Fixing Issues Up Front

Wednesday morning last week I was unable to finish my entire workout session. I had to cut my weight training workout down to 30 minutes, and my bike ride was capped at 30 minutes too. I had 45-75 minutes scheduled on the bike but couldn't handle it. I was sore getting ready for work and had a nagging, constant, dull pain all day at work, so I made an appointment with Dr. Brad Hochstein at Synergy Chiropractic in Lincoln.

I've seen Brad before with other issues that were, admittedly, entirely my fault. Mostly it was a case of not warming up properly before I tried to make my body do something strenuous or not stretching like I'm supposed to in order to avoid injury. I scheduled and appointment with Brad, he taught me what I was doing (or not doing) that may have caused the painful result and gave me guidance about how to fix it. I was off and running again, so to speak.

When I went in Wednesday complaining of soreness and restricted mobility, Brad was immediately able to see that I wasn't standing squarely. My hips were turned a few degrees to the right instead of being square with my torso and feet. He noticed that while we were making small talk about what's changed since I was last in to see him, and it turns out that whole hip alignment thing was part of my problem! Without revisiting the diagnosis in full detail, I'll just say Brad was able to prod for more details applicable to the source of my soreness and teach me what I was doing and not doing to cause it. He made a quick adjustment to one spot in my back that needed it and I was on my way to better health.

Here's the thing about Dr. Hochstein and Synergy Chiropractic. For someone like me who always wants to know "Why?" I am never disappointed with the services they provide. I don't want the quick adjustment that gets me back on my feet only to have the problem resurface a week later. One of Brad's fortes is something called active release technique (ART), which, as I understand it, is a method of identifying and working on the muscles to fix the root cause of the problem. That's exactly what I want! I looked it up; ART is a soft tissue management system designed to rid injured areas of scar tissue. That's pretty much the same thing, right? Anyway, I don't want to go back to the chiropractor every week because I keep having issues, and Synergy Chiropractic doesn't want that either. My understanding is back problems that require an adjustment are often caused by some underlying muscular issue. Think about it; do the bones pull themselves out of alignment? No. Muscles pull on bones, so if you identify and fix the muscular issues, then you've fixed the real cause of the problem so it doesn't keep happening. If you need to go see a chiropractor, I would highly recommend Synergy Chiropractic Spine & Joint Center in Lincoln. There's a reason they were announced the winner of the Lincoln Journal Star Choice Awards, Best Chiropractic Office, two years in a row.

I'm not in a unique situation by definition, but I am in a position unlike most in that I'm training for an Ironman. When someone has a small, insignificant issue with their body, it's probable that they can deal with it and never realize severe consequences. Take a little thing that won't affect training for a 5K and deal with it over the course of an Ironman training schedule and you might have something a little more serious. Synergy Chiropractic is a proud supporter of Ironman events, and the doctors there take the time to understand and be able to help athletes fix those potentially small issues that, when exacerbated over the course of high volume Ironman training, may become big issues. I, for one, am making sure I fix any and all ergonomic and biomechanics issues right at the beginning of my training.