That was a comment recently posted on Twitter.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Super Chef, Emeril Lagasse.  He says, “Fried food isn’t bad for you, bad fried food is bad for you.”  The same applies to chiropractors.  People don’t dislike chiropractors, they dislike bad chiropractors.

It is highly recommended that you seek out a “Sports Chiropractor” or a chiropractor who incorporates treatments not just of the joints, but also of the muscles, nerves and surrounding soft tissues.

Such a doctor may or may not perform miracles, but will certainly encourage functional changes that will significantly reduce your back pain, but will also improve functionality and performance.  A good site to start your search may be www.activerelease.com.

Shin Splints is a general term used to refer to a painful condition of the shins. The most common cause is inflammation to the periosteum, the outer sheath of the shinbone (tibia). Specifically, the pain associated with shin splints is the result of fatigue and trauma to the muscles and tendons where they attach to the tibia.

Dr. Booker and Dr. Beck co-author the article below which provides more information for those with athletic injuries and shin splint ailments.

Active Release Technique: Athletic Injuries & Shin Splints

In case you missed it, our very own Dr. B was on BlogTalkRadio.com late last week. Dr. Booker joined a panel of medical doctors to discuss “Traditional Medicine Your Back Up Plan for Healthcare Reform.”

The internet radio show’s host, Njideka Olatunde, emailed in this nice note post the show:

Greetings Dr Booker:

Thank you so very much for being my guest on the Health Is Wealth segment of the Wellness Experience. You were a great guest and a wonderful person to interview. I look forward to having you again on my show.  Please keep me posted about future events and programs you are involved in that I can share with my listeners. I support you and your success.

Dr. Booker is actively seeking opportunities like internet radio shows, webcasts, webinars and the like to share wellness, health and chiropractic benefits to audiences far and wide. Know of any opportunities where Dr. B can share his nuggets of wisdom? Drop him a line at DrBooker[at]CapitolRehab.com

Mariah, I have some good news, and some bad news.

First the bad news. Aging IS about losses and decline. There is no getting around it, so that’s the bad news.

The good news is that aging and functional losses don’t begin at 59 or 65. The fact of the matter is that we ALL begin the slow road downhill, but that slow decline actually begins somewhere between birth and puberty (depending on who you want to listen to), not when we retire. (Now that I have effectively rained on everyone’s parade, allow me to try and explain.)

On average, we notice:

- a decrease in power and strength around age 40
- a decrease in speed around 28-30
- a decrease in quickness around 25
- a decrease in flexibility around 10-12

But the secret to life is understanding that it is never too late to train those areas where we all will eventually show some deficits.

And the best news is that research has shown that individuals who:
- stretch and improve flexibility,
- do cardiovascular exercise,
- strength and resistance train,
- work on balance, and
- stabilize their core

Will ALWAYS do better than those who don’t. And the most important thing to remember is it is never too late to start.

Consult with a personal trainer, physical therapist, chiropractor or athletic trainer who can help prescribe recommendations in these areas.

My friend Mariah works closely with senior population through her work with AARP. We recently had a brief discussion on the topic of again and physical activity. I think Mariah knew what my opinion was going to be before we even got into the discussion.

My short response was this:

“If there are 80 year olds running marathons and 30 year olds complaining of chronic pain, then is our ‘age’ really the issue?”

I like to say, some people grow up and some people just grow old! As it relates to physical activity and aging, the key point to remember is that the physical deficits we begin to realize in our 20′s and 30′s are essentially the same deficits we will experince in our 60′s, 70′s, and 80′s. The biggest difference is if we didn’t begin to correct these issues earlier in life, the work to correct them later may require a little more patience.

If a person has never been instructed on where to begin, I always recommend the following:

1. Work to improve balance
2. Improve flexibility of the front of the hips (hip flexors)
3. Improve flexibilty of the back of the hips (buttocks region)

Our seniors should work with a qualified physical therapist, personal trainer or doctor to begin improving these ares of concern.

I will post videos to demonstrate some of these exercises in a future blog post.

Once again, due to inclement weather and very windy blizzard-like conditions, we are closed today. We hope to be open our regular business hours Thursday, February 11th. Please check this blog for any updates!

