Lance: The Cyclist vs. The Man

The Cyclist vs. The Man

Lance Armstrong, founder and chairman of LIVESTRONG, made the following announcement today regarding his status as chairman of the cancer non-profit organization’s board of directors:

“In 1996, as my cancer treatment was drawing to an end, I created a foundation to serve people affected by cancer.  It has been a great privilege to help grow it from a dream into an organization that today has served 2.5 million people and helped spur a cultural shift in how the world views cancer survivors.  This organization, its mission and its supporters are incredibly dear to my heart.

“I am deeply grateful to the people of the foundation who have done such hard and excellent work over the last 15 years, building tangible and effective ways to improve the lives of cancer survivors. And I am deeply humbled by the support our foundation has received from so many people throughout the world – survivors, world leaders, business leaders and of course, the cancer community itself.  We turn to this community frequently for guidance and collaboration to achieve our shared goals.  They are unfailingly generous with their wisdom and counsel and I can never thank them enough.

“I have had the great honor of serving as this foundation’s chairman for the last five years and its mission and success are my top priorities. Today therefore, to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career, I will conclude my chairmanship.

“My duties will transfer to Vice Chairman Jeff Garvey who will serve as chairman.  Jeff’s guidance and wisdom have been critical to shaping the foundation’s work since its earliest days.  Jeff was this organization’s founding chairman and I have full confidence that under his leadership, the foundation will continue expanding its ability to serve cancer survivors.

“My family and I have devoted our lives to the work of the foundation and that will not change.  We plan to continue our service to the foundation and the cancer community. We will remain active advocates for cancer survivors and engaged supporters of the fight against cancer.  And we look forward to an exciting weekend of activities marking the 15th anniversary of the foundation’s creation.”

“Long before he became a household name, Lance Armstrong created a foundation to serve others facing the same fears and challenges he struggled to overcome as a result of his cancer diagnosis,” said Doug Ulman, LIVESTRONG President and CEO.  “Today, thanks to Lance’s leadership, that foundation has had the privilege of raising close to $500 million to serve people affected by cancer.

“Lance has made this foundation and its cause – aiding people whose lives have been touched by this disease – his life’s work.  His leadership in the cancer community has spurred immeasurable progress and it has been a great privilege to work shoulder to shoulder with him on a daily basis during his chairmanship.

“We are grateful to Jeff Garvey for assuming the responsibilities of chairman.  Jeff has been a guiding presence for LIVESTRONG for 15 years and we look forward to a seamless transition under his leadership and a continued strong focus on our core values and mission.

“Lance’s devotion to serving others whose lives were irrevocably changed by cancer, as his was, is unsurpassable. We are incredibly proud of his record as an advocate and philanthropist and are deeply grateful that Lance and his family will continue to be actively involved with the Foundation’s advocacy and service work.  We look forward to celebrating 15 years of progress with Lance and his family this weekend and recommitting ourselves to the work of the cancer community for the years ahead.”

- Katherine McLane, Livestrong

News of Lance Armstrongs doping charges will stir argument about the sport of cycling and the man that conquered it after beating testicular cancer.  Will people now discard what he has done after evidence of doping has been presented against him, or will people still continue to cherish the good that he has done for so many cancer patients and families in the United States?

Lance Armstrong may have hurt the sport of cycling, but when it comes fighting cancer he has helped millions.  Go ahead and tarnish him as an athlete and all that he has accomplished on a bicycle, but appreciate all of the amazing things that he has done for others outside of the sport.

Dr. Nicholas J. Andolina
- Chiropractor , Physiotherapist
  Woodbridge, VA 22192

Andolina Chiropractic & Rehab
1455 Old Bridge Road, Suite 202
Woodbridge, VA 22192703-490-8383

www.andolinachiropracticrehab.com

Hunting Injuries & Safety

Hunting Injuries & Safety

The wait is over, and hunting season is finally here.  Not all hunters are able to spot a nice 8 point from the luxury of their therapeutic hot tub session.  Most of us are hiking to the middle of nowhere to our favorite spot on the ground or in a tree.  

