Performance Health Austin Chiropractic

I recently re-certified in Active Release Technique – Lower Extremity. I hate to sound overconfident but after 10 years of practicing massage therapy I didn’t think I would learn a tremendous amount from a seminar. I must say that the Active Release instructors were very impressive and helped me greatly improve my treatment effectiveness. They worked with me to  improve my ability to sense dysfunctional tissue and ease the pain that sometimes is associated with this type of treatment. I’m excited to further my education and offer such a high quality treatment technique.

What is Active Release Technique or ART®?

Active Release Technique (ART)® is a patented, state of the art, soft tissue, movement-based massage technique that has been proven to effectively treat overuse problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves.

Active Release Technique® has been successfully used to treat headaches, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, shin splints, shoulder pain, sciatica, plantar fasciitis, knee problems, tennis elbow as well as numerous other conditions.  Most conditions are resolved quickly and permanently with the use of Active Release Technique®.

Active Release Technique® is most effective with conditions that are the result of overused muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves.

How do overuse injuries occur?

Soft tissues in the body (muscle, fascia, tendons, ligaments and nerves) change in three important ways:

• Acute conditions – pulls, tears, collisions, etc.
• Micro-trauma – an accumulation of small tears to the soft tissue
• Hypoxia – when the soft tissues do not get enough oxygen

These types of changes (acute, micro-trauma, hypoxia) can cause your body to produce tough, dense scar tissue in the affected area.  The scar tissue then binds up and ties down tissues that need to move freely for optimum health and pain free living.  As the scar tissue builds your muscles become shorter and weaker, tension on the tendons can cause tendonitis, and nerves can become trapped.  This in turn can cause reduced range of motion, loss of strength, and pain. If a nerve is trapped you may also feel tingling, numbness, and weakness.

Read more at www.phaustin.com/services/active_release_technique

I’ve had a few people offer me different juices that they suggest will at least improve my health and at best cure anything and everything. I’m skeptical of any product that promises a miracle cure. So I did a little research to explore the main nutrients of each of these berries. I think you will find this interesting – unless you sell any of these fruits!

Many of the juice companies boast that their juice has high antioxidant levels in scientific tests. The problem with testing these products is the companies often add potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate as a preservative. This greatly boosts the measured antioxidant level while greatly reducing the health benefits of the drink.

Superfruit juices may be good sources of antioxidants compared to, say, pizza or a doughnut; but if you want antioxidants, you’ll get far more of them for about 1/100th the price by simply eating common fruit from the supermarket.

Furthermore, the actual antioxidant level of a juice product varies greatly. The manufacturing process, heat exposure, and time all play a very important roll in the quality of a juice.

My advice – eat more whole, organic, local, fresh, ripe, unprocessed fruits and vegetables. If you want to drink a great juice, try slowly drinking orange juice. Most juices have a high glycemic index which causes its own problems.

For more reading, this is one of the better articles I’ve seen on the subject of superjuices.

http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=105902&catId=100289&tid=100008

Acai berry
12-15 vitamins and minerals, 15-20 amino and fatty acids
High in a particular type of antioxidant (anthocyanin)
MonaVie’s vitamin C level was 5 times lower than that of Welch’s Grape Juice.

Goji berry (aka Wolfberry)
around 20 vitamins and minerals, 15 amino acids, 12 fatty acids

Noni
20 vitamins and minerals with over 120 phytochemicals

Mangosteen
Low in vitamins and minerals
Has 40 of the known 200 xanthones which are anti-oxidants in the polyphenol family

Indian Gooseberry (aka Amalaki)
Vitamin C (125-475mg/oz)
Also contains Quercetin
Low in other vitamins and minerals

Orange Juice
17 vitamins/minerals, 18 amino acids, 20 carotinoids, over 150 phytochemicals
A medium orange has – 100mg Vitamin C, 75 mg calcium, 325 mg potassium, 3 gm fiber, and 12.5 mg omega III fatty acids

This past weekend I took my Performance Health Austin tent and trustworthy treatment table to the Tour of Austin bicycle races on Sunday and Monday.

While I’ve treated scores of cyclists, Sunday’s race, held at the JJ Pickle Research Center, served as my first hand introduction to the intimate culture surrounding competitive bike racing. What a great group of people! The atmosphere was akin to an extremely well organized backyard BBQ. While the racing was no doubt intense, there were lots of cool people simply having a great time and cheering each other on.

Phil Wikoff, who I treated prior to his victory at the Pace Bend road race in February, did well for the Super Squadra team in the Pro 1,2 race, placing sixth and earning some hard fought points in the overall, three-day competition.

After spending Sunday working on a variety of cyclists from all over the state, even Mexico, it became clear that cyclists everywhere have the same problems. My observations included excessively tight hips (Piriformis) and thighs (Quadriceps), along with various other aches and pains that were unique to each individual. I’m very interested in truly understanding what it feels like to be a cyclist, and intend on adding cycling to my activity schedule soon.

Monday’s Eracing Stigma Criterium—held on a one-mile circuit around the shady grounds of the historic State Mental Hospital—was the Tour of Austin’s marquee event, and provided another great day of competition.

Throughout the day of racing, which started at 8 a.m. and lasted well into the afternoon, I treated bike racers from the beginner (Cat 5) ranks, all the way to the professionals. Not surprisingly, they had the same problems as the cyclists the day before, tight gluts and quads, but with the added bonus of generalized muscle soreness and stiffness.

