeleton every 10 years!

Some pictures! For people with osteoporosis, bone loss outpaces the growth of new bone. Remember Wolff’s law? (please review December 2012 blog on bone spurs). The idea of “if you don’t use it, you lose it” applies to bone! If the loading on a bone decreases, the bone will become weaker due to lack of proper turnover, with decreased bony stimulus the remodeling of bone slows and new bone is not formed at the proper rate, so there is a net loss of bone mass.

Consequently bones become porous, brittle, and prone to fracture, (see picture comparison on upper left). Now look at an X-ray of the spine with normal bone density, (x-ray on left), and you see a dense matrix of bone cells or a whiter vertebral body. The arrow in the x-ray on the left is pointing to a degenerated disc, notice the decreased disc height and signs of degeneration (please review December 2012 blog on bone spurs).

Now look at the spinal x-ray on the right with osteoporosis, and you see mostly air (blackness or darkening). The bony matrix has mostly dissolved, you only see a thin white outline of each vertebra.

With the bone thinning you are at a higher risk of a compression fracture, (see below).

Why does the bone thin? There are many reasons this can occur. Here is a list the primary culprits: low estrogen levels in women, low testosterone in men, lack of calcium, lack of Vitamin D, sedentary lifestyle, smoking, and medications.

What to do?

Bone density: First get your bone density checked. Always think of prevention versus waiting for this to happen and then trying to correct the problem.

Stretching/exercise: Bones demand to be stressed to stay healthy. So daily activity, weight lifting, stretching, outdoor activities, all will help decrease your risk.

Proper nutrition: Make sure you get your proper amount of Vitamin D and Calcium.

Chiropractic adjustments: Again routine care is the best way to maintain proper joint motion allowing. Proper joint motion will increase the effectiveness of the exercise and nutrition.

If you have more questions about osteoporosis, chiropractic adjustments, exercise, or diet talk to Dr. Lance Casazza.

English: Technic and Practice of Chiropractic published in 1920 by Joy Loban, D.C. Chiropractic spinal adjustment of the back. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What is that “popping” sound? Many people are unfamiliar with the mechanism of the popping sound that occurs during a chiropractic adjustment. Some people are actually scared or nervous thinking that it is causing harm or that it well hurt or it is just “gross”. I have actually had people ask if the bone was breaking. The answer of course is a resounding no! Otherwise I wouldn’t have any patients.

Here is the mechanism: synovial fluid in your joints contains oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide gases, approximately 80% is carbon dioxide. When a chiropractor adjusts, the joint capsule is rapidly stretched, which in turn increases the volume of the joint by 15-20%. This creates a sudden and rapid partial vacuum which causes the internal joint pressure to decrease. With this decreased pressure the gases rapidly release from the synovial fluid. As they reverberate through the fluid it causes the “popping sound”.

For you physic buffs this is Robert Boyle’s Law from 1662.

This is the exact same phenomenon that occurs when you open up a bottle of soda or champagne, except with the joint it is a closed system (gases do not escape into the atmosphere) and with the soda or champagne it is considered an open system as the gases do go into the atmosphere.

Once a joint “pops” it takes the gases about 20 minutes to return into the synovial fluid.

Try this: Crack a knuckle in one of your finger joints. Now immediately try it again at the same angle. It doesn’t pop. Wait 10-20 minutes and try again, this time it will pop.

What if the joint doesn’t “pop”?

Some patients think this means that the joint didn’t need to be adjusted, or that the joint didn’t move at all.

Imagine this:

A joint normally moves an inch when perfectly healthy.

Due to muscle tightness, adhesions and inflammation the joint only opens 1/4 of an inch.

To have the joint “pop” it must open 3/4 of an inch.

The chiropractor adjusts and opens the joint 1/2 an inch. No “pop”. But the joint still moved.

The result:

There is still benefit as the muscles will relax, adhesions will be broken and inflammatory chemicals will move out of the surrounding tissues, just not as efficiently as if the joint had been opened more. The more a joint is adjusted the more likely it will “pop” and thus increase the benefits of joint motion.

By the way:

Currently there are no studies that suggest “cracking” your knuckles or joint “popping” will cause arthritis.

Ask Dr. Lance Casazza about all the benefits of the proper joint motion and chiropractic care.

Related articles

• Cracking Your Knuckles Does Not Cause Arthritis

Huge Problem: Obesity is simply out of control in the US. Look at the numbers below!

