Chiropractic Sport Institute

Chiropractic Sports Institute was started with the sole vision of providing the best and most advanced chiropractic treatment to the greater Conejo Valley area.

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5 ways you can improve your life right now! Tips from our guests on Crackin’ Backs Podcast!

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By Dr. Terry Weyman

1) Movement is life. Take it from mobility expert, Emeril McCutcheon, most people, young or old
don’t move enough or even move correctly. Can you get off the floor without using your hands
or lift your big toe without using the other four? Mobility is not stretching, its not flexibility. Its
proper joint movement along with proper joint awareness. Minimum, you should work 5
patterns daily: Push, pull, hinge, core/carry, squat to increase your functional health. ACTION:
Spend 15 minutes every morning working on these 5 basic principles.

2) Mental Toughness- This is a tough one, as everyone is different, and everyone has different
issues. However, we have learned some gems that can help you out. Matt Hughes was struck by
a train and his life was immediately changed. He had a career and family, and life was great,
until it wasn’t. How has Matt handled it? Well one tip he gives, is to focus on the little things, for
these are the things that truly matter. Take each victory as just that, a victory. Then we learned
from Robb Bolton, an athlete struggling with Cancer. You think you have it tough, just listen to
the strength from this man. He uses exercise as his motivation. If he can move, even a little, he
is winning. But I think one of the best set of tips came from Rocker, Cris Hodges, when he gave
us 3 simple tricks to help you get out of your mental cave: 1) meditation- realizing you are not
your mind, your body or your thoughts. 2) Forgiveness- learn to forgive people in your life as
well as yourself and 3) You can do anything you want to. ACTION: Spent 5 minutes every day,
when you first wake up reflecting on these 3 things.

3) You are what you eat! Food does not just fill your stomach; it is the fuel that runs all the cells of
your body. You take time to research what you put in your car, what clothes you will wear out,
yet how many of us take the time to really look at what is going into our bodies? We learned
simple tips from Dr. Grace Hameister on how to read labels and how bad anything with the
word CORN in it is. Why is it, we always want to take short cuts, to look better or have that
perfect body? Tamra Dae will tell you that just doesn’t work, in fact, short cuts can shorten your
life! The best tip for eating: if God made it, you can probably eat it. ACTION: Go through your
refrigerator and toss all foods with the word CORN in the label. Drink an extra 2 glasses of water
on top of what you are doing and plan your meals every day with purpose.
4) We all need to be inspired to achieve more than we think we can. I read somewhere that 80%
of our daily thoughts are negative. 80%!! No wonder we gravitate to all those self help posts.
Turning off the negative inputs: The news, SM, and your negative neighbor- and focusing on

inspiration and turning words to action. The more someone tells you that it is unattainable, the
more you need to fire up all your engines. Get tips from Navy Seals, Monty Heath and Alex
Othmer if you truly want to hear what the human body/mind can do when you push it.
However, there is one person that stood out that gave the best advice. When you want to be
inspired, SERVE another! It’s simple, yet so powerful. Thank you, Jim Sayih. ACTION: Read a
book about something that inspires you or teaches you something you know little about. Read
15 pages a day!
5) Be a leader. You don’t have to be General Patton; you just have to stand up for who you are
and what you feel is right. Be creative in how you lead, be appreciative of those whom you are
leading. Remember, someone is always watching you, make them proud, by doing your job. As
small or as big as it may be, focus on doing the best you can at that job. Dr. Dana Sinclair teaches
us to be peaceful under pressure and to focus on doing your job. If done well, the emotional
accolades will follow. Action: write down 5 things you want to achieve during your day at
breakfast or first thing. Don’t go to bed until you check all 5 off your list.
For more inspiration, listen to the show as each guest, will educate you, inspire you and improve your life. www.crackinbackspodcast.com

New Research links Postural function to health

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Dr.Terry Weyman

Posture is no longer something that is pure visual or something your parents remind you of “sit up straight now” but an inter relation to your physical health. In the Journal AJPM the Authors noted that “posture and normal physiology and function are inter-related”.