I’m surprised to learn that many cyclists aren’t familiar with self-massage, using a foam roller and tennis ball. I find this is common to many sports which makes me think I need to be a better promoter of this form of self treatment.

I’d like to say “great racing” to the Super Squadra team, who placed three riders in the top ten, and give a big thank you to the Tour of Austin promoter, Andrew Willis, for setting this whole event up. He is a caring and hard-working man! The announcer (who goes by the name, “The Announcer”) was entertaining as well, providing commentary for each and every event, even the kid’s race.

While I really enjoyed having the top level, Pro 1,2 guys sprinting at nearly 40 miles per hour past my tent at the finish line, there were amazing performances among all of the competitors throughout the day.

I hear this statement often, “I didn’t know you treated that. I thought you only worked on backs.”

I have to take some responsibility for this by not explaining myself throughly when speaking to people. I understand that some chiropractors only treat the spine but because of my comprehensive chiropractic school training (see links below), specialized sports training, and my health and fitness background has expanded my knowledge base to treat a wide range of musculoskeletal problems.

I have included a list below.

• Headache
• Rotator cuff and shoulder pain/tendonitis
• Medial and lateral epicondylitis (golfer’s and tennis elbow)
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Rib pain
• Sports hernia and abdominal wall pain
• Hip bursitis and pain
• Muscle strains
• Iliotibial band syndrome
• Patellofemoral disorders (knee pain)
• Ankle sprains
• Osteoarthritis
• Achilles/foot tendinitis
• Plantar fasciitis
• Localized muscle strains
• Low back pain (disc herniation, “slipped disc”)
• Neck pain
• Degenerative disk disease
• Rehabilitation of surgical and non-surgical ligament sprains, tendon ruptures and fractures
• And many more

This is not an exhaustive list but it does include most of what we treat on a regular basis. As you can see, there is a wide range of conditions that we treat.

We would love to help you feel better.

Chiropractic School

http://www.wschiro.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27&Itemid=42

Certifited Chiropractic Sports Practitioner

http://www.acbsp.com/CCSP.htm

My unique background

http://www.phaustin.com/unique-sports-background.htm

I’m seeing many new and returning patients with iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS) so I’m posting a little educational information about this problem.

What is the iliotibial band?

The iliotibial band (ITB) is a long thickened sheet of fascia that starts at the hip and extends to the knee. This band of fascia connects the tensor fascia lata and gluteus maximus muscles to the thigh and knee. The ITB gives support to the outside of the knee and patella.

What causes iliotibial band syndrome?

There are a large number of problems that cause or contribute to ITBS. Take a look at the following list – leg length difference (shorter leg hurts), crossover gait, hip muscle tightness, quadriceps weakness, poor knee alignment, internal tibial rotation, and a tight calf muscle and Achilles tendon. For cyclists, pedal position forces the leg into internal rotation on the pedal causing increased friction of the ITB at the knee.

What to do?

If you are a runner, running faster generally helps. Running at faster speeds, changes the angle that the knee achieves which decreases the amount of friction at the knee. Obviously, you will run faster for a much shorter distance. I suggest you run 1/4 to 1/2 of your previous volume but increase your speed by 10-20%.

Hills are not a good idea. Walking or running downhill will make you worse. The amount of friction increases while going downhill.

Deep tissue or friction massage at the pain site and stretching the lateral thigh is the fastest means of healing this problem. Rolling the outside thigh on a foam roll often greatly helps this problem. Also, icing the area will reduce any inflammation and pain that has developed.

I’ve helped many runners and non-athletes with this problem. I’d love the opportunity to help you!

I have received a few questions regarding the difference between tendinitis and tendinosis lately.

Tendinitis is an outdated term used to describe a recent injury to a tendon that results in inflammation (swelling) surrounding a tendon. Research has shown that commonly, there are no inflammatory cells found in painful tendons. The term tendinosis or more generally tendinopathy can often be used instead.

Tendinosis is the term used for a chronic long term injury to tendons. Chronic tendon problems are degenerative in nature which means the tendons contain increased blood supply, abnormal structure, and fat deposits but NO INFLAMMATORY CELLS.

A better term to use is tendinopathy. This is a general all inclusive word that is less descriptive but identifies the problem as the tendon versus any other structure.

So why is any of this important?

If most tendon problems are chronic and degenerative with little to no inflammation, then why are we often using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to treat them? The pain relieving effects of these drugs are obvious but the anti-inflammatory effect (occurs after 4-5 days of high dosage) doesn’t actually treat the problem. The actual problem is a weakened tendon from frequent mild strain where the tendon doesn’t have the time or nutrition to heal itself. The final strain the patient complains about was just an accident waiting to happen. Therefore treatment should be aimed at creating new collagen at the injury site. The most non-invasive methods to stimulating collagen growth is through nutrition, eccentric exercise, and deep massage techniques.

Deep massage techniques such as deep friction massage, instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization, and Active Release Technique all have the ability to initiate new collagen formation. Quality nutrition and a focused exercise program will further support the creation of additional collagen to rebuild the damaged tissue. This approach helps in most cases so a surgical consultation is rarely needed.

I’d love to help you feel better.