Athletes: Auto Accidents - Why Do People Suffer So Much?

Athletes: Auto Accidents - Why Do People Suffer So Much?: "In many of my previous articles I’ve described the how soft tissue injuries begin. Mainly, injuries begin when the muscle inability..."

Auto Accidents - Why Do People Suffer So Much?

In many of my previous articles I’ve described the how soft tissue injuries begin.  Mainly, injuries begin when the muscle inability to absorb force allows that force to exceed the limits of the area and travels to a localized joint (i.e., neck, knee, shoulder).  So, when a force is put into the body greater than the ability of that body is to turn on the muscle fast enough to contract and absorb that force that force will continue traveling until it causes damage….which is usually a joint.

In sports this happens all the time.  Most athletes do not understand how to properly train to neurologically turn on the muscles fast enough to absorb force from their competition.  As a result, injury occurs.

In motor vehicle collisions (car accidents) the force is usually so over whelming that the body can’t absorb the force even it wanted to.  The speed in which the force is delivered is faster than the neurological system can turn on in the body.  This leads to injuries such as whiplash, neck sprains, shoulder strains, lower back pain and a whole host of various ailments.  The muscles of your body are just like the shock absorbers of your car. They are designed to absorb the incoming force that can potentially cause harm to your body.

Here is an example.  Let’s take a 8 year old playing in the back yard.  You and I stand there and watch while little Johnny runs around, jumps over things and climbs up the family tree.  Once he gets up the tree he has to get down so what does he do?  He jumps.  He falls to the ground and his feet hit the grass first, his knees bend and he may or may not roll onto the ground.  Pretty normal, wouldn’t you say?  But what if we put a 60 year old up that tree and had him jump down?  If he was trained properly nothing would happen but if he wasn’t trained properly his inability of his muscles to turn on fast enough would not allow his muscles to properly absorb the impact or force of hitting the ground.  That force would then travel up with to the knee, the hip or the lower back possibly causing a lot of damage.

What is the difference between the 8 year old and the 60 year old….okay, don’t say 52 years.  The difference is that the 8 year old's body is working the way it was designed to.  The muscles turn on and turn off properly allowing him to keep that force away from the joints.  The neurological system is fast enough to send the signal to the muscle to turn it on fast enough to absorb that force preventing any injury or damage. The 60 year old most likely wouldn’t have the ability to turn on fast enough - having that force produce damage in one or more of his joints.

In an auto accident the force is so fast, so overwhelming that that force causes damage in multiple areas in many cases.  When you end up going to your doctor what do they do to help you?  They most likely will give you some sort of pill to help with the pain.  The problem is that you have damage to the soft tissue and joints which needs more than masking the pain with a chemical.

What I do when I see a patient that has been involved in an auto accident is to find where the origin of the damage is coming from.  You see, many times where you point to where the pain is, is not necessarily where the damage is.  Many times the area in which you point to signaling to where the pain is, its where the pain ENDED UP! Through special testing I will search for the area where the damage began, helping turn on the neurological system turn on the muscle allowing them to support the damaged area better by slowly reducing the pain.  In almost every single case I am able to speed up the healing and relieving pain by 75 to 95% as compared to conventional treatment.

There is no real difference between the professional athletes that I treat and the patients that I see in auto accidents (except for their pay checks) when it comes to healing…a body, is a body, is a body.  The difference between myself and conventional treatment is that I first begin to work on the neurological system then the fascia then the muscles providing excessively fast results. Others many treat at the point of pain which in the majority of cases is not where the true damage began.

This treatment also works incredibly well for people who have been suffering with long lasting chronic pain. In fact, we have lawyers send us referrals after the patients have seen many other doctors and therapist and continue to experience pain. Don't give up if you have pain there is an answer and you can be feeling like your old self once again.

Health Update

Weekly Health Update Week of: Monday, December 13th, 2010 Courtesy of: Malcolm Conway, D.C. (570) 287-7070 "I'm an old man and I've had many troubles, most of which never happened." ~ Mark Twain

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Mental Attitude: TV Makes You Fear Sickness. Watching TV and its heavy dose of medical content in news and drama  can lead to more concern about personal health and reduce a person's  satisfaction with life. Millions watch medical shows such as Grey's Anatomy and House. Evidence has shown the mass media is powerful in disseminating  health knowledge and changing health attitudes and behaviors through such programming. This may lead people to think they are more likely to suffer from the maladies presented on TV. Previous research showed TV viewing  can cause people to be less satisfied with their lives because it makes  them more materialistic and causes them to overestimate other people's  possessions compared to their own. Mass Communication and Society, September 2010 Health Alert: BPA Levels In Food. The amount of Bisphenol A (BPA) in fresh and canned food as well as food wrapped in plastic packaging, were almost 1,000 times higher than the "tolerable daily intake" levels set by the EPA. BPA is associated with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in exposed workers, and food is a major exposure source. We know of no studies reporting BPA in US fresh food, canned food, and food in plastic packaging in peer reviewed journals. American Chemical Society, Nov 2010 Diet: Beet On The Brain. Drinking beet juice can increase blood flow to the brain in older adults,  which could help decrease the risk of dementia. High concentrations  of nitrates are found in beets, as well as in celery, cabbage and other leafy green vegetables, like spinach and some lettuce. When you eat high-nitrate foods, good bacteria in the mouth turn nitrate into nitrite.  Nitrites help open blood vessels, increasing blood flow and oxygen. Nitric Oxide: Biology and Chemistry, November 2010 Exercise: Energy Drinks When Exercising? The US is the world's largest consumer of energy beverages by volume,  and consumption is primarily among the ages 11-35. The most common  ingredient is caffeine, which ranges from 50-500mg per 16-ounce serving. "One energy beverage during exercise is safe for most healthy individuals. Excess consumption and consumption with other caffeine-containing  beverages or alcohol may lead to adverse effects and possibly death, " reports John Higgins, MD, author University of Texas Medical School  in Houston. Mayo Clinic, November 2010 Chiropractic: Pain And Itching. Researchers found the nerve cells that are active when we experience  heat pain are also associated with itching. Extreme itching is a common  complication following operations and burns. Eczema and other skin  disorders can also lead to itchiness. Greater knowledge of the underlying  factors paves the way for developing new forms of treatment for itching,  for example, activating pain fibers to reduce itching. Neuron, Nov 2010 Wellness/Prevention: How Much Sleep For Kids? Newborn baby, up to 18 hours; 1-12 months of age, 14-18 hours;  1-3 years of age, 12-15 hours; 3-5 years of age, 11-13 hours; 5-12 years of age, 9-11 hours; teenagers, 9-10 hours. Annals of Internal Medicine October, 2010

