Natural Sports Medicine Tips from Dr. Thomas Polucki, Santa Clarita Chiropractor and Functional Medicine Expert, To Help You Play Stronger, Harder and Faster, with Less Pain and More Fun

By Dr. Thomas Polucki

Pop quiz about sports and injuries like back pain:

What’s more dangerous?
a. playing football
b. cheerleading
c. dating the quarterback’s cheerleader girlfriend

Sports are dangerous. That’s part of the excitement. But back pain or a back injury can take a player out of the game or even end a career. And no matter what your favorite sport might be, it’s likely that even just sitting on the couch watching it on the tube can cause back pain.

Back pain is so common in all sports that almost every professional athlete has a chiropractor they credit
with keeping them out of pain and at the top of their game.

So work hard. Play hard. Eat right. Hydrate. Get adjusted. Stay pain-free, naturally.

And don’t worry so much about stress. Here’s why.

RELATED: Read more Dr. Polucki Family Health Hour news articles on KHTS’s website

Whether you’re an athlete or not, every cell in your body requires just a few things for it to play its part in keeping you strong and flexible.

If you provide your cells the nutrients they need, they will help you recover faster
from stress and injury, avoid disease and boost your energy, strength, flexibility and endurance,
with little if any pain.

1. Appropriate Nutrition
   Stay away from processed, prepackaged, fast food. They’re light on nutrition, heavy on toxic ingredients. Common problem foods include dairy and grains that cause inflammation. Instead, try to eat simple, real foods like these, prepared fresh, whenever possible:

• raw veggies
• unripe fruit
• beans
• eggs
• fish
• meat

There is so much confusing information out there about “eating right” that most people can’t be bothered.

I have spent the past 20 years a vegetarian, studying nutrition the whole time, but getting it horribly wrong — until just the past few years.

Over time I’ve developed a simple, common-sense approach to individual nutrition that works, and that I can easily  teach you, in one hour, so you‘ll know you are eating right and never need to do the diet dance again.

And you don’t have to be a vegetarian.

Learn more about how to choose the best foods for you in our Free Nutrition Class.

2. Water and Oxygen
   Our cells are nearly 80 percent water and most us don’t drink nearly enough water every day to flush out the waste products of metabolism.

Here’s a nice visual: sewer jacuzzi.

To hydrate enough to support detoxification, drink half your body weight (pounds) in ounces of water a day

For example: If you weigh 150 pounds, drink 75 ounces of water, or about 3 quarts a day.

Most of us have learned a really bad habit when it comes to breathing.

We are designed to fill our lungs by dropping the diaphragm (belly breath), but most people breathe from their chests, which pulls the ribcage up and strains the neck muscles.

Your chest should not move when you breathe. Only your belly should expand. You get more oxygen that way.

Learn how to get a full body metabolic workout in 20 minutes with no special equipment at our Free Exercise Class.

3. Nerve Energy
   The legal and clinical defining difference between a living and a dead person is nerve energy. With trillions of nerve cells coordinating every function in your body, stress between your head and shoulders can eventually choke the life out of you.

Even if you are not in pain, when your head is not on straight, your breathing, balance and coordination is compromised, making you slower, weaker and more easily injured.

If you have aches and pains that interfere with playing your favorite game, take the Confidential Survey and you may qualify for a free consultation to see what some 1-on-1 could do for you.

By the way…Cheerleaders are at the highest risk of serious injury because they have no protection and are often flying or hopefully catching each other with intense forces.

About Santa Clarita Chiropractor Dr. Thomas Polucki

Dr. Thomas Polucki is a Board-Certified Doctor of Chiropractic, Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner, Certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner, Certified Metabolic Typing Advisor and Certified Upper Cervical Chiropractor.

Dr. Polucki provides Functional Medicine services in most cities via remote labs and Internet consultations. He sees patients by appointment at 25050 Peachland Ave., Suite 105, Newhall, Calif., 91321. Visit http://www.drpolucki.com for more information or call 661-753-9340 to schedule an appointment.

Dr. Polucki also hosts the “Dr. Polucki Family Health Hour” on AM 1220 KHTS radio in Santa Clarita
Mondays from 11 a.m. to noon. Click here to listen to the podcasts.

The information in this article is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease.