What a Week!

I went to a new doctor myself this week.  As you probably know I am trying to keep myself healthy and having a check up now and then is part of my plan.  

1.  The hour was spent with her on her laptop typing in the lab results and medications, vitamins and supplements I am currently on.  I had brought written copies of this for her records.    I realize that this is now the norm in medical practices thanks to the regulations insurance companies place on us leaving us very little time to actually practice our professions.

2.  I was offered only an opportunity to change one of my medications from an "alternative" to a more mainstream one based on new blood work that she ordered.  

3.  There was no interest generated in my current diet or lifestyle or my questions regarding the root of my health problems.  



Later on this week I read an article  and came across this statement:  

"I made a mistake for most of my professional career, a mistake nearly all my physician colleagues make. For decades, I believed the best way to take care of my patients was to use the latest drugs and newest procedures. Instead of talking to my patients about food, toxin exposure, or activity level, I prescribed meds and moved on to the next person as quickly as I could."  Dr. Terry Wahls in an article here in the Huffington Post.  

This sounds just like the experience I had!  I realize that doctors get very little training in nutrition, toxin exposure and lifestyle choices.  I know that it is difficult to keep up with the literature that is coming out, believe me I can't keep up with everything in my field either.  This just saddened me and really frustrated me.   You just have to be your own health advocate and do your own research on your specific health issues.   Health care professionals don't have the time to learn everything and are really buried in bureaucratic paperwork.  This is the main reason I went to a cash based practice which you can read about in one of my previous blogs (Why I Have a Cash-Based Practice).  When you come to my office, you get my undivided attention for the entire hour.  I am NOT spending time with needless documentation for insurance companies.  I spend our time together assessing and developing a treatment plan designed specifically for your problems.  

Then a wonderful thing happened to me this week.  A previous patient of mine has been following my blog The Grimm Details,  and with many questions back and forth, decided to heed some of my advice.  Here is a little bit of our conversation:  

Look how receptive her doctor was!  That was so exciting for me to hear.  I recommended to her that she should try the Whole 30.   It is detailed in the book It Starts with Food  by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig.  You can purchase the book here.  It really is a life changer for sure.  It isn't easy but the results are dramatic!  You might even lose a little weight with the lifestyle and dietary changes The Whole 30 demands.  Isn't feeling so much better and reducing medications what it is all about?  What are you waiting for?  If you have any questions give me a call or message me, I will be glad to help you get started on your journey to a healthier life.  I bet Kami could answer your questions as well.  Chances are you will feel and see improvement in your health just as she did.   Maybe you will want to name your first born after her...

Buy it Here

However, if you are experiencing pain and want to know if it is rapidly reversible you know what I am going to say, "Everyone deserves a good mechanical assessment and treatment plan!"  Schedule your evaluation today at Grimm Physiotherapy by calling 504-228-0524 or visiting the website grimmpt.com.  

How to Exercise with Sciatica

In my line of work, which is utilizing the McKenzie Method or Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy, I am initially trying to determine directional preference.  If you come to me with sciatica which is pain in your legs originating from your back, I try to find movements that will centralize and eventually abolish your symptoms.

If you go to an exercise class that actually eases your leg pain and leaves you with only back pain, then believe it or not, that would be a good exercise class for you.  

Yes, you heard me right...a class that gives me back pain?  As long as it eliminates your leg pain, then I am going to say yes.  Because this class is actually helping to centralize your symptoms which is a green light in my type of work.  (See I always said you didn't have to stop exercising!  We just have to find the right exercise for you.)  Ideally, you would find an exercise class that actually abolishes your leg and back pain and helped you to feel better.

If you have back pain that peripheralizes (or spreads away from the center) down into your buttock, or IT band, to the back of your knee, calf or even all the way down your leg, then you are making yourself worse.  If you are exercising and it causes you to list, or shift away from the pain, then you are also making yourself worse by producing a lateral shift.  If you went to a class without any pain at all and left with pain then

 This means this is not the exercise class for you.  

 

Sciatica

Lateral Shift

You might just need to scale your exercises or substitute one exercise for another.  I will be glad to help you with this once I know what is really going on with your back or sciatica problems.  If you aren't sure whether or not you are helping or making your problem worse, you know what I am going to say.  "Everyone Deserves a Good Mechanical Assessment and Treatment Plan!"  Visit grimmpt.com or call 504-228-0524 to set up your evaluation today.

