Does Food Really Have No Affect On Acne?

When I was 21 I became interested in nutrition. My first book was How To Live Longer And Feel Better by renowned scientist Linus Pauling, PhD. Dr. Pauling was a big advocate of mega-dosing vitamin-C (Linus Pauling was, among other things, famous for outliving all of his critics). By that time had been a couple year out of my teenage years. If you remember your teenage years as I do, beyond sports and school there was acne and visits to the dermatologist.

I remember the dermatologist saying to me on several occasions that what you eat has nothing to do with your acne. For some reason, I didn't believe him. To me, it didn't make sense. But, what the heck did I know-I'm just a kid. Well, about 6 years ago I heard another dermatologist speaking in front of a crowd of interested business men and women. The dermatologist rattled off a lift of foods stating "what of the following foods and your skin have in common? Pizza, chocolate cake, cookies - NOTHING!" The dermatologist said nothing? The answer astonished me. The difference now is I was no longer an uneducated teenager but had a doctorate, had been in practice many years and an avid reader and lecture attendee in the area of nutrition. Here it was 20-something years later and dermatologists as a whole still think there's no correlation between acne, your skin and the foods we eat.

Most people don't realize it but your skin is the largest organ in your body. It's the barrier between our insides and the outside world. People eat some bad food and get indigestion, diarrhea or constipation. People eat too many refined carbohydrates, sugar and trans fats and it clogs up your arteries and raises your blood pressure and leads to heart attacks and strokes. Eating some foods causes your insulin to spike, while some foods cause people to have allergic reaction. Consuming caffeine causes your brain to become more alert. But for some reason the food you eat doesn't have any affect on your skin. Really? Does this make sense to anyone else out there or am I crazy?

When I do nutrition talks to groups and in discussing it with patients, I classify the foods we eat into two main classifications (1) Pro-inflammatory (2) Anti-inflammatory. What are anti-inflammatory foods? Well, we can start with things like Chocolate cake, pizza and french fries (sorry citizens of the world, but it's true). Foods that stray too far from our evolutionary eating promote cellular inflammation. But let's go beyond that.

What creates your skin? The food you eat.
What creates your brain? The food you eat.
What creates your heart? The food you eat.

See where I'm going?

The food you eat are the biochemical constituents that become your body. If you want a healthy brain, eat healthful food. If you want a healthy heart, eat healthful food, want healthier skin, eat healthful food and so on.

Is it always as simple as this? No. But, to categorically deny that the very foods you eat whose biochemical constituents become the organs, cells and tissues of your body has absolutely no affect on the health of your skin is just silly. At the very least, eating an anti-inflammatory diet is certainly THE FIRST place to start. Let's take this one step further, go to your dermatologist to make sure your skin disorder isn't something more serious. But I hope you realize that diet does play a role in the health of your entire body, skin included.

Try eating healthfully for 4 months and see what happens. Just a thought. 

Below are some references from The Dietary Cure For Acne (2006) by Loren Cordain, PhD.

'nuff said.

Dr. T

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1. Cordain L, Lindeberg S, Hurtado M, Hill K, Eaton SB, Brand-Miller J. Acne vulgaris: A disease of western civilization. Arch Dermatol 2002; 138:1584-90.
2. Cordain L, Eades MR, Eades MD. Hyperinsulinemic diseases of civilization: more than just Syndrome X. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol. 2003 Sep;136(1):95-112. 
3. Cordain L. Implications for the role of diet in acne. Semin Cutan Med Surg. 2005 Jun;24(2):84-91.
4. Cordain L. Dietary implications for the development of acne: a shifting paradigm. In: U.S. Dermatology Review II 2006, (Ed.,Bedlow, J). Touch Briefings Publications, London , 2006 ______________________________________________________

Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.

LASER THERAPY - PAIN RELIEF & SPORTS INJURIES - Does Your Doctor See The Light?

First conceptualized by Albert Einstein in 1916, laser technology has been around since 1965 and has been fascinating us whenever or where ever we've see them ever since. In the past couple of decades, laser technology has made some extensive advances and with that, has shed some new light to a new therapeutic approach to treating sports injuries (and many other injuries and conditions).