The majority of hunters are not the most athletic, in shape individuals.  Hiking through rough terrain to get to that hunting spot can be very difficult and tiresome for these people.  Poor health coupled with the frigid morning temperatures and no stretching creates a perfect combination for injury.  

 Hunters should get ready for the season long before it starts.  If you aren't a regular walker or hiker, start walking every night for 10 minutes or so.  Gradually increase your time each week.  This will allow you to be ready to scout the land before the season starts, and once it does there will be no issues.

Before venturing to your spot, stretch the legs, butt, and back muscles.  Simple stretches will greatly decrease your chances of injury. Also, marching in place or pacing back and forth to get the blood flowing in those cold temperatures will also help.  Just don't make too much noise!

Besides the obvious firearms safety, all hunters should follow these important guidelines.  Although we don't ever see musculoskeletal hunting injuries in the newspaper, they can be serious and they are far more common.

If you have any hiking injuries or want to brag and show off your pictures of that nice buck or bear, call your Woodbridge chiropractor, Dr. Nick Andolina, at Andolina Chiropractic & Rehab.

Dr. Nicholas J. Andolina
- Chiropractor , Physiotherapist
  Woodbridge, VA 22192

Andolina Chiropractic & Rehab
1455 Old Bridge Road, Suite 202
Woodbridge, VA 22192703-490-8383

www.andolinachiropracticrehab.com

Raking Leaves

Raking Leaves

Before you rev up the lawnmower or reach for your rake this fall, consider the possible consequences: upper or lower-back strain, neck strain and pain in the shoulders.

Just as playing football or golf can injure your body, the twisting, turning, bending, and reaching of mowing and raking can also cause injury if your body is not prepared. Like an athlete, if you leap into something without warming up or knowing how to do it, the chances of injury are greater.

What Can You Do?
The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) offers the following tips to help prevent the needless pain yard work may cause.

• Do stretching exercises, without bouncing, for a total of 10 to 15 minutes spread over the course of your work. Do knee-to-chest pulls, trunk rotations, and side bends with hands above your head and fingers locked. Take a short walk to stimulate circulation. When finished with the yard work, repeat the stretching exercises.
• Stand as straight as possible, and keep your head up as you rake or mow.
• When it's still warm outside, avoid the heat. If you're a morning person, get the work done before 10 a.m. Otherwise, do your chores after 6 p.m.
• When raking, use a "scissors" stance: right foot forward and left foot back for a few minutes, then reverse, putting your left foot forward and right foot back.
• Bend at the knees, not the waist, as you pick up piles of leaves or grass from the grass catcher. Make the piles small to decrease the possibility of back strain.
• When mowing, use your whole bodyweight to push the mower, rather than just your arms and back.
• If your mower has a pull cord, don't twist at the waist or yank the cord. Instead, bend at the knees and pull in one smooth motion.
• Drink lots of water, wear a hat, shoes and protective glasses. And, to avoid blisters, try wearing gloves. If your equipment is loud, wear hearing protection. If you have asthma or allergies, wear a mask.
• Try ergonomic tools, too. They're engineered to protect you when used properly.
• If you do feel soreness or stiffness in your back, use ice to soothe the discomfort. If there's no improvement in two or three days, see your local doctor of chiropractic.

For all of you in the Woodbridge, VA area, fall is here and leaves will be changing colors and falling in no time.  Be careful when busting out those rakes for another season.  Luckily there are less woods and more pavement around here. For everyone back home in NY...well, you better already have your snow shovels out!

Dr. Nicholas J. Andolina
- Chiropractor , Physiotherapist
  Woodbridge, VA 22192


Andolina Chiropractic & Rehab

1455 Old Bridge Road, Suite 202

Woodbridge, VA 22192

703-490-8383

www.andolinachiropracticrehab.com

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Neck and back pain from sitting at work?

7 Ways to Stay Limber at Your Desk Job
 

You may be one of the millions of people who spend their days at desk jobs, staring at computer screens — day after day after day. Is this detrimental to your health? If the ergonomics of your desk set-up are not right and you're not taking breaks for stretching, you risk health woes such as a stiff spine or computer eye strain.