Please stay warm and be safe!
Dr. B

FYI only for Capitol Rehab of Arlington patients with appointments this Tuesday and Wednesday of this week…

The weather is calling for snow showers beginning around 9am. Dr. Beck and Dr. Booker will both be available starting from 8:45am. We are strongly encouraging patients with afternoon and evening appointments, as well as Wednesday morning appointments, to consider coming in earlier on Tuesday to avoid the worst of the storm.

Capitol Rehab of Arlington is closely monitoring the weather to make every accommodation possible for our patients. We will update our information several times during tomorrow to keep you and all patients notified of any changes in our schedule.

To your health!!
Capitol Rehab of Arlington

Of course, anytime we talk of consuming alcohol. We have to give the obvious disclaimers of drink responsibly, don’t over consume…

Duly noted.

But here is the good news about drinking beer.  You may have noticed that most of the low-carb diet books tell you how bad beer is high on the glycemic index and therefore it will make you fat.  But here is how the glycemic index is calculated.

A test subject is asked to consume 100 grams of a carbohydrate test food or beverage within 15 minutes.  The blood sugar is measured every 30 minutes for the next 2 hours, and the results are compared against the response to ingesting 100 grams of sugar water.

If an average beer has 10-11 grams of carbs (Heineken 9.8g, Bud 10.6g, Coors 11.3 grams), you would have to ingest 9-10 beers within the 15 minutes.  You would have to consume closer to 20 beers in 15 minutes to accurately test a light beer.

By the way-Beer substitutes, such as wine coolers and hard ciders don’t work in this equation, as their carb values start significantly higher (26g and up).

Essentially, there are 2 lessons to take from beer and the glycemic index:

1. You can’t drink enough beer in 15 minutes to reach the level of a valid glycemic index test, because you would be pissy drunk!
2. If you limit yourself to a couple of beers during the Super Bowl, you simply aren’t going to ingest enough carbs to have a meaningful effect on your blood sugar.

What Beer Makers Have Figured Out

Brewers realize that yeast feeds on the carbs in beer, so if you allow the fermentation process to take longer, the yeast essentially eats more carbs (essentially, the secret behind low carb beer).  Recently Brewers have found ways to manipulate this process that allows yeast to eat almost all of the carbs without watering down the low-cal beer.

Here is a list of popular beer and the carb values.

Enjoy the Super Bowl

Brew                                                                      Carbs

Rock Green Light Low Carb                            2.4g

Michelob Ultra Low Carb                                2.6g

Aspen Edge Low Carb                                       2.6g

Miller Lite                                                              3.2g

Amstel Light                                                         5.0g

Coors Light                                                            5.0g

Bud Light                                                                6.6g

Heineken                                                                9.8g

Budweiser                                                              10.6

Coors                                                                       11.3g

Michelob Light                                                    11.7g

Rolling Rock                                                         13.0g

Miller Genuine Draft                                         13.1g

Guinness                                                                17.6g

Zima                                                                        30.0g

If you are living anywhere close or around the Northern Virginia area, then you are ** snowed ** in today … just like yours truly. As I sit in the home office recovering from what surely NOT be my last round of snow shoveling, I am realizing that my back is feeling a little tight. I’m certain I won’t be the only person who experiences some discomfort, or maybe even flat out pain, from this season’s snow-inspired outdoor workouts.

In light of this weekend’s #snowmageddon I have provided some helpful tips below and pulled together some videos of exercises that are very useful in preventing back pain.

Remember, these exercises are also therapeutic should pain, tightness or soreness develop.

1. The side plank
2. Therapeutic home exercise for upper and middle back
3. The fundamental core exercise

I also recruited my two kids to help demo my advice to most of you out there who I’m sure are stuck shoveling piles of endless snow…like me!

Let’s begin!

Tip #1

Tip #2

Tip #3

The right tools can make a large job manageable, the wrong tools will make for a very long day.

Tip #4

Injuries are far more likely to occur when you are fatigued and form breaks down.

Tip #5

Stay safe … and stay warm!

Dr. B