Washington Park Chiropractic

By: Amanda Miller, LMT

Injuries are common whether you have a physical job or a desk job, whether you’re a weekend warrior or a gym buff, and whether you’re young or older.  A common question my clients ask me is whether they should apply ice or heat to their trouble areas.  So which one is the right one to use for your injury, ice or heat? And how long should the ice or heat treatments last? Read on for information about treatment of injuries with ice packs and heating pads.

Ice Treatment

Ice treatment is most commonly used for acute injuries.  Acute injuries are sudden, sharp, traumatic injuries that occur immediately (or within hours) and cause pain. Most often acute injuries result from some sort of impact or trauma such as a fall, sprain, or collision and it’s pretty obvious what caused the injury.  Acute injuries also cause common signs and symptoms of injury such as pain, tenderness, redness, skin that is warm to the touch, swelling and inflammation. If you have swelling, you have an acute injury.  If you do have a recent injury (within the last 48 hours) where swelling is a problem, you should be using ice treatment. Ice packs can help minimize swelling around the injury.  Cold therapy with ice is the best immediate treatment for acute injuries because it reduces swelling and pain. Ice is a vaso-constrictor (it causes the blood vessels to narrow) and it limits internal bleeding at the injury site. Apply ice (wrapped in a thin towel for comfort) or an ice pack to the affected area for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. If the injury is to an extremity (such as a wrist or ankle), an ice bath for 10 minutes is the most effective way to reduce inflammation.  Allow the skin temperature to return to normal before icing a second or third time. You can ice an acute injury several times a day for up to three days. Read the rest of this entry →

We all know that exercise is good for our bodies; we can promote good health and stay fit if we exercise regularly. What you may not know, is that the same is true for the brain.Just like any other muscle, the brain can get in shape, be strengthened and developed with use or exercise.

What About the Brain?

The human brain is made up of nerve cells called neurons and these are connected by synapses which transport information from one neuron to the other. Just like other muscles and organs, the brain does change with age; synapses fire more slowly, some cells die off and the overall mass of the organ shrinks. However, advances in brain imaging and neuroscience coupled with studies of twins have shown that not all change is genetically predetermined or inevitable.

This new understanding of the brain and its response to exercise has created an entire new industry based on a word coined by Drs. Katz and Rubin in 1999 called “neurobics”. This is a term for mental exercises which are used to increase the range of mental motion by activating different parts of the brain. But, while “neurobics” are a specific set of exercises, studies have shown that any exercising of the brain may, not only stave off brain degeneration, but in many cases reverse memory loss and improve mental agility.

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By: Dr. Jake Simpson, DC

It is well known that exercise is very beneficial for your health.  Most of us understand that exercising is beneficial for losing weight by burning excess calories stored as fat.  We understand that exercise is good for our cardiovascular health by lowering our blood pressure and cholesterol levels.  Some of us may even know that exercise is beneficial for diabetes by increasing insulin sensitivity and lowering blood sugar.  The fact is, exercising is beneficial for nearly every body system and every bodily function when done appropriately.  For our purposes of this blog I just want to highlight a few token benefits of exercise on brain health. 

Train Your Brain

What if someone told you that you could think more clearly, boost your memory, perform better, elevate your alertness, or feel more calm, happier and euphoric?  Would you be interested?  Of course you would, and simple exercise can do this, and even better… it is free of cost and free of dangerous or life threatening side effects. 

When we exercise, we are stimulating our nervous systems in ways being sedentary could never do.  Read the rest of this entry →

By: Jocelyn Leidenfrost

I was lucky enough to have decent financial support from my parents through high school and college, but once I graduated DU and entered the ‘real world’ I was cut off and on my own.  There are many things that I chose to give up to be financially responsible but one thing that I refused to give up were my yoga classes.  Luckily my studio offers free, unlimited yoga for trade so I began to clean my studio for two hours a week in order to keep up with my practice.  I began practicing yoga about four years ago at the Ritchie center and switched over to a local studio so that I could try Hot Yoga and also practice more frequently.  I have fallen in love with it ever since and absolutely believe in all of the benefits it brings to your life.  In case you are looking for anything to spice up your workout routine, consider starting yoga.  If you are interested, I will let you in on what I like most about yoga…

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Many have attributed the term wellness to Dr. Halbert Dumn who wrote a booklet in 1961 entitled, “High Level Wellness”, in which he basically defined it as a lifestyle approach for pursuing elevated states of physical and psychological well-being. The reality is that the term wellness was actually coined in the year 1654 by a Scotts physician. Yet the true meaning has evolved beyond what they both intended.

While the term has been around for hundreds of years, it has only been in the past 50 or so that it has truly been defined.

Defining Wellness

Many are not aware that chiropractors are the originators of the wellness movement, being the only healthcare professionals who recognize the body’s natural ability to heal itself. This is why they have spent more than 50 years educating their patients on the benefits of a wellness lifestyle.

Proper nutrition, exercise and routine chiropractic care help the body to perform at maximum efficiency, resulting in improved function.

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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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By: Emily Cooley

True to my commitment, I followed through on my attempt at yoga. Pearl Street Yoga was a blast. I arrived a little early to class so I could scope the place out. There is only one room and a small office area. I laid out my newly purchased mat, and waited patiently, hoping that the class wasn’t going to be filled with hardcore yogi’s. To my surprise, everyone was relatively normal!

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