Dr. Ducat's Blog
Don’t fall prey to shoulder pain
January 20th, 2012
Shoulder pain and rotator cuff problems are an epidemic in the United States. Complaints related to the shoulder are second only to spinal pain if you examine the number of doctor visits generated for each diagnosis. Many times shoulder conditions are preventable. Here are a few tips to help you beat the odds.
Keep your shoulders flexible. You should have a 180 degree arch reaching overhead (like jumping jacks) or forward (like doing the “wave” at the ballpark). If you are noticing that you can’t move through this full range of motion, it’s time to start stretching more or see a sports chiropractor for help.
Strength is important in between your shoulder blades. Most shoulder injuries are the result of weak muscles in between your shoulder blades. Strengthen them by doing exercises such as rows, reverse flys or planks.
Nip shoulder pain in the bud. The #1 way patients develop a surgical tear in their rotator cuff is by ignoring their pain and continuing to work/play with a weakened shoulder. You can prevent this by having your shoulder examined by a sports chiropractor at the first sign of discomfort. In the worst case scenerio, they will tell you nothing is wrong and that you are okay to continue your activities.
Dr. Erin Ducat is an expert in the diagnosis and treatment of shoulder injuries as a Board-Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician at Ducat Chiropractic & Sports Medicine in Bloomingdale, IL.
Dr. Erin’s 3 Top New Year’s Resolutions
December 20th, 2011
Want to make a positive difference for your health and lifestyle in 2012? Instead of the traditional resolutions of losing weight and exercising more, consider my top three recommendations for changes that give you a big “bang” for your resolution “buck.”
1. Don’t stay in any position for more than 30 minutes. Sitting, standing or laying on the couch for more than 30 minutes increases your risk for tight muscles and discomfort. Mix it up and move often to keep yourself comfortable.
2. Discover a safe stress-reliever. Many of us eat too much, drink alcohol or adapt other unhealthy habits to help us cope with stress. Try a new exercise class, call a friend or see if acupuncture might be a good way for you to recharge.
3. Eat what your grandparents ate. The latest diet craze often focuses on eliminating a certain type of food. This creates a short-term fix and an unbalanced diet. Just try to eat whole foods that are natural and not processed.
Need more tips? As a sports chiropractor, I’m an expert on helping patients achieve balance and reach their personal goals. Give me a call at 224-653-8094 and I will be glad to assist.
Keeping Your Back Healthy During The Holidays
November 19th, 2011
Back pain during the holiday season is a common problem. You’re stressed out. Shopping at the mall in heels has taken its toll. The airplane ride has permanently “hunched” you over. How can your back make it to January in one piece?
Take 5 minutes to stretch your hips on a daily basis. 95% of low back pain patients have tight hip muscles including the hamstrings, piriformis and hip flexors. Don’t bounce into the stretch and make sure you breath as you feel your muscles lengthen.
Keep your weight in check. Eating one extra cookie today won’t effect your low back, but eating an extra cookie every day until Christmas might put on a couple of extra pounds. Extra abdominal fat increases the pressure on your lumbar discs.
Holiday shopping is an athletic event — pick the right shoes. Wearing running shoes when walking for long periods of time on hard mall floors helps decrease the shock to your knees, hips and spine. Flats, heels and boots are common low back pain culprits.
Dr. Erin Ducat is a Board-Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician in Bloomingdale, IL and an expert in helping you move well for a lifetime.
Ignoring ergonomics?
October 25th, 2011
A majority of the aches and pains that my patients present with often start with improper ergonomics and posture during our normal activities. Our bodies were not built to sit at computers, stand at workstations or to ride in a truck for hours at end. We were built to be hunters and gatherers — exercising our core as we provided needed resources for our families. Simple changes to your workstation or home office may make a big difference in how you feel and reduce your risk for muscle and/or joint injuries.
The government has a great resource for ergonomics and posture: the OSHA’s Ergonomic Solutions website. It has numerous diagrams and tips to use as you analyze your workstation at home or the office. One tip that I find is very useful is making sure there is not clutter under your desk so that your legs can fit underneath properly. I don’t know how many offices I have seen with things shoved underneath desks and people sitting far away from their keyboard to compensate.
For those who spend a lot of time driving in the car, it’s important to make sure your seat is adjusted so that your back is properly supported to reduce the risk of low back or hip pain. Many patients have their seats slanted back too far and their lower and upper backs are not supported. This forces them to slouch forward to reach the steering wheel. Another common mistake is leaning on the center console of the car and resting your hand on the gear shift. This position may be comfortable for the first few minutes, sitting for hours at an angle drives your back crazy.
As you develop pain, it’s important to consult a chiropractic physician who evaluates your ergonomics to see if it might be a partial cause of your discomfort. Correction of your daily posture along with a treatment plan customized to help you loosen up areas that are tight and strengthen those that are weak will help you acheive long-term freedom from pain.
Isn’t Arthritis Just Part Of Getting Older?