You must understand that our bodies use light energy in a similar way that plants do. I’m sure you remember photosynthesis from high school biology and how plants turn the sun’s energy into food that the plant survives and thrives on. Well, we have some of that ability too. Like plants, when our body’s tissues are stimulated by specific wavelengths of light, research has shown that our body will have the following physiological effects:

1. Decreased pain levels
2. Reduced inflammation
3. Increased tissue proliferation & regeneration
4. Accelerated soft tissue and bone repair
5. Increased tissue tensile strength
6. Enhanced nerve regeneration & function
7. Increased cell metabolism
8. Increased enzymatic responses
9. Increased cell membrane potentials
10. Increased microcirculation & vasodilation
11. Increased lymphatic flow
12. Increased collagen production
13. Enhanced angiogenesis (creation of new blood vessels)

So what does this mean you ask??? It means biostimulation of damaged tissue with LASER will cause tissues to heal faster and heal-stronger-faster. It means it can stimulate the regeneration of tissue, reduce inflammation and pain. What does this mean for an injured athlete or the victim of a car accident? Not only faster relief of symptoms, but faster healing of the damaged tissues as well. Not bad for a super-duper flashlight on steriods.

Understand there are 2 basic camps in the laser world; hot lasers and cold lasers. Hot lasers are the kind used for surgery; they cut, they burn, they get hot. Hence the name. Cold lasers (aka LLL or Low Level Lasers) generate laser light which can be in the visible or invisible spectrum but do not generate heat. The cold lasers don’t actually get cold either, they’re only called cold because they don’t get hot. Cold lasers (what I like to call therapeutic lasers) are used to increase the rate of healing damaged tissues, reduce inflammation, reduce pain, increased blood flow and in the case of some therapeutic lasers and red lasers are known to also reduce infection.

Sounds too good to be true right? What are the side effects? Well, there really are none. Just don’t shine them in your (or anyone else’s) eyes because they can burn the retina and blind you; so, always wear safety glasses. Don’t use the laser over the thyroid, nor over a developing baby in the womb during the 1st trimester of pregnancy. Lastly, since therapeutic laser helps increase the rate of tissue healing, do not use it over cancerous growths as it can speed up the rate of the cancer’s growth. Outside of these very specific things; Let There Be Light.

What are the down sides? There has been no research to date that shows cold lasers can hurt any condition. At worst, they’ve only shown that over exposure to cold laser therapy causes a plateau in the rate of improvement. Otherwise, doctors who do see the light are getting incredible results from this simple tool that simply stimulates the body to heal faster. So next time you’re enjoying the Pink Floyd Laser Light Show on a Friday night, ask yourself if your feel any better when you wake up Saturday morning.

So, does your doctor see the light? I know I do.

For more information, you can visit the following:

USA Laser
www.NAALT.org
Laser World

References:

Jan Tuner, Lars Hode; The Laser Therapy Handbook

William Prentice, Therapeutic Modalities in Sports Medicine, Chapter 10, pp 215-238


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DocT

Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.

Chiropractor or Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician: Does It Make A Difference For Your Sports Injury?

So, you’re an athlete of some kind and you now find yourself in need of a chiropractor for your sports injury. You do a Google search or check Yelp for some guidance. There are ‘lots’ of chiropractic physicians listed and most seem to have pretty good reviews. But, being an athlete you want someone that understands you better and you think going to a sports chiropractor is the way to go. But is there really a difference between a general practice chiropractor and a certified sports chiropractor? 

The short answer is yes. Although many chiropractors will list “athletic injuries” or “sports injuries” on their long list of conditions treated, there is an actual post graduate specialty in chiropractic sports medicine. And no, having been an athlete in high school, or college, or even the pros doesn't qualify you as a "sports chiropractor". You can't just have played sports, there's a lot of education required too.

