Washington Park Chiropractic

By: Dr. Jake Simpson

‘Tis the season to be golfing.  The weather is warm, the golf courses are green, and the golfers (much like myself and Dr. Goodman) are striving to shoot a personal best.  You can find golfers out on the tee box from sun up to sun down…. This all sounds great, just thinking about being on the course gives me goose bumps, but there is always a catch.  None of us can golf, or golf at our optimal abilities if we are injured from the very game we love.  According to some estimates, there are approximately 27 million golf injuries every year!!!  Golf is generally not thought to be highly physical or a sport that will cause injuries because of the lack of violent impact.  So what causes so many golf injuries?  I wish I could tell you there is one reason you get injured but I can’t.  All injuries are multi-factorial, meaning there are generally several underlying causes for your injury.  Some of these include

• no warm-up, no cool down
• poor flexibility
• postural dysfunction or instability
• improper swing mechanics

  Let’s help you prevent future injuries and keep you playing golf pain and injury free:

Warm-Up and Cool Down:

Along with proper posture and swing mechanics, simple warm-up and cool down exercises can go a long way in the prevention of golf injuries.  Warming up must be an essential part of your golf routine.  Warming up brings blood flow to your muscles, and lengthens the muscles to help prevent them from strain.  Much like cooking pasta, you begin with stiff and breakable noodles out of the box and boil them in water ending with a soft and flexible noodle. 

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Sleep has always given me trouble. I was diagnosed with insomnia in my early teens and the more medication the doctors put me on, the harder it became to crash during the night. My obsession with clocks and making sure I was getting an ample amount of sleep for the following day made me anxious. Too anxious to sleep. I would find myself awake standing over the clock, with only moments since I had last checked the time. When I left for college my sleep problems doubled. Sharing a room with a stranger does not lead to a restful night of sleeping. Today I use melatonin every night, and the best part? It’s all natural! After so many years of dead ends I decided to dive into why melatonin is so affective.

The article stresses the importance of good ’sleep hygiene’. Sleep hygiene refers to following good practices around sleep to help to eliminate problems. For example, not having caffeine after mid-day, getting exercise, not watching TV in bed, doing low stimulus activities prior to sleep (i.e. reading) etc. Sleep hygiene can make a difference, but often it’s not enough to help everyone.

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 It’s common knowledge that the school cafeteria has become just another franchise; foods aren’t healthy and well-balanced. Vending machines offer chips, cookies, sodas and all kinds of other junk foods that children shouldn’t be eating. This creates a challenge to parents that many have decided to ignore.

 Accepting that it’s a lost cause many parents have rationalized that the rest of their children’s meals are healthy and nutritious so they can be lax regarding lunch. This is a misconception, considering what is being served in the majority of school cafeterias.  

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More on Posture

By Dr. Jake Simpson, DC

One of the most common ailments Dr. Goodman and I treat daily can be directly related to your common, everyday technological devices.  Sounds crazy, right?  Well let us be honest…You are not going to tear a rotator cuff, break an elbow or blow out a knee texting on your phone, typing at your computer or watching television.  The injuries you can sustain texting, typing or watching television can be very debilitating, and very harmful to your overall health and not to mention, quite painful.        

Due to the significant growth in the usage of technological devices, chiropractors are starting to see a significant growth in stressful and repetitive conditions directly related to poor posture.  The most commonly seen postural abnormality is known as anterior or forward head posture and rolled shoulders.  Let’s think about what is causing this common postural abnormality.  If you just look around you see people looking down texting on mobile devices, hours staring at computer screen at work, slouched on the couch watching the television…. The list is endless.

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