Performance Testing: Injury Prevention for Athletes

Posted on by alexhornechiropractic

Try this simple 5 minute home test to find our your risk of injury, and your lower limb performance.

The Y-balance test is well documented to highlight functional differences between limbs, which can often occur after injuries like ankle sprain, patellofemoral pain syndrome, and ACL tears.

It can also give athletes a great pre-season baseline score for comparison against future injuries.

Challenge your friends and teammates and share your score on your club website.

My forward reach was 96.14%.

Good luck and stay safe out there!

What are the Up’s and Down’s?

Posted on by alexhornechiropractic

Standing desks… “What’s the fuss, isn’t it just another gimmick?”

Not at all, in fact chiropractors welcome the new influx of table tops and have been waiting for them for years! When you stand, you require more active core muscles which help support your spine.

Muscles account for 80% of lower back support, so if they are regularly shut off for too long, problems arise.

“So standing is the answer to all of my problems?”

Unfortunately not, it is possible to stand badly too and that can lead to discomfort. What is also important is to be able to move and change between positions regularly and the stand up desks provide a great tool for this. It’s not just for “the guy with back pain”.

Alex Horne Chiropractic – Be outstanding! Ask your Alex how you could benefit.

Need a good stand up desk? Check out this independent review of the best on the market. http://www.reviews.com/standing-desk/

Are you legit to CrossFit?

Posted on by alexhornechiropractic

CrossFit and HIIT keep my clinic busy! Not just with functional improvers, but often with injuries. So are you legit?

I am a big fan of Crossfit and High intensity interval training, as they promote a challenging and functional training enviroment.

The activities often push you to the extremes, be it power and speed, range of motion, or endurance.

But all too commonly I see athletes who aren’t mechanically ready for these extremes (see are you Fiit for HIIT).

For example, if your mechanics won’t let you execute a half-decent squat without compensating, leaking stress, is it sensible to do 100 explosive box jumps at speed?

It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it.

Granted, the perfect squat for example is hard to achieve and you shouldn’t mollycoddle people out of exercising. But it is vitally important to consider your limitations of flexibility, strength and control so you can work on them before leaping into the extremes.

So please, know your abilities, avoid injury and be legit to Crossfit!

Book a full functional exam online today

Alex Horne Chiropractic, too legit to quit.

Drinking like a fish?

Posted on by alexhornechiropractic

Should we be drinking like fish?

It’s a simple answer, and you won’t even need to keep checking the back of your underpants!

Feel the natural cycle of your body (and the cosmic energy of the universe BRO!) and just knock it back when you are thirsty.

Put it this way, drinking to the exact ‘recommendations’ of medical sources, 1.6; 2 litres (female; male) [NHS 2013] won’t hold true between Ronnie the pensioner and Terry the bodybuilder.

An exact figure would weigh up; water taken up from food/beverages versus water lost from climate, energy expenditure, diet osmolarity, body mass and individual thermoregulation variants.

But your body does this for you with a thing called THIRST! The problem of dehydration often comes when we don’t pay attention to those signals, especially in hot weather.

So it can be helpful to make sure you drink a certain amount per day, especially if you’re busy, but too much water will simply result in more excretion within the hour.

Coming soon: How to hydrate for your marathon (drinking like a fish part 2)

9 tips for winter vitamin D!

Posted on by alexhornechiropractic

Until at least April, it is hard to get enough vitamin D, so here are some tips on how to supplement:

1.The most effective vitamin source is D3. D2 (often prescribed) will do, but isn’t as effective*.

2.Supplements of D3 are absorbed just as easily into the body as from dietary sources or from the sun*.

3.Cod liver oil contains lots of vitamin D, but take care not to over suplement due to high vitamin A levels*.

4.The average person can safely supplement with 5000iu´s*.

5.10,000 iU´s is the average persons maximum daily dose and shouldnt be exceeded*.

6.A study found supplementing with 4000iU´s of vitamin D was enough to bring a significant majority of adults out of vitamin D deficiency**.

7.Sun beds provide sufficient UVB radiation (required for vitamin D production in skin) even in short sessions*.

8.Not all D3 supplements are vegetarian friendly.

9.A vitamin D supplement is around 65 times cheaper than a boring 6 day budget holiday to Majorca and lasts around 2 times longer!*** That’s roughly 130 times more cost effective, and no drinking their dodgey water what don’t taste like what it oughta!

*www.vitamindcouncil.org

**www.foundmyfitness.com

***Based on 100 doses/supplement and 6 days of casual sunlight making up for 49 days without sufficient sun exposure thanks to fat soluble vitamin D storage (study).