Chiropractic & Exercise

Neuromuscular Re-Education

Posted on 01.25.17

Listen or Read Dr. John Vilkelis’ Podcast Interview!

Topic – Neuromuscular Re-education

RC: Today we’re going to talk about a very important topic: Neuromuscular Re-education.
Hi, Dr. Vilkelis, how are you today?

Dr. John Vilkelis: I’m very good, how are you, Liz?

RC: I’m doing great, thanks so much for being here.

RC: How do you explain what neuromuscular re-education is?

Dr. John Vilkelis: Well, the first thing we have to explain so you understand that is what a subluxation is. A subluxation is the thing that I’m looking for and correcting in my office. What it means is, the bone has moved out of place in your spine, and it is putting pressure on the nerves so that the nerves aren’t functioning the way they’re supposed to. That means that the communication between your brain and your body is being altered in both directions.

What that means is, when you have a subluxation and you have an injury process going on, then you brain thinks that everything is functioning normal. The musculature out in your body is not functioning correctly. It’s not firing the way it’s supposed to be.

When we do the neuromuscular re-education what we’re doing is we’re forcing the musculature to fire correctly, so that by doing it over and over, over a period of time, that that becomes a dominant nerve pathway, and now the muscles fire correctly going down the road.

RC: What is involved in a typical neuromuscular re-education treatment?

Dr. John Vilkelis: Generally, what we’re doing there is we’re having the patient perform certain exercises. The exercises are really designed to force all the core muscles, and all paraspinal muscles to fire correctly.
Now, as we do these exercises, people will often kind of master the level that we’re doing and so as they master the level, we move them to the next level and the exercises evolve so that we keep stimulating that nerve pathway, so that it’s going to become the strongest. Once we’re done really repairing everything, the muscles will fire correctly and it won’t be a problem down the road.

RC: What are most common conditions treated with neuromuscular re-education?

Dr. John Vilkelis: Well, most common things are where people have done injuries to their lower back, okay, and then to their cervical and thoracic spine, which means their neck through their torso. What we do is, when we do the neuromuscular re-education, we’re making it so that these areas of your spine are going to become more stable, and stay that way.

RC: How is neuromuscular re-education similar to core and stability training?

Dr. John Vilkelis: In some ways, it’s very similar, but we’re not going to do any of these exercises laying down. Everything is designed to be done standing up while you’re under weight bearing. This way, when we do the training, it’s not necessarily working like if you’re doing stability training, lot of times it’s to work stability of the ankle, or the knee.
What these exercises are really doing, they’re forcing all those core muscles to fire the way they’re meant to when you’re under stress and under weight and being challenged physically.

RC: Are there other exercises and treatments that go hand-in-hand with neuromuscular re-education?

Dr. John Vilkelis: There definitely are. When we’re doing these, what happens is, we kind of also go back and add in some different core and other stability exercises depending on what kind of problem the person has.
If they have a lower back problem, for instance, we’re going to have them doing things where maybe they’re doing leg lifts, and maybe I’m going to have them doing things like where they’re tossing a medicine ball in the air and catching it in a squat.
By doing that, we’re also forcing the musculature to fire correctly, under a challenge, in a way that’s very safe and very controlled, where the person is not getting hurt.

RC: Well, thank you so much Dr. Vilkelis. We know you’re extremely busy so I just want to thank you for your time and help.

Dr. John Vilkelis: You’re welcome. I was very happy to be here. I’m glad to be helpful.

RC: For our listeners across the country, if you are interested in speaking with Dr. John Vilkelis, visit www.vilkelischiropractic.com or call 212-582-9704 to schedule an appointment. On behalf of our entire team, we want to thank you for listening and we look forward to bringing you more top quality content from our country’s leading industry experts.

Ways to improve your endurance and performance.

