By Dr. Zack Rushing

The “perfect” deadlift does not exist, if it did the person executing it would lift a weight so heavy that setting it back down would punch a hole in the earth and cause a major earthquake. This is no different than the perfect swim stroke not existing. Michael Phelps does a pretty damn good job of executing a swim stroke, but it was still never perfect. It doesn’t mean that he never stopped chasing it or never stopped getting coached on how to do it better.

That being said…the deadlift is so amazing for the posterior chain of muscles and for strengthening the back and preventing low back pain when it is DONE PROPERLY. When it is done improperly, people make their way into my office to fix them because of their poor deadlift technique. My goal with righting this article is to give you the latest information on how to do a proper deadlift, as close to perfect as possible, to reduce injury and enhance your performance.

For a while I was down on the deadlift. I may have even told you face to face that I was because it caused so many patients to make appointments to come see me. Luckily for me I have some amazing colleagues that put me on to some great information that allowed me to expand my knowledge that I can share with all of you.

​At Vallejo Chiropractic, we are now offering Kinesiology Taping or “K-Taping” to our clients. Some of you may have seen this colorful taping at the Olympics where athletes of almost every sport are wearing it. It is also very popular at the CrossFit games, where the participants are looking for extra support as they are lifting. 

Dr. Kunsman, Dr. Zack, Beau and Shanon took a seminar to see how we could apply this method to our patients at Vallejo Chiropractic. It turns out that taping has a huge value for rehabilitating our patients and can help relieve pain as they progress through care. 

We believe that movement is a key factor to getting you better. K-Taping allows us to have another tool to help you get back in action.

When you have an injury to an area, the body’s tissues get compressed down and almost glued together. This compression is a reaction to prevent more immediate damage, but it slows the healing process. K-Taping takes skin and muscle tissue that has been adheased together and lifts it; allowing for more circulation. You can place the tape over a bruise and it will heal faster than without it. 
K-Taping also brings more neurological attention to the area of your injury. Having the tape on your skin causes the brain to send more signals to where the tape is. Touch is very powerful, and if you have something like Kinesiology Tape constantly in contact with the skin and moving with it, more feedback will be provided to the brain than without it.

According to the World Health Organization, ergonomics are important for safety management which falls under the category of health promotion and wellness. As health care providers, ergonomics goes hand in hand with the work we do at Vallejo Chiropractic to help patients achieve wellness.

A study done by the national safety council looked at the causes of workplace injuries and found:

•  88% of injuries were due to unsafe acts or behaviors (poor posture, repetitive motion, etc.)
• 10% of injuries were due to unsafe conditions (poor workstation design, slippery floors, etc.)
• 2% were due to unknown causes

Wellness is an interactive process of becoming aware of and practicing healthy choices to create a more successful and balanced lifestyle. Since wellness is an interactive process it is something we should continually work at to maintain the lifestyles we strive for. For this month's newsletter we wanted to give our patients information they can use to improve wellness at home and in the workplace. Enjoy! 

Posture
Poor posture is a factor in all cumulative trauma injuries (including but not limited to carpal tunnel, tennis elbow, and sciatica) and is the major accelerator of almost any injury. 

Chiropractic is at its most powerful when coupled with exercise and nutrition.  Chiropractic adjusting helps to turn on our postural stabilizer muscles, multifidus and rotatores, as well as normalizing muscle firing around the joints.  

The longer one has had back or neck pain the longer the muscles have not been working the way they are supposed to and become weakened and deconditioned.  It is important to re-strengthen the body to maximize your results from chiropractic and reduce the likelihood of relapses of aches and pain.  When we look at strengthening the muscles of the low and mid-back one of the top beginner exercises is the bird-dog exercise, we have handouts of this at the office free of charge.  Another great way to start is with wobble board or bosu ball balancing.  An intermediate exercise is doing a side-plank, plank, side-plank regimen.

In the course of working out remember the importance of proper hydration.  In rare cases, too much water can thwart progress, leaving your body more like a fresh water pond (sweat is salty, isn't it).  While we are approximately 65% water, it is a salty water.  That's where electrolytes play a role.  Gatorade is junk despite its glitzy commercials, too much sugar.  Start drinking water before you exercise to help prevent dehydration.