Low Back Pain - - Red Flags and Yellow Flags

Although he makes no reference to what I do, perhaps, he hasn't been exposed to McKenzie MDT or Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy yet; he does a great job explaining red flags and yellow flags in this video.  An MDT assessment screens for all of these flags.  Low back pain is very common.  I don't want you to think that you have a disability when your physician orders further testing such as an MRI.  You can read my thoughts on these from a previous blog here (What About MRI's?)  This is no excuse for bed rest, or to stop exercising unless your doctor says so.  Staying active and having a positive attitude actually help to decrease your pain!  One of the worst things for common low back pain is avoiding activity.  "Motion is Lotion!"  If you are afraid to move, I recommend you get a good mechanical assessment.

Although uncommon in my practice, I have found metastatic cancers, ruptured and extruded disc problems that have required surgery, avascular necrosis of the femoral head, and other red and yellow flags during my evaluations.  I am often amazed at the power these assessments provide.  Just this week I had a patient who was really worried that her low back pain was being referred from her uterus.  After a thorough assessment her back pain was found to be mechanical providing her with great relief.  She is now on her way to a speedy recovery.

Even though low back pain is very common and easily managed it may be something serious.  If you have night pain, 10 out of 10 pain on an analog scale,  fever with your back pain, you are an IV drug abuser, you have osteoporosis or you have back pain after a fall,  if you have lost weight in the last 3 months you cannot explain, or have a previous history of lung, prostate or breast cancer, morning stiffness that lasts longer than an hour then you really need to get your back pain checked out.  If you have difficulty starting the process of urination or lose your bowel and/or bladder control, have numbness in the saddle (groin or rectal) area  you should seek immediate medical attention.  This means GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM.  This is serious!

You can rest assured that if your back pain is not rapidly reducible, you will be referred to the appropriate practitioner for further testing and follow up.  You know what I am going to say..."Everyone Deserves a Good Mechanical Assessment and Therapy Plan!"  Visit grimmpt.com or call 504-228-0524 to set up yours today.

What is the Best Single Thing You Can Do For Your Health?

I really love it when I find others who say things better than I can.  You know if you are a patient of mine or have been in the past, you have heard me say "Now it is time to get fit...I don't care what you do, but I want you to do it.  You really don't want me to pick the program for you!"  Everyone generally laughs and agrees, because they are afraid that I will ask them to do what I do and most of you know what that is already.  

Here is an excellent example of someone who says it better than I.  So grab something to drink and sit just a little and enjoy his video.

Sooooo, Can you limit your sitting and sleeping to 23 1/2 hours a day?  Hmmm?

If you are experiencing any kind of pain that is limiting your ability to move, you know what I am going to say!  "Everyone Deserves a Good Mechanical Assessment and Treatment Plan."  Visit grimmpt.com  or call 504-228-0524 to schedule your evaluation today.

I Didn't Do It Enough So I Lost It!

You better believe I am doing it now though.  What am I referring to?  Mobility.  Especially in my overhead reach department.  When I first started CrossFit 2 1/2 years ago I was unable to squat with my arms overhead.  Crazy!  Boy, was that an eye opener for me.

Impossible 2 1/2 years ago

As soon as I raised my arms overhead with or without a PVC pipe, I couldn't bend my knees.  Ridiculous!  I have been exercising my entire life in some form or fashion, but never really got the mobility thing going until now.  I am now able to do this thanks to my wonderful CrossFit coaches.  I feel this may be my greatest accomplishment at the box up to this point.  I know I have worked very hard to gain this motion and I am not going to lose it now!

I had been messing around with Kelly Starrett's Mobilitywod and really like what he is doing.  He is a fellow physcial therapist/CrossFitter who is helping thousands of people improve their mobility with a few tools.  You can check out his website here.  

However, what I am really excited about is something that has  come up on my radar this past year or so...the Ido Portal Movement Culture.  He has challenged everyone to hang for a total of 7 minutes for 30 days to help increase mobility, strength and quality of movement. Believe me, this sounds easy, but it isn't.  Check out his website for more information and follow him on Facebook.  People from all over the world with varying levels of strength and mobility are taking on this challenge.  His recent blog post about his challenge is here.  Read the entire post before you start.  There is a ton of valuable information in it.  

Who knows?  Maybe this will be the ticket to my mobility problems, and possibly yours.  I know I feel much better after only 4 days of the challenge.  I cannot wait to see the difference in 30 days!   If you have any shoulder problems it might be wise to check with your doctor first.  You know I did, and he is doing the challenge with me.  So here's to hanging out.

