Welcome to McKinleyChiroTV. We’ll be posting highlights from events, video podcasts on current health topics and trends, content from guests, and more, all with the aim of bringing the very best health information to you, our patient.
This week we’re going to get started with a simple, but very important question….”What is Health?”
Welcome to our Run Club 5K Training Program. This program is designed to increase your speed and stamina, preparing anyone from beginning to intermediate runners achieve your goals in completing a 5K race.
The training program will work like this: you will pick two speeds, Speed 1 (S1) and Speed 2 (S2). Speed 2 is the target speed that you would like to compete the race at. For example 9 minute mile, a brisk walk, etc. At this speed you should not be able to comfortably talk when you are running/walking. This speed will elevate your heart rate. Speed 1 is a slow speed that is a 50% recovery. You should be able to comfortably talk at this speed.
Most of the time I will describe the day’s routine in terms of time, not distance. This makes it easier for you to tell how far you need to go, you will need to wear a watch or ipod with a clock.
This program is designed with 3 workouts per week, each lasting 20-35 minutes. You can do them on any day of the week, at any time of day, but I do recommend that you keep 1 day in between these workouts for recovery. You can do stretching and strength exercise on off days if you like. On Saturday mornings we’ll always do the third workout so plan accordingly.
Remember on Friday’s I’ll post the next week’s training program, along with some stretching and exercise instructions to help you avoid injury.
Week 1 - The week of March 1st
We’re going to start the program with a series of Tempo workouts. These are designed to work on your speed and stamina in a short amount of time. It will elevate your heart rate. At the end of the Speed 2 (S2) periods you should be out of breath.
Workouts 1, 2, 3
Brisk 5 minute warmup walk or jog (slower than S1). Then alternate 60 seconds of S2 and 90 seconds of S1 for a total of 20 minutes.
Stretches
To be perform directly after workout and then again that night before bed.
Hamstring Stretch - Lie flat on back in doorway. Place heel of one leg on door frame with leg straight. Slide buttocks towards door frame until you feel a good stretch. Do not overstretch. Stay in position 3-5 minutes and then switch and do other leg.
Calf Stretch - Stand facing wall with feet staggered one leg close to wall, knee bent, and the other straight about 12-18 inches back. Do a slight lunge by bending from leg and pressing into wall, keeping back heel down on floor. Hold this 1-3 minutes and switch to do other leg
Welcome to McKinley Chiropractic’s Run Club and the 2009 Ravenswood Run 5K!!!
We are very excited to welcome back all of last year’s participates and looking forward to working with all the new ones. The race is Sunday, April 26, 2009. Those of you who have participated in a race in Chicago know that it is a unique experience. Unlike most places around the country, the race organizers do a wonderful job of making the 5K an upbeat, exciting event. There will be approximately 3500 participates, all starting at once. When you start the race the music will be pumping, you’ll have a number bib pinned to your shirt, and an electronic timing chip on your shoe. We’ll run/walk throughout our neighborhood, being cheered on by spectators the whole way. When you cross the finish line you’ll be greeted by cheering fans, a cool down area with drinks and snacks, and you’ll achieve the satisfaction of achieving a goal that you’ve been training and working for. For many people it can be a truly life changing experience.
This is the 3rd year of our Run Club. The first year we started with 15 participants. Last year we doubled that to 30. This year I have set a goal to double again it to 60! To do this I need your help. Please invite your friends and family to participate with us. They don’t have to be a patient, they don’t even have to be able to run. All they have to do is want to increase their activity level, to add some exercise in their life. We’ll take care of the rest.
We’re proud to announce that we’re registered as an official group with the Ravenswood Run this year. The cost for the run is $30, to be paid to us. This is solely the entry fee for the race, the Run Club itself is completely free of charge. Just bring us some sweat! Your $30 goes to charities including the Wellness Center at Lakeview High School. For participating in the race you’ll receive a technical race t-shirt and goody bag. To sign-up please talk to Sarah or Ali at the front desk or email Dr. Arthur at drarthur@mckinleychiro.com. The race is limited to 3500 people and it will sell out so don’t delay!
This year we are making some changes to the program. In order to better communicate with you and to adjust to the wonderful March/April Chicago weather, the training program will be conducted through email and our blog. We will start training the first week in March. Each Friday I will post the following week’s training program on our blog along with any tips, notes, stretches, and any other goodies. Please bookmark our blog, or use a RSS reader, so you can be up to date with the schedule.
As in the past we will do an injury assessment on anyone participating in the program. We will perform this on a regular chiropractic appointment and work with you to overcome any issues that may hinder your performance. For anybody who wants to participate in the program, but is not a patient, we will perform an injury assessment free of charge (once they register through us for the run).
This year we will again have Saturday morning group runs/walks in Welles Park at 8:30 a.m. Last year the weather hit us pretty hard, causing us to cancel a number of sessions. Every Friday at lunch I’ll take a look at the park and determine if it is safe to run. If we have to cancel it will be posted on our blog by Friday at 5:00 p.m. so be sure to check. If nothing is posted we’ll be there. These sessions are not mandatory but definitely encouraged!
We are so excited for the race this year. We know that with your help it will be are biggest, most successful Run Club yet!
It’s that time of year again… the Ravenswood Run is Sunday, April 26th! Last year we had 30 brave souls brave the elements in March and April to train for a great experience. We ran through snow, rain, and sleet on Saturday mornings, but we made it. Many personal goals were met. Some just wanted to complete the race. Others ran the whole thing without walking. Some even set a personal best time. Whatever their goal or motivation was, everyone who participated was a winner!
