We all know that stretching is good for us…

…but even so, it is probably the activity that is the largest victim of our lazy nature. There are very few people I know who cannot reasonably find 10 minutes to stretch in a day, but there are millions of excuses for why we don’t. Let’s stop ignoring an activity we know makes us feel good and start getting excited about stretching. 

Active Isolated Stretching is a method for stretching that makes a noticeable difference

If you are someone who struggles to see the value of stretching because it doesn’t make an instant impact, try active isolated stretching. This variety of stretching isolates a single muscle, stretches it for two seconds, releases and repeats up to ten times. It is a method of stretching that was developed by kinesiotherapist Aaron Mattes and is used by athletes to prevent injury and improve range of motion. 

What makes active isolated stretching effective? 

It works in threefold ways:

• Isolating the muscle means you contract the opposite muscle, creating a good environment for the targeted muscle to be stretched. 
• 2 second bursts repeating the stretch help to circulate blood, oxygen and nutrients to the targeted muscle and avoids the muscle from activating its stretch reflex which is a natural response of the body to prevent injury.
• By focusing on breathing in during the release and out during the stretch, you deliver the oxygen your muscles needed to recover.

Helping you stretch

Stretching is an integral part of any balanced health plan. Active isolated stretching offers an exciting way to create noticeable results, improving circulation and elasticity of the joints to help improve your range of motion. Give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

Exercise and chiropractic therapy are important for managing back pain

As a general rule, daily exercise is recommended for people concurrent with their chiropractic treatment for a variety of reasons. Studies show that exercise and stretching strengthen key muscles, reduce acute and chronic pain, improve range of motion and overall boost your quality of life, especially if you are living with a degenerative condition of the spine. A reciprocal relationship exists between chiropractic therapy and exercise in which each enhances the effectiveness of the other. 

How chiropractic and exercise can still work for people who find it difficult to move without pain

We want to get you exercising, but not if it’s going to cause you harm. Depending on your level of pain and ability to move, we design a custom exercise plan that will help you get the benefits of movement without causing you too much pain. For example:

• Flexion intolerance: for people who feel pain in a bent-over position, often coinciding with a disc injury, we focus on restoring neutral posture to get you out of a flexion-dominant position during the day and work on developing the core stabilizing muscles to reduce the amount of pain felt during flexion. 
• Extension intolerance: usually seen in people who are primarily on their feet, this position is characterized by an increased arch in the back and often the patient will often present with anterior pelvic tilt. With intolerance to extension-based posture, we focus on exercises that avoid arching the back and exercises that add anterior core control.  

Combining exercise with chiropractic care

At our office, we want to help you break out of a mold of chronic or acute pain by combining exercise with chiropractic care. Taking into account your condition and level of fitness, we will give you instructions specific to your condition before any exercise program begins. Through chiropractic adjustment, cardiovascular exercise, strengthening and stretching, we can help you mitigate the symptoms of pain that have a grip on your life; give our office a call to schedule an appointment today. 

Imagine living to be 200 or more, and healthy as a teenager the who time. 

A-lot-Longer Healthier Living Could be right around the corner.

“We are elated that we can use this approach across the life span to slow down aging in normal animals. The technique is both safe and effective in mice,” says Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, co-corresponding author and a professor in Salk’s Gene Expression Laboratory.

Do I have your attention?

Here is where you can skip ahead to reading the article in Science Daily:

Salk Institute. “Cellular rejuvenation therapy safely reverses signs of aging in mice: Researchers treated mice with anti-aging regimen beginning in middle age and found no increase in cancer or other health problems later on.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 7 March 2022. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220307113027.htm>.

It Keeps Getting Better

Age comes with ailments, including brittle bones and weaker muscles to increased risks of cardiovascular disease and cancer, and neurological degradation. Now, scientists at the Salk Institute, in collaboration with Genentech, a member of the Roche group, have shown that they can safely and effectively reverse the aging process in middle-aged and elderly mice by partially resetting their cells to more youthful states. The side effects of trying to keep cells younger could be increased neural capacity, meaning age-related dementia that affects millions of people may finally have an effective treatment.

Today’s science couldn’t be more exciting and you couldn’t find a better time in history to live and then this comes along. The news is too amazing not to share. Of course, all these models and experiments are brand new and the world needs independent verification and we want to make sure the effects will be safe long term. But you would have to already be dead not to get excited about the prospect of the kinds that we are talking about here. 

The details

Cells isolated from older people or animals have different patterns of chemicals along their DNA — called epigenetic markers — compared to younger people or animals. Scientists know that adding a mixture of four reprogramming molecules — Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and cMyc, also known as “Yamanaka factors” — to cells can reset these epigenetic marks to their original patterns. This approach is how researchers can dial back adult cells, developmentally speaking, into stem cells.

This part of the data is not new and has been verified going back to 2016. These Yamanaka factors have been given to mice at many ages and timescales since then to check effectiveness and safety. And amazingly there were no increased rates of cancers These same mice did have similarities to younger mice but, even in young mice, the Yamanaka factors can accelerate muscle regeneration furth. Like super mice!

Read more here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220307113027.htm

The cool down is an important part of any exercise routine

But many people forego it altogether in favor of hopping in the shower and getting on with their day. Devoting a few extra minutes to stretching at the end of your work out will help to finish off the work out on a well-rounded note, helping you to enjoy the endorphin release and transition back to normal activity gently rather than abruptly. Because your muscles are warm and your body has been moving at a higher intensity, we want to focus on a more static form of stretching than the warm up. 

Child’s pose

A static stretch that passively stretches the muscles of the back torso while relaxing the muscles in the front of the body. It targets the hips, thighs and ankles and allows you to focus on deep breathing, which fights stress and fatigue and reduces your heart rate as you transition out of exercise mode. 

• Being on hands and knees
• Spread knees as wide as hips, but keep big toes touching. 
• Sit on your heels
• Exhale and lay torso down between your thighs
• Lay hands, palm up, alongside torso and release your shoulders toward the floor. 
• Rest in this pose for 30 seconds to three minutes. 

Optimizing your entire workout routine with our help

We support your body no matter what physical endeavor you choose. Through chiropractic adjustment, we improve range of motion and negate pain signals that result from nerve impingement; with trigger point therapy we release muscles from tension and help you feel relaxed. Let us help you overcome any obstacles that are holding you back from truly feeling well. Give our office a call to schedule an appointment today.