1930s NY Yankees Spring Training, St. Petersburg, FL. with Dr. Erle V. Painter, DC (Far Right)

    Prior to the development of a formal chiropractic sports medicine education programs, “sports chiropractic” dates back to the 1930s. Sports chiropractic was born during the World Champion New York Yankees Babe Ruth-Lou Gehrig era. Dr. Erle V Painter is the first known sports chiropractor. He was the NY Yankees athletic trainer. Combining his knowledge and experience of athletic training with that of chiropractic medicine, he took care of the most famous players the game of baseball has ever known. And if history tells us nothing else, we know they performed very well.

As a base education, both chiropractic physicians and medical physicians education is more similar than you may have been led to understand. A September 1998 study revealed that of the core curriculum (physiology, pathology, chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, diagnosis, neurology, psychology, psychiatry, OB/GYN, x-ray and orthopedics) and clinical sciences, that chiropractic students spend 3790 hours for these basic sciences and clinical sciences vs 2648 for medical students; and 1405 hours of clinic experience  for chiropractic students vs 5227 hours for medical students (which includes their 3-year medical residency) (1). Medical students then go on to their specialty training.

What the general public (and the medical profession for that matter) doesn't know, is that like medicine, the chiropractic profession has many post graduate specialties as well. The oldest (formal) post graduate specialty is radiology and requires a 3 year residency. There’s also orthopedics, sports medicine, neurology, internal medicine, rehabilitation, functional medicine and more. Some of these specialties have more than 1 level of proficiency, such as the sports medicine program. These programs are post graduate study, 1-year for the base level certification and 3-years for the “diplomate” level. It is the "diplomates" that are the specialists of a particular discipline of post graduate study. 

In the United States, the American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians is the certifying organization for the chiropractic sports medicine educational programs, examination process, credentialing and for the ongoing re-credentialing for year to year re-certification. 

To get your specialty certification in chiropractic sports medicine, you must attend 300+ classroom hours in the areas of:

• Advanced Assessment of the Athlete

• Rehabilitation of the Spine and Extremities

• Biomechanical Analysis of the Upper Extremity

• Biomechanical Analysis of the Lower Extremity

• Strength Training and Conditioning

• Soft Tissue Techniques for the Spine and Extremities

• Advanced Emergency Procedures

• Advanced Case Correlations

• Analysis of Literature

• Sports Nutrition

• Strength Training and Conditioning for the Athlete

• Special Populations in Sport

• Radiology

• Emergency Procedures
• Concussion Management

• Applications of Technology

• Soft Tissues

• Epidemiology of Spinal Trauma

• Adjunctive Therapies

• Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology

• Rehabilitation of the Athlete

• Taping and Bracing

Within each of these base subjects come the specifics associated with athletes of different sports & different populations (gender, age, special needs, etc). Within the chiropractic sports medicine specialty after completing your first 100-hours of study, you must pass a national board examination. Once successfully passed you are now a “Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician®” and can go on and complete the remaining hours for specialty status. You’ll complete the coursework and take a second national board examination. Once successfully passed, you then sit for a multi-station practical examination where you are put in front of live patients in simulated game and emergency situations as well as radiology, athletic taping & head trauma/concussion management. There is no curve on the practical exam. You pass or you fail. Each exam is filmed and proctored. Miss more than 2 sections and you take the entire practical exam over again. Miss 1 or 2 sections, and you can re-take those 1 or 2 sections.

 But that’s not all folks, in addition to passing the 2 national board written exams, the multi-station practical hands on examination, you must have completed at least 200 hours working with athletes in an “on field” situation. So, practical experience is also a requirement. However by this time, it’s not uncommon for diplomate candidates to have in excess of 500 to 1000 hours of experience working with athletes outside their normal office hours. If you put this in context of getting a bachelor’s degree (60 hours) or a master’s degree (120 hours) and the practical experience requirement takes on a whole new context.

Finally, each diplomate candidate must meet a sports medicine related publishing requirement and either publish or have their abstract accepted for publication in a scientific journal.

You must maintain an active healthcare practitioners CPR/BLS card as well. 

