SF Custom Chiropractic

              

Bodyweight Strength Training

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Squats:
Why: Squats work your glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves all at once.

How to do it: Stand with feet hip-width apart, toes facing straight ahead or angled slightly outward. Slowly bend the knees and lower hips towards the floor, keeping your torso straight and abs pulled in tight. Keep your knees behind your toes; make sure everything is pointing in the same direction. Do not go lower than 90 degrees.

Push up:
Why: Push ups, like squats, are compound movements using almost all the muscles of your body. You’ll work your chest, shoulders, triceps, back, and abs.

How to do it: Position yourself face down on the floor, balancing on your toes/knees and hands. Your hands should be wider than shoulder, body in a straight line from head to toe. Don’t sag in the middle and don’t stick your butt up in the air. Slowly bend your arms and lower your body to the floor, stopping when your elbows are at 90 degrees. Exhale and push back up.

Lunges:
Why: Lunges work most of the muscles in your legs including your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves.

How to do it: Stand in a split stance (one leg forward, one leg back). Bend knees and lower body into a lunge position, keeping the front knee and back knee at 90 degree angles. Keeping the weight in your heels, push back up (slowly!) to starting position. Never lock your knees at the top and don’t let your knee bend past your toes. Variations: front lunges, back lunges. Keep it under 16 reps.

The Plank:
Why: The plank is an isolation move used in Pilates and Yoga and works the abs, back, arms, and legs. The plank also targets your internal abdominal muscles.

How to Do it: Lie face down with elbows resting on the floor next to chest. Push your body off the floor in a push up position with body resting on elbows or hands. Contract the abs and keep the body in a straight line from head to toes. Hold for 30-60 seconds and repeat as many times as you can. For beginners, do this move on your knees and gradually work your way up to balancing on your toes.

Pull-Up:
Why: The pull-up works on the majBodyweight Training or muscles of your back and shoulders which helps you burn calories and of course, strengthens your back.

How to do it: Hold the bar with palms out and wider than shoulders. Pull your abs in bend your elbows and raise your body (and chin) towards the bar, contracting the outer muscles of your back. Do this exercise 2-3 times a week using enough weight to complete 12-16 repetitions. If you don’t have access to a gym, try a one-armed row. See how it’s done.

The Chiropractors at SF Custom Chiropractic can also deal with Functional Movement Screening if you are concerned about if your form is correct or not and how it may injury you.

Ergonomics

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Ergonomics It’s 2 o’clock on a Tuesday afternoon; you feel the bags under your eyes getting heavier, but you are determined to meet your deadlines. You look around the office and your fellow employee to your left has her hand around the back of her neck, rolling her head from left to right and back; the employee to your right has both hands above his head and leaning as far back as possible; the employee across from you is massaging her shoulder. Now you have the sudden urge to stand up and walk around to find relief, being aware of the body aches from sitting too long and staring at the same screen for so many hours.

This might not always be the case in your daily work routine, but we all know the feeling; whether in the workplace or at school, we’ve sat in chairs that hurt our back, looked at computer screens that were in positions that strained our neck, and used other work equipment and furniture that made it difficult to focus and get work done.

The workplace should be safe and healthful; however, work-related mucsculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) account for one of the leading causes of lost workday injury and illness. MSDs include pinched nerve, herniated discs, sprains/strains, pain, and carpal/tarsal tunnel syndrome. These conditions can create worker’s compensation claims, sick days off, lost productivity, and decreased performance. Ergonomics, or the study of people’s efficiency in their working environment, can be applied to reduce the risk of developing MSDs.

What is ergonomics?

Ergonomics is a real scientific discipline that involves research for design improvement of office equipment and systems and anything that will enhance the ways in which a person works in the workplace.

Ergonomics Process

  • Management Support and Worker Involvement: A critical aspect in the overall success in the ergonomic process is the communication between management and staff. Management should be committed to educating the workforce on issues pertaining to ergonomics and clearly address responsibilities that include reporting ergonomic problems.
  • Proper Training: Training the workforce, whether it be training them to properly use equipment or by simply educating them about ergonomics and its benefits, ensures that the workers become aware of potential ergonomic problems, making them more inclined to report ergonomic problems that can cause MSDs.
  • Identify Problems: Being able to identify and assess ergonomic problems is an important part of the ergonomic process as recognizing an ergonomic problem when it arises prevents MSDs.
  • Implement Solutions: Modifying existing equipment, making changes in work practices, and purchasing new equipment can serve as solutions to reduce, control, or eliminate workplace MSDs.

Evaluate Progress: Periodically assessing corrective actions and checking to see if those corrective actions are improving or limiting work efficiency ensures long-term ergonomic success.

What Can Our Chiropractors do to Help?

Our chiropractors can assist with the ergonomics process by coming in to your workplace and conduct ergonomic assessments. During an assessment, our chiropractor will inspect your work area and analyze you, your posture, and movements while working. From his inspection, he will write up a report that includes recommendations for corrective action as well as recommend ergonomic products that will enhance worker productivity and reduce MSDs.

SFCC can now come to your work place and give you an Ergonomic assessment! 

Sources:

www.osha.gove/SLTC/ergonomics/

www.apa.org/about/gr/issues/workforce/ergonomics.aspx

 

Weight lifting IS for Females!

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Weight lifting for WomenMany women believe that lifting weights will make them big and bulky and they do not want any of that. But, WRONG! Lifting weights is actually beneficial for women and will not make you big and bulky. You will not end up looking like a guy just because you lift weights.

Here are reasons why you should lift:

  1. Weight Loss – If you’re already working out trying to achieve your ideal body, it’s not just about the running. With weight lifting you lose more fat and gain muscle which helps your body “tighten” up. Weight lifting requires more oxygen and has a higher caloric expenditure which all helps increase your metabolic rate. What that means is that it speeds up your metabolism to digest the food you eat.
  2. Bone Health – As people age, bone begins to deteriorate and many problems arise. These problems can lead to the risk of fractures to increase. Resistance training helps strengthen bones. The way a female is built, her legs already do not support her body as well as the male counterpart and resistance training can help strengthen the bones to help support the rest of the body.
  3. Relieve Stress and Be Happier – Yes working out alone already helps take your mind off a stressful day and make you happier. As you are on the way to achieving a healthier body, that alone makes you happy already. However it is actually chemically and scientifically proven that working out will make you happier because when you work out you automatically release endorphins, these are what contributes to your happiness as well.
  4. Happy Heart – Weight lifting can help improve cardiovascular health! It helps lower LDL cholesterol, the bad one and increase HDL cholesterol, the good one. It will also help lower blood pressure. With weight lifting lowering the bad and increasing the good, many cardiovascular disease risk already decrease.

Moral of the story? Women, men, lift weights! For the females, lifting weights will not make you bulky or manly but instead it will tone your body into shape. If you ever have any questions regarding lifting, the chiropractors are SF Custom Chiropractic can help you evaluate your forms for your exercises so you don’t get injured!  

Keeping Your Resolution

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New Years Resolution

It is that time of the year when people decide on a resolution. Is this year going to be the year that you get back in shape, quit smoking, save money, work less and spend more time with the family and friends?  Although we aspire to improve ourselves, often times, we stop going to the gym after a month or start smoking again and we fall back into our old habits.

One of my New Years’ resolutions is to start this blog.  This being my first post, I will give some advice on how to keep your resolution.
Many of us make a resolution more out of custom rather than actually planning. This is why the success rate of New Years’ resolutions tends to be low.
So how do you keep your resolution?  Here are some tips to increase your odds at maintaining your goals.

1. Write it down. Record your progress each day. I believe writing down your goals in life is a key component of success.  Set goals weekly and work towards these goals every day.

2. Take pride in your resolution. Pick something that is really important to you.

3. Make promises you can keep.  Start small.  If you want to lose weight and you eat fast food daily, cut back by only eating fast food twice a week and pack a healthy lunch for the other days.  Instead of eating ice cream late at night, substitute it with a bowl of cereal.

4. Change your habits. Habits can be difficult to break. Replace negative behaviors with more positive behaviors..  If you want to quit smoking but realize that it helps you relieve stress, find something else to help you relax.  Yoga, or any form of exercise, can help you feel re-energized and more at ease.

5. Break down your goals into tactical planning.  i.e:  plan out your meals for the week; write down your workout routines; budget and keep track of daily spending. If your New Years’ resolution is to get in shape, I can help. As a sports chiropractor in the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District, I have formed many relationships with gyms, boot camps, and personal trainers.  If you can’t afford to have a personal trainer or join a gym, there are many easy at home exercises that can lead you on the right track to health.

If you are in pain or have an injury, you can’t get back into shape and fully exercise. Before you get back in the gym for your daily workout, be sure to see your local chiropractor or doctor and get your health cleared so you can make 2012 the year you achieve your goals and resolutions.  At SF Custom Chiropractic, we are offering half off the Initial Exam and treatment for new patients who want to make better health part of their resolution for 2012.

In good health,

Dr. J