Most Medical physicians do not address posture when they talk about the overall well being or health of their patients yet the Doctors of this study discover “significant evidence points to the point that posture affects physiology and function of the human body”. “Observations of the striking influence of postural mechanics on function and symptomatology have led to our hypothesis that posture affects and moderates every physiologic function from breathing to hormonal production. Spinal pain, headache, mood, blood pressure, pulse, and lung capacity are among the functions most easily influenced by posture” stated Norman Shealy MD.

Seek out Chiropractic care not because you have back pain, seek out chiropractic care for true health. When you have good posture you have more than a healthly look, you have a healthy body!

Dr.Terry Weyman is the clinic director at Chiropractic Sports Institute, wwww.gotcsi.com

Chiropractic for Maximum Output!

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By: Dr.Terry Weyman

Chiropractic is the fastest growing healing profession in the world today. Since Chiropractic is the branch of the healing arts that deals with structure and function, many athletes (both professional and amateur) have found great relief through Chiropractic health care. However, it is still overlooked as a tool for maintaining health and achieving maximum output for your athletic event.

In order to understand how Chiropractic can enhance your athletic potential, as well as your overall health, it is important to understand more about how Chiropractic works, and clear up a myths that you may have heard.

The spinal column is made up of 24 movable bones called vertebra that function together during movement. The most important function of the vertebra is to protect the spinal cord. The spinal cord is the body’s “switch board”. Just as the trunk and branches of a tree transfer nutrients to the leaves, the spinal cord transfers nerve impulses, through the neurological network, to all parts of the body. If we look at our lives from the time that we are born until the time we die, the body is in constant motion, even when we are at rest. The cells of our body are constantly dying and being replaced by new, health cells. Two and a half million of them will die and be replaced every minute of your life. This is a normal process. Health can be defined as the ability of the body to replace the cells and tissue structures normally and on a consistent basis. This will work properly as long as there is no interference between the brain (central computer) and the tissue cells. Research out of Colorado State University states “the amount of pressure on a nerve at a compressive force of a quarter on the back of your hand, 2 mm of mercury, can result in a loss of up to 60% nerve function”. The Doctor of Chiropractic calls this interference a Vertebral Subluxation or intersegmental dysfunction.

What is a Vertebral Subluxation/Intersegmental Dysfunction? A “subluxation” is a vertebra (back bone) that is not biomechanically aligned with the vertebra above and below which can result in abnormal pressure on the exiting nerve root. This pressure on the nerve root can cause an interference of the brains impulses to the tissue cells. This interference can result in abnormal cell production down the line leading to Pain/symptoms. This interference can also lead to the initiation of a Dies-ease process. As the study showed, this small amount of pressure can “dim” the affects of the nervous system. This “dimmed” nerve can cause a lack of maximum output, which can alter the performance of the muscles or organs, which the nerve supplies. A specific Chiropractic adjustment of the involved vertebra is the most effective way in correcting a Vertebral Subluxation and restoring nerve flow back to the cells.

Most people let pain guide their health care regiment. What they don’t know is the subluxation may or may not involve pain. Pain is you body’s alarm system and only enters the picture when at least 50 percent of damage has taken place if it enters the picture at all- (some organs do not have pain sensory fibers at all) As a society, we’ve been indoctrinated into thinking that pain is bad, when in reality its our body’s alarm system to prevent us from further injuring ourselves. Careless use of drugs in the form of pills, anti-inflammatories and other medications can mask the pain allowing the athlete to continue the activity that caused the damage in the first place. If your car’s oil light came on would you cut the wire so the light went out and the say, “Good now my car isn’t low on oil anymore.” If you had this attitude, eventually your car would seize and fall apart. The same thing happens to your body if you keep ignoring or masking the pain. This is why a lot of athletes develop chronic injuries.

