Hip Hinge Exercise For Low Back Pain Relief And Injury Prevention

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Do you suffer from low back pain? Do you need to bend over and pick things up? If you answered yes to one or both of the previous questions, you should keep reading…

As we have discussed many times, pain and injuries caused by sudden trauma are a small minority of overall complaints. Most cases of pain and injury are chronic repetitive stress injuries. We routinely move with faulty patterns causing excessive stress and load on certain tissues and over time the damage accrues faster than the repair can keep up with. With … Read More »

Movement Fix Monday | Anterior Hip Mobility Fix

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Dr. Derek with this week’s Movement Fix Monday addressing tight hips.

The anterior hip muscles and joint capsule are especially vulnerable to becoming short and tight in those of you who spend much of your day sitting. This shortening over time can lead to a decrease in your hip extension range of motion which is necessary for walking, running, climbing stairs, etc.

If you spend your work day sitting or suffer from low back pain and/or hip pain, this mobility exercise might be perfect for you.

If you are looking for effective hip pain relief, request a consult with Dr. Grenfell today. 

Defining the “Core” and its Role in Pain and Performance

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Abdominals, Abs, Core Exercise, Pain Relief

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that unless you have been living under a rock for the past few years, you have heard somebody tell you they really need to work on their “core”.  It is a constant hot topic in the fitness and physical medicine fields, but have you ever stopped to think about what the term “core” really means and why it’s important.  My guess is that when I use the term core, the first thing you picture is a set of abdominals (or an apple, and if … Read More »

Know Pain To Own Pain

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Understanding your pain is one of the most important components to getting rid of it.  So first of all, what is pain? The most commonly accepted definition of pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience that is associated with actual or potential tissue damage.  That seems like a pretty straight forward definition, but there is actually a lot packed into that sentence.  The following is a short list of important keys to grasping the difficult and complex topic of pain:

 

Pain is all in your head. That’s right, your pain is all in your brain.  I’m not saying your pain isn’t real, it certainly is, but you only suffer pain … Read More »

To stretch or not to stretch? That is the question.

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Young woman seated hamstring stretch

“No matter how much I stretch, my hamstrings are always tight”

 

I am betting that a large percentage of people reading this article would admit to having “tight hamstrings”.  I will go a little further and say a fair amount of you with tight hamstrings have also tried stretching with some regularity at some point in time with very little success in re-gaining flexibility.  Well, my goal today is to touch on one possible explanation for why this situation occurs.  I also happens to be the most common presentations we see … Read More »

Why We Don’t Routinely Take X-rays During Your First Visit

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A question that comes up frequently in our office has to do with whether or not a patient needs spinal x-rays as part of their initial evaluation.  The short answer is occasionally.  For a very long time, it has been commonplace to visit a chiropractor and upon your initial visit, you receive spinal x-rays.  Though we agree diagnostic imaging, including x-rays, MRI, CT scans, etc. are great tools to use, we also believe that there are many factors a doctor must take into account when determining if x-rays are appropriate.  For this reason we collect a detailed history and perform a thorough examination to see if any findings suggest the … Read More »

Upgrading Your Movement Software

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If you have been following our blog for any length of time, you are probably well aware that our main focus at Elite Spine & Sport is on quality movement.  We have discussed what movement is, and how pain can alter it.  Well today, we’d like to approach movement from a different view to better understand the reasons we treat patients the way we do.  

First, think of your body as being like a computer.  Your muscles, bones, and joints are the hardware while your brain and nervous system make up the software programs.  When a … Read More »

Dr. Grenfell’s Favorite Things for Ultimate Human Performance

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We often hear health care and fitness professionals talking about optimal human performance or optimal health.  This concept is centered on getting you to live and perform at your very best.  Well naturally, that was not enough for some people.  Allow me to introduce you to the new kid on the block, ultimate human performance, which is performing at your very best when death is a possibility.  To illustrate this idea, think of the tight rope walker wearing no safety gear, the surfer taking on a 100′ behemoth wave, or the downhill skier rocketing down a mountainside at speeds of 100 mph.  All of these activities allow very little room for … Read More »

Why Perform Movement Screening?

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Recall from the last post that at Elite Spine & Sport, we are interested in overall global movement patterns, not just range of motion.  Now we will go into a little bit more detail about why we are interested in performing movement screens.  First, I would like to start by pointing out that a large majority of chronic pain is due to “overuse syndromes”.  However, overuse syndromes are NOT actually caused by overuse alone.  To take it a step further, your muscles do not tighten up due to overuse.  

Overuse syndromes certainly involve overuse (it’s in the name), but it is this excessive use paired WITH faulty movement patterns that … Read More »

What Does a Chiropractor Do: Our Approach

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The first answer that likely comes to your mind is, “they adjust the spine”.  But the reality is, chiropractors offer much more.  At Elite Spine & Sport our focus is on MOVEMENT.  Allow me to explain what I mean.  To adjust the spine is looking only at the ranges of motion of specific joints, and this makes up only a part of movement.  True movement incorporates motion of joints with the addition of coordination, stability, balance and body awareness (proprioception).  For this reason, quality motion does not necessarily translate into quality movement.

So now you’re probably saying to yourself, “that’s great Doc, but tell me what that movement stuff has to do … Read More »

At Elite Spine & Sport, we believe that a better quality of living is the result of you becoming active in your own healthcare. Our mission is simple: help you achieve and exceed your health goals, and empower you to maximize living to your fullest potential. If you are ready to take charge of your health, call or visit us today.

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