School is BACK in Session!

Once again, summer came and went far too quickly. And for kids, that is the worst case scenario because..... School Starts! (I always imagine the beginning of school coinciding with the high shrill sounds from the movie Psycho). But on a good note, that means that kids get to see their friends on a daily basis and are another day closer to becoming an adult (and for you parents, that hopefully means self-sufficient)! But instead of talking about long division, exploding volcano science experiments, or the "birds and the bees," I want to talk about your kids backs.

More specific than that, their Backpacks! Nowadays they come in every size, shape, color, and with everyone's personal favorite cartoon character. Where have the good ol' days gone when we just needed to carry those cool Trapper Keepers around, huh? Their backpacks are slowly becoming a travel sized locker, Storing your kids books which can weigh 3-5 pounds, papers, calculator, pens, rulers, and everything else one could possibly need for any particular class. All that weight being lugged up and carried around throughout the day.

Backpacks can be a great tool for a student, but like every tool, it needs to be used properly. Without caution, it can lead to injury and a trip to the doctor's office so here is how to avoid that:

1. Your child's backpack should never be heavier than 10-15% of their body weight. If your child weighs 100 pounds, his or her backpack shouldn't weigh more than 10 to 15 pounds, which means not much more than a couple books and a notebook of paper.
2. Your child's back pack should ALWAYS be worn on both shoulders, with its weight evenly distributed. Wearing a heavy backpack on only one shoulder, although it looks cool, can put an uneven stress on that side of the body and spine which can cause problems in the musculature and alignment of their backs.
3. Make sure your child doesn't carry unnecessary items such as cell phones, lap tops, games, etc. These items only had more bulk and can wait to be used until after school hours.
4. Encourage your kids to use their lockers and desks more often to keep their materials.
5. Use all of the backpack's compartments, keeping books and heavier items closest to the center.

Parents, make sure to monitor your child's homework planning. Keeping sure to do a little homework each day to prevent procrastinating and heavier homework loads in the future! Again, be careful with those backpacks and you'll have an easier time enjoying your school year!

Dr. Matt

Spring Ahead... At Your Own Risk

As soon as we start getting accustomed to waking up in the morning to the first glimpse of sunlight shining through our windows, we spring ahead once more. That lost hour of sleep seems more difficult than ever to recover from, and we wake to the greeting of darkness again. Yes, springtime is upon us, despite the chill in the air and the lack of green outside. Warmer temperatures are on the way and the smell of fresh-clipped blades of grass consumes us all as we begin thinking of golfing, gardening, and lake season.
All winter long, we’ve allowed ourselves to lull into semi-hibernation. Nestling into our favorite chairs, pulling that soft, warm blanket just over our noses, and indulging in our nightly favorite TV show. What happens to our bodies when our day consists of driving to work, sitting at a desk for 8 hours, driving home from work, and then sitting in that nice, warm, comfortable chair? We go from sitting, to hurrying up and sitting some more. Our bodies become stiff, weak, and the feeling of rigor mortis starts setting in. Our bodies aren’t designed for staying in one place for too long. Men, remember how it feels to stand for hours on end, waiting and watching your wives shop? Women, remember how your back aches and aches from sitting in those plastic fold-down chairs or bleachers at your husbands favorite sporting game? We aren’t constructed to stay in place, and anything to the contrary is detrimental to how we feel.
Have you ever played the game Hangman? Guess a letter, if you guess correctly you’re one step closer to guessing the phrase. Guess incorrectly, and your opponent draws a circle and five straight lines that form a stick figure. In all your days of playing hangman, has that stick figure ever gotten up and out of that noose, landed on its feet-less legs, and walked off the page? Besides the fact the stick figure isn’t REAL, and doesn’t have feet, it would need something to get going. It needs joints: knees, ankles, elbows, etc. We have joints to allow us to move, and if we were born with joints we might as well use them. A colleague of mine always says “If you didn’t want stress in your life, you might as well have been born a plant or a rock.” It’s true, and slightly off-track, but it works also if rephrased, “If you didn’t want to move, you should have been born a plant or a rock” (Even though some will combat they were born couch potatoes).
In the end, the bitter cold of winter has entrapped us in the sitting position for the better part of four months. And now that those tremendous snow banks we have struggled to look around for oncoming traffic are melting away to turn our city roads into rivers, it becomes time to look out our front windows and begin contemplating to move. No, not packing up and relocating somewhere warm and sunny, but move as in activity.
Activity… it has a better sound than the word “exercise,” don’t you think? It doesn’t necessarily mean driving straight to the gym and training for the Fargo Marathon, it means the act of DOING something, whether it be as simple as walking the dog outside, or as complex as gathering together as a community and helping one another to fight yet another possible “500-year flood.” It is doing something, anything really, but getting your butt out of the chair to do so. However, this time of year, we need to take caution before jumping straight into your favorite activity.
We need to take care of ourselves prior to moving. We take care of our cars before we take them out for a spin; why not take care of our bodies? We give our cars oil, gas, and we ease them onto the road (generally, if not in a hurry) without putting the pedal to the metal. If we don’t prepare our bodies before stepping on the gas, we’ll break. So here is what we need to be doing.

1. STRETCH- Before we even think about running, sandbagging, gardening, or golfing, we need to get loosened up. Stretch out those muscles
2. EASE into it- Some people say they know one speed, and it is FULL SPEED. Full speed is the quickest way to hurting one’s self if we’re not prepared. Every athlete has a preseason beforehand to ease them into their sport, maybe professional sports are on to something?
3. HYDRATE- Drink plenty of water if doing any activity. You’ll feel better, for longer, and it will decrease some of the soreness afterwards.
4. GET TREATED- Before you jump into anything, or immediately following an injury, go see your local chiropractor. They are the experts on getting your body to work at optimum capacity.

Every activity has its own risk of injuries. Many injuries simply occur from bending and twisting. What are you doing when you put your ball and tee into the first tee box? When you’re pulling out weeds from your garden? When you’re lifting this year’s clutter into the garbage for spring-cleaning? The forward bending can be a silent killer, so bend at your knees like your weight lifting instructor used to tell you. What are we doing when we swing that golf club? When we pull the start cord on the lawn mower? When we hand the sandbag in our arms to the next person down the assembly line? The twisting action, especially with any weight added, can drop a person to their knees if we pull a muscle or pinch our spine. Take caution when twisting, and move your feet to square yourself if at all possible.
As flowers blossom, trees bloom and everything outside turns bright colors, remember to spring ahead this season, but at your own risk. Take the necessary precautions so that you can enjoy your spring and summer activities without taking any important time out for healing and recovery. Have fun and feel good while doing so!

Dr. Matthew Lau
Storlie-Pladson Chiropractic
www.matthewlaudc.com

Fighting the Freeze

We're at the point in the calendar year where (hopefully) the worst is behind us. We are two-thirds the way through winter and the average-coldest month of the year is in our rear-view mirror waving back at us. Before we start thinking warm thoughts, spring cleaning, and golf season, let's make sure that we stay safe and warm until we get into flood fighting mode here in Fargo-Moorhead. It's still February and we still need to fight the freeze!

Many of us, since late November, have burrowed ourselves deep into the hearth of our homes for semi-hibernation. We have struggled for months now to get ourselves up in the morning because of the diminishing daylight. If you're anything at all like myself, you've carefully calculated the EXACT necessary amount of time it takes to get ready in the morning, and we push the SLEEP button on our alarms enough to stay in our warm and cozy beds until that point. Once we're up, we get ready, go to work, come home, watch tv, go to sleep, and repeat it all tomorrow. Some of you will say, "That isn't me, I work out, I'm active." Of course you are, but most of us don't, and even many that do, their week consists of working out a couple of times, and the other five days are as drawn up above.

What is happening to our bodies when we don't put it through the rigors of daily activities and workouts, when it isn't stimulated, when we go from sitting in our desk for 8 hours, to sitting in our car for the drive home, to sitting in our favorite chair in front of the television for the remainder of the night? Answer this one in your head for me please, "IF YOU DON"T USE IT, YOU..."

Think of our bodies as your dream car: that Ferrari you've always wanted, the souped-up Chevy truck that can conquer any terrain, or that '67 Mustang, who's engine roar in your mind is so clear it might have just come from your garage. You're going to use this car of yours to get from one place to another, fast or slow, but you're going to treat it right in the process. Premium gas, the best oil one can by, and you'll park at the back of the lot to avoid any chance of someone dinging your door.

Now what if you drove that car to hell. Ran it dry of oil, beat it up, left it in an open field where the rain and snow pummel it, rust accumulating and abandon it for years. If or when you come back to that car, put your key in the ignition, are you expecting the car that was once your dream car, to run as if it were brand new? Our bodies don't need to be left abandoned for years before they start developing problems. They are designed to move, and anything to the contrary would have us looking similar to the five lines and a circle you draw on the letter-guessing game Hangman.

Our bodies are made up of bones, muscles, and cartilage that form joints and allow us to perform that keystroke on your computer, allow you to get up from your desk and walk to the water-cooler, and bring that cup of water directly to your mouth. In order for these joints to remain healthy, we need to take care of them, we need to move them, and we need to stretch them. Have you ever sat at your desk all day, or sat in a car or airplane for a long trip, went to stand up, and felt like the 110-year-old version of yourself? You go to stand and everything wants to move in slow motion, your knees slowly unlock, your leg and hip muscles feeling like they are being stretched to their limits, and in those few hours, your body has gained 15 years.

When our bodies aren't doing what they are meant to be doing, it is detrimental to our health and how we feel. When we sit all day, and at the end of the day, we hurry up to sit some more, our bodies are spending all this time getting more and more tense with every minute of inactivity. And the more and more tense we get, the greater the risk of injury when we attempt that first activity (usually our first outing on the golf course, throwing things out on spring cleaning, or even bringing the dog out for a walk once the extra 30 pounds of clothing aren't needed to keep warm any longer).

What should we be doing?
1. We need to MOVE! Get up from your desk 15 minutes out of every hour and walk around.
2. Stretch! Give those muscles a break from being tight and tense and stretch them out.
3. ACTIVITY! Spend at least a half hour a day doing something. Walk your dog, go work out, play a sport, play with your kids. Get your pulse up a bit and push your body.
4. Lastly, but not least importantly, go see your chiropractor. They are the experts on joint health and are necessary for keeping your body aligned and working at its optimum levels!

Something as simple as walking at a good pace each and every day can do wonders for one's health. Get up early, go to your local mall, and cruise around. And if you get sick and tired of bumping into everyone, head over to the Moorhead Center Mall. Malls and indoor tracks are perfect for walking so we don't have to worry about snow, ice, winter advisory alerts, frost bite, and we can forget about Minnesota/North Dakota winters for a little while.

It is amazing what a little activity or the word people dread (shhh... exercise) can do for one's health. It makes you feel younger, gives you more energy, and is a great way to relieve the stress of realizing we may not be on track for our New Year's Resolutions... one month in. So remember to stay warm, get active, and get healthy because that time of year approaches where the Red and the sandbags take a toll on one's body, and perhaps this year, your body will be ready.

Dr. Matt
www.matthewlaudc.com
www.facebook.com/drmatthewlau

Headaches... What kind are you?

Nearly everyone has at one point in time experienced the fight against a headache. Almost 90% of Americans have had headaches, whether they be throbbing, sharp, dull and achy, or you fill in the blank. A common assumption is that if these headaches persist, reoccur, or are severe, that they must be migraines. There are many different types of headaches, migraines being one, however the most common type is called Tension headaches. Below is a list of different headaches, and how to differentiate.

Tension Headaches
Described as a "band-like" or "compression" pain that most commonly occurs in the forehead, or the back of the skull and neck. These headaches can be unilateral or encircle the entire head. The pain is often mild to moderate in severity, and feels like a dull, non-pulsating pain. Nausea and sensitivities to light and sound may be present, but usually not as severe as migraines. Tension headaches can be caused by misalignments in the spine, muscle tension, trigger points, trauma, stress, and postural strain.

Migraine Headaches
Migraine headaches can be unilateral (one-sided) or bilateral and are more prevalent in females. Often times, patients are able to predict the occurrence of their migraines. The pain associated with migraines are usually described as pulsating, are moderate to severe in quality, and have associated symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, photophobia, and phonophobia. Migraines are believed to be caused by stress, excessive sleep, menstruation or pregnancy, as well as red wines, chocolate, nuts, alcohol, and aged cheeses.

Cluster Headaches
Cluster headaches are commonly characterized as unilateral attacks with pain located behind the eye. They are the least common of the headaches, but tend to be the most severe. These headaches are generally short-lived and followed by a long painless period. The pain is described as sharp and stabbing on the one side, severe, and may cause nausea and sensitivity to light. Cluster headaches are commonly caused by stress, allergies, nitroglycerin use, or reactions to specific foods. Increased incidence in the Spring and Fall.

Sinus Headaches
These headaches are caused by congestion and pressure in the sinuses below the eyes, and in the forehead. They tend to feel very similar to migraines, and thus are often misdiagnosed as such. The pain is commonly described as dull and achy, as well as the increased pressure in the sinuses.

Although each type of headache has varying severity, causes, and symptoms, many of them can be treated within your local chiropractor's office. Whether it be chiropractic adjustments, physical therapies such as electrical muscle stimulation or ultrasound, or trigger point therapy, there are options for one to win the battle against their headaches.

"TXTing?! OMG...HA!!!"

The whole world texts, or should I say, "TXT" nowadays. It's quick, it's easy, and it's FUN. Just looking through a list of acronyms used to make shortened, but not necessarily SIMPLIFIED texts, I learned some new things! For instance, texting isn't limited to the OMG (oh my god), WTF (you know ;) ), JK (just kidding) or LOL... here's a short list of what I learned from www.netlingo.com:

GSYJDWURMNKH = "Good seeing you, Just don't wear your monkey hat"
ACORN = "A completely obsessive, really nutty person"
FYSBIGTBABN = "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night"

Now whether or not YOU'VE heard of these doesn't take away from the main message: "TXTing?! OMG...HA!!!" or as it translates to "texting? oh my god... headache!" That's because our phones, laptops, iPads, and everything else we use for messaging, are causing us problems: headaches, neck pain, tight muscles. Think about your body position/posture when you're texting. You've got that little phone cradled in both hands... the phone is down near your waist (because it would look uncool I'm sure to bring the phone up to your eye level) which causes you to continuously look downward at your phone. This begins to put strain on your upper back and neck muscles as they're now recruited to hold more weight (30 lbs of extra force to be exact) as your head tips off of center gravity. While looking down, your posture begins to diminish and your shoulders roll forward causing your front chest muscles to tighten, while increasing the curve of your midback. Eventually, the backwards 'C' curve of your neck (cervical curve) begins to decrease and can result in a number of conditions, eventually leading to possible degenerative changes such as arthritis.

This is all linked to another acronym, but not one that is commonly used in the messaging world. That is FHP, or Forward Head Posture. It causes headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain, and numbness and tingling in our arms. Without correction, again the problem worsens over time developing into a chronic condition, one of which may be known more commonly at some point in time as "Text Neck" for lack of a better term. If you think about your posture while on your brand new iPad or laptop, it's eerily similar to that of your phone. Besides not having to hold your laptop, we commonly slouch and our shoulder roll forward as we reach for every key-stroke. Rarely, is our laptop or iPad sitting at eye level, and that again forces a constant looking-down posture.

FHP can be corrected by chiropractic care, and the sooner action is taken, the better the prognosis. Simple adjustments can help to correct and increase the cervical curve, if not only to prevent further damage to it. Another important note, is think about your posture when you're messaging (head forward, shoulders rolled forward, etc), then do the exact opposite. Stretch your arms up and backwards, and look up. Not only will this help your posture, it will allow for better breathing, more oxygen flow, and more energy. Simple stretches, along with chiropractic adjustments, go a LONG way!

If we spent only a matter of minutes a day messaging, these symptoms and problems wouldn't be as big of a factor. However, we love to stay "connected" and to know whats going on with our friends, family, and as much as I hate to say, celebrity gossip! But when we're on our computers, we spend periods of time lasting up to hours... when we text, we get the response and text back, that endless cycle... today's accessibility and connectivity are our non-verbal killers.

SYS (see you soon)... and how about a emoticon to boot! ;)

-Dr. Matthew Lau
www.matthewlaudc.com

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You vs. Golf, who's winning?

Let me ask you a question guys (and girls), Have you been hitting the links this summer??? Or have the links been hitting you?! The THREE most common injuries due to golf are: back pain, tennis elbow/ golfers elbow, and shoulder pain. Although, we eventually get back at the course when our ball finds the pond, trap, O.B., or just doesn't travel as far as the divot or the club we just threw... in those instances, we get our revenge by using some specific and creative 4-letter words!

Although golfing doesn't strike one as being among the most physically abusive sports, throughout an 18 hole round, your body can absorb a considerable amount of physical stress. It begins from the very moment you put the first tee into the ground and continues to the point you scoop your ball out of the cup on hole 18. In these instances, did you bend at the knees as you would with "proper lifting technique"? Or did you lean against your driver or putter and bend at the waist to the fullest of your flexibility? Now that your ball is all teed up, it's time for your Tiger and Phil impersonations. First off is the continuing bending over to address the ball and set up your swing and quickly following is the torque you stress on your body while you twist to strike and admire that (hopefully) 300 yard drive that splits the fairway.

Lets continue with this vision. You're walking down the fairway on hole one up to your 300 yard drive already having birdie on your mind, and you're carrying those 14 clubs, dozen balls, tees, umbrella, and bag on your back because no one assigns you a caddy when you're playing Sunday afternoon at your local public course. Finally you approach the ball for your second shot and go through everything you did the first one (poor posture, torque, stress) and begin that smooth swing and right before you hit the ball, your seven iron digs into the ground like a car coming to a halt after rear-ending the car in front. Imagine the stress you put on your wrists and forearms and the rest of your body acts as the shock absorber.

Anywhere from 60-120 shots later (depending on your skill) of the same repeated stress, not to mention the weight of those clubs bearing down on you throughout your trek of spanning the course, and you begin to feel the stress and the abuse that golf puts on your body. It becomes clearer why BACK PAIN is so relevant due to our continued bending over, poor posture, repetitive stress carrying (or pushing/pulling if you've got a cart) your clubs cause, and the force it takes to swing and hit the ball. Now, one understands TENNIS ELBOW/ GOLFER'S ELBOW (both are inflammatory conditions within the elbow caused by excessive stress and strain on the muscles) due to the aggressive and numerous swings we take and the divots that accompany them. Lastly, the SHOULDER PROBLEMS, that are caused by the stress your rotator cuff undergoes throughout the day make sense all of a sudden.

Each of these problems can be treated or corrected by chiropractic, so if by chance you're not golfing with your local chiropractor, seek him or her out if these problems arise and/or persist! Good luck golfing this season!

Can Chiropractic Help YOU?!

Chiropractic, the literal greek meaning of which is "Done By Hand", is a completely safe and natural form of health care that has been around for 115 years! It's focus is on the human body's nervous system that essentially controls everything from muscle contraction, to all FIVE of your senses, to all of which occurs at the cellular level including production of new cells, energy, or hormones. Your brain, spinal cord, and the nerves that relay messages to and from are what comprise the nervous system. Protecting the brain and spinal cord is the skull, the 26 bones of the spine called the vertebral column, and the surrounding musculature. Not only do these bones and muscles protect the spine, but they allow us to stand upright, twist, turn, bend, and walk. Can you imagine the stress we put our spines through each and every day with holding our body weight, jumping, running, poor postures, injuries, accidents, etc.?

Chiropractic aims to treat SUBLUXATIONS of the spine. What are these? Subluxations are misalignments within the spine that cause irritation to the nearby exiting nerves. This irritation can cause many symptoms, the most common of which is pain. Headaches? Low Back pain? Each benefit greatly from chiropractic ADJUSTMENTS. What is this? Adjustments, sometimes referred to as manipulations, are the active treatment of chiropractic. Chiropractors use their hands to detect and diagnose specific conditions, and correct the misalignments in the spine by using a high velocity (speed), low amplitude (force) adjustment and to re-align the spine.

Besides headaches and low back pain, chiropractic can be used to treat an endless list of conditions including asthma, shoulder pain, bedwetting, colic in babies, carpal tunnel, postural problems, injuries and accidents, fatigue, and sleep disorders to name a few. Chiropractic is entirely natural and does NOT involve any drugs! It is safe for ALL ages so stop wondering if chiropractic can help YOU and start acting!