So my whole family recently got blood work and a physical- I like to do this every year and go to my primary doctor so that I can get another set of eyes looking at it and maybe have them offer a different point of view.

Well, this time I had a bit of a scare…

The doctor’s office called me and said the doctor got my results and needed to see me.

We didn’t get a call for any of the rest of my family, so you can imagine what was going through my mind.

Is it cancer? That was probably the biggest worrisome thought, among many others. But I still figured it would be something else. At least I was hoping…

Of course, I couldn’t get in to see him for days. I just tried to block it out of my mind and not worry.

Well, when I went in to the office, I noticed how his clinic name had the word “Wellness” in it. He’s got displays up about gut health and building a healthy immune system. This is the whole reason my wife chose this MD to be our primary. She figured he’d offer a more wholistic approach, rather than just giving us pills for everything.

So he sat me down (after a long, long wait of course!). He started going over the results. And the biggest thing he talked about was that my thyroid wasn’t working properly. One of my hormones was elevated.

This can cause fatigue, sensitivity to cold, weight gain, high cholesterol, etc.

Well, rather than talk to me about what this means, possible scenarios, options to do about it- this goon just went into saying “I’m just going to give you a medication to take for the rest of your life…”

Huh?

What are you talking about, Dr. Wellness? That’s really your wholistic plan? You’re just going to give me medication FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE? And all because I had a slightly elevated TSH level?

Oh and of course, like all medications, this one came with a lengthy list of side effects, too- fever, hot flashes, sweating, headaches, irritability, nausea… And I’d probably then have to take new meds for those side effects!

This guy didn’t even want to monitor things, give me some supplements, retest in a couple months!

His idea of wellness was that we were going to give drugs early. Wow.

Well, I’m still glad I got the blood work done. I was able to catch this early and now I’m taking the proper steps to get these levels back on track before they become a real issue.

Oh, and it also made me realize that I need to come up with a thyroid and energy boost program to help kick start a sluggish thyroid or to help people with thyroid symptoms like:

• Exhaustion
• Muscle cramps and pain
• Cold intolerance
• Hair loss or thinning
• Dry skin
• Weight gain
• Constipation
• Abnormal menstrual cycles
• Decreased libido
• Mood swings

If this sounds like you, be on the lookout for my new program that I’ll be launching. Shoot me an email at drv@healthybackandwellnessinstitute.com titled “I’ve got thyroid symptoms”,  and you’ll be one of the first to hear about it when it comes out!

I’d love to help if you’re falling down that road.

Have a great healthy day, and keep making good choices!

-Dr. V

I’m at my daughter’s softball practice for her game last week, and I’m looking around for something when all of a sudden something comes and hits me in the face. I didn’t know what had happened…

The head coach had been warming up the girls by hitting balls off the bat, and I was standing sort of near him, but definitely far enough away to stay out of his way.

My first thought was: “Did he just hit me in the face with the bat?” It hurt really bad.

I had been hit in the nose and top part of my mouth a little over to the left side. I immediately had a TON of pain in my right temple. I bent down and was holding my nose and face. Then I noticed blood on my hands and I was tasting blood in my mouth. Now I’m starting to think I broke my nose…

Well, I couldn’t see it, but people rushed and got me an ice pack. While I had a little bit of a cut on my cheek, the majority of the damage was to the inside of my mouth. I’m very lucky to have not lost any teeth or have gotten hit in the eye.

But still a couple days later, not only did I have a headache, but it was almost as if I had gotten whiplash!

It hurt to sleep at night, my head was bothering me, I was tossing and turning, and now the right side of my head and neck was killing me too.

The ironic thing was that I was planning on posting a blog post to talk about the posture in the EXACT area that was now hurting me! But for about 2 days, I had a splitting headache, swelling in my face, and I was feeling pretty out of it and spacey.

While my wife was telling me to go to the doctor, I was of course stubborn and knew I had most likely suffered a concussion and just needed to rest. After a couple days of doing my best to stay off electronics (I definitely wasn’t perfect), I got through it and was able to get caught up last week.

