Compass Chiropractic

I don’t know about you, but if I go for too long without eating, I can get shaky, tired, and well, let’s just say short fused . I know that all I need is a little pick me up, and unless I have something nutritious on hand, I’m prone to pick something up that has no value. I ran across a recipe for energizing peanut butter bites on a blog called The Cilantropist and tweaked it just a bit to fit my taste. I think it’s a great idea to keep them on hand at work, home, and even in the car! Hopefully it will be a success for you as well!!

¾ cup rolled oats
¼ cup unsalted, roasted sunflower seeds
½ cup (or more) dried cherries, roughly chopped
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
½ tsp Himalayan Sea Salt
¾ cup 100% peanut butter (I always buy Trader Joe’s no-salt-added PB)
1 Tbsp honey

½ tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
½ tsp vanilla extract
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Feel the freedom to add or substitute ingredients to let it best fit your palate. Roll the dough into little balls or even little disc shapes. The dough should stick together well. This recipe yields 12 bites about the size of a golf ball. Store the bites in an airtight container, and keep them refrigerated until eating.  Bites will keep for 1-2 weeks refrigerated.

Hopefully by getting to know our staff here at Compass or even if you’ve been able to read any of our blog, hopefully you have picked up on the fact that we believe in practicing whole living. That includes things such as a healthy diet, exercise,  and wise life choices. So in lieu of summer’s arrival, what better way to get exercise than utilizing the parks and greenways provided for us here in Indy?! So where are your favorite places for outside adventure in Indy? Here are some of ours:

Central Canal Towpath- One of my favorite places to retreat to! Running, walking, or even just finding a quiet spot near the gently flowing White River is serene, peaceful, and refreshing.

IMA’s 100 Acres – If you enjoy taking in art while getting your fresh air, the IMA’s (Indianapolis Museum of Art) 100 acres is for you. IMA’s 100 acres is one of the largest museum art parks in the country, and the only one to feature the ongoing commission of site-specific artworks. If you would like to get some exercise you can take the 1 mile path around the lake, but there is a section at the end which can get flooded.  This may require some backtracking depending on how adventurous you are. You can reach the park by the Canal Towpath or by car, information about where to park.  Learn more about the 100 acres here: IMA’s 100 Acres

Holiday Park – This 94-acre city park is tucked into Marion County with an array of environments. You can easily fill each of your senses as you pass through the nature center, play on the wonderful playgrounds, trek along the banks of the White River, or wonder through the more than 3.5 miles of picturesque trails. http://www.hollidaypark.org/

Fort Harrison State Park – With 17,000 acres of park to offer, this state park is filled with miles of walking and jogging trails, picnic areas, river and fishing access, and even one of the biggest sledding hills in the area! Year round, you can easily find things to do including biking on trails, visit the Nature Center, rent shelters, eat a picnic, hike, run, or walk along trails, fish in the Fall Creek or ice fish in the winter, ride horses, go sledding, or even cross country ski! The options are endless at such a large park! Learn more here: Fort Harrison Park

Opti-Park – The Northside Optimist Club of Indianapolis owns and maintains a great local park that hosts many events and shows. This park is located on 67th Street, just east of College Avenue here in Broad Ripple. They also have recently added new children’s playground equipment!

Monon- The once railway, now trailway provides opportunity to bike, run, walk, rollerblade, or skate for all ages. It is usable all hours of daylight and connects commercial districts, schools, parks, the state fairgrounds and a dozen residential neighborhoods. With 16.7 miles, the Monon stretches from 161st Street in Westfield down to 10th Street in Indianapolis. Plenty of trail accommodations are offered along the way which include parks, drinking fountains, restaurants, ice cream, frozen yogurt, and snow cone shops, bicycle shops, and much much more. Learn more about the Monon Trail.

Fall Creek Trail – One of Indy’s classic greenways trails begins at 465, and completes its path at Fall Creek Road. There are plans to extend the greenway toward downtown and further northeast in Marion County.

Broad Ripple Park – Close to home, this park established 65 years ago provides great opportunity for outdoor adventure and sport. Broad  Ripple Park lies next to the White River and has so much to offer, including a swimming pool, playground, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, mulit-use athletic field, and a half mile running track. It is also a convenient and free place to drop off recycling and additionally has a great bark park for your four-legged friends.

