Oh! But CrossFIt Is So Dangerous and Has More Injuries Than.....

     "CrossFit is so dangerous and it has more injuries then any other sport or activity."  I hear that one a lot.  It is amazing how many patients, friends, acquaintances, and even professionals tell me the dangers of CrossFit.

     I decided to look into it.  Currently, there are no scientific studies to back up the claim that people who do CrossFIt have higher rates of injuries then other physical sports/activities.  In fact, CrossFIt is not even in the Top 10 of sports/activities for injury.

   Below is a list compiled by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's Electronic Injury Data Surveillance System (EIDSS), (2006 Figures).

    1- Basketball: 529,837 Injuries.
    2- Bicycling: 490,494 Injuries.
    3- Football: 460,210 Injuries.
    4- ATV, Mopeds, Minibikes: 275,123 Injuries.
    5- Baseball, Softball: 274,867 Injuries.
    6- Exercise, Exercise Equipment: 269,249 Injuries.
    7- Soccer: 186,544 Injuries.
    8- Swimming: 164,107 Injuries.
    9- Skiing, Snowboarding: 96,119 Injuries.
   10- Lacrosse, Rugby: 85,580 Injuries.

     Truth be told, anyone who engages in any type of physical activity or sport runs the risk of injury.  In my office treating patients, I have lost track of how many mountain bikers that took a header flying over their handle bars.  I lost track on the amount of skiers and snowboarders jacking up their shoulders, knees and wrists.  And lets not forget the multitude of concussions in football, soccer and even regular PE class.  Don't even get me started on trampoline injuries.  And yes I get an occasional CrossFIt injury but their numbers don't come close to the injuries seen in other sports.  Does that mean we should also avoid these sports/activities because they can be potentially dangerous and fraught with injuries?  Of course not.  So why does CrossFit get picked on?  Because it is relatively speaking the new kid on the block in the sporting/exercise world and unfortunately, many old time trainers and exercise gurus are just ignorant on the subject of CrossFit.

   Injuries in any sport including CrossFit usually occur for the following reasons:

1- Lack of conditioning.  I think this is a primary reason why CrossFit gets a bad rap.  Often times a person new to CrossFit will dive in and not realize the strength, endurance and skill that is involved with it.  They do their initial visit with their instructor and they are laid up for four or five days from sore muscles.  They are out of condition and their muscles are not used to that type of load.  Technically, this is not a true injury per say but the muscles have been broken down and need time to recover.  That is why I inform my patients that go into CrossFit that they should take it slow and give themselves a month to get their first four sessions out of the way before they are turned loose to workout with the group.

     2- Improper form and lifting techniques.  When proper form and technique are not adhered to, injury can occur. but this can happen with any sport or activity.  Take your time, learn from your instructor and get the moves down using lighter weights before trying to tackle the prescribed weight.

     3- Ego. What is so wonderful about CrossFIt as well as the people involved with it is there is a lot of encouragement and motivation pushing you (positively) to reach the next level.  Again, this can happen in any sport.  We strive to improve and better our times as well as increasing or max in lifting.  Unfortunately, our ego can get us in trouble at times.  There is a fine line between knowing our bodies, knowing our current limits and breaking through a barrier to reaching a new personal best.  As a result, injury can sometimes occur.

    4- Fatigue/Lack of Proper Recovery.  Injuries frequently occur when we are tired.  We don't listen to our bodies when we should and pretty soon we get hurt.  Listen to your body.  Get enough rest for proper muscle recovery.  Drink plenty of water, eat plenty of high quality protein and don't forget to roll out your muscles using a roller or ball.

    I hope this settles any questions or concerns you might have.

    Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Paleo/Primal Stuffing

          I am not one to brag but when it comes to stuffing, I make the best.  Before going Paleo/Primal my stuffing was loaded with cornbread and wild rice.  With a little experimentation, I came up with a stuffing that is completely Paleo/Primal/Gluten & Grain free.  If you are looking for a new stuffing recipe, you are in luck.  Below is the recipe for my Paleo/Primal stuffing.