Well, caught up except for wanting to send out the latest in my blog series about that posture of the upper back!

So, here you go- sorry for the delay, but better late than never!

Now we can finally talk about those rhomboids…

These are the muscles in your upper back that attach onto your spine and insert onto your shoulder blade. They are SO important in holding your shoulders back so they don’t round forward.

They act as an antagonist to the tight pec muscles in the front, and if you didn’t get a chance to see my other post about the pecs, you’ll want to go here and check that out.

Now while we want to STRETCH the pec muscles to pull those shoulders back, it’s important to STRENGTHEN the rhomboids. Here’s a video that shows an exercise you can do around the house to get those rhomboids firing properly and correct that posture:

The pectoralis muscles aren’t just for show. This is a super important area of the body which we often think of in the wrong way.

Most guys go to the gym and want to work their chest, chest, chest. “How much can you bench?” is probably the most common phrase of meatheads in the gym.

However, this area is often too overworked and PULLS DOWN on the shoulders, rounding them forward, and creating poor posture and poor movement patterns. Especially in those people who sit at a desk, in the car, or on the couch all day long…

This muscle gets shortened and tight, rounds your shoulders forward, and then causes you to have the classic “caveman” posture we all dread.

Here’s the anatomy of the pec muscles:

1. Pectoralis Major- this muscle has 2 divisions of it, and even is oftentimes separated out into separate muscles. The 2 divisions are the pectoralis major sternal division and the pectoralis clavicular division. The sternal division originates on the sternum and rib cartilage in the chest, while the clavicular division originates on the medial portion of the clavicle, or collar bone. They both insert onto the upper portion of the humerus (upper arm bone) at the shoulder. This muscle adducts the arm at the shoulder, and it also internally rotates the shoulder.
2. Pectoralis Minor- This muscle is a short muscle. It originates on the front surfaces of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th ribs and inserts onto the coracoid process of the scapula (shoulder blade). Its action is to elevate the ribs and protract the scapula.

These muscles counterbalance the action of the rhomboid muscles- when the pecs get shortened and tight, the rhomboids get lengthened and weakened- and this combination causes the forward head carriage and poor posture that leads to the awful tension in the neck and shoulder blades.

You also have lymphatic drainage that travels right underneath these muscles. If they’re tight, they can restrict lymphatic flow and you won’t flush out toxins from your body as efficiently. This can lead to a weakened immune system where you get sick more often.

Check out the video below to see how you can stretch those pec muscles and correct that bad posture. Doing this will make your head less heavy and relieve tension.

OMG- I just completed my taxes, and it’s always such a painful time each year!

I get stressed out beyond belief, it takes hours and hours, and this year to add to the mess- my Quicken program glitched on me and I wasn’t able to use it properly so I had to do a lot more things manually.

Bleh…

And as much as I always try to preach about sitting at a desk properly and doing things right, I oftentimes found myself over the course of this past week really sitting in awkward positions at my desk. Mostly from looking straight down at forms on the desk right in front of me.

Have you ever seen this?

Picture something like the piano player kid from the Charley Brown cartoon…

So here are a couple quick tips to avoid these very bad positions:

1. Whatever you’re reading- whether it’s a book or some paperwork or your phone- have it straight up in front of you and not at a spot where you have to look straight down at it
2. Always keep everything at your work station at a 90 degree angle- elbows, shoulders, knees, hips. They should all be at 90 degrees. And your mouse should be at a spot where your wrist is straight and not angled. And your computer monitor should be in front of you, not off to the side or up or down.
3. Don’t lie awake at night with your laptop computer or watching TV. If you read a book, that’s great, but again- keep it propped up in front of your face and don’t sit in bed hunkered over with your head looking down at your book on your lap.

We all find ourselves victim to these awful positions sometimes, but trust me- you’re going to be so much better off if you really do your best to avoid them. I know, I know- I’m sure your friend Sally has something really important to say when she texts you- but just keep your phone up so you don’t put all that strain on your neck when you’re reading her message!

I hope your tax season was better than mine… Stay healthy!

-Dr. V