The White River Wapahani Trail- Stretching from 38th Street down to the White River State Park (also with several additional miles planned).  This trail connects to many other trails in Indy,  it links with the Central Canal Towpath, the Fall Creek Trail, and the Downtown Canal Walk. The plans to expand include connecting to the Eagle Creek Trail, the Levee Trail (between Kessler and College) and possibly the Pleasant Run Trail.

As you can imagine, I’m only brushing the surface of the parks, trails, and greenways in our great city. For a complete listing of Indy’s 207 park properties, visit: Indy.gov Parks

As you walk, stand, and do many other functions, certain muscles in your hips are working hard to keep your hips stable. One of the main stabilizers in your hip complex is your gluteus medius (glute med). This muscle’s jobs include abducting (bringing away from the midline) the leg, internally rotation the leg, and assists the gluteus maximus in extension. As you raise one leg to stand on the other, your glute med should hold your hips parallel to the floor instead of letting the open leg’s hip “drop.”

So what happens if one or both of your glute meds are weak? It would be similar to if your car’s tires were always low on one side. Or if your work desk was tilted and uneven? You are still able to function with a weak glute med, but because you’re working in an unbalanced state, dysfunction is unavoidable.  We commonly see this in our runners which can lead to foot, ankle, knee and hip pain and other sports injuries.

Here are a few easy and practical exercises to strengthen your glute med. Try strengthening your glute med daily for a few weeks and see if you notice any difference.

1. Clams- lie on your side with your knees slightly bent and your hips stacked on top of each other. While keeping your feet together and hips stacked, slowly open and close your knees like a clam opening its shell.

2. Side-Lying Abduction- lie on your side with your hips and straight legs stacked on top of each other. Keeping your toes pointed forward, raise your top leg toward the sky as far as you can WITHOUT letting your hips shift, rotate, or hike. Bring your leg back to the starting position and repeat.

3.  Standing Abduction- stand, holding onto something steady, and slowly kick out the opposite leg. Make sure to keep your toes pointed forward and remember to not hike your hips. Bring leg back to neutral and repeat.

Pregnancy must be such an exciting time for parents as their own creation grows, matures, and develops! During that time, the choices the mom makes, including nutrition, exercise, and stresses, has a great impact on her little giant. In this post, I’d love to share some stretches and exercises that will aid in keeping you moms-to-be active, healthy, mobile, and in less pain.

If you were physically active before becoming pregnant, you can continue those activities, but comfortably in moderation. Focus more on low intensity aerobics versus high intensity. Additionally, monitor your heart rate and don’t let it exceed 140 beats per minute. As a general rule of thumb, while performing exercises during pregnancy you should be able to complete a sentence without stopping to catch your breath.  On the other hand, if before becoming pregnant, you were not physically active, communicate with your doctor about safely beginning an exercise plan.  If you experience any neck or back pain let us know either during one of your visits or email us on our contact us page.

Stretches

Stretching is a great place to start. This low intensity physical exercise increases muscle control, flexibly, your body’s ability to function properly, and even muscle strength!

Butterfly

Neck Stretches (refrain from tucking your chin and stretching forward. Instead, tilt your head to a side and slowly roll your head through the back and toward the opposite side)

Pectoralis/ Chest Stretch (stand inside a doorway, bend your shoulder and elbow to a 90°. Place the underside of your forearm on the side of the wall and slowly shift your weight forward, creating a stretch on the pec and front of the shoulder)

Calves (most know to stretch their calves with a straight knee, but stretch with a bent knee as well to include both calf muscles)

Pelvic Tilts (sit on an exercise ball or balance disk and while keeping your chest up, tilt your pelvis forward, backward, to left, and to right)

Strengthening

Slow and controlled strengthening the abdominal muscles, back muscles, pelvic floor, buttock, and thigh muscles should be considered through pregnancy.