After all this, you are now given the privilege and honor of being a Diplomate of the American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians®

So building on the base that Dr. Erle V Painter started, combining the professions of athletic training and chiropractic, the education of a certified sports chiropractor (CCSP) and the chiropractic sports diplomate (DACBSP) now combines elements of emergency medicine, radiology, nutrition, athletic training, physical therapy, neurology, soft tissue mobilization, chiropractic, orthopedics and much more.

It is specifically because of this kind of formal knowledge and practical experience that sports chiropractors are sought out by top professional teams, Pan American & Olympic athletes as part of their sports medicine team and as private consultants to coaches and athletes alike. But you don’t have to be a top Olympian or professional athlete to get that same level of care. If you're training for a 5k, half marathon or an Ironman Triathlon, or play pickup basketball in the park, now that you know the difference, you can find a “sports chiropractor” for yourself and your team. There's a reason the pros and the Olympics all have a sports chiropractor part of their team.

Or, maybe take a chance on someone without the education, experience and credentials while they learn on your multi-million dollar star athlete...

If  you're here in Miami or Miami Beach, you can find more about my practice at: www.NaturalSportsMedicine.com. If you're not local to South Florida, then just visit The American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians-Directory . All CCSP and DACBSP that keep their education and credentials up to date are listed there. Another resource to finding a good sports chiropractor is the American Chiropractic Association's Sports Council

'nuff said

Dr. T

References

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9737032

2. www.ACBSP.com

3. http://www.palmer.edu/sportsdiplomate/

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Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.

When the Cure Is Worse than the Disease

Chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes have increasingly high prevalence in world populations.(1) Such prevalence is rising despite extensive use of prescription medications. Problematically, many people have two or more concurrent chronic disorders and are taking multiple medications. But frequently the various physicians are not in contact and are not aware of the patient's complete list of current prescriptions. No single physician or nurse is managing the patient's array of medications. As a result, potentially harmful drug interactions are a common occurrence. (2,3). Mistakes are made and patients may suffer serious side effects. In such adverse circumstances, the cure in fact may be worse than the disease.

In today's health care systems, people as patients need to be good custodians of their own care. In many health systems, a patient is lucky if he or she is able to spend more than five uninterrupted minutes with their doctor. Physicians are rushed and harried by numerous responsibilities related to management of their offices, all of which take precious time away from patient interactions. In such an environment, patients need to be proactive to do their best to ensure that recommended treatment is actually going to be helpful, rather than potentially harmful. This is a very difficult task, as most people do not have backgrounds that will help facilitate understanding of such decision-making. But especially for those with a chronic disease, it's critically important to master at least a basic level of information regarding their condition and various types of treatment. 

In addition to expanding one's knowledge base, an important long-term strategy is to begin to make lifestyle choices that will support good health. Appropriate and effective lifestyle choices include regular exercise, a healthy diet, and sufficient rest. All three of these key components of good health can be started right now. An exercise program should consist of five 30-minute sessions of vigorous exercise every week. A healthy diet consists of daily selections from all five major food groups: fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, and dairy. A daily diet should include at least five servings of fresh fruit and vegetables every day. Regarding sufficient rest, 7-8 hours of sleep per night is a good average for most people. If you're not waking up feeling rested and refreshed, you're probably not getting enough sleep. Ultimately, each of us is responsible for our own health and well-being. Prescription medication may be necessary, but of course such treatment is primarily directed toward the effects of a person's disease or disorder. Changes in lifestyle are required to address the underlying causes of such conditions. Beginning to institute and maintaining healthful lifestyle choices will provide long-term benefit for the welfare and well-being of our families and ourselves. 1Bauer UE, et al: Prevention of chronic disease in the 21st century: elimination of the leading preventable causes of premature death and disability in the USA. 

(1)  Bauer UE, et al: Prevention of chronic disease in the 21st century: elimination of the leading preventable causes of premature death and disability in the USA. Lancet 384(9937):42-52, 2014
(2)  Rotermann M, et al: Prescription medication use by Canadians aged 6 to 79. Health Rep 25(6):3-9, 2014(3)  Marengoni A, et al: Understanding adverse drug reactions in older adults through drug-drug interactions. Eur J Intern Med 2014 Oct 10. pii: S0953-6205(14)00282-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ejim.2014.10.001

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____________________________________________________________________
Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.

