The Winter’s in full swing, which means in-store clinics, and we have a very special one coming up! Dr. Mackenzie Smith will be coming in to talk to us about “Mindful Moving” on Saturday, January 18! Dr. Mackenzie graduated with her DC from New York Chiropractic College. In addition to the academic requirements of the DC program, she has also completed continuing education courses in areas such as rehabilitation, developmental kinesiology, pediatrics, pregnancy, pelvic floor, nutrition, pain management, sports injuries, TMJ disorder treatment, disc pain, and neurology. Here’s me asking her a few questions so you can get an idea of what the clinic will be like…
Scott: The term “mindful movement” (as we cleverly entitled the forthcoming clinic), makes me think about how every time we move we’re doing something useful or detrimental to our body. It can be something as mundane as bending down to put pots away while unloading the dishwasher. Each movement is an opportunity to stretch, breathe, and engage. I think serious athletes, yogis, etc. are in tune with this idea because movement feels good and prevents injury. No one needs “one more thing to think about,” but without our health, we don’t have much of anything. Sorry, what was supposed to be a simple question turned into a total rant…thoughts?
Mackenzie: I love it! Mindful movement is one of the primary things I work on with patients. Awareness is a huge factor when it comes to learning how to move well and determining what movement may be the most effective for what is going on in your life specifically. Our society is so fast-paced when it comes to just about everything, so we often lose awareness of various day-to-day activities. One of the happiest things for me to see with a patient is their own realization and increased perception of how their activities throughout the day may be affecting their physical (and emotional, but that’s a whole other topic!) health. I like to encourage my patients that any discomfort they may be experiencing from the body is feedback. It’s a sign from your body that something needs to change, and in order to make that change, awareness of how we’re moving is an absolute must. Not only that but when we remove the “mindful” part from movement, we tend to do things faster. The faster we perform an activity, the more challenging it is to realize the compensation patterns that may be occurring throughout the body to achieve it.
Scott: Compensation patterns – yes! That’s it. We all have them. I promise not to drag this out too much but, what are some of the things you like to point out to runners (and everyone) concerning avoiding, eliminating or being aware of compensation patterns. In other words, what are some of the topics you’d like to discuss with our athletes?
Mackenzie: Runners, especially, are known for being really strong in the sagittal plane (the plane that brings you forward and backward) but tend to lack energy in the coronal plane (the plane that goes side to side). This is why you notice that, as people get fatigued, their hips may start swaying side to side or their knees may cave in. We have to intentionally train some of these muscles so that this doesn’t happen because we don’t specifically work these groups of muscles with running. Working on awakening these muscles can help to prevent an injury from getting worse or even happening in the first place!
To learn more, join us for our next clinic:
Mindful Moving Clinic & Run
Saturday, January 18 at 10 a.m. – mindful moving with Dr. Mackenzie, including a gift card & goodie bag raffle, followed by a 2-5 mile run on Greenway.
Location: Raleigh New Balance Store 1101 Mercantile Dr, Raleigh, NC 27609
More info: www.runtriangle.com
Triangle Chiropractic and Rehabilitation Center
RDU In Motion 
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