A key when training or working out in any sport is that any one muscle  is only as strong as the weakest link in the entire kinetic chain. The kinetic chain being a term used by most sports medicine and exercise science professionals to describe a sequence or a chain of events. In this case multiple muscles engaging to complete motion of the skeletal system.

The curl-up done on an exercise ball dramatically increases the number of muscles that have to engage and stabelize you durning the exercise. This exercise will activate your COMPLETE core -> back muscles (posterior abdominals) and all the abdominal muscles.

The key point to performing this exercise is to only curl-up as far as the contraction / activation / tightening of your abdominal muscles and flex forward no further. Note no pressure should be placed on your neck by your arms. Perform 3 sets of 20 for a total core workout.

If you wish to make things more difficult push out abs while trying to curl-up or let a little more air out of the ball to force more contraction of low back muscles, glutes, and other leg muscles for stabelizing  your body while performing the exercise.

If you have any questions please email me at drshepard@bnchiro.com

Hip flexor stretch

Stand two feet back from step or chair
1. Place Right foot on step
2. Keep trunk upright and pelvis facing forward
3. Bring body weight forward while bending L knee slightly and allowing heel to lift (will be stretching the left
4. hip flexor if right leg is elevated).
5. As you come forward, lift left arm reaching diagonally.
6. Reach arm forward in 9 spots as if there was a tic-toe box making sure to reach arm toward each box.

DNS therapy targets the cause of the problem rather than its manifestations

DNS therapy evokes ideal movement patterns by manual stimulation of developmental reflex zones.

DNS exercises are trained to improve neuromuscular control.

DNS therapy is combined with cutting edge rehabilitation and pain management technology.

If you want a to know more about this you can visit http://www.rehabps.com/REHABILITATION/DNS.html or come in and experience what DNS is for yourself.

Regularly getting too little sleep will leave you with a weak immune system, decreased tissue repair, decreased cognitive function, decreased fat metabolism, increased inflammation, and can even increase your risk for depression, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and lesson your life span. Continual sleep deprivation causes the level of a certain stress hormone (corticosterone) to rise within the body. When the level of this hormone increases, your brain cells aren’t able to function as well. You might have a hard time concentrating or having complex thoughts. In other words, not getting enough sleep can become a very serious problem.

For my patients, sleep is absolutely essential. Sleep allows time for the body to recover from an injury. (As a side note: even when you’re awake, one of the best things you can do while recovering from an injury is to avoid using the injured area as much as possible until it has recovered and/or healed.) If you’re not giving your body time to heal itself, you’ll probably end up with more inflammation, further injury, and you’ll end up prolonging the time it takes to heal. Sleep is a vital part of recovery time.

There are a lot of factors that affect how much sleep you may need, including: diet (nutrient intake), environmental factors (smoking, drinking, etc), quality of sleep, exposure to sunlight, and current injuries or illnesses. In general, it is often recommended that most people get 7-8 hours of sleep every night and to try and go to bed and wake up at close to the same time everyday for consistency. Studies have shown that individuals that get an average of at least 8 hours of sleep each night actually have a higher percentage of lean muscle.

So here is where all this information is going – if you have an injury (even if it’s a small, seemingly insignificant one), please give your body the time it needs to heal! As soon as the injury occurs, even if it’s something like a muscle strain or an ache somewhere in your body, try to reduce the amount of activity performed by that area of the body as much as possible.

Another tip: use the PRICE method (protect, rest, ice, compress, and elevate) to reduce inflammation.

By getting enough sleep, reducing the activity level while you’re awake, and using the PRICE method, you’ll be quickly on your way to recovery – and back to doing the things you love!

Dr. Shepard

Radial Nerve

If you are experiencing pain down the back of your arm, forearm, and/or the back of your hand – the radial nerve could be the cause.

The radial nerve is part of a network of nerve fibers (for you anatomy junkies, this network is called the Brachial Plexus) that begins in your neck and travels down the back of your arm, forearm, and hand.

This nerve can be caught or trapped by several muscles and ligaments throughout the arm. The tricep muscle and supinator muscle are the two most common places for the radial nerve to become entrapped. When this happens, there is often tingling in the back of the fingers, pain in the fingers, pain in the forearm, and/or pain in the back of the arm.

One of the best solutions: a nerve floss, of course! A nerve floss is a very effective way of getting the nerve to move freely and often helps to relieve the pain and other related symptom, as well as decrease the nerve inflammation.