Trying to Decide Between A Vitamix, Blendtec, Ninja or Nutrabullet? Here Are My Thoughts

As a health advocate and teacher (one of the definitions of the word ‘Doctor’ means a learned or authoritative teacher) patients, friends and friends of friends approach me regularly regarding nutrition. What should I eat? What shouldn't I eat? Is this or that  good for me? And inevitably, when it comes to nutrition I’m often asked about juicing, smoothies and what’s the best blender or juicer I should get.

My Machine-The Vitamix 5200

Over the past year or so I’ve been watching infomercials pop up on television purporting the virtues of XYZ blender and ALWAYS comparing it to the Vitamix.  Now, I’m gonna tell you straight up, I’m biased. After I got married in over 20 years ago, one of the things we purchased was a Vitamix. Why? Because I always believed whole foods were better to eat than foods that had the juices extracted from them.

As I studied nutrition, turns out I was right. Not that there isn’t a place for fresh juice, but with juice as opposed to blended whole foods, you’re missing out on some valuable nutrition.  As such, Vitamix was my choice. Because a couple of my food experiments were a bit harsh (maybe a lot harsh) on the Vitamix, after 18 years, we purchased a second Vitamix. Yes, I’m a big fan. To be able to take veggies and frozen berries and blend them into a smooth liquid is the fastest way for me to get some incredibly dense nutrition into my body and absorbed.

That being said, I’ve had some recent encounters with the Nutribullet, Blendtec and Ninja Turbo blenders that prompted me to write this post. Why? Because they’re all lying to you about the Vitamix.

The reason why the Vitamix is such a great blender is because of the ultra-high blade speed. In an infomercial promoting the Ninja to the Vitamix, they kept stating the Ninja has the same blade speed as the Vitamix. 24,000 rpm. But here’s the thing about the Ninja. That’s all it has. Yes, the motor is a bit more powerful in watts, but the Vitamix has higher amperage.  Oh, one other very important thing (sit back, I’m about to expose the Ninja infomercial’s cover-up . All you have to do on the Vitamix is flip the switch to the high speed setting and the Vitamix trounces the Ninja’s palrty 24, 000 and raising them to 37,000 rpms. Along with the Ninja, the Vitamix also trounces the Blendtec’s 28,000 rpms, the Omega blender’s 27,500 rpms and the New Nutrabullet 900’s 25,000 rpms.

And here’s why the added blade speed is important. Skins and seeds. If you’ve tried making smoothies with berries, kale, chard, broccoli, ginger, turmeric, black radish and beets like I do, you’ll need the higher blade speed to pulverize the skins, seeds and dense fiber. Otherwise, as I’ve experience with the Blendtec, Ninja and Nutribullet, you’ll end up doing the drinking-chew with your smoothie. 

The added blade speed on the Vitamix makes it the king of all smoothie makers because it takes skins, seeds and dense fibrous veggies and blends them into a smooth liquid. No chewing necessary.

And for all those infomercial clowns that find it so awkward to use the tamper stick, how the hell do you drive a car or use a cell phone? It’s a stick for crying out loud? Seriosly? I make nut butters in my Vitamix and do so with much less oil and end up with a much smoother end product than any of the other machines can because of the tamper.

So if you’re on the fence about which high speed blender to get, the others may have a more powerful motor or funny infomercial, but the people at Vitamix have engineered a more efficient motor that delivers what you need to pulverize the fruits and veggies to get to the vital nutrients-blade speed.  Until another blender exceeds the Vitamix’s 37,000 rpms, don’t even bother telling me about it. I'm tired of wasting my time. 

If you want a “chewy”, get the Nutribullet, Blendtec or Ninja. If you want to blend seriously dense fruit and veggies into a real smooth smoothie, there’s no choice-The Vitamix is the hands down king of all smoothies.

You shouldn't have to chew your smoothie... Get a Vitamix!

Yours in Health

Dr. Todd Narson

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Naturally Sweet Cranberry Sauce

Naturally Sweet Cranberry Sauce

Prep time: 10 mins | Cook time: 25 mins | Total time: 35 mins

A homemade alternative to store bought cranberry

sauce with delicious hints of pineapple and orangeto complement the flavor!

Serves: 8

Ingredients
•2 bags of fresh cranberries (usually a 12 ounce bag)
•1 cup pineapple juice

• 2 large apples, quartered, then blended into apple sauce (add pineapple juice & water, blend together)
•½ cup of water
•juice and zest of one orange
•3-4 Tablespoons of honey or to taste (optional) - or use equivalent of stevia.
• 1 (non-heaping) teaspoon Cinnamon

Instructions
1. Put cranberries, pineapple juice, applesauce and water in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.

2. Keep on medium heat, stirring constantly until the cranberries start to explode (about 10-15 minutes).

3. Reduce to a simmer and pour the orange juice and zest over the cranberry mixture.

4. Simmer 20 minutes, stir throughout and remove from heat.

5. Cool completely and store in fridge at least 4 hours but preferably overnight before serving.

6. NOTE: This is not as sweet as store versions! Taste at the end of cooking. It is naturally sweet from the fruit juice and applesauce but you can add more honey or stevia to taste if needed.

Happy Thanksgiving from Dr. Narson & Staff

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Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.

LeBron James, The Heat & The Temperature-My thoughts on Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals

As Channel 10’s Will Manso said last night, the NBA should be embarrassed. To have the best of the best playing in an arena where the temperature was at least 90 degrees (and humid) was absolutely-ridiculously-insane and honestly put the player’s health at risk.

The players from both teams should be applauded for not throwing in the towel early on and refusing to play. They all deserve a great deal of respect and admiration. Being a known “cramper” LeBron displayed obvious signs of heat exhaustion. The close up shots of him showed a puffiness in his face around his eyes, he was flush, profusely sweating and of course, the muscle cramping. Although I think everyone had the profuse sweating thing happening, players, fans and anyone else in the AT&T sauna last night.

Commentators, player and coaches alike stated the heat had nothing to do with the Miami Heat’s loss. I’m gonna tell you, it absolutely did. With The Heat & LeBron’s M.O. of turning up the Heat in the last few minutes, LeBron being a cramper, the gas tank was just empty.

 Now, don’t get me wrong, all of the guys, the Spurs and our Heat played in the same hot and humid environment. The Spurs played outstanding basketball and kicked our butts in the last 5 minutes and we lost. But to someone that cramps, the hot humid environment brings fatigue into play much earlier. How do I know? First, I’m a cramper. After cramping in several triathlons and being in extreme pain s I ran my 10k, I began doing some research on cramping and most of the superficial stuff I read blamed it on electrolyte imbalance. People take various types of sports drinks to help and to some degree it can be a factor. I tired the electrolyte drinks and still cramps. So, I knew there was something else involved.

Sifting through all that “common knowledge” of electrolyte imbalance are studies by Schwellnus, et.al., done on Ironman triathlon finishers that reported higher intensity training leads to premature muscle fatigue. Another study by Laursen PB et.al, reported rapid loss of Na+ (sodium) concentration in the blood along with increased core body temperature that lead to hyperthermic fatigue. However while this may be a factor in some cases, this is disputed by another study by Schwellnus titled: Serum electrolytes in Ironman triathletes with exercise-associated muscle cramping that disputes the association of electrolyte loss, stating in their conclusions: Acute EAMC in Ironman triathletes is not associated with a greater percent body mass loss or clinically significant differences in serum electrolyte concentrations. The increased EMG activity of cramping muscles may reflect increased neuromuscular activity.

So, neuromuscular fatigue is the likely common denominator here. This means, it all comes down to the athletes level of conditioning. Working out in a “normal” environment gets you ready for competition in that environment. With some athletes vulnerable to exercise associated muscle cramping, turn up the temperature and now this “X” factor can really make a difference.

The bottom line is that in order to perform in an extreme environment, you need to train in that extreme environment. What’s happening is neuromuscular fatigue brought on by the extreme environment and dehydration. How do we as triathletes prevent this? It’s called “Heat Training”. Part of your training must be in the same environment that you expect to be racing in. In Triathlon, the “X” factor is always the weather. We don’t know if we’re gonna be swimming in calm seas or a chop of 3-5 foot seas. We don’t know if there’s gonna be a head wind, a cross wind, a tail wind (love the tail wind by the way…I’ll take that anytime!) when running or biking and we don’t’ know if it’s gonna be a torrential downpour or the sun is going to be baking us at 95 degrees as we run on a hot roadway, all of which happened in the 2013 Escape to Miami (sans the 3-5 ft seas). So, “Heat training” is a part of the triathletes training regimen for a reason. Expect the unexpected and be prepared for the extreme.

Perhaps Heat training is in order for someone like LeBron in order to take him to the next level? There’s really not much more King James can do to improve his basketball skills, but playing in a hot-humid environment certainly brought out his Achilles’ heel. Just as the Nautica and Escape to Miami triathlons brought out mine.

So, yes, with the history of being a “cramper”, heat training is a must so you can train to overcome the early muscle fatigue factor. Learning how to properly hydrate in an extreme hot-humid environment , knowing electrolyte replacement may be needed earlier rather than later AND training for the X-factor must all be considered when you know you have the Achilles’ heel of Exercise Associated Muscle Cramping. I have my ideas on how LeBron can overcome this. But I’ll save that for a private conversation with coach Spoelstra. Was the extreme temperature a factor in game 1, absolutely. Was it embarrassing for the NBA? Absolutely. But, all the players suffered the same environment, so I’d have to say it was absolutely fair. Game one goes to the Spurs and deservingly so. Let’s hope for some air-conditioning in game two.

Although we like it HOT here in Miami, we do love our AC. Trust me, we’ll be the first ones to get into our swim suits when it’s hot. But let’s save that for the beach.

Oh, and to all those that say a great champion can turn it off and ignore it. Please go look up some case studies on people who’ve suffered heat stroke. This isn’t one of those things you can just “walk it off”. Heat stroke is deadly. LeBron returned to the game knowing full well his legs would seize up. But that’s the heart of a champion.

Now, it’s time for some extreme training.

‘nuff said. On to game 2.

Dr. T

 #chiropractormiamibeach #MiamiBeachChiropractor #SportsInjuriesFixedHere #DrNarson #TriDoc #TriathlonDoc #ChiropracticSportsMedicine #ACASC #SportsMedicine #MiamiBeachSportsMedicine #SportsMedicineMiami #MiamiSportsMedicine #MiamiChiropractor #Triathlon #Running #Ironman #IFixPeopleInPain #TrainWithoutPain #MiamiBeachChiropractor #GrastonTechnique #FAKTR #IASTM #Chiropractor #FootPain #Narson #NarsonBodyMechanic #NarsonTool #DACBSP #CCSP #ACBSP #BackPain #NeckPain #ShoulderPain #RotatorCuff #ITBandSyndrome #runnersKnee #PlantarFasciitis #Plantarfascitis #AchillesTendonitis #AchillesTendonosis #GettingAthletesBackInTheGame  #MiamiBeachChiropractor #MiamiSportsMedicine #MiamiBeachSportsMedicine #WeFixPeopleInPain #TrainWithoutPain #ChiropracticSportsMedicine #ACASC #ProSportChiropractic #FunctionalMedicineMiami #DrNarson #BackPainRelief #NeckPainRelief #SportsInjuriesFixedHere #LaserTherapy #RockTape #KinesioTape #KTTape #Nutrition #21DayPurificationProgram #DetoxProgram #PaleoDiet #PaleoDoc

Dr. Narson is a 2-term past president of the Florida Chiropractic Association’s Council on Sports Injuries, Physical Fitness & Rehabilitation and was honored as the recipient of the coveted Chiropractic Sports Physician of the Year Award in 1999-2000. He practices in Miami Beach, Florida at the Miami Beach Family & Sports Chiropractic Center; A Facility for Natural Sports Medicine.