"Twenty years ago, chiropractors spent most of their time taking care of people who moved too much. Today most of the problems we see are in people who don't move enough," says chiropractor Eric Plasker, DC, founder of The Family Practice in Marietta, Ga., and author of The 100-Year Lifestyle Workout.

The Price You Pay for Sitting All Day

People were not meant to sit in a cramped position all day. "Your body needs to be in motion to be healthy," says Plasker. "Without movement, your muscles and ligaments don't get a good blood supply."

Here are some ways sitting at a desk for long hours negatively affects your health:

• Spine damage. "Sitting all day can result in a pinched nerve or a herniated disc. Damage to your spine may not affect longevity, but it will affect the quality of longevity," says Plasker.
• Computer eye strain. Almost 90 percent of people who use a computer for three or more hours a day have symptoms of computer eye strain. These symptoms include blurred vision, headaches, and neck aches.
• Heart health. "A desk job that keeps you sitting all day can lead to being overweight and underactive. That is bad for your heart and it can decrease longevity," notes Plasker. "When you are sitting, you are not burning calories and you are not getting the aerobic exercise your heart needs."

Desk Job Dos and Don'ts

Most Americans sit down to work. Poor posture, prolonged sitting, and poorly thought-out work stations are major causes of back and neck pain and for time lost at work.

These tips can help:

1. Practice good ergonomics. Ergonomics is the science of designing the workplace to fit the worker. Keep your computer directly in front of you, slightly below eye level. Have your hands reach the keyboard without having to bend your wrists; have good back support; and have your weight evenly distributed. "If you are craning your neck all day to see your computer, you will strain your eyes and your neck," warns Plasker.
2. Maintain good posture. "Good ergonomics won't do you much good if you have bad posture,” says Plasker. “From behind, your back should be straight. From the side, your lower back and neck should maintain their normal curves. Twisting, slouching, or stretching and extending your back or neck can cause pain and damage.”
3. Follow the 50-10 rule. "That means for every 50 minutes of sitting, you need to get up and move around for 10 minutes — and that doesn't mean getting up to go sit somewhere else," says Plasker. "Walking for 10 minutes is a great exercise. It gets your hips and lower back in motion and gets your heart pumping."
4. Take the stairs. "Using the stairs is a good aerobic activity. This increases your aerobic activity and your range of motion," explains Plasker.
5. Stretch your back. "Bend forward and touch your toes. If you can't make it down to your toes, just touch your knees. Keep your knees just slightly bent," says Plasker. You can relieve the pressure in the small of your back by putting your hands on your hips and leaning back while looking up.
6. Stretch your neck. "It's best not to roll your head around in circles," advises Plasker. "Just tilt your head forward, backward, and from side to side." You can add some gentle pressure to these stretch positions by pushing your head with your hand. Stretch positions should be held for about 30 seconds.
7. Loosen your upper back. You can relieve the tension in your shoulders and upper back by keeping your arms at your sides with your elbows bent at 90 degrees. Now flex your shoulders backward, squeezing your shoulder blades together. You can also get relief by letting your arms hang straight down and rolling your shoulders upward and backward. Repeat these exercises about 10 times.- Chris Iliades, MD Medically reviewed by Pat F. Bass III, MD, MPH

You may be stuck with a desk job, but that doesn’t mean you should stay stuck at your desk. For health and longevity, get up and get moving.

In Woodbridge and the entire DC metro region, most jobs seem to involve people sitting at a desk for 8 hours per day.  As explained in this article, days like this can cause postural changes, muscle imbalances, and an immense amount of pain.  If you have neck or back pain due to poor ergonomics at work and are looking for a chiropractor in Woodbridge, give us a call at Andolina Chiropractic & Rehab!

Dr. Nicholas J. Andolina
- Chiropractor , Physiotherapist
  Woodbridge, VA 22192




Andolina Chiropractic & Rehab

1455 Old Bridge Road, Suite 202

Woodbridge, VA 22192

703-490-8383www.andolinachiropracticrehab.com

Chiropractic Care Limits Basketball Injuries!