Leg Adduction and Abduction: side-lying or standing with a resistance band

Forward lunges: sink straight down with lunges instead of shifting forward past your front toes

QPED: On your hands and knees, with your back in a neutral position, raise your opposite limbs in a pain-free range and neutral spine. Do 1-2 sets of 10 on each side

Side lunges

Step ups

Wall Squat: squat with an exercise ball in the small of your back as if you were trying to sit in a chair against the wall

Kegels: to strengthen the pelvic floor

Aerobic… Little risk, great for you and baby, can be continued up until birth (unless noted by doctor).

Swimming

Brisk walking

Cycling on stationary bike

Stair stepping

Elliptical

Humor me and do a quick experiment… Sit up straight with good posture where you’re at. Place one hand on your chest and the other on your belly. Close your eyes for about 30 seconds and feel your pattern of breathing. (In this  previous blog post, I explained how posture effects breathing). What do you notice? Is one hand moving more than the other indicating the muscles in your chest or in your belly doing most of the work? Or do your breaths resemble symmetrical and smooth ebbs and flows or rigid and quick bursts of movement?

Each day, the average person takes about 21,600 breaths totaling around 11,000 liters of air in a day! Of that 11,000 liters of air, is roughly 550 liters of pure oxygen taken in each day… just through breathing. That oxygen is essential for bodies’ functions and more specifically is delivered to all of your muscles to metabolize energy. In the same way that a strong enduring building needs a solid foundation to be built on, your body needs a strong foundation at the core for optimal and longstanding function. Correct breathing is a big part of that foundation and effects the stability of your body and limbs, your nervous system, heart, digestive system, muscles, sleep, energy levels, concentration and even your memory.

So back to my experiment… What did you notice about your breathing pattern? The most noticeable incorrect trend in our culture is “chest breathing.” This happens when you use muscles from your neck, chest, and intercostals (muscles in-between ribs) instead of using the muscles deep in your belly. Chest breathing is not ergonomic as it uses more muscle power than the deeper and more relaxed abdominal breathing. Additionally, when the chest muscles are used to breath, more breaths per minute are needed to receive the same amount of oxygen as with belly breathing. This deep abdominal breathing is much more functionally effective and is established when the abdomen expands forward, to both sides and also back towards the spine, 360°. For example, if you were wearing sweat pants with the elastic band around your true waist at the base of your ribs, you should be able to feel the elastic expand all the way around. Don’t be discouraged, though, if you don’t feel that when you first try; belly breathing surprisingly takes a bit of concentration and practice at first. If you want a visual of this skill, watch the youtube video below.

Efficient, functional, and natural breath occurs when you recruit your diaphragm, a parachute-shaped muscle that contracts upon inhalation. If you need to see a great example of correct breathing, your toddlers model it well! If you ask your kiddo to lay face up on the ground, you’ll see his little belly get big, expanding out with inhalation and compress back down with exhalation. Whether we’ve learned to chest breathing from trying to keep our stomachs flat and strong or if it’s simply a result of stress and anxiety, taking some time to relax, relearn the basics, and breath efficiently will add many years to your life.

In the beginning of the year I received an email newsletter from Debbis Morris regarding goal setting.  This was perfect timing as I was in the process of coming up with my goals for 2011, but the content of the newsletter was different than I had expected. I’ve attached the article from the newsletter, see below:

Consider Giving Up Goals
Sue Rasmussen

“Living without goals definitely takes courage.

When I first heard the concept of living without goals over 10 years ago, I actually got upset.  And to top it off, I heard it from one of my highly respected mentors, Thomas Leonard…so I was even a little bit more upset.

I thought, ‘that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard – what would I ever get done if I didn’t have a plan and goals?!?’ and went right back to setting goals and working hard to achieve them.

But the idea stuck with me, mainly because it felt so radical.  And after a decade of flirting with the idea, I have spent the last couple of years deeply exploring what it’s like to live without external goals and follow my inner guidance instead – and still get things done.

And here’s what I’m learning: I find that I often get much MORE done when I don’t set goals than when I do. And I’m spending time doing what I love, which is a huge reward in itself.