Ingredients

4 lbs. of country sausage. (brown it before adding to the mix)
2 heads of cauliflower ( diced then roasted in an oven at 400F till toasted )
1 whole white onion (diced).
1 cup of celery (chopped).
1 cup of slivered almonds (toasted).
1cup of crushed pecans (toasted).
1 small Granny Smith apple (diced).
1 can of water chess nuts (diced).
1/2 cup dried blueberries.
2 eggs (beaten).
½ cup melted butter or coconut oil.
1 cup chicken stock (to be used for added moisture if needed).
1 tsp. each of oregano, basil, sage and rosemary.
1 Tbsp. of dried parsley.
3 cloves of chopped fresh garlic

Directions

-Brown the sausage, then add to it the onions, garlic and celery.
- In a BIG bowl, add the diced, roasted cauliflower.  Then add the sausage, onions, garlic, spices, nuts, water chess nuts, apple.
- To the mix, add the butter and eggs to moisten.   - Add the dried blueberries last.
-Mix it all up by hand.
- There will be enough to stuff an 18-20lb bird and there will be enough left over to fill a casserole dish.  With the left over stuffing in the casserole dish, if needed, add chicken stock to keep it moist while it bakes in the oven, cover the dish with foil before putting in the oven.
- When your turkey is done, the stuffing is done.  The stuffing in the casserole dish need only cook for 1 to 1.5 hours at 350.

ENJOY!

Paleo Lifestyle Resources

    I have always been a fan of lower carbohydrate-higher protein based diets.  The Atkins'/Ketogenic diet was my first venture away from the traditional high carb/low fat that is to this day still pushed by the food industry and traditional medicine.  Early in my chiropractic career, I found that my patients responded better to the higher protein/lower carbohydrate diets.  Not just from a obesity standpoint  but also from a chronic disease standpoint; patients with heart disease, diabetes and auto immune conditions greatly improved if not resolved their conditions all together.
   About three years ago, I was exposed to the Paleo Diet; originally developed by Loren Cordain, PhD.   I found his ground breaking book, The Paleo Diet to be a nice change of pace to the Atkins' diet.  Many of my patients felt too deprived while on Atkins'/Ketogenic.  Since that time, I recommend the Paleo Diet, a.k.a. Paleo Lifestyle to all of my patients.
    In my office, I routinely tell my patients to check out website after website about the Paleo Lifestyle. To avoid confusion and repeating myself, I decided to create a list of all the websites/resources for my patients that I routinely recommend.  These sites offer a wealth of information regarding the dos and don't s, the science behind Paleo and thousands of wonderful recipes to try. 

     ENJOY!

     Books: The Paleo Diet (L. Cordain) thepaleodiet.com
                 Life Without Bread (Allan & Lutz).
                 Neanderthin (R. Audette)
                 The Paleo Solution (R. Wolf) robbwolf.com

     Education:  Weston A. Price Foundation. westonprice.org
                       glutenfreesociety.org
                       glutenfreeworks.com
                       paleoparents.com
                       blog.bellatrixnutrition.com
                       liftbigeatbig.com
                       crossfit.com

     Great Paleo Websites:  fastpaleo.com    *My favorite for Paleo recipes.*
                                        marksdailyapple.com
                                        paleobread.com
                                        everydaypaleo.com
                                        paleomagonline.com
                                        theclothesmakethegirl.com
                                        health-bent.com
                                        paleodietlifestyle.com
                                        thepaleosecret.com
                                        carbzero.com
                                        chowstalker.com

     Sugar Substitute:  Just Like Sugar, justlikesugarinc.com   All natural, no calorie, no carb sweetener.

Getting Back on the Crossfit Horse

    We are all human, every once in a while life can throw us a curve ball to where we either fall off or jump off the proverbial horse.  Which in this case equates to missing or avoiding our Crossfit workouts (Yes this certainly applies to different workout systems, but since Crossfit is my main focus, I reserve the right to use it).  Perhaps its a personal or family emergency or an injury related or unrelated to Crossfit.  For whatever the reason before you know it, weeks have gone by and your physical gains as well as your emotional state (which you worked so hard for) have deteriorated. 

    I myself am not immune to such an occurrence.  Unfortunately, I end up kicking myself when I do get back to training as I am once again forced to get retrieve my gains from what I lost from time off.  I can tell you right now, it is much easier to stay with your momentum whether you train three, four or five times a week with Crossfit.  From an emotional or mental standpoint, staying on task with your workout is even more imperative as one goes through emotional upheavals in one's life.  Without emotional stability or clarity, we often times fail to make the appropriate choices and decisions that are best for ourselves as well as our family. 

    From a physical standpoint, I have learned that if you are healing from an injury, instead of remaining stationary for weeks on end, train around your injured area.  Granted, I understand if one is recovering from major surgery, one might have to take a certain amount of time to recover before your doctor clears you for resuming your training.  But, for most sprain/strain/tear injuries, modify your workout.  Train around the injury, lighten your load and avoid routines and positions that negatively impact your injury.  But whatever you do, don't stop working out.  It can be a bugger to get your momentum flowing again.

