Our exposure to food, (constantly) and lack of exercise (because of the constant exposure to food) combine to increase our fat levels, which in turn increase our susceptibility to various diseases, including cancer, high blood pressure, ADHD, and many others!

Bottom line:  Eat less, exercise more!

By planting your heel, you take the stress off your calf muscles, the gastrocnemius and soleus, and put the brunt of the climbing work on the quad, hamstring and gluteal muscles.  These are the biggest muscles of the human body, and are far more able to maintain the load of your body, as well as the backpack you’re carrying.  Of course, you can cut the handle off your toothbrush, but maybe being more efficient with you hiking would be a better solution!

Why?  Good question.  It’s bad for two reasons., the first being biomechanics.

The bench press forces you to lay on a bench, which disallows the scapula, (the shoulder blade) from moving.  This forces the actual shoulder hinge, what we call the glenohumeral joint, to make ALL the motion occur.  Normally, these occur in a 2:1 ratio, but now the glenohumeral joint has to do all the work, often damaging it.

Does there really need to be a second reason?

Lately, we’re seeing lots of cases of Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.  What in the hell is that, right?  Well, it’s a compression of either the artery or the nervous tissue to the arm.  Typically, people tell me that their hands are tingly first thing in the morning, when they work overhead, when they turn their head, or carry a heavy backpack.

There are three or four big reasons why this pressure can occur, but I have only seen two thus far:   1. a cervical rib, which is a genetic variant where people have a piece of bone that pushes on one of these delicate structures.  2. and more common,  a shortening of the anterior and middle scalene muscles, muscles in the front and the side of the neck, muscles which form a border around the neurovascular bundle to the arm.  If you get compression of this bundle, it will lead to numbness and tingling  down the arm.  If you look at our list of exercises on our website, www.dynamicclinic.com, you can find the best exercises for this treatment.  If it persists, however, go see a chiropractor!

The first is the use of traction control on your car. If you have the ability to transfer power from the wheels that slip to the wheels that grip technology, you should activate it not only oin the snow, but in the rain as well.   The technology has gotten so good, in fact, it can keep you from hydroplaning out of control into an accident.

The other tip is with antilock brakes, which all cars have now.  Old school braking thought was to keepo thye car in a straight line, brake to slow, and then steer.   Nowadays, you should slam on the brakes and STEER at the same time.  Since the wheels won’t be slipping, you can drive away, sweet as you please, away from the accident.

Well, no, it doesn’t.  It turns out that the exhibit was in the old Adidas store on 5th and Pike.  My son, tired, hungry, still immediatley perked up and started going for the figures.  They are pretty amazing, and what’s more cool is that my son was getting a little charge out of knowing that what he was seeing in front of him was also inside of him.

As a chiropractor here in Seattle, it’s still humbling to see the human form.  Even all dried out and nasty, it still looks cool to me.  It’s amazing how our bodies are packed together and make such beautiful sculpture.

Seattle chiropractor Dr. Peter Carr with Miss Rabdau, super science instructor

Last Thursday, Dr. Carr and Dr. Johnson both went to back to middle school.   Invited to lecture at the Chinook Middle school in Seatac, they lectured to the children about school, about chiropractic and being a chiropractor, and about the laws of physics and how they related to what they do.

It was an eye-opening experience for both!  Dr. Johnson noted that the kids were really receptive, especially, to his style of speaking.   Dr. Carr spent a lot of time with the A.V.I.D. class, telling them some of the problems he’d seen with kids who went to college without the tools necessary to keep them there.

One of the old sayings Dr. Carr remembered from

th

ose day  was, IF IT IS TO BE IT IS UP TO ME.  Sounds corny, but sometimes it gets him off his chiropractic butt to make things happen, then so be it.  Here you can see some kind of proof that we actually went to the class… really we wouldn’t go through all this if we didn’t do the work.  Let’s end this blog entry with a pic of Dr. Johnson, something we can use to blackmail him with later.

Dr. Chad Johnson goes back to middle school!

This week I’m actually writing this blog from home, with my son who has chicken pox.  He could have gotten the vaccination for this disease, but we (his mom and I) decided he didn’t need it.  So now he’s covered with blisters, and he’s doing just fine, watching videos and playing games, reading books with dad.

Because he got the full-on wild type of chicken pox, he’ll be immunized from the disease.  Our neighbors down the street decided for the vaccination.  Is their child immunized?  Maybe.

The difficult thing for any parent, especially for a chiropractor, is to limit the risks for our child(ren) if it’s the right choice for you, it’s the right choice.