In athletics, and life for that matter, there is a tremendous amount of stress placed on the musculoskeletal structure. Since out body is a Biomechanical Kinetic Chain (hip bone connected to the thigh bone), when one area is injured it can affect the entire structure. Any imbalance, can cause pain, weakness, lack of function and overall a decrease in your maximum output. If the imbalance isn’t corrected and you cover up the symptoms your body is sending you, over time, this will lead to degeneration and an early retirement form your sport. Many athletes both professional and amateur use Sports Chiropractors as a form of body mechanics maintenance.

By correcting the biomechanical misalignments and allowing the body’s nervous system to function at its maximum, you too can achieve results that are often unbelievable. People are constantly underestimating the body’s healing capacity.

Dr. Terry Weyman has been caring for top level athletes for over 20 years. He is the owner of Chiropractic Sports Institute. For more info check him out at www.gotcsi.com

H-wave- it’s not your mammas muscle stimulation!

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By: Dr. Terry Weyman

I am known on the Sports circuit as the “Doc with all the cool toys”. However, it’s not about the quantity of “toys”, it’s about picking the right “tool” for the right job. My job is not only to improve athletic performance but also to get the body to recover faster than it can by itself. Ask the Top Amateur Motocrosser how important tissue recovery is when he is laying in the hospital the day before the National Championships with a back injury, or a Pro Golfer the day before the Masters down with a knee injury, or a 20 year old football player the day before the Combine down with a hamstring pull. How important is tissue recovery? VERY.

So, one of my tools is the H-Wave electric stimulation machine. No, this is not your typical E-Stim or Tens unit. This is much more and its part of my regular treatment protocol for getting our athletes back to the field as fast as possible. The H-wave was established for treatment of dental related issues from TMJ to providing anesthesia for those not wanting to take medication. Doing a paradigm shift, we now use it for much more than pain control or overall healing. Now, it is looked at as a machine that can speed up the bodies ability to heal itself and the surrounding tissue to get the athlete back on the field faster than expected. H-wave is unique in that it has the ability to stimulate on both low and high frequencies, at the same time! Now you can aid in pain control to reduce muscle guarding while you work on tissue effusion to maximize healing. What a concept. Once your Doctor or therapist grasps these concepts, the treatment combinations and results are limitless. This is the only machine I know of that can either heal an injury or allow the body to naturally recover faster for next day competition. How do each frequencies work and why do you need both? Well let’s look at each form of stimulation and explain why each form is important.

Ultra Low Frequency Stimulation
Development and protocols for H-Wave were based on the well-established facts that fluid shifts and pressures are essential for tissues to heal and to create homeostasis in an injured area. The H-Wave device was specifically designed to improve circulation and enhance fluid shifts; thereby, addressing the inflammation that is so often the causative factor in pain and disabilities. The goal of H-Wave is never to mask symptoms, but rather to speed recovery and/or manage chronic symptoms to allow the body to increase in normal cellular production and integration. Published research has shown that the specific technology of H-Wave represents a paradigm shift in electro-therapeutic treatment and produces the optimal non-fatiguing stimulation for fluid shifts.

High Frequency Stimulation
Some conditions require additional pain relief that fluid shifts don’t entirely address. This is why H-Wave has a secondary mode that is focused entirely on shutting down pain and breaking the pain cycle similar to TENS, however, with a longer lasting effect. Again, in this setting H-Wave is not intending to mask pain while the device is on, but rather create a strong anesthetic affect with significant and lasting relief after a 30 minute treatment. The H-Wave device is so unique and capable of shutting down pain that we have FDA clearance for electrical anesthesia in the field of dentistry. If it can take away the pain from oral surgery, how do you think it will work in the world of athletics when used right?

As I have said, the H-wave is a tool, when used in the correct settings and for the correct purposes, can change the athletes recovery rate and increase their chances for success.

Dr. Terry Weyman is the owner of Chiropractic Sports Institute and travels the world caring for top athletes. He also works for Pepperdine University in their Athletic Training room and for The Factory, a high level training facility. He can be reached at www.gotcsi.com

How to get the MENTAL Edge

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By: Dr. Terry Weyman

“Athletes are mental” I overheard a kid at a local race say. “They are crazy to do these things”. In some cases he is correct. They are mental. In even some cases, those who are “more mental” are the ones that win. But being “mental” is not a bad thing, but a good thing. Most people train the body, get adjusted to strengthen the structure but very few train the mind. Mental toughness separates the champions from the contestants. Not only can mental toughness separate you from your other competitors, but it can also separate you in the board room, the class room or in times of depression or tragedy. Just as you train and work harder on the physical, training the brain to be tougher takes time and practice, but the pay off can be great.

Jason Taylor, the 2006 NFL Defensive Player of the Year said it best when he said “Pressure does one of two things to people, it either crushes you or it turns you into a diamond”. Top Athletes KNOW where they belong and won’t settle for anything less than the top position. Some call it desire or will but the fact remains, they KNOW with every cell of their body. They have also learned, through experiences, that their body will do whatever their mind tells them to do. This is true for either positive or negative experiences. Your mind is always looking for the “easy way out.” If you give your mind that option, your body will go there. If you take it away, your body will dig a little deeper to find a solution. Our world is riddled with “mediocre” athletes who have become superstars because their minds BELIEVE they are capable of greatness. Have you ever heard someone say “he/she is not the most talented athlete out there but they work harder than anyone we have ever seen and no one can seem to beat them”. I have even heard coaches and trainers say “give me work ethic, passion and commitment over natural talent any day”. That is another word for, give me someone who’s MIND is the most determined and I will make them a champion. Another example of how powerful the mind can be is to look to hypnosis. There are people who use hypnosis to have surgery instead of being put out by pharmaceutical drugs.

So how do you train the mind and how do you learn to stay focused and cool under pressure?

First and foremost learn this: “what the mind believes, the body achieves.” In order to achieve peak performance, your mind and your body must work in concert with one another. It must learn resilience and adaptability. Being mentally tough is learning how to sustain ideal performance no matter what life throws at you. Finding the positive, no matter how deeply buried, in all things. You get stuck on the freeway behind an accident, late for a meeting, you see it as “more time to prepare”. You get injured prior to an important match, you view it as more mental time to watch and discover an opponent’s weakness. Instead of being that block of solid wood, learn to be that supple tree than can handle hurricane force winds and still stand.

The next step to mental greatness is to “Change your vocabulary”. Replace “I will try” with “I will do”. Or “I hate this part” to “I dislike this part and can’t wait to figure it out”. In sports or life, there are no “problems” just “challenges”. Take out the word “I can’t” and replace it with “I will”. Look at your heroes in your sport, your industry or your life; listen to what comes out of their mouths. Don’t reinvent the wheel, learn and study the masters.

Avoid negativity! Negative people are like cancers. Their view is if “they can’t do it, they want to make sure others can’t do it as well”. You will hear them around the field, at the water cooler or in the stands. Saying things like “yea I tried that, did not work” or “you should not try that, you will just get hurt”. These comments are infectious and deadly to the champion. As in building your body up stronger to resist infection and disease, build your mind up to resist the “misery of failure” by cataloging many positive experiences and happy thoughts to go to when you hear a negative comment. Build that wall up to make your self immune. I have a statement, “why waste a day by having a ‘bad day’ when you can change that and have a ‘phenomenal day’. It may take you all day to find a reason to have a ‘phenomenal day’ but never stop the quest.

Ever see an Athlete with ear buds in his ear connected to his iPod? These athletes are using their favorite music to inspire, relax or motivate themselves. USING MUSIC can have various effects and used right can bring you the desired effect. From calming you down to pumping you up, Music triggers synapses in the brain that can be very powerful. It has been shown that listening to music can increase your focus, your heart rate and certain neurotransmitters that can have a powerful physical influence.

The mind also is your CPU so to speak. Your central processing unit, and like every great computer, its love a strong routine. Some athletes call this routine a “superstitious pattern” but all it is a routine that an athlete draws upon for stability. Routines help us stay calm under pressure by giving our minds something to focus on instead of the pressure of the moment. To take that big race and boil it down to “just another regular day”, by having a regular routine, you allow your mind to stay focuses on the task at hand instead of the “distracting noise”.