Of course, if you are having pain and loss of motion it would probably be a good idea to get a good mechanical assessment.  You never know, it might just be rapidly reversible.  You know what I always say, "Everyone Deserves a Good Mechanical Assessment and Treatment Plan!"  Visit grimmpt.com or call 504-228-0524 to set up your evaluation today.

I Won't Do That Again! That's What Hurt My Back or Neck!

That might be a good idea, depending on what you did.  But then again, it might be a bad idea!   As I have said many times before it wasn't what you did, like getting the groceries out of the trunk of the car, feeding your cat, mowing the lawn,  tying your shoelaces, making the bed, or even deadlifting in the gym (if done correctly) that brought on your pain.  It merely was the last straw.  The straw that broke the camel's back so to speak.

If you have untreated pain every time you exercise, or every time you sit or stand, then maybe you are adding straws and shouldn't do these things until you seek appropriate treatment.  However, when you receive a Mechanical Diagnosis and Treatment plan,  the evaluation and your treatment may actually produce or increase your symptoms.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it gives your clinician the information they need to help you to make yourself better.  Often you are repeating a painful movement until it becomes non-painful.  Crazy!  Not really but in the case of derangements or scar tissue this is true.

You will also hear me say "How do we know if this is working until you exercise (or bend over to feed the cat or tie your shoelaces) again?"  In MDT or the McKenzie Method an important part of your treatment is what we refer to as "Return to Function."  I will actually encourage you to return to those activities that initially brought on your painful symptoms as part of your recovery plan of action.  I feel that you need to add stress to the system to encourage a stronger healing response.  So yeah, I will tell you to get back to the gym with a few modifications and let's see how it goes.  If you are no worse then great!  If you are, then generally it was just a little bit too soon, but you can bet on it, I will ask you to try again soon.  For those of my patients who don't exercise, they will as part of their recovery.   I even have a battery of exercises that actually stress the injury to let me know how well you are healing before I send you back to the gym!

I feel a failed result of any treatment would be someone who feared and actually avoided returning to sport, exercise, or the activity that brought on their pain.

  I want you to know what I know, how to treat it yourself, and how to get back to doing the things you love (and even hate) to do.  So if you are having any pain with or without activity you know what I am going to say..."Everyone Deserves a Good Mechanical Assessment and Treatment Plan!"  Visit grimmpt.com or call 504-228-0524 to set up your evaluation today.

Sorry!  Can't get you out of mowing the lawn when you are better.  Your back will feel good in spite of the chore though.  

Is Your Office a Pain in the Neck?

You know mine is...just kidding!

Wow!  I saw this article online and it really made me cringe.  You can check it out here  http://www.prevention.com/health/health-concerns/solutions-neck-pain-office-workers   You can really hurt yourself doing the exercise they recommend for pain.  I guess if you weren't experiencing any neck or arm pain you could do this exercise but why?  Of course, I can't go into particulars about your neck pain because I haven't evaluated you but I can give you some general guidelines.

First I believe that sitting is really the new smoking.  I would almost rather people smoke than sit all day in poor posture.  So every 15 minutes of sitting I want you to get up from your desk and walk around a little.  You can sit right back down if you have to but it would be even better if you could do something active for about 15 minutes before you sit back down.

I set a timer for 15 minutes and will do computer work and then get up and do a chore like emptying the dishwasher or folding a load of clothes.  It is really amazing what I can get done in 15 minutes at the computer and around the house if I set a timer.  I challenge you to try this.  Not only can you get more done in less time, you will actually help to avoid neck pain!

Not such a good idea!

Try not to roll your head around especially if you have neck pain.  If you do you may irritate tissues that are already overstretched.

Maintenance of good posture when you are sitting is essential!    You need to have good posture in sitting and standing.  When sitting you need to have support for you lumbar curve so that you can sit in lordosis.  Ideally your ears will be over your shoulders, your shoulders over your hips and your hips a little higher than your knees.  Have your feet planted firmly on the floor.

I reommend the original McKenzie Roll.
Your can get one here and I can get a small
portion of the sale from Amazon.  

You  can try these exercises instead and see if if helps with your neck pain.  

But you know what I am going to say!  "Everyone Deserves a Good Mechanical Assessment and Treatment Plan!  Check out grimmpt.com for more details and call 504-228-0524 to set up your evaluation today.