Golfers, don’t forget your wrists! By Dr. Stephanie Harris

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Wrists are an often overlooked body part when it comes to golf. People who do stretch before golf will spend time stretching the bigger muscles of their bodies like their back, legs and shoulders, and often don’t even think about their wrists.  Your wrists play an important role during your golf swing and neglecting them (not stretching or strengthening) can lead to poor performance and injury, which can keep you off the course and on your couch!

Here are a few stretches and strengthening exercises to help keep  your wrists strong and to avoid those dreaded wrist injuries!

Wrist Deviation Exercises

• Stand with arms at your side and your elbow bent to 90 degrees.
• Hold your hand out like you are about to shake hands with someone with your thumb up (this is neutral position).
• From this position, move your hand up toward the ceiling and then all the way down to the floor, keeping your forearm locked and only moving from the wrist. Repeat 10 times.
• Next, place a light weight or a water bottle in your hand to provide some resistance.

Ball Squeezes

Wrist Flexor Stretch

• Hold your arm straight out in front of you, keeping the elbow straight and the palm facing up.
• Grasp the involved hand at the knuckles and gently stretch the wrist until a stretch is felt on the inside of the forearm.
• Hold for 15 – 20 seconds. Repeat on the other arm.

Wrist Extensor Stretch

• Hold your arm straight out in front of you, keeping the elbow straight and the palm facing down.
• Push downward on the back of the involved hand until a stretch is felt in the muscles on the outside of the forearm.
• Hold for 15 – 20 seconds. Repeat on the other arm.

An athlete’s key to success…the Off-Season

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A successful season begins with a great off-season!  People often say to me that an athlete must love their off-season because they can just relax and enjoy….that couldn’t be farther from the truth!  The off-season is the most important part of the year for any athlete, at any age, and if the off-season is not productive, their season will follow suit!  It’s the time to get stronger, faster, bigger, leaner, more explosive, more skilled, focused, motivated, and overall healthier! In simple terms, it’s the time to get better!!!!

So here’s the advice and treatment approach I take with the athletes I work with:

(For the purpose of this example, I will talk in reference of hockey, but it applies to all sports)

• Rest and Rejuvenate: Once the season ends, to take a week or 2 or 3 (depending on timing) and remove themselves from the rink and gym…they need to get away from it and let the mind and body unwind
• Evaluate: After they have had some time to unwind, I ask them to evaluate their season that just passed; their performance on and off the ice, and their body’s ability to perform and withstand the rigors of the season.  Be objective and specific as possible in establishing the areas of strength or weakness (skating, strength, endurance, shooting, balance, recovery, mindset, eating habits, routine, etc).
• Assessment:  After I get an understanding of their own evaluation, we move on to a comprehensive assessment to examine what areas are not optimally functioning and address any physical concerns they might have or had on or off the ice.  With hockey players, I place special emphasis on hips/groins, shoulders, and back. In addition to my assessment, each athlete should also undergo an assessment with their personal trainer/training staff, which will help gauge where they are starting from and guide them through their summer of training to reach an eventual goal.
• Treatment Plan: Combining the evaluation, assessment, and an athlete’s goals allows me to come up with a treatment plan for the off-season.  The first few weeks (if necessary) are used to correct any resulting dysfunction from the season.  It’s important this is done before the athlete is submerged into their intensive training schedule….the last thing you want is to build strength on top of dysfunction, which will give you strong dysfunction! Proper functionality of muscles, joints, movement and firing patterns creates a proper base to build upon. After everything is working optimally, the rest of the summer treatments are aimed to: help recovery from rigorous training sessions; help improve areas of concern/weakness (i.e. enhance the functionality of the rotator cuff/shoulder to help the strength of their shot); maximize performance and minimize risk of injury during the season by way of our unique treatment protocols.