2010               2015

BMI ≥ 25 kg/m²          78.6%             82.4%                         BMI ≥ 25 kg/m² = Overweight

BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²          46.3%             53.0%                          BMI ≥ 30 kg/m² = Obese

World Health Organization, 2011  Calculate Your BMI

Scales (Photo credit: Jarod Carruthers)

What is BMI? Body mass index, or Quetelet index, is a heuristic proxy for estimating human body fat based on an individual’s weight and height. BMI does not actually measure the percentage of body fat. It was devised between 1830 and 1850 by the Belgian polymath Adolphe Quetelet during the course of developing “social physics”. Body mass index is defined as the individual’s body mass divided by the square of his or her height.

More Scary Studies! 565,000 deaths a year are related to: poor nutrition, physical inactivity and excessive weight. American Cancer Society.

The adverse effects of obesity cost $86 billion last year and will quadruple over the next decade!

50% of US adults and 30% of kids will be obese by 2018 and costs will increase to $344 billion.

33% of kids and teens in the US (25 million) are overweight. If obesity rates held at current levels, the US would save $200 billion in health care costs. CDC & WHO, 2009.

Type II Diabetes Worldwide! 366 million people worldwide have diabetes. 4.6 million deaths a year or one person dies every 7 seconds. The cost? $465 billion a year!

Diabetes Atlas, Nov 2011.

Watch Your Weight! People 70 lbs overweight will spend $30,000 extra in their lifetime for health care. Scientific American, 2011

Good Idea: Try Exercise! 2½ hours of exercise per week decreases the risk of all disease by 60%.

Framington Heart Study.

“Failure to exercise a minimum of 3 times per week for at least 30 minutes in duration each time is the equivalent of smoking one pack of cigarettes each day. What this means is that exercise is no longer just good for you, it is bad for you if you don’t exercise.” Surgeon General, July 11, 1996.

Okay enough! All right convinced? Now just start a simple exercise program and in minutes a day you can begin to shed some of those unwanted pounds. Even if you are 50-100 lbs over weight losing 5-10 lbs will make a significant difference in your health.

Talk to Dr. Lance Casazza about diet and exercise to start losing weight today.

First off, Happy New Year!!! Hoping your 2013 is healthy and happy.

Now how about those New Year’s resolutions?

I know, I know we all have the same one every year: lose weight. And every year it seems as if we drop the ball. This year let’s try a different approach and see if we can lose some of those unwanted pounds.

You’re not alone!

Shocking: only 1% keep their New Year’s Resolutions for the entire year and 93% blow it by January 12^th!

Dieting does not work!

Fad diets typically are impossible, so we quickly return to our usual bad eating habits and add back those lost pounds. So this year let’s try making a few subtle changes instead of extreme ones.

1. Eat less. That’s it just eat less, no changes in dietary choices just less. Since 1970 American’s caloric intake has increased 23%, from 2168 calories/day in 1970, to 2673 calories/day in 2008.  CDC National Center for Health Statistics, 2010 Example: instead of eating 4 pieces of pizza eat 3, that equates to 25% less calories!
2. Eat breakfast. People who eat breakfast every morning are half as likely to be overweight or show signs of diabetes. Children’s Hospital, Boston, 2003.  Skipping breakfast can decrease your metabolic rate by 5%, adding up to 10 lbs to your body in a year.  Medical College of Cornell University, 2005.
3. Eat more often. Usually we skip breakfast, eat a super fast lunch and a huge dinner right before bed. All will add to your weight. The ideal diet is 4-6 small meals. Not eating for long periods can actually lower your metabolic rate 10-20% preventing the use of 250-300 calories a day! Dr. Sears, The Zone
4. Less soda. One soda a day can add 15 lbs to your weight in a year. CDC, 2006
5. Of course eat better foods as well: lean protein, fruits and vegetables.

 Exercise, you thought I forgot!

1.  This year think baby steps. So many people dive into an extreme exercise program that they just will not continue for a long period of time. It is too demanding so we stop all together. As with diet we have to make changes we can stick with. Start slow!
2. Time. We are all so busy that we always feel there is no time, so exercise is left out. Did you know that there are 1440 minutes in a day? That’s right and a beginning exercise program should be maybe 10-20 minutes per day, 3-4 times per week. So what will you do with the other 1420 minutes a day?
3. Strengthen your muscles. Most people when they try to lose weight only diet. If they exercise they often focus on aerobic exercise and do not strengthen muscles. Big mistake! Strengthening your muscles requires fuel to help the muscle build. This process of muscle building will actually help you burn fat, even while you sleep. Just a few minutes a day, push-ups, sit-ups etc will do the job.
4. Check out the top 100 reasons to exercise from the Surgeon General.

If you have more questions about diet and exercise, and the benefit of chiropractic adjustments, talk to Dr. Lance Casazza. From all of us have a very Happy New Year!