Limiting Injuries in Basketball

Clearly, a sport that requires tremendous power and speed will lend itself to injuries. And so it is with basketball.

In fact, if you go by sheer numbers alone, basketball is the most injury-prone sport of any in the nation -- with the latest 2010 data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission showing its 528,584 reported injuries, topping even football's 489,676. Sidelining hoopsters were everything from back spasms to sprained ankles.

That explains why so many professional teams -- across the sports world -- are now makingchiropractic care part of their health regimens.

"It helps give teams and athletes a competitive advantage by assisting in the recovery from many structural injuries, putting them in a position to enhance endurance levels and achieve overall peak performance," says Dr. Craig Buhler, who was the chiropractor for the Utah Jazz during a time when they had the lowest injury rate of any team in the NBA.

"I've personally seen how athletes are recognizing the value it has in accomplishing their goals of staying in the game and playing at their best," adds the avid supporter of the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress.

-FCP

Would any of you expect me to put a picture of a basketball player that wasn't on the Bulls?  You knew that wouldn't happen!  Once D-Rose gets healthy, they sign Tom McChesney, Josh Brooks, and Todd Dersham, the Heat will be yesterday's news!

Dr. Nicholas J. Andolina
- Chiropractor , Physiotherapist
  Woodbridge, VA 22192

Andolina Chiropractic & Rehab

1455 Old Bridge Road, Suite 202

Woodbridge, VA 22192

703-490-8383

Barefoot Running?

The topic of barefoot running is one that will draw mixed opinions not only from health care professionals, but also track and field coaches. This is not the first time the concept of barefoot running has been brought to our attention. This seems to happen nearly once a decade. When Abebe Bikila won the 1960 Olympic marathon in bare feet, the concept was prominent. In the '70s, “earth shoes” came out. In the 80s it was South African barefoot runner Zola Budd. Recently, you may have seen some people wearing odd-looking footwear with “toes” instead of the closed toe box of conventional footwear. These are also known as “minimalist” shoes. This has given the barefoot craze some momentum. For starters, they are more comfortable and appealing than their hideous-looking predecessors, the earth shoes. So the question remains: Is barefoot running good or bad?

The idea of barefoot running has been studied for many years, but much of the mainstream popularity was created by the bestseller "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall. After living with and observing a tribe of well-trained humans in Mexico, McDougall proposed that everyone should be running barefoot because this improves your gait cycle and promotes a more efficient gait. When looking at McDougall’s ideas, they are not so much about shoes as they are about learning to run efficiently. It just so happened that running barefoot was a shortcut to learning how to run efficiently. Next question: Why does barefoot running create efficiency?

Barefoot running forces the individual to land on their mid and forefoot rather then on their heel and rear foot (as most traditional running shoes now promote). Running with a “heel strike” increases forces through the lower extremities and into the spine. Landing on the forefoot, or a “barefoot strike,” reduces the forces through the lower extremity and spine at impact. This creates a smoother transition to the next cycle, as the other leg comes through and prepares to hit the ground. Therefore, instead of pounding the ground and springing forward, the individual glides over the terrain. 

The beginning of the running craze of the ‘70s that started with the “rock star” approach of Steve Prefontaine; the gold medal performance of Frank Shorter and publishing of “Running” by Jim Fix also began with minimalist shoes. Only, we didn’t call them minimalist shoes because they are all we had! Nike’s original models such as the Oregon Waffle and the Waffle Trainer did what they were supposed to do: Keep you from cutting your foot on man-made surfaces, and provide a shield from the elements. Once shoes became “corrective devices,” all heck broke loose, creating a magnification of running injuries and the idea that running was “bad for you.” In reality, running is not bad, but rather running bad is bad. Our old minimalist shoes forced us to run correctly or not run at all. The new breed of athletic shoes has allowed an entire generation of inefficient runners to hit the streets and literally pound the pavement.