Posted on 11.14.16

Hello,

Good lifestyle habits are key for maintaining optimal health. Building strength and endurance are especially important to athletes but it is also very important for everyone of all fitness levels especially as we age. There are ways to build strength and endurance by incorporating anearobic and aerobic exercises into workouts, through our food intake and with maintaining our bodies with chiropractic care.
Click here to listen to the podcast:

You can also download and listen on iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/vilkelis-chiropractic-health/id1159455268?mt=2

Podcast Interview:

RC: Hello everyone. This is Liz Harvey coming to you from our studios in New York City where we are dedicated to bringing you top quality advice from many of the leading expert professionals across the US. In today’s episode, we are speaking with chiropractor Dr. John Vilkelis of Vilkelis Chiropractic, located on West 57th Street in New York City. Dr. Vilkelis has been in chiropractic practice for over 20 years since graduating from Palmer College of Chiropractic. He has been affiliated with the New York Theater Ballet as well as local and regional rugby all-star teams. He has been awarded for his work treating many emergency care workers and support staff in the rescue and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center in 2001. Dr. Vilkelis is widely considered to be one of the top chiropractors in the US and is also a contributing member of our national network of industry professionals.
RC: Today we’re going to talk about a very important topic: Ways to improve your endurance and performance. Hi, Dr. Vilkelis, how are you today?
Dr. John Vilkelis: I’m great, how are you, Liz?
RC: I’m great. Thanks for being here.
RC: What types of fitness and exercise routines have the biggest impact on improving endurance and performance?
Dr. John Vilkelis: The first thing I would say is that a lot of people get into ruts with their training and that actually works to kind of decrease your endurance and your performance because the musculature gets used to doing the same movements over and over and you actually end up being less fit than you think you are.
The first thing is you need to mix up your routines a little bit and it doesn’t mean that you can’t do mostly running if you’re an endurance runner, but you need to do something else. You need to do a little plyometric training or you need to do some weight training to help spread out your fitness. The other thing is what you need to do is you need to mix anaerobic and aerobic activity so kind of like an interval workout where if you go for a run, you are going to run a certain distance and then you’re going to say, “OK, I’m going to sprint to the next telephone pole,” then you jog again and then “OK, I’m going to sprint to the next telephone pole,” and you keep adding the anaerobic portion of the sprint into the aerobic portion of the rest of the run.

In this same way, what you can do is in between doing the running portion, if you’re not in the kind of shape where you can sprint, well that’s a problem, what you do is you stop and do something like some calisthenics where you do ten push-ups and start running again and then you do ten sit-ups and start running again and maybe you do ten burpees and start running again. That will add that component that will make you stronger and fitter and actually really increase your endurance.
RC: Can chiropractic treatments help improve endurance and performance?
Dr. John Vilkelis: Absolutely. I’ve actually seen quite a few studies on this where it’s been proven that chiropractic adjustments increase your endurance and increase your performance. I know a number of chiropractors that the way their practice runs is they’re actually in the gym and they’re monitoring people while they’re working out. As soon as their performance starts to drop off a little bit, they put them on the table and check them to see if they need to be adjusted and that’s where they’ll adjust them and they’ll put them back to the workout and their performance goes right back up to the level it was before it started to drop off.
RC: What should be included in our diet to help improve endurance and performance?
Dr. John Vilkelis: It’s kind of a funny question but the first thing I would tell you is we should be talking about what NOT to include in your diet and most people know how to eat healthy but they still kind of cheat. If you’re really trying to improve your endurance and your performance, what you need to do is get rid of all of the cheats. You need to get rid of the simple carbohydrates and stick with the more complex carbohydrates. You need to eat more green vegetables and fruit and you need to control your protein intake so that you’re getting enough. A lot of times people will try to eat healthy and they cut out some of the protein and your body really needs that protein to perform well. You have to kind of keep it in there.
RC: Do you recommend any nutritional supplements to help improve endurance and performance?
Dr. John Vilkelis: Yes. I like whole food supplements where for instance one that I use is this chlorella where it’s an algae that is taken from the Arctic Sea and it really has all these different nutrients and things that you can take. Most whole food supplements – if it’s a good whole food supplement, you can survive just eating that. Where you can’t take most nutritional supplements and just survive on that – it’s not food. As far as other supplements go, I typically like people to take creatine which is an amino acid and it actually helps to increase the endurance in your muscles whether you are trying to be a bodybuilder or whether you’re trying to be a distance runner, it actually does increase your endurance.
The next thing I would recommend are fish oils. Most people are not eating enough natural foods to get the amount of Omega-3 fatty acids they need that function in energy production, function in cognition, function in your immune system, and in all of these places that are going to help your performance in the long run.

The last one is to be sure you’re taking a quality multi-vitamin. A multi-vitamin basically just fills the gaps of things that you’re missing in your diet. Your body will always make do with what it has and it will function without those things but that creates a lot of extra wear and tear to your body over a long period of time. If you want to keep being the athlete as you get older as well, you’re going to need to be taking that multi-vitamin so that you don’t suffer the effects of all of that extra wear and tear.
RC: Lastly, what are some other ways we can improve endurance and performance?
Dr. John Vilkelis: The biggest thing that people neglect when they’re trying to increase their endurance and performance is getting the proper amount of rest. It’s that they don’t get enough sleep a lot of the time and they’re not getting the right quality of sleep, meaning that they’re not sleeping in an unbroken interval that really lets them get into that deep sleep and rest. The other portion of the rest is that people don’t allow themselves any time to recover. A lot of distance runners are running seven days a week and trying to run 365 days a year. That actually is detrimental to you. Your body does need time to recover. Even if you are training for the Olympics, every couple or three months, you’re taking a week or two off from the real training to let your body catch up. All performance athletes will tell you that after they take that week or two off that they come back and they’re stronger and they’re faster because their body is being able to heal.
RC: OK, great. Thank you so much, Dr. Vilkelis. We know you’re extremely busy, so I just want to thank you for all of your time and help today.
Dr. John Vilkelis: You’re welcome. I was happy to be here.
RC: For our listeners across the country, if you are interested in speaking with Dr. John Vilkelis, visit www.vilkelischiropractic.com or call 212-582-9704 to schedule an appointment. On behalf of our entire team, we want to thank you for listening and we look forward to bringing you more top quality content from our country’s leading industry experts.

See a Chiropractor for Pelvis, Hip, Knee, Ankle and Foot Pain

Posted on 09.28.16

Please follow this link to listen to the podcast “See a Chiropractor for Pelvis, Hip, Knee, Ankle and Foot Pain”