September 22nd, 2011
Whenever someone’s knee or back hurts on a regular, they often think that it’s a sign that they have arthritis. Their perception is that everyone is going to get arthritis one day and there’s nothing that you can do for the pain. It’s just part of getting older and they have resigned to the fact that they will always hurt. The good news is that many forms of arthitis not only treatable without surgery or injections, but they’re preventable too. Here are a few tips to help you keep arthritis from slowing down your active lifestyle!
The most important way to prevent arthritis is to keep your weight within a normal range for your sex and height. Extra weight means extra pressure on joints such as your back, hips, knees and ankles. This additional wear and tear is a common cause of arthritis and can quickly accelerate the aging process of your joints. Instead of trying a fad diet, simply eat more fruits and veggies, cut down on processed foods and exercise most days of the week. You won’t lose 20 pounds overnight, but you will slowly become a slimmer you.
Another key to avoiding arthritis is keeping your body’s joints in balance by making sure you don’t have muscles that are too tight or too weak. Many times we get tight hamstrings, neck and chest muscles from working at the computer or at a workstation. Make sure you stretch those areas and strengthen the muscle that’s on the other side of the joint. If you need help, consult a sports chiropractor, physical therapist or personal trainer who is knowledgable in this area.
Lastly, there have been several studies that have shown supplementation with fish oils or another source of omega 3 fatty acids to be key to healthy joints. Talk to your sports chiropractor, primary care physician or pharmacist to see if this might be an option for you and which dose is appropriate for your needs.
Help! My back keeps “going out.”
August 23rd, 2011
Patients often present to my office in frustration because they have a “bad back” that keeps “going out” on them. Sometimes it happens after a long car ride. For others, picking up their child or doing squats at the gym is the culprit. They feel their back is not trustworthy and start to avoid certain activities that might irritate it. This approach works for a while, but eventually even the smallest thing will start the pain and they give me a call.
Common back pain is caused by one of two causes: either the low back vertebrae don’t have enough flexibility or they are hypermobile and move too much. Over time, these imbalances create wear and tear on the joints, discs and muscles, which in turn makes the patient’s back “go out” at the drop of a hat. The key to stopping this pattern of chronic back pain is to identify the cause of the patient’s pain and pick the right treatment option.
For instance, if a patient’s back pain is caused by a lack of flexibility and they spend all of their time doing stabilization exercises, their pain will keep coming back because it isn’t addressing their problem. On the other hand, if the pain is caused by too much movement in the low back and the patient stretches for treatment, they will continue to have difficulties until they stabilize through strengthening. What works for one patient may not work for another.
Research indicates that even patients with disc injuries or arthritis can have a good prognosis if the appropriate treatment plan is designed for their unique strengths and weaknesses. This is why I like to pinpoint areas of tightness, pain, weakness or discomfort during my patient’s first visit so that we can customize the appropriate mix of strengthening and flexibility training to break the chronic cycle of back pain.
Why does my tennis elbow keep coming back? I don’t even play tennis!
August 3rd, 2011
Many patients with tennis elbow report that their pain will often return despite wearing braces, stretching, ultrasound treatments or even getting cortisone injections. They begin to feel like they just have a “bad elbow” and try not to overuse or irritate it. In the last few years, researchers have been examining the way that we had typically treated tennis elbow and tried to come up with better treatment options that would give longer lasting relief.
First, it helps to understand what tennis elbow is. Patients with tennis elbow actually have a condition called lateral epicondilitis (now you can see why we call it tennis elbow!). This condition is degenerative in nature, causing little holes to develop in the tendons of the muscles along the outside of your elbow, causing pain. If you looked at the tendons under a microscope, it would look a little like swiss cheese. This degeneration occurs over a long period of time as you put extra wear & tear on the muscles. Most of the time, this extra wear & tear comes from improper ergonomics, having tight medial forearm muscles or poor shoulder posture.
The old treatment options such as bracing, ultrasound or shots, didn’t really solve the problem that was causing the degeneration. So the patient would feel better for a while and then the pain would return as soon as they returned to their normal lifestyle. Newer treatments are focusing on helping the tendons become strong again and removing the reason why they were getting worn out.
One of the best ways to get the tendons to heal and fill in those swiss cheese holes is by increasing blood flow and irritating the area with Graston Technique. Patients often start feeling a difference in just one or two treatments. After the blood flow starts to improve and healing begins, you next need to evaluate their ergonomics at work and home to identify any irritating factors. Next, we work on loosening up the muscles on the other side of the forearm and teaching them how to strengthen their shoulder to take pressure off of the arms and wrist.
New cases of tennis elbow can fully resolve within 2-3 weeks and chronic cases can take up to 8-12 weeks with these new treatment options, depending on the amount of damage.
Can water help my chronic muscle soreness?
July 5th, 2011
Have you been feeling tired and sore after your workouts? Not getting the speed during your runs? Taking more breaks during the baseball game? You might be dehydrated.
Dehydration is rampant during the summer months in athletes and even sedentary people working at a desk in the air conditioning. Most people underestimate the amount of water that they lose sweating, breathing and even going to the bathroom. If you don’t replenish those fluids, your body will start to function more slowly — even if you don’t feel thirsty. That’s because most people don’t have a reliable thirst reflex and try to eat solid foods when they are thirsty (which is why most experts tell you to drink more water when you are trying to lose weight).