The most popular minimalist shoes are the Vibram Five Fingers, New Balance Minimalist and the Nike Free Run. The idea goes back to Nike's original designs: Provide protection to the foot, but allow you to run with barefoot mechanics. They are lightweight and flexible, and have a wide toe box (front of the shoe) and what is known as a zero-drop sole. This means the heel of the shoe is the same thickness of the rest of the sole. This is contrary to conventional running shoes that are built with a dramatic heel lift. It is actually the heel lift of modern-day shoes that creates a good portion of running-related injuries by creating imbalances of strength, weakness and stiffness in the lower extremities.

If you want to try minimalist shoes, there are a few simple rules to follow. First, be realistic with your expectations. Minimalist shoes will not fix your injuries and you will most likely go through a period of soreness in the legs and back. Do not expect to train at your normal volume or intensity for several weeks to months. Make sure that you are injury-free. Start by wearing your new shoes for daily activities and progress to running. Make sure you are regularly stretching your calves and plantar fascia (bottom of the foot).

Like it or not, age is a large determiner in being able to wear minimalist shoes. The older you are, the longer it takes to adapt to the minimalist approach. You may have also developed certain maladies that will prevent the use of these shoes. If you have any questions, start by asking your health professional or try this online resource: www.runnersworld.com.

The good and bad of barefoot running and minimalist footwear

This an excellent article  written by Dr. Dale Buchberger of Auburn, NY.  As he states, it is very important that you be careful when changing to minimalist.  You may have some pain or discomfort that may need attention.  You may not be able to wear these shoes running if the pain doesn't dissipate.  If you have are having pain while running and have questions about what shoes you should be wearing, or need treatment.  Contact us at Andolina Chiropractic & Rehab if you have any questions regarding your shoes or treatment needed for your running injuries.

Dr. Nicholas J. Andolina
- Chiropractor , Physiotherapist
  Woodbridge, VA 22192

Andolina Chiropractic & Rehab

1455 Old Bridge Road, Suite 202

Woodbridge, VA 22192

703-490-8383

Too much in your child's backpack?

Kids straining under heavy backpacks is all too common come back-to-school time. And Ontario’s chiropractors warn that carrying a backpack that’s too heavy or wearing it the wrong way can have a cause bad posture and distortion of the spinal column leading to muscle pain, headaches, back, neck and arm pain, and even nerve damage. More than half of young people experience at least one episode of lower back pain by their teenage years, often caused by their backpacks.

As parents prep their kids for back-to-school this year, the Ontario Chiropractic Association’s Pack it Light, Wear it Right campaign offers tips for parents to teach their kids how to choose, pack and wear a backpack to avoid back pain in the future.

1. Choose the right backpack. Pick a bag made from lightweight material that has two wide, adjustable, padded shoulder straps, along with a hip or waist strap, padded back and plenty of pockets. Make sure it fits well and that it’s not too big.

2. Pack it properly. Drop your filled backpack on the scale: It should weigh no more than 10 to 15 per cent of your child’s body weight. Pack the heaviest objects close to the body, and place bumpy or odd shaped ones on the outside, away from the back.

3. Wear it the right way. Carrying a backpack over one shoulder may look cool, but encourage kids to use both shoulder straps, and adjust the pack so it fits snugly to the body. Wearing the waist strap adds stability.

4. Lift it carefully. Tell your kids not to just pick up their backpack and throw it over their shoulders. Teach them to put the pack on a flat surface at waist height and slip on the straps one shoulder at a time. Tell them to lift using their arms and legs and bend at the knees.

This article from the Ontario Chiropractic Association helps clarify how important it is for young children to safely wear their backpacks.  Too much in the backpack means there is a greater risk of injury.  Along with injury comes muscular imbalance, and postural change.  If your child has any of these conditions, or if you have questions feel free to call Andolina Chiropractic & Rehab.  Mention this post and receive a free Aqua Massage when Aqua Massage of Andolina Chiropractic of Woodbridge opens in the very near future.

Dr. Nicholas J. Andolina
- Chiropractor , Physiotherapist
  Woodbridge, VA 22192

Andolina Chiropractic & Rehab

1455 Old Bridge Road, Suite 202

Woodbridge, VA 22192

703-490-8383