Groin Pull

If you are an athlete you've either experienced a groin pull or you know someone on your team that has.

Muscles are made up of tiny muscle fibers and when they are stressed past their normal length those fibers will be damaged causing pain and inflammation.  In severe cases, tiny blood vessels break causing the area  to turn color...black & blue. 

There are three types of strains of a muscle.  Grade 1 is a very simple type of strain that caused more discomfort that pain.  Grade two strain is a strain of considerable damage but the muscle is left in tact.  Grade three is a complete tear of the muscle tissue which is most likely a surgical situation.

If you look at the picture to the left you will notice that the red portion to where the arrow is pointing is the muscle and the white tissue that connects the muscle to the bone is called the tendon.  Most times complete tears occur at the tendon and some times the muscle will roll up like a fruit roll up.  Damage to the tendon or ligament is called a sprain.  This normally occurs before the a strain in most instances.

Both sprains and strains can be painful.  But here is were I separate myself from the norm.  Most doctors, therapists think that the pain generated by the strain or sprain is due to the muscle, ligament or tendon.  Through our research we have found that in many cases this type of thinking is wrong.  We have found that what is actually causing the pain is the disruption of the fascia.

Fascia is a tissue that covers everything in side the body.  To picture it, think of the transparent film you see on a chicken breast.  Well, this tissue covers every muscle, tendon and ligament (as well as every organ and space in the body) and when it disrupts in any way will lead to intense pain, inflammation and loss of motion.

By assisting this fascial tissue back to its original placement the pain immediately will go away along with the inflammation and the motion will be instantly restored. That is what we use at the my office - a technique protocol that eliminates this disruption that can have you pain relief after the very first treatment.  If you have been dealing with chronic pain or even a new injury call today 570-287-7070 for your appointment.

Why Do You Lift Weights

For ever athletes have been doing some type of strength training of some sort or another.  But have you ever stopped to ask why?  Looks, power, strength, explosion, health?  If you ask the average athlete they will  have no idea why they are lifting weights.

Every person involved in sports now train to some extent for their sport. Do they really know why...I again submit the average person has no idea not only what they are doing but more importantly why they are doing it.

Sports training is a development cycle for the athlete to train their body for the rigors of their particular sport.  Depending on your sport will depend on the amount of training you will need.  Well....maybe.  You see the body of a football player is the same as a baseball player as a track athlete.  There is no difference between any of them except for the 'demands' of their particular sport.

Every athlete must be able to do the 'basics' of every motion.  That begins with walking correctly using the muscles in the proper order.  I can't tell you how many people coming into my office that can't walk properly. Many times it's because of compensation of the muscles but many times it comes down to the fact that they learned on themselves incorrectly and continued with that motion into adulthood.  Now when they are attempting to train for their sport they wonder why they can't run as fast as they would like to.  (You can't expect to run fast if you can't walk correctly.) They've wired into their brain the wrong use and timing of the contractions of their muscles. That starts at the neurological system before the muscles.  Now that you want the muscles to move as fast as possible - the muscles won't respond because the central computer (brain) was programmed wrong.

Some coaches say to the athlete that you need to get into the weight room to get stronger.  Really?  Do you really think that by lifting weights that you will correct a neurological programming issue.  I think not. 

It begins as early as infants when attempting to move.  You start off on back and over time you figure out that you can roll over to your belly.  The next step is getting up on your forearms eventually progressing to crawling.  This allows for a the brain and nervous system to develop the proper neurological patterns needed for the muscles to respond properly. If you confine an toddler to a jump seat or to a crib not allowing them to crawl it will slow the maturation process of the neurological response to the muscles.  If this sheltered life contiues, not allowing the young child the advantage of out door activity including running, climbing, skipping, jumping, it will deaden the reponce of the neurological development to the muscles.  In the long run the child that isn't allowed to explore, fall, fail at certain attempts of movement will be behind the athletic curve in development.

Please understand that in order for the muscle to do its thing....turn on (contract) turn off (relax) it needs a nerve supply, just like your computer needs an electrical supply to work properly.  If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times...."if big muscles made great athletes, then body builders would be our best athletes."

So now you want to to the gym to lift heavy pieces of metal "to get into shape."  If you have restrictions in your muscles you will begin to "strengthen your weaknesses."  The key to training is learning first how to get the muscles to properly hold position.  Once there is a clear and direct neurological message being sent to the muscle the muscles will working in the order that they were designed to eliminating the compensation patterns that were developed in the past.  Once you can get past this point then you can begin to develop generating power and explosion.  As a part of developing this the muscles will automatically get larger and more dense creating even more power.  This is a process and it takes time to develop but if you really want to improve as an athlete you have to pay the "proper" price before expecting the adulation's and awards from your sport.

Are you looking in becoming a bigger jock....or a elite athlete?  The choice is up to you....