We’re looking forward to an even bigger and better group this year. We’ll soon have the training schedule and information available. In the meantime you can sign up at our office or by emailing Dr. Arthur at drarthur@mckinleychiro.com. Remember, this isn’t just for patients, we encourage everyone to invite friends and family members to participate in this great experience.
Please stay tuned in the next week for more details!
The Body as a Machine
If you compare your body to a simple machine, you see that it has many similarities:
When everything works properly, your human “machine” can be considered healthy.
Alignment Helps Movement
One of the most important components of your health is alignment. This is because it influences your body’s movement, balance, stability, strength, and flexibility.
Movement is essential to life. Without it, your blood would not circulate, your digestion would stop, and you would find it impossible to breathe. Movement and alignment are as critical to your health as air and water. Where two different bones meet to form a joint, their alignment and construction determines the movements that are possible. Think about the difference between your hip and your elbow. The elbow moves in a single plane (a hinge joint), while the hip can move in several different planes (a ball and socket joint). Change your alignment and you alter the movements that are possible, including limiting your joint’s range of motion.
How easy is it to move a joint also depends on its alignment. Muscles are located around a joint in such a way so they move easily to their proper position. But when joints are not aligned properly, muscles can lose their flexibility.
The Importance of the Kinetic Chain
Your body is constructed with over 350 joints. Alignment and the stress faced by any joint will be affected by its relationship to the position and function of other joints. This relationship is called the kinetic chain.
When you’re faced with joint problems, it’s important to consider this kinetic chain. We understand this relationship, and when we evaluate a patient we perform a thorough analysis of the chain to detemine the exact cause of the problem.
Misalignment Causes Damage and Pain
What happens when your joints go out of alignment? You’re likely to suffer from not only joint problems such as acute sprains, strains, and chronic postural misalignments, but, if your nervous systems is compromised, you may experience visceral symptoms as well. If left untreated, most of us will suffer at least one of these harmful conditions at some point in our lives.
Luckily, your immune system is self repairing and, if working properly, can usually correct for minor damage and misalignment. Get proper rest and nutrition, make sure nervous system input to the organs of immunity is at 100%, and your body should take care of itself.
Chronic Misalignment and Strain Correction
When a strain on a joint is too great or lasts too long, you body’s self-repair system may get overwhelmed. If this happens this is where we come in, to help correct the problem. Different factors influence the course of correction. These include the severity of injury, how long ago the injury occurred, the cause of the misalignment, the number of tissues involved in the injury, you body’s level of health and wellness, and the level of stress (physical, biochemical, psychological) present in your life. When we work with patients to correct the problem we take all these factors into account.
As a chiropractic office that sees a large number of kids, we are often asked by new patients, “How does chiropractic care help babies and children? I thought you guys treated back pain.” While it is true that we do help people who have back pain, chiropractic care is much more than just that, especially when it comes to children. Many of the spinal problems seen in adults start as early as birth. Why is this? The answer is one word: stress.
Last month a mother brought her 4 month old child, Nick, into our office. She had been referred to us after visits to numerous pediatricians, gastroenterologists, and other specialists. You see, Nick wasn’t able to keep formula down after feedings. He would violently heave immediately following his bottle. As a result of this he was in the second percentile for weight at his age, and was experiencing severe mouth and gum inflammation due to the stomach acid. The specialists that his mom had taken him to were unable to find any cause for his problem. They examined his stomach and esophagus and couldn’t find anything wrong. And they were right. There wasn’t anything wrong with Nick’s GI tract. What was happening is that the nerve that ran to Nick’s esophagus and stomach was being affected by what is called a subluxation: an area where the bones that protect his spinal cord are interfering with the ability of signals to travel between the brain and their destination, in this case the stomach and esophagus. There wasn’t any thing wrong is Nick’s organs themselves, they just weren’t getting the right signals to tell them how to work properly.
So what causes subluxations like the one that was affecting Nick? Again we come back to that one word answer: stress. When we think of stress we think of the things that we deal with on an everyday basis: job, money, family, etc. Many times what we don’t see is that kids, infants, even fetuses in the womb, all undergo stress too!
From the moment of conception the child in the womb is susceptible to stresses. Some of them are evident; we all know that the mother shouldn’t smoke or drink, that she should eat healthy, that she takes the appropriate prenatal vitamins. Some stresses are not so easily seen though. The baby grows seven times faster in the womb than outside the mother’s body. Uterine constraint, not giving the baby the space to grow, places severe demands on mother and baby alike. It can lead to developmental problems, malposition, and breech presentation. Even the act of giving birth is very stressful to the baby. 12% of all vaginal births result in an upper cervical subluxation, the rate is even higher for more traumatic births such as forceps, c-section, and vacuum. These all lead to increased rates of SIDS, colic, asthma and more due to subluxation.
Typical, everyday activities can also place the child in danger. A recent study found that 23% of children suffered head and neck injuries in so called “near miss” accidents. The simple act of swerving or decelerating quickly can affect the child greatly. What we put in their bodies plays a role as well. The rate of asthma doubles for every dose of antibiotics before the age of 1. Even simple activities as diapering can lead to increased rate of constipation due to the stress placed on the lumbar spine.
So what does this mean for you, the parent? Be proactive in your kids’ health. Take steps to both minimize the stress in their life and to allow their body to properly handle what stress they do have. Chiropractic care is one of the tools that Nick’s mom chose. We’re happy to say that he hasn’t vomited in over 3 weeks and has started to gain weight! We invite you join us on March 3rd as we join with Active Moms Club to bring you an exciting presentation called “Raising Extraordinary Kids!”. We’ll walk you through our methods, from the womb to when they leave home, to make sure your kids are living stress free and not stressed out!
