Currently viewing the category: "West Hollywood sports chiropractor"

West Hollywood Chiropractic: Icing Exercises for Biceps

By On · Add Comment · In biceps tendon, icing, inflammation, shoulder impingement syndrome, sports injury, subacromial bursa, West Hollywood sports chiropractor

For twelve years I’ve been sports chiropractic in West Hollywood. I’ve seen my fair share of shoulder injuries and conditions. The one I see most is shoulder impingement syndrome, and I find the element most forgotten in this common sports injury is the biceps tendon.

Now you might think, “Wait…my doctor told me I have biceps tendinitis, but it just never got better.” Right–because biceps tendinitis is only 33% correct when it comes to impingement syndrome. Two other elements play a major role in this sports injury–the supraspinatus tendon and the subacromial bursa–and so solely focusing on the biceps will not solve the problem.

However…when a shoulder impingement is properly diagnosed, and all instructions are followed, as far as treatment and icing is concerned, then the element I find most responsible for any stubbornness to healing and persistence of pain is the biceps tendon.

The final solution is two-fold. First is icing and cooling down that inflamed tendon. In the video below, I show the best way to ice the biceps tendon. It’s important to get the long head tendon out to the surface–you’ll get the most complete icing that way. To do this you will need to externally rotate the arm. I instruct my clients to do this seated in a chair or couch, or anywhere in which the arm can be help up and rotated outward. This movement brings the long head of the biceps from the deep interior of the axilla (arm pit) out to the exterior, and the back rest can be used to hold the arm in place, because remember icing should be done for fifteen minutes, no more, no less.

Watch the video to see how to best ice your biceps-persistent shoulder impingement syndrome, and we’ll discuss the second step in a future post.

West Hollywood Chiropractic: How to Work Out Lower Abs to Relieve Low Back and Hip Pain

By On · Add Comment · In body builders, low back pain, lower abdominals, lower abs workouts, psoas major, tight hip flexors, West Hollywood sports chiropractor

So I’ve showed you now two excellent exercises for the abdominal region–plank pose and abdominal crunches–and hopefully you’ve been doing them, getting sore…but getting stronger too. I would now love to share a phenomenal exercise for the lower abdominals (abs). Although the rectus abdominus is one muscle, we often discuss it in terms of being split into upper and lower sections. So for our purposes here, we’ll consider the lower abs as the abdominals from the belt line down to the pubic bone.

As a sports chiropractor in iron-pumping West Hollywood, I see lots of body builders with low back pain. Now many of them seem perplexed that being in such “great shape” they should have low back pain, but sometimes things we do regularly that don’t seem to be a problem while doing them, actually end up creating problems for us after the fact. Tight hip flexors due to poor low abdominal exercises is one such thing.

When the hip flexors (and I’m primarily talking about the psoas major here) get tight, they can cause low back pain. I find that a popular exercise for the lower abs–leg lifts–is a primary offender. These hip flexor killers stress the psoas major muscle, which can be felt almost immediately as pain and soreness in the anterior, or front, pelvic/groin region.

I do not recommend leg lifts for most people, as more people than not have tight or hypertonic psoas muscles. However, saying that, some people do have weak hip flexors and can use strengthening, but again, it’s not the norm. If uncertain, please visit your local West Hollywood sports chiropractor  for an evaluation.

Watch the video below to learn what I consider the best lower abs exercises. I will also demonstrate the popular leg lift exercises, and explain exactly how they stress the hip flexors, and what you can do to modify even these to get a great lower ab workout.

West Hollywood Chiropractic: Lower Back Pain Stretches

By On · Add Comment · In chiropractic adjustment, failed low back surgery, low back pain, low back stretches, quadratus lumborum (QL), West Hollywood sports chiropractor

I’ve recently shown you a great beginners stretch for the quadratus lumborum (QL), which is an oft overlooked cause of low back pain. When this muscle gets tight it can mimic some of the more severe causes of low back pain, and thus many experts, myself included, believe that a number of “failed low back surgeries” might be due to conditions of the QLs. So what to do?

First, it’s crucial that you visit a sports chiropractor. If you are in West Hollywood, you can call my chiropractic office, and I will evaluate the source of your low back pain. You may need a chiropractic adjustment to your lumbar spine, sacrum or pelvis, as each is factor contributing to low back pain. And if your QLs are tight, then you will need to stretch.

Watch the beginners’ QL stretch video here, and if you do not feel like you are getting a sufficient stretch, then try the more advanced low back pain stretches that I demonstrate in the video below. Remember that the QLs are for side bending among other actions, so the advanced stretch is essentially a side bender. Be mindful of your form, as is true with all exercises and stretches, and remember to roll your body back slightly as you stretch, and you should get great results.

Low back pain is never fun, but what complicates things and makes it harder to get relief is not understanding the source of the pain. So, again, get in to see your West Hollywood sports chiropractor for your low back pain relief, exercises and stretches right away. That’s the best way to get back on your feet quickly and feeling good again.

West Hollywood Chiropractic: Exercises for Knee Pain Relief

By On · Add Comment · In inflammation, instability, knee pain, knee stretches, knee surgery, orthopedist, rehabilitation, sports injuries, torn meniscus, West Hollywood sports chiropractor
Got a call from an old friend the other day, said he tweaked his knee pretty badly.  He said he was trying to avoid surgery, but his doctor thought it might be necessary because he probably tore his meniscus.  I asked what tests and diagnostic imaging the doctor had done and he said, “None–I just showed her where the pain is.”

“Listen, I’m not saying you don’t have a torn meniscus, because I wouldn’t know that without seeing you and doing some tests to make that evaluation; but by the way you’re describing it, it might not be,” I told him.

He asked if there were any stretches one could do to rehab a knee.  My response was that seeing a doctor that understands sports injuries was the probably the wisest thing to do, and preferably an orthopedist or West Hollywood sports chiropractor; but I told him I would cut a video showing some preliminary stretches that would be part of a knee rehab regimen.

I want to caution anybody watching this video that doing these stretches with a recent knee injury is not advised without the supervision of a doctor.  However, saying that, once inflammation has been controlled and any instability stabilized, stretching the muscles I show in the video should do wonders to open the knee joint up, preserving the knee.

Finally, these stretches are good for non-injured people too, so if you are looking for an excellent knee-opening regimen, try the stetches in the video; I guarantee with a little diligence, you’ll be truckin’ like an old pro.  There ya go, Pauli.

Copyright © 2013 Dr. Nick Campos - All Rights Reserved.