Understand this, we are not perfect! God did not make us perfect for a reason. If we feel we are perfect than we have nothing to learn. We all make mistakes; the true champion does not get upset but studies and learns from his mistakes to minimize the reoccurrence of the incident. My father had a saying, “to make a mistake is human; to repeat it is stupidity. Learn from your mistakes so you never enter the realm of stupidity!” Even the greatest of all athletes and CEOs have coaches and are able to be taught. Strive for perfection by being teachable.

Get Psyched! You know how you feel when you’re getting ready to go on the long awaited vacation? Nothing seems to bother you, no matter HOW MUCH GOES WRONG prior to departure. You are so pumped on the final outcome that the journey is just that, a journey. But the real reason is you REMEMBER what vacations are. You may have caught your first fish or had your first kiss or flew on your first plane. Whatever it is, your excitement is drawn from a past experience. Use past victories or positive moments to get pumped and inspired so much that no matter what happens prior, it does not deter you from reaching your ultimate goal.

Learn how to be an island! Have you ever heard, “you can’t do this” or “no one has ever done that” or my favorite, “don’t try that, it’s too hard”. If you buy into these negative thoughts, then you fall back into the masses or the ordinary. How do you think World records are made, or new tricks at the X-Games are done? These boundaries are shattered by athletes believing so strongly that they can do it that it is done. They have replayed the success so many times over and over in their mind that their body already knows the outcome. Even when nobody else believes they can do it, they are able to stand alone with their belief. They have found their inspiration and used it over and over till they own it. Travis Pastrana said he had done the double back flip on a motorcycle, (one of the greatest single feats in extreme sports ever) over a thousand times in a foam pit but over a MILLION times in his brain before he accomplished the unbelievable at X-games a few years ago. He was the ONLY one who believed he could do it and when the doubters gathered, he pulled off the unbelievable. Never doubt yourself; ANYONE can be BEAT at ANYTIME.

If you can’t see it, you won’t be able to do it. VISUALIZATION is one of the biggest keys to training your mind. Close your eyes and see you accomplishing your goals. Tap into all your senses and make it happen. Find the path and learn how to do it. Close your eyes, and visualize the journey to the top. What does the air feel like against your skin, what does the day/night smell like, what are the sounds surrounding you and what do you see? Practice your victories over and over again until it becomes second nature. A good example of this was a P.O.W. who was stuck in a hole during the war. Over and over he played golf in his mind. Felt the cool grass under his feet, the wind in his face, and the crowd’s thick hush in his ears. He played over and over. When he finally got released two years later he went to the golf course and shot two over par on his FIRST ATTEMPT at the game! Teach your body how to achieve the victory first by visualizing it in your mind. Ever see a dog sleep? They sometime run, in their dreams they are running but they are asleep, YET their muscles still work. When you visualize in your mind you are still are teaching your muscles how to react and move. IF you can’t see the victory in your mind, your body will never deliver the victory.

By following these steps and practicing these tricks you too can be on the road to greatness.

Dr. Terry Weyman has been working with athletes from high school to the Olympic and Professional level for over 20 years. He drew inspiration for this article from not only his personal experiences but from his teachers as well. Dr. Spencer Baron, Author of “the secrets of the game” www.secretsofthegame.com, is both an inspiration and a mentor. The other inspiration for this article came from my son, Tyler Weyman, who in a short time has climbed the ranks of Motocross into the National level. Watching his trials and tribulations was a big reason for this article, Love this kid. Dr. Terry can be reached at his website, www.gotcsi.com or on Twitter @DrTerryW

Sign up for his monthly newsletter to get more “tips on how to live your life like a pro” at www.gotcsi.com on the left hand side

About Dr. Terry Weyman

Dr. Terry Weyman lives in Southern California where he has been the Clinic Director of Chiropractic Sports Institute for over 31 years....
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Official Chiropractor for Pepperdine Athletics

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