According to Stephen Shapiro, author of Goal-Free Living, there are 8 secrets to living life free from the constant pressure of goals:

* Use a compass, not a map – have a sense of direction, and then let yourself wander and try new things on the way to fulfilling your aspirations

* Trust that you are never lost – every seemingly wrong turn is an opportunity to learn and experience new things

* Remember that opportunity knocks often, but sometimes softly – while blindly pursuing our goals, we often miss unexpected and wonderful possibilities

* Want what you have – measure your life by your own yardstick and appreciate who you are, what you do, and what you have . . . now

* Seek out adventure – treat your life like the one-time-only journey it is and revel in new and different experiences

* Become a people magnet – constantly seek, build, and nurture relationships with new people so that you always have the support and camaraderie of others

* Embrace your limits – transform your inadequacies and boundaries into unique qualities you can use to your advantage

* Remain detached – focus on the present, act with a commitment to the future, and avoid worrying about how things will turn out

So if the idea of putting together another one-year, five-year, or ten-year plan fills you with frustration, consider the idea of letting go of goals as a way of life.  And play with the idea of following your guidance all day long, each and every day.

You may be surprised at the wonderful opportunities that unfold.”

I think my favorite of the 8 points above is “use a compass, not a map”.  I do have written goals, and I update, tweak, and revise them each year.  I do believe in the saying, “how do you get where you’re going if you don’t know where it is”,  but I’ve never been a big believer in writing down my Top 100 goals….my “Bucket List”.  I enjoy my everyday life.  I’ve never been compelled to have that type of list or be rigidly focused on goals.

My daily goal is simple or you might say “cliche”…I want it to be a good day.  And by good day I mean, I want my kids to go to school well-fed and in a happy mood; I want to look forward to going to work; I want to learn something that makes me a better person; I want to make a difference in someone’s life whether it’s one of my teammates, a client, or the grocery line clerk; then, I want to pick my kids up from school with energy to give to them; fix a nice dinner; and spend some quality time with Oliver.  That to me is a “good day”.

So, I guess my theory on goal-setting is to have goals but not to become too attached to them.  Be flexible so you can adapt to present moment opportunities.  Don’t develop tunnel-vision so you miss out on things that might be even better.

Goals are important…we all enjoy marking things off our checklists and most of us work better with deadlines.  The Law of Attraction states that what you focus on expands, and I do believe that.  I just don’t want to be so focused on my goals that I miss the small important moments of life!

Debbie Morris is the owner of Morris Group Realty which is a full service realty group located in the Glendale area of Indianapolis.  Debbie sends out a weekly email discussing a wide variety of topics.  You can sign up for the newsletter by contacting Morris Group at www.homeinfoindianapolis.com.

I’ve always been under the impression that our fat cells can only hold so much. After we’ve reached their max capacity new cells are created to store the excess fat. According to a new study out of Mayo Clinic this might not be the whole story.

Participants were told to eat until they are full and then include one to four daily “supplements” ( a king-size snicker bar, Boost Plus “nutritional energy drink,” or an ice cream shake). Each had about 350 to 500 calories. I could have easily qualified for this study over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Participants gained an average of 10lbs over the eight week period including 8.5lbs of fat. What was interesting about the study is that the fat cells in the stomach increased in size, but not is number. On the other hand, fat cells in the thighs increased in number and size. The average participant added 2.6 billion fat cells during the course of the study.

The good news about this study is that belly fat is thought to be more closely related to diabetes and heart disease. Because there was not an increase in fat cells in the abdominal region the affect on these diseases is expected to be less than if there was an increase of fat cells. This doesn’t mean that you have the green light to eat four king-sized Snickers everyday.

The bad news about this study is that it was done over a short time period. It is thought that extended weight gain could lead to the production of more fat cells in the belly region.

What to do?

You could start with not eating like the participants in this study.  The average participant gained 10lbs in 8 weeks, extrapolate that over a year and they would be packing on 65lbs a year!

If there is one thing that I would recommend to keep your weight in check, it would be to replace sugary drinks and diet sodas with water.  There are a number of studies that show the weight loss benefits of drinking water.  Put a water bottle on your desk and make sure to drink a couple bottles full each day.  If you don’t have a bottle, stop in the office and I will give you one.

You might wonder why I added diet sodas to the list. There has been a number of studies that link diet sodas to an increase in type 2 diabetes and appetite.  These drinks are also very acidic which can lead to a number of health issues outside of weight gain.

The New Year is right around the corner.  Adding more water to your diet would be a simple way to start off the year in a healthy way.