When you body runs low on water, one of the first places it will start to conserve fluids in is your muscles. You’ll start to feel more sore and tight because the byproducts of burning energy will start to build up in the muscle, increasing the acidity of the area. This type of soreness usually doesn’t want to go away despite stretching or icing.
As your body continues to dehydrate, you can also start feeling dizzy and overheat. Heatstroke and other heat related injuries are serious — people die each year from heat related injuries. If you start to feel like you’re overheated or can’t cool down, stop physical activity and make sure you seek medical attention right away.
The amount of water needed by each person varies quite a bit. A good starting place is eight 8 oz glasses of water per day. You can substitute flavored waters for water, but cannot count pop, juice, alcohol or coffee. If you drink any of those fluids, add an equivalent amount of extra water because they act as diuretics. If you notice that your urine is almost clear, you are probably drinking enough water. If your urine is yellow or darker, keep increasing fluids until it lightens up. It’s okay if you urinate more frequently as you increase your water intake. It will balance out as your body adapts in a few days.
Spinal Manipulation is a Cost-Effective Alternative to Surgery for Sciatica Patients
May 16th, 2011From the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress…
In a recent study, “Manipulation or Microdisketomy for Sciatica? A Prospective Randomized Clinical Study,” (Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, October 2010, Vol. 33 Iss. 8, p: 576-584), researchers concluded that spinal manipulation was just as effective as microdiskectomy for patients struggling with sciatica secondary to lumbar disk herniation (LDH). The patient population studied included people experiencing chronic sciatica (symptoms greater than six months) that had failed traditional, medical management. Overall, 60 percent of patients who received spinal manipulation benefited to the same degree as those who underwent surgery.
“Sciatica is a serious spinal condition that causes pain, numbness, or weakness in one or both legs. Many times when symptoms become debilitating and without further help, surgery is prescribed to alleviate discomfort. But surgery is not without financial and physical drawbacks.”
“To our knowledge, this is the first, randomized trial that directly compared spinal manipulation, which in this study was delivered by a doctor of chiropractic, and back surgery, two popular treatment choices for this prevalent health condition,” says Dr. Gordon McMorland, who co-authored the paper with neurosurgeons Steve Casha, MD, PhD, FRCSC, Stephan J. du Plessis, MD, and R. John Hubert, MD, PhD, FRCSC, FACS. “Sciatica is a serious spinal condition that causes pain, numbness, or weakness in one or both legs. Many times when symptoms become debilitating and without further help, surgery is prescribed to alleviate discomfort. But surgery is not without financial and physical drawbacks.”
According to the study, “Outpatient Lumbar Microdiscectomy: A Prospective Study in 122 Patients”, more than 200,000 microdiskectomies are performed annually in the United States, at a direct cost of $5 billion, or $25,000 per procedure. In this year-long study, consenting participants were chosen randomly to receive either an average of 21 chiropractic sessions over a year or a single microdiskectomy, both with the additional integration of six supervised active rehabilitation sessions and a patient education program. If cost is assumed at $100 per chiropractic visit, there is a direct, total savings of $22,900 per manipulation patient. System-wide, this could save $2.75 billion dollars annually.
“After a year, no significant complications were seen in either treatment group, and the 60 percent patients who benefitted from spinal manipulation improved to the same degree as their surgical counterparts,” says Dr. McMorland, who also points out that, “The 40 percent of patients who were not helped by manipulation did receive subsequent surgical intervention. These patients benefitted to the same degree as those that underwent surgery initially, suggesting there was no detrimental effect caused by delaying their surgical treatment.”
“Our research supports spinal manipulation performed by a doctor of chiropractic is a valuable and safe treatment option for those experiencing symptomatic LDH, failing traditional medical management. These individuals should consider spinal manipulation as a primary treatment, followed by surgery if unsuccessful.”
Maybe if I lose weight…
May 11th, 2011
Many patients who enter my office with back, hip, knee or foot pain start the conversation with the phrase: “I know I need to lose weight and that’s why xyz is hurting, but can you help me?” They are usually shocked when we continue through the exam and come up with a diagnosis that isn’t so much related directly to their weight, but a muscle or joint imbalance causing excessive wear & tear or inflammation. These types of conditions happen just as often to my athletic patients who weigh 100 pounds soaking wet as they do to a desk worker who weighs 300 pounds.
If you search the internet, you will find that being overweight or obese increases your risk for common joint complaints such as osteoathritis. New research is indicating that it isn’t so much the extra weight that is causing the degeneration, but extra weight along with muscle imbalances (such as weak abdominals, glutes and shoulder blade muscles) that allow extra pressure to develop. Losing weight may temporarily decrease your pain, but eventually the muscle imbalance will continue to worsen and the pain will return.
Overweight and obese patients often have the best results if they treat their pain by starting a good chiropractic and rehabilitation program to get their muscle imbalances in check. Once this has been achieved, their pain levels decrease and they can start increasing their physical activities and get their body composition in check as well — which is important to preventing chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers.