Columbia Advanced Chiropractic, LLC

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The Oura Ring and Why You Should Have One

The Oura Ring and Why You Should Have One

I rarely do product reviews or ‘pump’ a product but this particular one deserves some serious attention.

If you are active, wanting to become more active, or just have an interest in your health, the Oura ring is a must for you.  The engineers from Oura have brought to the market their second rendition of a ring that maps your sleeping patterns, activities, and heart metrics and puts them together in a simple and easy package.

Using the data from the ring and linking to your iphone or Android, you are given a TON of information about how  your body is functioning.  And yes, it’s highly accurate.

An example is HRV, or Heart Rate Variability.  HRV is probably the most scientifically validated way to assess the health of your autonomic nervous system (ANS).  The ANS is made up of your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.  The sympathetic is your ‘flight or fight’ part and the parasympathetic is the ‘rest and digest’ side.

Most of us have stress in our lives and this makes our bodies more sympathetic dominant.  When this occurs, the parasympathetic portion of the ANS does not function as it should.  Due to this, the sympathetic ‘runs wild’ and we can end up with serious health issues.  Those who monitor their HRV can determine what changes will upregulate, or increase parasympathetic tone.

For many, it’s getting more sleep or partaking in exercise.  For others, it’s adding CBD (truthfully, a must).  No matter what you do, you want to maximize your HRV as it tells you that there is a balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

If you are unfamiliar, HRV is a measure of the difference between each heart beat.  We might think that a consistent heart beat is healthy, but in actuality, that is incorrect.  With each beat, there should be a slightly different time between each beat.  This indicates that the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems are playing off one another.  When we lack parasympathetic tone, then the sympathetic controls everything and the heart beat remains very constant with the gap time between beats.

Athletes use HRV as an indication of recovery from sport.  They know that a great HRV means that their bodies are preparing for more activity and that they will compete better.  Athletes need to have a large amount of HRV.

For all of us, we can use HRV for determining the health of our neurological system.  The data the Oura provides helps to establish goals to achieve  and teaches us ways to recover better.  It gives us data we cannot otherwise obtain.  The HRV is only one health index the Oura provides but oh, what an important one it is.

I have spoken with Oura because we are seeing amazing changes in HRV with our patients who are using CBD and are making lifestyle changes (several of our athletes already have the Oura ring).  It’s great to be able to objectively track the changes using the Oura ring.

I wear mine as my wedding band now because it looks professional, is light, and feels great on the finger.  It only needs to be charged once every 6 days and this makes it almost hassle free.  You can, of course, wear it on any finger (they send you a sizing kit to be sure you order the correct size).  I awaken every morning and the first thing I do is check my phone for my sleep data.  The ring has made going to bed earlier, easier, as you feel better when the sleep score is higher (it is based on far more than just the HRV).

Sure, the Oura does a lot more and I’ll be documenting that soon.  The Oura ring in one piece of technology you should not be without if you are interested in tracking your health metrics and sleep patterns.

 

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We’re Liberated!

We’re Liberated!

Talk with most physicians and healthcare providers these days and one topic seems to have total consensus: electronic medical records are bad!  Yes, it’s true.  Every job has its associated stresses and we have to accept most of these.  However, it’s worth changing things if they are bad enough that you can no longer do the job you were trained to do at 100%. This is the case with electronic medical records and many healthcare providers are feeling ‘trapped’.

Some background: choosing to be a chiropractor was a great career choice for me.  I love helping people and I love new and innovative ways of doing so.  I have always been athletic and I enjoy helping people remain active and feeling good!  It’s my career and my life!  I enjoy working with my peers in the medical and fitness fields.  I have always awakened in the morning excited to come to work and help people. Continue Reading →

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The Truth About Plantar Fasciitis and How To Treat It

The Truth About Plantar Fasciitis and How To Treat It

Plantar Fasciitis (PF) can be a rather debilitating condition.  It doesn’t matter if you have flat feet (pes planus) or high arches (pes cavus).  If there is added stress to the bottom of the foot that occurs quickly, it can result in plantar fascial pain.

What exactly is the plantar fascia?  Consider the plantar fascia to be similar to a ligament.  It runs from the heel (the medial calcaneal tubercle) to the heads of your metatarsals (point at about where you see the webbing of your toes).  Despite what you might have been told, its function is NOT to hold the arch of the foot. Rather, the PF more-so holds the muscles under it together so that they can suspend your arch. Continue Reading →

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It’s Not Your Neck Silly, It’s Your First Rib!  It’s My What?

It’s Not Your Neck Silly, It’s Your First Rib! It’s My What?

Many people seek care from a chiropractor for neck pain.  After all, it’s one of the most common conditions we treat.  Sometimes, however, the reason your neck hurts is not due to the neck itself but rather something else close by: the first rib.

The first rib is just that…it’s the rib that is highest up and close to your neck.  It goes from the T1 vertebra (the vertebra just below the ‘cervical’, or neck, vertebrae) to the upper portion of the sternum, on the front side.  The clinical importance of the first rib (in this case) is that it has two very important muscles that attach on it.  Those muscles are the anterior and middle scalenes muscles. Continue Reading →

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The Biceps Tear…What You Should Know

The Biceps Tear…What You Should Know

There are two heads to the biceps brachii, the long head (that goes from the labrum to just past the elbow…the outside one in the picture) and the short head (that goes from the coracoid process to just below the elbow…the inside one in the picture).  We rely on each muscle for shoulder flexion, elbow flexion, and some supination (hand rotated upward) of the forearm/wrist/hand.  Of the two heads, the long head tends to tear more as it thins out as it travels into the shoulder and it is more susceptible to damage at its attachment on the shoulder labrum.

The muscle can tear due to age-related wear and tear, labral tearing, overuse and trauma.  Generally, muscles tear from either the origin (where it begins proximally), or the insertion (the distal attachment).  When the biceps tears from the insertion, it will tend to roll up the arm and form a ball in the middle of the biceps region.  This type of tear tends to be very noticeable. Continue Reading →

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The Major Reason Why Your Knee Hurts and What You Can Do About It

The Major Reason Why Your Knee Hurts and What You Can Do About It

As a sports rehabilitation doctor, I get the benefit of seeing all types of sports injuries.  One of more common injuries I see is a ‘knee tracking’ issue.  I’ll go as far as saying about 75% of all people presenting with knee pain have this condition as either a primary issue or issue that is causing a more serious situation.  So, what exactly is this funny sounding condition?

As humans, we are the ONLY animal to be upright and on two legs as a primary means of ambulation.  Although our evolution has allowed us to do this, it is not without issues.  It just so happens that the muscles on the outside of the thigh tend to get stronger/tighter than the muscles on the inside.  Now, it’s a bit more complex than this but this should help give us a general idea of what is occurring. Continue Reading →

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Dr. Manison now TPI (Titleist Performance Institute) Medical Level 3 Certified Provider

Dr. Manison now TPI (Titleist Performance Institute) Medical Level 3 Certified Provider

Golf is a sport that many consider to be an addiction: players will go through great lengths to improve their swings, ball distance, fitness, conditioning, etc… all in the name of lowering that handicap.  Along with the need to have a good teaching golf professional to work with, players at all levels need a proper assessment to see if their bodies are even capable of doing what they are asking it to do and proper personnel to help them ‘move’ as they should.  Fixing a golf swing is not as easy as simply saying ‘you need to rotate more.’  The body is quite complex and the golf swing relies on so many joints and muscles that even a slight bio-mechanical issue can cost the golfer many strokes! Continue Reading →

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Introducing the InBody 570 Body Composition Analyzer Part 2

Introducing the InBody 570 Body Composition Analyzer Part 2

Part 2 of the discussion on the InBody 570 covers two of five important studies (and there are more) that help to validate the accuracy and legitimacy of the InBody 570.  This technical and may I say, ahem, somewhat boring information is important to discuss as your healthcare providers like to see objective health data. It’s time for the entire healthcare industry to understand and embrace what improvements in body composition can do not only for the individual patient, but also for the healthcare system as a whole.  Figure it this way: the more healthy we are, the less disease we will have.  This translates to less healthcare costs and this is good for everyone!  This blog and the next one serve to help educate not only our patients and those who will want to come to our office to get assessed, but also their healthcare providers who will be viewing these results.  Body composition is SO important.

Whether you are on our body modification program (caloric restriction and intermittent fasting…and most all of you should be interested in this to optimize your health) or are an athlete looking to improve your performance and recovery in your respective sport, the 570 is unmatched on the market, it is FDA approved, and it provides data that is vital to your health.  This is about your health.  It’s time to think of your future and what you should be doing to live longer and healthier!

The first study of interest is from 2004 and the lead author is Shinichi Demura.  The study was published in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology and Applied Human Science.  The name of this study is Percentage of Total Body Fat as Estimated by Three Automatic Bioelectrical Impedance Analyzers. Continue Reading →

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Introducing The InBody 570 Body Composition Analyzer Part 1

Introducing The InBody 570 Body Composition Analyzer Part 1

We are excited to be introducing our patients to the FDA approved  InBody 570 Body Composition Analyzer.

So, what does this incredible machine do?  Well, it does a LOT.  Simply put, it provides information about what you are made up of…do you have enough muscle, too much fat, are you more likely to have serious health issues due to too much visceral fat, too much systemic inflammation, etc…?  Did I mention this unit has cleared FDA testing?

It is now considered to be one of the gold standards for body composition assessment.  This might seem like an odd piece of equipment for a sports medicine chiropractic office, but in reality, all sports chiropractors should all have one.  It is vital to have a quality body composition analyzer as so many patients need to improve their muscle:fat ratio as an imbalance in this plays a direct role in a patient’s ability to recover.   In addition, we can determine the intracellular water weight vs. the extracellular water weight in the body.  This helps us in a unique and validated fashion to determine whether a patient has systemic inflammation. This is very important to be able to assess.  On the topic of visceral fat, the major contributor to vascular health and an indicator that most have probably never had checked, yes, the 570 has you covered (it’s validity has been compared to abdominal CT scans). Continue Reading →

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Do You Want Your Brain To Function Better?

Do You Want Your Brain To Function Better?

As a sports chiropractor, my training involves learning how to best treat the body to effect changes in many ways for dysfunctional joints, muscles, ligaments, cartilage, fascia, and more. We know that chiropractic adjustments alter neurological pathways that change joint mechanics and alter muscle tone and tension, allowing for a change in biomechanics at local and more global regions.  This is great and it works well, but what about all the ‘holistic’ training we receive? Chiropractors are supposed to take care of the whole body, inside and out, but most of us do not do that when we only treat the body from the outside.  This approach is not complete and it does not allow us to fully help our patients. Continue Reading →

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