We have recently added a Healthy Recipe section to our website that can be found by clicking here.

It is amazing how fast it went from 90 degrees to freezing this year!  Unfortunately this is a time that many families are dreading due to their inability to stay warm.  As we all know, the economy has left 10% of Hoosiers without jobs and many of these people have children to look after.

To help Hoosier families in need,  Compass is holding a coat drive in conjunction with One Warm Coat to benefit the Hoosier Veterans Assistance Foundation (HVAF).  The drive will be held from  November 15th to December 15th and coats can be dropped off during our office hours which can be found here.

Of course the reason to help families in need should be reward in itself, but we thought we would add an incentive, so we’re giving  a free 30 minute massage gift certificate to anyone who brings in a coat!  Massages are limited to 1 per person and can be used between November and the end of February (just in time for Valentine’s Day).  This offer is for the first 50 people who bring coats to the office.

If you have any questions you can contact Whitney at info@compassindy.com.

Thank you for your help and we look forward to making this a successful event that will keep many families warm this year.

August was a very exciting month for all of us here at Compass.  We added not only a new team member, but  a new service for our patients.  With the addition of Katie we now have the ability to provide comprehensive functional rehabilitative care for our patients.

Our patients know that our focus is to not only help them get well, but stay well.  In order to accomplish this goal it is important to make sure our patients have the tools they need to be self sufficient once they finish with care.  Lifestyle modification, at home exercise and stretching programs are part of this process.  Katie works with our patients to determine their particular goals and develops an program that will help them accomplish their goals.  She may start with something as simple as teaching a patient to relearn how to breathe or squat correctly using an exercise ball.  These initial steps are crucial in building a good foundation for future progress. If your nice she might even let you play on the Wii Fit.

Here is a little information about Katie

Katie Culver is originally from Evansville, IN and graduated from Indiana University with a degree in Athletic Training. Her time at IU provided experience with both Bloomington high schools as well as seven of IU’s varsity sports teams. She was additionally a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. After graduating, Katie worked for two years in Ohio doing Christian ministry and moved to Indianapolis in June of 2009. She worked for one year with a not-for-profit in Indianapolis before beginning with Compass. Katie loves helping others and finds great joy in assisting in the recovery and rehabilitation of each Compass patient.

The long-term use of oral bisphosphonate drugs for osteoporosis such as Actonel, Boniva, and Fosamax may be associated with a doubling in esophageal cancer risk according to a recent study from Oxford University.  Patients taking these drugs over  a five year period were twice and likely to develop esophageal cancer. The risk for developing esophageal cancer is 1/1000 for the general public and 2/1000 for patients taking these medications.  Two in every thousand doesn’t sound too bad, but 2000/100,000 vs 1000/100,000 does.  Researchers from this study still maintain that the benefits outweigh the risks, but I’m not convinced.

If the use of these medications to develop bone mass was our only option then I might be able to appreciate the risk/benefit argument, but there are other alternatives to these medications that should be explored before taking a medication that doubles the risk of cancer.

What is the cause of osteoporosis?

There are a number of factors that are thought to be associated with osteoporosis, but the most common is genetic.  This model is advantageous to the companies who manufacture these drugs because it promotes the notion that osteoporosis is out of your control and the only way to prevent your skeleton from disintegration is to take one of these medications.  SNL did a great parody of drug commercials for osteoporosis that you can see at Hulu.com by clicking here.

Genetics do play a role in our bone structure, but there are other factors that we can control which will prevent bone loss, namely inflammation.  When we think of inflammation we typically think of acute inflammation that we experience following an injury or a trauma.   Acute inflammation is one type of inflammation, but we can also experience chronic systemic inflammation (CSI).  CSI occurs throughout the body at a much lower level than acute inflammation and often goes unnoticed because it is not painful.

How does inflammation related to osteoporosis?

Bone is a very valuable resource to the body.  One of its functions is to decrease the acidity of the internal environment of the body.  When the body becomes inflamed, the acidity increases or lowers the pH.  The body wants to do everything it can to keep the the pH at neutral, so it pulls calcium from the bones to “cool” the systemic inflammation.

How do we prevent chronic systemic inflammation?

This is a big topic and will be discussed in the second part of this series.