Summer 2008 Newsletter

Meet the Exercise Physiologists

Patient spotlight

Julie Iniestra Fernando Iniestra Former Olympic Medalist GOLD MEDAL XI Panamerican Games in La Havana Cuba 1991 GOLD MEDAL in the World Mondial of Pelota Vasca ( San Juan de Luz France 1995) GOLD MEDAL   XII Panamericans Games in Argentiana ,Buenos Aires en 1994 SILVER MEDAL  XII Panamericans Games in Argentina,Buenos Aires en 1994 TWO SILVER OLYMPIC MEDALS IN BARCELONA 1992   USPTA Certified Member Tennis Pro  http://fernandoiniestra.usptapro.com/

Mechanical Stress
by Dr. Brian Nimphius

Exercising is vital to the health of the human body, but is there a point where we can actually be causing damage to the body because of the exercise we are doing? Can we place too much stress on the body and cause it to fail instead of grow stronger? The more we exercise the more equipped the body is to adapt to the stress of exercise. This adaptation to the stress of exercise will cause the muscles to become leaner and more efficient movers. The leaner a muscle becomes the healthier it becomes. A healthy muscle will not be injured as often as an unhealthy muscle. The human body needs daily physical exertion to be as healthy, strong and fit as possible. The most popular way to increase your muscle strength is through a resistance training program, which is commonly called weight training or weightlifting.

Exercise programs are designed around the “overload principle”. This principle states that a system or tissue must be exercised at a level beyond which it is presently accustomed in order for a training effect to occur. A training effect is the result of the muscles adaptation to the stresses placed upon it. The training effect is specific to the muscle fibers depending on the activity performed. This means the human body will adapt to whatever stresses are placed upon it. It also means the training effect can and will be different depending on how you exercise.

The reality of most weight lifting programs is that they have focused on increasing the weight at the expense of the number of repetitions. The result of this is an influx of people who have grown up thinking their heavy weight lifting has given them strong muscles. In reality what happened was a breakdown in form, a gradual decrease in joint stability and biomechanics. When the mechanics breakdown a host of injuries can and will occur due to the increased stress placed on the joints. People take for granted the amount of stress that is placed on the joints when they are doing a resistance workout.

Focusing on the stress placed on the joints being moved during resistance training is vital to a person’s ability to exercise over the long term. The more weight that is lifted means greater stresses placed on the joint. This stress leads to frequent injuries and more time away from being able to train and workout. If two bones are not tracking properly at the joint then that joint’s ability to resist force will decrease. The decreased ability of a joint to resist force will lead to that joint failing, causing an injury. Minimizing joint stresses is one reason why it is very important that all your joints be able to move properly through there normal range of motion. It is very easy to tell if your elbow or knee joints are tracking properly, but the joints of the spine are much more complex and constantly overlooked in terms of there importance to the muscular system.

Take for example a 170-lb person performing a straight legged dead lift with 200-lbs. If you take the forces of the weight and the weight of the upper body the contraction of the postural muscles of the spine will generate a theoretical force of 2071-lbs at the lumbosacral disc. Compensational mechanisms from the upper torso will reduce this force to 1483-lbs of force on the lumbosacral disc. This is an incredible amount of stress to be placed on a small surface area. Such stresses are the reason why we have chronic and serious injuries to the low back. Therefore, the need for proper joint mechanics and lifting technique are paramount. If your torso and upper back vertebrae are not tracking properly, then they will not be able to provide the proper compensational forces to help off set the stress placed on the lumbosacral disc.

If your lumbosacral joint mechanics are not 100% and you are doing a lot of bending or lifting then the forces placed on the lower back will lead to musculoskeletal injuries and tremendous low back pain. You may not be doing a lot of heavy dead lifts, but you may be picking up your kids all day long, folding clothes or working in the yard bending and stooping all afternoon. These routine activities will lead to low back pain if your joint mechanics are not properly functioning. The best way to tell if your joint mechanics are correct is to visit a Core certified chiropractor and let him examine you for proper joint stability and biomechanics of the spine. Then a CORE exercise physiologist, in conjunction with your doctor, will develop a customized rehab protocol that will foster appropriate joint alignment and muscle stabilization.