Setting and Supporting the Spine for All the Things We Do
By Kevin M. Wong, DC
The challenges that load-bearing activities cause for the human body can be visually, posturally, and symptomatically observed and are sometimes misinterpreted or ignored. However, most weight-bearing activities seem so mundane and commonplace. After all, how challenging can walking or running really be? Just put one foot in front of the other and repeat. What’s the big deal?
People will engage in all sorts of weight-bearing activities, ranging from the mild to the extreme. Here are some of the more popular activity trends for this year.
Top Five Popular Physical Activity Trends in 2024
Pickleball:
Since 2020, pickleball remains the fastest-growing sport in the United States. It is a cross between tennis, badminton, and ping pong, and it appeals to all age groups and experience levels. A lot of beginners love how welcoming the culture is. Pickleball improves heart health,1 improves muscle strength, reduces osteoporosis in bones, improves balance and coordination, improves sleep, and reduces anxiety and depression.2
Badminton:
With a lighter racquet and a birdie instead of a ball, badminton appeals to folks who do not enjoy the grunting, smacking effort of tennis or pickleball or who don’t have a court nearby. A 2022 study3 found that playing badminton improves numerous health areas, including cardiovascular and pulmonary function. Plus, its high speed and fancy footwork can boost balance and agility.
Knockout Workouts:
These exercise routines include combat sports such as boxing, kickboxing, and various martial arts (kung fu, karate, jiu-jitsu, etc.), which not only provide an excellent cardiovascular challenge and detoxification from sweating but can also help clear your head. One study from 2024 even concluded that martial arts training can help reduce adverse mental health symptoms.
HIIT, Micro HIIT:
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has been popular for its efficiency, and it’s become even more streamlined with Micro-HIIT. Sometimes, HIIT workouts take too long, but Micro-HIIT offers short and intense bursts of exercise lasting just a few minutes, fitting perfectly into our increasingly busy lives. Micro-HIIT can be done anywhere without special equipment, making it incredibly accessible. These sessions pack a punch, boosting metabolism and improving cardiovascular health.
Functional Fitness Programs:
Functional fitness focuses on exercises that prepare your body for daily tasks and natural movements. This trend is about more than just muscle; it’s about enhancing your overall life. Here, we observe gyms and trainers focusing on movements that improve balance, flexibility, and strength for everyday activities. Carrying groceries, playing with your kids, climbing stairs, and functional fitness make it all easier and reduce the risk of injury, making it a practical and popular choice for everyone, including our growing elderly population.
Your Feet Are the Foundation of Your House:
The three arches forming the plantar vault of the feet are the foundation of our entire body. Nine out of 10 people in the world have mild, moderate, or severely flat feet. Excessive foot pronation and arch collapse create medial rotational forces in our tibia and femur and rotational misalignments in the pelvis and spine, along with stress in the ribs, shoulders, neck, and jaw. The resulting pedal foundational inadequacies create imbalance and biomechanical stress all the way up the kinetic chain — quite literally from our toes to our nose.
While load-bearing activities are enjoyable and can help improve health and fitness, these exercises can cause larger, more complicated issues down the road if imbalances aren’t addressed.
Treatment Considerations: Set the Extremities and the Spine
It’s important to adjust the 26 bones of the feet and the tibia, patella, femur, pelvis, and spine using the technique you deem appropriate. Many patients have never even had their feet and ankles adjusted, and they don’t realize how powerful the area is. As time goes on and you stabilize their body, you don’t have to adjust everything like you do early in their care.
Think “whole-body care” when you administer a treatment plan. When you consider the extremities and the spine together, you support the whole body, which is one of the keys to sustained stability for the patient’s symptoms and function.
Support the Pedal Foundation:
For the many different activities patients engage in, utilizing the correct type of three-arch, flexible, custom orthotic (spinal pelvic stabilizer) will ensure the feet have a symmetric, stable foundation for the plantar vault of both feet. So the patient won’t be overpronating or oversupinating; their feet will be supported in neutral.
Different orthotics for running, strength training, tennis, basketball, and other sports are available and are extremely comfortable to wear. There are casual options like slippers, flip flops, and sandals with the three arches built in to provide support inside the house where people stand for many hours working, cooking, or doing other household activities.
Proper Neck Pillow for Recovery and Support:
The neck and upper thoracic spine need proper support in whatever sleep position the patient’s subconscious places them in. Patients most often sleep on their side, followed by sleeping on their back. Only 10% of patients sleep on their stomach, which is the worst sleep position based on stress to the body.
The pillow best suited for the patient has to work for that person, much like custom three-arch foot orthotics. The pillow should support the patient on their back or cover the distance between the tip of their shoulder and the base of their neck when on their side. Help the patient choose the right pillow by examining what they already use and, if appropriate, suggest another option more fitting to their biology, bone structure, and sleeping habits.
Exercises:
Supportive stretching and strengthening exercises can be introduced based on the state of the region of prime importance. Stretching is often the safest way to begin, letting the patient test their initial flexibility and boundaries. Then, move to strengthening, which can involve a variety of ROM, band exercises, weights, and even getting them back to the sporting activity they love to do. All in good time, and hopefully, the process is enjoyable for the patient so they actually do their exercises.
Conclusion
The types of physical activity patients engage in can be very different and may require different types and styles of foot support as well as adjusting sleeping and sitting support.
By helping the spine maintain its level and aligned position throughout the day and night with proper orthotics, we give patients the ability to prosper from the chiropractic care we so carefully deliver to them.
About the Author
Dr. Kevin M. Wong has been a licensed chiropractor for over 27 years, serving the Lamorinda and greater East San Francisco Bay Area communities.
References
Webber SC, Anderson S, Biccum L, Jin S, Khawashki S, Tittlemier BJ. Physical activity intensity of singles and doubles pickleball in older adults. J Aging Phys Act. 2022 Sep 10;31(3):365-370. doi: 10.1123/japa.2022-0194. PMID: 36087934.
Cerezuela JL, Lirola MJ, Cangas AJ. Pickleball and mental health in adults: a systematic review. Front Psychol. 2023 Feb 21;14:1137047. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1137047. PMID: 36895753; PMCID: PMC9988900.
Cabello-Manrique D, Lorente JA, Padial-Ruz R, Puga-González E. Play Badminton forever: a systematic review of health benefits. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jul 26;19(15):9077. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19159077. PMID: 35897446; PMCID: PMC9330062.
Moore B, Dudley D, Woodcock S. The effect of martial arts training on mental health outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2020 Oct;24(4):402-412. doi: 10.1016/j.jbmt.2020.06.017. Epub 2020 Jul 26. PMID: 33218541.
