Race Report: Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half-Marathon

A year ago, I was just starting up chiropractic school, and I was in the beginning of the training cycle building up to the Philadelphia Marathon, a race that I felt I had executed well and signaled a successful return from surgery. A year later, I've returned to Philly and run...an okay race. Not bad, but certainly not good...just okay. But it's only a complete failure if you don't take anything away from the experience, so here goes!

Active Release Techniques (A.R.T.)

In case you've wondered where I've disappeared to, I just finished finals and then almost immediately went to Boston for the lower extremity Active Release Techniques seminar. In case you're not familiar with A.R.T., it is a soft tissue technique that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, and nerves by applying tension and getting them moving relative to each other. Many of you have probably heard the term "scar tissue adhesion" being thrown around by your friends who have had body work done. These adherences can limit range of motion, cause muscles to shorten and weaken, cause pain, and entrap nerves. Breaking down these adhesions is a large part of A.R.T. But Dr. Leahy explains it better than I, so check the site for a full explanation.

Homecoming Weekend at New York Chiropractic College

This weekend (well, all of last week, really) was homecoming at New York Chiropractic College, and seeing as we have no football team, it was a week for networking, continuing education for alumni, and getting current students thinking about their professional career. So here's the deal: This is my brand-new LinkedIn account. You can also click on the picture below. I want to make a career out of treating athletes...people like you guys. I want to help you squeeze every last bit of performance possible out of your body, and I want to help you keep your body running like a fine-tuned machine so you can keep doing the things you love, whether it's competing at a high level, getting that new PR, finishing your first 5K, or getting back out there after a tough injury. I've been that person who was told that my running was done, yet I just ran 101 miles last week. I want to help you do that too. So I want to network with you.

Second order of business is a question for you. This weekend, I talked to a lot of people about different treatments available for both prehabilitation and rehabilitation for patients (athletes in particular!). Many of them are working off of similar principles, though obviously there are small differences to differentiate each of them. I want to know how important a name is to you. For example, I use both Graston Technique and Active Release Technique (A.R.T.) as part of my prehab. Are you loyal towards a specific technique, or are you eager and willing to try new treatments that are based off of similar principles? Put another way, if you've had Graston work for you in the past, are you more likely to search for Graston providers in your area, or are you more likely to get recommendations for good healthcare providers, and then utilize whatever their treatment of choice (assuming it does the same job, like ConnecTX or FAKTR?). Please let me know in the comments. Thank you!

One final order of business: my friend Brendan maintains a blog that actually talks about what goes on in chiropractic school, if this post piqued your interest and you're curious about that aspect of my life (since this blog tends to focus mainly on running and running gear).