Des Moines Chiropractic Newsletter - July, 2014

Compass Chiropractic July, 2014 E-Newsletter

Saturday Hours Available through Summer!

Painful flareup?  Inflexible work schedule?  Gardening injury?

We’ll give you a hand this summer!  Saturday appointments are currently planned from 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM intermittently this summer.  Please call for availability.

 

Compass Chiro Kids Silly, Goofy, Funky Face Contest

During the month of July, we're focusing on kids' health.  You can read more about that below.

Just for fun though, we're holding a Silly, Goofy, Funky Face Contest.  Bring your kids to your next appointment and we'll snap a picture of their best crazy, funny face while you sign a form giving permission for them to be in the contest.  Each participant will get to pick a prize from our new toy treasure chest.  Then in August we'll allow visitors in our office to vote on their favorite silly, goofy, funky faces.  The winner of the contest will win $100!

Competition will be fierce so advise your kids to start practicing their silly faces in front of the mirror today!

If you don't have an appointment scheduled with us, give us a call if you would like to swing by for pictures so that we can be sure we'll be in the office and available to snap your silly shots.

Kids & Chiropractic

We'd all agree that a parent who only brings their child to the dentist or makes sure they brush and floss when they are crying with a zing in their tooth wouldn't be doing what's best for their child's health.  However, teeth are one of the easiest to replace parts of the body.  The spine, on the other hand, has no replacement.  That's why we all need to take care of ours (and our entire family's).

One of the most frustrating things I say is "I wish I would have seen this patient years ago so that we could have prevented this problem."  So many of the problems I treat start in childhood.  Curves in the spine, posture issues, and random trampoline traumas can add stress that results in a lifetime of pain.  The birth process itself can be the first major trauma to the spine with pulling, twisting, pushing, forceps and vacuum extractions all stressing the spine of a newborn creating spine dysfunction that can be silent for years.

Additionally, many of the childhood conditions we label as "normal" such as colic in babies and growing pains may not be normal.  They may be a sign of spine dysfunction and pain affecting these growing bodies.  After all, what would be more likely to cause you to cry and complain all the time than constant pain?

For these reasons, I strongly recommend spine checks for all children.  In a brief exam, we can make sure their spines are moving correctly and check for side curves and developing posture issues.  If we find dysfunction, pain, or imbalances we can discuss care and corrective exercises recommended to solve short term problems and prevent long term problems.

When children experience certain conditions their parents' research online or through their network of fellow parents leads them to bring their children to a chiropractor.  Some of the most common conditions children see us for are listed below:

Earaches
Sports Injuries
Neck Pain
Headache
Upper Respiratory Infection
Low Back Pain
Allergies
Asthma
Bed-Wetting
Chronic Constipation

Give us a call to schedule a problem-focused or wellness exam for your children this month.

Spotlight on Family Friendliness

Sometimes parents are scared to bring their kids to appointments for fear that they'll be judged for their children's energetic behavior.  However, we understand kids' attention spans and make every effort to make your visits pleasant for you and your children.  We have children's DVD's, a Leap Pad tablet, and many other fun toys available.  Additionally, we've just added a toy treasure chest.  Kids who are well behaved get to pick a fun toy from our treasure chest at each visit.  Finally, we try hard to schedule appropriately and run on time so that families with children don't have time to get bored and cranky while at our office.
 
After bringing your kids to our office, you may be one of the many parents who gets to hear their kids ask to come to Compass Chiropractic almost as frequently as they ask to watch Frozen! :)

Sandy Recommends Eatery A

I love seeing the many business and property improvements being made along Ingersoll Avenue in Des Moines.  Recently, I joined a group of friends for dinner at Eatery A, located at 2932 Ingersoll Avenue.  We all had a wonderful dining experience.

It was love at first sight as I entered the doors and took in the beautiful interior, comprised largely of salvaged and recycled wood, but decorated in a pleasant and upscale manner.  Speaking of wood, Eatery A boasts a wood-fired oven which is used to bake its impressive array of pizzas.  We ordered a variety of pizzas at our table and exchanged slices.  All of them were delicious.  You might want to brush up on your Italian – so you’ll know what ingredients like guanciale, lardo, gremolata and prosciutto are.

Delicious….all of them!

In addition to pizza, Eatery A’s menu is broken into four categories:  Pasta, Farm, Ocean and Land and lists a variety of interesting and appetizing pastas, meats, seafood and vegetarian offerings.

Reservations are recommended as the place is frequently packed and, as it is owned by Jason Simon (Alba), it had an instant following of customers from day one.   We were there on a very steamy and hot evening, but would like to return on a cooler afternoon so we can enjoy their outdoor patio and try some of their gelato or other yummy sounding desserts.

Eatery A is open Tuesday through Thursday from 3-11 p.m., Friday/Saturday from 3 p.m. to midnight and Sunday 3-10 p.m.  They are closed on Mondays.

Sheri Recommends Sunwarrior Warrior Blend Protein Mix

This month I have been excited about a new protein powder mix I found at The Vitamin Shoppe.  It is made by Sunwarrior and is called Warrior Blend.  It is a raw, plant-based protein with a complete amino acid profile.  It is gluten free, soy free, dairy free and hypoallergenic.  It is free of solvents, GMOs, radiation, artificial colors, and preservatives.  I have found it is easy to digest, increases my energy, and gives me that feeling of satiety.  A serving is 100 calories with 17 grams of protein.  It has zero sugar, cholesterol, saturated fat, and trans fat.  The protein comes from raw organic peas, raw organic cranberry protein, and raw organic hemp seeds.  It mixes really well with my almond or coconut milk without that gritty taste that some protein powders have. Of course, I love the chocolate flavor, but it comes in vanilla and plain too!  I have been getting a 35.2 oz. canister for $37.99 to $39.99.  Depends on the sale they are having at the time.  I think the full price of it is around $45.99.  There are about 40 servings to a container.

So if you are looking for a good, reasonably priced vegan protein mix give this one a try.  Have a safe and Happy Fourth of July!


Dr. Krohse Recommends Sit-to-Stand Desks

Recent research has crunched the numbers on the negative effects of extended sitting.  It turns out this body position is killing us.  The infographic from medicalbillingandcoding.org below quantifies the ways sitting hurts us.  Read this article from the New York Times to learn more.

After looking over this information, you may feel a sense of dread about spending more time at the desk.  Those articles don't even  adequately address the problems sitting all day can cause to your neck and back (and the graphic is totally wrong in my opinion when it recommends the 135 degree sitting position).  I'd put extended sitting with poor posture as the number one cause of neck pain among my patients and a common cause of low back instability and pain.

However, companies are stepping up to solve your problem with sit-to-stand desks.  These desks allow you to quickly convert from a seated position to standing to vary your position.  While some local companies install very expensive pneumatic systems into their workstations, your request for a sit-to-stand desk doesn't have to break your company's budget.  In fact, the option I've learned about is reasonable enough you may even want to purchase one for a home desk.

We have patients who are very pleased with the quality of the Varidesk sit-to-stand desks.  They are incredibly reasonably priced and according to our patients can hold up to years of typical use.  Learn more at their website and check their reviews for further confidence.  With a sit-to-stand desk you don't have to let your desk job shorten your life, ruin your posture, and cause you pain.

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Running Impact Scoring

As a runner who provides care for many injured runners I understand why we runners get injured so often.  Far too often, the cause is simple and preventable:

                Ramping Training Up Too Quickly

We end up saying "I should have known better" as we sit at home with a sore & painful this or that while we are dying to be out doing a training run or race.

For me, the formula for this foolishness has been simple.  I gradually increase mileage for a bit.  Then along comes a couple days where life is busy and I don't get my run in.  On the third day the weather is perfect and my body feels great.  Since I haven't run much this week I'm not worried about breaking the old, well-known rule, "never increase your mileage more than 10% per week."  In fact, I'm trying to play catch up a bit since I would like to at least hit the same mileage as the previous week.  I head out and soon find myself amazed with the pace showing on my Garmin.  I'm flying :)  I decide to hold that pace for 6 or 8 or 14 miles.
 

Surprise!  I'm sore all over and something is injured again.  Oops!

While taking some continuing education on running injuries I recently learned of a formula that I hope will help me avoid this situation personally.  The problem with the old formula "never increase your mileage more than 10% per week" is that it doesn't factor in the intensity of your runs.  Clearly 40 minutes of easy running and 40 minutes of race-pace running will have far different amounts of stress on your body.  Longer and harder runs are much more likely to cause injury.

With a simple formula you can quickly get an estimated impact of your runs.  Using these numbers to coach yourself as you ramp up your training will help you avoid an injury as you get your body in shape.  Here's the formula:
              

Minutes Running X Perceived Exertion = Impact Score

Here's an example of a typical beginning runner who might cause an injury by bumping mileage up 10% but impact score for the week up almost 20%

Week 1: (10 mi at 10 min pace) X  5 exertion = 500 Impact Score
Week 2: (11 mi at 9 min pace) X 6 exertion = 594 Impact Score

That runner only ran one additional mile but put a significantly higher load on his body and it shouldn't surprise us that he now is sitting on the sidelines nursing an injury.

I've started adding Impact Scores to my training log so that I can gradually increase the impact on my body and give it time to adapt to the increased loads.  The picture below shows my Strava Training Log with the activities names starting with the Impact Score.

One other last note from my continuing education was that to truly give your body time to gradually adapt to the increased loads of training and avoid injury the instructor recommended only increasing the impact 10%  every two weeks and he actually recommended a slightly easier recovery week in between.  So following his guidelines ramping up for a race would take a very long time!  A schedule might look like:

Week 1: 500 Impact
Week 2: 500
Week 3: 475
Week 4: 550
Week 5: 550
Week 6: 525
Week 7: 600

Good luck and I hope this helps you and me run without injuries!