Here are some key things that play a factor in a successful off-season:

• Choosing a suitable, sports specific, knowledgeable, adaptable, and comprehensive strength and condition coach/personal trainer that devises the right individualized program with phases/stages to achieve the desired goals (easier said then done!)
• Diet/Nutrition: an athlete’s diet/eating habits are essential to a successful off-season! You can not achieve your fitness goals if your nutrition does not support it! Contrary to common belief, an athlete’s diet should be more disciplined during the off-season than the season!
• Communication: when I am able to communicate with the athlete’s trainer/training staff and vice versa, the benefit to the athlete is enormous.  We can communicate to ensure specific needs are being addressed and that everyone is working to achieve a common goal(s).
• Sleep: get lots of it!
• Stretch: and do lots of it! Flexible muscles have the ability to be stronger, faster, more explosive…and less susceptible to injury!
• Make sure all your training has a purpose! Nothing irks me more than when a pro athlete plays beer league hockey in the off-season- it’s a waste of energy that will negatively impact your training.  They got their retired years to play with their buddies!

Wishing you a successful, productive, and defining off-season!!

Are you aware of your posture? by Dr. Stephanie Harris

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Are you aware of your posture? Have you ever looked at your posture in the mirror? What does it look like?  Good posture is an asset to healthy living. It is the body’s alignment and positioning with respect to gravity. Your posture is affected by your everyday activities including sitting all day at a desk, slouching in front of a computer, talking on the phone (without using a handset), bending and lifting heavy objects, and sleeping. Did you know that these activities are placing un-wanted stresses on your body?

Good posture involves training your body to stand, walk, sit, and lie in positions where the least amount of stress is placed on your muscles and ligaments. This can be done by stretching tight muscles and strengthening weak ones. The goal is to maintain balance between your muscles and within your body…. It’s the key to living a healthy, pain free life. Proper posture can prevent sprains/strain and overuse injuries, chronic back pain, muscular pain, and headaches.

An example of the importance of maintaining good posture becomes extremely evident when lifting heavy objects. If you bend down at the waist to pick up something, you are rounding out your spine and changing the shape of your natural low back (lumbar) curve, which increases your risk for injury. The proper way to pick up a heavy item is to bend from your knees making sure you keep your natural low back curve, which equals a neutral spine.

How do you lift??

Dr. Harris’ tips to help you improve your posture:

• When standing, keep your feet shoulder width apart with toes pointing straight ahead (Avoid having your toes pointing outward or inward)
• Keep your shoulders back (think about sticking out your chest)
• When sitting, keep your back straight and avoid slouching in the chair
• When sitting, keep your feet flat on the floor and knees and hips at 90 degrees
• Keep your head in a neutral position where your chin is slightly tucked in (as if you were trying to make a double-chin)
• Take frequent breaks from sitting (every 20-40 minutes) and change your position often

ICE vs. HEAT – Part 2

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Last week, I weighed in on the benefits of ice to treat an injury. In this blog entry, I’m continuing the Ice vs. Heat debate telling you what I tell my patients about the use of Heat!

In my practice I use heat on my patients prior to treating them. But it doesn’t stop there. A day doesn’t go by where I don’t recommend heat to help manage someone’s pain or condition.  90 percent of the conditions I see in my office would be classified as a repetitive strain injury or chronic (with the other 10 percent being acute). Heat is the  key when treating repetitive strain or chronic injuries! Heat will increase blood flow, relax muscles, decrease pain and promote healing.

Dr. G’s Tips on when/how to use heat:

• use for chronic injuries, if you have tight muscles
• use before activity to warm up muscles, not after activity
• use at night before bed if you often wake up with stiffness
• heat should be applied for 15-20 minutes but can be used for longer (if you use an electrical heating pad, be sure not to fall asleep on it as they can cause burning)
• Apply the heat to the area that is the problem…going in a hot tub/sauna or generally applying the heat to a larger area will not have the same affect (as mentioned earlier the goal of using heat is to increase blood flow to the affected area, this can not be achieved if heat is applied to a larger more general area)
• recommended to use moist heat rather than dry heat (e.g. Hot water bottle, gel packs, etc)