Below you will find an easy to read transcript of Dr. John Vilkelis’ monthly podcast interview. You can click the video to listen to the podcast or simply read the easy to follow transcript below. Enjoy!
Podcast Interview:
RC: Hello everyone. This is Liz Harvey coming to you from our studios in New York City where we are dedicated to bringing you top quality advice from many of the leading expert professionals across the US. In today’s episode, we are speaking with chiropractor Dr. John Vilkelis of Vilkelis Chiropractic, located on West 57th Street in New York City. Dr. Vilkelis has been in chiropractic practice for over 20 years since graduating from Palmer College of Chiropractic. He has been affiliated with the New York Theater Ballet as well as local and regional rugby all-star teams. He has been awarded for his work treating many emergency care workers and support staff in the rescue and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center in 2001. Dr. Vilkelis is widely considered to be one of the top chiropractors in the US and is also a contributing member of our National Network of Industry Professionals.
RC: Today, we’re going to talk about a very important topic, seeing a chiropractor for pelvis, hip, knee, ankle, and foot pain. Hi, Dr. Vilkelis. How are you today?
Dr. John Vilkelis: I’m doing real well, Liz. Thanks for asking. How are you?
RC: I’m doing great. Thanks so much for joining me today.
RC: Most people do not associate foot pain or ankle pain with chiropractic care. Can a chiropractor help discover the source of the pain?
Dr. John Vilkelis: Absolutely. A lot of people have foot and ankle pain that they live with for years and years because no one has been able to help them sort it out. From a chiropractic perspective, it’s very much about balance and alignment, so you can have an unbalanced bone or joint in your foot and ankle the same way you can in your pelvis or spine.
RC: What are some conditions caused by overuse of the lower extremities? How can chiropractors help?
Dr. John Vilkelis: When people have overuse of something in the lower extremities, typically it’s overuse of a tendon. Tendons attach the muscle to the bone. The way most people develop an overuse syndrome is because the bones aren’t aligned properly and it’s putting too much extra stress on the tendon and then you develop this syndrome where the tendon is inflamed and it seems like it’s an overuse syndrome when really it’s been a misalignment of the bone and the joint all along.
For example with cyclists, the most common problem with them is the patella tendon strain. And most of the time, it’s because their tibia has moved posterior in the joint and it’s putting too much pressure on the patella tendon and really tearing at the insertion into the bone. If we correct that alignment, the overuse syndrome disappears. If you’re under regular care and under maintenance care, well then that usually means that you don’t have those overuse syndromes.
RC: If pain is caused by an accident or trauma, like a strain or a sprain, what can a chiropractor do?
Dr. John Vilkelis: Well, if you’re talking about a sprain, a sprain means that you’ve damaged the ligaments or stretched the ligaments. The ligaments hold bone to bone. There is really no way for you to have a sprain without having the bones move. If you don’t put the bones back into the proper alignment, what happens is the soft tissue doesn’t heal right and now that joint is going to be unstable and predisposed to being injured in the same way again. If you talk around to people and ask them, people that have sprained ankles, most of them will tell you that they have kind of chronically sprained ankles, they re-sprain them all the time. It’s because the alignment is never corrected and so they’re re-spraining the same ligaments over and over. The chiropractor is correcting the alignment and restoring the balance so that the soft tissue can heal correctly. Now, you don’t have to keep having that problem down the road.
RC: How can a chiropractor help increase flexibility and range of motion in the lower extremities?
Dr. John Vilkelis: Well, there’s a lot of factors involved in people’s flexibility. Some people are sort of naturally inflexible and some people are naturally flexible. That has to do more with their body composition than anything else but there are also ways that if things are moving properly and aligned properly, you’re going to have a better flexibility than you would normally have. What I mean by that is, say for hamstrings, that’s not a bad indicator of how flexible people are. Can you bend over at the waist with your knees straight and touch your hands to the floor? Can you put your palms flat on the floor? For some people, one of the reasons that they can never touch the floor when their knees are locked is because their pelvis is misaligned and their hamstrings attached to the upper leg bone, the femur, and to your pelvis. They’re actually flexing your lower leg, okay, but it can also work as a hip flexor, or hip extender rather, where you are pushing the leg back behind the body. If your hamstrings are tight because the attachments are being stretched because your pelvis isn’t in the right spot, you’re never really going to be able to obtain that flexibility.
RC: How does a chiropractor’s holistic approach to healthcare help patients dealing with their pain?
Dr. John Vilkelis: When you get aligned from the chiropractor, what’s really happening is, he’s correcting something in your body called subluxation, which means that the bone has moved out of place and it gets locked. Once it becomes locked, what it’s doing is, it’s putting pressure on the nerves and it’s changing the function of those nerves. Now sometimes it causes pain but only about 10% of the nerve fibers coming out of your spine, or the nerve bundle coming out of your spine, carry the pain impulse. You have to ask yourself, where do the other 9 out of 10 fibers go? They’re going through the musculature and they’re going through the blood vessels. They go inside the joints to tell your body – that’s why you don’t have to look at your feet when you walk. They also go to your internal organs and to create problems in all those spots. Now, as far as managing the pain through chiropractor care, by correcting the balance in your skeletal system and changing the way all the soft tissue function, it allows the nervous tissue to heal and it eliminates the pain.
RC: Well thank you so much, Dr. Vilkelis. We know you’re extremely busy, so I just want to thank you for your time and your help today.
Dr. John Vilkelis: You’re welcome. I was glad to be here and I’m glad I was able to help.
RC: Thank you so much. For our listeners across the country, if you are interested in speaking with Dr. John Vilkelis, visit www.vilkelischiropractic.com or call 212-582-9704 to schedule an appointment. On behalf of our entire team, we want to thank you for listening and we look forward to bringing you more top quality content from our country’s leading industry experts.