    It is often said, the hardest part of working out is just getting there.  Once you are there its all down hill.  And when you're finished with your workout, we all know how good we feel both physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Bottom line, if we want to be at our best to help our family in times of need and if we want to recover from an injury at the quickest possible pace, don't stop your workout, you may think you are helping you or your family in the long run but, if we don't take care of our needs first and foremost, then we won't be at our best when someone needs our help.  When this happens, we not only end up cheating friends and family not having you at your best, we also end up cheating ourselves for not being at our best.

Supplements for Post-Workout Muscle Soreness

Whether you are new to CrossFit or been around the block a few times, muscle pain and soreness are part of the CrossFit lifestyle. Stretching and rolling out sore muscles will definitely aid in recovery. From a nutritional standpoint there are specific supplements you can take to keep the inflammatory process in check. My top three favorite nutritional supplements are: Omega 3's (essential fatty acids), L-Arginine and good old fashioned water.

With Omega 3's, the optimal therapeutic dose is 2700mg a day of EPA and DHA. To get this level, go for the liquid brands. One or two teaspoons a day is much easier than 6 to 10 horse pills a day. And make sure your omega 3's are from Norway to ensure the lowest levels of heavy metals.

l-Arginine not only improves muscle recovery time and soreness. It also aids in total cardiovascular support, energy production and nitric oxide production. Optimal dosage, 5000mg a day. Two of my favorite brands are L-arginine plus and L-arginine complete.

Water is often our most neglected basic essential for optimal health. Strive for 25oz. per 50lbs. of body weight. So if you are 150lbs., your recommended amount is 75oz. of water a day. Also for every 8oz. of coffee or tea you ingest per day, that is an additional 8oz. of water you must add to your regiment. Most of your early morning muscle stiffness can be alleviated by drinking 16oz. of water before you head off to do your WOD.

Hope this helps.

Enjoy.

Dr. Corey

Why can't I lose weight when I walk three miles a day?

One of the biggest reasons people seek care at our office is weight loss. I frequently have patients ask me all the time why are the not losing weight when they walk 2 to 3 miles a day. This is always one of my favorite questions I get. I will in this case make a generalization. It is very rare that you see a thin group of ladies out for a walk or even seniors doing their morning walk at the mall. Although I commend them on having the right intentions to do something about their health but unfortunately they are wasting too much time with dismal results. What most people don't realize, once you get into a specific exercise routine your body soon adapts and you lose any real long lasting benefit. I also see this in the construction world. Construction workers by in large are more physically fit than the average person. But again after six months of doing the same thing over and over the body plateaus and they lose any real gains.

One of the keys to really shaking things up to where you lose pounds and inches is intensity. The higher the intensity, the better the results period! Increasing your intensity of exercise over a period of fifteen to twenty minutes will yield better health gains and a noticeable drop in pounds and inches than loafing for hours.

The other key is shocking your body with a change in routine. Instead of walking everyday, incorporate hiking, biking, rowing or weight resistance training. When you frequently change up your routine your body has to learn to accommodate the unfamiliar muscle motions and cardiac output. Constantly changing our workout allows our muscles, cardiovascular system and proproioceptors to make better, noticeable gains. Especially around our waste line.

If your really wanting to step up your intensity or your looking for a change in your workout routine, give CrossFit a go. Personally I have found no better way to increase muscle mass, lose inches and feel incredible without pills or potions than CrossFIt. Just to reiterate, there is no quick fix and there is no magic bullet. Optimal health and wellness is a way of life.

Love, Light & Laughter

Dr. Corey

New to CrossFit? Take it slow at first.

Occasionally I hear from friends or patients that started doing CrossFit then quit because they were so sore they could not continue. I found this out for myself when I first started earlier this year. The muscle soreness was beyond anything I had ever experienced in a workout. Any time one engages in a new workout or exercise regime muscle soreness is a common theme due to lack of conditioning especially if one has not exercised in years. CrossFit is no different. However, muscle soreness is amplified with CrossFit due to the variety of exercises as well as the level of intensity that CrossFit commands.

Most CrossFit facilities recommend that you have at least four one on one sessions with the instructor before they feel you are ready to workout in the group settings. From personal experience as well as patient response, I found that future compliance and morale was much improved if they waited four days before their next individual session. Basically, give yourself a whole month to get the first four initial sessions out of the way. Then by that time your initial muscle soreness will be gone.

However, I must point out that as you continue with CrossFit, muscle soreness will continue to be a factor but, in a good way. The CrossFit muscle burn lets you know you are pushing your body in a positive, healthy, kick butt direction.

Enjoy

Dr. Corey