Watch the video below to see me floss my radial nerve.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at drshepard@bnchiro.com

-Dr. Shepard

There isn’t one single muscle that travels all the way from your neck to the hand. But there are 3 nerves that do this – your Ulnar, Median, and Radial Nerves.

Out of these 3 nerves, the nerve of the upper limb that gets the most recognition is the median nerve because of its involvement with carpal tunnel. While Active Release Technique is very effective at relieving the cause of carpal tunnel (A.R.T. is my specialty, go here to learn more about it), I usually give my patients a Median Nerve Flossing  exercise to do at home to further their results.

Nerve flossing is basically moving the nerve to try and free it from tight muscles or scar tissue that has caused it to stick to other tissues. Median nerve flossing is a simple yet extremely effective way to treat tingling, pain, and burning sensations that you may have in your hand (pinky excluded, that’s a different nerve – see the picture).

Watch the video below to see me perform a recommended way of flossing your median nerve.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at drshepard@bnchiro.com

-Dr. Shepard

The latissimus dorsi muscle (commonly called “lats”) is the most powerful muscle of the back. When this muscle gets overworked, it often shortens. When this “shortening” happens, you often end up having lower back pain and pain at the base of your neck.

IF YOU’RE NOT AN ANATOMY JUNKIE, SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH: The latissimus dorsi muscle originates from your lumbar fascia, lower thoracic spine, and pelvic bone. The main role of this muscle is to bring the arm into extension and adduction (closer to the body).  It also is an internal rotator of the shoulder joint. ANATOMY CLASS OVER.

You put stress on this muscle when you do activities that involve rowing, throwing, or pulling something down over your head (like when you do pull-ups). The “Lat” muscle is an important stabilizer and acts as a bridge between the lower back and the neck. Because this muscle is so large, the neck and the entire middle and lower back may have to be treated in order to get this muscle back to where it should be.

Weight training MUST be carefully controlled because of the importance of this muscle.

To increase the power of this muscle, the following exercises might be a good fit:

• deadlift
• chin-up and pull-up
• one handed dumbbell-rows
• pull-over
• pull-down (be careful not to elevate your shoulders too much)

- Dr. Shepard

5 reasons why we love this innovative, soft-tissue therapy:

1. Each A.R.T. session is both an examination and treatment in one. So the patient is constantly being re-evaluated to best meet his/her needs and to get the best results.
2. There are over 500 different protocols for A.R.T. Which means there is no cookie cutter approach to treating a patient. And it also means that there are numerous protocols Dr. Shepard can utilize on each patient in order to get the most effective results.
3. A.R.T. is an evidence based treatment. It has been researched and proven to be highly effective.
4. We have seen results in many different types of patients – people suffering from pain, people with a lack of motion, and also athletes who are looking to improve their athletic performance.
5. It has worked for many different types of conditions. We have seen results in people suffering from lower back pain, plantar fasciitis, TMJ, and many others.

For the best description of A.R.T. I went to the best source = the official A.R.T. website:

What is Active Release Techniques (ART) to Individuals, Athletes, and Patients?

ART is a patented, state of the art soft tissue system/movement based massage technique that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves. Headaches, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, shin splints, shoulder pain, sciatica, plantar fasciitis, knee problems, and tennis elbow are just a few of the many conditions that can be resolved quickly and permanently with ART. These conditions all have one important thing in common: they are often a result of overused muscles.

How do overuse conditions occur?

Over-used muscles (and other soft tissues) change in three important ways:

• acute conditions (pulls, tears, collisions, etc),
• accumulation of small tears (micro-trauma)
• not getting enough oxygen (hypoxia).

Each of these factors can cause your body to produce tough, dense scar tissue in the affected area. This scar tissue binds up and ties down tissues that need to move freely. As scar tissue builds up, muscles become shorter and weaker, tension on tendons causes tendonitis, and nerves can become trapped. This can cause reduced range of motion, loss of strength, and pain. If a nerve is trapped you may also feel tingling, numbness, and weakness.

What is an ART treatment like?

Every ART session is actually a combination of examination and treatment. The ART provider uses his or her hands to evaluate the texture, tightness and movement of muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments and nerves. Abnormal tissues are treated by combining precisely directed tension with very specific patient movements.

These treatment protocols – over 500 specific moves – are unique to ART. They allow providers to identify and correct the specific problems that are affecting each individual patient. ART is not a cookie-cutter approach.